USA > Illinois > Will County > 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 40
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The first practicing physician in Lockport Township was a Dr. Miner, who came to the settlement in the Winter of 1833-34, and lived on Mr. Runyon's place for a year or two. He was an Eastern man, but from what State could not be ascertained. He was a bachelor or widower, and a maiden sister lived with him and acted as housekeeper, and is mentioned elsewhere as the first death in the township. Mrs. Boyer remembers both him and his sister well, though but a child at the time, but does not know what finally became of him. Dr. Bronson was, perhaps, the next physician, and removed to Joliet. Dr. Chancy White came in 1836, and was from New York, and now lives in Gales-
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burg, Ill. Dr. Daggett was, perhaps, the next, and has been administering to the afflicted of the community since 1838. The lawyers, stores and post office of the township are more intimately connected with the village of Lockport, and will be given in that chapter. The first Justice of the Peace was Jared Runyon, and was acting in that capacity as far back as 1836 or 1837, though no one can now tell with certainty just when he received the appointment. One of the first roads in the town, other than the Indian trails, was near where the canal is located, and extended from Lockport to Joliet. In 1838, the Ganal Commissioners cut a road direct to Chicago, which bears off to the right of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, and, in 1839, the road was opened through from Chicago to Ottawa, on the west bluff, and which afterward became quite famous as a stage route. It used to be a great thoroughfare of travel, when stage- coaches were the common mode of transit. The first mill in Lockport Town- ship, or in Northern Illinois, of any consequence, was built in what is termed West Lockport, by William Gooding, Eli S. Prescott, William Rogers and Lyman Hawley. Rogers had pre-empted the land on which the mill was built, and the names given above were the original proprietors. It was begun in 1836, and completed in 1838; was built of stone, and cost $30,000; with four runs of buhrs, and is still in operation. Dr. Daggett bought it entire in 1855 but had owned an interest in it for several years previous. Other mill and grain interests will be mentioned in the history of the village.
The first minister of the Gospel in this section of the country was a young man from Massachusetts, of the name of Greenwood, sent out by the Home Mission of the Presbyterian Church, and who preached for a year and a half at the house of the elder Bronson, on the west side of the Des Planes River. After leaving his labors in this town, he went to the wilds of Wisconsin, and once got lost in what was well known in an early day as the "Big Swamp" of the Badger State, and came very near starving to death before he found his way out. He had some property, and when believing he was doomed to perish in the dismal swamp, sat down and wrote his will, threw it on the ground and lay down by it to die. But reviving somewhat after a while, got up and pur- sued his way in a kind of listless manner, until the crowing of a cock infused new life into him and assured him that relief was at hand. He found the cabin of a settler, who took him in, gave him food, and where he remained until his exhausted energies were fully restored. The next preachers to proclaim salva- tion in this township were the Methodist itinerants, Revs. Blackburn and Beggs, the latter now living in Plainfield, resting from a long life of labor in the vineyard of the Lord. Another of the early preachers of that day was a Congregational minister of the name of Foster, who used to preach at the schoolhouse, long before there was a church edifice in the town. The old fel- low had a way of wiping his nose on his coat-tail, when preaching, a perform- ance not altogether agreeable to his hearers; and so Dr. Daggett, with some others, raised a contribution and bought the good old preacher a beautiful red
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bandana, which, with due solemnity, they presented to him. The elder Mr. Bronson was in Chicago one day with his team, and when about starting home was accosted by a very polite, courteous gentleman, with a slight foreign accent, who asked to ride out with him. He brought him out in his wagon, found him very intelligent, and was well pleased with him. Acting upon the injunction to be kind to the wayfaring man, for many have so entertained angels unawares, he kept him over night, and in the morning sent him on to Joliet. A few days later, Mr. Bronson was in Joliet, when the same gentleman came up and spoke to him, apparently very glad to see him. He then learned that it was Father Plunkett, sent to Joliet to take charge of the Catholic Church there, and whose melancholy death is noted in the history of that city.
