Quincy Township (part 8 of 74)

With the sati.sfuctory condition of the city finances and its credit placed in a better shape than at any time before, there came now an active advance in business, which increasingly continued for the next half a dozen years, slowing down after that time until in 1861 it was revived by the war times, when there was plenty of money and so many interests and almost everybody, for a time, lived off the government. This revival of business life and industry was all over the land as well as here. By some it was attributed to the stimulus of the California gold coming into circulation; by one-half of the politicians it was credited to the national administi-ation being whig, and this was as zealously denied by the other half. Again, and with some degree of truth, so far as it concerned Illinois, it was claimed that the new constitution, by its having redeemed the bankrupt credit of the state, had encouraged and invited immigration. It was really, however, beside;; the effect of the above influences, the natural periodical return of prosperity, and confidence that regularly appears after a period of depression.

In Quiney the effects were early and evident. It was a year of bustle and improvement. Two daily packet lines of steamers were running to St. Louis in addition to the Galena and St. Paul boats, two or three of which passed every day. Property rapidly advanced in value. For instance, the two large lots in Nevins' addition of the southeast corner of Maine and Twelfth streets, where now stands the Webster school house, and which had been offered for sale in the year before at $500, now were boi;ght for school purposes by the city for $2,000, and today probably the same property without the buildings thereon may be easily called worth ness structures were erected. The ilcFadon's, Rogers', Mauzey's buildings on the north side over .$50,000. Many superior sub.stantial busiof the scjuare; Kendall's, since called the Citj^ Hall, at the corner of Maine and Sixth; Luce's buildings, on Fourth, south of ]\Iaiue, where for a long time the post office was located, and a number of other permanent and costly edifices were erected, giving better appearance to the city. Some handsome private residences were constructed. This was a feature in Quiney 's appearance which was sadl.v neglected before. Now it equals any other city of its class in the state, in the number, variety and elegance of its private residences. Then, and up to this period, there was next to nothing to show of attractiveness in this line, nothing but what would be second or third class today. The old Wood, Keyes and Young mansions and two or three others were about all. The Leavitt house, perhaps the most ijretentious and expensive private residence of its time, was built this year. It stood on the corner of Vermont and Eighth, was afterward purchased b.y General Singleton, and now is built over and forms a part of the St. Mary's School.

With the general business stimulation, manufacturing enterprise which is always the surest indication of local prosperity, became active. A larger number of factories of a valuable and durable kind were established than had ever been before. Among them were the Phoenix works, by the energetic and enterprising Comstock Bros., in the fall of the year, and about the same time the cotton factory of Dimock & Gove, which did a successful business for some years ; also the planing mill of Chase & Scripps, the first large concern of the kind in the city whicli had been working in a small way before, now extended its business, and a number of other factories beneficial to the place and which have continued successfully, originated with this year.

There were severe losses by fire, of whicli there was an unusual number. In January the large bi'ick steam flouring mill and di&tiilery, known as the "Casey Mill," sitiTated near the Bay, about where the freight depot now stands, was entirely consumed. It was the most extensive concern of the kind in the city, being a four-story structure, with surrounding buildings, originally erected by Messi-s. Miller, at a cost of between $20,000 aiid $25,000. The property afterwai'ds passed into the hands of Capt. Casey and other parties, who expended on it some $15,000 more. It Avas a serious loss to the business of the place. Later than this, also on the 30th of March, Kimball's mill, at the foot of Delaware streeet, weut the way of all mills. This also was a large establishmeut, and an old landmark. It was the oldest steam mill in the city, erected in 1831, although much enlarged since.

The long-talked Female Seminary, for which there had been yearning and movement for many mouths past, opened finally in October, in the buildings on the south side of Maine, near Sixth, which had for some years past been used by Miss Doty for the same purposes. It began under the supervision of Miss Catherine Beecher and a corps of teachers, with nearly one hundred pupils and fine prospects of success, which, however, were doomed to disappointment, as it lived hardly a year, sinking with itself a good deal of hope and more or less money beside.

Among the public events of the year were the observances on the death of General Taylor, the second President of the United States, who had died in office. A public meeting was called by the ]\Iayor and proper preparations made, and on the 27th of July, with formal accompanying ceremonies, an impressive address was delivered at the Market House by Judge Peter Lott. Judge Lott was the most felicitoiis orator for such occasions in the city, and had performed a similar duty nine years before, on the occasion of the death of President Harrison. Several persons who had occupied places of more or less prominence in past Quincy history, passed away from life during this year. Judge Jesse B. Thomas, one of the oldest and ablest legal men of the state, Avho had presided over this judicial circuit, succeeding Judge Douglas, in 1843, and residing for some years in Quincy, died at Chicago on the 17th of February. C4overnor Ford, a citizen of Quincy and pi-acticing lawyer as early as 1833. afterward Supreme Judge and Governor of the state, died at Peoria during the month of November. A more personal as well as general feeling of regret was occasioned by the death of H. S. Cooley, who died at New Orleans on the 21st of March, of consumption, and was buried here by the Masons with a good deal of public display. IMr. Cooley came to Quincy from ]Maine, in 1840. and at once became conspicuous. He was made Quartermaster General of the state in 1843, appointed Secretary of State in 1846, elected to the same office in 1848, and held it until his death. He was a man of fair talent, active and ambitious and, had his life been longer, would probably have continued to rise in political distinction.

to be as profitable and stable. There were two weekly German papers issued, both moderately democratic in politics. One, the Illinois Courier, l)ublislied by Linz and Richter, came out in April and continued for several years. The other, the Wochenblatt, had but a short life, dying out with the sudden disappearance "between two days" of its publisher. The three other journals were the Herald, Whig and the Journal. The latter had somewhat of an involuntary chameleon reputation. It was charged by the Whig with being a democratic sheet, and as severely attacked by the Herald for its whig proclivities. The editor, L. M. Booth, an old newspaper man, had the luck or non luck to often be freighted with this uncertain reputation. He was somewhat in the situation of the two Irishmen, strangers who met and each thought that he recognized the other. After a grasp of the hand and a second look, both started back, and one of them says : "Faith and we're both mistaken. I thought it was you and you thought it was me, and it seems it is neither of us." His paper did not prosper, and he left in April, promptly, like the Wochenblatt editor, for California, where he soon embarked in a similar business. The Journal fell into the hands of C. M. Woods, who changed, in May, the name from People's Jourlud to Quincy Journal, and on the 20th of November commenced the issue of a daily paper. There had been two brief efforts to carry on a daily publication in Quincy (once, in 1845, and again in 1847) : each lived but a few months, ilr. Wood's Journal was published at the price of ten cents a week. It had difficvdties (suspended once or twice), but after some changes in name and ownership, was merged into and became the present Daily Herald, the oldest continuous daily of the city. Another journal, the Columbus Gazette, was started during this summer, but its existence was short and its circulation light and mostly confined to the county and its own immediate neighborhood.

Journalism then, thirty-six years ago, was laden with le.ss labor, but also owned less conveniences, than since and now. Local news was scant and hard to obtain, and the manufacture of the same was a yet undeveloped art. I]arly news from abroad came at variable periods. As illustrative of this, one of the weekly journals, in two successive issues, tells its readers that it has "no, dispatches again this week, owing to the storm," a somewhat significant comment on what the telegraph was in those days.

peculiar and iMintiictiug results. O. H. Browning was the whig, and W. A. Richardson the democratic candidate for congress. Browning carried the city by about 50 majority and the county (city included) by 139. but was beaten iu the district; only one other county (Peoria) giving him its vote. John Wood, nominated as the whig candidate, for the state senate on the declination of Col. Ross, of Pike - Adams and Pike constituting the senatorial district, received 210 majority in Adams, and C. A. Warren, his democratic opponent, led in Pike coimty by about ,50 votes. In the representative district, composed of Adams and Brown counties, J. M. Pitman, J. R. Hobbs and J. Dearborn were the democratic nominees, against whoiu the whigs ran J. W. Singleton, Wm. Morrow and ,Holman BoAvles. Pitman, Singleton and Bowles went out of Adams with small majorities, which the first two retained in Brown, where, however, Hobbs secured a majority sufficient to elect him. It was amxisingly noticed at the time, that Dearborn, of Brown, got more votes than Hobbs. of Adams, in Adams, while again, Hobbs led Dearborn in Brown, each appearing to be honored most out of hi.s own county. On the county ticket the whigs elected the sheriff and treasurer, Humphrey and Pomeroy and the democrats the coroner. Munroe, by small majorities. The democratic state ticket was also .successful by from two to three hundred votes. This political result is notable as being a partial success for each of the two parties, which for the past twenty yenrs had disputed the control of the county with ;ibout an even record of foitune, and because it was the last success of the whigs. From this period, with a single accidental interruption in the legislative succession, the democratic! party maintained an easy, continuous supremacy in all the county elections for the followipg fifteen years.

