USA > New York > Chemung County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 56
USA > New York > Schuyler County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 56
USA > New York > Tioga County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 56
USA > New York > Tompkins County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 56
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ASSESSMENT AND TAXATION.
The first assessment and tax-list of the county was that of 1836, and it was as follows :
Acres.
Value.
Personal Property.
Total.
County Taxes.
Town Taxes.
Total Taxes.
Big Flats.
26,448
$123,013
$4,830
$127,843
$1,048.88
$275.44
$1,324,32
Catlin.
14,158
37,772
17,896
55,668
576.54
544.82
1,121.36
Catharine
23,885
103,240
22,068
125,308
834.69
609.83
1,444.52
Cayuta.
23,240
58,078
2,484
60,562
426.87
314.30
741.17.
Chemung.
44,830
133,407
10,815
144,222
1,201.20
420.75
1,621.95
Dix.
21,305
109,689
24,537
134,226
725.59
452.37
1,177.96
Erin
40,215
81,794
717
82,511
606.45
274.41
900,86
Elmira
41,151
329,582
280,029
609,611
3,149.15
1,071.06
4,220.21
Southport.
36,392
191,711
30,897
222,608
1,184.36
489.16
1,673.52
Veteran
36,068
21,710
7,740
29,450
665.35
238.45
903.80
Totals.
307,692
$1,189,996
$402,013
$1,592,009
$10,419.08
$4,710.59
$15,129.67
211
AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.
The assessment and tax-list of 1877 was as follows :
Acres.
Assessed Equalized Valnation of Valuation of Real Estate. Real Estate.
Personal Property.
Aggregate of Per Acre, Real Estate . and l'ersonal Property. as Ejual- ized.
State Taxes.
School Taxes.
County Taxes.
Town Taxes.
Total Taxes.
Ashland.
8,750
$562,428
$504,499
$4,700
$509,198
$57.62
$357.03
$2,018.00
$612 78
$3,635.36
Baldwin.
15,909
301,568
291,980
23,075
315,055
18.35
220.93
1,248.62
49 .43
2,361.58
Big Flats
26,097
1,085,725
1,230,127
6,050
1,236,177
47.13
1,573.15
866 91
4,899.14
2,956.98
10,374.04
Catlin
23,304
385,050
429,331
421,331
18.42
546.37
301.08
1,701.48
1,379,85
3,910.17
Chemung.
29,304
1,197,948
1,552,86I
13,300
1,565,361
52.96
1,992 16
1,037.87
6,203.56
2,537.81
11,835.77
Elinira town
14,707
785.085
9 $1,723
82,900
1,044,629
65,49
1,329.45
732 58
4,131,95
1.630.14
7,842.24
Elmira city
3,050
12,840,050
10,991,043
556,150
11,5-17,233
14,605,68
8,0 )7.92
45,762.48
17.677.39
86,266 91
Erin
26,817
426,380
491.616
1,000
492,616
18.33
626.92
345.45
1,952.30
4,687.56
7.612.15
Horseheads
21,880
1,303,682
1,831,130
27,100
1,858,230
83.03
2,364.88
1,303.04
7,364.42
15 696 76
26,795.10
Southport ...
28,969
1,408,054
1,592,791
23,030
1,615,821
54.97
2,056.38
1,133.15
6,403 62
1,929.37
11.557.59
Van Etten .....
21,787
412,620
487,298
4,350
491,648
19,64
625.67
344.77
1,948.48
3,635.88
6.651.94
Veteran
22,755
758,354
1,103,300
24,800
1,128,100
48,43
1,4 35.66
791.17
4,470.71
2,485.03
9,177.64
Totals.
246,345
$21,466,944
$21,466,944
$766,455
$22,233,399
$28,295.28
$15,591.96
$38,112.76
$55,720,08
$188,020.51
The first assessment of corporate property in the county was in 1836, and was as follows:
Assessment.
Tax. $1379.04
Southport Bridge Company. 5,727
40.81
Total
$199,277
$1419.85
The assessment of such property in 1877 was as follows :
Erie Railway®
$748,852
Northern Central Railroad
446,175
Syracuse, Geneva and Corning Railroad ..
