History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, Part 100

Author: Savage, James Woodruff, 1826-1890; Bell, John T. (John Thomas), b. 1842, joint author; Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: New York, Chicago, Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1020

USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 100

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In laying out South Omaha-that is, in making the first survey and plat-the streets running north and south were wisely made to correspond in number to, and to connect with the streets of Omaha, beginning on the east line of the town plat with Twenty- third Street. The east and west streets were designated by the letters of the alphabet, the most northerly being marked A, the next south B, and so on, until the south line of the plat was reached.t

The lots were, soon after the platting, put upon the market. From the first sales; there

* J. R. Erion, in the South Omaha Globe, October 30, 1885. But the article, as stated in the text, was written over a month previous.

+It is to be borne in mind that the surveying, platting and naming of the tract already described iand, It may be premised, of all subsequent additions thereto, whether made by the suc- cessor of the syndicate or other parties, and lying within the present limits of the City of South Omaba), had nothing to do with, nor had any relation to the establishing of the village (afterwards the city) of South Omaha, or defining its limits. All these surveys, plattings, and the giving of them names, have heen private matters; but the organization of the village and defining its limits was wholly a public affair, and will be treated of in a subsequent chapter.

#The first lots sold were Nas. 5 and 6, in block 12, on the twelfth day of April, 1884, tn George W. Masson, for the sum of $1,400. (See records of the South Omaha Land Co )

has been, on the average, a steady increase in values. In some instances, however, there have been fancy prices obtained after pur- chase from the syndicate; in other instances, lots have heen sold much below what the situation would seem to have demanded. Thus far, the highest values and prices have been reached on N Street, where, in one case, a corner lot, 60x150, sold, April 12, 1884, for $300, is now worth, without improvements, 830,000; another lot, sold in the spring of 1885, for $300, was afterwards cut up by the purchaser into six business lots, 25x60 feet each, the last of which the owner subse- quently sold for $7,000.

In 1885, I S. Hascall had the sale of all lots north of G Street, and Bedford & Souer, all lots south of G Street. An advertise- ment of Hascall's reads as follows:

" Bargains in Lots .- Long Time .- Easy Terms .- 1 will sell any or all lots north of G Street, South Omaha, on the following terms: One-fourth cash, balance in one, two and three years, at seven per cent. No other suburb of Omaha can offer superior in- ducements in the way of land, conveniences, nearness to center of the city, and beauty of location. Inquire of I. S. Hascall, or at the Globe office."*

The South Omaha Globe, of October 30, 1885, says, in speaking of the "grand scheme" of establishing stock yards and laying out a town near them:

" As to the finances back of all this enter- enterprise, we will simply give the names of some of those interested. Their number includes some of the most wealthy and influ- ential men of this country and Europe, among whom may be mentioned: Colen J. Mackenzie, of the British Linen Bank, of Edinburgh, Scotland, aud president of the Swan Land and Cattle Company; Hon. A. II. Swan and Thomas Sturgis, of Cheyenne, Wyoming; Samuel W. Allerton, Joseph Frank, Nelson Morris and Isaac Waixel, of Chicago; C. A. Righter, of William Clark & Co., and Auguste Richard, ex-president of the Ogallala Land and Cattle Company, New York; while among the resident members [of Omaha] are Ilon. W. A. Paxton, Caldwell, Ilamilton & Co., Hon. John A. A. McShane, Ilon. J. M. Woolworth, Hon. C. F. Manderson, Frank Murphy and B. B. Wood, president and cashier of the Mer- chants National Bank; Milton Rogers, ller

*From the South Omaha Globe, October 20, 1885.

619

THE SYNDICATE AND THIE LAND COMPANY.

& Co., Markel and Swobe, George E. Barker, Samuel E. Rogers and J. H. Dumont. There are also, Anthony & Denhart, of Washing- ton, Ill .; B. F. Smith, of Boston; and M. C. Keith, of North Platte, Nebraska.