An advance' in business life in all directions was (as before stated) the marked feature of this year. There was an increase iu the mill and provision product, less noted for the reason that enterprise was spreading itself in so many other occupations, some new. some extensions of what had been. As the best criterion by which to judge the present prosperity of a community, is in the number and extensiveness of its factories, where are offered opportunities for ingenuity to expand and the largest amount of labor to be employed, so the surest test of permanent stability is to be foimd in the price and valuations of its real estate property. Herein is the best basis of a people's wealth, and herein Quincy has an even and healthy record. Sudden changes in the value of real estate almost always are fictitious, and sooner or later prove so. During the sixteen years of independent corporate existence, six years as a town, ten years as a city, now, in 1850, the retrospect revealed a slow but steady step (forward with far less of infiuctuation than attached to the career of most other young communities of the west. , It had early, it had always, and it had now, in 1850, a larger proportion of people owning their own homes than any other town or city of the same grade in the west : and this has continued. The reasons for this condition of things, it is needless to name. The fact exists that there are nearly 50 per cent more men in Quincy who own their own homes tliim in any other Illinois city, and it is easy fm- any one to deduce from this how strongly, luiw, of necessity, both business and social feelings and interests mu.st combine to make assurance of a permanent future. As evidencing this record of values during the period above named, the assessment tables tell a clear story. Valuations of real property by assessors rarely give a correct estimate of the value of such property, but the successive valuations are the best evidence that can be had of the varying value of .such property running through a series of years.

The first town assessment to be relied upon was in 1836, when the town property was valued at $487,900. Four years later, in 1839, the last one made by the town, the valuation was $658,443. These valuations were high, much higher than would be made at the present time, but property all over the west had been rated at a speculative value some years before and so continued to be, while the percentage of tax assessments was low. In 1841, the second year of the existence of the city, the valuation of real estate was $729,809, and of personal property $95,059, and this proportion, slightly advancing each year, became, in 1850, $1,200,391 for real estate and $353,961 on personal property. In fact, these valuations which in 1835 were relatively too high, were, in 1850, placed almost as much too low, the earlier valuations being lifted as nearly as possible to the supposed cash worth of property, and indeed sometimes above, while the later valuations were as steadily falling ifar below what such property was actually worth. The reason for this depression in the asses.sments was, first, the infiated value that had been adopted in the early times, and again the operation of the, two mill tax to pay off' the state debt prescribed in the the state constitution of 1845. The unexpected effect of this two mill tax was, that if all the property in the state was valued at anywhere near its real worth, a much greater sum would be raised to apply upon the state debt than was needed or proper. Hence, property wa.s valued low to accord with the arbitrai-y standard of the two mill tax, while for the raising of the necessary revenue, the state and corporations could easily meet the demands of their budget by increasing the percentage on these low valuations.

Lightning

PRO.SPERITY. THE YEAR OF "HIGH V^TATER." WHIG AND HERALD CHANGE PROPRIETORS. CHANGES IN THE JUDICI.\L DISTRICTS. JUDGE SKINNER. R,\TTjRO.\DS AGAIN. ROUTE CHANGED FOR 1 '.1 ;i L\ P \\-.\ V TO CEDAR STREETS. SAM Hi )l..\l lO.-^ .MAVOR. NIGHT POLICE. NEW BANIvl-Xi; l.-V\V. CHURCH ON NINTH AND STAI'E Coill'LETED. STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.

Until the 1st of February, '51, the river remained open with fair navigation. It then closed for a week, reopening. It carried throughout the year a most extraordinary "boom" late into the fall, when it became finally ice-blocked on the 16th of December. This was the Mississippi's greatest, most triumphant year, when the waters of the upper Slississippi reached a height above the measure of any earlier mark. Its flood in 184-1 exceeded any in general recollection, although some old settlers asserted that the river had been known to be higher in 1832 and 1826, and there was also an Indian tradition that some time late in the last century it had attained an height never since equaled. Be that as it may, the certainty is, that the rise of 1851 surpassed that of any within the memory or measure of white men. The summer was very rainy, but the chief volume of the flood came from the north. While this upper portion of the stream was thus unprecedentedly high, below the mouth of the Illinois and of the Missouri, which had been vastly, swollen in 1844, it did not reach the summit water mark of that year. The rise began eai-ly in April, upon already full banks. As it continued to swell and passed above the measurements of 1844, the old settlei's shook their heads with "yes, but it won't reach the 1832 or 1826 figures." However, when, on the 6th of June, the measure showed 5 feet 6 inches above the mark of 1844 they gave up.

It was a mighty flood, like a vast sea .stretching from bluff to bluff. Here, on the city side, above and below the town, it washed the foot of the hills, filling Front street so much as to make it impassible and entirely stopping the operation of the mills. No small temporary addition to the population of the place was made by the incoming of many families who had beeri/' drowned out" of the "bottoms" and crowded into the tenement houses in the lower part of the city, i^ peculiar occurrence beside was, that late in the fall, when ordinarily the river is at its lowest, a second swell came down, filling the lands and overflowing the banks as much as is usually done at the regular annual rise in June. It does not appear that this huge flood iu.jured to any very great degree, the business interests of the city, although it much increased the .sickness, which was extensive, and quite fatal, during the greater part of the year.

The dreaded cholera revi.sited the city in a nuu-e violent form than it had appeared the year before, but much less destructive than the scourge of 1849. For eight or ten weeks in the late spring and early summer it prevailed with varying fatality, leaving almost as suddenly as it came, with a record of about 160 deaths. As in its earlier comings, it came upon the people almost without premonition, and its advent was a shock and terror. The flrst cases noted were in the south part of the city, in the Odell family, where, in the short space of four .days, the mother and three children were taken and died, and another child followed within a week. Thirty deaths occurred during the last week of May, twentyeight being from cholera. The same feature was marked at this time as had been noticed on its two former visits, that on the Saturday and Sunday of each week it was the most fatal, and that during those days about one-half of the deaths occurred. The death roll of this year bears the names of an unusual number of prominent persons and "old settlers." Especially of these were E. W. Clowes and Ryon Brittiugham, brothers-in-law, both early and substantial citizens, John B. Young, one of the jiioneers, who came to this country from Kentucky at an early date, with somewhat more of means than the generality of the people then had, settled first in the south part of ,tlie county, and moved thence to Quincy. To his enterprising action the city owes many of its best early improvements. There died also W. E. T. Biitze, John Glass, early German immigrants: Dr. H. G. Weoboken, a German physician of unusual skill and attainments; Dr. J. W. Newland : Charles :\Iorton, the best known and most popular "land man" in the state; ]\Irs. McDade; Miss Sarah Wood: Ex-County Judge Andrew Miller and many others of like notable position. Among the most conspicuous and regretted of these was, probably, S. ]M. Bartlett, editor and associate owner of the

Quincy Whig, who died on the 6th of September, after a sickness of eight days, the event making sad impression. Mr. Bartlett was a man of marked traits of character, of fair intellect, excellent judgment, well expei'ienced in the essentials of his profession, with a frank, outspoken nature, eai-ne.st in believing what he said and equally earnest in saying what he believed, a clean private character. He had during his fifteen years' editorial control of the Whig secured a strong rejiutation throughout the west, and the especial confidence of the political party of which the Whig was a recognized organ. He was a native of New England, came early to the west and had worked as a journalist and printer in St. Louis and Galena prior to his settling in Quincy. He was but 38 years of age at the time of his death.

After the death of Mr. Bartlett the interest which he had owned in the Whig was purchased by John T. Morton, who, as editor, in connection with H. V. Sullivan, published the paper for several years. This was the first change that had occurred in the ownership and management of tlie Whig since its establishment, in 1836. The Herald about this time went thnuigh with one of its many changes, being bought by P. Cleveland & Co. Mr. Cleveland was a ready, rapid, somewhat verbose writer, more polished, but less vigorous in style, than Brooks, the former editor, who now became the publisher and associate editor. Under their management, which continued for two years, the paper extended its popularity and political influence considerably more than its financial condition.

The old F'ifth judicial circuit, originally including all the counties in the Military Tract and taking in the northwestern section of the state, formed, in 1829, was by an act of the late legislature divided and a new circuit made, composed of the counties of Adams. Hancock, Henderson and Mercer. This broke up many of the old time legal associations and limited, to some extent, the practice of the Quincy lawyers, who had for over twenty years been accustomed to "follow the circuit" twice a year and appear at the bar of each county in the tract. ]\Iany of them had local partners in the counties outside of xVdams. 0. C. Skinner, a prominent lawyer of Qviincy, who had resided in Carthage before coming to Adams county, and while there had rapidly risen to the leading position at the Hancock bar, a reputation which he well sustained in Quincy, was recommended by the Ijar for the judgeship of the new circuit. The desire was then, as it had been at the first judicial election, to keep the contest from becoming political. This time the wish succeeded. The circuit, on a party vote, was undoubtedly whig, and Skinner Avas a most I'adical ultra democrat, but his high judicial capacity was recognized and, no opposition being made, he was unanimously elected. Some efit'ort was attempted to bring party feelings into the election for prosecuting attorney, but it cut no figure, and J. H. StcM'art, an experienced lawyer from Henderson county, a whig, but not a politician, was elected to that olfice.