1,100
Elmira and Horseheads Railroad.
34,500
Geneva, Ithaca and Sayre Railroad
30,000
Pennsylvania and New York Railroad and Canal.
5,000
Utica, Ithaca and Elmira Railroad
136,640
Elmira and State Line Railroad
75,500
Total railroads.
$1,477,767
Junction Canal.
12,320
Elmira Driving Park.
15,000
Elmira Water-Cure Company
16,500
Elmira Water-Works.
72,600
Elinira Iron and Steel Rolling-Mill Company. Elmira Gas-Light Company.
50,000
Elmira Advertiser Association
39,000
Elmira Gazette Association
12,500
Elmira Opera- House Association.
45,000
Queen City Woolen-Mills ..
25,000
La France Manufacturing Company
21,000
Pittston and Elinira Coal Company
10,000
U. S. Express Company ..
13,000
Miscellaneous ..
11,000
Total
$2,303,687
The total amount of taxes paid into the county and town treasuries, with the exception of the city taxes of Elmira and the local seltool taxes of districts, has been as follows since 1836 :
From 1836 to 1853 inclusive ...
$351,095.72
From 1854 to 1860 inclusive.
323,135.01
From 1861 to 1870 inclusive.
1,490,750.7L
From 1871 to 1877 inclusive.
1,427,858.91
Total
$3,592,840.35
The heaviest tax paid in any single year was that of 1864, when it amounted to $251,059.36. In 1872 the total taxes were $246,273,63.
THE INDEBTEDNESS
of the county and towns as civil corporations now outstand- ing is as follows : The county,-
On State Fair bonds
$22,000
Court-House loan, 1859. 20,000
Jail repairs, 1874.
9,000
County Clerk's office, 1875
5,000
Total
$54,000
# The first assessment of the Erie was in 1845, $2000. Tax $9.
RAILROAD AID.
Original
Paid int.
Outstand-
issue of
Railroads.
to Feb.,
ing bond -.
Van Etten ..
$25.000 Ithaca and Towanda.
$14,911
$25,000
Erin ...
...
30,000 Utica, Horseheads & Elmira.
17,591
21,300
Horseheads. 125,000 Utica, Horseheads & Elmira.
66,500
123,400
Total ... $180,000
$99,002
$169,700
Horseheads has a sinking fund on hand-invested-of $8700, and Erin of $300, to which is added, each year, one per eent. of the original issue, to liquidate the indebted- ness. Erin has bought up bonds to the amount of $8700, and Horseheads to the amount of $1600. The city of Elmira has
Iron Bridge bonds, duc 1878-94.
$129,900
Floating debt bonds, due 1878-94
56,000
Funding debt bonds, 1877, due 1890-94 20,000
Sewer bonds, 1875, due 1878-80
6,000
Cemetery bonds, due 1878-89 29,500
School bonds, due 1878-84
48,500
Total
$289,900
RECAPITULATION.
The county.
$54,000
Railroad aid ..
169.700
City of Elmira.
289,900
Total bonded indebted ness $513,600
THE STATE AS A BROKER.
The loans of the State to citizens of Chemung, under tlie aet of 1792, amounted in 1836 to $2822.12, and under that of 1808 to $2301, being a portion of the amount re- eeived in those years by Tioga County. The amount of the United States deposit fund apportioned to Chemung County in 1837 was $42,991.07. These funds were consolidated in 1850, and at the last report of the Commissioners of Loans, made in November, 1877, the amount on loan was $38,961.26.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
Court-Houses and Jails-Clerks' Offices-The Trials and Tribulations of the Board of Supervisors in harmonizing Different Opinions- Poor-Houses and Panpers-Cost of Charitable Emotions-Orphans' Home, and its Work and Founders-The State Reformatory-Cor- rectiou, not Punishment-Manhood versus Total Depravity.
COURT-IIOUSES AND JAILS.
THE facts concerning the first and second court-house and jail ereeted in Elmira will be found elsewhere iu this
bonds.
1878
Chemung Canal Bank.
