The City of Marceline

The decade from 1880 to 1890 will go down in history as the greatest ten years of railroad construction on the American continent. It was during this period of unparalleled industrial progress that the great trans-continental systems stretched their ribbons of steel over mountain, plain and hill, annihilating distances, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards and laying down at the doors of the people of the hamlets of interior America the rich products of the Orient and the Occident.

The total mileage of railways in the United States standing at
93,296 miles in 1880, increased by leaps and bounds until in 1890 it
had reached an aggregate of 166,706 miles, disclosing the enormous
increase in ten years of 63,410 miles.

Among these great enterprises was the Atchison, Topeka & Santa
Fe Railway, operating exclusively west of the Missouri river, until
the late 80's, and practically the only competitor in the rapidly
developing western country of the Union Pacific, the pioneer of the
great plains roads. The Santa Fe, with 2,510 miles of rails in 1883,
increased its mileage in the eleven years following until it was operating, in 1904, 9,345 miles; and the more important and by far the most expensive part of this increased mileage was what is known as the "Chicago Extension," running almost directly as the crow flies in a northeasterly direction front Kansas City to Chicago, connecting the Great Lakes region with the Land of Sunshine beyond the snowy
peaks of the Rocky mountain ranges. Experience in railway operation
had developed the fact that the welfare and comfort of employees, and the care and preservation of the vast machinery of the industry,
demanded division or terminal points along the lines at a distance of
one hundred miles, one from the other; and on the line of the Santa
Fe's proposed extension, one hundred miles northeast from Kansas
City, was an open, upland prairie, stretching away to Yellow creek on
the west and the Chariton river on the east, dotted here and there with the homes of the farmers, carpeted with bluegrass, ornamented with the white blossoms and the bright red fruit of the wild strawberry and the blue-bell of the fleur-de-lis. Over this beautiful prairie the cattle roamed unmolested and the land produced luxuriously almost without effort. Scattering cottonwood and locust trees cast their shat here and there, principally around the spots where the farmers had located their dwellings, and it is a tradition among the farmers that this high and sightly prairie ridge has been for years, and still is, the playground of the lightning, for scarcely a tree stood on the site of Marceline but showed the marks of the thunderbolts. As if to verify the tradition, discussed around the hearthstones of the early settlers, that some peculiar attraction at the spot where Marceline stands invites the fatal lightning stroke, many damaging conflagrations have resulted in the town from that cause and some loss of life from the deadly bolts has been noted in and near the town. But if the high location of the city invites the destructive force of the elements, nature seems to have made compensation in the healthfulness which the site, with its natural
drainage to the streams east and west, provides.

One day, in 1886, the farmers awoke to meet the faces of strange
men, men who talked business incessantly and who wanted to buy
options on their land. They offered good prices, put up forfeits, got
signed contracts and before the end of the year the civil engineer with his force of rodmen, chain-bearers and transitmen was on the ground running tile preliminary surveys for the Chicago, Santa Fe & California Railway, which, when completed, was to become a part of the great "Santa Fe System." Events developed with kaleidoscopic rapidity in the new enterprise. Construction work began at both ends of the new line, and in 1887 the Missouri division point was platted and on the 28th day of January, 1888, the first town lot was sold in the new town of Marceline. On the 6th day of March following the town was incorporated. The county court of Linn county, after making the order of incorporation, appointed A. D. Reynolds, mayor; J. H. Perrin, W. S. Thomas, George Levan and J. E. Dorsey, aldermen; Joseph Turner, marshal, all to serve until the regular election of officers. The mayor appointed seems not to have met the approval of his constituents, and so a early election was provided for by an ordinance, and at that election J. W. McFall, one of the earliest and best known lawyers of Marceline, was elected mayor; J. A. Runyon, marshal; Jeff Hurt, police judge; C.D. Watkins, city attorney; Joseph Hemmings, clerk. The city being divided into two wards, Dr. Garner Ladow, W. S. Thomas, Dr. J. H. Perrin and J. E. 'Waller were elected to represent these wards. Within six months from the date on which the first lot was sold the new city had a population of 2,500 people. The lands of the town site were owned and sold by an auxiliary corporation known as the "Santa Fe Town and Land Company," and to its local offices in Mareeline came an ex-lieutenant governor of Kansas, D. W. Finney, as sales-agent, and with him came Joseph Hemmings, still a resident of Marceline and at the date of the writing of this chapter superintendent of the mines of the Marceline Coal & Mining Company.

