USA > Michigan > Cass County > A twentieth century history of Cass County, Michigan > Part 22
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.A few words should be said about the work of the Grange in general. The Grange was one of the most active forces behind pure food legislation in Michigan, and to its efforts-to give only one ex- ample-is due the fact that oleomargarine must be labeled with its true name, and not as butter. The Grange has more or less actively entered the field of commerce. In some counties "Grange Stores" have been established and successfully conducted. In Cass county they have not been so successful.
The Grange claims to be the father of rural free delivery. Cer-
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
tainly it has used its influence nowhere to better advantage, for free delivery in the country is now conceded to be the greatest boon that has come to the farmer. It has brought him in touch with the world and more than anything else has made obsolete the term "countrified" as applied to the tiller of the soil. And this is in direct line with the pur- poses of the Grange.
CASS COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
With the celebration of the Cass county fair in September of this year ( 1906) will be rounded out a period of fifty-five years since the first fair in the county and the above organization came into existence. The society was organized in the spring of 1851, and the first fair held in the following fall. Justus Gage was president and George B. Turner secretary during the first year. The society held annual fairs from its organization up to 1884. Since that time no fairs have been held by the society. One year ago a new organization was effected and held a successful fair.
The Agricultural Society has been unfortunate in its choice of location, which three times has been changed owing to the exercise of "the right of eminent domain." Until 1857 the fairs were held on Samuel Graham's land at Cassopolis. Then fair grounds were bought and laid out near where the Air Line depot is. The Peninsular (Grand Trunk) railroad had the right of way, ran through the grounds and the society was compelled to move, but at once got in the road of the Air Line, having purchased the grounds on which is Forest Hall on the shore of Diamond lake, and had to abandon its second location. In 1871 the society bought twenty acres of land of Samuel Graham in the north part of the village at a cost of $3,000. This location was also interfered with a few years ago when the railroad was surveyed and graded in a northwesterly direction across the county.
During the years the society held its fairs it succeeded in paying off all its indebtedness, but to do so life memberships were sold to many of the patrons. This cut down the receipts at the 1884 fair, so that there was not money enough to pay the premiums. Money was borrowed for that purpose, and a mortgage given on the grounds to secure the loan. In time foreclosure proceedings were begun and the village of Cass- opolis bought the land and now owns it.
VOLINIA FARMERS' CLUB.
Most notable, in many respects, of all the farmers' organizations
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
was the Volinia Farmers' Club, which was organized in 1865 for the purpose of increasing "the knowledge of agriculture and horticulture" among its members and which held annual fairs in Volinia that were occasions of widespread interest and yearly anticipation, and of in- estimable value in raising the agricultural and stock standards of the locality. The first officers of the club were B. G. Buell, president : A. B. Copley and John Struble, vice presidents; F. E. Warner, treasurer ; H. S. Rogers, secretary. Of the older and original members John Huff and William Erskin are probably the only ones now living. Prom- inent among the members now deceased were H. S. Rogers, secretary for many years; M. J. Gard, father of the present county treasurer ; B. G. Buell, Levi Lawrence, Benjamin Hathaway, I. N. Gard, M. B. Goodenough, Dr. Thomas, J. W. Eaton and James S. Shaw.
The club met once a month, and the annual fair was held in the fall on the I. N. Gard farm, and once on the Buell farm. The fair was an agricultural and stock display, at which no premiums except ribbons were offered, and everyone had a right to exhibit. The expenses were met largely by a small individual fee upon the members and by rental of booths. There were running races, but the horse racing feature was not developed to the exclusion of all other interests. A big tent was used to shelter some of the displays and to provide quarters for other indoor features. The fair lasted two days and drew its attendance from all the country round.
VOLINIA AND WAYNE ANTI-HIORSE THIEF SOCIETY.
This organization, begun in 1852, and still maintained among the farmers of the two townships named, provides the effective restraint upon horse thieves with which nearly every agricultural community has at some time been troubled. There are about one hundred members of the society, although the maintenance of the organization is the only business of importance transacted. The society has always, succeeded in recovering captured animals, and its record is the best justification of its existence. The meetings of the society are held at Crane's school- house in Volinia. At organization the charter membership included eleven men, and was then confined to Volinia township, but member- ship was later extended to Wayne township. The first officers were Isaac Waldron, chairman: George Newton, secretary; Jonathan Gard. treasurer.
