The history of Mower County, Minnesota : illustrated, Part 20

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.
Number of Pages: 1246

USA > Minnesota > Mower County > The history of Mower County, Minnesota : illustrated > Part 20

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The following is a list of losses as published at the time of the conflagration : J. F. Atherton, one brick building and a small frame, household goods and part stock of groceries; insurance, $2.200. Case & Shepley, stock of dry goods and groceries, books, papers, etc .; insurance, $4,000. Creditors of Paddock Bros., stoek of dry goods and groceries. Solner & Morgan, part of stock of dry goods and groceries; insurance, $5,000. First Na- tional Bank, brick building, counters, etc .; insurance, $2,000. Barnes & Baird, brick building; insurance, $2,000. Lewis & Rob- erts, brick building ; insurance, $2,000. Dr. E. C. Dorr, dental tools and machinery, books, papers, etc. Dr. E. P. Hudson, dental tools, etc. Page & Wheeler, furniture, a few books, papers, ete. A. Galloway, frame building. Frederich & Sammons, a few tools, meat, ete. Mrs. Marshall and Miss Nerton, dressmakers, sus- tained some loss. J. Woodward and Mr. Carter lost their house- hold goods. Dr. Barnes sustained some loss in his office. Austin & Richardson, W. Simpson, R. Griffith and Postmaster Phelps all sustained some loss by the removal of goods.

In June, 1869, complaint was made to Sheriff Mollison, by a gentleman from the rural districts, to the effect that a woman had stolen a horse from him, and giving a description of the woman and horse. It seems that before the woman had got a great distance from the starting place the horse escaped and came to town. The gentleman recovered his horse, and the thief was heard from, being in the country about three miles distant. The sheriff desired to let the woman come to town and claim the horse before arresting her, but was urged on until he pro- eeeded into the country with papers and brought the woman to town and to trial. It seems that she "smelt a mice" and eon- cluded that hers was a "horse of another color." She swore

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that she had never seen the horse, which was alleged to have been stolen, and there being no proof, the horse not being found in her possession, she was discharged. The authorities came to the conclusion that it took a sharp man to trap a woman.

June 26, 1870, William Simpson was drowned in the Cedar river at Austin, just back of his residence, near the foot of St. Paul street.

On September 22, 1868, Henry Hyer, a boy about twelve years of age, was accidentally killed near the depot. The boy at- tempted to jump upon a handcar, when in motion, and the lever struck him on the head, crushing in his skull and killing him almost instantly.

In its issue of December 1, 1868, the Democrat contained the following item: "Three native Americans-no carpet-baggers- stopped at the Central House in this place last night. Two of them were chiefs of the Menominee nation, one of which killed five Sioux Indians in the war of 1862-63, fighting on the side of the whites. He has five marks made in India ink upon his arm to 'designate the fact.' The tribe lives upon the Black river, in Wisconsin. These chaps have been ont west trapping, and are now returning to their tribe. They are very large, robust men, capable of taking care of a large amount of rations."

The Austin Democrat, February 23, 1869, states that "genuine stone coal has been found in Mower county." In that issue ap- pears the following article: "Thomas Smith, of Windom town- ship, in this county, has left with us a very fair sample of stone coal, and informs us that he has taken from the mine which he is now prospecting, some lumps as good as any ever taken from a Pennsylvania coal field. Mr. Smith is something of a geologist, and had discovered signs of coal on his place, in the bluff along Rose Creek, some time since, and a few days ago determined to investigate the matter and prospect for a large deposit which he liad reason to believe existed in the vicinity. He employed an experienced miner, and the two went to work, tunneling into the bluff, and the present indieations are that a rich bed of coal will soon be discovered. Two or three weeks more will tell the story. The importance which would attend the discovery of an exten- sive bed of coal in Windom, lying as it does, in the center of a large prairie country, could not be overestimated. * *

On April 1, 1870, Carl Chanbery, a young man who, the pre- vious spring, had come with his aged mother from Sweden, and settled in Austin, was drowned in Cedar river.

On Sunday afternoon, July 17, 1870, David Caswell, a prom- inent citizen of LeRoy, left his residence for the purpose of look- ing at some grass land nearly a quarter of a niile distant on the farm, and as was sometimes his custom, took with him a double-

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barreled shot gun. Later in the day his dead body was found with a shot gun wound in the left side, with every indication that the gun had gone off while he was in the act of loading it.

On August 14, 1870, a Norwegian named Jens Jenson, about 54 years of age, who lived a short distance from Adams station, committed suicide by hanging himself in a grove.

