History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 62

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196

USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II > Part 62

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The territories thus bounded, and the inhabitants thereof, the aet declares, "are created a body corporate and politic, with perpetual succession, by the name and style of the City of Columbus," capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded and of holding and conveying real estate; and competent to " have, receive and enjoy all the rights, immunities, powers and privileges, and be subject to all the duties and obligations incumbent upon and appertaining to a municipal corporation." The act divided the city into three wards, thus defined : " The first ward shall comprise all the territory north of the centre of State Street; the second ward all between the centre of State and the centre of Rich streets ; and the third ward all south of the centre of Rich Street."

The powers of the corporation were vested by this act in a mayor and a city council to be chosen by the electors. The council comprised four representatives from each ward, one of the four to be chosen annually for the term of four years. The mayor's term of service was fixed at two years. The annual municipal election was required to take place on the second Monday in April. The classi- fication of powers and duties under the act seems to have been governed by no clear or consistent rule. When we come to search the law for some welldefined principle by which the balance and harmony of municipal functions may be determined and arranged, we find none. Consequently the government which the law creates is not a system, but a medley of powers arbitrarily assigned. The

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powers vested in the mayor are both excentive and judicial ; those vested in the council both legislative and executive. Neither the mayor nor the council holds a direct and individualized responsibility to the people. As only four members of the council retired in one year, its character could not be changed by any single election, and a councilman, however derelict in conserving the interests of the city at large, was amenable for his conduct only to the electors of his own ward. Such were some of the leading, and as experience has abundantly shown, mischievous charac- teristics of this law, most of which, with variations chiefly in mischievousness by partisan or State meddling, have been perpetnated in the government of Colum- bus to the present time.

The law charged the Mayor to be " vigilant and active at all times in causing the laws and ordinances of said city to be put in force and duly executed," and made it his further duty to " inspect the conduct of all subordinate officers " in the city government, and, " as far as in his power, to cause all negligence, carelessness and positive violation of duty to be prosecuted and promptly punished ; at the same time the agencies and instruments through and by which alone the laws could be executed were placed under exclusive control of the council, which, in addition to its legislative functions, was required to "appoint all assessors and collectors of taxes, city surveyors, clerks of the market, street commissioners, health officers, weighers of hay, measurers of wood and coal, wharfmasters," and all other city officers whose appointment or election was not otherwise provided for. The City Marshal was elected annually by the Council and appointed his own deputies whom he might at pleasure remove from office. The council selected from its own members a recorder and treasurer, each to serve for the term of one year Power was reserved to the council to appoint health officers and regulate their duties : to " establish a city watch and organize the same ;" to establish and organize fire companies and provide them with bylaws and regu- lations ; appoint " supervisors and other officers of streets ;" and fill vacancies in office. The mayor ruled, the council governed. The city was virtually placed by its charter under the control of a committee of twelve persons, one quarter of whom, should the committee misbehave, might be dismissed by the voters at the next election. The mayor was an executive in name only. He was rather a general inspector and police justice, " vested with the powers coequal with justices of the peace within said city." His judicial decrees were executed through the marshal, who was amenable not to him but to the city council, which had the power to remove him, or any other city official, from office. The mayor had original and exclusive jurisdiction of all cases of violation of the city ordinances, but when a fine of five dollars, or more, was adjudged by him, exclusive of costs, appeal might be taken from his decision to the Court of Common Pleas. From the decisions of the council there was no appeal, except a modified one to the electors.

The legislative body elected its own presiding officer ; had the " custody, care, superintendence, management and control of all the real and personal estate, and other corporate property " belonging to the city ; and had power to levy and col- lect taxes on all property " returned on the grand levy" within the corporate limits, provided the tax for any single year should not "exceed onefifth of one per centnin on the aggregate value of taxable property in said city." The taxes were collected by the city marshal. The council, twothirds of its members con - curring, might negotiate loans to pay the debt- of the city, but one financial prerogative of its borough predecessor was forbidden it ; " nor shall the said city council," so the charter ran, "issue any printed notes or tickets to be issued under their authority, or under the authority of said city, as a circulating medium of trade or exchange, or in any way or manner, either directly or indirectly,

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engage in the business of banking." As the corporation possessed no prison, the use of the county jail was permitted.

