USA > Illinois > Warren County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Warren County, Volume II > Part 46
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Warren Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, was organized . April 7, 1897, with twelve members. The first officers were: Mrs. Ida Carey Burns, regent; Mrs. Sarah Tread- well Dean; vice regent; Mrs. J. H. Stewart, Mrs. Ruby Bond Cayton, honorary regents; Mrs. Sarah Bond Hanley, secretary; Mrs. Hel- en Nye Rupp, registrar; Mrs. Marian Burling- im Sexton, treasurer; Mrs. Susannah Isabelle Webster, historian. Among the members were descendants of the earliest settlers of Maine; the Puritans of New England, several tracing their ancestry to the first company that came in the Mayflower in 1620; the Quakers of Penn- sylvania, and the cavaliers of the South. Its object was to perpetuate the spirit of the men and women who achieved American Indepen- dence; to cherish, maintain and extend the in- stitutions of American freedom, and to foster true patriotism and love of country. Any wo- man is eligible to membership in the Daugh- ters' of the American Revolution who is a de- scendant of a recognized patriot, soldier, sailor, or civil officer. This chapter had one real
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daughter, Mrs. Lucretia Miller, of Browning, Ill., her father having been a Revolutionary soldier. For this distinction she was presented a, gold spoon by the National Society. Another patriot of the colonial period was represented by four generations, the oldest being Mrs. Nancy Bond, of Greenbush, who is ninety-five years of age. Through the recommendation of this society two nurses were secured for the Spanish-American war, and a quantity of sup- plies was sent for the hospitals. Differences arose in the chapter the year following its or- ganization, causing a division, two different or- ganizations claiming to be the Warren chapter. The National Congress of 1902 ordered the sur- render of the charter of Warren chapter and the formation of two new chapters, and the in- struction was complied with.
The Puritan and Cavalier chapter was organ- ized in April, 1902, with twenty-four members, and has now a membership of thirty-one. The officers are: Mrs. Henry Staat, regent; Mrs. J. H. Hanley, vice regent; Miss Jennie Hayes, treasurer; Mrs. Almon Kidder, secretary; Mrs. E. C. Randall, registrar.
The Mildred Washington warner chapter was organized April 2, 1902, with twenty-three mem- bers, and now has thirty-three. Mrs. J. R. Web- ster is regent; Mrs. Anna Smyth, vice regent; Mrs. Helen Nye Rupp, registrar; Mrs. Flora Drake, historian; Mrs. J. K. Porter, treasurer.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Fires that Have Visited Monmouth-The "Big Fire" of 1871-The Disasters at the Three M. Works in 1890-Wrecks of Fast Trains -Four Section Men Struck by a Train.
Monmouth has had several disastrous fires, but the "big fire" that the old residents tell about occurred on the morning of May 9, 1871, when half the business houses of the city were destroyed, causing a loss of $250,000. The fire originated in the rear of where lucClung Bros.' grocery now stands at the corner of East Broad- way and North First street, and swept to the
west and southwest, fanned by a strong north- east wind. For two hours the flames raged, and not until they had consumed all the east side of the square, all the north side east of Main street, and all of Market Place, were they sub- dued. The firemen made a brave fight, but their efforts were almost fruitless until Churchill's slate roof block was reached, the brick building now occupied by Hogue & Jamieson and Van- Valkenburg & Sons. The heaviest losers by the fire were John Babcock, Dr. N. M. Brown, James Rohrback, Mrs. S. C. Billings, M. Nusbaum, Henry Rothschild, J. G. Madden, Wallace Bros., W. D. H. Young, Warren Lodge No. 160, I. O. O. F., Warren Wright, Geo. H. Dennis, J. P. Young, L. Bettman, Quinby estate, Langdon's block, M. C. Churchill, the A. M. U. Express Co., J. W. Scott, Charles Johnson and others.
