History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its cities, towns, resources, people

              728 HISTORY OP WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
ehl, John Lenz, Alois Voissem, Henry Sherrin, Jos. Hill, D. McMahon, Frank Shemanski, Mike Jakowske.
The meetings of the village board were held in different office rooms about the city, and in 1885 were located upstairs in the Masonic block, when Mr. L. J. Noble was mayor. It was pro¬ posed to erect a permanent city hall. The site on Main street was selected and purchased; induced by the fact that it was owned by Jacob Cline, who maintained a public nuisance in the shape of a town bull on Main street, which could be abated by purchasing the site. That fall plans were made, the contract let and the foundations made. The following year, 1886, under P. v. Lawson, Jr., as mayor, the city hall was completed, fitted up with furniture, and occupied by the civic government. The first bell purchased by Mr. John Marx as committee, was not satisfactory, and was replaced at once by another, which still hangs in the building. In 1896, while Mr. Lawson was serving his sixth term as mayor, at his urgent request the council ap¬ pointed Mr. William H. Miner and Mr. S. H. Vaughn to system¬ atize the entire city record, arrange all the papers and file all property, so that the office of the city clerk was arranged in perfect form, m.aking it possible to find any paper at once. Mr. W. W. Reed in 1896 made a level of the whole city and filed maps of a complete sewer system, which is still in use. The same year the first sewer in the city was made down Main street east from Chute street, and a 30-inch sewer down Sixth from Appleton to the lower lake, which drained the whole central portion of the city. This same year the first paving was made, using cedar blocks on Main street from Chute to the battery park or public landing at the river.
About three years after this Mr. Jens Jorgenson commenced crushing stone on the Hall farm north of the city, and thereafter most of the paving could be made with crushed stone macadam, a more durable pavement. In 1903 the city purchased its own quarry on Doty island, where it has since crushed the stone neces¬ sary for paving streets and for cement sidewalks. In 1903 it was determined to make all sidcAvalks of stone and cement, and since then many miles of this excellent walk have been made.
February 8, 1860, Mr. P. Y. Lawson, Sr., obtained the contract from the Pox & Wisconsin River Improvement Company, to con- •struct a guard lock, at the mouth of the canal, to close off the water in case of a break in the banks, which frequently occurred in the spring.    Mudsills were sunk into the bed of the canal;