Logan's Indianapolis directory, 1868, Part 58

Author:
Publication date: 1868
Publisher: Logan
Number of Pages: 416

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7,686

1866

409,704

ments, repairs,

Bridges.

tives.

1863.

21,202 21,612

INDIANAPOLIS FROM 1818.

1868, for the principal and interest of the defalcation. This unfortunate effort to sell bonds still further injured the city credit, and the debt increased, in 1857, to $23,740. A change in the charter and city officers took place that year, and a gen- eral tax of sixty cents was levied to meet expenses and debts: until that date the entire tax had not exceeded forty-five or fifty cents on the $100. The debt was re- duced to $9,300 in 1859, but swelled to $11,500 in 1860, and to nearly $25,000 when the war began. A considerable part of it was in short-time bonds issued to the makers of the three steam fire engines purchased in 1860, the bonds being the first that were negotiated and sold. The floating debt had not materially increased, but the growing expenditures for gas light and for the police department prevented any reduction in its amount. The salaries and fees of the city officers were also in- creased in May 1861, and the current ex- penses then enlarged.

Immediately after volunteering began for the three months service, a demand was made for municipal assistance for the fam- ilies of soldiers, and on the 20th of April, $10,000 were appropriated to that object, and a committee appointed to supervise its distribution. From this time till the close of the war, many appropriations were made for this purpose, in buying wood and supplying money, and the aggregate sum thus expended was very large. Doubts ex- isted whether bounties could be directly given by the city, and they were generally voted as appropriations to the soldier's families. The various war expenditures early in 1861, soon raised the floating and bonded debt to about $46,000, but the cur- rent receipts enabled the authorities to meet expenses, and make payments on out- standing liabilities, until they were re- duced in May, 1862, to about $16,500. Re- cruiting becoming slack in the fall of 1862, bounties were first paid, a small appropria- tion being made therefor, and about $5,000 were spent in that way by May, 1863. Over $5,000 of the engine bonds had been paid in the meantime, and the debt reduced in May, 1863, to $11,250. This amount was practically paid off soon after, and a close calculation of the finances of the city would have shown her free of debt in the summer of 1863.

A rapid advance in the values of articles, and work, began in the spring of 1863. The officer's salaries, and the policemen and firemen's wages were raised; current expenses increased, large appropriations were made to the poor, and a house of re- fuge undertaken. To this increased ex- penditure was added the expense connected

with the city regiment in the Morgan raid, and on the 11th of December, in response to the request of the citizens, the council appropriated $25,000, to be paid in $50 bounties to the families of recruits credited to the several wards. The ordinance was amended and re-passed on the 14th of De- cember, and six per cent city bonds to the amount of $25,000, due in fifteen months, were prepared and sold within a week, and the money expended. No further bounty appropriations were made till May 9th, 1864, when $5,000 were given to families of one hundred day men: the money to be paid out by the Soldier's Aid Committee. By these appropriations and the largely in- creased current expenses for street improve- ments, salaries, police, gas, &c., amounting to $116,000, the debt had risen in July, to about $80,000, the war expenses amounting to about $46,000. The tax levy for 1864- -'65, was fixed at $1 for general purposes, 50 cents for specific objects, and 25 cents for soldier's families.

The President called for 500,000 men dur- ing the summer, ordering a draft if the call was not filled by volunteers. The response was not as prompt as had been expected, and the draft took place in September. The mayor in August had recommended appro- priations be made for bounties to volun- teers to fill the city quota, but no definite action was taken at the time in regard to it. On the 28th of September, however, the council appropriated $92,000 in aid of the drafted men; the sum to be added to that subscribed by the citizens prior to the draft, and to such sums as the drafted men might raise. Twelve hundred cords of wood were also purchased at an ex- pense of $8,000 for the soldiers fami- lies. On the 3d of October, $40,000 were appropriated in addition to the former sums in aid of the drafted men, and the city clerk was directed to collect the citi- zens subscriptions. During October and November, four hundred volunteers were secured at an expense to the city and citi- zens of about $170,000, and the entire cost of relieving the city from the September draft amounted to about $180,000.

