USA > Illinois > Illinois, historical and statistical, comprising the essential facts of its planting and growth as a province, county, territory, and state, Vol. II > Part 37
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But although successful on the popular vote, the democrats, 60
938
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
notwithstanding they elected their candidates in all of the close and doubtful senatorial districts carried by the republicans in 1886, failed to secure a majority of the legislature; the senate standing 27 republicans and 24 democrats; the house 73 repub- licans, 77 democrats, and three third-party members, candidates elected by the Farmers' Mutual Benevolent Alliance-the demo- crats lacking two of a majority on joint-ballot, and the farmers holding the balance of power .*
The close of this History before the results of the eleventh census have been compiled and published must necessarily curtail those comparisons and contrasts of relative growth and improvements which the reader will be enabled, more satisfac- torily, to make for himself when the data for the same shall have been brought more fully to light by the press. Enough, however, is already known to justify the statement that the hopes of the citizens of Illinois have been abundantly realized, and that the march of the Prairie State, in all those respects which go to make a commonwealth great and powerful, has been no less steadily onward and upward during the last decade than through the years which preceded it.
While the population of the Nation, as fixed by the last census, 62,622,250, is less than was generally anticipated, that of Illinois, reaching 3,818,536, has shown a greater relative increase in the last ten years-24.6 per cent-than from 1870 to 1880-21.18. She has grown faster, relatively, than New York or Pennsylvania; and has finally succeeded in outstrip- ing Ohio in the race for the position of the third State in the American Union.
Chicago, her wonderful metropolis, by the legitimate annexa- tion of the suburban cities and towns of Lake View, Hyde Park, Lake, Jefferson, and Cicero, aggregating 128 square miles, and embracing a population of 225,000, is now a city of 1,099,- I33 inhabitants, having passed Philadelphia, her only rival, and ranking as the second city in the country.
Illinois' other chief cities have also shown a greater increase from 1880 to 1890 than during the previous ten years, as may be seen by the following comparison of the population of cities of 10,000 inhabitants and over for 1870, 1880, and 1890:
* For list of members, see page 1163.
939
GROWTH OF ILLINOIS.
COMPARISON OF ILLINOIS' CITIES OF 10,000:
NAME
COUNTY
1870
1880
1890
Alton, -
Madison,
8,665
8,975
10,294
Aurora,
Kane,
11,162
11,873
19,688
Belleville,
St. Clair,
8,146
10,683
15,36I
Bloomington, Mc Lean,
14,590
17,180
20,484
Cairo, -
Alexander,
6,267
9,01 I
10,324
Chicago, -
Cook,
298,977
503, 185
1,099,850
Danville,
Vermilion,
4,75I
7,733
11,491
Decatur,
- Macon,
7,161
9,547
16,841
E. St. Louis, St. Clair,
5,644
9,185
15,169
Elgin, -
Kane,
5,44I
8,787
17,823
Freeport, Stephenson,
7,889
8,516
10,189
Galesburg, - Knox,
10,158
11,437
15,264
Jacksonville,
Morgan,
9,203
10,927
12,935
Joliet, -
-
Will,
7,263
11,657
23,264
Kankakee, Kankakee,
5,65I
9,025
La Salle, - La Salle,
7,847
9,855
Moline, Rock Island,
4,166
7,800
12,000
Ottawa, -
La Salle,
7,736
7,834
9,985
Peoria,
- Peoria,
22,849
29,259
41,024
Quincy, -
Adams,
24,052
27,268
31,494
Rockford, Winnebago,
11,049
13,129
23,584
Rock Island, Rock Isl.,
7,890
11,659
13,634
Springfield, Sangamon,
17,364
19,743
24,963
1
Indeed, the increased growth of the State is mainly confined to her principal centres of population, 35 of the best agricultural counties showing a falling off in the number of inhabitants. This fact may be accounted for in various ways; many of those bred to the soil have emigrated toward the setting sun, influenced by the prospect of cheaper lands, taking with them the wives of their youth, there to build themselves homes in a new country, as did their fathers before them. Others, not content with the moderate enjoyments and gains derived from country and village homes, and attracted by the allurements of a city life with its constant whirl of excitement and its glittering promise of easily acquired wealth, have been drawn into the maelstrom of trade, manufactures, or the professions, the greater portion
940
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
of whom, it is grievous to reflect, doomed to disappointment and utter failure, will swell the already-increasing ranks of the unfortunate, the unsuccessful, or the criminal classes.
Gratifying in most respects as has been the growth of the large cities of Illinois, that of her imperial metropolis by Lake Michigan has been the marvel of the world; and it is to its unprecedented expansion that Illinois owes her proud position of third in rank among the forty-four sovereign states of the Union.
