On the twenty-fourth day of December, 1880, the board of trustees drew up and passed an ordinance to submit to the legal voters of the town of Jamesport a proposition as to whether the citizens of said town should elect to become a city of the fourth class. The citizens would much have preferred to be a city of the first class, in fact their modesty had been so far overcome as to claim the title of “first city of Daviess county,” but rather than remain a town any longer, they would try the position of a fourth-class city and see how they liked it. The Gazette came out and assured them that if the proposition was voted for and carried they would be the greatest fourth-class city ever incorporated on the American continent, and that would be far better than, as the editor beautifully expressed it, “a one-horse county seat.” The election was held on the twenty-second day of January, 1881, and the vote was pretty unanimous for a city of the fourth-class, the result being seventy-eight in favor of the proposition to twenty-two votes polled against it. These last were supposed to be some friends of Gallatin who were evidently jealous of the rising name and fame of James-port. These facts the writer gathered from some of the best citizens of the city of Jamesport.
New Officers of Jamesport
Franklin Callison had the honor of being the first mayor of Jamesport. The first board of aldermen was composed of the following gentlemen: P. H. Lilly, J. C. Murray, Horatio Bunker, and J. H. Berry. And the mayor with the advice and consent of the board, appointed the following officers: William Allen, city clerk; C. E. Orcutt, city treasurer; A. C. McCord, city street commissioner; A. T. Brown, city marshal; W. G. Callison, city attorney. William Allen resigned his position of clerk, and A. P. Shour was temporarily appointed to succeed him until a permanent one should be appointed at the next session of the city government, when J. F. Jordin was appointed. Mr. Jordin also held the office of city attorney vice W. G. Callison. The city government being constituted as above to hold until the spring election of 1882, or until their successors are elected and qualified.
A fire department was organized with trucks, hooks and ladders, and several new ordinances were passed made necessary by the new position the city had assumed. Jamesport in the year 1881 is a thriving little city and has a reputation for business activity and vim, the superior of any town of its size in North Missouri. The people are progressive and the merchants enterprising to a wonderful degree, and Jamesport will hold its own.
The business houses and the population of Jamesport in 1871 have been given on a previous page. The population of the town in 1880, according to the census returns, was 617, and will now reach 750. The business houses, which show a splendid increase during the last decade, are here given, and its future may be gathered from these facts.
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