The incorporation of the town, however, was not the only event of interest which came with the date March 6, 1888, for on that day the first child was born in the new town; and that child, Claud C. Dail, the second son of Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Dail, is yet faithful to the place of his birth; and having led to the hymeneal altar Miss Vina McDonald, yet lives in the city with his young wife, a popular and prosperous young business man. With the opening of spring in 1888 came remarkable activity in Marceline. It had gotten its name, of Spanish origin, through the request of one of the directors of the new road. The Christian name of the wife of this official was Marcelina, and as a courtesy to her the new town was called "Marceline." True to its western name, the town took on all the appearances of the cities of the West. Following the construction gangs who were building the railroad line came the usual boomers and the atmosphere was surcharged with energy and hustle. Business houses and residences arose like magic on the corn and wheat stubble of the year before. Vigorous young business men, merchants, professional men, promoters, coal prospectors, gamblers, and all the heterogenous mixture of people who make up the earliest population of new towns were here. The man from the West, with white sombrero ornamented with leather band, touched elbow with the Missouri farmer. The eastern college man, with his derby hat and coat of latest cut, who had taken Horace Greeley's advise--"Go west and grow up with the country," forgot his college yell and exchanged his fraternity pin for a bone collar button and all entered enthusiastically into the building of a new city.

The original plat of the city soon became too small for the ambitious builders, and the Marceline Town & Land Company's addition was platted by E. M. Randolph, James E. Adams, Gov. Finney and others. Taking a part in the platting of this addition as well as in the platting of the original town site was Judge C. G. Bigger, the veteran Linn county civil engineer, at the time of this writing city engineer, having in charge the paving of the streets of the city of Marceline, whose site he knew as an unbroken stretch of prairie grass less than a quarter of a century ago. By the end of the year 1888 the railroad company had its round house and tracks ready for use and operation, and early in 1889 began in a modest way the operation of trains. The trainmaster and the chief dispatcher with their forces were located at Marceline. The division superintendant, whose jurisdiction then and for many years thereafter included the entire Chicago extension, was located at Ft. Madison, Iowa. The need of coal at convenient locations along the new line became manifest and prospecting began at Marceline as well as at other points. Captain C. U. Wheelock, an experienced prospector, was employed to sink a shaft in search of coal and finally located a promising vein at what is now know as Mine No. 1 of the Marceline Coal & Mining Company's property. Local capital at once began to interest itself in the work and it was determined to sink a shaft, and that shaft is still in use as the air shaft of Mine No. 1. The first spade of earth in starting was turned by Mrs. Lillian Green, wife of W. C. Green, one of the promoters, and the shaft was called Lillian Shaft No. 1, in her honor. A peculiar superstition prevailed among the miners at that time. They believed bad luck would follow the enterprise if the first shovel of dirt was not turned by the delicate hand of a lady and so, in deference to their wish and that belief, Mrs. Green turned the spade of earth over that virgin vein which since that day has yielded millions of tons of coal to the commerce of the nation. As soon as the mine was in working condition, the Kansas & Texas Coal Company purchased the property from its local projectors and began preparations for extensive operation. This company operated the mines until October, 1893, when it passed into the hands of the C. J. Devlin interests who operated it under the name of the Marceline Coal Company until the year 1907, when Mr. Devlin's property was swept away in a financial crash which carried with it many large banks and trust companies of the West, and the mines, Nos. 1 and 2, No. 2 having been opened at a later date, were closed out in a court of bankruptcy and passed into the hands of the Marceline Coal & Mining Company, which still operates them. During all the changes and vicissitudes of the properties Joseph Hemmings has been its superintendent, and under his masterful direction the properties are still yielding enormous quantities of fuel to drive the wheels of commerce. West of the City another coal mining venture was launched by J. L. Landreth, a West Virginian. His beginning, though humble, was nevertheless determined and as a result of his effort the third coal mine is in successful operation, making its sales almost exclusively to local consumers.

