USA > Michigan > Oakland County > History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests Volume I > Part 28
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"Finally in January, 1902, the supervisors passed a resolution to bring the matter officially before the people at the April election. That spring the proposition for a new building for the county executives was defeated. However, during the January meeting of the supervisors the following year a banquet was held at the Hodges House, after which there was much discussion by members of the county's lawmakers, the city aldermen and various prominent taxpayers of the county at large. "At that time the sentiment against the inadequate quarters provided for the officials was strong and seemed to be pretty well crystalized in favor of a new building. Again the matter was brought before the voters in the April election in 1904 and was carried by a large majority. So much publicity had been given the proposition by the newspapers throughout the county showing the great need for a better building, that the people resolved to support it and it was carried by a good majority.
"Result of second vote :
For
Against Total
Addison
89
I3I
220
Avon
244
289
533
Bloomfield
192
I19
3II
207
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
For
Against Total
Brandon
II2
174
286
Commerce
92
158
250
Farmington
203
159
362
Groveland
32
139
17I
Holly
203
327
530
Highland
86
I86
272
Rose
62
146
208
Royal Oak
142
96
238
Oxford
109
315
424
Orion
169
148
317
Oakland
22
I22
144
Milford
71
373
444
Novi
88
149
237
Springfield
62
II7
179
Southfield
98
57
155
Waterford
193
73
266
West Bloomfield
123
86
209
White Lake .
66
91
I57
Pontiac township
II6
27
I43
Troy
89
52
I4I
Lyon
127
162
289
Independence
94
IOI
195
Pontiac-Ist Ward
272
21
293
2d Ward
448
25
473
3d Ward
429
48
477
4th Ward
454
62
516
5th Ward
270
34
304
Total
4,757
3,987
8,744
"Shortly after the election the board of supervisors made no delay in taking up the question of the site of the new courthouse, and ordered its counsel to file a bill quieting the title in the county of the old property, on which the old and new courthouses were erected. From all townships came persons who had numerous ideas as to where the building should be located, and from all parts opinions differed. Some were in favor of sell- ing the old site and constructing the new building on many other prop- erties, such as the Pound homestead on east Huron street, the Hinman property on West Pike street, the Cortrite lots on West Pike street, or the Earl lands on North Saginaw street. Many other sites were offered and about a year's time was consumed by the supervisors in discussion and endeavoring to reach a conclusion as to which was the most desir- able location. This discussion continued for some time and finally cul- minated when the board ordered the bill filed in chancery dismissed and later voted to build on the old site.
"After the question of the location was decided the supervisors pro- ceeded to advertise for plans. Several of the greatest architects in the United States submitted their ideas and after a careful study those of Joseph E. Mills, of Detroit, were voted as the best. The plans fur-
208
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
nished by Mr. Mills to the board called for a building costing $94,000, not including the architect's fee of $5,000.
"After the plans had been agreed upon the county officers proceeded to take temporary quarters in the Davis block, where they moved in June, 1904, and remained until the present time.
"A building committee was appointed, consisting of Frank J. Vowles, chairman of the board and acting as chairman of the building com- mittee; Frank Thurstin, Oakland; Henry Lavery, Royal Oak; LeRoy N. Brown, Independence; Charles A. Fisher, Pontiac; John Power, Farmington, and Ezra Gardner, Oxford. After the death of L. N. Brown, E. L. Davis acted in, his place.
"The building committee met twice each month and awarded the contract to build to John G. Schmidt, of Toledo."
COUNTY JAIL
COST OF COUNTY BUILDING
Appropriation
$100,000.00 Accumulated interest and premium on bonds. 3,142.99
Total $103,142.99
Schmidt's original contract. $ 91,450.00
Schmidt's total for extras 1,574.57
Total $ 93.024.57
Deductions from contract. 264.25
Total of Schmidt's contract, extras and reductions. $ 92,760.32 Steel file cases, book racks and tables. $ 3,200.00
Electric fixtures 1,800.00
209
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
Opera chairs for court room.
747.50
Furniture
2,991.0I
Decorating interior of building.
3,000.00
Thermostat heat regulating system
535.00
Carpets, rugs and rubber matting.
2,800.00
Cuspidors
123.75
Clocks
50.00
Hardware extra
115.50
Architect's services
5,200.00
Total cost of building as erected and furnished. $113,323.18
Cost above appropriation.
