Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 67

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1388

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LEROY, a city in McLean County, 15 miles southwest of Bloomington. It has banks, several churches, a graded school and a plow factory. Two weekly papers are published there. Popu- lation (1880), 1,068; (1890), 1,258.

LEVERETT, Washington and Warren, edu- cators and twin-brothers, whose careers were strikingly similar; born at Brookline, Mass., Dec. 19, 1805, and passed their boyhood on a farm; in 1827 began a preparatory course of study under an elder brother at Roxbury, Mass., entered Brown University as freshmen, the next year, and graduated in 1832. Warren, being in bad health, spent the following winter in South Carolina, afterwards engaging in teaching, for a time, and in study in Newton Theological Seminary, while Washington served as tutor two years in his Alma Mater and in Columbian College in Waslı- ington, D. C., then took a course at Newton, graduating there in 1836. The same year he accepted the chair of Mathematics in Shurtleff College at Upper Alton, remaining, with slight interruption, until 1868. Warren, after suffering from hemorrhage of the lungs, came west in the fall of 1837, and, after teaching for a few months at Greenville, Bond County, in 1839 joined his brother at Shurtleff College as Principal of the preparatory department, subsequently being advanced to the chair of Ancient Languages, which he continued to occupy until June, 1868, when he retired in the same year with his brother. After resigning he established himself in the book business, which was continued until his death, Nov. 8, 1872. Washington, the surviving brother, continued to be a member of the Board of Trus- tees of Shurtleff College, and to discharge the duties of Librarian and Treasurer of the institu- tion. Died, Dec. 13, 1889.

LEWIS INSTITUTE, an educational institu- tion based upon a bequest of Allen C. Lewis, in the city of Chicago, established in 1895. It main- tains departments in law, the classics, prepara- tory studies and manual training, and owns property valued at $1,600,000, with funds and endowment amounting to $1,100,000. No report is made of the number of pupils.

LEWIS, John H., ex-Congressman, was born in Tompkins County, N. Y., July 21, 1830. When six years old he accompanied his parents to Knox County, Ill., where he attended the public schools, read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1860. The same year he was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court of Knox County. In 1874 he was elected to the lower house of the General Assembly, and, in 1880, was the successful Repub-

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lican candidate for Congress from the old Ninth District. In 1882, he was a candidate for re- election from the same district (then the Tenth), but was defeated by Nicholas E. Worthington, his Democratic opponent.

LEWISTOWN, the county-seat of Fulton County, located on two lines of railway, fifty miles southwest of Peoria and sixty miles north- west of Springfield. It contains flour and saw- mills, carriage and wagon, can-making, duplex-scales and evener factories, six churches and four newspapers, one issuing a daily edition ; also excellent public schools. Population (1880), 1.771; (1890), 2,166.

LEXINGTON, a town in McLean County, on the Chicago & Alton Railroad, 110 miles south of Chicago and 16 miles northeast of Bloomington. The surrounding region is agricultural and stock- raising, and the town has a flourishing trade in horses and other live-stock. Tile is manufactured here, and the town has two banks, five churches, a high school and a weekly newspaper. Popula- tion (1880), 1,254; (1890), 1,187.

LIBERTYVILLE, a village of Lake County, at the terminus of a spur of the Milwaukee Division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, 36 miles north-northwest of Chicago. The region is agricultural. The town has a bank and a weekly paper. Population (1880), 695; (1890), 550.

LIBRARIES. (STATISTICAL, )-A report of the Commissioner of Education for 1895-96, on the subject of "Public, Society and School Libraries in the United States," presents some approximate statistics of libraries in the several States, based upon the reports of librarians, so far as they could be obtained in reply to inquiries sent out from the Bureau of Education in Washington. As shown by the statistical tables embodied in this report, there were 348 libraries in Illinois reporting 300 volumes and over, of which 134 belonged to the smallest class noted, or those con- taining less than 1,000 volumes. The remaining 214 were divided into the following classes:

