St. Clair County, Illinois - Chapter 11 (2 of 2 so headed), 1928

^y^ ELLEViLLE, which IS bv etvmologv the "City Beautiful," JL^ was founded primarily to he the county seat of St. Clair County, the oldest and the second lart^est m the state. In 1790 General Arthur St. Clair, who was then governor of the Northwest Territory, formed all the settlements on the Mississippi River into a separate county, of which he established Cahokia as the seat of justice, and it was named by him the County of St. Clair. The population of St. Clair County from this time continued to increase by a steady influx from the south and from the European countries, of enterprising people seeking new homes. Of course, in proportion as they pressed back the Indians and encroached upon their hunting grounds, the Indian troubles increased, until they finally culminated in the Black Hawk War. But nothing could stay the tide of incoming settlers. The earliest settlements had been m the bottoms along the river, but after a few years the highlands began to be populous, and in time they could outvote the French settlers along the river. It was then that the idea was first broached of moving the county seat from the French village of Cahokia to some more desirable and central point in the county. In the summer of 181 3 the subject was generally discussed, and a vote was taken which showed a majority in favor of moving the seat of government to some more suitable point. In the record of the Court of Common Pleas of St. Clair County for December, 1813, IS an order that the clerk notify the commissioners appointed by the Legislature to fix upon a place for the seat of lustice for the county, that they must reach their decision and make return to the court m February.

Later the report of this commission was found in the records. The commission consisted of Isaac Enochs, James Lemen, Jacob Short, Nathan Chambers, John Hay, William Scott, Jr., and Caldwell Cains. The report states that after holding several meetings they had finally reached an agreement at their meeting of March 10, 1814, to fix the county seat for St. Clair County on the land of George Blair, and had marked the place for that purpose about twenty-five rods from the dwelling of said Blair, in his cornfield. And that Mr. Blair had agreed to donate one acre of ground for a public square and a site for public buildings, and to permit to be laid out in lots a tract of twenty-five acres around the square, donating every fifth lot for the use and benefit of the county. There is also a record that Blair came into court and promised that he would have conveniences for holding court there m time for the next term. It is recorded also that Blair received six dollars for hauling the benches, seats and tables from the court house at Cahokia. In accordance with this plan it was ordered at the same term that "a court house and jail be erected at the new county seat." And so Belleville was started in a cornfield m 1814. Before that time the spot was known as Compton Hill. The location was ideal as far as the gifts of nature were concerned. And since naturally many people desired to live at the county seat, it has had a steady and continuous growth. A survey was made in the summer of 1814 by John Messenger and this was completed and placed on record by Governor Edwards some years later. Several of the original streets were laid out and named. The one running north and south through the square was called Illinois Street, and the one running east and west was named St. Clair, but by common usage It became known as Main Street. This and Illinois street were laid out sixty -six feet wide; the others were forty-nine and a half.

George Blair, the original proprietor of the land, was a pioneer citizen. For some years he kept a hotel. Governor Reynolds says of him: "The first time I saw Mr. Blair was in the fall of 1806, and I was well acquainted with him from that time till his death. He then resided in a log cabin covered with split boards and weight poles, and occupied a point just north of Hinckley's mill. This log cabin and this man were somewhat similar in their humble position at this time, m 1806, and were the primitive specimens of men and houses that then appeared in Belleville. Mr. Blair located at this place to enjoy the fine spring water that at this time IS used in Mr. Hinckley's steam mill. In 1814 he was a man of middle size and medium age, and possessed nothing attractive about him. He was not wealthy at the time, but he had purchased two militia rights of one hundred acres each, and located them on the land whereon Belleville is built. He had a small farm extending from his log cabin to about the north side of the public square, and it was not well cultivated. Mr. Blair, like many other persons, had a natural and inborn hatred of work, and scarcely ever permitted his peace of mind to be disturbed by any kind of labor whatever. He immigrated with his father to Illinois in 1796, and had not the means of any or much education. He was no scholar, but supposed he was, and he had the imprudence on all occasions, in and out of order, to use words of wondrous

The Post Office - Belleville length and mostly inapplicable. I was always a guest of Mr. Blair's hotel, when there was no other; and I can testify that the landlord was blessed with a good nature and a benevolent spirit, but 'mine hostess' was pretty much the reverse of her husband, as the truth of history will not permit me to call him 'her lord and master'."

