Buchanan County, Missouri - Chapter 8: Progress of St. Joseph, 1904

Efforts in Behalf of "Pateetown" - Effects of the Civil War and Several Financial Disturbances - The Boom of 1886 - The Present Era of Prosperity.

The impetus given St. Joseph by the overland emigration and freighting caused the town to make rapid strides up to 1861, at which time a population of 11,000 was claimed and many substantial public improvements were shown. The streets were paved with macadam, bridges had been built across the different creeks that coursed through the city and considerable grading had been done in the hills. Besides being a supply point for overland freighters, St. Joseph was a hemp and grain market of prominence, and pork packing had become an important industry.

When the Hannibal & St. Joseph road became a fact, business, which had heretofore closely hugged the river and Market square, began to look to the southeast. John Patee was one of the foremost citizens of the place. He had platted his land in an early day, and when the Hannibal & St. Joseph road was projected had donated a strip of 40 acres for terminal and depot purposes. This land stretched from Olive street south to Mitchell avenue, west of Eighth street. In the firm belief that the future of St. Joseph would build up around the railroad terminals, and with the assurance that the depot would be located at Penn street, Mr. Patee built a magnificent hotel, w^hich cost him $180,000. and which was then the second largest and best appointed hostelry in the United States. However, he was somewhat disappointed, for the depot was located at Eighth and Olive streets.

"Pateetown," as that section of the city was generally called, grew rapidly after the completion of the railroad in 1859. A market house was built at loth and Lafayette streets, which still stands ; business houses and hotels sprang up on Eighth and loth streets, south of Olive, and there was a lively traffic. But the people up town were not idle either, for prosperity was ruling there too. Many brick business houses were built ; among them the Pacific House, the Odd Fellows' Hall at Fifth and Felix streets, Turner Hall, and several blocks on Felix, Edmond, Francis and Fourth streets. The town was spreading out. Graders were busy leveling the hills and filling up the valleys, and the residence portion was being beautified with good homes.

Public improvements were confined mostly to grading the streets and to building bridges over the crooked creeks that coursed through the city. Smith's Branch, which headed near the upper end of Frederick avenue, came down that street, crossed lots to and followed the course of Buchanan avenue> touched Faraon and Jules streets and flowed southwest to Eighth, near Edmond street, thence across lots between the Kuechle brewery and Turner Hall to Sixth and Messanie streets, thence south to where the gas plant was located, below Olive street, and thence west to the river. Though there was not much water ordinarily, there was a deep ravine which was often filled with a wild torrent when the rains were heavy. This creek was bridged wherever the travel demanded, and so likewise were Blacksnake and Liniment creeks. Blacksnake Creek followed the course of the Chicago Great Western tracks and Liniment Creek ran diagonally from near the Insane Asylum to the river, emptying at Mitchell avenue. Both creeks are now covered by sewers.

St. Joseph had progressive men at the head of affairs in those days. The people responded to every call, both from their private resources and with the public funds, and bonds were voted wdth a recklessness that is astonishing in these conservative days. Any project that knocked for admittance was welcomed heartily, and led at once to the open purse. Some of this liberality is still being atoned for by the innocent taxpayer.

From 1 86 1 to 1865 - the Rebellion period - St. Joseph, like other cities and the country in general, went backwards. Business was paralyzed, labor was unemployed and all conditions were disturbed. The growth and decline of the city is best illustrated by the values of real estate. In 1851 the assessed valuation was $651,000; in 1852, .$784,000; in 1856. $1,040,653; in 1857, $3,313,000, and in. i860, $5,126,249. From the depressing effects of the Rebellion the values fell in 1861 $1,859,224 below i860. In 1862 a decline of $810,384 from the previous year was noted, and in 1864 the entire assessed valuation was only $3,384,-

After the war St. Joseph made great strides. During the first two years 3,000 buildings were erected. The era of prosperity continued until the panic of 1873. During that period the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad was extended north, the St. Joseph & St. Louis (now Santa Fe) road was built from Richmond, the St. Joseph & Denver City (Grand Island) was extended west, and the St. Joseph & Topeka was built from Wathena to Doniphan. This road was operated by the Burlington company for a time and was afterw^ard abandoned. The first street car line was also built in 1866, from Mitchell avenue and nth street to the Pacific Hotel.