Containing 300,000 and less than 500,000 volumes 1

100,000

50,000 16

25,000

50,000

5,000

10,000

1,000

5,000

144

A general classification of libraries of 1,000 volumes and over, as to character, divides them into, General, 91; School, 36; College, 42; College Society, 7; Law, 3; Theological, 7; State, 2; Asy-

lum and Reformatory, 4; Young Men's Christian Association, 2; Scientific, 6; Historical, 3; Soci- ety, 8; Medical, Odd Fellows and Social, 1 each. The total number of volumes belonging to the class of 1,000 volumes and over was 1,822,580 with 447,168 pamphlets; and, of the class between 300 and 1,000 volumes, 66,992-making a grand total of 1,889,572 volumes. The library belonging to the largest (or 300,000) class, is that of the University of Chicago, reporting 305,000 volumes, with 180,000 pamphlets, while the Chicago Public Library and the Newberry Library belong to the second class, reporting, respectively, 217,065 vol- umes with 42,000 pamphlets, and 135,244 volumes and 35,654 pamphlets. (The report of the Chi- cago Public Library for 1898 shows a total, for that year, of 235,385 volumes and 44,069 pam- phlets.)

As to sources of support or method of adminis- tration, 42 of the class reporting 1,000 volumes and over, are supported by taxation ; 27, by appro- priations by State, County or City; 20, from endowment funds; 54, from membership fees and dues; 16, from book-rents; 26, from donations, leaving 53 to be supported from sources not stated. The total income of 131 reporting on this , subject is $787,262; the aggregate endowment of 17 of this class is $2,283,197, and the value of buildings belonging to 36 is estimated at $2,981,- 575. Of the 214 libraries reporting 1,000 volumes and over, 88 are free, 28 are reference, and 158 are both circulating and reference.

The free public libraries in the State containing 3,000 volumes and over, in 1896, amounted to 39. The following list includes those of this class con- taining 10,000 volumes and over:

Chicago, Public Library (1896) 217,065

Peoria,

57,604

Springfield, “

28,639

Rockford,

28,000

Quincy, and Reading Room 19,400

Galesburg 66

18,469

Elgin, Gail Borden Public Library 17,000

Bloomington, Withers

16,068

Evanston, Free

15,515

Decatur,

14,766

Belleville,

14,511

Aurora,

14,350

Rock Island,

12,634

Joliet,

22,325

300,000

100,000

10,000

25,000

The John Crerar Library (a scientific reference library)-established in the City of Chicago in 1894, on the basis of a bequest of the late John Crerar, estimated as amounting to fully $3,000,- 000-is rapidly adding to its resources, having, in the four years of its history, acquired over 40,000 volumes. With its princely endowment,

LIBRARY BUILDING, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

LIBRARY BUILDING (MAIN FLOOR), UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

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it is destined, in the course of a few years, to be reckoned one of the leading libraries of its class in the United States, as it is one of the most modern and carefully selected.

The Newberry and Chicago Historical Society Libraries fill an important place for reference pur- poses, especially on historical subjects. A tardy beginning has been made in building up a State Historical Library in Springfield; but, owing to the indifference of the Legislature and the meager support it has received, the State which was, for nearly a hundred years, the theater of the most important events in the development of the Mis- sissippi Valley, has, as yet, scarcely accomplished anything worthy of its name in collecting and preserving the records of its own history.

In point of historical origin, next to the Illinois State Library, which dates from the admission of the State into the Union in 1818, the oldest library in the State is that of the McCormick Theological Seminary, which is set down as liav- ing had its origin in 1825, though this occurred in another State. The early State College Li- braries follow next in chronological order: Shurt- leff College, at Upper Alton, 1827; Illinois College, at Jacksonville, 1829; McKendree College, at Lebanon, 1834; Rockford College, 1849; Lombard University, at Galesburg, 1852. In most cases, however, these are simply the dates of the estab- lishment of the institution, or the period at which instruction began to be given in the school which finally developed into the college.

The school library is constantly becoming a more important factor in the liberal education of the youth of the State. Adding to this the "Illi- nois Pupils' Reading Circle," organized by the State Teachers' Association some ten years ago, but still in the experimental stage, and the sys- tem of "traveling libraries," set on foot at a later period, there is a constant tendency to enlarge the range of popular reading and bring the public library, in some of its various forms, within the reach of a larger class.

THE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY LAW OF ILLINOIS. -- The following history and analysis of the Free Public Library Law of Illinois is contributed, for the "Historical Encyclopedia, " by E. S. WILCOX, Librarian of the Peoria Public Library :

The Library Law passed by the Legislature of Illinois in 1872 was the first broadly planned, comprehensive and complete Free Public Li- brary Law placed on the statute book of any State in the Union. It is true, New Hamp- shire, in 1849, and Massachusetts, in 1851, had taken steps in this direction, with three or four brief sections of laws, permissive in their

character rather than directive, but lacking the vitalizing qualities of our Illincis law, in that they provided no sufficiently specific working method-no sailing directions-for starting and administering such free public libraries. They seem to have had no influence on subsequent library legislation, while, to quote the language of Mr. Fletcher in his "Public Libraries in America," "the wisdom of the Illinois law, in this regard, is probably the reason why it has been so widely copied in other States."