$193,550
483,000
$648.02 400,91
212
HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS, 1
work. The lot of ground chosen for the site of the second one was a portion of the present grounds occupied by the public buildings of the county, and was conveyed to the county by William Maxwell, of Elmira ; John H. Avery, of Owego; and John Cowden, of Northumberland Co., Pa., and was described as follows: " Beginning on the east bounds of Lake Street; thence east 3 chains 33} links ; thence north 2 chains 253 links ; thence west 3 chains 33} links, to the east bounds of Lake Street; thence south 2 chains 25} links to beginning, containing three fourths of an acre." The jail limits were laid out in February, 1824, and contained an arca of 399 acres.
At the joint meeting of the Boards of Supervisors of Tioga and Chemung Counties, the county treasurer of Chemung was instructed to call on the court-house com- missioners, and demand of them the balance of the building fund in their hands. Up to the time of the division of the county of Tioga, in 1836, no report was filed with the Board of Supervisors of that county of the cost of the court-house at Elmira, so far as the records and files of that county now show. One-half of this balance was to be paid to Tioga County. At their annual meeting in November, 1836, the supervisors appropriated $1500 for repairs on the court-house, and $1000 for the erection of a clerk's office. This sum was subsequently increased to $2000, and the commissioners to build the office were Lyman Covell, Charles Orwan, and Elijah Sexton, who reported the building completed Nov. 14, 1837. A bell was also bought and hung in the court-house.
In 1848 the Board of Supervisors memorialized the Legislature for authority to borrow $4000 with which to build a new jail, the old one having been condemned by D. D. Spencer, State's prison inspector, and the report ap- proved by the county judge. The inspector recommended the building of the new jail in the rear of the court-house, and the law of Dec. 14, 1847, made it obligatory on the board to build a sufficient one in the county. A committee was appointed on plans and specifications, and at a special meeting, held April 26, 1849, the Board voted to build a jail, the cost not to exceed $4500, and to borrow the sum of the State. The plans of Ichabod Konkle were adopted, and in June following Mr. Konkle's bid to build the jail for $6000 was accepted, and R. W. Judson, Erra Mallett, and Richard Baker appointed building commissioners, and an additional loan of $1500 authorized. In 1850 the jail was completed and accepted by the supervisors. The loan of $6000 remained unpaid until 1873. In 1849 and 1850 repairs were made on the court-house amounting to $2383. In 1856-57 repairs were made on the jail to the amount of $3298.
At the annual meeting in 1869, on the report of a com- mittee appointed for the purpose of examining and reporting on the necessity for a new court-house, the Board of Super- visors voted to build a brick house, the cost not to exceed $20,000, and appointed Hon. Hiram Gray, Judge A. S. Thurston, commissioners, and authorized them to appoint a third commissioner, and as such board to negotiate a loan of $20,000 for a term not longer than twenty years, and with the proceeds to build the house, and also to sell the old court-house. A. C. Ely was appointed the third com-
missioner, and the business was proceeded with. The loan was effected with the State at seven per cent. per annum, payable Jan. 1, 1870, and the money deposited in the Elmira Bank at five per cent. interest. A contract was made with David Wilcox, of Syracuse, to construct the building complete for furnishing for $18,150, and the old court- house was sold to the city for $350, and removed to its present location, where it is now known as the city hall. Concert Hall was leased for court purposes until the new court-house was ready for occupancy.
The building was completed in 1862, at a cost of $20,458.34, furnished ready for use; $855.31 were re- ceived for interest on the funds, which, added to the original loan, left a surplus of the appropriation, which was returned to the treasury.
Judge Brooks was added to the Board of Commissioners in 1861. In accepting the court-house from the hands of the commissioners, at the annual miceting of 1862, the supervisors adopted a series of complimentary resolutions, from which the following is an abstract :
" Resolved, That we acknowledge the faithful and gratuitous per- formance by said commissioners of the trust committed to them ; that this Board has carefully examined the new court-house now completed, and unhesitatingly pronounce it a model for its architectural beauty, convenience, and durability, and that it is in all respects worthy of the county of Chemung."
