Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume I, Part 81

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. ed. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. jt. ed. cn; Wilderman, Alonzo St. Clair, 1839-1904, ed; Wilderman, Augusta A., jt. ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 698

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NORMAL, a city in McLean County, 2 miles north of Bloomington and 124 southwest of Chi- cago; at intersecting point of the Chicago & Alton and the Illinois Central Railroads. It lies in a rich coal and agricultural region, and has extensive fruit-tree nurseries, two canning fac- tories, one bank, hospital, and four periodicals. It is the seat of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, founded in 1869, and the Illinois State Normal University, founded in 1857; has city and rural mail delivery. Pop. (1890), 3,459; (1900), 3,795.

NORMAL UNIVERSITIES. (See Southern Illinois Normal University; State Normal Uni- versity. )

NORTH ALTON, a village of Madison County and suburb of the city of Alton. Population (1880), 838; (1890), 762; (1900), 904.

NORTHCOTT, William A., Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, was born in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Jan. 28, 1854-the son of Gen. R. S. Northcott, whose loyalty to the Union, at the beginning of the

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Rebellion, compelled him to leave his Southern home and seek safety for himself and family in the North. He went to West Virginia, was com- missioned Colonel of a regiment and served through the war, being for some nine months a prisoner in Libby Prison. After acquiring his literary education in the public schools, the younger Northcott spent some time in the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., after which he was engaged in teaching. Meanwhile, he was prepar- ing for the practice of law and was admitted to the bar in 1877, two years later coming to Green- ville, Bond County, Ill., which has since been his home. In 1880, by appointment of President Hayes, he served as Supervisor of the Census for the Seventh District; in 1882 was elected State's Attorney for Bond County and re-elected suc- cessively in '84 and '88; in 1890 was appointed on the Board of Visitors to the United States Naval Academy, and, by selection of the Board, delivered the annual address to the graduating class of that year. In 1892 he was the Repub- lican nominee for Congress for the Eighteenth Dis- trict, but was defeated in the general landslide of that year. In 1896 he was more fortunate, being elected Lieutenant-Governor by the vote of the State, receiving a plurality of over 137,000 over his Democratic opponent.

NORTH PEORIA, formerly a suburban village in Peoria County, 2 miles north of the city of Peoria; annexed to the city of Peoria in 1900.

NORTHERN BOUNDARY QUESTION, THE. The Ordinance of 1787, making the first specific provision, by Congress, for the government of the country lying northwest of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi (known as the Northwest Territory), provided, among other things (Art. V., Ordinance 1787), that "there shall be formed in the said Territory not less than three nor more than five States." It then proceeds to fix the boundaries of the proposed States, on the assump- tion that there shall be three in number, adding thereto the following proviso: "Provided, how- ever, and it is further understood and declared, that the boundaries of these three States shall be subject so far to be altered that, if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said Territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan." On the basis of this provision it has been claimed that the north- ern boundaries of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio should have been on the exact latitude of the southern limit of Lake Michigan, and that the

failure to establish this boundary was a violation of the Ordinance, inasmuch as the fourteenth sec- tion of the preamble thereto declares that "the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact between the original States and the people and States in the said Territory, and for- ever remain unalterable, unless by common con- sent."-In the limited state of geographical knowledge, existing at the time of the adoption of the Ordinance, there seems to have been con- siderable difference of opinion as to the latitude of the southern limit of Lake Michigan. The map of Mitchell (1755) had placed it on the paral- lel of 42° 20', while that of Thomas Hutchins (1778) fixed it at 41° 37'. It was officially estab- lished by Government survey, in 1835, at 41° 37' 07.9". As a matter of fact, the northern bound- ary of neither of the three States named was finally fixed on the line mentioned in the proviso above quoted from the Ordinance-that of Ohio, where it meets the shore of Lake Erie, being a little north of 41º 44'; that of Indiana at 41º 46' (some 10 miles north of the southern bend of the lake), and that of Illinois at 42° 30'-about 61 miles north of the same line. The boundary line between Ohio and Michigan was settled after a bitter controversy, on the admission of the latter State into the Union, in 1837, in the acceptance by her of certain conditions proposed by Congress. These included the annexation to Michigan of what is known as the "Upper Peninsula," lying between Lakes Michigan and Superior, in lieu of a strip averaging six miles on her southern border, which she demanded from Ohio .- The establishment of the northern bound- ary of Illinois, in 1818, upon the line which now exists, is universally conceded to have been due to the action of Judge Nathaniel Pope, then the Delegate in Congress from Illinois Territory. While it was then acquiesced in without ques- tion, it has since been the subject of considerable controversy and has been followed by almost incalculable results. The "enabling act," as originally introduced early in 1818, empowering the people of Illinois Territory to form a State Government, fixed the northern boundary of the proposed State at 41º 39', then the supposed lati- tude of the southern extremity of Lake Michigan. While the act was under consideration in Com- mittee of the Whole, Mr. Pope offered an amend- ment advancing the northern boundary to 42° 30'. The object of his amendment (as he ex- plained) was to gain for the new State a coast line on Lake Michigan, bringing it into political and commercial relations with the States east of

