USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Discovery and conquests of the Northwest, with the history of Chicago, Vol. II > Part 40
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The Newberry Library.
was a large owner of real estate, the increasing value of which was the foundation of his great fortune, but he was also interested in commercial enterprises, and among other things was one of the founders of the Merchants' Loan and Trust Co. bank, of which he was a director almost constantly from the founding of the bank to the time of his death. He was also president and a director of the old Galena road, later a part of the North-Western railway system. He was always interested in educational matters, and was for many years a member of the Chicago board of education, was twice its chairman, and was one of the founders and for six years the president of the Chicago Historical Society.
His health becoming impaired, he visited Europe in the autumn of 1857, and finding the climate of southern France of great benefit, he spent his winters there up to the time of his death in 1868. On his way out in the latter year he died at sea. At the time of his death his family consisted of his wife and two daughters.
By his will he gave his property, substantially, to his wife and children ; but made a proviso in such will, by the terms of which, in case his two daughters died unmarried, one-half of his estate, upon the death of his wife, in case she survived the children, should go to found a free public library, to be built in the north division of the city of Chicago. The other half of his estate was to go to his nephews and nieces, one of whom was his namesake, now living in Chicago and a member of the board of trustees of the library estab- lished under the provisions of his uncle's will.
Both of his daughters died unmarried, whereby the provisions of his will in regard to a public library became operative. Under the provisions of the will the estate of Mr. Newberry remained in the hands of the trustees designated in the will until the death of Mrs. Newberry, which occurred over seventeen years after the death of her husband.
ENTRANCE HALL.
571
The Newberry Library.
Much credit has always been given in the matter of the library to Honorable Mark Skinner, who drew the will of Mr. Newberry and who was one of the trustees named in the will for his estate. When the will was drawn the two daughters were young women, so that the possibility of the founding of a library, under the will, seemed remote, but Mr. Skinner suggested the provision of the will (in case the daughters died unmar- ried), which suggestion afterwards gave full force to the will, resulting in the establishment of an institution of great and constantly increasing public usefulness. In 1887 the trustees under the will commenced the pur- chase of books for the library, having designated as librarian Dr. William F. Poole, who was, at the time of his appointment, librarian of the Chicago Public Library, and had acquired a wide reputation by his work in that and other institutions, especially the Boston Atheneum, and by his publications in regard to the establishing, equipping and working of great libra- ries. The most notable work of this kind was his " In- dex to Periodical Literature," which made available the immense amount of valuable information embraced in its great field, which for want of an index had long remained almost inaccessible for the work of students.
The library first occupied temporary quarters on La Salle street; afterward a building was erected on the North Side, with the idea of containing the library for a few years, and being then converted into an apart- ment house, to be rented with the other property of the library, as a producer of income for the work of the institution. The books accumulated so rapidly that another building, also temporary in its nature, was erected on North State street, and this was the home of the library for several years until its removal to the capacious and convenient quarters which it now occu- pies. Shortly before its removal to the new building, the trustees, Mr. William H. Bradley and Mr. Eliphalet W. Blatchford (Mr. Bradley having succeeded Judge
572
The Newberry Library.
Mark Skinner, as trustee, upon the resignation of Judge Skinner), organized under the laws of Illinois a corporation known as the Newberry Library, and des- ignated its board of trustees, being thirteen in number, two of whom were the trustees of the estate, and the others were the following citizens of Chicago:
George E. Adams.
Edward E. Ayer.
Daniel Goodwin.
Franklin H. Head.
Edward S. Isham.
Alexander C. McClurg.
Franklin Mac Veagh.
Walter C. Newberry.
Lambert Tree.
Henry J. Willing.
John P. Wilson.
Messrs. MacVeagh and Goodwin subsequently re- signed from the board of trustees, and their places were filled by the appointment of Mr. George Manierre and Mr. Bryan Lathrop. Two additional vacancies were caused, one by the resignation of Mr. Wm. H. Bradley, and the other by the death of Gen. Alexander C. McClurg, which were filled by the appointments of Mr. Moses J. Wentworth and Mr. Horace H. Martin.
