USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > History of the city of Quincy, Illinois > Part 31
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to the election. The whig candidates, with the exception of Singleton, and also all the candi- dates from the city, were in some parts of the county and in Brown overlooked altogether in some precinets securing not a single vote. and in Brown the Singleton vote was abont three times the total of all the others combined.
Another special election was held on the 4th of April for a county clerk to succeed George W. Leech, who had been chosen to this place at the November election in 1853, and died three months after, on the 9th of February. Leech was a popular and skillful official. familiar with the routine and history of publie business with which he had been associated from boy- hood, belonging to one of those hereditary office-holding families, of which the country has so many. this early death was a public loss. At this election John Field, whig. was chosen over Wash. Wren, the late democratic sheriff, by nearly 300 majority.
Changes were made in the legislative dis- triets by the apportionment law of 1854. I'm- der this Adams county was separated from Pike, and with Brown made a senatorial dis- triet, and also Adams became a single repre- sentative distriet, entitled to two members. in- stead of as before, having three members in connection with Brown county. There was also enacted at this session a law which be- came a part of the city charter, providing for the election of two police magistrates for the city and relieving the mayor from judicial du- ties.
The first attempt at an established theater dates from this time. There had been as early as 1839 a "Thespian" organization, composed of a goodly number of the youngsters of the town, who fitted up a little hall on Third street. between Hampshire and Maine, and with well prepared seenery and costumes, gave exhibi- tions to their own satisfaction, and which af- forded special pleasure and amusement to the people of the town. This association continued for several years. Among its members, and we believe the only ones now living and resi- dent of Quiney. were J. T. Baker, Lorenzo Bull. T. G. F. Hunt. Thomas Brougham and Ithema Taylor. A traveling troupe would oc- easionally come along and make use of the Thespian Hall. with its scenery. etc .. but the stay of such was brief, that of MeIntyre and Jefferson, father of the noted comedian. who performed here for several weeks in 1843. be- ing the longest. Nothing. however, like a per- manent theater, with its own professional com- pany, was planned until in the winter of 1853- 54. Geo. J. Adams then began a series of "dramatic exhibitions" and lectures on eloch- tion. in the Danake Hall on Maine street be-
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tween Fourth and Fifth. Adams, "Crazy Adams," as he was called by some on account of his eceentrie actions, was a very bright man. who had practiced at almost everything-cler- gyman, lecturer, Mormon missionary and apos- tle-and was withal, an actor of far more than average capacity and reputation. His troupe was composed of students from his class in elo- ention, with an occasional aid from some wan- dering actors. and the exhibitions were reason- ably successful, lasting off and on for two or three years. During the time when he was managing these exhibitions, Thomas Duff, his brother-in-law, and wife, who had been per- forming in the east, came from New York and made their first appearance. Later, abont 1857, when Adams dropped the management of this occasional theater, as it might be called, Dnff. with a full company, came, and since that period carried on a theater from time to time. with occasional suspensions. for a good many years.
The act of Congress, creating a "port of en- try " at Quiney, was approved by the President on the 2nd of January, and in March Thomas (' Benneson was appointed and confirmed as "port inspector." About twenty-five years later this office, with several other of the ports on the Mississippi, was abolished.
An earnest effort was made during the early part of this year to engraft a city high school upon the existing publie school system, and a very large meeting was held at the court honse on the 3rd of January in advocaey of this project. Following on this a lengthy petition was presented to the council at the February meeting, and referred to a committee com- posed of three of the aldermen and the super- intendent of public schools. At the March meeting the majority of this committee re- ported unfavorably, but recommended the building of more school houses for education in the common grades, which report was adopted by the council, and at the same session a reso- Intion was passed to submit to the voters at the next charter eleetion, the question of a high school, and of obtaining from the legislature the authority to levy an additional tax for its support. The matter made much excitement in and out of the council. It became at last a partisan question, and entering into the April city election, was there overwhelmingly voted down and carried down with it the political supremacy of the whigs in the council. The immediate result of the agitation was the eree- tion of another school house, the Webster school, at the corner of Maine and Twelfth, which was projected and commenced during the latter part of the year. and was at the time
of its construction, much the most complete edi- fice of the kind in the city. An appropriation was made at this time of $25.00 a quarter for the education of colored children, provided that the superintendent thought it expedient : hut it effected nothing.
