USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Vol I > Part 30
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THE COMING OF NATURAL GAS.
The election of 1899 was not one of any great interest. The mayoralty contest was between Frank Vincent and B. W. Ladd. Vincent beat Ladd by more than a three-to-one vote, he receiving 1,311 votes, and Ladd 388. For councilmen, William Pells was unanimously elected in the first ward. In the second ward Charles N. Payne won over J. R. Campbell: in the third ward J. B. Baxter had no opposition ; in the fourth ward Henry W. Wilson had no opposition; in the fifth ward Charles Crawford won over J. W. Schoenifield: in , the sixth ward Charles Brown and Harless Rayle were the candidates, and Brown was elected. Harry E. Holaday was elected city clerk. Charles J. Noyes was elected police judge, and E. Hedden won over D. E. Benedict for city marshal. J. V. Clymer was unanimously chosen city attorney.
One of the first things done by this council was, the granting of a fran- chise to E. H. Hoag to use the streets and alleys of the city to pipe natural
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gas into this city from the gas fields of southeastern Kansas. During this year the start toward a city library was made, the council granting the use of rooms in the city building for a library and reading rooms. There were a limited number of volumes of books, mostly donated, at the be- ginning of the library; but it was a start from which grew the present city library, with an ample building on North Main street and a levy annually to buy new books and to maintain the library. It was the beginning of one of the most helpful enterprises of the kind ever started in Hutchinson. This small start created sufficient interest in a public library to secure the passage of a resolution submitting the question of voting a half-mill tax to support the library at the next city election.
In the election of 1900, "Kirkpatrick" and "Davis" were candidates for mayor. The city clerk evidently was so busy that he did not put down either candidate's initials, and nowhere in the records do the initials of the successful candidate, Mr. Kirkpatrick, appear. In the second ward, H. Schlaudt was elected councilman : in the third ward, W. H. Wilson was the successful candidate : in the fourth ward, Samuel Carey was elected: in the fifth ward, W. N. Baker was elected, in the fifth ward, C. L. Vaughn was the successful candidate, and J. P. Shunk was chosen to represent the sixth ward. Harry Holaday was elected city clerk; E. Hedden, city marshal, and W. H. Lewis, city attorney. The proposition to vote a tax of one mill to support a free city library was defeated by a small majority, but its sup- porters went to work more enthusiastically to create sentiment for another submission of the vote and the council fixed May 12, 1900, as the date of a special election. . At this special election the proposition carried by 277 majority.
CITY'S FINANCES IN A BAD WAY.
In the latter part of the year 1900 the city entered into a contract with L. A. Bigger to refund the bonded indebtedness of the city, then amounting to one hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars, and reduce the interest on the bonds from six per cent. to five per cent. It was some time before the contract was carried out. The city's finances were in a bad way. the city paying out annually more than it was receiving in taxes. It was running behind so badly that during this year the council met with the Commercial Club of the city to find some way of keeping the city's credit good, keep the city script from selling below par and to generally improve the financial con- dition of the city treasury. The refunding plan proposed by Mr. Bigger
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was a step toward getting the city on a basis where it could pay its operating expenses without issuing script.
The city's financial condition became an issue in the city election. It was asserted that the city administration showed its inability to handle the city's finances, and that some others should be put into the office to put the city on a proper basis. So, on this issue, began a series of political cam- paigns that lasted for years, between J. P. Harsha, the mayor at the time, and F. L. Martin. The contest ran over several years, until the returning of better times financially, when higher values for real estate and the resultant receipt of more money in taxes settled the controversy, and the contest be- tween the two factions represented by these two men was settled by events outside the control of either faction or either of the men involved. The final arrangements for this refunding plan proposed by Mr. Bigger were closed up on March 30, 1901, the council agreeing to pay Mr. Bigger $7.843 for his services in securing the reduction of the interest on the outstanding bonds of sixty-two thousand dollars.
