USA > Illinois > St Clair County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume II > Part 22
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The Independent Municipal party elected Al- dermen in the First, Third, Fifth and Seventh Wards. The City Council, with seven hold-over Aldermen, will now stand nine members for the Citizens' party and five for Mayor Cook and the Independent Municipal party.
POLICE DEPARTMENT .- George O. Purdy, Chief; Michael Doyle, Lieutenant. Office 111 North Main Street.
BOARD OF HEALTH .- Mayor Silas Cook, Dr. H. J. de Haan, Dr. C. W. Lillie, Dr. A. E. Linder; Dr. A. A. McBrien, Health and Milk Inspector; George O. Purdy, Chief of Police; Thomas J. Williams, Secretary.
City Court is held in the City Hall. Regu- lar terms begin on the first Monday of March, the fourth Monday in August and the first Mon- day in December. The Hon. William J. N. Moyers is Judge and Thomas J. Healy, Clerk.
POSTMASTERS .- Wiggins Ferry was the name of the first postoffice within the present limits of East St. Louis. The following were ap- pointed Postmasters at the dates indicated: Samuel Wiggins, August 7, 1826; William Orr, January 19, 1830; Samuel C. Christy, December 7, 1831; J. B. Pentecost, December 3, 1834; A. H. Cook, October 28, 1839; Michael Walsh, Feb- ruary 18, 1842; Alexander H. Cook, June 9, 1842; George Bisson, November 4, 1844; A. P. Crosby, October 20, 1850.
In 1851 the name of the postoffice was changed to Illinois Town. The following named Postmasters served from dates given: Harri- son Voden, October 7, 1851; Henry Brundy, March 29, 1852; Andrew Wettig, February 14, 1854; Ernest E. Wilder, February 16, 1858; Daniel Sexton, February 19, 1857; Ernest W. Wilder, April 2, 1861.
The postoffice took its present name April 22, 1864, and the following named persons have served successively as Postmasters from the dates mentioned: E. W. Wilder, April 22, 1864; J. B. Sikking, April 7, 1869; Joseph Von- nahme, July 8, 1865; Alexander Fekete, De-
760
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
cember 21, 1889; F. G. Cockrell, April 23, 1894; D. C. Marsh, March 5, 1895; M. M. Stephens, July 29, 1896; Thomas L. Fekete, May 12, 1897; Henry F. Bader, January 16, 1902.
The East St. Louis postoffice force ten years ago comprised a Postmaster, four carriers and two clerks, and the postoffice received in reve- nue $10,000 a year. In 1905 there were a Post- master, an Assistant Postmaster, sixteen clerks, twenty-six carriers, three sub-carriers and one rural carrier. There were nine sub-stations. The revenue was $70,000.
PROSPECTIVE FEDERAL BUILDING .- The Hon. William A. Rodenburg, Representative in Con- gress from the Twenty-second District, has placed the citizens of his home town under lasting obligations to him by his efficient co- operation with others in securing to East St. Louis a new Federal building which, it is be- lieved, will be ready for occupancy within two years after the contract for its erection has been awarded. The limit upon cost of building and site, fixed by act of Congress, is $300,000, and of area a lot 165 by 170. feet. The lot has not yet been selected, but proposals submitted are as follows:
John P. Metzen, lot bounded by Broadway, Sixth Street, Division Avenue and Seventh Street, 300x270 feet; $35,000.
M. P. Peugnet and others, property at the corner of Sixth Street, St. Louis Avenue and Seventh Street, 300x120 feet, $27,000; same parties, interior lot on Sixth Street, 154 feet 7 inches by 140 feet, $7,750; same parties, inte- rior lot on Seventh Street, 125x140 feet, $6,500.
P. J. Soucy, Illinois Avenue, Ninth and State Streets, about 26,260 square feet, $59,237.50.
Marie Schroeder, Ninth Street and Illinois Avenue, 180x165 feet; $400 per front foot.
S. D. Sexton, corner Seventh Street, Missouri Avenue and Eighth Street, 170x300 feet, $52,- 500; same parties, southeast corner Eighth Street and Missouri Avenue, 170x165 feet, $31,- 500; same parties, southeast corner Seventh Street and Missouri Avenue, 170x165 feet, $31,500.
C. M. Foreman, corner Sixth Street and Illi- nois Avenue, 147x150 feet, $36,000; same party, corner St. Louis Avenue and Fifth Street, 165x 170 feet, $55,750; same party, corner Sixth Street and St. Louis Avenue, 170x165 feet, $41,- 750; same party, corner Eighth Street and Illi- nois Avenue, 180x150 feet, $36,000; same party,
corner Main Street and Division Avenue, about 102x200 feet, $55,000; same party, corner Col- linsville and Summit Avenues, 150x175 feet, $40,000; same party, corner Sixth Street and Ohio Avenue, 175x150 feet, $25,000.
