Past and present of Pike County, Illinois, Part 4

Author: Massie, Melville D; Clarke, (S.J.) Publishing Company, Chicago
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 760

USA > Illinois > Pike County > Past and present of Pike County, Illinois > Part 4

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.

ties, the Board of Agriculture and Agricultural Museum on the east side and the offices of the Auditor and Treasurer on the west ; the west wing by the Attorney General's office on the north side, the Law Library in the west end, while the south side of this wing and the west side of the south wing are devoted to the use of the Supreme Court. The east side of the south wing is oc- cupied by the State Superintendent of Public In- struction and the anti-trust and index depart- ments of the office of the Secretary of State.

On the third floor the north wing is occupied by the Senate Chamber, the south wing by the Hall of the House of Representatives, the east wing by the Geological and Natural History Museum and offices of the State Board of Par- dons and Printer Expert, and the west wing by the State Library and State Historical Library. There are also numerous committee rooms and offices for the officers of the General Assembly on this floor, while the gallery floor and mansard story are wholly occupied by committee rooms.

The porticoes of the east and north fronts, sup- ported by massive arches and columns of Joliet limestone and stately pillars of polished Fox Is- land granite, with the gigantic but perfectly pro- portioned and graceful dome, constitute the notable architectural features of the outer build- ing, while the magnificent rotunda and grand stairway of the interior were the special pride of the architects and builders.

The floors of the rotunda and of the corridors are mosaic work of different colored marble. The walls of the rotunda in the first and second stories and to the spring of the arches, as well as the arches themselves, are of solid stone faced with Bedford blue limestone and Missouri red granite. The grand stairway, leading from the second floor to the third, constructed of solid marble, with columns, pilasters, arches, rails, bal- usters, wainscoting and soffits connected with it, also of solid marble, was, at the time of its con- struction, considered superior in design, mate- rial and finish, to any similar stairway in the world. The polished columns in the second story of the rotunda are of Missouri red granite with bases of blue granite and rich foliated caps of Tuckahoe marble. The wainscoting of the cor-

ridors of vari-colored marbles, domestic and im- ported (including white Italian, Alps green, Lis- bon, Glens Falls, old Tennessee, Concord, and other varieties) artistically paneled, is a piece of work unexcelled for beauty and durability and in perfect harmony with the other parts of the spa- cious hallways. The ceilings of the principal rooms are heavily paneled and tastefully deco- rated; those of the Supreme Court room and the Assembly halls being particularly worthy of note.

The paintings and statuary intended to adorn the interior are hardly in keeping with the archi- tectural beauty of the building, though some of the work is of unquestioned merit. The panels of the main corridor of the first floor are deco- rated with paintings illustrative of scenes and events closely connected with the early history of the State, such as old Fort Chartres on the Mississippi, Starved Rock on the Illinois, old Fort Dearborn, New Salem in the time of Lin- coln, General Grant taking command of the troops at Cairo at the beginning of the Civil war, Marquette and Joliet in a conference with the In- dians during the earliest recorded exploration of Illinois in 1673, and Governor Coles liberating his slaves as they drift down the Ohio river in a flat boat on their immigration to Illinois. A large painting representing Col. George Rogers Clark negotiating a treaty with the Illinois Indians fills the large panel on the wall above the landing of the grand stairway. Full length portraits of Lin- coln and Douglas are found in the hall of the House of Representatives, and of Washington and Lafayette in the State Library, while por- traits, varying widely in artistic merit, of all the Governors of the State adorn the walls of the Governor's office.

In the center of the first floor at the intersection of the main corridors, as a relic of the World's Fair at Chicago, stands a bronze female figure of heroic size representing "Illinois welcoming the world," to the Columbian Exposition of 1892. This piece of statuary was placed on exhibition by the woman's exposition committee during the exposition, in the Illinois building, and was trans- ferred to the state after the close of the fair.

