The History of Will County, Illinois : containing a history of the county a directory of its real estate owners; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; general and local statistics.history of Illinois history of the Northwest, Part 38

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago : Wm. Le Baron, jr. & co.
Number of Pages: 980

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

joined the first year. This was the first Masonic Lodge in Will County, and, from the number, appears to have been the tenth in the State. It continued to work under its charter until 1846, when some dissensions having arisen in the Lodge, and the Grand Lodge of Illinois in the mean time having been or- ganized, the latter Grand Body annulled the charter of Juliet Lodge, No. 10, and afterward issued a dispensation to establish Mt. Joliet Lodge. In due time it was chartered as Mt. Joliet Lodge, No. 42, by Most Worshipful Nelson D. Morse, Grand Master of Illinois, and under which name and number it still exists. The first officers of the new Lodge were Wm. C. Little, Master ; My- ron K. Bronson, Senior Warden ; and Joel George, Junior Warden. For years, the first Lodge (Juliet, No. 10) had no regular place of meeting, but kept their paraphernalia in a chest, and met on the "highest hills, or in the lowest vales," metaphorically speaking, but usually in the old stone block on the West Side. The present officers of Mt. Joliet Lodge are John Gray, Master; P. B. Ryan, Senior Warden ; J. G. Patterson, Junior Warden ; and John S. Millar, Secre- tary, with 160 members on the roll.

Matteson Lodge was organized under dispensation in 1855, by Most Wor- shipful James L. Anderson, Grand Master of Illinois. In October, 1856, it was chartered as Matteson Lodge, No. 175, and named for ex-Gov. Matteson, one of the influential Masons and enterprising business men of the town. The' first officers were : William Smith, Master; Nelson B. Elwood, Senior War- den ; James T. McDougall, Junior Warden ; Abijah Cagwin, Treasurer ; John McGinnis, Jr., Secretary; Benjamin Richardson, Senior Deacon; W. S. Brooks, Junior Deacon, and C. H. Swayne, Tiler. The following are the pres- ent officers : W. G. Wilcox, Master; J. C. Lang, Senior Warden ; George C. Raynor, Junior Warden, and J. L. Raynor Secretary, with about one hundred and fifty names upon the roll of membership.

Joliet Chapter, No. 27, Royal Arch Masons, was chartered in November, 1855, by Most Excellent Ira A. W. Buck, Grand High Priest of Chapter Ma- sonry for the State. The first officers were: William Smith, High Priest ; Nelson D. Elwood, King, and A. S. Jones, Scribe. It is in a most flourishing state, and its affairs are at present administered by the following worthy com- panions : David Rosenheim, High Priest; C. C. Olney, King; C. Puffer, Scribe, and John C. Lang, Secretary, with about one hundred and seventy-five members.

Knighthood, the highest order of Freemasonry, was introduced in 1858. - A Commandery of Knights Templar was organized in the Spring of this year; under dispensation, and in October following, was chartered as Joliet Com- mandery, No. 4, Knights Templar, by Right Eminent Sir J. V. Z. Blaney, Grand Commander of Illinois. The first officers under the charter were: Sir Nelson D. Elwood, Eminent Commander; Sir S. S. Brooks, Generalissimo ; Sir H. W. Hubbard, Captain General. It is at present officered as follows : Sir John S. Millar, Eminent Commander ; Sir E. W. Willard, Generalissimo ;

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

Sir William. Dougall, Captain General; Sir J. B. Fithian, Recorder, and the roster shows a record of 137 members. Sir J. G. Elwood, a member of this Commandery, is at present Grand Junior Warden of the Grand Commandery of the State. The Masonic Hall, in which all the bodies held their meetings, was burned in February, 1866, with a loss to the fraternity of about $7,500, including jewels, paraphernalia, the private uniforms of members, etc. No one could enter the hall, and hence, nothing was saved. The insurance was about $4,000. In July, 1872, they were again burned out, this time at a loss of $8,000, with an insurance of about $6,000. They have elegant rooms now in Masonic Block, but do not own the building. It was, however, built specially for their accommodation, and they rent the upper part of it.

Odd Fellowship is represented by two Lodges and two Encampments. Pow- han Lodge, No. 29, was chartered July 13, 1847. Charter members were : J. T. McDougall, Abijah Cagwin, Phineas Wheeler, Mansfield Wheeler, S. W. Bowen, A. McIntosh, Harvey Wheeler and William McDougall. The charter was issued by W. W. N. Parke, Grand Master, and S. A. Corneau, Grand Sec- retary. The first officers were : J. T. McDougall, N. G .; Phineas Wheeler, V. G .; S. W. Bowen, R. S .; A. Cagwin, Tr., and Wm. McDougall, P. S. The present Noble Grand is William Hingston, and R. Sandiford, Secretary, with sixty-five members. As a matter of interest, we would state here that S. O. Simonds, a prominent merchant of Joliet, was Treasurer of this Lodge for nine- teen years, without interruption, besides holding other offices of distinction in the fraternity.

