St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-12-28
The Citizens Union Movement
Proposes Some Aggres-
Sive Measures.
The Earliest Settled Portion
Of the City Will Demand
Recognition.
Its Facilities and Resources
Equal to Any Ward in
the City.
Tom Lowry to Be Called Down
for Closing the Randolph
Extension.

The Fifth Ward Citizens union will
! meet tonight at G. S. p. S. hall, corner
Western and West Seventh, at 7:3O
O'Clock. The thorough organization OF
the union will then be completed, so
| that active work for the benefit Of the
ward can be commenced Immediately
| after the holiday season and be prose
! cuted to a successful issue. Mayor
! Smith, as president of the organization,
will announce the complete committees,
whose chairmen were chosen at the last
meeting, and their work will probably
| be mapped out. By the time another
| year rolls round it is expected that this
| union will have accomplished a work
| that will show population of one-third
more than at present and an increase in
valuation that will make it rank the
highest of any resident ward in the city.
The territory that constitutes the
present Fifth ward was about the first
settled in the history of the city, and
while for many years the tide of bust
ness and population has swept in other
directions, mainly owing to the inactiv-
ity Of her citizens, reaction is about to
! have about exhausted their facilities / n
pushing onward, the Fifth ward has
been dormant, and not secured her
share of the plumS, but at last becOm-
ing alive to the situation, the people
have banded themselves together to
make it the banner ward of the city.
No other ward III the city can show bet
ter facilities or accommodations for
either manufacturing or resident pur-
poses. 1t has always been claimed that
there was a lack of transportation
facilities for manufacturing purposes
in this section, while at the
same time there are two as good
railroads as enter the city whose steel
bands almost encircle the ward, from
any point of which spur tracks could be
built to easily reach its remoteSt corner.
AS far as the question of resident trans
portatiOn is concerned, the lines are
there, and it only needs good, strong
action and kicking on the part of the
citizens to make this service as COM
plete as anywhere i'll the city.
Manufacturing Facilities
Geographically there is not ward in
the city better suited for a combination
of manufacturing and resident sites than
the Fifth. Down on the flats and right
y
manufacturing could be done, and every
convenience of rail and river is afforded
for easy transportation, while on the
bluff above workshops and factories of
lighter caliber could be located. West
Seventh street would Immediately build
up with stores and become one of the
busiest thOroughfareS in the city. In
gress and egreSS to manufactures To-
Gated here could be had in any direc-
ton, as connections could easily be
made with all other roads that enter
or leave the city.
There is not 4 more beautiful or more
healthful spot III the city to live iii than
the upper end of the ward. All along
the extension line till you reach Fort
Smelling there are sites and locations
that would lend grace Il. even the finest
of residences. The thousands of Feop'e
who made the trip to the fort WHEN lhs
line was completed last fall wondered
why this section had remained so long
undevelOped Then there is the Ran
dolph extension, which will afford room
for thousands of homes for the laboring-
men, and at q nominal cost.
A Strong Kick in Sight.
At the meeting tonight the question of
better street car service and the closing
down of the Randolph extension will
undoubtedly be brought up. The latter
question has created considerable feel
ing in the ward. and somebody will be
hauled over the Goals. The people want
to know whether MIR. Lowry can come
along, tear up their streets and cause
them considerable expense by changing
grades and otherwise annoying them,
and then enter into a combination with
a land syndicate to rob every resident
along that line of the privileges that
had been promised them. Many people
have made arrangements along Ran
dolph to use this line as a means of
transportation for the winter, and now
when the first cold weather comes on
Lord Lowry, backed by the land syndi-
cate, says we will not run till spring,
and the humble citizen must plOd home
through drifts of snow or conclude not
to come down town to earn an honest
living for his family. The citizens
union propose also to find ont if the
almost absolute franchise of Tom Lowry
allows him to build an electric line any
where he pleases. and then abandon it
when he finds there is little snow on
the track that will have to be removed.
The question of locating park in the
ward has also been discussed, and may
possibly be discussed at the meeting to-
night.