USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 43
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The Omaha Real Estate Exchange, organ- ized in November, 1886, was a very import- ant factor in the development of the public interests of the city. The original members were The Omaha Real Estate & Trust Com- pany, Marshall & Lobeck, Bell & McCand- lish, Hartman & Gibson, Mead & Jamieson, Gregory & Hadley, W. G. Shriver and M. A. Upton & Company. Additional members were admitted afterward, including Clark & French, John B. Evans & Company, Ballou Brothers, George N. Ilicks and George I'. Bemis. The first officers elected were: Al-
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vin Saunders (of The Omaha Loan & Trust Company), president; John T. Bell, vice president; David Jamieson, secretary ; J. W. Marshall, treasurer; J. S. Gibson, W. G. Shriver, Frank L. Gregory, executive com- mittee. It was the design at first to limit the membership to twenty-five, but this number was increased to fifty a few months later. The admittance fee was fixed at ten dollars and the members were assessed after- wards for whatever money was required to meet expenses. A large room was fitted up at No. 1519 Farnam Street, these quarters being changed afterwards to a room in the Board of Trade building, and for two years the members derived much benefit from the association. In the fall of 1889, a re-organ- ization was effected, a spacious room on the first floor of the New York Life building was secured, and here, for many months, daily meetings were held from 11 to 12, at- tended by all classes of citizens. From 11:30 until noon, there was an open call of real estate offered for sale and on Saturdays a public auction was held, and all kinds of public enterprises were discussed by the ex- change, and encouragement, in a practical, substantial way, given those who showed themselves worthy of endorsement. An ex- tensive correspondence was carried on with people in all parts of the country who sought information respecting Omaha and its op- portunities for the investment of capital in manufacturing enterprises, the loaning of money on real estate securities, the purchase of property, etc., etc. While the Real Es- tate Exchange did good work for Omaha during its existence, it gradually dwindled, its members lost interest and it disbanded in 1890:
Pursuant to a call made by D. Farrell & Company, the P. J. Quealey Soap Company, the Rees Printing Company, and the W. A. Page Soap Company, a meeting of the man- ufacturers of Omaha was held in the office of the Real Estate ()wners' Association, in the New York Life building, for the purpose of
taking steps to form an organization for their mutual benefit. Mr. Samuel Rees was made chairman, and Mr. L. M. Rheem, sec- retary. Hon. J. M. Thurston, on invitation, made an appropriate address, and, after con- siderable discussion, a resolution was adopted instructing the chairman to appoint a com- mittee on permanent organization, and the meeting adjourned to meet September 26th, when the report of the committee was adopted. The association was named " The Manufacturers' and Consumers' Association of Nebraska," the object being to make it a State organization. Mr. W. A. Page was elected president; Mr. I. S. Trostler, vice- president; Mr. A. J. Vierling, treasurer; and Mr. H. J. Pickering, secretary. Mr. Pickering soon resigned and Mr. A. D. Bradley was elected as his successor. The association has been very successful in its undertakings, and held the most popular exposition ever held in the State, in June, 1892.
In May, 1892, the association was regu- larly incorporated under the laws of the State, with the following officers and direc- tors: W. A. Page, president; I. S. Trostler. vice-president; A. D. Bradley, secretary; A. J. Vierling, treasurer. Directors - Beat- rice, A. R. Dempster, A. C. Scheiblich; Fre- mont, T. F. Hummel; Hastings, G. H. Ed- gerton; Kearney, J. J. Bartlett; Lincoln, Il. J. Hall; Nebraska City, Carl Morton; J. T. Robinson, J. H. Barrett, D. Farrell, Jr., Samuel Rees, H. B. Mulford, Charles Metz, W. R. Drummond, I. S. Trostler, C. P. Ged- ney, E. P. Davis, P. J. Quealey, Charles Coe, M. C. Peters, W. C. Smith, A. H. Rawitzer, J. F. Murphy, A. J. Vierling, J. H. Evans, Aaron Chadwick, W. A. Page, W. W. Cole, R. F. Ilodgin, George M. Tibbs, C. W. Thompson, H. F. Cady, Omaha.