All lines of business were flourishing by midsummer of 1888 and as
the people looked forward to prosperity and commercial progress they turned their attention to the building of substantial homes, churches and schools. During the first six months of the town's existence the two branches of the Methodist Church, the Church of the Disciples, the Baptists, the Catholics and the Cumberland Presbyterians had organized congregations. All the protestant denomination met for worship in Crumley's hall, on Gracia avenue, and the Catholic congregation held their services in Senrick's Hall, on Lake street. J. W. W. Waugh was the first pastor of the Church of the Disciples, and while a minister by profession and eloquent in the pulpit, he seems not to have worked exclusively at his trade, but found time to build a reputation as a real estate dealer and, like David Harum's parson, was apt in swapping horses. W. Toole was the first pastor in charge of the Southern Methodist organization, while J. E. Rutledge directed the destiny of the earliest congregation of the First M. E. Church. These two branches of the Methodist faith maintained a separate existence in the town until the year 1908, when the two congregations were merged into one and the splendid, modern church edifice at the corner of Kansas and Santa Fe avenues, with its many enduring and ornamental features, is the result of that merger. An interesting coincidence of the first Methodist Episcopal Church congregation here is the fact that on October 8, 1888, its first church structure was dedicated and at that dedication Rev. J. D. Mendenhall preached a strong sermon, as we are advised by the local papers of that date. Twenty-four years thereafter, on March 4, 1912, the same J. D. Mendenhall, older in years but still the progressive, enthusiastic man of affairs, stood in the new church building, as pastor of the congregation, and saw dedicated to the cause of Christianity, the modern house of worship just completed, that handsome monument to his enterprise and that of his coworkers in erecting it.

Work was commenced on its foundation on September 10, 1888, and the cornerstone was laid by the Rt. Rev. J. J. Hogan, Bishop of the Diocese, on October 1, 1888. Rev. J. W. Martin came to organize the
Baptist congregation and though long since gone from the field of his
activity here, his work remains a tribute to the thoroughness of his
effort and that congregation, in common with all the others enumerated, is now worshiping in commodious and comfortable church edifices. True no great spires pierce the skies rising above piles of marble and polished granite, glittering in the sunlight, to proclaim to the world congregations of great wealth, yet in the hearts of the devout people who worship there these humble shrines become palaces of sincerity, and so we may believe them to appear to the All seeing eye of Him who has promised to note even the sparrow's fall. While lawlessness, violence and crime have at times invaded the community and stalked boldly through its streets and avenues, yet a strong and safe moral tone has always pervaded the social atmosphere, giving assurance of the triumph of good citizenship in the end.

Dr. J. A. Smith, now deceased, and J. W. Northcott, a real estate dealer of Kansas City, Missouri, were its first editors and publishers. All of the early files of this paper having been destroyed by fire, the exact date of its initial issue cannot now be fixed. It was launched as an organ of the Republican Party and has continued as such in its editorial policy down to the year 1912, and is now published by Alden
Lyle. The first issue of the Mirror was given to the people on Thurs-
day, August 9, 1888 by Ruede & Dodge. It started out prudently, making no promises except that it would print the news and support the policies of the Democratic party. Later Mr. Dodge sold his interest in the paper to Harry Brodrick, a newspaper man of Osborne, Kansas, and the paper continued under the direction of Mr. Ruede and Mr. Brodrick until 1894, when Walter Cash, of Macon, Missouri, purchased Mr. Ruede's interest and came with his family to Marceline. Mr. Cash, now living in St. Joseph, Missouri, was and is a minister of the Primitive Baptist faith, a businessman of splendid qualifications and a man of determination and enterprise. He brought with him to the Mirror office the 'Messenger of Peace," a secular publication and it was issued from the office in Marceline and went to its subscribers in all parts of the world, being one of the few publications of its character published. Later Mr. Cash purchased the interest of Mr. Brodrick in the paper and in 1897 sold the business to E. J. Conger, one of the editors and proprietors of the Linneus Bulletin. Mr. Conger came to Marceline, took charge of the publication and has continued in the position ever since with the exception of a short interval when he was engaged in newspaper work elsewhere.

