USA > Illinois > Kane County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Kane County > Part 132
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0
11
12
15
12
137
153
110
152
247
305
7,560
8,750
Campton
8
8
8
0
1
15
15
8
113
105
108
90
221
195
5,700
4,650
Dundee
10
11
25
59
113
5
10
54
114
59
124
1,199
2,266
1,154
2,302
2.353
4,568
132,850
391,700
Hampshire
8
9
18
14
5
1
13
13
18
14
246
183
267
189
513
372
9,800
18,200
Kaneville
8
8
10
9
4
3
2
0
0
0
14
11
14
11
130
162
99
151
229
313
5,300
7,000
St. Charles
8
10
15
21
3
1
12
21
15
22
270
417
256
163
526
880
33.825
70,350
Sugar-Grove.
7
7
1
10
1
1
9
9
10
10
75
104
67
83
142
187
7,750
6,900
Virgil
9
9
11
5
1
8
13
13
14
191
112
160
105
351
217
8,400
9,800
Total
150
161
303 394 51
34
287
398
338
432 5.270
7.669
5,151
7,515 10,421 1.3 4| $540.600
$1.052,060
These statistics present two especially note- worthy items: first, the large preponderance of boys enrolled in 1860, as compared with the closely even balance of the sexes at the two later periods; and, second, the doubling of the school building values during the last fifteen years.
The wisdom and foresight of the people who, in 1839, planned and laid the foundations of Elgin Academy commands our admiration and surprise. Their names should be imperishable in the records of the county. They were Solo- mon Hamilton, Cotton Knox, George McClure, Luther Herrick, Reuben Jenne and Burgess Truesdell. It should be remembered that each one of these men was poor in worldly goods, and with all his neighbors, was struggling with the pressing necessities of frontier life, and that the ideals of school men were at that time very crude. Yet they took from their busy days the time to project an educational institution, and to associate for organized effort in its behalf; and from their very scant means, the money necessary to secure its incorporation by the legislature, and with rare foresight they wrote in the act of incorporation assurance of free- dom for both teachers and scholars from all religious denominational tests and provision for the practical industrial training of both boys and girls. They also secured authority to confer academical and honorary degrees upon its scholarly graduates. This was four years before the public lands came into market, and while the shadow of the red man still lingered across the pathway of the pioneer. In 1848 the
5
0
20
29
25
20
221
188
198
480
422
968
27.000
65,600
Plato.
10
10
10
11
15
11
17
11
134
142
113
125
247
267
7,000
9,500
Rutland
10
9
10
10
2
1
11
0
12
103
170
130
92
195
300
7,300
17,400
Burlington
8
-88-200
186
213
3,000
10,475
10
9
96
108
90
105
Elgin
21
23
00 00 00
Teachers
Teachers
Teachers
Pupils
Enrollment
6
6
heavy stone walls of the first story of the main building had been erected, but the financial means of its promoters were exhausted. Thus it stood until 1854-5, when the charter was amended, a new Board of Trustees selected and the main building was completed.
It was opened for students December 1, 1856, and its doors have never been closed except for the usual vacations. Its Board of Trustees has ever been composed of our best and most public-spirited citizens, and its faculty has always been of an unusually high order. Lay- ing deep and firm the foundation of high mental and moral aspiration and attainment has ever been the keynote of its endeavor, and its excellent success is demonstrated in the upright character of its alumni, many of whom have obtained and adorned positions of great responsibility, and not one of whom can be re- called who has brought disgrace upon his Alma Mater. It gave seven commissioned officers, six non-commissioned staff-officers, twenty-one non-commissioned officers and twenty-three privates to the military service of the Govern- ment in the great struggle for national exist- ence, and of these, nine died that their country might live. You will vainly search for a nobler record of patriotic education and devotion to high ideals of duty. One member of its present Board of Trustees, who has served over thirty years, notes, with lonely sadness, that every one of the excellent men associated with him dur- ing the first half of his long term, walks and works no more on earth. Yet this best of their mortal work does follow after them. The
662
HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
academy is now closely associated with the great Northwestern University, and is prepar- ing to so expand its curriculum as to cover the first two years of college work, but in no way to curtail its preparatory classes. The original imposing three-story stone and brick structure, and the fine brick building of the same height, erected in 1888 by the revered Mrs. Lucy S. Lovell, are both situated upon a commanding elevation in the midst of the northeast resi- dence portion of the city, and they are sur- rounded by a delightful campus of four acres. The institution possesses an unusually well- selected library of 1,500 volumes, and has two roomy laboratories for physics and chemistry, with an adjoining room for chemicals. The gymnasium is well equipped with the usual facilities for physical training, and the excel- lent tennis courts, croquet grounds, basket- ball and foot-ball grounds give ample oppor- tunity for athletic exercise and sport. The location is most beautiful and accessible, and the institution rests upon a firm basis in the appreciative regard of its intelligent constitu- ency throughout this and adjoining counties.