Finally the railroad matter, that for two years past had "dragged its slow length along," which had been the topic for strife, talkative, public meetings, legislative action, and had engendered no small amount of personal bickering and animosity, was, by the general action of the citizens, taken out of its troubles and placed on the pathway towards certain and early completion. A law had been passed through the general assembly at the last winter's session legalizing the assessment by the city of Quincy of a special tax to meet the interest on any railroad bonds that it might thereafter issue, and the city council promptly l)rovidecl an ordinance in furtherance of the ]>rovisions of this law. Another legislative aclion in the same direction was the law which authorized the construction of a railroad from some convenient point on the line of the Northern Cross Railroad, within Adams county, running thence on the most eligible and practicable route through the IMilitary Bounty Tract and terminating at the most convenient and eligilile point at or near the southern termination of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, prescribing also that such road should not run east of Knoxville in Knox county. These two judicious attachments to the railroad project clinched the heretofore somewhat doubtful public confidence in its management and lifted it at once to an assured success. The effect of the first of these special laws was to substantiate the credit of the city in its intention to sustain the enterprise b.v a bond subscription, and the other promised an eastern connection by railroad and canal by way of Chicago and the lakes with the already finished, progressing thoroughfares which would be immediate on the completion of the Quincy end of the route. This was far preferable at the time to the building of a road towards the centre of Illinois with an indefinite prospect of its continuance farther eastward. Large l(.oal subscriptions were now made, amounting i-,! Quincy to between .$50,000 and $60,000, and also in proportionate liberal figures along the ]U"oposed route of the road in this and the adjacent counties. The precise line was not at once decidod uytuu or made known, and ageuts and advocates were sent to the various localities between Quincy and Galesburg to arouse public interest and solicit subscriptions; promising always, of course, that the community which offered the most money would be sure to secure the road.

One of our prominent Quincy lawyers nearly came to grief in this endeavor. He had made a sj)eech in a little town in an adjoining county and demonstrated that there was the natural route for the road, almost the only feasible line, that they needed it, and all that was wanted was for the people to .subscribe liberally, so that some other place wouldn't "buy the road away from them," aud made a capital and well satisfied impression. The next day he had f. meeting in a rival town about five miles away, and there ''spoke his piece" over again M'ith telling effect, when he was suddenly interrupted by a fellow calling, "Why. Mr. W., that's .just what you told las yesterday over in through our town and oughtn't to go anywhere else." To any other than this most adroit of legal gladiators this would have been a crusher. He was .staggered for the moment, but recovered Avith, "Well, gentlemen. I did sa.v something of the kind to those fellows over there and the gudgeons all believed me." Brown and McDonough coimties voted, the first $25.- 000, the second $50,000.

At a public meeting of the citizens of Quincy on January 24rth, it was proposed that the city shoidd vote a subscription of $100,000 aud purchase the interests of the company which owned the road for .$20,000 in stock. This latter arrangement was perfected, and the council, on the 27th, ordered an election to be held on March 1st, upon the proposition to subscribe $100,000, which resulted in an almost unanimously favorable vote, 1,074 for to 19 opposed. At a meeting of the stockholders on the 22d of March, which was largely attended, N. Bushnell, J. M. Pitman, H. Rogers, J. D. jMorgan and L. Bi;ll were elected directors by the individual stockholders. Mayor Holmes i-epresenting the city, which had the larger portion of the stock, casting its vote in the same direction. The directors organized liy electing N. Bushnell. President : J. 0. Wooclruif , Secretary, who soon resigned, and was succeeded by John Field, and he soon after by John C. Cox. S. D. Eaton was appointed Chief Engineer, and in April work began at the corner of Twelfth and Broadway.

the whig nominee. At the same time C. A. Savage, Thomas Redmond and Geo. W. Brown were elected aldermen in the First, Second and Third wards. This election of two whigs and one democrat made the council a tie politically and was the basis for a good deal of dissension and harsh feeling in that body. This feeling had been shown somewhat in the retiring council, where after the board had voted to raise the mayor's salary from $250 to $350, he refused to receive it because it had not been unanimously voted.

Mr. Lock filed a notice of contest for the seat given to jMr. Redmond, who had beaten him by 17 votes. This was finally withdrawn, but remained long enough to stir up considerable personal feeling, and when the selection of a city clerk came up (this officer at that time being elected by the council), no choice could be secured for several meetings, not, indeed, until after 75 fruitless ballotings. There were two democratic aspirants for the place, each of whom secured two votes, one of these votes coming from a whig alderman, while two of the whigs voted for a whig candidate, thus preventing the mayor's having an opportunity to decide the choice by his easting vote. After a couple of weeks' wrangle, however, the democrats in the coiuicil "rose to the occasion" and adopting a motion to elect by resolution, chose Mr. Cleveland clerk. He had held the office for the two past years, and it was partly from some dissatisfaction towards him and partially growing out of the unwillingness of the whigs to select the city officials until the Lock-Redmond contest was settled, which caused this .struggle over the clerkship. It was the first occasion of personal, political strife, that had appeared in the council, which in the early days had very little of that demonstrative element Avhieh not unfrequently wakes iip its sessions nowadays.

Owing perhaps to this dissension aud delay over the organization of the council no formal fiscal statement for the past year was published, but the city affairs appeared to have been well conducted and its credit sustained, though the debt had somewhat increased.

^Iv. Holmes was a skillful business man. with unusual aptitude for public business and well acquainted with the city's history and wants, and made a highly commendable record as mayor.

During this year's administration was begun the organization of a night police, and the second revision of the ordinances was made vmder the supervision of the mayor.

and mutton seven cents per i^ound, and other neeessaries in proportion, made living somewhat more expensive than it had before been. Eeal estate advanced rapidly in demand and vahie. One sale indicates this propoi-tionate progress. The ten acre tract at the southeast corner of Maine ami Eigliteenth streets, now known as the Collins property, which had been bought five years before by the late Secretary of State, Cooley, for .$1,000 ($100 per acre), was now sold for .$2,525, or $252.50 an acre, cash, no improvement of value being on the ground. All over the city, as there was also throughout the country, real estate was in eager demand and Avas changing owners rapidly and at rising figures.

Money was plenty and easily obtained, and the adoption of the State Bank law gave broader opportunities for the establishment of "money factories," as they were called, and for a greater increase in the amount of paper circulation. A curious feature in regard to the bank law, which went into operation at this time, was the sectional character of the contest. It was partially made a political issue. The whigs all favored it, the democrats generally opposed it. The southern section of the state strongly democratic, was almost solid against the law, the central belt, which was whig, and the northern portion, then democratic, favored it. Chicago voted thirty to one for the law, and yet, as a curious commentary on this, is the fact that when the law was i-atified by far the larger number of the banks organized under it were located in the southern part of the state, where it had received the greatest oppo.sition. The nuijority for the law in the state was 62,221.

ilueh of handsome and substantial building was done during this year. The fine brick church long known as the Centre Congregational, at the corner of Fourth and Jersey, a branch of the 1st C!ongregational Society, was commenced.

It is now owned l)y the Baptists. The Presbyterian church, on Maine street, was enlarged and improved, and the Lutheran church, now replaced by the imposing structure on the corner of State and Nintli, was completed.

Touching this latter, a mishap occurred sad to those who were the sufferers laut amusing to worldlings. By some error or oversight the lightning rod placed along down the outside of the steeple was carried as far as the belfrey and there landed, hanging there with no connection to the earth. The lightning caught on the tip of the rod, followed it down and M'hen it came to the lower end spread itself, shivering the steeple and setting it on fire. The flame was soon extinguished, but the splintered steeple remained as a reminder that Providence cares no more for its own buildings than any others, unless they were properly finished. It was rather a shock to the faith of some good people.

Chapter Xxx Political

A second vote was taken at the town elections in April, on the question of the continuance of the township organization system in the county, which had now been in operation for two years. It was sustained by a vote of 1,532, with but 222 cast against it, two towns only, Ursa and Beverly, voting to fall back to the county court system. Quincy, as at the foi-iiicr el(M-tioii on this issue, did not vote.

Tliis wiis a severe season for the farmers in this section ot the state, owing to the ravages of the army w(n'm and other insect pests, which did extensive injury to the early crops. The river opened as early as the 8th of February, closing for the succeeding winter on Christmas day. Navigation was nnu.sually good in the early part of the season, and the water rose to within three inches of the great flood of 1844, and aliout five feet less than that greatest of floods in 1851 : but it ran very low in the fall, so much so that the St. Louis packets were not able to make their trips above Quincy after the middle of November.

The first regular daily mail by steamer was established in April from St. Louis to Galena, which was continued for many years, until superseded by the more rapid railroad conveyance. Before this time occasionally mail matter had been carried on the boats and messenucrs apjiointed to take it in charge, but it was only occasional and never became permanent until now.

The Whig opened out as a daily on the 22d of ]\Iarch, issuing at the same time a tri-weekly. It was the beginning of the present Daily Whig, although it met with two or three temporary suspen.sions before it became substantially established. The uncertainties of the telegraph

The winter of 1851-52 was very cold and continued late into the spring. On the 10th of April there came one of the most severe and unseasonable storms ever known in the west, extending throughout the state and lasting for several days. The snowfall was from one to two feet in depth.

