USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 16
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EARLY FINANCIAL MATTERS
One of the most serious problems that confronted the new municipal govern- ment was to provide sufficient funds to make needed improvements, pay the salaries of officials and maintain the city institutions. A considerable sum of money had been donated toward the erection of the territorial capitol, as told in another chapter, which left the funds of the new city at a low ebb. On June 23. 1857, the council authorized the mayor "to procure plates and have $30,000 of
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city scrip issued, and to enter into a contract with the different banks for the circulation and redemption of said scrip, on the best possible terms."
At a special meeting of the council held on August 29, 1857, the following communication was received :
"We, the undersigned, do hereby agree to receive from the mayor of the City of Omaha, of the scrip issued by said city, the amount opposite our respective names, and to protect the same for nine months from the date of issue, for 10 per cent interest for the nine months, to be promptly redeemed in currency, pro- vided the amount issued shall not exceed $30,000, unless protected by a responsi- ble party who shall stamp the same and redeem it either in Omaha City or the City of Council Bluffs, but in no event shall the issue exceed $50,000. It is understood that this agreement shall not be binding on us until arrangements be entered into to protect the whole amount issued.
A. U. Wyman, Western Exchange Fire and Marine In- surance Company $ 5,000
Samuel Moffatt, Cashier Bank of Nebraska. 5,000
Bank of Tekamah, F. M. Akin, Cashier 5,000
F. Gridley & Co 3,000
G. C. Monell 3,000
S. E. Rogers & Co., B. B. Barkalow, Cashier 3,000
William Young Brown 3,000
John McCormick & Co 3,000
Total $30,000"
The proposition of these bankers and financiers was accepted by the council and the mayor was given authority to close the contract, though the amount of scrip authorized at this meeting was $50,000. An additional $10,000 was author- ized at the council meeting on September 22, 1857, the additional issue to be loaned to the hotel company, on condition that they would pay all expenses con- nected with the issue of the scrip and protect its circulation and redemption.
The "Panic of 1857" is still remembered by old residents. Owing to the great industrial depression that was felt by all parts of the country in that vear; the City of Omaha was unable to redeem its scrip according to the original plan, and on December 14, 1857, the council adopted a resolution favor- ing an issue of city bonds to the amount of $50,000 to retire the scrip from circulation-except the $10,000 issued to the hotel company. Subsequently this was included, when it was ascertained that the actual amount of scrip out- standing was $57,500, and the mayor was directed to order an election to be held on Saturday, December 26, 1857, when the people might pass upon the question of issuing the bonds of the city to that amount. Assuming that the majority of the voters would favor the proposition, the council ordered the recorder to have 2,000 affirmative and 500 negative ballots printed. The total number of votes cast at the election was 641, of which 598 were in favor of the bonds and 43 opposed. This was the first issue of bonds cver authorized by the City of Omaha.
On November 22, 1858, the city assessor made a report showing that he had fixed the assessed valuation of the property of the city as follows: Lots.
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OMAHA SCRIP ISSUED IN 1857 TO PAY FOR OLD CAPITOL BUILDING
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OMAHA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
$1,110,678; improvements, $202,074; personal property, $178,362, making a total of $1,491,114. Upon this amount a tax of 5 mills on the dollar was levied, producing a revenue of $7,455.51 for the fiscal year ending on March IO, 1859. At the close of that fiscal year the council appointed an auditing committee, which reported on March 23, 1859, that the total receipts for the year amounted to $7,842.85, and the total expenditures to $12,592.98, leaving a deficit of $4,750.13. The committee was inclined to take an optimistic view of the situation, closing its report with this statement:
"As a large portion of the expense was to defray the liabilities of the city on account of the capitol improvements, which will not again occur, and as other items of expense can be dispensed with, without detriment to the general prosperity of the city, it is hoped that, by a judicious and economical adminis- tration of the city finances, the receipts will defray the expenses of the present fiscal year and perhaps cancel a portion of the city debt."
