A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 34

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1262

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On November 10, 1857, the county commissioners signed a contract with George P. Smith and James Pannell to build a new courthouse designed by Archi- tect Husband, for one hundred and fifty-two thousand, five hundred dollars. This building of dressed stone, three stories high, eighty by one hundred and fifty- two feet, was built on the north side of the Square between the Old Stone church and the new jail. It is still doing service as "the old courthouse," but it was al- tered in 1884 by the addition of two stories, making it one hundred and ten feet high. The additions cost one hundred thousand dollars. Originally, on the ground floor to the right, were the offices of the auditor and probate judge, to the left of the recorder and treasurer; on the second floor front, offices of the sheriff and clerk, with two courtrooms in the rear; on the third floor front, two jury rooms and room for the county school examinations, and in the rear, the crim- inal courtroom.

In 1875 the "new courthouse" was begun on land facing Seneca street and partly occupied by the jail. Walter Blythe was employed as architect and John McMahon and Alexander Scott were the principal contractors. This building was by far the most pretentious yet undertaken by the county, and cost two hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars. It is built in the renaissance style then in vogue, is four stories high and faced with cut stone. It is one of the first buildings erected in Cleveland with floors of iron and brick, partitions and walls of brick, the roof of iron and slate and all stairs and landings of iron. The elaborate tower with the clock shown on the drawings, was never built, but the blindfolded goddess was placed on her pedestal on the out of the way Seneca street entrance, where few litigants ever enter. In this building the probate and criminal courts are located and latterly the juvenile and insolvency court.

4 "Herald," Vol. 34, No. 8. '

5 See "Annals Early Settlers Association," Vol. III, p. 349.

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

CITY BUILDINGS.

Cleveland had no municipal hall of her own until the city purchased the Case property in 1906. This is no doubt a unique record, for no other American city of Cleveland's importance and size has passed through seventy years of corporate prosperity without owning a city hall. Worse than this, for nearly forty years the city's offices had no fixed abode; they were moved about in commercial blocks, they were not all housed in the same building, often not even in the same neigh- borhood. The offices of the city when first incorporated, were in the "Commer- cial building," 61-65 Superior street.

In 1855 John Jones completed a brick block on the south side of the Square. It is still standing. The two upper stories were leased by the city for ten years. The city council met on the top floor and on the second floor were various city offices. The first meeting of the council in their new quarters, November 14, 1855, was followed by a banquet in one of the lower rooms, attended by a num- ber of ex-mayors, and music was furnished by the Cleveland Grays' band.

In February, 1875, the city leased the Case block, corner Superior and Wood streets, for twenty-five years, at a rental of thirty-six thousand dollars a year. This block, now called the "City Hall," was leased from year to year at the ex- piration of the lease until its purchase by the city in 1906. The building is now shabby on the outside and filthy on the inside, wholly unsuited to the business of our city.

The tardiness of the city in housing its business departments has proven for- tunate, for it has brought with it the unusual opportunity of providing all the city's public buildings at virtually the same time, making possible a "group plan" that has already become famous as the first grouping of municipal buildings in America. Naturally the architects were the first to see this opportunity. In 1895 the "Cleveland Architectural Club" instituted a competition for "the grouping of Cleveland's public buildings." Professor Charles F. Olney, the owner of the Olney Art gallery, and an enthusiastic patron of all art and refinement, was one of the judges in this competition, and he introduced in January, 1899, a resolution in the Chamber of Commerce creating "a committee on grouping plans for public buildings." This became the steering committee whose wise guidance brought the plan to a successful beginning. It was necessary to enlist the county, the city and the federal authorities for the plan and to create a public sentiment in its behalf. The Cleveland Architectural club arranged a second competition. The drawings were publicly exhibited in Case library. The Architectural League of America met here in June, 1899, and much publicity was given to the subject. The Chamber of Commerce invited Mr. John M. Carrere of New York to deliver an address in Cleveland on what European cities have accomplished. The news- papers gave vigorous aid, and the public became enthusiastically interested. Meanwhile the various governing boards and authorities were discussing methods, and they all met on March 3, 1902, with the Chamber of Commerce committee in the mayor's office, and two bills, one proposed by the Chamber committee, the other by the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, were discussed. The Chamber of Commerce bill was recommended to the legislature for passage. It provided for a supervising board of experts; at least two of them to be archi-