. On September 2, 1870, John Fredell, a Swede, 23 years of age, was drowned in the Cedar river. The young man had come from Minneapolis about three weeks before his death and had been in the employ of the railroad company. He had shown un- mistakable signs of insanity.

On Monday, February 13, 1871, at between 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning, the warehouse of Guns & Anderson, at Browns- dale, was discovered to be on fire. The flames soon reached the warehouse of Mr. Rowell, and the building was entirely de- stroved. The warehouse of Guns & Anderson contained 6,000 bushels of wheat, 3,300 bushels of flax seed, 1,000 pounds of tow, about 1,000 grain sacks, a fanning mill, and the articles usually kept about a grain warehouse. Nothing at all was saved and their loss was about $13,000, which, however, was fully covered by insurance. Mr. Rowell's warehouse was empty at the time. The total loss on both was about $15,000.

On February 20, 1871, Anstin was visited by a disastrous fire. At about 1 o'clock the Fleck House was discovered to be on fire, and the flames spread so rapidly that it was impossible to save the building. There were about sixty persons in the house at the time, and all succeeded in making their escape. The property was valued at $9,000, including the grounds, and was insured for $3,500. The hotel at the time was under the management of George Hay, who had leased it and taken possession about ten days previous to the time of the fire. The fire caught from a defective flue.

On May 9, 1871, a fatal accident occurred at the depot of the C., M. & St. P. R. R. in Austin, resulting in the death of William Walsh.

On December 27, 1875, the iron foundry belonging to Geo. B. Wright, located on the east side, was burned to the ground. The cause of the fire was unknown. The building and contents were a total loss of about, $10,000. The foundry was the only one in the city, and its loss not only fell heavily upon its owners but upon the business interests of Anstia as well.

On the morning of December 30, 1873, the building on the corner of Chatham and Mill streets, occupied by the store of the Farmers and Mechanics Grocery Association, was burned to the ground. A portion of the goods was removed. There was an insurance on the stock of $2,000.

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On April 22, 1873, Ole Gordon, of Northwood, Iowa, was in- stantly killed while grinding plows in the shop of Seymour John- son, in Austin, by the bursting of the revolving stone. One frag- ment weighing nearly 500 pounds, struck the unfortunate man in the forehead, at the corner of the right eye, and carried away a large portion of his skull and scattered his brains over the entire room. It passed through one end of the building and struck in the street some sixty feet distant. The stone was entirely new and, as far as could then be discovered, perfectly sound. It was driven by horse power, and at no more than the usual speed.

The month of January, 1877, was a disastrous one in Austin, three fires occurring within six days. The first of these took place on the morning of January 13, when six stores and one shop were cleaned out, the historic row of wooden buildings, long landmarks in Austin, on the west side of Main street being laid in ashes. Buildings on the east side of the street were also dam- aged by an explosion of powder in one of the burning buildings. The total loss was about $13,000, the firm of Hazelwood & Tuttle being the heaviest losers. On the same day a dwelling house on Maple street, owned by C. W. Freeman and occupied by W. D. Phillips, was entirely consumed. Four days later three frame buildings on the corner of Mill and Chatham streets, owned by A. Matson, were destroyed.

On October 5, 1880, Austin was visited by a fire that laid in waste four business buildings and caused a loss of about $24,000. F. A. Richardson, dry goods, and Fernald & Kimball, furniture, were the heaviest losers. Others who lost were Ferd. Kirchoff, meats; Mrs. R. J. Smith, millinery ; J. E. Slocum, sewing machine agent ; Dr. J. N. Wheat ; L. N. Griffith ; J. J. Hayes & Bro., jew- elry ; Clemmer & Pooler; Mrs. N. C. McMillan, millinery ; Mrs. John Morrison, restaurant.

The Temperance Leagues, among the ladies, were powerful infinences toward preserving the law and order of the com- munity in the early days. In writing on this subject in 1876, Mrs. R. L. Kimball.said :

The crusade against whisky began in Austin in the winter of 1856. At that time not a saloon was to be found in the place, but at some of the stores intoxicants could be purchased. Accord- ingly the women started a erusade and threatened to boycoit merchants who sold strong drinks. To this agreement thirty- two ladies-at that time all but three of them lady residents of Anstin-subscribed their names. Twenty-eight of these names have been preserved, and are as follows: Imogene A. Kimball, . Hattie A. Adams, Hannah E. Leverich, Jennett W. Cook, Julia A. Wheat, Triphena Griffith, Lucy L. Wheeler, Bettie M. Vande- grift, Eleanor Bemis, Sarah E. Bemis, Cornelia Benson, Mary

