Delaware County, Indiana - Chapter 16: Natural Gas Makes a City of Muncie, 1908

Perhaps Muncie people did not immediately realize what the gas discovery meant for their material prosperity. But by the spring of 1887 the spirit of change, progress and enterprise was thoroughly active. On March 18 the Daily News announces in black type the arrival of the Muncie Boom, and as a concrete example says that Joseph Stafford intended laying out the eighty lots of the Winton place into streets and village property. Already, it was reported, a syndicate of capitalists, representing two millions of dollars, had purchased real estate to the value of $150,000 in Muncie and vicinity. A few days later Col. Dan Meade and Nicholas Ohmer bought $^0,000 worth of suburban real estate. The events of the next week or so proved beyond doubt that Muncie and vicinity were in the throes of a speculative real estate movement, and that values were no longer based on real worth but on the air-blown estimates of the future.

In April real estate transfers involving large sums were of daily if not hourly occurrence. People began to talk of Muncie as the "Birmingham of the North," the older citizens began to dream of a metropolis, with multitudes of people thriving on the products of mill and factor)-, and to all it seemed that Muncie was at the threshold of an era of wonderful growth. Ever)- time a new flow of gas was started, the hopes and plans of the citizens - and the prices of real estate - were given increased buoyancy. The following is one of the parodies provoked by the boom, and part of the contents of the article that followed it, as printed in the Daily News (April 6) -

Everywhere, on the corners, in the stores, and through the country vou can find people casting their weather eye toward desirable pieces of property and asking, "what's the price?"

Wc thought it was warm last week but now it is hot and still heating. Nearly fifty men were here yesterday representing syndicates with immense capital, and large tracts were purchased.

The deals yesterday were the largest in tlic history of the county, arvl confidence with which outside capitalists take hold of the property is a £oo(| indication that the hoom is not one of mushroom growth, but one which has come to stay. Property in many instances tan be purchased today for the same money it could three, four or five years ago. This shows that prices are not inflated and valued relative.

With the establishment at this place of factories, machine shops, car works, etc., JMuncie cannot help but boom and become a city of 30,000 inhabitants in the next few years.

"Six natural gas wells has Muncie. It is a thriving city of eight thousand people. Though small, it is metropolitan. Here are the essential conveniences of the largest American cities, without their dust, disease and foul air. The Muncie citizen orders his groceries by telephone, his residence is lighted by artificial gas. his place of business by electric light, having choice of both systems, the Brush and Edison incandescent, his meals are cooked by natural gas ; there is a good fire department and the Gamewcll fire alarm system ; he has three railroads, and will soon have an electric line of cable street railway ; there is a first-class system of water works ; there is a good system of sewerage and clean macadamized streets ; he sends his children to public schools that have no superior in the state, and they have the reading of a free public library of 6,500 selected volumes. Muncie alreadv has taken rank as a manufacturing point, and of her eight thousand population more than a thousand are employed in her manufactories. Two factories from Cincinnati are soon to remove to Muncie, and negotiations are pending with a number of establishments in Pennsylvania and Ohio which are desirous of coming to the Indiana gasopolis."

One more quotation from the enthusiastic newspapers of the time will suffice. From quiet, matter-of-fact statement of current news, the local papers had quickly adopted a style in harmony with the enthusiasm of the hour, and ordinary news is quite lost among the big leaders describing the opening of new wells, location of factories, etc. Indeed, it is necessary for the historian to modify, in the light of known later facts, many of the confident assertions of the press at that time. The following is quoted from the Muncie Daily News of April 12, 1S87:

The boom breezes were much stronger and more regular yesterday than it has been at any time yet. Many of the gentlemen who were here last week and went home over Sunday came back with reinforcements. The men who came for the first yesterday found the supply of gas much larger than they had been led to suspect. Speculators expected to find in Muncie an Indiana village like Portland, Anderson or New Castle, with a sickly natural gas flame as a curiosity. Instead of that they see a city with all the improvements of a place of 20.000 people. They see a citv with a ,, :;(]i_v built business centre - Ion? rows of handsome edifices with shining plate glass fronts. Handsome public buildings in all parts of the city A court house finer than ones possessed by Cincinnati or Indianapolis. They jee a city of 7.500 with $150,000 invested in public school building's A city with $15,000 invested in a fire department and a corps of firemen as L., as there is in any city in the state. A city with $3,000 invested in the ;::o-t approved fire alarm system. Visitors standing iii front of the Kirbv Inst evening heard the bell ring and in sixteen seconds saw a magnificent ream of horses dashing down the street drawing the same fire machinery they would sec used in New York City. The visitors were incredulous and lliought the alarm came from the engine house, but investigation proved that a key was turned one-half mile away, which informed every citizen of Muncie where the fire was located, rang gongs which awakened' the firemen opened the stall doors of the horses and the great doors of the department' Our surprised individual said to the writer: "Whv this is not a Hoosier village, but an Indiana city."

