USA > Illinois > Peoria County > The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a history of the Northwest-history of Illinois-history of the county, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc., etc. > Part 47
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It is said of Colonel Hamilton that some years after the duel between his father and Burr, he followed the latter to St. Louis and challenged him to mortal combat, but that
321
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.
Burr declined to accept the challenge, because, as he expressed it, of the difference in their ages.
When the California gold excitement began to agitate the country, Colonel Hamilton left the Galena section and went to that country, where he died. Some years after his death and burial, the question as to the location of his grave was raised, but could not be settled by the people there. At last it was learned that Barney Norris, a mulatto man, who had been in Hamilton's employ in California, and who was with him in his last sick- ness, and present at his burial, had returned to the States and was living at Galena. He was appealed to, and in a letter to the interested parties, he so accurately described the last resting place of Colonel Hamilton there was no difficulty in finding his grave.
LAST OF THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.
Under influences previously recited, the constitutional provisions of 1848 and subsequent law of 1849 were enacted, enabling the people of the several counties of the State to vote " for " or " against " township organization. This question was submitted to the voters of the State at the election on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1849, and was adopted by most of the counties north of the Illinois river.
Under the provisions of an act of the legislature opposed February 12,1849, a County Court was created. Section one of this law provided " that there should be established in each of the counties of this State, now created and organized, or which may hereafter be created or organized, a court of record, to be styled the ' County Court, ' to be held and consist of one judge, to be styled the 'County Judge.'" Section seventeen of the same ast [see pp. 307-10, Statutes of 1848] provided for the election of two additional justices of the peace, whose jurisdiction should be co-extensive with the counties, etc., and who should sit with the county judge as members of the court, for the transaction of all county business, and none other.
The last session of the County Commissioner's Court was a special session, and com- menced on Tuesday the 20th and closed on Friday the 23rd day of November, 1849. William Mitchell, who had served as Clerk of the Court for several years died, on the 13th of November and at a previous session Ralph Hamlin was appointed to the vacancy. The following is the last order of the old style County Commissioner's Court.
Ordered, That the Treasurer pay the following persons the amounts set opposite their respective names :
Thomas Mooney, five days attendance $12.50
James L Riggs,
12.50
Joseph Ladd,
12,50
Ralph Hamlin,
'as Clerk 12.50
William Compher "
" as Sheriff. 5.00
Thomas Turbott, for brick
72.00
THOMAS MOONEY, ) JAMES L. RIGGS,
Commissioners.
RALPH HAMLIN,
JOSEPH LADD,
Clerk, Pro tem.
COUNTY COURT.
At the November election, 1849, Thomas Bryant was elected County Judge. The first term of this Court-Joseph Ladd and John McFarland, Associate Judges-was held on Monday, the 3d day of December, 1849, and from that time until a Board of Supervisors was elected and fully organized in the Spring of 1850, had full management of the busi- ness affairs of the county. On the 6th of December, the Clerk certified to the Court an abstract of the votes cast "for " and "against" township organization, which was as follows :
For township organization
2,147
Against township organization
19
-2,166
Majority in favor of township organization
2,128
322
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.
The Court then appointed David Sanborn, George Holmes, and Mark Aikin, com- missioners to divide the county into townships. There seems to be no report of their action on record, and hence it is assumed that the commissioners did not report in favor of any change from the lines established by the government surveyors.
The last term of the County Court, while managing the county affairs, was held on the 4th of June, 1850, when the Supervisors succeeded fully to the public duties they are now discharging.
FIRST MEETING OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.
The first election of Supervisors in the several townships occurred at the regular April election. 1850, and the first meeting of the Board was held on the 8th of the same month. At that meeting the following twelve townships were represented as follows :
TOWNSHIPS.
SUPERVISORS.
TOWNSHIPS,
SUPERVISORS.
Hollis. Stephen C. Wheeler.
Akron. Benjamin Slane.
Rosefield
John Combs.
Limestone.
Isaac Brown.
Orange
Samuel Dimon.
Princeville L .. B. Cornwell.
Richwood
Josiah Fulton.
Jubilee William W. Church.
Chillicothe Charles S. Strother.
Millbrook Clark W. Stanton.
