USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan > Part 29
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108
HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE.
Court of General Quarter Sessions-County Commissioners-Board of Supervisors-County Buildings-County Asylum or Poor-Farm- Valuation and Taxation.
COURT OF GENERAL QUARTER SESSIONS.
AN act establishing a Court of General Quarter Sessions of the peace for each county in the State was passed Nov. 25, 1817. The justices of the county courts and justices of the peace constituted this court. The clerk was ap- pointed by the Governor of the Territory. The court was made a board of audit for all county business, and had the management of assessments and taxation. Its sessions were held on the first Mondays of March, June, September, and December.
The act was repealed May 30, 1818, and in the place of the Court of Quarter Sessions a board of three County Commissioners was established, the members to be appointed by the Governor, and to receive thirty dollars each per an- num for services rendered. The county clerk was clerk of the board, with a salary not exceeding fifty dollars per annum.
The County Commissioners continued until April 12, 1827, when an act was approved abolishing them and estab- lishing a Board of Supervisors, to be elected from the sev- eral towns of the county. They appointed their own clerk. They were to meet annually on the third Mondays of January, April, July, and October, and at such other times as they might deem necessary, not exceeding eight days (additional) in the year. The Board of Supervisors was abolished and the Board of County Commissioners restored in 1838, which continued until 1842, when it was superseded by the Board of Supervisors, which is still continued.
The earliest fiscal managers of the county of Kalamazoo were a Board of Supervisors. The earliest record of their transactions to be found in the county commences in 1834. Whether there really was any public business attended to previous to that year we have not been able to determine
When the county was erected, by act of the Territorial Legislature, July 30, 1830, the entire county was included in the township of Brady, and up to that time had formed a part of St. Joseph County. An act of the same date divided the county through the centre, east and west, into two townships, the southern to be called Brady, and the northern Arcadia .*
The county-seat was located at Bronson in 1831, and in 1832 a new township-Richland-was created. The town- ship of Comstock was erected in March, 1834, and at the first recorded meeting of the Board of Supervisors, in Octo- ber, 1834, the county had been divided into the townships of Brady, Arcadia, Richland, and Comstock. It also in- cluded the counties of Allegan, Barry, Kent, Ionia, etc., attached for civil purposes.
The following paragraphs are copied verbatim from the earliest record in the county clerk's office :
FIRST RECORD OF SUPERVISORS' MEETING.
"At a meeting of the supervisors of Kalamazoo County in the Territory of Michigan, holden at the clerk's office in said county
on the seventh day of October, A.D. 1834, pursuant to law, were present,
"Rix Robinson, Supervisor of Kent township, William Earl of - Comstock, Elisha Belcher of Arcadia.
"On motion the meeting adjourned to 10 o'clock to-morrow morn- ing.
"October 8th, A.D. 1834. "Board met pursuant to adjournment;
" Present " RIX ROBINSON, -
" WILLIAM EARL,
" ELISHA BELCHER, "HULL SHERWOOD, t
Supervisors.
"On motion, Resolved, that Rix Robinson be appointed Chairman of the Board, and Stephen Vickery clerk for the term of one year from the date hereof.
" The following accounts were then presented, and allowed by the Board, to wit :
" No. 1, in favor of Hosea B. Huston, for $8.50.
" No. 2, in favor of Hosea B. Huston, for 4.51.
"No. 3, in favor of Cornelius Northrup, for 10.00. ,
"On motion Resolved unanimously that Jeremiah Humphreys, one of the Supervisors for Brady Township, who has appeared and taken his seat at this Board, be appointed chairman pro ten.
"The following accounts were presented and allowed by the Board, to wit :
"No. 4, in favor of C. Lovell, for $70.00. The meeting, on motion, adjourned to meet to- morrow at 9 o'clock, A.M.
"Oct. 9, 1834.
"The Board met pursuant to adjournment.
" Present as yesterday.
"On motion, by J. Humphreys, Resolved, That the valuation of real estate in the Township of Comstock be raised by adding one- fourth to the value thereof, according to the assessment roll of the present year.
"On motion, by J. Humphreys, Resolved, That the valuation of Real Estate in the Township of Arcadia, according to the assessment roll of the present year, be raised by adding thereto one-third.
" On motion, Resolved, That the non-resident lands in the Town- ship of Allegan be reduced in their valuation, according to the assess- ment roll of the present year, one-third.