At the time of this writing, March, 1902, the news of the death of Mr. Edward S. Isham, one of the trustees and vice-president of the corporation from its organization, has been received. The vacancy caused by his death has been filled by the election of Mr. David B. Jones.
The entire block of land, which was formerly the homestead of Mr. William B. Ogden, was purchased by the trustees as the site for the library, and the perma- nent home of the library was erected thereon. At the present time the library contains about 227,549 volumes.
At the time when the property was turned over to the corporation its value was estimated at about
GENERAL READING ROOM.
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The Newberry Library.
$2,500,000. A considerable part of this is represented by the block of ground and library building, and a large part of the remainder consists, up to the present time, of unimproved property which produces no income, and is a burden by reason of the taxes which must be paid upon it from the income of the library. Its net income, therefore, available for library pur- poses is much less than would be expected from the magnitude of Mr. Newberry's gift.
A portion of the land was located upon the shore of Lake Michigan, and under the provisions of the various statutes providing for the extension of the Lake Shore Drive and the surrender on the part of the property owners of their riparian rights upon receiving the title to a certain amount of land originally covered by the water, the library received as accretion a large and valuable increase of its real estate. The library, however, was obliged to expend $100,000 to fill in the partly submerged portion of its property; and, as this made land has not yet become marketable at reason- able rates, these improvements have served to still further lessen the income of the library, although it is hoped that in the future the value of the property will make its improvement a wise investment. In addition to this the library has much other vacant property, some of it near the stock yards; but with the growth of the city this property can ultimately be sold out to good advantage or rented out under ground leases, and it is hoped that the increase in the value of its real estate may ultimately make the income-bearing portion of its property of a value of at least $2,500,000, the income of which should give to the library double its present available means and enable it to greatly increase its field of usefulness.
The library has also suffered a temporary increase in its operating expenses by reason of the plan upon which the library building was erected and the library organized, according to the views of Dr. Poole. Instead
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The Newberry Library.
of the methods prevailing in most great libraries, of book stacks where all the books are stored and where the books are taken to a general reading room, the idea of Dr. Poole was to have different rooms for each of the chief literary departments. This arrangement, while it will ultimately probably be the best and most economical when the library reaches double or treble its present size, is expensive at the present time by reason of its requiring a greater number of attendants to serve the public, since each of the various depart- ments of the library is operated like an independent library, requiring attendants to serve the patrons of that especial department. With the increase in the size of the library and the number of visitors, the plans of Dr. Poole will doubtless be wise and judicious.
The principal departments of the library are as follows: Medicine, bibliography, the museum, general reading room, philosophy, history, genealogy, music, art and letters, and science.
The department of genealogy, of town, county and state histories, is very large and is one of the most complete in the country, and is at present the most ex- tensively patronized. Great numbers of people visit these departments for the purpose of demonstrating their qualifications as members of the Colonial Dames, the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, and various other state and patriotic societies which have been organized to perpetuate the work of those who have been eminent in promoting the welfare and development of the nation in various ways.
The department of fish and fish culture is also especially well filled and organized.
The attendance upon the library and the increased number of books used give a constantly greater proof of the value of its work.
One of the special features of the library is the prospective addition of the extensive private library of Mr. Edward E. Ayer. This collection is the result of
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DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY.
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The Newberry Library.