" The syndicate is managed by a board of trustees who are: Ilon. A. II. Swan, presi- dent; C. W. Hamilton, vice-president; Thomas Swobe, secretary; Frank Murphy, treasurer; Hon. W. A. Paxton, Hon. J. M. Woolworth, Peter E. Iler. * *

" We have thus given our readers a hur- ried and somewhat disconnected outline of the main features of a grand scheme, which, it is acknowledged by all, will materially add to the already wonderful progress of Omaha in its efforts to become one of the most important commercial centers in this country. It means that the cattle of a thou- sand hills, which have heretofore been shipped through to Chicago at great risk and expense, will find a ready market nearer home. South Omaha, with her network of railroads and central location, of all points on the Missouri, is best adapted to command this business, while the beautiful town site, withal, so near the center of the business portion of the city [Omaha], will furnish pleasant, healthy and profitable homes for thousands of people. * * *

And thus, the Omaha Daily Bee, in May, 1886: "The town of South Omalla is building up rapidly, and hundreds of men are finding there pleasant and agreeable homes, while town lots are increasing in value at a rate which promises to rival the boom in Omaha city lots. It is not surprising that those who are posted on the affairs of the stock yards are enthusiastic over the outlook and future prosperity of the business enterprises established there."

The trustees of the syndicate-Alexander HI. Swan, William A. Paxton, Peter E. Iler, James M. Woolworth, Morrill C. Keith, Samuel W. Allerton, and Robert D. Fowler -in consideration of $750,000, conveyed, by their deed, to John II. Bosler, on the last day of January, 1887, all the lands belonging to the syndicate. Nineteen days thereafter, Bosler and wife, by a special warranty deed, conveyed these lands to a number of persons who had associated them- selves, a short time previous, as " The South Omaha Land Company." This company " stepped into the shoes" of the syndicate, for all purposes for which the latter had

been formed. It was in their articles of association stipulated that their principal place of business should be Omaha; and that the capital stock of the company should be 81,000,000, to be divided into shares of $100 each. The bonds issued by the syndi- cate, amounting to 8500,000, were canceled. The board of directors was to consist of nine members, five of whom should be resi- dents of Omaha. The officers of the com- pany, for 1887, were: William A. Paxton, president; John H. Bosler, vice-president; Peter E. Iler, secretary; and John. A. Creighton, treasurer. The officers at this time (1893) are the same, except that Her- man Kountze is president.

The directors for the first year, which ter- minated December 7, 1887, were: Alexan- der H. Swan, Robert D. Fowler, John HI. Bosler, William A. Paxton, John A. Mc- Shane, Peter E. Iler, John A. Creighton, Benjamin F. Smith, and James M. Wool- worth. It was determined that the officers and directors should be elected thereafter annually, the election to be held on Tuesday after the first Monday of December of each year; but this was subsequently changed to the Tuesday after the second Monday of that month.

The laying out and platting of the tract already described, has been followed by four other separate surveys and plattings by the land company, all lying within the present limits of the City of South Omaha .*

The land lying inside the City of South Omaha belonging to the South Omaha Land Company, which has not, at this date (Jan- nary, 1893), been surveyed into lots and platted. or sold to the Union Stock Yards Company, comprises 108 acres, lying east of Twenty-third Street and north of G Street, (part of which is usually known as “ Spring Lake Park," or "Syndicate Park.")+

Many have heretofore supposed that all the land-all the farms-lying within what are now the limits of South Omaha, were purchased by the syndicate. Such, however, was not the fact; only about 1411 acres, as before mentioned, were bought by that com-

* These subsequent surveys are not to be considered orig- inal surveys of South Omaha; only the first was the original. The four subsequent surveys of the company are not, as usually mapped. "additions to South Omaha." The lots marked on mapa outside of the western limits of the city as belonging to the company, are a myth, no lots having been laid out.

+"The South Omaha Land Company still retains the owner- ship of much land. They have expended $ .000 [about 830,000] in improving Spring Lake Park, a traet of land consisting of 63 acres."-South Omaha Daily Tribune, December 31, 1892.

620

HISTORY OF SOUTH OMAHA.

pany. Some persons who did not sell have since had cause to congratulate themselves. One of these recently disposed of forty acres for $80,000. Upon tracts disposed of at various times have been laid out many ad- ditions lying within the corporate limits of the city, made by parties upon lands not included in the syndicate purchase, some extending across the city's southern boun- dary into Sarpy County, and others across its western boundary into Douglas Precinct. There are, also, some entire additions in this precinct and in Sarpy County .*

At the present time (January, 1893) nearly all the company's lots, on the east side of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, have been disposed of, and a portion of those in what is generally known as " the half circle " (third survey), in all, not less than fifteen hundred. West of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad (" Lincoln Line "), very few lots have been sold. About six- teen hundred lots, in all, are yet in the mar- ket.