Education received attention at a very early period in the history of Lock- port. The first school of which we have any account was taught in 1835, by a young lady from Joliet, whose name is now forgotten. She afterward married a man named Eastman, and removed to Chicago. The next was taught by a Miss Royce, of Dupage Township. Both of these schools were before the day of schoolhouses, and were taught in a little room built by Capt. Sisson as an addition to his dwelling and intended for a kitchen, but surrendered it for school purposes. The first schoolhouse was built by the neighbors en masse, and was a small log cabin. The work and material were donated-one man giving logs enough, delivered on the spot, for a side and an end, and another for a side, etc., while another cut down a tree, sawed it up and made " shakes," or boards, to cover it. A log was cut out for a window, a large fire-place with a stick chimney, and benches made by splitting open a small tree, boring auger-holes and putting in legs, is a pen photograph of this primitive schoolhouse. There are some who assert that the first school was taught by a Miss Warren, of War- renville, Du Page County, as early as 1834, just in the edge of Lockport, near what was known as the Barnett Place. But of this school we are unable to learn anything very definite. The schools of Lockport have expanded some- what since that day. In 1872, we find there were 10 school districts, 1,244 pupils enrolled, 1 graded school, and 15 teachers employed. There were 10 schoolhouses, 4 districts having libraries, with an aggregate of 320 vol- lumes, and the amount paid to teachers was $6,490. The special tax levied for school purposes was $8,574.60 ; total expenditures for the year, $9,839.81- leaving a balance of $1,068.36 in the treasury. Further mention is made of the schools and churches in the history of Lockport Village.
At the land sale which took place in Chicago, for the land embraced in Lockport Township, the people had organized a kind of protective society against speculators, and appointed one of their number to look after their inter- ests. That man was Holder Sisson ; and faithfully he performed the duty. As the numbers of the claims were called, while Sisson bid on it for them, they would stand around and watch to see if a speculator bid, and if so, unless he took it back very suddenly, they put him in the river until he did. The auc-
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tioneer favored the settlers, and as soon as the Government price was reached, it was with him "going, going, GONE." Finally, a compromise was effected, whereby the speculator paid for all the land and gave the the squatter half. - This enabled many to procure homes who did not have money to even pay the Government price for a "forty " or an "eighty." As the country settled up, old settlers say it seemed rather hard that they could not let their stock run at large, and cut their wild hay where they pleased. When the first settlers came in, everything was free, the country wild, and every man, for scores of miles, neighbors. As it settled up, these things changed, and people became more and more selfish, until it seems, at the present day, that it is every man for himself, and the - take the hindermost. Then a man would loan another a horse or an ox, or anything else that he had, except his wife and babies, though he had never seen him before. But now such confidence would, in nine cases out of ten, be abused. These somber reflections are not those of the historian, but the echo of some of the old settlers who have seen the country grow up, and have marked these changes in the people and in their manners and feelings toward one another.
C. M. Bronson remembers two species of birds quite common here when his father removed to this section, in 1834, but which have long since disap- peared. One of them was about the size and very similar to the English cur- lew. It had a bill about seven or eight inches long, and when disturbed would rise in the air, and, circling overhead, pronounce very distinctly the word chelee. The other was somewhat smaller in size, but similar in appearance, and could say very plainly, "go to work." But as the Englisli and Irish came in, who are fond of birds as food, and took to shooting them, they soon disappeared. Mr. Bronson informed us that he was once bitten on the great toe of his right foot by a massasauga, or prairie rattlesnake, and for eight years was unable to do any work. He was finally cured by a severe attack of fevers, in which he came near dying, but which had the effect of driving the poison from his sys- tem, and when he recovered from it was free from the other also. He describes a sickly season when 500 canal men died and were buried, and upon the graves of whom not a drop of rain had fallen from the burial of the first to that of the last. They had come from a country of a different climate, were little used to eating meat, and here they had plenty of it, and working hard in the hot sun, would sicken and die by scores. When one "shuffled off the mortal coil," the others would hold a "wake;" no matter how pressing work might be, every- thing was "dropped;" and if the departed had any of the world's wealth, not a lick of work would the others do while it lasted, but drink and fight, and some- times, in their drunken orgies, prepare the material for another wake. A grave-yard was laid out and consecrated for their special benefit, as the Catholic Church never bury their members except in holy ground. The following anec- dote, by a correspondent of the local press, writing under the nom de plume of "Styx," will serve to illustrate somewhat the Irish character as represented
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here during the building of the Canal. Writing of some of their little frays, the correspondent says: "Representatives from different parts of Ireland gath- ered into separate settlements, and raising the old songs and war-cries that have so often torn 'the Harp of Erin' to tatters, they have re-enacted the refreshing dramas of 'Donny Brook Fair' and the 'Kilkenny Cats," in which every sprig of shillalah was rampant and restless. Funerals and 'wakes' followed on the heels of each other-the 'wakes' being productive of more funerals, and the funerals of more 'wakes!' The writer remembers seeing a funeral cortege that started from the flat, near where the prison now stands, consisting of a dirt-cart with the coffin and mourning occupants, and preceded by the carriage of the priest, who led the way to the Lockport burying-ground. Wrapt in that kind of dreamy forgetfulness that was introduced by the exciting watches of the previous night, the occupants did not notice how the hind-end- board of the wagon had jolted out, nor did they notice, while climbing the hill at the old prison quarry, the coffin had taken a notion to slip out after the end- board, but went on to the grave-yard full of grief and lamentations. 'Begorra, Jamie's gone!' was the startling remark of the sexton as he reached after the missing casket."
The Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad passes through Lockport Town- ship from north to south, and was built through in 1856. But as a full and complete history of this great road is given elsewhere in this work, we deem it unnecessary to recapitulate here. The same applies to the Illinois & Michigan Canal, which also passes through the town from north to south, and the history of which is fully given in another page. There is a point or two, however, upon which we may touch in regard to it. That it is designed to become, at no very distant day, a ship-canal, upon which will float thousands of crafts from all parts of the country, there can be little doubt, since a few shovelfuls of dirt have been judiciously removed from the low divide between ' the Chicago and Des Planes Rivers, permanently uniting Lake Michigan and . the Father of Waters. With this few miles of canal widened and deepened for ships to pass through, it would be of untold advantage to the whole country. There are those living to-day who will yet see mighty steamers unloading cotton and sugar at the piers of Chicago, and taking in the grain of the prairies and the minerals of the Superior country, steam away to the Crescent City of the South. As pertinent to the subject, the following extract is from a speech delivered in the Congress of the United States, by Hon. Carter Harrison, on this very enterprise: "Fifty years ago, only a prophet could have seen at Fort Dearborn the site of a mighty city. But his mantle of prophecy need not have been heaven-born. It. was only necessary that its woof and fabric should be woven of commercial and engineering sagacity, united to close obser- vation of the little bayous and the low divide separating its waters from those of the Des Planes River close by. That divide was only a few inches above the average surface of the lake, and in high water the birchen canoe of the
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savage passed freely from one to the other. * * Ages ago, * the prairie States of the Northwest were a vast inland, shallow sea. Its' deep pools were the beds of the present lakes. When the bottom of that sea was upheaved and the barriers to the east and south were broken down, the waters of Lake Michigan flowed through a long cycle of centuries, through the Des Planes River to the Mississippi. As the prairies to the south were gradually lifted, and the outlets to the east were deepened, the southern outlet became nearly closed. Nature thus wrote on that low divide the first engineer's report in favor of a ship-canal to unite the Mississippi and the Lakes. She traced along that flat marsh in the dark waters of that little bayou the plan for tying the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A gentle breeze parted sister-waters in that sullen creek and carried them to far-distant oceans, where one would be caught in the grasp of the stream coming down from Labrador, the other to be wooed by the warm embrace of the Gulf-stream, again to be re-united in mid-ocean." With all its natural advantages, it does seem that the making of this a ship-canal would be one of the grandest improvements of the age, and we have no doubt but that a few more years will witness the inauguration of such a movement.
Politically, Lockport Township is Democratic. In the days of building the Canal, whereon were employed so many sons of the " old sod," it polled up sometimes rather huge Democratic majorities, as the first thought of the Irish- man when he arrives in this country is the right of franchise, and hundreds of them had been freshly imported for canal purposes.
"Young Barney O'Toole was a broth of a boy, Who crossed over the sea with bold Pat Malloy.
They landed at night-it was rainy withal- And the next day got work on the raging . canawl,' "
It is stated, and very reliably, too, that at the Presidential election of 1840, some of the " Canalers " voted not less than twenty times apiece ; and it is estimated that along the Illinois & Michigan Canal there were probably 5,000 illegal votes polled for Van Buren. But with the completion of the Canal and the exit of the " Irish Brigade," it has toned down, and the two great parties are more evenly divided, though the Democrats still have the majority. The name of Lockport was given to the village by Armstead Runyon, and the town- ship named for it. The name originated from the first lock on the Canal between Chicago and Lockport being at the latter place, and hence, was deemed an appropriate name.
