Jamesport, City of Fourth Class
On the twenty-fourth day of December, 1880, the
board of trustees drew up and passed an ordinance to submit to the
legal voters of the town of Jamesport a proposition as to whether
the citizens of said town should elect to become a city of the
fourth class. The citizens would much have preferred to be a city of
the first class, in fact their modesty had been so far overcome as
to claim the title of "first city of Daviess county," but rathe than
remain a town any longer, they would try the position of a
fourth-class city and see how they liked it. The Gazette came out
and assured them that if the proposition was voted for and carried
they would be the greatest fourth-class city ever incorporated on
the American continent, and that would be far better than, as the
editor beautifully expressed it, "a one-horse county seat." The
election was held on the twenty-second day of January, 1881, and the
vote was pretty unanimous for a city of the fourth-class, the result
being seventy-eight in favor of the proposition to twenty-two votes
polled against it. These last were supposed to be some friends of
Gallatin who were evidently jealous of the rising name and fame of
James-port. These facts the writer gathered from some of the best
citizens of the city of Jamesport.
New Officers
Franklin Callison had the honor of being the first mayor of
Jamesport. The first board of aldermen was composed of the following
gentlemen: P. H. Lilly, J. C. Murray, Horatio Bunker, and J. H.
Berry. And the mayor with the advice and consent of the board,
appointed the following officers: William Allen, city clerk; C. E.
Orcutt, city treasurer; A. C. McCord, city street commissioner; A.
T. Brown, city marshal; W. G. Callison, city attorney. William Allen
resigned his position of clerk, and A. P. Shour was temporarily
appointed to succeed him until a permanent one should be appointed
at the next session of the city government, when J. F. Jordin was
appointed. Mr. Jordin also held the office of city attorney vice W.
G. Callison. The city government being constituted as above to hold
until the spring election of 1882, or until their successors are
elected and qualified.
A fire department was organized with trucks, hooks and ladders, and
several new ordinances were passed made necessary by the new
position the city had assumed. Jamesport in the year 1881 is a
thriving little city and has a reputation for business activity and
vim, the superior of any town of its size in North Missouri. The
people are progressive and the merchants enterprising to a wonderful
degree, and Jamesport will hold its own.
The business houses and the population of Jamesport in 1871 have been given on a previous page. The population of the town in 1880, according to the census returns, was 617, and will now reach 750. The business houses, which show a splendid increase during the last decade, are here given, and its future may be gathered from these facts.
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