In the latter "sixties" there was much street improvement and many miles of macadam were laid. During the same period the first attempt at sewering was made. The creek known as Bush Branch, which meandered from the neighborhood of Hall and Bush streets by a devious course to Fifth and Francis, was partially covered. Among the prominent manufacturing industries was the starch factory, which has long since disappeared.

Recovering from the stagnation caused by the panic of 1873 and the grasshopper years, St. Joseph began a steady march of progress, which has continued up to the present. However, notwithstanding the fact that business the country over was paralyzed by the panic of 1873, there are local monuments to activity in building during the period of depression. The Missouri River bridge was completed in May of 1873. The Court House, City Hall, Tootle's Opera House and the State Hospital for Insane, No. 2, were built in 1873-74.

In 1876 the Union Street Railway was built to New Ulm Park, from Market square, and in 1878 the narrow-gauge street cars were put upon Frederick avenue. Matters generally were looking up again by this time. In 1877- 78 the St. Joseph & Des Moines narrow gauge road was built. In 1878 the Board of Trade was organized. At the close of the decade the Krugs, Hax Brothers, A. O. Smith, David Pinger and Connett Brothers were packing pork on a large scale, and at the Union Stock Yards, on South loth street, there was a market in lively competition with Kansas City.

In 1880 the Missouri Pacific began to run trains into St. Joseph, and the next four years marked a period of steady progress. In 1880 the site of the old Odd Fellows' Hall and the Hax furniture store at l-'ifth and Felix streets, which had been destroyed by fire were coveretl with the splendid buildings of the present. The Odd Fellows' building and Hax's faced Fiftli street before the fire, the former being occupied by Bailey, Townsend & Company. The Faulhaber, Bergman and Stone buildings soon completed this block. R. L. McDonald built on Fourth and Francis streets at about the same time, and the imposing block of wholesale houses on Fourth street, north of him. followed at short intervals. The Turner-Frazer Building, at Third and Charles streets, went up in 1881, and Nave & McCord built in 1882. The Tootle Building on Fourth, between Felix and Francis tsreets, the large building at the northwest corner of Fifth and Edmond streets, and the Union Dq)ot. were built during the first "eighties." The Chamber of Commerce, the Saxton Building at Fourth and Francis streets, the Tootle Building at Sixth and Francis streets, and the general office? of the

Real estate values were remarkably low in St. Joseph up to 1880. A wave of speculation swept the country at about that time, and, though St. Joseph did not escape the craze, she suffered less than her neighbors from the reaction. On the contrary, the city was, generally speaking, benefited. From a complaisant lethargy there sprang energy, progressiveness and confidence. Values went up, outside capital was attracted, and to the conservatives there was unfolded a future of which there had been many early prophecies.

The first five months of 1886 saw real estate speculation at its height. Addition upon addition was platted and people scrambled to obtain lots at the first sale - to "get in on the ground floor," as the saying was. Real estate agents were without number, and on Francis street there was a "Real Estate Exchange," where property was listed on the blackened walls of a store room. AuKing the first new additions upon the market early in the boom was St. Joseph Eastern Extension, then came Saxton Heights. Wyatt Park, McCool's, Walker's and others.