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OLD COURT HOUSE, CASSOPOLIS.
1
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
CHAPTER XIV.
THE COURT HOUSE AND OTHER COUNTY INSTITUTIONS.
The contest between Cassopolis and other villages for the location of the county seat has been elsewhere described. For five or six years after the organization of the county there was no fixed home for the transaction of official business. The first courts and the first meetings of the boards of supervisors were held at Edwardsburg, and later in private houses in Cassopolis. \ jail was the first consideration with the supervisors. This having been completed, the board, in the fall of 1835, provided for the erection, on the west side of Broadway, north of York street, of a wooden building. 34 by 24 feet in dimensions, costing not to exceed four hundred and fifty dollars, the same to be used for a court house and "to contain desks for judges and bar." The late Joseph Harper took the contract for the erection of this court house, and it was ready for occupancy May 1, 1835. This first court house. it is seen, was not on the public square and stood well to the north end of the original village.
However, the court house with which most of the old inhabitants of Cass county are familiar is the building which now stands on the south side of State street, west, and is used as a storage house. Its classic lines, its solid columns, combining the effects of the Greek tem- ple with Colonial residences, indicate that in its better days it was a more pretentious structure and sheltered affairs of larger importance than it now does. For more than half a century this building, which is pictured on another page, stood on the northeast quarter of the public square, and within its walls transpired the official actions which accompanied Cass county's progress from pioneer times to the close of the last century.
The "Court House Company" constructed this court house. The members of that company were the well known citizens, Darius Shaw, Joseph Harper. Jacob Silver, Asa Kingsbury and A. H. Redfield. In August, 1839. they entered into a contract with the county commis- sioners, David Hopkins, Henry Jones and James W. Griffin to erect a court house 54 feet in length and 46 feet in width and 24 feet high
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
from sills to eaves, the material to be of wood, except the large brick vault ; the first story to be fitted for office rooms and the second story to form the court and jury rooms. Six thousand dollars was the price agreed upon for putting up such a building, one-third of this sum to be paid in cash and the remainder in village lots, which the original own- ers had given to the county in consideration of the locating of the county seat at Cassopolis.
The Court House Company discharged their duties in strict con- formance with specifications, and the building was ready for use in 1841, according to contract. Nearly sixty years elapsed from this date until the stone building now in use was completed and accepted for court house purposes. The old building early became inadequate for the accommodation of all the county officers, and in 1860 the offices of clerk, judge of probate, register of deeds and treasurer were trans- ferred to a brick building specially erected by the board of supervisors on the northwest quarter of the square, where they remained until the completion of the court house six years ago. The building, com- monly called the "Fort," is now used for a laundry. It was built by Maj. Joseph Smith.
TIIE PRESENT COURT HOUSE.
The building of the court house which now adorns the public square in Cassopolis has a history such as few buildings of the kind in Michigan possess, and in a permanent record of the county it is proper to prepare an adequate and accurate account of the events and circumstances connected with the erection of this building.
October 19, 1897, at the regular session of the board of super- visors, Mr. C. H. Kimmerle introduced a preamble and resolutions which was the first effective move toward the construction of a suita- ble county building. After reciting the facts that the old court house was "inadequate for the accommodation of business and was becoming old and dilapidated," and that the records of the county were "crowded into small and inconvenient rooms in a separate building unprotected from fire and theft" (referring to the office quarters that had been built in 1860), it was resolved to construct a court house costing not to ex- ceed forty thousand dollars, "such building to be fireproof and of suffi- cient capacity to accommodate all the county officers, the board of supervisors and the circuit court."
The hoard deferred the consideration of the original resolution
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
until the January session, and on January 6, 1898, the board adopted, by a vote of 14 to 4, an amended motion whose salient provisions were the following : The sum of forty thousand dollars, which was to cover the entire cost of the building, including furniture, plumbing, heating apparatus, was to be raised by loan secured and evidenced by four hundred bonds of the county of one hundred dollars each, bearing in- terest at the rate of four per cent per annum and payable as follows- the first eighty on January 15, 1899; and eighty on the 15th of January each year thereafter until all were paid.
