USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Peoria > Peoria city and county, Illinois; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 65
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72
THIE GERRYMANDER
Again in chronological order we are compelled to turn back to the year of grace 1843 when Simeon DeWitt Drown started the German "Gerrymander." This sheet was merely a burlesque but still it exerted a specific influence. The legislature had divided the estate into seven congressional districts in such a manner as to form but one whig district, the seventh. This appealed to the risibilities of Drown and in the interest of the whigs he published the Gerry- mander, the first number of which appeared on March 22, 1843 and was issued weekly during the campaign of that year. Each issue was illustrated with cari- catures representing the shapes of the several congressional districts, but at the end of the campaign its usefulness, or otherwise ended.
T11E PEORIA AMERICAN
This newspaper was founded in the whig interest by James Kirkpatrick in July 1845, who claimed the distinction that it was the first newspaper in the state to place the name of General Zachary Taylor under the title of "Rough and Ready" at the head of its columns as a candidate for the presidency of the United States. He conducted the sheet for four and one-half years until January 26, 1850, when he was killed under the falling walls by the explosion which wrecked his office and that of the Champion as previously recorded. With his death the "Peoria American" died with him. Previous to his death the "Nineteenth Century." a national reform paper, had been started in September, 1848 by J. R. Watson and D. D. Irons and after it had run for a few months it was sold to Kirkpatrick and merged with the "American."
Fey
SOUTH ADAMS STREET AT NIGHT
PEORIA COLISEUM
VIEW OF PEORIA FROM THE COURTHOUSE
409
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
PEORIA DAILY TRANSCRIPT
We have now reached the period which presents the line of demarcation between the old order of Peoria journalism and that which obtains at the present time. And it is a melancholy fact that the Peoria newspaper which grew from the primordial germ, as it were, that first received press dispatches and was the first in Peoria to adopt the linotype and rise above the deficiencies and restric- tions of hand composition, should have so far lost its identity as to be remem- bered only at the further end of a hyphen in the appellation : Herald-Transcript. In its day and for more than a quarter of a century it was the leading newspaper in Peoria and the stalwart organ of the republican party in the interests of which it was founded. Like all the other Peoria newspapers which preceded it, and many with which it was contemporary it had its periods of youth, manhood and decay and was finally merged with a paper started at a later date and which first eclipsed and then absorbed it.
The Peoria Transcript was founded at the instance of William Rounseville, who at that time was pastor of the Universalist church, Grand master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of this state and a man of marked literary ability who had previously published a magazine in Chicago. N. C. Nason, who had been previously connected with the "Peoria Republican" and was a practical printer, was also prominent in the Order of Odd Fellows and in 1854 was engaged in merchandising at Wesley City, then a river town of some importance. Rounseville visited him with the view of establishing an Odd Fellows' magazine in Peoria, and the enterprise seeming feasible Nason went to Philadelphia and purchased printing supplies amounting to a value of $2,000. When the supplies arrived the office was established on the third floor of a new brick building now known as 202 Main street where it remained until the fall of 1855 when Rounseville, who had an itch for the newspaper business urged the starting of a daily newspaper in the republican interest to which Nason, after much delibera- tion assented. The type used in the publication of the Odd Fellows' magazine was set up into newspaper columns and the first number of the Peoria Tran- script from its quarters on the corner of Main and Water streets to which the office was transferred was issued on December 17, 1885. It was well edited and well printed but its finances were badly managed and the enterprise soon got into deep water. Aid which had been promised did not appear and at the end of two months when all the resources of the projectors had been exhausted the late Caleb Whittemore stepped in and assumed obligations on behalf of the concern to the amount of $4,000 and was compelled to take the property to save himself. During his ownership he never took active charge of the establish- ment but continued in his regular business of locksmith and gunsmith. In the latter part of 1857 Whittemore sold the concern to J. G. Merrill, a farmer living in this county who conducted it unsuccessfully for one year and then sold it to Nathan C. Geer, who had previously edited the Waukegan Gazette.