On the whole, the policy which has from the start been pursued by the syndicate and its successor, the South Omaha Land Com- pany, while it has tended to the aggrandize- ment of those particularly interested (and why should it not ?), has been a liberal one. It has not exhibited the spirit of " grinding the poor," so common in corporations of the kind.

NOTE .- It was supposed when the syndicate made their first survey of lots, streets and alleys, that the town would spring up some distance to the northward of the stock yards. particularly be- cause it was expected that packing houses would soon be erected; hence, the original plat extended no further southward than between the present O and P Streets, this being the southern boundary, while A Street was nearly the northern bound- arv. Now the streets running east and west were given the names of the letters of the alphabet, while the north and south streets, beginning at Twenty-third (which was run out as a continuation of Twenty-third Street in Omaha) were designated by consecutive numbers, going west. But the land lying west of Twenty-seventh and south of L streets, having been previously sold to the Union Stock Yards Company, was not, of course, laid out into lots. As the city grew, the houses, contrary to expectation, continued to crowd closer to the yards and to the packing houses (hereafter to be described); and N Street became the central part of the city. The second survey and platting by the syndicate was then made of their land lying east of the Union Pacific Rail- road tracks and south of their first (or original) survey. The blocks conformed with the first survey, on the north and south streets-that is, on such as were designated by numbers; but not so on the east and west streets-the letters of the alphabet being abandoned and other names sub- stituted-the blocks being much longer in the second survey than in the first. What has added to the confusion is the fact that numerous small additions have been platted west of the railroad tracks, and their east and west streets, although conforming to the second survey and platting by the syndicate, were given new names. It has been suggested that the trouble will soon be remedied, by the city authorities abolishing all the names as at present used for the east and west streets south of Q Street. and substituting there- for the letters of the alphabet, commencing with R. in regular order so far as they will go, and after that giving other names, but in every case extend- ing them throughout their entire length.

*** Besides the marketing of their [the syndicate] lots, a large number of "additions " have been surveyed and platted by outside parties, who have not been slow, by the purchase of lands near by, to "turn and honest penny "-some of their surveys extending even outside of what are now the limits of South Omaha."-The Drovers Journal, December 31, 1892.

CHAPTER IV.

DRESSED MEAT AND PACKING CONCERNS.

Paeking houses in Omaha were established several years before it was determined to induce packers from abroad to locate near the Union Stock Yards in South Omaha.

" The leading packers were James E. Boyd, David Cook and J. Phipps Roe. Mr. Boyd began business in this line in 1872. For the season of 1872-3 he bought and packed 4,515 hogs, at an average cost of $3.40 per hundred; 1873-4, 13.546 head, average cost, $3.65; 1874-5, 11,418 head, average cost, $5.75; 1875-6, 15,042 head, average cost, $6.42; 1876-7,33,561 head, average eost, $5.45; 1877, to January 1, 1878, 12,000 head, average cost, 83.65.

" David Cook commenced packing in 1871, in a small way. In 1873, O. H. Ballou bought an interest in the business, and the following season Cook & Ballou killed three thousand hogs, and the next season about the same number. The firm dissolved in the spring of 1877. Mr. Cook carrying on the business alone, and up to the middle of December he had killed two thousand head of hogs. when a fire destroyed part of his buildings, causing him severe loss and tem- porary suspension of business. With char- acteristic energy, however, he was soon rebuilding a packing house and smoke house, with brick; the former twenty by eighty feet and the latter thirty by forty feet.

"J. Phipps Roe invested 87,000 in the packing business, in buildings and grounds. He began with the season of 1874-5, and packed 1,700 head that season. In the winter of 1877-8, he packed 2,500 head, and in May and June, 1877, 2,000 more. Up to the first of January, 1878, he had paeked during the season 2,200 head, the average net weight of which was 260 pounds.

"In 1877, James E. Boyd's packing house was on South Chestnut and Second Streets, a good half a mile south of the " Bridge Yards;" his office was at 495 Thirteenth Street. J. Phipps Roe's office was at 193

Farnam Street; David Cook's at the Union Pacific Railway track.

"In addition to the gentlemen we have named, many of the leading butchers of the city packed more or less each season. Sheely Bros., R. A. Harris, A. Aust, William Aust & Knuth, F. Iliekenstine, and several others, packed from 1,000 to 2,500 head each. In 1878-9, Mr. Boyd paeked 60,000 logs. On the 18th of January, 1880, his plant was destroyed by fire, but he rebuilt on a larger seale, at a cost of $50,000. He continued in the business nearly seven years longer. Ilis chief competitors were Harris & Fisher, and Joseph F. Sheely & Company. Harris & Fisher's packing house was near the " Upper Yards," but on the north side of the track. Joseph F. Sheely & Company's was east of Harris & Fisher's, and near the same yards. The firm last named staid as long as they eould do business successfully.

