Buchanan County, Missouri - Chapter 13, 1900

Chapter 13

MUNICIPAL EQUIPMENT. - THE WATERWORKS. - ELECTRIC LIGHTING. - GAS COMPANIES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT. - TELEPHONE COMPANIES. - STREET RAILWAYS. - OMNIBUS AND HERDIC

The Above Mentioned Institutions

In 1875 an unsuccessful effort was made to secure a public water system for St. Joseph. The matter was not permitted to slumber, however, and the close of 1879 saw the project well under way to success. On December 1, 1879, the council passed an ordinance agreeing to contract with W. S. Fitz, John W. Rutherford and their associates for waterworks, when these men had formed a corporation to build such works. The sum of $5,000 was deposited with the city treasurer as a guarantee that this company would be formed and incorporated within ten days.

On December 10, 1879, the council passed an ordinance granting the St. Joseph Water Company the right to construct works on the reservoir gravitation plan, to lay mains, etc. The city reserved the right, at its option, at the expiration of ten years from the date of the approval of the ordinance, to purchase the waterworks, including all pipes, attachments, extensions, franchises, etc., upon giving six months' previous notice in writing ; the city and water company each to appoint a person and the two to select a third to appraise the property. The city contracted for one hundred and sixty hydrants for a period of twenty years, the company agreeing to place ten additional hydrants for every mile of pipe to be laid in the future extension of the service. This contract was, as provided for in the ordinance, ratified by the people at a special election, held on December 23, *879, and only four votes were cast in the negative.

The water company was organized as follows : W. Scott Fitz, president; T. J. Chew, Jr., secretary; J. W. Rutherford, chief engineer. The company agreed to have sixteen miles of pipe laid and the system in operation in one year. One hundred acres of land, some miles north of the city, were purchased and work was begun on

January 4, 1880. There was but one reservoir at first, located on a hill 320 feet above the river at low water mark, and 112 feet higher than any point in St. Joseph. The pumping station was located at the river. The original cost of the works was estimated at $300,000, but before they were offered for acceptance the company had . expended $700,000.

On January 12, 1881, the works were accepted by the mayor and council, and placed into active service. Theodore W. Davis was the first superintendent and was succeeded by Louis C. Burnes, who served until the spring of 1897, when he was succeeded by Charles H. Taylor, the present superintendent. In October of 1889 the stock and franchise of the company were sold to the American Waterworks and Guarantee Company of Pittsburg, Pa., a combination of capitalists owning and controlling the water systems of thirty-one other cities. The stockholders at the time of the sale were Col. James N. Burnes, Calvin F. Burnes, T. J. Chew, Jr., and William M. Wyeth.

The system has grown and expanded materially since the beginning. The water is pumped from the river, through filters, to the reservoir on the hill, and thence it flows to the city through pipes. The pumping plant consists of two Worthington pumps, each of three million gallon capacity in twenty-four hours ; one Gaskill high duty pumping engine, of six million gallons capacity in twenty-four hours; one Cope & Maxwell engine of one million gallons capacity in twenty-four hours. A slow-service engine, of eight million gallons capacity, lifts the water to the filter plant, which is located at the pumping station, and which consists of fifteen O. A. H. Jewell filtering tanks, each fifteen feet in height and twelve feet in diameter. The Norberg Manufacturing Company, of Milwaukee, is under contract to build a high-duty pump of eight million gallons' capacity, to be delivered February 15, 1899. The steam plant consists of four Heine water-tube boilers, of a combined force of eight hundred-horse power. There are two suction pipes to the river, one thirty-six inches in diameter and the other twenty-four inches in diameter ; there are two force mains from the pumping station to the reservoirs and two twenty-inch supply mains from the reservoirs to the city. There are now three ; e«eivoirs, with a combined capacity of about seventeen million gallons. There are now more than eighty-one miles of pipe, the service to the stockyards having just been completed, and there are 501 double-nozzle hydrants on the streets for fire protection.

for a renewal thereof. The fact that no agreement has been reached after nearly two years of negotiating, and the fact also that the city has solicited bids from other parties to build water works, leaves it to the compiler of the next history to chronicle the final solution of a problem in which the public is greatly interested.

ELECTRIC LIGHT. - In 1883 The St. Joseph Electric Light Company, composed of J. F. Barnard, L. D. Tuttle, Joseph A. Corby, A. N. Schsuter and R. E. Turner, secured a franchise for stringing wires through the streets, and erected a plant at Fourth street and Mitchell avenue for the production of electric light. Walter C. Stewart, the present city electrician, was the superintendent. Only arc lights were furnished, and no attempt was made at street lighting. This plant was absorbed by the People's Street Railway, Electric Light and Power Company, in 1887, which company had a contract to furnish a small number of arc lights to the city. This company introduced the incandescent light. It is now known as the St. Joseph Railway, Light, Heat and Power Company (see street railways), and its plant is located near the river, between Francis and Felix streets.