On the second floor are marble statues of Lin- coln, Douglas and Governor Wood, and high up

PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.

on the walls of the rotunda on pedestals near the except for some unforeseen disaster, will yet stand for many years a monument to the fore- sight of those who conceived it, as well as to the skill of the architects and workmen who designed and constructed it. At the time of its construc- tion there was no public building in the United States, except the capitol at Washington, to com- pare with it in size, cost or elegance; and now. by which it was built, there are few buildings in the country surpassing it for architectural beauty or which more adequately serve the purpose for which they were intended. base of the inner dome are heroic bronze casts of eight men prominent in the civil and military history of the state-Ninian Edwards, governor by appointment and re-appointment during the entire territorial period, 1809 to 1818, and third of governor of the state; Shadrach Bond, the state's first governor ; Edward Coles, the second governor ; Sidney Breese, judge of the supreme. thirty-five years after the drawing of the plans court of the state for many years, and United States senator ; Lyman Trumbull, United States senator and eminent jurist; U. S. Grant, com- mander of all the armies of the Union at the close of the Civil war and afterwards twice elected to the presidency ; John A. Logan, Major General of THE CAPITAL CITIES OF ILLINOIS. Volunteers during the Civil war, and afterwards for many years United States senator-a brilliant KASKASKIA. figure in the military and political history of the state; and William R. Morrison, eminent, alike, as a statesman and jurist, the only one of these eight worthies still living.

Still above these statues, and just at the base of the inner dome, is a series of allegorical and his- torical pictures, in bas relief, of conceded artis- tic merit. Among them are the discussion of the stamp act, in the Virginia House of Burgesses, with Patrick Henry as the central figure, making his memorable address, and Washington and Richard Henry Lee among his attentive auditors ; the evacuation of Yorktown by the British forces ; Peter Cartwright, the pioneer preacher, conduct- ing a religious service in a "settler's" cabin; the surrender of Black Hawk at Prairie du Chien ; and a joint debate between those giants of the political forum, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, in their great campaign of 1858. In these historical representations all of the figures are supposed to be portraits of historical charac- ters. Many of them are easily recognized, but others it seems impossible to identify, as the gifted artist, T. Nicolai, who designed and exe- cuted the work, dying before it was wholly com- pleted, left no key to the different groups' so graphically represented.

It is difficult to describe in detail such a build- ing without making the description tedious to the average reader. It is unnecessary, perhaps, to de- scribe it at all. It stands to speak for itself, and

No reliable data can be found from which the earliest settlement of Kaskaskia may positively be determined. Authentic records show that in 1675 Marquette established a mission among the Kaskaskia Indians, known as the Kaskaskia Mis- sion, near the present site of Utica, LaSalle county, and that, on account of the repeated at- tacks of the warlike Iroquois, this mission, with a considerable body of the Kaskaskia Indians, was removed, in 1700, to the present site of Kaskas- kia. Some authorities claim that a settlement had previously been formed here as early as 1682 by some of LaSalle's followers on the return voyage from their exploration of the lower Mississippi. Others state that the first settlement was the estab- lishment at this point of a trading post by Tonti in 1685. It is probable that the settlement was no continuous from the first, for the early French traders and trappers were as migratory in their habits as the Indians themselves ; and probably those authorities are not far wrong who fix the earliest settlement in 1700, reckoning from the date of the transfer of the Kaskaskia Mission from the upper waters of the Illinois to the lower Kas- kaskia river. It is.known, at least, that Kaskas- kia was among the earliest French settlements in the Illinois country, that it soon outstripped all of its neighboring villages in wealth and population, and at an early date became the center of coloniza- tion and exploration, as well as the headquarters

PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.