The first term of school was for seven months during the fall and winter of 1888 and 1889; five teachers were employed to instruct the pupils of Marceline, shown by the first enumeration to number 306; in 1912 twenty instructors are employed for a nine months' term with an enumeration of 1,267. In the winter of 1888 and 1889 a theater building of brick and of ornamental construction, was erected at the corner of Kansas and Santa Fe avenues, in the very heart of what was then thought to be the prominent business section, and at this time the city claimed a population of 3,300; but notwithstanding the fact that fifty mercantile establishments, seven hotels, two banks, five livery stables, the newspapers, drug stores and other commercial enterprises were located either on or contiguous to Santa Fe avenue, commercial interest began to center in a district farther south and soon business houses were erected on Lake street, five blocks south of Santa Fe and on the east side of the railroad tracks.

At the time of Marceline's beginning, Linn county had adopted what
is known as the Local Option law and no licensed saloons were in
operation in the county. The Lake street business district was soon
doing a thriving business with "speakeasys," as the places were known, where liquors were illegally and surreptitiously sold and along with them were the gambling dives and dance halls, all more or less open and operating in violation of law. Many prosecutions resulted, with but few convictions, and a condition of lawlessness prevailed. A number of murders resulted from drunken brawls, fights were frequent, and in 1891 the citizens of the county returned to the license system and saloons were opened in Marceline.

About this time the people were startled by reports that women,
returning alone to their homes in the north part of town, after night-
fall, were being frightened by the strange actions of some unknown
miscreant. A number of women, passing along dark stretches of side-
walk, had been horrified when a man stepped suddenly out of the
darkness, threw his arms around them and escaped before his victims
could sound an alarm. At first the matter was regarded as a hoax
and Marceline's "Jack the Hugger" was the joke of the period, but
soon the complaints came in from sources so authentic that the facts
could no longer be kept under cover. It was whispered that the fiend
was a negro, and the finger of suspicion pointed to one an employee of W. A. Cannon, then a lumber merchant of Marceline, later a banker and drygoods merchant of Edina, Missouri, and now deceased. Because of the unpleasant notoriety many of these occurrences never became public, but enough was known to thoroughly arouse public indignation. Armed men secretly patrolled the district but without result. Finally, as a last resort, a brave young woman then teaching in the Marceline public schools volunteered to take the lonely stroll with the understanding that three men, one of whom was her brother, should see her start, keep within a safe distance of her and be ready to act if an occasion arose. All necessary precautions were taken to avoid the possibility of the trap being discovered and the brave young decoy was advised that at no time, from the moment of her starting to her return home, would she see her protectors, but she was assured that they would be constantly near her. She accepted the conditions and walked forth alone in the darkness night after night, and though she could neither see nor hear her guard, yet so great was her confidence and so firm her faith that she afterwards declared she felt not the slightest fear. But the cunning of the quarry was apparently equal to the shrewdness of the hunters, and the young woman strolled unmolested. The venture, however, was not without results for the occurrences ceased entirely after the unsuccessful effort to capture the vagabond. Whether or not the suspicions as to the identity of the fiend were well founded will probably never be known, but -- . . - afterward paid the penalty of an assault on womanhood in Clark county, Missouri, and was hanged at Kahoka.