By this law of 1872 Illinois placed herself at the head of her sister States in encouraging the spread of general intelligence among the people : but it is also a record to be equally proud of, that, within less than five years after her admission to the Union, Dec. 3, 1818-that is, at the first ses- sion of her Third General Assembly-a general Act was passed and approved, Jan. 31, 1823, entitled : "An act to incorporate such persons as may associate for the purpose of procuring and erecting public libraries in this State," with the following preamble ..

"WHEREAS, a disposition for improvement in useful knowledge has manifested itself in various parts of this State, by associating for procuring and erecting public libraries: and, whereas, it is of the ntmost importance to the public that the sources of information should be multi- plied, and institutions for that purpose encouraged and pro- moted: Sec. 1. Be it enacted, " etc.

Then follow ten sections, covering five and a half pages of the published laws of that session, giving explicit directions as to the organizing and maintaining of such Associations, with pro- visions as enlightened and liberal as we could ask for to-day. The libraries contemplated in this act are, of course, subscription libraries, the only kind known at that time, free public libraries supported by taxation not having come into vogue in that early day.

It is the one vivifying quality of the Illinois law of 1872, that it showed how to start a free public library, how to manage it when started and how to provide it with the necessary funds. It furnished a full and minute set of sailing directions for the ship it launched, and, moreover, was not loaded down with useless limitations.

With a few exceptions-notably the Boston Public Library, working under a special charter, and an occasional endowed library, like the Astor Library-all public libraries in those days were subscription libraries, like the great Mercantile Libraries of New York, St. Louis and Cincinnati, with dues of from $3 to $10 from each member per year. With dues at $4 a year, our Peoria Mercantile Library, at its best, never had over 286 members in any one year. Compare this with our present public membership of 6,500, and it will be seen that some kind of a free public library law was needed. That was the conclu- sion I, as one of the Directors of the Peoria Mer- cantile Library, came to in 1869. We had tried every expedient for years, in the way of lecture courses, concerts, spelling matches, "Drummer Boy of Shiloh," and begging. to increase our membership and revenue. So far, and no farther, seemed to be the rule with all subscription libraries. They did not reach the masses who needed them most. And, for this manifest rea-

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son: the necessary cost of annual dues stood in the way; the women and young people who wanted something to read, who thirsted for knowledge, and who are the principal patrons of the free public library to-day, did not hold the family purse-strings; while the men, who did hold the purse-strings, did not particularly care for books.

It was my experience, derived as a Director in the Peoria Mercantile Library when it was still a small, struggling subscription library, that sug- gested the need of a State law authorizing cities and towns to tax themselves for the support of public libraries, as they already did for the sup- port of public schools. When, in 1870, I submitted the plan to some of my friends, they pronounced it Quixotic-the people would never consent to pay taxes for libraries. To which I replied, that, until sometime in the '50's, we had no free public schools in this State.

I then drew up the form of a law, substantially as it now stands; and, after submitting it to Justin Winsor, then of the Boston Public Li- brary; William F. Poole, then in Cincinnati, and William T. Harris, then in St. Louis, I placed it in the hands of my friend, Mr. Samuel Caldwell, in December, 1870, who took it with him to Springfield, promising to do what he could to get it through the Legislature, of which he was a member from Peoria. The bill was introduced by Mr. Caldwell, March 23, 1871, as House bill No. 563, and as Honse bill No. 563 it finally received the Governor's signature and became a law, March 7, 1872.

The essential features of our Illinois law are:

I. The power of initiative in starting a free public library lies in the City Council, and not in an appeal to the voters of the city at a general election.

It is a weak point in the English public libra- ries act that this initiative is left to the electors or voters of a city, and, in several London and pro- vincial districts, the proposed law has been repeatedly voted down by the very people it was most calculated to benefit, from fear of a little extra taxation.

