James W. Bellangee (1844-1915), Architect
James W. Bellangee (1844-1915) was a graduate of the University of Michigan, with a degree in biology. In the early 1870s he was practicing architecture in Chicago. Bellangee became the first instructor in architecture at the University of Illinois, during the 1870-1871 school term, having been appointed to teach the first student of the fledgling program, Nathan Clifford Ricker. The curriculum, in addition to the classes of the polytechnic division, consisted of drawing and rendering, principles and styles of architecture, and building plans and specifications.[5] In 1873, Ricker became the “first graduate of any architectural program in the United States,” that being from the University of Illinois.[3] Ricker subsequently established the bona fide architecture program there.[3][5]
Following the 1870-1871 term at Illinois, Bellangee left Chicago and briefly joined his brother-in-law, Artemas Roberts, in his practice in Lincoln, Nebraska. His two Nebraska attributions (recorded in the partnership of Roberts & Bellangee) consist of the first high school building in the state capital and Nebraska's first state-chartered normal school, where he also taught for two years. He married Harriett Jameson and their daughter Anna was born while he was teaching in Peru, Nebraska, in 1874.[a]
In the 1880s and 1890s, Bellangee was listed in the city directories of Des Moines, Iowa as a horticulturalist or in real estate. Perhaps it was through the latter that he became interested in Henry George's "single tax" theory of property ownership and development. With a group of Iowans, he helped form an Iowa corporation to establish a "single tax" colony or town, and served on the committee that selected a site in Baldwin County, Alabama. Established in 1894, the town of Fairhope still flourishes across Mobile Bay from Mobile, Alabama, and the Single Tax Corporation remains a major property holder. Bellangee, his daughter and her husband William R. F. Call, and their daughter Helen B. Call, are all interred in the Fairhope Colony Cemetery.[9]
This page is a contribution to the publication, Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects. See the format and contents page for more information on the compilation and page organization.
Contents
Educational & Professional Associations
1870: architect, Chicago, Illinois.[3]
1870-1871: instructor in architecture, University of Illinois.[3][5]
1871: architect and partner, Roberts & Bellangee, Lincoln, Nebraska.[a]
1872-1874: professor of mathematics and drawing, Nebraska Normal School, Peru, Nebraska.[6][10]
1884-1898: horticulturalist and real estate dealer, Des Moines, Iowa.
1894: founding member of Fairhope, Alabama, a "single tax colony."[7][8][d]
1894-1915: Fairhope treasurer, promoter, pamphleteer, truck farmer.[11][12][13][14][15][16][f]
Buildings & Projects
Lincoln High School (1871-1873), Lincoln, Nebraska, Roberts & Bellangee, Architects.[1][2][b]
Nebraska Normal School (1871-1873), Peru, Nebraska.[10][e]
Notes
a. The locally recorded spelling, “Ballange” (see reference [2]), is here changed to “Bellangee.”[DM] Bellangee’s appearance in Lincoln in 1872 as a partner of Roberts coincides in time with the death of his sister, Elizabeth, in Lincoln, in April of 1872.[3][4] See Artemas Roberts (1841-1944), Architect, for more on the Bellangee sisters. See also Dover, Illinois, U. S. Census, 1860, 1288/1312.
b. In association with Artemas Roberts as “Messrs. Roberts and Ballange.”[2][a]
c. [Brownville] Nebraska Advertiser reported on "The Faculty of the State Normal School" at Peru, Nebraska in 1873, including that "Prof. James Bllangee, teacher of mathematics, is a graduate of Michigan University. He taught mathematics in the Agricultural College of Illinois, at Champaign, for two years. He taught very successfully in the Normal last year." The year before, the same paper called him "Secretary of the Faculty, Mathematics and Drawing."[6]
d. The Commoner newspaper of Lincoln reported in 1910: "...the Fairhope single tax colony was founded some fifteen years ago by three advanced thinkers from Des Moines, Iowa who were devoted followers of Henry George--E. B. Gaston, Frank Brown and James Bellanger [sic]."[8]
e. Andreas noted “In the winter of 1871, Hon. S. P. Majors and Hon. William Daily, then members for Nemaha, secured from the Legislature the passage of an act, giving a one-fourth of one mill ta (amounting to $30,000) for the erection of a normal school building. With the proceeds of this tax the preset normal school building was erected. The building is constructed of brick, three stories and basement, 90x63 feet, has a limestone foundation…. The normal edifice was designed by Roberts and Bellangee, architects, of Lincoln…. The new normal building was opened with appropriate ceremonies in 1873, and is a school of which Nebraskans should be proud.”[10]
f. Bellangee was active in the "single tax" movement even before the founding of Fairhope. In 1892 he spoke at a rally of the Omaha, Nebraska single tax club: “James Bellangee, of Des Moines, told what he knew of land monopolies in Iowa...”[11] He not only was among the founders of the "colony's" corporation, he also chose the site: "A committee consisting of James Bellangee and Shuah S. Mann was appointed to select a site for the community. After looking at several prospective sites in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, the eastern shore of Mobile Bay was selected. The Fairhope Industrial Association started buying land there, and in November of 1894 a group of 28 single taxers from Des Moines as well as other cities assembled in Fairhope to begin building their model community."[7]
He was also noted to have traveled widely to recruit additional settlers, including visits to Washington, D. C. in 1903[12] and Denver[14]. The Colorado report mentions a "brief description of Fairhope, given in a little booklet issued by James Bellangee." In 1903, an Iowa newspaper reported: "He is here now on a visit to old friends, after an extensive lecturing tour in the east explaining the colony and its work and purposes. He was well entertained by persons of national repute in Boston and the east."[13]
The colony drew interest across the country. A lengthy article in a Washington, D. C. newspaper in 1909 mentioned Bellangee as a founder, the treasurer of the corporation, "the first man to buy a share of stock," and a successful truck farmer: "James Ballangee [sic], one of the pioneer single-taxers, produces several thousand dollars’ worth of lettuce, beets, radishes, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, okra, peppers, cantaloupes and other garden truck, which he ships to the Mobile market by boat every morning.”[15]