An earlier fire that destroyed much property occurred shortly after midnight of January 14, 1868. It started in the grocery store of John Peter Young in a two-story frame building on the corner of East Broadway and South First street where Frank Johnson's drug store now is. Thirty thousand dollars worth of property was destroyed, the flames taking one or two frame buildings on the south and spreading east to the alley just east of the present Lahann block.
One of the greatest fires that has visited Mon- mouth occurred during the night of February 11, 1892, and swept out of existence the old opera house block, better known in the earlier days as the Union Hall building, and adjoining brick buildings. More than $150,000 worth of property was destroyed, seven business firms losing almost everything. They were N. W. Montgomery & Co., dry goods; H. J. Blackburn, groceries; C. Shultz, drugs; W. H. Rankin, fur- niture; McClung Bros., groceries; H. J. Lucas, barber shop; Christensen Smith, saloon. Chaplain McCabe had lectured in the opera house during the evening on "The Bright Side of Life," and within an hour after the audience were dismissed the whole upper part of the building was a mass of flames. On the ground where the burned buildings stood now stand the H. B. Smith building and the Brown block.
Other fires that have destroyed property in Monmouth are: Old Weir plow factory and ad- joining buildings near the freight depot, Janu- ary 9, 1867, loss $50,000; planing mill of Rob- erts, Dunn & Co., on Main street south of the railroad, September 10, 1869, loss $20,000; a
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row of buildings on South Third street near old depot, April 28, 1870, loss about $12,000; build- ing of the Co-operative Co., and adjoining buildings, near the old depot, April 11, 1875, loss about $20,000; Dr. D. A. Wallace's residence, April 17, 1875, loss about $5,000 ; C., B & Q. pas- .senger station, April 30, 1882; Three M. Co.'s shaft, June 28, 1890; Three M. Co.'s office, De- cember 24, 1892, loss $2,000; Weir plow works, December 12, 1895, loss $13,500; Monmouth Pot- tery, June 1, 1897, loss $12,000; 'Torrance & Mc- Intosh's foundry, September 13, 1897; Mon- mouth Commission Co.'s mill, October 3, 1900, loss $3,000; the old Joss mill, October 3, 1901, loss $3,000; the Weir pottery, May 29, 1902, loss $60,000.
The year 1890 was in some respects an un- fortunate one for the Monmouth Mining and Manufacturing Company. About one o'clock in the afternoon of June 28, while fifteen men were working in the mine, the wooawork in the shaft and the shaft house took fire in some way from the furnace at the bottom. The fire, however, attracted the least attention. Fifteen men were in the mine, and their lives were at stake. A few men who knew the mine were willing to risk their lives to save the others, and from an abandoned shaft they dug their way through swollen doors and unused pas- sages to the foot of the burning shaft. Be- fore reaching it they found two of the men, but the others were beyond the shaft. Over the furnace where the fire started they had to crawl on hands and knees, nearly choked with the heat and smoke, but they reached the res- cuers and one by one were carried to the old shaft and up into the air. The men in the mine were Robert L. Russell, George Russell, William Stokes, Will Strickler, George McIn- tosh, William Robertson, Will Gordon, James Moses, Ralph Sherman, Frank Kennedy, Ted Murphy, James Murphy, Tom Redmond, E. P. Hartley and S. W. Palmer. The rescuing party were Ed. Redmond, Chris Foley, J. R. Mar- shall, John Marshall, John Carey, George John- son and Aaron Simcox. Then came the wreck of the Fast Mail train on the pottery switch on the morning of October 17. The switch had been carelessly left open by some one, and the train coming at a rate of sixty miles an hour ran into the pottery yards, striking with terri- ble momentum seven cars of coal and tile stand- ing on the switch. Three men, Roderick Mc- Lean, Charles Hines and William Smiley, were
working on these cars, and in the same instant these three men and Engineer Ward and Fire- man McGrath was seriously injured, and en- gine and cars were broken and thrown together in a mass of ruins. McLean received injuries which caused his death October 21. Hines and Ward were the worst hurt of the others. Four days after the Fast Mail accident, on October 21, Peter Earling and Peter Abrahamson were the victims of a terrible accident at the works. They were in a tempering pan loading the clay into the elevator when the machinery was started and the heavy wheels moved forward at full speed. Abrahamson was not much hurt, but Earling received such injuries that he was a cripple to the day of his death in 1902.
