History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 108

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304

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"SEC. 2 .- It shall be lawful for all free white male inhabitants of said village, over the age of twenty-one years, to meet at the Supreme Court room on the first Monday of March next, at 10 o'clock A. M. of said day, and choose viva voce two Judges of Election and one Clerk, and elect, by hallot, one President (who shall be ex officio Trustee), six Trustees, one Treasurer, one Assessor, one Clerk and one Marshal."

VILLAGE OFFICERS FROM 1846 TO 1855.

The following are the names of the officers elected at the first election in 1846 and at each annual election thereafter until the "Incorporated Village of Madison " became the "City of Madison : "

1846-Thomas W. Sutherland, President ; Eliab B. Dean, Jr., Peter W. Matts, Barlow Shackelford, Alonzo Wilcox, William N. Seymour and James Morrison, Trustees ; J. T. Clark, Clerk ; D. Clark, Treasurer; A. Vial, Marshal.

1847-A. L. Collins, President; D, B. Snedden, Benjamin Holt, William Pyncheon, William Welch, Chester Bushnell and N. H. Smith, Trustees ; J. R. Brigham, Clerk ; N. S. Emmons, Assessor.

1848-A. L. Collins, President; J. C. Fairchild, J. P. Mann, Chauncey Abbott, William Pyncheon, Henry C. Parker and Daniel Mallo, Trustees ; J. R. Brigham, Clerk ; I. W. Bird, Treasurer; A. Main, Assessor.

1849-A. L. Collins, President ; J. T. Clark, N. S. Emmons, J. D. Ruggles and D. H. Wright, Simeon Mills and George M. Oakley, Trustees ; A. Vial, Treasurer; T. Reynolds, Marshal.

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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

1850-W. N. Seymour, President ; D. Holt, S. Mills, D. H. Wright and A. A. Bird, S. F. Hurm and Jehu H. Lewis, Trustees ; G. M. Oakley, Treasurer ; W. C. Wells, Marshal; E. M. Williamson, Assessor. Mr. Stoner appears as a Trustee May 6, 1850.

1851-Simeon Mills, President ; L. J. Farwell, A. A. Bird, William Welch, H. A. Ten- ney, David H. Wright and David Holt, Trustees ; E. Burdick, Clerk ; Darwin Clark, Treas- urer ; James Richardson, Assessor ; A. Bishop, Marshal.

1852-Chauncey Abbott, President ; H. A. Tenney,. F. G. Tibbets, E. L. Varney, P. H. Van Bergen, M. Friend and Edward Fisher, Trustees ; Robert L. Ream, Clerk ; J. J. Starks, Treasurer ; J. D. Welch, Marshal ; A. Bishop, Assessor.

1853-H. A. Tenney, President ; F. G. Tibbets, L. Cannon, Casper Zwickey, A. Wilcox, D. Atwood and B. F. O'Brien, Trustees ; W. Welch, Clerk ; J. J. Starks, Treasurer; L. W. Hoyt, Assessor; A. Manning, Marshal.

1854-Simeon Mills, President ; P. H. Van Bergen, George C. Albee, G. M. Oakley (C. Weed to fill vacancy of Oakley), M. Friend, James Livesey and A. Bishop, Trustees ; D. N. Johnson, Clerk ; M. Cleary, Treasurer ; D. C. Bush, Assessor ; I. E. Brown, Marshal.

1855 .- P. H. Van Bergen, President; L. J. Farwell, L. W. Hoyt, William Carroll, John G. Griffin, H. A. Tenney and J. Sumner, Trustees ; D. N. Johnson (William N. Sey- mour, serving out his unexpired term), Clerk ; Alonzo Wilcox, Treasurer ; D. C. Bush, Assessor ; I. E. Brown, Marshal.

MADISON IN 1846.

The population of Madison in 1846 was over 600. Two- thirds of the village plat was covered with forest trees and hazel brush. Not over half a dozen houses had been erected west- ward or northward of the capitol square; and the forest northeastward remained unbroken below the street on which the old jail was located. East and West King street (now State street), a part of Morris (now Main street), and those immediately around the square, comprised about all the streets opened for travel. Such was the appearance of the village in 1846, and for two years thereafter its growth was not rapid.

