USA > Missouri > Buchanan County > The history of Buchanan County, Missouri > Part 30
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July 31, 1867, was organized the
ST. JOSEPH AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL ASSOCIATION,
with the following nine directors : Robert Wilson, Leonidas M. Lawson, Moses G. Fish, J. R. Willis, Benj. Ullman, Albe M. Saxton, Thos. B. Weakly, Washington L. Cundiff, Hugh Lewis.
The officers of the Association were : General Robert Wilson, Pres- ident ; Thos. B. Weakly, Vice-President ; A. M. Saxton, Treasurer ; C. B. France, Secretary.
296
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
The preamble of the Articles of Incorporation states that the object of the Association is the promotion of agriculture, horticulture and the mechanical arts. Amount of capital stock, $15,000, divided in shares of $100 each.
The $15,000 of stock was apportioned as follows :
R. Wilson, 5 shares $ 500
J. R. Willis, 10 shares 1,000
L. M. Lawson, 10 shares. 1,000
M. G. Fish & Co., 5 shares
M. M. Claggett, 10 shares. 500
Hugh Lewis, 5 shares 1,000
A. M. Saxton, 10 shares
1,000
T. B. Weakly, 10 shares 1,000
Ben. Ullman, 5 shares 500
A. Beattie, 5 shares
500
C. B. France, 10 shares
1,000
WVm. Ridenbaugh, 10 shares
1,000
R. I .. McDonald, 5 shares.
500
Samuel Ensworth, 10 shares
1,000
Thos. E. Tootle, 10 shares 1,000
Isaac Curd, 5 shares.
500
G. W. McAlear, 2 shares.
200.
W. L. Cundiff & Co., 8 shares Soo
Milton Tootle, 5 shares. 500
D. M. McDonald, 10 shares 1,000
The records of the association state that at the meeting held August 1, 1867, the oath of loyalty was signed by all the directors, which oath was filed in the office of the County Clerk ; and then followed the election of the above-mentioned officers.
At a meeting held August 6, 1867, on motion of L. M. Lawson, it was ordered to purchase the twenty-acre lot on Frederick Avenue, known as the Old Rope Walk, of Bassett & Ensworth, and accept the title as represented by Mr. Ensworth, at four hundred dollars per acre. being eight thousand dollars for the twenty acres.
The first fair was ordered to commence October 29, 1867, and con- tinue four days.
This fair was largely attended and generally pronounced a success- Net receipts, $243.55.
At a meeting held March 21, 1868, by resolution, the stock of the company was increased to the sum of twenty thousand dollars, each stockholder taking the proportion as now held in the old stock.
At a meeting held November, 1867, it was resolved that the next annual fair be held on the second Monday of October, 1868, being the 12th of October. The net receipts for this year were $2,030.91.
500
297
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
By resolution passed April 11, 1868, it was determined that the fair should be held on the fourth Monday of September every year.
In the following year the capital stock was increased to $30,000.
In the spring of 1870, the association sustained a heavy loss in the death of its honored president, General Wilson.
At a meeting of the board of directors of the Agricultural and Mechanical Association of St. Joseph, held Wednesday, May 18, 1870, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted, viz. :
WHEREAS, We have heard with profound regret of the death of General Robert Wilson, President of the Saint Joseph Agricultural and Mechanical Association, and
WHEREAS, We cherish the memory of his distinguished services in the cause of agriculture and the mechanical arts in Northwest Missouri ; therefore be it
Resolved-By the Board of Directors of the Saint Joseph Agri- cultural and Mechanical Association-
First-That in the death of General Wilson, the president of the association, we have sustained an irreparable loss.
Second-That we will remember with gratitude his faithful and noble services in behalf of the association, and the self-sacrificing spirit that characterized all his labors in its behalf, fostering, as he did, the institu- tion with a zeal, care, and devotion truly paternal.
Third-That in founding and organizing this association (devoted to the noblest purposes of man) as the latest public act of his long and useful career, he has placed an appropriate crown upon the column of a well-earned and honest fame.
Fourth-That the papers of this city be requested to publish these resolutions, and that they be printed in the annual catalogue of the approaching annual fair of the St. Joseph Agricultural and Mechanical Association.
T. B. WEAKLY, Acting President.
D. M. MCDONALD, Secretary.
At a meeting held December 17, 1870, R. L. McDonald was elected President of the Association. He continued to fill this position till the final dissolution of the same.