The election of April 5, 1901, resulted in the election of Frank L. Mar- tin. His opponent was Willis N. Baker, who became the first of the candi- dates who alternated with Martin in the mayoralty of Hutchinson for a few years. William Pells was elected councilman for the first ward: B. W. Ladd was chosen from the second ward: L. D. Pollock received a majority of the votes in the third ward ; \. E. Asher, receiving six more votes than his oppo- nent, A. N. Bountz, was chosen in the fourth ward: Charles Crawford re- ceived a majority of the votes for the short term in the fifth ward, and Walter Kile for the long term; O. Suttle was unanimously elected council- man from the sixth ward, and E. I. Parks was chosen to represent the sixth ward in the city administration. C. J. Noyes was elected police judge. The council confirmed the following appointments of the mayor: City clerk. George S. Bourne : city attorney, H. S. Lewis; city marshal, Frank Nicholson.
MUNICIPALIZATION PROJECT FAILED.
Among the first things done by this council was the granting of a fran- chise to J. S. Bellamy and W. E. Burns for the erection and maintenance of a telephone system in the city.
This council began negotiations with the Water, Light and Power Com- pany for the purchase of the plant by the city. A resolution to that effect was passed on October 4, 1901, setting forth the conditions upon which the city would enter negotiations for the purchase of the plant, among which
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was one setting out that the city should not be required to pay cash. but should be allowed to pay for the plant by an issue of bonds not to bear more than four per cent. interest : the city also to have the right to employ an expert to place a valuation on the plant. The city further specified that the price paid must be such that the assured income of the plant would pay for the interest on the purchase price, and that the bond issue should gradually supplant all hydrant rentals. In furtherance of this plan the city employed C. H. Evans, a Chicago engineer, to place a value on the waterworks plant. Evans made his report to the council on January 4, 1902, in which he placed the total value of the plant at $267, 160.71, this exclusive of the real-estate value, and of the value of the franchise, or business, which he placed at $100,000 additional. His report favored the purchase of the plant, he claiming that the net profits to the city would be $14.700 a year. to which. he claimed. should be added the saving of foreign administration, and that the saving of state and county taxes would increase the net earnings to SI8.724.03. But nothing ever came of this effort to purchase the water plant and operate it as a municipal plant. The agitation was kept up for a while. but it soon died down.
The election held on April 4, 1902, resulted in the selection of the fol- lowing for councilmen : First ward, A. E. Asher ; second ward, John Sev- erance : third ward. W. H. Wislon, long term, and C. S. Woods, short term: fourth ward. F. G. Delano. for the long term, and A. W. Eagan, for the unexpired term : fifth ward. C. L. Vaughn; sixth ward. Chester O'Neal.
CARNEGIE LIBRARY OFFER ACCEPTED.
On June 2, 1902. the city received an offer from Andrew Carnegie to erect a fifteen-thousand-dollar building for a public library, on condition that the city provide fifteen hundred dollars a year for the support of the library. The council promptly accepted Mr. Carnegie's offer, and the public library was soon an established institution in Hutchinson.
Considerable extension of the sewers of the city was made during this year, although a policy of retrenchment was the one that governed the coun- cil. the aim being to try and get the city on a cash basis. As was referred to in an earlier part of this chapter, the contest over mayor was begun and was continued in the election held on April 7. 1903. The vote on mayor at this election showed a majority of 329, Martin receiving 1.638 votes, and Harsha. 2,555. The councilmen elected were: First ward. C. W. Oswald; second ward. J. R. Campbell: third ward. John Blair; fourth ward, Henry
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Hartman; fifth ward, Samuel Hirst; sixth ward, James Hetlinger. W. R. Underwood was elected police judge. S. F. Johnson was chosen city clerk ; A. C. Malloy, city attorney, and James Coleman, city marshal.
In the election held on April 8, 1904, the following were elected council- men : First ward. M. 1. Hults ; second ward, L. A. Beebe ; third ward, L. F. Morris: fourth ward, F. G. Delano; fifth ward, Frank MeDermed; sixth ward, Chester O'Neal. There were no changes made in the appointive offi- ces of the city.
SOME INTERESTING FINANCIAL EXPEDIENTS.