The resolution also provided that the proposition should be re- ferred to the people at the township elections, and it will be of interest to record the vote as cast for and against this proposition by the various townships of the county. The total vote was 5011, and a majority of 229 was cast in favor of the new court house. The tabulated vote is as follows :
Yes.
No.
Marcellus
174
335
Volinia
59
222
Wayne
44
153
Silver Creek
81
145
Pokagon
II2
157
La Grange
507
38
Penn
189
153
Newberg
142
192
Porter
I30
151
Calvin
177
104
Jefferson
135
39
Howard
83
125
Milton
52
54
Ontwa
108
77
Mason
92
74
Dowagiac, Ist ward
199
I41
Dowagiac. 2nd ward
172
108
Dowagiac, 3rd ward
164
123
2620
2391
The old court house was soon sold to the highest bidder, George M. Kingsbury being awarded the sale at $25, conditioned on his re- moving the building from the court house site and giving the use of the building for county purposes until the new structure was finished.
The committee on specifications, consisting of six supervisors and
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
one outsider, was first made up of the following: Supervisors* Huntley, White, Breece, Phillips. Beeman, Lindsley and Mr. David L. Kings- bury.
The building committee consisted of Supervisors Kimmerle, Hunt- ley. Lindsley, Motley and Mr. Kingsbury.
The finance committee, as first made up, were Supervisors White, Atwood and Gard.
D. B. Smith was elected local superintendent of construction, and on October 5, 1898, the corner stone of the building was laid by the local lodge of Masons.
In the meantime the committees had been called upon to consider the bids of the various contractors-and there were at least half a dozen applying for the contract-and on July 15, 1898, the contract was awarded to J. E. Gibson of Logansport, Ind., on the basis of the following letter: "I, the undersigned, propose and agree to furnish all the material and labor necessary to erect and build your proposed new court house according to revised plans for and in consideration of the sum of $31.500 .- J. E. Gibson."
The contract was let to Gibson by a vote of 11 to 5. The work then proceeded. The superstructure was only partly completed in the rough when certain differences between Gibson and the committee came to a crisis. The contractor claimed remuneration for extra work, while the committee charged failure to follow the plans and the use of improper material. According to the minutes of November 10, "Contractor Gib- son announced he would do no further work until an estimate was made and not then unless the estimate was a liberal one, he to be the judge."
Because of this alleged "unreasonable neglect and suspension of work and failure to follow drawings and specifications" and various other items enumerated, including unauthorized departures from the original plans, a meeting of the board of supervisors was called, No- vember 17th, at which it was resolved that the contract between Gibson and the county was terminated. In February, 1899, the work already done on the court house was estimated at the value of ten thousand dollars, and it was calculated that $25,000 was needed to complete the building according to plans and specifications.
February 23. 1899, the board made a contract with the firm of James Rowson and August Mohnke, of Grand Rapids. A quotation
* For full names of supervisors, see official lists for the year.
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
from the contract will show the position of the board with reference to the matter. After reciting the original contract between the county and Gibson and the status of the work up to date, it continues-"Where- as said Jordan E. Gibson so disregarded his said contract and the plans, specifications and drawings both in the use of unfit material and in the manner of the performance of his work and so delayed and neglected the completion of said building that much of the work done by him has been injured and damaged by the frost, so that the said county through its board of supervisors acting under provisions of said contract de- clared his employment at an end and took possession of said building and premises and all and singular of said material, and to the end that said imperfect work and material might be removed, mended and re- placed and said building constructed according to plans and specifica- tions, this contraet is entered into, etc."
Under the new contract the work proceeded rapidly. January 8. 1900, the building committee reported that "the court house is now substantially completed. About that time the county offices were moved to their new home, and the court house was formally accepted at the October session of 1900. The total cost of the building, inelud- ing all extras, was as follows:
Amount under contract, including that paid Gibson . $35.200.00
Furniture, including lighting fixtures 3,575.09
Extra work on building 1,922.79
3,100.00
Heating contract
Total $43.797.88
The excess of cost over the first contract was credited to the failure of Gibson to perform his contract. "Since the county was compelled to re-let the contract at an increased price and re-build a considerable part of the work constructed by Gibson, for which the county had actually paid him. the excess apparent from this report was created."