The town, starting with prosperous business, presented a splendid
field for speculators, and real estate values continued at exorbitant
figures until the year 1893, when the panic of that year swept over
the country. Marceline had but little actual capital and from ,the
year 1893 until 1896 city property continuously went down until it
sold at from one-fourth to one-sixth of the prices which had prevailed in earlier days. During this period the building and loan associations of the country were doing their most active business and hundreds of houses had been built in Marceline with the money of these associations. Thousands of dollars went out monthly and at the end of 1905 the loan companies were closing out the property by foreclosure sales. Lots which had sold readily at from $1,000 to $2,000 during the first year of the town's existence brought $200 and $300 in the period of the panic, and business was at a low ebb. In the meantime the business district had again changed and Kansas avenue from Ritchie street south to Gracia became, and has ever since remained, the commercial center of the town. On Kansas avenue, on either side of Howell street, within this new district, are now located the two banking institutions of the city, the First National Bank of Marceline, with deposits of $325,000, and the Marceline State Bank, with deposits of $100,000.
These banking houses are the outgrowth of the Bank of Marceline
and the Santa Fe Exchange Bank, which, in 1896, showed combined
deposits of $36,000.
With the passing of the panicky days of the 90's came renewed
confidence, business was restored and real estate values advanced.
Following the administrations of Mayor McFall, Cater and Helwig, Austin N. Maupin, manager of the Marceline Mercantile Company's establishment, was elected to the office. Mr. Maupin's administration was marked by careful business methods, and during his term what is known as the "Fire Limits Ordinance" was passed. A non-resident property owner had prepared to remove a large, two-story frame dwelling house into the middle of the block on the west side of Kansas avenue between Ritchie and Howell avenues. The house was to be used as a hotel and was already on the trucks when Mayor Maupin learned of the proposed move. He called the board of aldermen together in extraordinary session in the middle of the afternoon and passed an ordinance prohibiting wooden buildings within a certain district in the ordinance defined. The trucks were removed, and the house lowered back to its foundation where it rests today. Though still the local law, the provisions of this ordinance have been frequently violated by the unauthorized consent of mayors and town boards and a number of frame structures have been built and moved into the prohibited district, notably the Presbyterian church on California avenue, as well as many others.
With the retirement of Mr. Maupin, W. S. Grubbs, now a stock
dealer of Chariton county, succeeded to the office which he held until the election of Mayor Walter Cash. During the period of the town's existence, from 1888 to 1912, five men have held the office of city attorney under the several administrations. They were: C. D. Watkins, now judge of one of the city courts of Oklahoma City, Okla.; J. W. McFall, deceased; W. B. Clark, now practicing law in Ponca City, Okla.; B. L. White, and C. M. Kendrick, who still reside in Marceline.
In 1898 Walter Cash was elected mayor and under his administration conditions improved, both in a business sense and in the moral tone of the town. Mr. Cash's administration early began a campaign for civic improvement. Ripley Square, now one of the most beautiful miniature parks on the entire Santa Fe system, was then dotted with unsightly hovels and being located in the very heart of the city, next to the Santa Fe station, presented to strangers passing through the city a most unprepossessing prospect. Bonds in the sum of $5,000
for park purposes were voted in 1902, a part of the property was purchased from its owners, much of it was condemned and taken over by the city by legal process and the Santa Fe Railway, through E. P. Ripley, then, as now, its president, generously donated to the city ten lots it owned on the site and on which its grain elevator was located.
This elevator was removed without cost to the city, the plot was graded, trees planted and walks built. From time to time ornaments
were added to the park, including a rifle cannon and mortar, relics of
the Civil War, donated by the government of the United States,
through the courtesy of Senator William J. Stone, Senator William
Warner and Congressman W. W. Rucker. Ornamental fountains were
built from which pour living streams to soften and cool the summer air, and on the bosom of the miniature lake, set like a mirror in the green carpet of the beauty spot, aquatic fowls disport themselves, and the graceful movements of snow white swans ever attract and hold the interest of the visitor. Lounging in comfort on the spreading lawns of this park, beneath grateful shade, the murmur of fountains and the moisture-laden breezes lulling to sleep the tired senses, our people have reason to remember gratefully the enterprise of Walter Cash and his live, progressive, wide-awake administration, and later the unselfish interest and untiring industry of R. M. Wrenn, whose labor and effort have added in no small way to the attractions of Ripley Square.
Up to the period when Mayor Cash took the oath of office the city
was entirely without fire-fighting apparatus. Insurance rates were
high, the fire record was bad and many of the first companies were closing up their agencies and withdrawing from the town. Among the
first acts of the new administration was the submission of a proposition to a vote of the people to bond the city in the sum of $1,500 dollars, the money to be used in the purchase of a "hand fire engine." The proposition carried almost without dissenting votes, the apparatus was purchased, a volunteer fire company organized and thus a modicum of fire protection was afforded' the citizens. While the machine was crude and, so far as the writer is informed, it never arrived in time to save the burning building when an alarm was turned in, yet to the good housewife "next door," whose home seemed doomed, whose children clung in terror to her skirts, the raucous clanging of its gong was seraphic music. The pump was operated by hand and the men worked for love of home and without hope of remuneration, and that they saved many homes from destruction which, but for their effort, would have gone up in flames with the property adjoining, entitles Marceline's earliest fire fighting to a place in the grateful remembrance of her people.
One of these early-day fires came near resulting in the undoing of
one of Marceline's pioneer physicians-Dr. J. T. Martin. The doctor
had come to the town with the first arrivals, hung out his sign as a
