The Fort Dodge Messenger: Sept. 10, 1903

Comply With Fire Escape Ordinance

Nearly Every Building in the City is Now Protected Against Fire.

Four Buildings Without Them

Owners of Two Buildings are Fined for not Obeying the Law.

Inhabitants of Fort Dodge “sky scrapers,” need no longer have any fear of waking up in the middle of the night disturbed by the alarm of fire and finding that there is no other means of escape besides the burning stairway, or windows high above the street.

The city fire escape ordinance passed last April in accordance with the state law is now practically enforced in Fort Dodge. There are only four buildings in the city, which on account of their size come under the law, unprovided with fire escapes of sufficient size and number to allow the inmates in event of a fire a mode of escape.

Two of the delinquents, the Great Western Cereal Company and the Green-Wheeler Shoe company have been fined the amount provided by law, $1 and costs, $10 per week afterward until fire escapes are put up. The other delinqent (sic), the Midland life Insurance Co., which has been ordered to appear on charge of disobeying the law and the fourth owner, Harry Sanderson, who is prevented from putting  up the escape on his building until the permission of the government is secured, the escapes being placed on the west side of the Sanderson black which borders on the postoffice grounds. It is necessary to secure the consent of the government before the work can be done.

All of the Central avenue business blocks of three or more stories, with the exception of the above named, have complied with the ordinance and the contracts for the escapes on the shoe factory have been let and work will commence as soon as the material arrives. The Great Western Cereal Company had provided the mill with one fire escape but this has been considered insufficient, so that more will have to be put in. The work of doing this will begin Thursday.  The Midland Insurance company has ordered the material and will have the apparatus u p within a few weeks. As soon as government permission is secured the fire escapes will be placed on the Sanderson block.

The most expensive escapes not put in are those on the court house. These are of the nature of a steel stairway and cost $450. One escape is placed on the east and one on the soth (sic) side of the building.

The Des Moines Bridge and Iron Works has held contracts for the majority of the work. The contracts signed by this company here would run into the thousands. the cost of the fire escapes for a building varies from $80 to $500 depending on the number and kind used and whether or not a stand pipe is put in.

The ordinance was passed by the council in the early spring. Notices were served on property owners on April first that the escapes must be in by June 1, but delay in the carrying out of the contracts by the construction companies has caused a postponement in the enforcement of the ordinance.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Sept. 5, 1903

The Laboring Man Will Have His Day

Fort Dodge Will have a Big Celebration on Monday, Labor Day.

The Unions are at the Head

To Have Charge of Celebration and Expect to Have a Big Day.

Not only the workingmen, but the city in general, will celebrate on Labor Day, Monday. In the atfernoon (sic) business will be at a standstill, all of the Central avenue business houses having agreed to close from 12 until 5 in the afternoon. The furniture and hardware dealers will not open up after 12, and the lumber yards will remained closed during the entire day. Appointed as a committee by the labor unions of the city, L.E. Hurlbut called on all of the merchants this morning and found them glad and willing to sign the above agreement.

Being a legal holiday the saloons and banks will be closed and short hours will be in effect at the postoffice as follows: The general delivery will be open from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., and from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. The carriers will make a business delivery at 8 a.m. and the usual forenoon residence delivery and deliver mail at their windows from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Business collections will be made at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Nearly all the factories and shops in the city will shut down.

There will be no issue of the Messenger.

Everything indicates that Monday will be a day of great festivities for the labor unions. The elaborate program arranged by the trades and labor assembly will be carried out to the letter. The celebration will begin at 10 o’clock in the morning with a grand labor parade. Several thousand union men will march, and prizes will be offered for the best appearing local union. Hundreds of union men from surrounding towns will also be in the city, the railroads having made special rates to and from Fort Dodge.

All of the exercises will be held at the park and race track. A feature of the morning will be the address by M.F. Healy. The ball game between Fort Dodge and Waterloo in the afternoon will start at 3 o’clock. The diamond willl (sic) be on the race track in front of the grand stand. The judges stand and fence have been removed and the grounds put into first class condition. Music by two bands and the Oleson orchestra and a dance will also be among the attractions. the time in the afternoon will be well taken up with the various athletic contests scheduled. Liberal prizes have been offered to the winners of all the events. The day promises to be one long remembered by the union men of Fort Dodge and vicinity.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Sept. 1, 1906

Will Not Observe Labor Day

Monday will be a Quiet Day in the City – No Celebration is Planned.

