The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-09-29
Mr.. Il. E. Dickinson Joins the
Lime Kiln Club,
WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT
STREET IMPROVEMENTS"
Is LOts-Fiiled Up at the Public Ex-
pense; Streets Cut Down to the
Damage of Property Owners;
and Prominent Thorough
fares Turned Into
Canals.

When the ChillicOthe avenue i'm
provement came up in Council, Tuesday
evening, Mr.. Fl. G. Dickinson, attorney,
appeared in behalf of the Lime Kiln
Club, and presented a petition which,
he said, was signed by four-fifths of the
property holders concerned, asking
that the avenue be graveled, from Park
street to Hayes. 1t was unnecessary,
he said, to read the names of the sign
ers, but Judge Petit, who was sitting
back in the audience, having full faith
in Mr.. Dickinson's statement, and wish
ing to confirm it, asked that the names
might be read. True enough, the first
property owners at the east end of the
street all signed the petition! There
were five of them-heirs of the Herman
estate-and they all signed It'll That
was more than four-ffths-it was FIVE
fifths! And they own THREE lots! That
was good beginning; and Mr.. Petit
was satisfied. He would have been an
unreasonable man if he had insisted on
any further developments!
The Council wasn't ready to make a
polka dot pavement for Chillicothe-
part gravel, part pumice stone, part
sand (the Lime Kiln Club have lots OF
sand) part brick and part asphalt-and
they decided to postpone the matter till
the next meeting, and Instructed the
City Solicitor to make a report showing
what would be the cost of the different
kinds of paving. This was a very
proper move, and we heartily commend
it. Going ahead in the dark is always
a risky business, even if we have the
village light of a tin lantern to throw
its effulgence across our pathway be-
hind us.
We were not surprised at Mr.. Dick
inson's appearance in the case. Does
not he own three or four good lots or
the avenue? And hasn't he had then
all filled up and made marketable:
Hasn't he always shown a very public
spirited disposition? Didn't he show
his public spirit by having the east enc
of Chillicothe avenue cut down, to thu
great damage and dissatisfaction of tn,
adjacent property owners, when he wa
a Councilman? And didn't he furnisl
a place for dumping the good gravel
that was hauled off the street, withou
charging the city cent for it? Didn'
he get the city into a law suit by hi
disinterested services in its behalf
And didn't he, while he was
Councilman, have all the gravel haule
off Chillicothe avenue between Par
and Mad River, and have it dumpe
along his premises to fill up Stanle
street, not charging cent for his sci
vices? And didn't he turn that part Q
Chillicothe avenue into a canal durin
big rains, and make it streak of mu
latter it was over? Who, therefore, know
better than he, on what parts of tn
avenue it is needed most? 1t is tim
that we should have men come to th
front who are bigger than minute
and thicker than a splinter, benin
whom the whole Lime Kiln Club ca
hide themselves.
We have no doubt that Mr.. Dickil
! son would take all the old gravel ths
could be hauled off the street, and W
are sure he wouldn't screen it and Sc
it back to the city as new gravel-jul
made for the occasion. Such disinte
ested benevolence is rare, and shoul
be snapped up.
If a cheap improvement is to be mad,
gravel is the thing; but if paving is
be done, let it be brick, is the way W
vote.