practitioner and opened a drug store on the northeast corner of Kansas and California avenues. He was a studious man, an indefatigable investigator and being yet comparatively fresh from college was not ready to give up his researches into the mysteries of the anatomy of man. To more intelligently pursue his favorite subject he had procured a human body and had the cadaver reposing in his private study in the rear of the drug store awaiting a favorable opportunity to proceed with dissection at his leisure. One night the doctor was called out to see a patient and his clerk having gone home, he locked up the drug store, put his medical case under his arm and was off to minister to his patient. His visit was a distant one and returning he saw a red glow in the vicinity of Marceline, and watching it curiously he rode along not specially concerned, for the reason that fires were not rare in Marceline, and so had lost interest in a measure to those not directly concerned. As it was the fashion in those early days for the proprietor of the burning building to be in town, as a rule, when the fire broke forth, and conveniently located so that he could be found and informed of his misfortune, and appear properly shocked and grieved, Dr. Martin rode in all unsuspecting, and his amazement was sincere when he found his own drug store was in ashes. Meantime, the doctor, one of the most popular of men up to this time, was advised by his friends that he could not get away any too quickly if his personal safety was to be assured, as a mob was forming threatening serious bodily injury to him and the more excitable ones were talking lynching. In answer to his excited inquiries, the doctor was informed that when the flames broke out in the roof of his building, people rushed to the spot, and not finding him there, broke into the building with a view to saving his library and other personal belongings. Among the first articles they uncovered was the cadaver, and as it offered no explanation of its presence, the cry was raised that the doctor was a grave robber, and excitement and indignation was at fever heat. The physician was persuaded by his friends to remain away until explanations could be forthcoming and excitement subside. This he did, and he produced evidence to convince his. neighbors not only that he was not a murderer or a ghoul, but that he had come into possession of the cadaver legally and honorably, and so at the end of forty-eight hours the doctor returned to Marceline, hung his sign again and the incident passed. His anatomical specimen, however, perished, as did his
library and other office belongings, for every man who had rushed to
that fire imbued with the idea of unselfishly saving Dr. Martin's property, had business elsewhere as soon as he caught a glimpse of the figure reclining on the doctor's sofa. This incident was in 1889 and was followed in 1894 by one very similar in first appearances, but of vastly different results. Dr. Pox was conducting a drug store at the corner of Kansas and Gracia avenues and had an ice box back of his prescription case. One day the dealer was delivering ice to the doctor and noticed the lid was partially off a very long, slender box, sitting nearby, and to his terror and amazement he beheld protruding from the box the feet of a woman. He did not stop to investigate, nor did he hesitate to talk, and soon the whole town and countryside were discussing with bated breath the gruesome discovery in Fox's drug store. Fox was arrested, and tried in Chariton county on a charge of "body snatching," the fact having developed that the body was that of a young woman who had then but recently died in that county a few miles south of Marceline. The doctor's assistant, a man of excellent standing in the community, told the whole story on the witness stand, of a midnight ride in a buggy to the lonely cemetery; of the opening of the grave, over which the earth was yet new; of the return to town with the body between them in the buggy, and though there was no conviction in the case, it resulted in a radical change of the laws of the state of Missouri, so that now the hazard is too great, the penalty too severe for adventures of that kind and character. The little church-yard received again the poor, inanimate form so ruthlessly taken from its silent portals, and with the passing of Dr. Fox from the community the most gruesome incident in the history of the town was allowed to pass from the memory of the people. Perhaps it were as well had the gruesome story never been retold, but as the sun ever follows the shadow of the rain and as the dawn of right dispels and dissipates the darkness of wrong, so the restraining legislation that sprang from this incident has fully compensated for all the heartaches that its presence brought.
Thus far Marceline had struggled along, passing through the trials and vicissitudes incident to the early history of new towns, but in the early spring of 1903 rumors of important railroad additions to the city began to be heard. No one apparently knew from whence they came and but little credence was given them. The Chicago division of the Santa Fe had been divided, the eastern end being known as the Illinois division, the western end as the Missouri division, and in March of that year the announcement was made that the office of division superintendent of the Missouri division, general foreman of bridges and buildings, the division engineering department and all the additional forces that go with them, were to be located at Marceline without delay. A second story was added to the depot to accommodate the new offices and in that month R. J. Parker, superintendent, who had built up an enviable reputation in connection with J. H. Banker, the general foreman, in construction work on the mountain divisions, came to Marceline to locate, and with them came T. H. Sears as train-master. Mr. Parker remained at Marceline as superintendent until the double track building, which had been started by the Santa Fe, was well under way, and in 1906 went to La Junta, Colorado, as general superintendent of the Western Grand division of the Santa Fe system, which position he held until 1910, when he became general superintendent of the system, with headquarters at Topeka. Mr. Parker was succeeded as Superintendent by T. I. Sears, who, with A. Ewing as trainmaster, J. H. Banker as general foreman of bridges and buildings, G. J. Bell, division engineer, George W. Bailey, agent, and A. L. Crabbs, chief dispatcher, constitute the heads of departments at the date of the preparation of this chapter. Since locating here the importance of the division offices have increased to such an extent that more commodious quarters are required and bids are to be opened in Topeka, Kansas, the headquarters of the Santa Fe system, at an early date, on the contract for a $30,000 brick office building and passenger station at Marceline and for a $12,000 freight house. From six passenger trains per day in the early nineties, the business of the road has grown until eighteen passenger trains stop at Marceline daily, and over its 800 miles of double track, stretching from Chicago to Dodge City, Kansas, millions of dollars in freight are transported daily. During all the time that the Santa Fe has been in operation from Kansas City to Chicago, prior to 1909, the subject of water at Marceline had been a vexed question. During the dry months of each summer tank trains ran regularly between Marceline and Carrollton, to supply the demand of the railway at Marceline for water, and strong talk of the need of a water system began to be heard on the streets.

