977.366 D36 cop. 2 August 22, 19O1 URBANA, ILLINOIS OF ILLINOIS IBRARY A SANA-CHAMPAIGN BOOKSTACKS Befcication - of * Champaign County * Court augustt 22, 1901 rbana, f Utnots THE GAZETTE PRESS, CHAMPAIGN, IWU *' jTHIS Program, and the matter accompanying it, is presented to the public by the Board of fiupervi- sors of Champaign County, Illinois, in the belief that it will be found of especial interest and value at the present time, when the county is taking possession of its new and elegant Court House Building. DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW COURT HOUSE. The following brief description of the new building is furnished by Mr. Royer, of the firm of ROYER & BROWN, the architects of the building. The remodeled Champaign County Court House is a building covering an area measuring 108 by 116 feet. It is three stories in height. The treatment of the exterior is in the Romanesque style of architecture, the materials used being red sandstone and mottled brick. The stone work extends from the grade line to the second story. From that point up to the cornice the walls are of mot- tled brick with stone trimmings. The main cornice is of terra cotta, of a color to match the stone, with heavy leaf ornament. The building is covered with a heavy steel roof, composed of steel trusses and rafters, upon which is a three-inch layer of concrete, which carries the outer covering of red tile. The construction throughout is fire- proof, all floors and walls being either of brick or hollow tile. The floors are constructed of steel beams with flat tile arches between, the whole being covered with about three inches of concrete before the finished floors are laid. The building faces the north, fronting on Main Street, the main entrance being in the tower. The tower is 135 feet high, being surmounted by a tile roof with dormers on each face and turrets at the corners. Directly below the roof is an open balcony from which an excellent view of the surrounding country may be had. The two stories of the tower below the balcony are occupied by the clock works, the four clock-faces being just below the balcony. The building has three entrances, the main or tower entrance being on the north. The west entrance is in the center of the west side, and the south entrance directly in the rear of the building. All entrances lead through ves- tibules and corridors to the main corridor on the first floor. This is a room 55 x 53 feet, on either side of which is a marble stairway leading to the second story. On the first floor are the offices of the Circuit Clerk, Recorder, Supervisor of Assessments, Treasurer, Coroner, Surveyor and Sheriff. The general office of the Circuit Clerk is at the right of the main corridor, and is a room 35 x 36 feet. A private office is directly south of the gen- eral office. Directly opposite these offices are those of the Recorder. These consist of a general office, 25 x 40 feet, with vault and toilet attached. On the left side of the corridor are the Treasurer's offices, with vaults and toilet, the main office being a room 35 x 36 ; the office of the Supervisor of Assessments, a room 21x25 '> the offices of the Coroner and Surveyor, rooms 17x20; and the Sheriff's office, a room 25 X3O, with vault and toilet rooms attached. On the second floor are the offices of County Clerk, County Superintendent of Schools, State's Attorney, Board of Supervisors, and the County Court. The County Clerk has a suite of three rooms on the north with vaults and toilet. The Superintendent of Schools has the north- west corner of this floor. The County Court is on the south side of the building, and to it is attached a private office for the use of the County Judge. On this floor are also public toilet rooms. The third floor is given up almost entirely to the use of the Circuit Court. On the south is the Circuit Court, a room 42 x 72 feet, the bench being on the east. Con- nected with the court room are the judge's private office, the attorneys' room, the law library, and the corridor leading to the three jury rooms. Besides the rooms already enumerated there are on this floor the grand jury rooms, with waiting rooms for both sexes attached, and general committee rooms and toilet rooms. The interior of the