1882 History
Chapter 15 – City of Litchfield, continued
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY — THE CITY SCHOOLS — GRAMMAR SCHOOLS — BOARDS, PRINCIPALS, TEACHERS, ETC. — THE PRESS — ESTABLISHMENT OF THE " JOURNAL" — THE "MONITOR" AND OTHER PAPERS— BANKS AND BANKING— COAL INTERESTS OF LITCHFIELD — THE DIFFERENT SHAFTS AND THEIR EXTENT & CAPACITY — THE SANITARY CONDITION OF THE CITY
By H. A. CoolidgeA SCHOOL fails in its office if its educational
value to its pupils is not greater than the wages paid its teacher. If it be
true, as the wise affirm, that education is the awakening of the mind to
think and reason correctly, rapidly and persistently, to improve the heart
and enlarge the understanding, the office of a school has specific
limitations. All its instruction should be subordinate to education.
Whatever be the amount of knowledge imparted in scholastic studies, it is
true that the only positive instruction obtained in a school, which, under
all circumstances is available and used precisely as it was learned, is
reading and the multiplication table. The lumber of text-book rules becomes
in actual life dry and pithless. They teach only to swim on dry land. The
man needs the result of scholastic training; the processes are but as the
scaffolding to a builder. At last education makes a man more valuable to his
community than to himself.
The city north of the railroad was included in School District No. 1, of
North Litchfield; the territory south of it belonged to the Crabtree
District, in South Litchfield, whose schoolhouse stood a few rods south of
the residence of Samuel Stratton. District No. 1 used the Lutheran Church,
near the southeast corner of Scherer's Addition, for a schoolroom, and here
B. S. Hood, of Jerseyville, taught a school for six months, in the summer of
1854. Lusk Wilson taught there — a winter term in 1854-55 and a summer term
of 1855. The Cummings building was erected in 1856, and the west half of the
second floor was the schoolroom for several years, and H. A. Wells opened
there the winter term of 1856-57. He continued in charge of the public
school until 1800. Julia Palmer was first assistant in the Scott & Long
building, then standing on the north side of Division street, a few yards
east of Jackson. Hannah Skillman was the second assistant in the house two
or three doors below the store of Thorp & Leach. For a term of six months.
Mr. Wells received $360 and his assistants each $200. This was the first
school of the Litchfield School District, created by the city charter, the
Council exercising the combined powers of Trustees and Directors.
In the summer of 1860, Mr. Wells suddenly disappeared, leaving his bills
uncollected and his few debts unpaid. The next year, he as suddenly
reappeared. In explanation of his flight, he professed forgetfulness of his
departure. His life was a blank to him. He had a lucid moment at Niagara
Falls and was astonished to find himself there; then he again became
unconscious of his movements for an unknown period. When reason returned to
him, he was in mid-ocean on a vessel bound to England. Friends told him that
he sought their party at the Falls; he journeyed with them to Quebec, and
when they said they were going to England, he declared that he, too, would
go. He was transferred to a homeward bound ship, and came to America. Of his
wanderings for a year after he landed on native soil, he gave no clear
account. He arrived here in the fall of 1862, coming from the West. He said
he had just been discharged from military service. His subsequent conduct
throws much doubt on his version of the history of his flight.
In the fall of 1860, the grammar school was opened with two departments.
Samuel Taylor, of Terre Haute, was elected Principal, and Sarah G. Perrot,
assistant; the three ward schools were conducted by Hannah Skillman. Julia
P. Palmer and Mary Gillham. The schools were notoriously insufficient for
the instruction of the children in the city. This fact was very widely
regretted, and the schools were not distinguished for educational value.
The Litchfield School District had vainly tried to obtain possession of the
avails of the levy made in 1857, by District No. 1, to build a schoolhouse
on the northwest corner of Block 68, where L. Settlemire's residence stands,
the site having been given by E. B. Litchfield for that purpose. The
Litchfield School District contained nearly 95 per cent of the property of
the present district, and the holder of the school funds — not the Township
Treasurer — declined to recognize the legality of the claim. An act of the
Legislature was obtained on the joint request of all parties apportioning
that building fund to the City School District and District No. 1, in
proportion to the amount raised by each, and, after some delay, the parties
who had borrowed it liquidated their indebtedness, and the city district
used its share to support its schools.
For 1861-62 — and the public schools were maintained only six months in the
year, the summer schools being private ones — the wages of the Principal
were fixed at $45 per month, while his four assistants were allowed $27.
George C. Mack was chosen Principal and Mrs. Abby Paxton, now Mrs. H. H.
Hood, was his assistant, and two teachers in each ward school. All
applicants for positions in the schools were specially examined by Prof.
Miller, of Hillsboro, at the request of the School Board, and it was thought
Litchfield school officers were becoming particular when the certificate of
the County Superintendent was not a sufficient guarantee of pedagogical
qualifications. But the board was not content with the learn-as-you-please
style of teaching.
Mrs. Paden declining her appointment, Mrs. Stevenson was elected to fill the
vacancy. The disbursements during this school year were $1,863.76, which
included $780.24 for seats, repairs and payments on grammar school building,
and the liabilities amounted to $2,097.71, chiefly for teachers and balance
due on house and loans from the general fund. The fiscal statements were
made up in March of each year, before the close of the schools and before
the receipt of the school tax or the State fund.
For 1862-63, Mr. Mack was again employed as Principal. Miss J. N. Lauder was
his assistant and five teachers were employed for the three ward schools;
two of the five were termed assistant teachers, and their wages were fixed
at $15 per month. Mr. Mack did not complete his term and a Mr. Morrison was
appointed in his place. Miss Lauder appears not to have accepted her
appointment, as Mrs. Stevenson's name is borne on the rolls as assistant in
the grammar school. The disbursement from the school treasury for the year,
for school purposes, was $1,622.41, and $511.50 were drawn from it and
expended on the streets, and the district liabilities were $2,028.61.
Probably the School Board believed the money would do more good on the
streets than on schools. Like matrimony, the schools were accepted "for
better or worse," and if it was illegal to use school funds to improve
streets, no one objected to it.
For 1863-64, eight teachers were employed in the four schools. P. H. Pope,
Principal, and Miss Hyde, his assistant. The expenditures were $1,470;
liabilities, $1,493, and the treasury showed a balance in its favor of
$2,078.24.
The following year, the grammar school was closed and two teachers were
placed in each of the three ward schools. Among these were Blanche Keating,
now Mrs. D. Davis; Mrs. Elizabeth Burton, now Mrs. G. P. Hanks; Miss Kate
Hyde, and Julia P. Palmer, now Mrs. George Stevens, of Jacksonville. The
expenditure amounted to $1,547.97; the liabilities were $14.35 and the
balance on hand, $591.60. When the average man buys a piano, another farm,
or goes to the White Mountains, he finds it necessary to "retrench" by
having school only half the time and cutting down teachers' wages.
By the summer of 1865, the population of the city had, from temporary
causes, risen to 4,300, money was abundant and the city had no debt. The
time had arrived to place the schools on a higher plane. The School Board
informally decided to erect a house for a graded school large enough for the
present and prospective wants of the district. By several purchases from B.
H. Hargraves, Wilder W. Davis and Ahart Pierce, an entire block was obtained
on the west slope of Pierce's mound, on which to built the schoolhouse, at a
contemplated cost of $15,000, though a proper house should be built even if
it cost a third more. In July of this year, Messrs D. R. Sparks, Thomas G.
Kessinger and W. S. Palmer, of the School Board, were appointed a committee
to select a plan and estimate of the cost of the desired house, for the
consideration of the Board and definite action. The committee chose the
design prepared by George P. Randall, of Chicago; the board confirmed their
selection and the contract was given to W. P. Bushnell, of Mendota, for the
building above the stone basement, at the outside figure of $28,000. His
contract was $5,500 higher than the architect's estimate, yet did not
include seating or heating apparatus.
In September, 1865, six teachers were employed for the three ward schools,
half of them at $35 per month and half at $30. The grammar school building
did fairly well for the Second Ward, but the other houses were tolerated
only for the reason that no better ones could be leased. Not much was expect
ed. and the public expectation was not disappointed.
The expenditures for this fiscal year were $4,526.90, and $1,992.02 were, in
effect, loaned to defray the expenses of the city government. Nearly half
the disbursements for school objects was applied on the new schoolhouse. The
increase of taxation was to meet the demands of the contractor.
In March, 1867, Mr. Bushnell was at his request released from his contract,
as it was evident that he could not fulfill it. An expert was employed to
examine the work up to date, and his report confirmed the opinion that in
all respects it was satisfactory. During the spring and summer, the house
was completed and furnished under the direct orders of the board, the price
of labor and material being something frightful; the cost of the property
was swelled to $48,000; a large debt was incurred, bearing usurious
interest.
The School Board containing such men as D. C. Amsden, D. R. Sparks, John L.