The fine educational institution, heretofore mentioned as suggested by the Rev. John Clark, has long been an honor to the city of Aurora, and to the county. It received a charter in 1855 and, two years later, its imposing five- story buildings were erected upon the high land on South Broadway. From its lofty cupola is presented a panorama of scenic beauty rarely equaled. The fine city of Aurora lies at one's feet; stretching away in each direction is the boundless vista of as fair and beautiful a landscape as ever pleased a be- holder, and through its midst winds the lovely river. The buildings are constructed of di- mension stone, and are stately and imposing in appearance. The grounds and buildings cost about $70,000-which was a very large sum of money in the low, hard times of 1857-and that it could possibly be raised in the strug- gling young city, demonstrates more forcibly than words can express, the people's active interest in the cause of education. It has ever been under the guiding influence of the great religious denominations so worthily repre- sented by its original projector, and is now controlled by the deaconesses of the Rock River Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is conducted as a young woman's seminary and educational school of the very
best Christian type. It is well equipped with the appliances necessary for its work; has a fine corps of eleven excellent instructors, and a fairly satisfactory attendance of students. It possesses a well-selected library, and the gym- nasium and basket-ball and tennis court of its beautiful campus afford excellent facilities for in-door and out-door exercise so essential for the proper development of spirit, mind and body. It is a denominational, but by no means a sectarian, school, and it offers its excellent facilities to, and seeks the patronage of all, the families of Kane and adjacent counties.
About 1854 the Batavia Institute opened its doors to students and, for about ten years, did very fine educational work. It was beautifully located and the buildings, costing about $30,000, were exceptionally elegant. But the develop- ment of the excellent public-school system rendered it somewhat superfluous, and it passed into the hands of Dr. R. J. Patterson, an ac- complished gentleman and skillful medical practitioner, of careful study and wide practical experience in the treatment of mental ailments, and by him was converted into a modern re- treat for the insane, and is still so used.
And so we find that, in the decade of un- paralelled political excitement, bitterness and financial depression which preceded the great war, the people of Kane County, by voluntary contributions, appropriated fully $125,000 of their scant means to provide these three edu- cational institutions.
St. Mary's Academy at Elgin is a fine academic school conducted by one of the sacred orders of the Catholic Church. Its curriculum is comprehensive, its instruction very careful and thorough, and its influence highly refined and religious. The new German Catholic Church has a complete parochial school build- ing, while the Catholic parishes of Aurora maintain three very large parochial schools in connection with their churches. There are also a number of other private schools maintained throughout the county; and, in the cities, busi- ness colleges and night schools are affording in- struction to large numbers of students and en- terprising young people.
LIBRARIES.
Library Associations were formed in many of the pioneer communities very early in the set- tlement of the county; in some of them during the 'thirties. By natural process of expansion these have developed until, at Aurora, Batavia,
663
HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
Elgin and Carpentersville, elegant buildings have been donated or erected for their especial use, and at Geneva, St. Charles and Dundee, pleasant quarters are rented. At each of these places, well-lighted, cheerful reading rooms, well supplied with the best newspapers and magazines, are maintained, and are well pat- ronized by people of both sexes and of all ages and conditions in life. At Aurora, the "Public Library" was first established under the statutes of the State by the City Council, and opened for popular use in June, 1882, in the unique and artistic Memorial Hall. Its de- velopment soon outgrew the capacity of this building, and only three years later quite a large addition was erected. But the steady ac- cumulation of books, and the increasing use of the reading and reference rooms by the people, and especially by the pupils in the schools, soon overtaxed these enlarged facilities, and in 1897 the Library Board, principally through the Rev. W. A. Colledge, entered into cor- respondence with Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who tendered the city $50,000 for the erection of a new library building, upon the city's pledge to perpetually appropriate at least $5,000 annually for the maintenance of the library. A levy of one and one-half mills upon the dollar at pres- ent produces a library fund of $6,000 yearly.