This was what Greely was wont to call an "off year in politics." no presidential election occurring, yet it was a period of more political excitement and radical changes, attended with an unusual degree of personal bitterness, than any other since the nation was formed. That politieal Pandora's box. the Nebraska bill, shattered for a time the supremacy which the democratic party, organized some twenty-five years earlier, had during nearly all the subse- quent time strongly maintained, severing from it a large portion of its best material. This. with the great bulk of the now dissolving whig party, formed a new association, to soon seeure possession of the national administration for a period about equal to that of its predecessor. With the introduction of this question to public thought. Quiney, like the rest of the country. was aroused at once. The measure and the ac- tions and motives of prominent men became the current constant topic of talk, and were discussed, disputed denounced and defended in every way and everywhere.
The general local sentiment was at first un- favorable in the Nebraska bill, but there was also a strong sentiment of confidence and pride towards the popular senator who was the father of this measure and whose first entrance upon his eminent national career was from this city. his former home. Early in February, therefore, a publie meeting was called by the friends of Senator Douglas to approve of his action and endorse the bill. W. H. Cather. county judge, presided, and JJ. H. Luce, was secretary. The meeting was small and inde- risive, and was adjourned to the 28th, when the assemblage was very large. The proceed- ings were exciting and amnsing. All the ex- treme anti-slavery men of the city, who had heretofore counted but lightly in political af- fairs, being very few in numbers but very earn- est naturally on an issue like this. floated to the front and did most of the battling, and the resolutions of approval were voted down. Sev- eral other meetings were held with the same general result, and on the 3rd of April, at a meeting with R. S. Benneson, a former demo- vrat. as president, and Dr. Ralston, whig. sec- retary, where the same stirring scenes of strife ocem red, a resolution condemnatory to the bill and charging upon the senator the responsibil- ity for the agitation of the slavery question, was passed by a vote of about three to one.
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The separation continued, and by the time the fall campaign commeneed, partisan lines were distinetly drawn on the question of the Ne- braska bill, which became in fact the only issue which was disenssed at the November election.
The city election in April partook of this strong partisan and personal feeling and was hotly contested. The whigs, who had usually a reliable majority in two wards, though slightly in a minority in the whole city. renom- inated for mayor John Wood, with J. C. Ber- nard, E. K. Stone and N. Flagg for aldermen ; and J. M. Pitman, who had twice unsueress- fully contested with Wood for the mayoralty. was again placed at the head of the demo- eratie ticket, with W. D. Morgan, J. B. Merss- man and Jas. Arthur as candidates for the vonneil. The high school question, which was publicly voted upon at this same time and the proposition to raise a special tax for the sup- port of the school or two schools, had been in- judiciously pressed. and beaten in the council. publie sentiment not having ripened for it as vet. It now became a prominent feature in the election and determined the result. Pit- man was returned as elected by one vote, and two of the whig aldermen by like slender fig- ures, Bernard by a majority of one and Flagg three. The two democratie police magistrates, A. Wood and T. Monroe, were also successful over T. H. Brougham and JJ. E. Dunn. This was the first year when police magistrates were chosen. The vote. 1.335, was the largest ever rast in the city. exceeding that of the previous presidential election.
