USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > The History of Stephenson County, Illinois : containing biographical sketches war record statistics portraits of early settlers history of the Northwest, history of Illinois, &c. > Part 46
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
lives of those classes of men who generally, without homes or restraining influ- ences, are ready for any quality of excitement afforded at the moment. The block-house which then stood where the high school now is, it is said, was filled to repletion with horse thieves and rioters, who after a brief imprisonment, were either sent to Alton, mysteriously disappeared or shipped out of the country with the assurance that their lives would pay the penalty of their return.
In the summer of 1840, M. P. Sweet came into Freeport and established himself permanently as a practitioner at the bar. Thomas J. Turner came the next, and in their several capacities both gentlemen attained prominence and secured reputations that will survive while the practice of law is regarded in Freeport as among the most reputable and profitable of the professions.
Yet, amid the scenes of dissipation and disorder quoted, there were occa- sional gleams of sunshine through the clouds, promising a brighter future. Though the moral atmosphere of the city is represented as having been odor- ous with crime, there were ministers and religious services, and the cause of education was constantly agitated by the sincerest of advocates. The Rev. F. C. Winslow, "Father" McKean and other laborers in the cause of religion and morality, preached at intervals in private residences, the school and court houses, in addition to conducting prayer-meetings and Sabbath schools. The congrega- tions were of course small, but they are said to have been sincere, and the fruit of their labors is to be seen in Freeport to-day in the numerous congregations, handsome church edifices and evidences of prosperity evident on all sides. They laid the foundation for that morality and Christian harmony which pre- vails not alone among the churches, but among those who are even remotely influenced by their teachings.
In the winter of 1840, the first dancing-school taught in the city was opened in the building still standing at the corner of Exchange and Galena streets, in the room fronting on the former thoroughfare. Professor Bailey instructed ambitious youths in the arts of Terpsichore and politeness, while Charley Pratt accompanied him with the fiddle. The class was made up of a dozen young people, representing the beauty and chivalry of Freeport, who met once a week and engaged in the "dizzy maze " with all that the term im- plies, until late at night. Many who participated in those hops still live, and unite in awarding the palm for grace and beauty to Miss Sarah Hunt, none of whom, however, were able to influence the young lady to remain in Freeport. She returned to New York-whence she originally came-while yet a young lady, where she was married, and lost sight of in the years that followed.
Among those who came during this period were Mathias Hettinger, Ashael Rice, etc. Calvin Waterbury, a Presbyterian missionary, came in 1842, as also did others.
In June of the latter year, the first circus to pitch its camp in Freeport unfolded its tents near the present site of the Tremont House, and the residents for miles around were edified by the feats of horsemanship and ground and lofty tumbling exhibited, as also by the witty bon mots of the clown. The show was under the management of Levi J. North, it is thought, and its success in Free- port not less pronounced than remunerative.
Henceforward, inconsistent as it may seem, the truth as related by those con- versant with the facts, represents the growth of the city as comparatively slow. The same causes which operated so disadvantageously to the county in that respect were repeated in the advancement of the city. The great distance from mar- ket and meager facilities discouraged immigration and retarded the city's improvement. When the railroad system, however, was projected, it was per-
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ceived that Freeport would eventually become an important point of communi- cation. This stimulated immigration long before any road was proposed, and was materially increased when the roads were completed.
In those times, as now, the business and residence portions of the city were not several, as to-day, but distributed about the city with a charmingly incon- venient irregularity. There were no stately mansions nor marble palaces, where elegance resided or fashion was exhibited. Travelers were not rolled into town in Pullman sleepers or parlor cars, but in Walker & Frink's stages, or upon a lumber wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen. Beauty and chivalry were not as pre- tentious as they are to-day, and the style sought to be established, the embodiment of usefulness ; ornamentation was held at a distance, if not entirely tabooed.
As one of the old settlers observed when commenting upon the times referred to, " There was no hicondirifics then, young man, I tell you. A man was taken for just what he was worth, and a woman too; and if either of them failed to come up to the standard of expectation, he or she was left in the race for leadership."