The excellent business administration of Wesley Ellis and L. E. Pan-
cost were followed by the election of Dr. B. B. Putman, as mayor, in
1908. Dr. Putman was a man of determination and a financier of long
experience. He took his seat as mayor in May of that year and at once discontinued the illegal practice which had prevailed since the beginning of the town of issuing city warrants where money was needed and none was in the treasury, thus putting the city on a cash basis. In July following, $3,600 in revenue that had been realized by the city each year since 1891, was taken from Dr. Putman's administration by the voting out of the saloons, the election occurring on July 7th of that year. Notwithstanding this decrease in revenue, Dr. Putman continued his policy of drawing warrants only when there was cash to cover, pursued a policy of economy, reduced the city's floating indebtedness and in his general conduct of the city's affairs left a record that will give him place as the best executive in the history of the city down to his time In November, 1908, a proposition was submitted to the city to vote bonds in the sum of $50,000 to erect a system of water works. The proposition carried with only thirty-six dissenting votes and the city at once entered actively into the work of the construction of its water works. The system was completed and in operation the following year. Under this administration came also the first paving and to give the work a start two blocks were paved on Kansas avenue, stretching from Ritchie to Gracia avenue, and in the fall of 1911 the preliminary steps were taken to continue the paving to other blocks and to other streets. During the four years, from 1908 to 1912, a number of industries were located at Marceline. The plentiful supply of fuel and an abundance of water making the place attractive from a business view. The Standard Oil pumping station, with its great pumps assisting in the work of driving crude oil from the fields of Oklahoma, by pipe lines, to the refineries in the East, built massive concrete structures at Marceline and began active operation. The bottling works and creamery of B. McAllister & Sons began a successful business which has steadily increased. Enterprises already located increased their capacity and doubled their working forces and new business houses and handsome dwellings supplanted the temporary structures of early days. The Santa Fe Railway erected its library and recreation building for its employees on its right of way near Howell street, and here, through the winter months, are given lectures, concerts and high class theatricals by the very best talent traveling, without charge to the people and while Marceline was well provided
with public parks and grounds, it remained for the year 1912 to give
it the splendid pleasure resort in West Marceline of the Santa Fe
Country Club Association. With the completion of the water works
the Santa Fe Railway Company began taking water for its use from
the pipes of the city exclusively. At the western part of the city the
railroad owns forty acres of land on which it constructed at the town's beginning a great reservoir covering about twenty-two acres of the tract. This lake, thirty feet in depth, filled with clear, clean water, was formerly the source of the water supply of the railway, and when the railroad began to receive water from the city it abandoned the lake. Early in 1912 the employees of the Santa Fe began a movement to lease this ground, with its great lake, and convert it into a pleasure resort. They invited the co-operation of the citizens of the town, with the result that at the February term, 1912, of the Linn County Circuit Court at Brookfield the Santa Fe Country Club Association was incorporated and immediately a lease was consummated whereby the association came into possession of the grounds and lake of the railway company. The officers named in the articles of association were L. T. Sears, president; E. W. Tayler, vice-president, and D. L. Brown, secretary, and the association began at once the erection of a handsome clubhouse, purchased boats, planted trees and took all the necessary steps to beautify the grounds. This splendid resort will soon be thrown open to the people, but being a private enterprise can only be enjoyed by members of the association and their families.