Stores Will Remain Open

The Banks and Post-offices Will Keep the Customary Holiday Hours, but the Other Business Houses Will Remain Open all Day.

Labor Day will be a quiet one in the city. Outside of a few picnics, all family affairs, and a large number who are planning to take advantage of the excursion to Waterloo, the day will not be unlike the others of the week. All of the business houses will remain open until the customary hour of closing and there will be absolutely no demonstrations of a public nature inside of the city limits.

The post-office will remain open from 7:00 until 10:00 o’clock in the morning and from 5:00 until 6:00 o’clock in the evening. There will be one residence and one business mail delivery, while the carrier’s windows will be open from 5:00 until 6:00 o’clock p.m. for those caring to take advantage of the opportunity to get their mail before Tuesday morning.

The banks of the city will remain closed all day, while the barber shops will close for the dat at 11 o’clock a.m. A large number of the local barbers are going to respond to the invitation of the Waterloo barbars’ union and take part in te (sic) demonstrations there Monday.

If the weather will permit there will be a number of picnics and fishing parties on the banks of the Des Moines river in the vicinity of Fort Dodge. A number of the golf club are preparing to spend the day on the links, southeast of the city. No regular tournaments have been planned, but a number will play for records.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Aug. 15, 1904

Young Furniture Maker is Genius

Henry Carlson Designs and Makes Furniture Which is Unequaled

Uses No Pattern Whatever

Young Man Who Has Only Been in This Country a Year and Who Has Had No Previous Experience is Very Skillful.

Henry Carlson, a young man employed in the furniture repair room at the A.D. McQuilken furniture store has proven that he is an excellent workman in furniture manufacturing. He has made several articles of furniture which exhibited in the window of the McQuilken store show the designer and maker to be a man of genius in this line.

The first that his talent was discovered by the other employes (sic) in the store and by Mr. McQuilken was when he asked some of the employes to come to his room and see a chair which he had made in the evenings after his working hours were over. The employes as a rule accepted his invitation and went to the room to see the chair. When they saw the chair they were all delightfully surprised as the chair was indeed a beauty. The chair was a large rocker made solely with the use of a saw, knife and hammer. The chair is an enormous one and is beautiful in design. It is said o be one of the most comfortable chairs imaginable.

After this he was given more work of this kind and in no case has he failed to do as good a job as is done with the must uptodate (sic) machinery, while he uses only the saw, knife and hammer. He has made several articles for people who have wished something made by special pattern. He is quick to catch any one’s idea as to how a piece of furniture is to be made and as soon as he understands the design he is able to go directly to work on it and without the use of a pattern or any other design to make the article. His work is speedily done and is very neat with finished. He has made book cases, hall trees, music cabinets and magazine stands which are now exhibited on the McQuilken window.

One of the most beautiful pieces of workmanship is a gentleman’s shaving stand which he has just finished. The stand has a mirror on the top which can be turned or revolved in any direction. A music cabinet which he also recently finished was designed by him from a description of one he received from a man who wished one made for himself.

A magazine rack which he made, he designed wholly himself. He has made several others from pictures he has seen of them but this one he designed himself and is a great improvement over any of the others. It can be used as a small bookcase to contain books which one needs in any part of the house away from the large bookcases. The stand although seemingly being small has a capacity of a large number of books or magazines.

The shaving stand which he made was a surprise to Mr. McQuilken, as he had had several of similar appearance before and while he was in Chicago this last time on his purchasing trip this stand was made. It was feared for awhile that Mr. McQuilken would buy one while on his trip as he was much pleased with them, but he returned without one and was glad to find that he would have one in stock although he had neglected to buy one while away.

Another piece of furniture which probably attracts the most attention of any is a large upholstered couch. This couch was designed by this young gentleman after a picture of one he had seen in a magazine. The couch is a very beautiful one and is  upholstered in leather. The couch is made in the style so universally popular now, that of the massive old time furniture. The couch looks as though fastened together by wooden bolts, and in every way its appearance as a couch made one hundred years back is carried out. The upholstering is of felt and is made to that it can be taken off, if desired. The couch is the most comfortable couch that has ever been carried in stock according to Mr. McQuilken.