One of the results of the boom was to arouse the spirit of enterprise and nerve men to engage in undertakings which they would regard as impossible during ordinary times. One evening, while the speculative fever and general enthusiasm was at its height, a number of men were sitting in the Kirbv House discussing various features of the boom. Among other things, one expressed his desire for a ground floor office, something that could not be had anywhere in Muncie at that time. Several others were of like mind and said they would pay handsomely for such an advantage of location. In the group was James Eoyce, who turned to the first speaker and asked how much he would pay for such a room. "There is a lot and just in the right location," pointing to the corner where the Commercial Club building now stands. One said he would give sixty dollars a month for such a room, but it was useless to discuss it, for no building was there and none could be put there as soon as needed. "Gentlemen," was Mr. Joyce's reply, "if you will rent the rooms, I will have a brick building there in a week's time." It was in the nature of a wager, and the business men hardly thought it possible for Eoyce to fulfill his promise though they were quite willing to accept their part of the bargain. It is indicative of the spirit and energy of the time that Mr. Eoyce succeeded. On Monday, April 18, he contracted with D. C. Mitchell to erect on the corner of Main and Jefferson, a one-story brick building. 96 feet front and 24 feet deep, six rooms, with plate-glass windows, and all to be completed bv the following Saturday evening. Here is a paragraph from the News: - "Euilding by gas light. One of the most novel sights ever witnessed in this town or any other was the work on the new Eoyce building last evening. Ground was broken yesterday morning and this morning some of the walls arc one storv high. The workmen were at their places all night, and bv the aid of flaming' gas torches arc able to work as readily as they can in day." Saturday evening Mitchell turned over the keys of the completed building to Boyce. This was long known as "Real Estate Row."

For a time building and real estate were the principal interests of the city. It was announced early in April, i8S7, that "Rat Row," corner of Jackson and Walnut streets, would be replaced with a three-story business block, and other buildings were projected. If the newspaper reports of the transactions are to be believed, the amounts invested in local land by outside capitalists ran into the hundreds of thousands every week. On April n, for instance, Goshorn brothers of Cincinnati bought William Walling's farm and John Luick's farm, paying $52,000 for the two tracts. On the same day T. H. Kirby sold 66 acres of suburban property at $275 an acre. April 22, thirty acres on Walnut street pike sold for $650 an acre, and a corner lot sold for $5,500 that two weeks before had brought $3,500. April 27 the Kirby tract of 41 acres west of town sold at $475 an acre; six days before, the price was $250 an acre. These are a few examples selected from the long list of transactions published every day. Shorn of the exaggeration natural to the occasion, they represent a phenomenal rise in real estate

February 24, 1S87, was organized the Muncie Board of Trade as a corporation "for promotion of any and all undertakings calculated to advance the interests, improvement and general welfare of the city of Muncie." The first officers were: J. A. Goddard, president; S. A. Wilson, first vice president; T. F. Rose, second vice president; J. R. McMahan, third vice president; W. M. Marsh, treasurer. The Board of Trade was the first of several similar and successive organizations that, each in turn, worked for the welfare and industrial development of Muncie. The scope of the work to be done by the Board is shown by the names of the committees - Manufactures, public improvements, ways and means, local roads and streets, projected railroads, completed railroads, public affairs, etc. The Board of Trade had its origin in a citizens' meeting of February 1st, to devise means to attract manufacturers and utilize the gas supply. At that time the following committee were appointed: James Boyce, S. M. Highlands, J. N. Templer, George Kirby, A. L. Johnson.

The charter members of the Board of Trade, men who thus actively identified themselves with the progress of Muncie after the gas discoveries, though most of them had been for years working public-spiritedly along the same lines, were as follows : p. L. Waclitcll, Xlionias McKillip, Carl Spilkcr, 7. F. Rose, Samuel A. Wilson, j. E. Burson, C. E. Adamson, \V. M. Marsh, [,.,]in M. Kirby, "Joseph A. Goddard, Fred W. Heath, F. Leon, J. W. Templer, John F. Sanders, C. F. W. Neely, A. A. Wilkinson, J. R. McMahan, J. W. Perkins,

It is surprising how quickly the boom of 1887 died out. The enthusiasm was too great to last. No one could be found to confess that it was gone, the newspapers said not a word about it, though their pages once more took on somewhat of the appearance and routine news matter they had had in the previous year. But as one who was most active in the movement said, "The boom broke in a single night." However, it must not be understood that this marked a real calamity and permanent cessation of the development of Muncie. So far, the sudden activity and progress of the city was artificial, was speculative, and consisted mainly of real estate transfers that might enrich individuals but added no real wealth to the community. The real and effective resources (gas) had hardly been touched. It took time, and careful planning on the part of the citizens to establish manufactories and make Muncie a big center of industry. That was accomplished in the course of a year or so, and then the real boom came, compared to which this first speculative flurry was insignificant.

