CITIES, AMERICAN. (KLKHAET, Koar SMITH.) 



Ill 



It now has a high school and 12 public-school 



buildings, with :ui enrollment, in 1SNK-'H9, of 

 Hie total value of public-school property 

 is placed at, $275,000. There are also a business 

 collect 1 and an academy. The Memorial Gate- 

 wav in honor of the founder of the Pennsylvania 

 public-school system, was erected by subscrip- 

 tions from school children. It was completed 

 and dedicated in 1891. Three national uanks 

 ha\<- a joint capital of $1,034,000, and there are 

 J private banks. A trust company has a capital 

 of $125,000. The city has a board of trade, an 

 opera house and a theatre, a children's home, 

 society halls and lodge rooms, a public library, 

 17 hotels, 20 churches, and the usual telegraph, 

 telephone, and express facilities. The manu- 

 factures of the city include 1 brass foundry, 2 

 iron foundries and machine shops, 1 factory of 

 grinding mills, 2 rolling mills, 6 lumber, 2 saw, 

 and 1 planing mills, 3 breweries and 2 bottling 

 works, spice mills, a silk mill and factory, 2 tan- 

 neries, marble, slate, and granite works, 2 furni- 

 ture, 1 cordage, 4 carriage, 2 cigar-box, 3 harness, 

 1 organ. 1 refrigerator, 1 brush, 1 boot and shoe, 

 1 felting, and 2 shirt factories. New indus- 

 tries are rock-drill, switch and signal, and car 

 seat and spring companies. 



Elkhart, a city of Indiana, in Elkhart County, 

 on St. Joseph river, where the Elkhart and 

 Christiana discharge their waters, and at the 

 intersection of the Lake Shore and Michigan 

 Southern and the Cincinnati, Wabash and Michi- 

 gan Railroads, 101 miles from Chicago, 15 from 

 South Bend, and 10 from Goshen, the county 

 seat. It is the tenth city in size in Indiana, having 

 a population of 11,360 in 1890, showing an in- 

 crease of 4,407 over 1880. It has an elevation of 

 754 feet above sea level, the river banks upon 

 which a part of it is built being almost bluffs. 

 The air is pure, and the views of the surrounding 

 scenery are fine. The building review for the 

 year ending Dec. 31, 1890, showed 118,700 ex- 

 pended on business blocks, and $136.950 on 

 private dwellings, making a total, with additions, 

 of $296,620. A fine system of water works has 

 12 miles of pipe and 125 hydrants. An electric 

 fire-alarm system covers the whole city. There 

 are 17 miles of gas mains, in addition to arc and 

 incandescent electric lights. A belt line 4 miles 

 long has been rebuilt recently, and there are 7 

 miles of electric street railway track, also 15 

 miles of permanent cement walks. Two daily, 

 3 weekly, and 5 monthly papers are pub- 

 lished. In 1888-'89 the assessed valuation of 

 property was $2,367,245. on a basis of $7,101,735. 

 The total amount used for school purposes was 

 $150,000. and there are 8 public schools, having 

 an enrollment of 3,149, an average daily attend- 

 ance of 2.101 ; 46 teachers were employed, and 

 received salaries amounting to $18,865. The 

 high school is a fine building, costing $50,000. 

 The churches number 20. The Young Men's 

 Christian Association owns its own brick build- 

 ing. There are 2 national banks, 1 State bank, 

 5 loan associations, 3 insurance companies, and 

 an opera house. A new hotel opened in 1891 

 cost $30,000. Three water powers of the city 

 have been developed. The principal shops of 

 the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Rail- 

 road were located at Elkhart about 1871. and 

 disburse $70,000 monthly to employees. They 



comprise a large T-rail rolling mill, a machine 

 shop with capacity of one new engine a week, in 

 addition to repair works, and a roundhouse hold- 

 ing 62 engines. The other industries include 8 

 print-paper, 1 building-paper, and 2 tissue-paper 

 mills, 2 starch factories, 2 large flouring and 2 

 knitting mills, 2 large carriage works, a band- 

 instrument factory, carriage-supply works, several 

 wood-working establishments, second largest gun 

 factory but one in the United States, 3 medicine 

 laboratories, and a box factory. The aggregate 

 annual output is about $3,000,000. Highland 

 Park and Riverside are suburban auditions. 



Fort Smith, the second city of Arkansas, 

 county seat of Sebastian County, on the south 

 bank of Arkansas river, at the mouth of the Po- 

 teau, in the western part of the State. The cor- 

 porate line on the west is also the boundary of 

 Indian Territory. It is 169 miles from Little 

 Rock, 175 from Texarkana, and 300 from Mem- 

 phis. The population increased from 8,099 in 

 1880 to 11,311 in 1890. A Government military 

 post, known as Fort Smith, established here in 

 181 7, became important during the Mexican War, 

 and by the time the garrison was removed, in 

 1871, the town was in existence, with overland 

 stages to the far West, and steamboats to Cincin- 

 nati, St. Louis, and New Orleans. The first rail- 

 way, the Little Rock and Fort Smith, was com- 

 pleted in 1876. In addition, the city now has the 

 Kansas and Arkansas Valley, operated by the 

 Missouri Pacific, and the St. Louis and San Fran- 

 cisco, controlled by the Atchison, Topeka and 

 Santa Fe, giving wide and important connec- 

 tions. The Fort Smith and Mansfield runs 

 through the great coal fields of the county. Four 

 other roads are partially built. The large rail- 

 road, foot, and wagon bridge across the Arkan- 

 sas has 13 spans, and is 2,380 feet long. The 

 river business, which is now confined to local 

 trade, is carried on by three packets. The alti- 

 tude of the city is 418 feet above sea level ; the 

 lowest part is 20 feet above high-water mark of 

 the river, and the highest from 50 to 75 feet. 

 Good natural drainage is supplemented by a sew- 

 erage system, completed in 1889, which has 26 

 miles of sewers. Water is pumped through 

 sponge filters from Poteau river to an iron tower 

 capable of holding 500,000 gallons, and the press- 

 ure is sufficient for protection without fire en- 

 gines. There are 20 miles of pipe. Gas and elec- 

 tric lighting are in use, and there are 11 miles of 

 street railway. Two complete systems of tele- 

 phone exchange are in operation. In 1887, $987- 

 500 were expended in building, and in 1888 $1,- 

 600,000. To 1889, $1,750,000 had been expended 

 on the streets, many of which are paved with 

 brick, and on the street railway. The assessed 

 valuation of property is $4,000.000, on a basis of 

 $8,000.000. Two da'ily and 3 weekly newspapers 

 are published, one of the last in German ; and 

 4 banks, two of which are national, have an ag- 

 gregate capital of $352,000. The city has a fine 

 opera house, a high school, and 5 public-school 

 buildings, valued, with the grounds, at $400,000. 

 In May, 1 884, Congress gave to the city the aban- 

 doned military reservation, with the exception of 

 the ground covered by the Federal courthouse 

 and jail, to be sold for the benefit of the public 

 schools, and a permanent school fund of $750,- 

 000 has been thus established. There arc in ad- 