In June, 1891, the Real Estate Owners' Association was formed. It has for its ob- ject the upbuilding of the interests of the city, and has already done a great amount of very valuable work in this direction. It not
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only encourages the location of manufactur- ing and other business interests in Omaha, but has devoted no little attention to look- ing after the political interests of the city and county, more from a business than a political point of view. The following con- stitute the officers and board of directors: George H. Boggs, president; John T. Cath- ers, vice-president; George P. Bemis, secre- tary; Cadet Taylor, treasurer; St. A. D. Balcombe, A. L. Reed, Jeff. W. Bedford, George N. Hicks, J. H. Dumont, C. R. Scott, E. A. Benson. The following are the ad- visory board: Herman Kountze, S. D. Mer- cer, Max Meyer, O. M. Carter, Samuel E. Rog-
ers, A. J. Simpson, John A. IIorbach, Lew W. Hill, E. Rosewater, C. S. Chase, F. Krug, R. N. Withnell, J. B. Kitchen, Benjamin F. Smith, L. S. Reed, H. Pundt, A. P. Wood, G. W. Lininger, Warren Switzler, Chris. Hartman, C. C. George, W. J. Connell, W. A. Paxton, F. E. Bailey, Norman A. Kuhn, Joseph Barker, T. C. Bruner, W. W. Lowe, Thomas J. Rogers, P. L. Perine, Thomas Swobe, John Steel, E. Wakeley, J. N. Cor- nish, W. V. Morse, A. P. Hopkins, F. P. Kirkendall, A. Hospe, Jr., W. F. Allen, Henry J. Windsor, G. C. Towle, Henry A. Thompson, William H. Crary, S. K. Spald- ing, Martin Ittner, C. O. Lobeck.
CHAPTER XXX.
BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS-ENORMOUS EXPENDITURE IN THEIR CONSTRUCTION - MARVELS OF ENGINEERING SKILL-THE NEBRASKA CENTRAL.
The Union Pacific bridge is one of the most substantial in the country. Work upon it was commenced in the spring of 1869, and the formal test as to its capacity was made March 14, 1872, when two flat cars loaded with stone, weighing six hun- dred thousand pounds, were pushed across the structure by an engine, upon which Su- perintendent Sickles, who had charge of its construction, rode across the bridge, thus backing his faith in its soundness by risking his life upon it. Bonds to the amount of $2,500,000 were issued for the erection of the bridge, but the cost, it is stated by com- petent authority, did not exceed $1,750,000. The contract price was $1,089,500, the Boomer Bridge Company, of Chicago, being awarded the contract September 4, 1868. During the night of Angust 24, 1877, the two eastern spans were completely wrecked by a cyclone. Jolın Pierson, a watchman who occupied a little house which stood on the eastern span, was the only witness of the disaster. He went down with the wreck and barely escaped with his life, being caught in such a way by the bridge timbers that he was unable to release himself for some time. IIe then managed to cross over to the Ne- braska side of the river just in time to pre- vent the destruction of a freight train which was on the point of pulling out of the depot to cross the river. A temporary bridge was put in, the space formerly covered by the first span was covered by an extension west- ward of the Iowa approach, and the second span replaced in a most substantial manner. The " Queen of Decatur," a flat-bottomed ferry boat, was brought down from Decatur,
Nebraska, and used for ferrying purposes for a month. Regular crossings on the bridge were resumed September 19, 1877. In 1886 and 1887 the bridge was practically re-built. New stone piers, laid to bed-rock, with the deepest pier eighty feet below high water mark, were built, affording a secure resting place for the spans, four of which are two hundred and fifty feet long, and six one hundred and twenty-five feet, and the width of the bridge increased to fifty-six and one quarter feet to provide room for a roadway on each side of the double track for pedes- trians and street cars. The bridge will stand a pressure of four tons to the square foot. While the construction of this bridge was in progress many lives were lost, the sinking of the immense iron caissons preparatory to building the stone piers being attended by great risk to the workmen.