From a photograph. Courtesy Hon. Samuel D. Dodge

THE SECOND COURTHOUSE Stood on southwest section of the Square, built 1828, demolished 185S

UMS PRINT

TIDBITTS

From an old cut THE "OLD COURTHOUSE" AS IT APPEARED IN 1858 The new jail is seen to the left of the picture

NORTHWEST SECTION OF PUBLIC SQUARE Soon after two extra stories were added to the courthouse. 1555

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

tects, appointed by the governor of the state. The bill was promptly enacted and Governor Nash on the suggestion of the Chamber of Commerce appointed the following: Daniel H. Burnham of Chicago, architect of the World's Columbian exposition ; John M. Carrere of New York, architect of the, Pan-American ex- position ; and Arnold W. Brunner, architect of the new Cleveland postoffice.

' The commission studied the problem over a year. They then published a com- prehensive plan. It provides for a mall extending from the Square to the lake. On the lake front the courthouse and the city hall are located, the courthouse fronting Ontario street, the city hall fronting Bond street. On the Superior avenue end the federal building and the public library are placed. A new union passenger station located at the foot of the mall forms a part of the plan, and the new passenger wharves at the foot of Erie street will form part of the plan. So that when this splendid conecption becomes a reality, Cleveland will welcome its visitors through magnificent portals, whether by "water gate" or "land gate."

The first of these buildings to be begun was the federal building. The corner stone was laid in May, 1905, by Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw. The building will cost three millions, five hundred thousand dollars. Arnold Brunner is the architect. The second building to be begun, and probably the first to be completed, is the county courthouse. It will cost approximately four million dol- lars. Lehman & Schmidt of Cleveland are the architects. The courthouse com- missioners having in change its construction, are the county commissioners and several members appointed by the judges of the common pleas court. . The county commissioner members have been R. J. Mckenzie, superseded by Harry Vail, William F. Eirick and John G. Fisher. The appointed members General Jared A. Smith, E. A. Cass, Charles Higley, M. F. Bramley, succeeded by Judge Carlos M. Stone. At the death of Judge Stone, Frank C. Osborn was appointed.

Plans for a new city hall have been prepared by J. Milton Dyer of Cleveland. Its estimated cost is three million dollars. The mayor of the city appointed the following city hall commission: T. W. Hill, F. W. Gehring, N. I. Dryfoos, S. C. Gladwin and N. F. Bramley. Mr. Bramley was succeeded by Richard Lee.

The county has acquired for the courthouse site the square bounded by Lake- side avenue, Summit avenue, East Third street and West Third street; about two hundred and forty-six thousand square feet, or five and sixty-five hundreths acres, at a cost of one million and ninety-five thousand, six hundred and seventy- five dollars.

The two most expensive purchases in this tract were, first a parcel having a frontage of one hundred and thirty-two feet on Summit avenue, acquired from Mary Francis and David Mckibben, and K. E. and John M. Laing, on May 8, 1902, for one hundred and eighty thousand dollars, containing twenty thousand, eight hundred square feet. The second parcel, purchased from W. R. and Katie J. Ryan and Marie Weil, on May 7, 1902, for one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. This parcel had sixty feet front on both Lakeside avenue and Summit avenue, extending between the two streets and contained fifteen thousand, six hundred and thirty square feet.

The city has acquired as a site for the city hall, the property included between East Ninth street, Lakeside avenue, East Third street and Summit avenue. This tract, exclusive of the land embraced in so much of East Sixth street as lies be-

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

tween Lakeside avenue and Summit avenue, contains about one hundred and nine- ty-eight thousand square feet, or a little more than four and a half acres. It cost four hundred and four thousand, eight hundred and ninety-nine dollars.

