USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. I > Part 54
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 | Part 73 | Part 74
In April, 1871, the new law went into effect changing the name Work House to House of Correction. Its affairs are now generally supervised by a board of inspectors and a superintendent. The former consists of August Schanz (chairman), J. Will Wall and Frank W. Crane; the superintendent is M. C. Wittman. The plan of the present management was put in force in 1888, the new cell house being erected at that time. At that time William A. McConnell had been five years in office as superintendent, and continued to serve as such until his resignation in February, 1906. He was succeeded by G. Eberhardt, who resigned in January, 1918, and was followed by the present incumbent, Mr. Wittman. The number of inmates in the House of Correction does not average more than a dozen ; it is usually less.
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY AND READING ROOM
In 1837, fifteen years after the first white man settled on the site of a future town, thirteen years after the town received the name of Quincy, a number of its pioneer residents, interested in reading. contributed books from their own collections to be used as a circulat- ing library. This was the small beginning from which developed the present library work of Quincy.
In 1841, these book-lovers held a meeting in the courthouse. Maj. J. H. Holton was called to the chair, and Mr. Lorenzo Bull was chosen secretary. Capt. E. J. Phillips stated the object of the meeting was to organize a permanent library association. A com- mittee of five was appointed to prepare a constitution and by-laws. These were presented and adopted on March 13, 1841. At a meeting, March 20th, over which Capt. E. J. Phillips presided, the following offieers were elected : E. J. Phillips, president; Dr. J. N. Ralston, vice president; Lorenzo Bull, secretary; C. M. Woods, treasurer; . Andrew Johnson, W. H. Taylor, J. R. Randolph, N. Summers, Joseph Lyman, directors. A charter of incorporation was granted to the Quiney Library Association under the Illinois State Law adopted in 1823. The library was ready for circulation April 18, 1841. It was open every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evening, and also on Saturday afternoon. There were two classes of membership. The payment of $25 or a contribution of books valued at $30 entitled one to a life membership. Stockholders paid $5 for each share of stock and paid an annual assessment of $2 a year. Patrons who were not stockholders paid $3 annually for the privileges of the library. The
400
ST INFANTRY ARMORY
--
...
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Y. M.C.A.
504
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
amount derived from subscriptions was increased by receipts from winter courses of lectures given by home talent. A memorable lecture was one on magnetism and telegraphy delivered in 1844 by the Rev. George P. Giddings. At the elose of the lecture Mr. Lorenzo Bull and Mr. Andrew Johnson gave a practical demonstration of the workings of the telegraph. The habitation of the library was changed several times. In 1856, it was honsed in a brick building on the southwest corner of Maine and Fourth streets. In 1859, it was transferred to the Adam Schmidt Building on Hampshire Street, west of Fifth. Later it was located in the MeFadon Building on Fifth Street be- tween Maine and Jersey.
In the great temperance reform movement of 1878 a Red Ribbon Club was organized in Quiney. At a union meeting held in January, 1878, a plan for a publie reading room was discussed and action taken thereon. A sufficient sum of money was contributed, a suitable place secured and equipped, and thus a free reading room was opened under the control of the Red Ribbon Club. Prominent citizens aided with liberal subscriptions, but demands for the temperance work were so numerous that the treasury was soon depleted. The publie lost interest in supporting a movement controlled entirely by a local club, and failure of the cause seemed imminent. Recognizing these con- ditions the ladies interested in the undertaking effected a new or- ganization and secured a charter, September 6, 1878. The property of the Red Ribbon Club was transferred to this new association, and a free reading room for Quincy was established. This room was in the building at 613 Maine Street. Miss Carrie Musser was the super. intendent in charge. The officers of the free reading room were: Mrs. Sarah B. Denman, president; Mrs. James R. Dayton, first vice president; Mrs. I. O. Woodruff, second vice president; Mrs. G. Fol- lansbee, recording secretary ; Mrs. C. H. Morton, treasurer. In March, 1879, the free reading room was removed to the Rogers Building, on the southeast corner of Sixth and Vermont streets.
In May of the same year, the belongings of the Quincy Library were removed to the free reading room, and for the first time a eiren- lating library was open to its subscribers each week-day. Mrs. Luey Keyes Rutherford, a lady of unusual culture, of discriminating literary taste, of marvelous memory, and an accomplished linguist was appointed librarian.