It is a beautiful structure. On the first floor the offices of the county judge and surrogate, sheriff, grand and petit jury rooms are located, with rooms for the occupancy of the janitor. The second floor is occupied by the court-room (54 by 72 by 29 feet) and witness-rooms. The material of which the building is constructed is red brick, hard burned, and scabbled dressed limestone. The cornice is elegant, and, together with the foundation walls, has the appearance of massiveness and durability. The façade on Lake Street is supported by massive stone pillars, from which spring heavy brick arches. The angles of the building project from the northern and southern sides, giving the appearance of towers or buttresses, the southeastern angle rising into a well-proportioned square tower with open brick arches and stone pediments, in which the bell is hung. The ground area of the building is about 68 by 84 fect, ·exclusive of arca projection of some ten feet. The height of the building from ground to top of cornice in front is . about 45 feet, and the tower rises 15 feet above the roof, which latter is of tin.
From the tower a fine, comprehensive view is had of the city and its environing hills. To the southwest in the dis- tance is seen the Reformatory in its ample proportions, the reservoir, with its white, uprising jet a little to the left; to the north the valley of the canal opens a fine vista ; to the cast the Water-Cure lies against the overtopping summit of the hill; to the south the valley of the Chemung widens, and is there closed in by the approaching hills on either side ; and beneath the beholder's feet, on every side, spreads out the city, embowered in maples and elms, through whose leafy canopy the spires of its churches and domes of its school- houses and palatial residences rise, giving evidence of the culture, wealth, and intelligence of the people who built them.
213
AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.
The court-house loan of $20,000 is yet unpaid. In 1860 the Board of Supervisors voted to purchase additional grounds adjoining the court-house lot on the south, at the corner of Lake and Cross Streets, belonging to William Beach, B. P. Beardsley, and S. G. Hathaway, Jr .; but the conditions of the purchase-that the eity of Elmira was to raise an equal sum ($5000)-were not complied with, and the resolution was reseinded at the next meeting of the Board.
A vote was passed by the Board of Supervisors in 1865 to buy the William Street school lot, lying in the rear of the court-house lot, but the sale was not consummated until the following year, when it was conveyed to the county by the eity for $5000, and bonds payable in 1871 issued for the same.
The lots adjoining the court-house lot on the south were purchased by the county, in 1869-70, for $15,660, and bonds issued for the amount.
A committee on a new jail reported one necessary, and a eonimittee on plans and specifications was appointed, eon- sisting of Messrs. O'Hanlon, Patrick, Kingsbury, Decker, and Ogden, who reported at the next meeting (1870) plans and estimates for a jail, and the Board voted to build one and appropriate $20,000 towards the work, by a vote of 15 to 2. The old building on the school-house lot was sold for $156. The committee reported the working plans of J. K. Vaughn, arehiteet, and the same were adopted by the Board of Supervisors, the architect directed to make and report estimates, and the cost of the building limited to $55,000. The committee was also authorized to contract with responsible bidders for the execution of the work, and seeure its completion by July 1, 1872, and the treasurer authorized to negotiate a loan of $35,000 to begin opera- tious with. Mr. Decker resigned as one of the eommis- sioners, and W. A. Kingsbury was appointed to fill his place. At a special meeting in April, 1871, J. K. Vaughn was appointed arehiteet, and the commissioners reported a contract with John and Sylvanus M. Clark, of Eimira, to put up the jail for $55,000, including the architect's comu- mission. At this meeting, complaints having been made of unfairness in the letting of the contraet, the commissioners reported their doings, alleging full opportunity had been given for all bidders to examine specifications, ete., and that they had let the contraet to the best bidders. After some discussion in the Board between the attorney of the complainants -- General H. S. Diven-and the commission- ers, the contract was laid before the Board, and was referred to a committee, who reported subsequently that it was not in conformity to the resolutions of the Board in several im- portant partieulars ; among them, that it did not limit the eost to $55,000, the architeet's fees and commissioners' ser- viees not being provided for. This report of the committee was agreed to by the Board, who appointed IIon. A. S. Thurston and Daniel Stephens additional members of the building commission, and instrueted the commissioners to amend the contraet by limiting the contract priee to $52,500, and to employ their own arehiteet or superintendent.