The days mentioned were well calculated, according to report, to develop whatever of character there was lying dormant in a man's composition, only wait- ing for circumstances to bring it out. A man able to maintain his position in any relation of life, either as a merchant, a mechanic, or professionally, was sure of success. It might not come with the dawn of the day after trials and labors, but come it would, and to remain. The success which has attended the labors of every man who has distinguished himself in Freeport illustrates the truth of this conclusion. So, too, a man without the ambition to succeed could certainly attain the nadir of hopelessness without the delay ordinarily experienced to-day through the intervention of so-called financial or other fortuitous influences.
Early in the forties, notwithstanding the absence of encouraging features, the class of improvements begun and completed, as also those proposed, were of a more substantial, not to say finished, type than those which had gone up dur- ing the earlier years. The business houses constructed after designs as original as they were adapted to the times when called into being, were becoming worn and disagreeable features to the gaze of the comparatively æsthetic residents who had become identified with the city from 1840 to 1845. And this was not to be wondered at, either. Freeport was possessed of many advantages by this time which were highly prized and gladly availed of. Transportation facilities had become more extended and convenient. Stages communicated with towns in the interior of the State, as also in Wisconsin and the Territory of Iowa. The subject of rendering the Pecatonica navigable was generally mooted, and, though nothing was accomplished in that direction, it was not for any lack of promise the completion of such an undertaking held out. The mail was daily ; and the postoffice, held about this time in the residence of Thomas J. Turner, became the resort of all who were possessed or in search of news. The old building then occupied, it is said, long since gave way to a more extensive suc- cessor, meeting the fate of useless appendages in cities-destruction.
About this time, the first brick building erected in the city went up, but there is a dispute as to its locality. Some assert that it still remains, occupying the corner of Galena and Cherry strects, where it was put as a residence for John Perkins, thirty-five years ago. Others claim that the first brick was
built about this time at the corner of Bridge and Van Buren streets. That too, was a residence, being occupied by David Clay, and for many, very many years, was devoted to this purpose by various citizens. Within a few years, however, it was razed, and the elegant brick building, now used as a post
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office, occupies its site. There is a claim also made that the one-story brick building at the corner of Stephenson and Mechanic streets, was the first of the kind in Freeport. Appearances would indicate that this last is quite aged, but the claims made in its behalf are disputed in favor of the Clay and Perkins resi- dences, with a tendency to settle the question in favor of the former. From that date, brick buildings gradually became the rule instead of the exception. A. T. Green put up one at the corner of Stephenson and Chicago streets, in 1846, the third in the city ; this, too, was destroyed years ago, and a block erected in its stead was utilized to purposes as numerous as were the colors in Joseph's coat. These precedents established, others went up, each one more elaborately finished, and, during the ensuing decade, when O. H. Wright built a three-story brick store and warehouse on Stephen- son street, and caused it to be finished in hard wood, it was regarded with a curiosity equal to that with which the ancients regarded the seven wonders. As first built, it occupied a slight elevation, and was reached by a flight of steps. In time, this came to be regarded as inconvenient and detracting from its general appearance, when a slight elevation was cut away and the building lowered to its present level. The task was accomplished by means employed for similar pur- poses in Chicago, and attended by a large expense.
