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HOW THE MACHINE SHOPS WERE BROUGHT
TO OTTAWA ["Ottawa Herald," 08 Aug 1905, page 8, column 1] Thirty-four years ago this summer, Ottawa, then a town of fifteen hundred people, was confronted with the biggest business proposition that it had encountered up to that time- the problem of securing the machine shops of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston railway. The transporation facilities of the town at the time were limited. Three years before the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston railway. The transportation facilities of the town at the time were limited. Three years before the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston railroad company had built the line from Lawrence to Ottawa and in the summer of 1871 the road was being extended on south toward Iola. About the same time men who were interested in this raod began building the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf railroad, south from Kansas City, and a company of local men conceived the idea of building a branch from here to Olathe to connect with the eastern road and make a short route to Kansas City. For the purpose of building the line Johnson county voted one hundred thousand dollars in bonds, Franklin county voted fifty thousand dollars and seventy-five thousand dollars were secured from the city council of Kansas City. The road was built and when the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston wished to locate a machine shop, Ottawa was one of the places considered, because of its favorable location at the junction of the two lines. The officials of the road said at the time that it was the intention of the company to build at Iola as the road would pass through there and a alarge stone building which had been intended for an iron bridge works building could be bought for a song. The proposition of the shops was too big for Ottawa to lose at the time and the town offered to erect buildings if the road would only locate the shops here. The road accepted the proposition and the city council drew up an ordinance giving the mayor the power to purchase stock in the Kansas City and Santa Fe Railway and Telegraph company and turn it over to the president of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston road for the purpose of building shops here. The contract drawn up at that time is as follows: "The city of Ottawa proposes to take stock in the Kansas City and Santa Fe Railroad and Telegraph company to the amount of sixty thousand dollards, payable in bonds having thirty years to run, bearing seven per cent interest as provided by law, semi-annual interest coupons to be attached prinicpal and interest payable in the city of New York, the said stock to be sold by the city of Ottawa to James M. Walker, for the sum of one dollar. And it is further proposed and agreed, that in consideration of such bonds, so voted and delivered to said Kansas city and Santa Fe Railroad and Telegraph company, or its assigns, and of the transfer of the said stock, that the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad company, being the lessee of the rights, privileges and property of the said Kansas City and Santa Fe Railroad and Telegraph company, shall, upon at least twenty acres of land within or adjoining adjoining the present city limits of city of Ottawa, to be selected and designated by the said, Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad company, and to be transferred to said company by a full and sufficient deed in fee simple for the purpose of machine and repair shops, side tracks, switches and improvements connected therewith, construct and permanently maintain upon the twenty acres so conveyed as aforesaid, repair and machine shops; the said Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad company hereby guaranteeing that all the proceeds of said bonds shall be used in the construction of said shops, and permanent improvements connected therewith, costing not less than fifty thousand dollars, and for no other purpose; the said bonds to be delivered or paid as the work progresses. But in case it be desirable that said bonds shall be taken and negotiated by said railroad company, the proceeds thereof shall be deposited as designated by the mayor of the city of Ottawa and the president of the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Railway company to be paid upon the order of the chief engineer of said railroad company, endorsed by the said mayor as the work progresses. The work upon the said buildings shall be commenced within a reasonable time after the vote shall have been had of the citizens of the said city of Ottawa, favoring the issuance of said bonds. But it is expressly understood that said railroad company does not bind itself that such shall be the only machine shops of said company or that it may not have machine and repair shops elsewhere. Date this 18th day of August 1871. J. W. Magee, mayor of the city of Ottawa; J. M. Walker, president of the L., L. & G., railroad." The removal of many pieces of machinery from the shops and the persistent rumor that they are to be moved makes the above bit of history of especial interest at this time.
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