USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Past and present of the city of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois > Part 44
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ST. PETER'S CHURCHI.
As we have seen, Rev. J. I. St. Cyr was ap- pointed to have charge of the English speak- ing Catholies of the Quincy mission in 1837. but did not come here to reside, going instead to St. Augustine, from which place he visited Qniney periodically. llis health soon failed, however, and on that account he was trans- ferred to Kaskaskia. He was succeeded by Rev. Ililarius Tucker, who came directly to Quiney and resided here. This was in the year 1839, at which time accordingly the English speaking ('atholies for the first time had a pastor who made his residence in Quincy. The Northern Cross railroad was built in 1838 and 1839. This enterprise brought a large number of Irish Catholics who were employed in the work to Quiney, and hence the congregation received a large increase in a short time. A Mr. Widney, who was a member of the church. donated the lot on the southwest corner of Eighth and Maine streets, on which the church stands. On account of the building of the Northern Cross railroad, in which many of the members were employed, it became possible for Father Tucker to at once begin the building of a new brick church in 1839. For this pur- pose. before beginning. he had collected $2,000. Before the church was completed. however. the Northern Cross railroad became bankrupt and all work on that enterprise was tempo-
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rarily abandoned. As a result of this, many of the Irish Catholic men who had been engaged in the construction of that railroad left the city, and the congregation dwindled down to very small dimensions. In 1838 Father Brick- wedde states, in an account that he sent to the Bishop, that there were about fifty English speaking Catholics in Quiney. Consequently. when the new arrivals who had been brought here by the building of the railroad, left, the English speaking church again became immer- ically very weak. Many of those who had sub- scribed toward the building could not pay by reason of losing their work. The result was that the new church was sold. Arrangements were made, however, under which the congre- gation remained in possession of the same, and as the membership gradually increased, the church was repurchased by the congregation. Father Teker stayed here till November, 1846. From this point he supplied many neighboring places, such as Versailles, Mt. Sterling. Pitts- field and Gilead. He was succeeded by Rev. F. Derwin, who remained until December, 1848. Rev. Derwin was followed by Rev. Pat- rick T. MeElhearn, who stayed until October, 1852. Father Me Elhearn was followed by Rev. James Dempsey, who remained pastor of the church until October, 1857. and was succeeded by Rev. MeElhearn, who stayed until January, 1862. Rev. M. Mebonghlin served from Jan- mary, 1862, until October of that year. The next pastor of the church was Rev. Peter Me- Girr. He came to Quincy in the fall of 1862, and at once began the energetic and success- ful management of the affairs of the congrega- tion, which he continned until his death. Dur- ing his lengthy pastorate Father Medirr strengthened and developed the church in every direction. At the very ontset he started a parish school. For this purpose he rented the honse on the southeast corner of Ninth and Maine streets, where he began the school. Ile immediately began the erection of a temporary frame school building back of the church in 1863; the following year he built the brick school building, which is still in use. In 1866 he purchased a parsonage for $4,000, imme- diately west of the church. It was situated on part of the lot now occupied by the present fine parsonage. With tireless energy he pre- pared for the building of a new, large and beautiful church. This was built in the year 1868-69 at a cost of $70,000. It is the present. St. Peter's Roman Catholic church. This church is one hundred and fifty feet long, six- ty-tive feet wide and has a steeple two hnn- dred and twelve feet in height, and is an im- posing, massive building that promises to stand for ages to come. The new church was opened
January 1, 1870, and at that time more than two-thirds of the cost had been raised. In 1870 Father MeGirr purchased the present St. Peter's cemetery, located on east Broadway. In 1875 he bought for the new church a large organ, costing $2,500, and in 1887 he had the interior of the church thoroughly renovated and decorated. Father MeGirr also built the fine new parsonage, which is at present used by the pastor. His long and successful pas- torate of St. Peter's church was only ter- minated by his death, which occurred in Quiney, on March 10. 1893. Father MeGirr was followed by Rev. JJohn P. Kerr, the pres- ent pastor of the church. who arrived in Quin- ey May 16, 1893, and has since that time sue- cessfully administered the affairs of the con- gregation. By him three fine new altars were erected and the interior of the church has been in many ways greatly beautified. The church is now lighted by electricity. The congrega- tion at present consists of 170 families and 750 members. The school has 125 pupils and two teachers.
