USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Peoria > Peoria city and county, Illinois; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 55
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
and chief among the stockholders were Sumner R. Clark, Frank T. Corning, Charles C. Clark, George H. Littlewood, Chauncey D. Clark, Fred Luthy, H. Sandmeyer, Sr., B. Warren, Jr., O. J. Bailey. Philo B. Miles and T. J. Miller. The company built its works near those of the other company, laid their mains and at once entered into strong competition with the Peoria Gas Light & Coke Company, which at once lowered the price of its product, and started a merry war between the two concerns. This as a matter of course occasioned loss to them both and it only became a question of time as to which one should succumb to the other. A process of absorption by the Peoria Gas & Electric Company, the name assumed by the People's Gas & Electric Company in February, 1900, by acquisition of the stock of the former company, finally was accomplished and in 1904 the two companies were consolidated under the name and title of the Peoria Gas Light & Coke Company.
About the year 1884, electricity was introduced into the city of Peoria. Pre- vious to this, on November 8, 1883, a franchise was granted the Jenny Electric Light & Power Company to set poles and string wires in and along the streets of the city, after which the company established an electric lighting plant, and in November, 1885, completed a contract with the city for the lighting of its streets for a period of five years. This move displaced the Peoria Gas Light & Coke Company in furnishing lights to the city and it was required to remove all its lamps from the streets and was the beginning of the end of the use of gas upon the public thoroughfares. On the expiration of its contract, the Jenny Electric Light & Power Company was successful in securing another contract with the city for the same length of time to light the streets with electricity. Two years thereafter its name was changed to the Peoria General Electric Company, which company continued to light the streets until the end of the year 1900, when the plant was sold to the Peoria Gas & Electric Company, which some time pre- viously had been organized. This company then secured a contract from the city for lighting the streets and has been so employed to the present time. In 1906 the Peoria Gas & Electric Company was granted an extension of its electric fran- chise for a period of twenty-five years, which begins in 1920, or in other words, the original franchise was extended from a period of fifteen years to forty years.
The Peoria Gas Light & Electric Company has made a number of important changes for the betterment of its service in the last few years. In 1908, it placed all its wires in the downtown district under ground and in 1911, through an ar- rangement between the company, the business men and the city, the boulevard system of lighting the business section was inaugurated. The first installation of ornamental posts was on Adams street from Main to Bridge, and at the present time there are now about two hundred five-globe ornamental boulevard standards, which not only illuminate the streets and the buildings profusely, but add very materially to the beautification of that section of the city.
Another improvement of no mean importance and convenience to consumers was the public steam heating system recently installed by the company in the downtown district. The mains extend from Bryan street to Oak and from Water to Monroe. Many private homes and business houses are furnished heat from the central plant and the city hall and other public buildings are also patrons of the company. The modern, sky-scraper office building, the Jefferson, and the new Jefferson hotel receive their heat from the company.
The electric plants belonging to the company are at the foot of Liberty street and the gas plants at the foot of Persimmon street. Gas is furnished for all purposes at ninety cents per thousand and there are now about 20,000 consumers. The officials of the company are: B. C. Cobb, president; W. H. Barthold, vice- president ; E. E. Corken, secretary ; A. P. Colvin, treasurer ; R. S. Wallace, vice- president and general manager.
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SEWERAGE SYSTEM
A general system of sewerage was adopted by the city in 1900. Prior to this the liquid refuse had been run off in underground drains or sewers in certain sections as the occasion demanded and, upon determined appeals of citizens inter- ested, the first important one was a deep sewer constructed in the west part of the city, and having its main outlet at Oak street. There were other local sewers constructed in that portion of the city between Main and Bridge streets; but it was not until the year first above mentioned that this necessary convenience and public work was systematized. Since then the greater part of the city has been drained and given outlets for its refuse matter. The city is divided into sewerage districts, which bear the name of the streets in which the mains are constructed, such as the Carolina street district, the Main street district, the Jackson street district, etc. Most of the sewers are constructed of vitrified pipes, ranging in diameter from six inches to twenty inches. Many miles of sewers are made of brick, circular in form, which range from twenty-four to eighty-eight inches in diameter. There are also egg-shaped brick sewers, from one and one-half feet to five feet in diameter. Some of these sewers are very deep. In 1912 the number of miles of sewers in Peoria was estimated to be ninety.