The finance committee managed the negotiation of the bonds admir- ably. The first series of $8.000, payable January 15. 1899. was not sold. but levied upon the taxable property of the county for the year 1898, thus effeeting a saving of nearly two hundred dollars in interest. The remaining thirty-two thousand were sold to the First National Bank of Cassopolis and delivered in sums of not less than five thousand dollars as the work on the court house required.
In the meantime J. E. Gibson had sued the county for the value of
212
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
the material which he claimed to be on the ground at the time the contract was terminated. In the fall of 1899 the United States circuit court, before which the case was heard, decided adversely to the county, and on March 9, 1901, the judgment was affirmed in the United States court of appeals, to which the county had taken an appeal on a writ of error and bill of exception. As there were no available funds in the county treas- ury to meet the judgment, it was resolved by the board of supervisors to issue fifteen bonds of $1.000 each, at four per cent, the first seven to mature on January 15, 1904, and the remaining eight on January 15. 1905. Supervisor Kimmerle, with the county treasurer. negotiated these bonds successfully to the banks of the county. In estimating the cost of the court house to Cass county, the amount of this judgment must be added to the other estimate, so that the aggregate cost of the court house was nearly sixty thousand dollars.
JAILS.
Cass county's first publie building was a jail. The board of super- visors, in March, 1832, voted a sum not to exceed $350 from the amount subscribed for the location of the county seat at Cassopolis to he expended on a "gaol." Alexander H. Redfield let the contract, which specified that the structure should be 15 by 30 feet in ground dimen- sions and one story high, of hewn logs one foot square. The building was not completed in contract time and was not ready for use till 1834. Shortly afterward the jail was floored and lined with plank, the logs being driven full of nails and covered with strap iron as additional protection. The lock, nearly as large as one of the windows, is now a relic in the Pioneer Society's collection. This first jail, which was torn down about 1870, stood on the northeast corner of block I south, range 2 west, on the south side of State street and west of Disbrow. The jailer's residence, a frame building erected a number of years after the jail, is still standing, having been converted into a paint shop.
The first jail was replaced in 1851 by a brick structure that stood on the court house square just north of the present court house. It was not a satisfactory building in point of its main purpose, the secure confinement of prisoners.
In 1878-79 was erected the present jail and sheriff's residence at a cost of $17.770. W. H. Myers, of Fort Wayne. Ind., was the con- tractor, and Charles G. Banks, Charles L. Morton and Joseph Smith were the building committee, Daniel B. Smith being local superintendent
213
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
of construction. The jail was completed in February, 1879, the first plans for its erection having been made by the board of supervisors in 1877.
When the jail was built there was installed what was then a modern lieating plant. It proved unsatisfactory, and when the new court house was built a brick addition to house the furnace plant was erected adjoining the jail, and a model steam heating plant installed for both buildings.
CASS COUNTY POOR FARM.
The Cass County Poor Farm, comprising 280 acres in sections 2. 3 and 10, of Jefferson township, with its equipment of buildings, is the principal public charity in the county. Though the poor and unfortunate are always with us, the provisions for their care change to greater effi- ciency only to keep pace with the development of the community, and the increase of comforts with society at large. Hence the first maintenance of the public poor was as crude as the need for such charity was limited.
The county poor were first provided for at a farm near Edwards- burg, a visit of the county commissioners to the institution being re- corded in the later thirties.
The county officials next purchased of Asa Kingsbury the land in Jefferson township upon which the present institution is located, but a small log house was the only building designed for shelter, and small as was the number of inmates, the methods and means of caring for them was completely lacking in system. In view of this situation the board of supervisors, in October, 1853, appropriated the sum of $2,000 for the erection of a suitable building. Pleasant Norton was the agent appointed to manage the construction, and W. G. Beckwith and Joshua Lofland were the building committee. The contract for a brick build- ing was given to Lewis Clisbee and son, at $1.795, and the work com- pleted and accepted in November. 1854.