In compliance with this arrangement, a com- modious and elegant building is now in course of erection and nearly completed. Its appro- priate and central site upon the island was donated by the generous heirs of Joseph G. Stolp. It is constructed of pressed brick and Bedford stone, thoroughly non-combustible, in artistic style suiting its express use, and of the most approved material and construction throughout. It is being finished and furnished with all the best equipment known to library science. Its steel book-stacks have a capacity. of 40,000 volumes, and both building and equip- ment are arranged with a view to indefinite expansion, as future needs may require. It now contains 20,000 volumes, carefully selected to cover all useful and interesting topics, scientifically classified according to the Dewey decimal system, making selections easy and the volumes readily accessible. The circulation of the Library at present is about 2,000 books per week; but with its increased facilities now promised, this will be largely increased. Mr. James Shaw has been Librarian and Secretary of the Board since 1884.
Mrs. Mary Prindle Newton quite recently donated to the township of Batavia, for library use, the beautiful homestead of the late Levi Newton, founder of the great Newton Wagon Company. Its central location and delightful surroundings render it another appropriate monument to the munificent public spirit of this patriotic family. The library is supported by township tax, has upon its shelves about 8,- 500 well-selected volumes and exchanges about 300 each week. The Geneva Public Library has about 3,000 books, with a weekly exchange of 200. It is maintained by public tax, and oc- cupies rented quarters. The St. Charles Li- brary Association still sustains the library at that city. It rents its rooms and has about 3,000 volumes, exchanging about 200 weekly.
The Elgin Library can be traced back to 1841 or '42, and, with less certainty, to a still earlier date. At that time a small collection of books for circulation was kept in a room over the old B. W. Raymond store, on the southeast corner of Spring and Chicago Streets. Sub- sequently they passed into the possession of the "Young Men's Christian Association," and from that to the Public Library. In March, 1872, the State Legislature passed an act au- thorizing townships, by vote of its citizens, to establish and maintain by taxation free public libraries. The very next month Elgin voted to organize under this law, and to levy a tax of one mill upon the dollar, for library uses. The amount of this levy has been increased, and is now three mills annually. The upper story of the Home Bank Block was rented for a number of years, and then more commodious rooms were obtained in the block on the south side of Chicago Street, just west of the alley near the river bridge. The brothers, Alfred B. and Samuel M. Church, purchased the former resi- dence of D. C. Schofield, situated on the west side of. Spring Street, and extending from Milwaukee to Division Street, and very gen- erously donated it to the city for library use in 1892 or '93. The location is central and in every way acceptable, and upon it the town at once erected the modest yet elegant building now in use. It is admirably arranged, fully and conveniently equipped and tastefully furnished. It was opened for use by appro- priate public ceremonies on February 22, 1894, and, at the request of the donors of the site, was named the "Gail Borden Public Library."
About 1875 or '76 Congress passed an act
664
HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
authorizing each Representative to designate a public library in his district, to which a copy of every document published by authority of the Government should be transmitted. At the re- quest of the Elgin Library Board, Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut, then Representative of this District in Congress, so designated this library, and many of the volumes received from this source are of great value. It now has 26,416 volumes upon its shelves, and weekly exchanges over 3,000 books. There is a constant throng of studious readers in its very pleasant rooms, and obviously more ample space will soon be imperatively needed. For just twenty years, from June 1883, until June 9, 1893, Miss Cecil C. Harvey was its nearly perfect librarian. She discharged all her duties with a peculiar grace and prompt efficiency, rarely equaled. She was tenderly loved by old and young of all stations in life, and her death was sincerely mourned by the entire community.
Dundee Library has 2,265 books with a weekly exchange of about 150, and its library occupies rented quarters. Mr. and Mrs. George P. Lord selected upon their own lands the most desirable location in the village of Carpentersville, and a few years ago erected upon it an unusually handsome and substantial building, especially designed and completely fit- ted for library purposes, at an expense of about $15,000, and donated it, fully furnished and equipped, to the Carpentersville Literary and Library Asociation and the Congregational Church; these two bodies agreeing to maintain and perpetuate it for library use. The library has 2,188 volumes, and exchanges weekly about 150.
The educational department of the Kane County Federation of Women's Clubs has twenty-three libraries of fifty volumes each, in constant circulation throughout the rural com- munities of the county, and many of the public schools have collections of excellent books for the use of scholars. Every Sunday School has its library and papers, and each of the State and County Institutions provides books and periodicals for the edification of its inmates.
It will be observed that Kane County has over 66,000 volumes in its public libraries, and that its people exchange over 7,000 of them weekly. The critical and exhaustive study of so many topics, now eagerly prosecuted by members of the numerous Women's Clubs that
have been organized during the last twenty- five years, renders the use of the reference rooms of the libraries, and the very intelligent aid of the librarian and the special assistant in charge of them, almost invaluable.
CHAPTER XII.
POLITICS AND PUBLIC OFFICERS.