building is treated, as far as is consistent, in the same style of architecture as the exte- rior. All corridors and lobbies have marble floor with marble wainscotting four feet high. All door and window finish is of quarter sawed white oak. The side walls and ceilings are of plaster, all the offices having ornamental plaster ceilings and cornices, the court room and corridors having the ceilings intersected with heavy plaster girders. The entire building is frescoed, the general idea being to keep it in accord with the style of architecture used in the construction. The work on the Circuit Court room is especially elaborate and in keeping with the use to which it is to be put. All furniture in the building was made especially for it, and is of the very best hard wood. The heat for the building is to be furnished by the central heating plant now being installed in the city of Urbana. The building is piped for gas and wired for electricity. Elevator service is provided for passengers and freight. Below is given a list of the firms having to do with the construction of the building. General Contract V. Jobst & Sons, Peoria. Heating Walsh & Heuck, Champaign. Plumbing Dunlap & Wright, Champaign. Frescoing Wm. G. Andrews, Clinton, Iowa. Furniture The A. H. Andrews Company, Chicago. Metal Furniture Art Metal Construction Company, St. Louis. Heat Regula- tion Johnson Temperature Controlling Company, Chicago. The following contracts were sub-let by the general contractors : Stone Work, Wm. Goodall, Danville. Marble Work, C. N. Clark, Urbana. Roofing Max Jennings, Lo- gansport, Ind. The following is a list of the Board of Supervisors holding office at the time the contract for remodeling the court house was let (September, 1899). Babb, John Champaign Leidendeker, H. J Hensley Battles, Fred Harwood Little, I. R Condit Bear, L. N Ludlow Lof tus, Michael Sadorus Bennett, J South Homer McLeod, Norman Crittenden Boone, G. D Sidney Mclntyre, D. P Ayers Busboom, H Compromise Pattengale, T. J Champaign Busey, J. B Newcomb Raymond, I. S Raymond Cain, Jas. T Colfax Robinson, Paris Philo Cunningham, H Urbana Roles, L. D Brown Clark, John I Rantoul Scott, A. S. Scott Davis, J. E Pesotum Sperling, Fred East Bend Eubeling, F. E Urbana Stearns, Wm Mahomet Gardiner, J. C Ogden Swigart, O. H Champaign Glascock, A. B St. Joseph Thornburn, T. B Somer Grimes, Jos. T Tolono Wilson, C. V Kerr Hoge, E. S Stanton Ware, J. C Champaign Of the above the following were appointed a building committee : F. E. Eubeling, Chairman ; O. H. Swigart, G. D. Boone, J. Bennett, J. B. Busey. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, ILL., 1901. Babb, John Champaign Jones, W. P Sidney Battles, Fred Harwood Kellogg, O. P St. Joseph Bear, L. N Ludlow Leidendeker, H. J Hensley Bennett, J South Homer McCullough, John ...Urbana Busboom, Heije Compromise Mclntyre, D. P Ayers Busey, J. B Newcomb McLeod, Norman Crittenden Cain, Jas. T Colfax Paine, Ben C Raymond Chester, E. E Champaign Pattengale, T. J Champaign Church, John Condit Pfiester, John Scott Coyle, Anthony Kerr Pittman, J. C. W Mahomet Cunningham, H Urbana Sayers, J. O Brown Davis, J. E Pesotum Sperling, Fred East Bend Ekblaw, Claus F Rantoul Swigart, O. H Champaign Eubeling, F. E Urbana Thompson, Fred Somer Freeman, J. H Ogden VanVleck, C. F Philo Grimes, Joseph T Tolono Youmans, B. F Stanton Hicks, S. J Sadorus THE PRESENT OFFICERS OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. Judge of Circuit Court FRANCIS M. WRIGHT Clerk of Circuit Court JASPER W. PORTER State's Attorney ANDREW J. MILLER County Judge CALVIN C. STALEY County Clerk THOMAS A. BURT County Treasurer ELLIS M BURR Sheriff ERNST LORENZ Superintendent of Schools GEORGE R. SHAWHAN County Surveyor JOSEPH O'BRIEN Coroner HENRY L. PENNY Master in Chancery ROYAL WRIGHT DEDICATORY EXERCISES OF THE NEW CHAMPAIGN COUNTY COURT HOUSE THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, A.D. 1901 MASTER OF CEREMONIES, JUDGE F. M. WRIGHT DEDICATION COMMITTEE D. P. McINTYRE, J. C. W. PITTMAN, O. P. KELLOGG, FRED THOMPSON, T. J. PATTENGALE Music -O. P. KELLOGG, FRED THOMPSON SPEAKERS J. C. W. PITTMAN, T. J. PATTENGALE Ten o'clock A. M. Music, PRAYER, VOCAL SOLO, ADDRESS, VOCAL SOLO, ADDRESS, VIOLIN SOLO, ADDRESS, SONG, ADDRESS, VIOLIN