The probabilities are, it is said by men who ought to know, that a location will be selected between Broadway on the south, Illinois Ave- nue on the north, Sixth Street on the west and Eighth Street on the East. The prices for the sites offered range from $125 to $500 a front foot. The site must be not less than 165x170 feet and bounded by two streets and an alley.
The building will be of colonial architecture, and will be practically a duplicate of the Fed- eral building at Macon, Ga. It will be 120x100 feet, three stories high, with basement and at- tic, of steel construction and fireproof through- out. It is to be of Bedford stone, with marble and terra cotta trimmings, tile roof, tile floors, marble wainscotings and marble stairways. The basement will contain a carriers' gymna- sium, engineers' and janitors' rooms, machin- ery, fuel and store rooms. The first floor will be devoted to the postoffice department, with a center space sixty-four by seventy feet, con- taining a lobby fifteen by one hundred and sev- enteen feet, money order and registry depart- ments, Postmaster and Assistant Postmaster's rooms, fireproof vaults and mailing vestibule. The most approved type of postoffice furniture will be installed. The second floor will be de- voted to the use of the Federal Circuit and District Courts, and will be divided into the fol- lowing rooms: Courtroom, suite for the Judges, witness room, grand jury room, petit jury room and rooms for the Clerks of the courts. The third floor will be divided into rooms for the District Attorney, Internal Revenue officers, United States Marshal, Civil Service Board and Pension Examiner. The attic will be used for a time for storerooms. Entrance will be made to the building by massive marble steps.
After the site has been accepted by the Gov- ernment, the District Attorney will pass upon the title to the property and his report will be submitted to the Attorney General of the United States for his approval. The plans and specifi- cations will then be drawn by the Supervising Architect of the department, and advertise- ments will be published calling for bids for the construction of the building.
BUSINESS MEN'S ORGANIZATIONS .- The Retail
761
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
Merchants' Association of East St. Louis has its headquarters in room 20A North Main Street. Its officers are: H. C. Thoene, Presi- dent; B. Haumener, Vice-President; C. F. Mer- ker, Second Vice-President; L. F. Tusler, Secre- tary; G. W. Brichler, Treasurer.
The East St. Louis Builders' Exchange has its office in room 1, Elks Building, 206 Collins- ville Avenue. Its officers are as follows: C. H. Way, President; C. Guenther, First Vice- President; Frank Keating, Second Vice-Presi- dent; A. Anderson, Treasurer; Charles Broder- ick, Secretary; William Flannery, Sergeant-at- Arms.
The East St. Louis Real Estate Exchange has its office in room 7, Boul Block, 20A North Main Street. Its officers are: J. M. Chamber- lin, Jr., President; H. T. Renshaw, Vice-Presi- dent; M. L. Harris, Secretary; P. J. Soucy, Treasurer.
WIGGINS FERRY AND THE BRIDGES .- About 1794, Captain James Piggott obtained, upon promise of payment of a yearly stipend in fowls and wild game, privilege from the St. Louis authorities to establish a ferry landing on the west side of the Mississippi River opposite Market Street. On the Illinois side there was no one who claimed rights superior to his. The river then extended beyond Cahokia Creek, the "Island" territory having been then incon- siderable. He established his eastern landing at a point opposite the site of what is now the Elliott Frog and Switch Works, between Main Street and Cahokia Creek, and threw a rude bridge over the creek. It was not until 1797 that he got his ferry in operation. His first boat was simply a railed-in platform supported on log canoes and propelled by creoles by means of poles and long sweeps. Captain Piggott died on February 20, 1799.
To this date the enterprise was under Cap- tain Piggott's immediate personal supervision. Great as had been his foresight, he passed away having builded, perhaps, more wisely than he knew. His wife was the executrix of his will. She first rented the ferry to Doctor Wal- lis for a year embraced in 1801-02; then to one Adams for a year embraced in 1803-04. About this time Mrs. Piggott married Jacob Collard and moved over the river to St. Louis. Before leaving, however, she leased the ferry to John Campbell for ten years. Campbell selfishly and treacherously procured a license for a ferry
in his own name, during the term of the lease, and for a short time the Piggott ferry was known as Campbell's ferry. Mrs. Collard took her claim into the courts and after some liti- gation, which ended in the defeat of Campbell and his abettors, re-established the enterprise in the proprietorship of the Piggott heirs. One of the latter, with men named Solomon, Porter and Blundy, operated the ferry until part of the heirs sold their interest in it to McKnight and Brady. The other heirs conveyed to Sam- uel Wiggins their rights in the ferry and its franchise. He bought out all other sharehold- ers, thus obtaining all rights to the ferry, which he operated under his personal supervision.
