Great Northern R. Co. v. City of St. Paul
| Decision Date | 01 May 1895 |
| Docket Number | 9172--(144). [2] |
| Citation | 63 N.W. 96,61 Minn. 1 |
| Parties | GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY and Another v. CITY OF ST. PAUL and Others |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied 61 Minn. 1 at 12.
Action by Great Northern Railway Company and St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company in the district court for Ramsey county to enjoin defendant city and the other defendants, its contractors, from constructing a bridge in Broadway street in the city of St. Paul from Prince Street to and across the Mississippi River to West St. Paul. The case was tried without a jury before Brill, J., whose findings of fact, so far as material thereto, are referred to in the opinion. The court found as conclusions of law (1) that Broadway was a public street extending south of Water street, 80 feet wide to the tracks of the Union Depot Company, used by plaintiffs and that plaintiffs, or either of them, had not the right to possession thereof, to the exclusion of the public, save a small portion upon the westerly side occupied by the end of plaintiffs' building; (2) that the city could not build said bridge until it had acquired the right by condemnation proceedings to interfere with the enjoyment of the property abutting on said street, and until the grades of the streets running to and intersecting and crossing Broadway should be fixed so far as might be necessary by reason of the erection of said bridge; and directed that judgment be entered accordingly. A motion by defendant city to strike out the second conclusion of law and to insert in lieu thereof the following: "Neither plaintiff is entitled to any relief against the defendants or any of them by injunction or otherwise" was denied by the court. From an order denying their motion for a new trial, plaintiffs appealed. Modified.
M. D Grover and Cyrus Wellington, for appellants.
The acts of an owner in dedication should be deliberate and unequivocal, manifesting an unmistakable intent permanently to abandon his property to a specific use. An offer of dedication must be accepted by the public within a reasonable time and before the offer has been revoked. People v. Reed, 20 P. 708; City of Galveston v. Williams, 69 Tex. 449, 6 S.W. 860; Chicago v. Drexel, 141 Ill. 89, 30 N.E. 774; Wilson v. St. Paul, M. & M. Ry. Co., 41 Minn. 56, 42 N.W. 600; Field v. Manchester, 32 Mich. 279; Hayward v. Manzer, 70 Cal. 476, 13 P. 141; People v. Reed, 81 Cal. 70, 22 P. 474; Village of Grandville v. Jenison, 84 Mich. 54, 47 N.W. 600; County of Wayne v. Miller, 31 Mich. 447; Bell v. City of Burlington, 68 Iowa 296, 27 N.W. 245; Littler v. City of Lincoln, 106 Ill. 353.
Leon T. Chamberlain and Walter L. Chapin, for respondents.
When land is platted and conveyances are made by reference to the plat, all the streets designated thereon are at once irrevocably dedicated to the public use. Hurley v. Mississippi & R. R. B. Co., 34 Minn. 143, 24 N.W. 917; Wilder v. City of St. Paul, 12 Minn. 116 (192); City of Winona v. Huff, 11 Minn. 75 (119); Dillon Mun. Corp. § 640; Bartlett v. Bangor, 67 Me. 460; Wyman v. Mayor, 11 Wend. 487; Shea v. City of Ottumwa, 67 Iowa 39, 24 N.W. 582; Maywood Co. v. Village of Maywood, 118 Ill. 61, 6 N.E. 866; Elliott, Roads, 111; Logan v. Rose, 88 Cal. 263, 26 P. 106; Steel v. City of Portland, 23 Ore. 176, 31 P. 479; City of Hannibal v. Draper, 15 Mo. 634; Pope v. Town of Union, 18 N.J.Eq. 282; Matter of 29th St., 1 Hill (N. Y.) 189; Matter of 39th St., 1 Hill (N. Y.) 191; Matter of 32d St., 19 Wend. 128; Rowan v. Port-land, 8 B. Mon. 232; Bissell v. New York C. R. Co., 23 N.Y. 61; Carter v. City of Portland, 4 Or. 339; Rives v. Dudley, 3 Jones Eq. (N. C.) 126; Huber v. Gazley, 18 Ohio 18; Fisher v. Beard, 32 Iowa 346; Schenley v. Commonwealth, 36 Pa. 62; City of Cincinnati v. Lessee of White, 6 Pet. 431; New Orleans v. United States, 10 Pet. 662; Evansville v. Evans, 37 Ind. 229; Arrowsmith v. New Orleans, 24 La. An. 194; Commonwealth v. Alburger, 1 Whart. 469; Commonwealth v. McDonald, 16 S. & R. 390; In re Opening of Pearl St., 111 Pa. 565, 5 A. 430, 2 Cent. Rep. 308, citing Trutt v. Spotts, 87 Pa. 339; Fox v. Union Sugar Refinery, 109 Mass. 292; Toby v. Taunton, 119 Mass. 404; Herbert v. Rainey, 54 F. 248; Rainey v. Herbert, 3 U.S. App. 592, 5 C. C. A. 183, 55 F. 443; City of Indianapolis v. Kingsbury, 101 Ind. 200; Town of Derby v. Alling, 40 Conn. 410; Trustees of M. E. Church v. Council of Hoboken, 33 N. J. Law, 13; Bartlett v. Bangor, supra; Town of Lake View v. Le Bahn, 120 Ill. 92, 9 N.E. 269.