Another call for 300,000 men was made December 20th, 1864, and a draft ordered in sixty days, if the call was unfilled. The mayor on the 28th recommended an appro- priation of $90,000, to be paid in $150 bounties. The council appropriated $20,- 000, together with an unexpended balance of $2,500 of former appropriations.

The Mayor, on the 2d of January, 1865, again urged appropriations for $150 boun- ties, and suggested the correction of the enrollment lists, and the draft of the city by wards. The Council at once gave

HISTORY OF

$125,000, increased the bounty to $200, and sent John Coburn to Washington to secure a ward draft. In the meantime the competition for recruits forced boun- ties beyond $200, and the Council, on the 17th of January, increased them to $400. The Legislature was urged to amend the incorporation law so as to authorize bounty loans. Committees were appointed to sell war warrants, to oversee recruiting, and assign the men pro rata to the wards. Four hundred dollars were to be given each man who bought a $50 order and was subsequently drafted.

On the 20th of February the Council re- ceived a petition from three thousand seven hundred tax-payers, asking a loan to pay bounties and fund all orders, which were now selling at twenty to thirty cents discount. It was laid over for additional signatures, and seven hundred and sev- enty-two more being reported on the 220, the Council authorized a loan of $400,000 on twenty year coupon bonds, signed by the Mayor and Clerk, with interest semi- annually, payable in New York, and pledged a tax levy to pay interest and sink the principal. The bonds were drawn, signed, sent to New York, where they remained unsold for several months, and were finally recalled and cancelled. The sale of war warrants and the work of recruiting actively went on in the mean- time, but the draft took place, February 25th, for nearly five hundred men.

The Council then confirmed the gift of $400 to each drafted man who had bought $50 in war warrants, ordering it paid down to those who furnished substi- tutes, and in instalments to those who served. A loan of $100,000 was at once ordered from the banks, and on the 6th of March the Treasurer was directed to bor- row $100,000, at one per cent., for four months, renewable if necessary, deposit- ing orders and bonds at seventy-five cents as security, the banks having the right to sell them at ten days notice if the loan was not met. The loan was at once taken by the First National, Citizens National, Indianapolis National, and Fletcher's and Harrisons' banks, $20,000 each, and tlie money applied to bounties. A committee was appointed on the 6th of March to ex- amine and report whether, under the new law, one-fourth of the amount of the war debt and bonds could be added as special tax upon the duplicate. The Mayor on the 3d of April, submitted an opinion by James Morrison, that the city could fund her debt by bonds under the existing law. The strictly war expenditures (except in- terest) of the city, in the way of bounties, ended with the February draft, the war

ceasing in less than four weeks after the quota was declared to be filled. Nearly $155,000 in war warrants were sold and in the hands of the people. The entire war expenses for the year, from May, 1864, to May, 1865, had reached $718,179.

The city war expenditure for the last three years of the rebellion approximated $1,000,000, and the municipal debt reached $368,000 at its close; $100,000 of this sum was in the shape of a bank loan, at 12 per cent., secured by deposit of war- rants at seventy-five cents; the remainder consisted of six per cent. warrants, part of which were applicable on the payment of taxes for 1865, the rest in 1866-7. These orders were selling at twenty and thirty cents discount, and as the discount was added in all bills against the city, the de- preciation was largely augmenting cur- rent expenses. The Council, therefore, levied a tax of $1 for general purposes, and fifty cents to pay the debt. The bank loan was renewed as it fell due, and in October an ordinance passed to renew it for a year. The unsold war bonds in New York were recalled, and cancelled. The finance committee recommended the election of a city Auditor, and John G. Waters was accordingly chosen by the Council, in January, 1866, for two years ; the office was discontinued at the expira- tion of his term. On the 11th of Septem- ber, 1865, the Council authorized the fund- ing of war orders in six per cent. three year bonds, and about $27,000 were so converted by May, 1866. The current re- demption of orders in the mean time in taxes was large, amounting to $397,000 at the close of the fiscal year, and the debt had decreased from $368,000 to about $217,000, $151,000 being paid off. In May, 1866, a tax of $1.50 was levied for general purposes, and twenty-five cents for payment of debt, but in November, at the Mayor's suggestion, the outstanding six per cent. orders were funded to the extent of $82,000, in ten per cent. war- rants running eighteen months, and the twenty-five cent tax was struck from the duplicate, materially lessening the burthen for that year. The actual cur- rent receipts (excluding former balance) for 1866-7, were $327,700. The expendi- tures (excluding bank loan,) $209,700. The total debt on three year bonds, ten per cent. warrants, and to the banks, amounted to $209,600, and $122,929 of a balance was left in the treasury. The . debt had been reduced $108,787 during the year. The Council, in May, 1867, voted a general tax for the year, of $1.25, and the actual current receipts on it during the fiscal year, 1867-8, (not in-