The three most important transfers were: The purchase from James M. and Ermina W. Jones of eighty-eight feet, ten inches of land extending between Lakeside avenue and Summit avenue, under date of December 16, 1902, for a consideration of forty-two thousand dollars. The purchase from Elizabeth M. and N. S. Keller of eighty-eight feet, ten inches of land extending between Lake- side avenue and Summit avenue Northeast, under date of June 6, 1902, for a consideration of forty-seven thousand, five hundred dollars. The purchase of property along East Sixth street between Lakeside avenue and Summit avenue under date of May 31, 1902, for a consideration of forty-two thousand, two hun- dred and fourteen dollars and twenty cents.

The most important of all the group plan purchase, however, is the Case pur- chase by which one hundred and sixty-five thousand, five hundred square feet of land was acquired by deed dated March 21, 1906, from the Case estate, for one million, nine hundred thousand dollars. This purchase included the block upon which is located the city hall, the property at both the northeast and northwest corner of Rockwell avenue and East Third street, and also the property at both the southeast and southwest corner of St. Clair avenue and East Third street.

A summary of the purchases is as follows :

Courthouse site

5.65 acres

$1,095,675

City hall site

4.50 acres

404,899

Mall

5.06 acres

2,155,180

Total

15.21 acres

$3,655,754

CHAPTER XXVII.

GENERAL POLITICAL HISTORY, THE BALLOT, ELECTIONS, QUALIFICATION OF ELECTORS, NOMINATIONS AND PARTY ORGANIZATION.

THE BALLOT.

Under the territorial government, the elections were "by the living voice," all the voters gathering in one place and voting "aye" or "nay," when the sheriff as presiding officer put the question. The first constitution put a stop to this method and ordered that "all elections shall be by ballot." And this right of secret ballot prevails today. The ballot at first was a slip of paper, with the name of the candidate written on, or more frequently printed. There was usually a great deal of confusion on election days, and the judges often had their difficulty in counting the vote because of the individualistic way of spelling names.

Later when party or primary tickets were nominated, they were printed on slips of paper with the party insignia on the top, so that it could be readily iden- tified by the ignorant voters. Many of the newly made citizens voted for "the

From an old cut.

THE "NEW COURTHOUSE," AS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED

The clock tower and the northwest tower were never built

THE "NEW COURTHOUSE" SENECA STREET, AS ACTUALLY BUILT About 1880

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

bird" or "the chick," ignorant and careless of the anxious office seekers who were trying to nest themselves under the outspread pinions of the bird. This simple ballot was "scratched," by the use of "stickers," a little strip of paper with the name of the candidate on it and gummed like a postage stamp, so that the voter when he did not want to vote a straight ticket could merely moisten this strip and paste it over the name of the man he wanted to "scratch." This mode of chang- ing a ticket lent itself to the versatility of the politician. He could paste the name of a favorite on the ballot of either party and the ignorant would think they were voting a "straight ticket," or he could peddle doctored ballots abroad, or could easily trade with the opposite faction, and so forth, ad infinitum. The drinking places were wide open on election day. There were few polling rules and the marshal usually failed to interfere if the polling place was invaded by a candidate's friends. Electioneering was often furious and fast and not unac- companied by fist fights and general "mixups." The workers gathered at the voting place, sometimes filling it. The voter was compelled to run a noisy gauntlet accosted by workers for all sides and all candidates. There was no law against "peddling" tickets. If the voter was of the professionally doubtful va- riety, he was led aside and when he came forth to vote he usually had a ballot in his vest pocket, folded so that it would show above the pocket. This was the badge of his allegiance, the sign that he had "made up his mind how he should vote." Sometimes the ballots of the different parties were printed on different colored paper, or when the law later forbade this, on paper of vary- ing quality. This enabled the sense of sight and the sense of touch to ally them- selves with the partisanship of the ballot counter, if necessary.