William Tell Lodge, No. 219, was chartered October 13, 1857, by Augustus C. Marsh, Grand Master, and Samuel Willard, Grand Secretary. The charter members were: Leopold Schwabacher, Adam Werner, Sol. Louer, Gabriel Hauch, J. L. Guirard and. Martin Wagoner. Joliet Encampment, No. 72, was chartered by Charles Parke, Grand Patriarch, and N. C. Mason, Grand Secre- tary, October 8, 1867, and the following were charter members : Ed. Cleghorn, A. D. Edgworth, G. H. Uchlman, Isaac S. Watson, Jacob Whitmore, Gabriel Hauch, Fred Schring and C. C. Braun. Eagle Encampment, No. 139, re- ceived its charter from A. H. Lichty, G. P., and N. C. Mason, Grand Secre- tary, October 8, 1872. The charter members were : A. D. Edgworth, Frank- lin Haines, James McEvoy, F. J. Richards, John Brown, John F. Tarball and George S. Kinney. The present C. P. is W. L. Green, and C. B. Brainard, Scribe. Pocahontas Lodge, No. 59, Daughters of Rebecca, was chartered Oc- ·tober 14, 1873, by G. Bross, Grand Master, and N. C. Mason, Grand Secre- tary. This is an order conferred on the female relatives of members of Odd Fellowship.

By far the most important item in the welfare of a city, and that which adds to the health and prosperity of its citizens, is a plentiful supply of pure, fresh water, and on this element, in a measure, its safety depends. The blessed, health-giving water ! No poison bubbles on its brink ; its foam brings not mad-

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

ness and murder, and no blood stains its liquid glass. Pale widows and starv- ing orphans weep not burning tears in its depth, but health and life sparkle upon its surface. The tomb of Moses is unknown, but the weary traveler still slakes his thirst at the well of Jacob. The lofty columns of Persepolis are moldering into dust, but its cisterns and aqueducts remain to challenge our ad- miration. The " Golden House " is a mass of ruin, but its Aqua Claudia still pours into Rome its liquid stream. The temple of the sun of Tadnor in the wilderness has fallen, but its fountain sparkles as freshly in his rays, as when thousands of worshipers thronged its gilded colonnades. It may be that Joliet will share the fate of Babylon, and nothing be left to mark its site but piles of crumbling stone. But the numberless wells of pure water will continue to throw their liquid columns toward heaven as they do now. There are few cities in Illinois that can favorably compare with Joliet in its supply of good water, the health-giving element. The artesian wells, of which there are a number in the city, supply an abundance of water, and that of a quality, too, unsurpassed by any city or country. The limestone springs of Kentucky, supposed to afford the best water in the world, scarcely equal that of the artesian wells of Joliet. These wells, with their inexhaustible supply, are an acquisition to the city, of which the people should be justly proud, and one, too, that will last as long as their own granite hills. The first artesian well was put down in 1866-7, and since that time, in addition to three public wells, a dozen or more have been sunk by private individuals. The well at the corner of Chicago and Jefferson streets is 455 feet deep, and at its completion raised water sixty feet, with thirty-one pounds pressure to the square inch, and with a daily flow of about fif- teen thousand barrels. Pipes were laid on Chicago and Jefferson streets from this well, but owing to some defect it does not at present supply them. Another of the city wells is at the East Side public school, and was bored about one thousand one hundred feet deep. The other public well is on the West Side. These wells, to- gether with the number of private ones in the city, afford an apparently inexhausti- ble quantity of water for all practical purposes. Before the era of artesian wells the city was supplied by the ordinary wells, in which water was usually obtained by digging down to the gravel. From the " Geological Survey of Illinois," it appears there are two strata of sand rock reached in boring these artesian wells, one at a depth of about four hundred and fifty feet and the other at about one thousand two hundred feet below the surface, and it is in these the best water is obtained. But without going into a full detail of this feature, the reader is referred to the " Geological Survey," extracts from which are found in another department of this work.