$ 10,180.19
Items included in the above statement not usually included are as
follows :
Furniture
$ 2,991.0I
Decorating interior of building. 3,000.00
Thermostat heat system
535.00
Carpets, rugs and matting
2,800.00
Cuspidors
123.75
Clocks
50.00
Architect's services
5,200.00
Total not usually included in giving cost of building. ... . $ 14,679.76 Deducting this amount from total cost as above given, build- ing would cost. .$ 98,623.42
PRESENT COURTHOUSE
This "beautiful temple of justice," as the board of supervisors rightly called it, as received from the hands of Superintendent Rufus Swine- hart, who represented John G. Schmidt, the contractor, of Toledo, on the 2d of November, 1905, is built of gray Cleveland sandstone and fronts nearly ninety feet on West Huron street. Its imposing tower of brick bears a statute of Justice of heroic size, about one hundred and twelve feet above the level of the street. The two entrances and doorways are flanked by two massive stone columns twenty-six feet in height. Red entered largely into the color scheme, with tiled corridors and marble wainscoting. Rest rooms for both men and women are in the basement, which also contains offices for the commissioner of schools and superintendents of the poor and a large audience room used chiefly for school examinations. On the first floor are the other county offices and the accommodations for the probate judge and on the second floor, the circuit court room, which is beautifully decorated; office of the prosecuting attorney, the supervisors' room and the judges private room.
Two features are especially noticeable on the first, or main floor. Opposite the Saginaw street entrance and occupying much of the wall space is a large and impressive painting of the great chief Pontiac, and at the foot of the stairs as the visitor passes into the courthouse from West Huron street, is a large marble tablet which presents a record
210
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
of historic value. Upon its face is inscribed the names of the building committee holding office during the period of its erection, as follows: Frank J. Vowles, chairman; John Power, Charles A. Fisher, Ezra Gardner, Frank Thurston, LeRoy N. Brown, Henry N. Lowery and E. Laverne Davis.
- Also the following appear :
Frank J. Vowles, chairman, 1903-4; Alfred B. Kinney, 1905; Joseph E. Mills, architect, Detroit ; W. H. Dewey, local superintendent, Pontiac ; John G. Schmidt, contractor, Toledo.
The above are those officially connected with the erection of the Oakland county courthouse, but there are few public buildings in south- ern Michigan in which the people as a whole have taken more interest and with which the public are better satisfied, both from the view- points of beauty and utility, than this structure devoted to justice.
THE OAKLAND COUNTY HOME
Oakland county was one of the state leaders in the humane move- ment to abolish the name "almshouse" or "poorhouse" in connection with the public institution which provides a refuge for the aged and the sick, whose means are insufficient to give them shelter in private institutions, or whose circumstances have perhaps bereft them of friends or protecting relatives. At the annual convention of Michigan superin- tendents of the poor held in December, 1903, it was unanimously recom- mended that the name County Home be substituted for the obnoxious "Poorhouse," and Oakland county was among the first to adopt this suggestion along the line of modern humanitarianism.
The first action taken by the authorities of Oakland county looking towards the acquisition of a "county home" was that of the board of supervisors of 1834 at the October sessions, at which time a committee of three were appointed to inquire into the expediency of procuring such an institution for the county. Messrs. Yerkes, Steel and Gregory were the committee, and they reported adversely to the project; but at the same session another committee, consisting of Babcock, Castle, Dutcher, -Gregory and Stephens, made inquiry as to the expediency of acquiring a location for a county farm and reported in favor of pur- chasing eighty acres, which report was accepted and $700 appropriated. The report of the committee was subsequently reconsidered and re- jected, and another committee appointed to examine a location, con- sisting of Messrs. Castle, Curtis, Babcock, Dodge, Price and Voorheis ; and at the March sessions, 1835, Messrs. Castle, Curtis and Voorheis were elected a committee to take charge of the funds already raised therefor, and to purchase and fit up a farm for county poor purposes at an expense not exceeding $800, to be paid in four annual install- ments. This committee purchased the east half of the northeast quarter of section 2, in Waterford, of Thaddeus Alvord, for $1,050; and in March, 1836, there was an allowance of $788 made for the stock, farming utensils and superintendent's salary.
The total expenses on account of such relief in 1835 amounted to
211
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
$1,591.31. On May 2, 1835, the committee advertised the building as ready for occupancy.