The committee further showed the total indebtedness of the city, including the bonds voted to retire the scrip, outstanding warrants and a floating debt of $275.45, to be $72,689.59, against which they found assets of $51,197.07, the largest single item of which was the bond and mortgage of the hotel company, amounting to $15,000. Such was the financial condition of Omaha two years after its incorporation.
PRACTICING ECONOMY
Various suggestions were made to the council as to the best means of increas- ing the city's revenues, one of which was to sell all the lands and lots belonging to the city, including the tracts set apart for public parks and other public pur- poses, but the city attorney, George I. Gilbert, in 1858, reported against such a course and cited instances where cities had made sales of such property, the (leeds to which were afterward set aside by the courts. As it was plainly seen that Mr. Gilbert's decision would cast a cloud on the title to lands thus sold, and have a tendency to prevent bidders from paying as much for the lands as they would otherwise, the council declined to undertake the sale. Subsequently a number of lots belonging to the city were disposed of, but no tracts that had been set apart for public use.
Unable to augment the public funds by the sale of such lands, the council adopted the policy of rigid economy by cutting down claims presented against the city, etc. M. H. Clark, who had succeeded T. H. Robertson as city printer, presented a bill for $110, which the judiciary committee of the council recom- mended be reduced to $70, but the council as a whole thought this amount too much and voted Mr. Clark "the sum of $50 as a payment in full." M. W. Keith, proprietor of the Herndon House, asked $11.50 for a room for election purposes and was allowed $3.50. Judges and clerks of election, when they presented bills for $5 and $3 respectively for their services, were compelled to accept just one-half of those amounts. Numerous instances of this character are to be found in the early records.
On the other hand, the council was sometimes inclined to be lavish in its expenditures, where the interest or prospective welfare of the city was at stake. On December 21, 1858, a resolution was adopted appointing Dr. Enos Lowe Vol. 1-8
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OMAHA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
a special commissioner "to proceed to Washington and urge upon the general land office prompt action in considering and canceling the private pre-emptions illegally made within the corporate limits of the city, and to do what else he can in matters of interest to Omaha now pending in Congress."
Doctor Lowe went to Washington, where he spent some two months, and later made a report of what he had accomplished. In that report he said: "I reached Washington about the 20th of January and remained there until the 4th of March, 1859, devoting all my time to the objects of my mission, and succeeded in obtaining a hearing and favorable decision of much the larger and more important portion of the cases ; but, not being able to get all of them taken up within that time, and being unable to remain longer, I employed M. Thomp- son, Esq., to attend to the remaining cases. Having no money to pay him, I agreed to send him a deed for five of my own lots, within the limits of Council Bluffs, where the titles were complete, for $250. This I have done, as you will more satisfactorily learn from his own acknowledgment, herewith submitted, and I now respectfully asked to be reimbursed therefor. I disclaimed at the outset any compensation for my time and services, but I cannot afford to give also the money actually paid out for necessary personal expenses in going and returning, and for my board while there. Therefore I submit the following charges and ask their allowance in cash or its equivalent, viz: Paid to Thompson for city, $250; actual expenses going to and returning from Washington, $120; board forty-two days at $1.50 per day, $63; total, 433."
The council voted to give the doctor five lots in Omaha, in the place of those he had deeded to Thompson, and in addition was allowed $183 for his expenses, according to his report. Another instance of the council's liberality is seen in the action of a few weeks later, when 300 lots, supposed to be worth $200 each. were donated by resolution to the firm of Irving & Company, on condition that the "said Irving & Company will keep and maintain during the continuance of their contract with the United States, at or within two miles of the City of Omaha, a depot for the reception and delivery of goods to be transported by them for said Government."
SOME ODD LEGISLATION
For some years after Omaha was incorporated the steamers on the Missouri River constituted the principal means of reaching the city or bringing goods to its merchants. If a boat landed late on Saturday, it was no unusual thing for the crew to work all day Sunday in discharging or taking on cargoes. In 1863 Peter Hugus, county clerk, presented to the city council a petition asking for the passage of an ordinance prohibiting this custom. The petition was referred to a committee, of which John H. Kellom was chairman and at the next meeting of the council he brought in a report recommending the passage of such an ordinance. A minority report was presented by D. C. Sutphen, asking that the petition be again referred to the committee. The minority report was adopted and nothing more was ever heard of the matter.