Hinkley and S. M. Keithly and David Davis, proposed that a new era should
dawn on the city with the opening of the graded school. Much anxiety was
manifested to secure an accomplished and efficient Principal. Confidential
inquiries were made, and Mr. A. J. Blanchard, of the Sycamore Graded School
was unanimously selected, at a salary of $1,500 for a term of forty weeks,
and he was requested to select his assistants, with a view of securing
harmony in the corps of instruction and a fair trial of his system in
school. Mr. Blanchard, a man tall, well proportioned, muscular, in the
meridian of life and of great intensity of character, began his preparation
of re-organizing the school, by approving the selection of such teachers as
Misses Fanny E. Tower, Kimberly, Dustin, Lauder, Lyon and Mrs. Abby Paden
and Hull. The house he was about to enter was a three-story brick edifice,
heated by furnaces and seated in the best manner. The twelve rooms had a
seating capacity for 800 pupils. New test-books had been adopted. Six of his
eleven assistants were from abroad, and, at the close of the winter session,
no more than two home teachers remained in the school. New rules of
government and new modes of instruction were introduced, and the teachers
had good wages and they earned them. There was a tremendous amount of
application to study, and, for the first time in our school history the
capacity of the pupil was not underestimated, nor his comprehension of
former studies exaggerated. The Principal put double energy and industry
into the school, and sought only the educational welfare of his pupils. He
made it his chief business to see that each teacher did her utmost for the
true benefit of those under her charge. He believed in good teaching; he
believed equally well in good study. He handled young men as other teachers
handle children: he subjugated the vicious and willful; stimulated the
languid and idle; punished the insubordinate and controlled the mischievous.
Of course, this could not be done without raising issues, which, though not
forgotten, it is not wise to revive. Mr. Blanchard thought to maintain
himself by success in the schoolroom alone. He failed just as others have
who relied on the same merit. Outside dissatisfaction, by the close of the
winter term, had grown until it was in doubt whether the school must not be
closed. At the decisive moment, a county teachers' institute was held in the
house, and several of the teachers consented to illustrate the methods of
study and teaching pursued in the school by having their classes recite in
the presence of the institute. The examples exemplified how lessons were
learned and how recited, and the result of the double process, as shown by
the rapid advancement of their pupils. The spectators, and among them were
not a few of the opinion-makers of the town, were amazed and delighted. They
saw what could be done in school with competent teachers and correct
methods, and the fate of the Litchfield school, which had been in fearful
jeopardy was settled at once and for many years. The entire term was
completed and Mr. Blanchard declining a re-engagement, Mr. P. R. Rider, now
of the Missouri Normal School, of Cape Girardeau, became his successor.
Wages and salary were reduced, and seven home teachers were engaged. Then
began the policy of employing teachers because they lived here instead of on
account of their success in the schoolroom.
The next year, B. F. Hedges, proposing to take sole charge of the high
school, was employed as Principal, but when elected, earnestly solicited an
assistant. Mrs. Lockwood, of Alton, was selected. A German department was
added. The total enrollment exceeded a thousand. Mr. Hedges remained two
years.
In 1871- 73, W. C. Catherwood, from Jacksonville, was the Principal — a
thorough teacher and hardly an apology for a Superintendent. The tax bills
for those years are conclusive as to the existence of a public school. Early
in April, 1872, the schoolhouse caught fire in the roof, and, in the
presence of thousands, burned like a candle down to the basement. A portion
of the seats and the library were saved. The insurance covered two-thirds
the loss. This misfortune closed the public school, and private schools were
speedily opened in different parts of the city.
Contracts for rebuilding the house were made with John D. Carson, with no
avoidable delay, on a modification of the original design. Pending its
completion, public schools were resumed in the fall in the several buildings
around the public square.
The second schoolhouse was occupied in the fall of 1873, under the
superintendency of L. M. Hastings, from Iowa, at a yearly salary of $1,650,
for a term of thirty-six weeks. The five assistants who accompanied him from
that State were a valuable addition. One of them, Miss Mary Fredericks, is
fondly remembered as a teacher of wonderful qualification, aptitude and
success. By the failure of her voice near the end of her fifth session, she
was compelled to retire for a season from the schoolroom. On her return to
her profession in Iowa, the deplorable fret and wear of teaching, lessened
her usefulness by inducing a nervous condition of irritability and
peevishness. The harmony of the school was sadly violated by the controversy
with Mrs. Johnson. The affair is too recent for description, though the
district records are voluminous on one side of the trouble. Mr. Hastings'
management of the school and the character of the teaching, were in
brilliant contrast with the previous five years and the succeeding ones.
J. N. Dewell, of Pike County, was the Principal for 1875-77, and, under his
care, there were no complaints of over study or rigid school duties. The
first year, a Board of School Inspectors were appointed, but their powers
and duties not being clearly settled by usage, the Council soon supplanted
them. The Inspectors retired. Thus ingloriously ended this honest attempt to
take the school out of politics and favoritism. It was, perhaps,
significant, that our Council usually begins its reformatory measures just
as a majority are going out of office, and thus leave them to be carried out
by their successors.
The school year was reduced to eight months, or thirty-six weeks, and George
C. Boss, of Jackson County, remained at the head of the school for a year at
a salary of $1,000. An unseemly struggle in the School Board over the
election of teachers, during which the value of the applicants in school
work was subordinated to personal feeling, was followed by the inevitable
result. The school was a general and profound disappointment.
For the last three years, Thomas J. Charles has been the Principal.
The Press. — At the solicitation of E. B. Litchfield, the proprietor of the
town site, and on his assurance of a large and profitable line of work — an
assurance which was wholly illusory. H. A. Coolidge, in February, 1857,
removed his printing office from Cazenovia, N. Y., to Litchfield. Mr.
Litchfield, in anticipation of his arrival, erected him an office, on
Jackson street, better known as the grammar school building. Here he issued
the first number of the Litchfield Journal, in April though dated in May.
The paper was a four-page, six-column sheet, set in long primer and minion,
and, as there were then no "patent insides," the editor and his assistants
were busy in the mechanical department. The circulation did not exceed 200,
and, during the six years of his control, never rose to 400. The paper was
welcomed, but the town was too small and the neighborhood too scanty in
population to afford the venture an adequate support. Those were the days of
credit, and the payment of subscriptions was frequently omitted. The county
was Democratic and intensely pro-slavery and the political views of the
Journal not altogether satisfactory to the arbiters of local opinion. The
attitude of men on the "Kansas Question," where the doctrine of popular
sovereignty was exemplified by open war and the mockery of political rights,
was the crucial test of his party fealty. The Journal dared, in May, to
announce the views held by Douglas in the following December in the Senate,
and, for its temerity in disseminating opinions in advance of an utterance
by a party leader, it fell under a suspicion of unsoundness, and there is no
forgiveness in politics. Success alone condones offenses, and the Journal
received late toleration. It supported Douglas for Senator in 1858, and for
President two years later.
The panic of 1857 nearly caused its suspension. For sixteen consecutive days
in the February following, its total receipts were half a dollar. Somehow
the paper lived, and in mechanical appearance has not been excelled in the
county. The editor was a Yankee with an odor of books, and to be a Yankee
here was to lead no popular life.
Lincoln entered the White House, and in April the war of the rebellion began
at Charleston. The evening after the heavy news was received, a public
meeting was held at Empire Hall, and the editor briefly urged that the
integrity of the Union must be preserved and force be repelled by force. The
Journal, foreseeing the influence of the war on parties, continued to
advocate and sustain the policy of military coercion. Arms had been selected
by the South as the arbiter of its pretensions, and the Journal accepted the
arbitrament. By degrees a large section of the local Democracy first
deprecated this policy, and then actively connived to thwart the Union arms
and openly "sympathized" with the South. The patrons of the office fell
away, income dwindled, and at one time a rush was made to wreck it for
alleged "copperheadism." The attempt was defeated by the Union men of the
city.
In 1863, the office was leased to a Mr. Cook, and then to John Harris, now
of Clyde, and Thomas B. Fuller, of Calhoun. The publishers changed the name
to Litchfield Democrat, and placed its editorial management in the hands of
B. F. Burnett, Esq., who well understood the art of writing without saying
anything, but week by week in the thick coming news of Union victories,
prated dolefully of the horrors of war and the woe of desolated families,
and the beauties of peace. He was the perpetual Chairman of the standing
committee of dissent. He had' principles, but would have been a better
citizen if he had not.
The next year Mr. Coolidge sold the office, which for four years had been
located in the Journal building on State street, to E. J. Ellis, a refugee
from Troy, Mo., whose climate had become pernicious to his health .since
bushwhacking ceased to pay in that region. He called his paper the Prairie
City Advocate. He toiled assiduously and was repaid for his labor. The war
being over, he desired to retire to the congenial wilds of Missouri, and
sold, October, 1865, his office to E. J. C. Alexander, from Greenville, who
changed the name again to the Litchfield News, and declared it a Republican
journal. He did not meet with distinguished success.
In April of the following year, the material of the Union Monitor, of
Hillsboro, was, to evade a seizure by the Sheriff, conveyed to him and the
publication of a newspaper in Litchfield was discontinued until the last of
1867, The News office was kept open for job work and advertisements, which
were sent in type to Hillsboro. The Monitor was regularly dated at
Hillsboro, T. J. Russell, editor, on the first page, while the third page
was headed Litchfield News, dated at Litchfield, E. J. C. Alexander, editor.