SOLO, ADDRESS, SONG, ORCHESTRA - MISS MYRA DAVIS - JUDGE F. M. WRIGHT - N. H. COHEN - C. C. STALEY, GEORGE W. GERE J. O. CUNNINGHAM, J. L. RAY SOLLIE COHEN - J. J. REA, MICHAEL LOFTUS MAHOMET QUARTET J. S. WOLFE, T. J. SMITH, A. S. SCOTT MISS JESSIE BESORE G. R. SHAWHAN, R. C. WRIGHT J. S. McCULLOUGH - URBANA QUARTET Two o'clock P. M. Music, ADDRESS, INSTRUMENTAL SOLO, SONG, ORCHESTRA HON. H. J. HAMLIN - MAURICE EISNER URBANA QUARTET During the day the St. Joseph Band -will furnish music in the Court House Grounds. A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. Prior to 1833 the portion of Illinois now known as Champaign County was embraced within the limits of Vermillion, and was designated as the " Attached Part of Vermillion." It was but sparsely populated, the largest settlement being on Salt Fork. About thirty families were grouped about the Big Grove, and a few families were located on the Sangamon. It is not possible to give the population at that time, but the historians of the county have estimated that it could not have exceeded five hundred persons. It is not now possible to say who was the first white settler in what is now Champaign County. It seems to lie between one Runnel Fielder, who settled about four miles northeast of Urbana in 1822, and William Tompkins, who stopped near where the city of Urbana now stands at about the same time. The next of which there is absolute knowledge was Henry. Sadorus. Mr. Sadorus settled with his family on the spot that is now known throughout the county as the Sadorus Home- stead, in Sadorus Township, in 1824. His son, Allen Sadorus, now owns this property, and lives in the nearby town of Sadorus, named in honor of his father. Follow- ing the Sadorus family, the next settler in the county of which there is record was William Marcus, who settled at or near Sadorus Grove in 1824. He moved away the same year. Permanent settlements were few until after the Black Hawk war in 1832. Population then flowed in rapidly and settlements along the streams and by the tim- ber tracts became, to use the expression of the early citi- zens, "very numerous." In 1833 the General Assembly acceded to the de- mands of the settlers and passed a bill creating the county of Champaign, and appointed John F. Richardson of Clark County, James P. Jones of Coles County, and Ste- phen B. Shelledy of Edgar County, commissioners to fix the county capitol. This bill was approved and signed by Governor John Reynolds on February 20, 1833. The geographical position and territorial area of the county is as follows : " The county of Champaign is bounded on the east by the county of Vermillion ; on the north by Ford county ; on the west by the counties of McLean and Piatt ; and on the south by Douglas ; and may be further described as follows : Beginning on the southeast corner of Section 33, Town 17 north, of Range 14 west of 26. P. M.; thence north to the northeast corner of Section 4, Town 22 north, of Range 14 west of 2d P. M.; thence west to line between Ranges 6 and 7, east of 3rd P.M.; thence south to line be- tween Towns 16 and 17 north, of Range 7 east of 3rd P. M.; thence west to the place of beginning ; being a tract of land thirty-six miles long by twenty-eight miles wide, containing 1,008 square miles, or 645,120 acres." On the 6th of May, 1833, Isaac Busey, Jacob Bartley and George Akers having been elected as the first county commissioners met at the house of Phillip Stanford and organized the first county commissioners court for Cham- paign County. The first act the court did was to appoint Thomson R. Webber as clerk. The next was to appoint Garrett Moore as constable, then Moses Thomas assessor and treasurer of the county. The next meeting of the court was held June 3, at which time T. R. Webber was recommended to the Governor to be appointed recorder, which was done, his commission dating July 2, 1833. At this meeting Garrett Moore was appointed surveyor. At the same meeting Moses Thomas, the assessor, reported the revenue of the county to be $71.37. The court divided the county into two election dis- tricts, calling one the Salt Fork precinct, and appointed Moses Thomas, Robert Prather and Capt Wm. Nox, Jr., as judges. The other precinct was called