Beyond the products of her own manufactories, Joliet makes little preten- sions toward a wholesale trade. Though all lines of merchandise are well represented by first-class, enterprising business men, they do not aspire to any- thing further than a good retail trade, which compares favorably with that of any other city of its size in this section of the State. The close proximity of

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

Chicago would not admit of successful competition in a wholesale business ; there are a few firms, however, that, when occasion offers, wholesale to some extent, but make no special exertions that way. With a population of about · twelve thousand inhabitants, and such an admirable location, easy of access, rend- er's Joliet a fine trading point, and we can safely predict for it a prosperous future. Its citizens are intelligent and hospitable ; its merchants and business men are enterprising and energetic, and the majority of its business houses are far superior to those usually to be seen in country towns. As noticed elsewhere, its grain trade is not exceeded in volume in the State, except in Chicago, and its stone quarries are unrivaled almost in the world. Its rolling mills and other manufactories are of the very best, and command a large trade throughout the country. All these interests, centering here, conspire to render this city sec- ond to no other section of the country for the man of wealth to invest his superfluous capital. We have said that the business houses were better than in a majority of country towns. Indeed, there are blocks of buildings in Joliet that would be an ornament in any city-Munroe's new block, the Centennial Block, Aiken's Block, the Masonic Block, the different bank buildings, the post office, Robesson Hall and the Opera House and many others.

The Opera House was built by the Joliet Opera House Company, and is, perhaps, the best appointed building of the kind in the State outside of Chicago. It was built in 1873, is of Joliet limestone from the quarries of William David- son, and cost $60,000. The upper part is used for an opera house, and the first floors for stores. Of the latter, three are used by G. Munroe & Son and the other by G. L. Vance. This building was erected by a company, of which the following are some of the principal stockholders : G. Munroe & Son, Wm. Davidson, J. A. Henry, James Ducker, James B. Speer, Dr. Williams, Henry Fish, Rodney House, R. E. Barber, W. A. Steel, F. Zirkle, J. D. Paige, Knowlton, Higgenbotham & Co., D. McDonald and William Gleason, with James Ducker, President ; George H. Munroe, Treasurer, and C. H. Weeks, Secretary. Robesson Hall was built in 1876 ; is a handsome stone front ; the lower part business houses, and the upper part a public hall. The post office building is an elegant stone front building, and was erected in 1877 by James G. Elwood, present Mayor of the city, specially for post office purposes, and was so adapted and arranged. The lower part is leased to the Government for ten years, at $600 per annum, while the upper part of the building is the Mayor's office, Surveyor's office, etc.

The Joliet Gaslight Company was organized in 1857, with a capital stock of $60,000 paid up. Hon. E. Wilcox was the first President, and superintended the erection of the Company's works, which were completed and the city lighted for the first time in January, 1859. The works are located on North Bluff street, and have sufficient capacity to supply a larger city than Joliet. They have some eight or ten miles of pipe now laid, and two gasometers-one on each side

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

of the river. W. A. Strong, an enterprising citizen of Joliet, is President of the company.

The Joliet Public Library was organized and opened to the public in No- vember, 1875. It is a free public library, and is kept up by taxation. A well- stocked reading room is in connection with the Library, where all the period- icals and leading publications of the day are kept on file for the benefit of those who feel disposed to pay a visit to the place. The Board of Directors of the Library Association are : G. D. A. Parks, Mrs. H. S. Smith, Dorrance Di- bell, Mrs. E. M. Raynor, Benjamin Olin, A. W. Heise, Thomas J. Kelly, Edwin Porter and George Munroe. G. D. A. Parks is President; Mrs. H. S. Smith, Vice President; Dorrance Dibell, Clerk, and Miss Charlotte Aiken, Librarian. This association bought the books owned by the old Joliet Histor- ical Society, and have now about 1,500 volumes, and are adding more as fast as their means will allow them. The Joliet Historical Society was organized in 1867, and assumed the liabilities of the old Library ; and it, in its turn, was succeeded by the present Library. Among the private libraries of Joliet is that of Hon. W. A. Steel, which consists of several thousand volumes, and em- braces most of the standard works of the day, together with many old and rare books not often found in a private library.

Joliet was supplied with street cars, this modern addition to city travel, in 1873. Their lines encircle the city, affording cheap transportation within its limits to all who desire this mode of transit to "Walker's Express." The en- terprise of a street railway was inaugurated by E. T. Chase and Norman Carl. They sold it to a man named Cooper; and he, after operating it for a time, sold it to the present owner and manager, J. A. Henry. While, apparently, not doing a very extensive business, it is yet paying a small dividend above running expenses.