Acts amendatory to the charter of 1834 were passed by the General Assembly as follows: March 5, 1838, regulating the collection of road tax and expenditure of same in the improvement of streets, fixing the rate of the city levy, and per- mitting general as well as municipal elections to be held by wards; March 7, 1839, extending the corporate limits so as to include Gilbert's addition ; March 15, 1839, authorizing the city council to fix the places of holding general elections ; March 25, 1841, exempting firemen from jury service ; February 11, 1846, prescribing the election of a mayor and marshal annually, fixing the number of councilmen for each ward at three, one of the three to be elected annually, constituting the city as one road district and conferring upon the eonneil the power possessed by supervisors of highways in the collection of road tax: February 27, 1846, authorizing the conneif to fill vacancies among its members; February 8, 1847, extending the city boundary eastward to the east line of Washington Avenue ; December 28, 1847, further extending the corporation limits eastward; and on January 11, 1848, extending said limits southward. An act of February 1, 1847, gave to the street then known as Meadow Lane the name of Washington Avenue. An act of February 6, 1847, authorized the City Council, on vote taken and approval given by the qualified electors, to subscribe for stock in the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati and the Columbus and Xenia railway companies to the amount of fifty thousand dollars in each company. An act passed February 3, 1845, "for the support and better regulation of common schools, in the city of Columbus" was amended by act of February 24, 1848. An act exempting the wharf lots but not the buildings thereon from taxation was passed February 22, 1832. A general act specifying the manner in which all town and eity taxes should be levied and collected was passed February 22, 1848.

Directly after organization of the city government under the charter of 1834 the legislation of the city increased rapidly and soon became so voluminous that only some of its more novel and striking features can be mentioned in a sketch of this kind. The first council under the new charter was elected April 14 and was organized April 21, 1834. At the next meeting, held April 28, inventories of eor- poration property in the possession of the mayor and marshal were taken, and Abraham Stotts was elected marshal and clerk of the market. The funds in the treasurer's office at the beginning of the new organization amounted to $90.75. On December 8 John Brooks was paid 837.50 for a half year's salary as mayor. On June 23 the tax levy for city purposes was fixed at two mills on the dollar. On May 20 the council voted to license the sale of intoxicating liquors and fixed the license fee at $150. An ordinance to prevent the introduction of contagious diseases into the city passed September 1, and on September 8 another, doubtless dictated by apprehension of the cholera, forbidding any person to "introduce into the city for use or sale any apples, plums, grapes, cabbages, cucumbers, water or musk melons or green corn " until the fifteenth of the ensuing October. This latter ordinance was repealed September 22. On September 9 George Rind, William McDonald and Benjamin Sells were appointed health officers for the first, second and third wards respectively. Their compensation was two dollars per day. An ordinance of October 30 declares that " no person shall sell any article of marketing whatever after two o'clock of the day before each market day, until the ringing of the bell on market morning." On December 29, Robert W. McCoy, N. II. Swayne and Alexander Patton were delegated to communicate with Major Brewster relative to construction of the Cumberland (National) Road through the city. On October 3 the Council moved into new quarters - two rooms and a cellar at six dollars per month -- " on Mr. McCoy's lot."

