Howard County IN Archives History - Books .....Public Buildings 1909
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Book Title: History Of Howard County Indiana

PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

   The first court house was built in 1845 of hewn logs with a clapboard roof.
It was twenty-four feet square and two stories high. It was so large and
commodious that the lower story was divided by board partitions into offices and
business rooms. One of the first-floor rooms was occupied by the clerk, another
was used by H. B. Havens as a saddlery and harness shop and another by G. W.
Poisal as a tailor shop. Dr. Richmond also used this as a doctor's office.

   The upper room was fitted up for a court room, having a rough board rostrum
for the judge and a large table for the use of the clerk and the attorneys, and
was fitted up with slab seats for the audience. This was the main auditorium of
the town, and here were held all public meetings for several years.

   By the terms of the donation which Foster made for locating: the county seat
at Kokomo, Foster was to build this court house, By some change not
satisfactorily explained Foster was released from this part of the contract. The
commissioners, however, appointed Foster and Dennis McCormack to let the job and
by inference to superintend the construction. The contract was let to Rufus L.
Blowers for twenty-eight dollars, and because of his failure to complete it
within the time specified he was penalized two dollars, receiving twenty-six
dollars for the job.

WOULDN'T PAY OFFICE RENT.

   That the men who had offices in the court house were not very prompt in
paying rent appears in this: At the June term, 1851, the following order was
issued by the board of commissioners: "Ordered, that the sheriff be required to
notify G. W. Poisal, C. and O. Richmond, N. R. Linsday and C. D. Murray to meet
the board at its next meeting to settle with said board for office rent of the
court house."

   The county was growing and the spirit of enterprise and progress which has
ever characterized the people of Kokomo and Howard county determined the
commissioners that the first court house was now out of date, and they
accordingly appointed C. D. Murray, Corydon Richmond and Austin C. Sheets a
committee on plans and specifications, letting contract and superintending the
construction of buildings for county offices.

   They adopted plans for two brick buildings eighteen feet wide, thirty-six
feet long and one story high, one building to be located near the east entrance
and on the north side of the path crossing the public square from the east to
the west, and the other building near the west entrance and on the north side of
the same path. The contract for the construction of these buildings was let to
D. C. Hurley, Jesse Arnold and Henry C. Stewart for nine hundred and
seventy-five dollars. The east building was occupied by the auditor and
treasurer and the clerk and recorder occupied the west building.

THE PREACHER AND THE CORNERSTONE.

   In the erection of these buildings it was determined that there should be a
cornerstone laying with all proper ceremony. Uncle Billy Albright, as he was
popularly known, was a stonemason and a popular local Methodist preacher of that
day—a tall man of strong build and powerful voice. Albright had spent two days
dressing a cornerstone which had been taken from the Morrow (now Deffenbaugh)
stone quarry. His work was almost done to his satisfaction: there was a small
place he thought he could improve. In chipping it with his hammer the entire
stone fell to pieces. In utter disgust he threw down his hammer, straightened
himself up and after a moment's contemplation he realized that he could not do
justice to his feelings, and cried out at the top of his voice, "Where is Mike
Craver? Run here, everybody. Here is something to be done. Where is Mike
Craver?" Mike Craver was a pioneer plasterer and was not hampered by religious
scruples.

   The work went forward satisfactorily after this mishap so far as the records
disclose, and the buildings were completed and for sixteen years they served the
county. At the March term. 1868, the county commissioners—Jerome Brown, Henry L.
Moreland and Samuel Stratton, ordered that bids for building a court house be
advertised for, to be considered at a special session on the 15th of April
following. They reserved the right to reject any or all bids, if they were not
satisfactory. All the bids were rejected and the board determined to hire the
work done themselves. They accordingly appointed one of their number, Samuel E.
Stratton, superintendent, with full power to contract for work and materials as
seemed best for the interests of the county. J. W. Coffman had charge of the
work as a mechanic and builder. The whole work was under the general supervision
of the architect, Mr. Rumbaugh, and the final approval was to be by the board.

EXTENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS.