The police judge's report for this year, as for other years during the time the "joint licensing" policy was adopted by the council, showed monthly fines running from seven hundred to one thousand dollars. But despite re- ceipts added to the taxable income of the city, the council proceedings are full of plans of that body to raise more money. Expedients of all sorts were resorted to. Levies were made for purposes for which no money was spent. and then the money received by taxation for those purposes was transferred from those several funds to the general fund. The judgment fund and the sinking fund were the most prolific sources of increased revenue. Instead of applying on the bonds as they matured the money that was derived from levies to pay off bonds, the councils of these years of licensing of joints, by resolution, would transfer the money so raised to the general fund and keep it to pay the expenses of the city. The bill for extra police caused by reason of the joints that were allowed to run, more than absorbed the revenue from the joints; in addition, these councils were extravagant in the extreme in their expenditures and the city finances were in a poor shape.
The clection held on April 4. 1905, was a warnily contested one. There were three candidates: J. P. Harsha, A. W. McCandless and J. C. Shatton. The first two were running on independent tickets, the latter being the Socialist candidate Harsha was elected. In the first ward C. W. Oswald was elected member of the council: J. E. Hostettler, in the second ward : John Blair, third: W. S. Thompson, fourth; C. Howard, fifth, and E. I. Parks. sixth. W. R. Underwood was elected city clerk : Joe Riggs was appointed city marshal: S. F. Johnson, city clerk, and A. C. Malloy, city attorney.
The ordinance calling for the paving of Main street was passed by the council of the preceding year, but the contract for the paving was made by the council of 1905. During this year the street was paved from Avenue D to Fifth avenue, with bitulitic. This was the first pavement put down in
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Hutchinson. Sherman street, west, was the next pavement to be put down, then Sherman street, east. Avenue AA was also paved soon after the pave- ments of the other streets named had been put down.
CONSTRUCTION OF DRAINAGE DITCH.
During this year the city dug a big drainage ditch from Cow creek to the river. It cost the city over thirty thousand dollars. It was the purpose of this ditch to take the water from Cow creek, above the town, with the view to preventing flood waters from coming through the business part of the town. This canal has helped carry water off in ordinarily "high-water" periods. But there have been no such floods as swept over the city in 1877 or in 1903 since it was dug. At the present time the ditch has grown up in weeds and willows and filled up with sand blowing into it and washing into it with every rain, so that at the present time it would be of very little value to the city in flood time, such as covered Hutchinson in either of the two big foods that have come down Cow creek.
This council also brought on a controversy with the Water. Light and Power Company that was very unfortunate. It is probable, looking at the controversy years afterward, that there was a great deal of personal animos- ity governing some of the council members in their dealing with the water- works company, that contentious members of the council allowed their per- sonal feelings to bias their judgment of the rights of both the water company and the city; as a result, the water company cut off the electric street lights. This forced the council to "back up" from some of their positions and offer to deal with the waterworks company. The whole controversy was un- called for, but was settled later when the water company changed hands and a new council was elected that had no personal animosities to vent.
FRANCHISE GRANTED ELECTRIC STREET-CAR LINE.
On December 15. 1905. the council granted a franchise for an electric street-car line in Hutchinson. The franchise was given to Hutchinson men, and these men later bought the old street-car line. The men to whom the franchise was given were Emerson Carey, K. E. Sentney, C. W. Williams, C. H. McBurney. A. W. Smith, and J. S. George, the first three named being those upon whom the burden of building the line would fall. The line today is owned by Emerson Carey, all the other members having retired from the company. Its lines have been extended as the city has grown, and has be-
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come a valuable factor in the city's ability to meet the demands of the people. Extensions are made as fast as traffic grows, and an adequate service is ren- dered the people of the city.
The election held on April 6, 1906, resulted as follows: Councilmen, first ward, J. H. Buettner : second ward, George T. Hern ; third ward, W. E. Long; fourth ward, Pet Nation; fifth ward. Frank MeDermed; sixth ward. Chester O'Neal. The council retained all of the former employees. Very little of general interest was accomplished during this year. Routine mat- ters occupied the time of the council. The city gradually increased in size. Financially its affairs were not bettered to any great extent : while the income from taxation was greatly increased, yet the expenditures of the city grew equally as fast as the income of the city.