In 1859 Enoch Emery, who had gained his newspaper experience on Boston publications, came to Peoria and was employed by Geer as city editor and Peoria gained a thorough newspaper man. In 1860 the paper passed into the possession of Enoch Emery and Edward A. Andrews and it at once entered upon a successful career. Emery's short, terse, epigrammatic sentences and vigorous style of writing was at once recognized and it became the most influ- ential republican organ throughout central Illinois. In the campaign of 1860
and during the Civil war and the administration of Abraham Lincoln the paper was a staunch supporter of all the measures of the republican party and just before he was assassinated President Lincoln appointed Emery postmaster, but did not live to sign his commission. That came later from President Johnson. In a little over a year and in consequence of the opposition of the "Transcript" to his policy President Johnson removed Emery from the position of postmaster and appointed Gen. D. W. Magee. In 1869 Mr. Emery purchased the interest
410
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
of his partner and conducted the business alone until a stock company was formed entitled "The Peoria Transcript Company" with Mr. Emery re- maining at the head of the concern as president and general manager. In that year Mr. Emery was appointed collector of internal revenue by President Grant and held the office for two years, when in consequence of his opposition to Gen. Logan the latter caused him to be removed. Enoch Emery was a positive man and did not hesitate to express his opinions, and it was the assertion of the courage of his convictions which caused him to lose the postoffice and the internal revenue collectorship in turn.
In the seventies Enoch Emery left the editorial chair to devote his attention to the business office and his brother was installed as editor. The change was disastrous to the sheet in both departments. The editorial page missed Emery's forceful writings and in the business department he was out of his element. In January 1880 a new organization was formed with R. H. Whiting prsident. R. A. Culter, treasurer, and James M. Rice, secretary, and Emery went back to the editorial chair. In the following year he was removed and he started an afternoon publication known as "The Peorian," but it had an ephem- eral existence and Emery, broken-hearted, died on May 30, 1882. His was a vigorous, forceful character and during his editorial career he did much for Peoria and his memory implores the passing tribute of a sigh.
After the removal of Enoch Emery from the Transcript Alexander S. Stone came here from Keokuk, Iowa, and purchased a controlling interest in the concern and soon after assuming control changed the form of the paper from a folio, or four pages, to the modern quarto, a style that later was adopted by all the Peoria papers. Stone attended the financial management of the paper and in the editorial chair Enoch Emery was succeeded by Welker Given, who in turn was followed by William Hoyne, who later was placed at the head of the law department of Notre Dame University; Col. E. P. Brooks of Washing- ton, who had been consul at Cork, Ireland; Major William S. Brackett and R M. Hanna, who died in 1911.
THE HERALD-TRANSCRIPT
On March 1. 1893 a new company was organized, chiefly by parties from Ohio with J. N. Garver as president and treasurer; Thomas R. Weddell of Chicago, vice-president and editor; James L. Garver, secretary. Weddell, the editor came from the Chicago Inter Ocean and attempted innovation of a metro- politan character but which did not take with the Peoria public and after run- ning it for five years it was sold to H. M. Pindell of the Herald who merged it with his paper and gave it the hyphenated name which it now bears-the "} Ierald- Transcript." In 1892 the Herald-Transcript was sold to a syndicate of repub- licans headed by P. G. Rennick, collector of internal revenue and ex-postmaster W. E. Hull who operated the paper until 1904 when Rennick bought the control- ling interest. On November of that year he sold the paper to Charles H. May and W. Sisson and in the following year its publication office was removed from Main street to its present quarters in the 200 block South Jefferson avenue. Charles H. May, as the head of the present management has inade a number of improvements in the mechanical plant, including the installation of a sextuple press and as the only morning newspaper now published in Peoria has brought it strictly up to date. It is ably edited, is bright, clean and progressive and after all the vicissitudes through which both papers, that are embodied in its hyphenated name, have passed, it is evident that in the old expression attached to newspapers, it has come to stay.
THE PEORIA IIERALD
In giving the history of the "Peoria Transcript" and the circumstances which led to its absorption by the "Peoria Herald" and the adoption of the name
411
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
"Herald-Transcript," it is eminently proper to revert to the circumstances con- nected with the founding of the "Herald."