^lucli improvement was made iu the general appearance of the place by the building of man}- handsome, tasteful private residences, a feature peculiarly lacking heretofore, and also of large and substantial storehouses. The city was growing fast. Among the needed and imposing improvements was Kendall's, afterwards known as the City Hall, at the corner of Maine and Sixth .streets, at a cost of about $20,000. This was notable as being the first public hall in the place. Before this time the Court House or the churches, if they could be obtained, were the only conveniences for lectures, fairs and all exhil)itions of a like character. ^Ir. Orrin Kendall, the owner of this hall, was one of Quincy's most energetic and enterprising men. He moved from here to Chicago, and. as though he had a passion for such plans, erected there a hall patterned almost precisely after that in Quincy and endowed it with his name, a handsome structure, which fell before the great fire of 1871. The stone Episcopal church, now the Cathedral, was finished during this year.

The boom in real estate property continued. An indication of these values was shown in the sale of what was then known as the "Mast corner." so called from its owner, iliehael Mast, an eccentric, popular little man, a tailor, the earliest German settler in the place, and the first tailor also. This property, 491/2 feet on Maine by 100 feet on Fifth street, was sold in Se[)teniber for !{>4-.165, about .$85 per front foot on Maine. There were on it no improvements of value. The contrast of these figures is curious with what the same property "went for" twenty-seven years before at the County Commissioners' sale. Then the entire corner lot, 99 feet by 198, of which the "Mast corner" was one-fourth, brotight at auction, $16.25, about 17 cents per foot. Quite a handsome speculation.

Business of all kinds was active and extending. There was in it a bustle, life and confidence that gave most sanguine promise for the future. With a fast increasing population, real estate rapidly accreting in value, money facilities all that could be desired, eastern railroad connections assured, this was much the most lively and seeminglv succe.ssful vear that

Quincy had known since 1836. The staple business of the past winter had been up to the .standard. Between ID.OOO and 20.000 hogs were the reported protluct of the i^acking season of 1851-52, about the average of the three or four preceding years. The great fiour milling business, which, for the last fifteen years, had been a specialty of Quincy. as ahead of any of the upper Mississippi cities, was increasing in proportion to its jjast standard, but it met with temporary misfortune during the year. Two of the largest of the half-dozen flour mills came to what is the frequent fate of such structures, destruction by fire. These were the Wheeler & Osborn and Smith mills, on Front street, burned on the 17th of September.

So common had then become, as it still is, this fatality of steam mills, that it was said somewhat savagely, but suggestively, when these two went down, "Well, this makes four steam fiour mills burned in the last two years. Better call them steam fire mills." A tally of the grist mills in Quincy which have thus been cremated, would more than exhaust one man's fingers.

Among the chief manufacturing establishments of the place, and perhaps that which handled the heaviest transactions of any, was the Thayer distillery, located about one-half mile south of the city, whose report at this time stated the cost of the buildings, etc.. to have been $30,000: that there was annually consumed 300,000 bushels of grain: $12,500 paid for cooperage : $4,500 paid to wood choppers: .$8,000 to employes, and that there was capacity for feeding 2,000 hogs and about half that number of cattle, which each year was fully used.

The first published official report of the superintendent of the public schools was issued this year. Before this period, as required by law, a brief formal statement was annually handed into the council, and as briefly and formally placed away on file. A detailed report of the condition of the public schools was, on the commendatory recommendation of the mayor, ordered to be summarized and officially published, since which time this has been annually done, and it is only from this date that a fair history of the public schools can be made, the earlier records being meager or lost. The public schools had now, after many years of trial, outlived all the opposition and prejudice with which they were at first assailed ; were well managed, flourishing, and favored by the general public. There were two schools, largely attended, each with a primary department attached, employing in all eight teachers.

patriot and exile Kossuth, who was warmly welcomed all over the land by manifestations of sympathy and respect siicli as have been accorded to no foreigner except when Lafayette made his tour through the United States in 1824-25. Beside the interest that he attracted as being the most eminent representative of republican freedom in Europe, he was an orator of most graceful and persuasive nature. He was gifted with a lingual facility tliat enabled him to use the English language with a readiness and aptitude equal to Carl Seliurz, to whom, while he was inferior in force and originality of intellect, he was far superior in elocutionary grace. The "Kossuth craze," as it was called, pervaded the whole country, Quincy, as well, and the ]\Iayor, always alive to catch a popular feeling, placed before the council a proposition to officially extend to Kossuth the courtesies of the city, which was done, and seconded also by a public meeting of the citizens. Kossuth did not come, but he was met and greeted at St. Louis by a formal representation of the council and by a large delegation of the citizens, who returned delighted with him and themselves.

The raih'oad work went steadily forward, between two and three hundred men being employed in grading at various points along the line within twenty miles of Quincy. As almost the entire original state survey had been abandoned, and a new line laid out, the lawyers, of coiirse, reaped a small harvest out of a good many "right of way" cases that naturally came up. Some not pleasant jars occurred also over this ciuestion. whether the road should be finished first from Camp Point to the Illinois river, or ])ushed northwards to a Chicago connection. The indefiniteness of that clause in the charter, which prescribed that the road should not run east of Knoxville, and the uncertainty of where would be the Mississippi terminus of the C, B. & Q. road, which was rapidly reaching southward, also the adverse interests of other contemplated railroads in the upper section of the Military Tract, added to these embarrassments. They were all finally adjusted, however, with the conclusion that the noi'theru connection should be first secured by the way of Galesburg. McDonough county, in May, by a majority of 173, in a pretty large vote after a hotly contested election, voted a subscription of $100,000, and in August, Brown county followed suit by the decisive vote of 749 for, to 316 against, a bond subscription of $50,000, and about .$25,000 of private subscription was raised at Meredosia and points westward along the line.

on Front street, from Broadway north to the city limits, and also the use by "loan" or grant, or otherwise, of a portion of the public lauding for depot purposes. The right of way was given and also the grant of a tract two hundred feet in length on the we.st side of Front street and north of Vermont. This was the first of the franchises granted by the city, followed by others of like nature ; which have given to this one railroad so much; and, so far as other roads are concerned, exclusive privilege. These were accorded to what, at the time, was the Northern Cross railroad, but passed and continued when it became absorbed in the C, B. & Q. railroad.

The brief statement heretofore given of the transactions of the Thayer distillery as partially illustrative of the business of the place, shoidd he supplemented by a mention of other interests carried on at the same time by its active and enterprising proprietor, Avho was generally recognized as the foremost business man of the city.

With this reference to Mr. Thayer and his career is associated the remembrance of another man who occupied the same relative position through ten or twelve years of an earlier pe- I'iod. The business enterprises of these two men were almost precisely the same, their infiuence and position in the community was very nuu'h alike, and the career of each came to a nearly similar close. The names of Avhat are called business men, however conspicuous they nuiy be for the time, do not live on the records like those of the politician and the placeman, but their immediate importance and influence is far more effectively felt, is often more advantageous and much more permanent.

D. G. Whitney came to Quincy from JIarietta, Ohio, about 1831 or '32, started a store in partnership with Richard S. Green, and rapidly I'ose to the position of being the most extensively engaged and supposed wealthiest )iiei'chant of the town, a place which he maintained for many years. Of a genial, generous dis|)(isition, quiet but attractive demeanor, he had great business ambition and a shrewd, bold, broad capacity therefor. Beside managing his large mercantile establishment on the west side of the square, wiiere probably more trade was done than at any three or four of the other stores, he had interests in several country stores: built also in 1834 a distillery two miles below the t6wn : later on erected a large steam flour and saw mill ten miles south, and in connection Avith it put up a capacious warehouse on the west river bank, about six miles above Hannibal, and subsequently built, at the corner of Maine and Front streets, two brick storehouses, the largest structures of the kind then in the city. In addition to the care of these manifold interests, jie was interested in the .steamboat traffic between St. Louis and Quinej', and more or less each year engaged in grain and provision speculation. About 1837-38 he built the house now owned by General Singleton ("Boseobel"), which when erected, was the most expensive and elegant private residence in this section of the state. He pulled with apparent success through the "hard times" of 1837 and after, but failed about 1842 or '43, and twice aftei*- ward each time with a luTge cloud of local indebtedness about him, despite which he twice temporarily established himself through his pei'sonal popularity and his strong hold upon public confidence. On his tiual failure, he removed to California, in 1849, and there partially succeeded in restoring his fortunes, but never attained the pre-eminence that he sustained here. His death was caused by being crushed between the cars about twelve years ago.

About 1844 or '4.5, when the financial prestige of Mr. Whitney was declining, Mr. Sylvester Thayer came from New York and opened a dry goods store on the north side of the public square, under the firm name of S. & W. B. Tha^^er, afterwards Thayer & Co. Later they purchased and removed to the building on the southwest corner of Maine and Foiu'th. The younger brother was popular, and the older one shrewd, longheaded and enterprising. They soon stepped into an extending city and county trade, and gradually enlarged their operations in the same manner as Mr. Whitney had done ten or twelve years before. They built and operated a large steam mill at the foot of Delaware street, and erected on the opposite side of the street the largest warehouse in the city, and probably the largest above St. Louis, with a depth of one hundred and sixty-seven feet and a width of sixty feet, which is still standing and has since been used for a tobacco factory and other purposes ; also the distillery south of the city, since known as Cui'tis'; made large stock pui'chases, bought acres of grazing lands in Missouri and operated on a scale as much more extensive than had been done before as the size and business of the city was greater than it had ever been.