The Omaha and Council Bluffs Railway & Bridge Company was organized in this city April 1, 1887, by J. II. Millard, Frank Murphy and Guy C. Barton, of Omaha, and John T. Stewart, Thomas J. Evans, and George F. Wright, of Council Bluffs. The original capital stock was $750,000, in- creased at the present time to $1,500,000. The present list of officers are: John T .. Stewart, president; Guy C. Barton, vice- president; J. H. Millard, treasurer; and George F. Wright, secretary. The compa- ny's bridge and motor line were completed and opened for traffic November 1, 1888. The cost of the bridge, approaches and via- dnet was $750,000. It is built of iron, is thirty-three feet wide and fifty-four feet above high water mark. The length of the
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main line between the cities of Omaha and Council Bluffs is five miles of double track or ten miles of single track railway, of stand- ard guage and weight. The total trackage, including leased lines composing the Coun- cil Bluffs Street Railway, amounts to twenty miles. The power is electricity, and the equipment consists of four two hundred- horse power, compound engines, ten eighty- horse power boilers, seven seven hundred- horse power electrie dynamos, seventy-five Pullman passenger cars, and fifty ten and fifteen-horse power motors. One hundred trains are run over the main line between the two cities of Omaha and Council Bluffs, daily. The bridge, with its approaches. is nearly a mile long.
The Nebraska Central Railway Company was voted bonds December 3, 1889, to the amount of $250,000, by Douglas County, to aid in the construction of a third bridge across the Missouri at this point. It is to be built pursuant to an act of Congress which provides that it shall be accessible to all rail- road companies desiring to use it, upon fair and equal terms. Among the most promi- nent and active men in the company are John A. McShane, John II. Dumont and W. A. Underwood, the latter being president of the American Water Works Company. The bonds were voted on condition that the bridge be completed by June 22, 1892.
The railway tracks crossing Eleventh Street are spanned by an iron viaduct built by the Morse Bridge Company in 1886-7, at an expense, including damages to adjacent property holders, of $98,528.92. Three-fifths of the cost of the viaduct was paid by the Union Pacific and Burlington & Missouri River Railroads. The main roadway of the structure is twenty feet wide with a six-foot sidewalk on each side.
The same railway tracks at the intersec- tion of South Sixteenth Street are crossed by a wooden viaduct built by Raymond & Campbell, of Council Bluffs, the plans being drawn by Andrew Rosewater, who was city
engineer at the time. It, as well as the Eleventh Street structure, is about a quarter of a mile long, with a twenty-foot roadway and two six-foot sidewalks. The total cost was $42,732.99, and it was completed early in 1887. Both of these viaducts afford motor line connection with the southern part of the city by means of double tracks.
January 1, 1891, the Tenth Street viaduct, built by the Union Depot Company, was opened for traffic. It is one of the largest ever built, being 1,520 feet in length-two hundred feet over a quarter of a mile-and is eighty feet wide. The roadway is sixty feet in width and on each side is a ten-foot artificial stone sidewalk. It is a substantial steel structure, with the supports resting on stone foundations. On the east side connec- tion will be made with the second floor of the new union depot, now in course of erec- tion. To aid in the construction of this via- duct and the depot, bonds to the amount of $150,000 were voted by the city November 80, 1889. The total cost of the structure was 8215,000 besides damages to abutting property, which were assessed upon prop- erty owners, to the amount of $37,550. En- gineer Smead, of the Union Pacific offices, drew the plans for the viaduct and Chief Engineer Doran of the Union Depot Com- pany had charge of its construction. This viaduct proved to be the subject of consid- erable litigation. The property owners south of the railway tracks and within a certain distance of South Tenth Street were assessed to pay the damages awarded to the owners of property which was injured by the building of the viaduct, to which assess- ment they objected, chiefly on the ground that it was an improvement which benefitted the public at large, hence the assessment should be levied upon the entire city. F'in- ally an injunction snit was brought in the district court by Augustus Kountze and others to restrain the collection of the tax hy the city. The case came up for hearing be- fore Judge Doane in January and on the
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fourteenth of that month a decision was ren- dered to the effect that it was the duty of the Union Depot Company to pay the damages resulting to abutting property by the construction of the depot. The amount assessed had been, in fact, paid in to the city treasury by the depot company before the work was commenced, and the court held that the property owners in that taxing district could not be required to pay that assessment.
