History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

297

FIRST 'ELECTION
The first election for city officers was held April I, I86I, and a few
days later the War of the Rebellion broke upon the country with its
hideous storm of death and destruction. Pontiac responded to Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers with patriotic promptness, and on the
27th of April the common council voted to raise one thousand dollars
for the benefit of families of volunteers, the same to be issued in city
orders of fifty dollars each. For the entire year of 1861 the total tax
raised was $3,621.79; school tax, $I,850; the total receipts were $8,433.56,
and the expenditures, the same.
In I863 the valuation of city property is given as follows: First
ward, $272,052; second ward, $388,235; total, $660,287. The school tax
amounted to $3,575.
In February, 1864, the council agreed to pay a bounty of one hundred dollars to each volunteer for Civil war service, and in the early
part of the following year Mayor Cudworth, representing that body,
entered into a contract with the gas company to supply Pontiac with
illumination.
The treasurer's report for the year ending April 25, 1865, showed the
total receipts of the city to have been $17,066.9I and expenses $I6,700.53.
City indebtedness: War bonds issued, $9,840; city bonds, $20,000.
CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT BORN
A night police was established during the winter of I867-8, this being
the first attempt at the establishment of a city police department, but
one of the first acts of the newly-elected council of I868 was the dis.
bandment of the night force. It was soon afterward reestablished.
Under the amended charter of March, 1867, the city made a jump
from two to four wards, and under the same act the school limits of the
Pontiac union district were made coextensive with the municipal limits.
FIRST CITY HALL
In I868 the two-story brick building on Pike street, which was afterward remodeled for the fire department, was completed for the use of
the municipal officers at a cost of $I2,000.
In 1871 the iron bridge on Saginaw street was built by the Canton
Iron Bridge Company, of Ohio, for $4,500.
For that year the receipts into the city treasury amounted to $43,247.IO and the expenditures, $39,448.04; balance, $3,799.06. Five years
afterward, March 20, I876, the balance in the hands of the city treasurer
amounted to $5,111.55; the receipts for the year had been $40,205.I8
and the disbursements, $35,093.63. The largest sources of income were
the liquor tax ($3,122); city tax to pay face and interest of bonds
($4,239) and that raised for school purposes ($17,500).