Mrs. Sarah B. Denman, one of the foremost of publie spirited women in Quiney, perceiving the necessity for a permanent library endowment, offered to donate $5,000 toward such a fund, provided other generous persons would contribute $15,000 additional, thereby creating a fund of $20,000 for the maintenance of the Qniney Library. The amount was secured. The demands of the more commodions apartment, daily expense, and continued service appropriated the greater part of the income, leaving only a paltry sum for inereasing the collection of books. Mr. Charles H. Bull, the president of the
505
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
library board, for a number of years presented the association, an- nally, a donation of $100 for the purchase of books, which, with gifts of volumes from various friends, afforded the carefully chosen additions to the library shelves.
The change that led to the founding of the present Free Public Library and Reading Room resulted from a proposal by the board of the Quiney Library, acted upon at a meeting of the stockholders in March, 1887. The report of the executive committee consisting of Joseph Lyman, Mrs. James R. Dayton, Lorenzo Bull, and Cicero F. Perry, was presented and adopted. This committee proposed that the Quiney Library and Free Reading Room use their united funds to buy grounds and ereet and equip a permanent building for a free publie library and reading room, on condition that the eity agree by ordinanee to appropriate not less than $5,000 annually toward the maintenance of the combined institutions. The city promptly ae- eepted this proposition as set forth in Ordinance No. 60, approved by James M. Bishop, mayor. It was estimated that the property, inelud- ing the lot to be bought, would amount to approximately $25,000. But through the unexpected generosity of leading citizens, the lot on the southwest corner of Fourth and Maine streets was bought at a eost of over $12,000, and donated for a library building. Other citizens contributed to the building fund, making the value of the property over $40,000. This property was leased to the City of Quincy for a term of ninety-nine years by the directors of the Quincy Library: James N. Sprigg. George W. Brown, Lorenzo Bull, Cicero F. Perry, Edmund B. Montgomery, Frederick W. Meyer, Robert W. Gardner, Cornelia A. Collins. The corner stone of the present building was laid with imposing ceremonies on May 31, 1888. Pupils of the public and parochial schools marehed, accompanied by their teachers and pastors. The principal speakers were Mr. Lorenzo Bull, representing the Quiney Library, and Mrs. James R. Dayton, representing the Free Reading Room, of which she had been president for nine years. The 5,000 volumes belonging to the Quiney Library were transferred to the new library building. The Free Reading Room Association contributed their furniture, books, periodieals, and bequests of money. The library was opened to the publie on June 24, 1889. The officers and members of the board of directors were: Charles H. Bull, presi- clent ; Dr. Joseph Robbins, viee president ; Chester A. Babeock, secre- tary: Herman Heidbreder, treasurer: Mrs. Sarah B. Dayton, Mrs. Anna S. Woods, Miss Louisa M. Robbins, Dr. Michael Rooney, Theo- dore C. Poling, directors.
As the years went on the library so increased in favor that its permanent support was assured. A transfer to the city of the title to the library property vested in the Quiney Library Association was made in 1908 by Dr. Edmund B. Montgomery and Judge Cicero F. Perry, the only surviving members of the trustees of the asso- eiation.
506
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
The library at the present time, 1918, has on its shelves 40,000 volumes, classified as follows: History, biography, travel, 8,750; sciences, fine and useful arts, 4,700, including a technical library of 1,000 volumes; poetry, drama, and essays, 3,750; philosophy and religion, 1,550; dictionaries, cyclopedias, reference books, 2,000; peri- odicals and newspapers, 6,700; Government and State publications, 1,500 ; fiction-adult and juvenile-9,900; foreign languages, 1,150 volumes. The circulation for 1917 was 187,453 volumes. The picture collection, increased by art-loving friends, contains 6,600 mounted prints. The musical department is well supplied with works on the history and theory of music. A good collection of standard and popular music is in constant use.
For the past six years the collection of books on mechanical and industrial arts has occupied a room adjoining the main reading room on the second floor of the building. This arrangement permits to those desirous of information on these subjects the use of these books every day and evening in the week, including Sunday.
When the library building was erected, a children's room was un- known in library structures. While the space is inadequate for a children's room, still an apartment on the main floor is devoted to the shelving and the distributing of juvenile books. The work for this department appealed much to Mrs. James R. Dayton, member of the boards of both the Quincy Library and the Free Reading Room. Miss Cornelia A. Collins, whose mother left a generous gift to the Free Reading Room, emulated in her time the same thoughtfulness, in bequeathing $500 to the children's department of the Free Public Library.
