USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > Memorial history of Utica, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 33
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November 18th charges had been brought and were heard on this date against the police and fire commissioners ; the charges were brought by private citizens and heard before the mayor, and embraced misappropriation of funds obtained by selling city property, influenc-
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ing voters, unfitness for office, abusive conduct, and appointing detect- ives contrary to law. This went into history as " the famous investi- gation." The winter was a memorable one on account of deep snows and intensely cold weather. This occasioned considerable trouble between the city authorities and the railroads: No trains came through from Watertown for six days ending February 15th, and other roads were seriously obstructed.
On the 15th of January the Gardner block was partially burned, with a loss on building and of tenants of $50,000. This was an incendiary fire. In February the Utica and Binghamton Railroad leased to the Midland road, and the lease guaranteed by the Delaware and Hudson Company was partially abandoned and its property seized for taxes and indebtedness. The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company provided for operating the road, but it has since been run by the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Company. On the 5th of March proposed amendments to the city charter were approved as follows: Confining the sitting of the Board of Registry to one day; giving the appointments of the city council to the common council. The bounds of the city were enlarged on the west by the addition of a strip included between the Whitesboro road and the Central Railroad and extending to the west line of lot No. 104, and this was made a part of the Second ward.
The House of the Good Shepherd was opened on the 8th of June ; a history of the institution will be given in a later chapter. On the 17th of June very impressive ceremonies were held in connection with the removal from the old Water street cemetery to Forest Hill of the bodies of two Revolutionary notables, Col. Benjamin Walker and Sur- geon-General James Cochrane. This was done by the Forest Hill Cemetery Association.
September 15th the Army of the Cumberland was received in the city with a great display. An oration was delivered by Colonel Water- man. General Sherman and Governor Tilden were among the guests.
1876 .- Officers : Mayor, Charles E. Barnard ; clerk, Thomas S. Mc- Incrow ; aldermen, Henry C. Case, H. Ray Barnes, W. N. Weaver, Owen Eynon, Robert S. Williams, Matthew Quinn, Aloise Linck, John N. Siegrist, P. J. Coakley, Charles M. Butcher, D. P. White ; surveyor, John R. Baxter ; treasurer, Thomas S. Geary ; attorney, O. Arthur White.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
The report of the city treasurer shows a deficit of $2,331.66. The council was authorized to levy $12,000 to pay deficiency bonds ; only $6,000 was, however, levied, the remainder being paid from the ordinary fund. This latter fact accounts for the above deficit. March 11th a committee previously appointed on charter amendments reported, em- bodying the proposed amendments of the preceding year, and the fol- lowing additional : making the mayor presiding officer of the council, but without a vote ; providing for one alderman only in each ward ; protecting the city against suits for damages for sidewalk accidents. Prior to 1849 nothing was said in charter or ordinances about snow and ice. Then a new section of six lines was inserted, requiring lot owners to remove snow and ice from their sidewalks. When, about 1870, this little section first showed its evil fruit in an action for damages for slipping down the obvious remedy was to cut it out entirely at once. Instead, after nearly $50,000 damages had been harvested from the city, the bane- ful section was cultivated into this statute of a page and a half, requiring the snow and ice not only to be removed, but " cleaned away," and shifts the risk of an action against the city to the individual citizen. April 29th "resolved that the salary of the street commissioner be $1,000 for the next year."
In October the mayor called attention to the police station-house and recommended a new building on land owned by the city, corner of Pearl and Washington streets, and the Board of Police and fire depart- ment heartily concurred in the plan. At its meeting December 3d the council concluded that it was short of funds and would do no more im- portant business during the remainder of the year. The school report of the year shows that the city now owns eighteen school-houses ; school property valued at $417,971.73 ; that 4,711 pupils were enrolled during the year.
November 30th a meeting was held in the interest of a narrow gauge railroad from Utica to Ilion. A company was organized for this pur - pose in December, but the project was soon abandoned.