The story of the life of this talented man is very interesting. He arrived in this country less than one year ago from Sweden and as yet it is hard for him to understand some points of English grammar. He understands perfectly what is said to him and is also able to read newspapers and books, which is very remarkable for one who has been in this country as short a length of time as he was. From the artistic work turned out by him one would think he must have been a furniture maker in his own country but until he commenced work at the McQuilken store he had never done any work of this kind. The work in fact comes natural to him and he is able to do as good work as is done in the leading furniture factories of this country with the aid of skilled workman and the latest machinery.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Aug. 15, 1904

Business Block for First Avenue South

Big Three Story Double Store to be Build (sic) at 8th Street and First Ave. South.

Be Finished in Four Months

Upper Stories Furnished for Office Rooms and Flats – Will Be One of the Best Business Buildings of the City – Work Began at Once.

The contract has just been let for the erection of a fine business block on First ave south at the corner of Eighth Street. J.T. Gleason is the man who is backing the enterprise.

Double Store Room

The building is to be three stories with a basement the full length. The lower part of the structure will be finished and fitted for two store rooms, both of which will be large and roomy designed to accommodate two large business enterprises. The second story of the structure will be finished up for offices and flats. It as (sic) not yet been decided what will be done with the third story. The office rooms and flats will be finished in the latest and most up-to-date manner, and the building, when completed, will be one of the finest in the city.

Will Be Finished in Four Months.

The contract has been let to W.J. Zitterell of this city, who is to turn over the completed building for acceptance inside of the next four months. Work will be begun at once. The excavators will begin this week, and the project pushed to completion with all possible haste.

Purpose Not Known.

What the purpose of Mr. Gleason is in the erection of the building is not known. When asked this morning what business would occupy the structure, he stated he had nothing to say with regard to this part of the matter, but inferred it might be for rent. Architect J.H. Albrigh3t (sic) designed the building.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Aug. 8, 1904

Meat Has Reached Its Highest Mark

Fort Dodge Butchers Say Advance in Prices Will Now Cease

First Beef Received Today

Armour Packing Co. Send in Monday Morning Car as Usual – Chickens and Turkeys Have Gone Up in Sympathy With Other Meats.

Meat, which has been steadily advancing ever since the strike began, is now, according to the local butchers, at the highest point it is expected to reach. For this the public will be truly thankful, as the choice cuts are now higher than they have been in the city for several years. The usual Monday morning’s car arrived in the city this morning on time for the first time since the strike was called and it is thought the packing houses are getting in shape to handle the trade once more.

Have Sold All Home Dressed Beef.

For the past two weeks nearly all of the butchers in the city have been compelled to supply the trade altogether with home dressed beef, doing all their own killing. They have had the greatest difficulty in supplying their customers, as there are so very few cattle in the country that are fit to kill.

“Yes,” said Charles Wolverton of Wolverton Bros. meat market, th is morning to a Messenger representative, “I think meat has gone as high as it will. I believe we will be better able to cope with the situation from now on. This morning the regular Monday morning car arrived in the city from the Armour Packing company, bring practically the first beef from that firm that has arrived in Fort Dodge since the strike began. From this we infer that the packers are getting in shape to handle their regular business again. We have been supplying the trade for the past few weeks almost entirely from local stock, and we have found it very difficult to find cattle that were fit to kill. There is never a day passes that we are not offered cattle, but on driving out to look at them we generally find they are far from what they should be to make good meat. The farmers are anxious to sell and there are plenty of cattle, but there has been no grain to feed them, and the grass, their only food, has not been fattening this year, so really good cattle are very scarce.

Chickens and Turkeys Up.

Chickens and turkeys have gone up rapidly in sympathy with the advance of beef and pork and are now selling at about the price they brought earlier in the season when they were considered more of a luxury. Neither turkeys or chickens are of very good size or quality as a general thing and acceptable birds are rather hard to secure.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Aug. 7, 1905

Youngest Local Business Man

George Bowen Opens Electrical Supply House.