Dedication may be complete and irrevocable before the actual improvement thereof is acquired by the city; nor does non-user work abandonment. Parker v. City of St. Paul, 47 Minn. 317, 50 N.W. 247; State v. Leaver, 62 Wis. 387, 22 N.W. 576; Reilly v. City of Racine, 51 Wis. 526, 8 N.W. 417; Curran v. City of Louisville, 83 Ky. 628; City of St. Paul v. Seitz, 3 Minn. 205 (297). Good faith of a purchaser for value is presumed. Bank of Farmington v. Ellis, 30 Minn. 270, 15 N.W. 243; Carter v. Allan, 21 Gratt. 241; Carr v. Callaghan, 3 Litt. 365; Anthony v. Wheeler, 130 Ill. 128, 22 N.E. 494. The use by plaintiffs and their predecessors of the land was subordinate to the public easement. Village of Wayzata v. Great Northern Ry. Co., 50 Minn. 438, 52 N.W. 913. The persons interested in the 20-feet strip showed an intention to abandon it to the public and allowed it to become part of the street. Morse v. Zeize, 34 Minn. 35, 24 N.W. 287; Wilder v. City of St. Paul, supra; Case v. Favier, 12 Minn. 48 (89).
A voluminous record or paper book of nearly 1,000 pages, and the briefs of counsel containing over 200 pages, are presented for our examination. The case comes before the court upon an appeal from an order denying the plaintiffs' motion for a new trial.
The plaintiffs are railway corporations created and organized under the laws of this state, and they commenced this action in the month of August, 1892, to restrain the defendants from constructing a bridge in Broadway street from Prince street to and across the Mississippi river to West St. Paul. The plaintiff the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company, referred to in the finding of the facts by the court below as the "Manitoba Company," was organized in May, 1879, and has succeeded to all of the corporate rights and franchises of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company and the First Division of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company, each of which was a railroad corporation duly organized under the laws of this state.
Prior to the year 1852 Charles W. Borup was the owner of certain real estate in the county of Ramsey, which he caused to be surveyed and platted into streets, lots, and blocks. He caused such plat to be recorded in the office of the register of deeds of Ramsey county on May 1, 1852, and designated it "Kittson's Addition to St. Paul." In the proceedings in this case it is called "Brunson's Plat." Block 80 forms a part of Kittson's addition, all of which was owned by Borup, except such portions as he had sold outside of block 80, and which premises it was stipulated between these parties he had owned from some time previous to June 1, 1852, until April 18, 1854. The stipulation stops with April 18, 1854, as the time to which Borup's ownership continued. Borup's title was acquired through Norman W. Kittson and Louis Roberts, who were the patentees from the United States of certain lands, including that in dispute. Kittson's addition was located on the N. E. corner of the S. E. 1/4 of section 32, township 29 N., and part of lot 1 of section 5, township 28 N., all in range 22 W. On April 18, 1854, Charles W. Borup and wife and others signed a deed which was acknowledged April 20, 1854, conveying to Charles H. Oakes blocks numbered 78, 79, and 80 in Kittson's addition. By virtue of a deed of the same date, the same grantors conveyed Kittson's addition to the same grantee, except a certain portion thereof which had been theretofore conveyed to another party. The court below found as a fact that Charles H. Oakes in 1854 was the owner of the tract comprising Kittson's addition, and that he caused another plat of Kittson's addition to be made, including therein land not included in the Brunson plat, and that he caused the same to be recorded in the office of the register of deeds on December 1, 1854, and which plat is referred to as the
By the Brunson plat Market street, now called Broadway, terminates on the northerly boundary line of block 80; but by the Case plat Broadway extends to the Mississippi river, leaving block 80 on the easterly side thereof, and of the same width as the other principal blocks. On the Case plat Market street is designated as 60 feet wide; the remainder of the streets are designated as being 66 feet wide. Broadway runs north and south, and upon the westerly side thereof, and adjacent thereto, is a strip of land 20 feet wide, and the westerly line of this strip is the westerly line of Kittson's addition. This 20-feet strip is part of the land conveyed by Kittson to Borup, and Borup owned the same May 1 1852. This strip appears upon the Brunson and Case plats, and that part of it north of Water street has been acquired by the city of St. Paul, according to the finding of the court below. Water street extends past and along the northerly boundary of block 80; and intersects Broadway at the northwesterly corner of such block. The premises in dispute are westerly of and adjoining block 80, according to the Case plat, and extend to the westerly line of Kittson's addition, being a strip 80 feet wide, and also extend from Water street to the Mississippi river; being, as is claimed, a southerly part of Broadway, which is one of the main thoroughfares of the city. Upon...
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