of missionary effort and mercantile and military enterprise in that part of New France known as the Illinois country. The first military occu- pation of the village by the French govern- ment was in 1718. 1719 saw the first regular parish organization. A monastery and college were erected as early as 1721, and in 1725 the village was incorporated and received front Louis XV. a grant of commons to the inhabitants. Under French rule the village gradually increased in population and importance, until in 1763, at the close of the French and Indian war, it is said to have had a population of 2,000 or 3,000. These figures, however, are not well authenticated. In 1765, at the time of the British occupation, a large proportion of the population, estimated at one- third of the whole, left the village and took up their residences at St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve. on the west bank of the Mississippi. During the British occupation, from 1765 to 1778, few acces- sions were made to the village ; but after the con- trol passed into the hands of the colonies, at the close of the Revolutionary war, the tide of emi- gration from the older colonies set toward Kas- kaskia ; but its growth was slow until after the organization of Illinois as a territory. The terri- torial period, from 1809 to 1818, included the most prosperous years in the history of the vil- lage, and after the removal of the state capital to Vandalia it never again acquired so large a population as it had at that time. On the other hand, the village since that event has steadily di- minished in population and importance, and even its ancient site is disappearing, a prey to the an- nual spring floods of the Mississippi. In 1818, Kaskaskia was incorporated as a town under the laws of the territory. In 1820, the state govern- ment removed to Vandalia-the new capital of the state. In 1848, four years after a disastrous in- undation, the county seat was removed to Ches- ter. From 1836 to 1871 no town officers were elected under that charter. In 1871, a town gov- ernment was again formed under the old char- ter, and in 1873 the town reorganized under the general law. In 1880, the town retained a popu- lation of 350. In 1881, the Mississippi broke through the narrow neck of alluvial land above the town and joined its waters with those of the

Kaskaskia, leaving the old town on an island, and washing away a considerable part of the old town site. Each recurring spring flood takes away a portion of the old site, and it is probable that the spring of 1900 will witness the disappearance of the last vestige of the old town. At the present time there are not more than eight or ten of its remaining houses occupied-its population less than half a hundred, its postoffice and last busi- ness house long since departed, the building known in tradition as the Old State House stand- ing on the edge of the crumbling bank of the river, waiting for the next flood to carry it away -- its total obliteration now seems to be a ques- tion of a few months only, after an eventful ex- istence of two hundred years.

VANDALIA.

When Vandalia was made the state capital in 1820, the site of the town and all the country round about it was an unbroken wilderness. Fay- ette county was not organized nor the town in- corporated until the following year .. In 1830 the population of Fayette county had grown to 2,700 and at the time of the removal of the capi- tal, ten years later, the population had more than doubled, being something more than 6,000, of which number 900, perhaps, lived in the town of Vandalia. After the removal of the capital to Springfield the population of the town fell away for several years, and as late as 1854 contained but about 800 people. The present population is about 2,500 or 3,000 and the present area is less than half, perhaps, of the four sections constitut- ing the original town site, much of which now forms corn and wheat fields adjoining the town as it exists to-day. Recent years have brought to it a gradual but steady increase of population, and though it has not kept pace with its successor, Springfield, there is nothing to indicate its total extinction, the fate that seems meted out to its predecessor, historic old Kaskaskia.

SPRINGFIELD.

Springfield, at the time it became the capital of the state, was but little larger than the deserted village of Vandalia. The act of 1821, organizing

PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.

the county of Sangamon, authorized the commis- sioners to locate a temporary county seat, by which authority they proceeded, according to the final clause of their own report, to "fix and designate a certain point in the prairie near John Kelly's field on the waters of Spring creek, at a stake set marked Z. D., as the temporary seat of justice of said county, and do further agree that the said county seat be called and known by the name of Springfield." The "stake marked Z. D." was driven near what is now the corner of Second and Jefferson streets, and later in the same year a court house and jail, the total cost of which was $84, was erected on this spot. The following year Elijah Iles and Pascal Enos caused to be surveyed. and platted a town which surrounded this "temporary seat of justice" and called the town Calhoun. But as Springfield was the official title of the county seat as well as of the postoffice, established in 1823, the name Calhoun was seldom used ; and the town, in spite of its owners and godfathers, was generally called Springfield. In 1824, by act of the legislature, the boundary lines of the county were readjusted and the commis- sioners authorized to permanently locate a county seat, in the doing of which they were directed to procure a donation of not less than thirty-five acres of land upon which they were to lay off a town site. Rather than lose for their town the prestige which attaches to a county seat, the pro- prietors of Calhoun donated forty-two acres ad- joining their own town and including a portion of it, for the site of the permanent county seat. The donation was accepted by the commissioners, "platted" by them into blocks and lots with. streets and alleys to correspond with those of the old town of Calhoun, and without change of name and but a slight change in location, the permanent county seat was fixed May 18, 1825. Neither town was incorporated and neither had any form of municipal government until 1827, when an act was passed by the general assembly authorizing the county commissioners to appoint a supervisor for the town whose principal duty, as defined by the act, was "to have all the trees and stumps in any of the streets described, cut off as nearly level with the ground as possible." He was also made custodian of certain fines and penalties collected