EARLY POLITICS IN KANE COUNTY-PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AND PARTY VOTES-FIRST REPUBLI- CAN COUNTY CONVENTION - CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES-PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS AND FEDERAL OFFICERS-CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENI- TIONS-STATE SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES FROM KANE COUNTY-CIRCUIT JUDGES AND COUNTY OFFICERS.
Until the questions which culminated in the great war were fairly developed, the political sentiment of the county evidently favored the Democratic party, and since that time has been as steadily Republican. In 1836 Martin Van- Buren and Col. Richard M. Johnson were the Democratic presidential and vice-presidential nominees, and to arouse the martial spirit of the people, their followers sang,
"Shout and sing, Oh, rumsey dumsey! Colonel Johnson killed Tecumseh-"
referring to an alleged incident (which prob- ably never occurred) of the battle on the Thames River, in Canada, where the famous chieftain was killed in 1813. They had 235 votes in the county while the Whig nominees, Harrison and Granger, had but 93. In 1840 VanBuren and Johnson again contested with Gen. William H. Harrison and John Tyler for the national honors. Now the Whigs sang:
"Iet lady and man do all they can For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too; And with them we will beat little Van; Van, Van, Van is a used-up man;"
665
HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
and the military prestige of "Tippecanoe" gave him a majority in the county of 36 votes in a total of 1,584. In 1842 Thomas Ford, Demo- cratic candidate for Governor, received 750 votes, and his Whig opponent, ex-Gov. Joseph Duncan, had but 457. This year the first "Liberty" ticket appeared in the county, and polled 32 votes for its candidate, Charles W. Hunter.
The Whigs nominated the great Kentucky statesman, Henry Clay, with Theodore Freling- huysen, in 1844, and the Democrats ran James K. Polk and George M. Dallas. The sharp and exciting contest resulted in 1,046 votes for Polk, 748 for Clay and 299 for James G. Birney, the "Abolitionist" candidate. It will be noticed that the Liberty vote had increased nearly ten- fold, yet the combined opposition vote was but one greater than the Democratic.
In 1848 three tickets were fairly in the field, viz .: Cass and Butler, Democratic; Taylor and Fillmore, Whig, and VanBuren and Adams, Anti-slavery. But the Democrats were badly divided and the "Barn Burner" faction voted with the "Free-Soilers" for their old favorite, Martin Van Buren, who received 1,220 votes; General Cass, 783; and General Taylor, 855. The strengthening of the slave-power by the acquisition of Texas, the resulting Mexican War and the political action which led up to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850, aroused the apprehension of the people and re- sulted in the phenomenal anti-slavery vote.
During the decade of the 'fifties, the country was plunged on in the mad political turmoil that culminated in the great war, and Kane County was in the thick of the fray. Wendell Phillips, Cassius M. Clay, Joshua R. Giddings, Owen Lovejoy, Ichabod Codding, and scores of other impassioned orators addressed immense assemblages of the people with tempestuous eloquence, while John F. Farnsworth, A. J. Joslyn, Isaac Preston and many other talented home-speakers kept the fires of liberty hotly burning. They sang:
"Ho! the car, Emancipation, Rides majestic through the Nation, Bearing on its train the story, 'Freedom is our Nation's glory.' Roll it along, roll it along; roll it along through the nation,
Freedom's car, Emancipation."
And the other refrain,
"Sound the alarm, sound the alarm, Sound the alarm, pulpits thunder,
Ere too late you see your blunder,"
was literally obeyed by nearly every clergyman in the county. It is altogether impossible for the present generation to approach a realiza- tion of the intense and bitter excitement that characterized these campaigns. Gen. Franklin Pierce, Gen. Winfield Scott and John P. Hale were the presidential candidates in 1852. Pierce had 1,308 votes, Scott 1,160 and Hale 642.
In August, 1854, the first convention of the opponents of the further spread of slavery that was held in the county under the distinctive name of Republican, assembled at Geneva, and was presided over by "Father" E. W. Brewster. It was gathering of able, high-minded, patriotic men, and the addresses given and resolutions adopted were eloquent, emphatic and strong. The next month, September 20, 1854, the first Republican congressional and county ticket was nominated at a convention held in the Congregational Church at Aurora. The entire ticket was elected except the candi- date for Sheriff, who was defeated by the re- cently deceased L. P. Barker, of Batavia. In 1856, James Buchanan led the Democratic column, John C. Fremont the Republican and Millard Fillmore the "American." Fremont's vote was 3,750, Buchanan's 912 and Fill- more's 29.
