USA > Missouri > Grundy County > The History of Grundy County, Missouri : an encyclopedia of useful information, and a compendium of actual facts > Part 13
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The uniform price of corner lots was one hundred and fifty dollars, and inside lots one hundred dollars. As rapidly as sale could be made the money was applied in payment of a mortgage, held by Pierre Chouteau, Jr., of St.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPII.
Louis, upon the land embracing the town site, amounting to six thousand three hundred and seventy-two dollars and fifty-seven cents.
The town, as then laid off, ineluded all the territory lying between Robi- doux Street on the north and Messanie Street on the south, and between Sixth Street on the east and the Missouri River on the west, and contained sixty-four blocks, twelve of which are fractional. Each whole block is 240 by 300 feet, biseeted by an alley and containing twelve lots.
The streets are governed by the cardinal points of the compass; those running back from the river in the "Original Town," extending north and south, are Water, Levee, Main (or First), Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth; and those running at right angles, commencing on the parallel of the north line, are Isadore, Robidoux, Faraon, Jules, Francis, Felix, Ed- mond, Charles, Sylvanie, Angelique, Messanie. These names are derived from members of Mr. Robidoux's family.
Since the laying out of the original town, covering a period of thirty- eight years, there have been added about seventy-two additions.
CHURCIIES.
In 1844-5 the first church edifice in the town, a log building, 20x30 feet, was erected, under the direction of Rev. T. S. Reeve, a Presbyterian clergy- man. It was located on the lot where the business house of John S. Brit- tain & Co. now stands.
Soon after this church building was completed and occupied an incident occurred in it which is worth relating:
In the fall of 1845, on a sabbath-day evening, while religious services were being held, a loud, rough knock was heard upon the door. Without waiting for a response, the door was thrust wide open, when in stalked a large, burly-looking individual from Grand River.
With hat on and hand raised, he advanced toward the pulpit and mo- tioned to the minister to stop. The man of God (Rev. T. S. Reeve) being thus rudely and inopportunely accosted, left off preaching, when the stranger said:
" Is Bob Donnell in this house? I've got a bar'l of honey for him."
Mr. Donnell being present, and taking in the situation at a glance, im- mediately left his seat and went out of the house with the enterprising and redoubtable honey vender. Whether he purchased the " bar']" we cannot say. The man, however, who, nothing daunted, had so persistently hunted him up, braving the parson and the astonished gaze of the congregation, certainly deserved some consideration at the hands of Mr. Donnell. We hope, therefore, a bargain was made, and that his Grand River friend re- turned home a happier, if not a wiser man.
The log church was first permanently occupied in the winter of 1844-5. In the fall of the year 1844 the first Union sabbath-school was organized,
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPHI.
and a committee of ladies sent out for the purpose of making collections for the school. Joseph Robidoux, the founder of the city, made the first dona- tion of ten dollars in money for the school. This was the first time a sub- scription paper had ever been carried around, and it elicited some practical jokes from its novelty among those who subscribed, and who are now among the oldest citizens.
The log church was also occupied once a month by the Methodist denom- ination for some time, and twice a month, until their own church was built, in 1846. In Angust, of that year, trustees were appointed by the First Presbyterian Church, under the care of the Lexington Presbytery, in con- nection with the "Constitutional General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church." During the same year a building committee was appointed to make the necessary arrangements for the erection of a new house of wor- ship. Money was raised by subscription, and in 1847 was erected the brick building on the northeast corner of Fourth and Francis streets, in dimen- sions fifty feet front by sixty feet. The first services were held in the church in the winter of 1849-50.
This building was used without interruption till the closing of the church and dispersion of the congregation in 1861, at the breaking out of the civil war. It then passed through various hands, till it finally became, by pur- chase, the property of the German congregation now occupying it.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
The citizens of St. Joseph are justly proud of their excellent system of public schools, which not only afford a practical and liberal education for their children at home, but have given the city character and reputation abroad. They have been one of the most important factors in attracting immigration, and have done more than any other institution to add to the population, wealth and general prosperity of the city. They are the schools in which the great masses of the children are educated-the children of the wealthy, of the men of moderate means and of the poor alike-all classes, and frequently many nationalities, being represented in the same school.