In 1888 the democratic party in Peoria was without an organ. The "Na- tional Democrat" which followed the series of newspapers beginning with the Peoria Democratic Press was established in the summer of 1865 by Colonel W. T. Dowdall who came here from Alton, Illinois. He found the democratic newspaper business in a bad condition. After the Democratic Press had come the "Union," the "Star" and the "Post," but all had been short-lived and only their names remain to attest that they ever existed. Colonel Dowdall took over the small plant of the "Post" and provided an entirely new outfit. He con- ducted the "National Democrat" from 1865 until 1887 when he was appointed postmaster under the Cleveland administration and sold out to a stock com- pany in which the late Joseph Irwin of Pekin and John Schofield of this city were the principal stockholders. Under their management the paper proved unsuccessful and in a year died from inanition.
Early in the year 1889 H. M. Pindell, who had been city treasurer of Spring- field and had a large state political acquaintance came to this city at the invita- tion of Andrew Jackson Bell, who had been state senator and a candidate for lieutenant governor. Bell expressed the opinion that conditions were ripe in Peoria for the establishment of a newspaper which should be recognized as the organ of the democratic party. Mr. Pindell after looking over the field became convinced of that fact and on March 7, 1889, the first number of the l'eoria Herald was issued. It proved successful from the start and gradually in- vaded the morning field which up to that time had been controlled by the "Transcript." It was well edited and it adopted a high moral tone which made it distinctive. Pindell proved to be an astute business manager and it was not long before the "Herald" was in possession of a flourishing advertising patron- age and a rapidly extending circulation and in the meantime the "Transcript" was perceptibly declining. Primarily a democratic organ, it was Mr. Pindell's idea to make it a newspaper in all that the term implies, a medium for the dis- semination of news, and the results of his enterprising spirit soon became mani- fest. The period of rivalry with the "Transcript" was drawing to a close and the end came on December 28, 1898, when Mr. Pindell purchased the entire right, title and interest in the "Transcript" and on the following day the "Herald" appeared as the "Herald-Transcript." The remainder of its history has already been recorded.
THE PEORIA JOURNAL
In the list of Peoria newspapers it is an indisputable fact that the evening publications have achieved the greater measure of success. This was early recognized by the managers of newspapers published in the German language and from the start all of their publications have been of the evening, or more properly, the afternoon, issue. Feeble attempts had been made in by-gone years to establish an afternoon daily, but they all failed. In 1870 P. W. Sheldon and E. F. Baldwin, the latter the present proprietor of the "Peoria Star" launched the first evening newspaper worthy of the name and called it the "Review." It ran until January 1873 and then to get rid of the competition it was bought by Enoch Emery of the "Transcript" and Colonel Dowdall of the "National Democrat." Colonel Dowdall ran it for some years as an afternoon reprint of the "National Democrat" and when he stepped out of the editorial chair in 1887 to take the office of postmaster the "Review" was dropped.
The next evening newspaper to come into the field was the Peoria Journal established by J. B. Barnes and E. F. Baldwin who issued its first number on December 3. 1877. The office of the paper was in the Zeigler building on Hamilton street just below Adams. The first week its circulation was 1,700 copies but it steadily grew and ran up in two years to 4,000 and two years later to
412
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
7,000. It established an unusual record from the fact that it met all expenses and yielded a profit from the start. After the expenditure of the original capital it did not sink a cent. It was independent in politics and E. F. Baldwin, now the editor and proprietor of the Peoria Star, had the happy faculty of present- ing the local news of the day in a bizarre and original style that caught the public fancy, while his editorials, written on the same day, carried with them the scholarly weight and the masterful style which is still characteristic of all his writings. In 1894 the Journal was organized as a stock company at a capitali- zation of $100,000 of which Barnes and Baldwin held $40,000 each and M. N. Snider and Charles H. Powell $10,000 each. In 1891 Messrs. Baldwin and Powell engaged in other business and dropped out of the Journal leaving Barnes the sole owner of all the stock, and who during the first Bryan campaign ran the sheet as a free silver paper. Barnes conducted the paper until February 1, 1900, when he sold it to H. M. Pindell, who in the organization of a stock com- pany assigned 40 shares to Charles Carroll, 20 shares to J. E. Elder and re- tained 40 shares for himself. Two years later Mr. Pindell bought the shares of his partners and assumed full control and made considerable additions to the plant equipment. From 1882 the paper had been published in the Grand opera house building, but when that structure was destroyed by fire in the early morning of December 14, 1909, it was removed to temporary quarters and sub- sequently found a permanent home in the Jefferson building on the corner of Jefferson avenue and Fulton streets. The Journal is bright and progressive and is the recognized democratic organ in Peoria, but asserts its independence when the occasion demands.