Muncie was progressing during this time and was laying the foundations for permanent development. Yet, if one could judge entirely bv the newspapers of the time, there was almost a complete cessation of enterprise during the political campaign of 18S8, and there was no revival until the following spring. But while the city may not have added greatly to its business interests during that time, it is certain that much had been done for the enduring welfare of the city. The manufactories that have remained longest and proved the foundation of the industrial city were established here during the first two years. Many of the interesting details of these years must be included in the chronological summary, but the larger facts may be sketched.

As already stated, Muncie had a splendid nucleus of manufacturing enterprise before the gas boom, though it is true that most of the industries employed only a few persons and therefore did not contribute materially to the making of a "factory city." The principal factories of Muncie before the boom, as enumerated by the News on July 23, 1885, were as follows: Tames Boyce, flax bagging and handles; J. W. Little, feather dusters; Wysor, Haines & Co., machine works; A. L. Johnson & Co., hardwood lumber; Johnson & Hitchcock, skewers; Wysor, Kline & Co. and C. N. Wilcoxon, roller Hour mills; E. P. Smith, Mock Bros, and Joseph Prutzman, tile and brick ; Bandy Planing Mill Company ; New York Spoke Works; J. II. Smith & Co., bent wood work; Garrard & Patterson, bed springs. Roller skates, then much in demand, were made by T. A. Ncely, Bishop & Long, Bccktcl & Johnson, Coleman, Strecter & Co., and Victor Skate Company. Besides all these, Muncie's manufactured products included curry combs, reed organs, furniture, hubs, wringers and scrubbers, cigars, boots and shoes, leather, brooms, barrels. Several manufacturers made goods on their own patents. It is a matter to be recognized in this history that the list of Muncie's inventors is a long one.

The list of names just given should be regarded somewhat as an honor roll, since they had located in the city before it was able to offer extraordinary inducements to manufactures. Hardly had the news of the discovery of gas in eastern Indiana reached the east when the movement of manufacturers to this region began. For some kinds of manufactories, notably glass making, natural gas was the pre-eminent fuel ; but even aside from this adaptability, the extreme cheapness of gas proved an alluring bait to a host of manufacturers who located in this part of the state about that time. Many towns, through their commercial clubs or boards of trade, increased the inducements by offering sites and a gas well already developed, so that the company might use its ledger space for ground rent and fuel for recording additional profits.

One of the first enterprises to locate in Muncie was the Kinnear Manufacturing Company, carved wood being their specialty. The company was incorporated in July, 1887. with capital stock of $30,000. This was largely a local concern, its directors being C. E. Tuthill, B. F. Kinnear, A. L. Kerwood. George Kirby and T. F. Rose. They conducted a successful business for se\eral years.

In the same month (July) the Ball Brothers, of Buffalo, New York, began their negotiations which resulted in the location of their great glass factories in Muncie. The plans of the enterprise were published July 28, and the building of the plant on Meridian street in Galliher's addition was

The oldest, as well as one of the largest, of the manufacturing enterprises whose history belongs within the gas regime, is the Indiana Bridge Company, which was incorporated shortly after the gas discovery, with capital stock of $30,000. It is worth noting that the officers of this concern were all local men, who were identified with Muncie long before natural pas was thought of. They were: T. F. Rose, president; J. C. Johnson, treasurer, and George F. McCulloch, secretary. Natural gas wells were sunk on their premises east of town, and by March, 1887, they had completed one large brick and stone building and were building another.

Many people remember that Muncie once had a rubber works. The Muncie Rubber Company was incorporated September 21, 1887, by T. W. Null, C. T. Petchell and J. D. Mitchell, and the contract for the building was let in the following November.

About the time natural gas was discovered in Indiana, the new Inter- State Commerce bill went into effect. Just how much influence op the manufacturing growth of Muncie this may have had cannot be stated accurately, but it was asserted at the time that the new law had paralyzed the nail and glass business in the Virginias, and that this was an additional incentive for such industries to move to the natural gas belt. It is certain that a big rush of glass makers followed the discovery of gas. After the coming of the Balls, the next important enterprise of this kind was the Hemingray Eros., who in January, 1888, announced their decision to move part of their glass factories from Covington, Kentucky. The location chosen by this firm, which has continued as one of the big industries of Muncie, was on Macedonia avenue, east of the Ball plant.