It may seem strange to the people of Omaha today to learn that in 1864 the council made an appropriation of $100 to pay for "clearing away the brush on Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh streets, south of Jones Street," or that as late as
CITY PROPERTYPLEDGED FOR REDEMPTION OF THESE NOTES
The City of Omaha
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OMAHIA SCRIP ISSUED IN 1857 TO PAY FOR OLD CAPITOL BUILDING
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OMAHA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
1866 residents in the southern part of the city were permitted to work out their poll tax by cutting brush and clearing other obstructions from the streets in that section.
In March, 1866, a resolution was adopted by the council declaring that "the privilege heretofore granted to E. B. Chandler to stack hay upon certain streets of the city shall expire on the first day of May, 1866." Imagine some one asking and receiving permission to stack hay on any of the streets of Omaha in 1916! About the time this resolution was adopted an ordinance was passed requiring the barbers to close their shops on Sunday. Some people who were in the habit of getting shaved on Sunday morning expressed their dissatisfaction at what they called "blue laws," and O. P. Ingalls, a member of the council, gave notice that he would offer a repealing ordinance, but the record does not show that such an ordinance was ever introduced or passed.
FIRE DEPARTMENT
The first mention in the records of the council proceedings relating to pro- tection against fire was on October 27, 1857, when Councilman Bovey, chairman of a committee appointed to investigate the matter, reported in favor of the organization of a hook and ladder company and the purchase of four ladders- two 20 feet long, one 40 feet long, and one 60 feet long. The report was adopted, but no immediate action was taken toward the formation of the company or the purchase of the ladders. About a month later the firm of Schneider & Hurford offered to sell the city a fire engine for $1,500, one-half payable in one year and the remainder in two years, but the proposition was rejected and Alder- man Visscher was appointed a committee of one to procure at once the ladders previously recommended by the committee and "a sufficient number of hooks." It is presumed that Mr. Visscher carried out his instructions and for about three years the hooks and ladders thus provided for constituted the whole of Omaha's fire-fighting apparatus.
On June 25, 1860, the following petition, or communication, was presented to the council: "To the Honorable Mayor and City Council of Omaha: The undersigned, officers of Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, respectfully show to your honorable body that the said company is fully organized; that they have under contract and nearly completed a truck with the necessary hooks and ladders ; that the whole will be complete and in running order by the Ist day of July, 1860, and that they are without a place to keep the same. We therefore respectfully ask your honorable body to procuré for us a proper place to keep the said truck and its appurtenances.
"BENJAMIN STICKLES, Foreman "J. S. MCCORMICK, Assistant Foreman
"J. W. VAN NOSTRAND, Secretary "W. J. KENNEDY, Treasurer."
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OMAHA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
The constitution of the company accompanied the petition and the city clerk was directed to issue to each member of the company a certificate of member- ship. The petition was referred to a committee, with instructions to find a suitable place for keeping the hook and ladder truck, and at the next meeting it reported that a building on Twelfth Street had been secured for the use of the company. This was the humble beginning of Omaha's fire department.