Notwithstanding the village was small, there was considerable business transacted. A writer of that day says: "Madison, the capital of Wisconsin, is exhibiting signs of business and prosperity really surprising. During a stay of two days at the Madison Hotel, last week, we found an average of one hundred persons at the table at every meal. It is the most lovely loca- tion imaginable, and nothing can prevent its becoming, at an early day, a city in population and business, as well as in name. Some idea may be formed of the progressive strides of the village and adjacent country from the fact that in 1842 the whole county contained but about seven hundred inhabitants, which it is expected the census of the present month will make ten thousand.

" We take leave to add, that besides having three well-conducted newspapers, the place has many valuable stores. The library of the Territory is there, and is excellent; and the Meth- odists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Catholics all have regular worship there. Reposing, as it does, between two as lovely lakes as are to be seen anywhere, Madison is one of the most enchanting spots in the Republic. As the poet has it :

" ' This gem-like town o'erlooks the crystal lakes, And smiles in beauty as the morn awakes.' "*

The low and level stretch of land lying between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, on the east side of the village, so frequently at an early day covered with water in the early spring- time, had, in 1846, received little improvement. Concerning this portion of the plat, and some other parts at that date, Julius T. Clark writes :

" The first real and at all successful attempt to redeem this flat from the water was made by Gov. Farwell, in connection with the German Baron Mohr, by means of ditehing and plant- ing trees, about 1849-50. The low land on the south side of the town, extending from the

*From the Milwaukee Courier, 1846.

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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

Third Lake (Monona), by the Fourth Ward School building around to the north of the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien depot grounds, was also for a long time covered more or less with water, and, in some portions, was impassable at all times.

"I do not know the exact number of the population of Madison when I came, but it was quite small, as the census for that year (1840) showed the population of the whole of Dane County, including Madison, to be only 314. The growth of the town from the time I became a citizen was not very rapid for several years. Even in 1846, when I commenced my improve- ments on Blocks 94 and 95, on the banks of the Fourth Lake, it was the first instance in which any improvement had been made in that part of the town, and almost the first on the northwest side of the Capitol Park. Even after I had completed and was occupying my house, my friends would jokingly ask me how I liked my country life, and whether I had any difficulty in finding my way back and forth. The brush which I grubbed out in clearing a place for my house was made into a fence, which answered a very good purpose for some time in that capacity."

WHO KEPT BOARDERS IN 1846.

The first Constitutional Convention assembled in Madison October 5, 1846. Of the mem- bers and officers present, seven boarded at Mrs. Shackelford's ; five at Mr. Van Bergen's ; thirty at the Madison Hotel ; eleven at D. Holt's ; twenty at the American ; one at the Lake House; two at Mr. Parker's ; four at Rev. Mr. Miner's; one at Mr. Wilson's; six at Mrs. Stark's; ten at the National Hotel ; four at Mr. Fairchild's; two at Mr. Skinner's; five at Mrs. Brigham's ; six at Squire Seymour's ; three at home; three at J. G. Knapp's ; and one at the Rev. S. McHugh's.

MADISON ACADEMY.

An act of the Territorial Legislature was passed and approved January 26, 1844, incor- porating the Madison Academy : J. D. Weston, David Irwin, Simeon Mills, A. A. Bird, John Catlin, A. L. Collins, W. W. Wyman, J. Y. Smith and J. G. Knapp, incorporators ; and, on February 22, 1845, an act was approved allowing the county of Dane the sum of $2,616, being the amount expended by the county in the completion of the capitol, payable out of any money in the Territorial treasury, provided that amount should be paid to the Board of County Com- missioners of the county, to be by them appropriated exclusively for the purpose of building an academy in the village of Madison, the Territory, by payment of that sum, to be fully discharged from all liability for the money thus expended. Out of this amount, the sum of $400 was appro- priated to A. A. Bird, the contractor. By the conditions of the act, a vote of the citizens of Madison was required to be taken on the matter. The village having voted in favor of receiv- ing the before-mentioned sum, an amendatory act was passed February 3, 1846, authorizing the Madison Academy to receive from the county the amount referred to.

The incorporators organized in 1846, procured a subscription to the capital stock, and the stockholders organized in December of that year by the election of John Catlin, President ; Simeon Mills, Daniel B. Sneden and Henry C. Parker, Trustees, and William N. Seymour, Superintendent.