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1835 .- An ordinance of March 21, to provide for the payment of debts and protection of the city against fire, authorizes a loan of $11,000, bearing.interest at not more than 7.5 per cent. per annum, and directs that a corporation note of $6,500 to G. Swan and one of $500 to the Franklin Bank be redeemed March 1. Notices of petitions for the extension of Fifth and Sixth streets from Town to Broad and of State Street and Sugar Alley from Fourth to Seventh were given in April. An ordinance of June 9 provides for the appointment of a street commis- sioner to serve one year, with authority to made contracts for the improvement of streets and supervise execution of the same. The compensation of this func- tionary was three dollars per day. His appointment was made by the council. Sheep and swine were forbidden to run at large by ordinance of June 24. A reso- lution of July 13 required the marshal to notify all keepers of groceries where spirituous liquors were sold that they would be required to close their shops at 9:30 P. M. until October 1. On the same date a petition signed by five hundred ladies of the city was presented to the council, asking that no license be granted " to sell ardent spirits as a drink." Another ordinance of July 13, after reciting that " Adin G. Hibbs has, by permission of the Council, erected hay scales on the east side of High Street, opposite lot Number 347 in said city, at his own expense," provides for the appointment of a weigher, declares that the weight of a ton of hay shall be 2,000 pounds, and authorizes the collection of a weigher's fee of twentyfive cents per load, onehalf to go to the weigher and the other half to Mr. Hibbs.1 A long ordinance to provide for the suppression of immoral and dis- orderly practices was passed June 24. This ordinance authorized any householder to apprehend, without breach of the peace, any person violating it. The size of street gutters, and the mode and material for paving were prescribed by ordin- ance of July 9. On the same date a tax of three mills was levied. On Sep- tember 7 Dean & Mckinney petitioned for leave to establish a theatre. On report of a committee, in February, thirtytwo of the wharf lots were ordered to be leased at from $20 to $62 per lot.

1836. -- The city debt in April was $13,000. On May 2 a loan of $8,000 at 7.5 per cent. was authorized " for the improvement of the city." A loan of $10,000 at 7.5 per cent. " for the payment of debts due by the city," was authorized June 3. One section of this latter ordinance provided, "that there shall be a city stock created to the amonnt of the sums borrowed, and scrip shall be issued bear- ing an interest of seven and a half per centum per annum, and said scrip shall be signed by the President of the City Council and countersigned by the city Recorder." An ordinance forbidding the hitching of " any horse, ox, mule or other animal to the paled fence around the Public Ground belonging to the State " was published in August. The stationing of market vehicles so that they might not interfere with the passage of stages or use of the public cisterns by firemen, was required by ordinance of November 19. A. Stotts, City Marshal, reported that eight counterfeit dollars had been passed upon him in payment of taxes. The fee for a threatre license was fixed at $75. The Recorder's salary was fixed at $75, the Treasurer's at $50 and that of the Clerk of the Market at $60. On December 13 a committee was appointed to report on the location of a new markethouse. On March 13, 1837, this committee reported in favor of Third Street from Rich to Friend, provided the owners of the ground on each side of the proposed location would donate a strip twelve feet wide. The report was tabled.

1837-The revenues of the city were thus reported in May: Licenses of taverns, etc., 8820.00; theatre license, $75.00; rent of wharf lots, $168.00; licen- ses to showmen and fines, $110.63; tax collected on the duplicate, $2,327.97 ; paid by butchers for stall rent, $235.72; from loans, $10,000. The expenses, were $12,589. A newspaper card of September 6 expressed the opinion that the time had arrived when a " city police " should be organized. The writer complained

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that the mandates of the council were not enforced. On November 20 the council unanimously adopted the following :

Whereas, it has been represented to the City Council that much difficulty now exists among the citizens for want of convenient change as a circulating medium, therefore,

Resolved, that the Bank of this city be requested to issue bills or tickets of credit of the several following denominations: 614, 1212, 25, 50 and 75 cents and one dollar bills.

On December 16 a committee which had been appointed to consider the evils resulting from coffeehouses and similar establishments, reported recommending stringent measures for their regulation. At the same meeting of the council the license fee for all places other than taverns where liquor was sold was fixed at $100, and for beer shops at $50.

