Special Charter
Special Charter Dropped in 1867: First City Hall on First Street
On Jan. 26, 1857, just a year after the incorporation of the C. I. & N. Railroad Co., the Iowa General Assembly conferred a city charter on Clinton. The charter was unanimously adopted March 7, 1857, 97 votes beingcast.
An amended charter was adopted at the charter election, April 5, 1859, bywhich the city was divided into four wards, viz:
First Ward -- All that portion north of the center of 5th Ave., and east ofthe center of 2nd St; Second Ward -- All that portion lying between the centerof 5th and 6th avenues; Third Ward -- All that portion lying south of the centerof 8th Ave.,; Fourth Ward -- All that portion lying north of the center of 5thAve., and west of the center of 2nd St.
Subsequently, the city was redistricted by avenues, so that the First Wardwas that portion north of the middle of 4th Ave.; the Second, that portionbetween the middle of 4th and 7th avenues; the Third between the middle of 7thand 10th avenues, and the Fourth, south of 10th Ave.
The city, in 1867, discarded its special charter and organized under thegeneral law providing for cities of the second class, with a population notexceeding 15,000 inhabitants.
The first council-room was in a wooden building, which Capt. Crozer owned andused for a justice's office, situated on the corner of 1st St. and 3rdAve. Afterward, the city fathers met in the Iowa Central House, thebasement being fitted with fastenings for a lock-up. Thence the Councilchamber was transferred to upstairs rooms, on the east side of 2nd St., in theblock opposite the old City hall.
An engine-house and council chamber in one building were constructed in1867-68, on 2nd St., between 4th and 5th avenues. The cost of thebuilding, which was brick and of the most substantial style, and surmounted witha fire-alarm triangle of steel, was about $7,000.
In 1876-77, by an arrangement with the county, a jail addition was built onthe rear. Not only are the walls thick, and the bolts and bars massive,but inside are cages of boiler iron, riveted together more secure than thesimilar ones in which Louis XI, King of France, used to immure prisoners ofstate within the Bastille. The cost of this improvement was about$4,000. Previously, prisoners had been kept in an insecure little wooden"calaboose" in the same block, whence escapes were disgustinglyfrequent. On one occasion, 27 prisoners escaped in a body.
SOURCE: Centennial Edition, Clinton Herald, Clinton Iowa, 18 June 1955