ST. FRANCIS CHURCH.
St. Francis congregation was established in the year 1859 by the Fathers of the Order of St. Francis. Rev. Herman Schaefermeyer, who was then pastor of St. Boniface church, found that his congregation was becoming too large and as he was a great admirer of the Francis- van Order, it was through his efforts that the fathers of that order were indneed to come to Quincy to take charge of the new German eon- gregation, which was located in the northeast- ern part of the city. On December 2. 1859, Rev. Servatius Altmicks and Brother Honor- ious Dopp, members of that order, came to Quincy to start the new congregation. At first they resided with Father Schaefermeyer. As it was intended that a new high school should be established by the order, the building sit- nated on the southeast corner of Eighth and Maine streets was at first leased for that por- pose and the school was begun in the month of December, 1859. In the spring of the fo]- lowing year the new church, which was located on the north side of Vine street, between 18th and 20th streets, was begun, and by December of the same year it was completed. During the same summer a convent was built adjoin- ing the new church. Father Servatius Altmicks was the first pastor. He was followed, Oeto- ber 20, 1862, by Rev. Ferdinandus Bergemeyer. In the year 1864 a school was built adjoining the convent. On March 10, 1870, Rev. P. Na- zarius Kommerscheid was appointed as the snecessor of Rev. Bergemeyer. On September 4th of the same year the corner stone for a
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new college, to be under the charge of the Fathers of the order. was laid. This also ad- joined the church. The growth of the congre- gation was hindered materially by the fact that the land covered by the present Alstyne's addition to the city was for many years out of the market, which made it impossible for any one to purchase lots in the districts lying north of Broadway between Twelfth and Eighteenth streets, which was known as the "Prairie" and was maintained as an open common. After this land was subdivided and offered for sale, the congregation grew rapidly. This made it necessary to build a new church. As a consequence, the large substantial new church now situated on the northeast corner of 18th and Vine streets was begun in the year 1884 and completed in the year 1886. It is 182 feet long. the nave of the church is 70 feet wide, and the transept is 120 feet wide. The church is built in the pure Gothic style. and its interior decorations are very fine. The building itself cost $62,000. which price seems ineredibly small for the magnificent structure. This is probably accounted for in part by the fact that the plans for the structure were made by Brother Adrianus Wewer, a member of the order. who also was superintendent of con- strnetion. Brother Adrianns is one of the very best church architects in the country, and to him are due the plans under which St. Mary's church in this eity, and the St. Francis College were built. Adjoining this new church the Order of St. Francis built a new convent. Rev. Nazarins Kommerscheid remained pastor of the congregation until his death, which took place in October. 1883. His successor was Rev. Andrew Butzkueben. As will be seen, it was under his administration that the new church and the new convent were built. Father Andrew also built the large three-story new school building, which is situated on the southeast corner of 16th and Vine streets. The old school. church and convent were torn down and on the place occupied by them the large addition to St. Franeis Solanus College was built, which trebled the capacity of that col- lege. Father Andrew still remains the beloved pastor of the church. The congregation at this time is composed of 550 families and has a membership of 2,000. The school has seven teachers and 525 pupils.
ST. MARY'S CHURCH.
St. Mary's congregation was established in the year 1867, when a lot was bought on the northeast corner of Seventh and Adams streets for the purpose of erecting the new church. The corner stone was laid June 7, 1867. and the building was completed by December.
