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Hog-Driving Street
    Picture taken from a postcard dated Febuary 19, 1915. Farmers are bringing wagon loads of hog to be unloaded at the town scales to be weighted.

Hog Driving Street

    Few young people in Lowden today would believe that hogs that were being taken to Market, were driven from the City scales on the far west end of Main Street (located at the northeast part of the intersection at Main and Harding Avenue) to the stockyard. The stockyard is still located on the west side of Washington Avenue and north of the Chicago & Northwestern railroad, but at first scales were not available at the stockyard as they are today, so the wagons bringing the hogs were unloaded at the City Scales where the big fat porkers were weighed, then driven east to the City Jail Alley, and on to the railroad yard to be loaded into stock cars for shipment to Chicago where they were resold.

     One hog buyer was a fine old gentleman named Wm Henry. His dog was a shepherd whose ability to walk the hogs to the Jail Alley was remarkable. The buyer definitely didn't want to hurry or run the hogs because by so doing, they would lose weight. The dog would stay in back of them until they arrived at the alley and then he would run ahead and turn them south down the alley towards the stockyard. As a small boy, I often earned a few pennies helping to keep the hogs from turning off Main Street at McKinley Avenue and also to keep them out of the gardens when going down the alley. The mud was often ankle deep.

City Jail House Described

    The location of the City Jail (for the benefit of young people reading this) was located at the far west side of the present City Park in a block building.

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    The building also housed the fire bell and the *town pump.

     The fire bell was held in place by a stationary mounting. It was rung by two ropes fastened to the clapper, each going through a pulley on opposite sides of the bell and then down to where they could be reached. The bell could be rung very slowly or fast, depending on the speed of the arms. The call to a fireman's meeting was represented by the slow ringing of the bell, but the signal for a fire was very fast ringing. Hobos who sought a free night's lodging in the Jail would get an eardrum bursting surprise if the fire alarm was rung at night.

              Henry (Hank) Twachtmann

    *This town pump in the jail house building, as well as the water tower in northeast Lowden and the original water system was completed in 1913. This pump was used to fill the water tower until the early 1930's when another well was drilled next to the water tower. (See photo below.)

Drawing of pump house

OLD JAIL AND PUMP HOUSE

    This is a pencil sketch made from a newspaper picture. This building stood on the northwest corner of the City Park. The west end of the building was built in 1900 for housing the gas plant that furnished light for Lowden until electricity was used. Jail cells were installed when the gas plant was no longer needed. About 1915 the east part of the building was added to house the pump that was used to fill the town water tower. A new well was drilled near the water tower in the early 1930's and the jail cells were moved into a building located on town property in the area of the scales. This building was torn down in 1955. (This drawing was done by Art Fisher).