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it-Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York- thus "affording additional security to the per- petuity of the Union." He argued that the location of the State between the Mississippi, Wabash and Ohio Rivers-all flowing to the south-would bring it in intimate communica- tion with the Southern States, and that, in the event of an attempted disruption of the Union, it was important that it should be identified with the commerce of the Lakes, instead of being left entirely to the waters of the south-flowing rivers. "Thus, " said he, "a rival interest would be created to check the wish for a Western or South- ern Confederacy. Her interests would thus be balanced and her inclinations turned to the North." He recognized Illinois as already "the key to the West, " and he evidently foresaw that the time might come when it would be the Key- stone of the Union. While this evinced wonder- ful foresight, scarcely less convincing was his argument that, in time, a commercial emporium would grow up upon Lake Michigan, which would demand an outlet by means of a canal to the Illi- nois River-a work which was realized in the completion of the Illinois & Michigan Canal thirty years later, but which would scarcely have been accomplished had the State been practically cut off from the Lake and its chief emporium left to grow up in another commonwealthı, or not at all. Judge Pope's amendment was accepted without division, and, in this form, a few days later, the bill became a law .- The almost super- human sagacity exhibited in Judge Pope's argu- ment, has been repeatedly illustrated in the commercial and political history of tlie State since, but never more significantly than in the commanding position which Illinois occupied during the late Civil War, with one of its citi- zens in the Presidential chair and another leading its 250,000 citizen soldiery and the armies of the Union in battling for the perpetuity of the Republic-a position which more than fulfilled every prediction made for it. - The territory affected by this settlement of the northern boundary, includes all that part of the State north of the northern line of La Salle County, and embraces the greater portion of the fourteen counties of Cook, Dupage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Boone, DeKalb, Lee, Ogle, Winnebago, Stephen- son, Jo Daviess, Carroll and Whiteside, with por- tions of Kendall, Will and Rock Island-estimated at 8,500 square miles, or more than one-seventh of the present area of the State. It has been argued that this territory belonged to the State of Wisconsin under the provisions of the Ordi-

nance of 1787, and there were repeated attempts made, on the part of the Wisconsin Legislature and its Territorial Governor (Doty), between 1839 and 1843, to induce the people of these counties to recognize this claim. These were, in a few instances, partially successful, although no official notice was taken of them by the authorities of Illi- nois. The reply made to the Wisconsin claim by Governor Ford-who wrote his "History of Illi- nois" when the subject was fresh in the public mind-was that, while the Ordinance of 1787 gave Congress power to organize a State north of the parallel running through the southern bend of Lake Michigan, "there is nothing in the Ordi- nance requiring such additional State to be organized of the territory north of that line." In other words, that, when Congress, in 1818, authorized the organization of an additional State north of and in (i. e., within) the line named, it did not violate the Ordinance of 1787, but acted in accordance with it-in practically assuming that the new State "need not neces- sarily include the whole of the region nortlı of that line." The question was set at rest by Wis- consin herself in the action of her Constitutional Convention of 1847-48, in framing her first con- stitution, in form recognizing the northern boundary of Illinois as fixed by the enabling act of 1818.