II. The amount of tax to be levied is permissive, not mandatory.

We can trust to the public spirit of our city authorities, supported by an intelligent public sentiment, to provide for the library needs. A mandatory law, requiring the levying of a certain fixed percentage of the city's total assessment, might invite extravagance, as it lias in several instances where a mandatory law is in force.

III. The Library Board has exclusive control of library appropriations.

This is to be interpreted that Public Library Boards are separate and distinct departments of the city administration; and experience has shown that they are as capable and honest in handling money as School Boards or City Councils.

IV. Library Boards consist of nine members to serve for three years.

V. The members of the Board are appointed by the Mayor, subject to the approval of the City Council, from the citizens at large with reference to their fitness for such office.

VI. An annual report is to be made by the Board to the City Council, stating the condition of their trust on the first day of June of each year.

This, with slight modifications adapting it to villages, towns and townships, is, in substance, the Free Public Library Law of Illinois. Under its beneficent operation flourishing free public libraries have been established in the principal cities and towns of our State-slowly, at first, but, of late years, more rapidly as their usefulness has become apparent.

No argument is now needed to show the im- portance-the imperative necessity-of the widest possible diffusion of intelligence among the people of a free State. Knowledge and ignorance-the one means civilization, the other, barbarism. Give a man the taste for good books and the means of gratifying it, and you can hardly fail of making him a better, happier man and a wiser citizen. You place him in contact with the best society in every period of history ; you set before him nobler examples to imitate and safer paths to follow.

We have no way of foretelling how many and how great benefits will accrue to society and the State, in the future, from the comparatively modern introduction of the free public library into our educational system; but when some youthful Abraham Lincoln, poring over Æsop's Fables, Weems' Life of Washington and a United States History, by the flickering light of a pine- knot in a log-cabin, rises at length to be the hope and bulwark of a nation, then we learn what the world may owe to a taste for books. In the gen- eral spread of intelligence through our free schools, our free press and our free libraries, lies our only hope that our free American institutions shall not decay and perish from the earth.

" Knowledge is the only good, ignorance the only evil." "Let knowledge grow from more to more."

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS. The office of Lieutenant-Governor, created by the Constitution of 1818, has been retained in each of the subsequent Constitutions, being elective by the people at the same time with that of Gov- ernor. The following is a list of the Lieutenant- Governors of the State, from the date of its admission into the Union to the present time (1899), with the date and length of each incum- bent's term: Pierre Menard, 1818-22; Adolphus Frederick Hubbard, 1822-26; William Kinney, 1826-30; Zadoc Casey, 1830-33; William Lee D. Ewing (succeeded to the office as President of the Senate), 1833-34; Alexander M. Jenkins, 1834-36; William H. Davidson (as President of the Senate), 1836-38; Stinson H. Anderson, 1838-42; John Moore, 1842-46; Joseph B. Wells, 1846-49; William McMurtry, 1849-53; Gustavus Koerner, 1853-57; John Wood, 1857-60; Thomas A. Mar- shall (as President of the Senate), Jan. 7-14, 1861; Francis A. Hoffman, 1861-65; William Bross, 1865-69; John Dougherty, 1869-73; John L.

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Beveridge, Jan. 13-23, 1873; John Early (as President of the Senate), 1873-75; Archibald A. Glenn (as President of the Senate), 1875-77; Andrew Shuman, 1877-81; John M. Hamilton, 1881-83; William J. Campbell (as President of the Senate), 1883-85; John C. Smith, 1885-89; Lyman B. Ray, 1889-93; Joseph B. Gill, 1893-97; William A. Northcott, 1897 -.

LIMESTONE. Illinois ranks next to Pennsyl- vania in its output of limestone, the United States Census Report for 1890 giving the number of quarries as 104, and the total value of the product as $2,190,604. In the value of stone used for building purposes Illinois far exceeds any other State, the greater proportion of the output in Pennsylvania being suitable only for flux. Next to its employment as building stone, Illinois limestone is chiefly used for street-work, a small percentage being used for flux, and still less for bridge-work, and but little for burning into lime. The quarries in this State employ 3,383 hands, and represent a capital of $3,316,616, in the latter par- ticular also ranking next to Pennsylvania. The quarries are found in various parts of the State, but the most productive and most valuable are in the northern section.