In a short time the second head disappeared from the third page, but when
the Hillsboro editor of the Monitor was struck off, the head and date line
were changed to Litchfield News, and half a dozen quires were printed for
the Litchfield folks.
From April, 1866, to December, 1867, no newspaper was printed in the town,
with a population four thousand. This was not satisfactory — Alexander was
"not the man for Galway." Steps were taken in 1867 to reestablish a home
paper, and it became certain that B. S. Hood would be the editor. Money was
furnished, and Alexander learning what had been done, and what was
contemplated, changed his politics one day while crossing the street, and
sold out to Mr. Hood, who began in the basement of Masonic Block the
publication of the Republican Monitor, which in four months became the
Litchfield Union Monitor. From these subterranean quarters he removed the
office to Ferguson's Hall, enlarged to eight pages with "patent insides,"
and late in 1870, with more experience than profit from his venture,
transferred the office to Messrs. C. L. Bangs and Ed. Gray, of Carlinville,
both excellent printers. In the spring of 1871, J. H. C. Irwin was selected
as editor and the Monitor had in addition C. L. Bangs and Emma Bangs as
editorial writers, and B. S. Hood as local editor. Irwin excelled in
"memories of the future,'' Bangs paragraphed en woman's rights, and Hood did
the city locals. The paper was too rich for common blood, and in October,
1871, Bangs & Gray disposed of the Monitor to Kimball & Taylor, of
Belleville. William Fithian, a graduate of the Carlinville Democrat office,
was put in the office as editor and manager. In a year, the proprietors sunk
a couple of thousand dollars and sold out at heavy loss to H. A. Coolidge,
who thus found himself again in the editorial chair with the press and much
of the printing material he had brought West fifteen years earlier. His
absence for eight years from the newspaper world had taught him the value of
a journal to the community where it is published. He was now to learn that
this value was quite distinct from any value to its publisher.
He admitted G. B. Litchfield as a partner. The office was removed to Empire
Hall until the fall of 1874 when it again began its wanderings. Litchfield
withdrew, 1874, to begin the Montgomery County Democrat, and Coolidge for a
year managed to conduct the Monitor without the handicap of a partner. In
1876, F. O. Martin became his partner — a good printer — and remained until
1878, when the paper was sold to Charles Walker and B. S. Hood. Walker went
out of the concern in three months, and Mr. Hood in the spring of 1881 put
in a Campbell press and took in J. G. Campbell as a partner. The circulation
under his management rose to 1,100 or nearly double what any predecessor had
been able to obtain.
In the fall of 1861, a Union ticket for county officers was presented as a
rallying point for such as cared most for the country. To aid the design
involved in the ticket, the Campaigner was founded by J. P. Bayless, with
whom Dr. H. H. Hood was associated. It was intended to maintain it only
until the fall election, and was issued from the Journal office. Not a copy
of it is known to exist.
About May, 1862, the Illinois Free Press was removed here from Hillsboro, J.
B. Hutchinson, editor. It found a home in the Cummings Building, and after
languishing a few weeks, ceased to exist. In June, 1871, Messrs. Kimball &
Taylor bought G. B. Litchfield's printing material in the Elliott Building
and began the publication of the Independent, an eight column quarto sheet,
three pages of which came ready printed. H. A. Coolidge was the salaried
editor. The paper went up like a rocket. No such prosperity had attended a
paper in this region. It began without a subscriber, and on its
consolidation, by purchase, with the Monitor, had two-thirds its
circulation. Only fifteen numbers were issued until it was lost in its
ancient neighbor.
Mr. Fithian having ceased to be editor of the Monitor, in the late summer of
1872, purchased a newspaper outfit and began the publication of the Review,
George B. Litchfield, printer. The 5th of the following December, Mr.
Litchfield retired from the Review, which thereupon suspended, and
subsequently, the material was sold to Messrs. Coolidge & Litchfield of the
Monitor. In November, 1874, Mr. Litchfield and Robert S. Young issued the
first number of the Montgomery County Democrat in a room over Beach, Davis &
Co.'s Bank. Mr. Young, the editor, owning none of the material, was in a few
months out of the editorial chair, and Mr. Litchfield assumed the sole
management. For a year, embracing a portion of 1879-80, Col. Ben. E.
Johnson, of Hillsboro, was associated with Mr. Litchfield as editor and
business manager of the Democrat. On his retirement, Mr. Litchfield again
became editor and proprietor until August, 1881, when he sold to Charles
Tobin, late of the Hillsboro News. Mr. Tobin. in March following, enlarged
the paper which he renamed the Litchfield Advocate, to a six-column folio,
and is doing a prosperous business, increasing his list of readers and
hurried by job work.
Quite a thousand copies of the Monitor and Advocate are taken at the home
post office. Both attend chiefly to local matters and leave editorials
proper to the imagination of their subscribers. The papers are conducted on
business principles, and like newspapers generally are more valuable to the
town than to their proprietors.
Banking. — In 1862, Haskell, Davis & Co., of Hillsboro, opened a private
bank in a wood building, whose site is now occupied by Updike's hardware
store, Thomas F. Seymour being clerk or manager. Five years later, the name
of the firm was Haskell, Seymour & Co., Mr. Davis being succeeded by Mr.
Seymour. Mr. Haskell had removed to Alton, and in December, 1869, his
interest appears to have been purchased by Judge Brewer, of Hillsboro, and
the firm became Brewer, Seymour & Co., and S. M. Grubbs entered the bank as
Teller. The following year the present banking house was built, and for ten
years the firm remained unchanged. Then Mr. Seymour's sight failing, he was
forced to retire from business, and the firm became Brewer & Grubbs. The
house passed through the panic of 1873 with unimpaired credit and resources,
as whatever its nominal capital, its virtual capital was twenty times
greater. Its solvency was not for a moment in doubt. Its present officers
are: S. M. Grubbs, Manager, and T. F. Davis, Bookkeeper. The volume of
business transacted over its counter must be left to conjecture, as all
information on this point is refused.
In 1860-61, John W. Haggart opened a bank in Beardsley's jewelry store, and
dealt in exchange and occasional loans. He was not believed to control
sufficient capital, and did but a meager business. His "bank" soon ceased,
and its funds were easily transferred to a vest pocket, and the "banker"
departed to another State.
Under a special charter, the Litchfield Bank, Nathan Kenyon, President, and
N. P. B. "Wells, Cashier, opened in July, 1S70, with a paid-up capital of
$20,000. The officers were from Brockport, N. Y., and held half the stock;
the balance was held here. Financially, the institution was not fortunate,
and ere the first year was over, Kenyon sold his stock and retired from the
house. Thirteen of the original stockholders formed a partnership under the
name of Beach, Davis & Co., and, dissolving the corporation, continued the
business with D. Davis, Manager, and D. Van Deusen, Cashier. The bank was
located in Hoog's Building, where Mr. Smith, now is. The new firm began
business in their proper name in May, 1871. Two years later, the articles of
partnership were revised, three new partners admitted, and the paid-up
capital increased quite fourfold. The business had been remarkably
prosperous, and the stock was hold firmly.
When the panic came, and the balances held in foreign banks became
unavailable by reason of closing their doors, a meeting of the partners was
held in the bank parlor, and the situation was rapidly considered. A rush on
the bank was anticipated, but in a few hours the current funds bad been
increased threefold, and all paper was met, and no engagement was delayed or
abandoned. The bank pays regular dividends.
The Coal Mine. — From 1817 to 1855, wood was the only fuel in use in this
county for household and heating purposes. Until 1858, the nearest coal mine
was thirty miles to the southwest, and not until the railway was opened for
traffic was it expedient to change to coal for shops or mechanical uses. In
1858, there was not a coal-burning locomotive on the railroad. Fitful
attempts to find coal in this neighborhood were prosecuted in the mid
"50's," and to no purpose.
As early as 1856-57, coal from the Wood River Mine was bought at a cost of
$17 freight for a car load, and closed out from the car at 15 cents a
bushel, the buyer paying for draying and weighing. Gradually the price fell
to eight bushels for the dollar, though if, as not unfrequently happened,
the supply ran short, the price leaped up to 18 and 22 cents a bushel. The
flouring mills and car shops were large consumers, the annual consumption
being estimated at 300,000 bushels per year. If the supply at any time
failed, the writer is afraid to recollect the fabulous sum he gladly paid
for wood.
In the first part of 1867, Andrew Howard, of Bunker Hill, a practical
coal-miner, proposed to Messrs. Beach & Amsden and Best & Sparks, that for a
bonus of $2,000 he would sink a coal-shaft 350 feet, and these firms
guaranteed its acceptance. Howard's capital consisted chiefly in his skill,
energy, hopefulness and a high-shouldered mule. A few acres of land were
bought on Rocky Branch, just outside the corporation, and in March. 1867, he
began work. Mr. Howard's purse was soon exhausted, but he persevered, being
effectually aided by the late M. C. Manly. The bonus was expended and Mr.