"On motion, Resolved, unanimously, That there be levied and col- lected in the several Townships of this county for Township expenses, the sum of six hundred and sixty-five dollars, to wit : In the Town- ship of Comstock, seventy dollars; in the Township of Richland, seventy-five dollars; in the Township of Brady, the sum of one hun- dred dollars ; in the township of Kent, seventy dollars; in the Town- ship of Allegan, one hundred and twenty-five dollars; in the Town- ship of Arcadia, two hundred and twenty-five dollars, one hundred of which is for a bounty on wolf scalps.
"On motion of J. Humphreys, Resolved, That three hundred and fifty dollars be levied and collected in this county for the contingent expenses thereof for the current year.
" On motion, adjourned to 9 o'clock to-morrow morning.
"Oct. 10th, 1834.
" Board met pursuant to adjournment.
" Present as yesterday.
" On motion, Resolved, That the non-resident lands in the Town -. ship of Richland be increased in their valuation, according to the as- sessment of the present year, one-third.
" The following accounts were then presented, and allowed by the Board, viz. : ~
-
.
"No. 5, in favor of E. Walters $3.75 No. 6, in favor of S. Vickery 10.00
No. 7, in favor of J. Humphreys. 4.00
No. 8, in favor of R. Robinson. 8.00
No. 9, in favor of Hull Sherwood. 5.00
No. 10, in favor of E. Belcher. 25.00
No. 11, in favor of W. Earl 17.00
"On motion, William Earl, Supervisor of Comstock Township, was unanimously selected by the Board to represent the supervisors of Kalamazoo County at the next meeting, to be holden at Ann Arbor, for the purpose of apportioning the money appropriated by the Gen-
* See map on previous page.
The record does not show where Sherwood belonged, but proba- bly in Richland.
109
THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE.
eral Government on the Territorial Road, between Sheldon's and the mouth of the St. Joseph, and for transacting such other business as may come before them.
"On motion, the meeting adjourned sine die.
" RIX ROBINSON,
" S. VICKERY, "Clerk. "Chairman."
At the meeting of March 3, 1835, there were present : Rix Robinson, from Kent township; Isaac Barnes, from Richland; William Earl, from Comstock; Hull Sherwood, from Allegan ; and Elisha Belcher, from Arcadia.
At a meeting, Oct. 8, 1835, the clerk of the county was authorized to procure " a standard of Wine measure, com- posed of copper and lined with lead ; also a standard of Dry measure, composed of wood and hooped with iron, to be painted ; also a patent scale-beam, with the necessary appa- ratus for weighing six hundred." Twenty-five dollars were appropriated in payment of the same.
"It was ordered by the Board that there be levied and collected in the county of Kalamazoo, to defray the expenses of the current year, the sum of Four hundred dollars, and for defraying the Township ex- penses of said county the sum of nine hundred and fifty-five dollars, to wit :
" In the township of Allegan. $85.00
In the township of Ionia
40.00
In the township of Richland. 100.00
In the township of Comstock. 200.00
In the township of Arcadia .. 200.00
In the township of Kent. 30.00
In the township of Brady
300.00
Total
$955.00"
At the meeting of April 19, 1837, the supervisors were : Brady, Edwin H. Lothrop ; Prairie Ronde, Samuel Hackett; Pavilion, - Austin ; Comstock, Lyman Tubbs ; Cooper, David E. Deming; Richland, Mumford Eldred; Kalamazoo, Cyren Burdick; Barry, Isaac Otis. At this meeting a bounty of four dollars was authorized for each scalp of a wolf killed within the county.
The Board of Supervisors was abolished in 1838, and a board of three county commissioners established in its place. The first board of commissioners, which met and organized and drew for their respective terms of office on the 27th of November, 1838, consisted of Edwin M. Clapp, David E. Deming, and E. Lakin Brown. Brown drew for three years ; Deming, for two years ; and Clapp, for one year.
The first meeting for business was held on the 8th of January, 1839. At this meeting they appointed superin- tendents of county poor, and licensed Hosea B. Huston and Amos Brownson as auctioneers for Kalamazoo, in bonds of two thousand dollars each. They also made out the assessment rolls for the year (given in another connection), and made an appropriation for the support of the poor.
In 1841, John P. Marsh appears as one of the commis- sioners, and also James Weed, in the place of Deming and Clapp, retired.
