120 



CITIES, AMERICAN. (BATH, BATTLE CREEK, BLOOMINGTON.) 



manufacturing interests include 3 iron foundries, 

 a saddle and harness, a soap, a broom, a stone- 

 cutting, and 4 wood-working factories, a cotton 

 compress, 2 large lime factories, 3 brick-making 

 establishments, ice factories, and flouring mills, 

 with numerous small industries. Two daily 

 papers are published. The churches number 

 23, of which 16 belong to whites, and 7 to col- 

 ored organizations. The expenses for city schools 

 in the past reported term were $53,696.98; 14 

 school-houses are used, 9 owned by the city, 2 of 

 which are fine buildings, and there is high school. 

 The school population is 3,967. White and col- 

 ored schools are separate, and the school fund is 

 distributed per capita in support of both. In 

 addition there are private and sectarian schools 

 and colleges. Tillotson Institute, for colored 

 people, has a massive four-story brick building. 

 The State University, organized in 1883, free to 

 both sexes, is at Austin, and has an endowment 

 of $550,000 in bonds and 2,221,000 acres of land. 

 The present value is $7,000,000, and the number 

 of students 325. (For a view of the building see 

 " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1886, page 814). The 

 Capitol, of red Texas granite, is second in size 

 only to the Capitol at Washington, and ranks 

 seventh among the largest buildings in the world. 

 Three million acres of land were appropriated for 

 its construction. It is 566 feet 6 inches long, in- 

 clusive of porticoes, 288 feet 10 inches at its 

 greatest width, and 311 feet in height. In form 

 it approximates the Greek cross. The blind, the 

 the cleaf and dumb, and the lunatic asylums of 

 the State, and the State asylum for the colored, 

 are also at Austin. The blind and the deaf mute 

 institutes, having respect ively 175 and 150 pupils, 

 represent an investment of $600,000, and the 

 pupils are boarded, lodged, and educated at the 

 expense of the State. There is a Confederate 

 Soldiers' Home. The court house, the post- 

 office, and the board of trade building are nota- 

 ble structures. The city has an opera house, and 

 a fine hotel that was erected at a cost of $400,- 

 000. Austin is also the seat of a State land office. 

 The death rate among the population of the city 

 in 1889 was 10 per thousand. 



Bath, the county seat of Steuben County, 

 N. Y., on Cohocton river, 38 miles northwest 

 of Elmira. It is on the New York, Lake Erie 

 and Western and the New York, Lackawanna 

 and Western Railroads, and is the southern ter- 

 minus of the Bath and Hammondsport Railroad. 

 The population in 1890 was 3,500. It has 3 

 banks and 5 churches. Its industries include a 

 shoe factory employing 75 persons, a manufact- 

 uring company employing 50, a harness factory 

 employing 40, and a sash-and-blind factory em- 

 ploying over 30. The county buildings, consist- 

 ing of court house, clerk's office, surrogate's 

 office, sheriff's residence, and jail, have recently 

 been built at an aggregate cost of $75,000. The 

 New York State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home 

 (see "Annual Cyclopedia" for 1889, page 770) 

 h;i- nearly 1,000 inmates. The entire cost of the 

 home and grounds, $450,000 and $22,500, was 

 contributed by the citizens of Bath. The Dav- 

 enport Institute for Orphan Children of Alle- 

 gany and Steuben Counties is also here. It has 

 a flourishing academy in connection with the 

 union school, and is called, from its benefactor, 

 Haverling Free Academy. 



Battle Creek, a city of Calhoun County, 

 Mich., at the junction of Battle Creek and 

 Kalamazoo rivers, which afford fine water pow- 

 er. The population in 1890 was 15.000. The 

 chief manufactures are thrashing machines, trac- 

 tion engines, school, bank, and office furni- 

 ture, wood - working machinery, flour, nails, 

 paper, boilers, books, carriages, albums, steam 

 pumps, printing presses, knit goods, road carts, 

 electrotypes, shipping tags, steel scoops, wood 

 pulleys, drag saws, dowel pins, cigar boxes, and 

 cigars. There are large machine shops and 

 foundries. Two daily and three weekly papers 

 are published, and the largest printing establish- 

 ment in Michigan is here. Battle Creek makes 

 more thrashing machines than any other city in 

 the United States. It has a good system of water 

 works, fine central and ward school buildings, 

 and a public library and museum. Goguac Lake, 

 a beautiful summer resort, is within the city 

 limits. Street cars run to all parts of the city. 

 The business streets are paved. Two trunk lines, 

 the Michigan Central and Grand Trunk Rail- 

 ways, pass through the city, and the Grand 

 Trunk has its division shops and engine house 

 within the city limits. The Cincinnati, Jackson 

 and Mackinaw and the Battle Creek division of 

 the Michigan Central Railway afford ample north 

 and south shipping facilities. The population in 

 1880 was 7,063, in 1884 it was 10,051, and the city 

 has enjoyed a steady growth since. The mortali- 

 ty for ten years has not exceeded 7 per 1,000. 

 The city is well policed and lighted with elec- 

 tricity and has a good fire department. The 

 Michigan Central Railroad has lately completed 

 a passenger depot at an outlay of $80,000. 



Bloomington, a city, the shire town of Mc- 

 Lean County, 111., 126 miles south-southwest of 

 Chicago, and 154 miles north-northeast of St. 

 Louis; population in 1870, 14,590; in 1880, 17,- 

 184 ; in 1890, 22,242. The city is regularly laid 

 out in squares, with wide, beautifully shaded 

 streets, the surface being undulating. Eight 

 lines of street railway, equipped with electric 

 motors, are operated. The streets are lighted 

 with 219 arc electric lamps, owned by the city 

 and operated in connection with a fine system 

 of water works. There are two commercial elec- 

 tric-light plants and gas works. The city has a 

 complete telephone system, steam fire and chemi- 

 cal engines, and a paid fire department. It has 

 more miles of brick pavement than any other 

 city of its size in the world. There are 9 pub- 

 lic-school buildings, attended by 4,500 pupils,* 

 besides a business college and a musical col- 

 lege, 24 churches, a turn hall, a new opera 

 house that cost $40,000, and a public-library 

 building that cost $24,000 and contains 10,400 

 volumes. The Illinois Wesleyan University was 

 established in 1852, and in 1889 had 500 stu- 

 dents in all departments, 21 instructors, and 

 a library of 3,500 volumes. Three daily awl 

 8 weekly papers are published. Bituminous coal 

 of superior quality is mined here, the mine 

 employing 350 men and having a capacity of 

 500 tons a day. Six lines of railway meet here. 

 The construction and repair shops of the Chi- 

 cago and Alton Railroad cover 13 acres, with 

 the yards, and employ 1.800 men. There are 3 

 building and loan associations and a national 

 association with $20,000,000 capital, a mutual 