the Big Grove, and Matthew Busey, Joshua Trickle and John Whittaker were appointed judges. The court then adjourned to as- semble at the call of the clerk, when the commissioners 10 appointed by the act of the legislature to locate the county seat should be ready to report On the 2ist day of June the commissioners ap- pointed by the Governor presented the court a written report locatingthe county seat at Urbana. The September term of court for that year was one of importance, and many things were then done that are still of in- terest. It was ordered that in the future the meetings should be held at the house of Matthew Busey instead of that of Philip Stanford. John Salisbury was appointed sheriff soon after the or- ganization, and Septem- ber 2, 1833, he was order- ed to proceed and collect the revenue, amounting to $71.37. As it was nec- essary to have a source of revenue, November 7th, 1833, a license was grant- ed to Isaac H. Alexander to retail goods, wares and mer- chandise until the end of the next term of the court the license being $5. Afterwards the time was extended " $3.00 worth." Soon after this the commissioners fixed the following rates of prices to be charged the public, viz.: For keeping a man and horse one night, including supper, bed and horse feed, 75 cents ; single meal, i8& cents ; horse feed, 12^ cents ; one-half pint whiskey, 6% cents; one-half pint French brandy, i8& cents; half pint wine, 18^4 cents ; half pint gin, 12% cents; half pint rum, cents; half pint domestic brandy, 18^ cents. THOMSON RHODES WEBBER. Few men in this country have presided in as many official capacities for so long- a term, and with the united respect of all who knew him, as Mr. Webber. He was the first post- master in the county. Upon the organ- ization of the county he was elected clerk of both courts and continued in that offi- cial capacity as county clerk twenty years, and circuit clerk twenty-seven years. For forty years he acted as master in chancery. Mr. Webber was born in Shelby county, Ken- tucky, October 6, 1807, and died at his resi- dence south of Urbana, December 14, 1881. II The first fiscal statement was made by T. R. Webber, and showed county orders unpaid, $85.25 ; fees for sur- veying 84 lots in the town of Urbana, $21 ; recording plat, $3.36 ; fees of commissioners and for stationery, $17.75 ; making a total indebtedness of $127.36; deducting the revenue, $71.37, left $55.99; then deducting license of Alexander, $5, left the indebtedness of the county, De- cember 2. 1833, at $50.99. At the meeting of the County Commissioners, held December i, 1834, it was ordered that hereaf- ter the court meet at the house of Isaac Busey. In January, 1836, a tem- porary court house was ordered to be built, on lot 25, the same to be of hewn logs of good size. The building was to be 24 x 20 feet, one and one-half sto- ry, shingle roof, hewn joists and sleepers, one door and two windows on each side. The contract was let to John Craig, but COL. MATTHEW W. BUSEY. A pioneer of Champaig-n county. Born in Shelby county, Kentucky, May 15, 1798, died at his home in this county in 1852. Colonel Busey was influential in having- the county capitol placed in Urbana. hold its sessions in private houESE untilT8^7'bwhen a frame court house, 22 x 30 feet, the building was never r. , finished to the satisfaction Y\. of the commissioners and \ The court continued to with two rooms, was built by Moses and Williams Harvey. This building was replaced in 1849 by a brick building, 30 x 40 feet, two stories, with offices below and court and jury rooms above. In 1859 this building was torn down, and the building immediately preceding the present one was erected at a cost of $40,000. The first jail was 20 feet square and two stories high. re.-.. 