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John Peirce
John Peirce came to Sioux City in 1869, where he entered
real estate business and devoted his time and money to the
development of the “north side” — the area between 23rd
Street and 40th Street on Jackson and Nebraska
Streets.
Peirce financed a cable
railway line on Jackson St. and provided its power with the
electric plant he built at 29th and Jones
Streets. This plant also provided the power needed for a
500 watt electric light placed every two blocks on Jackson
Street and steam heat for several nearby mansions.
In the late 1880s and early
1890s, Sioux City was experiencing a business and development
boom. It was an era of boosters and promotion of the
city, with crowning achievements such as construction of
five corn palaces and the Peavey Grand Opera House. Sioux
City was being looked upon as the next great metropolis of
the west, until the international recession of 1893 hit the
city and several prominent businessmen declared bankruptcy.
John Peirce was one of those
promoters whose fortunes were lost during this time.
Although he retained his enthusiasm and hopefulness for
Sioux City’s recovery for several years, by about 1900 he
gave up and made plans to move to Seattle.
Peirce Mansion Raffle
Peirce developed a scheme to
sell his home at 2901 Jackson by instituting a nationwide
lottery. Raffle tickets were sold for a dollar a chance,
with approximately 40,000 tickets distributed.
 The
drawing took place December 24, 1900 at the Union passenger
depot. It was first announced that Bert M. Bills, a jeweler
from Vinton, Iowa, held winning ticket number 35,365. Several days later it was revealed that William Barbour, a
millionaire New York threadmaker, held the winning ticket.
The abstract
for Peirce’s mansion actually reveals that a warranty deed
transferring title to William Barbour was drawn up on
December 17, 1900, nineteen days before Barbour was known to
hold the “winning” ticket. The lottery had been fixed.
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