In the ever memorable contest of 1860 Lin- coln polled 4,207 votes, Douglas 1,651, Bell and Breckenridge 12. The vote in 1864 stood: Lincoln, 4,270 (the absent soldiers voting in the field ) ; McClellan, 1,482. General Grant had 5,047 votes and Seymour 1,653 in 1868. In 1872 Grant had 4,657 and Horace Greeley 1,606. The vote in 1876 was: Hayes 5,398, Tilden 2,850 and Cooper 172. Garfield had 6,180 votes in 1880, Hancock 2,831 and Weaver 410. In 1884 Blaine had 7,143, Cleveland 3,558, Butler 124 and St. John 206. In 1888 the vote stcod: Har- rison, 7,572; Cleveland, 4,386; Fisk and Street, 147; in 1892 ,Harrison, 7,967; Cleve- land, 5,779; for Prohibition, 719; Social Labor, 353; in 1896 ,McKinley, 12,133; Bryan, 4,839, and 375 scattering. In 1900 Mckinley had 12,031 votes; Bryan, 5,260; for Prohibition, 393 -and there were 129 scattering votes. It is worthy of note, that the first nominating Re- publican convention of the county was held in a church, and its candidates were elected; and
666
HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
that at each subsequent presidential election its nominees have received about two-thirds of the entire vote cast; also, that Grover Cleve- land was the most popular candidate of his party.
REPRESENTATIVES CONGRESS. - Shadrach Bond represented the Territory as Delegate from 1812 to 1814 in the Twelfth and Thir- teenth Congresses; Benjamin Stevenson. 1814- 1816, in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth, and Nathaniel Pope, 1816-1818, in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Congresses. John McLean rep- resented the new State during the second ses- sion of the Fifteenth Congress, 1819. Daniel Pope Cook was the Representative in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nine- teenth Congresses, from December, 1819, to March, 1827, and was followed by Joseph Dun- can from 1827 to 1834, through the Twentieth, Twenty-first, Twenty-second and part of the Twenty-third Congresses. In 1832 the State was divided into three Congressional Districts, and LaSalle County, which then included Kane, became a part of the Third District. Duncan, having resigned before the expiration of his fourth term to accept the governorship, was succeeded by William L. May, Democrat, of Springfield, who served during the last session of the Twenty-third and the whole of the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Congresses (1834-39). In 1839 Kane first voted as a sepa- rate county. John T. Stuart, Whig, of Spring- field, and Stephen A. Douglas, Democrat, were the opposing candidates for Congress. Stuart was elected and served in the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses until 1813, but in Kane County Douglas received 517 votes and Stuart 311. In 1843 Kane had become a part of the Fourth Congressional District, and John Wentworth ("Long John"), Democrat, of Chicago, represented it in the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth and Thirty-first Con- gresses from 1843 to 1851, being succeeded in the latter year by Richard S. Molony, Democrat, of Belvidere, who served in the Thirty-second Congress-1851-3.
By the apportionment of 1852 Kane was trans- ferred to the Second District, and Mr. Went- worth again represented it in the Thirty-third Congress. James H. Woodworth, Republican, of Chicago, served in the Thirty-fourth Con- gress, 1855-7, and the district has since that time been strongly Republican. Its Repre-
sentatives have been: John F. Farnsworth, of St. Charles, in the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses (1857-61) ; Isaac N. Arnold, of Chi- cago, Thirty-seventh Congress (1861-63) ; Gen. Jolin F. Farnsworth next served five terms- the Thirty-eighth to the Forty-second Congress -(1863-73). He became a bitter personal enemy of General Grant, in this position an- tagonizing many of his warm admirers. The congressional convention of 1872 was held in DuBois Hall, Elgin, and was probably the most protracted and exciting congressional con- vention ever convened in the county. After in- numerable ballots between the friends and political opponents of General Farnsworth, he was defeated and Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut, of Belvidere, nominated and elected. He served in the Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses (1873-7), and William Lathrop, of Rockford, in the Forty-fifth (1877-9), after which John C. Sherwin, of Geneva, was elected to the Forty- sixth and Forty-seventh (1879-83). By the ap- portionment of 1882, this district became the Fifth and during 1883-88, Reuben Ellwood, of Sycamore, represented it in the Forty-eighth Congress. In 1884, Albert J. Hopkins, of Aurora, was elected and served continuously through nine terms-the Forty-ninth to the Fifty-seventh Congress (from 1885 to 1903)- a remarkably long term and covering a period surcharged with governmental questions of most vital interest. During it all he bore him- self with a manly steadiness and fidelity, dis- charging his duties with an industry and ability that won the confidence of the peo- ple of the whole State; and, in January, 1903. the State Legislature, complying with the nomination of the Republican State
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