" The packing house of Harris & Fisher was completed in the latter part of 1878. The entire cost of their building was $10,- 000. They employed from twenty to fifty men, according to their necessity for help, at an average of from 81.50 to $3.00 per day. The capacity of their packing house was four hundred cattle, with three hundred to four hundred hogs, per day. They packed some mess pork, but made more of a specialty in dry, smoked and salt meats, and beef- curing and canning.

" The packing house of D. Cook was pur- chased, January 15, 1880, by Joseph F. Sheely & Co. The firm killed about 15,000 hogs annually; also about 1,200 head of cattle and 5,000 sheep, and employed fifteen hands. The establishment was subsequently [December 3, 1886,] burned down, and the firm went out of the packing business.

"But the packing industry in Omaha, was, finally, nearly all given up, there having been established such a competition near by (outside the city limits), that it was futile

621

622

HISTORY OF SOUTH OMAHA.

to continue the business inside its boundary lines."*

It has already been shown who it was that first conceived the idea of establishing at or near Omaha not only stock yards, but pack- ing houses, on a scale commensurate with the needs of the territory lying to the westward and southwestward of the Missouri River and extending to the Pacific and the Gulf.

A close observer, even before a single packing house had been built in Sonth Omaha, wrote thus of the prospects :

" As regards the cattle interests, Omaha is reached from all of the cattle ranges of Ne- braska, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Mon- tana, Utah and Oregon by the Union Pacific Railway, the Burlington & Missouri, and through the latter with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and is the point above all others in the United States that offers facilities for stock yards, beef packing houses, etc. The English capitalists who control investments of $15,000,000 in cattle, some time since combined and agreed to start a competing market at Omaha, and to ship beef dressed to eastern and European markets. The project is not a new one, but has been under consideration by the far- seeing ones for some length of time. The treatment they have received in Chicago justified such a step, and when they con- sidered it, the saving of 500 miles haul of beef on the hoof, between Omaha and Chicago, was of itself sufficient to determine to take the step. There was no point farther west than Omalla possessing the nec- essary facilities needed, and the choice naturally fell upon this city.

" The stock yards project has enlisted and secured $1,000,000 of English stock and American capital, and the beef packing, canning and other projects have been promised $2,000,000 of English capital, while these together with the bone manu- factury, tannery, soap factory, glue factory, and several other concerns already assured, will at once add at least ten thousand to the present population of Omaha, all of whom will desire, naturally, to reside in that beau- tiful portion of the city thrown open in

South Omaha, reached as it is, by the main line of the Union Pacific, seven minutes from the Union Depot in the city, and also by the Belt Railway, now partly built, and soon to be finished, which encircles the city. It has at once the advantages of metro- politan convenience, without the burden of metropolitan taxes.

" The following from the Chicago Tribune [of December 12, 1883,] speaks for itself as to how this new enterprise was received :

"'If the newly developed project of certain Chicago and Omaha capitalists proves as great a success as anticipated, there is a boom of prosperity in store for the busy little city across the bridge. The rapid strides Omaha has made during the last few years has attracted the attention of many wealthy men who believe she is to take high rank among the inland cities of the great northwestern territory.

'.'Samuel Allerton, one of the heavy stock- holders in the new company, says he and his two partners, who own yards in Council Bluffs, will join all their interests with the syndicate, which contemplates building new yards at Omaha. IIe says the cash capital of the new company is $1,000,000, and that it lias secured a large tract of land in South Omaha, upon which buildings will have been erected by June 1st. Mr. Allerton says : · I consider Nebraska and Dakota the greatest country in the West. Their cattle and hog-raising interests are unsurpassed. If Chicago can pack pork and beef for Europe cheaper than New York, then Omaha can do the same thing. I don't mean to say Omaha can hurt Chicago, as Chicago is on a solid rock foundation, but I do think Omaha is destined to become one of the best busi- ness points in the West, and in a few years will walk away from Kansas City.' "*

It was not alone the idea, then, of forming stock yards south of the city and contiguous thereto, which induced the organization, in 1883, of the Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha. They would not only create there a live stock market,but make it also a dressed meat and pork-packing center. Therefore it was that, while the yards were being urged forward, subsequently, to such a state as would justify the reception in them of live stock, a building was commenced, intended

* The Drovers Journa!, December 31, 1892.