Belleville has had three court houses, and at the present time needs another, for certainly the dignity of the second county in the great state of Illinois, the most populous of any outside of the one containing the city of Chicago, requires a better court house than was sufficient for its need sixty years ago. The first one was built in the summer of 1814 by Etienne Pensoneau. It was a two story, unpainted building and stood just north of the present court house. The court room occupied the lower floor and the upper floor contained the clerks' offices and jury rooms. A new brick court house was begun in 1829 and finished in 183 1. This in turn gave way to the present court house, which was completed in 1859. Among the earliest settlers in Belleville were Henry Miller, who had been Blair's nearest neighbor on the west, and William Phillips, in what is now South Belleville. John Hay, as a county officer, came to the new county seat to work, but his family remained in Cahokia for several years and he regularly spent his Sundays with them. The first store in Belleville was opened in the summer of 18 1 4 by Joseph Kerr. Among the other early merchants were the Messrs. Lindell, Ringgold, Wilkinson, and Pensoneau. In 181 5 Reuben Anderson moved from Cahokia to Belleville and started a hotel. He was later elected constable, and often served as deputy sheriff.

Among the most noted of the early citizens was James Tannehill. He was a native of South Carolina, of large stature, he was six feet four in height and stoutly built. He was a wagon-maker by trade, but when he came to Belleville in 1817 he started a hotel. It was probably the largest in Southern Illinois at that time, and many prominent men have been entertained there and many stirring scenes enacted. The building stood for about forty years till the National Hotel was built on the site. Tannehill was a kind and attentive landlord, anxious to afford his guests every accommodation in his power, but he was not a good business man. So although he did a thriving business, he could not accumulate any reserve. After a few years he passed the hotel to other management and opened the first distillery in Belleville. Grain was cheap at that time and so was the whiskey. Almost the entire product of the distillery was consumed at the hotel. The whiskey was used in its virgin purity, brought from the still one day and drank the next. It was no rare circumstance for the guests at the hotel on some public occasion to empty three or four barrels of whiskey in a single day. A few dried apples, roasted brown and put in a barrel of whiskey, gave it a very rich color. By substituting peaches for apples, a very fair article of peach brandy was said to be made for which there was always a ready sale. About 1830 Tannehill's distillery burned down and he undertook to run a grain mill. For motive power he planned to use a wind-mill. He succeeded in constructing one that would run successfully, but he was unable to devise a regulator. One day a storm came up with a strong wind and his wind-mill ran away with itself and toppled over. It was a total wreck beyond hope of repair. He then bought a mill site in what is now West Belleville and tried water power. But neither the distillery nor the mill seemed to bring him any more money than the hotel, so he sold his mill to Thomas Harrison and bought a farm in the American Bottom, where he ended his days. In an early day Governor Ninian Edwards, who then lived at Edwardsville, purchased from Etienne Pensoneau the land which George Blair had sold him, and established a store in Belleville with a fine stock of goods. Later he moved there himself and took personal charge of the store. He helped to build up the town by offering building lots very cheap and upon easy terms. A few others of the many noted men who have lived at Belleville are Governor John Reynolds, Judge Adam W. Snyder, who doubtless would have been governor had he not died just before election. Governor William H. Bissell, Lieutenant-Governor Kinney, Lieutenant-Governor Gustave Koerner, Senator Lyman Trumbull, Col. J. L. D. Morrison, and Congressman Jehu Baker. The list might be extended indefinitely if space permitted. In 1836 a hbrary organization was effected. A group of the citizens who were interested in reading as a means of culture came together and agreed to pay three dollars apiece the first year and one dollar and a halt a year thereafter for books for the common use of the group. The hooks were kept at the home ot Dr. Schott, the appointed custodian, until iSfi, when they were moved to a building provided for the purpose and became the nucleus of the present magnificent city library, which is now housed in an excellent building provided by Andrew Carnegie.