12 It was built of hewn logs by Col. M. W. Busey, under con- tract with the commissioners, for the sum of $850. It stood on the north end of the lot just north of the First National Bank of Urbana. The structure was as secure as it was possible to make it with the materials used, but proved but a slight obstacle to those who chose the out- side to the inside. Here was imprisoned-tKej^tpriqus Bill Weaver, who killed David Hillibra'w, tmsbemg uie first murder in the county. He made his escape from the log jail and thus saved the county its first hanging until a much later day. In 1856 a new jail and jailer's residence was built at a cost of about $7,000. In 1864 additions and repairs were made at a cost of $3,700. In 1875 other re- pairs and additions to the amount of $1,000 were made. In recent years the jail has been entirely renovated and all modern improvements incorporated. The first poor farm was in St. Joseph township, and was purchased by the county in 1858. Previous to this period the care of the infirm paupers was let by contract to the lowest bidder, or relief was granted to those having them in charge. The poor farm above referred to was situated too far from the county seat to be convenient, and in 1865 a tract of forty-two acres, lying one mile east of Urbana, was purchased at a cost of $50.00 an acre. On this was erected the buildings now in use at a cost of $7,664.44. Since that time the buildings have been enlarged and modern improvements added to them. They are at present among the best of the kind in the state. The first school in the county was taught by J. B. Thomas, in 1829, in a small log house north of Big Grove. There is record of at least two other school houses in the county as early as THE FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE. 1832. One was on the west side of Big Grove, and was taught by Claude Tompkins. The other was in the vicin- ity of the old Brumley place, near Urbana, the latter being the first school house erected in the county so far as the records show. From the cut here given it seems to have been a substantial structure. It was of hewn logs, with small windows covered with greased paper. The light thus admitted might have been enough for bright days, but certainly no one could have ever suffered from its being too bright. The seats of this school were hewn log slabs. The first teacher of this school was a lady who boarded at the house of Martin Reinhart. In 1832 Asahel Bruer taught this school, and his name still holds a a place of some promi- nence in local history, as he seems to have been a man of many peculiarities. From this time the num- ber of schools gradually increased. In 1867, after a hard contest with many other points, this county suc- ceeded in having the State University located in Urbana. Nothing of more importance was ever done by a county, for today the University of Illinois stands well in the fore among the institutions of higher education in our country and has made the name of our county known throughout the world. It seems that one John Dunham, of the United Breth- ren persuasion, was the first minister of the gospel to preach in this county. The date of his coming does not [HON. M. L. DUNLAP. Conspicuons in the histor}' of the county. To him belong-s much of the credit of placing- the University of Illinois in the county. Born Sep- tember 21, 1814, at Canajoharie, N.Y. Died near Savoy, Illinois, February^ 14, 1875. seem to be recorded. Of his methods of work the present day church would doubtless have much to criticise, for it is said that as he received no compensation for his spirit- ual labors, he combined with them the sale of spirits to his parishioners. The Methodist Episcopal Church estab- lished themselves in the county between 1835 and 1840. In 1840 Rev. A. Bradshaw was pastor of the "Urbana Mis- sion." In addition to this charge he preached at Big Grove, Hickory Grove, Rodgers, Old Homer, Salt Fork, Sidney, Okaw, Flat Branch and Sargents. Mr. Bradshaw gives the following in- teresting report of the first church erection work in the county. He says : " I built, in 1840, in Urbana, the first par- sonage ever erected in the county. I also built at the same place the first house of worship ever erected in the county. The lot on which it was put was purchased from the county for $2. 50. I paid for it myself, and with a few others felled, scored and hewed all the heavy timber that went into the church. I bought the shingles and was sued forthemoney." About this same time the county sold a lot to David Cox, for the purpose of erecting a Baptist church on the same, for $2.00. The Christian Church established them- selves in the county at about the same time as the Meth- odists and Baptists. The other denominations followed gradually, and nearly all of the recognized sects and creeds are now represented in the county. WILLIAM D. SOMERS. The first lawyer in Champaig-n county. Very conspicuous in county affairs from 1840 to the time of his death in 1901. 