THE VILLAGE OF LOCKPORT.
Lockport village is situated on the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad and the Illinois & Michigan Canal, about thirty-three miles southeast of Chicago and four miles north of Joliet. The town site for Lockport was chosen by the Canal Commissioners, and the village laid out by them. It was selected with a view of making it their headquarters, and soon after its selection, they erected
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their Canal office here, which has ever since, with some improvements, been used for that purpose. The village was laid out under the supervision of Will- iam B. Archer, by a surveyor named Wampler, and the first sale of lots took place on the 22d day of November, 1837, and lots sold to the amount of $6,000. The Canal office was the first building of any importance erected in the town, and doubtless had considerable influence in inducing the first settlers of the vil- lage to come to the place. The Canal Commissioners, as well as many other persons of intelligence, probably over-rated the advantages of this locality for a commercial and manufacturing town. Joliet, only four miles south of the site selected for Lockport, had at that time been laid out and established as the county seat, and the natural advantages of its position, with the agricultural and mineral wealth surrounding it, would preclude the existence of other towns in such close proximity. Lockport, with all her wealth, must eventually become a part of Joliet. It was laid out with much care, and fine taste exercised, as will be seen from its broad and regular streets. The residences are built with regard to beauty as well as utility, many of them being surrounded with taste- fully laid out and highly ornamented grounds. With its eligible location and romantic site on a sloping hillside, and withal its healthy condition, it is very favor- ably adapted for, as it no doubt will some day be, a suburban retreat of Chi- cago.
The first store was established in Runyontown town (now North Lockport) by a man named Kellogg, and was but a sort of grocery store, a rather small affair. Goss & Parks kept the first dry goods store at the same place, and at the laying- out of Lockport proper, removed within its limits, Goss and Stephen Gooding opening a store in partnership, and Parks likewise opening one on his own hook. After the retirement of Stephen Gooding, Oliver P. Gooding took charge of this, and soon other mercantile establishments were opened, and Lock- port grew rapidly. The first building of any pretensions erected, was the Canal office, as already stated. There were, however, several cabins and huts put up within the present limits of the village, by the early settlers, long before it was laid out as a village. The first tavern was built by Horace Morse, but Mr. Runyon, we believe, kept travelers before this tavern was built, though he did not pretend to keep a regular hotel. The first post office was established in 1836, over on the west side of the river, at the stone mill, and Edward P. Bush was the first Postmaster. The office remained at the mill until 1839, when it was removed across the river to the East Side, where it has ever since remained. While at the mill, the mail came once a week, and was brought on horseback. In 1839, coaches were put on the Chicago and Ottawa route, and the mail then came that way, which was considered, in that early day, quite an improvement, and a considerable advance toward civilization. The first repre- sentatives of the legal profession were Gen. James Turney and John W. Pad- dock, both long since dead. At present Messrs. L. S. Parker and W. S. Myers, men of ability, constitute the "learned in the law" of Lockport. The first
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village schoolhouse was built in 1839; a small frame building, about 18x32 feet, and cost perhaps $200. It was used for schools, religious services, town- hall, and anything else that happened to come along. The present handsome stone building, with its fine clock, was erected a few years ago at a cost of $30,000-quite a contrast to the little shanty built for school purposes forty years ago. The present building would be an ornament to any town. The fol- lowing is the record of the school for the present year : Prof. D. H. Darling, Principal ; Misses Paxson, Gooding, Devine, Parker and Herron, Teachers.
Before Lockport proper was laid out, and as early as 1836, Armstead Run- yon laid out North Lockport, or what was long known as Runyontown, but now called Runyon's Addition to Lockport. West Lockport was laid out by William Gooding, Lyman Hawley, William Rogers and Eli Prescott, the parties that built the stone mill. At one time this was the most flourishing part of Lock- port, but both it and Runyontown have been merged into the village proper. Lockport was incorporated under especial act of the Legislature, approved Feb- ruary 12, 1853, and signed by J. A. Matteson, Governor. At the election for adopting the village charter, the vote was 86 in favor of and 55 against the charter. The first Board of Trustees elected were Isaac H. Steward, Henry Torrey, S. S. Chamberlain, D. C. Baldwin and Chauncy Doud. Henry. Torrey was chosen President of the Board, I. H. Stewart appointed Secretary, and Chauncy Doud, Treasurer. The following is the present Board: David C. Baldwin, William Shields, Samuel Matthews, John Ryan and Jacob Lotz. D. C. Baldwin is President of the Board ; William Shields, Clerk ; F. F. Stowe, Police Magistrate; William A. Johnson, Police Constable, and James Wright, Jr., Street Commissioner.