GAS COMPANIES. - In 1856 the city went into partnership with J. B. Ranney and others for the purpose of manufacturing illuminating gas. The capital stock of the concern was $50,000, one-half of which was owned by the city. A plant was erected at Fifth and Angelique streets, in a building now used as a stable. Gas came high in those days, at least to private consumers, who were charged $5 per thousand cubic feet.

The people were soon sick of the city's bargain. The treasury being empty, the city's stock in the company was sold to James M. Wilson for 20 per cent of fts face value. In 1861 the interest of Ranney & Co. was sold under execution to Thomas B. Weakly, who, with James M. Wilson, operated the works until 1864, when Weakly purchased the interest of Wilson, paying therefor $8,000. Previous to this the works were burned to the ground, but had been rebuilt. At this time Weakly advanced the price of gas to $6 per thousand feet to private consumers, at which price it was held until the purchase of the works in 1871 by Tames Clements and associates of Detroit, Mich., under the name of Citizens' Gas Light Company, at the sum of $50,000. This company at once enlarged and improved the works and secured the contract for lighting the street lamps, which had remained unlighted for several years. They supplied private consumers at $4.50 per thousand feet, and afterwards reduced :the price to $4. For street lamps the city paid $30 per year for each light.

In 1878 the Mutual Gas Light Company came before the city authorities and, through their president, Charles H. Nash, offered to supply private consumers at $2.50 per thousand feet and the street lamps at $25 per annum. They were awarded the contract and granted franchises in the streets equal to the other company. The beginning of work was but the commencement of hostilities between the rival companies, which finally resulted in the sale ot the entire works and franchises of the Citizens' to the Mutual Gas Light Company. This company was reorganized some years ago and called the St. Joseph Gas and Manufacturing Company up to the summer of 1897.

In 1890 a franchise to lay gas mains in the streets was granted to the late Charles McGuire of St. Joseph, his heirs and assigns. Upon this was founded the St. Joseph Light and Fuel Company, with Samuel Allerton of Chicago as president and L. C. Burnes of St. Joseph as vice-president and general manager. This company manufactured what was called "water gas." It was used for illuminating purposes also, but required a magnesium burner, shaped like a comb, to produce the desired result. The gas burned against the teeth of the burner, heating them to an incandescent point and producing a brilliant light. The process was afterward changed, and the gas was used for illumination as the ordinary coal product. The works of this company were located at Fourth and Cedar streets. There was lively competition, rates went down, and previously unheard-of concessions were made to consumers.

In the summer of 1897 both of the existing companies were absorbed by the St. Joseph Gas Company, of which Emerson Mc- Millan of New York is president; W. A. P. McDonald of St. Joseph, vice-president; Kerr M. Mitchell, general manager, and Ferdinand Labrunerie, secretary and treasurer.

The price of gas in St. Joseph at this time for ordinary consumers is $1.25 per thousand cubic feet, with a discount of 25 cents per thousand if the bill is paid before the tenth day of the month.

phia, in 1876, this invention was practically applied in this city. John Kenmuir, a jeweler, who is generally remembered, first used the telephone in St. Joseph. His place of business was at No. 509 Felix street, where the Tootle-Lemon bank building now stands, and he connected this with his residence at 1211 Frederick avenue. In the same year a line was strung that connected the two fire department houses - one at the foot of Edmond street, and the other east of the Tootle theatre - with the residence of W. B. McNutt, who was then chief of the department. In February of 1878 another fire alarm line was built from the engine house to the International Hotel, at Eighth and Olive streets.

The St. Joseph Telephone Company, a partnership consisting of John Kenmuir, P. LeB. Coombes and Joseph A. Corby, was formed in April of 1879. Work was begun soon thereafter, and on August 12, of the same year an exchange, with J50 subscribers, was opened, the central office being in the rear of Kenmuir's jewelry establishment. At about the same time the Western Union Telegraph Company opened an exchange with about the same number of subscribers, the central office of which was located in the third floor of what was then known as the Board of Trade building, and which is now part of the Hotel Truckenmiller, on Third street. A lively fight ensued, and rates ranged from nothing up to $2 per month. This continued until 1879, when both rivals were absorbed by the National Bell Telephone Company under the name of St. Joseph Telephone Company. The exchange was moved to the third floor of the Fairleigh building, at the southeast corner of Third and Felix streets. In 1882 the Missouri & Kansas Telephone Company purchased the system and maintained its exchange in the Fairleigh building until December 12, 1896, when it was moved into a fireproof building erected by the company on Seventh street, between Felix and Edmond streets.

The Citizens' Telephone Company was organized in 1893, the incorporators being C. M. Shultz, E. J. Peckham, A. B. Sowden and M. M. Riggs. A franchise was secured from the council, and in 1894 an exchange was opened in the Hughes building.

The first street railway line in St. Joseph was built in 1866 by Richard E. Turner, Thomas J. Chew, Jr., Arthur ICirkpathrick, John S. Lemon and others, and extended from Eleventh street and Mitchell avenue to Third and Felix streets. The barns were locatd on Eighth street near Seneca. In 1881 the line was extended down Eleventh street to Atchison street.