1877 .- This year opened in Utica in the midst of a great snow storm, which continued until January 10th ; trains were blockaded on the rail- roads and few strangers came into the place. Superintendent McMillan in his annual school report (February 5th) gave attendance of pupils for
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PROCEEDINGS OF 1877.
the year as 4,776; teachers employed, 91. The report showed the necessity of increased accommodations in West Utica and advised the enlargement of the Court street school at a cost of $6,000. The coun- cil on the Ist of March resolved to submit the Court street school enlargement to a vote of taxpayers at the charter election.
Officers : Mayor, David H. Gaffin ; clerk, Thomas S. McIncrow ; alder- men, H. Ray Barnes, William N. Weaver, Owen Eynon, R. S. Will- iams, Matthew Quinn, Aloise Linck, John N. Siegrist, Patrick J. Coak- ley, Charles M. Butcher, David P. White (these aldermen held over from the previous year ; none were elected this year, a recent charter amend- ment providing for one alderman only in each ward) ; treasurer, Martin S. Gottry; attorney, Arthur M. Beardsley ; surveyor, Patrick J. Kin- ney. Mr. Beardsley resigned as attorney on the 16th of March and Johnson L. Lynch was appointed.
The plans for a new station-house were agreed upon by the council June Ist, a three-story and attic building with slate roof, corner of Washington and Pearl streets. The school commissioners announced their purpose in June to erect the library building during the summer. The act authorizing this building was passed in 1873, but owing to other demands on the commissioners it had been left in abeyance. The building was to cost not more than $20,000, which should be raised on city bonds, of which $5,000 should be redeemed annually for four years.
Utica participated largely in a celebration of the centennial of the battle of Oriskany on the 5th of August. It was conducted under the direction of the Oneida Historical Society, and addresses were made by Lieutenant-Governor Dorsheimer, Douglass Campbell, and others.
1878 .- Officers : Mayor, James Benton ; clerk, Thomas S. McIn- crow; aldermen, H. Ray Barnes, William N. Weaver, Thomas A. Lowery, William H. Price, John Johnson, E. J. Callahan, Eli Cone, Gottleib Zitzner, John Carney, George Shotthafer ; treasurer, Martin S. Gottry ; attorney, J. Thomas Spriggs ; surveyor, Egbert Bagg. The election this year was remarkable from the fact that three of the alder- men and the mayor were candidates of the workingmen and were elected on that basis. They had the balance of power in the council, there be- ing three Republicans and five Democrats in that body.
January 19th, the council having previously resolved to remodel the
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city hall, a committee was appointed to confer with the United States government to release its rights therein and allow the fitting up of the United States court-room for a council chamber. This measure was carried out. March ist the council resolved to lower the Columbia street bridge over the Chenango Canal, and to lower and widen the pavement. Application was made to the legislature for authority to carry out the measure. June 8th Oneida street was ordered macadam - ized its whole length. Resolutions were passed in April and May or- dering wholesale paving in various streets, but these were afterward rescinded, and on the 21st of June the council decided that they would do no paving at all ; they spent about $800 on surveys and advertising for contracts, and arrived at the same conclusions with those of previ- ous councils. The council appears to have been one that was deter- mined on efforts to economize. In August they voted $28,000 for street lighting-a reduction of $10,000 from the previous year. On the 14th of October the mayor vetoed the street lighting contract, there having been no competition in bids, and most of the prominent ordin- ances of the year were vetoed by him ; in one case he offered afterward to withdraw his veto, but learning that he could not legally do so it was left to stand. Whatever public work was accomplished was effected chiefly over the opposition of the workingmen and the mayor's veto. As far as lighting the streets was concerned an ordinance was adopted ordering it again in October. There was much conflict between mayor and council.
An important public work was contracted on the 12th of October- a trunk sewer from the outlet of the Third and Seventh wards sewer to the outlet of Nail Creek at Columbia street. This had been under dis- cussion some time by the council and cost $15,808. In December it was discovered that the plans for the sewer above mentioned were in- correctly drawn and the sewer could not be laid from them. The coun- cil resolved to suspend the city surveyor, which was done. At the next meeting he was reinstated.
On the 25th of January it was resolved by the council to ask legis- lation authorizing the council to borrow on bonds to pay judgment against the city for injuries received by a fall, together with authority to raise $4,250 on city bonds for the additional expense of building the police station and repairing the city hall.