Benton
Jonathan Brassfield.
Trivoli. David R. Gregory.
Charles Kelette, Clerk. Samuel Dimon was elected Chairman of the Board.
At a meeting of the Board on the 9th of June, 1850, a communication was read by the Clerk from the Auditor of State advising the Board that there was a township known as Orange, in another part of the State, of older date, and directing that another name be selected for the Peoria county township so designated. Kickapoo, after the Kickapoo Indians, was substituted, by which name it has ever since been known.
Benton was changed to Fremont at the same time and for the same reason, and on the 20th of June, in response to a letter from the Auditor of State, advising the Board that there was already a Fremont township, the name was changed to Radnor, in honor of one of the first settlers in that part of the county. Since then there have been no changes of note in any of the townships.
CHAPTER XI.
OLD TIME BRIDGES. £ MODERN STRUCTURES.
First Bridge Across the Kickapoo -Award of the Contract - Trouble with the Contractor -Completion of the Structure - First Bridge Across the Mississippi- Iron Wagon and Railway Bridges - Triumphs of Engineer- ing Skill.
With the increase of immigration and spread of settlements, there came a demand and necessity for wagon bridges across the Kiekapoo and other ereeks that were often so swollen by melting snows and heavy rains as to be impassable. Floods were of more fre- quent occurrence before the wild sod was broken, and the earth loosened by the plow of the husbandman than since. This is explained on the hypothesis that the sod presented greater resistance to absorption than cultivated ground, and, consequently, a greater quantity of the rain-fall found its way into the beds of the creeks.
In the early part of 1827, a site was selected for a bridge across the Kickapoo, and at a special session of the Commissioners' Court. March 16, 1827, an order was issued to ervet a public lidge across Kickapoo creek, a short distance above the present fording on the public road from Peoria to Lewistown.
323
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.
The Court was in session on the 7th of April, but there is nothing to be found on record to show to whom, or at what price, the contract was let. The following order, however, under date of March 4, 1828, indicates that the contract was let to John L. Bogardus :
Ordered, That a suit be commenced in the Circuit Court against John L. Bogardus, as principal, and John Dixon and Augustus Langworthy, as sureties, on a bond for five hundred dollars, conditioned for building a bridge across Kickapoo creek in Peoria county, conformable to an order of the County Commissioners' Court, and that the clerk forward the necessary documents to the Attorney-General, with a request that he commence suit immediately on behalf of the county.
At a special session of the Court, June 13, 1829, the clerk was directed to advertise another letting of the bridge, July 11, 1829. This is the last order respecting the bridge until a special session of the Court, July 28, 1830, when it was "Ordered, That the bridge across Kickapoo creek, engaged to be built by John Cameron, be accepted as finished according to contract," and he was allowed fifty dollars as balance of contract price. No entry of the price for which the bridge was " engaged to be built," is to be found upon the old journal.
GUARDING AGAINST ACCIDENTS.
The preservation of bridges and precautions against accidents were carefully guarded by the early public authorities. At a March term-1836 - of the County Court, it was " Ordered, That no person be allowed to go on or cross over any frame bridge in the county of Peoria with more than four yoke of oxen and the load drawn by them, or six horses and their load, under penalty of paying whatever damages might occur." A copy of this order was attached to the appointment or "commission " of each road supervisor, and they were expected to see that it was respected and obeyed.
MODERN BRIDGES.