Until the year 1860, no attempt at any system of public schools had been made in St. Joseph. Occasionally a free school would be taught for a month or two, or for a sufficient length of time to absorb what was not wasted or lost of the city's share of the public school-fund. But there was no public school-system, and St. Joseph had merely the organization of a country school-district. In that year a few of the most enterprising of her citizens determined to make an effort to establish a system of public schools. They sought and obtained from the legislature of the State a good and lib- eral charter.
This charter has been twice amended by the legislature, at the request of the board of public schools; once in 1866 and once in 1872. Edward
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH.
Everett said: "To read the English language well, to write a neat, legible hand, and to be master of the four rules of arithmetic, I call this a good education." Any pupil completing a course in the St. Joseph schools should have an education far above that standard, and be well prepared to enter upon any of the ordinary business avocations of life. But that the system of public instruction may be as complete and thorough in St. Joseph as in any Eastern city, a high school, with a liberal course of study, was organized in 1866, which has graduated 208 young ladies and gentlemen who are filling useful and honorable positions in society. Of the above number, forty-four are either teaching now or have been teachers in the public schools of St. Joseph.
THE GAZETTE.
The first newspaper, the Gazette, a weekly, was established in St. Joseph in 1845, its first issue appearing on Friday, the 25th day of April, of that year. The proprietor was William Ridenbaugh. When commencing the publication of his paper he had extensively circulated throughout Buchanan and the adjoining counties, the following:
" Again, the spirit of internal improvement is abroad, our people are determined not only to improve the transporting facilities now had, but to add others, which will place us on terms more nearly equal with other parts. of the world. Then all the advantages we have in soil and climate will become available; then a new impetus will have been given to the indus- trious farmer; then the call upon the merchant for the necessaries and com- forts of life will have been vastly increased; then health and prosperity will everywhere greet the eye of the beholder; then ours shall be a town and county in which the wealthy, industrious and educated of the other and older States will love to settle, and the situation of our town and sur- rounding seenery, which are now surpassingly lovely, will be enhanced by the touch of art, and the citizen or visitor of cultivated or refined taste will love to contemplate their beauty."
The above article was written in the spring of 1847, and is doubtless a faithful and correct representation of St. Joseph and her business prospects at that time. Four years had elapsed from the laying out of the town, and the inferences drawn from the editorial are that notwithstanding many difficulties had heretofore intervened, such as the jealousies of rival towns, imperfect navigation facilities, and other hindrances, the town had continued to prosper.
RAILROADS.
The people of St. Joseph early awoke to a sense of the importance and necessity of railroad communication with the East. About the first refer- ence to this matter we find in the Gazette, of Friday, November 6, 1846: "Our country is destined to suffer much and. is now suffering from the
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH.
difficulty of navigation and the extremely high rates the boats now charge. Our farmers may calculate that they will get much less for produce and will be compelled to pay much more for their goods than heretofore, and this will certainly always be the case when the Missouri River shall be as low as it now is. The chances are fearfully against having any considerable work be- stowed in improving the river, and until it is improved by artificial means the navigation of it to this point must always be dangerous and very uncertain.
"The prospects for this fall and winter are well calculated to make the people look about to see if there is no way to remedy this inconvenience, if there can be any plan suggested whereby our people can be placed more nearly upon terms of equality with the good citizens of other parts of our land.
" We suggest the propriety of a railroad from St. Joseph to some point . on the Mississippi, either St. Louis, Hannibal or Quincy. For ourselves we like the idea of a railroad to one of the latter places suggested, for this course would place us nearer the Eastern cities, and make our road thither a direct one; we like this road, too, because it would so much relieve the intermediate country which is now suffering and must always suffer so much for transporting facilities in the absence of such an enterprise.