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Ann H. Decker, Amanda Adams, Elizabeth Brown, Mary Me- Daniels, Eunice L. Smith, Lois Brown, Martha L. Sanford, Emma Allen, Almeda E. Allen, Mary A. Colwell, Eliza A. Allen, Maria M. Everest, Mary A. Padden, Naomi M. Revord, Harriet Ferris, Eliza A. MeKinley, Elizabeth Tubbs. The merchants were then visited and asked to pledge themselves not to sell liquors. Three signatures were obtained, Rufus L. Kimball, W. I. Brown, and Aloysius Brown. In 1857, a Ladies' Temperance Society was or- ganized by Mrs. J. L. Davidson

The Father Matthew Temperance Society was organized Feb- ruary 5, 1871, with eighteen charter members. February 19, they decided to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, and appointed a committee to make arrangements. The committee deciding to have a ban- ner called on the printers but failed to obtain satisfactory samples for even a temporary article. Mrs. W. I. Brown's proposal to embroider one, with green silk on white merino, was accepted, and work commenced. They were soon out of silk and sent a sample to St. Paul, but found none there. A few skeins were found in MeGregor, but not enough. Luckily, Mrs. Oscar Ayers had enough to complete it. The committee found it necessary to employ all the ladies they could to get it completed in time, and their fingers wrought on each successive letter until the "Father Matthew Temperance Society of Austin" was complete. Mrs. L. A. Sherwood was among these ladies. At the first annual con- vention held in St. Paul, February 12, 1872, the society joined the state union with only eight members. The majority of those lost were by resignation or non-payment of dues, and not for violation of pledge, which has been the case up to this time. At the second convention the society won the Gold Medal for having gained the greatest percentage of membership of any society in the State, being 100 per cent. At the third convention, held at Winona, May 6, 1874, the society had seventy-five members, but lost the medal, it being won by Father Ostar's Society of Belle Plaine. At the fourth convention, in Faribault, June 18, 1875. Austin reported sixty-eight members. The Catholic church at Austin has still a strong Total Abstinence Society.

The Sewing Societies of Austin have always been an impor- tant factor in its charitable and social life. In 1876, Mrs. W. W. Brownson spoke as follows in regard to those at that time in existence :

One can scarcely estimate all that has been accomplished and all we enjoy today that has been obtained through the perse- vering efforts of little bands of ladies in our different churches, known and often spoken of derisively as sewing societies. To them is due the credit of many of the comfortable surroundings of our churches. the result of something very different from

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gossip. In early times, while men were anxiously planning and toiling to secure comparatively comfortable homes for their fam- ilies, and provide houses of worship, their wives and daughters were not idle. They organized sewing societies with good re- sults. The ladies of the Methodist church organized the first one in Austin, May 17, 1865, since which time it has furnished $1,500 of the money raised by the society for church erection and char- itable purposes.

June 12, 1865, the ladies of the Baptist church organized their sewing society, and in less than two years it raised and paid $125 of the expense of the bell to their church edifice .and other pur- poses.

November 8, 1865, the ladies of the Congregational church or- ganized their sewing society, which has contributed about $2,200 to the charitable and other objects of the church. A Circle of Industry, belonging to the church, has also raised $550 to apply on the purchase of the bell.

The Busy Bees, a society of children, organized in the fall of 1874, for the purchase of chandeliers for the church, have raised, through public entertainments and fairs, $40.

In 1868 the ladies' sewing society of the Presbyterian church was organized, but there are no records of its work until 1870, between which time and May, 1873, it raised for church purposes $330. Since then the sewing society has had no existence.

In 1865 the ladies of the Episcopal church organized their society, which has since had a vigorous existence, but no records have been kept, and I am unable to give results.

The Universalist sewing society was organized in 1868, and has earned $360.

The Universalist Sunday School Gleaners, a society organized in 1875, for the purchase of a Sabbath School library, have raised $60 toward their object.

The ladies of the Lutheran church, soon after its organiza- tion, organized a sewing society, which existed about a year and a half. They raised $75, which was paid toward the debt of the church.

LYMAN D. BAIRD.

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CHAPTER XVII

MUNICIPAL AUSTIN.

Incorporation of the Village in 1868-Incorporated as a City- Changes in Charter-Elective and Appointed Officers Who Have Served the Municipality-Important Acts of the Suc- cessive Councils-Home Rule Charter Adopted-Edited by John H. Skinner.

In the early part of 1868, the people living in the hamlet of Austin began to feel the need of a government other than the supervisor system under which hamlet and township in common had been existing. Consequently a petition was eireulated among the citizens and presented to the legislature, asking for a village government. There being no real opposition to the measure the act was passed March 6, 1868, and a tract of land taking in the hamlet and lying west of the Red Cedar river in the north-central part of the township was duly set aside and in- corporated as the village of Austin.