That old bridge, the first wagon bridge to span the Kickapoo, was also the first one built in any part of the county at the expense of the county. In those days, and for a good many years later, it was thought impossible to build a wagon bridge without heavy timbers morticed together with two-inch tenons and fastened in place with inch or inch and-a-half pins, and otherwise strongly supported and braced. Time and art-science, however, have demonstrated that stronger bridges can be built with much smaller tim- bers, and without mortices and tenons. In 1830 the idea of bridging such water courses as the Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri rivers, was not conceived. The first settlers of the country west of those great water courses crossed them in Indian canoes as Abner crossed the Illinois river at the old trading house, Wesley City, in the early Summer of 1819. After canoe-ferries came ferry boats that were worked by hand with sweeps or great big oars. Starting in on either side of the larger streams these boats hugged up the shore as closely as possible for some distance, then pulled out diagonally across the river in the direction of the opposite shore. When the center of the current was reached, the prow of the boat was headed obliquely down the stream towards the landing point. After that kind of ferry came horse ferries and then steam ferries. Until St. Paul, Min- nesota, built a great wagon bridge across the Mississippi at that place, the first bridge of any kind to span the " Father of Waters," the great majority of people thought, if they thought at all, that ferries would be used for all time to come, in crossing that mighty river. Profiting by the successful accomplishment of the St. Paul undertaking, active mechanical and engineering minds set to work, and as a result, the Mississippi and Mis- souri rivers are bridged in a dozen places with iron railway bridges, many of them with wagon-ways combined. The smaller rivers were less difficult to overcome, and now these great watercourses offer but little obstacle to travel or commerce between the cities of the Atlantic and those of the golden-sloped Pacific. Engineering skill has annihilated distance and time, so that passengers and freight are transferred from ocean to ocean in
324
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.
a brief period without sacrificing the comfort of the former or changing cars or breaking bulk of the latter.
The old first bridge at the Lewistown road crossing of the serpentine Kickapoo. was several times replaced with wooden structures. Other bridges were built at other cros- sings, but nearly all of them have given place to iron bridges that rest on solid stone piers and abutments. These structures bid defiance to winds and floods and ice-gorges, and will last for generations to come.
The first of these iron bridges in Peoria county was built in 1871, at a cost of §10,- 400. At the August session, 1873, of the Committee on Roads and Bridges of the Board of Supervisors contracted with the King Iron Bridge Co., of Cleveland, Ohio, for a bridge on the Farmington road at Kickapoo creek, of 120 foot span at §25.30 per lineal foot. And with the Canton, Ohio, Company for 125 foot span over Spoon river at 826.50 per lineal foot, the total cost being 818.861. Besides these bridges, there is one large iron bridge over the Kickapoo creek at the plank road crossing ; and one at the middle road crossing spanning the same creek ; and over Spoon river at Elmore, besides numerous smaller structures in the county, in which iron has taken the place of wood in almost every instance.
CHAPTER XII.
COUNTY BUILDINGS.
The early Court House - The County Jail - New Court House - Laying the Corner Stone - House Warming - County Infirmary - Poor Farm - Circuit Court - Judges - The Criminal Calendar - Official Record.
When Peoria county was organized in the Spring of 1825, there were but few houses at Fort Clark. All of them were small structures, built of logs, and, with one or two exceptions, were occupied as private residences. There was not a building in the county seat of the new county that could be secured for the exclusive use of any of the county officers, and as a consequence they were forced to keep their offices at their residences, as already shown in the case of County Clerk Waters. This was the most important office at that time. The sheriff and treasurer had but little need for an office, and while the sheriff could carry the papers belonging to his office in his hat, the treasurer could carry those belonging to his department in his pockets. The requirements of the other officers were equally limited, and when business was wanted with any of them, if they could not accommodate the demand on the street, or wherever they were at work-county officers had to work in those days-they adjourned to their cabins.
The first term of the Circuit Court was held in a small log cabin that stood at or near the place occupied by the Fort Clark mill. Subsequent terms of the court were held under similar conditions. In March, 1829, John Hamlin, for the sum of seventy- five dollars, assigned to the County Commissioners, for the use of the county, all his right, title and interest in a log house that stood between Water Street and the river, a little below where the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railroad bridge spans the river, and known as the Crozier house, which was used for several years for the purposes of county offices, courts, etc. This building had heen erected and occupied as a store house by Simon Crozier, and was the one in the upper story of which the Circuit Court was held when the cabin court room became too small to accommodate the attendance.
In June, 1833, the County Court being in session, it was "ordered that the Clerk advertise in the Sangamon Journal that sealed proposals would be received at the Clerk's office in the town of Peoria, until the 9th day of July next, for furnishing 150,000 briek
325
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.
on the public square in said town of Peoria, at which time and place contracts will be entered into for the said brick : also, that at the same time contracts would be given for furnishing the stone and lumber that might be wanted to construct a court house."