A year later, on the night of October 20, 1891, passenger train No. 5 on the Burlington was wrecked on the "Three M." Co.'s switch. The train was due in Monmouth at 10:15 p. m. It had left Galesburg fifteen minutes late and was running fast to make up time. The switch was open, the lights were out, and it was too dark for the switchboard to give any warning. The train took the switch, the engine left the track at the curve, and in an instant the cars crashed into each other and rolled into the ditch. It was a fearful tangle, and the wonder was that any on board the train escaped death. As it was four were killed and many more or less injured. The killed were: George Courtney, traveling engineer, Galesburg; Albert Emery, engineer, Galesburg; Mrs. George Allen, pas- senger, Lamoni, Iowa; Frank L. Johnston, passenger, Avon, Ill. The responsibility for the accident was never placed, but the accident led to the building of a different style switch which has prevented further disasters.
The Fast Mail was wrecked again a short distance west of Kirkwood at 1:14 o'clock the morning of December 13, 1900, while rounding a sharp curve. Fireman George Shannon was killed and one car of mail was burned.
Four section men working on the Burlington tracks a short distance west of Monmouth were struck and killed by Train No. 22 on the morn- ing of January 4, 1902. They were Foreman James McGrath, Joseph S. Brown, Mack Ander- son and Samuel Mettler.
Train No. 4 on the Iowa Central was wrecked just east of Berwick on the night of April 30, 1889, by the flange of one wheel breaking and letting the truck down on the roadbed. Ed. Savage, of Berwick, a passenger, had his neck
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
broken, and Conductor George Calvin received injuries which caused his death. The mail and baggage car was burned.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Block One of the Original Town Fiat Set Aside for a Burial Ground by Daniel McNeil- Not Used Now-City Cemetery Has About 7000 Dead-St. Mary's and Glendale Ceme- teries.
The ground on which the first cemetery in Monmouth stood was purchased by Daniel Mc- Neil, Jr., at the first sale of town lots June 6, 1831. It lies on the west side of North Sixth street, between Archer and Boston avenues, in Block 1 of the "Old Town Plat." June 2, 1834, McNeil appeared before the county com- missioners and offered to relinquish a portion of the block and set it apart as a public bury- ing ground on certain conditions. The propo- sition was accepted by the commissioners, and this was the beginning of the old cemetery, whose stained old tombstones still standing tell of those who passed away in the early days of the city's history. In the summer of 1838, a re-survey of a portion of the city was made, and Fifth street was opened up north and south, changing the lines of the blocks ad- joining the cemetery plot. A strip of ground about five rods wide, originally in Block 2, was cut off and attached to Block 1. December 7 of that year McNeil offered to exchange this strip for a lot in another block, and the com- missioners accepted the offer, and the entire block was appropriated and set apart as a pub- lic burying ground. A list of all the graves in this cemetery that are marked by tombstones was printed in the Monmouth Daily Review December 6, 1901.
The old cemetery answered all purposes for about twenty years, when the population of Monmouth had become so large that more room was needed in the "city of the dead." January 1, 1857, the city bought from Rodliff N. Allen for $824.00 the present cemetery ground-the northwest corner of the northeast quarter of Section 29. The ground was at once platted
and opened for use. It is on the east side of North Sixth street, just inside the city limits, and comprises ten acres. In 1879 and 1880 an additional six acres lying immediately north of the cemetery was purchased and added to it, making a burying ground of sixteen acres.
No accurate record has been kept of the num- ber of burials which have been made in this cemetery. An estimate recently made places the number at about 7,000, making the popula- tion of the "silent city' almost as large as that of Monmouth itself.