THIE PEORIA STAR
No other newspaper published in Peoria at any time has equalled the suc- cess which has attached to the l'eoria Evening Star. It leaped into public favor with its first issue on September 27, 1897, and it has continued to maintain the advantages gained in its early career.
It was established by E. F. Baldwin and Charles H. Powell, who had a limited capital but a world of enterprise and energy. Its circulation of 3,400 on the day of its first issue reached 5,000 by the end of the week and it grew so fast that the chief concern of the publishers was to get the paper into the hands of the subscribers promptly. For weeks the routes of the carriers were changed daily to meet the increasing demand and in the meantime its country circulation extended in a like ratio and at the end of six months the total circulation had reached 20,000. It has now an average daily circulation of 22,000.
Its phenomenal success is due mainly to the personality of its editor. E. F. Baldwin, which is reflected in all his writings. An omniverous reader and as close a student as he ever was in his youth and early manhood, with a memory as accurate and as tenacious as a phonographic record, a master of satire and gifted with a strong sense of humor, his work as a writer has a distinctive originality which at once attracts and commands attention. When the reader once gets the flavor of it he wants more and that is the secret of the remarkable success of the Peoria Evening Star.
Editor Baldwin is now on Easy street, but in his moments of relaxation he enjoys reverting to the past when he had an up-hill struggle. Before he started the "Star" he had made and lost two fortunes but he still retained his indomit- able will. When the "Star" project came up hie declares that neither he nor his partner had any money. They found an "angel" in Chicago who sold them a press on credit and when it came to Peoria they did not have the necessary $21 to pay the freight. They raised it, however, and as soon as that press be- gan to revolve the foundations of their fortunes were laid. Mr. Powell died in 1902 and E. F. Baldwin is now the sole owner.
413
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
The "Star" is now worked off on a four-deck Goss perfecting press with a capacity of 24,000 sixteen-page papers per hour, folded and counted. Its cir- culation is the largest in the state outside of Chicago; its advertising business ranks with its circulation and it is the most popular newspaper in central Illi- nois. Editor Baldwin has gathered about him a force which shares his enthu- siasm, and his benign influence permeates all departments. In no other newspaper office in this state, or probably anywhere else, is there a more pro- nounced expression of "esprit de corps," the working of all to a common end, than is exhibited in the office of the "Peoria Star." It is a perfect piece of altruistic mechanism in which everyone employed takes a joy in his or her work and contributes to the success of the enterprise. As the latest of the daily news- papers to be established in Peoria the Star stands for the last word in Peoria journalism.
THIE GERMAN PRESS
People from Germany began to settle in Peoria as early as 1835 and spread out into the adjacent counties where they took up farms and eventually became an important factor in the population of this growing section of the state. It was not long before they represented one-third of the population of this im- mediate territory and it is shown by census statistics that this ratio holds good today, one-third of the population of Peoria county being German by birth or descent.
The German revolution of 1848 increased emigration from the fatherland rapidly and brought over a very intelligent class among whom were a number of learned and professional men, ripe from the German universities. Stran- gers in a strange land, those who had not studied other professions looked about them for opportunities in the newspaper business and a boom was created for German publications. In 1852 Alois Zotz, an able and learned man, whose memory is still held in reverence came to Peoria and established the "Illinois Banner," as a weekly publication. The first number appeared on February 18, 1852, and it was hailed with delight by the German-speaking element in the community. Zotz was a profound philosopher and a student of the conditions as they existed in the old world and the new and he kept his compatriots in touch with them. He was an intense democrat and his style of writing was lofty and above the heads of the majority of his readers, although it was much admired by his cultured clientele.