The original plat of Chicago-only 60 years old on August 4, 1890-covered less than half a square mile. In 1835, with a population of 3265, it had grown to 2.55 square miles. When the city was incorporated, March 4, 1837, its area aggregated II square miles, and it could boast of 4179 inhabitants. Subsequent accessions, between the last-mentioned date and June 1, 1889, increased its area to 44 square miles. The sub- urban districts, amounting to 128 square miles, were then annexed - making a total city area of 172.24 square miles, extending 24 miles north and south, and from 412 to 1012 miles east and west. While Chicago has not yet overtaken the other great cities of the world, numerically, she embraces a larger area than Berlin which has only 25 square miles, than Paris with 30, New York with 4112, or London with 123.
From 1876 to 1889, there were erected in the city 37,042 buildings, at a cost of $176,460,779, and covering a frontage of 172 miles. During the year 1890, not yet expired, 10,947 buildings, with a frontage of 48 miles, have been erected, the cost of construction being $47,407,149.
There are 2040 miles of sidewalk in the city, of which 286 were laid the past year. The total number of miles of streets is 2047, of which 578 are improved .*
The area of her magnificent parks is 1974 acres.
Thirty-four different railroad lines, controlling over 30,000 miles of road, enter the city with a trackage therein of 1090 miles; and the number of passenger-trains, which arrive and depart daily, is 960, as against 260 in 1880-thus constituting Chicago the greatest railway center on the continent.
* For these figures, the Author is chiefly indebted to the report for 1889, of Geo. F. Stone, secretary of the Board of Trade.
GEO.R.DAVIS
EDWARD S.WILSON
CLAYTON E. CRAFTS
FREDK H.WINES
JOHN P. REYNOLDS
(H)
EFERE
R L
NY
LIBRARY
941
GROWTH OF CHICAGO.
Other comparisons, between 1880 and 1890, may be made as follows:
1880
1890
1880 1890
Public schools, - 73 207 Theatres, - IO 24
Public-school teachers, 869 2800
Hotels, -
140 267
Banks, - - - 37 79 Steam fire-engines, 34
69
Fire dep't, employés,
369
917 Police, employés, 473 1870
Street railroads, miles, 140 387 Churches, - 187 317
The receipts of. grain, flour, and provisions in 1889, were largely in excess of those of 1888; and the receipts of live- stock during the same year, valued at $203,331,924, was the highest in valuation of like receipts ever recorded.
The number of cattle received for the year ending October I, 1890, was 3,563,000, and of hogs 7,265,000-in both cases breaking all former records; and the Union Stock-Yards is the largest live-stock market in the world.
Receipts also of meats, lard, butter, and hides, during this period, reached their maximum, while those of coal were much larger than in 1880.
Chicago is, also, the largest lumber market on the continent, over $80,000,000 being invested in the business, and a dock frontage of 12 miles being required along which to handle the product.
The manufactures of the city have arisen to a stupendous figure, as shown by the fact that in 1889 there were 3100 differ- ent firms or establishments, having an aggregate capital of over $134,000,000, employing 150,000 hands, who received as wages $84,500,000, and the total product of whose business was valued at over $450,000,000 .*
The total assessed valuation of property, real and personal, in the city for 1879, was $117,970,035, and the tax levied $3,- 776,220; the valuation, in 1889, was $201, 104,019, and the tax $6,326,651.
The bonded city-debt, $13,606,900, remains about the same as it was in 1872.
Turning from these grand aggregates, the small space left to this review will be given to the business of a few leading firms:
The firm of Armour and Company, of which Philip D.
* Chicago Tribune's review, January 1, 1890.
942
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL
Armour is the head, made sales, for the year ending October I, 1890, amounting to the sum of $65,000,000. They slaughtered 1,450,000 hogs, 650,000 cattle, and 350,000 sheep. 7000 hands receive employment, to whom are paid as wages $3,500,000 per annum. Their buildings cover 50 acres, with a floor area of 140 acres. The statement of these facts suggests its own com- ment.
The dry - goods houses of Marshall Field and Company, wholesale and retail, do a business of over $30,000,000 per annum. Their granite building, erected for their wholesale trade at a cost of over $1,000,000, exclusive of the ground, is the finest structure of the kind in this or any other country. Their retail store, splendid and palatial in all of its appointments, employs 2000 hands, while 1500 are engaged in manufacturing.
The wholesale dry-goods firm of John V. Farwell and Com- pany, established in 1855 and the oldest in the city, does a business amounting to $23,000,000 a year and employs 1400 hands.