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OCCURRENCES OF 1879.
Officers : Mayor, John Buckley ; clerk, P. J. McQuade elected for three years for the first time) ; aldermen, H. Ray Barnes, Thomas A. Lowery, John Johnson, Eli Cone, John Carney, Joseph J. Richards, William H. Price, E. W. Callahan, Gottlieb Zitzner, George Shotthafer ; treasurer, Jacob Schwab; attorney, S. J. Barrows ; surveyor, William B. Taylor. The charity commissioners reported $15,963 expended and 1,986 persons relieved.
July 26th Alderman Johnson was removed from the council room by force for disorderly conduct; he was drunk and had frequently come to the council in that condition. July 1Ith the Utica Manufacturing and Mercantile Association, for the promotion of those interests in the city, held its first meeting. At a second meeting, July 24th, it was an- nounced that the William A. Wood Mower and Reaper Company, of Utica, was organized. It never began operations. The Eureka Mower Company did build and commenced working. In December a large knitting-mill was started in East Utica by Wild & Devereux, chiefly through the efforts of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association, which gave the firm a lot worth $1,200, for which they agreed to double the number of hands employed and the capacity of the mill. Septem- ber 9-12 the State Fair was held here ; aggregate receipts about $13,000 and over 50,000 people in attendance during the week.
CHAPTER XI.
THE LAST DECADE OF THE CITY'S HISTORY.
Summary of recent History -- Extensive and new methods of Paving - Street light- ing Improvement -- Development of the Street Railway System -- Mohawk Valley and Skenandoa factories Built -- Government Building and new Churches Erected --- Young Men's Christian Association and Soldiers' Monument.
O F the proceedings and events in the city's history of the ten years in - cluded between 1880 and 1890 I give a summary only. For al- though much that is important occurred during the period the particulars are so well known to most of my readers as to make it unneccessary and
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
scarcely compatible with the space at command to detail them in full. Near the beginning of the period, the politics of the city having become degraded with much mismanagement of public affairs and disregard of the laws, especially with respect to the observance of the Sabbath and the sale of intoxicating liquors on that day, the indignation of the community was aroused. A public meeting was held and a Citizens' ticket was adopted for use at the approaching election. The efforts of the citizens toward the enforcement of the laws relating to the sale of liquor were met by organization on the part of the liquor dealers. At the charter election which followed the ticket proposed was in part elected. The new mayor entered upon his duties with vigor and a spirit of reform, but for various reasons his efforts were attended with only partial success. During this and the succeeding years there were various attempts to amend the charter, or to pass ordinances bearing upon the welfare of the city, a part only of which resulted in actual leg- islation. Upon the attempts, which were fruitless, I cannot enter. Some of the charter amendments were the following: An amendment of 1883 authorized the Police Board to appoint twenty-five policemen and extra ones when necessary. In lieu of the Recorder's Court there was established, in accordance with an amendment of 1882, a local court of civil and criminal jurisdiction, entitled the City Court. Its officers were a judge and a special city judge, the former holding office for four years and the latter for three years, chosen at the annual election, and a clerk appointed by the judge. It was to sit daily, have a seal of its own, to preserve records, and to exercise within the city all the powers of justices of the peace and recorder. The latter office was abolished and the number of justices of the peace was restricted to two. Another amendment made the term of the treasurer two years and required him to have an office in the city hall, keeping it open during certain fixed hours. By another amendment it was directed that the mayor and the council's committee on assessments should meet at a specified time to receive complaints from taxpayers who deemed themselves unjustly assessed. In 1886 the fund for the support of the police and fire depart- ments was increased to an amount not exceeding $60,000, and a little later this fund was directed to be separated from the general city fund. In 1889 the paving fund, which at first was placed at $20,000 and after-
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OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE LAST DECADE.