The most prominent feature of the institution is the large and well selected collection of reference books. The establishment of this de- partment was due mainly to the firm stand taken by Dr. Joseph Rob- bins before any purchase of books was made for the library. This department had also the warm support of Alderman Samuel Harrop, a director from 1890-1898, who, on the last day of his life, left a bequest of $200 as a fund for the purchase of reference books. Mrs. Anna S. Woods, the only director in continual service since 1877, has been unceasing in her interest and work for this important factor in the educational opportunities of the city.
The first directors were fortunate in securing the services of Mr. Arthur Wellington Tyler (1889-1892), a librarian of wide experience, in organizing the library and cataloging its contents; Mr. James W. Gallaher (1892-1894), a well-known newspaper man of extensive read- ing, succeeded Mr. Tyler; Mr. John Grant Moulton (1894-1898), a graduate of Harvard University, and of the New York Library School, builded on the foundation already laid, enlarging the various depart- ments and establishing methods which are still continued ; Miss Eliza- beth B. Wales (1898-1902), of the Library School of the University
507
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
of Illinois, had much executive ability and originality in technical work; Miss Margaret Ringier, profited by the training of her pre- devessors, and now successfully continues the work of supplying the numerous needs of the reading public.
The increasing influence of the library is largely due to the in- terest and efficiency of its presidents: Mr. Charles II. Bull (1857- 1905), persistent in carrying out his ideals of a high standard in management ; Dr. J. B. Shawgo (1905-1911), zealous in the mainte- nance of the institution and quick to respond to any emergency. At present the library is prosperous under the judicious care and clear foresight of the president, Mr. Homer M. Swope.
The library derives its revenue from an annual library tax of approximately seven-tenths of a mill. It is governed by a board of directors of nine members, appointed by the mayor and holding office for three years. The present officers are: Homer M. Swope, presi- dent ; Dr. L. II. A. Niekerson, viee president ; Mrs. Constance E. Ellis, secretary; Mrs. Anna S. Woods, Miss Ella Randall, Rev. John P. Brennan, W. H. MeMein, Rev. H. J. Leemhuis, Rolland MI. Wagner, directors.
The library staff consists of Miss Margaret Ringier, librarian ; Miss Lenore Wall, deputy librarian ; Miss Emma J. Christ, Miss May Quinlivan, Miss Katherine Kolker, assistants; Maleolm Eddy, page : A. B. Ording, janitor.
QUINCY GAS, ELECTRIC AND HEATING COMPANY
The foundation of the system devoted to the administration and development of the publie utilities implied in the title to the company above named was laid in the operation of the old Quiney Gas Light & Coke Company of 1853. The items comprising its early history have been recorded, ineluding the introduction of illuminating gas to the people of Quiney. Gov. John Wood was the first president of the old company and Thomas Pratt, superintendent and manager. The latter was soon sueeeeded by William H. Corley, who held the office until his death in 1875. From that year until 1898 the superin- tendency was held by A. W. Littleton, and he in turn by H. E. Chubbuek.
The Thomson-Houston Electric Light & Power Company was or- ganized in 1882, with Col. W. W. Berry as president, and continued in business until consolidated with the other lighting plants in Quincy by the MeKinley interests in 1898. Besides the plant of the Quiney Gas Light & Coke Company, which was of considerable size, there was the smaller one of the Empire Light & Power Company, which, for three years, had been under the management of W. II. Shannon, the founder and president, and of his son, H. O. Shannon, superintendent and manager.
All of these interests were merged into the Quiney Gas & Elee-
508
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
trie Company, which was, in turn purchased (in 1903) by J. T. Lynn and associates of Detroit, with Mr. Lynn as president and H. O. Shannon as manager. They still hold these positions on the board of the Quincy Gas, Electric & Heating Company. Dr. J. H. Rice has also continued as vice president and V. N. Gurney as secretary. Walter W. Perkins, the secretary of 1903, has been displaced by A. L. Wilkinson.
Since the consolidation, numerous extensions and improvements have been made. These include a large concrete coke bin and coal shed, a gas holder of 500,000 feet capacity, and a water gas jet capable of producing a million feet daily. There are now seventy-three miles of street mains, two high-pressure lines running from the works to nearly 12,000 patrons in different distriets of the city. Approxi- mately, the number of consumers is thus divided : Gas patrons, 7,200; electric, 3,800; electric power, 284; steam heating, 240. The value of the plant and distributing system is about $4,000,000.