During the infancy of the town, when every voter was personally known to every other, these abuses were limited. When the city grew beyond the personal point and strangers began to vote, then the law was compelled to step in. The rigor of the law increased as the population multiplied. In 1838 the legislature put its ban on election betting, penalizing the bettors according to the sum they risked. This ancient statute is still openly violated. March 20, 1841, an act "to preserve the purity of elections" required electors to be twenty- one years of age, to have a residence in the state one year, in the county thirty days and an actual residence in the township where they voted. Fraudulent vot- ing and bribery were made punishable by imprisonment. In 1878, bribery was extended to include promises of things of value. The law was not very rigor- ously enforced. March 13, 1845, the first registration law was passed. It was made to embrace several counties, including Cuyahoga, but was really meant for Cincinnati, where alone it was enforced. It laid upon the township as- sessors the duty of making lists of all voters and handing them to the election judges. May 4, 1885, a new registration law on the present plan, was enacted. The council divided the city into wards and the wards into precincts, and ap- pointed two "registers" in each precinct, one of each political party. They were stationed at the voting places on specified days to record the names of the voters who presented themselves. With numerous minor changes, this remains the method of registration.

In 1871 it was required that ballot boxes should be opened in the presence of witnesses before any votes were cast and that the ballots should be counted in

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

the presence of witnesses only. This was followed in the next session by a law making it unlawful to remove ballot boxes from the voting place until the votes had been counted. In 1874 the law demanded that all ballots be printed on plain white paper with party designations at the head and it was fraud to write the name of any one under a party insignia, who was not regularly nominated by his party.

In 1891 a comprehensive election law was passed. It established the Australian ballot for Ohio, providing for booths in which every voter could prepare his bal- lot unmolested and in secret. Loitering within one hundred feet of the polling places was forbidden, county and city boards of election were created and the secretary of state made general supervisor of elections. Later the secretary of state was empowered to name the local boards of election, who are now desig- nated as deputy supervisors of election.

The "Garfield corrupt practices act" of 1896 dealt a severe blow to the evil of spending large sums of money by candidates for election. And the act of 1898 and its subsequent revisions permitting the making of nominations by petition and extending nominations by primaries encouraged independent citizens to believe that of the hey-dey of party machinations had passed away.

ELECTIONS.

The first charter of the village provided that the first village election be held in the courthouse, the others where the president of the village might appoint. The polls were to be "opened between the hours of 12 and I o'clock p. m. and closed at 4 p. m." "Two judges and a clerk shall be appointed viva voce by the electors present" but at subsequent elections the president and trustees or any two of them were to serve as judges and clerk. "At the close of the poll the ballots shall be counted by the judges of the election and a statement of the votes publicly declared. A fair record thereof shall be made by the clerk who shall notify each of the persons of his election." The President must give five days notice before each annual election.

The town elections were usually held in the courthouse or the schoolhouse, until the incorporation of the city, when one voting place was provided for each ward. In 1852 the four wards voted as follows: First ward in the courthouse ; second ward in Rockwell school; third in St. Clair school; fourth in Clinton school. Later elections were held in engine houses and police stations. The police superintendent complained that "the holding of elections and caucuses in the station house is a great inconvenience to the men on duty there." *

When later the wards were divided into precincts there were not enough public buildings for the elections and private places had to be rented. This led finally to the building of the election booths now in vogue. They are portable and can be shifted with the boundaries of the precinct. In 1907 the board of election experimented with the building of permanent brick or concrete struc- tures on land owned by the city.

* "Annual Report," 1870-71.

PADE

THE CITY HALL AS IT APPEARED IN 1888

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

QUALIFICATIONS OF ELECTORS.