In January, 1888, the Muncie News gave a list of the factories that had been located since the gas discovery. The total number of employes connected with these enterprises was given as 1,400, mainly skilled workmen, hut it is evident that these figures were not the result of actual counting, but rather an estimate based on future growth of each factorv to its promised capacity. The plants named, with the number of employes, 'were the following: Kinnear Manufacturing Company, 100; Brooks Creamery. 20; Halls Bros. Glass Company, 300; G. Jaeger Paper Company, 200; Muncie Rubber Company, 100; Hemingray Glass Company, 500; E. P. Smith & Co., 50; Thompson Enameling Company, 125.

The year 188S was one of marked activity in Muncie's factory development. Many of the older firms, including the bagging mills, handle factorv, bent wood works, and the Indiana bridge works, continued in flourishing condition, while the new plants were rapidly nearing completion. The pulp works, southwest of town, began operation during the summer, and for the first time the farmers of the county had a commercial demand for their straw, the pulp mill paying three dollars a ton for it when delivered. [n May, largely through the efforts of the Board of Trade, a large nail factory, hitherto located in Greencastle, Indiana, was obtained for Muncie, being renamed the Muncie Nail Works. Mr. Charles Darnall was president. One hundred and fifty lots were obtained for the plant in the Galliher subdivision.

Without disparaging the efforts of other men, it may be said truthfuliv that Mr. James Boyce was as indefatigable in the work of building a city here during the gas boom as he had been during earlier years, when he was the principal manufacturer of the city of five thousand people. In iSSS Mr. Boyce platted a suburb on his land across the river on the cast of town, giving it the name of Boyceton. Here, it was announced in June ' of that year, Maring, Hart ec Co. would locate their window glass works, moving them from their former location in Bellaire, Ohio. The securing of this enterprise for Muncie was attributed entirely to Mr. Boycc'j efforts.

Another enterprise brought in during this year was the C. H. Over Glass Works. All these glass works were to begin operation in the fall, so the outlook was very bright for industrial Muncie. At the close of 188S, in the report of the state geologist, was published a list of the factories at Muncie using natural gas for fuel. This included practically all the larger enterprises, and as the statistics concerning each may be considered fairly reliable, the report is summarized here:

Ball Glass Works, fruit jars, green and amber bottles; two furnaces, nine pots; value of daily product, $700; 125 employes; weekly payroll, $1,200; sand from Millingtbn, Illinois; lime from Fostona, Ohio, and soda ash from England.

Many of the details of Muncie's growth, the establishment of factories, and other interesting facts must be omitted here and mentioned in the chronological chapter or under special titles. The street railway had its origin early in die gas boom, but the history of that can best be told in one

,,f churches and schools and these too must he descrihed elsewhere. However, as one studies the events of those years, one is convinced of the fact -hat Mtincie grew disproportionately during the first few years. The splen- ,!i,i energy of the citizens was directed for the most part to the making of a big manufacturing center. Factories, more factories, seemed to be the 3;r7] of all the organized efforts put forth at this time. This being true, the other interests of the city could not possibly keep pace with its industrial advancement. The population of the city increased threefold within a few \rar>. a dozen immense factories came in, and while bringing with them -rent possibilities of wealth, also introduced a complexity of good and evil conditions that the city was unable to cope with for some years to come. l-.ilicrality was naturally a characteristic of city and citizens at a time when a cordial invitation, together with a fat money bonus, was extended to the manufacturing interests of the world. But partly as a result of this liberality and open-handedness and partly because of the absorption of all classes in business affairs, Muncic soon came to have the reputation of being a "free and easy town," where the good people were too busy to concern themselves greatly with moral conditions. So, for a number of years, Muncie 's history is marked by social evils and statutory crimes that in the aggregate make a record from which any city might well wish to be free. It was not "an outbreak of crime," such as occurs in all cities from time to time, but the record forms almost a continuous story from day to day extending over several years. Criminality in Muncic was due to the conditions, as stated, rather than to any sudden infection of depravity. For a long while hardly any attempt was made to regulate the saloons, and the "quart shops," low dives and other haunts of vice flourished without check. These conditions were tolerated by the city government and by the better classes largelv, it would seem, because such evils were deemed to be a necessary part of industrial prosperity, and also because the moral forces and organizations had not increased apace with the material expansion of the city. While it seems necessary to call attention to this feature of Muncic's historv, a detailed account of the criminal record happily has no place here ; those whose morbid desire leads them in quest of such accounts, need only turn over the ]n^> of the local newspapers of that period.

By the close of 1S90 Muncie's factories produced an amazing variety of products, chief among them being fine window glass, bottles and miscellaneous glass articles, nails and iron work, wood pulp, architectural iron, brass and novelties, caskets, bent wood, hubs and spokes, handles, coil hoops, etc., etc. Johnson's sawmill, Truitt's sawmill, Bandy planing mill, Muncie foundry were all enterprises that had helped make Muncie before the boom and were still doing flourishing business. In the spring of 1891, however

Muncic lost one of her oldest and most important factories. The Mur.cic Bagging Co., largely the enterprise of Mr. Boyce, had existed here nearly twenty years, notwithstanding the fact that its raw material was imported from abroad and that its principal market was in the south. But at this time it was considered wise to move it to the cast.