The Association continued with various fortunes till September, 1871, when its last fair was held. At a meeting of the St. Joseph Agricultural and Mechanical Association, held pursuant to notice, at the office of the Secretary, Monday, January 15, 1872, on motion, it was unanimously resolved that the operations of the Association be discontinued.
The grounds were at that time mortgaged to the Life Association of America ; and, at the request of the stockholders, they were sold under that deed of trust. Thus terminated the fortunes of the second Fair Association of Buchanan County.
In the fall of 1873, it was determined that Buchanan County should no longer be without a fair, and, accordingly, measures were set on foot for the establishing and organizing of an Exposition.
298
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
The place selected for holding the same was a level plain, directly east of the machine shops of the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad, readily accessible by rail and otherwise from the city. These grounds were laid out, inclosed and fitted up in superior style, with a celerity and dispatch which bespoke the earnestness of those interested in the success of the enterprise. Several hundred hands were employed at one time on the buildings, which were lofty, spacious and tastefully ornamented. The ground plan of the main Exhibition Hall was that of a Latin Cross; its length three hundred feet. Each arm of the cross terminated in an octagonal extension eighty feet in diameter. Spacious galleries, approached by easy stairways, extended along each side of the nave of the main hall, affording accommodation for the vast display of fruits and vegetable products offered for exhibition.
Power hall filled a space of eighty by two hundred feet.
The other buildings on the grounds were of corresponding propor- tions. No effort was spared to properly advertise the enterprise. Pre- mium lists were mailed to every tax-payer in Buchanan County, and upwards of fifteen thousand to farmers living in other counties.
The Missouri Republican of August, 1873, in referring to the "approaching St. Joseph Exposition," speaks admiringly of the "beauti- ful and permanent buildings on the grounds" and mentions that $25,000 were offered in premiums.
Every indication seemed to bespeak a grand and unqualified success in the enterprise, when an unexpected calamity befel, threatening to blast the hopes, so nearly accomplished, of the friends of the Exposition,
The Morning Herald, of Thursday, September. 4. 1873, came out with the following statement :
"Last night, about 9 o'clock, a tornado struck the Exposition build- ings and resulted in seriously damaging the Art and Power halls. These were in an unfinished state and could not withstand the severity of the storm. The damage will be repaired and no delay be occasioned to this grand enterprise. Every one is in sympathy with the Exposition project, and we are assured that every citizen will come forward now and donate liberally to repair all losses, at whatever cost."
The assurance was not unfounded. The people responded liberally and the work of reconstruction was immediately inaugurated. Such was the determined energy with which the labor of rebuilding was con- ducted, that before the 29th of September, the appointed period for the opening of the Exposition, the damage, amounting to not less than fif- teen thousand dollars, was entirely repaired and everything was in readiness for the display.
The books of the Association show that the sum of eight thousand, nine hundred and nine dollars was expended for labor alone in recon- structing the ruined buildings, to say nothing of material used.
299
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
The officers of this, the grandest exposition ever held in the state, outside of St. Louis, were : Captain George Lyon, President ; I. G. Kappner, Treasurer ; E. Fleischer, Secretary and Gen'l Superintendent.
The Sunday preceding the opening was a dreary, dismal day, dawn- ing with a drizzling rain, which continued until nightfall. On Monday following, the 29th September, 1873, the sun rose in a cloudless sky. A more beautiful day for the inauguration could not have been desired. The internal appearance of the grand hall was superb. In the centre of the cross, formed by the intersection of the transept, appeared a circular basin, from which rose the graceful spray of a fountain, while far away in the octagonal terminus of the south transept a grotto, embowered in a minature forest of rare exotic and other flowering plants, which loaded the atmosphere with grateful perfume, lent a pleasing relief to the vast display of wares and fabrics on exhibition. By the middle of the afternoon of the first day there were fully ten thousand people on the ground. In the matter of patents alone, thirty-three states were here represented. The effects of this grand display were long felt in the business of the city, and served as an immense advertisement of her resources. Interest in the fair continued unabated till its close. The Morning Herald stated in its issue on the following day, that on Thurs- day, October 2d, the K. C., St. J. & C. B. R. R. carried 33,000 persons to the grounds, and expresses the opinion that there must have been fifty thou- sand people present. So great was the throng, that by noon the associ- ation was compelled to close its gates to the further admission of vehicles.
No event of this memorable occasion seemed to attract more gen- eral interest than the Great Baby Show, which occurred on the last day. Saturday, October 4th. There were fifty-seven entries of babies of both sexes, and of all ages, from six weeks to twenty months, including one colored specimen, of the female sex.