The corporation received from the county $2,216 ; purchased Lots 4 and 5, in Block 84, village of Madison, as a site, and erected thereon a brick building, 24x44, on the ground, two stories high, with high basement, at a cost of about $3,500. The building was completed in 1848, and in the fall of that year the lower story was placed at the disposal of the Regents of the University, and the primary department of that institution was opened in it by Prof. I. W. Sterling.

In the upper story, a female academy was opened about the same time, with Miss Matilda S. Howell, as Principal, which was maintained for several years.

Some years since, the property was sold to the School Board of the city of Madison, and the corporation ceased to keep up its organization. The high school of the city now occupies the site.

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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

MADISON HYDRAULIC POWER.

The Trustees of the village, on the 23d of March, 1846, published proposals to lease the hydraulic power within the corporation limits, as follows :

WHEREAS, It has been ascertained by measurement that there is within the corporation limits of Madison a fall or difference of elevation between the Third and Fourth Lakes, sufficient, if improved, to create a water-power of con- siderable magnitude ; and, whereas, the Legislature of this Territory did, by an act approved February 3, 1846, grant to the corporation of Madison the right to lease, improve or otherwise dispose of said water-power ; therefore,

Public notice is hereby given that the undersigned Board of Trustees of said corporation will receive proposals until the 1st day of June next for leasing the right to the water above mentioned for a term of years, on the condition that the lessee or lessees excavate and complete a canal, of forty feet in width at the hottom and fifty at thetop, from the Fourth to the Third Lake, along or near East Canal street, dam the present outlet of the Fourth Lake, build two good plank hridges across said canal, the one near the Third and the other near the Fourth Lake, with a substantial railing to each, erect a good flouring-mill with at least four run of stone, and such other machinery as the lessee or lessees may see proper, all to he performed within a reasonable time, and bonds to be given to the Trustees of the corporation of Madison for the faithful prosecution and completion of said work. The Trustees would state for the information of those who may desire to undertake the work, that they have caused a level to be taken, and that the engineer reports a difference of 3 71-100 feet between the water of the above-named lakes, with the opinion that, by the proper damming, this fall may be increased to five and a half or six feet. The distance between the lakes on the proposed route is about forty-eight chains, and the nature of the ground favorable for excavation. This cannot but create a great power, especially when it is considered that its head is a lake of some twenty miles in circumference. The undersigned have the utmost confidence in the practicability and advantages of the work, and feel that they can lease upon terms which will make it a most desirable object to any capitalist who may have the means necessary to undertake its construction.

T. W. Sutherland, President ; Peter W. Matts, Eliab B. Dean, Jr., William N. Seymour, Alonzo Wilcox, James Morrison, Barlow Shackleford, Trustees.

J. T. CLARK, Clerk.

Madison, March 23, 1846.

In reply to this, a proposition was made by Simeon Mills to lease the water-power for sixty years, which proposition was accepted. Subsequently, Mr. Mills had a careful survey made of the level of the lakes, and, not being satisfied with the result, abandoned the undertaking.

THE BEGINNING OF MADISON'S REAL PROSPERITY.

Until the year 1848, the growth of the village was slow, and many causes operated to retard its progress. Immediately after the location of the capital, all the lands in the vicinity were entered by speculators and non-residents, and lots and lands were held at a prospective value-much higher than they have reached at any time since. Many years and many vicissi- tudes were to be passed, however, before settlers gained much foothold. It was a hamletin the midst of a mighty waste of natural fertility, and for a long period all supplies had to be wag- oned for a distance of a hundred miles on either hand. It was not, indeed, until about this date, that the advancing settlers from East and West met midway, and commenced the wonderful change which transferred the country into the garden and granary it has since become. The location being at a central point between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan, the advancing army of immigrants, on either hand, found a wide, fertile and beautiful extent of country, at that time nearer market, and therefore holding out superior attractions to the agriculturist. They did not, consequently, care to indulge the speculator's appetite for fancy prices. In the meantime, the fertile valley of the Rock River had been filled with settlers, and immigration began to turn into Dane County, which possesses a soil as bountiful and a surface as attractive as any county in the State, but which, before it was tapped by railroads, was too far from market to render the cultivation of the soil remunerative.

The beginning of the real prosperity and growth of Madison commenced with the admis- sion of the State into the Union in 1848. The Constitutional Convention then permanently located the capital here. Until this time, there had been fears of its removal, and capitalists had hesitated to invest their money in the vicinity.