Oakwood Cemetery was laid out in 1854, and organized under act of the Legislature in 1857, receiving its charter from the State. It is beautifully sit- uated on a gentle eminence on the north bank of Hickory Creek, east of the city limits, and reached by a branch of the City Railway. The grounds are handsomely and artistically laid out with serpentine walks and drives, well graded and graveled. Cultivated flowers, ornamental shrubbery and native forest trees add their beauty to the place, while the " green grass grows rank in the vapors of decaying mortality." The beauty and care bestowed on the grounds show a kind regard for the " loved and lost " by surviving friends. St. Patrick's Cemetery (Catholic) is a beautiful burying-ground, and kept in good order by the Catholic citizens of Joliet. St. John's Cemetery (German Cath- olic) is situated northwest of the city, and is a beautiful and well-kept church- yard.

The professions, both legal and medical, are well and ably represented in Joliet, and combine an array of talent that will compare favorably with any city in the State. As a work of this kind is not devoted to eulogiums or fulsome puffs of

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any one, we shall not attempt to particularize the professions beyond the bestowal of a well-merited testimonial to their character and worth. Joliet has also pro- duced some eminent men-men who have filled high positions with credit to themselves and honor to their conntry. In the court, the camp, upon the bench, and at the holy altar, they have figured with distinction. And at the head of the State Government, in the halls of the law-makers, and as our representa- tives abroad, they have acquitted themselves with honor and the dignity due their exalted stations. As the " notables " have been particularly mentioned, however, in the general history, we will leave the subject, and conclude our history of Joliet sans ceremonie.

LOCKPORT TOWNSHIP.

This town is diversified between woodland and prairie, and is divided by the Des Planes River & the Illinois & Michigan Canal, which pass through it from north to south. Away from the river-bottom, the elevation rises almost to abrupt bluffs, beyond which, on either side, are beautiful table-lands or broad rolling prairies of the most productive soil, relieved only by a belt of timber on the east side of the Des Planes, mostly in Lockport, but extending a short dis- tance into Homer Township. A peculiarity of this section of the country is said to be the non-existence of timber on the west side of the water-courses. Old settlers mention this fact and advance their theories as to the cause, some of which are vague and far-fetched; but without attempting-to solve the problem, we will state upon the authority of several parties of this vicinity, that not a tree stands on the west side of the Des Planes but such as have been transplanted by the white people, while a fine forest lined its eastern shore at the time of the early settlement. As regarding this strange freak of nature, we will pass it with the philosophical reflection of the schoolboy, whose theory as to the cause of the magnetic needle pointing to the north was "that it is a way it has." As a civil township, Lockport is described as Town 36 north, Range 10 east of the Third Principal Meridian, and is bounded north by Dupage Township, east by Homer, south by Joliet, west by Plainfield, and is one of the wealthy towns of Will County.

The first . permanent settler in Lockport Township was Armstead Runyon, who came to the neighborhood in October, 1830. He was born in Kentucky, but removed to Ohio when but 15 years old, where he remained until 1827, when he came to Danville, Ill. Here he remained until his removal to Lockport, as above stated. His first Winter in this section was that of the "deep snow," so vividly remembered by the few old settlers still surviving, and who were here that memorable Winter. Mr. Runyon had a large amount of stock, most of which he left at Danville, except some hogs which he brought with him, thinking they would winter on nuts and acorns, but they all perished during the deep snow, as he had nothing to feed them. The next Spring, as

