USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Valley of the upper Maumee River, with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Volume II > Part 46
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At this term it was ordered that the county of Allen be constituted as one township, and called the township of Wayne. John Tipton, county agent, was ordered to construct a pound, of suitable size, which appears to have been the first public building ordered on the public square, but the order was rescinded February 14, 1825. The board also ordered that the sheriff " advertise an election, to be held at the house of Alexander Ewing, if permitted; if not, at some other suitable place in the township of Wayne, for the election of three justices of the peace, on the first Monday in August next." They also selected thirty- six names from which to choose a grand jury, and forty-eight names from which to choose a petit jury for the circuit court. The board had powers now rarely assumed and fixed the first tavern rates as follows:
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For dinner, breakfast and supper, each, 25 cents; keeping horse, night and day, 50 cents; lodging, per night, 121/2 cents; whisky, per half-pint, 121/2 cents; brandy, per half-pint, 50 cents; gin, per half-pint, 371/2 cents; porter, per bottle, 371/2 cents; cider, per quart, 1834 cents. At the same session, the board fixed the following rates of assessment on personal property, for county purposes, for the year 1824: On every male person over the age of twenty-one years, 50 cents; horse, gelding, mare or mule, three years old and upward, each, 3772 cents; work oxen, three years old and upward, 1834 cents; stud horse, the rate at which he stands per season; gold watch, $1.00; silver watch, 25 cents; pinch- beck watch, 25 cents; pleasure carriage, four wheels, $1.50; pleasure carriage, two wheels, $1.00.
Gen. Tipton, who had been appointed agent for the county, an office long since abolished, had for part of his duties, the disposition of the land deeded to the county, in consideration for fixing the county seat. He was ordered to sell lots 8, 9, and 101 to 133, and 92 to 100 at public sale, and the report that he made shows that these valuable lots in the heart of the city sold for from $10.25 to $51 each. By subsequent or- ders he sold the remaining lots. Of the cash donation ten per cent. was appropriated for a county library, and $174 went to pay the county seat commissioners, and when Mr. Tipton retired from his office, he paid over to G. W. Ewing, his successor, $215.75, as the net amount collected up to that time. Some of this went to partly pay for the first jail.
On the first Monday of September, 1824, the county commissioners passed out of office under a law passed by the previous legislature which gave their powers to the justices of the peace of the townships, who were to sit in a body as the board of justices of the county. This cum- brous machinery transacted the county business until the fall of 1829, when the system of commissioners was again established. There being but one township at this time in Allen county, and only three justices elected for it, the law at first really made very little change in the trans- action of business. The justices who first came into power were Alex- ander Ewing, William N. Hood and William Rockhill, who met at Washington hall, on October 22, 1824, and adopted as their official seal a scrawl inclosing the initials, "B. C. J." One of the first acts of the board of county justices was to receive the report of Benjamin B. Kercheval and Samuel Hanna, who had, as representatives of Allen county, acted with representatives from counties south in surveying and locating the Winchester road, the first highway of the county, extending to Vernon, Jennings county.
At the January, 1825, session of the board, the county treasurer, Joseph Holman, presented the first exhibit of the condition of the county's finances as follows :
Total receipts from organization $437 9834
Total disbursements for same period. 406 40
Balance on hand. $31 5834
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ORGANIZATION OF ALLEN COUNTY.
Mr. Holman's report was submitted on the 5th day of January, 1825. The day following, William G. Ewing was appointed his successor for a term of one year. At the July session of that year, the following allow- ances were made:
To Allen Hamilton, sheriff, for six months' services, ending April 9, 1825, the sum of. $20 00 To Anthony L. Davis, for services as clerk of the board of justices and of the circuit court, for one
year, ending June 30, 1825. 45 00
To grand and petit jurors, each, per day. 50
Among the other interesting items to be gleaned fron the records of this body is the licensing the American fur company's Fort Wayne department, for the sum of $25, to vend foreign merchandise in the town for one year; an order in May, 1828, authorizing the clerk to pro- cure a seal for county business, and the fixing of rates for ferriage across the St. Mary's river, the license fee charged being $1 per year. On January 3, 1825, Adams township was set apart, to be bounded on the west by the line which divides ranges 12 and 13, and on the north by the " contemplated boundary line of Allen county." The financial show- ing made by Treasurer Ewing for the second year of the county's organic existence, was : total receipts, $283.31 ; paid out, $22.41 ; balance, $260.90. Thomas Forsythe was then appointed as the successor of Mr. Ewing.