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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE INCORPORATED VILLAGE.

I .- BY ROBERT W. LANSING.

I removed to Madison the day before Christmas, 1845, and opened the " National Hotel," on the site of the present Vilas House, and conducted the same on strictly temperance principles for several years.

Having opened house just before the meeting of the Territorial Legislature, E. V. Whiton, who was then a member of the Council, came to me a stranger and selected a room for the ses- sion. I trust it will not be thought improper for me here to state that, on his coming to my house, Mr. Whiton, who was a sound lawyer and otherwise a most excellent man, took his ini- tial step in temperance reform and from which he never afterward departed, thus proving, con- trary to general belief, that a sensible being can reform from any evil. He was subsequently Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in which eminent position he lived till his death, deeply lamented and mourned by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. It was notorious, in those early times, that very many of the leading men then in the Territory were hail fellows well met, and given not a little to inebriety, to which habit, in general, they adhered with hope- less tenacity ; and, to our sincere regret, candor compels us to say that some of our best men, by this indulgence, were driven down to a premature grave, and but few of this class now remain as the wasted mementoes of the reckless past.

Madison was now an incorporated village, and, the facilities for traveling and transporta- tion having increased, the more careful and intelligent of her people saw the necessity of improve- ment, put forth all of their energy and enterprise to accomplish the same, although seriously opposed by the older settlers, whose minds had not yet become susceptible of progressive impres- sions by reason of their unhallowed indulgences. The capitol presented the sorrowful appear- ance of a State house under leaky circumstances, the court room of which was generally flooded after a rain. The Methodists occupied this room on Sundays, but the attendance was small, and the benefits smaller, if anything. Religion had not yet got a fair, square foothold among the sinners, some of whom were supposed to be invulnerable to good morals, and odious in char- acter.

Besides the " National," there were two or three other notable hotels ; the " Madison," kept for a time by a Mr. Clark, and others. Another was the American Hotel, run by the inimitable Jemmy Morrison, of whom many amusing anecdotes have been told. The City Hotel was kept by A. A. Bird. He was the man who, it was supposed, first saw the sun rise at Sun Prairie, throwing its luminous rays over the enchanting scenery of the embryo Madison, destined so soon to assume a position worthy of its location. He lived to see the day of its prosperity, and himself a poor man.

The society at Madison in an early day was of a mixed kind, rendered somewhat sociable by necessity, as there were many quite dependent upon their fellows for the necessaries of life. There were some, however, who prided themselves upon being the aristocracy and elite of the village; but they, like all other things of human frailty, soon found their level in society by being driven to the want of those necessities which were incompatible with aristocracy in Wiscon- sin. The citizens were quite pleasant and sociable in their intercourse with each other; and, although many times the necessities of life were scarce, and could not be had, still their wants were reasonably supplied by the courtesy and kindness of those who possessed them-and that, too, as a gratuity, without the hope of any return. Good preaching was out of the question, as the people were too poor to induce talented men to come hither. Such as we had, good or bad, had but little influence over consciences hardened by the peculiar trials of a pioneer's life. Merchandise and groceries were purchased mostly at Milwaukee, and retailed at Madison at enormous prices. Farm productions of every kind were sold at ruinous rates, aver- aging a bushel of wheat or other grain for a yard of calico or cotton goods. Grists had to be taken to Cambridge Mills, twenty miles distant, to be ground. It took a long time to regulate

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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

trade so as to be reasonable and acceptable to all concerned. As a whole, the people were all that could be reasonably expected from their manner of life, the want of moral and religious instruction, and the depression of the times. It was the invariable custom of those who came in here at an early day to receive new comers with open hearts and outstretched arms. They were not only made welcome in an ordinary sense, but were embraced and loved as brethren. although entire strangers to each other, and who, on being thus kindly received and recognized, soon felt themselves at home, and by perseverance and industry obtained a foundation for future prosperity.

Occasionally, in the course of time, men of wealth and means, with steady habits and progressive ideas, would come and settle down in our midst, and thus by littles the character of the people for moral and intellectual stability grew and was established in the then beautiful village, so early to become the loveliest city of the Northwest.