Charges of corruption in the letting of the eoutraet and the erection of the building having been made in the publie prints, and privately, at the annual meeting of the Board in
1871, on a petition of leading citizens of the county for an investigation of the commissioners' and contractors' doings, a committee was appointed to make a thorough examination of all matters pertaining to the new jail, and report their findings. This committee consisted of Messrs. Lockwood,; Murray, and Hoffman, who made a majority and minority report at a special meeting held April 29, 1872, both agree- ing that the building was not being constructed aeeording to the original plans and specifications, and which original documents were not to be found, reputed copies only being exhibited as being in use. The majority report, signed by Messrs. Loekwood and Murray, charged the substitution of brick and galvanized iron for eut-stone trimmings in several instanees, and that the plan had been changed in its orna- mental finish, stability, and general appearance to an inferior and ehcaper plan. Many other changes were charged, re- ducing the security of the jail materially, and that the work was being improperly done. They placed the cost of the building aeeording to the original plans at $65,000, and as it was being constructed at $42,500. The majority charged, too, that the building was not being ereeted in accordance with the plans then in existenee, which latter, if followed faithfully, would make the building eost about $48,500. The minority report was signed by Mr. Hoffman, who re- ported the contraet let properly, so far as the commissioners were eoneerned, two bids only being received,-one without and one with security, the former the lowest one ; that the contraet provided for the payment of the architeet's fees by the contractors ; that the security of the contractors was a question of law ; that the cost of the building aeeording to the original plans would have been $38,850; that the arehitcet was incompetent, and the commissioners loose in their methods of business until Messrs. Thurston and Stephens were added, sinee which time everything had been well done; that the work was being done substantially ae- eording to the contraet as amended by the Board ; that the Varianees were not material; that the briek-work was an ordinarily fair job, and if completed as begun the building would be as good as the contraet ealled for, and would eost all there was paid for it ; that the Board should test it in eertain partienlars, and if these proved satisfactory and ae- eording to contraet, then it should aeeept the building and pay for it, and not before. Both reports were accepted and laid on the table, and payments stopped on the work until May 16, when the reports were again considered and again laid on the table, and new bonds in $20,000 ordered to be given by the contraetors, on cxeeution of which the pay- ments were to be made as before. Judge Thurston being absent from town, Thomas M. Hewitt was appointed on the commission in his stead. .
At the annual session of the supervisors of 1872, the building commissioners on the new jail reported the build- ing complete, and " well done according to the specifications and contraet," and the following as the cost of the same :
Contract price. $52,500.00
Architect's fees 1,801.16
Extra work by eoutractors. 1,800,00
Sewerage, ete.
825.00
Total $56.926.16
The report of the commissioners was accepted, and their recommendations for the payment of the bills outside of
214
HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,
the contract concurred in. Their own bills, amounting to $1604.82, were discounted fifty per cent. and allowed.
At a special meeting held April 14, 1873, called to pro- vide for necessary repairs on the new jail buildings, a com- mittce reported the jail unsafe, and on May 9 a committee reported estimates for proper work to make the jail secure at various figures, according to the amount done and plan adopted, ranging from $5000 to $8000. The Board re- fused to order the repairs, and to save expense directed the sheriff to confine all prisoners in the old jail. At the annual meeting one of the members of the Board offered a resolution, declaring the new jail a " source of disappoint- ment and expensive vexation," and to end the trouble rec- ommended it to be sold. Another resolution proposed to tear the building down and rebuild it with stone; another, to line the cells with boiler-iron; all of which expressions of distrust and disgust were snuffed out by laying them on the table. Mr. Ferguson called up his resolution, offered at the last meeting, to line the cells and corridors with iron, but it failed to pass; whereupon a committee was appointed to resolve the problem of " What to do with the jail ques- tion ?" This committee reported in favor of Mr. Fer- guson's plan of lining the cells and corridors with boiler- iron at a cost of $10,000. Mr. Hoffman moved as an amendment to abandon the new jail and return to the old one, but had no supporters, and the committee's recom- mendations were concurred in. At a special meeting, held Nov. 24, the county treasurer was ordered to borrow the money to make the repairs, and did so, issuing bonds to the amount of $9000. The contract was let, after due advertising and careful deliberation, to Recd & Cooper for $8350, for lining the cells and corridors with boiler-iron ; and the painting and flagging necessary to be done cost about $455 additional ; the total cost of the repairs being $8805.
