- Government - Janesville Sesquicentennial
-
- [Photograph; caption reads: Janesville's first City Hall
at the corner of Jackson and Wall streets was erected in 1902.]
-
- City pioneered new structure of government
- Like most cities, Janesville's political history has been
spiced by strong personalities, bitter
- controversies and emotional issues.
- But unlike many cities, the past 60-plus years here generally
have been stable politically with a
- city manager-council form of government that has endured.
-
- Early years
- The Rock River valley was part of the Michigan Territory
when the first white settlers arrived in
- 1835. The first election was held here in 1836 in the home
of Samuel ST. JOHN, who had moved here with his family
the previous November. At the time the area was considered part
of Milwaukee County.
- There were two other attempts to establish settlements, named
Wisconsin City and Rockport.
- Wisconsin City was established by John INMAN in April
1836, about three-quarters of a mile below what is now the Monterey
Bridge. Rockport was a 158-acre parcel on the north side of the
Rock River established by Judge William HOLMES and his
sons, who sold sites to settlers.
- HOLMES refused to sell another early settler, Henry
JANES, land in Rockport, so JANES
- platted out the unclaimed land on what is now downtown Janesville.
Rockport and Wisconsin City faded from the list of villages.
- None of the three communities had governments, but a commission
was formed to settle disputes
- and was the first form of local government in the area.
- The first U.S. mail arrived here on horseback in April 1836
on a pony express route from Mineral
- Point through Janesville to Racine. JANES was the
first postmaster.
- Janesville was established as the county seat in 1839 by
the territorial Legislature on the same
- quarter section Henry JANES had laid claim to in 1836,
and JANES was dispossessed of his land under law provided
for lands on which county seats were established. The first Rock
County Courthouse was built in 1842.
-
- City incorporated
- History of the period from 1840-1853 is spotty. The community
had 36 dwellings and 333 people
- by 1843, and by 1849 the population had grown to 1,812 people,
452 of whom were born in New York.
- The city of Janesville was incorporated March 19, 1853, with
the first election set for the first
- Tuesday in April under a mayor-alderman form of government.
Four wards were established - two on each side of the river -
with three aldermen elected from each. Two of the aldermen from
each ward would serve one-year terms and the other would serve
a two-year term.
- Wealthy landowner and water power railway promoter A. Hyatt
SMITH was elected the first
- mayor for a one-year term. Other officers chosen in the first
election were J. H. OGILVIE, clerk; C. P. KING,
superintendent of schools; J. W. HOBSON, treasurer; C.
S. JORDAN, attorney; and W. F. TOMPKINS, marshal.
- Each ward also had its own justice of the peace and constable.
B. F. PIXLEY was elected the
- first council president at the council's first meeting April
12, 1853, at the office of the Rock River Valley Union Railroad
at what now is the corner of Main and River streets.
- Two more wards were added in 1857, when SMITH was
elected to a second term as mayor. In
- 1859 the city charter was amended to provide for just one
alderman per ward and the two new wards were abolished. The city
remained at four wards until 1871, when a fifth ward again was
established.
- The city had a firsthand look at the presidential campaign
of 1860. Abraham Lincoln made a
- speech at Young America Hall Oct. 1, 1859, after which he
was entertained by W. M. TALLMAN. A year later, on Oct.
12, 1860, Lincoln's Democratic opponent Stephen Douglas visited
the city and spoke to a large crowd in front of the Hyatt House.
-
- Services grow
- The late 1800s and early 1900s saw a growth in public services
provided by local government.
- Streets were vastly improved with the purchase of a stone
crusher and steam roller in 1895. A stone crushing plant was
built in 1899 and the systematic laying of macadam streets began
in 1900.
- Portland cement was used for curb and gutter and replaced
the plank sidewalks. In 1887, a
- franchise was granted to the firm of TURNER, CLARK
& RAWSON to build and operate a system of water works
in the city.
- The first fire alarm went into use in 1888, a new post office
was built in 1902 at the corner of
- Franklin and Dodge streets, and construction on the Carnegie
library on South Main Street began.
- Also in 1902 a two-story City Hall building was erected at
the corner of Jackson and Wall streets.
- It measured 71 by 98 feet and contained city offices and
the municipal court on the first floor, a public assembly hall
and council chambers on the second floor and the police department
and jail in the basement. The building and land cost $80,000.
- During the building of the City Hall, questions arose about
whether graft was creeping into the city.
- The talk resulted in the creation of a Municipal League,
which nominated a citizens ticket and put A. O. WILSON
in as mayor.
- The major-alderman form continued until 1912, during which
time strong political parties
- developed. Some leaders believed the aldermanic form had
become too partisan and proposed the commission form. In 1910,
voters decided to stay with the mayor-aldermanic system, but
in 1912 another referendum came out in favor of the commission
form.
- Under the commission form, a mayor was elected for a six-year
term and was the city's top
- administrator. Two commissioners were elected to four-year
terms. The mayor was not a full-time official, however, and a
leadership void developed. In 1918 the mayor-alderman system
was restored.
- Many of those who worked for the commission form admitted
its shortcomings. They turned to the
- city manager-council form and brought in individuals familiar
with it to explain its merits to the voters. The idea gained
support and in 1922 the council-manager system was adopted by
a 711-vote margin after a vigorous campaign.