" If this be the favorite route we must expect opposition from the southern portion of the State, as well as all the river counties below this. For the present we mean merely to throw out the suggestion, with the view of awakening publie opinion, and eliciting a discussion of the subject. In some future number we propose presenting more advantages of such a road, and will likewise propose and enforce by argument the ways and means of ac- complishing the object."
The charter for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was secured mainly by the exertions of Robert M. Stewart, afterward governor of the State, and, at the time of its issuance, a member of the State senate, and of General James Craig, and Judge J. B. Gardenhire.
About the spring of 1857 work was begun on the west end, and by March of that year the track extended out from St. Joseph a distance of seven miles. The first fire under the first engine that started out of St. Joseph on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was kindled by M. Jeff. Thompson. This was several years before the arrival of the first through train in Febru- ary, 1859. (Sometime in the early part of 1857.)
The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was completed February 13, 1859. On Monday, February 14, 1859, the first through passenger train ran out of St. Joseph. Of this train E. Sleppy, now (1881) master mechanic of the St. Joseph and Western Machine Shops, in Elwood, was engineer, and Ben- jamin H. Colt, conductor.
The first to run a train into St. Joseph was George Thompson, who ran first a construction train and then a freight train.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH.
The first master mechanic of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad shops in St. Joseph was C. F. Shivel. These shops were established in 1857. In the following year Mr. Shivel put up the first car ever built in the city.
On the 22d of February, 1859, occurred in St. Joseph the celebration of the completion of the Hannibal and St. Joseph road. This was, beyond doubt, the grandest display ever witnessed in the city, up to that period.
Mr. Jeff. Thompson, at that time mayor of the city, presided over the ceremonies and festivities of this brilliant occasion. The city was wild with enthusiasm, and the most profuse and unbounded hospitality prevailed.
A grand banquet was held in the spacious apartments of the Odd Fel- lows' Hall, which then stood on the corner of Fifth and Felix streets. Not less than six hundred invited guests were feasted here; and it was estimated that several thousand ate during the day at this hospitable board.
Broaddus Thompson, Esq., a brother of General M. Jeff. Thompson, made the grand speech of the occasion, and performed the ceremony of mingling the waters of the two mighty streams thus linked by a double band of iron.
The completion of the road constitutes an era in the history of St. Joseph, and from that period dawned the light of a new prosperity. In the five suc- eeeding years the population of the city was quadrupled, and her name her- alded to the remotest East as the rising emporium of the West.
In the summer of 1872 this road commenced the building of a branch southward from St. Joseph, twenty-one miles, to the city of Atchison. This was completed in October of the same year.
The St. Joseph and Western is one of the most valuable roads that leads into St. Joseph, and has been the source of a large trade from the neighbor- ing State of Kansas.
The Kansas City, St. Joseph and Council Bluffs road is not so important, having parallel roads in opposition, and until it came under the control of the C., B. & Q. it lacked comprehensive business views and enlightened management. It is, however, a good, local road, all the way from Sioux City to Kansas City, but as a northern and southern road, with competing lines, will not be of very great value as an investment.
The Missouri Pacific is another road that has run to the city, but found it far from profitable, and are now building from Atchison north, into Ne- braska. This road, like the K. C. & C. B , is of great local convenience to the people and St. Joseph.
The Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific, as its southeastern route to St. Louis, the St. Joseph and Western, and the Hannibal and St. Joseph, will always be the leading roads. The first mentioned running a branch to St. Joseph, giving them a route to St. Louis over what was called the Kansas City, St. Louis and Northern, now all known as the Wabash system.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH.
The St. Joseph and Des Moines is another new road of local importance, although giving another Chicago route to the city of " pools and corners."
There are now (1881) three lines of street railway in St. Joseph.
The Board of Trade was organized October 19, 1878.
WHOLESALE TRADE.
The rapid increase of the wholesale trade of St. Joseph is simply re- markable. The merchants, in January, looked forward to a greatly increased trade, but they did not think for a moment that it would go so far beyond the expectations of the most sanguine. Such, however, has been the case, and there is no telling what proportions the trade will assume in 1881. To accommodate this increase of business, many of our merchants are com- pelled to erect more commodious buildings. The many magnificent whole- sale structures that have gone up in the past few months bear ample evidence to the truth of this assertion.