Manly was unable to defray the expenses of the work. A few citizens deeply
interested in discovering coal here, and opening and working a coal mine,
were convened, and Mr. Howard requested the formation of a mining company,
with a capital of $20,000, into which he would enter, putting in the
unfinished shaft at $5,000, to continue the work. His request was promptly
acceded to, a company was formed and incorporated, officers chosen, with R.
W. O'Bannon, President; D. R. Sparks, Treasurer, and H. A. Coolidge,
Secretary. The stock was taken by nearly fifteen persons, Arnsden & Beach
and Best & Sparks subscribing largely, and others according to their
ability. The shaft went down slowly; the cost was nearly $50 per foot, and
when, in December, 1868, a thirty-two inch vein of coal was reached at a
depth of 416 feet, the entire capital had been consumed, and no one was
willing to contribute more capital to open and work the vein. Some debts had
been incurred, and in the summer of 1869 the mine was sold at auction to pay
debts, and was bid in by Warder Cummings, acting in behalf of a new
organization inside the mining company. A new company was at once legally
organized. The stock of the old one was worth only five per cent, and most
of the stockholders did not receive even that pitiful legacy. The capital of
the new company was $10,000. Mr. Howard was discharged, and Messrs. Green &
Little, of Moro, Ill., took the contract to finish sinking the shaft. A
third vein of coal was reached at a depth of 500 feet, and then the company
learned to their consternation that it costs as much to open a mine as for
sinking the shaft. The operatives wanted lawyers' wages; $20,000 beyond the
capital stock was expended, and still the mine was not prepared to put out
coal.
In this emergency, Messrs. D. C. Amsden, H. H. Beach, James W. Jefferis, J.
Smith Tally, Charles E. Benton and Warder Cummings formed a partnership and
leased the mine, and assumed the payment of the debt from the lease money.
In 1874, these partners had become possessed of the entire shares of the
mining company, which was thereupon dissolved, as its predecessor had been,
and the Litchfield Coal Company organized, with a nominal capital of
$10,000, but with a property which had cost six times that amount. This
third company still operates the mines, and by prudent management has
reduced the expense of mining so that coal is delivered to local buyers at
10 cents a bushel, and yet satisfactory profits have been gathered. The
price of mining was at one time such that miners received upward of $30 a
week.
In 1878, a second shaft was sunk at one-half the cost of the first one, and
the output rose to 5,000 bushels a day in the busy season. At the foot of
the second shaft a boring-rod was sent down about a hundred and fifty feet,
to develop the character of the underlying strata, and coal oil was reached.
The astonishment of the miners was unbounded. The news was received with
incredulity. But the oil rose to the bottom of the mine and overflowed the
floor. A few barrels of it were collected and the well carefully closed in
order to the safety of the mine.
Secret Societies. — Whether it be from the disposition of the human mind
which would pry into a knowledge of the paintings on the left-hand side of
the temple of Paphos, or from the absence of the joys of home, or from a
desire to draw closer the ties of brotherhood, or from purposes streaked
with self- hood, secret societies were early planted in Litchfield, and have
flourished in undecayed vigor and influence and usefulness.
The list of secret organizations of a temperance character is long, and the
history of each one is brief and uneventful. They were each short lived,
and, like the "Murphy movement," have died and left no sign or contingent
memorial. Total abstinence organizations are not unknown here, but none of
them are secret.
Until 1857, the Masonic fraternity had no lodge nearer than Hillsboro. But,
on the 4th of March in that year, a dispensation was granted to G. G.
Withington, W. S. Palmer, W. H. Cummings, R. H. Peall, James Thalls, Samuel
Boothe, S. W. McDonald and C. W. Parish, who instituted Charter Oak Lodge in
the city, and the first regular communication was held on that date, W. S.
Palmer, Master. The lodge met in the texas of Cummings' building, which was
occupied jointly with the Odd Fellows until 1865.
R. H. Peall was the second Master. In 1859, W. H. Cummings was Master, and
then in succession came J. T. Duff, W. T. Elliott (for two years). C. W.
Parish, W. T. Elliott and D. C. Amsden. In 1865, the lodge removed to the
Elliott corner, State and Kirkham streets. Mr. Amsden was re-elected in
December, 1866, and G. M. Loughmiller in 1867. James Rogers was chosen
Master in 1868, and Gr. W. Amsden in 1869, and James Gowenloek in 1870. G.
M. Loughmiller was Master 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874 and 1875. But in 1876, G.
W. Hathaway was Master, though in 1877, 1878, 1879,and 1880 G. M.
Loughmiller was Master. In December, 1881, the usual time of election, J. W.
Rose was chosen Master. In 1868, the lodge moved to the third floor of
Masonic Block, across the street from its previous rooms.
St. Omer Commandery, No. 30, Knights Templar, was organized under
dispensation September 3, 1868, H. W. Hubbard acting as Eminent Commander,
assisted by several Knights from Alton. On November 6, 1868, the charter was
granted to Sirs George H. Pomeroy, S. P. Kirkpatriek, George M. Raymond,
James Rogers, George W. Amsden, Wesley Best, P. B. Updike, D. R. Sparks, B.
C. Beardsley and James Davie. George H. Pomeroy served as Eminent Commander
the first year, since which, George M. Raymond has continuously filled the
office, James Rogers has been the constant Secretary, and B. C. Beardsley,
the Treasurer. The Commandery has fifty members.
August 9, 1867, a dispensation was granted to G. M. Raymond, W. E. Bacon, S.
D. Kirkpatrick, James W. Davenport, H. C. Watson, C. W. Parish, S. S. Tyler,
George A. Stoddard, John B. Hall, N. C. Alexander and Wesley Best for a
second lodge here, which was to be called Litchfield Lodge. September 3,
1867, the regular charter was received and G. M. Raymond was chosen Master,
and re-elected the following year, when he was followed by W. E. Bacon, and
lie in turn ljy George A. Stoddard. By years, the successive Masters have
been: 1S71, G. A. Stoddard; 1872, G. M. Raymond; 1873, G. W. Goodell; 1874,
G. W. Goodell; 1875, W. E. Bacon; 1876, W. E. Bacon; 1877, A. T. Keithley;
1878, W. E. Bacon; 1879, W. E. Bacon; 1880, W. E. Bacon; 1881. W. E. Bacon;
18S2, A. T. Keithley.
Of Elliot Chapter, No. 120, no facts have been learned beyond the facts of
its existence and that George W. Amsden has for ten consecutive years been
High Priest.
Litchfield Lodge, No. 202, of Odd Fellows, was instituted by D. B. Jackson,
of Hillsboro, March 28, 1856, with the following charter members: R. N.
Paden, S. W. McDonald, E. R. White, E. W. Miller and John P. Davis. Mr.
Miller was the first presiding officer.
Until 1866, the lodge met in the Cummings building. Fur three years it met
at Cheap Cornel', and. since, has occupied a hall on the third door of the
Masonic building.
Jackson Encampment, No. 88, of Odd Fellows, was instituted by D. B. Jackson,
July 22, 1868. The charter members were J. K. Milnor, H. M. Langley, William
M. Beindorf, R. Ochler, Joseph F. Chuse, Louis Turner and M. P. Thompson.
Louis Turner was the first presiding officer.
White Cross Lodge, No. 66, Knights of Pythias, was founded April 27, 1876,
by W. T. Vandever, of Taylorville. The charter members were Joseph Lawrence,
J. R. Blackwell, G. W. Rattenbury, E. C. Thorp, L. G. Tyler, J. W. Steen, T.
J. Cox, C. Paullis, Jr., George S. Webb, Ben. C. Best, George Kilmer, H. G.
Tuttle and A. J. Renbart. Mr. Rattenbury was the chief officer.
February 14, 1875, Augusta Lodge, No. 507, of Odd Fellows, was instituted.
This is a German lodge, and the ritual and the proceedings are in that
language. They had a separate lodge room here, initiated thirty-eight
members, and received eleven by card. Three members here died, and fifteen
have terminated their membership by removal or otherwise. The present list
contains the names of forty-four members. The lodge has had peace and
prosperity within its gates.
Sanitary. — As early as 1854, cholera appeared in South Litchfield, by
importation from a river town. Several cases terminated fatally, but the
disease did not visit the scanty population of the village.
In 1857 or 1858, a case of small-pox was declared in Litchfield; the
patient, a man named Johnson, was removed to a pest house a mile from State
street, where he died. A few of the citizens were attacked, but they
recovered. In later years, sporadic cases were exhibited. There is no
tradition as to their origin. No alarm was manifested; suitable precautions
were observed, and no fatal results followed. But in the winter of 1881-82,
the loathsome contagion gained here a determined lodgment. It was a sequence
of immigration or railroad travel. Notwithstanding the prompt adoption of
preventive or remedial measures, the fearful plague continued its insidious
advances until forty-four persons had been smitten, of whom nine died. The
mortality might have been less had all the sick refrained from grossly
imprudent courses. General vaccination was enforced, and the disease starved
out.