This was in 1818. In the spring of 1819 Wig- gins was authorized by act of the Legislature to establish a ferry on the Mississippi adja- cent to his lands, near the Town of Illinois. The act also provided that he should have the right to one mile of the shore extending along the river at this point. Before East St. Louis had been born, Wiggins had fenced it in. The astute and far-seeing Wiggins soon proved that he was enterprising and inventive in more di- rections than one. He went on preparing for the future by improving upon Piggott's mode of conveyance. He built a fair-sized ferry-boat and propelled it by water power. That was a promising beginning. In 1828, he launched the first steam ferry-boat on the river and named it the "St. Clair." In 1832 another steam boat, the "Ibex," was put on the line. The business grew so rapidly that it demanded the invest- ment of more capital than Wiggins had pro- vided for, and now he sold an interest in the ferry to several men, thus bringing into exist- ence a joint-stock company. In 1852, the com- pany was incorporated and soon obtained fur- ther privileges by legislative enactment. It secured valuable concessions on both sides of the river and grew and prospered even beyond the prophecies of its promoters. After the completion of the Eads Bridge, and the later completion of the Merchants' Bridge, the busi- ness of the ferry necessarily diminished, but ferry stock was still considered a good invest- ment. In 1902, it was all bought up by the Eads Bridge Company.
The construction of the Eads Bridge was be- gun in 1869 and the bridge was completed and opened July 4, 1874, with imposing civic and military ceremonies, President Grant being
762
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
present with his staff. This bridge, extending from the foot of Washington Avenue, St. Louis, to East St. Louis, cost more than $10,000,000. Its entire length is 6,220 feet, its width fifty- four feet, and it stands fifty-five feet above high water. It consists of three steel arches, sup- ported on either side by massive stone abut- ments, and adjoining these are stone piers 500 feet from either abutment. It is fully described in the chapter devoted to railroads. The Mer- chants' Bridge, extending from the foot of Ferry Street, St. Louis, to a point in Illinois north of St. Clair County, is a steel bridge, designed only for railway traffic. It was com- pleted in May, 1890.
This is the era of the bridge, but the ferry had its day and there are those who prophesy that the river will again be a factor in the commerce of the Mississippi Valley. The origin of East St. Louis is based on traffic between the east side of the river and St. Louis, and the Wiggins ferry was long the only medium for that traffic, and as such was a paramount agency in the creation and development of the goodly, growing city that we are now consid- ering.
Captain James Piggott, the originator and founder of this great public utility, was an offi- cer of Virginia militia under General Clark, and was one of those who remained after the treaty of 1783 and cast his lot with the pio- neers in and about what is now St. Clair County. He located a militia claim of 100 acres "opposite St. Louis."
BUILDING OF THE DIKES .- Before the great flood of 1844, the Mississippi Channel opposite St. Louis, though it had shifting bars, was never seriously menaced. After that flood, the only available channel was between Bloody Island and the Town of Illinois and it was not without great difficulty and danger that any boat landed on the Missouri side of the river. This condition threatened the future of St. Louis, and public meetings were called to con- sider it.
As the only means to its salvation, St. Louis, in 1847, tried to construct a dike across the then principal channel of the river to the east of Bloody Island. This meant destruction to the harbor and ferry landings of the Town of Illinois. The Town of Illinois objected. Al- ton, a rival then of .St. Louis, came to its as- sistance. The controversy produced great pub-
lic excitement. Workmen on the menacing dikes were driven off by force. Illinois State militia planted cannon on the Illinois shore. For a time State sovereignty and Alton policy were triumphant. In 1848 a Belleville court enjoined the city of St. Louis from ever at- tempting to construct such a dike.
Early in 1849 the Illinois Legislature, by a joint resolution, granted to St. Louis full au- thority to construct cross and wing dikes on the Illinois shore before the Town of Illinois, so as to secure and protect its own harbor, across the river, with the proviso that St. Louis should, for the benefit of the Town of Illinois, construct roadways on some of its dikes, es- pecially on the main dike across the channel of the Mississippi to be closed, from the Illi- nois main shore to and across Bloody Island. The main dike was finished with the exception of the roadway on the embankment in the spring of 1851, and the great flood of that year swept most of it away. In 1856 a dike a quar- ter of a mile north of this was finished at a cost of $175,000. Thus the channel on the east side of the river was diverted from its course and the St. Louis pier was re-estab- lished. Other dikes have since been construct- ed. Though East St. Louis is comparatively free from danger from future inundations, its citizens have planned a system of protection that will make assurance doubly sure.
