Page 60 - A Narrative of the History of Roanoke Virginia

they are refilled and stand festering in the sun with the winds blowing their fetid
breath up and down the city.”

By summer, the paper argued, the streets of Roanoke were “in worse condition than
those of any city in the country.” The roads looked dreadful, threatened the health of
the municipality, and even endangered those walking downtown, since horses and
wagons speeding along them inevitably splashed “helpless pedestrians” on nearby
sidewalks with mud and stagnant water.

Even worse, residents in “thickly populated” areas continued to drain kitchen or bath
water and “slops” onto nearby roads, rendering streets in some parts of town little
more than cesspools.

Officials and the board of health did what they could, ordering the chain gang to fill
potholes and cover the streets with lime, but lacked the funds to make permanent
improvements. The situation grew worse in the winter of 1890, when nearly three feet
of snow from a blizzard began to melt. Overloaded coal wagons cut deep ruts in the
town’s flooded roads and eventually the situation grew so bad that residents placed
stakes around especially large mud holes to warn buggy drivers. “Most of the
streets,” The Times reported, “look more like liquid lakes of mud than thoroughfares
of a city.” Residents had “besieged” the city engineer with complaints, and all over
town, the paper explained, “ladies fill the air with railings against the street committee
and City Council.”

Other municipal problems came to a head as well; the new courthouse was far too
small and the new jail, which was literally falling apart, had been plagued by an utter
inability to contain prisoners.

Council took the blame for these problems too, and in February 1891, after weeks of
heated criticism, it approved seven bond issues totaling $360,000 to address the
city’s various needs. If endorsed by freeholders in early March, streets and sewers
would get a $300,000 upgrade, the Northeast would get a new firehouse, the city
would get a fire alarm system, the courthouse would get an addition, Roanoke would
have a new jail and its first official map, and public school students would get
additional space.

In the weeks leading up to vote, debate raged over the appropriateness of approving
the bonds. The town’s press endorsed all the issues, but many residents were far
less enthusiastic. The city’s African Americans, about 30 percent of the population,
opposed the courthouse addition, new fire station, and sewers on the grounds that
they were unnecessary or were improvements that benefited white neighborhoods
exclusively. Previous bond allocations, while providing a schoolhouse, had not gone
to Gainsborough. As a result, black ministers and political leaders organized mass
meetings to rally voters against further allocations unless council guaranteed them a
“proportionate share.”

Some city fathers ignored their request; others reacted with hostility. A Third Ward
councilman, for example, blasted the notion of blacks “combining” against the