In the summer of 1867, five members of a circus company were seized with
cholera the same night while at a hotel. The patients rallied enough to be
removed to Pana, where it is believed they died. The pestilence spread, and
several citizens fell its victims. Seven years later, the conditions were
favorable for its re-appearance. The heated term was intense and protracted,
and sanitary matters were generously suffered to run themselves. An elderly
couple from Tennessee came in on the railroad, ill with cholera. They were
removed to a private house, and within twenty-four hours were dead. Other
persons were speedily attacked, and in a few hours were moribund. On two
occasions, the deaths were four per day. The total number of cases was
nearly ninety, and the deaths were reported to be thirty-nine. The stroke
was swift. Men in apparent sound health at night would be dead in the
morning.
In each visitation of cholera, the disease was plainly of a foreign origin,
and if the contagion theory be well-founded, the ravages here have been only
such as may be apprehended in any town so placed that careless or infected
strangers are constantly on its streets or stopping at its hotels.
The average annual mortality cannot be accurately given. The usual record of
interments is of no use here; as for family reasons, sepulture is in distant
cemeteries, while the city cemeteries are used by town and city alike. It is
certain that the ratio of mortality in the city is as low as in the country,
and last year did not exceed two per cent. With a population exceeding five
thousand, the total deaths were about eighty.
The city north of the railroad was included in School District No. 1, of North Litchfield; the territory south of it belonged to the Crabtree District, in South Litchfield, whose schoolhouse stood a few rods south of the residence of Samuel Stratton. District No. 1 used the Lutheran Church, near the southeast corner of Scherer's Addition, for a schoolroom, and here B. S. Hood, of Jerseyville, taught a school for six months, in the summer of 1854. Lusk Wilson taught there — a winter term in 1854-55 and a summer term of 1855. The Cummings building was erected in 1856, and the west half of the second floor was the schoolroom for several years, and H. A. Wells opened there the winter term of 1856-57. He continued in charge of the public school until 1800. Julia Palmer was first assistant in the Scott & Long building, then standing on the north side of Division street, a few yards east of Jackson. Hannah Skillman was the second assistant in the house two or three doors below the store of Thorp & Leach. For a term of six months. Mr. Wells received $360 and his assistants each $200. This was the first school of the Litchfield School District, created by the city charter, the Council exercising the combined powers of Trustees and Directors.
In the summer of 1860, Mr. Wells suddenly disappeared, leaving his bills uncollected and his few debts unpaid. The next year, he as suddenly reappeared. In explanation of his flight, he professed forgetfulness of his departure. His life was a blank to him. He had a lucid moment at Niagara Falls and was astonished to find himself there; then he again became unconscious of his movements for an unknown period. When reason returned to him, he was in mid-ocean on a vessel bound to England. Friends told him that he sought their party at the Falls; he journeyed with them to Quebec, and when they said they were going to England, he declared that he, too, would go. He was transferred to a homeward bound ship, and came to America. Of his wanderings for a year after he landed on native soil, he gave no clear account. He arrived here in the fall of 1862, coming from the West. He said he had just been discharged from military service. His subsequent conduct throws much doubt on his version of the history of his flight.
In the fall of 1860, the grammar school was opened with two departments. Samuel Taylor, of Terre Haute, was elected Principal, and Sarah G. Perrot, assistant; the three ward schools were conducted by Hannah Skillman. Julia P. Palmer and Mary Gillham. The schools were notoriously insufficient for the instruction of the children in the city. This fact was very widely regretted, and the schools were not distinguished for educational value.
The Litchfield School District had vainly tried to obtain possession of the avails of the levy made in 1857, by District No. 1, to build a schoolhouse on the northwest corner of Block 68, where L. Settlemire's residence stands, the site having been given by E. B. Litchfield for that purpose. The Litchfield School District contained nearly 95 per cent of the property of the present district, and the holder of the school funds — not the Township Treasurer — declined to recognize the legality of the claim. An act of the Legislature was obtained on the joint request of all parties apportioning that building fund to the City School District and District No. 1, in proportion to the amount raised by each, and, after some delay, the parties who had borrowed it liquidated their indebtedness, and the city district used its share to support its schools.
For 1861-62 — and the public schools were maintained only six months in the year, the summer schools being private ones — the wages of the Principal were fixed at $45 per month, while his four assistants were allowed $27. George C. Mack was chosen Principal and Mrs. Abby Paxton, now Mrs. H. H. Hood, was his assistant, and two teachers in each ward school. All applicants for positions in the schools were specially examined by Prof. Miller, of Hillsboro, at the request of the School Board, and it was thought Litchfield school officers were becoming particular when the certificate of the County Superintendent was not a sufficient guarantee of pedagogical qualifications. But the board was not content with the learn-as-you-please style of teaching.
Mrs. Paden declining her appointment, Mrs. Stevenson was elected to fill the vacancy. The disbursements during this school year were $1,863.76, which included $780.24 for seats, repairs and payments on grammar school building, and the liabilities amounted to $2,097.71, chiefly for teachers and balance due on house and loans from the general fund. The fiscal statements were made up in March of each year, before the close of the schools and before the receipt of the school tax or the State fund.
For 1862-63, Mr. Mack was again employed as Principal. Miss J. N. Lauder was his assistant and five teachers were employed for the three ward schools; two of the five were termed assistant teachers, and their wages were fixed at $15 per month. Mr. Mack did not complete his term and a Mr. Morrison was appointed in his place. Miss Lauder appears not to have accepted her appointment, as Mrs. Stevenson's name is borne on the rolls as assistant in the grammar school. The disbursement from the school treasury for the year, for school purposes, was $1,622.41, and $511.50 were drawn from it and expended on the streets, and the district liabilities were $2,028.61. Probably the School Board believed the money would do more good on the streets than on schools. Like matrimony, the schools were accepted "for better or worse," and if it was illegal to use school funds to improve streets, no one objected to it.
For 1863-64, eight teachers were employed in the four schools. P. H. Pope, Principal, and Miss Hyde, his assistant. The expenditures were $1,470; liabilities, $1,493, and the treasury showed a balance in its favor of $2,078.24.
The following year, the grammar school was closed and two teachers were placed in each of the three ward schools. Among these were Blanche Keating, now Mrs. D. Davis; Mrs. Elizabeth Burton, now Mrs. G. P. Hanks; Miss Kate Hyde, and Julia P. Palmer, now Mrs. George Stevens, of Jacksonville. The expenditure amounted to $1,547.97; the liabilities were $14.35 and the balance on hand, $591.60. When the average man buys a piano, another farm, or goes to the White Mountains, he finds it necessary to "retrench" by having school only half the time and cutting down teachers' wages.
By the summer of 1865, the population of the city had, from temporary causes, risen to 4,300, money was abundant and the city had no debt. The time had arrived to place the schools on a higher plane. The School Board informally decided to erect a house for a graded school large enough for the present and prospective wants of the district. By several purchases from B. H. Hargraves, Wilder W. Davis and Ahart Pierce, an entire block was obtained on the west slope of Pierce's mound, on which to built the schoolhouse, at a contemplated cost of $15,000, though a proper house should be built even if it cost a third more. In July of this year, Messrs D. R. Sparks, Thomas G. Kessinger and W. S. Palmer, of the School Board, were appointed a committee to select a plan and estimate of the cost of the desired house, for the consideration of the Board and definite action. The committee chose the design prepared by George P. Randall, of Chicago; the board confirmed their selection and the contract was given to W. P. Bushnell, of Mendota, for the building above the stone basement, at the outside figure of $28,000. His contract was $5,500 higher than the architect's estimate, yet did not include seating or heating apparatus.
In September, 1865, six teachers were employed for the three ward schools, half of them at $35 per month and half at $30. The grammar school building did fairly well for the Second Ward, but the other houses were tolerated only for the reason that no better ones could be leased. Not much was expect ed. and the public expectation was not disappointed.
The expenditures for this fiscal year were $4,526.90, and $1,992.02 were, in effect, loaned to defray the expenses of the city government. Nearly half the disbursements for school objects was applied on the new schoolhouse. The increase of taxation was to meet the demands of the contractor.
In March, 1867, Mr. Bushnell was at his request released from his contract, as it was evident that he could not fulfill it. An expert was employed to examine the work up to date, and his report confirmed the opinion that in all respects it was satisfactory. During the spring and summer, the house was completed and furnished under the direct orders of the board, the price of labor and material being something frightful; the cost of the property was swelled to $48,000; a large debt was incurred, bearing usurious interest.
