Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1895-07-26
\ CITY COUNCIL.
The Matter of Street Vacation
r Left In a Chaotic cond,+,o,

4 The city council met in regular
adjourned session Monday evening.
There were present President Hoff-
man, Aldermen Turner, Frampton,
Wright. Martin, Mecusker and
Moeglein.
A number of citizens were present
during the proceedings, among them
G. A. Weyerhaeuser. A. R. Davidson,
q. 1. McNair, Geo.. LaFond, and
others. ~
: Business opened with the reading
of a protest from G. b. Auyer re-
garding the vacation of First avenue
southeast. The petition said,
among other things, 'that your
petitioner owns property upon the
> line of said streets and lives and has
his homestead thereon, and that ii is
necessary for him going from home
to his place of business and to the
various public places OF said city, to
use and pass upon a portion of said
First avenue southeast proposed to
be vacated; that such vacation
would materially and irreparably
decrease the value of the subscribers
property, and would do him and
many other inhabitants and tax
payers of said city an irreparable
injury; that said vacation of any
part of First avenue southeast is
absolutely and entirely unnecessary
and would serve no useful purpose
whatsoever to the public"
Two petitiors-one asking that
the Second ward aldermen do not
vote for the vacation Of streets, the
other that the aldermen do vote for
the same, were read and filled.
City Attorney Rhodes then made
some lengthy remarks in favor of the
vacation proposition. His idea was
that it would be a good thing to
have the new passenger station. not
ouly because it would be credit to
Little Falls, but because it would
furnish work for the unemployed Of
the city. The company had promised
to have as much of the labor as pos
sible done by Little Falls people.
There were in the city, said Mr..
Rhodes, many who would welcome
the opportunity to get work. 1t
was the duty of the council to con-
slider these things. There was no
hope of getting the depot without
vacation of streets. The council
should legislate for the whole city,
and not allow any ward sentiment
to prevail.
Alderman Martin thought that the
council should choose the streets to
be vacated, and not the railroad
company. He claimed that the pro-
posed vacation would hurt the bust
ness section by giving it few streets
for outlets. He asked why the CON-
pany could not go farther north or
south for it's yards. To this it was
replied that it would be very incon-
venient.
The letter of Superintendent Law
was then read. 1t was as follows.
MINNEAPOLIS, MIMI, MAY %, 1895.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF
CITY OF LITTLE FALLS:
Observation-Disclosures upon your
favorable action in closing certain
streets as set forth below, this CON-
pany contemplates severalimportant
and much needed improvements in
it's facilities at Little Falls, involving
an outlay of twelve thousand or
more dollars. Such improvements
are necessary to the conduct of the
increasing business of your city, and
among other things, include the
erection of a first class brick passen-
ger station at the foot of Broadway
where it crosses our tracks, and the
enlarging and moving the present
station about 500 feet south, turning
it into an exclusive freight house and
office, thereby greatly reducing the
distance between the Offices and the
business center of your city.
That the improvements referred TO
NAV be carried out, we respectfully
netition your honorable body to
close the following streets: Second
avenue northeast, which has never
vet been opened up to public travel,
also First and Second avenues south
east.. This would still leave four
nublic crossings within the yard
limits at convenient distances apart
and ample to provide for all travel.
Unless these streets can be closed
the additional tracks contemplated
cannot be provided in that vicinity
and we shall be compelled to look
for the necessary trackage at some
other point. I sincerely trust that
that YOU may decide upon favorable
and ouick action in this matter, as
we hope to praceeed with the i'm
movements at an early date.
IF there should be any points In
with this matter Won de-