With the first years of the '90s, came the "big boom," not alone at Muncie but throughout the county and the gas belt. The recoil that followed the first burst of enthusiasm in 1887 did not materially affect the prosperity of the city and country, and in the meantime capital had come in and development work had proceeded so far that the second advance may be said to have been, "all along the line." It possessed real substance, both money and energy, and exhibited its strength and influence in every part of the county.

While it would be impossible to describe Muncie's development during these years without reference to the Citizens Enterprise Company, it is also true that the story of that company is the most characteristic feature of the city's industrial history and represents very correctly the interests and activities and the strenuous enterprise of the time. The Citizens Enterprise Company was organized August 14, 1S91, at a meeting held in the city council chamber and attended by representatives of all the important interests of the city. The board of directors that were chosen were : George Kirby, George L. Lcnon, O. J. Lotz, Frank Leon, James Boyce, J. A. Goddard, A. L. Johnson, W. M. Marsh, C. H. Church; with an advisory board consisting of A. L. Kcrwood, George W. Spilker, J. R. Sprankle, J. A. Ileinsohn, J. Ii. Wysor, J. F. Darnall.

The object of the company was to promote the industrial interests of the city and especially to secure additional factories. For this purpose a large sum of money was needed, and remarkable energy was shown in raising the amount. Committees were appointed for every ward in the city, to solicit subscriptions; the property owners in Center township outside of the city were even called on for assistance. As a result of the vigorous campaign, the committee reported $103,000 secured by September 281I1. By the end of October the amount had crept up to $140,000. For a time it seemed impossible to get any further. Finally, at a public meeting, the reserve was broken by a single subscription of $12,000, which was followed by a scene of remarkable enthusiasm and good will, during which the liberal donations soon increased the total to more than two hundred thousand dollars - the exact amount was $211,050. The company was in reality a publicspirited stock company, the capital stock being divided among a large number of stockholders. The first assessment on this stock, amounting to ten percent, was called for on January 1, 1892, and during the existence of the company only three other assessments were made, amounting- to fifty percent in all, from which was realized, by the end of 1894, the sum of When the last assessment was levied, it was found that several subscribers refused to pay their share, and the collectors for the company had extreme difficulty in performing their tasks. The matter went to the courts, where it was finally decided that the subscriptions to the company's stock represented valid claims upon the subscribers and were collectible by law. Ill iHyS suit was brought by some of the subscribers to annul the charter of the company, and when this was defeated in the circuit court the decision was considered one of the most important that had been handed down in the history of the county. The company continued to exist until January, 1897, having accomplished, especially during the first two or three vears, work of inestimable value to Muncic.

Willi the expenditure of the ninety odd thousand dollars raised by subscriptions, the Enterprise Company brought into Muncie two million dollars represented in factories and capital. The Ohio Wagon works was the first enterprise secured $3,500 in the form of a loan being given it by the Enterprise Co. The works burned down, and the Enterprise Company collecting the insurance, lost only $114 by the transaction. The R. E. Hill Mfg. Co., knitting mills, was the next concern, contracted for in March, 1892. The company met reverses, finally passing to the Muncie Underwear Co. The Common Sense Engine Co., the third industry, passed through several court judgments, but for three or four years was called one of the important factories of the city. The Midland Steel Company, secured by the Enterprise Company in April, 1892, was the best achievement of the latter organization. The White River Iron and Steel Company, which was brought from Anderson, had misfortunes after locating here, but in 1S95 was still in operation, under the name of Park Iron and Steel Company. The Whitely reaper works, also secured by the Citizens company, was an important industry, of which great results were expected, but the plant was destroyed by fire, and never resumed its original size and importance as an independent manufacturing concern. Of the other factories secured by the Enterprise Company, there were in operation in April, 1895, the following: Gill Bros. Glass Pot factory. Pell Stove Co., Tappan Shoe Co., Consumers Paper Co., Muncie Electrical works (secured in July, 1893. and at first badly managed), Muncie Wheel Co. (which was double its original size by 1895), the Muncie Iron and Steel. Co. (a home company), Whitely Malleable Iron Castings Co., Patton Hollow Ware works. The location of the Indiana Iron works was due partly to Col. A. L. Conger and partly to the Enterprise Company. It was secured in 1892 and in 1895 was a large industry, employing several hundred men.

"past, present and future," issued about the middle of 1892, states that "the class of factories [secured by the Enterprise Co.] has been of the best and most permanent kind, such as any city might well be proud of; 2600 factory hands added in six mouths, this means an increase of 9,000 people. In view of all these facts it is not an idle prophecy to state that before five years Muncie will be a city of 50,000 people." And so it might have been but for contingencies that are not within the power of men to foresee.