The business of these two houses of princely merchants is not exceeded in New York or Philadelphia, and being large importers, they are as well known in London, Paris, and Berlin, as in Chicago.
The firm of D. B. Fisk and Company, wholesale dealers in millinery and straw goods, established in 1853, and the first west of the Alleghanies, is the largest of its kind in the world. They import extensively, employ 500 hands, and sell to the amount of $2,000,000 a year.
The Tobey Furniture Company, the largest retail furniture establishment in the West, if not in the United States, has customers from and ship its goods to 29 different states, includ- ing the cities of New York and even to London.
Perhaps the most important, widely known, as well as ex- tensive manufacturing concern, is that of the McCormick Har- vesting Machine Company, of which Cyrus Hall Mc Cormick, jr. is the president. Established here in 1848, and now located on the south branch of the Chicago River, with a fourth of a mile of dockage, it has steadily grown up to the present time. The number of machines manufactured, during the past season was 120,000, including harvesters, binders, reapers, and mowers,
943
GROWTH OF CHICAGO.
and the number of hands employed at the works is 2000. Their books show that 10,782 cars of freight were handled during the season ending August 1, 1890.
The soap manufactory of Jas. S. Kirk and Company, estab- lished in Utica, New York, in 1839, and removed to Chicago in 1859, and now conducted by the seven sons of the founder,* is also the largest in the world. They have over 800 employés, and sell their products-soap, perfumes, and glycerine-through- out America. Their annual production of soap is over 70,000,- 000 pounds.+
Chicago is also passing to the front in the business of pub- lishing, especially in the printing of books sold only by sub- scription, and text-books, globes, and novelties, for public and higher schools. The firms of S. C. Griggs and Company, estab- lished in 1848, and publishers of Ford's "History of Illinois," in 1853; and the Fergus Printing Company, established in 1840 by Robert Fergus, publishers of the noted "Fergus Historical Series," are still, Jan. I, 1891, engaged in business. The leading firms at present are Alexander C. McClurg and Company, and Rand, McNally and Company; the former is also the largest book and stationery house in the United States, and through its senior member, Gen. McClurg, himself a writer of no mean ability, has done much to encourage and promote home talent.
* James Smith Kirk died South Evanston, Illinois, June 16, 1886, aged 68; born Glasgow, Scotland, September 11, 1818.
+ In view of these figures, it will be interesting to turn to a picture of the city by Governor John Reynolds in his work entitled "Sketches of the Country," published at Belleville, in 1854. After speaking of its growth from 1840 to 1853, from a popu- lation of 4479 to 60,652, he remarks: "All the elements of greatness and grandeur of Chicago are in progress, and will ultimately produce the result as above stated : that the Garden City will be one amongst the greatest emporiums in the Union. * Within this city, there are 159 miles of planked sidewalks, and 27 of planked streets. And also the young city can boast of four miles of wharfs, and six miles of sewers already put down. * * Omnibuses, with all other improvements, have found their way into the city, 18 are in daily operation, and make 408 trips in the day. The whole omnibus corps travel in a day 802 miles.
"Gas is used in this city to a great amount, and a company is organized with a capital of $207,400 to furnish it. This is another evidence," remarks the quaint old governor, "that the people of Chicago prefer light to darkness. Five miles and 2978 feet of large gas-pipes have been laid under ground in this city the last year, and the total of the smaller pipes laid throughout the city is 13 miles and 638 feet. [Pages 129-30.]
944
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
Illinois, which was the seventh in 1880, now ranks as the fourth in her iron-and-steel industries, and is only surpassed by Pennsylvania in the production of Bessamer steel.
The first place among the influences which have been at work to produce these great results in Illinois must be conceded to the press, which has stimulated the enterprise, quickened the energies, and encouraged the ambition of her citizens. Their determination to reach the front has been kept steadily in view, and every hindering cause deprecated. No city, indeed, in the Union can boast a more able and aggressive daily press than that of Chicago; while the management of her weekly papers, in their several religious, commercial, and literary departments, is equally distinguished. The growth of journalism in Illinois has kept, indeed, more than fully abreast of the State's develop- ment, the press having formed one of the chief factors and exponents of its expansion.
The five papers-all weekly-in 1824, which had increased to 14 in 1834, had grown to 107 in 1850, including several dailies. In 1870, the number had risen to 505, embracing periodicals; and, in 1880, it had grown to 900; and, in 1890, to I200-of these, 300 are classed as republican in politics, 170 as
"Ninety-two trains enter and leave the city each day except Sunday. There are more than 1000 miles of railroad now completed in this State, almost all of which have their termini in this city. [Page 121.]
