April 30 marks the 225th anniversary of George Washington's election as first president of the United States. There was a time when each school classroom had a copy Peale's or Stuart's famous paintings of Washington, or perhaps a photograph or painting of Abraham Lincoln. Washington is one of the four presidents carved into Mt. Rushmore and he is remembered in the names of cities, townships, schools and streets. Wolf River/Ahnapee had a number of residents whose first and middle names reflected the famous man, however that is not where the connection ends.
As a young man in 1758, Washington was elected to Virginia's House of Burgesses. There he connected with Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Peyton Randolph and George Mason - men with whom he would be forever linked. At the time, the illustrious company didn't bask in the luster of American history.
It is said that as a young legislator Washington was not a leader offering innovative legislation. When he introduced his first bill in Burgesses, he had neither the experience nor the clout to push through a piece of legislation. Today one would think, "Why didn't it happen?" Maybe Washington's "betters" felt they'd teach the young upstart a thing or two. As it was, pigs were running at loose on the streets of Williamsburg. They were fouling the water and yet Washington's legislation to keep them off the streets failed on the first try.
A little over 100 years later, the new village of Ahnapee adopted Ordinance 4 without a hitch. What was it that Washington couldn't initially effect when it happened on July 12, 1873 at the first meeting of the Village of Ahnapee? Keeping pigs off the street because of the "fouling," which one would think would have been a no-brainer a century earlier.
At the time of Ahnapee's first village meeting, there were 100 registered voters. Druggist William N. Perry was unanimously elected president. Manufacturer Joseph Anderegg was elected clerk, and in the first historical business conducted three days later, Michael McDonald was elected marshal. It wasn't crime that took the Marshal McDonald's time initially. It was Ordinance 4 - keeping pigs off the streets of the village. A month after his election, McDonald declared war on swine! How successful McDonald was is anyone's guess, but the issue was addressed. A year later the Board passed an ordinance providing for slaughterhouses when it prohibited the dangerous and unhealthy practice of slaughtering animals at home. Ordinance 4 probably dried up a food source. No doubt the pigs at large made for pork chops and ham for those who couldn't tell one pig from another.
Cattle were running at large at the same time, however that was apparently regarded as a lessor issue. Three years later, the Record commented on "the nerve" of the village board in passing an ordinance restricting cattle from running on the street. The editorial comment was obviously in jest and McDonald was heard to say if people didn't take care of their own cows, they'd find them milked.
Whether there were ordinances or not, people had to use village streets to get their cows to a grazing area that is now Perry Field. In an interview with this blogger, historian Millie Rabas remembered driving cows from her grandparents' Kirchman Hotel* down Clark St. to the field. In the 1940s and early 1950s, there were times that Karl Lineau, Clarence Toebe and Adolph Feld, whose farms were within the south city limits, got early morning calls from the police letting them know their cows were downtown. At least they kept their pigs at home. Ironically Feld's future father-in-law was on the board that effected the ordinances.
Note: Virginia's House of Burgesses was the first representative government in "The Colonies." Its first meeting was at Jamestown on July 30, 1619.
* The Kirchman Hotel is now called the Steelhead Saloon and is at the northeast corner of 4th and Clark Streets. It was built just after the Civil War by the Bastars.
Sources: An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River?; Ahnapee Record, Algoma Record Herald; How a Bill Becomes a Law, Williamsburg, Virginia, and an interview with Millie Kirchman Rabas.
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