The aet provided that Tyler W. Woodward, William L. Aus- tin and Jeremiah B. Yates should aet as judges of the election, which was ordered to be held May 5. The charter authorized the election of a mayor, a reeorder, an assessor, a justice of the peace who should be village justice and three aldermen. The aldermen and mayor were to appoint a treasurer, a marshal, an overseer for each of road districts into which the village should be divided, an attorney and a village surveyor.

At that time factional feeling ran high in city and county and a fusion ticket, proposed by some of the more conservative minds, did not materialize. Instead, there were two Republican and one Democratie ticket in the field. One Republican party, which will be here designated as the independent Republican party, held a cancus without having published a formal eall, and nominated a tieket. Another faction, which will be here desig- nated as the regular Republicans, held a meeting in pursuance to a call, and nominated a tieket, taking W. L. Austin from the independent ticket and placing him in nomination as mayor, and also borrowing the name of Seymour Johnson from the independ- ent ticket and nominating him as alderman. The independents then informally nominated two other candidates for aldermen to take the place of the Messrs. Austin and Johnson. The Dem- ocrats nominated a regular tieket.

The Republican party, which had the majority of votes in the city, being thus split, lost the election. There were some

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charges of fraud, it being alleged that many of those voting were railroad men who were not, in the strict meaning of the word, residents of Austin. G. M. Cameron was elected mayor. W. L. Austin, the regular Republican, received 126 votes and Dr. O. W. Gibson, the independent Republican, received fifty-six. B. J. Van Valkenburgh, with 166 votes, and J. B. Yates, with 159 votes, were elected aldermen. C. C. Hunt, with 150 votes, was tied with Jacob Johnson for alderman, with 150 votes. Of the other two regular Republicans, E. P. VanValkenburgh received 137 votes and Seymour Johnson 125. Of the independent Republicans, H. W. Page received sixty-two votes. C. M. Fernald, forty-three, and A. Matson, thirty-nine. For recorder, George Baird, Republican, received 155 votes and L. R. Hathaway, Democrat, 188, the latter being elected. E. Maloney, Democrat, was elected assessor with 161 votes, against J. C. Aekley, regular Republican, who received 118 votes, and J. F. Atherton, independent Republican, who re- ceived sixty-two. L. N. Griffith, Democrat, was elected village and civil justice, with 166 votes. C. J. Shortt, regular Repub- lican, received 135, and Robert Mathes, independent Republican, received thirty-two. The Democrats thus appear to have won out for every office. A vote was also cast for civil justice and constables, though no provision for such election was made in the charter.

The first meeting of the Austin village council was held in the law office of Cameron & Johnson, May 16, 1868. The council was called to order by Mayor Cameron, and Aldermen B. J. Van Valkenburgh and J. B. Yates were present. By reason of the tie vote, the office of the third alderman was declared unfilled, and the appointment of Jacob Johnson was made to fill the va- caney, whereupon Mr. Johnson took his seat. The following ap- pointments were made: Treasurer, William I. Brown ; attorney, A. S. Everest ; surveyor, D. B. Johnson ; marshal, Carlos Fenton. The road overseers were selected as follows: 1, east of Main street, W. T. Manderville; 2, south of Maple and west of Main; 3, north of Maple and west of Main, James Kennevan. Fire limits were established, and a lock-up provided for.

In 1868, about the time of incorporation, the village contained six churches, two schoolhouses, one of which was a brick struc- ture, costing about $6,000, two newspapers, nine dry goods stores, four grocery stores, three drug stores, four hardware stores, two clothing stores, one book store, two confectionery stores, three boot and shoe stores, four millinery stores, two jewelry stores, four flour and feed stores, and one agricultural store. In the manufac- turing line there were one plow manufactory, one foundry and machine shop, one planing mill, one sash and blind factory, one steam sawmill, three flouring mills, three brick yards, four lum-

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ber yards, one carriage shop and two furniture manufactories. There were also two livery stables, three restaurants and three billiard halls. Already four large business blocks had been built. There were six flourishing churches, one Masonic lodge, one lodge of Odd Fellows and two bodies of Good Templars. II. W. Page had a bank here, three good hotels were in operation, and the C., M. & St. Paul was still the only railroad, although there were rumors of many others.

In 1869 an amendment.to the charter passed the legislature, providing, among other changes, for the election by the people of a mayor, recorder, assessor, justice of the peace who should be village justice, two other justices of the peace, a marshal, a city treasurer, and three aldermen. A road overseer, a village attor- ney and a village surveyor were to be appointed.