In the election held April 5. 1907. J. P. Harsha was elected mayor over C. W. Oswald. A. C. Hoagland was chosen member of the council from the first ward; A. L. Barnes, from the second ward; John Blair, from the third: W. S. Thompson, from the fourth: John Craig, from the fifth, and E. I. Parks, from the sixth ward. W. R. Underwood was elected police judge, and Ed Metz was appointed city clerk.
On April 8, 1908, the city elected the following members of the council : First ward, J. H. Buettner ; second ward, George Hern; third ward, J. M. Mc Vay; fourth ward, Samuel Hirst: fifth ward, Frank McDermed: sixth ward. E. J. Canatsey.
COMMISSION FORM OF GOVERNMENT.
During this administration the city council passed an ordinance calling for a change in the form of the city government from that of mayor and council to that of a commission. This ordinance was unanimously passed on January 25. 1909, and the change was made on a petition to the council. The election was held on March 2, 1909, when the change was voted for. there being 970 votes cast for the proposition and 619 against the change.
CHAPTER XLVI.
HUTCHINSON AS A CITY OF THE FIRST CLASS.
Hutchinson changed the form of her city government on April 10, 1905, when the first city commissioners met. There had been many influences at work to bring about the change from council to commission. One of the most practical of these influences was the persistent policy of the council to "wink" at the violation of the prohibitory law. It was difficult to defeat the councilmen who saw the law-breaking and welcomed the revenue the monthly fines turned into the city treasury. While it would be difficult to determine, yet it is quite probable that the fines received into the city treas- ury never by far paid the increased cost of maintaining the peace of the city or paid for the expense of caring for those whom the open joint deprived of the earnings of those who patronized those joints. So an ouster pro- ceeding was brought against the last mayor under the council system. The case was heard in the supreme court, but the decision was delayed until the term of the mayor expired and in a technical sense he was not ousted for he was not in the office at the time the judgment of ouster was rendered by the supreme court of Kansas. The disclosure of that suit was the deciding element for the change in the form of city government. It also was a warning for mayors not only of Hutchinson, but of the entire state, that the persistent and continuous taking of fines from offenders without the jail sentence being also attached would be a matter that would subject the offender to a judgment of ouster for his office. The sentiment arising out of the continuous breach of the prohibitory law under the guise of license was also the cause of the passage of a law by the Legislature making the third conviction of the law a penitentiary offence.
So the new commission went into office. It had a plainly marked line to follow. It not only could not raise money from this source but it was prohibited from spending more money than it had on hands, derived by taxes. It cut down the extravagance of cities. They could not go in debt, as the councils of the past did: issue warrants until those warrants would not be accepted for service or merchandise, then vote bonds to take up those warrants and continue their old way of spending more than they had on
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hand. Economies were forced on the new commission that have been exceed- ingly wholesome, for in the "joint days" the extravagance of the council was increased when the police judge turned in his monthly report to the meeting of the council, the report of the big sums of money being turned over to the city treasury from funds collected during the month.
The first commission consisted of three men. the mayor and two men- bers. F. L. Martin was the first mayor and George W. Winans and C. W. Oswald the members. In the early part of their term they met every day. They were paid for their services, the mayor receiving seven hundred dollars a year; the members, each five hundred dollars. Their first act was the election of George Hern as city marshal and A. W. Tyler as city attorney : S. A. Poe, city clerk and R. A. Campbell, police judge. In the early part of their administration they ordered many miles of permanent sidewalks. The commissioners on June 14, 1909, ordered an election to vote on the question of issuing internal improvement bonds, the money to be spent in building a bridge at the corner of Avenue A and Main street. This elec- tion was held on June 29, 1909, and resulted in the bonds receiving eight hundred and forty-nine majority.
