Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-09-03
NUMBER 9.
From Hoosierdom's Musical City.
ELKHART, Ind. Aug 9Th.

ELKHART, Ind, Aug 9th, 1891.
Ed. Register
AS am sitting in my cosy office thi
evening and thinking perhaps that it viii
not be out of place, and may prove in.
teresting to some who read your paper,
will write few lines giving partial dis
cription of our beautiful city and sur
roundings. To say that was surprised
when we arrived here does not half ex-
press my feeling. We reached here at
midnight. and it being quite ways to
our home. as my wife said from. the depot
we took the bus, and. as it passed down
Main street, passing block after block
and the distance of illuminated street
| heightened. began to think. | wonder
if We are in st. I.ouis, as | could hardly
believe my, eyes. Finally we arrived at
what my wife called the center Of the city
and at home, and beng tired out from
our run over St Louis and Chicago, the
two days previous, we were ready to re :
| tire and allow the outside world to con-
tinue its roar and racket.
In the morning | was awakened by an
electric car passing up the street and the
beautiful rays of the sun flowing into our
window through the maple leaves. How
beautiful everything looked. the streets
| lined with large naples. and beech ard
| aspen trees on either side. the beautiful
| lawns sl0Ding down to the cement walk :,
without any fence at all, or perhaps here
| nd -,t
ing the lawns. You all know what
| lovely places Judge Emerson, Mr.. Tho.l-
son, Mr.. Turner and Judge Langdon, +,
have in the Valley; just such sight will
meet the eye for twelve blocks south and
five blocks north of Main street in this
| city.
Elkhart has population of some l6.O0l;
is loG miles east of Chicago, on the Lake
Shore and Michigan Southern Railways,
and overlooks the Elshart and st. Joe
rivers; they flow into each other.
The Lake Shore railway shops are quite
large, keeping some 80 engines in the
roundhouses and working some 400 men
in the shops alone.
A<ih'iai 10 a pttoy SioNh'- 'o"h3 '"S
thee lines of electric street ears, two car
riage factories. two starch factories, three
paper factories, one box factory. one egg
crate factory, one spoke factory. one
chewing gum factory, (Which all the
girls patronize welD, and the last but not
least the world renowned Conn's horn
factory, where the finest band instru-
ments in the world are made, besides a
dozen or more flour mills.
Conn's horn factory is worth seeing;
all the band boys know what Conn's
horns are. | was through the entire
factory a few days ago, and had the pleas
ure of seeing the work from the crude
brass plate followed up through every
step of making, engraving, plating.
with gold and silver) to the tuning and
shipping rooms. 1t is indeed quite a
sight, and to give a description of the
different steps. is beyond my power and
must be seen to lie appreciated, Mr.. Conn
has between 800 and 400 men working in
that one factory, and he has a band ofhis
own selected from his own workmen,
which give the people OF this city free
concert every Saturday evening, which.
to anyone who is lover of music. is a
rare treat. and there is not concert held
but the streets are crowded (as much as
though you were in Chicago or st. Louis)
for blocks and blocks in all directions.
Most every one has heard Gilmore's band;
not so grand, Conn's concerts
are just as rare and attractive to the mus
ically inclined car as Gilmore's; besides
this form cf entertainment, which is free
to the public, there is seldom week pass
es but there are bicycle races. fat mems
races. climbing the CREASED pole and
similar amusements for advertising and
drawing the crowds.
We live a half block from the business
one block from the post office |
building and two blocks from the Metho-
dist church. which seats over 5000 peo-
pie. There are over 30 churches in the |
city which are almost always crowded, |
and one favorable showing for the people |
is that there are not over twenty saloons |
in the entire city. Besides the factori es |
'He'' ~ say lhde
are two large knitting factories, one shirt |
factory, one brush factory, two large |
laboratories and one paper |
tablet factory, all of which give employ
ment TO several thousand hands, distrib-
uting money to all who Will work, and /
tramps are net allowed.
Elkhart is well supplied with public
and high schools, of which it has eight
fine large structures, any one of which is
larger than the building in Ironton, be-
sides one high school building quite sim
liar to the state Normal school building
at Cape Girardeau; also business COL
places to pass away the heated portion OF
the day, besides two large lakes north of
east, one four miles and the other nine
miles, where many of the wealthy people
have their summer homes, TO rusticate,
aad while away the summer season In
fishing, boating. etc. All of the river
crossings are spanned by large iron
bridges.
The street cars are well patronized. es-
pecially during the cool of the evening,
as our line called the s'belt Iine'' makes
A circuit OF some four miles passing
through the resident portion of the city,
fhrouUh the mark aud into tho busipacc