The Board of County Commissioners was short-lived, for in 1842 they were superseded by a Board of Supervisors. The new board met on the 4th of July, 1842, and consisted of the following persons : Portage township, Caleb Sweet- land ; Pavilion, Jacob Ramsdell ; Prairie Ronde, P. J. McCreary ; Kalamazoo, Mitchell Hensdill; Comstock, Horace H. Comstock ; Charleston, Peter Eldred; Ross, Elias M. Dibble ; Richland, Uriah Upjohn ; Cooper, Bar- ney Earle; Alamo, Mahlon Everitt; Oshtemo, William
Price; Texas, James Weed; Schoolcraft, Edwin H. Lo- throp ; Brady, Nelson Wilcox.
At the June session for 1848, Joseph Hemenway appeared and took his place in the board from Wakeshma.
In 1850 the board fixed the salaries of certain county officers as follows : prosecuting attorney, four hundred dol- lars ; county clerk, three hundred dollars ; county judge, five hundred dollars; county treasurer, five hundred dol- lars.
BRONSON PARK .*
In 1854 the two squares now constituting the park were leased to the village of Kalamazoo for the term of ten years, for the purpose of being improved and ornamented as a public park. The west one had been occupied for jail pur- poses by the first jail constructed in the county. The east one had been occupied by an academy, and the building was then standing on the northeast corner. The two squares were known respectively as " Jail Square" and " Academy Square." The academy building was removed in 1857. At the expiration of this lease, in 1864, the grounds were again leased to the village for the same purposes for a period of ninety-nine years, dating from Jan. 8, 1865.
There had been some claims advanced to this property by the heirs of Stephen H. Richardson, the original owner, and, to settle all difficulties, in 1856 the Board of Super- visors appropriated and caused to be paid the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars, in full for all claims by the said heirs against the property. Hon. H. G. Wells settled the matter on behalf of the county and obtained the release. We believe these claims pertained only to that portion of the park known as " Academy Square."
In 1856 the County Board expended about one thousand dollars in draining the surplus waters of Austin and Long Lakes. Four hundred dollars of the amount was appro- priated by the county, two hundred dollars by the township of Brady, one hundred and fifty dollars by Portage town- ship, and the balance came from other sources.
The principal amount was expended on a ditch running south from Lake Austin to the Portage Creek. It was three hundred and sixty-five rods in length, sixteen feet wide on top, twelve feet at bottom for seventy-six rods, and for the remainder of the way, two hundred and eighty-nine rods, twelve feet on top, eight feet at bottom, and three feet deep. The outlet of Long Lake was also cleared out. This ditch was deepened to five feet in 1877. Large sums have been expended for drainage at Yorkville and in other local- ities.
COUNTY BUILDINGS. COURT-HOUSE.
The first legislation looking to the erection of a court- house, which we find of record, was on the 28th of April, 1836, when a resolution was passed to raise the sum of six thousand dollars for the purpose, five thousand to be bor- rowed on the bonds of the county. H. H. Comstock was appointed a committee to negotiate the loan. A committee, consisting of H. H. Comstock, E. Ransom, and J. and C. Burdick, was also appointed to prepare a plan for the building.
At a meeting held Oct. 4, 1836, H. H. Comstock made
* See history of Kalamazoo village.
110
HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
a proposition to loan the county five thousand dollars, as follows: one thousand dollars on the first of March ; one thousand on the first of May; fifteen hundred on the first of June; and fifteen hundred on the first day of August, next ensuing, for the terms of seven, eight, nine, and ten years, payable in equal payments, at seven per cent. interest, payable semi-annually. This proposition was accepted, and, on motion, Justus Burdick was ap- pointed to superintend the erection of the new building. The bond required of him was twelve thousand dollars.
The building was erected in 1837,* and probably occu- pied in that year, though there is nothing in the record to positively show the time of its completion. It probably cost the amount of the appropriation, $6000. It is still standing, and constitutes the main portion of the present court-house.
The building has been many times repaired, and in 1866 eight thousand dollars were expended in making a large addition and in thoroughly overhauling it. The following items are from a local paper issued in 1877 :
"THE COURT-ROOM RENOVATED AND BEAUTIFIED.
" The court-room of the Circuit Court of Kalamazoo County has undergone a decided change into something rich and not heretofore peculiar to that temple of justice. Under the direction of Judge Hawes and Sheriff Gates, properly authorized to do so, the walls have been retouched in many places, handsomely calcimined to a light-blue tint; the desks and the judgment-seat grained, varnished, and re- fitted; the floor within the bar newly carpeted ; the chairs cushioned, and everything made bright and becoming. Judge Hawes has pro- cured the portrait of Judge Ransom, the first circuit judge of Michi- gan, and this hangs above the judge's seat. On the right is a fine photograph of Judge Graves, on the left another of Judge Hawes, while the large and fine portrait of the martyr-sheriff, Col. Orcutt, occupies a fine position over the main entrance to the room.