STREETS AND SIDEWALKS
For many years the streets of Peoria were "worked" at intervals pretty much as the country roads are kept up ( ?) at the present time. As traffic increased, the necessity for harder and firmer thoroughfares became apparent and gravel was used to some extent. This material did not meet the requirements and the next step toward modern steel paving was broken stone with a layer of gravel on top. A street treated in this way was said to be macadamized. Main street was eventually macadamized, while cedar blocks were laid on North Adams and other streets were laid with cobble stones. Washington street, from Main to Locust, was paved with granite blocks, but none of these materials gave general satisfaction. Then about the year 1885, vitrified brick was tried, first on Ham- ilton, between Adams and Monroe, and at last the "long felt want" was appeased. The first asphalt paving was done in 1891, Moss avenue being chosen for the first experiment. Since that time several miles of this material have been laid in Peoria. There were no fast mails in those days and a letter cost twenty-five one homogeneous mass by a filling of tar, has been laid for several blocks on Adams street and now it seems that the favorite material for paving is brick, asphalt and cedar block. In 1912 about half of Peoria's 175 miles of streets were paved with one or the other of the materials last mentioned
The first sidewalks laid in Peoria were made of planks, which later gave way to the brick walk. For a long time nothing, excepting stone, was considered equal to brick for sidewalk, but now the brick walk is being discountenanced and the stone walk with it. Cement stands supreme and the concrete walk is not only chosen for its durability but also for many others of its virtues and today the city, in all probability, has at least 150 miles of walks.
THE POSTOFFICE
Many changes have taken place since the establishment of the first postoffice in Peoria. Recently cedar blocks, laid on a solid cement foundation and made cents for carriage and delivery, the recipient usually being the one to pay for his letters.
The postoffice at Peoria was established in 1825, within a few days after the organization of the county, and on April 9th of the year, James Adams was com- missioned as Peoria's first postmaster. Soon thereafter, John Dixon obtained a contract to carry the mail from Peoria to Galena and made the trip between the
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
two points once every two weeks. He traveled at times on horseback and oft- times on foot, by way of the trail between this point and Dixon's ferry. Where Mr. Adams kept the mail is not definitely known, but it is safe to say citizens of the village were required to go to the postmaster's home when looking for intelli- gence from distant correspondents. Of the personality of Mr. Adams the reader must remain in the dark, as he left no reminder of himself from which a descrip- tion can be given. However, he did not grow fat and arrogant from the receipts of his office, as they only amounted to about eight dollars the first year, and that period covered his incumbency.
The second postmaster was Norman Hyde, who took a large and important part in affairs during the formative period of the county, and then came Stephen Stillman, who, if he ever qualified, remained in the office but a few days. But there was nothing very unusual in that, as the history of most of the other coun- ties of the state will show.
Up to within a comparatively few years the government owned no buildings outside the larger cities, but now, where the congressman is diligent and persistent in his efforts to please his constituency, a town of four or five thousand inhabi- tants without its federal building is an object of criticism if not derision. But in the first half century of the republic money was not nearly so plentiful as it is now and in the great farming state of Illinois the people had few wants and were very modest in their efforts toward having them supplied. Up to the federal building era it was the custom of the postmaster to establish his office wherever he pleased and in many instances his choice of location was far from being as convenient to his patrons as it was to himself and intimates.
As has been related, no one knows where the first postmaster kept his office, but very likely his hat or coat pockets were the mail boxes and most of the letters coming to him were distributed wherever he might happen to be found. This was a common practice in the pioneer days. Antoine Le Claire, one of the French-Canadian residents of Fort Clark, founded the city of Davenport, and was appointed its first postmaster. Ile carried the mail in his coat-tail pockets.