ST. MARY'S CEMETERY.
The title for St. Mary's cemetery, the Cath- olic burying ground, is vested in John L. Spaul- ding, bishop of reoria. It comprises ten acres, and was bought from John D. Lynch, January 16, 1891, for $1,400. It is on the southwest quarter of section 20, just north of the city limits, at the end of North Second and Third streets.
GLENDALE CEMETERY.
Glendale is the name given to a new ceme- tery comprising about seven acres and situated just east of the North addition to the Mon- mouth cemetery. It is owned by the Glendale Cemetery Association, which was incorporated under the State law June 13, 1901. The ceme- tery contains betweens 600 and 700 lots, Jaid out on modern plans, and will be one of the prettiest burying places in the state. W. H. Sexton is president and I. A. Ewing secretary of the Association.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Miscellaneous Items of Interest-Cholera Year -Lincoln's Visit-Monmouth Hospital-In- sane Hospital and Normal School-First Steam Engine-Union Hall-The Kinder- garten-Emma Abbott and Loie Fuller- Baby Show.
The year 1851 was cholera year in Monmouth and throughout the Misissippi valley. The dis- ease in this county started at Greenbush, being
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brought there, it was said, by a traveling man who was the first victim in the county. A dozen deaths occurred at Greenbush within a week. The scourge then came to Monmouth and claimed a number of victims. The dead were Mr. and Mrs. William Barrows and their child Dency, who lived on South First street just north of Market Place; a Holbrook child, Mrs. John Hoon, John Green, Mrs. James Don- nelly, Levi H. Randall, Philip Pierce, Mrs. Margaret McCallon and John Ginnivan. All the cases of the disease in Monmouth were in the neighborhood of the public square, which was low and poorly drained. In the part of the city near the old depot, then called "Tomtown," there were no cases.
LINCOLN'S VISIT.
Abraham Lincoln visited Monmouth October 11, 1858, during his campaign for United States Senator against Stephen A. Douglass. He ar- rived in the morning and spoke at Henry's lumber yard, now the Mccullough Lumber and Coal Co's yard, in the afternoon. The W. J. Thomson portrait of Lincoln was taken that day.
MONMOUTH MERRY MEN.
The Monmouth Merry Men organized their minstrel company in 1878, and gave their first entertainment in Roseville June 7, of that year. Their second appearance was in Union Hall before a home audience in the fall. Mem- bers of the company were Harry Hazelle, Arch C. Young, Guy Raybourn, C. W. Lyman, Charles Eilenberger, George Bay, Bennett Moore, Fred Neibuhr, Walter Leighty, A. W. Morton, etc. Lyman, Young, Leighty and Morton were end men, and shone like stars of the first magni- tude. Companies under the same name, but with various changes in performers, have ap- peared two or three different times since.
MONMOUTH HOSPITAL.
For many years the advisability of establish- ing a hospital in the city has been discussed, and the plan bids fair now to be successful. In 1895 the physicians of the city appointed a committee to agitate the matter, but nothing of a definite nature was done until 1897 when Mrs. Susan A. Harding deeded to Dr. J. R. Webster in trust to be used for hospital pur-
poses, the old Harding residence block between Second and Third streets south of the Bur- lington tracks. The physicians then organ- ized a hospital board, electing Dr. J. R. Web- ster president; Dr. E. J. Blair, vice president; Dr. A. G. Patton, secretary; and Dr. W. S. Holliday, treasurer. They then inaugurated a general canvass for funds for the erection and maintenance of a hospital, and in August, 1899, sold the Harding block for $3,0v6 as it was not suitable for a hospital site. The next April a board of managers was named, consisting of Mrs. Joseph Stevenson, Miss Fannie Graham, Miss Margaret Campbell, Mrs. J. T. Foster, Mrs. J. N. Herdman, Mrs. E. 1. Camm, Mrs. John O'Dowd, Mrs. J. D. Diffenbaugh, Mrs. Fred H. Smith, Mrs. E. J. Clarke, Messrs. R. Lahann, Peyton Roberts, J. R. Hickman, Eli Schloss and Geo. C. Rankin. The board organized April 14 by electing Peyton Roberts, president; Mrs. J. T. Foster, vice president; Mrs. Susan A. Harding, honorary vice president; Miss Fan- nie Graham, secretary; and R. Lahann, treas- urer. A charter was secured in June. It in- creased the members of the board of managers to thirty, and the following additional members were chosen: Drs. J. R. Webster, W. S. Holli- day, J. C. Kilgore, A. G. Patton, C. Sherrick, F. E. Wallace, Adella R. Nichol, R. M. C. Ball, E. J. Blair, J. R. Ebersole, I. E. Burnett, H. Marshall, Cynthia A. Skinner, E. C. Linn and E. L. Mitchell. The present officers of the board are: Peyton Roberts, president; C. Sherrick, vice president; W. S. Holliday, secretary; F. E. Wallace, treasurer. The board has succeed- ed in raising the amount required for building the hospital, and the institution is an assured fact.