Lockport has always been the headquarters of the Canal Commissioners, and the General Superintendent, Mr. Thomas, has his office here at this time. Without going into a detailed history of the Canal, which has been thoroughly given in another department of this work, we will mention one little anecdote especially pertaining to this section and to Lockport. The first boat that passed through the entire length of the Canal after its completion, was the "General Thornton," and made the passage in April, 1848. But the first that floated on its Bridgeport-tainted waters was the "General Fry," named for one of the Canal Commissioners. It was built near where the depot now stands, and as it was an event of importance, unprecedented in the history of Lockport, every- body went down to see it launched. As it gently "slided " from the stocks into the " raging canawl," Dr. Daggett rode in on it, and the boat, seemingly conscious that it carried more than Cæsar and his fortunes, acquitted itself handsomely, by dropping into the water "right side up." When the Canal was completed and opened to Chicago, in March, 1848, this boat was the first to make the trip to that city. It was the occasion of a grand excursion for the purpose of celebrating an event of great national importance. A magnificent reception was given the excursion, as Chicago, even then, knew how to entertain
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· her country cousins. The boat was met at Bridgeport by a propeller and a large number of citizens, who took the excursionists on through the river, and for a ride out on the lake. The river was lined with people on both sides, to see the first excursion that had come through the Canal. They were taken in and " dined and wined," and a general good time had all round. There are those (Blue or Red Ribbonists, perhaps) who remarked with some emphasis, that the entire excursion got gloriously drunk. But doubtless this is a sort of " stretch of conjecture," and should be taken with all due allowance for ill- natured remarks.
Lockport is a grain market of considerable importance. Trade in grain began here on the opening of the Canal in 1848. Hiram Norton, the father of the present grain dealer, J. L. Norton, John Milks, Jenkins, and Geo. Gay- lord, were the first who entered the business. Gaylord & Co., with the excep- tion of from 1852 to 1863, have been in the trade ever since, and handle annually from 300,000 to 400,000 bushels of corn and oats exclusively, all of which is shipped by the canal. Gaylord was the first man to buy grain at legal weights, and had a hard fight with the other dealers to maintain it, but eventually carried the day. Since buying the Martin property, Gaylord & Co. have storage and cribbing capacity for more than 200,000 bushels of grain. Their elevators have improved steam-power, and are provided with grain-dumps and all modern conveniences for handling grain. Norton & Co. are the only other firm in the grain business here at present. They handle, including the wheat used in the mill, perhaps between 800,000 and 900,000 bushels annually. With an extensive and well-appointed warehouse and steam elevator of large capacity, they are well prepared for the grain business in any form or shape. George B. Martin, at one time, was a heavy grain dealer at this place-too heavy for the financial benefit of many of his patrons. He commenced busi- ness here in 1849-50, without capital it is supposed, and by dint of energy and good business ability worked up an immense trade, gaining the fullest con- fidence of the entire community. There are, perhaps, few cases on record of a more complete betrayal of confidence. Many hard-working people had deposited their savings with him, and it is even said that washerwomen had money deposited in his hands, when, without warning he failed most dis- astrously, to the amount of $200,000, a failure aggravated in its nature and sad in its results ; scarcely equaled in the distress it wrought among the work- ing people, by Spencer's State Savings failure or Myer's "busted" Beehive, of Chicago. He is said to have been of most excellent family, was not a fast man nor high liver, but is supposed to have managed badly, paid too much interest, and traded too high on borrowed capital. One bad move he made was in establishing a grain point at Romeo, a few miles north of Lockport, which took considerable trade from him, which, otherwise, he would have secured at this place. William Shields and Anderson are now buying grain at Romeo for Norton & Co., and do quite a large business for a country station.
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