Mere mention of the year 1S93 brings to mind financial panic and business depression, which was quite general all over the United States. But in Muncie occurred a combination of conditions such as probably no other city in the land experienced. This city, because of its flourishing factories, the splendid resources of natural gas, and the remarkable enterprise of the citizens, was in better condition to weather a financial panic than most places in the country, and it is evident from a study of events that Muncie suffered more from other causes than from the panic proper.

As having a slight influence on industrial confidence, it should be mentioned that the first admissions that the gas supply was weakening were made early in 1893. Only in the preceding year the extravagant prediction had been made, by calculations based on conditions at Pittsburg, Penn., that the gas supply in Indiana would last "seven hundred years." Nevertheless, Delaware county had all along refused the transportation of any gas beyond its boundaries, there being a strong public opinion on this point. Therefore, the Chicago pipe line companies had made little progress in encroaching on the gas supply of this county.

Some intimations of the business crisis were felt in Muncie during the summer of 1S93, but nothing serious occurred until the suspension of the Citizens National Bank in August. The splendid support given by the citizens to this institution, as told on other pages, did much to restore confidence, and as a matter of fact it can be said that the Citizens National affair was of only superficial importance, and indicated nothing alarming in the financial condition of the city.

Locally, Muncie suffered more from the smallpox epidemic that lasted from August into November, than from any other cause. The retail business and the general activities of the city were almost suspended during this time, and smallpox proved a strong ally of hard times in the attack upon the city's credit and resources.

Reference to the chronological record of this period will show individual examples of the results of the panic. There were one or two mercantile failures, several of the factories suspended temporarily or reduced their working force, and the feeling if not the actual fact of business stag-

A Mow was struck from another quarter early in 1894. One of the ,ju-f act- of the second Cleveland administration was the Wilson larilT hill, ..r.jviding for many important reductions in the larilT rates. Among llie.se, 1 ho duties on glass were reduced almost half. The glass manufacturers at Muncic were not long in feeling the adverse effects of the measure. In February, 1894, the reason assigned for the shut-down of the Over glass tvorks was the Wilson tariff bill. In the following fall, the results of the tariff reduction were seen in the horizontal lowering of wages of window workers nearly twenty-five percent.

Notwithstanding all these adversities, Muncic passed through the panic without permanent injury to her resources from that cause alone. The manufacturing interests by 1S95 showed an increase in number of employes in nearly every establishment, and were in a fairly prosperous condition, as indicated by a careful statistical summary given by the News. Again it is needful to -state that figures concerning industrial plants arc almost invariably approximates, and cannot be relied on for literal exactness; yet the tables given by the News and summarized here are probably as close an estimate on this subject as can be made at any time: -

Many minor concerns increased the total of employes nearly five hundred, so that by this showing at least half of Muncie's population was identified with and dependent on the manufacturing interests.

Resides manufacturing, Muncic had many other interests and there were numerous changes that reflect the growth of the city during this period. By many students of statistics, it is claimed that one of the best indexes of a community's business prosperity is the postofficc. There arc some figures at hand that arc of considerable interest in this connection. Muncie postoffice was elevated to the rank of second class on June 13, 1887, while John E. Banta was postmaster. For a number of years the postofficc had been located in the Times building at the corner of Washington and Walnut streets. But soon after the completion of the Anthony block (which for some years was the finest business block in the city) the postoftice was moved to that building (February 13, 1S88) and equipped with entirely new furniture. The receipts from stamps, etc., during the month of December, 1SS7, were $991.17, and for the last three months of that year were $2,617.60. So steadily were the revenues kept up during the following year that on January 1, 1SS9, free delivery was begun, with three carriers. During the first month of free delivery the reported receipts at the postofficc were $1,041, the largest known for any month up to that time, not even excepting the holiday month of the year (December). During the first month of the new system the carriers delivered i8,Soo letters, 4,114 post cards, 12,823 newspapers and periodicals, 65 registered letters - total number of pieces, 35,802. In November, 1889, the number of letters delivered had increased to 25,386, with a corresponding increase in other classes of matter. The total receipts for the last six months of 18S9 were $7,328.39. An interesting contrast is shown between the figures representing the gross receipts of the office for the year ending June 30, 1885, and the year ending June 30, 1892. The receipts were, for these respective dates, $6,621 and $19,151. Thus during this seven year period covering the growth of Muncie from before the gas discovery to the height of its boom, the postoftice receipts showed an increase of three hundred percent, corresponding very closely to the numerical increase of population. Probably most of the people who admire the present beautiful postofficc building are unaware of the fact that, had it not been for the panic and the consequent paring down of all appropriations in 1893, Muncie would have had a postoftice building at that time. A bill appropriating $150,000 for this purpose passed the senate, and a provision setting aside $50,000 was placed 'in a House bill, but the measure failed at that session and the following year the national treasury was shut tight by the panic.