Marceline has for many years enjoyed the music of a superior
concert band made up entirely from the ranks of its laboring men.
The membership has contained from time to time. men who had played in European musical organizations, and under the leadership of Frank Strahal has been active, progressive and a source of much pleasure to our people. Its open concerts in the parks delighted audiences of children in the years gone by and those children, grown to manhood and womanhood, listen to its sweet strains today while their own children sit by their side. True, the personnel of the organization has changed, but the organization itself has remained intact, increasing in efficiency with accumulating years.
With the passing of the boom days came permanency in business.
Real estate values became stable and normal; conservative, careful
business men took the place of and superseded the speculator; legitimate amusement superseded the dance hall. But few of the original buildings, erected by the town's pioneers, remain in evidence today and what have not been razed to the ground or destroyed by flame have been removed to make way for better and more modern structures. During the period from 1890 to 1900 conflagrations were almost of nightly occurrence and so desperate did the situation grow that at one time a large body of citizens, their faces masked, visited a number of houses and took there from suspects. The suspects were roughly handled and given hours to leave town and they did so. What is known as the "Finn case" was an outgrowth of this period. In 1898 one John Finn was living in rooms over the Marceline Mercantile Establishment, at the corner of Kansas and California avenues. Other persons dwelling in the flat one day detected fumes of burning cloth and an investigation was started. Though the smell of smoke was plain the fire could not be discovered. Finally entrance was gained to Finn's room, where a hole was discovered in the ceiling which had been carefully covered with paper. Gaining entrance to the open space between the ceiling and the tin roof the astounding discovery was made that a large quantity of greasy waste had been placed in this garret and a candle lighted and set up in the waste. When discovered the candle had burned low and the waste was smouldering and burning.
Officers were notified who found Finn sitting in front of a business
house on Kansas avenue. Seeing the officer approaching him, Finn
scented danger and broke and ran, and though followed immediately,
he seemed for a time to have dropped from the earth. Two days afterward he was found hiding in a small cellar, approached by a trap door, under the floor of the residence of his brother-in-law, in the south part of town. When the officers entered this cellar they found there not only Finn, the fire-bug, but a large quantity of drugs, medicines and toilet articles as well, evidently the result of the burglary of some drug store. Nothing was ever known as to the place from whence these articles were secured and Finn was prose cuted alone on the charge of arson. On this charge he went to the penitentiary under a sentence of fifteen years.