Father F. Reinhart, who at that time was the assistant priest at St. Boniface, had charge of the congregation at the time the new church was constructed. He made all the preliminary collections and supervised the building, and it had been the intention that he should become the first pastor of the church. His health, however, failed, and for that reason he was un- able to assume the charge. In December, 1867. Rev. Theodore Brnener. to whom we have re- peatedly referred above. came to America di- rect from Germany and joined the diocese of Alton in which Quincy is located. The bishop sent him to Quincy to assume the pastorate of the new church. Although the building itself was complete and under roof. none of the in- terior work had been done at that time. As wages during that period were very high, the building had been very expensive. Interest rates were correspondingly high. and the in- debtedness of $20,000, which then still rested on the congregation, was a serious burden. Father Bruener, however, with characteristic energy. entered upon the new duties he had as- sumed, and his efforts were soon crowned with success. In the year 1868 he built a two- story briek sehool, which is still in nse. In the following year he remodeled the entire in- terior of the church in the pure Gothic style and had the same decorated in a most artis- tie manner. Two new side altars were added in 1872, and in 1874 a very beautiful main altar was constructed. As a result of all these changes the interior of the church became probably the most beautiful of any church in Quiney. During the time that all of these im- provements were made Father Bruener mate- rially reduced the debt of the congregation. To the great regret of the congregation, Father Brnener received a call to become the presi- dent of the Catholic Normal school of St. Francis, Milwaukee county. Wisconsin, which was of such a character that he felt it to be his duty to aceept the same. He left Quiney in the spring of 1875 and did not return till December 31, 1879, at which time. as we have seen, he. by the command of the bishop. as- sumed charge of St. Boniface. His successor as pastor of St. Mary's was Rev. G. Mirbach. During his pastorate a new church steeple was added to the church and a chime of bells placed therein. lle also built the neat par- sonage of the congregation, which is still in use. It was finished on June 24, 1884, and cost $4,783. On February 3, 1891. the splendid St. Mary's church. which had been built up and beautified, as we have seen, in the course of many years, was completely destroyed by fire. The congregation, however, did not lose cour- age. but immediately set about building a new
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church, which was completed in the following summer at a cost of about $40,000. It also was of brick. A new organ has been added at a cost of $2.500. The new church remains, as the old one was, a structure of great interior beauty. Father Mirbach remained pastor of the church until his death, which ocenrred in Quincy. April 2, 1895. His successor was Rev. Joseph Locher, who administered to the con- gregation until his death, December 10. 1904. lle was followed by Rev. Joseph Maurer, the present pastor of the church. The congrega- tion now has 250 Families and a membership of 900. The school has 250 pupils and five teach- ers.
ST. JOHN'S CHURCHL.
The congregation of St. John's church was established in the year 1880. In that year Rev. Joseph Still, who had come from Germany shortly before that time, was called to Quincy to assume charge of the new congregation. The first building erected was a brick school and church, the school rooms being in the first story, and the church in the second story. It is situated on the east side of Tenth street be- tween Cedar and Spruce. The congregation has Honrished from the very beginning. On the 1st of January, 1881, it comprised 190 fam- ilies, and had a debt of only $3,000. In that year the commodious parsonage, still in use, was built. The first church soon proved to be too small to accommodate the constantly in- creasing congregation. As it, however, was evident that St. John's was destined to become one of the strongest German congregations in the city, it was deemed desirable that the new church to be built shonkl in size and beauty be commensurate with the future demands. Father Still is extremely conservative and was not willing to begin the construction of such a church as the situation required until he had on hand substantially all of the money neces- sary for the building. This delayed the be- ginning of the new structure. The corner stone was laid in 1895, and the new church was dedicated February 14, 1899. The church is built in the pure Roman style, entirely of stone. It is 170 feet long, and 76 feet wide, and is one of the most imposing structures in the city. It was planned by Father Still him- self. and is estimated to have cost about $75,000. It has a fine marble altar, and it is the intention soon to frescoe the interior of the church. While the church was building there was also built a three-story brick addition to the former combined school and church, the whole being used now as a school and as a residence for the sisters who have charge of the same. All this great work has been done
under the pastorate of Father Still, who still remains in charge of the church. He is now ably assisted by the young and energetic as- sistant pastor, Rev. A. J. Stengel. The congre- gation comprises 350 families and has a mem- bership of 1,200. The school is attended by 260 pupils, who are taught by seven teachers.
ST. ROSE OF LIMA CHURCH.