Total sales in 1880 of merchandise. $49,385,000
Add sales of manufactures 12,902,115
Grand total of the trade of St. Joseph, 1880. . $62,287,115
GAS WORKS.
In the year 1856 J. B. Ranney and associates proposed to the city authori- ties that privileges should be granted to a company to be organized of which the city should take one-half the capital stock and himself and associates the remaining half. The proposal was agreed to and the city became a stockholder. The works were erected and met with a steady loss even at the rate of five and six dollars charged per thousand feet of gas to con- sumers. The city sold out for twenty cents on the dollar. They continued changing hands and losing money until the purchase of the works in 1871, by James Clemens and his associates, of Detroit, Michigan, under the name of the Citizens' Gas Light Company, for the sum of $50,000. This company greatly enlarged and otherwise improved the works, and secured a contract for lighting the street lamps, which had remained unlighted several years. The trouble was that the people had not progressed far enough to fully appreciate gas in their business houses or private residences, and the cost of introducing was an item of serious contemplation while their residences to a large extent were not built with gas arrangements. The company, however, began to prosper for the first time in the history of gas in St. Joseph when a new company was granted equal facilities with them and proposed to cut down the price of gas and teach the citizens of St. Joseph the beauties of its use.
In 1878 this new company came to the front under the name of the Mu- tual Gas Light Company, the present owners of the works, and made pro- posals to the authorities, through their president, C. H. Nash, to supply
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH.
present consumers with gas at $2.50 per thousand feet, and the street lamps at $25 per annum. The old company had charged $4 per thousand feet and $30 for lighting the street lamps per year. They were granted the franchise and awarded the city contract, and this resulted in the sale of the entire works and franchise of the old company to the Mutual Gas Light Association.
The latter company has erected elegant new works on the corner of Lafayette and Sixth streets, capable of supplying a city of 75,000 inlab- itants.
The company have now placed in position over twenty miles of main pipe, supplying over eight hundred consumers and nearly five hundred street lamps.
WATER-WORKS.
One of the chief needs of St. Joseph for more than ten years past has been a complete and perfeet system of water-works, to be employed both as a safeguard against fire and as a means of averting the possibilities of a de- ficient supply in seasons of drought.
But it was not until the 10th day of December, 1879, that anything was actually accomplished in that direction, at which date the mayor approved an ordinance passed by the city council authorizing the construction of water-works upon the " gravity system," the supply to be obtained from the Missouri River above the city limits.
On December 23, 1879, the contract was let to the St. Joseph Water Company, under bond to complete the works and furnish a full supply of pure, wholesome water within twelve months from that date. This com- pany commenced work on the 4th day of January, 1880, and upon the 12th day of January, 1881, the works were accepted by the city authorities as per- fectly satisfactory.
The great basins are supplied with water by the engines below, the water first being forced into a well west of the elevation, and after that it runs through pipes into the reservoirs, of which there are three. The settling basin is 380 feet long by 85 feet wide, and its capacity is three million gallons. Its depth is twenty feet, and its water level is two feet higher than the reser- voir on the south.
The north basin, which is intended for the filtered water, is 150 feet wide and 300 feet long, and has a capacity of six million of gallons.
If at any time it should be required to empty these basins there is cer- tain machinery ou hand that can be placed at work immediately and the old water can be replaced by that which is fresh and pure.
Reservoir Hill is 330 feet above high water mark, and it is 122 feet higher than any point in St. Joseph. In the business portion of the city the pressure has been, since the works were in operation, 120 pounds to the square inel.
In testing the capacity of the street hydrants it has been demonstrated 8
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPHI.
that in the business portion of the city a stream can be thrown through hose, with a proper nozzle attached, to the height of about 110 feet, while at the corner of Nineteenth and Francis streets, one of the highest points within the eastern corporate limits, a distance of sixty-five feet has been shown to be the extreme limit of the elevation.