In the line of municipal improvements there are many developments during this period. Jn September, 1S91, for the first time in ten years, a street commissioner was elected, his duties having been performed by the city engineer for a decade. The city engineer, in recommending this division

In 1SS2 Muncie graded all new streets out of the public fund of $2,811.75; in [S90 the total expended on streets for material and labor was $8,489.90. In 1S82 there were fifteen miles of streets, no paved sidewalks and but one little sewer. "Now," Sept., 1S91, "we have five miles of sandstone walk, jive miles of brick walk, and two miles of cement walk ; also over fortymiles of graded streets and over ten miles of completed sewers."

As late as 18S7 complaint was made about cows running about the streets and destroying lawns, resulting in the passage of an ordinance prohibiting that bovine privilege. About the same time another feature of town days was abolished in the removal of the hitxh-racks from the public square. This brought out a protest from the farmers, and the merchants uere active in the agitation to provide suitable places for hitching teams. Though the city now has many miles of first-class sidewalk, of flags, brick or cement, very little of it goes back of twenty years ago. In January, 1S88, the council, after much discussion of the subject, particularized how sidewalks should be constructed ; namely, the walks should be of sawed sandstone, six feet wide, the gutters of dressed limestone slabs, while grass should be grown between walk and curb. Though cement is now one of the most popular materials for sidewalks, and used entirely in many towns, its use has been sanctioned only a few years, as is evident from the fact that in 1^90 James Boyce was forbidden by the council to lay a "newfashioned" concrete walk on East Jackson street and ordered to make it of brick.

in street lighting the city took some important steps during these years. In iS.^S the council gave a contract to the Natural Gas Companv for lighting the streets until December I, 1S89, at $120 per post annually. This method was by no means satisfactory. By the fall of 1890 both people and council were discussing the subject of street lighting. "Away with torches that blaze and glare on nice clear nights and blow out leaving the city in darkness when needed the worst." It was estimated that the natural gas, with the extensions of the system then demanded, would cost the citv $5,000 annually, while the cost of an adequate and modern system of arc electric lights would cost only six or seven thousand dollars. Nothing was done immediately, but when the legislature passed an act in 1891 regulating the use of natural gas and forbidding the burning of flambeaux, the fear was expressed that the law would apply to the flaring jets by which Muncie was lighted and that when the law wont into ellect in June the city lamp, lio-htcrs would lay themselves liable to prosecution. In the county at large were thousands of such flambeaux, around the farm houses and along the roads, all of which must be shut off by the new law, and one editor could foresee the event of Muncic being left in total darkness, when the citizens would be compelled to carry lanterns about the streets. The editor exaggerated the prospect, but lie increased the weight of public sentiment for electric lighting. September 28, 1891, the council resolved to build its own electric light plant. The plant, located at North Elm and Wysor streets, was completed in the following February and the city's streets began to be lighted with one hundred arc lights.

In 1897 the Commercial Club boasted that the city had a complete sewerage system, costing $285,000. As already mentioned, the building of sewers had only begun during the eighties. It was not until September, 1889, that the council let the contract for the big outlet sewer, extending from near the L. E. & W. R. R. bridge to the Jackson schoolhouse, the cost to be $90,000. Connected with the sewage question was that of the disposal of garbage. The council in June, 1891, discussed the bad condition of the city dump in the rear of Wysor's mill, and finally recommended the building of a garbage furnace and the burning of the material collected by the scavenger wagons. But nearly two years passed before such a furnace was erected on North Walnut street.

Most remarkable of all the features of Muncie's growth was the development and upbuilding of suburban additions. In nearly every case these were the natural result of the establishment of factories and the building of homes and a few stores within convenient distance. Such suburbs, with the factorv as the center and cause of its being, were likely to continue and grow as long as the factory remained. The glass works, the steel mills and other big industries that have been in Muncie since the discovery of gas, are surrounded by homes and the necessary stores and institutions of a town center. While the expansion of the city was at high tide, confident real estate men projected several additions to Muncie that, with the partial collapse of the boom and also because there was little reason for the extension of the city in those directions, have now reverted almost to their original condition as meadows and woodland.

The beginning of Muncie's suburban growth is told, with the flavor of contemporary observation, by a reporter in the Daily News of February 29, 1888, describing his walk from the West Side to the river on the east

The first place visited was West Side, the new suburb across White river on Jackson street. Two years ago the Calvert homestead was the only residence in the neighborhood. Now there are dozens of new houses and contracts have been let for the erection of fifty more. One pleasing feature about West Side is that nearly all the residents own their homes. fiicy buy a lot and build themselves a house. None of the land is in the hands of speculators. Lots can be purchased at reasonable rates. Hundreds of lots arc offered for sale and it is a fine place to live.