1838 .- An amendment of January 9 to the ordinance licensing taverns, ale- houses and porterhouses, requires all groceries, coffeehouses and beershops to close at 10:30 P. M. and remain closed until 4 A. M. The same amendment provides that no license shall in future be renewed unless the applicant shall bring a certificate of at least three respectable householders that he has kept an orderly house, and not permitted gambling or drunkenness on bis premises. An ordinance of April 16 provides that brick thereafter made for sale in the city shall be nine inches long, 43 inches wide and 23 inches thick, and that the mcasurs of lime and all other articles usually " sold by heaped measure," shall be 2,764 cubic inches to the bushel, and the " standard for even measure " shall be 2,211 cubic inches per bushel. Lime and coal in small quantities were required to be measured in vessels of not less than nineteen inches diameter across the bottom, and contain- ing not less than one bushel. The license to grocers was increased to a minimum of fifty dollars. A committee was appointed to ascertain whether the city would be required to keep the National Road in repair within its limits. After the mat ter had been before the council several times, a committee was appointed to pur- chase three acres of ground and build a hospital, for which purpose a loan of $1,200 was authorized.

1839 .- The Ohio Board of Public Works was requested, but declined, to grant the city part of the National Road tolls from the first gate eastward as compensa- tion for repairing the road within the city limits. A committee was appointed to confer with the Board as to the transfer to the city of that part of the road witbin its boundaries. Purchase of eleven and a quarter acres of ground on the north side of the Livingston Road, at one hundred dollars per acre, for the purpose of . being laid out in " small family grave lots," was authorized. An ordinance pro- viding for the election of a City Clerk, and defining his duties, was passed Decem - ber 9.

1840. - " A citizen " writes under date of March 18 that " within two or three weeks past a set of ruffians have infested our streets for the purpose of insulting ladies who may happen to walk out after dark," and suggests the organization of a secret watch. At the April election John G. Miller, Whig, was chosen mayor. The Whig majority in the city was 219, and in the city and township 214.

1841. - Thomas Wood was appointed mayor by the council, vice J. G. Miller appointed postmaster. Complaint was made that the market space was too small, and inconveniently located. A newspaper card writer complains that the sidewalks are so blocked with boxes and merchandise as to be nearly impassable; that "nearly entire stores are exhibited on boxes piled on the pavements ;" and that a gang of profane and obscene rowdies congregates in the evening at the northeast corner of High and Town streets. Public cisterns were located by a committee of the Council as follows: Corner Friend and Town, south side ; corner Town and Third, south side ; corner State and Third, south side ; corner Gay and High, south side; corner Mound and High, north side ; corner Broad and Front, south side ; corner State and Front, south side; corner Rich and Front, south side.

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1842. - Three market days per week were established in March. A meeting favoring a new location for the markethouse was held in the basement of the Baptist Church April 7. Resolutions were adopted recommending that a site be chosen on or east of Third Street. Committees were appointed to attend to the distribution of the tickets for the purpose of taking a vote as to the selection of a new location at the next election. An ordinance of July 12 forbids any person to take up any pavement, to cut down or fill up any street, lane or alley, or to change the grade of any sidewalk. The presence of dogs at the market was for- bidden. The Mayor was authorized, at discretion, to keep and feed prisoners at the county jail in the ordinary way, or on bread and water. The city evidently was fast losing, or had by this time already lost, its borough simplicity, for on December 13 George B. Harvey, City Marshal, cautions citizens to be on their guard against burglars. "During the past two nights," he says, "two houses have been broken open and attempts made to break others."

1843. - On March 6 a bill to amend the charter of Columbus, was reported from a committee to which it had been referred in the Ohio Senate, and on motion of Mr. Ridgway was indefinitely postponed. The character of this bill is indicated by the following extract from a card published by Mr. A. G. Hibbs, a member of the council, in the Ohio Statesman :

I was among the first and most anxious for a change in the charter, giving it a more republican character. The councilmen are now elerted for four years while the members of the legislature are only elected for one year in one House and two in the other, and many of the officers of our city are not elected by the people at all. Why a member of the City Council of Columbus should not return his stewardship to the people in less time than every four years I never could comprehend, from any correct ideas of democratic government.

Another contributor to the Statesman wrote :

Ought the appointing power to rest with a Council which appoints men to office most notoriously derelict of duty ? Look at the streets and alleys ; look at the boxes of goods and wood placed on the sidewalks. Some of them are impassable.

There may have been some partisan feeling at the bottom of these criticisms, but it is very evident that the anomalous charter of 1834 was not producing the very best results.

