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City Ordinances
– Kearney - 1923
1922 Kearney City Directory
Election 1stTue of April in odd years
City council meets on the 1st & 3rd Monday
Commission form of government adopted 7-11-1916, organized
April, 1917
Offices:
Mayor
Clerk/Treasurer (one person was allowed to hold both
positions)
Police Magistrate [also referred to as the police judge]
Water Commissioner
Building & Sewer Inspector
City Engineer
City Attorney
Chief of Police
City Physician
Street Commissioner
City Librarian
Hosp-Asylums-Homes
Dominican Sisters home was on 3rd floor of St. James School
TB Hospital
St. Luke’s Hospital – 1802 1st Ave
1924 Kearney City Directory
Estimated population 12,585
Hosp-Asylums-Homes
Dominican Sisters Home – 3rd floor St. James School
Good Samaritan Hospital
TB Hospital
St. Luke’s Hospital
Mother Hull Home, Inc.
Kearney General Hospital – 103 W 22nd (Dr. Johnson’s)
1923 City Ordinances
(random entries)
General Elections to be on the 1st Tue of April annually
Elective positions at large
Mayor
Clerk Treasurer (one person could be both)
Water Commissioner
Elective positions by Ward
2 City Councilmen from each–1 elected each year for 2-year
term to stagger terms
Board
of Education
2 members elected each year to serve 3-year
terms = 6 members on board
Election judges & clerks paid $3
City government
Council met on 1st Tue after election to organize
and select a Council President who would act for the Mayor
if he was absent.
Met on 1st & 3rd Monday
Mayor,
with Council approval, made appointments:
City Engineer
City Attorney
Street Commissioner
Chief of Police
City Physician
Truck Driver
Custodian of City Hall
Police Chief
As many police officers as Mayor & Council think
are needed
Mayor
could call up as many men ages 18-50 as needed to maintain
peace
($3/day)
Anyone
arrested appeared immediately before the Police Judge unless
it
was
night, then the person spent the night in jail. Police
Judge was
paid
$600/year
City Physician – Member of the Board of Health and
performed duties in connection with that board. Also
(1)
if
someone was injured where there might be liability by the
city, he was to investigate the extent of the injury and
interview any persons who might have personal knowledge of
the matter.
(2)
For
purposes of checking health conditions of property and its
occupants, he could enter “at all seasonable hours
Board of Health – 5 members
Mayor, Council President, City Physician, Chief
of Police, 1 mayor appointment
All doctors had to report contagious diseases &
identify the family.
If the Mayor learned of a case of cholera,
smallpox, diptheria or other disease of like virulence and
danger, he was to call a meeting of the Board of Health. If
they found that it was liable to spread, they could set up a
pest house in an isolated spot either inside or outside city
limits where persons could be cared for.
If it
looked like an isolated case they could quarantine the
house.
In
either case only the doctor and those caring for the sick
could enter and all others had to stay at least 200 feet
away.
Anyone exposed to the disease could be
quarantined also.
Responsible for identifying and causing to clean
up any accumulations of filth in the city, especially if
there was danger of contaminating a well or cistern.
Could order the cleaning of any vault, cesspool,
privy, wall, excavation cellar or other structure emitting a
noxious odors or gases. If the city had to do it, the owner
would be charged.
Illegal to sell or keep for sale decayed,
decomposed or partly decomposed fruits and vegetables.
Mayor could appoint someone or have a member of the police
force inspect booths, stores and shops.
Fire Hazards –
Open
burning – not allowed if dangerous to the property of
others.
No
wood buildings in downtown area – basically from 26th
to the railroad, 1st to A
No
lumber yards in that district unless in a brick building
If a
wood building within the district was damaged to 20% of its
value it was to be removed.
Fire
chief, his foreman, mayor, policeman, could call on licensed
drayman or any citizen with team to help pull fire equipment
to or from a fire. Refusal – fine $10-$100
Duty
of fire chief to annually visit and inspect every house and
all buildings in the city where fire is used. Report any
problems to the Mayor. If the owner does not make
corrections, city will and charge owner. And can be fined
$10-$100
Looters to be fined $10-$100 and stay in jail until the fine
is paid.