Some years subsequent to this jieriod (1852) they failed hopelessly, loaded as ]Mr. Whitney had been with local indebtedness, but this failure was different in the one respect, that Thayer carried down with him the two banking houses of Flagg & Savage and ]\Ioore. Hollowbush & Co., while Whitnev's failure involved only a great number of individual creditors. The failures of these two men, owing so extensively as they did, was a crippling misfortune to many, but yet Quincy owed them much.

During the twenty-five or thirty years when the one or the other of them was a leading spirit of Quincy 's business, it was to a great degree their enterprise, means, business boldness and sagacity that kept the city ahead of the competition of .surrounding rivals, gave it life, activity and employment, and engrafted upon it pro.sperities which were bound to become permanent. Such men make towns though they fail. The business history of Quincy would be half untold if these men and what they did, were omitted.

Mv. Thayer was per.sonally a ditt'erent man from Mr. Whitney. He was thoroughly a business man, and I'arely seen in society, always either at his counting room or place of business, or at home. He was also an extreme democrat as ilr. Whitney was as ardent a whig, but he only touched politics when it fell in the way of his business interests. He was elected alderman and mayor and was very efficient in both positions. To him in a large degree, and very much to his regret when the result transpired, is due the election of the first republican U. S. Senator from Illinois. It is a curious piece of local political history, still more curious from its broad effects. The whig, or anti-Nebraska convention, as it was called, in 1854. had nominated for the legislature Messrs. Sullivan and Gooding. A bitter personal feeling between Mr. Gooding and Dr. Harrington, Avho was an aspirant for the nomination, both being citizens of Paj-sou, made Dr. Hai'rington incline to come out as an independent candidate against Gooding. At this sanu^ time the temperance matter had stalked into the canvass and a series of awkward questions upon this sub.jeet was publicly propoTuided to the legislative candidates. The reply of ilr. Ruddle, one of the democratic nominees, to the effect that he was not especially hostile to a moderately restrictive temperance law if passed upon by the people, did not accord with the interest and views of Mr. Thayer, and when Dr. Harrington appeared as a candidate i\Ir. Thayer actively threw all the influenee that he could exert against Ruddle and in support of Harrington. The result was that, while the democratic ticket carried the county at the November election by several hundred ma,jority. ]\Ir. Ruddle was beaten for the legislature by ~Sh: Sullivan, who led him six v^otes (Dr. Harrington getting between 600 and 700). every other democrat on the ticket being elected. These six votes placed Sullivan ill the lesiislature, which tlms had a republican majority of one, by which one vote, Lyman Trumbull was chosen to the United States Senate. A.s ]\Ir. Thayer said afterwards, the result unfortunately exceeded his ex]3ectations. What might have been the bearing- upon the country and parties had Trumbull not been chosen, and Shields or Matteson elected to the .senate as alifirming Illinois in the support of Douglas' Nebraska policy, is a question for jiolitieians to speculate on if they choose, but it is a queer fact th.it tliis result was brought about liy a ti'itiing local dispute and accident in Adams county.

Money flowed freely during these days. The state was flooded with bank note promises to pay. The free banking law of 1851 was producing its natural fruits ('"dead sea apples," as they i)artially ])ri>vfd to be), as will the results of every financial scheme that proposes to perpetuate a uniform equalized national currency which is based on other security than the national credit, faith and industry. Plagg & Savage, the leading brokers, organized the "City Bank of (ijuincy" and issued notes. Their's was the earliest established i)rivate bank of issue in the place. Their notes, however, did not circulate at home, but were exchanged for others of an equivalent face value issued by some distant banks, organized and with a circulation secured (?) by the deposit of state bonds, bought or borrowed, and the cheaper these were, the bettei' for the banks.

Quincy was much exercised about this time for the want of a "nom de plume." All the other cities in the land had their fancy names, and Quincy had none. The titles it should with most apparent propriety claim, of "Mound City" or "Blulf City," had already lieen assumed by St. Louis and Hannibal. It was jiroposed to call it the Hill City, but that would have dwarfed it alongside of Hannibal, and Mountain City was too monstrous. There were sixteen churches in (Quincy at this time, a very large number in pniportion to the pious population, and it was seriously urged to have the place christened "the City of Churches," but this was a name that might not stick, and had already been adopted elsewhere. So the city Avent upbaptized for awhile longer, until the name "Gem City" was assumed, why, how iir for what specific reason it is difficult to say. although there are some appropriate points to warrant this title, and it has now become permanently fixed.

A special session of the legislature was called which began on the 6th of June and ended on the 26th. It was important only to Quincy for the reason that the Pike county railroad matter was being battled over in the legislature, and now became a local question of some importance. Quincy railroad interests sought to "stave off" the granting of a charter to the Pike county road (from Hannibal to Naples) until the N. C. R. R. was completed to Meredosia. In this they mainly succeeded, but the question entered into and a good deal affected the political issues in the city for some years.

This was a year of notable political changes and surprises alike in local and national affairs. The city election in April was a singular showing, completely reverisng the previous political order of things. The council, which two years before in 1850, had consisted of five democrats and one whig, now had five whigs and one democrat. The whig council, follow-ing the precedent of their predecessors, placed in all the appointive offices men of their own political faith. E. II. Buckley was chosen city clerk, which place he occupied for the next two years, and the entire city "outfit" Avas composed of wliig officials. John Wood was chosen mayor over M. Pitman by 190 majority on a vote of about 1.200. and John Wheeler," A. B. Dorluan and J. N. Ralston were elected aldermen, the whigs carrying every ward for the first time in the history of the city.

But little of new and local inqiortance occurred ill the transactions of the council during the year. One rather amusing excitement, such as Quincy occasionally and Quincy only can furnish, came up during the latter part of ]\Iay(n' Holmes' administration, over the matter of jiayiug the annual state tax. The collection of this tax had been heretofore made by a different official and at a different period from that of the city tax, and now by law the time for its payment was advanced, throwing the collection of two taxes into the same year. The fact that Quincy paid no county tax, and perhaps the other anomalous fact that for several years the eastern part of the county had avoided the payment of taxes, had put into the heads of some earnest people the idea that the paying of state taxes, apparently twice in the same year, could be got clear of, notwithstanding that they were based on separate assessments. So much .stir was made over this question that the mayor, who, with many merits as a citizen and official, always had an eye to the vox populi vox Dei, especially the popular eye, called a public meeting to decide whether the state tax of 1851 ought to be collected. The meeting was a large one and it was there resolved that, while the payment of two taxes. so nearly together, was a hardship, yet it could not be evaded, and so this little teapot tempest was calmed down.

The one special action of the new city eouucil that created comment and criticism, was their raising the salary of the mayor from $250 to $300. In the earlier times the mayor was not only the figurehead of the city in his representative character as president of the council and vested Avith a good deal of executive authority, but he was also, ex officio, a inagistrate and expected to serve as such, and was, withal, street superintendent. Some of the earlier mayors, Conyers and Wood, for instance, from a sense of duty and personal inclination, gave up most of their time to ovei'- seeing the street grading, the laying of sidewalks, gutters, etc., which was no small task for whoever undertook to personally superintend all the details. The duties attaching to a seat in the city council were not as many as in later years, nor was the aldermanic dignity so prized and sought after as now : but for these, or some other reasons, the selection of men to fill such positions was taken much more satisfactorily. Take, for instance, the names of the aldermen of this year, 1852, who were a fair sample of what and who the city fathers used to be. John Wheeler. Chas. A. Savage, Thomas Redmond, A. B. Dorman, Dr. J. N. Ralston. George W. Brown, all representative men whose intelligence and character commanded public confidence, strongly contra.sting with some of our later day councils.

Political feeling ran high during this last, hopeless, struggle of the whig party for a national existence. Large party mass meetings were held during the campaign. The democratic ticket carried both county and city, giving Pierce for pi-esident over Scott, and llatteson, for governor over Webb, nearly 400 majority, and the local candidates about 50 less. To congress, W. A. Richardson was elected over O. H. Browning, J. il. Pitman. John Moses and David Wolf to the legislature fi'om Adams, and Brown over J. R. Chittenden, J. C. Cox and John Lomax, and Levy Palmer, sheriff, and C. M. Woods, circuit clerk, beat R. P. Coats and John Field. Calvin A. Warren was elected state's attorney by about 600 ma.iority over J. H. Stewart, the former incumbent. The freesoil vote of 261 in 1848, now fell off to 107. and the 190 whig ma.jority at the April city election was replaced by an equal ma.joritv on the other side.

And Coke Company. B.Anking. English

PORK SHIPPED SOUTH BY BOAT IN JANUARY. THE EELS CASE. JUDGE SKINNER ON THE FUGITIVE SLAVE L.4W. QUINCY^ GASLIGHT AND COKE COMPANY. B.ANKING. ENGLISH

And German Seminary. Jefferson School

AND GERMAN SEMINARY. JEFFERSON SCHOOL PROPERTY. BUSINESS PROSPERITY. CHARTER FOR A BRIDGE. COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. QUINCY M,\DE A PORT OF ENTRY. THE GERMA.V TRIBU.N'E. $1011, IIDO VOTED TO RAILRO.^D. I.MPRO\-EMi:.\'l' OF M.\INE. HAMPSHIRE AND BRO.\l)\\'AY, .\GI-J'ATION FOR PLANK ROAD TO lU'RTi )X RciAD ON OPPOSITE SIDE OF RIVER TO THE BLUFFS. FIRST "QUINCY BLUES." OTHER MILITARY* ORGANIZATION.