In the fall of 1842, Freeport was the stage of an almost unprecedented excitement, consequent upon the mysterious disappearance of a lad named Tripp, under circumstances inducing an apprehension of foul play. He, in company with a number of boys, had visited the woods which line Yellow Creek, for the purpose of collecting a store of butternuts, and, becoming fright- ened at the outcries of his companions, one of whom appeared to him dressed in a buffalo robe representing a panther, had fled. When night came on, the remain- der of the party returned to the village, accounting for his absence so unsatis- factorily as to excite the gravest suspicions concerning his fate. The following day young Tripp failing to appear, strengthened these suspicions, and created the greatest anxiety. In the midst of the excitement prevalent, a meeting of citizens was convened, and, after deliberating upon the mysterious circumstances shrouding his disappearance, a committee of citizens was organized to ascertain his whereabouts or secure the remains, as it was thought he had been mercilessly slaughtered. The committee mounted on horses, ranged the woods for several days and nights without success, and, as they were about abandoning further pursuit, footsteps were discovered in the sand of the creek bottom, which, being followed up, led to his place of rest in the woods, about three miles from where he disappeared. He was in a condition approximating starvation, but recovered his usual health in time, and the occurrence was soon forgotten. When the boys with whom he had gone to the woods frightened him, as related, he had left their company, and wandering aimlessly about for three days, finally succumbed to exhaustion, and was only saved from impending death by the fortunate dis- covery of his tracks, and the subsequent finding of himself.
The most important event probably of this decade was the establishment of a weekly newspaper in the town. This was accomplished through the in- strumentality of the Hon. Thomas J. Turner, then a representative in Congress. Stephen D. Carpenter, who had previously been editor of the Girard (Penn.) Free Press, was elected to manage its affairs, and under his direction it was issued as the Prairie Democrat.
In the following year the Freeport Journal was promulgated by Messrs. Grattan & McFadden, in the interests of the Whig party, and met with a ready support. Both papers have survived the whips and scorns of time, and
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are to-day flourishing and authoritative mediums of information, as also sources of profit.
During this year, Horace Tarbox erected a large three-story stone building at the corner of Stephenson and Chicago streets, which was designed for and appropriated to hotel purposes. The premises were completed in December and thrown open to the public on January 1, 1849, as the " Winnesheik House," remaining for many years a hospitable home for the immigrant and traveler, and supplying the absence theretofore experienced of a "first-class " house of entertainment. Upon the opening night, a ball was given in the house, which was attended by the elite for miles around, and is remembered to-day as an event of importance and pleasure. The building was torn down in 1874.
The improvements made this decade, though not numerous or elaborate, were substantial, and kept pace with the necessities of the people. They in- cluded buildings erected by D. A. Knowlton, George Purinton, O. H. Wright, C. Rosenstiel, William Glover, Emmert & Strohm, I. C. Stoneman, and others, which, in addition to increasing the conveniences of the village, added mate- rially to its appearance. A dam was also constructed across the Pecatonica as an inducement for the investment of capital. It was erected, under authority granted by the Legislature, by E. E. Hanchett, and was owned in part by O. H. Wright, Lerch, Powell & Goddard. Upon its completion, a capacious flour- ing-mill was built and other improvements made, consisting of a saw-mill, carding-machine, etc. An additional impetus was given to the village by these accessions of resources, and the subsequent growth and prosperity of Freeport properly began at this period.
In 1849, the population of the village is quoted at 1,020. There were five ministers, three school teachers, four doctors, two surgeons, one surveyor and nine lawyers. In addition to these, nine land-speculators were numbered among the population, twenty-nine mechanics and twenty stores. A division of the Sons of Temperance, a lodge of Odd Fellows and other less important auxiliaries to success are noted as originating during 1849. This year the first church edifice in the city was erected and occupied, being the Presbyterian Church, yet stand- ing on the corner of Walnut and Stephenson streets, being occupied now as a machine shop, pretzel bakery and what not, entirely dissimilar to the uses for which it was originally consecrated.
