History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, Part 105

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 105

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The foregoing petition was duly presented to the county commissioners, but soon there- after two remonstrances, one dated July 10, the other August 14, were handed in to the board, the former signed by Frank Murphy, Ben B. Wood, Milton Rogers, T. B. Ilatcher, M. A. Upton, John A. McShane and Joseph Barker; the latter, by C. W. Hamilton as vice-president, and Frank Murphy as treas- urer for the board of trustees-that is, for the syndicate. The first remonstrance claimed that a large number of the signers to the petition were, as they had been informed, non-residents; that a majority of property owners did not desire their village incor- porated; and that the corporate limits pro- posed would be unjust and would "work great and irreparable injury to citizens and owners of property ;" the other remonstrance objected to incorporation because the signers had been informed that it was intended to limit the boundary lines to those of the syndicate, east of the Union Pacific Rail- road track; and they asked that no action should be taken by the board for thirty or sixty days. Thereupon the whole matter was postponed for two months.

When sixty days had expired there was apparently an amicable agreement with all parties that South Omaha should be in- corporated; and its limits had been fixed upon. Besides the citizens generally, the Union Stock Yards Company had acquiesced in the arrangement; although the syndicate still stood aloof. On the 16th of October there was presented to the board of com- missioners the following:

" Petition for the Incorporation of South Omaha.

647

SOUTH OMAHA AS A MUNICIPALITY.

" To the Honorable, the County Commissioners, Douglas County, Nebraska :

" Gentlemen: We, the undersigned, hereby petition your honorable body for the in- corporation of the village of South Omaha, Nebraska, as shown on the above plat with- in the red lines [marked on a map of Omaha and of considerable of Douglas precinct] .*

" Union Stock Yards Company, S. B. Fenno, C. H. Moody, D). II. Reynolds, C. M. Carson, F. W. Biddle, C. II. Bradrick, J. H. Wallwork, L. B. Gorham, F. S. Dewey, F. W. Gasmann, D. Smith, Joseph H. Nash, L. Rothschild, D. R. Scott, E. A. Stearns, Daniel O'Connell, J. R. Grice, G. W. Kling- aman, E. E. Bosworth, J. W. Lowe, John E. McCann, Richard A. Haga, W. G. Sloane, Sloane & Saxe, W. S. Anderson, D. L. Holmes, F. M. Smith, E. K. Wells, John Lacey, Thomas lIennessy, John Hartnett, R. T. Maxwell, Dr. E. L. Ernhout, E. M. Over- ton, J. Nigh, W. L. Sears, E. D. Weirs, J. II. Jacobs, Charles Clapp, Thomas P. McDowell, J. W. Ridings, John Nelson, John logan, J. D. Jones, L. Carpenter, M. J. DeGraff & Co., Larue Williams, Axel Kallstrom, Andro Janson, Thomas Hoctor, H. Sullivan, J. M. Glasgow, J. HI. Johnson, M. F. Anderson, E. C. Dries, Lee Dries, Martin Lynn, John York, George Zenor, William Saunders."

The following names also were added: " Moses C. Livingstone, William McCraith, F. Mclaughlin, E. F. Crowley, W. Kane, John Sistor, Patrick Sweeney, Charles Jones, Dudley Sullivan, John N. Burke, Patrick Rice, Daniel P. O'Connell, Charles Segebart, James Edney, John Ilemming, F. J. Sliter, Geo. E. Heis, R. R. Keller, V. Pivonka, J. Patek, Edward Goodman, T. Geary, Charles Lear, P. Mooney, J. W. Smith, John Carey, J. Cook, L. C. Gibson, P. M. Livsy, John A. Doe, S. K. Krigbaum, Fr. Pivonka, C. M. Ilunt, Ziba Crawford, A. J. Stoll, M. Barn- hart, Jolm Iledeman, Patrick Lynch, John Clay, George Gibbons, J. D. Robinson Charles W. Glynn, John II. Wallwork, G. Reuther, M. Meyer, M. Reichenberg, Charles H. Rich, William Moore, S. L. Caldwell, E. C. Deck- son, D. Kratzer, A. Winegard, J. M. Eversole, Isaac Myers, W. E. Haines, James S. Brown, C. H. Urquhart, Jacob Levy, R. B. Sarles, C. W. Sumner, A. C. Shepard, David IIoban, P. McMahon, Jim O'Gorman,

John Kenney, Joe Moly, John Lee, O. E. Shannon, Willmore Davis, F. Williamson."