INDIANAPOLIS FROM 1818.

cluding the balance from 1867) were $231,669, the actual expenses, $225,000. The bank bond and warrant debt, in May, 1868, was estimated at $252,000, and the balance left in the treasury amounted to $210,657. The bond and warrant debt has since been paid at its maturity, and the debt now amounts to about $200,000. The levy for the current year was fixed at $1.10 for general purposes, and fifteen cents for sewerage.

The war brought many rowdies here, and in the summer of 1861 scarcely a day passed without affrays in which weapons were used. The police were kept busy in preserving order. Affairs grew still worse in the fall of 1863, and military aid was invoked. A strong guard was detailed, with its headquarters at the Police office, and until after the war the soldiery as- sisted in keeping the peace. The conve- nient position of the place, midway be- tween the large western cities, made it a favorite rendezvous for rascals of all grades, and when large bounties were of- fered in 1864, hundreds of thieves and bounty-jumpers flocked here. They were soon arrested or scattered by the authori- ties, and three of them being tried by court martial, and shot, near Camp Mor- ton, as deserters, the rest hurriedly left the place.

For some time after the war began little or no political excitement existed, but at the democratic county convention in Court Square, on the 2d of September, sev- eral of the speakers indulged in indiscreet expressions ; equally indiscreet retorts were made by parties in the crowd; a per- sonal difficulty occurred, weapons were drawn, and the convention was dispersed by soldiers and others. The leaders were pursued to their homes and compelled to take the oath of allegiance. For some- time a serious outbreak was threatened, and the Sentinel office was in danger. Order was finally restored by the military and police. The affair was discreditable to the city and to all engaged in it.

On the 8th of April 1862, Parson Brown- low, of Tennessee, having just been sent north by the rebels, reached this city, and in company with General Carey, of Cin- cinnati, appeared before our people at the Metropolitan Theater, where both made bitter speeches. Brownlow visited th city again just after the Philadelphia con- vention, and made one of his characteris- tic speeches to a large audience in the Circle.

In 1863 the democrats held a State mass convention in the State House yard, mus- tering in heavy force and generally armed. Anticipating an outbreak the authorities

had taken measures to prevent it. Guards were stationed on the streets, artillery was held in readiness, and the seventy- first regiment put under arms. No trouble occurred, further than the arrest and fining of many persons for carrying concealed weapons. As the delegates were leaving, however, they began random firing from the cars. The Lafayette train got off, but those on the Central, Cincinnati and other roads were at once pursued by the military, the police and citizens. The trains were brought back, the passengers put under arrest and disarmed. They were permit- ted to leave after a detention of some hours and the confiscation of their revol- vers, a large number of which were turned over to the military.

In August 1864, it was discovered that large quantities of arms and ammunition were being secretly imported into the State, and a seizure of four hundred navy revolvers and many boxes of fixed ammu- nition was made in H. H. Dodd's office in the old Sentinel building. Papers also were found disclosing the existence of a secret military organization opposed to the Government, and implicating prominent parties in the movement. Arrests of a number of them followed shortly afterward, and a military commission was convened

here for their trial. After full investiga- tion they were found guilty of treason and sentenced to be hung. The finding was approved and the day fixed for execution, but President Lincoln reprieved them. President Johnson afterward ordered their execution, but subsequently commuted the punishment to imprisonment in the Ohio Penitentiary, from which they were after- terward discharged under a decision of the Supreme Court. During the pendency of the trial H. H. Dodd, one of the leaders in the scheme, made his escape from the third story of the post-office building and suc- ceeded in reaching Canada.