15 The first war in which citizens of the county figured was the Black Hawk War. The following is taken from one of the histories of the county. " At the time of the Black Hawk war Champaign county had not been created, but existed as the 'annexed portion of Vermillion county.' "A company of mounted rangers, consisting all told of i2omen, was raised in Vermillion county, of which this portion of country formed a part. Six of this company, however were from Indiana. Jesse B. Brown was captain. The first lieutenant was James Clymer, the second wa s Fry, the third was McDonald. The company surgeon was McDougal. John B. Thomas was hospital steward. Geo. Scaberry was orderly sergeant of his company. The sec- ond sergeant was Marcus Snow, the third was George W. Ware. Some of the corporals were Payne, Milligan, Welch. The bugler's name was also Welch. Some of the members in addition to those named were Elias Sta- mey, Jacob Heater, Walter Rhodes, Martin Rhinehardt, Thomas Richards, Wm. S. Coe, Rev. Mr. Mahurin, Tho- mas LeButler, Jesse B. Wright, Jefferson Smith, Jefferson Homer, James Thompson. Many of these belonged to what was called the 'attached part of Vermillion,' and their names will doubtless be recognized by the older cit- izens of the county." From the records obtainable it has been found that the whole number of soldiers credited to the county of Champaign, under the several calls during the war of the rebellion, reaches the grand total of 2,276, being 54 in ex- cess of all quotas assigned, and about one-seventh of the entire population. Not only were the people patriotic in responding to the country's call for men, but those re- maining at home furnished ample proof of their devotion to their country. The records show that the county and the various towns paid out $229,009.90 as bounties to the families of soldiers, in payment of transportation charges and other expenses connected with the unusual demands made by the war. Among those serving from this county six held the office of colonel, one of lieutenant-colonel, two of major, one of adjutant, four of quartermaster, three i6 of surgeon, three of assistant surgeon, one of chaplain, forty-two of captain, thirty-six of first lieutenant, and twenty-eight of second lieutenant. Of the wars that have come to the nation since we need say nothing. Cham- paign county has done her share willingly, ready to do do more if more was asked. Such in brief has been the story of our county. Of its financial prosperity nothing has here been said, nor need it be. Of the rapid increase in pop- ulation we have only to say that while in 1833 the county claimed less than 500 persons the census of 1900 shows a population of 47,622. If the stranger desires to know more let him drive over the county on a pleasant day in summer and see things for himself, and then let him stop and remember that within one lifetime all this prosperity and wealth has come to replace the level stretches of prairie and swamp, in- habited only by the Indian, the deer, the wolf, and the rattlesnake. Such a person will not need to have the story of the county told him. In 1833 the land of the county found but few buyers at the government price of $1.25 per acre. Today it is difficult to find a person willing to part with his land for less than $100.00 per acre. Champaign County, Illinois, stands well in the lead among the counties of the country, leading in all agricul- tural, educational, religious, financial and other progress- ive movements of the land. MRS. MALINDA BRYAN. The first bride in Champaign county. Before marriag-e was Miss Malinda Busey. She was married July 25, 1833, by Esquire J. B. Thomas of Homer to John Bryan. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY COURT HOUSE DEDICATED AUGUST 22, (901 FLOOR PLANS CHAMPAIGN COUNTY COURT HOUSE URBANA, ILLINOIS FIRST FLOOD PLAN SECOND FLOOR-PLAN THJRD-FLOOH-PLAN- THE OLD COURT HOUSE THE OLD COURT HOUSE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOiS-URBANA