twenty years' labor and the expenditure of a very large amount of money by Mr. Ayer. His idea in starting his collection was to get everything available which would throw light upon the character of the North American Indians. This work, however, calls neces- sarily for all the publications of the early settlers in every part of North America, as the writings of these settlers, and with them the writings of the early mis- sionaries, the Jesuit fathers and all the early explorers contain constant references to the character, manners and customs of the Indians. These to the writer of history are of almost priceless value, not only for what they show as to the Indian tribes, but of the work of the early colonists in every part of North America. Mr. Ayer's library is especially rich in the publications of the Jesuit fathers, and of the Spanish and French as well as the English settlements of North America. No thorough history of any part of North America can be written without reference to the volumes embraced in Mr. Ayer's library, and great numbers of these volumes can be found in few other libraries in the world. By the liberality of Mr. Ayer these books, while at the present time largely in the library at his residence, are catalogued in the Newberry Library and sent there at the call of any person wishing to consult such volumes. There are several similar collections in England and the United States, of what are known under the general term, Americana, but Mr. Ayer's library contains sev- eral volumes which have been sought for many years in vain by the British Museum, as well as various other volumes not found in any of the similar libraries in America. A catalogue of Mr. Ayer's library is now in preparation, which will be completed in ten large volumes in the course of the next few years, and a sufficient number will be printed to supply other libraries and students of American history, and thus make the library available to a vast and constantly increasing audience.
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The Newberry Library.
Mr. Henry Probasco, of Cincinnati, was one of the early and enthusiastic collectors of rare and valuable books in the United States, and his collection embraced many volumes which are now almost priceless, but which were collected by him when works of that char- acter could be obtained at much more moderate prices than at the present time. Mr. Probasco finally decided to sell his collection, and it was offered to the New- berry Library soon after its organization. Dr. Poole selected from Mr. Probasco's collection books which were purchased for about $40,000, and which at the present time would probably cost double that amount. They consist largely of rare and early publications. Copies of many of the earliest books printed can be found in this collection; also numerous volumes writ- ten before the days of printing in the careful and elabor- ate manner of the early manuscript volumes. Among the rare books are copies of the first four editions of Shakespeare, of which it is believed but one other complete set exists in the United States. The collec- tion is especially rich in beautiful illuminated manu- scripts written by the monks before the days of printing.
The number of visitors using the library for the year 1900 was as follows : Men, 51,294; women, 25,047; total, 76,341. And the number of volumes consulted, 126,612, indicating the great usefulness to students of the library in its various departments.
There will utimately be three very large libraries in Chicago, the Public, the Newberry and the John Crerar Libraries. Before the work of the Crerar Library was commenced the trustees of the John Crerar and Newberry Libraries and the librarian and officers of the Public Library held meetings for the purpose of avoiding unnecessary duplication of books in the various libraries. This was sought to be accom- plished by giving to each of the three libraries certain specialties, which would not be, except in a moderate degree, encroached upon by the other libraries. The
NEWBERRY LIBRARY.
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The Newberry Library.
Public Library, while embracing, of course, all the standard works of reference, like cyclopædias, etc., and a great collection of general literature, has sub- stantially the exclusive field of fiction, and is, of course, much more popular in its character than the other libraries, not only from the fact of the character of its collection of books, but from the fact that it is a circu- lating library. The John Crerar Library has taken for its province what is grouped under the general name of Science-a large and extremely useful and valuable field. The Newberry Library has its special fields - history, the liberal arts, philosophy, music and gene- alogy. By thus subdividing the work the three libra- ries, so far as the general public are concerned, are like one great library, and a much larger number of books are rendered available for the use of students than did each library undertake to minister to the wants of all classes of readers.
One of the interesting features of the Newberry Library to visitors is a superb collection of portraits, which was donated to the library by Mr. G. P. A. Healy, one of the most eminent of American portrait painters. Mr. Healy had spent a large portion of his life in Europe, and had painted there, as well as in America, a very large proportion of the notable people who were living during the last half of the nineteenth century. He had the habit, when painting the portrait of an eminent man or a portrait which he considered especially suc- cessful, of asking the sitter to allow him to paint a duplicate for his personal collection. Of this collection of portraits Mr. Healy presented some fifty to the Newberry Library, which are of great and increasing value, and very popular among the visitors to the library.
FRANKLIN HEAD.
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THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD.