by the justices within the town, which he was to expend for the improvement of streets and alleys. In 1832 the town was incorporated under the general act of 1831, and was governed by the president and board of trustees of the town, who continued in municipal control until its incorpora- tion as a city. In 1833 an act was passed by the general assembly providing for a resurvey of the town and declaring that "hereafter the plat of the town of Calhoun shall be forever known and de- clared as a part of the town of Springfield." In 1840, after having been designated as the capital of the state, the town was reincorporated as a city, at which time it had a population of about 1,100.

This charter of 1840 was the subject of amend- ment at nearly every session of the legislature for many years, and in 1882 the city was reorganized under the general law. Since that time its growth in area as well as in wealth and population has steadily gone forward and its present estimated population is 35,000 or 40,000. Besides the im- portance which attaches to it as the county seat of a large and properous county and as the capital city of a great state, its location in the midst of a great coal region furnishing an inexhaustible supply of cheap fuel, makes it an important min- ing and manufacturing center. Its excellent ho- tels together with the accommodations afforded for large assemblies by its public buildings, make it a favorite convention city for political, religious, educational and social organizations. It has be- come in recent years one of the most attractive and prosperous cities of the state, and apparently there is nothing likely to interrupt its continued growth and prosperity.

ILLINOIS AS A STATE.

ORGANIZATION.

In January of 1818 the territorial legislature forwarded to Nathaniel Pope, delegate in con- gress from Illinois, a petition praying for admis- sion into the national Union as a state. On April 18th of the same year congress passed the enabling act, and December 3, after the state government had been organized and Governor Bond had

PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.

signed the constitution, congress by a resolution declared Illinois to be "one of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states in all respects."

The ordinance of 1787 declared that there should be at least three states carved out of the Northwestern Territory. The boundaries of the three, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, were fixed by this law. Congress reserved the power, however, of forming two other states out of the territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southern boundary of Lake Michi- gan. It was generally conceded that this line would be the northern boundary of Illinois; but as this would give the state no coast on L'ake Michigan ; and rob her of the port of Chicago and the northern terminus of the Illinois and Michi- gan canal which was then contemplated, Judge Pope had the northern boundary moved fifty miles further north.

BOUNDARY CHANGED.

Not only is Illinois indebted to Nathaniel Pope for the port where now enter and depart more vessels during the year than in any other port in the world, for the northern terminus of the Illi- nois and Michigan canal, and for the lead mines at Galena, but the nation, the undivided Union, is largely indebted to him for its perpetuity. It was he,-his foresight, statesmanship and energy, -that bound our confederated Union with bands of iron that can never be broken. The geograph- ical position of Illinois, with her hundreds of miles of water-courses, is such as to make her the key to the grand arch of northern and southern states. Extending from the great chain of lakes on the north, with snow and ice of the arctic region, to the cotton fields of Tennessee ; peopled, as it is, by almost all races, classes and conditions of the human family ; guided by the various and diversified political, agricultural, religious and educational teachings common to both North and South,-Illinois can control, and has controlled, the destinies of our united and beloved republic. Pope seemingly foresaw that a struggle to dis- solve the Union would be made. With a pro- phetic eye he looked down the stream of time for a

half century and saw the great conflict between the South and North, caused by the determination to dissolve the confederation of states ; and to pre- serve the Union, he gave to Illinois a lake coast.

