Did We Say Yes? We Meant No

As early as 1919 some prominent citizens were actively working to incorporate Hobart as a city (with a mayor, as opposed to its original status as a town, governed only by a board of trustees). A petition to the town board for the change was drawn up, and in July 1919 the Hobart Commercial Club set out three copies at convenient locations for signing: one at the First State Bank, another at American Trust & Savings, and the third in the hands of board chairman, E.E. Pierson. Over several months, the required numbers of signatures accumulated — one-third of Hobart's voters — and the petition was formally presented for consideration by the town board on April 27, 1920.

In general I find this whole issue rather dull, but now and then some point of interest crops up. At the last town board meeting of October 1920, a number of men who had signed the original petition in favor of incorporation as a city now presented a new petition asking that their names be stricken from the first petition. Among them are some particular friends of ours, including C.C. Shearer, William Raschka, Paul Emery, Charles Lee, and Louis Buchfuehrer.


(Click on images to enlarge)

As you may gather from that report, Trustee John Thiel (a 42-year-old attorney) opposed anything that would stand in the way of Hobart's becoming a city. The same issue of the Gazette carried his argument in favor of the city form, hinting that under the current form there was a good deal of dubious stuff going on.




Sources:
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ "Petitions Are Out to Transform Hobart Into a City." Hobart News 10 July 1919.
♦ "Reasons for City Government for Hobart." Hobart Gazette 29 Oct. 1920.
♦ "Town Board Doings." Hobart Gazette 29 Oct. 1920.