The county seat was primarily the "Seat of Justice," where justice is meted out to the offenders against the law, first by giving them a fair trial in the court house and then punishing with imprisonment or otherwise. In these days the serious offender has the pain of his penalty distributed over a period of years, it may be, in the penitentiary. But in the early days Illinois had no penitentiary and the jail was not adapted to the needs of the long-time prisoner. Therefore some form of switt justice or intensified penalty was sought by the dispensers of justice in the early days. It is on record that this aim was sometimes met in Belleville by means of the whipping post or the pillory. The former method was employed in a number of cases. Several walnut trees then standing on the public square saved the city the expense of erecting a regular whipping post. It IS said that only one criminal was ever punished there by the pillory. His crime was forgery. The pillory was erected in the center ot the square and the condemned man was exposed in it for only one hour, and required to pay a heavy fine in addition. This was in 1822. The only use ever made of the pillory after that was for a hitching rack for the farmers who drove horses to town. When John Reynolds was a member of the Legislature he used his influence toward having the criminal code of the state reformed.

Belleville was incorporated as a town in 18 19 and as a city m 1850. The charter of the city of Springfield was taken as a model for her fundamental law. Theodore Krafft was the first mayor. There are now seven wards represented in the council, over which the present mayor presides.

In the days before there were any railroads, mails were carried by stage coach or on horseback. In the rainy seasons of the year the town was largely isolated from the rest of the world by the impassable conditions of the road, especially through the bottoms between the bluff and the river. This demonstrated the necessity of road-building. The first ma cadamized road in the state was begun in 1846 and built from Belleville to St. Louis, a distance of fourteen miles. Since then three trunk line railroads have been built through the city, a trolley line to St. Louis, and two lines of paved road, numbers thirteen and fifteen, run through Belleville.

paper, but an early historian says, "It would be more accurate to say. It was a weekly sheet issued semi-occasionally." It did not live long and was followed by the "St. Clair Gazette." Other papers were the "St. Clair Banner," "The Belleville Times," and "The Illinois Republican." The first daily paper published in Belleville was "The Advocate," dating from 1849. In 1857 the weekly "Sun" appeared. Later both it and the "Republican" were absorbed by the Advocate.' In 1853 the daily "Eagle" was started under the editorial management of John Reynolds. But in a short time it was changed to a weekly and called the "St. Clair Tribune." This was printed on the first power press ever brought to the city In 1858 the "Democrat" was started. This became the official organ of the city council and the leading paper of the county. Also in 1858 another campaign paper was started by J. W. Hughes and Governor Reynolds. It was called the "Star of Egypt" and was devoted to the interests of the Buchanan wing of the Democratic party. It did not live long. In i86j John Hmchcliffe began publishing the "Miner and Workman's Advocate" long before the day of labor unionism. It was later moved to St. Louis. In 184S appeared the "Belleviller Zeitung," which was the first German newspaper. Another was the "Volksblatt." At present the city has two modern city dailies, "The Advocate" and the "News-Democrat." Belleville, like much of southern Illinois, has the reputation of being filled with a population largely of German origin. We are told that there were no Germans there prior 1830, but about that time political and economical conditions in Germany caused a great migration to America. Cheap land and easy living conditions in St. Clair County attracted the thrifty Germans. They came in by hundreds and they and their descendants had become an important part of the permanent and well-established citizenry. They are pre verbially industrious, thrifty, and prosperous. It is claimed that Belleville is now a city of beautiful homes of which eighty-five percent are owned by their occupants.

