history

LEGISLATIVE BATTLE TO CHOOSE THE SITE FOR THE INSTITUTION

In 1890 there were three state hospitals in Iowa for the insane. The need for an additional hospital was apparent. A report by a visiting committee studying the problem recommended in 1891 that by 1893 a new hospital should be built in the North western part of the state.
Although the city of Cherokee was aware of the situation as early as 1891 no active measures were made to secure the hospital for the city until 1894.
For two years the city of LeMars had been working through her representative, E. D. Chassel and her senator, Senator Dent for the location of the hospital there.
In January of 1894 a meeting was called in Cherokee in the office of Dr. Royal Cleaves, and a committee was appointed to look after Cherokee's interests in this matter. This committee consisted of Dr. Cleaves, N. T. Burroughs, M. Wakefield, Mr. Kneedler, J. C. Hall, Dr. Edward C. Hornibrook, Charles Nicholson and Thomas McCulla.
This committee held a number of meetings, appointed a finance committee and set up meetings with Representative Wireman Miller, Cherokee County's representative in the General Assembly.
Thomas McCulla was chosen to go to Des Moines and act as Cherokee's Chief lobbyist to secure the mental hospital.
He first met with Representative Chassell of LeMars and suggested that together they support legislation to secure such an institution for Northwest Iowa and that then the location of the site could be fought out between the contestants. Mr. Chassel refused the offer stating that he and Senator Dent had enough votes in the General Assembly pledged to them to secure the Institution for LeMars.
Mr. Chassel was a popular legislator having gathered the support of a number of young lawyers who had just broken into the legislature. This group spearheaded the drive to secure the proposed hospital for LeMars.
Both Thomas McCulla and Wireman Miller were astute politicians and they began one of the most adroit political manuevers the General Assembly had ever seen. The majority of the House of Representatives were composed of farmers and the Legislature that session had a large number of Civil War Veterans.
Wireman Miller was both a Civil War veteran and a farmer. McCulla suggested he go to each member of the General Assembly and present his case and plead for their support especially the farmers and Civil War veterans. Miller began button holing members of the General Assembly giving them the advantages of Cherokee as a site for the State Hospital and enlisting their support as comrades in arms or of the soil.
The plan worked well, and when the legislation came up in the Legislature the support for LeMars had been eroded to the point where instead of an immediate victory the LeMars legislators had to settle for the appointment of a commission to investigate the merits of various locations with a mandate to report their findings to the Legislature.
The commission consisted of the superintendents of Mount Pleasant, Independence, Clarinda and the chairman of the State institution visiting committee, plus a consultant, Dr. Coryell of Jacksonville, Illinois, an expert in treatment of mental disorders.
The committee's report was a severe disappointment to the contending communities for it reported in the favor of a city that had not been in contention as a site at all, Storm Lake. Dr. Hoyt of Clarinda was a special friend of Storm Lake and it was felt that he had strongly influenced the rest of the committee in its favor.
No sooner had this report been issued than it was the subject of attack by proponents of locating the hospital in other communities. A campaign of ridicule of the report began. Dozens of satirical circulars were printed and distributed deriding Storm Lake as the site of the new Hospital.
A few days before the vote began Mr. McCulla sent word to have all of Cherokee's lobbyists on hand for the coming battle. A dozen members of the committee rushed to Des Moines to lobby the legislature.
March 29, 1894 the vote was held. A joint session of the General Assembly was called. A resolution was passed that after the 10th ballot the competing town receiving the lowest number of ballots would be dropped from the list. The list of competing communities had been reduced to five which were Cherokee, Sheldon, LeMars, Fort Dodge, and Storm Lake. For eleven ballots none of the competing communities could secure a majority. Then as had been agreed after the eleventh ballot the city with the lowest number of votes was deleted from the list. Storm Lake was the first city to be eliminated. ON the twelfth ballot Fort Dodge was eliminated. Then in a surprise result, on the thirteenth ballot Sheldon edged out LeMars and the remaining two cities were Cherokee and Sheldon. ON the fourteenth ballot by a vote of 82 to 64 Cherokee was chosen as the site for the new State Hospital. This was a resounding victory for the lobbyists of Cherokee and for the community. But the battle was only half won. An appropriation had to be secured to purchase a site or the next session of the Genearl Assembly might reverse the decision and locate the hospital elsewhere.
The committee who had worked so hard to secure the hospital for Cherokee returned to the city to a tumultuous celebration.
At 6 o'clock in the evening March 29, 1894 the delegation arrived in Cherokee on the train from the east. Company M of the Iowa Guard was present in full uniform, the Fire Department in uniform, and a broom brigade of 200 businessmen met the train. There were floats built for the occasion, the mayor and councilmen met the train in a carriage. The steam launch, the City of Cherokee, had been placed on wheels and was drawn by four horses. In this the returning delegates were placed and drawn about the city. The Remsen band struck up a tune and the whole procession paraded through the city. At 7:30 p.m an elaborate banquets was served at the Washington House after a salute had been fired by Company M. Cherokee was celebrating their victory, the State Hospital was theirs. And it meant employment and business to the community. The first steps had been taken towards establishing the "City on the Hill".

THE APPROPRIATION BATTLE AND ACQUIRING THE SITE

Cherokee had been selected as the site for the new State Hospital by the General Assembly in a closely fought battle in the Legislature on March 29, 1894.
However the selection as the site for the new hospital did not appropriate money to buy land or start construction. Unless an appropriation could be secured the next General Assembly might well reverse this decision.
As is always the case the demands for money far outstripped the General Assembly's capacity to pay.
Mr. E.D. Chassell, the representative from LeMars, though he had lost the struggle to have the hospital located there threw his support to getting an appropriation for the newly designated State Hospital. Representative Harriman of Franklin County and a former resident of Cherokee made a gallant fight in the House for the appropriation. Senator Blanchard of Oskaloosa proved himself a true friend of Cherokee and fought equally hard in the Senate for an appropriation for the new hospital.
This support together with the efforts of Wireman Miller, Cherokee County's representative in the House secured an appropriation of $12,000 to acquire a site in the community of Cherokee upon which to construct the State Hospital.
A site west of Cherokee was officially chosen, the Burroughs site. This land owned by N. T. Burroughs was located on the bluffs west of the city of Cherokee and commands a fine view of the hills and valleys. The land was sold the the state for 40 dollars per acre, all 600 acres of it. It was estimated that this was but half of its market value. Mr. Burroughs was most generous in extending options, meeting prices, and doing everything in his power to assure the location of the hospital there. He retained 40 acres along the south east side of the section for building sites.
At the time this site was chosen in 1894 it was remote from the city proper. A quiet secluded spot in the country. The railroad had greed from the outset to run a spur track to the site for the handling of materials, coal and supplies to the institution.
The major problem for the site location was the cost of the land. Mr. N.T. Burroughs agreement to sell the 600 acres for what was generally agreed was a price far below its actual value secured the site for the construction of the hospital. Now it but remained for the institution to be built.