Among the members of this first volunteer fire company were several who were prominent in Omaha affairs. Benjamin Stickles, the foreman, was appointed the first city fire warden in November, 1862, and held the position for about four years. Josiah S. McCormick, the assistant foreman, was a member of the first wholesale grocery firm in Omaha. During the Civil war he served as quartermaster of the Second Nebraska Cavalry, and in 1869 was elected a mem- ber of the city council. James W. Van Nostrand, the secretary, was county clerk at the time the company was organized, having previously served as city clerk, and was secretary of the first school board. W. J. Kennedy, the treasurer, established the first jewelry store in Omaha, afterward extensively engaged in the agricultural implement business, and closed up the affairs of the old Omaha and Chicago Bank. He was connected with the city fire department in an advisory capacity for thirty years. Henry Gray served as second lieutenant of Company D, Second Nebraska Cavalry ; was elected to the city council in 1862; city treasurer in 1868, and was one of the promoters of the Omaha & South- western Railroad. M. H. Clark was city printer and proprietor of the Nebraskian at the time the company was organized. In 1861 he was elected a member of the Legislature. Henry Z. Curtis, a son of Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, published the first daily paper in Omaha. He enlisted at the beginning of the Civil war and died while serving his country. Andrew J. Simpson established the first carriage factory in Nebraska. He was one of the promoters of the first county fair in 1858, exhibiting one of the first vehicles ever built in the state. In 1866 he was elected to the city council and the same year was made chief of the fire department. At one time he was grand treasurer of the Knights of Pythias for Nebraska. Phineas W. Hitchcock was a delegate to the republican national con- vention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency in 1860; served as a delegate to Congress from Nebraska during the territorial days; was one of the founders of the Evening Tribune in 1870, and in January, 1871, was elected to the United States Senate.
On May 25, 1862, a special election was held to vote on the question of allowing the city to borrow $800 for the purchase of a hand fire engine. Only thirty-five votes were cast, all but one in favor of the loan, but the council found it difficult to borrow the money and the subject was allowed to rest for about eighteen months. Not long after this election the city purchased part of the lot at the corner of Twelfth and Douglas streets of Redick & Briggs for $215 cash. There was a small building on the premises and the property was turned over to the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company.
In March, 1864, the question of better fire protection again came before the city council and a committee was appointed "to ascertain the cost of a fire engine and other necessary apparatus, and of a suitable number of cisterns to afford adequate protection against fire." If the committee ever made a report it has disappeared from the records. Early in September. 1865, a council committee
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OMAHA SCRIP ISSUED IN 1857 TO PAY FOR OLD CAPITOL BUILDING
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OMAHA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
of three was appointed to solicit contributions for the purchase of a fire engine. But the people took the view that, as they paid taxes to support the city govern- ment, the engine should be purchased by the city. A special election was then called for October 14, 1865, to vote on the question of the city making a loan of $3,000 to buy an engine, hosecart and a supply of hose. At this election 132 votes were cast, all in favor of the proposition, indicating that the citizens of the city were well aware of the importance of better protection against fire.
In December following the mayor was authorized to enter into a contract with the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company for a No. 3 steam fire engine and 1,500 feet of hose, at a price not exceeding eight thousand dollars. The contract was made, but a short time afterward Alderman Charles H. Brown called attention to the condition of the municipal finances and offered a resolution to counter- mand the order to the Amoskeag Company and purchase a hand fire engine and hose "to cost not more than five thousand dollars." The contract was accord- ingly canceled and another effort was made to have the city buy the engine that had been brought to Omaha by the hardware firm of Schneider & Hurford, but it was not successful.
In March, 1866, Alderman A. J. Simpson reported that he had carried out the instructions of the council and purchased a hand fire engine at Davenport, Iowa, the cost of which was $800, which sum was appropriated by the council. About the same time a petition, signed by some two hundred residents, asking for the purchase of a steam fire engine and protesting against the purchase of the hand engine, was presented to the council. A special meeting was called to consider the petition and a resolution was adopted providing for the purchase of a steam engine, provided the citizens of Omaha would take the $3,000 of city bonds ordered by the special election of the preceding October, and guarantee the additional $5,000 necessary to make the purchase. This the citizens were unwilling to do and the purchase of a steam engine was again postponed indefi- nitely.
The hand engine bought by Mr. Simpson for the city was christened the "Fire King" and turned over to the Pioneer Fire Company No. 1, which com- pany was accepted by the council as the official fire department of the city. In August, 1866, a lot was purchased from Aaron Cahn, where the Chamber of Commerce was afterward located, and the following spring a building was erected thereon, at a cost of a little over four thousand dollars, for an engine house. This building was erected by H. H. Visscher, who received in payment city bonds payable in one year. An effort was made to borrow $12,000 to develop the department, but the committee appointed to dispose of the bonds reported that the only offer was one from Edward Creighton, who agreed to take $6,000 of the bonds at 90 cents on the dollar, the city to pay 12 per cent interest on the face value. The bonds were not sold. Twenty years later Omaha city bonds, bearing only 5 per cent, were sold at a premium.