"The assessed real and personal property for Chicago, for 1853, was $16,841,831, and the city tax $135,662.
"Like all the branches of industry in the West, the manufactories of Chicago are advancing with astonishing rapidity. * Why can not this city become as famous for its manufactures as it is already for its extraordinary commerce?"
The governor describes several manufacturing establishments, and among them, he says, "Charles Cleaver, on the lake, south of the city, does a 'bully business,' manu- facturing candles and soap. He imported last year 350 tons of rosin and soda.
"McCormick alone, the last year, manufactured 1500 reapers and sold thiem at $130 each, amounting in all to $195,000.
"The receipts of flour last year were 131,130 barrels, being 7000 more than in 1852. Wheat received was 1,687,465 bushels, corn 2,869,339 bushels. Lumber, 212,111, 198 feet." [Page 142.]
The governor remarks, on page 120, with prophetic vision, "And I deem it not a wild prediction to say, when the West contains 20,000,000 of inhabitants, Chicago will then embrace 1,000,000 of souls within her limits."
If the governor could have beheld the gigantic strides which the Garden City was destined to make from that time to the present, his vocabulary of adjectives would have been exhausted.
945
THE PRESS.
democratic, and 335 as independent. The remainder are devoted to commerce, literature, the professions, or are the organs of churches or special societies. One fourth of the entire number are published in Chicago.
The oldest paper is the State Fournal at Springfield, estab- lished in 1831-the Jacksonville Fournal having been founded about the same time. These, with the Galena Gazette issued in 1834 the State Register first published at Vandalia in 1835 by William Walters, and removed with the capital to Springfield in 1839, and the Alton Telegraph established by Richard M. Treadway and Lawson A. Parks in 1836, have all been uninter- ruptedly published to the present time.
The State Journal is organized with Clarence R. Paul as president and editor-in-chief, and Harry F. Dorwin as secre- tary and business manager. Henry W. Clendenin is president and general manager of the Register Company, and Thomas Rees, treasurer.
Among those associated with the early press in central Illinois who stand out prominently in that connection and who have achieved more than a local fame, not heretofore mentioned in that connection, are Hooper Warren, Rev. John M. Peck, John Bailhache, Robert Blackwell, Robert Goudy, George T. Brown, Charles H. Lanphier, George Walker, Edward L. Baker, Wm. H. Bailhache, John G. Nicolay, John W. Merritt, Edward L. Merritt, David L. Phillips, Thomas W. S. Kidd, Enoch Emery, John H. Oberly, and the veteran, Paul Selby, who has been continuously identified with the press as an editorial writer for nearly forty years.
The earliest paper published in Chicago was the Chicago Democrat, the first number of which bears the date of November 23, 1833. Its founder and proprietor was John Calhoun, a native of New York. In 1836, he sold the paper to John Went- worth, whose name thenceforward became identified with Illinois journalism in all that tended to make it progressive and inde- pendent, who continued it until July 27, 1861, when he trans- ferred the subscription list to the Tribune.
The Chicago American, established June 8, 1835, by Thomas O. Davis, was the second paper in Chicago and the first paper in the State to issue a daily edition, which it did on April 9,
946
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
1839, being then edited by Wm. Stuart of Binghamton, New York. The American was succeeded October 24, 1842, by the Chicago Express, William H. Brackett editor and proprietor, continuing until April 20, 1844; when on April 22, 1844, the first number of the Chicago Daily Fournal was issued, of which paper Richard L. Wilson was editor. About 1852, it became an evening paper. The Chicago Evening Fournal was incorpor- ated July, 1873, by Charles L. Wilson, Henry W. Farrar, and John R. Wilson. Charles L. Wilson died March 9, 1878, two years later, the paper was leased to Shuman and Wilson, and eighteen months later John R. Wilson bought the controlling interest. Gov. Shuman retired from the editorial management about two years before his death.
The Chicago Commercial Advertiser, weekly, was established Oct. 11, 1836, by Hooper Warren; and lived about one year.
The Tribune, the first newspaper of this name in America, appeared in Chicago April 4, 1840. Edward George Ryan, subsequently chief-justice of Wisconsin, was the editor while it existed-about eighteen months.
The Quid Nunc, the first penny daily west of the Alleghanies, was commenced July 5, 1842, by Ellis and Fergus, printers and publishers; David S. Griswold, editor; and was issued only a short time.
The Democratic Advocate and Commercial Advertiser, weekly, commenced February 3, 1844, by Ellis and Fergus, printers and publishers; editor, James Curtiss-mayor of Chicago in 1847. It ceased to exist January, 1846.