THE NATIONAL STOCK YARDS .- Before 1845, the live-stock trade of St. Louis was conducted at Papstown (New Brighton), in the southeast- ern part of the territory of the present city of East St. Louis. Then yards were established on the St. Louis side of the river. The con- struction of the National Stock Yards at East St. Louis was discussed as early as 1871. The talk about the project resulted in the united efforts of several prominent Eastern and West- ern capitalists, who bought 650 acres of land in East St. Louis, with a view to the establish- ment of stock yards greater and more complete than any others in the country at that time. The stock yards promoters engaged to erect a suitable hotel and office building, fitted up with all modern facilities for the transaction of business, and the city covenanted to con- struct no streets or other improvements that would interfere with the operation and devel- opment of the enterprise. The yards were opened for business in the fall of 1873. The
763
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
stock yards water works are on the east side of Cahokia Creek, near the packing houses. The total expense of establishing the yards was more than $1,500,000 and large sums have been spent since in their operation and improve- ment. The promptness with which stock can be sent from St. Louis to the yards and un- loaded from the trains has been long recog- nized as one of the wonders of the live-stock trade.
The daily capacity of the National Stock Yards is 15,000 cattle, 17,000 hogs, 12,000 sheep and 3,500 horses and mules. It has unexcelled facilities for marketing all kinds of live stock. It is the fastest growing market in the coun- try, being continually enlarged and improved to meet the requirements of the trade. Buyers for four different large packing houses and many small packing houses and city butchers induce lively competition. There is a good demand for stockers and feeders from an en- larging territory. There is a yearly increase of about ten per cent. in the total volume of business, and the packing capacity has in- creased about fifty per cent. in the past three years. Receipts for three series of five years each, ending in 1904, having been:
YEAR.
CATTLE.
HOGs.
SHEEP.
H. & M.
190-4.
4,927,457
8,577,951
2,675,545
683,052
1899.
3,681,223
7,862,696
2,496,639
436,143
1894.
3,214,590
4,538,468
1,670,575
76,343
The above figures are an index of the growth and vastness of the St. Louis market. The geographical location of St. Louis, situated as it is in the central part of the United States, makes it the natural market for both the ship- per and buyer of live stock. All roads lead to St. Louis, and no market has the superior ad- vantages for concentrating and distributing live-stock products which abound here.
Here is, perhaps, the greatest horse and mule market in the world. The National Stock Yards constitute the natural gateway to the South and East for the great product of the Western States. Here, it is claimed, is to be found the largest and most varied supply of mules on earth, and here a trainload can be bought as easily as a pair, provided the buyer has the necessary funds. The yards are pro- vided with a new auction pavilion, new and commodious stables, and unlimited accommo- dations. There are auction sales almost every
day, while private sales are carried on during all business hours. Many commission firms do business at the yards.
The following are the names of present offi- cials of the St. Louis National Stock Yards Company: Edward Morris, President; C. G. Knox, Vice-President; C. T. Jones, General Manager; L. W. Krake, Assistant General Man- ager. William E. Jameson is manager of the horse and mule market.
The Horse and Mule Commission Association, with its offices at the Stock Yards, has as its Secretary James A. Searcy. The Stock Yards Veterinary Hospital is a useful auxiliary. Con- venient to the stock yards are the packing houses that are its principal customers. These concerns supply St. Louis and much of its tributary territory with meat and by-products of cattle, sheep and hogs. Attention was early concentrated on the by-products and now the entire animal is utilized. The flesh is sold as meat, the blood is dried and sold for clarify- ing processes, the entrails are cleaned and made into sausage casings, the hoofs are turned into neat's-foot oil, the parings of the hoofs, hides and bones are converted into glue, the finest of the fats are turned into butterine, lard oils and the finest tallow, the cruder fats are made into soap grease, the hides are transformed into leather, from the horns are manufactured combs, buttons, etc., the larger bones are used for making knife handles and for other pur- poses, the switches and tail ends are sold to hair mattress makers, and the short hair, which cannot be dried and curled for sale, is sold to felt works.