Governor Ford, in his History of Illinois, writen in 1847, while speaking of this change of boundary and influence upon our nation, says :

"What, then, was the duty of the national gov- ernment? Illinois was certain to be a great state, with any boundaries which that government could give. Its great extent of territory, its un- · rivaled fertility of soil and capacity for sustain- ing a dense population, together with its com- manding position, would in course of time give the new state a very controlling influence with her sister states situated upon the Western riv- ers, either in sustaining the federal Union as it is, or in dissolving it and establishing new govern- ments. If left entirely upon the waters of these great rivers, it was plain that, in case of threat-, ened disruption, the interest of the new state would be to join a souhern and western confeder- acy ; but if a large portion of it could be made independent upon the commerce and navigation of the great northern lakes, connected as they are with the eastern states, a rival interest would be created to check the wish for a western and south- ern confederacy.

"It therefore became the duty of the national government not only to make Illinois strong, but to raise an interest inclining and binding her to the eastern and northern portions of the Union. This could be done only through an interest in the lakes. At that time the commerce on the lakes was small, but its increase was confidently expected, and, indeed, it has exceeded all antici- pations, and is yet only in its infancy. To accom- plish this object effectually, it was not only neces- sary to give to Illinois the port of Chicago and a route for the canal, but a considerable coast on Lake Michigan, with a country back of it suffi- ciently extensive to contain a population capable of exerting a decided influence upon the councils of the state.

"There would, therefore, be a large commerce of the north, western and central portion of the state afloat on the lakes for it was then foreseen that the canal would be made; and this alone

PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.

would be like turning one of the many mouths of the Mississippi into Lake Michigan at Chicago. A very large commerce of the center and south would be found both upon the lakes and rivers. Associations in business, in interest, and of friend- ship would be formed, both with the north and the south. A state thus situated, having such a decided interest in the commerce, and in the pres- ervation of the whole confederacy, can never con- sent to disunion; for the Union can not be dis- solved without division and disruption of the state itself. These views, urged by Judge Pope, obtained the unqualified assent of the statesmen of 1818.

"These facts and views are worthy to be re- corded in history as a standing and perpetual call upon Illinoisans of every age to remember the great trust which has been reposed in them, as the peculiar champions and guardians of the Union by the great men and patriot sages who adorned and governed this country in the earlier and better days of the republic."

During the dark and trying days of the Rebel- lion, well did she remember this sacred trust, to protect which two hundred thousand of her sons went to the bloody field of battle, crowning their arms with the laurels of war, and keeping invio- late the solemn obligations bequeathed to them by their fathers.

FIRST CONSTITUTION.

In July and August of 1818 a convention was held at Kaskaskia for the purpose of drafting a constitution. This constitution was not submit- ted to a vote of the people for their approval or rejection, it being well known that they would ap- prove it. It was about the first organic law of any state in the Union to abolish imprisonment for debt. The first election under the constitu- tion was held on the third Thursday and the two succeeding days in September, 1818. Shadrach Bond was elected governor, and Pierre Menard lieutenant governor. Their term of office extended four years. At this time the state was divided into fifteen counties, the population being about 40,000. Of this number by far the larger portion were from the southern states. The salary of the

governor was $1,000, while that of the treasurer was $500. The legislature re-enacted, verbatim, the territorial code, the penalties of which were unnecessarily severe. Whipping, stocks and pil- lory were used for minor offenses, and for arson, rape, horse-stealing, etc., death by hanging was the penalty. These laws, however, were modi- fied in 1821.

The legislature first convened at Kaskaskia, the ancient seat of empire for more than one hun- dred and fifty years, both for the French and Americans. Provisions were made, however, for the removal of the seat of government by this legislature. A place in the wilderness on the Kas- kaskia river was selected and named Vandalia. From Vandalia it was removed to Springfield in the year 1837.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Past and present of Pike County, Illinois, Part 4

Author: Massie, Melville D; Clarke, (S.J.) Publishing Company, Chicago Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 760

Author: Massie, Melville D; Clarke, (S.J.) Publishing Company, Chicago
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 760