The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-01-29
CITY COUNCIL p
SETS OUT FARMS
CITY FATHERS ESTABLISH NEW
BOUNDARY LINES AT SPEC
IAI MEETING
QUESTION A DEBATED ONE FOR YEARS
Farmers Have Made Repeated Efforts
to Be Segregated, But With Little
Success-Vote is Unanimous

New boundary lines for the city of
Bookings were established at a spec
ial meeting of the city council Monday
evening. The action was the result of
a petition presented by farmers i'm
mediately surrounding Bookings
whose land has been within the city
limits. This is the first time in history
that the council ever listened to a petit
ton, so it is we'll to make special men,
ton of the fact. However, perhaps
the said petition should not be given
too much credit for bringing about the
establishment of new boundaries, as
there has been a growing feeling in
the city that these farmers inside the
limits were paying too much taxes
and that it would be only fair to give
them the relief they asked. Their land
is valuable, but it has had to bear a
tax that is away out of proportion to
it's worth. 1t has been taxed as NUM-
cipal property. while it will not raise
any more wheat or oats or corn than
the land a couple Of miles farther out.
When the city was first plated the
limits were arbitrarily made three
miles square, which made nine Sec
tions. Main street is in the center of
this three-mile plat, but the growth
has been almost altogether north and
east in the direction of the college,
while the lands on the west and south
are about as far away from the city
as they ever were. Therefore the
farmers in those two directions could
see no good reason why they should
pay a municipal tax when there was
no prospect of the city spreading out
and absorbing their lands for resi-
dence districts.
The new city limits are two miles
square, taking in four sections in the
northeast corner of the original plat,
with some minor changes. Prof.
Shepard's corner, at the intersection
of Sixth street and Medary avenue, is
the exact center of the new plat. The
boundaries now run as follows:
Beginning at the southwest corner,
known as the cemetery corner, the
line runs east for a mile to the Medary
road and here there is a jog to the
south to take in eighty acres, two
twenty-acre plats owned by Chas. Mar
tinson and F. M. Hammond and a
forty-acre tract owned by DR.. A. w.
Hyde. The line then continues east
to the section line, thence north two
miles, thence west along the north
line of the college farm for a mile and
a half. Here the line goes south for a
half mile and then west again to the
section line, this jog setting out the
Korstad quarter. The line then goes
south to the corner of fair grounds,
where it joys west to bring inside the
limits the forty acres of Geo. Kennard
upon which his house is located and
the forty acres to the south upon
which Is located M. d. Orhran's slaugh-
ter house, and then goes straight
south to the cemetery corner. The
city pump station, filter tanks and
dump grounds were also included in
the limits, a strip of land eight rods
wide being reserved along the road
leading out to them from Sixth street.
The action of the council cut out
approximately five of the nine sections
of the original plat, leaving about four
sections.
The question of the segregation Of
these farms has been a much discussed
n for years, in fact rel since the
original boundaries were established,
the owners Of the farms have always
%contended that they had to pay too
much taxes, and a number of years
e they brought action in circuit
court to be set out, but their conten-
ton failed through some technical
point. The past year the matter has
been agitated quite a little, and has
been I'D before the council the past
two or three meetings. The farmers
made the threat that they would
again take the matter into court, but
the action of the council clears the at.
mosphere and again places us at peace
with our neghbors. They did not ask
70 be set out from the Bookings
school district and no action was
taken in that direction, they wishing
to have the privilege of sending their