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

soon as the snow had sufficiently disappeared to allow travel with safety, he took his men and went to Danville after the remainder of his stock and for provis- ions. The high waters, consequent on the melting of such quantities of snow, detained him six weeks beyond the time he expected to be gone, and his family run short of provisions before his return. Mrs. Boyer, of Lockport, a daughter of Mr. Runyon's, informed us that for several weeks before he returned they had nothing to live on but salt pork and corn bread made of meal so musty that it did not seem fit for a dog to eat. She remembers but two fam- ilies then living in what is now Lockport and Homer Townships besides her father's, viz., Edward Poor and a man named Butler, who lived where Mr. Milne now lives. Of Butler she remembers but little except that he lived there; but whence he came or whither he went she has forgotten. When her father decided to remove to this section, he gathered up, brought his family and hired men to the place and lived in a tent until he got his cabin ready to move into. Mrs. Boyer remembers very distinctly how the prairie wolves used to come round that tent and render the night hideous with their blood-curdling howls. When the news came of the Black Hawk war, and that the savages were moving in this direction, Mr. Runyon was plowing in the field, which he continued until noon notwithstanding the exciting rumors. He then gathered together his family and what goods lie designed to take, and moved on to Hick- ory Creek, where the settlers were to rendezvous preparatory to retreating toward Danville. But upon his arrival there he found they were already gone. His company consisted of his own family, Edward Poor's, Holder Sisson's and Selah Lanfear's. Finding that the Hickory Creek people were gone, they held a council of war, and, at Mr. Runyon's suggestion, went to Chicago, or Fort Dearborn, instead of Danville, as originally intended. He was also the first to propose to come out from Chicago and build the block house which was built on Mr. Sisson's place, as noticed further on. Indians were plenty in this section when they first settled here, but of the friendly Pottawatomies; and Mrs. Boyer remembers an encampment, or Indian town, on both sides of her father's place, and their trail from the one to the other was by the house. They used nearly always to come in wlien passing, but did nothing wrong and generally behaved very well. While Mr. Runyon was gone to Danville, and detained so long, it was reported that the small-pox was at the Indian camps, and Mrs. Runyon refused to let any of them come into her house; when they were seen approach- ing, the proverbial latch-string was drawn in. This very seriously offended the " noble red men," but they offered no molestation. Mr. Runyon went to Cali- fornia in 1849, where he lived until his death, which occurred in September, 1875. His daughter, Mrs. Boyer, made a trip there to see him the Summer before he died. Though one of the very earliest in this section, he had been away so long that none but the oldest settlers remember him personally.

Many of the early settlements of Lockport were made by New Yorkers- men of intelligence and enterprise-qualities still distinguishable at the present

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HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY.

day. Among these early pioneers, we may mention the following from the Empire State: Holder Sisson and his brother-in-law Cyrus Bronson, Selah Lanfear, Lyman Hawley, and his son Warren Hawley, Nathan Hutchins, William Thomas, William Gooding, Isaac Preston, A. J. Mathewson, David C. Baldwin, Edward P. Farley, Col. James Wright, James S. Baker, Justin Taylor, Horace Morse, Hiram Norton, Henry Bush and perhaps others. Sisson was one of the first settlers in the township, and located on the east side of the river, in Octo- ber, 1831, on what has since been known as the Hanford place. He was born in Rhode Island in 1790, and died in April, 1878, at the ripe old age of 88 years. Though born in Rhode Island, most of his life had been spent in New York, until his removal to the West. He served six months in the war of 1812; was Captain of a company during the Black Hawk war, and built a fort or blockhouse on his place near the village of Lockport, in the Spring of 1832. He first located in Indiana, near the present city of Evansville, at which time the country was new and very sparsely settled. During the fifteen years he remained there, he improved five farms, and, finding no market there for his . produce, built flatboats and carried it to New Orleans. As an example of his indomitable energy, of the four trips he made to the Crescent City, he returned from two of them on foot. From this Indiana settlement he returned to New York, but did not remain long, until he again removed to the West, as already noticed, in October, 1831, and settled in this township. When the Black Hawk war broke out, the families of the few settlers were removed to Fort Dearborn (now Chicago) for safety ; they made the trip to that haven of peace in ox-teams, and on the return to the settlement of the men, Mr. Sisson was elected Captain, and proceeded at once to build a blockhouse, and make prepar- ations for defense. On receiving his command, he was ordered by Gen. Scott to proceed with his company to Indian Creek, in La Salle County, and bury the unfortunate whites massacred there by the Indians. In November, after set- tling in Lockport, he went to Michigan where he had sold a drove of cattle "on time" while living in the Wabash country, to try to make some collections; but the trip was a fruitless one, as well as one of privation both to him and his family at home, which at that time consisted of a wife and five little children. The Winter set in, and he was detained long beyond the time he had intended remaining ; his family was almost without provisions, or any of the necessaries of life. During his absence his wife had to go out and cut wood in the forest and carry it to the cabin to keep her children from freezing. There were few neighbors, and they were at a distance; Indians were plenty, but mostly of the friendly Pottawatomies, and under these circumstances, the heroic woman endured the long absence of her husband ignorant of his fate, and hardly daring to hope for his return, owing to the severity with which the Winter had set in. His sufferings and perils were great, and a man of less courage and energy would have sunk beneath them. As he was returning from this fruitless trip, while crossing Mud Lake with his Indian pony, the ice gave way and pony and

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The History of Will County, Illinois : containing a history of the county a directory of its real estate owners; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; general and local statistics.history of Illinois history of the Northwest, Part 38

Author: Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Chicago : Wm. Le Baron, jr. & co. Number of Pages: 980

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago : Wm. Le Baron, jr. & co.
Number of Pages: 980