The state of Illinois lies near the center of the great Mississippi valley, and may justly be called the hinge on which the financial interests of the abutting states around her turn. The citizens of this state saw this advantage not many years after the state had been admitted into the Union, in 1818; and as early as 1834 took measures to make the most of it by planning a system of internal im- provements, consisting of waterways and railroads, mostly for the benefit of the central and southern portions of the state. That these plans were both extravagant and prema- ture, the sequel has abundantly proven. The whole northern portion of the state was then unsurveyed and unsettled, except some beginnings around Chicago, Dixon and Galena; hence it was only the cities in the central and southern por- tions of the state whose commercial interests were supposed to be of sufficient importance to warrant the building of transportation lines to them. These lines were planned to secure the great trunk lines of travel from east to west and from north to south, through the then most populous por- tions of the state of Illinois, ignoring the cities along the borders of the great chain of lakes.
The history of the Illinois Central railroad is so inter- woven with the modern history of the state and this road has controlled the financial interest of the state to such an extent that it is a matter of great importance that it should be written in detail by some person who is thoroughly ac- quainted with every progressive step taken to build this road from start to finish. It is fortunate that such a man is still living to do this work truthfully and faithfully. Mr. C. C. P. Holden is this man, and to him is this duty assigned.
RUFUS BLANCHARD. (578)
579
The Illinois Central Railroad.
On February 27, 1837, the legislature authorized the expenditure of various sums for the purposes and objects stated:
Improvement of Great Wabash river $ 100,000
Illinois river 100,000
Rock river 100,000
Kaskaskia river 50,000
Little Wabash river
50,000
Great Western mail route from St. Louis to Vincennes. 250,000
Central railroad, from Cairo to the Illinois & Michigan Canal
Southern railroad from Alton to Mt. Carmel
1,600,000
Railroad from Alton to Shawneetown
Northern Cross railroad, from Quincy to Indiana state line. . 1,800,000
Branch of Central Hillsboro to Terre Haute. 650,000
Railroad from Peoria via Mt. Carmel and Carthage to Warsaw 700,000 Railroad from Alton to Hillsboro to the Central railroad 600,000
Railroad from Belleville via Lebanon to intersect Southern Cross railroad 150,000
Railroad from Bloomington to Mackinaw, in Tazewell county, thence to Pekin 350,000
So great was the general confidence of the Illinois legislature, as well as the citizens of the state, that they made an appropriation of $250,000 to be paid out of the first proceeds of the internal improvement bonds, to be distributed per capita of the population of such counties as had no railroads and no navigable streams. But these brilliant hopes for the future were not to be realized. None of these improvements were ever fin- ished. The state was responsible for the construction and building of all of them, and had thus become so deeply involved in public debt that immigration had substantially ceased, not because Illinois farming lands were not desirable, but because property in the state was liable to be taxed to pay an overcrowded debt, from which no relief seemed at hand, and no income seemed possible. In December, 1842, the state debt was $15,187,348.71, while its population was but 487,929. The interest of this immense sum could not be paid, and through this default the collapse into which the state had fallen was now apparent to everybody. While despair stared the legislature in the face, a hopeful
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The Illinois Central Railroad.
and brighter prospect came upon the financial horizon of Illinois, which was destined to bring relief and save the state from repudiation.
September 20, 1850, congress passed an act grant- ing the right of way and making a grant of land to the states of Illinois, Mississippi and Alabama, in aid of the construction of a railroad from Chicago to Mobile. The act further provided that the same right is hereby granted to the state of Illinois for the construction of a railroad from the southern terminus of the Illinois and Michigan canal to a point at or near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, with a branch of the same to Chicago, on Lake Michigan, and another via the town of Galena, in said state, to Dubuque, in the state of Iowa. The Illinois legislature convened Jan- uary 6, 1851. In the message of Gov. August C. French to that body, he said in regard to the grant of lands in aid of the construction of a railroad, "When these works shall be completed, extending as they will from the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi river to the terminal of the Illinois and Michigan canal, and by lateral lines to Chicago and Galena, it will present a magnificent thoroughfare along the center of the state for almost its entire length. It will become the great leading artery of the state and more than 500 miles in length, along which may pass to market its vast productions; connecting the upper Mississippi and the lakes with the lower Mississippi, it will be perceived how readily lateral lines may be successfully connected with it, and, when finished, present the most magnifi- cent system of state improvements on the globe."