A SEPULCHRAL MOUND .- An ancient mound in East St. Louis stood until 1871-72 on a spot now between Collinsville Avenue and Fourth Street and intersected by Ohio Avenue. It was said that the Indians had buried their dead there for centuries, and according to Indian tradition it had been heaped up by the hands of men of a prehistoric age. The mound was about forty feet high and, at the base, four hundred feet in diameter. Down to about the time of our Civil War it was covered with tim- ber, mostly oak. In 1871-72, it was dug away to fill up a slough and to make ground for a railway round-house. When the earth was re- moved, human bones and many kinds of shells were found at a depth of twenty to thirty- five feet. These were believed to be remains
764
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
and trinkets of mound builders. The flood of 1844 having caused the abandonment of an old cemetery on survey No. 116, the people in the vicinity made many interments on the mound in the period 1845-70. The bodies thus deposited there were most of them reburied.
CEMETERIES .- A new cemetery within the boundaries of the Second Ward of today was destroyed by the flood of 1844. Two cemeteries in the old Fourth Ward were laid off when the Cahokians established Illinois City, but they were not used as such until about 1865. A cemetery was opened on Lynch Avenue in 1871. Another public burying ground was opened in 1872. St. Henry's Cemetery, on the Rock Road, was established in 1875-76. St. Peter's Cemetery, on the same thoroughfare, east of Winstanley Park, was opened in 1876. Mount Carmel Cem- etery, on the bluffs, was established by St. Patrick's and St. Mary's Churches in 1894.
EARLY FIRE COMPANIES .- The East St. Louis Fire Company No. 1, the first fire company in the town, was organized December, 1872, with William O'Neill as President, Charles Hauss, Vice-President; James W. Kirk, Secretary; John V. Tefft, Treasurer, and Benedict Franz as Captain, Adolph Donald as First Engineer, John Easton as Second Engineer. This com- pany had a big Babcock engine on trucks and 500 feet of hose. Island Fire Company No. 1 was organized November, 1874. In 1875, Nich- olas Colgan was President; William L. Johnson, Vice-President; Maurice F. Tissier, Secretary ; George W. Shields, Assistant Secretary; Adol- phus Livingston, Treasurer; Henry Sackman, Captain; and John Keiflin, Lieutenant. These companies had partially disbanded as long ago as 1878.
The headquarters of the Fire Department is at 113 North Main Street. Edward F. Dowl- ing is Fire Marshal. The number and location of companies is as follows: Engine Co. No. 1- 113 N. Main Street; Engine Co. No. 2-714 Col- linsville Avenue; Engine Co. No. 4-1500 Mis- souri Avenue; Engine Co. No. 4-Twenty-third Street and Ridge Avenue; Engine Co. No. 5- 524 S. Tenth Street.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. - The following named financial institutions are duly treated in a chapter entitled "Financial Institutions": The Citizens' Savings and Trust Company, the First National Bank, the Illinois State Trust Company, the Southern Illinois National Bank,
the Union Trust and Savings Bank, and the Na- tional Stock Yards Bank.
FLOODS .- In 1786 occurred the greatest flood of which Indians have had knowledge. The first flood that did damage to the property of white men in the territory now embraced in East St. Louis occurred in 1826. The town was sev- eral feet under water and, after the flood sub- sided, malaria nearly made way with the popu- lation. The flood of June, 1844, inundated the American Bottom so that steamers plied from bluff to bluff. Few houses across the river from St. Louis were to be seen above the water. No dry land was visible for miles toward the eastern bluff, except a few mounds and high knolls east and south of the village. This flood destroyed a cemetery within the boun daries of the Second Ward of today. The floods of 1851, 1858 and 1862 did much damage to the town and were discouraging in their after effects. The erection of dikes has measurably protected the people from subsequent over- flows. Later floods came in 1876, 1878, 1883, 1892 and 1903. The two last mentioned sur- passed the others in the amount of damage which they inflicted.
TORNADO OF 1871 .- A tornado, destructive to life and property in East St. Louis, occurred on the afternoon of March 8, 1871. It was a terrific whirlwind. The Eads Bridge was then in an unfinished state, and apparatus used in the construction of the east pier was destroyed. Large buildings were demolished, trains of cars were derailed and ditched and freight de- pots were destroyed. Steamers and barges were torn from their moorings in the harbor and sent adrift, badly damaged by the rav- ages of the storm. At noon, clouds were gath- ering. At two o'clock, rain began to fall and the wind to blow. At eight minutes of four, St. Louis time, the storm was at its height and destruction was at hand. While the wind wrought its fearful work, rain fell in torrents. It was all over in an incredibly shore space of time-from twenty to thirty seconds-and about twenty men had been killed and many persons had been more or less severely in- jured. The "great cyclone" of 1896 is referred to elsewhere in this chapter. There was a memorable but not destructive tornado in 1865.
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