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TITFi OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: JUNE IS, 1911.
rs Portraiture Assemblage of Some Notable Nebraskans
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Mayor, County Attorney, fr I'i f f y i f fc ' V " rJ Mayor, Lincoln, Loticastur County.
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BBIN K. LONO. OTTO ZUELOW, fL s 'A l V' " ' ' 1 1 V-W ' (. 'vlv ss Omaha. Douglas County. David CUy, 11 udsr County.
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OEORGH C. COCKRELL,
Justice of the Peace.
Omaha, Douglas County. '
WILLIAM
Justloe
Omaha,
COUNCIL
r
Council Bluffi In 18711 To thousand the yry
figures urgt a past so long burled that Its memories
ar traditions. But to th old residents, man who ar
itlll,actls and prominent in business circles, that
date recalls stirring times. In those days Council
Bluffs was just casting oft her Juvenile clothes. Bhe
was a (treat, straggling Tillage, Just merging Into city
hood, with a population variously estimated at from
8,000 to 18,000, with elementa aa oosmopolltan as
could be found anywhere In the awakening, west. The
reaction following the close of th war had but fairly
set in, and to this was added the stimulus of the open
ing of railroads, east, west, north and south. Men
dreamed of future greatness, as naturally as they
ate and slept The town was beginning to look with
maternal pride upon her first born, the growing,
sturdy, healthy son she named Omaha, whose stature
already exceeded that of his mother, and who had be
come too big to spank when he showed a disposition
to become wayward and self-willed. The streets were
irregular, with a beaten wagon track in the center and
a rank growth of weeds on either side. Low-roofed,
one-story, square-fronted wooden buildings were the
business bouses. Few of the brick structures that
were looked upon as pretentions in those days are In
existence today.
Changes In Topography.
v
The topography of the city in those days was greatly
different from what it is today. The river made a
broad sweep and washed the hills on the Iowa aide
south of town, and where Lake Manawa is today waa
then located one of the principal steamboat landings.
Vt f town the channel' was nearly a mile nearer
than It H today, and people crossing to Omaha on
hot Jtnn days were compelled to traverse nearly
three-quarters of a mile of biasing sands after they
left the ferry before they reached the eastern limits
of the Nebraska metropolis. On the -Iowa side be
tween the river and the town of Council Bluffs there
were three ' miles of rich prairie land covered with
rank vegetation bisected by a single dusty roadway
just wide enough to permit the passage of the heavy
freight teams. The terminus of this road was the
W. EASTMAN,
of the Peace,
Douglas County,
BLUFFS THEJN AMD 1NUW-Uur bister City at
the Time When The bee
Union Pacifio steam ferry, 'which waa looked npon
with pride by both towns as a great piece of engineer
ing work and energy. The landing was piled and
planked, and a railway track ran out upon a movable
apron which dropped to the deck of a big steam ferry
boat of such dimensions that a whole railway passen
ger and freight train could be ferried across the river
at one trip. The general grade of the town was much
lower than today. The nearly perpendicular hills ex
tended down to Fourth street nearly its entire dis
tance, and in some places almost to Main street. Now
the millions of cublo yards of earth they contained is
spread out over the bottoms, raising the grade in
some localities nearly eleven feet. Indian creek was
then a stream that was looked upon with favor. It
found its outlet somewhere in the northwest, and its
waters had been used to turn the creaking wheels of
a flour mill.
Men Then In Control.
In 1871 the city government consisted of the
mayor and twelve aldermen. O. C. Bloomer was
mayor and H. H. Field, II. P. Warren, George F.
Smith, W. 8. Quick, Thomas Tostevln, J. P. Casady,
J. P. Williams. J. E. Rudd, E. L. Shu gait, W. H. M.
Fusey and James Fenlon were aldermen; F. A. Burke
was recorder, W. IL Robinson assessor, J. R. Reed
city attorney, B. A. Burghart marshal, William Oron
eweg treasurer and L. P. Judson city engineer.
There were tlx ward school houses. The High
school on the hill was Just receiving its finishing
touches, and the people were congratulating them
selves that with the expenditure of 145,000 they had
the credit of having a $60,000 building, "a noble
structure, that was like a lamp on a hill." a one
Fourth of July orator characterized it.
There were nine churches, the Catholio church on
Main street, with the venerable Father McMonomy in
charge; the German Evangelical on Upper Broadway,
Bt. Paul's Episcopal, Pearl street; the First Metho
dist at its present location on Broadway, and the Sec
ond Methodist, vaguely described as being "Jn a
house on Pearl street, east of the publlo square," the
Baptist at Willow and alarcy streets, and the Congre
gational on the corner of Wall and Center streets.