Both houses took immediate action on the subject. The senate prepared a bill, which was passed by that body February 6, 1851, incorporating the Illinois Cen- tral railroad. The following day the house passed the same bill, approved by Gov. French February 10, 1851. And thus was the Illinois Central Railroad Co. incor- porated with the following incorporators and first board
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The Illinois Central Railroad.
of directors, to wit : Robert Schuyler, George Griswold, Gouverneur Morris, Franklin Haven, David A. Neal, Robert Rantoul, Jr., Jonathan Sturges, George W. Lud- low, John F. A. Sandford, Henry Grinnell, Leroy Wiley, William H. Aspinwall, Joseph W. Alsop, with Augustus C. French ex-officio director. There was a clause in the charter compelling the company to pay into the state treasury 7 per cent of its gross earnings. The company was practically to be a state railroad corporation, with its affairs watched over by the governor, who was by its charter an ex-officio director. The twenty-three senators and seventy-two members of the house who voted for the bill, with the governor who approved their acts, earned the lasting gratitude of the people of Illinois. The road has proved to be a fitting mon- ument to their far-seeing sagacity in our state's his- tory.
The contract with the Illinois Central Railroad Co. called for the building and equipment of a first- class railroad 706 miles in length, and as a guarantee of fulfilling it this company subscribed for $1,000,000 of the stock in said company, and deposited with the state treasurer of Illinois $200,000 in gold, to be re- funded to the Illinois Central Railroad Co. upon the full completion and operation of fifty miles of the rail- road to be constructed by said corporation, according to the provisions of the charter. Signed by John Moore, treasurer of Illinois, March 24, 1851.
After a general review of the state's condition its debt was found to be $16,627,509.91; the population of the state was 851,470. The government had sold, up to June 30, 1850, 15,489,066.62 acres, of which amount 4,529,518.62 acres were sold since September 30, 1839. This was the financial condition of the state as it was found, including its indebtedness, population and re- sources, by the Illinois Railroad Co. when it filed its bond and assumed the construction of the Illinois Cen- tral railroad, March 24, 1851.
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The Illinois Central Railroad.
On March 22, 1851, the board of directors ap- pointed Roswell B. Mason, of Bridgeport, Conn., engi- neer in chief, with jurisdiction over the entire line. In a letter to the writer, dated October 12, 1883, Colonel Mason says: "I received my appointment as chief engineer of the Illinois Central railroad March 22, 1851, and entered at once upon the duty of selecting my assistants and making preparations for the journey to what was then considered the far off western coun- try. Leaving New York May 14, with a party of ten or twelve young men, we traveled by steamer to Albany, by rail to Buffalo, by steamer to Detroit, by rail to New Buffalo on the east side of Lake Michigan, and thence by steamer to Chicago, arriving May 19. My assistant engineers were appointed over the work as follows: N. B. Porter, from Chicago to Rantoul, headquarters, Chicago; L. W. Ashley from Rantoul to Mattoon, headquarters, Urbana; C. Floyd Jones, Mat- toon to main line junction and main line from Ramsay to Richview, headquarters, Vandalia; Arthur S. Orms- bey, Richview to Cairo, headquarters, Jonesboro; H. B. Post, Ramsay to Bloomington, headquarters, Decatur; T. B. Blackstone, Bloomington to Eldena, headquar- ters, La Salle; R. B. Provost, Eldena to Dunleith, headquarters, Freeport. Henry Bacon, after a few months, took the place of N. B. Porter, of Chicago. After seeing my assistants on their way to their several locations, I went by packet boat on the Illinois and Michigan canal from Chicago to La Salle, and then took a private conveyance to Cairo and back to Chi- cago. We traveled very nearly on the line of the road, as now located, south of La Salle through Bloomington and Clinton to Decatur, where I was joined by W. H. Bissell, who went with me to Cairo and part of the way back. South of Decatur we traveled substantially on the present line of the road, through Vandalia and near Richview and Jonesboro; but, owing to high water, we could not drive to Cairo, and went to Mound
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