As I mentioned last week, I have been going through Ridgeway’s ordinances to scan in the current ones for the city website. I found a few (now repealed) that I found entertaining now, but these things must have been a problem back in the day. For example:
Ordinance 8a, section 16 demanded that anyone who kept a male horse for the purpose of breeding could not allow the horses to mate in view of any schoolhouse, college or church but had make sure that there was a natural or artificial barrier between the building and the horses.
Ordinance 8a, section 35 deemed that skating on any city sidewalk punishable by a fine up to $10. To be fair, an earlier ordinance laid out detailed specifications for city sidewalks including the location, width, depth, and exact ratios of cement to clean, sharp sand for the sidewalks’ concrete base and topcoat. I am sure the city government just wanted to keep the sidewalks looking nice.
Ordinance 19 created a poll tax that required all able-bodied men to either work on city streets for three days or pay a tax of $2. Later, this was changed to two days of work or $3 tax.
Ordinance 119a prohibited barbers from operating their businesses before 7 am and after 7 pm except on Saturdays when they could open at 6 am and stay open until 11 pm and except on Sundays when they were not allowed to be open at all. I do not really know why barbers were singled out this way. There was another ordinance which I did not scan that prohibited any work on Sunday except domestic and emergencies or medical work.
A typo in Ordinance 121a decreed that “mental tired” vehicles were not allowed on Ridgeway’s paved streets unless the driver either put down something on the ground to protect the streets or covered the metal tires. I had a vision of very sad, tired cars and trucks moving slowly up and down Main Street when I read that one.