In 1839 the county commissioners abolished the distinction of county and township poor, assuming them all as a county charge. Theretofore, only those persons who had acquired no legal residence in the county had been helped directly by the supervisors as a county body corporate, the townships providing for actual residents. At the first meeting of the commissioners in January, 1839, they also elected the first county superintendents of the poor, viz .: William Price, Harvey Seeley and Friend Belding, whose terms of office were fixed at three years. The expense of the poorfarm system the first year was $2,083.68. This farm bought in 1835 was occupied by the county until 1857, when it was turned in for a payment on a new farm purchased of one Mead, in Waterford, of three hundred and seventeen acres, the old farm being taken at $40 per acre, and the balance of the purchase-money on the new purchase, $9,466.40, secured by mortgage. The land was situated in Waterford, and was known as the northeast quarter and west half, southeast quarter and southwest quarter, section 27, except ten acres reserved therefrom. There were good buildings on the farm. In January, 1858, the board resolved to dispose of the Mead farm and buy another containing about one hundred acres, and a committee reported in favor of disposing of a portion of the Mead farm and erecting build- ings on the balance. Mead offered to take back the land on the north side of the road at $35 per acre, which proposition was not accepted by the board of supervisors, but about the year 1860 the farm reverted to the original owner, Mead, by default in the payments on the mortgage, and the first farm and the expense involved in remodeling the buildings on the second farm was lost by the county. William W. Martin, of Bloomfield, was then engaged by contract to support and care for the county poor for some years, and received nine shillings per head weekly for the same. At the October meeting, 1863, the committee on the poorhouse, F. W. Fifield, E. B. Comstock and Noah Tyler, reported as follows: "In regard to the system now practiced of farming out the paupers, it is extremely objectionable, repugnant to humanity, and in opposition to the true interests of the county. The paupers under this system are not cared for, or as comfortably situated as the dictates of humanity or the requirements of justice demand, notwithstanding the keeper is doing the best he can for them. The buildings in which they are kept are inadequate to the wants and absolute necessities of the inmates, and are uncouth, unshapely, and, worse, uncomfortable and unwholesome, and the committee recommends the purchase of eighty acres of land and the erection of suitable buildings at once."
In 1864, in accordance with the recommendation, the board author- ized the county superintendents to purchase a farm, and they accord- ingly bought, April 1, 1864, one hundred and twenty acres, being the one-half of the northwest quarter, section 35, and the southeast quarter of southwest quarter, section 26, township 3 north, range 9 east, of Joel Benedict, for $4,833. This farm was subsequently sold to T. F. Harrington, and on June 23, 1866, one hundred acres purchased of Mortimer F. Osman, being the east part of the northeast quarter, sec- Vol. 1-14
212
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
tion 24, in Waterford, for $6,000. On the 6th of April, 1869, thirty acres or more were purchased from Ira K. Terry, being the southwest part of the northwest quarter, section 19, township 3 north, range 10 east, for $2,500, the total cost of the land being $8,500, and the farm containing about one hundred and thirty-seven acres. In January, 1866, the superintendents of the poor were authorized to receive proposals for buildings on the county farm, the cost of which should not exceed $15,- 000. The buildings were erected in 1866-67. The value of the property was estimated by the county superintendents in their report to the secre- tary of state as follows: Farm and buildings, $29,295; live-stock on the farm, $1,330; farming implements, $488; all other property, $900; total valuation, $32,013.
COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE POOR
The county superintendents of the poor have been as follows : 1839-42, William Price, Harvey Seeley and Friend Belding; 1842-44, Samuel White, Ziba Swan, Jr. and Ira Donelson; 1845, Salmon J. Math- ews, Orison Allen and Ira Donelson; 1846, George Patten, Ziba Swan, Jr. and George Dow; 1847, C. H. Woodhull, Ira Marlin and George Patten; 1848, Isaac L. Voorheis, George Patten and Francis Darrow ; 1849, Francis Darrow, G. Robertson and Friend Belding; 1850 to 1853, inclusive, James A. Weeks, I. I. Voorheis and William Yerkes; 1854, I. I. Voorheis, Stephen Reeves and D. M. Judd; 1855, Stephen Reeves, F. Belding and Phil S. Frisbee; 1856, H. W. Hovey, Henry Mead and F. Belding; 1857, Almeron Whitehead, J. H. Button and F. Bradley ; 1858, Almeron Whitehead, J. H. Button and Stephen Reeves; 1859-60, no superintendents elected; 1861, J. H. Button, Robert M. Davis and William Cone; 1862, James Newberry, J. H. Button and Andrew Brad- ford. In 1863, three superintendents were elected, one for one year, one for two years and one for three years. Andrew Bradford was elected for the long term, James Newberry for two years and J. H. Button for one year. J. H. Button was elected in 1864 for three years and again in 1867 for three years, but resigned in 1869. Bradford resigned in 1865 and Francis Baker was elected to fill the vacancy. James New- berry was reelected at the end of his first term of two years for a term of three years. To continue the roster: Horace Thurber, 1866-69; Caleb Terry, 1868-71; John W. Leonard, 1869-71, to fill vacancy of J. H. Button; William M. McConnell, 1871, 1874 and 1877; J. W. Leonard, 1872, 1875 and 1878. Augustus W. Hovey was first elected in 1870 and served for about thirty years. J. S. Stockwell holds the second record in length of service, as he was in office from 1886 to 1901. E. C. Beardslee, one of the three incumbents, was elected in 1902 and commenced his first term of service January 1, 1903; his present term expires January 1, 1915. Frank Harris served from 1901 until his resignation, June 15, 1908, and was succeeded by William A. Brewster, whose term will expire January 1, 1913. The third superin- tendent is E. D. Spooner, who commenced his first term January I, 1905; his present term expires January 1, 1914.