There is no data indicating the location of the postoffice under the administra- tions of Norman Hyde and Stephen Stillman, but there is scarcely a doubt it was wherever those gentlemen resided. John L. Bogardus, at the time of his appointment, kept a hotel, and here was located the postoffice during his term. This was a log cabin, not far from the foot of Hamilton street. At another time the postoffice was located on the corner of Fulton and Adams streets, the present site of Shipper & Block's department store. Under John King it was moved into the basement of the Peoria House, corner of Adams and Hamilton. In 1861. under George C. Bestor's administration, the office was kept at 311-13 Main street, whence it was removed to the Rouse building by Enoch Emery, in 1865. In 1867 the office was removed to the Puterbaugh building, corner of Main and Monroe streets, where the great federal structure now stands. Finally, about 1883. Congress made an appropriation for the construction of a federal building and at once interested persons owning property, began an active cam- paign to induce the government to purchase the location of them, but the com- mission appointed for the purpose, decided in favor of the Puterbaugh prop- erty, and purchased the grounds and buildings thereon for the sum of $52,000. Contracts were awarded, the building was constructed, and in the spring of 1889 it was completed and occupied. The structure cost $251,833.
During the administration of William E. Hull, the business of the department had increased so largely that the building was found to be inadequate for its purposes and through the efforts of Congressman Joseph B. Graff, an appropria- tion was secured from Congress and an addition was built to the rear, costing $218,500, making the total cost of the building, with site, as it now stands, $530,833. This addition was completed and ready for occupancy, January I, 1910. The first floor and basement of the building are devoted to the postoffice department, the second floor to the internal revenue department and chief clerk
Jefferson Building
Government Building
Spalding Institute
City Hall
Knights of Columbus Club House
GROUP OF PEORIA BUILDINGS
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
of the railway mail service, the third floor to the United States court and offices of the collector of customs, deputy clerk and deputy marshal. On the fourth floor are jury rooms and a room for civil service examinations.
At the present time there are four branch offices in the city and seventeen numbered stations.
On July 7, 1873, a city free delivery system was established, and at that time eight carriers were appointed, namely : John Stillwell, Charles R. Gundlock, Henry Schimpff, E. O. Place, Robert Pfeiffer, Deitrich Kuch, Eugene Rollman and John Onyon. This corps of carriers started out with three deliveries daily in the business portion and two in the residential sections. At the present time their number has increased to fifty-two carriers and collectors and now there are five deliveries daily in the business district and two in the residential. It is estimated that the average number of persons served by each carrier daily is 1,510.
The rural free delivery system was established in Peoria November 1, 1900, with two carriers. There are now seven. One of the first to be appointed was Daniel L. Murphy, still serving in that capacity, and in all the years he has lost but a few days' time and these were occasioned by a severe attack of la grippe in the winter of 1912.
Henry W. Lynch, who is serving his second term as postmaster, has for his assistant Robert M. Campbell, who is now rounding out the twentieth year in that capacity, having been first appointed under the Harrison administration. Grover Cleveland permitted Mr. Campbell to retire when he was elected president the second time, but his successor, William Mckinley, reappointed Mr. Campbell and he is still in the postoffice, performing his duties well and faithfully. Other employes of the postoffice consist of forty-one clerks, one substitute clerk, and three special delivery messengers. There are also in the office James T. Stacey, superintendent of mails, who is the nestor of the force, having served for more than twenty-eight years. Lawrence I. Thompson, who commenced his activities in the office as special delivery messenger in 1889, is nearing his twenty-fourth year of service. Among the city carriers, Charles J. Speck is foremost in length of service. He was appointed as carrier in 1873 and is still doing faithful duty on his route every day. George E. Wilde is superintendent of the money order division and is also in charge of the postal savings bank system, recently inaugurated by the government.
The first money order ever paid in this office was on the 4th day of Novem- ber, 1864. The order was issued by the office at Springfield, Illinois, to Abner M. Watson, for $25, and was made payable to Henry M. Kneer, of Peoria. On November 4, 1911, just forty-seven years from that date, the postal savings bank was opened in this office.