Suburban property had the call of the speculators. As an evidence of the permanent benefits of the real estate flurry, one need but to compare the city of 1886 with the city of the present. At that time there were not more than 50 houses east of 22nd street, and few between that and 18th street. All was in grass and of no \alue except to the dairymen, who pastured their cows thereon. McCool's and Walker's additions, on the north, were in small farms or vacant. Now \\^yatt Park is a populous suburb of modern dwellings ; there is a street railway, there are paved streets, city water, churches, schools, fire protection, etc. The other additions likewise show up well. As a result of the boom, the Wyatt Park, the

Jules street and the Messanie street lines of electric cars are running to-day. As a result of the boom, Krug Park and the city parks were opened and beautified. As a result of the boom, St. Joseph has now many miles of streets paved with asphaltum, brick and macadam. And there is much more that might be added.

From 1885 to 1893 was the most momentous period in the city's history. To what has been mentioned above may be added the Chicago. Rock Island & Pacific Railway, east and west; the Chicago Great Western, north and south; the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the St. Joseph Terminal Company. The Y\ M. C. A. Building, the Commercial Block, Center Block, Carbry Block, Zimmerman Buildings, Irish-American Building, Balhnger Building, C. D. Smith Building, Van Natta- Lynds Building, Wyeth Building, Crawford Theatre, the Podvant and Donovan buildings, the Coulter Manufacturing Company's building, France Building, Central Police Station, Turner Hall, the Moss Building, Samuels Building, the Saxton & Hendricks Building; also those massive piles of architecture occupied by the Richardson, Roberts & Byrne Dry Goods Company; Tootle, Wheeler & Motter; the Wood Manufacturing Company; the Michau Block, the Hughes Building, and the block on tJie north side of Felix, west of Sixth street - all are to the credit of that prosperous era.

The Blacksnake and Mitchell avenue sewers were built and the drainage system of the city perfected, the city electric lighting plant erected and the entire street railway system placed upon an electrical basis. Numerous manufacturing ventures were launched, some of which did not survive, however ; notably the steel car works, the stove works and the nail mills.

A bureau of statistics and information did much during 1888-90 to attract the attention of Eastern capital, and the Board of Trade was then, as now, a prominent factor for the commercial advancement of the city. The foundation of the present pretentious live stock market and meat packing industry was laid in 1887. and during the following five years three packing plants were established.

The financial depression of 1893 checked the progress of St. Joseph somewhat, and but little of magnitude was done until 1897, when a fresh impetus was given the city by the revival on a gigantic scale of the meat-packng industry. The Stock Yards passed into the control of Swift & Company of Chicago, and two of the largest plants in the world - one by Swift & Company and one by Nelson Morris & Company - were erected in 1897 and placed in operation in April of 1898. The Hammond packing house was completed in February of 1900, destroyed by fire on July 5, 1903, and has just been rebuilt.

During the past five years the progress has been notable. The area of the city has been extended, until now it covers nine and a half square miles; the street railway has been extended from the southern city limits to Lake Contrary and to Hyde Valley, from Sixth and Francis streets north and east to Grand avenue and from East Messanie street south to Jackson street ; the best equipped Live Stock Exchange of its size in the country has been completed and the facilities of the Stock Yards have been materially increased ; work has begun on an auditorium, to cost $150,000; the construction of the Union Terminal Railway, calculated to facilitate business at the Stock Yards, is now in progress ; a viaduct, spanning the railroad tracks between the northern and southern portions of the city, has been built and lower Sixth street and King Hill avenue, the principal artery of traffic between the north and south ends, has been paved with brick ; many miles of street paving have been put down and important additions have been made to the sewer system ; two Pubhc Library buildings, one in the main city and one on the south side, have been erected ; two interurban electric lines, one from Maryville to St. Joseph and the other from St. Joseph to Kansas City, have been chartered; the retail section of St. Joseph proper has been embellished with large and ornamental structures and the business section of the south side has developed beyond all expectation. In 1890 the population, according to the census, was 52,324; in 1900 it was 102,- 979 ; a recent bulletin gives the population at 110,476. In 1898 the total bank clearings were $124,089,018.05; in 1903 they were $245,646,728.52.