By 1870 the financial condition of the city had improved sufficiently to justify the purchase of a second class Silsby rotary engine for $5.500 and 1,000 feet of hose for $2,000. The same year an electric alarm system was put in by the Gamewell Company at a cost of $5,000, with ten alarm boxes and about seven and a half miles of wire. The Omaha fire department, as thus equipped, was
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OMAHA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
an object of pride to the citizens. In 1885 the change was made from a semi- volunteer organization to a full-paid department; with John H. Butler as chief.
From that time the growth of the department has been steady and continuous. Without attempting to follow all the steps in the great improvements that have been made, it is deemed sufficient to say that Chief Charles A. Salter's report for the year 1915 shows 285 officers and men in the department, divided as follows: I chief, 2 assistant chiefs, 4 battalion chiefs, 26 captains, 26 lieutenants, I master mechanic, I secretary, 5 first and 5 second engineers of steamers in active service, 72 drivers, 100 pipemen and 42 truckmen. The total amount expended in support of the department during the year was $307,979.59, quite a change from 1866, when the city "strained a point" to pay $800 for a hand fire engine. Fully as great an improvement is seen in the quarters occupied. Instead of one little building that cost $215, the city had at the close of the year twenty-one fire stations, so located that every portion of the city is well provided with protection against fire. The ground upon which these buildings are situated is valued at $128,000, and the buildings at $253,000, or a total of $381,000. Add to this the value of the six steam fire engines (one of which is held in reserve), five hook and ladder trucks, four automobiles, hose wagons, etc., and the city has over half a million dollars invested in its fire department. The Gamewell alarm system has been developed until there are now 123 boxes, so distributed that every resident of the city is within easy reach of an alarm station. During the year 1915 the department responded to 1,131 alarms.
POLICE FORCE
For nine years after Omaha was incorporated the only police officer was the city marshal. On March 22, 1866, the council passed an ordinance establishing a police force of four men and appointed John Logan, John Morrissey, Patrick Swift and Thomas Welch to the positions. The ordinance provided that the "captain of the city police shall place his men on their beats from 8 o'clock until sunrise." Two additional patrohnen were appointed a few weeks later. This was the beginning.
For about two years the policemen wore no uniforms, but in March, 1868, the council adopted the following preamble and resolution :
"Whereas, The council believes that the wearing of some uniform dress by the members of the police would give general satisfaction, therefore be it
"Resolved. That the policemen be and are hereby directed to provide them- selves with dark blue, single-breasted coats, trimmed in dark buttons, with pants of the same material, and caps with brass plate in front marked with the words 'city police,' said suits and caps to be worn when the policemen are on duty."
In 1869 the force was increased to eighteen men-three for each ward in the city-to be elected by the council. Maurice Sullivan was chosen captain and Rodney Dutcher, lieutenant. Sullivan resigned after a short service and Dutcher was promoted to the captaincy. A. P. Sanders was then elected lieutenant. In December, 1870, William G. Hollins, the city marshal, who had served as cap- tain of Company E, First Nebraska Infantry, in the Civil war, recommended that the force be reduced to twelve men, which recommendation was adopted by the council in an ordinance passed on the last day of January, 1871.
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OMAHA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
A communication from Smith S. Caldwell, then mayor of the city, dated October 9, 1871, called the attention of the council "to the probability of the personal property of our citizens being without the protection of insurance, in consequence of the unprecedented conflagration now raging in Chicago, involving the destruction of nearly the entire city and bankrupting, as it doubtless will, all the insurance companies of the city, I would therefore recommend that the city marshal be instructed to employ a special force of night watchmen, to serve until the insurance of our people can be examined and readjusted, say ten days or two weeks." The mayor's recommendation was adopted and a night force of twelve extra men was appointed to serve for two weeks.
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