The School Board containing such men as D. C. Amsden, D. R. Sparks, John L. Hinkley and S. M. Keithly and David Davis, proposed that a new era should dawn on the city with the opening of the graded school. Much anxiety was manifested to secure an accomplished and efficient Principal. Confidential inquiries were made, and Mr. A. J. Blanchard, of the Sycamore Graded School was unanimously selected, at a salary of $1,500 for a term of forty weeks, and he was requested to select his assistants, with a view of securing harmony in the corps of instruction and a fair trial of his system in school. Mr. Blanchard, a man tall, well proportioned, muscular, in the meridian of life and of great intensity of character, began his preparation of re-organizing the school, by approving the selection of such teachers as Misses Fanny E. Tower, Kimberly, Dustin, Lauder, Lyon and Mrs. Abby Paden and Hull. The house he was about to enter was a three-story brick edifice, heated by furnaces and seated in the best manner. The twelve rooms had a seating capacity for 800 pupils. New test-books had been adopted. Six of his eleven assistants were from abroad, and, at the close of the winter session, no more than two home teachers remained in the school. New rules of government and new modes of instruction were introduced, and the teachers had good wages and they earned them. There was a tremendous amount of application to study, and, for the first time in our school history the capacity of the pupil was not underestimated, nor his comprehension of former studies exaggerated. The Principal put double energy and industry into the school, and sought only the educational welfare of his pupils. He made it his chief business to see that each teacher did her utmost for the true benefit of those under her charge. He believed in good teaching; he believed equally well in good study. He handled young men as other teachers handle children: he subjugated the vicious and willful; stimulated the languid and idle; punished the insubordinate and controlled the mischievous.
Of course, this could not be done without raising issues, which, though not forgotten, it is not wise to revive. Mr. Blanchard thought to maintain himself by success in the schoolroom alone. He failed just as others have who relied on the same merit. Outside dissatisfaction, by the close of the winter term, had grown until it was in doubt whether the school must not be closed. At the decisive moment, a county teachers' institute was held in the house, and several of the teachers consented to illustrate the methods of study and teaching pursued in the school by having their classes recite in the presence of the institute. The examples exemplified how lessons were learned and how recited, and the result of the double process, as shown by the rapid advancement of their pupils. The spectators, and among them were not a few of the opinion-makers of the town, were amazed and delighted. They saw what could be done in school with competent teachers and correct methods, and the fate of the Litchfield school, which had been in fearful jeopardy was settled at once and for many years. The entire term was completed and Mr. Blanchard declining a re-engagement, Mr. P. R. Rider, now of the Missouri Normal School, of Cape Girardeau, became his successor. Wages and salary were reduced, and seven home teachers were engaged. Then began the policy of employing teachers because they lived here instead of on account of their success in the schoolroom.
The next year, B. F. Hedges, proposing to take sole charge of the high school, was employed as Principal, but when elected, earnestly solicited an assistant. Mrs. Lockwood, of Alton, was selected. A German department was added. The total enrollment exceeded a thousand. Mr. Hedges remained two years.
In 1871- 73, W. C. Catherwood, from Jacksonville, was the Principal — a thorough teacher and hardly an apology for a Superintendent. The tax bills for those years are conclusive as to the existence of a public school. Early in April, 1872, the schoolhouse caught fire in the roof, and, in the presence of thousands, burned like a candle down to the basement. A portion of the seats and the library were saved. The insurance covered two-thirds the loss. This misfortune closed the public school, and private schools were speedily opened in different parts of the city.
Contracts for rebuilding the house were made with John D. Carson, with no avoidable delay, on a modification of the original design. Pending its completion, public schools were resumed in the fall in the several buildings around the public square.
The second schoolhouse was occupied in the fall of 1873, under the superintendency of L. M. Hastings, from Iowa, at a yearly salary of $1,650, for a term of thirty-six weeks. The five assistants who accompanied him from that State were a valuable addition. One of them, Miss Mary Fredericks, is fondly remembered as a teacher of wonderful qualification, aptitude and success. By the failure of her voice near the end of her fifth session, she was compelled to retire for a season from the schoolroom. On her return to her profession in Iowa, the deplorable fret and wear of teaching, lessened her usefulness by inducing a nervous condition of irritability and peevishness. The harmony of the school was sadly violated by the controversy with Mrs. Johnson. The affair is too recent for description, though the district records are voluminous on one side of the trouble. Mr. Hastings' management of the school and the character of the teaching, were in brilliant contrast with the previous five years and the succeeding ones.
J. N. Dewell, of Pike County, was the Principal for 1875-77, and, under his care, there were no complaints of over study or rigid school duties. The first year, a Board of School Inspectors were appointed, but their powers and duties not being clearly settled by usage, the Council soon supplanted them. The Inspectors retired. Thus ingloriously ended this honest attempt to take the school out of politics and favoritism. It was, perhaps, significant, that our Council usually begins its reformatory measures just as a majority are going out of office, and thus leave them to be carried out by their successors.
The school year was reduced to eight months, or thirty-six weeks, and George C. Boss, of Jackson County, remained at the head of the school for a year at a salary of $1,000. An unseemly struggle in the School Board over the election of teachers, during which the value of the applicants in school work was subordinated to personal feeling, was followed by the inevitable result. The school was a general and profound disappointment.
For the last three years, Thomas J. Charles has been the Principal.
The Press. — At the solicitation of E. B. Litchfield, the proprietor of the town site, and on his assurance of a large and profitable line of work — an assurance which was wholly illusory. H. A. Coolidge, in February, 1857, removed his printing office from Cazenovia, N. Y., to Litchfield. Mr. Litchfield, in anticipation of his arrival, erected him an office, on Jackson street, better known as the grammar school building. Here he issued the first number of the Litchfield Journal, in April though dated in May. The paper was a four-page, six-column sheet, set in long primer and minion, and, as there were then no "patent insides," the editor and his assistants were busy in the mechanical department. The circulation did not exceed 200, and, during the six years of his control, never rose to 400. The paper was welcomed, but the town was too small and the neighborhood too scanty in population to afford the venture an adequate support. Those were the days of credit, and the payment of subscriptions was frequently omitted. The county was Democratic and intensely pro-slavery and the political views of the Journal not altogether satisfactory to the arbiters of local opinion. The attitude of men on the "Kansas Question," where the doctrine of popular sovereignty was exemplified by open war and the mockery of political rights, was the crucial test of his party fealty. The Journal dared, in May, to announce the views held by Douglas in the following December in the Senate, and, for its temerity in disseminating opinions in advance of an utterance by a party leader, it fell under a suspicion of unsoundness, and there is no forgiveness in politics. Success alone condones offenses, and the Journal received late toleration. It supported Douglas for Senator in 1858, and for President two years later.
The panic of 1857 nearly caused its suspension. For sixteen consecutive days in the February following, its total receipts were half a dollar. Somehow the paper lived, and in mechanical appearance has not been excelled in the county. The editor was a Yankee with an odor of books, and to be a Yankee here was to lead no popular life.
Lincoln entered the White House, and in April the war of the rebellion began at Charleston. The evening after the heavy news was received, a public meeting was held at Empire Hall, and the editor briefly urged that the integrity of the Union must be preserved and force be repelled by force. The Journal, foreseeing the influence of the war on parties, continued to advocate and sustain the policy of military coercion. Arms had been selected by the South as the arbiter of its pretensions, and the Journal accepted the arbitrament. By degrees a large section of the local Democracy first deprecated this policy, and then actively connived to thwart the Union arms and openly "sympathized" with the South. The patrons of the office fell away, income dwindled, and at one time a rush was made to wreck it for alleged "copperheadism." The attempt was defeated by the Union men of the city.
In 1863, the office was leased to a Mr. Cook, and then to John Harris, now of Clyde, and Thomas B. Fuller, of Calhoun. The publishers changed the name to Litchfield Democrat, and placed its editorial management in the hands of B. F. Burnett, Esq., who well understood the art of writing without saying anything, but week by week in the thick coming news of Union victories, prated dolefully of the horrors of war and the woe of desolated families, and the beauties of peace. He was the perpetual Chairman of the standing committee of dissent. He had' principles, but would have been a better citizen if he had not.
The next year Mr. Coolidge sold the office, which for four years had been located in the Journal building on State street, to E. J. Ellis, a refugee from Troy, Mo., whose climate had become pernicious to his health .since bushwhacking ceased to pay in that region. He called his paper the Prairie City Advocate. He toiled assiduously and was repaid for his labor. The war being over, he desired to retire to the congenial wilds of Missouri, and sold, October, 1865, his office to E. J. C. Alexander, from Greenville, who changed the name again to the Litchfield News, and declared it a Republican journal. He did not meet with distinguished success.
In April of the following year, the material of the Union Monitor, of Hillsboro, was, to evade a seizure by the Sheriff, conveyed to him and the publication of a newspaper in Litchfield was discontinued until the last of 1867, The News office was kept open for job work and advertisements, which were sent in type to Hillsboro. The Monitor was regularly dated at Hillsboro, T. J. Russell, editor, on the first page, while the third page was headed Litchfield News, dated at Litchfield, E. J. C. Alexander, editor.
In a short time the second head disappeared from the third page, but when the Hillsboro editor of the Monitor was struck off, the head and date line were changed to Litchfield News, and half a dozen quires were printed for the Litchfield folks.