   It was commenced in 1868 and finished in 1870, and cost ninety-seven
thousand, five hundred and forty-eight dollars and forty cents. The natural
surface of the public square was low and level. This was filled and sloped as we
now see it, walks were built of large cut stones, a heavy iron fence with stone
foundation was built around the entire square, outside of the fence was a paved
way, and outside of the paved way was stretched a heavy iron chain supported by
iron posts. This served as a public hitchrack for a number of years. The cost of
these improvements with the cost of the town clock added increased the total
cost of the court house to approximately one hundred and ten thousand dollars.

   As originally constructed, the heating plant was in the basement, the several
county offices—clerk, auditor, treasurer, recorder and sheriff, were on the
first floor, and the entire second floor was given over to the court room, the
judge's room and the jury room. The court room served also as the public
auditorium for many years.

   The acoustic properties of the room were bad, the reverberation was such that
accurate hearing was difficult. After trying the experiment of stretching a
network of overhead wires without satisfactory results it was determined to
remodel the second floor by reducing the size of the court room and partitioning
the other part into a larger jury room and offices for the county assessor,
county superintendent of schools and the county surveyor.

   From a description of this court house, written shortly after its completion
we learn: "It is a fine and substantial brick, two stories in height, besides
the basement. It is eighty-two by eighty-six feet in size and one hundred and
twenty-six feet high to the top of the tower. The court room in the second story
is fifty-one by eighty-two feet in size and thirty-eight and one-half feet in
height from floor to ceiling. There are four rooms or offices on the first
floor, each twenty-two by twenty-four feet and sixteen feet high., used
respectively by the clerk, recorder, auditor and treasurer. The sheriff's
office, also on the first floor, is twelve by fourteen feet and sixteen feet
story, and on the upper floor there are four jury rooms, all the same size as
the sheriff's. Outside, the first story is sixteen feet, the second twenty-three
feet and the mansard fourteen feet, and under the whole building is a basement
in which is a furnace, with which at a cost of five thousand dollars for
construction, the whole building is heated with steam. It presents an imposing
appearance, is covered with slate, has good vaults and compares very favorably
with any other building in the state of the kind and cost."

COURT HOUSE AND SURROUNDINGS.

   Twenty-five years ago it was written: "The building is substantially built of
good, durable material, and has within it fireproof vaults for the different
offices in which to store the records and valuables belonging to the county. The
square upon which it is built was filled up several feet so that it appears to
stand on high ground; there is surrounding the grounds an iron fence with stone
foundations and a heavy guard chain entirely around outside the sidewalk, which
is well paved. All the walks leading to the building are paved with large cut
stones. It is a fine appearing house, and when the forest trees that have been
planted around it are sufficiently grown it will be a beautiful place. The dream
of a quarter of a century ago has more than been realized. The thrifty well
grown trees and the sloping greensward make a beautiful place indeed. The
unsightly, unsanitary hitching rack of that elder day, which seemed a permanent
fixture, has given place to brick pavements, wide cement walks and flowing
fountains. That high iron fence, which seemed as durable as time, is gone, and
the weary sit upon the stone foundations and sigh for wooden seats. The hitch
rack had many friends who were reluctant to see it go. It was a very convenient
hitching place and free of cost. One dark night the chain mysteriously
disappeared and did not come back. At the time it was thought that the advocates
of the city beautiful and clean knew where it was.

JAILS.

   The first jail, as has already been stated, was built of hewn timbers one
foot square throughout walls, floor and ceiling; the logs notched down close and
boarded on the outside, with double doors of two-inch oak plank, with a
home-made lock and key, the key alone weighing four pounds. It is said that no
prisoner broke out of this jail. It was located at the southwest corner of
Washington and High streets. For twenty years the log jail did its work
faithfully. In 1865 the board let a contract to J. W. Coffrnan to build a brick
and stone jail for $9,600. The front part was the residence part for the
jailer's family and was of brick. The prison part was back of that and attached
to it in such a way that the entrance to the jail was through the hallway of the
dwelling. The prison part was built of stone and the cells of iron. There was a
dug well on the inside where the prisoners could get water. This well, on one
occasion, furnished the means of escape for several prisoners by digging from
the well out under the wall of the prison. This jail and its location soon
became unsatisfactory. It was urged that the sewerage was not good, though it
was not far to a good outlet and that could have been overcome with no great
expense. The prison itself seems to have been defective and was not a secure
place to detain, prisoners. In 1880, fifteen years after the building of this
new jail, the commissioners planned to secure a new location for the building of
a larger and safer jail where the sanitary conditions would be better for the
inmates. A site was secured on the east side of South Main street, on the bluff
of Wild Cat creek, large enough to furnish ample room for all necessary
buildings and sightly surroundings, with the grounds well kept. The elevation of
the grounds made it an easy matter to dump the sewage into Wildcat. In 1882 a
contract was let to McCormack & Sweeney for the building of a new jail at a cost
of thirty-four thousand, three hundred and fourteen dollars. The building is one
hundred and three feet five inches long; the front or residence part is
thirty-seven feet nine inches wide and the jail part is forty-three feet seven
inches wide: it is two stories and a basement in height. In the basement is
placed the steam heating plant and two or three dungeons, the walls of which are
made with a single stone. The cells are built out from the walls of the jail, so
that communication from without is cut off. Accommodations are provided for
different classes of prisoners and a hospital room for the sick. The grounds and
the surroundings are well kept and our jail has an inviting appearance.