References
1. A. T. Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1882), 1078.
2. McKinley [sic] High School, HABS No. 35-2, “Written Historical & Descriptive Data,” (Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey), accessed July 25, 2013, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/NE0026/ Though the HABS recordation is titled "McKinley High School," the Roberts & Bellangee building was Lincoln High School, while McKinley was the name of an elementary school which shared the same block from c. 1900.
3. Paul Kruty, “Nathan Clifford Ricker: Establishing Architecture at the University of Illinois,” in Lillian Hoddeson, ed. No Boundaries: University of Illinois Vignettes (Champaign-Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004), 5, Html version accessed July 25, 2013, http://www.arch.illinois.edu/about/history/ricker/
4. “History of Architecture at Illinois,” School of Architecture website, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, accessed July 25, 2013, http://www.arch.illinois.edu/about/history/
5. Roula Geraniotis, "The University of Illinois and German Architectural Education," Journal of Architectural Education, 38:4 (Summer 1985): 15.
6. [Brownville] Nebraska Advertiser (August 29, 1872), 3; (August 28, 1873), 2.
7. "History of Fairhope and the Single Tax Corporation," Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, http://www.fairhopesingletax.com/fairhope-history/ Accessed January 9, 2016.
8. The Commoner[Lincoln, Nebraska] (September 2, 1910), 7.
9. Fairhope Colony Cemetery, Fairhope, Alabama. Bellangee's stone is inscribed "One of Fairhope's Founders." http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=120645573&PIpi=93071850 Accessed January 9, 2016.
10. A. T. Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1882), in "Nemaha County, Part 11: Peru," at http://www.kancoll.org/books/andreas_ne/nemaha/nemaha-p11.html#educate Accessed on-line January 10, 2016.
11. “The Single Taxites. They Work Up Enthusiasm and Some Ill Feeling.” ‘’St. Paul daily globe’’ (July 4, 1892), 1. Dateline: Omaha, July 3. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90059522/1892-07-04/ed-1/seq-1/# Accessed January 9, 2016.
12. “Seeks Recruits for Single Tax Colony. James Bellangee, of Fairhope, Ala., in the City,” ‘’The Washington Times’’ (March 18, 1903), 1. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1903-03-18/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1836&index=8&rows=20&words=Bellangee+James&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1922&proxtext=james+bellangee&y=13&x=20&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 Accessed January 9, 2016.
13. ‘’Evening Times-Republican’’(Marshalltown, Iowa), (December 22, 1903), 1. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85049554/1903-12-22/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1836&index=9&rows=20&words=Bella.ngee+James&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1922&proxtext=james+bellangee&y=13&x=20&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 Accessed January 9, 2016. The article was reprinted in ‘’The Minneapolis Journal’’ (November 25, 1904), 9. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045366/1904-11-25/ed-1/seq-10/# Accessed January 9, 2016.
14. “The Single Tax Colony--The Progress of Fairhope, Ala., proves to be highly satisfactory. Four hundred people reside in the village which is now metropolis of County." ‘’The Evening statesman’’ (Walla Walla, Washington) (December 1, 1904), 6. Dateline Denver, Dec. 1. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085421/1904-12-01/ed-1/seq-6/#date1=1836&index=1&rows=20&words=Bellangee+James&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1922&proxtext=james+bellangee&y=13&x=20&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 Accessed January 9, 2016.
15. Curtis, William E., “Showing Their Faith: Progress of the Single Tax Colony of Fair Hope. Location is Delightful. Residents Endeavoring to Prove the Theories of Henry George. Made up of the Cultured” ‘’Evening Star’’ (Washington, D. C.) (April l9, 1909), 16. Dateline Mobile, Alabama, April 6, 1909. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1909-04-09/ed-1/seq-16/# Accessed January 9, 2016.
16. “Beautiful and Picturesque Fairhope, Alabama” ‘’The Pensacola (Florida) Journal’’ (October 5, 1913), 30. Illustrated. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87062268/1913-10-05/ed-1/seq-30/#date1=1836&index=6&rows=20&words=Alabama+Fairhope&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1922&proxtext=fairhope+alabama&y=17&x=13&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 Accessed January 9, 2016.
Page Citation
D. Murphy and E. F. Zimmer, “James W. Bellangee (1844-1915), Architect,” in David Murphy, Edward F. Zimmer, and Lynn Meyer, comps. Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, October 7, 2015. http://www.e-nebraskahistory.org/index.php?title=Place_Makers_of_Nebraska:_The_Architects Accessed, November 23, 2024.
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