The farm and grounds of the county home compromise one hundred
213
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
acres (the old Osmun property) in Waterford township, and thirty- seven acres in the township of Pontiac. Although it has been improved, modernized, and virtually rebuilt (mostly in 1902) the original resi- dence building was erected in 1868. Both interior and exterior, in- cluding the surrounding grounds, are neat and cheerful. In 1870 the building (forty by forty feet) now used as a horse barn, was erected, but all the large outbuildings have gone up within the past decade. These include the following: A house for the keeping of tools and agricultural implements (thirty by forty feet) and an ice house (twenty by twenty-two feet) in 1902; the hog house and corn barn (forty by forty) in 1904; the large barn (thirty-six by seventy-six) for other live stock and grain, in 1905; the hen house (twenty by thirty) in 1907 and the pumping plant, for fire protection, in 1909. It is the evident desire of the present superintendents of the poor, who are well sup- ported by the board of supervisors, to not only safeguard all those com- mitted to their care, but to make their lives comfortable and pleasant. From seventy to one hundred are thus cared for, of whom two-thirds are men. The total value of the county home property is estimated at $35,000.
CHAPTER XIII
OAKLAND COUNTY IN STATE POLITICS
QUESTION OF LAND TITLES-GOVERNOR CASS BRINGS STABILITY- CHAMPIONS OF PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS-THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS- OAKLAND COUNTY'S PART IN CONSTITUTION MAKING-DOCTOR RAY- NALE, DELEGATE TO 1835 CONVENTION-SENECA NEWBERRY, DELE- GATE TO 1835 AND 1850 CONVENTIONS-STATE OFFICIALS, ELECTED AND APPOINTED-TERRITORIAL COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES-SPEAK- ERS AND CLERK OF THE HOUSE-MICHIGAN LEGISLATORS FROM OAK- LAND COUNTY-STATE SENATORS-STATE REPRESENTATIVES-DIS- TURBANCES OF WAR ISSUES.
By Fred M. Warner
On January II, 1805, congress passed an act for the organization of Michigan territory, and on March Ist, President Jefferson appointed General William Hull its governor and Indian agent. The governor and other territorial officers arrived at Detroit on the 12th of June, that year, only to find that the capital (which had been but a two-acre town of little houses surrounded by a palisade of strong pickets). had been destroyed by fire. When they took the oath of office on the second Tuesday in July, some of the houses had been erected on the old site.
Despite this unfavorable outlook for the territorial government "a judicial system was established and the territorial militia was disciplined and brought into the field. The attention of congress was also called to the land claims made by the settlers, founded on occupancy, or grants under the French and English governments. On October 10, 1805, a report was made of the affairs of the territory and forwarded to con- gress, and in May, 1806, the first code of laws was adopted and pub- lished for the territory, called the Woodward code, after Augustus B. Woodward, one of the judges. The code was signed by General Hull, Judge Woodward and Frederick Bates, judges, by which a civil gov- ernment for the territory covered by the present state of Michigan was at length established and military rule, whether by French, British or American commandants, forever abolished in times of peace.
As stated, prior to the organization of the territory, what is now Michigan had been included in Wayne county of the northwest terri- tory, which boasted a crude "court of common pleas," with headquarters at Detroit. This court was continued when the territory of Michigan was created in 1805.