COUNTY INFIRMARY.

   It was not so very many years after the permanent settling and organization
of the county, the county commissioners, impressed with the growing need of a
permanent home for the helpless and unfortunate poor who must be cared for at
public expense, purchased the Thomas Galewood farm, lying then two and one-half
miles south of town. Willis Blanche, Harvey Brown and B. W. Gifford purchased
this farm in 1857, containing one hundred and sixty-five acres for forty-five
hundred dollars. This was a fine, dry, rolling farm, with Kokomo creek running
diagonally through it from the southeast to the northwest. The Indianapolis &
Peru Railroad ran through it from south to north, cutting off twenty-six and
one-fourth acres on the west side. Because this small tract was across the
railroad the commissioners sold it at once to Willis Blanche for seven hundred
fifteen dollars and eighty-four cents. There were no buildings of consequence on
the farm; a log hut for a home and a log stable for a barn afforded poor
accommodations for a colony of frail men and women. The land was largely covered
with the native forests and fields and grain and grassy meadows seemed a long
way off. After three years of possession it was decided to sell the farm and buy
one closer to town. On December 5, 1860, the commissioners, William Woods, John
Knight and Robert Coate, sold the farm to Nelson Purdum for three thousand, four
hundred seventy-two dollars and seventy-five cents. January 8, 1861, the same
commissioners bought eighty acres off the west side of the farm of James H.
Mc-Cool for two thousand, eight hundred dollars. In April, 1861, they contracted
with James Linville to build a house on the farm for three hundred sixty-nine
dollars. In 1865 the commissioners contracted with William Chadwick to build
another and larger house on the farm; the building was to be two stories high,
twenty by thirty-six feet in size, with a wing running back sixteen by
thirty-six feet, and one story high, for one thousand, eight hundred dollars.
This house was designed for the use of the superintendent of the farm and as a
home for the county's poor. It is said that it would be difficult to construct a
house more illy adapted for the purpose than this one, and in a few years, the
board becoming satisfied of its bad arrangement and unhealthfulness, determined
to build a better one. They resolved to build a house that would not only be a
comfortable home for the poor of the county, but one that would reflect credit
upon the county as well. They carefully investigated plans and specifications
until fully satisfied before approving. May 24. 1881, bids were received for
constructing the building. David O. Freeman submitted the lowest bid and was
awarded the contract at fourteen thousand, nine hundred sixty-five dollars and
eighty-five cents, to furnish all the material and complete the building. Peter
A. Sassaman was associated with him in carrying out this contract.

   G. W. Bunting, of Indianapolis, was the architect and superintended the
erection of the building. They erected a very creditable building: an enduring
structure of good material, well built and arranged for comfort, health and
convenience. The building is two stories and a basement in height, is one
hundred and thirty-six feet in length, and forty-five feet in width, and is
divided into forty-five rooms. There are several rooms in the basement, in. one
of which is the outfit for heating the whole building by steam. The farm has a
good barn and other farm buildings. It has also a good tile drainage and is a
first-class farm, well located. The Kokomo & Pete's Run gravel road runs through
it. The infirmary building fronts directly on the gravel road and is one-half
mile west of the city limits.

   P. H. Y. Haynes is the present superintendent and is paid eight hundred
dollars a year salary, out of which he must pay for his help in operating the
farm. The products sold from the farm belong to the county. The farm contains
one hundred fifty-three and twenty-six hundredths acres.