At the election of 1869, two tickets were presented. The People's Reform ticket was largely a temperance move, while the opposition party called itself the Citizens' Union ticket. W. L. Austin headed the People's Reform ticket, P. B. Basford was nominated for mayor on the Citizens' Union ticket, and John F. Cook was the rallying point of those who favored neither of these parties. With two exceptions, the entire People's Reform ticket was elected as follows: Mayor, W. L. Austin; aldermen, A. J Phelps, J. S. Day and Orlenzer Allen; recorder, L. Boure- gard ; treasurer, Stephen M. Darrah ; marshal, Henry J. Gillham (Gillham ran on the Citizens' Union ticket and defeated Andrew Knox) ; assessor, E. Maloney; "city and civil justice," C. L. Chase ; "civil justice," J. H. MeClentic (McClentie ran on the Citizens' Union ticket and defeated W. L. Manderville of the People's Reform ticket and B. J. Jones, who ran independently). The charter of the village provided for the election of a village justice and two justices of the peace, and it will be seen that neither the designation nor the number of justices elected agreed with the charter. A village surveyor and constables were also voted for, although there was no provision for such balloting in the charter, and in spite of the fact that it had expressly been provided that the village surveyor should be appointed and not elected. E. D. Fenton and George Litchfield were the two receiv- ing votes for the office of constable, and S. Burke was the only one voted for as village surveyor. The council, at its first meet- ing, showed a like disregard for the charter, when three road overscers instead of one were appointed as follows: 1, J. F. Key- ser ; 2, A. S. Hall; 3, J. C. Smith. D. B. Johnson, Jr., was ap- pointed attorney. Later MeClentic was replaced by W. T. Man- derville as "Civil Justice," Hall was replaced by O. W. Firkins as road overseer of district No. 2; and D. B. Johnson, Jr., was re- placed by A. S. Everest as attorney. January 18, 1870, Orlenzer

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Allen resigned as alderman and was replaced by W. W. Brown- son, and on July 3, 1870, Sylvester Smith took the place of Alder- man Day, who also resigned.

In 1870 the charter was still further amended. It was pro- vided that the village limits should be all of section 3, the north- west quarter of section 2, and the west half of the west half of the northwest quarter of section 2, all in township 102, range 18. It was also provided that there should be elected a mayor, three aldermen, two justices of the peace (to serve for two years), a recorder, an assessor, a treasurer, and two constables (to serve for two years). The marshal, the attorney and the road over- seer were to be appointed by the council.

The election of 1870 resulted in a victory of a Union ticket over the Republican and Independent tickets, the entire Union ticket, with the exception of one constable, being elected as fol- lows : Mayor, J. F. Cook ; aldermen, W. W. Brownson, P. B. Bas- ford and H. S. Smith; recorder, John Walsh; treasurer, I. A. Wood; assessor, R. I. Smith; justices, A. J. Phelps and W. H. Merrick; constables, O. J. Johnson (Republican) and T. K. Kaiser. The council appointed G. M. Cameron, village attorney ; John Minette, marshal; H. L. Percival, road overseer. I. A. Wood died October 11, and G. G. Clemmer was named in his place as village treasurer.

In 1871, the village received practically a new charter. The people were to elect six aldermen, three justices of the peace, three constables and one assessor. The six aldermen, who were to represent the three wards into which the village was divided, were to appoint a president, a recorder and a treasurer from their own number, and in addition to this were to name road overseers, attorney, marshal and printer.

For the first time, the election was held in each of the three wards. In the first ward, where three tickets, Citizens', Repub- lican and Democratic, were presented, the Citizens' ticket won, and Sylvester Smith and L. N. Griffith were elected aldermen. In the second ward the Democratic candidates, H. J. Gillham and J. H. C. Huxhold, won against the Republican candidates. In the third ward the Republicans won out against the Dem- ocrats and elected E. W. Kells and Charles Cook. William Rich- ards, Democrat, was elected assessor. At the organization of the council, Sylvester Smith was appointed president, L. N. Grif- fith, recorder, and H. J. Gillham, treasurer. The following ap- pointments were also made: Road overseers: 1, T. Hinchey ; 2, Brewer; 3, R. J. Tyler; attorney, G. M. Cameron; mar- shal, Carlos Fenton. During the year, Kells resigned as alder- man, and on December 1, 1871, his place was taken by T. W. Hazleton.

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The history of Mower County, Minnesota : illustrated, Part 20

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co. Number of Pages: 1246

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.
Number of Pages: 1246