December 30, 1890, Ernest Stulit, a tax payer, sued the City of Omaha, Richard C. Cushing as mayor, Charles Goodrich as comptroller, Thomas H. Benton as auditor of public accounts of the State, Alvin Saun- ders, trustee, the Union Depot Company and Thomas L. Kimball, president of the I'nion Depot Company, to restrain the delivery of the viaduct bonds to the Union Depot Com- pany, pursuant to its demand. This petition set up several points, the principal one being the claim that by a collusion between the depot company and the Union Pacific Railroad Company the latter was endeavor- ing to prevent the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company from entering the city, via the Union Pacific bridge, thus indicating a purpose to not carry into effect the condition in the proposition upon whichi the bonds were voted by the citizens of Omaha, allowing all railroad companies so desiring it free access to the passenger depot, to aid in the construction of which the bonds were to be given. The connection of ex- Governor Saunders with the case was by reason of his having been deeded certain lands in the early history of the Union Pacific Road to aid in building a passenger depot, and State Auditor Benton was made a party from the fact that the bonds had been sent to that official for registration a few days before the suit was brought. A temporary injunction was granted by Judge Doane, and January 13th an amended peti- tion was filed by Mr. Stuht and John D. llowe, Esq., which set forth that the voting of the bonds on Thanksgiving Day was ille-
gal; that there was a general election only three days later; that at the special bond election, November 30th, only thirty per cent. of the electors voted; that the city authori- ties were not authorized, either by the char- ter or by the law relating to voting bonds for the works of internal improvements, to sub- mit such a proposition; that the ostensible purpose named in the proposition was to vote a donation for a union depot, whereas the real purpose was to pay for the building of the viaduct; that the railway companies that destroyed Tenth Street were in law re- quired to pay the cost of the viaduct, but by collusion between the city officers and the railroads it was endeavored to practice a fraud on the law by throwing the burden on the taxpayers and taking it from the rail- roads; that the depot enterprise was a private investment for speculative purposes for the pecuniary benefit of a few individuals; that the Union Depot Company had been recently organized and expected to secure practically all of its capital stock by gifts of real estate and bonds by the City of Omaha, which real estate covered about twenty acres at the west end of the bridge and was of the value of many hundreds of thousands of dollars; that said depot company proposed to lease said property to a large number of railroad companies as tenants, requiring of each of them the payment of large rentals, so as to secure from said property enormous rev- enues for stockholders, thereby rendering the depot property oppressive and burden- some to the railroad tenants, for whose use in fact nearly all of said real estate was do- nated by Omaha. Further, that the condi- tions precedent had not been performed by the depot company; that the size of the building had been changed; that it did not agree with the proposition; that the plans were changed after the election had adopted them, which was illegal; that only some $40,000 had been spent, instead of $150,000; also that the two eastern railroads, the Mil- waukee and Rock Island, for whose benefit
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in part the city devoted the twenty acres of land, had been prevented from coming upon the said grounds; that the city authorities were about to deliver conveyances to the depot company, conveying all its property rights to the depot grounds, with the effect of relinquishing all the trusts upon which said property was conveyed to the Union Pacific in 1872; the said real estate was bought with $200,000 of city bonds in 1872 for the Union Pacific, on condition that it should construct its bridge across the river at Omaha; that the eastern terminus should be at Omaha; that the company should upon said grounds make up all of the west bound passenger and freight trains; that all trains coming from the East on all railroads should be transferred upon said grounds; that said company should expend 8100,000 in depot buildings on said grounds; that all its ma- chine and repair shops should be erected and maintained at Omaha; and that eastern railroads should have the right to use its bridge for reasonable compensation. All of which things the said company has failed and refused to do. That neither of the $200,000 bonds had yet been delivered to the city by the depot company.
January 12th an answer had been filed by Mr. Kimball, on behalf of the Union Pacific Depot Company, to a petition previously filed by Messrs. Stuht and IIowe, which answer stated that the mayor and council were duly authorized by law to pass an ordi- nance calling for the viaduct bonds, and had acted legally when the proposition was sub- mitted to the people who ratified it by their votes. It denied that the Union Depot was a private venture gotten up for speculative purposes, but that on the other hand it would prove a great benefit to the traveling public and the citizens of Omaha generally. It claimed that up to that time the Union Depot Company had spent more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the amount stipu- lated, and had, in every detail, followed out the original contract; that the company
was then ready to proceed to comply strictly with the ordinance, and that the viaduct had been completed and turned over to the pub- lic use. The answer also denied that the Union Pacific had refused to permit trains of other roads to cross the bridge into the Union Depot, and stated that the depot com- pany was ready to comply with the ordi- nance and erect a magnificent structure; but that if the injunction was granted the com- pany would be compelled to abandon its or- ganization as a depot company and to per- mit the premises set apart for a depot to re- vert back to the original owners, and thus prevent for years the construction of a union passenger depot, much to the detriment of the people,
City Attorney Poppleton filed an answer January 31st on behalf of the city, setting out that the bonds and deeds, conveying to the U'nion Depot Company the lots and lands previously voted to the Union Pacific Railroad Company, for depot purposes, had been drawn up in proper form and delivered to the trustees, to be by them delivered to the depot company when so ordered by the city authorities, and a trial of the case before Judge Doane was reached February 4th. John M. Thurston appeared for the depot company, Mr. Poppleton for the city, and John D. Ilowe and John C. Cowin for Messrs. Stuht and Ilowe. The hearing of the case occupied two days, and on the 21st of March Judge Doane rendered a decision sustaining the injunction and holding that the conditions upon which the bonds were to be delivered had not been complied with. The court found that the plan of the depot had been materially changed; that the amount required to be ex- pended by the company on the depot before the delivery of the bonds had not been ex- pended; that the company had not delivered to the city its bonds for $200,000; and that other roads had already been denied access to depot privileges, in violation of the terms of the bond proposition.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAHA.