There are more than a dozen denominations of churches in the city. The largest and wealthiest is the Roman Catholic, with a million dollar cathedral, a resident bishop, and two hospitals. The Methodists have six churches, of which one IS a Free Methodist and one African. There are three Baptist, two Evangelical, two Divine Science, and one each of Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Christian Science, Latter Day Saints, and a Jewish Synagogue.

The following fraternal orders have chapters in the city : Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Catholic Knights and Ladies of Illinois, Fraternal Order of Eagles, International Order of Odd Fellows, Independent Order of Red Men, Knights of Pythias, Knights of Columbus, Loyal Americans, Loyal Order of Moose, Maccabees, Masonic Orders, Modern Woodmen of America, Western Catholic Union, and Woodmen of the World.

Among the recreational facilities afforded by the city are the Municipal Park known as Bellvue, containing twenty-six acres, and the Fair Grounds, containing forty acres. Two golf courses, that of the Belleville Golf Club, and the St. Clair Country Club. There are three theatres, the Lincoln with a seating capacity of i,8oo, the Rex seating 550, and Washington, which will accommodate 1,400. The Belleville Turners operate two concrete swimming pools during the summer season in connection with their picnic grounds. They have a locker capacity of twelve hundred. Boating, fishing, and swimming may be enjoyed at Stolberg's Lake or the St. Clair Amusement Park.

Public utilities are available in the East St. Louis and Interurban Water Company, which supplies Belleville with filtered water taken from the Mississippi some distance above East St. Louis. This system supplies water for ten cities. The supply is unlimited. There are two supply pipes running to Belleville, so that in case of the failure of one the other will be sufficient until repairs can be made. The other public utility is the Illinois Power and Light Corporation, which supplies electricity for all purposes, and gas for those who prefer it, from a plant in Belleville, which has a capacity of one million cubic feet per day with no winter shortage.

Belleville has sixty-two miles of paved streets and paved roads come into the city from almost every direction. There are one hundred and fifteen miles of paved road in the county, and most of these roads run through the county seat.

The manufacturing interests of Belleville are unusual for a city of its size. For instance, there is a factory of the International Shoe Company, with a weekly pay-roll of $10,000, and the Orbon Stove Company, with $7,000. These are the largest, but there are a large number of factories of different kinds running steadily, which furnish e.mployment to literal thousands of daily workers who thereby support themselves and their families. It is estimated that the payroll for the various lines of industry combined, that center in and about the city of Belleville, would amount to a total running into the millions every week in the year.

Scott Field is but a short distance outside the city limits and connected with Belleville by a paved road. This is the chief center of balloon and airship activities of the United States Air Service at the present time. The field, which was purchased by the government during the World War, occupies a square mile except for twenty acres out of one corner. There are in the field more than sixty separate buildings, including an immense airship hangar. This hangar is as high as a fifteen story building, is three city blocks in length, and a city block in width. It is capable of housing the largest dirigible airship ever built. It is one of the largest buildings of Its kind in the world, having a floor space of more than five acres under roof. Durinti the war, Scott Field was a training place tor airplane tliers. Now it is a training school for airship pilots and observers. In addition to being a training school It IS the central supply depot for the entire lighterthan-air division of the air service. Balloon and airship supplies and equipment valued at millions of dollars are stored at Scott Field. The field has an enlisted population, commissioned and civilian of eight hundred, with a monthly payroll in excess of $50,000. The field represents an investment on the part of the government of more than $60,000,000.

This IS also one of the most important points m the system of aerial highways charted by the War Department. Complete facilities for fueling, reconditioning, and housing airplanes are maintained at the field, day and night. It is a regular stopping place for cross-country fliers, both army and commercial. Lindbergh has visited this field. After the war. It was chosen in 1921 as the center of all the army's lighter-than-air activities because of its location in the heart of the Mississippi Valley. Thousands of persons visit this exceedingly interesting place every year.