Always Taxes.........

“Always taxes,” bemoaned the Kewaunee Enterprise editor in a February 1870 edition of the paper. Twenty years later, Kewaunee’s New Era carried the county’s statistics for 1891 when County Clerk William Rogers compiled the following information for the City of Ahnapee, now Algoma. Its 1890 population stood at 1,015.

Collective value of the 140 horses found in the city was $6,150 for an average of $43.92 each. The 179 head of cattle averaged $11.96 each, however the city’s lone mule’s value was $15. Sheep and lambs, pigs, carriages and sleighs were assigned values. Pianos and melodeons had a total value of $2,252 while 74 gold watches came to $820. Merchandise and manufacturing stock amounted to $54,799, whereas the aggregate value of all city lots, including real and personal property, came to $288,830. Property as equalized by the Board of Review totaled $306,386.

Ahnapee’s farm grown products were measured in bushels and included 805 bushels of potatoes. Though oats, barley and wheat were grown within the city, corn was not. Root crops, apples, clover, timothy, flax, hops and tobacco were not measured, but the Enterprise pointed out that Red River grew 4,000 bushels of tobacco. At the same time the Town of Ahnapee produced 220,500 pounds of cheese. Only Carlton Town processed more.

When taxes were levied, state taxes and loans came to $597.50 for the city. School taxes amounted to a few dollars less at $546.19. Current expenses were $953.08 although there was nothing listed for road, bridge and poll taxes. One hundred dollars was included for the poor in both the city and town. In total, Ahnapee’s entire tax burden came to $3918.42, a figure many today pay in property taxes alone.


Always taxes? Some things never change.