" The space back of the court-room proper has been made into a fine library, in which there is now collected the largest and finest county library in the State, and which Judge Hawes hopes to make a great deal more valuable than it now is through the liberality of the Board of Supervisors in making appropriations for books. In this department are portraits of Judge Pratt, the late Joseph Miller, Jr., Horace Mower, Judge Marsh Giddings, a smaller photograph of Judge Ransom, an engraving representing Chief Justice Chase and his asso- ciates, and other pictures. Off from this is a snug little room for the judge's private office.
" This is a mere outline of the improvements. The air of snug- ness, cleanliness, and comfort which now pervades our place of hold- ing courts cannot be described. It is a most excellent performance, and Messrs. Hawes and Gates deserve the thanks of every person who has business before that tribunal. The supervisors will still be asked for an appropriation for a few more desirable objects, especially the pictures of some of the more noted judges who have adorned the bench of this circuit. Those who visit the court-room next Monday will see a very different looking court-room than they have been accustomed to gaze at."
The court-house, as it stands to-day, probably represents an outlay, exclusive of interest, of about twenty thousand dollars. It is in a tolerable state of repair, and answers the purposes of a temple of law, but certainly does not fitly represent the wealthy county in which it is situated. The court-room is by far the best part of it, the offices in the
first story being small, badly lighted, and ill ventilated. Kalamazoo County well deserves a better structure.
COUNTY OFFICES.
In 1851 action was taken by the Board of Supervisors looking to the erection of a fire-proof building for county offices, and one thousand dollars was appropriated. An additional two hundred and fifty dollars was subsequently added, and the building was completed and occupied in 1854 by the county clerk and register of deeds. About a thousand dollars has been laid out in repairs since the building was erected. It is too small and inconvenient for the present needs of the county, and better facilities will be required for both courts and county officers before many years.
COUNTY JAIL.
The earliest legislation touching a county jail we find to have been at a meeting of the Board of Supervisors held on the 3d of March, 1835, when,
"On motion of Rix Robinson, it was ordered by the Board that Hosea B. Huston, sheriff of the county of Kalamazoo, be, and he is hereby authorized to build and complete a jail of the following de- scription, and that he plan the same on jail square, t in the village of Bronson, to wit :
"Thirty-two feet by sixteen, one story high, and divided into two apartments ; one of which is to be twenty feet by sixteen, and framed in a substantial and workmanlike manner; the other is to be twelve feet by sixteen, of sound white-oak timber, one foot square. The floor, above and below, to be laid with timber of same quality and dimensions. The whole to be well boarded with good whitewood siding, planed, and covered with pine shingles in a workmanlike manner. The door of jail-room to be composed of plank, three inches thick, doubled and riveted. In the other apartments are to be three windows, each fifteen ' lites,' eight by ten inches."
This building was erected in 1835, at a probable expense of less than a thousand dollars. The record gives no state- ment of its cost. It answered its purpose for a number of years ; but in 1843 it began to be apparent that better ac- commodations were needed, and at the supervisors' meeting in April of that year a resolution was passed " that the committee on county buildings take into consideration the advisability of erecting a new jail and repairing the court- house."
At the December meeting, in the same year, Caleb Sweet- land, William Price, H. H. Comstock, P. Eldred, and Ephraim Delano were appointed a committee to erect a jail and dwelling at an expense not exceeding two thousand dollars.
In 1844 this committee was superseded by another, con- sisting of Israel Kellogg, Caleb Sweetland, and Samuel Percival, appointed for the same purpose. At this time the furniture in the old jail was reported by an inspecting committee to consist of three woolen blankets, one straw bed, a cook-stove, and a borrowed pump. Two dollars were appropriated to purchase the pump.
The new jail was erected in 1845. # Israel Kellogg (who is living at this writing, Dec. 12, 1879) had the contract, and states that it was erected on the ground occupied by
* Mr. George Torry, in his history, published in 1867, states that the first court-house was erected in 1838. He also states that the plan was drawn "by a gentleman from Montpelier, Vt., the same who designed the state-house at that place." The architect who de- signed and erected the Vermont capitol was Ammi B. Young, who also erected the Boston custom-house.