Notwithstanding the California fever and departure for that auriferous region of many who had been up to that time identified with the social, com- mercial and other interests of Freeport, the village advanced rapidly in the scale of importance and wealth. Additions had been made to the original town plot by D. A. Knowlton and others, which were platted and sold without the difficul- ties attendant upon later-day transfers. About this time the miscellaneous class of people who always become part of new towns began to thin out and disappear, and the sporting characters, whose presence has been noted, having exhausted the supplies here, wended their way to other points. Some were after- ward heard of in California, some in the lead mines, some on the Miss- issippi River, and some on the gallows; but thereafter they avoided Freeport as carefully as they had sought its attractions theretofore. Church services and Sabbath schools were numerously attended; a Bible Society was organized ; the temperance advocates became a power for good in the community, and the moral success of Freeport thenceforward was unde- niable. Educationally, equally gratifying advancements were made. The " Old Red Schoolhouse" had by this time become entirely too small to
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
accommodate the demand, and other arrangements had to be made to furnish the public wants. Early in the year, a meeting was convened at the court house for the purpose of considering this question, which was largely attended. Numerous plans were submitted for the consideration of those present, and the outgrowth of these suggestions was a decision by which lots were purchased in Knowlton's Addition as a location for the union school building afterward erected. This meeting, it may be added, was the origin of the school system since so admirably conducted from the period when Freeport was a compara- tively unimportant village until to-day, when, as the most important city in North- ern Illinois, the educational facilities are among the most highly prized of her improvements. The same year, a female seminary was established, to be in har- mony with the spirit of the age, and, with the two weekly papers then in the first flush of success and popularity, the outlook was pictured to the residents as without clouds or unfavorable symptoms. The residence portion of the town was then beginning to tend toward Upper Stephenson street, and cross streets intersecting that thoroughfare were by no means avoided. Some of the most available sites were promptly taken possession of and occupied temporarily or held for future improvement; but it was not until some years later that the street began to be built up. To-day it is adorned with handsomely furnished private residences nestling in the midst of gardens and foliage, the homes of wealth, intelligence and liberality. In no city in the Northwest is there an ave- nue possessing so many attractions in this respect. The lower portion of the street is devoted to business ; this extends to Walnut street, after crossing which the scene is metamorphosed. Costly church edifices, schools, lawns shaded by forest and ornamental trees, with other factors of beauty and excellence in the surroundings, complete a picture both harmonious and attractive.
At the time of which mention is made, there were neither residences nor the promise of them. The lower end of the street was but imper- fectly occupied as a business center. Galena street monopolized the stores, saloons, warehouses, and , in most instances, private residences. There were houses at intervals in the vicinity of where Embury Church and the Union school are located. £ Beyond these points was almost a terra incognita. On the opposite side of the town, now limited by Galena avenue, the improve- ments were equally as distinct and distant, consisting of a cottage here and there, but scarcely anything more pretentious. The " boom " was coming, but had not reached Freeport. To the west were farms and forests, to the east the Pecatonica and the cemetery. This latter was laid out when the death of a little daughter of Hiram G. Eads required a place of burial, and by this time gave evi- dence of the fact that precious dust, how precious none but broken hearts can tell. had been laid beneath the turf-dust that once rounded into life, and warmed into love ; dust once folded in the clasp of sheltering arms. Age reposed there even then, and youth-a bride, perchance, whose cheek stained with the bright blush of the bridal, took on the pale seal of the "Master of mortality." Father, mother, husband and wife slept there too, in the icy clutch of death, and, when the cholera visited the town a few years thereafter, the hil- locks in that humble resting-place increased and multiplied. But the old church-yard long since was moved, the living must have room; and, where beauty once was laid, the tears of love mingled with the damps of death upon her brow, a railroad now winds its devious way. Cherished dust, crumbling cof- fins and disjointed skeletons, gave way to the tread of life and that the world might go by.
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HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY.
With the beginning of the decade indexed by 1850, the village had grown, slowly to be sure, into the importance of a town. At all events, that seemed to be the impression of the people, who procured its incorporation as such during the summer of that year, under the general law of the State, and at an election held in pursuance of the law, the following were selected as Trustees : Thomas J. Turner, Julius Smith, John K. Brewster, John Rice and Joseph B. Smith. By this year the importance of railroad communication between Free- port and distant points became apparent, and a meeting was called to ascertain what contributions were necessary to the end. that the Galena road might be directed thither. The aid that was furnished, and the labor and pains employed, to promote the success of that undertaking, as also the subsequent proceed- ings, had in that and other railroad enterprises, has been detailed, and is only referred to here as an incident connected with the growth of the city.
