Oral History - John Robson - Mayor (1871 & 1881)

Three important events happened during the administration of John Robson as mayor of the city back in 1871 which will always remains who lived here then and helped turn the wheels of the city government machine. Robson is the oldest living mayor in point of service but he will never be too old to talk of early times and the difficulties which confronted the city government officials in the matter of obtaining improvements.

The three milestones which marked Robson’s service were the obtaining of the first iron bridge for the city, the installation of the gas company and the purchase of the first two fire engines.

“I have to laugh now when I think of the troubles we had,” said Mr. Robson yesterday, shaking his head, “but in those days these difficulties were real hard struggles. The country was new comparatively then. There were no pavements. The city government was run in a sort of a haphazard method and there wasn’t the system to everything which now prevails. Then, too, the people were slow to accept improvements. They were typical frontier people and had to be shown before they would go headlong into debt for city additions.

“I hope I meet some of the men at the home-coming who were so bitterly opposed to some of the measures that came up for consideration during my term of office. There were wordy battles and some fist-flying, too. I’d like to have a reunion of the old city council this fall. We could have some great laughs now over what then seemed to be grounds for free-for-all fights.

Wooden Bridge at Michigan Avenue

“When I was first elected mayor in 1871—they only had one-year terms then—the campaign and the operations of the council after the campaign were pretty strenuous. The first tussle we had arose over the matter of a new bridge across the river at Michigan ave. The structure at that time was an old wooden latticed bridge. It had been in use for a long period and had become rotted and unfit for travel. In fact it was a dangerous proposition. The timbers creaked and give every evidence of weakness even when a dog trotted across and as for heavy traffic, it was perilous.

“The council was divided. A number of the councilmen were strong in their belief that the old bridge needed a few repairs which would make it last another decade while the other faction of the council was for building a new bridge. We finally advertised for bids for a new bridge just to see how much expense would be entailed. Then came a suggestion that the city purchase an iron bridge. Iron bridges were a novelty in those days, especially in Lansing. We had never seen one and thought that it would be far too expensive for the city. An agent for an iron bridge company swooped down upon the council and the first thing we knew we were advertising for bids for both iron and wooden bridges.

“The bids came in. The iron bridge people offered to construct a fine new one-span bridge for $10,000. The men of the council who had advocated repairs declared the old bridge could be made as good as new for an expenditure of only $2,000. The public looked long at that extra $8,000 and many were won over to their side. The iron bridge company had never built a one-span bridge to cross the river at that point but said the trick could be turned. The $10,000 bid of the iron bridge company was but little in excess of the bids for wooden bridges and as nobody in the town new anything about iron bridges, and blamed little of any bridges, they were dubious as to whether to accept or reject the iron bridge bid. We had no city engineer to tell us anything, the council was divided about evenly. We were up a stump.

“Finally a plan was hit upon. A committee was appointed to visit other towns where this particular bridge company was building bridges and get the consensus of opinion as to the efficiency of the bridge. One of the councilmen took sick the day they were to leave, I remember, and I couldn’t find another citizen in the town would volunteer the trip. So I went myself. We spent three days in inspecting several bridges and returned to the next council gathering with a favorable report on the iron bridge.

Iron Bridge at Michigan Avenue

The iron bridge on Michigan Ave built in the 1870's. “A hot fight ensued on the floor of the city council rooms. I remember one of the former mayors came in and called me a fool and a spendthrift and said I was wasting $8,000 of the city’s good money. Just to convince myself that I wasn’t a fool I went down to the old bridge myself. I knew no more of bridge building than anyone else in the city but I can tell when a bridge is unsafe. I stuck a penknife clear through one of the timbers supporting the planks—it was that rotten. Right then and there I decided we would take the iron bridge. The result was the iron bridge appropriation was voted through despite the storm of protest emitted by the opposition. I told the bridge builders on my own responsibility to raise the bridge four feet higher than the old one.

“My reward came when the old bridge was torn down. The people all flocked down there to see the razing and when they observed how rotten and dangerous a structure they had been walking over for the past few years they patted me on the back and said we had the right hunch.

“Recently the question came up before the present council as to the advisability of allowing two tracks to cross the present bridge at Michigan ave. Some claimed the weight of the traffic would be too much for its strength. We had the same kind of a problem to solve on the old bridge only on a smaller scale. The people then declared that the one-span iron bridge would never stand up under the heavy loads of stone which were being hauled across for the purpose of building. So heated was the discussion—in those days everyone participated in the debates when things weren’t run to their liking—that I was forced to send for the bridge builders again and consult with them. They told us the bridge would hold all the traffic you could pile on her and the truth of this statement will be seen when people stop to consider that the old one-span iron bridge is now doing service over the river at Kalamazoo at and holding up under far greater strains than those with which it was taxed when it was built.”