+ Now the west part of Bronson Park. The jail stood near the mound, in which a cellar was excavated for use by the jailer.
# The old jail was sold in the latter part of 1845. It was removed from the park by the village authorities, to whom the grounds were leased about 1854.
111
THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE.
the present jail building, and was constructed of heavy square timber on all sides and overhead, and then bricked up on the outside with a wall sixteen inches thick for the first story.
At the January meeting of 1847 the sheriff was author- ized to erect a kitchen in the rear of the jail, for the conve- nience of his family, at an expense not exceeding two hundred dollars. In 1859 a committee, appointed for the purpose, reported the jail " unfit and unsafe" for prisoners.
During the Rebellion there was very little legislation looking to new county buildings, but soon after its close the question of a new jail came before the supervisors, and there was more or less discussion, but nothing was done for several years. In December, 1867, in consequence of the dilapidated and unsafe condition of the building, occurred the memorable attempt to rescue prisoners by outside par- ties, which resulted in the death of Col. Benjamin F. Or- cutt,* then sheriff of the county. This melancholy affair aroused the authorities to the necessity of action. The matter had been discussed at the previous October meeting, and it now assumed definite form. Forty thousand dollars was authorized to be raised by a vote of the people of the county, to whom the question had been submitted in April, 1868. At this time the question of a perfect title to the ground on which the county buildings stand was examined by a special committee, and a favorable report made by them. A committee, consisting of Luther H. Trask, Allen Potter, and Thomas S. Cobb, was appointed to superintend the erection of the new buildings, which were to consist of a jail proper and a commodious dwelling for the use of the sheriff and family, or whoever should act as jailor.
The buildings, which are large, roomy, substantial, and convenient, cost in the aggregate $40,200,f as appears from the record of the supervisors' proceedings. They were erected and completed in 1868-69, and are an honor to the county. With the addition of a court-house corresponding to this, the county would be well provided with buildings for its courts and public offices.
POOR-FARM AND BUILDINGS.
Upon the organization of the Territory of Michigan, in 1805, an act was passed October 8th of that year for the support of the poor, by the Governor and judges of the Territory. A supplementary act was passed Feb. 1, 1809. The overseers were to be appointed by the judges of the district courts. On the 25th of November, 1817, the jurisdiction was changed, and the judges of the courts of quarter sessions were appointed to have exclusive jurisdic- tion of matters relating to paupers. In those days the keeping of the poor was sold by the sheriff to the lowest responsible bidder at public sale.
Under the act of July, 1817, the county commissioners were authorized to look after the county poor, and in April, 1827, an act was passed making each township responsible for its own poor, with overseers appointed in each.
On the 22d of July, 1830, an act was passed authorizing the Board of Supervisors to erect poor-houses and purchase
land, and also to appoint a board of from three to seven directors to look after such matters. The directors were to appoint a superintendent to take the immediate charge of the poor. All paupers were to be supported by the county, but the necessary taxation was to be apportioned among the respective towns in proportion to the number of paupers belonging to each.
In March, 1833, another act was passed by the Legisla- tive Council, abolishing the Board of Directors and substi- tuting the Board of Supervisors in its place. On the 22d of April, following, an act was passed making it obligatory upon each township to support its own poor, under the su- perintendence of a township Board of Directors. Down to the year 1834, the insane paupers had been kept with the others, but on the 7th of March, in the last-named year, an act was passed requiring their confinement in the county jail.
In 1838 the Board of Supervisors was again abolished, and a county board of three commissioners substituted in its place.
Under their management, at their first meeting for busi- ness, in January, 1839, Sherman Comings, Delamore Dun- can, and Jonathan G. Abbott were made a board of super- intendents of the county poor. Their first appropriation for the poor, in 1839, was fifty dollars, and in 1840 they set apart eight hundred dollars for the purpose.
In 1842 the Board of Supervisors was once more restored, and superintendents of the poor were chosen from that body. The record shows that from 1839 to 1842, inclusive, the county authorities expended one thousand and sixty- seven dollars and fifty-six cents for the use of the poor.
Although counties had possessed authority to purchase land and erect suitable buildings from 1830, Kalamazoo County rented the lands and buildings for the occupation of its poor as late as 1846. In October, 1847, the Board of Supervisors made an appropriation of two thousand five hundred dollars for the county poor, fourteen hundred dol- lars of which sum was to apply on the purchase of a farm.
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