The judges, on this important occasion, were Governor Giddings, of New Mexico ; Hon. B. M. Austin, of Michigan, and Colonel James N. Burnes, of St. Joseph.
The prize, a one hundred dollar buggy, offered as a special premium by C. Kessler & Co., of St. Joseph, was awarded to Kitty Nims, aged twenty months, daughter of Ruel and Catherine Nims, of Nebraska.
The utmost harmony and good feeling prevailed to the close of the last day. Everybody seemed to think that the exposition had proved a grand success.
In the enthusiasm of the closing scene, Captain Lyon, the efficient popular president of the association, and a man of no small proportions, was bodily lifted on the top of a stand and vociferously called on for a speech. The captain, in his usual felicitous style, returned thanks for the expression of good will, and after a few well-timed remarks, retired amid a storm of applause.
300
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
But for the accident of the destruction by wind of the buildings, this fair would have been, in every respect, an unqualified success. The receipts of the week were over twenty-eight thousand dollars, but the fifteen thousand dollars, necessarily expended in restoring the wrecked structures, severely crippled the resources of the association.
In 1874 a new corporation was formed, they assuming the payment, in four annual installments, of a mortgage of $15,000 or $16,000 on the buildings. In view of the financial depression consequent upon the grasshopper scourge, the association failed to meet its second payment.
The second exposition opened on Monday, September 7, 1874. and closed Saturday evening, September 12th. The officers of the associa- tion that year were : James N. Burnes, President ; George Hall, Vice President ; George Lyon, Superintendent and Managing Director ; H. R. WV. Hartwig, Treasurer ; J. M. Varnum, Secretary ; Captain John A. Dol- man, Assistant General Superintendent ; Colonel Elijah Gates, Chief Marshal.
The fair this year was largely attended, and its receipts were $22,500. A notable feature of this fair was the first old settlers' meet- ing, referred to at length under its proper heading.
In view of the continued visitation of the grasshopper scourge, inter- est in the succeeding fairs began to flag, and the attendance, in conse- quence, to fall off.
The officers of the Association in 1875, were: James N. Burnes, President ; George Lyon, General Manager ; Wm. M. Wyeth, Vice Pres- ident : H. R. W. Hartwig, Treasurer ; J. T. Imbrie, Secretary.
The receipts of the exposition, which occurred about the usual period in September, this year, were nearly twenty thousand dollars.
The second old settlers' meeting occurred during this fair.
The fourth annual Exposition opened Monday, September 25th, 1876, and continued till Saturday the 30th. This fair was largely attended. The officers of the Association that year were : James N. Burnes, President ; Wm. M. Wyeth, Vice President ; Capt. George Lyon, General Manager ; J. T. Imbrie, Secretary.
The fifth and last Exposition of this Association opened Monday, September 10th, 1877, continuing till Saturday, 15th.
The officers of the Association during this year were Capt. George Lyon, President and General Manager ; Wm. M. Wyeth, Vice President ; J. T. Imbrie, Secretary.
In the year 1878 Buchanan County had no fair. It was not in the nature of things, however, that this should continue long.
August 29th, 1879, the
SAINT JOSEPH EXPOSITION ASSOCIATION
was incorporated, with a capital stock of $12,000, divided into 1,200
30I
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
shares of $10 each. This is commonly known by the name and style of Saint Joseph Inter-State Exposition.
The grounds at the terminus of the Citizen's Street Railway are leased by the Association. The locality is well shaded with native tim- ber and watered by a stream which traverses its entire length. The buildings are good and the Association is said to be in a healthy finan- cial condition.
The incorporators are Samuel Nave, John J. Abell, Edward Kuechle, L. G. Munger, and Dr. J. M. D. France.
The first officers of this Association were: Samuel Nave, President ; H. R. W. Hartwig, Vice President ; Edward J. Kuechle, Treasurer ; J. T. Imbrie, Secretary.
The first fair commenced Monday, September 29th, 1879, and con- tinued till Saturday, October 5th, following. It was largely attended and generally considered a success, although it rained every day of the Exposition.
The second Exposition of this Association, which opened Monday, September 6th, 1880, was liberally patronized. It is claimed that on Thursday, the 9th inst., there were present on the grounds 24,000 people. The officers were the same as those of the previous year.