The population increased nearly five hundred, as was evidenced when the census was taken under the supervision of Oscar Taylor, who returned the city 1,486, and the county 11,666, an increase in the latter of 8,797 in the past ten years, notwithstanding the difficulties of trade and inaccessibility to market that were encountered during that period. The cholera came to Freeport about this time and departed after a brief sojourn, but not before it had invaded the ranks of the citizens indiscriminately. The disease visited the city twice there- after, in 1852 and 1854, since when it has remained at a distance both enchanting and safe.
The epidemic of 1852 will be long remembered, and is to-day referred to, by those who survived, with shudders and expressions of fear. The first case is said to have occurred on the " Branch," and its advance in that portion of the city, at least, was not checked until. it had run the gantlet of every resi- dence in that quarter. Indeed, it was confined to this portion of the city, the cases of Dr. Lowman and Mrs. Wright being the only ones reported north of Stephenson street. During this terrible visitation (and that it was terrible is to be found in the fact that, upon one day in August, eighteen deaths occurred) the people apparently remained unappalled by the frightful spectacle, and combined to ameliorate the effects of this unprecedented calamity. The sick were nursed and the dead buried by people from every grade of society. The gambler, outlaw and outcast felt as keen sympathy, nursed as tenderly and died as bravely as those who in purple and fine linen, forgetful of station or danger, lent their presence and assistance to mitigate the horrors of the plague, bind up broken hearts and care for the widow and fatherless. There were but a few physicians during this trying period ; Drs. L. A. Mease, Chan- cellor Martin, Robert H. Van Valzah and T. J. Hazlett being the more promi- nent ; the nurses and grave-diggers were similarly limited, and taken from the various lines of life then cast in the vicinity.
As illustrating the presence here, of some who remained rather through hope of gain than from humanitarian promptings, it is said that thieving and rascality, after suppression during years immediately previous, broke out afresh here during the continuance of the epidemic, and with greater virulence than was ever before manifested. In support of which a citizen related the following as a fair criterion of the existent state of affairs in that connection. A resident of St. Louis, proceeding to Buffalo, had taken passage in the stage at Galena for Chicago, en route to the Eastern markets. Upon reaching Free- port he was attacked with the disease, and, being quartered at the Winnesheik Hotel, was attended to as carefully as circumstances and the exigencies of the times permitted. He was known to have a large sum of money upon his
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person, and, when taken down, careful watch was maintained to prevent the attacks of marauders. He finally convalesced sufficiently to go down stairs, and ventured out during an afternoon to test his capacity to endure the fatigues of a trip East. That night he suffered from a relapse, and died before medical aid could effect a change. After death, $6,000 of the amount he had in his posses- sion mysteriously disappeared, and, though thorough search was made there- for, but $1,400 was recovered. He was buried in the cemetery, on the river bank, and his place of interment was lost sight of among the many graves that season caused to be prepared. Several years ago, his family came to Freeport to reclaim the body, but the grave could not be identified, and no man knows where he was laid.
After the disease had spent its force, business revived, and in the fall of that year, as also the succeeding spring, the town transacted a larger amount of business than any other place of its size west of Chicago. Six stages arrived each day, and the hotels were fairly packed with travelers. In addition to the stages, there were hacks and other vehicles, bearing passengers, coming in hourly ; indeed, as has been said, it was no uncommon circumstance to see twenty-five or thirty conveyances, laden with speculators, reach Freeport daily. As a manufacturing center, Freeport was commencing to become prominent. This was doubtless one of the many advantages which came with the railroad that made its first advent into town in August, 1854, and began to run regu- larly during the following September. The impetus this gave to all the inter- ests, active and quiescent, cannot be described, but is said to have been immense. Among the results was the establishing here of a steam flouring- mill, foundries, and machine-shops, one with a capacity for turning out one thousand plows annually, steam saw-mills, planing-mills, the railroad shops and other mediums for the accretion of wealth and attracting additions to the population.
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