The political canvass of 1864 was earn- estly and enthusiastically conducted by the republicans, and the vote for Mr. Lin- coln-about twelve thousand-was the heaviest ever cast in this township, prob- ably over ten thousand five hundred vo- ters being residents of the city and sub- urbs. The meetings were held in the tab- ernacle, a large frame structure erected on the Washington street front of Court Square, and capable of accommodating several thousand persons. This building remained there for a year or more, and was frequently used for meetings, concerts, lectures, etc. A similar tabernacle had been built for the campaign of 1860, in the south-west corner of the square, and used in the canvass of that year. It, also,

HISTORY OF

remained standing about a year before its removal. Both buildings were used after the elections for shows and concerts.

The threatened political troubles had se- riously contracted business enterprizes here for several months before the war be- gan,and except the temporary activity im- parted at intervals by the arrival and equipment of the different regiments, no general improvement took place until late in the winter of 1862-3. Until that time many men were out of work, and from that cause volunteering was steady and re- cruits easily obtained. After the city was made a prison depot and garrisoned post, the government demand for articles and labor steadily increased, and as ope- rations in the south grew in magnitude, the advantageous position of the city as a supply depot became more evident. This fact attracted general attention and caused a rapid emigration hither, not only from all parts of the north, but thousands of southern refugees also made this their temporary home. The current constantly augmented during 1863-4. Houses could not be provided fast enough for the in- creasing throng, and cellars, garrets, and stables were crowded. Several families often shared the same tenement, and many persons who came here to settle were compelled to leave, for want of shelter for their families. Rents increased enormous- ly for business houses and dwellings, pri- ces being limited only by the landlord's conscience, or the bonus a former tenant would accept for his lease. House hunting became a serious business, and any tene- ment was gladly accepted. Many shanties paid fifty per cent. per annum on their prime cost, and the same remark could be truthfully made of some business rooms. Work was found however for all comers .- Business in all lines was brisk. Every one had money, and fortunes were made in two or three years, apparently without effort or skill. The influx of parties from abroad continued till the close of the war, and counting all persons, permanent resi- dents, soldiers, prisoners, and the miscel- laneous floating population in and around the city, it would be safe, perhaps, to es- timate the population in March, 1865, at eighty thousand.

Building though vigorously prosecuted during 1863-4 and 5, was greatly limited by the scarcity and high price of materi- als, and the good wages asked and receiv- ed by workmen. Little material was on hand when the war began, and the demand being very limited for the first two years, only a small amount of it was collected, and it was not till the early spring of 1863 that the manufacture and importation

of lumber and other materials began on a large scale. Prices then rapidly advanced, doubling within the year. The demand grew faster than the price. Heavy im- portations of pine lumber from the lakes to this point, were first made in 1863, and for nearly a year the stock was compara- tively unsaleable, from the high price ask- ed, and the ignorance of our people with regard to the lumber. It had never been used here to any extent before that year, except in doors and sash brought from Dayton. Brick, stone and lime, also quick- ly rose in price, and with the rapid in- crease in wages, contractors lost money on the houses they erected Many persons de- sirous of building were prevented from doing so by the fear that the improvement when finished would not be worth half what it cost; at least that was the excuse given by capitalists when urged to aid in the improvement of the city, and by building houses, afford homes, work, and business positions to those who were anx- ious to come here.

The settled limits of the city were large- ly extended in 1862-6, but the greatest im- provement was effected in filling up vacant lots with houses, and crowding population more closely on the original plat. A rapid change also occurred in business localities. Washington street had thus far been the choice location for the heavier houses, the small retail groceries being thinly scatter- ed elsewhere over the city, but with the rapid increase and concentration of popu- lation, came the concentration of this re- tail trade at subordinate centers, a half- mile from the street. Meat store, tin and shoe shops, drug stores, and doctors offices, collected in such centers, and the retail trade was so far diverted from Washington street that most of the grocery men left it. The wholesale trade also generally went to Meridian street, leaving Washington to the dry goods, boot and shoe and clothing houses, nearly a score of the latter being located along two or three squares.