The Association have labored to make the enterprise a success. Not less than $16,000 worth of improvements having been placed on the grounds in the past two years. The Exposition for 1881 opens Monday, September 5th, 1881. Among other liberal inducements the sum of $20,000 is offered in premiums. The officers are the same as those of the two previous years with the exception of the Secretary. Charles F. Ernst succeeds Mr. Imbrie in this latter office. The Board of Directors for 1881 include Samuel M. Nave, H. R. W. Hartwig, A. C. Dawes, F. L. Sommer, A. Steinacker, S. I. Smith, B. F. Buzard, J. J. Abell and Edward J. Kuechle.
SAINT JOSEPH HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY AND NORTHWESTERN FRUIT GROWERS ASSOCIATION
was organized in 1866, with ten or twelve members. Judge Henry M. Vories, who was elected to the Supreme bench of the State in 1872, was the first President of the society, and Wm. M. Albin, its first Secre- tary. Allen Vories, Esq., was secretary from 1868 to 1875, when, on the resignation of Judge H. M. Vories, he was elected to succeed him, and D. M. Reichard was elected Secretary of the Association. The society, at one time, had a membership of between sixty and seventy.
At the St. Louis Fair, in 1869, a diploma was awarded this society for the "best and largest collection of all kinds of fruits."
At the Kansas City Fair of 1871, a diploma was awarded the St. Joseph Horticultural Society and Fruit Growers Association "for the best display of horticultural products."
19
302
HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
THE MISSOURI VALLEY POULTRY AND PET STOCK ASSOCIATION
was an institution organized in 1873, with James A. Storm, President, and Harry Carter, Secretary.
Its first meeting, held for the purpose of organizing, occurred during the fair on the Exposition grounds. Its first exhibition was held in the City Hall, December 8th, 9th and 10th of the same year. This was one of the most popular and largely attended displays ever offered to the public in St. Joseph.
The organization prospered for five or six consecutive years, when interest in its success began to flag and it gradually ceased to exist.
STATE FISH HATCHERY.
This institution is located in Washington Township, three miles below St. Joseph, at the Brown Spring, on ten acres of land purchased by the citizens of St. Joseph and donated by them to the Fish Commis- sion of Missouri. In reference thereto, the Fish Commissioners, in their report for the year 1881, say :
"The first meeting of the Board, after Mr. Ewing's appointment, was held in St. Joseph the 8th of June, 1880. After examining a number of springs in the County of Buchanan, the Commission, all the members being present, located the State Fish Hatchery on the 10th of June, 1880, at the Brown Spring, about three miles south of the southern limits of the City of St. Joseph, but upon condition that ten acres of ground, where the hatchery was located, should be conveyed in fee simple to the Fish Commission, for the use and benefit of the State of Missouri, free of charge to the state. The citizens of St. Joseph having been informed of the conditional location of the hatchery, as above stated, at once raised, by voluntary subscription, the sum of one thousand dollars, in cash, and gave it to the chairman to pay for the ten acres of ground required for the purpose of the hatchery; and thereupon Judge Thomas A. Brown conveyed said land to the Fish Commission of Missouri on the 19th day of July, 1880, said deed being duly executed and acknowledged, was filed for record in the Recorder's office of Buchanan County, on the 4th day of August, 1880, and is now of record in said office, in book 105, page 510. On the 21st day of August, 1880, the Commission entered into a contract with Rufus K. Allen to erect a house for a State Fish Hatchery on said ten acres of ground, according to the plans and specifications prepared by C. H. Brownell, who had been employed by the Commission as Super- intendent of the State Fish Hatchery, it being a part of the agreement between the Commission and said Brownell, when he was employed as Superintendent, that he was to prepare the plan of said house and super- intend its erection, as well as to advise and aid in the construction of all the machinery and appliances used in preparing said hatchery for
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
actual use. Mr. Brownell was recommended to the Commission as an honest, competent, reliable and experienced man, by several gentlemen connected with the fish hatcheries in the State of Michigan. We agreed to pay Mr. Brownell for his sevices $75 per month and his expenses from his home in Michigan to St. Joseph, his employment to commence the 16th of August, 1880. The hatchery is a two-story frame building, forty feet long and twenty feet wide ; the lower floor contains all the hatching troughs and apparatus used in the hatching and taking care of the young fry. The upper part of the building is used now, and is and was designed as a dwelling for the Superintendent and all employes in the hatchery. The house, under the contract with Mr. Allen, above referred to, cost $1,219.34. For excavation and building pond, materials used in and making troughs, trays, etc., for lead and copper pipes, and all work done and materials furnished in completing our hatchery, we have already paid out, in addition to the cost of the house, $1,102.13, making the actual cost of our hatchery to the State, as it now stands, with all necessary fixtures and appliances complete, $2,321.47, to which has been added two unpaid bills for fencing and painting, now under contract, amounting to the sum of $117, and making the total cost $2,438.47.