The record of the transactions of the county commissioners upon this petition is in these words:

" Omaha, Saturday, October 16, 1886 .- The board met this day, pursuant to ad- journment; present, F. W. Corliss, Geo. E. 'Timme and R. O'Keefe. This day came up the incorporation of South Omaha, and the following was offered and adopted:

" ' WHEREAS, a petition having [has] been presented to this board, signed by the ma- jority of the taxable inhabitants of South Omaha, praying for the incorporation of the Village of South Omaha: and

". WHEREAS, said petition having [has] been duly considered by this board of county commissioners; and

"' WHEREAS, it appears to this board that said incorporation is a public necessity, to preserve peace and order; and

"' WHEREAS, under the law [there is full power] authorizing county commissioners to declare villages incorporated; therefore, be it

"' Resolved, that the Village of South Omaha be, and is hereby declared incorpor- ated, as petitioned for, being more fully described as follows, to-wit:

"Commencing at the southwest quarter section corner of section eight (8), town- ship fourteen (14), range thirteen (13), and running thence north two and one-half (2}) miles to the center of section thirty.two (32) township fifteen (15), range thirteen (13); thence east thirty-one chains, more or less, to the center line of Howe Street, in Mel- rose IIill; thence south one hundred and sixty-four feet (164), to the center line of Morse Street, in said Melrose Hill; thence east in the center of said Morse Street to the southwest corner of lot nine (9) in section thirty-three (33), township fifteen (15), range thirteen (13) ; thence north eighty-six degrees (86°) east thirty chains and forty- seven links, more or less, to a point sixty- five links (65) south of the center of section thirty- three (33), township fifteen (15), range thirteen (13); thence north eighty- one degrees (81º) east ten chains and seventy-two links (10.72); thence south eighty degrees and forty-five minutes (80° 45') east thirty-one chains and thirty-seven links (31.37); thence south eighty-five de- grees and thirty minutes (85° 30') east ten

* This red line indicated the north boundary for South Omaha which bad been agreed upon; and, as will be presently seen, it was the result of a careful survey previously made.

648

HISTORY OF SOUTH OMAHA.

chains and thirty-three links to a hickory stump; thence south forty degrees (40°) east fifty-eight chains and seventy-one links (58.71) to the northeast corner of lot four (4) in section three (3), township fourteen (14), range thirteen (13); thence west ten chains and seventy-six links (10.76) ; thence south forty-five degrees (45°) east fourteen chains and fifteen links (14.15) ; thence east ten chains and seventy-six links (10.76); thence south forty-five degrees (45°) east one chain and thirty-nine links (1.39); thence north thirty-two degrees (32º) east nineteen chains and twenty-five links (19.25); thence north forty-five degrees (15°) west one chain and fifty links (1.50) to the sec- tion line between sections three (3) and thirty-four (34); thence east to the center of the Missouri River; thence in the center of said river to the south line of section eleven (11), township fourteen (14), range thirteen (13); thence west to the place of be- ginning.'"'*

" And be it further Resolved, that the fol- lowing named persons be and are hereby appointed trustees of the Village of South Omaha, Dongłas county, Nebraska, who shall hold their office and perform the duties reqiured of them by law, and until the elec- tion and qualification of their successors: C. M. Ilunt. E. P. Savage, W. G. Sloane, I. A. Brayton and F. J. Sliter."

It will be borne in mind that the area of the village as established by the County Commissioners was much larger than the town as surveyed and platted by the syndi- cate, but it did not reach Omaha, at its nearest point, by about half a mile. That the two municipalities now join is because Omaha extended its area south after the limits of South Omaha had been established by the County Commissioners. Douglas precinct therefore bounded South Omaha, when it was incorporated as a village, on the north and west.

The purchasers of all the land by patents from the general government on which South Omaha is now located, were: George M. Ballew, Samuel Moffat, Patrick Bagley, John E. Allen, James W. Lee, Levi Van Camp, John Kennelly, George Holmes, John Bagley, Patrick Corrigan, George Scott, William Holmes, Louis A. Walker,

Peter Cassady, Micael Bagley, Frederick Drexel, Terence Cassady, Samuel A. Orchard, Ellen Cassady, Andrew R. Orchard, Philip Cassidy, Thomas Garry, Thomas Ryan, Timothy Sullivan, James Walker, Robert Furgerson, Erastus J. Burr, Clement Lam- bert, Wmn. Riggs, Joab Mckenzie, Albert C. Strickland, Morris Dee, Samuel M. Brecken- ridge. All the patents were issued between November 10, 1859, and September 14, 1861 .*