The receipts of the postoffice show a steady increase from year to year. For 1825 they were $8: for the fiscal year of 1898 the receipts amounted to $143,- 753.26; and for the fiscal year 1911, $345,208.46. Below is given a list of the postmasters since the establishment of the office until the present time :
James Adams, April 9, 1825; Norman Hyde, February 23, 1826; Stephen Stillman. April 9. 1830; Norman Hyde, July 12, 1830; John Hamlin, August 17, 1832 ; John L. Bogardus, August 21, 1833: William Mitchell, May 16, 1834; Giles C. Dana, February 23. 1835; Joseph C. Fuller, July 12, 1838: George C. Bestor, November 3, 1841 ; William H. Fesenden, October 6. 1843; Washington Cockle, August 19, 1847: John King, May 29, 1849; Peter Sweat, March 29, 1853; George W. Raney, September 28, 1858; George C. Bestor, March 27, 1861; Enoch Emery, May 12, 1865; Isaac Underhill, August 25, 1866; David W. Magee, April 20, 1867: John S. Stevens, January 7, 1876; Washington Cockle, January 13. 1880; John Warner, June 15, 1885; William T. Dowdall, May 3, 1886; Alexander Stone, December 2, 1889; Henry B. Morgan, February 14, 1894; William Edgar Hull, March 9, 1898; William Edgar Hull, March 9, 1902 ; Henry WV. Lynch, May 1, 1906; Henry W. Lynch, February 18, 1910.
THE NF NO PUBLIC LIBRARY
TA LEN IX AND N FOJN " ATIONS.
CHAPTER XXIV
MEDICAL PERSONAGES AND AFFAIRS ASSOCIATED WITH THE HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY-PIONEER DOCTORS AND THEIR WAYS-THE FRATERNITY AND THE METHODS OF ITS MEMBERS OF TODAY AS SHOWN BY DR. O. B. WILL-OSTEOPATHY.
It is a matter of authentic record as well as common knowledge that the first person attempting the practice of medicine as a business in Peoria county was Augustus Langworthy, who came to Fort Clark for that avowed purpose in 1824, only five years after the first white American settler had placed foot on the same soil. Whence Dr. Langworthy came is not certainly known. He was never very communicative, and seemingly had no intimate or confidential relations with any of his medical comrades. He seems to have been rather in a class by himself ; a surmise accentuated by his many years of complete isolation from professional fellowship. That he meant what he said, however, is plain from the fact that he continued to practice in the field of his first selection for nearly thirty-five consecutive years, never once faltering in his faith in Peoria or his fealty to the traditional principles of the profession in which he was regu- larly educated and ordained. According to Mr. Charles Ballance, who knew him personally, the doctor was more persistent than popular, but in view of his experience of many years as the only medical practitioner in all the territory of northern Illinois from Indiana to the Mississippi river and from Springfield north to the Great Lakes, he was probably justified in a cynical exhibition of inde- pendence, for even the historian referred to naively remarks in connection with the subject that all the town needed to make it a tempting place for some other physician to "break into competition with Dr. Langworthy was 'people.'" It was not until some eight years, however, after the doctor's first appearance that the "breaking in" process was effected. In the meantime, in the midst of his 1,236 possible patrons, all told, scattered all over the extensive region described, the doctor was not altogether either useless or idle. He supplemented the resources of the tardy community by serving both as chairman of the first grand jury convened under the new organization, and as commissioner of public highways, varying the monotony of the situation by acting as surgeon accompanying the Peoria volunteers during the excitement of the Black Hawk Indian war. But Dr. Langworthy was not absolutely useless, either, in his technical relations with his subsequent medical colleagues. A love of nature in her manifestations of still-life led him to an investigation of the indigenous materia medica and its therapeutics properties, which he used largely in his own practice, and to which he succeeded in drawing the attention of some of his professional brethren of a later period who, together with himself developed a modified system of symptomatic therapy of much practical value. The genius and fraternalism thus exhibited was the saving clause in an otherwise somewhat unsympathetic nature. Dr. Langworthy subsequently became a member of the local medical society imme- diately upon its formation, as well as of the state organization, thus giving quiet allegiance to the stipulated objects of both. Some time just before or during the Civil war he retired to his farm in Bureau county, where he passed to his final rest in 1868.