We think we can safely say that we have as perfect and complete a fish hatchery as can be found anywhere in the West. The water used is of the purest quality found in any limestone country ; it is abundant for all the uses of the hatchery, and when the thermometer last winter fell to more than 20 deg. below zero, the water that flowed into our hatchery, and in which we had at the time about 175,000 California salmon fry, never fell below 50 deg.
It will be necessary next spring to make some carp and other ponds ; when this is done no other money will have to be spent in making our fish hatchery all that could be desired by its most ardent friends. We can then hatch all the eggs and furnish all the young fish fry needed to supply every river, lake and pond in the State. It will be apparent from what has been said that our hatchery was located and built at too late a period to do much last fall. No eggs, such as we wanted, could be had, except 200,000 California salmon eggs that were furnished us by the United States Fish Commission, we paying the cost of transporta- tion, first, from San Francisco to Chicago, $93 ; next, from Chicago to St. Joseph, $20. About five per cent. of these eggs were lost before we got them to the hatchery ; of the remaining ninety-five per cent. nearly all of them produced healthy, splendid young fish. These are still in our troughs, but ready for distribution, and will be distributed, under an order of the Board, made on the 11th inst., as soon as we can perfect our arrangements with the railroads for transportation of fish and messen- gers, to wit : Lake Contrary, 20,000 ; Platte River, 5,000 ; One Hundred and Two River, 5,000.
CHAPTER XVIII.
REUNION
OF OLD SETTLERS OF THE PLATTE PURCHASE, AT ST. JOSEPH, MO., SEPTEMBER, 1874, AND SEPTEMBER, 1875-BISHOP MARVIN'S LETTER-ADDRESSES-NAMES OF OLD SETTLERS.
Having already noticed at considerable length the earliest settle- ments, and the pioneers who first made these settlements, we shall now speak of the old settlers' reunions which took place at St. Joseph, Sep- tember, 1874-5, under the auspices of the Industrial and Art Exposi- tion. That was an occasion redolent of pleasant memories and sacred recollections to the gray-haired sires who were then present. Many of these old veterans have since passed to the land of shadows :
" Unblamed through life, lamented in the end."
A few still linger upon the shores of time, as the oldest landmarks . of those early days, when the Platte country had just passed from the dominion of the non-progressive red men into the hands of the whites. Brave-hearted old pioneers! Golden be the evening twilight of their lives. We have for them a peculiar reverence, and upon our hearts abide their memories imperishable.
A few more years, however, of watching and waiting, and they, too, will have joined
" The innumerable caravan, that moves To that mysterious realm where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death."
The following letter, sent by Bishop Marvin to James N. Burnes, the president of the old settlers' meeting of 1874, will be read with interest :
2719 LUCAS AVENUE, ST. LOUIS, 1 September 3. 1874. 1
JAMES N. BURNES, ESQ.
Dear Sir and Brother-I have just returned from a tour, and find yours of August 27th, inviting me to participate in the reunion of the "old settlers" of the Platte Purchase. I regret that I did not know of the reunion a month earlier. In that case I could have arranged my appointments so as to enable me to be present. As it is, I have an engagement in Dent County, which for special reasons it is necessary to meet. You may assure your board that no circumstances of a trivial character would prevent my acceptance of their invitation.
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
For the early settlers of Northwest Missouri I feel a regard that amounts to enthusiasm, and increases with time.
The early years of my ministry were spent in that part of the state. In 1842, I passed the present site of St. Joseph, on my way to a field of labor quite on the frontier. It embraced all the country west of Noda- way River. You will remember at that time there was no St. Joseph. In subsequent years, I labored in Clay, Platte and Buchanan Counties. I shall never forget the uncalculating, unbounded hospitality of the "old settlers." Many of them were in their first rude cabins, but those cabins had the rarest capacity for entertaining both friend and stranger of any houses of their size I ever saw. I often saw them crowded, but to the best of my recollection I never saw one of them full; there was always room for a fresh comer. I recollect once in the Platte Purchase, I was wedging myself into a bed already occupied by five children, when one of them waked sufficiently to exclaim "Mamma, Mamma, he's a scrougin' me !"
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