City Cemetery –
Cemetery Board – 6 members appointed by the mayor with
Council approval
Residents of the city “and may be male or
female”
Serve 3-year terms
“serve without pay and shall have the entire
management and control of the
cemetery”
Tax levy for general upkeep
Board responsible for keeping record of lot
sales
“Potters Field” to be renamed “North Field”
Owners of lots bought without perpetual care
were billed $4/year for care of lot
Lots in old area cost $40 without/$75 with
perpetual care
Anyone owning lots in old part could pay $65 and
get perpetual care
All lots in new part $100 and have perpetual
care
Peace & Order –
Unlawful to engage in loud, boisterous, hallowing, or make
loud or unusual noise or quarrel, curse, swear or user
obscene or indecent language
“Section 5. It shall be unlawful for any person
or persons within the corporate limits of the City of
Kearney to wantonly or prankishly daub or mark the windows
of others with soap or other substance, or remove signs,
overturn out buildings, ground swings, or in any manner
disturb or molest any property of another at any time,
whether it be Halloween or other festal time, or occasion.
It is hereby made the special duty of the Mayor to rigidly
enforce the provisions of this section of this ordinance.”
Streets –
No posts on Central Ave – sign, hitching,
telephone, telegraph, or other
Obstructions
No itinerant sales on Central from 20th
to 24th Street
No on can orate, harangue, lecture, preach,
causing a crowd that would interrupt
traffic on the sidewalk or street
Snow removed within an hour after it stops
snowing or b 9 a.m. Can’t throw it in
Street
No ashes, leaves, straw, hay, manure, brush,
grass, slops, garbage, refuse or
rubbish left in the street
Street Commissioner to arrange for weekly
inspection of streets & alleys
Can’t dump wash water or dish water out in
street
All sidewalks from now on cement. Included
repaired as well as new.
Vehicles & Street Traffic –
Keep
to the right, pass on the left
Don’t
back up to the curb unless loading or unloading
Speed
limit in alleys and congested areas 10 mph, in noncongested
areas 15
Does not apply to fire department equipment
Turning corners 6 mph
Parking spaces in center of Central from 18th-25th
Street, on A & 1st 20-24th Street
Water –
Minimum charge $1.25/mo, then 10 cents/100 cubic feet.
10
cents discount to all paying at office of Water Commissioner
within 10 days of due date
Slaughter Houses – (none listed in 1922 but 5 meat
markets on Central & 4 in 1924)
Had to
be along the north channel of the Platte
Had to
be kept clean so there was no smell
Wash
the blood with water into the “said channel”
Bury
bones, heads, hides, etc. with quick lime
Inspection at least once a week by the Sewer Inspector
Animals – Can’t run at large or pasture them in the
street, cemetery, park or public place
Pound
Master got $1 for each animal. Residents could impound
animals also.
Pound
Master could sell an animal if not claimed in 5-10 days to
pay for the expense of
keeping it. Left over money went to the city
Dogs –
Must have a license tag - $1 male, $3 female
Domestic Fowls – Running at large – Can’t except in areas
used for agriculture and not in
areas
marked off in blocks.
Town Herd
1. Herds limits area bounded by
31st
(street in front of hospital)
Ave. H (street by Collins Park)
14th St. (south of Court
House)
8th Ave (block from
university campus)
2. No
herds or droves collected or driven through this area.
Not
even singly
Can
lead a haltered animal however
3. Fine
up to $10 and animal(s) impounded as per impound ordinance.
Bawdy Houses –
“unlawful for any person or persons to erect, establish,
conduct, keep, maintain, own, use, or lease any building,
room, tent, or other structure” within city limits for
“purpose of lewdness, assignation or prostitution”
Unlawful to run such a house….
Unlawful for anyone to live in a bawdy house or house of
prostitution.
Unlawful to permit a prostitute or lewd woman to visit his
room or lodging place
Unlawful “for any woman to solicit, invite or permit any man
to visit her room or lodging place in the night time for the
purpose of sexual intercourse.” [what about daytime?]
Fined
$10-$100 and stay in jail until the fine is paid
Policemen had to report violations to Police Judge or be
fined $25
All
existing business were declared a nuisance and had to close.
Couldn’t run a business within 3 miles of city limits.
Some Other
topics –
Intoxicating liquors – drunkenness (prohibition
was the law at this time)
Gambling
Auctioneers, peddlers, hawkers (prob. still on
the books but updated, corner sales)
Firecrackers – fire works (still there but
updated also)
Pawnbrokers
Clairvoyants – Fortune Telling
Vagrants – Tramps (used to be a big problem –
riding the rails)
Keeping lots and lands free from weeds
(definitely still there)
Fire escapes
Merchandising after April 1st with
Stock not Listed for Taxation
Using water in times of fire --- don’t - to keep
pressure up
City prisoners – Labor on streets
#44 Town Herd
Street sprinkling (not so many streets paved in
1923)
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