214
215
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
QUESTION OF LAND TITLES
It was not until 1806 that congress began in earnest to consider the status of land titles in Michigan. In that year Judge Woodward made a report to the secretary of the treasury which was laid before con- gress in which he stated that the total amount of land in cultivation did not exceed 150,000 acres, or a little more than six townships. He de- scribed the farms as from two to four acres front on the river, the houses about twenty-five rods apart, and the people "honest beyond com- parison, generous, hospitable and polished." He reported in all 422 farms, with dates of settlement running from 1763 to 1801. Nearly all were held on French claims, bordered on rivers, with from two to five acres frontage and forty acres depth (a French acre was about four- fifths of an American acre). As appeared from the report made by the register of the land office at Detroit in December, 1806, only six of these farms embracing less than 4,000 acres had valid titles.
GOVERNOR CASS BRINGS STABILITY
The appointment of Lewis Cass as civil governor of Michigan in 1813 was the commencement of a stable order of things in the matter of land titles, as of all else, and marked the starting point of the sub- stantial development of southern Michigan. Under him the govern- ment acquired by various treaties all lands south of Grand river to the headwaters of Thunder Bay river, as well as such as were required to make the post of Fort Mackinac safe against Indian attacks, thus safe- guarding the interests of traders and settlers in northern Michigan.
Great Britain possessed Michigan from the time of Hull's surrender in August, 1812, until Perry's naval victory of September, 1813, and the Americans reentered Detroit on the 29th of that month. Lewis Cass was appointed civil governor of Michigan October 9, 1813, but Fort Mackinac was not evacuated by the British forces until the spring of 1815.
The survey of public lands was begun in 1815 and two years later had progressed sufficiently to permit the authorities to begin the sale. With the settlement of the interior, which practically began in 1818, came substantial growth and prosperity to the southern part of the Lower Peninsula. In the following year (January 19) Governor Cass proclaimed the civil and political creation of Oakland county. That year (1819) therefore marked its entrance to territorial and state poli- tics and the real chronological commencement of this chapter.
The state constitution under which Michigan was admitted into the Union by congressional act approved January 26, 1837, provided for the appointment by the governor (with the advice and consent of the senate) of the secretary of state, auditor general and attorney general. The joint legislature approved the gubernatorial appointment of the superintendent of public instruction. All state officers above mentioned served for two years, the governor and lieutenant governor being elected. Judges of the state supreme court were appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, for a term of seven years.
216
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
Various provisions of the constitution provided for the improve- ments of roads, canals and navigable waters in the interior of the state, as well as for the establishment of banks of issue, and wild speculation and inflated and unsecured issues of paper money, so frequent in south- ern Michigan and the more settled sections of the northwest, brought on the financial panic and the confusion of all permanent projects which marked the period from 1837 to 1847. Unfortunately, this was also the period when the state was born and learning to walk alone. As the finances of this wild era, with the inflated schemes of internal improve- ment, were thoroughly mixed with legislative measures and state poli- tics, the progress of the young commonwealth was very slow and un- steady during its first decade of life, and Oakland county did her full share in maintaining the disturbing combination. Some of her ablest men represented her in both houses of the legislature during that period, but they were also ambitious to see their section of the state advance, as it did, notwithstanding the failure of half a dozen of its banks, under both the "wild-cat" and "safety fund" dispensations.
CHAMPIONS OF PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS
Fully ten years before the coming of the "wild-cat" schemes the big men of Oakland county saw the necessity of getting it in close touch with the more developed sections centering in Detroit, and even when Michigan was a territory they became active and prominent in state poli- tics, by championing such measures as the improvement of the Clinton river and the construction of the Detroit & Pontiac Railroad. The Clinton River Navigation Company of 1827 was, in fact, the first cor- poration created for that purpose in the territory, while the incorporation of the Detroit & Pontiac Railroad in 1830 was one of the pioneers of its kind in Michigan, although the latter was not completed to Birming- ham until 1839 and was not on solid ground until nearly ten years later, and at the time of the collapse of the internal improvement schemes, the Clinton river had been "improved" by state money only as far as Roches- ter, these enterprises were pushed with such vigor and ability in the territorial legislative council by such good men as Stephen Mack, Roger Sprague, William F. Moseley, Thomas J. Drake, Stephen V. R. Trow- bridge, Daniel LeRoy, Charles C. Haskell and Samuel Satterlee, that Oakland county was fully and favorably advertised in the legislative halls. At the later period mentioned (1837-47), under state patron- age of public improvements, our good friends, Drake, Trowbridge and LeRoy, were reenforced in the senate by Elijah F. Cook, John Benton, Daniel B. Wakefield, Isaac Wixson, Sanford M. Green and others.
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