Within twenty-five years the names of even the
streets have perished with the old buildings that were
then looked upon with pride as temples of worship.
The Toster of business firms shows many changes.
The full list then comprised the names of John Bere
shelm ft Co., Forman ft Beno, Dowllng ft Mulqueen,
John Brock, David Beers, Burget ft Lalng, Mrs. Brock
ft Co., J. B. Stutsman ft Co., Hays ft Gleason, O. A.
Smith, C. J. Beckman, 0. W. McGee, Weise ft Clau
sen, J. N. Hall, I. Oberfelder, Stewart ft Haas, Steele
ft Johnson, John S. Bradley, Larrimer ft Whitney, H.
L. Henry, Scott ft Miller, N. John, Metcalt Bros., O.
E. Haggerty. George F. Smith, J. H. Warren ft Co.,
J. B. Lewis ft Co., David Gray, J. B. Rue ft Co., J. L.
Walker, T. J. Hurford, M. E. Smith, John Vlnacke
ft Co.j C. B. Brooks ft Co., W. 8. Quick ft Son, John
son ft Gould, Bernard Elseman, P. C. DeVol, Sol
Bloom, E. H. Riyan, A. Doughty, J. M. Phillips, A.
Blyter, G. T. Epeneter, R. P. Snow, John Bennet and
A. B. Cacy. The business of these people covered the
WILLIAM ALTSTADT,
Justice of the Peace,
Omaha, Douglas County.
First Saw It
handling of everything under the sun. Side meat and
millinery were sold over the same counter.
In those days the fire department was the pride
of the city, It consisted of two steamers, a hand en
gine and a hook and ladder company, It was a highly
efficient volunteer department, The Phoenix Hook
and Ladder company still maintains lta organization
for social and benevolent purposes.
Transportation Facilities.
The railroads that reached the city then were the
Northwestern, Rock Island, the Union Pacific, the
Kansas City, St. Joseph ft Council Bluffs and the Chi
cago, Burlington ft Quincy. Council Bluffs was then
the great railway center of the west, but the great
expectations raised by the advent of so many roads
had not been fully realized, and the people were seek
ing relief from the high freight rates by renewing the
agitation for steamboat and barge lines to St. Louis.
great meeting waa held in the beginning of the year
with representatives from all adjoining states. St.
Louia Joined most heartily in the scheme, but the pro
ject failed. , The hottest subjects for public discus
sion was the Union Pacific bridge question, which led
to the final litigation that compelled the Union Pa
cific to construct and operate its bridge as a contin
uous part of its line.. The question of publlo parks
waa also receiving attention. Bayliss park, which had
previously been known as the public square, had been
dignified by the name of Central park, but it was care
fully protected from the incursions of the public by a
high plank fence. In June, 1871, it occurred to "Pro
Bono Publico," "Justlcia" and other public-spirited
EDWARD LT3EDER,
Juetloe of the Peace,
Omaha, Douglas County.
citizens, who made their appeals in the newspapers,
that "stiles or gates" should be constructed at the
corners of the inclosure for the purpose of permitting
citizens to enter the place and enjoy the shade. The
name of A. C. Graham, the father of Council Bluffs'
splendid park system, is found most frequently men
tioned in connection with appeals for public parks and
park privileges. Fairmont and Big Lake were then
in his mind as possible locations for publlo parks.
CARTHUSIAN MONKS.
The silent courts, where night and day
Into their stone-carved basins cold
The splashing Icy fountains play -
The humid corridors behold
Where, ghost-like in the deepening night.
Cowled forms brush by to gleaming white-
The chapel, where no organ's peal
Invests the stern and naked prayer,
With penitential airs they kneel
And wrestle; rising then, with bare
And white uplifted faces stand,
. Passing the host from hand to hand:
Each takes, and then his visage wan
Is buried in his cowl once more,- -The
cells! the suffering Son of Man
Upon the wall, the knee-worn floor,
And where they sleep, that wooden bed
Which shall their coffin be, when dead;
The library, where tract and torn
'Not to feel priestly pride are there,
To hymn the conquering pride of Rome,
Nor yet to amuse, as ours are -They
paint of souls the inner strife,
Their drops of blood, their death in life;
The garden, overgrown, yet wild.
See, fragrant herbs are flowering there.
Strong children of the alpine wild
Whose culture is the brothers' care;
Of human tasks their only one.
And cheerful works beneath the snn.
Matthew ArnoW ,