Right after this hard fought election, and pending the formation of the new city adminis- tration, there sprang up a stubborn political strife in the council. The existing board was composed of two democrats and four whigs, one of the latter. Dorman. being absent. mak- ing it stand three to two without the mayor. When the board convened to count in and qual- ify the members-elect, Wood, after the vote was declared, filed a notice of contest against Pitman's election and vacated the chair. Al- derman Thayer was made temporary chairman and thereupon the three whig aldermen de- manded that the newly elected aldermen, whose elaims were not contested. should be first qual- ified and the question of right to the mayoralty be afterward considered. The two democrats refused to recognize this line of procedure, and by leaving the house broke the quorum. This rather farcieal performance was continued at several meetings for nearly a fortnight. eaus- ing a suspension of general business. until finally Wood withdrew his demand and the new board was organized. It then, with a
party majority through the casting vote of the mayor, changed the political character of all the appointive offices. Since this period. 1854, with one exception, in 1859, although an occasional opposition mayor has been elected, the democratic party has maintained an un- broken majority and control in the city council for thirty-three years.
An important measure was adopted by this vonneil tending to better define the hitherto doubtful system of city levels. The earliest formal step in this direction was a resolution or ordinance some years before that the "door sill of Holmes' store at the corner of Front and Hampshire." should be the regulation base. But the store had been rebuilt, the door sill «hanged, and Holmes had moved away, so that grade calenlations had now to be made from the secondary standards, involving mnch un- certainty, and beside this the regulation base above named was not itself fixed upon a deter- minate permanent plane. Now the council, with low water mark as a basis, established "the 'bench mark' on Delabar's house at the corner of Spring and Front streets. 20 31-100 feet above low water mark, as the governing point for city grades." This well devised plan was still defective so long as it depended on " Delabar's house" for the "bench mark. " A few years later it was improved and carried to completion by the present excellent system. which with elaborate and accurate calculation and measurements, established a base or datum plane 200 feet below low water mark. from which all grades are to be computed. and makes at the Franklin school house. "a table-stone for city levels" 230 feet above the river base, with mommental stones, corresponding to this table stone, at the center all the street intersections.
A city census, ordered by the council to as- vertain the muunber and locality of the school children to be provided for, on the 1st of June. reported 5,878 under 20 years of age, and the total population of the rity at 10,977. of which 196 were resident in East Quincy, as that por- tion of the city lying east of Twenty-fourth street and not yet attached, was called. It was
generally thought that this figure. 10.977. was a good deal too low. The valuation of city property of all kinds by the official assessment. based on a low standard of about one-third the actual value, as were all fax valuations at this time. was returned as $2.076,360.86.
Property prices continued to advance as they had been doing for several years. A good deal of immigration flowed into the city and the surrounding section, and largely increased business of all kinds. and more extensive stocks of merchandise gave evidence of prosperity.
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Many transfers of real estate were made at good profit figures. The largest land sale that had vet taken place in connection with Quincy. larger, indeed. than any since. was the sale at auction in December of the 160 acres lying in the northeast part of the city between Eigh- teenth and Twenty-fourth and Broadway and Chestnut streets. now known as MonIton's ad- dition. The history of this tract and its enor- mous increase in value. passing unbroken through but three transfers from its first owner. is curious enough to detail.
It was patented in 1818 to Paul Barnard as bounty for services in the war of 1812. The same year. by conveyance made on the back of the parchment patent. which I have before me, it was sold by the soldier for $53. Thirty years after. in 1848. it was again sold for $6.400-$40 per acre. In December of this vear. 1854. it was platted into nine blocks and eighty-two lots. each lot containing from one to two acres. the subtraction of the streets leaving about 130 acres to be sold. It realized at this sale about $45.000. or an average of $350 per acre. The lot on the northeast cor- ner. a little less than two acres, brought $800. and a similar sized lot on the southwest corner for $1.250. So great an advance in the value of a single piece of property, passing through so few owners hands. is rarely found.