In July the commissioners undertook to get some return for the stock in the Missouri Pacific railroad that had been voted for the building of the road into the city. As a result of this action of the commissioners the railroad company paid twenty-nine thousand four hundred dollars for the stock issued by the city when the forty-nine-thousand-dollar bond issue was made to the road. This was the first time in the history of the county when any of the municipalities ever realized anything on the sale of the stock of a railroad corporation. This is all the more noticeable when the action of the Rock Island railroad is recalled. The Chicago, Kansas & Western railroad, the name under which the Rock Island was built across the county, issued one hundred and seventy thousand dollars worth of stock to Reno county for the bonds of the county for a like amount. As soon as the road was constructed the first payment of interest on the bonds of the company was defaulted and the Rock Island Company, which was in reality identical with the Chicago, Kansas and Western railroad, foreclosed on its bonds, made Reno county a party to the suit and wiped out the county's stock.
During this year Adam street from Avenue A to the Santa Fe Rail- road tracks was paved.
In the second election under the commission form of government. F. L. Martin and L. A. Bebee were candidates for mayor. Martin was elected
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by a majority of one hundred and sixty-seven votes. The city appointees remained the same as under the former administration.
On December 2. 1910, the board of commissioners passed a resolution, upon a request of a mass meeting of citizens of Hutchinson, to make this city a city of the first class, but they also declared that there was a doubt as to whether the city, if it should pass to a city of the first class, should continue under the commission form of government or revert to the council system, and that any action on the matter should be deferred until the Legislature met and had an opportunity to enact such laws as would be necessary to meet the exact situation of Hutchinson: so the matter of chang- ing to a city of the first class was deferred until the regular spring election. But on February 21, 1911, the city became a city of the first class by virtue of having a population of more than fifteen thousand people. In this election, held on April 4. 1911. there were two candidates for mayor, Frank Vin- cent and F. P. Hettinger. Vincent received 2,277 votes and Hettinger 1,928 votes: for the office of commissioner for two years, Frank McDermed and George W. Winan were candidates: for commissioner for one year. Sam S. Graybill and L. D. Pollock also ran. Being a city of the first class, the number of commissioners was increased from three to five. The city having voted bonds for a new city building that was to have also a public auditorium, the matter of location was taken up by the city com- missioners and the site located on Avenue A, over Cow creek and fronting Walnut street. The city building was officially named "Convention Hall". It has a seating capacity of four thousand two hundred and contains also all of the city offices. The corner stone was laid by William H. Taft, then President of the United States, on September 26, 1911. The building was erected at a cost of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars and has been in great demand when large audience room is needed. It is one of the chief assets of the city in offering a large auditorium for state conven- tions. It also is valuable in bringing a larger number of people together frequently and promoting a better feeling among all classes. Every Sunday afternoon the city's band gives a concert, without any charges and concerts of a high standard are rendered. People of all grades of life attend these concerts, the rich, the poor, white and black. Perhaps nothing has ever done as much to promote a kindlier feeling in the city, nothing has broken up the class feeling, nothing has promoted the general regard one for another, in the community as has this gathering that is supported by the city by taxation, in a building ample and free to all. without discrimination. without distinction. The Sunday afternoon concerts given by the munici-
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pal band also taxes the capacity of the building and its existence would be justified for these meetings alone, if the big auditorium was put to no other use.
The election of April 2, 1912, resulted in the election of Frank Vincent for mayor by a vote of 2,113 to that of 1.571 for C. D. Forby and 36 for W. W. Tamplin. R. H. Flynn and John F. Smith were elected commission- ers. J. Q. Patten was elected city marshal; Edward Metz continued as city clerk: Walter Jones, city attorney, and M. Hoagland, probate judge. The first session of the city commissioners in the new hall was held on May 3, 1912.
The primary election of 1913 was a hotly contested one. There were three candidates for mayor in the spring election and of these Lincoln S. Davis and I. S. Fontron were the two highest and became, by virtue of this fact, the candidates on the election. In this election Davis received 2,273 votes to Fontron's 2.781 votes. For finance commissioner, George W. Winans received 2,672 votes and Harry Ragland, 1,972 votes. For street commissioner J. B. Baird polled 2, 133 votes and J. E. Buskirk, 2,701 votes.
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