ORPHAN'S HOME.

   During the years prior to the founding of the Orphan's Home Association,
orphan children, half orphan children and other children who had been rendered
homeless by the varying misfortunes of life and who were without friends or
kindred to provide homes for them, were taken to the county poor asylum to be
cared for. Here they were housed, clothed and fed, but the associations were not
suitable to develop good men and women. It was impossible for the superintendent
to care for their training and teaching and their environment was not such as to
stimulate them to make the best of their lives. In 1868 the ladies comprising
the Ladies' Union Missionary Society, recognizing these facts, and prompted by
the idea of a home especially for orphan children, arranged for and gave a
festival October 22, 1868, in aid of this project, and realized one hundred and
twenty-five dollars in money, which was placed in the First National Bank of
Kokomo and set apart as the beginning of a fund for this purpose; to this was
added other sums from time to time raised in like manner. In January, 1873, a
number of these ladies who had actively interested themselves in this work
formed and incorporated an association called the Orphans' Home Association of
Howard county. Under the direction of this organization they continued to hold
festivals and systematically solicited donations to their funds, so that at the
close of the year 1873 they had in bank, money and notes approximating one
thousand, two hundred dollars. The object of the association, as announced, was
"to provide ways and means by which the orphan and destitute children of the
county might be provided a comfortable home, clothing and food, and also to
bring them as far as possible under the influence of good moral training,
leading them into habits of industry, and extending to them the hygienic
benefits of cleanliness and fresh air, and finally procuring homes for them in
good families. Having amassed a fund sufficient to start with, and feeling
confident in the beneficial influence of an illustration of their work by
opening a home, they, on the first day of November, 1873, rented a house and
secured the services of Mrs. Mary A. Street as matron, who took charge with five
children under her care. Miss Anna Street acted as teacher. Having put the
purpose of the association into actual operation, they increased their efforts
to add to its material resources. The home was first opened in the west part of
the city, but its increasing demands made it necessary to secure greater
accommodations, and a larger house was rented on North Union street, where they
remained until the opening of their new home in the autumn of 1875. During the
year 1874 it became very manifest that other and more extensive accommodations,
were needed, as demands were constantly coming to the managers for the admission
of children. The management had also extended the sphere of their design and had
now, in view of the removal of all small children from the county infirmary,
regarding it as an unsuitable place for rearing the young, and also to remove
fiom them in after years the odium of having been paupers. The association was
limited in means, but determined to procure, if possible, a site on which to
erect a building that would be ample in its capacity for years to come. In
canvassing for this a committee called on Peter B. Hersleb, a bachelor living
alone on his farm just south of the city. Mr. Hersleb was a Dane, said to have
been of princely lineage, who came to this country because of a love of freedom,
with possibly a bit of adventure. Mr. Hersleb was a cultured gentleman with all
the finer instincts of his nature well developed. The fact that he lived alone,
in his bachelor quarters impressed many that he was somewhat eccentric. In this
he was misjudged, as all testified who came into close personal touch with him.
In his den, as he termed it, he was ever affable and polite. He it was who in
the campaign of 1858 came so near defeating James A. Wildman for county auditor
that it required the vote of Honey Creek township to do it. Such was the man the
committee called upon to ask to sell them a building site at the southeast
corner of the intersection of Markland avenue and Home avenue, that being the
northwest corner of his land. He refused to sell to them. Instead he gave them
an acre at that place and also three hundred dollars in money, and afterward
gave them five hundred dollars more, and many other donations that were of value
to the association. Mr. Hersleb's generosity stimulated them to greater efforts
in getting the means to build with. They applied to the county commissioners for
assistance. The commissioners replied that they had no power under the law to
make such donations. However, after much importuning, they gave them fifteen
dollars, and at the next term twenty dollars, and at the next thirty-five
dollars. Believing that benefit would accrue to the home if recognized as a
county institution, they procured the services of Judge James O'Brien in the
preparation of a bill to be laid before the legislature, which was passed and
became a law in 1875, by which they were authorized to take orphan and destitute
children into their home and receive for each child twenty-five cents per day
toward its support. Another source of income was a dining hall at the county
fair, which netted them two hundred dollars, P. E. Hoss giving them twenty-five
dollars for one meal. The Young Ladies' Sigournean Band gave one hundred and
seventy-five dollars, several citizens gave one hundred dollars each, and
smaller donations, down to five cents for the children's treasury, were made.