-
- Council-manager era
- The city manager-council form of government took roots in
Janesville on April 4, 1922, the day
- city voters chose the new form of government over the existing
mayor-alderman form of government.
- The referendum vote on that day indicated the city was split
fairly even on the issue. The city
- manager-council form won its victory by a vote of 3,098 to
2,387, a difference of 711.
- Janesville was one of the pioneering cities to cast its lot
with the city manager-council form of
- government which was first authorized by the state Legislature
in 1923.
- The city of Kenosha was the only other Wisconsin city to
approve the new form of government
- before Janesville and it eventually changed back to the mayor-alderman
form leaving Janesville as the oldest city with a city manager
form of government in Wisconsin.
- The 1922 referendum was reported as a stunning blow to the
aldermanic form of government here
- and the losing side immediately geared up to put their own
man into the city manager's office.
- However, the effort failed as the city chose Henry TRAXLER
as the first city manager.
- TRAXLER, who was serving as city manager in Clarinda,
Iowa, assumed his position here on Sept. 15, 1923.
- TRAXLER's first 14 years in office were described
in a Janesville Gazette new article as "a
- continuity in government the city had never before known.
Its official life was free of petty politics. Its city employees
provided honest and efficient service. Its city councils constantly
kept the best interests of the city at heart and have been able
to act wisely and without interference."
- TRAXLER retired in 1951 and former city engineer,
Joseph LUSTIG, was appointed acting city
- manager until Warren C. HYDE took over on Sept. 1,
1951. HYDE was selected from a field of 36 candidates
and he was paid $10,000 a year, which was $600 more than what
TRAXLER had received when he left.
- HYDE served until April 30, 1955, when he resigned
to return to Minnesota. LUSTIG was again
- named acting city manager until Sept. 16, 1955, when George
FORSTER, former mayor of Madison was selected as city
manager.
- FORSTER held the post the shortest period of all,
resigning Dec. 31, 1956, to become city
- manager at Des Moines, Iowa. His sudden departure created
a stir among city council members who for the third time picked
LUSTIG as acting manager.
-
- [Photograph; caption reads: The 1904 Janesville City Council
included these members: Front row, from left, John COMSTOCK,
W. H. MERRITT, A. E. MATHESON, E. H. CONNELL,
Frank JACKMAN, W. H. GROVE, William MURRAY,
Edward SCHMIDLEY, Charles SCHWARTZ, John SHERIDEN.
Back row, from left, City Attorney F. C. BURPIE, Fire
Chief Henry KLEIN, City Clerk A. B. BADGER, Mayor
J. F. HUTCHINSON, City Engineer C. V. KERCH, City
Treasurer James A. FATHERS, and custodian Patrick GILLESPIE.]
-
- LUSTIG returns
- After a long search, the council decided to give the job
to LUSTIG on a permanent basis and [he]
- took up the reins on May 1, 1957. When he finally retired
in February of 1967, LUSTIG had completed 53 years with
the city.
- Karl SAMEK, a Janesville native, was selected as acting
city manager in March of 1967,
- reappointed acting manager on Sept. 1, 1967, and then chosen
as city manager three weeks later.
- SAMEK held the job until June of 1970, when he resigned
to become the city's first assistant city
- manager-finance director in the first major reorganization
following the implementation of the new form of government.
- The reorganization stirred a segment of the community and
a group interested in returning to the
- mayor-alderman form of government formed. George WALTER,
one of the organizers, said the move- ment was born from "dissatisfaction
with the city's present form of government. It is not representative
of all the people and is not democratic."
- The Nonpartisan Committee for Responsive Government obtained
the necessary signatures on
- petitions for a referendum and a second group interested
in keeping the city manager form of government emerged. The electorate
voted 2 to 1 to maintain the city manager form of government
and a Californian, Robert BAILEY, was appointed city manager
effective Jan. 15, 1971.
-
- DEATON appointed
- BAILEY resigned under pressure on Oct. 31, 19875,
and SAMEK became acting manager until
- January of 1972 when current City Manager Philip DEATON
was selected. DEATON came to Janesville from Red Wing,
Minn. He survived some discord with the city council in 1979
and earlier in 1985 when he was a finalist for a city manager's
job in Florida.
- DEATON is the seventh man to serve as city manager
in the 62 years of city manager-council
- form of government compared to the 32 mayors who served during
the 63-year period of mayor- alderman form of government. Mayors
were elected to one-year terms for the first 32 years and then
two-year terms were allowed after 1885.
- The Public Service Administration, a non-profit organization,
studied city government in Janesville
- in 1940 and determined that both the mayor form of government
and a brief interlude with a commission form of government kept
the city in constant political conflict.
- The first recorded try at political reform came in 1910 when
citizens attempted to abolish the
- mayor form of government. Partisan politics was blamed, but
the effort failed. Two years later in, reform was successful
and a commission form of government came into existence.
- Among the prominent leaders of the city who favored a commission
form of government was
- George S. PARKER, president of PARKER Pen Co.
The commission form lasted just six years until 1918 when the
city voted to return to a mayor.
- The mayoral system only lasted four years this time around
and it fell by the wayside with the
- referendum vote in April of 1922. The city manager form survived
a challenge in 1980 when the electorate voiced their opposition
to returning to a mayor form of government with a resounding
vote of 7,447 to 3,273. The issue surfaced briefly in 1980, but
soon faded away without being tested at the polls.
|