“If any of the boys come back to the home-coming I’m going to take them down to the foot of Kalamazoo at and show them the bridge they said was no good.

“So much for bridges. The next ‘free-for-all’ was the gas question. Lansing wanted gas and wanted it bad but the people didn’t know anything about gas and they were wary. They didn’t want to be buncoed. A representative of a gas company from Ann Arbor came here with the tooting of horns and proclaimed to the innocent citizens that he had the greatest gas that was ever gassed. It was a new fangled idea in gas, claimed to be made from crude oil. Many were the alleged virtues of this gas. It shone brighter and cost less than any gas on the market.

“I went slow on the proposition as I didn’t want to get in bad with the community. I had never heard of the gas. Finally I asked the agent if there was any other city using the article. He spoke of some little obscure town in Pennsylvania as the proud possessor of the unique system. The town was so far away that nobody from Lansing was likely to ever reach it. But I was running a store at the time and had to go to New York occasionally for goods. On my next trip east I stopped off at the aforesaid town. The result was convincing. All the things they said about that gas company would fill a book and the book would be condemned to burn at the stake for the unprintable epithets. And the whole town vowed if they ever caught the agent who put over the deal he would never see home again. We toured the little town. The light from the jets looked like little yellow lightning bugs and the street lights were worse than nothing. We decided as soon as I exposed the system that we didn’t want crude oil gas. So the Lansing Gad company was ushered into the city.

“Then came the fight about the fire engines. I’ll never forget that as long as I live. We had no paved streets and the only means of fire protection was volunteer department whose equipment consisted of a man-power engine with handbrakes. It’s a relic now. Someone brought it up at and presented it to the city not long ago. The question of purchasing a steam engine came up. The dissension was as great in this case as in the bridge and gas problems. The opposition said the streets would never hold heavy engines and they were right, too, for in the wet seasons heavy wagons used to sink up to the hubs and travel was almost impossible.

“Outside fire engine concerns saw our plight. There was an agent from the Silsbury Rotary Fire Engine company who wanted to sell us a $6,000 engine. Then an agent for the Klapp & Jones company offered us an engine for $4,500. The city had no cash on hand and of course there were a great many who wanted the cheaper engine. The Silsbury agent got busy and showed us a petition with a great list of names of citizens favoring his engine while the Klapp & Jones agent got the approval of the members of the volunteer fire department to back his engine up. It was a great fight with no money in the city jeans to pay for either engine.

“At last we decided to set a date for a trial of the engines to determine their respective merits. The Silsbury people at first balked on this suggestion but finally agreed to a trial and after many difficulties and postponements secret tests were given the fire engines. They didn’t know what was coming off and although the Klapp & Jones man was tricky in heating the water in his engine the night before when the test was to start with cold water, his perfidy was discovered and he was made to draw the water from the river. The Silsbury engine was clearly superior to the other one but the Klapp & Jones agent was much cleverer. The next day he got out his engine and gave a public demonstration in the streets before a great crowd of townspeople. He gained popular applause to so great extent that I was besieged with entreaties and later threats not to buy the Silsbury engine but take the Klapp & Jones engine. A petition was circulated and received many signers to the effect that the people of Lansing thought I was spending too much of their money foolishly.

“I was between two fires and it was getting too hot for comfort. Then something happened that changed the situation and brought peace in the city family. For a long time the citizens of North Lansing, who were vieing with Lansing proper in the matter of improvements, had been crying for a fire engine. And now that the city was to have a new engine there was a great clamour from the north side. Inasmuch as we would have to get an engine for them later on and as the Klapp & Jones people had offered their engine for $3,500 a $1,000 cut from their original price. I decided it would be a good plan to purchase both engines. This plan was taken up after some discussion and in that way the storm from the north side was abated and the persons who wanted to buy the Klapp & Jones engine in the first place were satisfied.

“We had great times then. They wanted me to run on the republican ticket for mayor the following year but I was tired of the spats and dissensions and then too, I was not sure I could be reelected. I ran again 10 years later in 1881 and served another term. Conditions had settled considerably by that time and my administration was void of the strife and turmoil which marked the earlier days.”

Mr. Robson is counting the days until the date of the home-coming arrives and is anxious to hob-nob with old-time friends and enemies. He is one of thousands who expects to thoroughly enjoy the reunion.