The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1891-02-18
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
THE STORY OF A CORNER.

At various times between $50: and
1914 Jean Baptiste Charles Lucas ac-
quired the property which is now en-
braced between the following streets
in the city Of Sc. Louis: Fourth street,
jefferson avenue (which is now TWEEN
ty-fourth street,. Market street and st.
Charles. This bit of ground is twenty
blocks long and five wide. 1t is the
heart of 81. Louis. Mr.. Lucas paid for
it 81, 36f " hard money of the United
States Up to the time of his pur-
chases, shaved deerskins at two and
one-hah pounds to the dollar had been
the medium of exchange. Hard
money" was preferred and was not
plentiful. The purchasing power of a
hard dollar is difficult of comparison
with the money of to-day; but it was
Pr, baby worth in ST. Louis from forty
to 'ty per cent. more than the dollar
of 1870. Accepting the latter Mr.. Lu-
cas's land cost S2,O46.
In 1916 Mr.. Lucas added by deed a
strip of ground, five by five block, to the
town, but it was some years before the
limits of the town extended to include
this addition. | think it was about 1926
when the western limit was moved from
Fourth street to Seventh street, and
about 1913 when it went west to Twelfth
street. If | am right about the last
date, and / think | am, the southeast
corner Of block 1873, which is bounded
on one side by Chestnut street and on
another by Seventh street, was not
within the city limits when, in 1885,
James Brotherton bought it from j. b.
G. Lucas for 1886 hard money of the
United States
This little bit of ground was just 1-4OO
of the ground Mr.. Lucas had bought be-
tween nineteen and twenty-eight years
before for 81, 1854.
Mr. Brotherton conveyed this quarter
block to his sister, Mrs. Matilda Settle,
for S. in 1874, and her husband several
years later built upon it a row of five
brick houses fronting on Chestnut street
and two frame houses fronting on Sew
enth street. In 1874 the two frames
were renting for $500 per year. The
corner brick house used as a saloon)
returned $1,000 per year, and the other
four houses in the row returned $500
per year each. That was not less than
twenty-five years after the houses had
been built. They had deteriorated
through age and use, but the loss in
thncn J1panfinnc hnl I, |,
the growth of the city about them.
How many years they had been earning
81, 400 do not know, but it is reasona-
BILE to suppose they never earned much
less.
In 1866 the quarter block, with all of
its improvements, was assessed for tax
alton at $26,230 and paid State, county,
school and military tax amounting to
S419.6S.
George 7. Settle inherited this prop
erty from his parents and in 1870, when
a commission was looking for a site for
a custom house in st. Louis, he offered
this for $4,000. The commission agreed
to buy, but changed it's decision and
bought a block two blocks away. In
1874 Mr.. Settle sold the property to
Henry Corwith of Chicago for $50, 900
1t was assessed that year at $50, $50, the
taxes amount to 500. II, and the income
was, as have said, 81, 400 per year.
Mr.. Corwith spent little for repairs,
but the city required S162.33 in special
taxes for the improvement of the two
adjoining alleys, and $2.344.14 for the
paving of the streets on two sides of the
property with granite blocks. The as
sessment fell off to $3S, $50 in 1881 from
S50.550 in 1874; but the tax rate had been
increased, and while in the earlier year
the amount was 500, it was now nearly
1000. In 1884 the assessment had adj
vanced to $50, 400, and the taxes to ST.
$500. In 1856 the assessment fell $500
and the taxes $500.
Jay Gould bought the property in 1887
for $4,000. The buildings on it were
very poor, but were still renting for be-
tween $4,000 and SO, 900. Mr.. Gould was
then asking favors of the municipal as.
sembly for his railroads, and to concili-
ate st. Louisans he caused an announce
ment to be made that he intended to
build ten-story structure on this
ground. To give color to this he caused
the old, unsightly buildings to be re-
moved.
In 1888, when the assessment was
made, the quarter block was bare, save
for some worthless foundation stone.
and had no more value, apart from it's
nearness to large numbers of men and
to centers of trade, than it had when
Pierre and Joseph Becquette, Louis
Ride, Rene Kiercerau, Louis Bissonet
and Joseph Gamache cultivated that
and adjacent land in the fear of Indians
and sight of the fort. However, the
assessors, probably taking into consid-
Grafton the fact that Mr.. Gould had
paid $4,000 for the property, assessed
it at S60,030, and the tax bill that year
was $1,3SO.69 The land yielded Mr..
Gould nothing. He would have paid
the same amount of tax in 1889, but be-
fore the taxes for that year became
due he sold the property to Daniel Cat
lin for S90,OOO He had held the prop
srty seventeen months and had gross
profit of 81, 1000 out of it. If you charge
against that the 81, $4,000 taxes you leave
s5,619.S1, which is equal to seven per
cent. on Mr.. Goulds investment
Mr.. Catlin did even better. He paid
The tax bills of 1889 and 1s9O-the latter