Navigation, which had ended on the 25th of December, 1852, was resumed on the first of February, and continued until Christmas again in 1853. The river had been open here during most of the winter, and about the middle of January a boat, the Regulator, which had been wintering here, started southward laden with a heavy shipment of poi'k, and after ten or twelve days' battle with the ice, reached St. Louis, and returned to Quincy. It was then an important advance gained to get the winter packing product of Quincy to St. Louis or the south at the earliest possible period. The business in this line for the season had been good, and some 21,000 hogs were reported as having been packed. The price greatly varied, running from $3.50 up to $6.00.

The "Eels case," which had been controverted in the various courts for many years, originating about 1837, was decided on the 21st of January. This case was important and had much national attention, because it .judicially settled the personal responsibility of parties in a free state who assisted the farther escape of slaves after they had fled clear from the state where local law recognized them as property, thus sustaining the validity of the then existing fugitive slave law in extending its operations into the free states, was especially interesting to Quincy people, for the reason that the defendant had long been a prominent citizen of this place, where the case commenced. Dr. Richard Eels, whose name has thus become somewhat accidentally historical in connection with the early anti-slavery strifes, was a well established physician here, and was a member of a small association which aided onward to Canada runaway slaves. The ease with its long continuation, financially ruined Dr. Eels, and the anxieties which it created probably aided in breaking down his health. He died in the West Indies about the time that this suit was determined. He was an unusually capable physician and a worthy man of rather extreme and unbalanced opinions upon some subjects. Connected with the topic above mentioned, which was once a constant vexation, but had of late generally passed out of thought, there came up a slight renewal of the old slavery fever. A public meeting in Marion county. Mo., had resolved to have no business intercourse with Quincy on account of the disposition of so many of its people to harbor aud aid runaway slaves. The question here was agitated as to what was the obligation in thi.s matter in lUiuois under the black law.s prescribed bj^ the new constitution, and how far the legal machinery of the state was subservient to the tleniand for the return of fugitives. Judge Skinner, who at this time was on the circuit bench, made public his opinion that only the United States law and United States officials had cognizance of such cases, and so with this closed nearly the last of the old-time sensitive trouble between Quiney and its near neighbors across the i-iver.

The Quiney Gaslight and Coke Company, which had been ineoi'porated at the legislative session of 1852-53, perfected its organization on the 9th of August, with a capital stock of .$75,000, and made its local contract with the city for a twenty-five yeai-s' exclusive privilege. The greater portion of this stock was in the ownership of A. B. Chambers, of St. Louis, and he controlled the affairs of the company for a long time. The remainder of the stock was divided among the local charter members. The company bought on th? 30th of July the at the corner of Jersey and Ninth, which they yet occupy, and began work at once. Ample means were at the command of the St. Louis parties, and the enterprise was rapidly and judiciously pushed, coming to an early completion and proving to be for a long time most satisfactory to the public and more remunerative to the owners than any of the other inter-corporate improvements in the city.

Banking matters partook of the general quick activity. The ''Quiney Savings and Insurance Co.," with banking privileges, chai'- tered the winter before, formally organized. This was afterwards, with some changes of name and control, the First National Bank of Quiney. A private banking house was opened during the summer on the north side of the public square by Ebenezer Moore, J. E. Hollowbush aud E. F. Hoffman, under the name of Moore, Hollowbusli & Co. It did a handsome and lucrative business until carried down like the other bank of Flagg & Savage, by the failwre of the Thayers three or four years later.

An "English and German Seminary," under the auspices of the ]Methodist church, Avas projected this year, and through earnest efforts, enlisting other denominational influences, it became a success. This is the institution which was erected and long located in the imposing brick structure on Spring street between Third and Fourth, generally known as the "Methodist College," now the Jefferson school house. Some vears after this, the name was changed to "Johnson College," in honor of one of its donors, and later still, in recognition of another beneficent gifts, it was rechristened "Chaddock College," which title it has since worn. About the time of this last change of name (in 1875) the college was removed to the corner of State and Twelfth streets, and established in the Gov. Wood residence, which had been purchased for its use. At the same time with this removal the city board of education bought, for $30,000. the old college property, which comprised, besides the valuable building, an entire block, and located there the Jeffersou public school. This was a judicious and opportune purchase for the school interests of the city. It chanced to come at a time when the Jefferson school was required to be removed from Jefferson Square, to make way for the new court house, and there was secured to the school board a substantially built structure, amply adaiDted to the purpose, with a larger surrounding of ground than any other of the eight city school houses, placed also in a quarter where it might not be easy in the future to obtain a sufficient amount of land so centrally and satisfactorily situated for educational uses.

Trade and business of every kind continued more and more fiourishiug. About forty steamboats ran regularly from St. Louis to Quiney, and passing here in the up river trade. During the free navigation period of ten months, Avhicli continued into December, with a brief suspension in the spring (an unusual occurrence), there were registered thirteen hundred and fifty steamboat landings, averaging about five arrivals each day.

A statement compiled at the close of this year, which is probably correct so far as it goes, but incomplete on account of many omissions, rates the annual export trade of the city as amounting to $1,248,011. This professes to embrace all the values of product and maniifacture that had been sold and shipped away. Among the leading items therein cited were 3.153 barrels of beef, 6.850 of crackers, 28,923 of riour, 20,296 of whisky, 101 carriages, 594 wagons. 5,092 stoves, 4.165 plows. 4,119 hides, 8,039 bales of hay, 116 hogsheads of tallow, 3,600 boxed candles, 430,000 feet lumber, 358,-

000 laths and shingles, $91,000 worth of castings, engines, etc., 40.866 bushels of wheat, 71.386 of corn and 137.299 of oats. At the same time another, like the above only partial .statement of the business employments, reports wholesale furniture factories and several smaller ones. 2 extensive wagon and plow factories and 7 smaller ones, 2 planing mills, 5 lumber yards, 1 book-bindery, 2 hardware, 6 iron and stove, 3 books and stationei-y, 4 drug and over 200 retail .stores, grocery, dry goods, e.tc, 2 banking houses, 18 churches, 2 daily and 3 weekly English and 2 weekl.v German newspapers. The official valuation of city propertv for taxation, real and personal, footed $2,076,360.

The old court house, the second one, built in 1836 on the east side of the square, was enlarged by having an extension attached to the rear, and, by an arrangement between the city and county, the former obtained the use of one of the large lower rooms for a clerk's office and council room, which was thus occupied for the following fourteen years.

A charter for a bridge company was procured at the legislative session of 1852-53, the incorporators being the directors of the N. C. R. R. and some other parties connected there- M'ith. The recpiirements of the charter were that the bridge should be commenced within three and finished within sis years. These time conditions were not complied with, but extensions of the charter were obtained and with some changes from the original plan, this enterprise was the origin of the present railroad bridge, constructed some twelve or thirteen years later.

With the accession of the democratic party at the national election in 1852 to administrative control of the country, there followed the u.sual changes among the federal officials. Austin Brooks, editor of the Herald, was made postmaster, supplanting Abraham Jonas, who had held this ofSce chiring the past towv j'ears. Another person, a partner of Mr. Brooks, had been booked for this place, but an unlucky business contretemps, coming to light, just on the eve of appointment, precluded the use of his name, and the office went to his partner. Also A. C. Marsh, as Register, and Damon Housef, as Receiver of the public land office, succeeded Henry Asbury and H. V. Sullivan. There was a good deal of local special importance attached to the land office and to these positions. They had been, in earlier years, places of distinction and responsibility, and were at one time largely lucrative ; mainly so from the fees, the stated salary being small, only ^400 per annum. Their value had been for some time past steadily shrinking, and their importance also, and the appointees above named were the last to hold the offices, which ended with their term.

covered the 5.369,000 acres of public land lying between the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, reaching as far north as the latitude of LaSalle and Rock Island. More than one-half of this, about 3.500,000 acres, was by congressional law reserved from general purchase, and specially set aside to be deeded as bounties to the soldiers in the war of 1812. Patents for these thus reserved lands were issued to the soldiers as early as 1815 and in the four or five following years. The remaining unpatented lands were not offered for sale until a long time later, a large portion of them being reserved for more than 20 years. The cheapness of these bounty lands which could be bought from the soldier patentee : 160 acres for from .flO or $15 to $30 : or the state tax title for a still lower figure, while the government price for land was $2.00 and later $1.25 per acre, and their vinsurpassed fertility, with the advantage of a location between and nearly bordered by two great navigable rivers, were tempting offerings to the adventurous emigrants and to the speculator, causing a flow of settlement towards this section far in advance of that received by any other part of Illinois; an immigration which continued when the remainder of the hitherto govei'ument land was thrown open to genei'al entiy. With the location in Quincy of the public laud office, there naturally followed the establishment of the private land agencies, which represented the titles to nearly all the unoccupied land in the bounty tract that had been granted to the soldiers. Hence every one desiring to purchase either piiblic or private land had to apply personally or othei'wi.se at Quincy. which, of course, thus became the sole land market center for this section of the state. Had Rushville, which at that period (1831) was more populous than Quincy, and came near being preferred, or Peoria, which was about ecpially central so far as the location of the lands lay : had either of these been the point selected for the public land office, one of the .strongest factors in the early history of Quincy 's prominence and improvement would have been lost. Most of the government land had now. in 1853. passed into private ownership, and when, soon after, the general government donated to the states all the swamp lands, or those sub.ject to overflow, so little was left in this district that it was no longer necessary to maintain the offices here, and they were removed to Springfield.