In October, 1829, a new board of county commissioners came into power, composed of Nathan Coleman, William Caswell and James Hol- man, who had been elected at a special election on the 12th of that month. One of the first acts of this body was to fix the rate of taxation for 1830, at 40 cents on every hundred acres of first rate land, 30 cents on the same amount of second rate, and 20 cents on third rate.
By act of congress of May 31, 1830, the county acquired a right of pre-emption of twenty acres of the military reservation of forty acres and the county agent, then Francis Comparet, was authorized, at the October session of the board, to procure money by loan or otherwise sufficient to make the purchase, and he was empowered to " pledge the faith of the county therefor, if necessary." The purchase being made, the agent was ordered to lay off the land in lots, and he having made a plat of seventy lots, he sold them by authority of the board at prices that were reasonable for those times. The county agent had multifar- ious duties to perform, being called on by an order of the commissioners in August, 1831, to cause the cutting off of the brush and stumps from the public square, the work to be let to the lowest bidder at public sale. In the following March the agent was authorized to lease to James Wil- cox thirty feet front by fifty back at some remote corner of the public square; the rate being fixed, at the corner of Main and Calhoun, at $10 per year, at the corner of Main and Court, $8, and at the corner of Court and Perry or Barr $6. At a subsequent session, in 1834, the agent was authorized to lease to David Colerick, 25x40 feet at the
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northwest corner of the square, at $10 per year. These were neces- sary arrangements for the revenues of the county were extremely small, and not easily collected. The first legal notice ordered printed was directed to be published in the Fort Wayne Sentinel, January 6, 1834. In May, 1835, the rate of taxation for county purposes was fixed at 3373 cents of every $100 of property, for road purposes I cent per $100, and the poll tax was fixed at 75 cents. A bounty was fixed for the killing of wolves, in September, 1840, the financial condition of the county having by that time become such as to warrant such a procedure, in conjunction with the bounty offered by the state. The state having offered to pay the county 50 cents for each wolf scalp of an animal under six months old, and $I for those over that age, the board thereupon offered $3 apiece for scalps of wolves over six months old and $1.50 for those of wolves under six months. The expenses of the county were very light at that time, as appears from the record of an offier by G. W. Wood to do all the county advertising for one year from March, 1841, for $9.50. The offer was accepted.
On September 9, IS41, the board authorized the county agent to procure a seal for the board of commissioners, bearing the following device and letters: "A sheaf of wheat in an upright position with a sickle sticking therein; and, in the background, a field of corn with a reaper at work. And in a circle surrounding said device, the following words: 'Commissioners of Allen county, Ia. Seal.' The word seal to be in M. and the sheaf of wheat." At the session of December 8, 1841., an additional bounty for wolf scalps was offered, making $5 for a full- grown wolf, and $2.50 for every scalp of a half-grown wolf, killed in the county. Because of the progress made in building a new court-house, there was a necessity for removing the ob- structions on the public square, to put the area in a more presentable shape. The board, at the March term, 1843, directed the county agent to cause the buildings east of, and adjoining the, auditor's office, to be removed from the public square; also, the stable on the square; to grade the square, and grade and curb the sidewalks on Calhoun street.
For the use of the First Presbyterian church in Fort Wayne, the board at the June term, 1843, authorized the county agent to deed the trustees of the church, lot No. 63, in the county addition. In the following September, the board adopted a county seal, substantially that proposed by the county agent on September 9, 1841.
Public Buildings .- During the first few years following the organi- zation of the county, the courts were held in the primitive taverns, either that of William Suttenfield or at the famous Washington hall. The first step toward the erection of a building for the county offices and courts was taken by the county commissioners at the May session of 1831, when the clerk was ordered to advertise for bids on such a build- ing. Notice having been given, the board let the contracts for the building of a court-house to John S. Archer to furnish the brick, James
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ORGANIZATION OF ALLEN COUNTY.