ward increased to $35,000, was raised to $50,000. From this fund was to be paid one- third of the cost of paving the streets, the remaining two- thirds being paid by the lot holders on the street paved, and from it came likewise all the subsequent repairs of the same A change in the charter enacted in 1890 made the term of office of the mayor two years instead of one, fixed his salary at $1,600 annually, required him to keep his office in the city hall, maintaining there a clerk, to sign all deeds and contracts made by the city, certify his approval or disapproval of every act or ordinance, gave him supervision over subordinate officers with power of suspension for official misconduct, free access to books of other officers, and other increased authority. His duties as presiding officer of the Board of Aldermen were, however, taken from him and con- ferred upon one of their own number, whom they were to elect to the place at the beginning of each fiscal year, which president of the board was, in the absence of the mayor from the city, to perform his duties. A still later legislative act conferred on each alderman a salary of $300 per annum. Other legislative acts authorized the construction of a new jail on Bleecker street east of Mohawk; of an engine house on Wash- ington street for the use of the chemical engine; of a lift-bridge over the canal on John street ; of an outlet under the canal for a new sewer that was laid along Ballou's Creek; the borrowing of $30,000, subse- quently increased to $36,000, for the construction of an iron viaduct over Ballou's Creek at Rutger street ; the granting of permission to the Baxter Telegraph and Telephone Company to string its wires in certain streets. 'This company, it may be observed, was ere long supplanted by the Central New York Telephone Company, as is noticed on a sub- sequent page of this volume.
Yet another charter amendment enlarged the northern bounds of the city by taking in a strip of land from Deerfield of nearly half a mile in width, extending from opposite the western point of the original city line to a point some distance north of the northern point of Hub- bell's Bend in the river. This latter act grew out of a proposition to straighten the channel of the Mohawk along the northern boundaries of the city-a proposition which was much discussed during the year 1890.
Perhaps the most important improvements made under direction of the council related to the paving and lighting of the streets. Early in 45
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA. .
1882 it was ordered that Fayette street should be paved with sandstone, and the contract was let. In the following year, after three extensions of time had been granted to the contractor, the work was finished, though not to the satisfaction of the lot holders of the street, and they obtained an injunction restraining from payment. The injunction was after a time dismissed and the money collected. The affair created much delay and ill feeling before it was finally settled. In March, 1883, it was resolved to pave Bleecker street from Genesee as far as Albany with sandstone, and thence to Culver avenue with McAdam pavement, and to transfer the track of the Utica and Mohawk Street Railroad to the middle of the street, this track having, in compliance with the wishes of its residents, been previously placed on the north side. The resolu- tion was vetoed by the mayor, but was passed over his veto. The work was entered upon, but soon afterward, May 25th, a portion of the track was torn up by the lot holders. It was relaid, but was again twice torn up in the course of the following year. A suit was brought by the com- pany against the city ; there were conferences between the company, committees of the council, and the dwellers on the street, and the mat- ter formed a subject of much controversy and excitement throughout the year 1884. It was finally disposed of by an agreement to place the track in the center along that part of the street which lies between the intersecting streets of Mohawk and Jefferson, and to leave the remainder on the north side. In July, 1883, it was determined that Lansing street should be paved with Hammond stone and Eagle street with Telford pavement, and the work was effected. The report of the city surveyor showed that in the year 1883 there were ninety-four miles of streets within the city, of which between fourteen and fifteen were paved, a large portion being cobble. But a new era was beginning, when a bet- ter kind of pavement was in demand. In 1885 preliminary steps were taken toward paving Rutger street with asphalt and this was laid down the following year. In 1887 John street from Bagg's Square to Bleecker street was paved with granite and Steuben street with sand- stone ; in 1888 Genesee from Eagle street to the city line, Garden and West to South were laid in asphalt, and the lower block of Howard avenue with sandstone ; in 1889 Hopper, the lower section of Miller, Cornelia, Elizabeth, Albany, and the upper sections of John and Miller were pro-
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PAVING AND LIGHTING OF THE LAST DECADE.