When the ordinance of 1787 was framed, universal manhood suffrage was contemplated with fear. The first election in Ohio was that of delegates to the territorial legislature of 1798. It was "provided that no person shall be eligible or qualified to act as a representative unless he shall have been a citizen of one of the United States three years and be a resident in the district, or unless he shall have resided in the district three years, and in either case shall likewise hold in his own right, in fee simple, two hundred acres of land within the same: Pro- vided also that a freehold in fifty acres of land in the district, having been a citizen of one of the states, and being resident in the district, or the like freehold and two years residence in the district, shall be necessary to qualify a man as an elector of a representative." Of course this property qualification was obnoxious to the frontiersman, but the theory of the unity of ballot and property- interest was so fixed that in the new state constitution it was provided that "in all elections, all white male inhabitants above the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the state one year preceding the election and who have paid or are charged with a state or a county tax shall enjoy the right of an elector." But this indirect property qualification was immediately neutralized in the same article, which provides that all "who are compelled to labor on the roads of their respective townships or counties" are "charged with a tax." This virtually let down the bars. The constitution of 1851 brushed aside even this barrier and granted full manhood suffrage to free whites, excepting idiots and insane persons and those whom the legislature may exclude because of "conviction of an in- famous crime." The issue of the Civil war opened the polls to negroes. The state legislature prescribes the length of residence necessary in county, town or precinct.

TIME OF ELECTIONS.

The village elections were held the first Monday in June, the city elections the first Tuesday in April. In 1902 spring elections were abolished and munic- ipal and county elections were fixed on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The state elections were first held in October. Under the new constitution they were shifted to November. Nor were presidential elections held upon a uniform day throughout the country. In 1844 Ohio and Pennsylvania voted on Friday, November I-forty-nine electors : November 4 (first Monday) fifteen states held elections, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Arkansas-one hundred and twenty-five electors: first Tuesday in November (5th) New York and New Jersey, Louisiana and Tennessee-sixty-two electors: Vermont and Delaware the second Tuesday in November (12th)-nine votes : the legislature of South Carolina met December I and chose nine electors. t This lack of uniformity led to much suspense at election time.

t "Herald," October 30, 1844.

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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

NOMINATIONS AND PARTY ELECTIONS.

In the primitive days the elaborate party machinery now perfected was un- known. Spontaneity and impulse instead of deliberation and scheming were the promptors of the political drama. There were indeed village caucuses and, as has always been the case, small groups of men would at times take matters into their own hands, and the newspapers were violently partisan and potent factors in elections. But when every one was so earnestly engaged in transforming the forest into a village and the village into a city, when neighbors were far apart and neighborhoods were few, there was neither opportunity nor encouragement for the machine politician. The early party was not compact, with platforms and committees and the machinery of power. It was merely a voluntary, spontane- ous grouping of men around a leader. Its first nominations were mere sugges- tions of suitable men whose names were voted upon at the elections without the forming of a party ticket. Gradually this association of men became more fixed. Conventions, committees and all the modern paraphernalia of the party were made necessary. This development will be hurriedly traced.

Our record begins in 1818 with the publishing of the first newspaper. There was a gubernatorial election that year. It seems to have been especially difficult to find a candidate. General Harrison declined and the "Gazette" complains that the people were "so perfectly indifferent about the election that not one half of the citizens of this county have heard who are the candidates." * On the 25th of August, this "election notice" appeared in the "Gazette." "In order to prepare for the ensuing election it is requested that each town in the county will meet and elect a suitable number of delegates to represent each town. It is recommended that each town in the county elect two to meet in the county convention, which will be holden at the Commercial Coffee house on the 18th day of September next at 5 o'clock p. m."

A "town meeting" was called in the Commercial Coffee House to appoint the town's two delegates to this county convention, which was "to select suitable characters to be supported as candidates for the senate and house of representa- tives." The senatorial district included Medina and Portage counties and the Cleveland caucus reported that "the nomination of the members of the senate is understood by rotation properly to belong to said counties." This custom survives the century.

The county convention met in the Coffee House and named its ticket. This was, however, not done in a fixed and formal way, it merely recommended to the electorate. For instance it "Resolved that John Campbell, Esq., be recom- mended as a suitable person to represent this district in the senate of the state of Ohio." But their "recommendations" did not suit a number of citizens, who, instead of organizing a party of their own, published their views of the new- fangled way of making nominations. "We, whose names are underwritten, in- habitants and electors of the county of Cuyahoga, do hereby publicly make known that we do view with utter detestation the strategems, artifices and deceit-

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A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 34

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1262

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1262