History of Linn County Iowa Part 71

M. S. Starr was a.s.sessed with lot 10, block 5, valued at $750.00. This is the property on which T. J. Lowell has his hardware store.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COE COLLEGE BUILDINGS]

J. J. Snouffer was the owner of lot 6, block 3. This property was valued at that period at $1,000.00 and is the corner on which the Commercial National Bank is located, and a part of the Denecke Dry Goods store. Mr. Snouffer also owned a lot on North First street opposite the mills, which was a.s.sessed at $700.00, also personal property valued at $130.00.

Mr. Snouffer came to Cedar Rapids in 1852, and was engaged in milling under the firm name of W. D. Watrous & Co. He was an alderman from the first ward for many terms and at one time mayor of the city.

D. F. Sprague was a.s.sessed with lot 5, block 25, which was listed at $500.00. This is the lot on which the Muskwaki block is located, corner of Second avenue and Fourth street.

Peter Snyder was the owner of lot 6, block 11, valued at $425.00. This property is on the corner of Sixth avenue and Third street.

C. C. Taylor was listed with lot 6, block 32 and valued at $425.00.

This is the corner of Second avenue and Fifth street and was the home of B. F. Howland for many years. It is now occupied by the new and beautiful home of the Cedar Rapids Business college.

T. Wood was the owner of several pieces of Cedar Rapids property, in all amounting to $1,650.00, on which he paid a tax of $3.30. His home was on the corner of Fifth street and B avenue. He also was the owner of the lot on which the Y. M. C. A. building is located, which was valued at $900.00; also a lot, corner of Fifth avenue and Sixth street.

Mr. Edwin Wood, for many years connected with the J. S. Cook Dry Goods Co., was a son of Mr. Wood.

The Iowa & Nebraska Land Company were a.s.sessed with 29 city lots and all valued at $6,875.00, the tax of which was $13.75. The Iowa & Nebraska railroad, from Clinton to this place, was then being built. It was nearly completed to this point and these lots were doubtless purchased for right of way and terminal purposes, as they were all situated on or near where the road was built. The next spring, after the road was open for traffic to this point, lot 1, block 25 was a.s.sessed to unknown owner and was valued at $700. This is the lot upon which the First Presbyterian church was built many years ago and remembered by the older residents as the "Little Muddy." The new federal building is now erected on this lot.

Lot 1, block 26 was also a.s.sessed to unknown owners and was valued at $575.00. This lot is on the corner of Third street and Third avenue and was used up to a very recent date by the Second Presbyterian church.

Lots 3, 4 and 5, block 30 was also in the unknown list and was valued at $1,075.00 for the entire three lots. Two of these lots were bought about this time and the third one a little later for school purposes and on this ground was erected the first real substantial school building ever built in this city. In this building was grouped the high school and all the other grades from the primary up. This building was used for school purposes until demolished a few years ago to make room for the present Was.h.i.+ngton high school building.

Lots 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, block 13 were a.s.sessed to unknown owners at a value of $1,100.00. These lots are on Fourth avenue and between Second and Third streets. The new telephone exchange is located on the rear of lot 10.

TEXT OF THE ACT TO INCORPORATE CEDAR RAPIDS

Following is the text of the act incorporating Cedar Rapids, as pa.s.sed by the legislature of the State of Iowa and approved by Ansel Briggs, Iowa's first governor, January 15, 1849:

_An Act to Incorporate the Town of Cedar Rapids, in Linn County._

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General a.s.sembly of the State of Iowa, that all that part of the State of Iowa included within the boundaries of the town of Cedar Rapids in Linn County, as surveyed and recorded in the recorder's office in the said County of Linn, be and the same is hereby const.i.tuted a town corporate and shall hereafter be known by the name of the town of Cedar Rapids.

SEC. 2. It shall be lawful for the free male inhabitants of said town having the qualifications of electors to meet at the usual place of holding the elections in said town on the first Wednesday in April next and on the first Wednesday of April annually thereafter at such place in said town as the town council shall direct and then and there proceed to elect by ballot a mayor, recorder and three councilmen, who shall have the qualifications of electors, and reside within the corporate limits of said town, and said mayor, recorder and councilmen shall hold their offices one year, and until their successors are elected and qualified and any three of them shall be a board for the transaction of business, but a less number may adjourn from time to time until a quorum shall a.s.semble.