In 1876 Adolph Steinacker, the Krugs, Seymour Jenkins, Louis Streckebein and others built a line from Market Square to New Ulm Park. In 1880 this line was extended to Sixth street and down Sixth to Atchison street. This was the best street railway in the city, its horses being of a high quality and its cars being equipped with stoves.

At about the same time that the Sprague electric motor was being placed into practical operation at Richmond, \ a., the late Adolph Steinacker was experimenting upon the Union line with the same machine. Electric cars were run between the power house at Highland and St. Joseph avenues, and New Ulm Park, in the fall of 1887. In the spring of 1888 they were run to Market Square. The Union was the first electric line in the West. It was a horse line from its southern terminus to Market Square, where passengers changed to the motor cars. The southern line formerly ran down Second street to Charles, and thence east to Fifth street.

The Frederick avenue line was built in 1878, when a charter was granted to the St. Joseph & Lake Railway Company. The road was narrow gauge, and the iron and rolling stock had been brought by August Kuhn and Charles A. Perry from Leavenworth, where it had been the equipment of an unsuccessful venture between the city and the state penitentiary. The line began at Eighth and Edmond streets and ran to the end of Frederick avenue, where the barns were located. The company went into bankruptcy shortly after the line opened, and was acquired by Thomas E. Tootle, Joseph A. Corby and others. In 1887 a franchise was secured to run down Edmond street to Market Square. In the same year both this line and the Citizens' line were acquired by the People's Street Railway, Electric Light and Power Company, a corporation composed of Eastern capitalists, and at once equipped with electricity.

In 1888 Charles W. Hobson, Dr. J. M. Huffman and others built the Wyatt Park line, which began at Seventh and Edmond streets and ran south on Seventh street to Olive street and thence, as now, to the power house on Thirty-sixth street. At the same time the People's company built the Jule street line, which began at Seventh and Felix streets, ran north to Jule, and thence east. In 1889 the People's company built the Messanie street line. In that year the Wyatt Park, the Messanie and the Jule street lines were extended to the New Era Exposition grounds.

In 1890 the People's company absorbed the Union line, which was now fully equipped with electricity, and also the Wyatt Park line, gaining control of the entire street car system of St. Joseph. The gap on Seventh street between the Wyatt Park and Jule street lines was at once filed, and a delightful trip could be made around what was called the belt. People could start, say at Seventh and Felix streets, and go north and east on the Jule street line, pass through the eastern suburbs and the ruined New Era park, and return through Wyatt Park to the starting point. A line was also extended to Vineyard Heights, located on eastern Mitchell avenue ; but neither the belt line nor this spur proved remunerative, and were discontinued.

The Citizens' line was extended to South Park and Gladstone Heights in 1890, but runs only to South Park now. A spur was run from Frederick avenue north on Twenty-second street to Highland Park at about the same time, and ds still in operation. In January of 1898 the Union line was extended to the stock yards, over a track leased from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company. When the proposed viaduct over the railroad tracks on lower Sixth street is completed, a line is to be built and extended to Lake Contrary.

The People's company was reorganized in 1895 as the St. Joseph Railway, Light, Heat and Power Company. It furnishes electric light, electric power and heats a number of buildings in the business portion of the city with steam. W. T. Van Brunt has been its general manager for ten years, and John H. Van Brunt has been superintendent of the railway system for eight years.

OMNIBUS LINE. - In February, 1859, upon the opening of the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, Major Holman and Samuel Jerome started the St. Joseph Omnibus Line. In the spring following Messrs. John L. Motter and C. D. Smith bought out the line and built omnibus stables near the Patee House. They continued to operate this line until George W. McAleer bought out the interest of

J. L. Motter. The business was conducted by these gentlemen for some time, when Colonel J. L. Motter bought out C. D. Smith. Motter and McAleer ran the business in partnership for some time, when Colonel Motter sold his interest to McAleer. The line subsequently became the property of William Medaugh, by whom it was sold, in 1867, to Thomas Christopher. The stock then consisted of five omnibuses, one carriage, four buggies and thirty-six horses. Smith Adams afterwards became a partner in the omnibus line with Major Christopher. Joseph A. Piner purchased the line in 1871 and associated with him Thomas A. Massey. Upon the death of Massey Colonel Elijah Gates became Major Piner's associate, and this firm continued until 1894, when the stock and equipment were purchased by the Brown Transfer Company.

HERDIC COACHES. - The Herdic coaches were intended for service upon streets that had no tramways. They were a sort of carry-all, with seats along the sides, and were quite successfully operated in eastern cities. I11 July of 1881 a company was established in St. Joseph with Dr. John T. Berghoff as president; Joseph A. Corby as secretary, and E. F. Mitchell as superintendent. There were eight coaches and fifty-six horses. There were two lines. The first ran from Market Square east on Felix street to Ninth strreet, north to Frederick avenue, east to Thirteenth, south to Sylvanie street, east to Fifteenth street, north to Edmond street, east to Seventeenth street, and north to Francis street, returning by the same route. The second line ran from Felix street north on Sixth street to Hall, east to Ninth street, north to Powell street, and thence to Mount Mora Cemetery. The venture proved unsuccessful and was abandoned after a year's efforts.