The trustees of the village organized on the eighteenth of October, by the ap- pointment of E. P. Savage, chairman; Daniel O'Connell, village clerk; Jolm R. Grice, village attorney; M. J. De Graff, treasurer; and Patrick Lynch, marshal. A writer, two and a half months after the or- ganization, says: "South Omaha has now between 1,200 and 1,500 inhabitants. For several months past has the subject of incor- poration been uppermost in the minds of all her people. The the town was getting too large to be without municipal government. Mr. W. G. Sloane, the present postmaster; Daniel O'Connell, a lawyer and justice of the peace, and Mr. Frank Pivonka, owner of the first brick building erected in the place, took the matter in hand and pro- ceeded with the good work in the interest of law and order. Of the busines houses, twen- ty-one were saloons, and disgraceful scenes were constantly taking place. * * * A license of five hundred dollars was imposed upon them."+

"As the town grew at a rapid rate," says a recent publication, "and the population was made up principally of homeless men, who cared but little for appearances, it may be surmised that those who were looking for- ward to future homes, began early to agitate the question of municipal organization. Strange as it may appear now, there was strong opposition to such a measure and it was not confined to the loose element, but found more influential advocates among the moneyed men, who talked expenses and cared more for the present nickel than for the fu- ture good of the city. But the inevitable came, and on Saturday, October 16, 1886, the county commissioners of Douglas County, in compliance with a petition signed by the

* From the center of section 32 the boundary eastward to the river, as described, was indicated on a map by the red line before mentioned, which map accompanied the pelition.

*For the above statement of the; patentees of the land on which South Omaha is now located, the writer of this history is indebted to The Midland Guarantee and Trust Company, of Omaba.

+The Industries of Omaha (January 1, 1887), p. 47.

649

SOUTH OMAHA AS A MUNICIPALITY.

best citizens of the town, incorporated Sonth Omaha as a village.

"The following account of the action is copied from the Daily Stockman,of October 18. 1886: 'At a meeting of the county commis- sioners of Douglas County, held at their rooms in the ' Temple on the Ilill,' Saturday afternoon, a petition from the citizens of South Omaha was presented, praying that honorable body to incorporate the village of South Omaha. Favorable action was taken, and the following trustees were appointed to act in an official capacity until their succes- sors shall have been elected and qualified: C. M. Hunt, Frank J. Sliter, E. P. Savage, I. A. Brayton and W. G. Sloane. The ap- pointed officers will hold a meeting this even- ing and effect an organization. The bound- ary lines of the village were defined in the Stockman of a previous date. We want to congratulate the citizens and business men of the new village on the consummation of this important scheme. It means for South Omaha, protection to both public business and private enterprise, the regulation of license and the control of unlawfully disposed persons, the care of streets and precaution against fire, in short, the legalized supervi- sion of the business interests of the commu- nity, whether individual or collective. The incorporation of the town will mark a new era in the prosperity of the phenomenal Gate City suburb, whose wonderful progress has been heralded by the newspapers of the en- tire world. It is only a question of time, and a short time at that, when South Omaha will be the center of the live stock business of the country, as she is now the geographical center of the United States. The little village of probably three thousand souls, incorporated only last Saturday, will be a city of ten thousand or fifteen thousand in a few brief months.' [but in all this, ' the wish is father of the thought,' evidently; be- sides, the ' little village' could not have had a population anywhere near '3,000 souls,' judging from the number forming 'a majority of the taxable inhabitants' who signed thie last petition for incorporation.]

"A few days later [October 18] the trus- tees met and elected. Col. E. P. Savage chairman. John Grice was elected city at- torney, and to him was assigned the task of drafting the first ordinances for the new village, but in point of fact Colonel Savage

was the real author of those important doc- uments.

" Saloons *

* which had up to this time run wide open without even so much as saying, ' by your leave,' were forced by law to pay license or shut up shop. Nearly all chose the former. * * *

"Saloon licenses were placed at five hun- dred dollars, and they still remain at the same figure. The number of drinking places grew in proportion to the increase in popula- tion, and the revenue derived therefrom laid the foundation for the splendid schools of which this city is now justly proud.

"For a time the officers had a hard time enforeing the ordinances, in fact some of the peace officers were too much in sympathy with the lawless classes to take effective steps against them. There seemed to be a general disposition on the part of nearly all to wink at perversion of morals if not at actual crime. Another thing, everybody seemed to be too eager to secure the almighty dollar to care much what their neighbors did."*

Just here we may say, parenthetically, that, on the very day of the organization of the village (October 18, 1886), was born John Ritchhart, son of J. F. and Annie Ritchhart. That boy was the first child born within South Omaha's corporate limits.