At the present writing something over twenty miles of main pipe have been laid in place and one hundred and eighty-two hydrants placed at proper locations and in working order.
The works were to cost at first $300,000, but the company kept adding to the original estimate until the works complete have cost $700,000 instead of the amount first estimated.
THE UNION DEPOT.
To John B. Carson, general manager of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, belongs the credit of originating a plan for the construction of a union depot at St. Joseph.
After various conferences of the union depot projectors, the erection of the building was finally determined upon in April, 1880, when the St. Joseph Union Depot Company was organized, with the following companies as in- corporators and stockholders: Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company, Missouri Pacific Railway Company, St. Joseph and Western Railroad Com- pany, which is a part of the Union Pacific; Kansas City, St. Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad Company, which is a part of the Chicago, Burling- ton and Quincy Railroad; Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad Com- pany; St. Joseph and Des Moines Railroad Company.
The ground which was selected and legally condemned for this enterprise is situated on the east side of Sixth Street, near the corner of Mitchell Ave- nue, that having been found to be the most suitable location for a common point of meeting for the different railroads operating their lines through this city. It embraces a tract of six acres, all of which will be required for its buildings, sheds, platforms, tracks, etc.
The style of the building is Eastlake domestic gothic, and contemplates a building 400 feet in length and fifty feet in width, set back from Sixth Street thirty-six feet, so as to give room for carriage-way between present street line and front of building.
STOCK.
The transactions of the stock-yards for the past three years are as follows:
KIND OF STOCK.
1878.
1879.
1880.
Head of hogs.
169,710|99,513|102,150
Head of cattle ..
5,992 15,005
20,592
Head of horses and mules.
1,842 3,179
3,505
Head of sheep.
3,564: 2,2931
5,990
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH.
The capacity of the yards is limited at present to fifty pens, which will accommodate 2,500 head of cattle and 3,000 head of hogs.
LIVE STOCK.
During the year 1880 nearly 10,000 head of cattle were marketed in St. Joseph, which amounted to the aggregate value of about $300,000.
There were about 4,000 horses and mules sold in this market in 1880, of a total value of $350,000. A great portion of this number were shipped out to Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Louisiana and South Carolina.
There were 140,000 head of hogs sold in this city in 1880, of a value of $2,000,000, making the total sales of live stock $2,650,000.
PACKING-HOUSES.
There are at present (1881) three packing-houses in the city. The oldest of these was established by the present proprietor, David Pinger, in 1853. It is near the Francis Street depot. About five hands are generally em- ployed. Slaughtering here is principally done for the butchers.
Hax & Brother were established in 1868. Their paeking-house and office are on the corner of Fourth and Mary streets. They employ in the winter season between sixty and eighty hands, and also paek to a limited extent in summer.
The packing-house of H. Krug & Co. was established in the winter of 1877-8, H. Krug, president; James McCord, vice-president and treas- urer; George C. Hax, secretary. The capital stock of the company is $72,000. In the winter of 1879-80 this house packed between 60,000 and 65,000 hogs. In the summer about 24,000 head were packed. In August, 1881, they slaughtered 1,800 hogs per week.
Connett Brothers, who packed in 1880 about 6,000 hogs, on their farm in the county, are now (1881) erceting a spacious brick structure south of the city limits, which will cost, when completed, about $25,000 or $30,000. Its packing capacity will be from 1,000 to 1,500 per day.
ICE.
The past winter has afforded the best ice harvest ever before known in this city. The following statement shows the number of tons taken from the Missouri River and Lake Contrary and stored for use:
Breweries. 40,000 tons.
Packing companies. . 25,000 tons.
Ice dealers. 25,000 tons.
Private use
10,000 tons.
Total
100,000 tons.
The average cost of storing ice last season was less than $1.00 per ton, while the average cost of imported ice the year previous was $4.50 per ton.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH.
OPERA IIOUSE.
No other city in the entire West can boast of so fine a temple devoted to the dramatic art, nor comparing in size and elegance of appointment, with the Opera House in this city.
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