In 1858 Mr. Zotz sold the publication to Edward Rummel who was an ardent republican. He changed its name to "Deutsche Zeitung" and swung it into the republican column and supported Abraham Lincoln for the presidency in 1860. Rummel conducted the paper until 1868 when he was elected state secretary of Illinois and before leaving for Springfield sold the paper to Captain Edward Fresenius who conducted it for three years and in 1871 sold it to Rudolph Eichenberger who ran it for seven years and in 1878 sold it to Bernard Cremer & Bros., who had previously acquired a rival paper known as the "Demokrat" and it was merged with the latter paper.
THIE PEORIA DEMOKRAT
The "Peoria Demokrat" was established during the campaign of 1860. After Alois Zotz had sold the "Illinois Banner" to Rummel, who changed its name and its politics, the German democrats found themselves without an organ and in- duced Mr. Zotz to establish the daily and weekly "Demokrat." He conducted the paper until 1864, when Bernard Cremer, the present proprietor purchased it and assumed the control which he has maintained ever since. Mr. Cremer is an astute business man who has not only made his newspaper remarkably suc- cessful, but has engaged in various enterprises with signal results and is re- garded as the wealthiest newspaper publisher in central Illinois. His paper re-
414
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
flects the sterling character of its editor, enjoys a wide circulation composed of subscribers who stick to it, has a lucrative advertising patronage and stands in the front rank of German daily newspapers in this state.
PEORIA DIE SONNE
During the early career of the "Illinois Banner." the "Deutsche Zeitung" and the "Demokrat," other German papers were started including the "Volks- blatt" and the "Courier" but they were short-lived and later came "Der Volks- freund" and the "Sonntags Post" to join the innumerable caravan which marches to the pale realms of shade. In 1877 a new man appeared in Peoria to create a name and a place in its journalism in the person of Louis Philip Wolf. Hav- ing received an excellent education in Germany he came to the United States in 1868 and after occupying several positions as teacher of modern languages, his last engagements being in the German-American institute in Chicago and the Academie Francaise he drifted into journalism and established at Lincoln, Illi- nois, the "Volksfreund," and at the time of its first issue in 1875 it was the only German republican paper in this state. In 1877 he came to l'eoria to be- come editor of the "Deutsche Zeitung," but when it was sold to the "Demokrat" he found himself again a free agent. In the spring of 1879 he established Die Sonne with Joseph Wolfram and William Brus as partners. Wolf is a vigorous writer, his diction scholarly and eminently correct, and under his masterful editorship Die Sonne has become a powerful ally of the republican party. In April, 1910, the Peoria Sonne Publishing company was organized with L. Ph. Wolf, president; Louis Herrmann, vice-president : Hermann Goldberger, sec- retary and William C. Grebe, treasurer, Mr. Wolf retaining the editorial chair with Hermann Goldberger as city editor and they constitute a strong team. "Die Sonne" is fearless in its expressions of opinion, has always worked for the best interests of Peoria and has always been found on the side of right and justice. It is these qualities that have given it its commanding prestige and its deserved popularity.
WEEKLY PUBLICATIONS
While Peoria journalism had its beginning in weekly publications, which eventually gave way to the dailies, it was a long continued practice for the daily newspapers to issue weekly editions and for many years the tri-weekly idea prevailed. In the course of time these weekly editions were dropped and are now confined to the German publications. With the newspapers published in the English language the Sunday edition has taken the place of the old weekly. There was a time, however, when there was an open and profitable field for weekly papers, not connected with the dailies, and which were not newspapers in the strict meaning of the term. They were known as "society and literary" publications and for twenty years between 1870 and 1890 they had a great vogue. They devoted their columns to topics not touched upon by the daily press, chiefly social and personal, and they occupied a field exclusively their own. Gradually the Sunday editions of the daily newspapers encroached upon their field and in the end supplanted them. The weekly society sheet could not cope with publications which gave substantially the same information, and in addi- tion published the news of the day, and it became a victim to the remorseless law of the survival of the fittest.
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.