The name " South Omaha " was given by the syndicate to the settlement before the time of the surveying and platting of the town.t When the latter was " laid out," it, also, took the same name as before men- tioned. So, too, when the postoffice was afterwards established, it was called the "South Omaha " office; and the name, of course, was continued to the city when the village no longer existed .;

Late in 1886, W. G. Albright, who had a large sale, in the previous August, of lots in his "Albright's Annex," completed the pur- chase of the Christian Sautter farm, consist- ing of 280 acres, which adjoins and lies east

* The Eagle, May 30, 1891.

+Ante, p. 617. This is proved by the published (but fanci- ful) "map of the City of Omaha, published with Omaha; Its Past, Present and Future, compiled by C. R. Schaller. Issued by special authority of the Board of Trade-N. B. Falconer, president; Thomas Gibson, secretary. 1884. Herald Litho., Omaha, Neb." An examination of this map showa not only that it was gotten up before the survey and platting of the town, but that the settlement had already received the name of South Omaha.

#The name " New Edinburg " had been suggested and con- sidered by the syndicate before the adoption of "South Omaba," and rejected.

650

HISTORY OF SOUTH OMAHA.

of the " Annex," and a half mile south of the stock yards-extending from the Bur- lington & Missouri River Railroad on the east, to beyond the Union Pacific Railroad on the west. This farm he laid out into lots.

" The population [of the village of South Omaha] is increasing every day," says an early account, " and by next spring [1887] it will surely double. Already is she gifted with water works, the water being supplied from a number of wells and from a lake which lies between the Stock Exchange and the railroad tracks. This lake has also an outlet which is used to carry off the refuse from the packing houses. *

* The education of the youth of South Omaha is not being neglected. A large school house will be built next spring [1887]. Mr. L. S. Caldwell, the principal of the public schools, is a gentleman, thorough in all his methods of instruction, and will look after the good of the community to the interest of each and every member. Already has a daily newspaper been established. It is a spicy, five- column folio, sailing under the name of South Omaha Stockman, owned and edited by Messrs. J. B. Erion and C. II. Rich. They issued the first number on the 12th of June, [1886], as a four-column folio, and continued it in that form until the first of last December [this was written January 1, 1887], when they moved to their new quar- ters on the east side of the [Union Pacific Railroad] track. They have a circulation of from fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred copies, which is increasing day by day. They publish the market reports, and the paper is held in high estimation by the stock men." * *

"South Omaha [January 1, 1887] is a curious community, and well worth a day's time of the sight-seer. It is a combination of the city and the western country town. East of the railroad tracks, upon a rough, ungraded hillside, are bunched the frame and brick houses composing the general trading-point of the village. The dwellings scatter in all directions and vary in point of architecture from a plain, unpainted house of one room, to the two-story structure upon which the designer must have passed sleep- less nights in originating fancy work. There are no sidewalks, and the man with the broadest sole makes the best progress after a rainstorm. Across the tracks [west], in

direct comparison with the rural-looking stores, is the magnificent Stock Exchange, a four-story brick of a decided metropolitan appearance; while further west are the mam- moth packing houses of Fowler Brothers and Lipton & Company, surrounded by the sheds and yards of the Union Stock Yards Company.

" Here there is a wonderful absence of social distinction. The elegantly attired business man, with head covered with a shiny tile, hobnobs with the farmer, who has come to town with his wagon load of truck, wearing his blue jeans and son'wester, which has weathered many a storm; the cowboy with his long boots, flannel shirt and wide- brimmed hat, is to be seen chatting famil- iarly with the daintily-dressed city chap, whose stylish pants are rolled up out of the way of dirt, which clings to his pointed shoes. Everything gives way to the one idea of building up South Omaha. Mer- chant and farmer, capitalist and laborer, Christian and skeptic, prince and pauper, are all equal, when on bended knee before the shrine of the almighty dollar."*

Another writer, early in 1887, says: "The really wonderful activity in South Omaha real estate, where property has advanced in value from one hundred to one thousand per cent. during the past few months, has caused a great many grave head-shakings and predictions of a reaction. Fortunately, however, this rise is based upon sound business principles and rests upon the estab- lished law of supply and demand. There is a demand for South Omaha property, and the supply for the purpose for which it is sought being rapidly exhausted, the value of real estate in this new Porkopolis must of necessity be based upon the changed condition of affairs, and not in the light of past values.