vided with pavement, nearly all with asphalt. The next year Kemble, Mary, Saratoga, Brinkerhoff, and Seymour avenues, Dudley and Broad- way were paved with asphalt and Burchard with granite. In 1891 Rome street was paved with sandstone, Whitesboro from Genesee to Potter's bridge was paved with asphalt, as likewise Columbia from Genesee to Whitesboro, and the upper end of Whitesboro as far as the old city line with silica baryta. In the case of Genesee street opposition to payment arose among a portion of the lot holders, from the fact that the con- tractor did not pave between the two tracks of the street railroad and along two feet on each side of them. Legal proceedings were instituted and it was decided that these parties should pay their proportion of the as- sessment. From this decision they appealed to a higher court and pay- ment has not yet been made. Difficulty from a similar cause occurred in the laying of Columbia street, but which was sooner settled. Nor was the paving of Steuben wholly unattended with obstacles. The desire for better pavement is strongly felt throughout the city and will no doubt continue with further advantage to the community.
At the beginning of this decade a contract was in existence for light- ing with naphtha such parts of the city as were not furnished with gas. It was annulled June 15, 1882, and soon afterward one was made with another company for a term of five years. This, too, being unsatisfac- tory for proper illumination the board entered into an arrangement with the Utica Gaslight Company, the latter having the right of lighting with electricity. They did light with electricity a few lamps in the business part of the city. In December, 1887, the Utica Electric Light Com- pany, using the Ft. Wayne and Jenne system, undertook to do the lighting, and in 1890 their contract was renewed. They are paid $35 per light for 365 nights. The 367 lamps which they engaged to light not proving enough to illuminate sufficiently the council has directed that thirty-three more should be put in use. The newer ones are the Brown lamp, the Slattery lamp being discarded.
In 1883 the Utica Water Works sued the city for repudiation of its indebtedness to the company incurred in the previous year, which re- pudiation was based on an alleged insufficiency in the supply of water, the company also claiming the failure of the payment agreed upon by the city of six per cent. on the cost of the street mains. Pending the
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
controversy a project was discussed of establishing by the city a plant of its own to supply it with water. But, though talked of, nothing was effected and the city was forced to cancel its indebtedness. The water company, however, set about enlarging its reservoirs and increasing the number and capacity of its pipes, and at a cost of about $150,000 was enabled to furnish water at a lower rate than that which had been prev- iously charged.
Among the most important improvements of the decade is the de- velopment of the street railway system. In 1886 the Utica Belt Line Railroad Company was organized and immediately began the construc- tion of a new system of surface roads extending through all parts of the city. In December of the same year the company leased from the Utica, Clinton, and Binghamton Railroad Company its line running to New Hartford and the New Hartford and Whitesboro line running to Whitesboro. This was followed by the extension of the latter by means of a branch line to New York Mills. In the same year the company obtained permission to lay the South street and the Blandina street lines, and also the West Belt line. These several lines were made up of twenty-three miles of track. A very complete and satisfactory horse car service was then established, which was liberally patronized. This enlarged street railway service contributed very materially to the growth and prosperity of Utica.
In August, 1889, it was determined by the management to abandon the use of horses in the propulsion of the cars, and in their stead to operate the entire system by electricity. The well-known banking house of A. D. Mather & Co. had up to this time owned a controlling interest in the Belt Line Railroad, and in connection with John W. Boyle managed successfully and profitably this growing property. The Thomson-Houston system of electric traction was adopted, and the Belt Line Railroad, together with the Utica and Mohawk Street Railroad, a line about two miles long running easterly to the Masonic Home, were in 1889 and 1890 electrically constructed and equipped and are operated as electric roads, giving excellent service and doing much to extend the city's bounds.
Among the events of general interest that have transpired during the decade were the following : In March, 1880, the Mohawk Valley Cot-
Nashua machen
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ton Manufacturing Company was organized. The company erected a factory near the eastern end of Broad street and in September, 1882, its first piece of goods was on sale. In February of this latter year was formed the Skenandoa Company for the making of cotton yarn. The company started with a capital of $200,000, which was afterward increased, as was also the capacity of the mill, which they built in the vicinity of the one just mentioned. These, together with the iron pipe factory of Charles Millar, which was a little later in its origin and placed somewhat farther east, have by reason of the need of homes for the operatives contributed materially to the growth of the eastern part of the city.
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