A special session of the Court was held on July 9, at which the proposals thus in- vited were examined. Samuel Hackelton was awarded the contract for furnishing the brick, at five dollars per thousand, and required to enter into bonds, " with good and sufficient security," for a faithful performance of his part of the contract. The contract for furnishing the lumber was awarded to Moffatt and Hamlin.
In September, 1833, a contract was awarded to Daniel Fash, senior, for furnishing the material for the foundation walls, but at a special session of the court in January, 1834, this contract was cancelled by request of J. N. Chrisman, the surviving obligor. At the same session - September, 1833- John Hamlin was employed as agent to furnish rock for the court-house foundations, and the hewn timber necessary, on as good terms as he could secure. The clerk was also directed to advertise in the Sangamon Journal, Beardstown Chronicle and St. Louis Republican, that sealed proposals would be received at the clerk's office in Peoria, until the third day of the next term of the Commissioners' Court, for doing the mason work in laying the foundation walls, and also the brick work, the county furnishing all the materials. Proposals were also invited for the carpenter work, exclusive of the doors and windows; plans and specifications to be seen at the clerk's office. Aquila Wren, John Coyle and E. S. Jones were the Commissioners at this time, and under their administration measures for building the court-house had been inaugurated.
At the March term (1834) of the court, the contract for the mason work was awarded to Charles W. McClelan, and the carpenter work to George B. Macy.
At a special session in April, Francis Voris was appointed agent to superintend the building, and served until July 10, next following, when he was succeeded by Isaac Waters. At the same time Waters was appointed building superintendent, he was given a contract to furnish the stone, rough and dressed, for the foundation walls of the court-house, to be delivered, ready for use, whenever and wherever the masons should direct.
In October, 1834, John Hamlin was appointed agent for the county to superintend the building of the conrt-house, and furnish material on the best terms to be secured. From this order it appears that Mr. Waters had failed to meet the obligations of his con- tract to furnish stone, as previously noted, and as building superintendent. He was County Clerk at the time, and by reason of the infirmities of age, etc., the County Commis- sioners found it expedient to remove him from office. William Mitchell was appointed to the succession.
McClelan failed to complete the foundation walls as per agreement, and in October, 1834, the County Commissioners resolved to take the work under their own management. This resolution, on the part of the Commissioners, provoked a controversy between the court and Mr. McClelan, which became a subject of arbitration. Five citizens - Francis Voris, George B. Macy, William Compher, Jacob N. Chrisman and A. S. Buxton, were chosen arbitrators, it being agreed that their decision should be accepted and considered a rule of court. While there is no record of that decision on the journal, it is fair to pre- sume the differences between the Commissioners and Mr. McClelan were settled to the satisfaction of both parties, as McClelan's name subsequently appears as one of the me- chanics engaged on the court-house work.
April 28, 1834, special session. Joshua Bowman was awarded the contract for fur- nishing the base stones for the columns in front of the old temple of justice. These stones were four feet square and ten inches in thickness. They were delivered, ready to be put in place, for thirty-five dollars.
326
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.
On the next day, April 20, some additions and alterations having been decided, the following agreement was entered on record :
Ordered, And it is hereby agreed that Hamlin and Macy forthwith proceed with the work on the court-house, agreeable to contract, and that all extra work, additions, altera- tions and damages which have arisen, or may arise, in consequence of delay by the mason work not being completed in such manner as to allow them to proceed agreeable to con- tract, shall be allowed for hereafter, and the amount thereof shall be computed by two or more disinterested mechanics ; provided, that the original contract shall be in no wise invalidated by the passage of this order.
REUBEN B. HAMLIN. GEORGE B. MACY.
Under this agreement the work was pushed rapidly forward, and at the June term, 1835, instructions were given to invite proposals for painting, etc. In July Joshua Bow- man was awarded the contract for furnishing the dressed stone for the steps to the front of the court-house at sixty-two and-a-half cents per foot, and at the December term of the court he was awarded a contract for four plain round columns at ten dollars per foot. running measure.
At this - December - session Henry Gilbert, on the part of the county and W. A. Blair, on the part of Reuben B. Hamlin, were chosen to arbitrate the cost of the addi- tions, alterations, damages, etc., as provided in the order or agreement of April 29, the arbitration resulting as follows :
To additional size of building $300 00
" one extra window.