Nearly at the same time with the before- mentioned sale of the "Moulton" or "Skiddy quarter. " which last was the name it had borne for thirty years, there was another extensive land auction which attracted local attention and was profitable to some. This was the sale of all the remaining swamp or overflowed lands in Adams county. that had. prior to 1850. been the property of the general government. Con- gress in 1850 donated to the states all such lands as lay within their respective boundaries. Illinois relinquished in 1-52 her interest in these lands to the counties where the same were located. The Adams county court or- dered a sale to be made on December 4th. 1854. of its lands, amounting to over 25.000 acres, which realized to the county treasury about $12,000. All the unentered land. includ- ing the islands east of the river channel. the low bottom land between the river and the bInff. the lakes, among them the great Lima lake or Lake Paponsie, as it was originally called. covering over three thousand acres; every foot of ground. in fact. that was at all subject to even occasional overflow. was em- braced in this sale. Much of it was or seemed to be worthless, and brought not over ten eents per acre, but again a great deal of it was of special value and there offered an opportune chance for profitable purchase. of which shrewd
speculators who were posted and knew what to buy, availed themselves.
The first Adams county agricultural fair was held on October 18th and 19th of this year. It had been projected with a good deal of en- thusiasm and unity in the fall of 1553. and though a crude affair. in some respects. was a Sitecess. It exhibited on a piece of vacant ground a little north of Broadway. between Sixth and Eighth streets. The enclosure was made by an irregular sort of fence or barrier. formed by piles of fallen trees and brushwood. looking much like a military abatis. and sen- tried all along on the inside by the committee men to keep out the boys. The attendance and display. both from the city and county, was good. and the institution hence onward for sev- eral years was an object of general interest and advantage. Unfortunate jealousies or misun- derstandings in later years broke it down, and the supporting interests leaving Quiney located near the center of the county. establishing there a fair which has been a steady success. representing. however. more of the county than of the city elements of industry.
The Methodist seminary was now finished and opened to students. It was somewhat suc- cessful. but laden from the start with financial embarrassments. from which it took many years to receive relief. The fine building in which it began its career was eventualy sold to the city for a public school. and the Chaddock col- lege, as it is now called. in honor of one of its donors, was removed to the present site at the corner of Twelfth and State streets. The Cen- tre Congregational church. at the corner of Jersey and Fourth streets. the neatest building of the kind as yet constructed in the city, built by a seceding portion of the First Congrega- tional church society. was finished and dedi- cated.
The most notable and commemorative oeea- sion of the year and literally the most shining event. was the completion of the gas works. and the first lighting np of the city on Decem- ber 1st. This was as great a gala day. or night. rather. as Quincy had as yet known, and was signalized by a general turning on of the gas in all the street lamps and private houses. and a general turning ont of all the people into the streets to see how the city and themselves looked, and also by a gay evening banqnet at the Quincy House. The gas company had ob- tained. two years before from the state legis- lature. a perpetual charter. giving it the exchi- sive right for twenty-five years to the use of the streets for furnishing light to the public and to private parties. and had coneluded a contract with the city. following the terms of the charter. for twenty-five years. It now
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shone out with its well completed works, with a laid line of three and a half miles of pipe through the best settled part of the city and sixty-five street lamps erected and ready for instant use, with provisional arrangements completed between the company and the city, for their lighting and maintenance. It is due to faet and history to say that the contraet was a mutually successful one, advantageous to all the parties. Under judicious and faithful man- agement in its earlier starting. the company has also well lighted the city. and has always ro- ceived, almost from the very commencement, a remunerative return to itself.
Besides this well-remembered occasion of the introduction of gas there was now the advent of other " first things" to be tabled in the rec- ord of this year, and these, though unattended by demonstrations like that which looked upon the first lighting up of the city. were equally events of public importance and attraction, and their dates are notable as initial points in the advancing movements of Quincy. On the 12th of March two small locomotives (as railroad engines used to be called ), reached here. brought by barge from Chicago through the canal and down the Hinois river. Crowds gathered. of course. to see the new comers, but it was not until Sept. 12th that one of them. the Varmmm, was put in working order and placed on the track to assist in the construc- tion of the road. This, the pioneer engine, had a goodly crowd of gazers to witness its start. It had gotten the name of Barnum from the anti-railroad men. for there were a few croak- ers even in those days, who saw it lying on the landing unused for six months and dubbed it after the great prince of humbugs. On May 5th the first shipment of railroad iron, 100 tons, arrived, and May 29th the first rail was laid. All these occurrences, though unmarked by formality. drew special attention, from the universal interest that was felt in regard to the railroad. Some jarring matters in the railroad directory brought about the resignation of J. M. Pitman and the election of John Wood as his successor, and the resignation of John Field. who had been elected county clerk. was sup- plied by the selection as secretary of John C. Cox.