From April, 1866, to December, 1867, no newspaper was printed in the town, with a population four thousand. This was not satisfactory — Alexander was "not the man for Galway." Steps were taken in 1867 to reestablish a home paper, and it became certain that B. S. Hood would be the editor. Money was furnished, and Alexander learning what had been done, and what was contemplated, changed his politics one day while crossing the street, and sold out to Mr. Hood, who began in the basement of Masonic Block the publication of the Republican Monitor, which in four months became the Litchfield Union Monitor. From these subterranean quarters he removed the office to Ferguson's Hall, enlarged to eight pages with "patent insides," and late in 1870, with more experience than profit from his venture, transferred the office to Messrs. C. L. Bangs and Ed. Gray, of Carlinville, both excellent printers. In the spring of 1871, J. H. C. Irwin was selected as editor and the Monitor had in addition C. L. Bangs and Emma Bangs as editorial writers, and B. S. Hood as local editor. Irwin excelled in "memories of the future,'' Bangs paragraphed en woman's rights, and Hood did the city locals. The paper was too rich for common blood, and in October, 1871, Bangs & Gray disposed of the Monitor to Kimball & Taylor, of Belleville. William Fithian, a graduate of the Carlinville Democrat office, was put in the office as editor and manager. In a year, the proprietors sunk a couple of thousand dollars and sold out at heavy loss to H. A. Coolidge, who thus found himself again in the editorial chair with the press and much of the printing material he had brought West fifteen years earlier. His absence for eight years from the newspaper world had taught him the value of a journal to the community where it is published. He was now to learn that this value was quite distinct from any value to its publisher.
He admitted G. B. Litchfield as a partner. The office was removed to Empire Hall until the fall of 1874 when it again began its wanderings. Litchfield withdrew, 1874, to begin the Montgomery County Democrat, and Coolidge for a year managed to conduct the Monitor without the handicap of a partner. In 1876, F. O. Martin became his partner — a good printer — and remained until 1878, when the paper was sold to Charles Walker and B. S. Hood. Walker went out of the concern in three months, and Mr. Hood in the spring of 1881 put in a Campbell press and took in J. G. Campbell as a partner. The circulation under his management rose to 1,100 or nearly double what any predecessor had been able to obtain.
In the fall of 1861, a Union ticket for county officers was presented as a rallying point for such as cared most for the country. To aid the design involved in the ticket, the Campaigner was founded by J. P. Bayless, with whom Dr. H. H. Hood was associated. It was intended to maintain it only until the fall election, and was issued from the Journal office. Not a copy of it is known to exist.
About May, 1862, the Illinois Free Press was removed here from Hillsboro, J. B. Hutchinson, editor. It found a home in the Cummings Building, and after languishing a few weeks, ceased to exist. In June, 1871, Messrs. Kimball & Taylor bought G. B. Litchfield's printing material in the Elliott Building and began the publication of the Independent, an eight column quarto sheet, three pages of which came ready printed. H. A. Coolidge was the salaried editor. The paper went up like a rocket. No such prosperity had attended a paper in this region. It began without a subscriber, and on its consolidation, by purchase, with the Monitor, had two-thirds its circulation. Only fifteen numbers were issued until it was lost in its ancient neighbor.
Mr. Fithian having ceased to be editor of the Monitor, in the late summer of 1872, purchased a newspaper outfit and began the publication of the Review, George B. Litchfield, printer. The 5th of the following December, Mr. Litchfield retired from the Review, which thereupon suspended, and subsequently, the material was sold to Messrs. Coolidge & Litchfield of the Monitor. In November, 1874, Mr. Litchfield and Robert S. Young issued the first number of the Montgomery County Democrat in a room over Beach, Davis & Co.'s Bank. Mr. Young, the editor, owning none of the material, was in a few months out of the editorial chair, and Mr. Litchfield assumed the sole management. For a year, embracing a portion of 1879-80, Col. Ben. E. Johnson, of Hillsboro, was associated with Mr. Litchfield as editor and business manager of the Democrat. On his retirement, Mr. Litchfield again became editor and proprietor until August, 1881, when he sold to Charles Tobin, late of the Hillsboro News. Mr. Tobin. in March following, enlarged the paper which he renamed the Litchfield Advocate, to a six-column folio, and is doing a prosperous business, increasing his list of readers and hurried by job work.
Quite a thousand copies of the Monitor and Advocate are taken at the home post office. Both attend chiefly to local matters and leave editorials proper to the imagination of their subscribers. The papers are conducted on business principles, and like newspapers generally are more valuable to the town than to their proprietors.
Banking. — In 1862, Haskell, Davis & Co., of Hillsboro, opened a private bank in a wood building, whose site is now occupied by Updike's hardware store, Thomas F. Seymour being clerk or manager. Five years later, the name of the firm was Haskell, Seymour & Co., Mr. Davis being succeeded by Mr. Seymour. Mr. Haskell had removed to Alton, and in December, 1869, his interest appears to have been purchased by Judge Brewer, of Hillsboro, and the firm became Brewer, Seymour & Co., and S. M. Grubbs entered the bank as Teller. The following year the present banking house was built, and for ten years the firm remained unchanged. Then Mr. Seymour's sight failing, he was forced to retire from business, and the firm became Brewer & Grubbs. The house passed through the panic of 1873 with unimpaired credit and resources, as whatever its nominal capital, its virtual capital was twenty times greater. Its solvency was not for a moment in doubt. Its present officers are: S. M. Grubbs, Manager, and T. F. Davis, Bookkeeper. The volume of business transacted over its counter must be left to conjecture, as all information on this point is refused.
In 1860-61, John W. Haggart opened a bank in Beardsley's jewelry store, and dealt in exchange and occasional loans. He was not believed to control sufficient capital, and did but a meager business. His "bank" soon ceased, and its funds were easily transferred to a vest pocket, and the "banker" departed to another State.
Under a special charter, the Litchfield Bank, Nathan Kenyon, President, and N. P. B. "Wells, Cashier, opened in July, 1S70, with a paid-up capital of $20,000. The officers were from Brockport, N. Y., and held half the stock; the balance was held here. Financially, the institution was not fortunate, and ere the first year was over, Kenyon sold his stock and retired from the house. Thirteen of the original stockholders formed a partnership under the name of Beach, Davis & Co., and, dissolving the corporation, continued the business with D. Davis, Manager, and D. Van Deusen, Cashier. The bank was located in Hoog's Building, where Mr. Smith, now is. The new firm began business in their proper name in May, 1871. Two years later, the articles of partnership were revised, three new partners admitted, and the paid-up capital increased quite fourfold. The business had been remarkably prosperous, and the stock was hold firmly.
When the panic came, and the balances held in foreign banks became unavailable by reason of closing their doors, a meeting of the partners was held in the bank parlor, and the situation was rapidly considered. A rush on the bank was anticipated, but in a few hours the current funds bad been increased threefold, and all paper was met, and no engagement was delayed or abandoned. The bank pays regular dividends.
The Coal Mine. — From 1817 to 1855, wood was the only fuel in use in this county for household and heating purposes. Until 1858, the nearest coal mine was thirty miles to the southwest, and not until the railway was opened for traffic was it expedient to change to coal for shops or mechanical uses. In 1858, there was not a coal-burning locomotive on the railroad. Fitful attempts to find coal in this neighborhood were prosecuted in the mid "50's," and to no purpose.
As early as 1856-57, coal from the Wood River Mine was bought at a cost of $17 freight for a car load, and closed out from the car at 15 cents a bushel, the buyer paying for draying and weighing. Gradually the price fell to eight bushels for the dollar, though if, as not unfrequently happened, the supply ran short, the price leaped up to 18 and 22 cents a bushel. The flouring mills and car shops were large consumers, the annual consumption being estimated at 300,000 bushels per year. If the supply at any time failed, the writer is afraid to recollect the fabulous sum he gladly paid for wood.
In the first part of 1867, Andrew Howard, of Bunker Hill, a practical coal-miner, proposed to Messrs. Beach & Amsden and Best & Sparks, that for a bonus of $2,000 he would sink a coal-shaft 350 feet, and these firms guaranteed its acceptance. Howard's capital consisted chiefly in his skill, energy, hopefulness and a high-shouldered mule. A few acres of land were bought on Rocky Branch, just outside the corporation, and in March. 1867, he began work. Mr. Howard's purse was soon exhausted, but he persevered, being effectually aided by the late M. C. Manly. The bonus was expended and Mr. Manly was unable to defray the expenses of the work. A few citizens deeply interested in discovering coal here, and opening and working a coal mine, were convened, and Mr. Howard requested the formation of a mining company, with a capital of $20,000, into which he would enter, putting in the unfinished shaft at $5,000, to continue the work. His request was promptly acceded to, a company was formed and incorporated, officers chosen, with R. W. O'Bannon, President; D. R. Sparks, Treasurer, and H. A. Coolidge, Secretary. The stock was taken by nearly fifteen persons, Arnsden & Beach and Best & Sparks subscribing largely, and others according to their ability. The shaft went down slowly; the cost was nearly $50 per foot, and when, in December, 1868, a thirty-two inch vein of coal was reached at a depth of 416 feet, the entire capital had been consumed, and no one was willing to contribute more capital to open and work the vein. Some debts had been incurred, and in the summer of 1869 the mine was sold at auction to pay debts, and was bid in by Warder Cummings, acting in behalf of a new organization inside the mining company. A new company was at once legally organized. The stock of the old one was worth only five per cent, and most of the stockholders did not receive even that pitiful legacy. The capital of the new company was $10,000. Mr. Howard was discharged, and Messrs. Green & Little, of Moro, Ill., took the contract to finish sinking the shaft. A third vein of coal was reached at a depth of 500 feet, and then the company learned to their consternation that it costs as much to open a mine as for sinking the shaft. The operatives wanted lawyers' wages; $20,000 beyond the capital stock was expended, and still the mine was not prepared to put out coal.