SEC. 3. That at the first election under this act judges and clerks shall be chosen by the electors present who shall each take an oath faithfully to discharge the duties required by this act and at all subsequent elections the mayor and any two of the councilmen shall sit as judges and the recorder, or in his absence some one of the council pro tempore shall act as clerk and at all such elections the polls shall be opened at 1:00 o'clock, p. m. and close at 5:00 o'clock p. m., of the same day, and at the close of the polls the votes shall be counted and a statement of the result proclaimed at the door by the clerk; the clerk of said elections shall thereupon make out a certificate to each of the persons so elected and the persons receiving such certificate shall, within ten days thereafter take an oath to support the const.i.tution and the laws of the United States and of this state and faithfully discharge his duties according to the best of his abilities, which oath shall be endorsed on the back of said certificate and filed with the recorder of said town.

SEC. 4. The mayor, recorder and councilmen of said town shall be a body corporate and politic with perpetual succession to be known by the name of the mayor and council of the town of Cedar Rapids, and shall be capable in law to acquire property, real, personal and mixed for the use of said town and sell and convey the same. May have a common seal and may alter the same at pleasure. May sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, answer or be answered unto in any court of law and equity in this state; and when any suit shall be commenced against said corporation a certified copy of any writ issued against said corporation shall be left with the recorder of said town at least ten days before the return day thereof.

SEC. 5. That the mayor, recorder and council, or a majority of them, of whom the mayor or the recorder shall always be one, shall have authority to make, ordain, and publish all by-laws and ordinances not inconsistent with the const.i.tution and laws of the land as they may deem proper for the promotion of morality, interest, safety, health and cleanliness of said town and the citizens thereof; they shall have power to fill all vacancies that may happen by death or otherwise of any of the officers of their board herein named. They shall have power to appoint a treasurer, marshal and such other subordinate officers as a majority of said council may deem necessary, to prescribe their duties and require surety of their performance, to remove them at pleasure, and to establish the fees of all offices not otherwise provided for by this act. They shall have power to impose fines for the breach of their ordinances, which fines may be recovered with costs before any justice of the peace in said town by an action of debt in the name of said corporation. All fines collected in pursuance of this act shall be paid over by the officer collecting the same to the treasurer of the corporation.

SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of the mayor to preside at the meetings of the town council, and it shall be the duty of the recorder to keep a true record of the by-laws and ordinances, to attend all meetings of the council and keep a fair and accurate record of their proceedings and perform such other duties as the council may from time to time require. Said recorder may under his hand and seal appoint a deputy to perform his duties when absent, for whose acts the said recorder shall be responsible.

SEC. 7. That the town council shall have power to a.s.sess for corporation purposes an annual tax on all property in said town made subject to taxation by the laws of this state for state and county purposes not exceeding in any one year one per centum on the valuation thereof which value shall be ascertained by an a.s.sessor appointed by the town council for that purpose, duplicate of which shall be made out and signed by the recorder and delivered to the collector. They shall have power to equalize any injudicious a.s.sessment then made on complaint of the person aggrieved.

SEC. 8. That the town marshal shall be the collector of any tax a.s.sessed by said council, and he is hereby authorized and required, by distress and sale of property, as constables on execution, to collect and pay over said tax to the treasurer within three months after the time of receiving the duplicate thereof and the treasurer's receipt shall be his voucher. The town marshal shall make personal demand of every resident charged with tax if to be found, and before sale of property for delinquent tax shall give ten days' notice in advertis.e.m.e.nt in three of the most public places in said corporation, and if the property or any lot or piece of land for which no personal property can be found shall remain unpaid for three months after the expiration of the time by this act allowed the collector for the collection of the tax shall give notice in the nearest newspaper stating the amount of such tax and the number and description of the lots on which it is due and that the same will be sold to discharge such tax unless the payment thereof be made within three months from the date of such advertis.e.m.e.nt, and if such tax be not paid within that time the town marshal, after giving twenty days' notice of the time and place of sale at the three most public places in said town shall proceed to sell at public auction so much of said lot or piece of land as will discharge said tax.

SEC. 9. That if the owner of any lot sold for taxes as aforesaid shall appear at any time within two years after such sale and pay the purchase money with interest at thirty per centum per annum thereon he shall be ent.i.tled to the right of redemption. If, however, the owner or his agent shall neglect to redeem any real estate sold for taxes under the provisions of this act within the time herein specified, it shall be the duty of the mayor to make and execute a deed to the purchaser countersigned by the recorder under the seal of the corporation. Said deeds shall also be acknowledged before a justice of the peace, and when so executed and recorded in the office of recorder of deeds of Linn County, shall be deemed and taken as valid by law.

SEC. 10. Twenty days before each annual election the town council shall put up in some conspicuous place within said town, an accurate account of the money received and expended by said corporation since the last annual election, with the sources from which they were derived and the objects on which they were expended, which shall be certified by the recorder.