LOCAL SYSTEMS OF TRANSPORTATION
The local transportation system of Quiney originated in the char- ter which the Legislature granted to the Horse Railway and Carrying Company in February, 1865, by which that corporation should have the exclusive privilege of operating horse railways in the city for a term of fifty years. The original incorporators were Charles A. Savage, James W. Pitman, Onias C. Skinner, Isaae C. Woodruff, Hiram S. Byington and Nehemiah Bushnell (president). In 1867 the first section of the proposed section was built. It was about a mile and a third in length, extending from Sixth and Maine, out North Fifth Street. In May, 1869, a company was formed consisting of Lorenzo Bull, president ; E. K. Stone, superintendent ; Charles H. Bull, O. H. Browning and the heirs of Nehemiah Bushnell, as parties in interest. Soon afterward the lines were constructed leading out Maine Street from Sixth to the Fair Grounds, about two miles and a quarter, and north from Maine on Twentieth, one mile (the Highland line). Substantial buildings for the car house and stables were erected on Twentieth and Maine. These lines, with their extensions, were credit- ably operated for a period of twenty-four years, before their motive power (mules) was replaced by electricity. They are always de- scribed, however, as "horse"-power lines.
Electricity came in on New Year's day of 1891, and in 1898 the Mckinley Syndicate secured control of the entire system. For a num- ber of years the extensions made by the new owners were continuous and quite extensive. They included the construction of lines on South Fourth and on Broadway and the extension to the Soldiers' Home grounds. The MeKinley people also added materially to the extent and quality of the rolling stoek, built a car barn at Twentieth and Hampshire, with steam heating plant to supply the office and waiting
509
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
room at Twentieth and Maine streets, and increased the operating power of the system by installing a Corliss engine and other ma- chinery. The electric lines as operated in Quiney are well managed both mechanically and financially, and are invaluable public utilities and comfortable conveniences.
CHAPTER XIII
LITERARY, REFORMATORY AND CHARITABLE
THE QUINCY HERALD -- THE QUINCY WHIG-QUINCY GERMANIA-THE QUINCY JOURNAL-LABOR PUBLICATIONS-OTHER PUBLICATIONS- QUINCY PRESS CLUB-THE FRIENDS IN COUNCIL-THE ROUND TABLE-THE ATLANTIS CLUB-THE STUDY AND TUESDAY STUDY CLUBS-QUINCY WOMEN'S FORUM-THREE ARTS CLUB-QUINCY HISTORICAL SOCIETY - CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS - WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION -- THE ASSOCIATED CHARITIES-THE CHEERFUL HOME SETTLEMENT-YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSO- CIATION-QUINCY HUMANE SOCIETY AND HENRY P. WALTON- YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION-DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION-ADAMS COUNTY RED CROSS CHAPTER- HOMES AND HOSPITALS-FIRST ORPHANAGE OF QUINCY-THE WOOD- LAND HOME-ST. VINCENT HOME FOR THE AGED-ST. MARY'S, THE FIRST HOSPITAL-LINDSAY CHURCH HOME-THE BLESSING HOS- PITAL-THE ANNA BROWN HOME-OLD PEOPLE'S HOME (DAS AL- TENHEIM )-DETENTION HOME.
Probably no city of its size in Illinois has been the center of a more active and productive intellectual and philanthropic life than Quincy. This has been so shot with the elements of both radicalism and conservatism as to have a wide and strong influence on state and national thought. The Quincy newspapers and the local leaders in the higher activities gave the city an early standing as a forum for debate and agitation of the Mormon and Slavery questions, in which both sides to the controversies might be assured "fair play," if they violated no law themselves. During the period of the Civil war Quincy was a most important strategic point both in the military operations against the Confederacy, as well as in the vigorous fight waged by the press of the Upper Mississippi Valley. Its newspapers were among the pioneers of the West and they have never lost their youthful vitality and persistency either in attack or defense.
The same may be said of Quincy's literary and reformatory clubs, its charitable movements and institutions, chiefly founded, main- tained and developed by its high-minded and cultured women. The Friends in Council is the oldest literary and social club of women in the West and the famous Sorosis, of New York, is the only organiza- tion of the kind which antedates it in the United States.