Hudson to lay up the brick and furnish the lime and stone, and Hanna & Edsall to do the carpenter work and furnish all lumber, timber, nails, glass, etc., for the total amount of $3,321.75. The citizens of Fort Wayne subscribed $499 in material and labor, and $149 in cash. The rest was paid out of the county treasury. This building, which was ill adapted to the purposes contemplated, was never much more than a shell, with some of the rooms partially finished, while others were scarcely tenantable. The first meeting of court in this new edifice was on the 7th of May, 1832, just one year from the date of its original projection, though the building was not completed, as the record shows. After that date, however, it was nominally completed, but was never a substantial building, though used, in the absence of a better, until the fall of IS41, when, it having become apparent that the old building was totally unfit for the purpose and insufficient in capacity, action was taken by the board preparatory to the building of a new one. On the 9th of September, 1841, it was ordered that an allowance be made to A. Miller for the best draft or plan for a court-house, the cost not to exceed $15,000. This draft had been drawn by Porter & Rice, of Hudson, Ohio, as architects for Miller, and in answer to an advertisement by the commissioners for drafts and plans.
The county agent was then authorized to sell the first court-house to the highest bidder, the building to be removed from the public square in thirty days after the sale. It appears that no purchaser was found, for on December 8, 1841, the board ordered that John Spencer be allowed the sum of $300 and the old court-house, for his building on the public square, the court-house to be removed one year from this date. During the existence of the old building, and after it became unfit for occupancy, a one-story edifice, designed as a temporary court-house, was built on the southeast corner of the square, fronting on Berry street, in the sum- mer of 1843, the contract for which was let by the county board on the IIth of March of that year, to Benjamin Mason, Charles French and John Ocanour. The price was not named, the order stating that it should be suitable for one court room and two offices. At the same time a further order was made for a building to be put on the northeast corner of the public square, to be used as offices for the treasurer and auditor. The old clerk's office was on the northwest, and the recorder's office on the southwest, corner of the square.
The new court-house in contemplation at that time, the second one built in the county, was a two-story brick building, and was completed by Samuel Edsall, the contractor, in 1847. It served for a decade be- fore there was a demand for more room. This demand was so strong by the time of meeting of the commissioners in June, 1858, that they made a levy of 15 cents on every $100 for the purpose of providing for a new court-house. By this levy $7,183.56 was collected, and then an . additional levy of 20 cents was ordered, which brought in the sum of $12,271.03. Plans were advertised for in 1859, and finally at a special session in July, 1859, the board purchased the plans of Edwin May and
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Samuel McElfatrick, and paid each of those architects $100, discover- ing in each plan desirable features. At another special session in August, the board adopted the plan of Edwin May, by a majority vote, T. M. Andrews dissenting, and Mr. May was subsequently appointed superin- tending architect. The bids on the construction of the proposed edifice were opened January 12, 1860, and it was found that there were thir- teen of them, the estimates varying from $62,700 to $94,000. The contract was awarded to Samuel Edsall, Virgil M. Kimball, Oehmig Bird and Lewis Walkie, at their bid of $63,613 under the name of Samuel Edsall & Co. Two months later Mr. May was discharged from the supervision of the work, and that position was given to Samuel Mc- Elfatrick. This gentleman officially announced to the commissioners on July 23, 1862, that the building was completed, and it was then officially accepted. The final settlement of the account of the contractors was made by J. K. Edgerton, E. R. Wilson, J. L. Williams, I. D. G. Nelson and Pliny Hoagland, showing that the contractors had been paid $74,271. Added to this were other expenses, which made the house cost the county in the aggregate about $78,000. This imposing building is still- used by Allen county, and though less expensive than some built by counties of much less population and wealth, it is still a substantial building.
The first public building for which the commissioners provided was one for which no private building could be made available, a jail for the confinement. of the unruly members of society. Not only these, but unfortunate debtors in those days found lodgment in the jail occa- sionally. In he first jail, built in the public square in 1825, by the con- tractors, David Irwin, Robert Douglass and William N. Hood, there were two rooms, the lower one for criminals and the upper for debtors. Three years later glass was put in the debtor's room for lights, and the room was plastered for the first time. This pioneer jail stood on the southwest corner of the public square until it was destroyed by fire in 1847. A high board fence surrounded it to add to the difficulties of escape, and attached to the building was the residence of the sheriff. In 1847 a lot, No. 518, had been purchased as a site for a new jail, but this was sold and another, the one upon which the present jail stands, was bought in June, 1847. An election was held in that year by which the people decided in favor of a new jail by a vote of 1,192 to 332. A levy of 20 cents on the $100 was made on the assessments of 1848 and 1849, and the building was erected at a cost of $4,955-34, in the spring of 1850. Steps were taken toward the erection of a new jail, the one now in use, in 1872. On October 4th, the auditor was ordered by the commissioners to advertise for bids for the erection of a sheriff's residence and county jail, the work to be commenced March I, 1873, and completed October 1, 1874. On December 5th, the con- tract was awarded to Christian Boseker, on his bid of $81,498, and the building was constructed accordingly. It is a fire-proof structure, sub- , stantial and commodious.