November 30, 1890, the Inter-State Bridge and Street Railway Company filed its arti- «les of incorporation, which set forth the following as the purpose of the organiza- tion: " The general nature of the business to he transacted by this corporation shall be to construct, maintain and operate a bridge across the Missouri River, at and near the lands owned by the East Omaha Land Com- pany, in the States of lowa and Nebraska, and also to construct, maintain and operate a steam, electric, motor, horse, elevated, ca- ble, or other line of railway, and a public way across said bridge and within the coun- ties of Douglas, Nebraska, and Pottawatta- mie, lowa, with the termini thereof in the said cities of Omaha and Council Bluffs." John A. Creighton, Andrew J. Poppleton, Henry W. Yates, Richard C. Cushing, James M. Woolworth and Arthur S. Potter were the incorporators, and the capital stock was fixed at $2,500,000. One of the last acts of the session of Congress which terminated March 4. 1891, was to grant a charter to this com- pany for the construction of its bridge. Comparatively nothing was done toward the construction of this bridge at the time the proposition of the Nebraska Central Railway Company, in June, 1892, was submitted to the people. This latter proposition having carried. by vote of the people, the Inter- State bridge was rendered unnecessary, and the probabilities are that it will not be built.
As previously stated the Nebraska Central Railroad Company had been voted bonds in December, 1889, to the amount of $250,000 to aid in the construction of a bridge across the Missouri. Owing to the fact that two of the eastern railroads-the Rock Island & Pacific, which had been expected to use the Nebraska Central bridge, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul-shortly after made contracts with the Union Pacific Railway Company for the use of its bridge, and the extreme stringency of the money market, nothing was done toward the construction of this bridge.
On the 2d day of May, 1892, through Mr. J. II. Dumont, vice-president, and Mr. John L. MeCague, secretary, the Nebraska Cen- trail Railroad Company made another prop- osition to the county commissioners for the issuance, by Douglas County, of $500,000 to aid in the construction of a railroad bridge, with approaches and connections, giving outlets to the South, to the West and to the North. At the same time the same company made a proposition to the city council for the issuance by the City of Omaha of $250- 000, to aid in acquiring depot grounds and constructing one hundred miles of railroad into the State of Iowa, for the purpose of connecting with all railroads which might be within connecting distance of Omaha. These propositions were fully discussed be- fore the respective bodies, and, after being amended so as to more effectually protect the interests of the public. were submitted to the voters of the city and county at a spe- cial election held June 16, 1892, and were carried by a large majority. Mr. John D. llowe was especially active in looking after the interests of the people, appearing before both the county commissioners and the city council. As the Nebraska C'entral proposi- tions are considered among the most im- portant which have ever come before our people, the city proposition is given here in full, and so much of the county proposition as materially differs from that of the city. The proposition to the city is as follows:
The amended proposition of the Nebraska Central Railroad Company to the City of Omaha, Nebraska:
" To the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Omaha, Nebraska :
" The undersigned, the Nebraska C'entral Railway Company, proposes to acquire and take possession of, for railway purposes, that certain tract of land, located within the dis- trict bounded by Fifteenth Street, Chicago Street, Eleventh Street, California Street, and the right of way of the Omaha Belt Rail- way Company, except the south half of block thirty-eight, lots three and four; block twenty-eight, lot one; and north one-half of
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