510
511
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
THE QUINCY HERALD
The Herald represents the direet sueeessor of the first newspaper to be established in Adams County and one of the pioneer ventures of the kind in the Mississippi Valley. Its original progenitor, the founder of the tribe of newspapers in this section of the state, was the Bounty Land Register, first issued April 17, 1835, to advertise the merits (only) of the 3,500,000 aeres of publie lands in the state be- tween the Illinois and the Mississippi rivers allotted to the soldiers of the War of 1812. This comprehended about three-fifths of the entire traet, and it was decreed by Congress that no land should be sold by the Government lying in the seetion named until all bounties to the soldiers should be paid. The Bounty Land Register therefore had a large task before it. Its columns were devoted to descriptions of the beauties and practical values of the bounty lands, and it carried all kinds of advertisements, including those noting delinquent land sales in Knox, Fulton and Hancock counties. Later, of course, with more general settlements and the establishment of newspapers in the adjacent counties, the character of the Register became changed and, while its business sphere was eontraeted, its news and editorial scope was broadened. As the early files of the Register were destroyed by fire, the authority for the date of its first issue rests upon the testi- mony of Capt. Henry Asbury in his "Reminiscenees."
The original publishers of the Bounty Land Register were C. M. Woods and Dunbar Aldrich, who were both practical printers, as- sisted in the editorial department by Judge Richard Young. At the time it was issued, there were two other newspapers published in Illinois-the Springfield Journal, the first number of which appeared November 10, 1831, and the Galena Gazette, established in 1834.
On November 15, 1836, one week after the election of Martin Van Buren as President of the United States, the paper was transferred to John H. Pettit, of Cincinnati, and became the Quiney Argus and Illi- nois Bounty Land Register. Editor Pettit immediately got busy and declared that in ten years Quiney would be the largest eity in the Mississippi Valley with the exception of St. Louis; but, although it did double within the decade, Galena and Dubuque had forged ahead of it, and St. Paul and Minneapolis were just getting into view as straggling villages with rather ridiculous ambitions.
In 1841, after laboring along for nearly five years under the burden of its name, the Quiney Argus and Bounty Land Register was changed in title to simply, The Herald. It was first issued as a daily paper in 1850.
Since The Herald became a daily paper in the middle of the last century, the paper has taken the leadership in the forming of the opinion of the community on the many momentons questions which have come before the country and particularly before the people of Quincy and Adams County. During this time also the ownership has changed many times and with alnost every transfer of owner-
512
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
ship there came also a change in editorial control. One of the most famous of the editors of The Herald during the early years of its existence as a daily paper was Austin Brooks whose editorial expres- sions made him and his paper widely quoted throughout the country.
The Quincy Herald Company was incorporated on June 25, 1890, by the three men who previously had been partners in its ownership, George E. Doying of Jacksonville, William H. Hinrichsen of Quincy, and Warren Case of Quincy. Shortly after the forming of the cor- poration, the stock was sold to Mrs. Ida R. Morris, whose sons, Isaac N. and Joseph R. Morris, were placed in charge of the paper's business and editorial management. The Morris brothers held the stock of the company about a year and on September 23, 1891, the ownership of the company was taken over by Charles L. Miller, Edmund M. Bots- ford and Hedley J. Eaton, all of Rockford, Illinois. Ever since the purchase of the paper by these three men The Herald has grown steadily in influence, journalistie standards and material equipment. Mr. Miller remained in Quincy but a short time and on his return to Rockford the editorial direction of the paper was taken over by Ed- mund M. Botsford. Mr. Eaton was the business manager. These two men remained as the active managers of The Herald almost a quarter of a century. Mr. Eaton and Mr. Botsford retired from active par- tieipation in the management of the paper several years ago, but Mr Eaton personally and Mr. Botsford's estate still retain important financial holdings in the corporation. Mr. Botsford died January 8, 1918, after many years of unusual usefulness as a leader in the form- ing of the opinion of the community.
In 1909 Ray M. Oakley, who had learned the Herald thoroughly by many years of experience in the business office of the company, was admitted as a member of the corporation. In 1914 Charles F. Eichenaner, who likewise had served a thorough apprenticeship in the editorial rooms, also became a stockholder and officer of the com- pany. The present officers of The Quiney Herald Company are: Charles F. Eichenauer, president ; Hedley J. Eaton, vice president ; Ray M. Oakley, secretary and treasurer. John D. Eaton, who was treasurer of the company for several years and still retains an in- terest in it, is serving in the army of the United States at the present time. The men active in the management of the paper are Ray M. Oakley, who is the business manager, and Charles F. Eichenauer, who is the managing editor. The present stockholders are IIedley J. Eaton, the E. M. Botsford estate, Mrs. Carolina Botsford, Ray M. Oakley. Charles F. Eichenauer, John D. Eaton, and Mrs. Katherine Botsford Gay.
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.