Two 1869 buildings and an unfortunate cow

Buildings in Chariton that date back to the 1860s are few and far between, perhaps only the three-story Manning & Penick Block on the west side of the square (above, commenced in 1869), the 1867 Matson-Stanton building (now hiding behind a later Richardson Romanesque facade) three doors to the south, the O.L. Palmer Building on the east side (1866-67) and the first building of what now is the Sacred Heart parish (then St. Mary's), barely recognizable these days as a house on east Orchard Avenue.

The Chariton Democrat of Aug. 10, 1869, reported the beginnings of the Manning & Penick as follows:

Manning and Penick's Building

The masons are at work, laying the foundation for Messrs Manning and Penick's brick building, and will be ready to commence brick-laying in a few days. Mr. Routt, than whom there is not a better "mud slinger" in Iowa, is doing the business. There is room for several more such buildings on the square.

Elsewhere on the local news page was an advertisement (left above) that sought bids for the new Catholic church. So far as I know, there are no images of that building as constructed, but it's interesting to note that the advertisement called for a structure on the same plan as that of the original St. Andrew's Episcopal Church --- and we do have an 1869 image of that, located at the intersection of Court Avenue and North 8th Street.

So this is what St. Mary's probably looked like this, too, minus the chancel that projected from the north end of the St. Andrew's building. Note that St. Andrew's was built on pilings rather than a foundation, a common practice since stone suitable for foundation work is not plentiful in Lucas County.

All of this is very well and good, but my favorite story in that edition of The Democrat involved the unfortunate cow owned by Jack Hall, as follows:

Cow Killed by the Train

The train that came in Sunday morning ran over and killed Jack Hall's cow, in the lower edge of town. She is said to have been an excellent cow. We understand that the engineer and conductor of the train have been prosecuted for violation of the city ordinance regulating the speed of railroad trains in passing through town.