At the sessions of the Legislature there was little of lobbying done, because laws were easily obtained for legitimate purposes. No people more highly enjoyed life than did our solons and their constituents ; and, but for the native weakness of some of them, but little of an offensive character could have been justly charged against them. There were many noble geniuses among the early settlers at Madison and in its vicinity, in respect to whom, comparatively with our best citizens from other parts of the Territory, our people bore an enviable position, morally, civilly and intellectually.

As a matter of fact, it may be stated, that from the least to the greatest intelligence among its citizens, all looked with emphatic assurance upon the certain prospect of Madison becoming the Queen City of Wisconsin ; and whose growing beauty, charming scenery and delightful surroundings were destined to outvie any possible competition. Some have lived to see the day when these fond anticipations have been fully realized, and which enables us now joyfully to refer to our beautiful Madison as our lovely " city, set upon a hill, whose light cannot be hid." We have often expressed the sentiment, and we have pleasure in repeating it right here, that whoever has heard of Madison, its unsurpassed beauty, grandeur and enchanting imagery, and has ability and means to go there, should never die until he has secured the sight, and enjoyed : the delights of its transporting, rapturous scenes.

There was a number of religious societies just fairly beginning to assume a position as such, and amongst whom the the ladies were not wanting in their exertions to give pecuniary aid and prosperity to their several denominations, by the institution of sewing circles and fairs for the promotion of church objects, at whose meetings the male population were not backward in their attendance, and, for those times, were quite liberal in their weekly donations. As in all undertakings and projects of a benevolent and progressive character, women were the mov- ing and untiring co-workers for accomplishing the objects of their noblest desires, so the ladies of Madison, in the infancy of their churches, labored and toiled with unremitting energy and perseverance, until their accumulations gave not only a foundation, but also, in some instances, a beautiful superstructure for their several congregations to worship in. We should give all honor and praise to these large-hearted and noble women, for their kind-hearted and generous devotion ; and but for whose love to God and good will to man, these consecrated structures would not now probably be pointing their spires and drawing the hearts of mankind up toward the " house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." It should be a matter of sincere joy with those now living, that God has been graciously pleased to thus " give unto these noble daughters of the church abundantly of the fruit of their hands."

In 1845, Madison began to improve rapidly, and particularly so under the large manage- ment and ceaseless labors and improvement of Ex-Gov. Leonard J. Farwell. The times then seemed to be favorable for large and continuous improvements ; but, as in 1836, in other sections of our country, when fortunes were made in a day, and lost as soon, by the immediate and unex- pected revolution of the times, so Madison, in its highest, hopeful assurance of continued pros- perity, became checked in growth by the sudden change of the times, and the sad reverse of fortune of her noblest and best friend. This check to its advancement continued to bear with

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severity upon the city of our delights for a number of years ; but, as all things terrestrial have their day of trial, if not of affliction, and finally rise superior to all vicissitudes and emergencies, 80 Madison has emerged from the hazard of her once unfortunate condition, and risen majesti- cally above all her fears and the frowns of her enemies, so that she has become, simply by right of her exalted position, monarch of all she surveys.

II .- BY C. B. CHAPMAN, 1874.

It is not easy to calculate the advantage which would be conferred upon individuals and communities by the introduction into schools and families of a system by which the more im- portant events of each day shall be noted. The small amount of time which would be de- manded for a strict adherence to such a custom, seems to indicate that it only requires that some simple form should be introduced in order to secure a more general compliance with the custom. If such statements in a diary should only embrace reports of weather and employment of the day, it would enable the person to recur to many other contemporary incidents. I am reminded of what I have stated, as I have set for myself the task of producing an account of my first years in Madison. It has been by the expenditure of much labor and care in the searching for memoranda, that the dates, which will hereafter appear, have been arrived at and made reliable, while more use of exact dates would be much more satisfactory.

It was on the 18th of May, 1846, that I left Bristol, Trumbull Co., Ohio, for Madison. There was no railroad in that part of the State; the nearest was the Lake Erie & Mad River Road, from Sandusky, extending southward. I journeyed to Cleveland by private conveyance, and thence to Milwaukee by the steamboat " Wisconsin." Boats were then well patronized by trav- elers and emigrants, along the chain of lakes from Buffalo to Chicago. A portion of the Mich- igan Central Road had been finished, and a small portion of the passengers left us at Detroit, in order to come onward by that route, which gave but little advantage in time.

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History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 108

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1304

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304