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ORGANIZATION OF ALLEN COUNTY.
The County Infirmary .- It appears from the record of the commis- sioners made in 1834 that a building had been furnished for the poor, and a farm for them to reside upon. In that year William Rockhill was appointed as superintendent of the poor-house and poor-farm, and au- thorized to select a suitable person to take charge of the place. On the 6th of January following the poor-farm was let for six years to Jeremiah Bowers, he to take care of the poor, and clear twenty-five acres of land, eighteen inches and under, and make a fence six rails high and "double rider" the same, for $2 per week. In June, 1853, the county purchased the northeast quarter, and the west half of the southeast quarter and the east half of the east half of the northwest quarter of sec- tion 29, in Wayne township, for a poor farm, and a contract was made with John A. Robinson for the building of a suitable house for $750. To this an addition worth $300 was built in the following year. At this new farm George L. Parker was the first to whom the place was let, and he was paid $600. In July, 1860, a new and better plan was adopted, and James M. Reed was appointed superintendent of the asy- lum for a period of two years, on a plan similar to that now followed. It was soon discovered, however, that the buildings were insufficient and the farm too remote from the city, and in September, 1863, plans for a new building were purchased. And in December, a tract of land on the west side of the St. Mary's, near Beaver's mill, was purchased of Robert E. Fleming for $50 per acre. On this land the new building was erected by David J. Silvers, the contractor, who had been the builder of the court-house. He completed the structure in the spring of 1865, and was paid for the same $15,676.12. Other buildings have been added for the greater convenience of caring for the county's wards, and the manage- ment of the institution has been creditable to the benevolence of Allen county.
Aid to Improvements .- The county has as an organization, as well as through the munificence of individuals, contributed to the improvement of the country by furnishing gradually better routes of transportation as commerce and its necessities grew toward their present ample pro- portions. The first action taken by the board, as has been seen, was toward the improvement of the Winchester road, leading toward Ran- dolph county, which just previous to the organization of Allen county, embraced the latter. The county board also had jurisdiction of the fer- ries, then important on account of the greater volume of the rivers, and various persons were licensed to keep ferries at the points of crossing, under the regulations of the state laws on the subject. At the April session of the board, 1851, it considered the propriety of subscribing for stock in the proposed Ohio & Indiana railroad, now a part of the Pitts- burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago system. The people had voted on the subject, and the result had been 1,647 in favor of a county subscription and 334 opposed. The commissioners consequently made a subscrip- tion for $100,000, and Samuel Hanna was appointed as agent of Allen county, to execute the coupons or interest warrants. Subsequently,
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Auditor Robert Starkweather was given this latter duty to perform. To pay the interest on the railroad bonds to be issued by the county, a levy of 20 cents on $100 valuation was made, which was followed in 1852, by another levy of 22 cents. The special agent of the county, for the transaction of business connected with the railroad, with power to vote at meetings of stock-holders, was, first, Robert S. Fleming, then Pliny Hoagland, and then Oehmig Bird. In 1855, Franklin P. Randall was appointed, who held the position until 1861, when Byron D. Minor was appointed, and soon afterward W. W. Carson was associated with him for the final disposition of the stock. Mr. Randall reported in June, 1856, that he had received 351 shares of stock, which was the interest on the stock owned by the county, up to January 1, 1855, and that there was still due the county, interest from that time to the date of the report, about $9,000, making of interest paid and due, $26,550. Mr. Randall, by order of the board, voted for the consolidation of the roads, and sub- sequently reported that he had received of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago railroad company, 2,000 shares for the original subscription and 796 shares for the interest due. After the re-organization, by which process the stock was greatly depreciated in value, agents Carson and Minor were ordered to sell the stock at as advantageous terms as pos- sible, and they reported in March, 1863, that they had sold $39,800 worth for $24,830.75, but did not feel justified in selling the remaining $100,000 worth at prices ranging from 55 to 67 cents, without instruc- tions from the board. Finally the county transferred to Samuel Hanna the $100,000 worth of stock in exchange for $87,000 worth of bonds of the county.