Fourteen years later, in 1868, a committee from the board of super- visors reported that the poor house was "an utterly unfit habitation for the paupers of the county," consequently the board recommended the raising of $5,000 for an addition to the building. This tax levy was approved by the people at the polls in April. 1869. The money could not be used, however, for the erection of a new building, only for "additions," and the appropriations were made under that strict con- struction. although when the additions were completed early in 1871. the institution was practically new throughout. P. W. Silver was the
214
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
contractor, and was paid in all nearly $8,000 for the construction work. D. 31. Ilowell, James Boyd and Gideon Gibbs, superintendents of the poor at the time, were also the building committee to whom the credit of erecting the buildings belongs. In 1871 the asylum, a brick addi- tion two stories high, was constructed, its cost being about the same as the outlay for the other buildings, so that the county invested about $15,000 in this institution during the early '70s.
Very Respectfully, HmH & Hale.
215
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
CHAPTER XV. EDUCATION IN THE STATE AND COUNTY. By WILLIAM H. C. HALE, County Commissioner of Schools.
In giving a history of education in Cass county, it is necessary to speak briefly of education in the state of Michigan, as the educational affairs have always been nearly uniform throughout the state.
Michigan was under the government of France from 1634 until 1760. Settlements were made at various places around the Great Lakes by the Jesuit missionaries, but the most important French settlement was the founding of Detroit by Cadillac in 1701.
Under the French control centralization was the fundamental prin- ciple in all affairs. The military commandant was supreme in the state. and the priest or bishop in the church. Education was the function of the church. The initiative in everything was in the officials. not in the people. There were no semi-independent local organizations, like the New England towns, to provide for the management and support of schools.
Two years after the founding of Detroit, Cadillac recommended the establishment of a seminary at that place for the instruction of chil- dren of the savages with those of the French. It is doubtful if this rec- ommendation produced any immediate results, as it is stated that no indication of schools or teachers can be found until 1755, a half century later. Private schools of varying degrees of excellence are reported to have existed from 1755. Most of these were short-lived and of in- ferior character.
Under the English control educational affairs remained the same as under the French. and after the United States occupied and formed a territorial government there was little change in educational affairs 11ntil 1827. when a law was enacted providing for the establishment of common schools throughout the territory. This act required every township containing fifty families to support a school in which "read- ing, writing, orthography. arithmetic and decent behavior" should be
216
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
taught. This was the first legal course of study for the Michigan pu- pils. The period of centralization had now passed, and local democracy was to have its opportunity. Emigration from the eastern states had now reversed the old French ideas.
The actual state of elementary education and of educational affairs as late as 1836 is well pictured by Justice Thomas M. Cooley of the State Supreme Court. "The schools at the time state government was established were still very primitive affairs. There were as yet no pro- fessional teachers. Some farmer or mechanic, or perhaps a grown-up son or daughter who had had the advantages of the common schools of New York or New England, offered his or her services as a teacher during the dull season of regular employment, and consented to take as wages such sum as the district could afford to pay. A summer school taught by a woman, who would be paid six or eight dollars a month, and a winter school taught by a man whose compensation was twice as great was what was generally provided for. But in addition to the wages the teacher received her board 'boarding round' among the pa- trons of the school and remaining with each a number of days deter- mined by the number of pupils sent to school. If we shall incline to visit one of these schools in the newer portion of the state we shall be likely to find it housed in a log structure covered with bark, imper- fectly plastered between the logs to exclude the cold, and still more imperfectly warmed by an open fireplace or by a box stove, for which fiel is provided, as the board for the teacher is, by proportional con- tributors. The seats for the pupils may be slabs set on legs ; the desks may be other slabs laid upon supports fixed to the logs which constitute the sides of the room. The school books are miscellaneous and consist largely of those brought by the parents when emigrating to the terri- tory. Those who write must rule their paper with pencils of their own manufacture, and the master will make pens for them from the goose quill. For the most part the ink is of home manufacture. There are no globes; no means of illustration; not even a blackboard. Such in many cases was the Michigan school. Better school buildings were now springing up, but as a rule nothing could seem more dreary or dis- piriting than the average school district. Nevertheless, many an intel- lect received a quickening in those schools, which fitted it for a life of useful and honorable activity. The new settlers made such provision for the education of their children as was possible under the circum- stances in which they were placed, and the fruits of their labors and
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