Another federal office was created about this time. A bill was inti-oduced into Congress in December, to make Quincy a port of entry, which passed during the session. The ob.ject was to convenience the railroad in its payments on the iron imported from England. Under the operation of tliis l;i\v shipment could be made through direct to (juiucy and here taken out of store, and the duties paid thereon from time to time in such amounts as the railroad company required. Several other cities on this great "inland sea" (as IMr. Calhoun, to evade his own oiii)osition to internal imi>rovenients, termed the upper Mississippi), that were similarly interested in railroad enterprises, were also about this time, made ports of entry, and continued such for a Jiumber of years, a good while after the chief reason for their establishment had passed away. The law relating to Quiney went into effect Feb. 2, 1854. and the apjiointment of surveyor of the port was made soon after.

At the November election, which this being the odd year, was only for county officers, the democrats carried the county by the usual average ma.jority of about 200. electing W. II. Cather County Judge over Henry Asbury : Geo. W. Leech County (Uerk over 1). M. Prentiss, and J. H. Luce Treasurer over C. JI. Pomeroy. The city election, in April, was a mixed success for both parties. The whigs re-elected John "Wood as Mayor over J. M. Pitman by 6 votes, and C. A. Savage to the council from the First ward by 3 majority. F. Wellman and 8. Thayer, democi'ats. were elected in the Second and Third wards, and the general democratic ticket was snoeessful. With the casting vote of the Mayor, the council continued the former whig officials.

A meeting of whigs was held on the fith of May to consider the itrojeet of establishing a Oerman whig ncAvspaper. There were two German periodicals then published, both of which were democratic. Mr. Wood proposed to purchase type, etc., for such a paper if the party Avould sustain it for five years. The result was the e.stablishraent of the Tribune, which made its ajipearaiice on the first of November as an independent German weekly. It did not, however, live out its time. The promised support failed within a year or two and after passing through several changes of owner.ship and name, it became what is now the Germania. The Herald met with another of its frequent kaleidoscopes and suspended during the summer, resuming about tlie first of August under the management of W^ni. ~Sl. Avise & Co.

Railroad matters were progressing successfully. Much of the grading through Adams county, the heavier sections excepted, was well advanced toward completion, and before the close of the year the entire roadbed to Galesburg was under contract. Some changes occurred in the management and in the directory, where a causeless inharmony temporarily occurred that Avas soon corrected. At the stockholders' meeting in April the old directors were re-chosen with two additional members, these were Brooks and Joy, representatives of the northern interests in the road, which eventually obtained its control. W. H. Sidell became chief engineer, succeeding Newell, and continued as such until the final finish of the I'oad to (ialesburg. Latei John Wood was made director in place of Pitman, resigned.

At the 1852-53 session of the legislature an act had been obtained authorizing the city, by a popular vote, to subscribe $100,000 in addition to what had been already given towards the roii.struction of the railroad. The company made application for this, and on the 23rtl of June a public meeting was called to consider the matter, at which it was manifest that the general feeling was favorable and earnest for the subscription. The president of the road rel)orted in detail its condition and jn'ospects. what had been done and was desired and stated that an additional siun of $1(J0,00() was required to completely grade, bridge and iron the road to Galesburg-, and that the plan proposed was for Quiney to furni.sh .1^100,000, JIcDonough county i|i25,000 (having already given $50,000), and that the remainder would be made up by lU'ivate subscription, also then and at a subsequent meeting the railroad directory pledged itself to take care of the interest on these bonds. The city council promptly ordered an election to be held on the 30th of July foi' the proposed subscription of .$100,000 in eight per cent bonds. The project was carried by a nearer approach to unanimity even than at the election over the first subscription two years before. Then the vote stood 1.074 to 19. Now there were 1,133 votes cost for and but 4 against. McDonough county followed suit in August by a vote of 1,145 in favor of the $25,- 000 subscription with 285 opposed. There was also $30,300 raised liy personal subscription, this about completing the amount called for. This was the second of the five subscriptions, amounting to $1,100,000, which have mainly made the foundation of the present city debt, the amount above named having been increased gi'eatly by the funding of long delinf|uent interest. Whatever may be said or thought now, then, or at any time as to the need or propriety of incurring these great debts, Quiney has for them its own sole responsibility to bear, for it is a patent fact that each and all of these measures were eagerly adopted, not only with no .shadow of dissent, but with an almost feverish enthusiasm of unanimity. To the $1,100,000 cited above as the sum of Quiney 's investments in railroads may be added the city proportion of $220,000 voted by the county to the two roads running' north and south, which, however, became no part of the liabilities of Quiney. and its burden has insensibly passed out of existence. A special i.s.sue of bonds to the amount of $12,000 was made durinji: this year to meet the payment on bonds, about to mature and to take up and fund local indebtedness.

An unusual amount of expensive and permanent public improvement was done during this year. Maine and Hamp.shire streets along and eastward from the public scpiare were heavily macadamized, "a deep kneeded want during the muddy months." was Quiney 's veteran punster's comment on the matter. Broadway from Twelfth to the river was put in pa.ssable, traveling condition, by having its uniform grade established and the same nearly finished before the close of the year. This comprehensive and costly work, involving one of the largest expenditures of the kind that the city had as yet made, was the canse of constant war in the council, f-nd among the new.spapers throughout the summer and fall, affording plenty of material for outside gossip and discus.sion, and often for merriment. It was the raciest, mo.st honest contest of which the council had up to this time been the theater, not exhibiting the cavortings that sometimes have been shown there in later years, but it was pugnacious and plucky and long. The city fathei's wei'e evenly divided on this issue. The two from the north and one from the middle ward ardently urging it. while the two from the south ward and the other middle ward member were ecpially tliutlike in their opposition. The project was brought forward, passed through the council, because of the absence from the city of one of the south ward aldermen, the contract was let and the grading commenced. "When, however, this absentee alderman returned and one of the northsiders happened to be away, the boot changed legs; the order for grading was revoked, and payment on the work done susspended, until by another chance and the absence again of a south alderman and the return of the north member, thus giving back the original majority, the improvement started up again : and so it see-sawed throughout the season, while all the time one newspaper, to make capital against the city administration, and because its special friend didn't get the contract, bitterly denounced the job. and the other paper, to sustain the administration and because its special friend had secured the contract, fought for it with ecpial zeal. It was a furious warfare of words. The editors have gone, the contractors are dead, and two only of the aldermen are living, l)ut the work went on to completion. It was, as before said, a very expensive and ti'oublesome improvement to make, appearing to many as unnecessary at the time, but was of I'eal, e.ssential importance. This half mile cut to the river had been made by the railroad company twenty years before, and now much was needed to bring it into useful and available condition as a street.

At Twelfth street it lay some ten or twelve feet below the present surface level, to which it was raised again at this time, and to equalize the grade westward required many changes to be made all along the line, some of them quite costly, but the result in creating the best thoroughfare, in fact, the only easy graded street from the river up into the city, more than warranted the pi'opriety of the expenditure.

The grade also of Maine street from Eighth to Eighteenth streets, then the eastei-n limit of the city, was established and partial work begun thereon, yet many years passed before the street was brought to anything like its present handsome appearance. Settlement along it at this time was thin, there being but three houses east of Twelfth, and not many more west to Ninth, and the ground was unequal and broken. One now looking along that broad .stretch of smooth bedded street, with its easy, graceful proportion of rise and decline, cannot easily realize that its whole length from Ninth to Sixteenth, was at this period a billowy succession of lean hazel ridges and abrupt ravines, as numerous as the crossing streets and at times almost impassable, changed as it now has become into the most beautiful thoroughfare of the city, which indeed can scarcely be elsewhere surpassed.

Real estate values continued to advance as they had been .steadily doing .since 1840, accelerated by the active railroad movement and prospects. To the surprise of .some, however, this increased rise appeared more in the eastern and ceuti-al sections, than in the older portion of the city under the hill, where it might be presumed, from the location there of the depot, adding the railroad to the river business, that the value of the ground in that vicinity would be most enhanced. The result was the reverse of this expectation. Some property there changed owners, and at good advanced figures, but the trades made were mostly speculative, and the figures lower than relatively ruled elsewhere. The lot on the corner of Front and Broadway, which for some yeai's had "gone a-begging" at $20.00 per foot, was now sold for .$30.00. but this was somewhat exceptional, and generally the investments in this quarter remunerated slowly, the truth being that there has always been a larger area of ground and frontage on the river than was needed for the Inisiness that required to be specially located there, and this fact holds good as much in later

The promise and stir of the coming railroad stimulated some other latent ideas of enterl)rise into activity. There had been for many years a common "talk," usually just before a city election, of a plank road across the river bottom opposite the city. One frequent candidate for i)ub]ii' honors, periodically used as his political shibboleth, "a town clock, free ferry and ^lissouri plank road." These of course amounted to nothing after the election, but now with the spirit of enterprise well aroused, and some rivalry excited, the first practical movements were made in the direction of the last above named and the most important of the three measures suggested.