INSANE ASYLUM, NORMAL SCHOOL, ETC.
Monmouth made an effort to get the Western Illinois Hospital for the Insane in 1895, and presented a large bid to the trustees selected to determine the location of the institution. The trustees ignored Monmouth's proposition and placed the hospital at Watertown near Rock Island. Dr. W. E. Taylor, of Monmouth, is the superintendent.
In 1899 an effort was made to secure the Western Illinois State Normal School. The trustees chosen to locate the school were here in August of that year and inspected nine sites offered, but when the propositions were opened
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
a deadlock resulted, which lasted until the gov- ernor asked the resignation of all the trustees. A new board was named in July, 1900, which inspected sites here in August, then located the school at Macomb the same month.
Monmouth has also gone unsuccessfully after the Jacksonville Southeastern railroad, the Odd Fellows' Old Folks Home, the first State Nor- mal school which was located at Normal in 1857, the Santa Fe railroad, etc.
UNITED PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
The United Presbyterian church established a theological seminary in Monmouth in Septem- ber, 1858, with Rev. Alexander Young, D. D., LL. D., and Rev. John Scott, D. D., as profes- sors, and later Rev. A. M. Black, D. D. The school continued until 1874, when it was con- solidated with the theological seminary at Xenia, Ohio.
BUSINESS COLLEGES.
Monmouth has in its time had several busi- ness and commercial colleges. The most im- portant were Young's Mercantile College which opened in January, 1866, and continued several years; Martin's Business College, in the late '70s; Lindsay's Business college, Miss Emma Turnbull's Commercial School in the '80s; and Prof. T. F. Heckert's Monmouth Business col- lege, opened in 1894, and conducted a while by Prof. Heckert, and later by W. A. Campbell.
THE FIRST STEAM ENGINE.
The first steam engine in Monmouth was set up in the building now occupied by the Maple City Steam Laundry. William Y. and Hugh Henry had been running a wagon and carriage shop in the building just south of the laundry now occupied by McMillan's grocery store, with a blacksmith shop back of it. In 1854, J. W. Morgan bought an interest in the establish- ment with the mutual agreement that the firm would put up a sufficient building in which to place a steam engine with power enough to run a planing machine for dressing all fine lumber and matching flooring; also a lathe for turn- ing iron and one for wood, and some other smaller machines. At first the proprietors had difficulty in geting coal to make the steam, as
there was no coal being mined for sale at the banks northeast of town at that time. They went out there themselves at different times, dug the coal and hauled it in with a team.
In the spring or summer of 1855, Mr. Mor- gan went to Wataga, east of Galesburg, where a little coal was being dug at that time, and bought and had loaded the first car load of coal that was ever shipped to Monmouth by rail, the track having reached Monmouth during the spring. After running the shop for a year or so in this manner it was leased to the Chaf- fee Brothers, and some time after the machin- ery was sold and moved to Kirkwood and used in a machine shop there, then afterwards taken to Iowa.