On May 20, 1844, appeared the first number of the Gem of the Prairie, weekly, of which Kiler Kent Jones and Jas. Sterling Beach were the editors and proprietors.
The Chicago Tribune, reviving the name which had first appeared in Chicago in 1840, was established July 10, 1847, by James Kelly, Joseph K. C. Forrest, and John E. Wheeler. The Gem, after several changes, was purchased by and for a time was the weekly edition of the Tribune. The Tribune was the first paper to arrange, on December 6, 1849, for the daily receipt and publication of telegraphic dispatches. Joseph Medill from Cleveland, Ohio, became a part proprietor in June, 1855, and Dr. Charles H. Ray and Alfred Cowles in
947
CHICAGO DAILIES.
July, 1855. The Democratic Argus, daily and weekly, estab- lished August 12, 1850, by S. D. McDonald and Company -the company being Judge Ebenezer Peck, was sold to John Locke Scripps from Rushville, Illinois, and William Bross, and on September 16, 1852, they issued the first number of the Democratic Press, which was consolidated with the Tribune in 1858, and for a time was called the Press and Tribune. This union brought together what was undoubtedly the ablest corps of editorial writers and managers, at that time, or since, com- bined on any single paper in the country. Of these, Joseph Medill, the editor and principal owner of the Tribune, and still wielding the pen of a master, alone survives.
The dates of the establishment of other leading daily papers now existing in Chicago, with the names of their founders and proprietors, are as follows:
The Illinois Staats Zeitung, the most influential German paper in the Northwest, was established in April, 1848, by Robert B. Hoeffgen, Arno Voss being the editor. It was at first issued as a weekly paper, and changed to a daily upon the assumption of the editorial management by George Schneider in 1851. In 1861, Lorenz Brentano became owner of the paper, who sold an interest therein to Anton C. Hesing in 1862. Hesing became sole proprietor in 1867, and retained the chief manage- ment and control until it was transferred to his son, Washington Hesing, who is still at its head.
The Chicago Times was founded, Aug. 20, 1854, by James W. Sheahan, Isaac Cook, and Daniel Cameron. In 1861, Wilbur F. Storey became the principal owner and manager, and so con- tinued until his death in 1884. Since that date, the paper has passed through various vicissitudes previous to the present man- agement's obtaining control.
The Inter Ocean, which succeeded to the press-franchises and patronage of the Chicago Republican, was established, in 1872, by J. Young Scammon; Wm. Penn Nixon was its first general manager, assisted in the editorial department by E. W. Halford and Gilbert A. Pierce. Frank W. Palmer became its principal editor in 1873. A reorganization of the directory was effected in 1875, when Dr. Oliver W. Nixon was elected president and William Penn Nixon controlling manager, and they remain at the head of the paper to the present time.
948
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
The Neue Freie Presse, an independent German daily, pub- lished morning and evening, was established in 1871.
The Chicago Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Dec. 25, 1875; Victor F. Lawson became controlling owner and business manager the following year. Stone continued to be the editor-in-chief until 1888, when he transferred his interest to Lawson, who is now the sole proprietor. The paper com- prises two distinct publications, the Morning News and the Evening News, each with its own editorial staff, and the two papers combined issue eight different editions daily.
The Chicago Herald was established in May 10, 1881, by the Chicago Herald Company-Frank W. Palmer, James W. Scott, A. M. Jones, and Daniel Shepard -as a stalwart-republican paper, with Frank W. Palmer as editor, and James W. Scott, secretary and treasurer, and business manager. It was the successor of the Daily Telegraph, founded in 1878, and managed by William T. Collins, formerly of Winchester, Illinois. In the spring of 1883, John R. Walsh bought the controlling interest in the company, when Martin J. Russell became the editor, who was succeeded in 1887 by Horatio W. Seymour. The paper now is democratic, owned by Walsh and Scott alone. The Chicago Evening Post, controlled by John R. Walsh and Jas. W. Scott, who own the stock, was established May 1, 1890.
The evening papers of the city, besides the Fournal, News, and Post, are the Mail, and the Globe.
Notwithstanding the giant strides taken by Illinois in material progress-in commerce, agriculture, and manufactures; despite her advance in education; and although the influence of her voice in the national councils has grown until her delegates in both houses of congress stand in the foremost rank, it must, nevertheless, be admitted that in the world of letters she has by no means overtaken the older commonwealths of the East. During the war, her troops were among the most valiant, her generals-notably "the old commander,"-the most renowned; in the learned professions not a few of her sons have attained national, and some of them world-wide fame; in the money markets of two continents, her credit stands unquestioned and unassailable; yet she has given to the world no author of com- manding influence and few of national reputation.
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