In the year 1892 the congregation of St. Peter's church was divided, the northern por- tion of the city being formed into the new St. Rose of Lima congregation. Rev. John P. Brennan, who for several years prior to that time had been the able assistant pastor of St. Peter's, was appointed the first pastor of the new church. He at once set about raising the necessary funds, and in the same year com- pleted the present building, situated on the northwest corner of Eighth and Cherry streets, which is used as a church and school. This building is a handsome brick structure, the first floor of which is divided into school rooms, and the whole of the second story being used as a church. Its cost was abont $11.000. About 1897 Father Brennan erected a new parsonage immediately north of the church, which is one of the handsomest parsonages in the city. This cost between $7,000 and $8,000. The congregation has expended in the erec- tion and furnishing of buildings and the pur- chasing of ground about $25,000. It is now practically ont of debt, for it owes only $700. This is a remarkable financial record for a con- gregation having the small numerical strength this one has. There now belong to the con- gregation eighty families and it comprises 450 members. St. Rose's school has 100 pupils and two teachers. Father Brennan is still the pas- tor of the church.
CHAPTER XLIII.
BANKING HISTORY-ILLINOIS FIRST BANK-THE SPECULATIVE ERA-IMPROVEMENT IN SYS- TEMS-QUINCY BANKS.
At the annual meeting of the Illinois Bank- ers' Association, held in Quiney, October 29-30, 1901, Mr. Lorenzo Bull of this city delivered an address descriptive of the early banking methods of this state, from which valuable historieal resumé the following excerpts are taken :
"The first bank in the State of Illinois was chartered in 1821 by a legislature composed
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largely of this pioneer elass. It was founded without money, wholly on the credit of the state. It was authorized to issue bank notes bearing two per cent annual interest and pay- able by the state in ten years. The legislature elected all the directors and officers. These were largely chosen from the members of the legislature and all of them were professional politieians. The bank was required by law to lend its bills to the people to the amount of $100 on personal security, and larger sums upon the security of mortgages. The bills were receivable in payment of all State and County taxes, all costs and fees and salaries. If any judgment creditor refused to endorse upon his execution his willingness to receive such bank notes in payment of his debt, the debtor could stay its collection for three years. The members of this legislature firmly believed that the notes of this bank would remain at par with gold and silver and would buy any- thing which was for sale. * * *
"Abont $300,000 of the paper of this bank was issued and was soon loaned without mueh attention to security or care for future pay- ment. It was soon at a discount of twenty- five. fifty, then seventy-five per cent: but it continued to circulate until it had driven all good money out of the state, and until the finances of the state government were involved in such ronfusion and loss that the legislature was compelled to take the matter in hand and borrow money and settle up the affairs of the bank upon the best terms they could get.
"When I came to Ilinois in 1833 there was no bank in the state. and no bank paper in cir- culation except a few of the notes of the United States Bank, which is still in existence, although its charter had been vetoed by Pres- ident Jackson, and it was then winding up its affairs. There was very little money of any kind in the country, and what there was con- sisted mainly of foreign silver coins. * * *
"During the Black Hawk war there was no development in Illinois, and population did not increase. The war closed in 1832, and from that period Illinois began to develop rapidly. Progress was impeded during the next year by the prevalence of Asiatic cholera through- ont the West, especially following the lines of the great rivers. Quiney suffered severely from its ravages, and out of a population of about three hundred, when I came here. thirty-three or more than one in every ten, died in about a month.