THE "OLD BREWERY."
In the fall of 1855 a steam flouring mill was erected by Claycomb & Ellis. The building was later used as a brewery, and still stands on East Euclid avenue between Sixth and Eighth streets. It is still called the "old brewery," though for years it has been occupied as a resi- dence.
AN ESTRAY LOT.
Early in the history of Monmouth the county commissioners realized a growing need for a pound, or estray lot, and October 1, 1831, the west half of lot 8, block 8, of the original sur- vey-or lot 8, block 19, as the plat now stands -was set apart for that purpose. It was at the corner of South First street and East First avenue, where the Arlington Hotel now stands. Joseph W. Kendall was given the contract for building a pen on the northwest corner of the lot and was paid $14.68 3-4 for the job. Elijah Davidson was appointed keeper of the pen June 4 following.
THE SEMINARY BLOCK.
The "Commercial Row" block on the west side of South Third street between Fourth and Fifth avenues was for a long time called the "Seminary Block." Not everyone knew the reason, but the following entry on the records of the County Commissioners under date of June 8, 1836, explains it: "On motion ordered that the west half of block number forty-two be and the same is hereby appropriated and do- nated to the county for a site for a County Sem- inary, and for no other purpose whatever, and
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shall not under any circumstance be given or sold to any religious society or denomination, but all the citizens of the county shall have equal privileges of sending to said school, col- lege or seminary." The block remained the property of the county for fifty-five years, but no steps seem ever to have been taken for car- rying out the original purpose. No use was made of it at all for a number of years, then it was leased by the county as there was demand for it. At the July, 1891, session of the Board of Supervisors a committee was appointed to subdivide the block and offer the lots for sale. This was done, and on September , 1891, the eight lots were sold at auction, bringing a total sum of $1,225.
UNION HALL.
The old Union Hall on South Main street was built in 1867. It was planned by G. Randall, of Chicago, and was 106x80 feet, with four busi- ness rooms on the first floor and the hall above. It was calculated to seat 1,500 persons, the seats describing the arc of a circle. The build- ing when completed was the finest in the city, the college only excepted. It was destroyed by fire on the night of February 14, 1892, just after the close of a'lecture by Chaplain ( now Bish- op) McCabe. The total loss in this fire was $150,000. The Union Hall building was the property of the R. H. Shultz estate.
PATTEE OPERA HOUSE.
J. H. Pattee bought the old Unity church on South Main street, formerly the Presbyterian church, about the 1st of October, 1892, and re- modeled it for an opera house. The result is one of the nicest playhouses in any of the smaller cities of the state. it has a seating capacity of nearly 1,000, with- four boxes, a large stage, and elegant fittings throughout. The Pattee was formally dedicated to music and the drama on the night of January 30, 1893, Robin Hood being the opera presented. The opera house was for several years under the management of Webster & Perley, but H. B. Webster is now sole manager.
THE KINDERGARTEN.
Agitation for the establishment of a free kin- dergarten in Monmouth resulted in the hold- ing of a mass meeting in the Methodist church
December 29, 1901, at which the movement was given its first definite start. An associa- tion was formed with a membership of eighty- eight, which was afterward increased, and a large committee appointed representing the several churches to take general charge of the movement. Officers were chosen January 14, 1902, as follows: Mrs. W. H. Sexton, presi- dent; Mrs. M. E. Sykes, Mrs. Pearl Lindsay, Miss Alice Woods, vice presidents; Mrs. Fred H. Smith, secretary; E. C. Hardin, treasurer. Funds were secured and the school opened in the Ninth Avenue church April 7, with twen- ty-three pupils, which number was increased to as high as fifty before the term was con- cluded. Miss Jean Foster was in charge of the school, and was assisted by Mrs. Hathaway, and Misses Josephine Nichol and Mayme Ham- ilton. It was expected that two kindergartens would open in the fall.
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