NORTHERN HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, an institution for the treatment of the insane, created by Act of the Legislature, approved, April 16, 1869. The Commissioners appointed by Gov- ernor Palmer to fix its location consisted of August Adams, B. F. Shaw, W. R. Brown, M. L. Joslyn, D. S. Hammond and William Adams. After considering many offers and examining numerous sites, the Commissioners finally selected the Chisholm farm, consisting of about 155 acres, 11/2 miles from Elgin, on the west side of Fox River, and overlooking that stream, as a site- this having been tendered as a donation by the citizens of Elgin. Plans were adopted in the latter part of 1869, the system of construction chosen conforming, in the main, to that of the United States Hospital for the Insane at Wash- ington, D. C. By January, 1872, the north wing and rear building were so far advanced as to per- mit the reception of sixty patients. The center building was ready for occupancy in April, 1873, and the south wing before the end of the follow- ing year. The total expenditures previous to 1876 had exceeded $637,000, and since that date liberal appropriations have been made for addi- tions, repairs and improvements, including the

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NORTHERN HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, ELGIN.

WESTERN HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, WATERTOWN (Rock Island Co.)

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addition of between 300 and 400 acres to the lands connected with the institution The first Board of Trustees consisted of Charles N. Holden, Oliver Everett and Henry W. Sherman, with Dr. E. A. Kilbourne as the first Superintendent, and Dr. Richard A. Dewey (afterwards Superintend- ent of the Eastern Hospital at Kankakee) as his Assistant. Dr. Kilbourne remained at the head of the institution until his death, Feb. 27, 1890, covering a period of nineteen years. Dr. Kil- bourne was succeeded by Dr. Henry J. Brooks, and he, by Dr. Loewy, in June, 1893, and the latter by Dr. John B. Hamilton (former Super- vising Surgeon of the United States Marine Hos- pital Service) in 1897. Dr. Hamilton died in December, 1898. (See Hamilton, John B.) The total value of State property, June 30, 1894, was $882,745.66, of which $701,330 was in land and buildings. Under the terms of the law estab- lishing the hospital, provision is made for the care therein of the incurably insane, so that it is both a hospital and an asylum. The whole num- ber of patients under treatment, for the two years preceding June 30, 1894, was 1,797, the number of inmates, on Dec. 1, 1897, 1,054, and the average daily attendance for treatment, for the year 1896, 1,296. The following counties comprise the dis- trict dependent upon the Elgin Hospital: Boone, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Kane, Ken- dall, Lake, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winne- bago.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS NORMAL SCHOOL, an institution, incorporated in 1884, at Dixon, Lee County, Ill., for the purpose of giving instruction in branches related to the art of teaching. Its last report claims a total of 1,639 pupils, of whom 885 were men and 744 women, receiving instruc- tion from thirty-six teachers. The total value of property was estimated at more than $200,000, of which $160,000 was in real estate and $45,000 in apparatus. Attendance on the institution has been affected by the establishment, under act of the Legislature of 1895, of the Northern State Normal School at DeKalb (which see).

NORTHERN PENITENTIARY, THE, an insti- tution for the confinement of criminals of the State, located at Joliet, Will County. The site was purchased by the State in 1857, and com- prises some seventy-two acres. Its erection was found necessary because of the inadequacy of the first penitentiary, at Alton. (See Alton Peni- tentiary.) The original plan contemplated a cell-house containing 1,000 cells, which, it was thought, would meet the public necessities for many years to come. Its estimated cost was

$550,000; but, within ten years, there had been expended upon the institution the sum of $934,- 000, and its capacity was taxed to the utmost. Subsequent enlargements have increased the cost to over $1,600,000, but by 1877, the institution had become so overcrowded that the erection of another State penal institution became positively necessary. (See Southern Penitentiary.) The prison has always been conducted on "the Auburn system," which contemplates associate labor in silence, silent meals in a common refec- tory, and (as nearly as practicable) isolation at night. The system of labor has varied at differ- ent times, the "lessee system," the "contract system" and the "State account plan" being successively in force. (See Convict Labor.) The whole number of convicts in the institution, at the date of the official report of 1895, was 1,566. The total assets of the institution, Sept. 30, 1894, were reported at $2,121,308.86, of which $1,644,- 601.11 was in real estate.

NORTH & SOUTH RAILROAD. (See St. Louis, Peoria & Nort'iern Railway.)

