1899 City Report-1 by Tom Beardsley 5-25-2024 |
1899 City Report - part 1 of
2.
Willimantic‘s
growing late 19th century importance was
reflected in the state granting a city charter in 1893. Since
1833, Willimantic had been a borough of Windham but now ,
textile mills, a growing
population and increased housing separated
this section of Windham from the rest of the mainly rural
town. In the United States, this “borough” form of
municipality was peculiar to Connecticut. A borough had
an elected Warden and an advisory Board of Burgesses
who had more authority and responsibilities than town selectmen,
but less power than a city mayor and
councilmen. A borough Warden had specific powers, but
Willimantics rapid urbanization called for the more
concentrated power of a mayor and city council and
officers. A glance at the
1899 city report, the sixth, reveals the increasing problems posed by
Willimantic's rapid growth after the Civil War.
Willimantic's mayor in 1899 was a colorful Boston-born
Irish-American named Oscar O. Tanner (1858-1933), who served a second
term in 1904/05. He was a close friend of
world champion boxer, Iohn L. Sullivan, and had become locally
notorious for his city saloons on
Main and Union Streets, and for his management of Willimantic‘s
professional baseball outfit, the Colts, in 1894. He was also the
promoter of boxing shows. In the
1898 city election, the "Demmykrat" Tanner carried every one of the
city's four wards. Tanner
produced his first annual city report in November, 1899. The city
streets were a hot topic of conversation and controversy. Two
heavy snowfalls the previous
winter had caused many problems on Main Street, so Tanners‘
administration macadamized Main
Street from North Street to Bridge Street -- 5,315 square yards at 52
cents per square yard. The year also saw the addition of a number
of sidewalks, and the placement of gravel and cobblestones to surface a
number of side streets considered important for
efficient travel. Tanner
then turned his attention to the conditions of the police, water,
electric, fire and sewer departments. Willimantic experienced an "entire
absence of disorder and crime,"
and Tanner boasted that the Willimantic police force had an enviable
reputation for "discipline,
faithfulness and efficiency." But a closer look at the report reveals
that crime and disorder were totally absent in Willimantic in 1899.
The Willimantic Police Department consisted of an acting Captain
and nine patrolmen. Five officers
worked the night beat from 7 pm until 5 am. One officer walked up and
down Main Street from 6 pm until 6 am, two officers were given duty as
needed, and one officer was stationed at the Willimantic railroad
station throughout the day. Willimantic's police officers had made 311
arrests during the year. Drunkenness made
up for 167 arrests, 25 were for "breach of the peace," 20 for
assault, 19 for violation of
bicycle law, and 14 for larceny. Among the other arrests, some of the
more interesting and curious from
an historical perspective were five "incorrigible minors,“ four
"runaway boys," two for "bastardy," one for bigamy and two for
"fornication." One hundred and six of those arrested were committed to
the city jail on Church Street-- and two escaped. In those days,
unemployed workers tramped across the country, from town to town,
looking for work and thus was coined the expression "tramp."
The Willimantic police
lodged 1,310 tramps at the Church Street police station in
1898/99. The city treasurer, Fred
Sanderson, reported an annual expenditure $73, 938. More than
$15,000 was spent on upgrading and lighting the streets, and
almost $11,000 was spent on the
police and fire departments. The hard work of the city's most popular
individual, Iohn H. Morrison, the
tax collector, helped to pay for the city's services. A breakdown of the
police department's expenditures reveals that Acting-Captain E. H.
Richmond was receiving $75 a month salary, and the regular officers were
receiving around $68 a month. The
full time Captain, William Hillhouse, who had resigned in May to become
the Deputy Sheriff of Windham County, had received an annual salary of
$1,000. To be continued. |
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