The eight years' interval between the arrival of Dr. Langworthy and that of
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
his first competitor seemed to represent a period prophetic of, as well as prepara- tory to, the appearance of that coterie of able and distinguished men who formed the essential personal basis of Peoria county's prominence in the field of legitimate medicine throughout not only the pioneer, but most of the succeeding stage of developmental activity. The "breaking into competition" process referred to by Mr. Ballance occurred with the arrival in 1832 of the first member of this group in the person of Rodulphus Rouse, whose name has been associated with so many of Peoria's interests as to make it even yet a familiar one to most of the popula- tion. Not only as the first, but one of the ablest and most active, he became con- spicuous in all his relations to the life of the community. A man of exceptional intellectual endowments, supplemented by fine educational acquirements, in the maturity of experience, he assumed at once a commanding position amongst the citizenship, and subsequently with his professional confreres. His experience had been such as to warrant immediate recognition of leadership. After a technical training in the medical school of Philadelphia and New York, Dr. Rouse, then little more than a mere youth, was accepted as a regimental surgeon in the Ameri- can army during the War of 1812-14. at the close of which he was honorably discharged with the special commendation of his commanding officer. Return- ing to New York he secured an instructorship in the New York Medical College, a position he held for several years until failing health admonished him to seek more salubrious surroundings amidst primitive conditions. He then came to Peoria in obedience to that demand, stopping first at St. Louis enroute. Accus- tomed as he was to association with the most prominent and gifted in his profes- sion, he could never wholly accustom himself to the exigencies of border associa- tions and so was considered as somewhat eccentric, gruff and irrascible in man- ner, though always sincere and helpful. An accomplished practitioner, careful and exact, the crudities and inattentiveness which he subsequently encountered in professional association generally, led him to take a special interest in the edu- cational status, scientific advancement and material betterment of the profession. lle was much impressed with the advantages prospectively obtainable through effective organization, and exerted his influence in that direction continuously. lle stimulated efforts eventuating in the formation of the Peoria Society in 1848, and two years later was the enthusiastic presiding officer at the meeting in Springfield preliminary to the organization of the State Association. He was at once made its first vice president for the ensuing year, its treasurer, and in 1852 was honored with the presidency, his capabilities in any professional line being fully recognized by the best elements within the state. In his address of acceptance Dr. Rouse's statement relative to the advantages of organization on the part of the profession, which became a classic amongst them for its clearness and brevity, is well worth reproduction in this connection, as oft quoted but never improved upon. "It is " he said, "an acknowledged maxim that the association of those who are engaged in the same pursuit facilitates the attainment of their common object. The association of physicians offers many advantages to them- selves and others. By this means the members of our profession are the better enabled mutually to assert their rights, protect their interests, to guard the morals of each other, to preserve their respectability, to maintain the honor and dignity of their profession, to advance their knowledge, and extend their usefulness." In order, furthermore, to illustrate as well the doctor's temper, and show him how on occasion his elegance of diction could be turned to keen, sarcastic criticism, the following is reproduced from the minutes of the 1851 meeting: "Dr. Rouse also stated that the only inducement for his acceptance of the office of treasurer had been the constitution makes the treasurer, ex-officio, one of the committee of publication ; but as he had not been permitted to have anything to do with that part of the duties of his office, he would take this opportunity to disavow any responsibility in relation to numerous errors in a publication which in its present unfortunate shape he considered as reflecting very little credit upon the contrib- utors, the society, its committee, or the Press." Such exhibitions on the part of
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Dr. Rouse were not unusual, but were never undeserved. He was punctilious in all things, and his attitude always indicative of conscious power and dignity. A lover of art and the drama, Dr. Rouse indulged his penchant in that direction by erecting in the rear of his residence and office, corner of Main and Jefferson streets, the finest opera hall then in existence in the west, in which he had the pleasure of witnessing the exhibitions of many of the greatest histrionic lights on the American stage. Dr. Rouse was held in the highest respect and esteem by the profession and laity of Peoria, and left an honorable record when he passed away in 1873 at the advanced age of eighty years.
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