NORTHERN STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, an institution for the education of teachers of the common schools, authorized to be established by act of the Legislature passed at the session of 1895. The act made an appropriation of $50,000 for the erection of buildings and other improve- ments. The institution was located at DeKalb, DeKalb County, in the spring of 1896, and the erection of buildings commenced soon after- Isaac F. Ellwood, of DeKalb, contributing $20,- 000 in cash, and J. F. Glidden, a site of sixty- seven acres of land. Up to Dec. 1, 1897, the appropriations and contributions, in land and money, aggregated $175,000. The school was expected to be ready for the reception of pupils in the latter part of 1899, and, it is estimated, will accommodate 1,000 students.

NORTHWEST TERRITORY. The name formerly applied to that portion of the United States north and west of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi, comprising the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wiscon- sin. The claim of the Government to the land had been acquired partly through conquest, by the expedition of Col. George Rogers Clark (which see), under the auspices of the State of Virginia in 1778; partly through treaties with the Indians, and partly through cessions from those of the original States laying claim thereto. The first plan for the government of this vast region was devised and formulated by Thomas Jefferson, in his proposed Ordinance of 1784, which failed

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of ultimate passage. But three years later a broader scheme was evolved, and the famous Ordinance of 1787, with its clause prohibiting the extension of slavery beyond the Ohio River, passed the Continental Congress. This act has been sometimes termed "The American Magna Charta," because of its engrafting upon the organic law the principles of human freedom and equal rights. The plan for the establishment of a distinctive territorial civil government in a new Territory-the first of its kind in the new republic-was felt to be a tentative step, and too much power was not granted to the residents. All the officers were appointive, and each official was required to be a land-owner. The elective franchise (but only for members of the General Assembly) could first be exercised only after the population had reached 5,000. Even then, every elector must own fifty acres of land, and every Representative, 200 acres. More liberal provisions, however, were subsequently incorporated by amendment, in 1809. The first civil government in the Northwest Territory was established by act of the Virginia Legislature, in the organization of all the country west of the Ohio under the name "Illinois County," of which the Governor was authorized to appoint a "County Lieuten- ant" or "Commandant-in-Chief." The first "Commandant" appointed was Col. John Todd, of Kentucky, though he continued to discharge the duties for only a short period, being killed in the battle of Blue Licks, in 1782. After that the Illinois Country was almost without the semblance of an organized civil government, until 1788, when Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed the first Governor of Northwest Territory, under the Ordinance of 1787, serving until the separation of this region into the Territories of Ohio and Indi- ana in 1800, when William Henry Harrison became the Governor of the latter, embracing all that portion of the original Northwest Territory except the State of Ohio. During St. Clair's administration (1790) that part of the present State of Illinois between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers on the west, and a line extending north from about the site of old Fort Massac, on the Ohio, to the mouth of the Mackinaw River, in the present county of Tazewell, on the east, was erected into a county under the name of St. Clair, with three county-seats, viz .: Cahokia, Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher. (See St. Clair County.) Between 1830 and 1834 the name North- west Territory was applied to an unorganized region, embracing the present State of Wisconsin, attached to Michigan Territory for governmental

purposes. (See Illinois County; St. Clair, Arthur; and Todd, John.)

NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE, located at Naperville, Du Page County, and founded in 1865, under the auspices of the Evangelical Asso- ciation. It maintains business, preparatory and collegiate departments, besides a theological school. In 1898 it had a faculty of nineteen profes- sors and assistants, with some 360 students, less than one-third of the latter being females, though both sexes are admitted to the college on an equal footing. The institution owns property to the value of $207,000, including an endowment of $85,000.

NORTHWESTERN GRAND TRUNK RAIL- WAY. (See Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway. ) NORTHWESTERN NORMAL, located at Gene- seo, Henry County, Ill., incorporated in 1884; in 1894 had a faculty of twelve teachers with 171 pupils, of whom ninety were male and eighty-one female.

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, an impor- tant educational institution, established at Evanston, in Cook County, in 1851. In 1898 it reported 2,599 students (1,980 male and 619 female), and a faculty of 234 instructors. It embraces the following departments, all of which confer degrees: A College of Liberal Arts; two Medical Schools (one for women exclusively); a Law School; a School of Phar- macy and a Dental College. The Garrett Bibli- cal Institute, at which no degrees are con- ferred, constitutes the theological department of the University. The charter of the institution requires a majority of the Trustees to be mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the University is the largest and wealthiest of the schools controlled by that denomination. The College of Liberal Arts and the Garrett Biblical Institute are at Evanston; the other departments (all professional) are located in Chicago. In the academic department (Liberal Arts School), pro- vision is made for both graduate and post-gradu- ate courses. The Medical School was formerly known as the Chicago Medical College, and its Law Department was originally the Union Col- lege of Law, both of which have been absorbed by the University, as have also its schools of dentistry and pharmacy, which were formerly independent institutions. The property owned by the University is valued at $4,870,000, of which $1,100,000 is real estate, and $2,250,000 in endow- ment funds. Its income from fees paid by students in 1898 was $215,288, and total receipts from all sources, $482,389. Co-education of the sexes pre-

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vails in the College of Liberal Arts. Dr. Henry Wade Rogers is President.