"South Omaha is now an incorporated city [village] of its own, not merely a suburb of Omaha. It was founded by the Union Stock Yards Company as a place for slaugh- tering, packing and auxiliary industries, and being so favorably located from a geographical standpoint, as well as a rail- way center, its future can only be measured by the experience of other cities, in which packing is an important industry. Cincin- nati has lost its prestige because it lies in too thickly a populated section, where cattle

* The Industries of Omaha, pp. 46, 47, 49.

651

SOUTH OMAHA AS A MUNICIPALITY.

ranges can not exist and the supply is lim- ited. Chicago took the lead on account of its unexcelled railroad facilities, its supply of cattle and hogs coming from every sec- tion of the west. Its packing establishments will continue to remain and to grow in importance, notwithstanding the founding of other packing centres. The Chicago Stock Yards and packing houses now sup- port a population of over one hundred thou- sand and cover a vast area. Kansas City next comes to the front, and although it has not near as good a country to draw from for its supply, its packing industry has assumed vast proportions. South Omaha is destined to be a more important packing point from the fact of its being located in the midst of a rich cattle and hog growing country and at the very gate to the immense stock coun- try of the northwest-Nebraska, Dakota, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, all being tribu- tary to it.

" The world is using more meat every year, provisions never being a drug upon the market, and while prices may fluctuate, the demand keeps fully abreast of the sup- ply. The population of Europe has doubled during the past eighty years, notwithstand- ing its terrific wars and an emigration unparalleled in the annals of history. At the same ratio of increase there is really a grave question as to whether a sufficient food supply can be secured for Europe in this country a few decades hence, when the rapid increase of our own population is taken into consideration. The demand certainly can never fall off. Thus the founding of South Omaha as a stock yards and packing point became an urgent necessity. It was not a speculation, and its success was assured from the start. The houses now operating there have found their business profitable, others are coming this year and every foot of the land contained in the present corpo- ration limits of South Omaha will soon be occupied by vast establishments, employing armies of men, necessarily followed by resi- dences, stores, schools, churches and other buildings found in a thriving, industrious city."*

The village of South Omalia was divided into three wards February 14, 1887: All that part lying west of the Union Pacific

Railroad track was designated as "ward three;" east of the track and south of N Street, "ward two;" east of the track and north of N Street, "ward one." But the village government was of short duration, because of the rapid increase of the popula- tion. By the first of March it was certain there were within the village limits more than one thousand residents. It was enti- tled, tlien, by law, to be formed into a city of the second class (of the lower degree) "having more than one thousand and less than twenty-five thousand inhabitants." Steps were taken, therefore, to organize a city government. So it was that, by ordi- nance No. 11, the village of South Omaha was divided into wards for the purpose of a city government. The three wards estab- Isihed were identical with those previously formed by the village. This was done on the seventh of March, 1887.

The next meeting of the village board of trustees was held March 14, 1887. The pro- ceedings were as follow: "South Omaha, Nebraska, March 14, 1887. An adjourned meeting of the village board of trustees [was] held at the office of the village clerk, at 7 o'clock, P. M. Meeting opened in regu- lar order, E. P. Savage'in the chair. E. P. Savage, C. M. Ilunt, I. A. Brayton, present; W. G. Sloane and F. J. Sliter, absent. Minutes of previous meeting read and ap- proved. Moved and carried that the chair- man be instructed to issue a proclamation for holding an election on the 5th day of April, A. D., 1887, in the several wards of the village of South Omaha, for the election of a mayor, a treasurer, one police judge, a city clerk, city engineer, and two council- men for each ward, the polls to be open between the hours of 9 o'clock A. M. and 7 o'clock r. M., at the following places: First ward, at the office of John R. Grice, attor- ney; second ward [at] Carpenter & Black- well's office; third ward [at] the Exchange building, stock yards. [Signed] Daniel O'Connell, clerk; E. P. Savage, chairman."

At the election. E. P. Savage was chosen mayor; C. M. Ilunt, treasurer; E. K. Wells, clerk; F. M. Smith and Bruno Strathman, councilmen, first ward; Daniel Rafferty and Alfred A. Gary, second ward; and David Loescher and John N. Burke, third ward. G. Reuther was elected police judge and Hugo Theinhart, city engineer. On the 7th of April, 1887, these gentlemen took the

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History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, Part 105

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