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Shelby County |
CHAPTER XI -- CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES, PAST AND PRESENT (CONT'D)THE COUNTY SEAT AND PRESENT TOWNS AND VILLAGES. (CONT'D)TOWN AND CITY IMPROVEMENTS AND PUBLIC UTILITIES.In June, 1881, the city council considered plans for the new city building. These plans as set forth in a paper of the time were: "The building will be twenty-four by forty-four, two stories high, and built of brick. The first floor will be used by the fire department to keep the apparatus in. The second floor will be divided by a partition in which will be sliding doors. One room will he used as a council room, the other as a place for the fire companies to meet in, and, should occasion require, the doors can be opened and the entire floor thrown into one room. We hear that the contract will be let as soon as the detail plans and specifications are ready." In 1874, a number of Harlan merchants, including Frank Reynolds and others, had sunk a well and had provided it with a good pump at the northeast corner of the public square so that teams from the country might have water. In October, 1874, the city council of Harlan met in a called meeting for the purpose of hearing the report of the committee on water works, and also to consider the advisability of endeavoring to bring the water from the spring west of town. The committee reported faworably, and seemed to think a full supply could be obtained from that point. An offer of one thousand five hundred dollars was made to Messrs. Coenen and Stutsman, to bring the water into town and provide cisterns, provided they would guarantee a supply of water. A Harlan paper of December 11, 1879, contains this comment which is highly interesting as a retrospect: "We wish to again call the attention of our business men and town authorities to the fact that a few street lamps are badly needed in Harlan. The different business men could club together and put up a few at some of the principal places, at a comparatively small cost, and would be richly repaid for their trouble and expense. They would rest easier in their beds, after having the consciousness of a good action. Talk it up and see what can be done." In December, 1879, the question of levying a tax of seven and one-half mills to pay for waterworks was submitted to the people and defeated. In 1881, French & True had added a fine street lamp to the front of their store building. The first town water works was a well near the present city hall, about six feet in diameter and about sixty feet deep. A Harlan paper of April 19, 1883, has this reference to the city water works: "The wind last Friday night played sad havoc with the town windmill. It did not blow down, but received a terrible twisting, and its contortions scared the denizens of the old court house so badly that they sought other quarters lest the high tower should tumble on them." At a special election January 2O, 1891, the proposition to bond the city to put in an electric light and waterworks plant, as well as to extend the corporate limits of the city, was carried by an overwhelming majority. Thus the first step was taken by the people, but it was only through the careful, conservative action of the men at the helm who were entrusted with the responsibility, that final and complete success was attained. After the preliminaries of survey, estimates, etc., the council in an all night session on May 12, 1891, let the contract for putting in the electric light plant, to the Edison General Electric Company of Chicago, for the sum. of $8,120. Other contracts were made as follows: Building power house, J. Walters, $1,86o; machinery for water plant, Eagle Iron Works, $4,450; erecting standpipe, laying mains, etc., Fremont Foundry, $7,83o. Two eighty-horse-power boilers and a one hundred-horse-power Ideal engine furnished the nucleus of the plant. In 1891, voters of Harlan gave overwhelming majorities authorizing the construction of water works and the establishment of electric lights. On Wednesday, August 26, 1891, a monster meeting was held to celebrate the installation of the electric lights. Fully two thousand people were in attendance. Music was furnished by the Ladies' Band of Kirkman and by the Harlan Cornet Band. Mayor W. L. Banghn acted as chairman of the meeting. The first speaker was Senator W. F. Cleveland, who spoke on the topic "Town of Harlan"; Hon. H. W. Byers spoke on "Electric Lights"; Hon. T. H. Smith discussed the topic, "Our Mayor and Council"; Hon. G. W. Cullison talked on "Waterworks." The electricity for the four arc lights at the corners of the square and the incandescent lights in the business houses was turned on on Saturday evening August 22, 1891. From the financial statement of the city of Harlan, for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1914, I glean that the inventory value of the city water plant is $34,103.18, and of the city electric light plant is $33,100.28. The first sewerage in Harlan was established in 1906. The first paving in the city of Harlan was in 1910 constructed of brick by the Lana Construction Company on the public square of the city, and from the public square to the Chicago Great Western station, and in 1911 Baldwin street and one block on each of the streets leading from each corner of the square were paved with concrete by G. Mancini. The curb and gutter for most of this paving was constructed by the Lana Construction Company. In 1913 additional paving of asphaltic concrete was provided for, the bid being let to the National Roofing Company, of Omaha, Nebraska. The contract with this company now provides that the construction of this improvement shall be begun in the spring of 1915. Under the terms of this contract, paving will be laid on Victoria street, Durant street, Hill street, and the north and south streets intersecting Durant, Baldwin and Victoria, but not south of Victoria. FIRE DEPARTMENT.In the Harlan Tribune of April 20, 1881, there is a letter from B. L. Harding, of Osceola, Iowa, expressing thanks for the naming of a hose company after him, and inclosing a draft for fifty dollars towards buying uniforms, also offering a special prize of fifty dollars for the winning of an event in the Firemen's Tournament at Council Bluffs. In the early years of the Harlan fire department many of the social affairs centered about the department, in which practically all of the citizens took a lively interest. On June 3 and 4, 1881, at Long's Hall, a grand fair was held, the object of which was to secure funds to pay for uniforms and "other essentials to a well-ordered and creditable department." The elaborate character of the fair and the minute and careful way in which the details were looked after is well illustrated by the following list of committees, etc.: Superintendent of hall and table decoration, Miss Carrie Harvey; committee on distributing prizes, Mr. E. R. Parmelee; committee on flowers and bouquets, Misses Laura Bayer and Ella Burke; committee on tables and waiters, Mr. C. R. Pratt; committee on lemonade and confectionery, Mr. A. C. Reynolds; committee on fancy work, Mrs. O. F. Graves; committee on Japanese lottery, Misses Bessie Bechtel and Ella Noble; committee on receptions and introductions, Mayor Ledwich. Early in 1881, soon after the organization of the department, the town and the fire department began to take interest in the tests of speed in handling fire apparatus. The Harlan Herald of June 2, I881, contains this bit of news: "A CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.On March 23, 1885, a grand ball was given at Long's hall for the benefit of the B. L. Harding hose team; tickets were one dollar. The committee was composed of J. T. Graham, H. C. Munger, W. C. Campbell, and C. R. Pratt. In April, 1881, the Harlan Hose Team had a track extending south from the southeast corner of the square to the home of Mr. True. Transcribed by John Schulte, March, 2024 from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, by Edward S. White, P.A., LL. B.,Volume 1, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., 1915, pp. 245-249.
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