At a meeting of citizens held April 25 resolutions were adopted favoring the purchase of the Theatre and its conversion into a City Hall under supervision of the City Council, the sum necessary for the purchase and repairs - $1.400 - to be raised by private subscription.

1844. - Tax levy, four mills. Notwithstanding all the municipal fulmina- tions against canines, the Ohio State Journal of May 30 was constrained to remark : " The town is infested with dogs - nasty, barking, snarling, useless dogs."

1845. - An engraved map of the city, drawn by H. F. Wheeler, was pub- lished this year by John M. Kinney.

1846. - By ordinance of February 18 the city was divided into five wards, the first comprising all territory " north of the centre of Gay Street and of a line westwardly from the western termination of said Gay Street to the Scioto River ;" the second, all between the centres of Gay and State streets; the third all between the centres of Gay and Rich streets; the fourth, all " between the centre of Rich Street and the centre of Mound Street extending to the corporation line on the west side of the Columbus Feeder ;" the fifth, "all south of the centre of Mound Street as above extended." By ordinance of May 14 the salaries of the city officials were established as follows : Recorder, $100, but in case of the appoint- ment of a city clerk nothing; Clerk $100, Marshal 8450, Treasurer $150, Clerk of the Market $100. It was by this ordinance made the duty of the Clerk of the

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Market to collect the " schoolhouse tax, wharf rents, stall rents in the market- house, and all other moneys arising from the market or any other source not otherwise provided for." The clerk was compensated for this collecting service by percentages allowed him on the sums collected. An ordinance of July 18 requires that all shows and theatrical exhibitions for pay shall obtain permits from the mayor, for which fees prescribed by the ordinance shall be paid. Church, school, scientifie, art and benevolent exhibitions were exempted from this requirement. A market ordinance of July 21 declares that after its passage

The City Marshal and the Clerk of the Market shall direct all market wagons and carts to be placed along the east side of High Street, between Gay and Friend streets, so as to back up to the sidewalk, and so that the passage on the sidewalks on Broad, State, Town, Rich and Friend streets shall be kept open.

1847. - By resolution of November 8 the purchase from Thomas Asbury of two lots on Fourth Street, between Town and Rich, for a new markethouse was authorized ; price, 82,000.

1848. - The legislation of this year was voluminous. On February 14 ordi- nances were passed forbidding daylight bathing in the Scioto between the south boundary and the New Penitentiary ; forbidding the discharge, within the city, of any cannon, gun, pistol, anvil, log, stump, rocket, squib, cracker or any other thing charged with gunpowder without consent of the mayor; regulating use of the wharves and forbidding boats from remaining there longer than two days; providing for the suppression of riots; further defining the duties of city officers ; forbidding the throwing or firing of any rocket weighing more than one pound, causing any balloon to ascend inflated otherwise than by gas, flying kites and throwing fireballs saturated with turpentine or rolling hoops on sidewalks. The ordinance for suppression of immoral practices was amended and reenacted February 16. An ordinance of the same date authorized the City Marshal to clear all streets, lanes and alleys of fences and other obstructions. The size of bricks moulded for use in the city was fixed at 23 x 43 x 9 inches. The measure of lime, coal and other articles usually sold by heaped measure was declared to be five pecks, or 26,88 cubic inches. Driving upon and obstructing the sidewalks was forbidden. "The location, construction, use and scavenging of gutters, drains, vaults and sinks were regulated. The boundaries of the wards, five in number, were readjusted by ordinance of March 23. The market ordinance was amended and reenacted - retaining most of its old provisions - February 26. On July 10 a committee was appointed to procure a plan, with specifications, for a new markethouse, and on Angust 14 a committee was instructed to proceed with the erection of the building, for which purpose the sum of 84,000 was appropriated. An ordinance of August 31 regulates the measurement and sale of firewood, a cord to measure 8 x 4 x4 feet " well stowed and packed." The wood measurer was allowed a fee of five cents per load, and was authorized to designate the place where the wood wagons should stand. Numerous ordinances for paving and policing streets and alleys were passed.

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 62

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1196

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196