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL, located in Chicago; was organized in 1859 as Medical School of the Lind (now Lake Forest) University. Three annual terms, of five months each, at first constituted a course, although attendance at two only was compul- sory. The institution first opened in temporary quarters, Oct. 9, 1859, with thirteen professors and thirty-three students. By 1863 more ample accommodations were needed, and the Trustees of the Lind University being unable to provide a building, one was erected by the faculty. In 1864 the University relinquished all claim to the institution, which was thereupon incorporated as the Chicago Medical College. In 1868 the length of the annual terms was increased to six months, and additional requirements were imposed on candidates for both matriculation and gradu- ation. The same year, the college building was sold, and the erection of a new and more commo- dious edifice, on the grounds of the Mercy Hos- pital, was commenced. This was completed in 1870, and the college became the medical depart- ment of the Northwestern University. The number of professorships had been increased to eighteen, and that of undergraduates to 107. Since that date new laboratory and clinical build- ings have been erected, and the growth of the institution has been steady and substantial. Mercy and St. Luke's Hospital, and the South Side Free Dispensary afford resources for clinical instruction. The teaching faculty, as constituted in 1898, consists of about fifty instructors, in- cluding professors, lecturers, demonstrators, and assistants.

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY WOMAN'S MEDICAL SCHOOL, an institution for the pro- fessional education of women, located in Chicago. Its first corporate name was the "Woman's Hospital Medical College of Chicago," and it was in close connection with the Chicago Hospital for Women and Children. Later, it severed its connection with the hospital and took the name of the "Woman's Medical College of Chicago." Co-education of the sexes, in medicine and surgery, was experimentally tried from 1868 to 1870, but the experiment proved repugnant to tho male students, who unanimously signed a protest against the continuance of the system. The result was the establishment of a separate school for women in 1870, with a faculty of six- teen professors. The requirements for graduation were fixed at four years of medical study, includ-

ing three annual graded college terms of six months each. The first term opened in the autumn of 1870, with an attendance of twenty students. The original location of the school was in the "North Division" of Chicago, in tem- porary quarters. After the fire of 1871 a removal was effected to the "West Division," where (in 1878-79) a modest, but well arranged building was erected. A larger structure was built in 1884, and, in 1891, the institution became a part of the Northwestern University. The college, in all its departments, is organized along the lines of the best medical schools of the country. In 1896 there were twenty-four professorships, all capably filled, and among the faculty are some of the best known specialists in the country.

NORTON, Jesse 0., lawyer, Congressman and Judge, was born at Bennington, Vt., April 25, 1812, and graduated from Williams College in 1835. He settled at Joliet in 1839, and soon became prominent in the affairs of Will County. His first public office was that of City Attorney, after which he served as County Judge (1846-50). Meanwhile, he was chosen a Delegate to the Con- stitutional Convention of 1847. In 1850 he was elected to the Legislature, and, in 1852, to Con- gress, as a Whig. His vigorous opposition to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise resulted in his re-election as a Representative in 1854. At the expiration of his second term (1857) he was chosen Judge of the eleventh circuit, to fill the unexpired term of Judge Randall, resigned. He was once more elected to Congress in 1862, but disagreed with his party as to the legal status of the States lately in rebellion. President Johnson appointed him United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, which office he filled until 1869. Immediately upon his retirement he began private practice at Chicago, where he died, August 3, 1875.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume I, Part 81

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. ed. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. jt. ed. cn; Wilderman, Alonzo St. Clair, 1839-1904, ed; Wilderman, Augusta A., jt. ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 698

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. ed. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. jt. ed. cn; Wilderman, Alonzo St. Clair, 1839-1904, ed; Wilderman, Augusta A., jt. ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 698