In 1875 repairs on the roof and new floors in the jail were needed and ordered. In 1876 a committee on public buildings, John D. Williams and M. McHenry, reported at the annual meeting concerning the jail as follows : " Of that institution, considered as brick and mortar, the less said the better." Eight hundred dollars were appropriated for repairs the same year ; a portion of this amount was for grading, however.
The jail building stands on the school-house lot in the rear of the old jail, and fronts on William Street; the rooms on that street being occupied by the sheriff as his residence. The building, as a whole, presents an imposing appearance, with its turreted towers and battlements. The old jail, which is built of stone, with a brick front for a jailer's residence, stands immediately in the rear of the court-house. In some of the extensive repairings it has had, a female prison has been constructed of the same height and width as the jailer's residence, extending northward from the latter, of which it is a continuation. The building is now occupied by the city poormaster, who confines tramps therein under the enforcement of the act against vagrancy .* Since that law has been enforced, these fellows have been put at breaking stone for the streets, and
hence they are not so frequently seen in the old jail as formerly.
A contract was made in 1860 with the Monroe County penitentiary to receive and hold the prisoners of Chemung County, whose sentences were sixty days and over, in the county jail. This arrangement has been continued to the present by renewals of the contract, at an agreed price per man, according to the term of his sentence. The amount paid for the year ending Nov. 6, 1877, was $2304.04. The total amount paid that institution to November, 1877, is about $15,000.
A vote was taken by the Board of Supervisors to memo- rialize the Legislature for power to contract with the Re- formatory at Elmira for such confinement and care, but so far no contract has been made with this institution.
A committee on a proposed work-house for Chemung County, reported in 1863 that such an institution ou the plan of the Monroe County penitentiary would cost $30,000, and nothing further was heard of the proposition.
An idea of what the criminal business of the county costs the public treasury may be gathered from the single item of the sheriff's bill for 1877, which was allowed at $8664.05 for dieting and transporting prisoners, and other official duties chiefly pertaining to the criminal docket.
In 1869 the bar of the county memorialized the Board of Supervisors on the subject of a new fire-proof clerk's office, declaring the old one inadequate for the needs of the county as well as insecure; but the interest of the people then being centered in the new jail, nothing was done in respect to the memorial until 1874, when, at the annual meeting, a committee was appointed on plans and estimates, consisting of Supervisors Gibson, Reynolds, and Kings- bury. On their report at the same meeting they were directed to procure three plans, one for a building to cost not more than $10,000; another, $14,000; and an- other, $17,000, with twenty copies of the specifications for each plan, and to advertise for bids on the several plans, subject to the action of the Board. At a special meeting held Dec. 15, to consider the plans for a new clerk's office, there were presented twelve bids for erecting the building according to the several plans submitted, of a single story and a two-storied structure. The board by ballot adopted the plan of W. H. Hayes, whose estimates were under $15,000; but reconsidered the vote the next day, which was the beginning of a series of ballotings, adoptions, and reconsiderations that kept the clerk busy calling the roll and putting the members on the record. The plan of Mr. Perry for a two-story fire-proof, at $17,000, was carried ; but on the mover of the resolution saying he did not sup- pose the upper story was to be fire-proof, the vote was re- considered in a twinkling. Then a plan for a fire-proof not to cost over $20,000 was adopted, and Messrs. Reynolds, Gibson, Van Duzer, Beach, and Arnot appointed a con- mittee on plans and estimates, and a respite from balloting was taken until Jan. 14, 1875. The committee reported a plan of Mr. Thomas, modeled after the lower room of the Broome County clerk's office; first story fire-proof, 55 feet deep, 25 feet wide in the main part, and 33 feet in record room, to cost $19,500. The report was rejected, and the Board resolved to build nothing less than a two-story build-
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