Financial Statistics .- The auditor's annual report, showing the financial condition of Allen county, for the year ending May 31, IS89, shows that the cash in the treasury June 1, 1888, amounted to $243,969.57; to which was added the treasurer's receipts for the fiscal year, $499,078.66. The total outgo, reckoning in this item a small amount of orders afloat, was $514,524.69. In the expenditures a considerable amount represents payment in part for improvements, such as gravel roads, bridges, and other debts incurred, for part of which bonds are extant. The debt statement is: Bonded debt, June 1, 1888, $185,000; bonds redeemed since June 1, 1888, $15,000; bonded debt June 1, 1889, $170,000. The total valuation of the property of the county for purposes of taxation is $26,414,330. It will be interesting to quote here the expenditures for county purposes for each fiscal year ending May 31st, since 1840. During the war period there were also heavy expenditures for bounty and relief, and the figures cited for recent years are those which occur in the auditor's report under the title, "county orders issued." In 1840 the total expenditure for county purposes was $4,606.82; 1841, $3,413.00; IS42, $5,963.60; 1843, $6,255.18; 1844, $9,170.29; 1845, $8, 154.48; 1846, $6,825,57; 1847, $7,050.12; 1848, $6,857.07; 1849, $7,496.77; 1850, $10,988.08; 1851, $7,441.74; 1852, $10,904.76; 1853, $10,310.93; 1854, $22,059.78; 1855, $17,568.87; 1856, $19,484.46;
.
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ORGANIZATION OF ALLEN COUNTY. '
1857, $16,025.53; 1858, $20,329.86; 1859, $23,587.29; 1860, $25,447.68; 1861, $38,390.69; 1862, $72,972.25; 1863, $53,237.74; 1864, $48,- 707.54; 1865, $57,118.00; 1867, $59,335.03; 1868, $157,050.52; 1869, $109,731.63; 1870, $102,601.25; 1871, $115,552.17; 1872, $125,079.91; 1873, $117,108.32; 1874, $222,855.51; 1875, $137,770.47; 1876, $118,428.25; 1877, $138,689.94; 1878, $147,644.69; 1879, $141,930.58; 1880, $172,985.17; 1881, $172,449.26; 1882, 188,350.32; 1883, $231,- 115.39; 1884, $187,811.98; 1885, $182, 115.32; 1886, $161,981.47; 1887, $137,548.91; 1888, $141,233.68.
County Officers from the Organization of Allen County .- Clerks of the circuit court: 1824, Anthony L. Davis; 1830, Robert N. Hood; 1831, Allen Hamilton; 1839, Philip G. Jones; 1845, Robert E. Fleming; 1853, Joseph Sinclair; 1854, I. D. G. Nelson; 1863, William Fleming; 1871, William S. Edsall; 1875, Frank H. Wolke; 1879, M. V. B. Spen- cer; 1882, Willis D. Maier; 1886, George W. Loag.
Auditors: 1824, Anthony L. Davis; 1830, Robert N. Hood; 1831, Allen Hamilton; 1839, Philip G. Jones; 1841, Samuel S. Morss; 1845, Henry W. Jones; 1850, Robert Starkweather; 1857, John B. Blue; 1857, Francis L. Furst; 1861, G. F. Stinchcomb; 1865, Henry J. Rudisill; 1873, William S. Abbott; 1877, Martin E. Argo; 1882, A. L. Griebel; 1886, John B. Niezer.
Treasurers: IS24, Joseph Holman; 1825, William G. Ewing; 1826, Thomas Forsythe; 1827, Thomas Thorpe; 1829, John Forsythe; 1829, L. G. Thompson; 1832, Benjamin Cushman; 1833, Joseph Holman; 1834, Thomas W. Swinney; 1839, Samuel Hanna; 1840, George F. Wright; 1841, Theodore K. Breckenridge; 1847, S. M. Black; 1850, Thomas T. DeKay; 1852, Oehmig Bird; 1836, Alexander Wiley; 1860, Oliver R. Jefferds; 1862, Alexander Wiley; 1866, Henry Monning; 1870, John Ring; 1874, Michael Schmetzer; 1879, John M. Taylor; 1883, John Dalman; 1887, Isaac Mowrer.
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