The writer then tramped across White river to the Yorktown road. There the work of the surveyor was to be seen and many lots arc sold and will be occupied by neat buildings in the spring.

Making a bee line from here the Middletown road was soon reached and we were at Winton Place. This subdivision was primarily designed by the late Dr. Robert Winton. The doctor had grand ideas about Winton Place, which, unfortunately, he was never able to consummate. Nevertheless he left Muncie a rich heritage in the beautiful avenues of maples. The doctor intended that this should be the popular driveway of the city. His original plans have been accepted by the city as a subdivision, and many lots have been sold. Mr. George Stafford has given a contract for the erection of about twenty houses in this subdivision.

A few hundred feet to the south the writer came to Ohmer avenue. This avenue is a new thoroughfare. Commencing at Middletown road it goes directly east, crossing Walnut street; from there, it extends to Macedonia avenue. The avenue extends from there to the Burlington road. It will be 100 feet in width the entire length, will be graded and finished as a drive.

Without going the entire length of this long drive, we went south on the Fort Wayne Railroad. In a icw paces we came to the rubber works. A little further along we came to the pulp works. At both of these manufactories work is progressing very satisfactorily.

From here we went north northeast, angling across lots to the "glass district." All the way across the work of the engineer was everywhere to be seen. Ever)- inch of ground was laid off for lots, streets, alleys and p;;rks. Along here was also to be seen the line of the long switch which is to connect the "glass district" with the Fort Wayne Railroad. Besides the stakes, are to be seen foundations of houses, lumber for houses and other indications of municipal growth. All along also were the red stakes which denoted that the lots had been sold.

Arriving at the "glass district" the crops of last year are not to be ;-een. The immense red buildings of the Ball Bros. Glass Works are looming up on the hill. A torch from their gas well stands as a sentinel of the v.ork. To the east is a derrick, where a well is being put down for the Hemingrays.

Work has already progressed considerably at the Hemingray works. Vet the few large frame buildings and extensive foundations give no idea what the factorv will be. The works will cover eight acres of ground.

Four ami a half years later, in August, 1892, the suburban growth has extended to the north side of the river. Whitely was just beginning, while to the west, bordering Wheeling pike, the new place called Riverside was coming into notice as a residence district. Numerous improvements were being undertaken along the pike and Hudson avenue, the Necly place of eighty-five acres being cleared for buildings. The West Side was already a place of cottages and factories. Avondalc, in October, 1889, was said to have grown from two or three houses to one hundred, two years later was mentioned for its beauty and size, while in August, 1892, it had improved streets, street-car transportation by way of Ohmcr avenue, and had a school population that taxed the facilities that could be provided. Congcrvillc, with its tsvo iron mills, engine works, architectural iron works, nut and holt fnc- ' rory, and many houses, was a new but very promising part of the city. [n. i dustry, the name given to the suburb that had grown up around the glass : factory, was at that time denominated an unlucky suburb because of tin.- numerous fires that had visited the factories there, but it was then and has continued to be one of the largest additions to Muncic. Boyceton, on the east side of the river, with Maring, Hart and Co.'s factories, had been projected by Mr. Boyce several years previously, and a number of houses had been erected by him for the benefit of the residents.

The upbuilding of these suburbs brought the subject of fire protection into sudden prominence. The Muncie News in December, 1889, calls attention to the inadequacy of the fire department. The fire department was the same in force and equipment as when Muncie had seven thousand people, when there was no West Side, no Boyceton, no Avondale, no Anthony, no Galliher addition. There was only one station, water mains had not yet been extended to the outlying districts, and every time the engine company responded to a call from a suburb the team was exhausted by the long run.

In 1S92 Muncie was afflicted with many serious fires. Altogether there were 77 alarms for the year, against 43 for 1891. The total loss for the year was $418,616. Fourteen fires were beyond the reach of the water service. That this was a most serious condition is shown by the further statistics that these fourteen fires resulted in sixty percent of the total tire loss for the year. However, the frequency of disastrous fires in the factory district had aroused the council to action, and during the summer of 1S92 it was decided to add a new fire station, to be located on Mulberry and Willard streets, to serve the factory district. In December of the same year the Muncie Glass Co. opened a third station, which, however, was a private equipment and had no connection with the city department. In 1896 Chief Shepp reported the total value of the two stations and apparatus as $24,236, with annual expenses for 1895 about $8,750. Though the population and extent of the city had doubled within the preceding ten years, the value of the fire apparatus and the expense of operating had not increased correspondingly. In 1896 there were eleven miles of water pipes, 189 fire hydrants, and nine cisterns. In 1895, 118 alarms resulted in a loss of $77,907.