"Packing in the city [Omaha] had heen for a number of years carried on, but hogs only were slaughterd to any extent. During the previous few years Omaha had built up what was, at the commencement of 1879, thought to be a large business in pork-packing."-ld.

*Omaha: lis Past, Present and Future. (1884), in the Seventh Annual Report of the Omaha Board of Trade.

623

DRESSED MEAT AND PACKING CONCERNS.

for packing purposes. This, as before stated, was in 1884:

The original contract for the packing house was $60,000.00

Add for changes in plans as per agreement July 7, 1884. .. 4,095.00

Extra for stand-pipes. not in- cluded in original contract. . . 348.00

Lumber furnished by the con- tractor for stock vards 208.00

Total $64,651.00

Deduct account changes in con- tract. .$4,370.00

Deduct for one tank furnished by the Union Stock Yards Com- pany ..

350.00

Deduct for earthwork done by same company

725.46-5.445.46

$59.205.54

Add to this the earth-work and tank as above, which had been charged to the construction account of the yards .. 1,075.46

Deduct from this amount for lumber charged to packing house which went to build stock yards. 208.00

$60,281,00

Makes actual cost of packing house $60,073.00

The building thus erected was a three- story frame, irregular in shape, running 350 feet along the railroad tracks, and 170 feet back. Connected with it was about six acres of ground. It was soon seen that con- sumers near by were appropriating to them- selves a considerable amount of the live stock received at the Union Stock Yards. This hurried up the Union Stock Yards Company to look around for some heavy packing firm to locate near the yards. Suc- cess soon crowned their effort. Their pack- ing house was leased for three years to G. II. Ilammond & Co., a firm first organized in Michigan, in 1869, extensively engaged in the packing business. The company was duly incorporated, with a large capital, in the State just named.

" While it is true that, in their articles of incorporation, the Union Stock Yards Com- pany set forth that, among other things, the feeding and caring for live stock was to be carried on by them, and also that they were to slaughter, dress and pack cattle, hogs and sheep; nevertheless, it was the intention of the company, from the start, to induce others, if possible, to establish packing houses near the yards, by liberal gratuities extended them. Fortunate it was that so well-known and successful a firm as George

II. Hammond & Co. was the first to accept an offer of the stock yards company, which was, to lease to them for a nominal amount, a packing house already erected, at a cost of nearly $65,000, near the yards, for a term of three years. And it may here be said that the entire plant was afterwards generously donated to the firm. This, truly, was a policy, which, from the beginning, could but have the effect to induce packers of large means to locate in South Omaha. And the same liberality has, it may be said, been steadily pursued to this day, and to an ex- tent which really seems surprising."*

An early writer says:

" The great packing house at South Omaha was opened for business Saturday, May 23 [19], 1885, with great expectations of pros- perous business, and, although the managers are men of generous business ideas, not one of them had a proper conception of the mag- nitude of the enterprise. In nearly every department of the business supplies and capa- city have fallen short of what the business demands." * * But what is here referred to was the date of the first slaughtering of cattle.

Hogs were killed as early as January 25th. An agentt was sent into the country and pur- chased three car loads " to open the house." After the opening, cars commenced to come in slowly; but throughout the year Kansas City had to be mainly relied upon. The reason was, Boyd's packing house was run- ning in Omaha and there were stock yards at the bridge, where there was no "yardage," which operated against the lIammond,enter- prise, as "yardage" had to be paid in South Omaha. Finally Boyd was obliged to come to the yards here to purchase hogs, also Stewart & Co., of Council Bluffs, and then Sheely Bros. for their packing house in Omaha.# So much did Joseph F. Sheely & Co. and Ilarris & Fisher rely upon the Union Stock Yards toward the close of 1886 that these firms were put down as South Omaha packers.

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History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, Part 100

Author: Savage, James Woodruff, 1826-1890; Bell, John T. (John Thomas), b. 1842, joint author; Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899 Publication date: 1894 Publisher: New York, Chicago, Munsell & Company Number of Pages: 1020

Author: Savage, James Woodruff, 1826-1890; Bell, John T. (John Thomas), b. 1842, joint author; Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: New York, Chicago, Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1020