LINCOLN, an incorporated city, and county- seat of Logan County, at the intersection of the Chicago & Alton, the Champaign and Havana Division of the Illinois Central, and the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Railroads; is 28 miles northeast of Springfield, and 157 miles southwest of Chicago. The surrounding country is devoted to agriculture, stock-raising and coal-mining. Considerable manufacturing is carried on, among the products being flour, press drills, brick and drain tile. There are also machine shops and ex- tensive canning works. There are some twenty churches, three national banks, a public library, electric street railways, and two daily and four weekly newspapers. Besides possessing a good common school system, it is the seat of Lincoln University (a Cumberland Presbyterian institu- tion, founded in 1865). The Odd Fellows' Orphans' Home and the Illinois (State) Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children are also located here. Population (1880), 5,639; (1890), 6,725; (1899) estimated, 10,000.

LINCOLN, Abraham, sixteenth President of the United States, was born in Hardin County, Ky., Feb. 12, 1809, of Quaker-English descent, his grandfather having emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky about 1780, where he was killed by the Indians in 1784. Thomas Lincoln, the father of Abraham, settled in Indiana in 1816, and removed

to Macon County in 1830. Abraham was the issue of his father's first marriage, his mother's maiden name being Nancy Hanks. The early occupations of the future President were varied. He served at different times as farm-laborer, flat- boatman, country salesman, merchant, surveyor, lawyer, State legislator, Congressman and Presi- dent. In 1832 he enlisted for the Black Hawk War, and was chosen Captain of his company; was an unsuccessful candidate for the Legislature the same year, but elected two years later. About this time he turned his attention to the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1836, and, one year later, began practice at Springfield. By successive re-elections he served in the House until 1842, when he declined a re-election. In 1838, and again in 1840, he was the Whig candi- date for Speaker of the House, on both occasions being defeated by William L. D. Ewing. In 1841 he was an applicant to President William Henry Harrison for the position of Commissioner of the General Land Office, the appointment going to Justin Butterfield. His next official position was that of Representative in the Thirtieth Congress (1847-49). From that time he gave his attention to his profession until 1855, when he was a lead- ing candidate for the United States Senate in opposition to the principles of the Nebraska Bill, but failed of election, Lyman Trumbull being chosen. In 1856, he took a leading part in the organization of the Republican party at Bloom- ington, and, in 1858, was formally nominated by the Republican State Convention for the United States Senate, later engaging in a joint debate with Senator Douglas on party issues, during which they delivered speeches at seven different cities of the State. Although he again failed to secure the prize of an election, owing to the char- acter of the legislative apportionment then in force, which gave a majority of the Senators and Representatives to a Democratic minority of the voters, his burning, incisive utterances on the subject of slavery attracted the attention of the whole country, and prepared the way for the future triumph of the Republican party. Previ- ous to this he had been four times (1840, '44, '52, and '56) on the ticket of his party as candidate for Presidential Elector. In 1860, he was the nominee of the Republican party for the Presi- dency and was chosen by a decisive majority in the Electoral College, though receiving a minor- ity of the aggregate popular vote. Unquestion- ably his candidacy was aided by internal dissensions in the Democratic party. His election and his inauguration (on March 4, 1861) were

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made a pretext for secession, and he met the issue with promptitude and firmness, tempered with kindness and moderation towards the se- cessionists. He was re-elected to the Presidency in 1864, the vote in the Electoral College standing 212 for Lincoln to 21 for his opponent, Gen. George B. McClellan. The history of Mr. Lin- coln's life in the Presidential chair is the history of the whole country during its most dramatic period. Next to his success in restoring the authority of the Government over the whole Union, history will, no doubt, record his issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation of January, 1863, as the most important and far-reaching act of his administration. And yet to this act, which has embalmed his memory in the hearts of the lovers of freedom and human justice in all ages and in all lands, the world over, is due his death at the hands of the assassin, J. Wilkes Booth, in Washington City, April 15, 1865, as the result of an assault made upon him in Ford's Theater the evening previous-his death occurring one week after the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee's army-just as peace, with the restoration of the Union, was assured. A period of National mourning ensued, and he was accorded the honor of a National funeral, his remains heing finally laid to rest in a mausoleum in Springfield. His profound sympathy with every class of sufferers during the War of the Rebellion; his forbearance in the treatment of enemies; his sagacity in giving direction to public sentiment at home and in dealing with international questions abroad; his courage in preparing the way for the removal of slavery-the bone of contention between the warring sections-have given him a place in the affections of the people beside that of Washington himself, and won for him the respect and admi- ration of all civilized nations.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 67

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1388

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1388