"It was in May, 1833, that } came to Quincy and I have made this my home ever since. In 1834 population was ponring into the state from many directions, and substantial prosper- ity. as well as speculation in lands and town
lots was rapidly developing. Indeed, a wild spirit of speculation was abroad throughout the whole United States, which finally enlmi- nated as to the whole country in the great panic of 1837, which brought ruin in its train to mul- titudes. It was during this period of prosper- ity, which commenced in 1834. that the legis- lature entered upon the project of establish- ing a new State bank in Illinois, and of re- viving some old bank charters. * *
"But the establishment of these banks un- der most unfavorable conditions was not the crowning piece of folly of the Illinois legisla- ture of that period. Illinois was then almost wholly undeveloped. There were no cities, and but few large towns: no trade, no manu- facture, and there was only a very sparse pop- ulation. There was nothing to export, no large business of any kind, and yet under these con- ditions the legislature of Ilinois undertook to establish the most extravagant system of in- ternal improvement that has ever been under- taken under like conditions anywhere in the world. At one sweep the legislature provided for the building of railroads from Galena to the mouth of the Ohio: from Alton to Shaw- neetown; from Alton to Mt. Carmel; from Al- ton to the eastern boundary of the state in the direction of Terre Haute; from Qniney on the Mississippi, through Springfield, to the Wa- bash : from Bloomington to Pekin, and from Peoria to Warsaw: ineluding in the whole about 1,300 miles of road. It also provided for the improvement of the navigation of the Kas- kaskia, Illinois, Wabash and Rock Rivers. And besides this, in order to secure the votes of the members from counties for which no rail- road had been provided, $200,000 was appro- priated to such eonnties to be expended for wagon roads and bridges. *
* The work progressed under a system of infatuation which can now hardly be explained and ae- counted for, until in 1838 the whole system utterly collapsed without any completed rail- road, if we except the poorly built piece from Springfield to the linois River, and with the State fourteen million dollars in debt, nearly all of which had been wasted.
"Then it was that the financial credit of the State of Illinois sank to the very lowest point of dishonor and disgrace. Its bonds could not he sold for fifteen cents on the dollar, and its anditors' warrants on the State treasury issued in payment of salaries and state expenses, were freely offered at fifty cents on the dollar. and at the same time almost universal indi- vidnal bankruptcy prevailed. All emigration to the State was stopped. and all settlers were anxious to sell out and leave the State for fear of the excessive taxation expected to follow if
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the State ever undertook the payment of its obligations. Then followed the failure of all the banks in the State. * *
"During a considerable period after the col- lapse of the internal improvement system the repudiation of the whole State debt was strongly urged in many influential quarters. By many it was deemed so large that it was impossible to pay it, but intelligent and honest infinenees finally prevailed, and legislation was determined upon to acknowledge, reduce and finally pay the debt, and from, and even be- fore, the time when the provision for levying a two-mill tax to be applied to the payment of all indebtedness was incorporated in the State Constitution of 1848, the credit and prosperity of Illinois have steadily advanced until it or- enpies its present place of entire freedom from debt and the highest financial credit.
"After this, until 185], there were no banks established by law in Illinois. Then what was known as the Free Banking system was adopted. under which one hundred and ten banks were established. * * * Although this system had many weak points, it was far in advance of what had gone before it: yet none of the bankers who passed through that period would like to see sneh banking revived at the present day."
QUINCY'S BANKING RECORD.
The earliest banking institution of Quincy was a branch of the State Bank of Illinois, established in 1836, with J. T. Hohes as pres- ident, E. J. Phillips, cashier, and, snecessively, John M. Holmes, C. B. Church and J. K. Web- ster. It suspended specie payments in May, 1837, but continued to do business until 1842, when, with the failure of the parent bank. in 1842, it went into liquidation in 1843.
Soon after a small private bank was opened. but it discontinued business in a short time.
As far back as 1845, Messrs. L. & C. I. Bull. then hardware merchants, bought and sold Exchange, made loans and transacted, in the connting room of their mercantile establish- ment, all the banking business which was transacted in Quiney. A year or two later, upon the organization of the banking firm of Flagg & Savage. they gladly transferred to them the banking department, finding that the other branches of their business were inereas- ing so rapidly as to require all their time and attention. The firm of Flagg & Savage com- menred business in 1850 : later, Mr. 1. O. Wood- ruff was admitted a special partner. They failed in 1857.
In 1852, Moore, Hollowbush & Co. com- meneed business. They failed in 1857. After-
wards they were sneceeded by Moore, Sherman & Co. ( Ebenezer & F. C. Moore and S. C. Sher- man). Their business was discontinued about the time of the failure of Flagg & Savage.
In 1856 Governor Matteson, his son-in-law, John McGinnis and Maitland Boone opened a private bank in the old Quincy House. This bank suspended business in 1860.
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