Hannibal, seeing that Quincy had an assured eastern and northern railroad connection, while its own was at yet uncertain, had pushed out to good completion its plank and gravel road, reaching through the bottom lands to the Illinois blutt's so as to secure and retain all the trade of the southern part of Adams county. With an eye towards meeting this flank movement from our little rival city, a Quincy company projected and completed the survey of a line for a plank road to Burton, nine miles southeast of the city ; and what was of like but much greater importance, an elaborate examination and svTrvey with estimates of expense, was made by a skillful engineer, B. B. Wentworth, for about five miles of road, commencing at the ferry landing opposite the city and reaching almost by an air line to the north FabiiTs bridge at the foot of the Mi.ssouri bluffs. The estimates were, for a road of this character, raised above possible overflow, trestled bridges, etc.. $19,246 for a single track with passings, and $21,656 for a doiible track. What has been expended since this time, thirty-four years ago. in endeavoring to make a road of this character, we do not know, but it is truth beyond question that if the above naiued amount, taken from what has been given railroads, vast as their benefits have been, had been devoted to the opening of these two enterprises, the gain to Quincy would have been very great and the railroads would not have missed it.

The first formal workman's "strike" broke out this year among the laborers at the brick and lumber yards, who claimed an advance of pay from seventy-five cents to a dollar a day. They all quit work on the 20th of June and paraded the town in procession, preceded by music of drums and fife. This was then a novelty and attracted attention, resulting in the yielding of the employers to the demand.

The military fever, which had been gradually (lying out since the close of the ^Mexican and :\lormon wars, broke out afresh this year with the organization of the Quincy Bh^es, made up in part from the members of former like associations, under the captaincy of B. M. Prentiss, which soon became a somewhat noted and creditable company. A German compam', the Rifles or Yagers, was at this time the only organization of this character in the city, and it went out of existence soon after. The formation of the Blues brought out several other companies within the near following years. These were the "Quincy Artillery," under Captain Austin Brooks, of the Herald, a dapper little "cadet company, composed of the boys from Root';--. High School, and commanded by Captain Martin Holmes, and the "City Guards," under Captain E. W. Godfrey, who as a captain in the 18th Missouri Infantry, was killed at the battle of Shiloh in 1862. Quincy thus had for several years foiu- military organizations, but all of them disbanded before 1861. except the City Guards, which being then still in prosperous condition, became the nucleus from which was formed the two companies which volunteered in the spring of 1861 to do duty in the war of the rebellion. Prior to this period, 1843, there had been at different times four military associations in the city, the first being the "Grays" in 1838-9, next the "Riflemen" in 1843, and shortly after the "Montgomery Guards," an Irish company, and the Germany company of Captain Delabar before mentioned. The "Riflemen" and "Montgomery Guards" enlisted in the Mexican war.

Burned. Quincy Cadets

BILL. I'dJJTIC.VL CHANGES. DATU.M FOR STREET GR.\1)ES FIXED. MOLTLTON'S ADDITION. SW.\MP LANDS SOLD. G.AS COMPANY STARTED. FIRST LOCOMOTIVE BROUGHT TO QUINCY. A HOT SUMMER. DISTILLERY BURNED. QUINCY CADETS.

The winter of 1853-54 was generally pleasant, not marked by any extreme degree of temperature, although the snowfall was unusually large. The staple business of the season kept up with former years, about 22,000 hogs being packed, which was a fair average product. A new l)ranch of business began about this time, rather light at fir.st, but one that has since rapidly increased and grown to a place among the leading industries of the city. This was ice packing, heretofore altogether a private affair, which now, however, commenced as a regular business. The tirst ice houses for packing, preserving and selling throughout the city, wei"e built this year, on a small scale compared with what it has since become, but fullj' up to the wants of the place at the time. I. Cleveland, and soon after J. Cole, were the pioneer's in this line, packing not a great deal, but enough for local distribution during the following summer. The river on the 23rcl of February, at a very high stage of water, with flooded banks, unfettered itself from winter thraldom, and thence on throughout the succeeding winter, 1854-1855, remained entirely free from ice. Navigation was ea.sy and lasted long by reason of this early opening, and the nearly full continuance of the spring rise as late as the middle of November. All through the summer the river was high. Twenty-one feet above low water mark was the gauge given of the highest water, and this unusual altitude long sustained gave a greater avei-age volume of iiow through the season than had been often before known.

A question much mooted then, and perhaps since, as to what is the exact width of the Mississippi at this point, was referred to some of the railroad engineers, who settled it by a careful measurement made over the ice in February, which had never been thus done before. Starting from low water mark, at the foot of Vermont street, and running on an exact east and west parallel to a point about 200 feet south of the ferry landing on the Missouri shore gave a distance of 3,960 feet, almost an even three-quarters of a mile. Since this measurement was made, on account of encroachments from the east side of the river by the extension of the public landing, and perhaps some changes in the banks on the opposite shore, the above figures may have slightly varied.

A special session of the legislature ha\'ing been called by the Governor to meet on the 9th of February, an election was ordered to be held on the 6th of this month to fill vacancies made by the resignation of John "Wood, senator fi'om the Adams and Pike district, and of J. M. Pitman and John C. Moses, representatives from Adams and Brown. The democrats in convention nominated for senator Solomon Parsons of Pike, and for representatives Wm. H. Benneson and Tliram Boyle of Adams, while the whigs brought out John McCoy of Adams for the senatorship, and J. W. Singleton of Brown and John C. Cox of Adams as their candidates for the lower house. The election resulted in the success of Parsons. Singleton and Boyle. There was a light vote cast, and the result was efifected by local influences and the politic indifference felt by the whigs in regard to the election. The whig candidates, with the exception of Singleton, and also all the candidates from the city, were in some parts of the county and in Brown overlooked altogether in some precincts securing not a single vote, and in Brown the Singleton vote was about three times the total of all the others combined.

Another special election was held on the 4th of April for a county clerk to succeed George W. Leech, who had been chosen to this place at the November election in 1853, and died three months after, on the 9th of February. Leech was a popular and .skillful official, familiar with the routine and history of public business with which he had been associated from boyhood, belonging to one of those hereditary office-holding families, of which the country has so many. His early death was a public loss. At this election John Field, whig, was chosen over Wash. Wren, the late democratic -sherift". by nearly 300 majority.

Changes were made in the legislative districts by the apportionment law of 1854. Under this Adams county was separated from Pike, and -with Brown made a senatorial district, and also Adams became a .single representative district, entitled to two members, instead of as before, having three members in connection with Brown county. There was also enacted at this session a law which became a part of the city charter, providing for the election of two police magistrates for the city and relieving the mayor from judicial diities.

The first attempt at an established theater dates from this time. There had been as early as 1839 a "Thespian" organization, composed of a goodly number of the youngsters of the town, who fitted up a little hall on Third street, between Hampshire and Maine, and with well prepared scenery and costiunes. gave exhibitions to their own satisfaction, and which afforded special pleasure and amusement to the people of the town. This association continued for several years. Among its members, and we believe the only ones now living and resident of Quincy. were J. T. Baker. Lorenzo Bull, T. 6. F. Hunt, Thomas Brougham and Ithema Taylor. A traveling troupe would occasionally come along and make use of the Thespian Hall, with its scenery, etc.. but the stay of such was brief, that of 3IcIntATe and Jefferson, father of the noted comedian, who performed here for several weeks in 1843. being the longest. Nothing, however, like a pei'- manent theater, with its own professional company, was planned until in the winter of 1853- 54. Geo. J. Adams then began a series of "dramatic exhibitions" and lectures on elocution, in the Danake Hall on Maine street be- tweeu Foui'th and Fifth. Adams, "Crazy Adajus, "" as he was called by some on account of his eccentric actions, was a very bright man. who had practiced at almost everything - clergyman, lecturer, i\Iormon missionaiy and apostle - and was withal, an actor of far more than average capacity and reputation. His troupe was composed of students from his class in elocution, with an occasional aid from some wandering actors, and the exhibitions were reasonably successful, lasting otf and on for two or three years. During the time when he was managing these exhibitions, Thomas Duff, his brother-in-law, and wife, who had been performing in the east, came from New York and made their first appearance. Later, about 1S57, when Adams dropped the management of this occasional theater, as it might be called. Duff, with a full company, came, and since that pei-iod carried on a theater from time to time, with occasional suspensions, for a good many years.

The act oi Congress, creating a "port of entry" at Quincy. was ai)|)i-()ved by the President on the 2nd of January, and in Jlarch Thomas C Benneson was appointed and confirmed as inspector." Aboiit twenty-five years later this officej with several other of the ports on the Mississippi, was aboli.shed.