In this emergency, Messrs. D. C. Amsden, H. H. Beach, James W. Jefferis, J. Smith Tally, Charles E. Benton and Warder Cummings formed a partnership and leased the mine, and assumed the payment of the debt from the lease money. In 1874, these partners had become possessed of the entire shares of the mining company, which was thereupon dissolved, as its predecessor had been, and the Litchfield Coal Company organized, with a nominal capital of $10,000, but with a property which had cost six times that amount. This third company still operates the mines, and by prudent management has reduced the expense of mining so that coal is delivered to local buyers at 10 cents a bushel, and yet satisfactory profits have been gathered. The price of mining was at one time such that miners received upward of $30 a week.
In 1878, a second shaft was sunk at one-half the cost of the first one, and the output rose to 5,000 bushels a day in the busy season. At the foot of the second shaft a boring-rod was sent down about a hundred and fifty feet, to develop the character of the underlying strata, and coal oil was reached. The astonishment of the miners was unbounded. The news was received with incredulity. But the oil rose to the bottom of the mine and overflowed the floor. A few barrels of it were collected and the well carefully closed in order to the safety of the mine.
Secret Societies. — Whether it be from the disposition of the human mind which would pry into a knowledge of the paintings on the left-hand side of the temple of Paphos, or from the absence of the joys of home, or from a desire to draw closer the ties of brotherhood, or from purposes streaked with self- hood, secret societies were early planted in Litchfield, and have flourished in undecayed vigor and influence and usefulness.
The list of secret organizations of a temperance character is long, and the history of each one is brief and uneventful. They were each short lived, and, like the "Murphy movement," have died and left no sign or contingent memorial. Total abstinence organizations are not unknown here, but none of them are secret.
Until 1857, the Masonic fraternity had no lodge nearer than Hillsboro. But, on the 4th of March in that year, a dispensation was granted to G. G. Withington, W. S. Palmer, W. H. Cummings, R. H. Peall, James Thalls, Samuel Boothe, S. W. McDonald and C. W. Parish, who instituted Charter Oak Lodge in the city, and the first regular communication was held on that date, W. S. Palmer, Master. The lodge met in the texas of Cummings' building, which was occupied jointly with the Odd Fellows until 1865.
R. H. Peall was the second Master. In 1859, W. H. Cummings was Master, and then in succession came J. T. Duff, W. T. Elliott (for two years). C. W. Parish, W. T. Elliott and D. C. Amsden. In 1865, the lodge removed to the Elliott corner, State and Kirkham streets. Mr. Amsden was re-elected in December, 1866, and G. M. Loughmiller in 1867. James Rogers was chosen Master in 1868, and Gr. W. Amsden in 1869, and James Gowenloek in 1870. G. M. Loughmiller was Master 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874 and 1875. But in 1876, G. W. Hathaway was Master, though in 1877, 1878, 1879,and 1880 G. M. Loughmiller was Master. In December, 1881, the usual time of election, J. W. Rose was chosen Master. In 1868, the lodge moved to the third floor of Masonic Block, across the street from its previous rooms.
St. Omer Commandery, No. 30, Knights Templar, was organized under dispensation September 3, 1868, H. W. Hubbard acting as Eminent Commander, assisted by several Knights from Alton. On November 6, 1868, the charter was granted to Sirs George H. Pomeroy, S. P. Kirkpatriek, George M. Raymond, James Rogers, George W. Amsden, Wesley Best, P. B. Updike, D. R. Sparks, B. C. Beardsley and James Davie. George H. Pomeroy served as Eminent Commander the first year, since which, George M. Raymond has continuously filled the office, James Rogers has been the constant Secretary, and B. C. Beardsley, the Treasurer. The Commandery has fifty members.
August 9, 1867, a dispensation was granted to G. M. Raymond, W. E. Bacon, S. D. Kirkpatrick, James W. Davenport, H. C. Watson, C. W. Parish, S. S. Tyler, George A. Stoddard, John B. Hall, N. C. Alexander and Wesley Best for a second lodge here, which was to be called Litchfield Lodge. September 3, 1867, the regular charter was received and G. M. Raymond was chosen Master, and re-elected the following year, when he was followed by W. E. Bacon, and lie in turn ljy George A. Stoddard. By years, the successive Masters have been: 1S71, G. A. Stoddard; 1872, G. M. Raymond; 1873, G. W. Goodell; 1874, G. W. Goodell; 1875, W. E. Bacon; 1876, W. E. Bacon; 1877, A. T. Keithley; 1878, W. E. Bacon; 1879, W. E. Bacon; 1880, W. E. Bacon; 1881. W. E. Bacon; 18S2, A. T. Keithley.
Of Elliot Chapter, No. 120, no facts have been learned beyond the facts of its existence and that George W. Amsden has for ten consecutive years been High Priest.
Litchfield Lodge, No. 202, of Odd Fellows, was instituted by D. B. Jackson, of Hillsboro, March 28, 1856, with the following charter members: R. N. Paden, S. W. McDonald, E. R. White, E. W. Miller and John P. Davis. Mr. Miller was the first presiding officer.
Until 1866, the lodge met in the Cummings building. Fur three years it met at Cheap Cornel', and. since, has occupied a hall on the third door of the Masonic building.
Jackson Encampment, No. 88, of Odd Fellows, was instituted by D. B. Jackson, July 22, 1868. The charter members were J. K. Milnor, H. M. Langley, William M. Beindorf, R. Ochler, Joseph F. Chuse, Louis Turner and M. P. Thompson. Louis Turner was the first presiding officer.
White Cross Lodge, No. 66, Knights of Pythias, was founded April 27, 1876, by W. T. Vandever, of Taylorville. The charter members were Joseph Lawrence, J. R. Blackwell, G. W. Rattenbury, E. C. Thorp, L. G. Tyler, J. W. Steen, T. J. Cox, C. Paullis, Jr., George S. Webb, Ben. C. Best, George Kilmer, H. G. Tuttle and A. J. Renbart. Mr. Rattenbury was the chief officer.
February 14, 1875, Augusta Lodge, No. 507, of Odd Fellows, was instituted. This is a German lodge, and the ritual and the proceedings are in that language. They had a separate lodge room here, initiated thirty-eight members, and received eleven by card. Three members here died, and fifteen have terminated their membership by removal or otherwise. The present list contains the names of forty-four members. The lodge has had peace and prosperity within its gates.
Sanitary. — As early as 1854, cholera appeared in South Litchfield, by importation from a river town. Several cases terminated fatally, but the disease did not visit the scanty population of the village.
In 1857 or 1858, a case of small-pox was declared in Litchfield; the patient, a man named Johnson, was removed to a pest house a mile from State street, where he died. A few of the citizens were attacked, but they recovered. In later years, sporadic cases were exhibited. There is no tradition as to their origin. No alarm was manifested; suitable precautions were observed, and no fatal results followed. But in the winter of 1881-82, the loathsome contagion gained here a determined lodgment. It was a sequence of immigration or railroad travel. Notwithstanding the prompt adoption of preventive or remedial measures, the fearful plague continued its insidious advances until forty-four persons had been smitten, of whom nine died. The mortality might have been less had all the sick refrained from grossly imprudent courses. General vaccination was enforced, and the disease starved out.
In the summer of 1867, five members of a circus company were seized with cholera the same night while at a hotel. The patients rallied enough to be removed to Pana, where it is believed they died. The pestilence spread, and several citizens fell its victims. Seven years later, the conditions were favorable for its re-appearance. The heated term was intense and protracted, and sanitary matters were generously suffered to run themselves. An elderly couple from Tennessee came in on the railroad, ill with cholera. They were removed to a private house, and within twenty-four hours were dead. Other persons were speedily attacked, and in a few hours were moribund. On two occasions, the deaths were four per day. The total number of cases was nearly ninety, and the deaths were reported to be thirty-nine. The stroke was swift. Men in apparent sound health at night would be dead in the morning.
In each visitation of cholera, the disease was plainly of a foreign origin, and if the contagion theory be well-founded, the ravages here have been only such as may be apprehended in any town so placed that careless or infected strangers are constantly on its streets or stopping at its hotels.
The average annual mortality cannot be accurately given. The usual record of interments is of no use here; as for family reasons, sepulture is in distant cemeteries, while the city cemeteries are used by town and city alike. It is certain that the ratio of mortality in the city is as low as in the country, and last year did not exceed two per cent. With a population exceeding five thousand, the total deaths were about eighty.
Extracted 13 Oct 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, published in 1882, pages 280-302.