Final finish was made towards the certain completion of the railroad both north and east by the vote of Brown county pledging a sub- seription of $100,000 to the eastern branch from Camp Point to Meredosia. This was first of- feeted through the influence of private parties. whose publie spirit had taken hold of the project. No chartered railroad company there then existed. There was not then as there is now. a general incorporation law authorizing
corporate organization at any time in the in- terim of legislative sessions, and it was two years later that the parties who built the road through Brown county secured a charter at the session of 1856-57, against a factions oppo- sition. The first election in Brown for this $100.000 subscription failed. The vote was 525 for to 206 against, but the terms under which the election was held required that the vote in favor of the project should be equal to two-thirds of the vote cast at the last general election. It failed by seven votes, through over-confidence and inattention. At a second election held a few weeks later it was carried by a most decisive vote. there being scarcely any opposition.
The summer was extremely hot. the hottest ever known, as the oldest inhabitants always say. The thermometer rated on Inly 17th at 105. and six days during the month showed a degree over 100, with a monthly average of 93. really an extraordinary continuance of heat. With this was also much sickness. The cholera made a slight visitation, but only some half a dozen cases occurred in the city. while near around and in the county there were a good many more cases.
Some notable changes occurred among the newspaper establishments, always objects of public interest. The Patriot. published by Warren & Gibson, edited by the latter and later by D. S. Morrison, became a tri-weekly on the 16th of September. H. V. Sullivan, the first publisher of the Quiney Whig. with which he had subsequently been always connected, sold his interest therein to fleury Young, and made preparation for establishing another paper. This. the Republican, he brought out in part- nership with F. A. Dallam in the following vear, 1855. There were at this time four estab- lished journals in the city. the Herald. Courier (German). Whig and Patriot. The first two were democratie, the Whig was whig and the Patriot independent and anti-slavery.
The military mania was all-pervading this year. The Blues made their first parade, in creditable shape, on the 7th of January. and later in the seasan an artillery company under the command of Anstin Brooks, of the Herald. was organized, but did not turn out until the next year.
Probably the most destructivo fire that had as yet attacked the city, was on the 20th of October, when Thayer's large distillery with many of its surroundings, were destroyed. The damage was estimated at over $50,000. with lit- tle insurance, a much greater figure than had footed the losses suffered at any former fire.
Political excitement, hore as all over the country, was intense and continous through-
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ont the whole year. That mad issue made by the repeal of the Missouri compromise, offering the entrance of slavery into the territories and its protection while there, absorbed all other questions of dispute, shattering oll party as- sociations and creating a new line of political separation. The Nebraska bill and slavery ex- tension were the leading and almost only sub- jeets of thought and discussion, resulting in the overthrow of the democratic party in the state. completely reversing the political conditions that had (xisted, unbroken, for twenty-five years. The operation was different in several sections of the state. In the northern part, which had heretofore been decidedly demo- cratie, almost the entire whig party and a very large percentage of the democratie, united in what was called the anti-Nebraska movement, from which sprang the republican party. In the central belt, where the whig element was stronger. the parties remained nearly the same : a few changes only being made from either side. In the southern section where were the great democratie majorities, with the exception of the locations wherein the German vote lay. which now eut loose from the democratic party to which it had been almost solidly attached. the democrats as a whole and nearly all of the few whigs that were there, supported the re- peal of the compromise. thus leaving scarcely a nominal opposition in all the Egyptian part of the state.
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