Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-11-14

tate business III TINS city mas taken Qeclu-
ed boom, and the probability is that there
will be heavy sales and purchases in Spring
held real estate within the next two years.
Real estate men pronounce the auction sales
of lots this fall as phenOminally successful
as far aS prices are concerned. The result
of these sales has been TO wake up all the
owners of property in the suburbs. have
heard of five owners of property within the
city limits, and not too far from the built
up portion. who announce their intention
of laying off their property into plats and
selling il off next spring. The air will be
full of sales next spring. 1t is estimated
that the immense number of miles of rail
road built in some of the western states
Kansas for instance has enabled the state
TO make as rapid advancement each year
as il would have otherwise have done in
four Years. We have witnessed something
similar to this in Springfield in the compile
tion and extension of the street railway
lines in this city. Property which was
comparatively double since the street rail-
ways annihilated the distance be-
tween it and down town.
Since the building of the Clifton street
railway property up that street has in
creased in value TO a wonderful degree,
part of the rise at least being directly ow-
ing 10 the building of the street railroad.
Property on Clifton street. from East
str,.at for ont int, tho nnuptrX- f,r ,,aorI,- n
mile, is held at the prices of town property,
and real estate man tells me that it is
almost impossible to buy desirable lot on
this street. even away out in the cOmpara-
tive country, lor less than 500 to 81. 200.
The location of the East street works i'm
the eastern part of the city has of course
caused a great boom in the prices of real
estate in the eastern part of the city, and
farm lands in the Brain and other estates
which but few years since slept quietly
beneath their fields of waving grain and
had nothing TO break their silence but the
whiStling of the quail and chIrping of
the cricket, sold two weeks ago for
$4,000, as lots at auction, and now
re-echO with the sound of the saw aud the
hammer as house after house rises on them.
Lots near by, which sold for $500, were but
one year ago or two had almost said
month or two-part of as lonely piece of
forest as exists in the vicinity of Spring
held-a forest which was known among
hunters for its rabbits, squirrils and quail.
All this land was purchased fifty years ago,
at 81 per acre. Quite like a tale from the
Arabian Knights, is it not? From 81 per
acre TO 81. 600 per acre-mOre than 2S5 fold
in fifty years. From Sl.T3 a lot to $500;
besides producing fifty excellent crops in
that time.
The western portion of the city offers
just as striking examples of the wonderful
appreciation of the value of real estate as
the eastern. Some time since an eastern
minister sold for 500, 900 a tract of five
acres of land which he had purchased eight
years before in what was then the suburbs
of Kansas City. The story was told from
one end of the country to the other, and
everywhere attracted the greatest atten-
tiOn. The details of the sale were sent all
over the country by the Associated Press,
and several rOmanceS were Immediately
constructed on the event. Now hold that
any real estate man in Springfield can get
up just as surprising stories as this of the
appreciation of values in certain excep-
tional cases in Springfield real
estate. Take the property on west
Pleasant street from Center street west.
Even the young men of Springfield can re-
member when they used to go out to what
is now west Pleasant street and shoot at a
mark and play ball. 1t consisted mainly of
farm land, woods and a brick yard. 1t is
not many years ago since this land could
probably have been purchased for the price
of farm land or at most for from $500 to
$500 per acre. Now lock at the advance,
The lot on the southwest corner of Pleasant
and Mechanic was sold TO Mr.. McIlvane for
have most of them sold for from 81, 800 to
81, 500. for fifty feet front. The Peel
property. corner Pleasant and Fac
tory sold week before last for IS. 600, and
the prices of other property in the vie unity
have been fully up to this high average
Now there is not tifty-foot lot of this Old
Clark estate, to which this property all be
lOnged, which can be purchased for less
than $4,000. Now, look at the advance,
In comparatively few years from the price
of farm land to $1,000 per acre. If that
isn't nearly as good as the Kansas City rO-
nance, figures have lost their cunning. In
the same way examples might be pointed
out in any direction from Springfield,
where property has in few years scared
from the price of farm land TO
the price of town lots. An old
ago concerning one of the handsOmest
places on east High street. Il saw the
time. said he. when could have bought
that place for 81, 800. Not so long ago,
either; sometime during the war, | think
Now doubt if $50. 900 would buy it."
No Kansas farmer or real estate specula-
tor can look with more lOnging-yes or
watering mouth across the borders OF Kan
sas into the rich plains and Towering
prairies of Indian territory than do the real
estate men look on the splendid tract now
used as the Clark county fair grounds. Once
in the comparative back woods, as the fair
grounds formerly was, the growing young
giant of Springfield has COM
pletely swallowed up. Houses sur
round it on two sides, and one
of the first school houses is situated beyond
its southern borders. Some time since it is
said that the Agricultural society thought
Of changing the location of the Fair grounds