The sudden and unexpected termination of the war closed many lines of business connected with it, and thousands were at once deprived of their usual employment. To these were soon added the discharged soldiers. Many of those thus left adrift were anxious to remain here, and would have done so had any chance been opened to them, but the general distrust regarding the future caused a rapid contraction in business, and the great mass were com- pelled to go elsewhere in search of em- ployment. In a few months the unaccus- tomed sight of vacant dwellings greeted the eye, and shortly after, store rooms were to let. Rents grew less firm, then shaky,

INDIANAPOLIS FROM 1818.

then had a downward tendency, and finally reached a living point; averaging at pres- ent about half the war rates.

All parties were inexpressibly shocked by the assassination of President Lincoln, the news being first made known at market on the morning of the 15th of April, and immediately afterward by the tolling of the central alarm bell, calling out the fire department and citizens. Business, which had begun for the day, at once ceased; manufactories closed, stores were shut, and without any concerted ac- tion, the people began draping their houses. Men with grief stricken faces gathered on the street, discussing the event. A notice calling a meeting at the State House was at once posted, and by nine o'clock thousands were assembled there. The troops stationed here were paraded, and marched with muffled drums and draped colors to the spot. The assas- sination and death of the President were officially made known, by the Governor, to the excited throng. Speeches were made in eulogy of the dead President by lead- ers of both parties, and resolutions adopted, pledging the support of the peo- ple to the government and incoming ad- ministration. The effect of the shock was so great that business did not recover its former tone and volume for several days afterward.

Toward the middle of April it was an- nounced that the President's body would be brought through this city on its way to Springfield. Meetings were held, and ar- rangements made to give a suitable ex- pression of the respect entertained by the people for his memory. The city Council endorsed the movement on the 17th of April, invited the authorities of Cincin- nati and Louisville, and voted to defray the expenses. Many arches, beautifully decorated and draped, were thrown across the streets on the line of the contemplated procession. Festoons of black, bound with wreaths of evergreens and immor- telles, were stretched at regular intervals across the streets, and from house to house. Many thousand yards of black and white fabrics, and car loads of ever- greens, were thus used on the streets, and on the State House and other public build- ings. All business houses and nearly all the dwellings in the city were more or less draped and ornamented, many of the decorations being very beautiful. Pic-

tures and busts of the dead President, furled and draped flags, wreaths of ever- greens, mottoes and shields, were dis- played everywhere, until the appearance of the city was startlingly transformed, The State House, under the rotunda of

which the remains were to lie in state, was profusely and tastefully decorated, being wreathed with black and white, trimmed with evergreens and flowers, in- side and out. The hall was lined with black, relieved by stars, flower wreaths, pictures, busts and flags. The gate en- trance was occupied by a beautiful quad- ruple arch, profusely draped and covered with mottoes. The fence all round the square was covered with festoons of ever- greens and flowers. It was said by par- ties accompanying the cortege, that the decorations here were more extensive and beautiful than those at any other place on the route.

The arrangements were completed late at night on the 29th of April, and the fu- neral cortege arrived by special train early on the 30th. A great civic and mil- itary funeral procession had been ar- ranged, and extensive preparations made for the visitors from other parts of the State, who were to come by special trains. These arrangements were defeated, and the crowd greatly lessened, by a cold, heavy rain, beginning on the night of the 29th and lasting all the next day. The President's remains, removed from the train early in the morning, and placed on a large funeral car built for the purpose, were taken under military escort to the State House, where, during this and a part of the next day, they were visited by many thousand persons, who, regardless of the driving storm, patiently waited their turn for hours, in long lines before the building.

The decorations, though badly injured by the rain, were allowed to remain stand- ing for nearly a month, when they were removed, and the materials sold by order of the Council.

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Logan's Indianapolis directory, 1868, Part 58

Author: Publication date: 1868 Publisher: Logan Number of Pages: 416

Author:
Publication date: 1868
Publisher: Logan
Number of Pages: 416