SEC. 11. The said corporation shall have power to regulate all streets, alleys, sidewalks, drains or sewers, to sink and keep in repair public wells, remove nuisances, and make other such needful regulations not incompatible with the laws of the state as shall conduce to the general interest and welfare of the inhabitants of said town. To provide for licensing, taxing and regulating auctions, retailers and taverns, theatrical and other shows of amus.e.m.e.nt, to prohibit tippling houses, gaming houses and other disorderly houses.

SEC. 12. The by-laws and ordinances of said corporation shall be published in a newspaper in the county or posted up in some public place in said town fifteen days before taking effect thereof, and the certificate of the recorder upon the town records shall be sufficient evidence of the same having been done and every annual election herein authorized shall be preceded by five days' notice thereof put up in three public places in said town.

SEC. 13. That the streets and alleys of said town shall const.i.tute one road district including the several roads leading from said town for the distance of one mile from the corporation limits.

SEC. 14. That the mayor or a majority of the councilmen may call a meeting of the town council whenever in his or their opinion the same may be necessary. The mayor and councilmen shall receive such compensation as shall be voted them by the inhabitants of said town in legal meeting a.s.sembled.

SEC. 15. This act shall take effect from and after its publication.

SMILEY H. BONHAM, Speaker of House

JOHN J. SELMAN, President of the Senate

Approved January 15th, 1849.

ANSEL BRIGGS, Governor

Secretary's Office, Iowa City, Iowa, March 27th, 1849.

I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the original act now on file in the said office.

JOSIAH H. BONNEY, Secretary of State

FIRST CITY OFFICIALS OF CEDAR RAPIDS

At 1 o'clock of April 4, 1849, the citizens of Cedar Rapids met at the school house, in accordance with the requirements of the law, and proceeded to elect town officers under a charter issued by the legislature and approved January 15, 1849 (for text of this doc.u.ment see Laws of Iowa, 1849, p. 116). The first election was in the nature of a ma.s.s meeting. William P. Harman was made chairman and Arven Kennedy, John H. Brooks, and John G. Cole selected as judges of election. Eber L. Mansfield was clerk of election. These judges certified to choice of votes as follows:

Mayor, Martin L. Barber.

Councilmen, Joseph Greene, Stephen L. Pollock, and James Leverich.

Recorder, Homer Kennedy.

The mayor immediately took the oath of office before John L. Shearer, justice of the peace.

The first meeting of the council was held May 11, 1849. Action was taken appointing Lowell Daniels treasurer of the town, to give bonds of $20. It was resolved that the munic.i.p.al seal "shall consist of a raised circle nine-tenths of an inch in diameter, enclosing an equilateral triangle." The first ordinance in preamble declared, that "there exists in the town divers unwholesome cellars, dung heaps, horse stables, cow stables, barns, yards, hogpens, and other nuisances." The object of the enactment was to abate these conditions. In July, 1849, Homer Kennedy resigned as recorder and Porter W. Earle was chosen in his place. A sort of omnibus ordinance was pa.s.sed October 23, 1849. This prohibited the sale of spirituous liquors, required that shows or other exhibitions should pay license of not less than one dollar nor more than ten dollars. A further section fixed penalties for disturbance of any public meeting. This ordinance was given effective publication by being "posted at G. Greene & Bro.'s store." Other ordinances, we find, were "posted on John Coffman's door." John H. Brooks, marshal of the town, was on November 8, 1849, allowed the sum of $16.73. Getting possession of so much money he immediately resigned, presumably to enjoy it without official cares.

THE SECOND ELECTION

The second election was held at the school house April 3, 1850. For mayor Martin L. Barber received 39 votes and Johnson Hill 27. For recorder John Palmer received 63 and Lawson Daniels 1. Stephen L.

Pollock, Thomas Downing and Charles C. Cook were the successful councilmen, the defeated candidates being George H. Ely, Joseph Greene, Isaac Cook, and W. P. Harman.

This new council on April 11, 1850, resolved to form a board of health, but at the next meeting this action was rescinded. In its stead an ordinance was pa.s.sed for preservation of public health. Enforcement of these provisions rested with the marshal. In May an ordinance was pa.s.sed permitting Harvey C. Higley to retail ardent spirits, upon giving a good and sufficient bond "to keep a good and orderly house, not permitting any gambling, drunkenness or rioting about his house or premises." Such bond Mr. Higley refused to execute, and the employment of counsel was authorized to commence suit against him for violation of ordinance. July 24 a health board was appointed consisting of Drs. J.

F. Ely, S. D. Carpenter, and J. C. Traer. The marshal, under direction of the board, was to abate all nuisances. The first recorders of the city were evidently not of fixed mind or habitation. John Palmer resigned as such December 8, and S. C. Koontz was chosen to fill the vacancy. Isaac Cook was made attorney for the city in pending litigation.

THE FIRST TAX LEVY