Elicum Boggs. deceased, bequeathed eight hundred dollars, six hundred of winch
was in city bonds. After securing these funds the association felt justified in
commencing their building. They let the contract to J. W Coffman in the spring
of 1875 and during the summer it was built and completed so that it was occupied
October. 1875. The building was a two-story and basement building, forty by
forty-six feet, containing thirteen rooms, all heated by a furnace in the
basement: the total cost of the building, including the heating plant, was four
thousand dollars. In 1876 the home had been in practical operation for three
years, and this statement was given out: "During the three years this home has
been in operation sixty-seven homeless children have found refuge there; several
have been returned to their friends; thirty-three have had homes furnished them
in the country, and but three have died. The expense of the home for the past
year, 1876, was eight hundred ninety dollars and fifty-nine cents." In 1883 this
statement was made regarding the work of the home: "The number of children now
in the home is twenty, and the average number is about twenty. In the ten years
of the home there have been over two hundred children provided with good homes,
in good families, thus securing them from want, neglect, ignorance and possible
pauperism and degradation. We are justified in saying that through the efforts
put forth by this organization it was that the present law was enacted by which
young children are taken from the county poor houses and cared for properly
until good homes can be secured for them, thus saving many from becoming not
only paupers, but criminals. With the twenty-five cents a day given by the
county for each child they are enabled to keep the home in active operation,
paying the matron from twenty to twenty-five dollars per month and a governess
twelve dollars per month and the cook two dollars per week. People from the
country often bring them donations of eatables, and sometimes articles of
clothing. The most active and continuous workers in promoting the interests of
the home from the beginning are Mrs. Emma E. Dixon, Mrs. Eva Davis, Mrs. Jane
Turner, Mrs. Dr. Dayhuff, Mrs. Hendry, Mrs. Mariah Leach, Mrs. Lizzie Hasket,
Mrs. L. B. Nixon, Mrs. J. Coffman, Mrs. L. W. Leeds and Electa Lindley. Others
that have come into the association since and have been active workers are Mrs.
A. F. Armstrong, Mrs. Sarah Davis, Mrs. N. R. Lindsay., Mrs. T. C. Philips, Mrs.
Dosh, Mrs. Dr. Mavity, Mrs. Kraus, Mrs. Rosenthal and Mrs. Dr. I. C. Johnson. In
June, 1902, after twenty-seven years' service, bids were submitted for the
repair and improvement of the building. Both bids were above the appropriation
for the purpose, and the commissioners of necessity rejected them. The next
year, X903, the county council appropriated six thousand dollars for a new
orphans' home building. In September of that year two bids were received: the
lower one proposed to build complete the home, with a heating plant, for seven
thousand, eight hundred forty-seven dollars, and without a heating plant for
seven thousand, four hundred ninety-seven dollars. This, being in excess of the
appropriation, was rejected. At the October term of that year there is the
following record of release and consent: "Whereas, No suitable buildings or
equipment have been prepared or arranged for the orphans' home of Howard county,
Indiana, and it is impossible for the Howard County Orphans' Home Association,
for said reasons, to continue its work at the present time, and said association
is, because of the lack of proper buildings and equipment and the failure of the
county to provide the same, compelled to give up its work of caring for the
orphans at present, the said association does therefore hereby consent to the
temporary abandonment of the orphans' home in Howard county, Indiana, and does,
under the present circumstances, release to the board of commissioners the
children now in the orphans' home of Howard county, Indiana. Signed by the
president, Mary S. Armstrong." Whereupon the board ordered the children in the
home transferred to the White Institute at Treaty, near Wabash, in Wabash
county. Since that date Howard county has had no orphans' home and the orphan
and homeless children of our county have been kept at the White Institute at a
charge of thirty cents a day for each one. The present expense to Howard county
and her citizens is about thirteen hundred dollars annually. From the best
information at hand it appears that the White Institute is a corporation founded
and managed under the control of the Friends church for the care, training and
instruction of orphan and homeless children.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY INDIANA
BY
JACKSON MORROW, B. A.
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. I
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

(circa 1909)


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