11 50
" extra work done on windows
75 00
" ballustrades around bell deck
50 00
damages for failure on part of contract.
570 00
" hindrance for,lumber this Summer
50 00
" glue, 20 and 31 14 cents
6 25
extra work on capitals
150 00
.. cash paid for labor.
1 50
= .€ drayage
50
Total
-$1,214 75
Which amount was ordered to be passed to the credit of Hamlin.
The court-house was fully completed in the Winter of 1835-6. The lower story was originally divided into six rooms or offices, three of which were assigned to county officers, and the other three leased to lawyers. Some years after its completion, not being fire-proof, the safety of the county records began to interest the people. Some of them favored pulling down the building and erecting a finer and better one, one that would be fire-proof. The proposition was thoroughly discussed. The heaviest tax-payers in the county, as a rule, were opposed to the measure, while those who paid no taxes were in favor of a new building. The citizens of Peoria, tax-payers and non-tax-payers combined in favor of a building that would cost one hundred thousand dollars, but they were over- powered by the farmer interests, and a compromise was made which resulted in the erec- tion of fire-proof wings for the protection of the records, which were used as clerk's offices until the entire structure was sold to David Burns for $250, and torn down and removed, in May, 1876, to make room for the present magnificent temple of justice. The wings cost about $19,000.
The old court-house was several times remodeled to suit the notions of those who were entrusted with the management of the county offices. Bench, bar, jury-box, seats, etc., were all several times changed from the original plan ; the stairs were removed from the inside to the outside of the building, and in fact when the old building was torn down, except the walls, columns, etc., there was but little of the original structure left.
COUNTY JAIL.
For nine years after the county was organized there was no jail. In some cases,
327
HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.
where offenses were not bailable, or where bail could not be secured. prisoners were guarded by persons employed for that purpose, and in other cases they were taken to jails in other counties for safe keeping. No-ma-que, the Indian murderer of a French- inan, and the first criminal in the county, was kept under guard a part of the time, and a part of the time he was imprisoned at Edwardsville. In consequence of the absence of a jail and the cost of guarding prisoners or keeping them in jails so far away as Ed- wardsville, many evil-doers escaped arrest and punishment that otherwise would have been made to " languish in durance vile."
The first county jail was built in 1834. It was built of square logs and stood on the alley between Main, and Hamilton, and Monroe and Perry streets. It was sixteen feet square and fourteen feet high. It is thus described by Mr. Charles Ballance : " The lower story was constructed of three thicknesses of logs -two lying horizontally and one between them standing perpendicularly, so that should an attempt be made to bore the logs out, the perpendicular ones would come down and stop the hole. The upper story was of only one thickness of logs. The corners were dove-tailed to give strength to the structure. The floor of the lower part was made of square timbers fitted closely together, and covered with heavy oak plank, well spiked. Above the strong room there was a strong floor, with a trap door. There was no door in the lower story or prison part. The upper story was reached by a pair of outside stairs. Prisoners were taken up these stairs, and, with the help of a ladder, passed down through the trap door to the lower room. After their descent, the ladder was drawn up, and the trap door closed and bolted." The cost of this structure was one thousand dollars.
As small and inconvenient as this jail may have been, it was made to answer the purpose until 1849, when another one, part stone and part brick, was built at the inter- section of Washington and North Fayette streets. That building cost $11,000, and con- tinued to be used as a jail until the present structure was completed in 1869. Its great distance from the court house rendered it inconvenient. This inconvenience was ac- knowledged when the location was first selected, but there were difficulties in the way of avoiding it. The greatest of these difficulties was in the fact that the county had soid all the lots around the court-house square, and they were all occupied, or if not oc- cupied, were held at such prices that it was considered bad economy to buy them back at from ten to twenty times as much as they had been sold for. But at last it was found to be a matter of economy to repurchase ground enough near the court-house for a jail, and in 1867 the Board of Supervisors bought the lots on which the present jail is erected for $6,000, and which the County Commissioners had sold for seventy-five dollars. The new jail was completed and turned over to the Sheriff, under order of the County Board of Supervisors, Feb'y 24, 1869, at a cost of $75,000, and is one of the finest buildings of its kind in the West.
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