Is Only Sixteen Years of Age, and Said to Be the Youngest of Fort Dodge Business Men.

Who is the youngest business man in Fort Dodge?

This question would have been hard to answer until Thursday. But after Thursday when George Bowen opened to the public an electric supply establishment on upper Central avenue, where a large sign displayed in front of his stand just east of Leighton Bros. bears the inscription “Electrical Wonders at Little Prices.” There  is abundant evidence that he is Fort Dodge’s youngest hustling business man. He is just sixteen years of age.

The young merchant has a stock of electrical supplies such as door bells and incandescent globes and batteries. He also has in operation the smallest electric fan in the city; its diameter being only two inches.

His first day’s business on Thursday was very satisfactory. He is a local Edison, having always been interested in electricity and has taken every opportunity to study the phenomena, being a faithful reader of every book on the subject he could find and is well informed. He also has done considerable work in fiting electric bells for several years. His many friends will wish him success in his new venture.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: July 15, 1904

Business Dull at Gypsum Mills

Four Out of Nine Shut Down – Others Running on Half Time.

Stagnation Reigns Supreme

Prospects for Fall Business Nevertheless Good – All Depends on the Crops – Closing Down Imposes No Hardships upon Employes (sic).

Stagnation reigns supreme at the gypsum mills. There are only four out of the nine mills running, and two of these are only operating part of the time. The United States Gypsum company is running out, but two of its six are working men on half time.

Little Building the Cause.

The present desuetude can be attributed to but one cause. As soon as building ceases there is absolutely no demand for stucco. This has been the worst season experienced for many years, but the same trouble occurred during the hard times of several years ago when practically none of the mills were running.

Outlook Not Bad.

Despite the present stagnation the outlook for business next year and this fall is not discouraging.

“If the crop prespocts (sic – should be prospects), which we now have, hold out, business will soon commence to pick up,” said a local manager. “One thing is apparent; the stucco business is now at its lowest possible ebb. Hence the present volume of business cannot be reduced. There is as little business now being done as people can possibly get along with.”

Closing Not Severe on Men.

The shutting down of the mills has not been a great hardship on the men employed. Most of the men have either found work at the nearby coal mines or on the neighboring farms where hands are now in great demand.

Fort Dodge has not suffered as much from the slack gypsum business as many other places where mills are located. The United States company have several places been compelled to shut down its mills entirely.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: July 11, 1904

When The City Has Its Own Newspaper

Webster City Municipal Council Going to Edit a Newspaper.

Run Graphic Herald a Week

Beginning This Week the Council will Publish the Paper – Councilman as Editor-in-chief, With Numerous Assistants.

Webster City, July 11 – There is going to be another daily paper in Webster City, which will make the third daily paper published here. This announcement may come as a surprise to those who think th at with the two dailies already here, the field is well equipped. Nevertheless there is to be a third daily. It is to be issued from the office of the Graphic Herald – the only democratic paper in Hamilton county. It is to be called the “Daily Graphic-Herald.” Its life is to be short, just one little week, and it is to be edited by the city council.

This is something strictly new in the municipal ownership line. Not content with a city electric light plant, a city water works plant and a city heating plant, the council is endeavoring to get a city gas plant and, in furtherenace of this latest project, will run a daily newspaper plant.

Preparations for the issuing of these few copies of the “Daily Graphic-Herald” have been going on for some little time. The expense of publishing the daily will be bourne, it is said, by the city council, or rather, the taxpayers.

It is understood that Alderman J.D. Riste, of the First ward, the “father of the council,” is to be the editor-in-chief, with several members as first, second, third and fourth assistant editors. This week has been selected for the issuing of the daily, because it is the last week before the special election on the gas franchise proposition.

During the next week the Graphic-Herald will be distributed broadcast throughout the city. It will be left at every door. Brother Robie, the editor of the Graphic-Herald, will be related to the background. It is simply a matter of so much coin of the realm for him and he doesn’t care. The contents of the new and short lived daily will relate to nothing but gas. The people are awaiting with much curiosity to see the new sheet. Some of the taxpayers are also shying a little when they think of the cost of printing the paper even for one week.