L I B HARY OF THE UN IVLR.5ITY Of ILLINOIS A Bequest from Marion D. Pratt 917.7331 W93v ILLINOIS HISTORICAL SiiBVEV Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/rockfordOOwrit ROCKFORD Compiled by WORKERS OF THE WRITERS' PROGRAM of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Illinois Illustrations by the Illinois Art Project Sponsored by the City of Rockford, Illinois GRAPHIC ARTS CORPORATION • Publishers ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS Copyright, 1941, by the City of Rockford, Illinois Printed in the United States of America y>CZ. /&i£ ^UAAA^&y *? - ^ ? ■■■<* ^4fc' -iv*- * M 1 •**te. >iS ^„ — -^ I L &m»» i*£L «2« i^e^fl 8 • ** "8 c o B .,;•;- . ^ '- %s grow twelve miles farther south on the river. Today the Mack- town Forest Preserve ( see Points of Interest) commemorates Mack and his short-lived settlement. During June, 1834, two men from Galena, Germanicus Kent and Thatcher Blake, reached the west bank of the Rock River near the mouth of the small tributary now known as Kent Creek. The expulsion of Chief Black Hawk and his braves from lands east of the Mississippi in 1832 had removed the Indian menace and Illinois had become the goal of settlers from eastern states. Kent and Blake selected the junction of Kent Creek and the Rock River as the site for their settlement and journeyed back to Galena, then the metropolis of Illinois, for supplies. On August 24 they returned and began building a sawmill for which they dammed the creek. Thus with little drama Germanicus Kent, owner of the sawmill, and Thatcher Blake, his $15-a-month employee and friend, founded the set- tlement which later became the city of Rockford. Kent, a brother of Aratus Kent, a Methodist minister of Galena, was a native of Suffield, Connecticut, and had spent some years in Alabama. His wife, an Alabaman, accompanied him to the site of Rockford. Blake, originally from Oxford County, Connecticut, had met Kent in Galena. Kent's settlement was not long without a rival, for on April 9, 1835, Daniel Shaw Haight, a native of New York, set about to establish a town on the east bank of the river scarcely a half mile north of the ford. In the vicinity of what now is the inter- section of East State and Madison Streets, Haight built a cabin and started constructing a store. Several other settlers were induced to locate at his townsite, and thus began a rivalry that persisted long after the communities on each side of the river had ceased to be frontier settlements. In June, 1835, the population of both camps numbered eleven persons and by fall it had grown to twenty-seven. Log cabins dotted both banks of the river and farmhouses were being built in the surrounding countryside. Kent's sawmill was producing lumber to replace the rough log structures. Blake had turned to farming and Haight, having completed his store, was planning to build a hotel. Within little more than a year [17] after the first dwelling was erected, the residents of the vicinity petitioned the legislature to make provisions for the establish- ment of a local government. At that time the west side of the river in what is now down- town Rockford was lower than the east bank and heavily wooded. Forest land extended as far north as present-day Fisher Avenue and west beyond Fairgrounds Park. Kent's dam created a mill pond which covered the area now occupied by the rail- road yards and during floods spread as far north as Cedar Street. The east bank of the river was described by one of the early arrivals, John H. Thurston, as "a magnificent park from Kish- waukee Street to the river and from Walnut Street south to Keith's Creek." The beauty of the countryside around the river bank settle- ments impressed travelers who crossed the stream at this point. The river was nine feet lower in its banks than at present and perhaps sixty feet narrower. The water was clear as crystal and both shores were lined with trees. Since the banks were high, there was very little swampland. Indian trails extended along each side of the river through grass which in places grew six feet high. Wild flowers grew profusely throughout the region. One week the prairies would be white with blossoms; a fortnight later they would be blanketed in blue as another variety bloomed, and so on through a wide range of hues from early spring to fall. But pioneering was not conducive to nature study. To the settler the prairies meant tough, matted virgin soil to turn with the plow in the blaze of the summer sun and, in autumn, the fear of grass fires which might destroy his cabin and all his belongings. Winter brought icy blasts that whistled through the chinks in his cabin and drifted the snow high about its eaves. Perhaps the most remarkable phase of settlement life was the willingness of the border people, most of whom had come from centers of culture and comfort in the East, to submit themselves to the extreme hardships which were the price of their new homeland. For many it meant giving up known values and relative security for a venture that was highly specu- [18] lative. The homes were primitive beyond belief. Many were one-room cabins with dirt floors diat gradually deepened from successive sweepings until table legs stood upon conical mounds of earth. Interstices of the log walls were plastered with mud and rare was the roof that did not leak during a heavy rain- storm. Large open hearths served the double purpose of cook- ing and heating; the cabins were iceboxes in winter and blast furnaces in summer. When the latter season came the house- wife moved outdoors, or into "summer kitchens" separated from the cabin, to prepare her meals. Fuel came from the near-by forest; the river was the only source of water. In winter, besides the inconvenience of carry- ing water from the stream, it was often necessary to cut through a foot or two of ice to obtain it. The only illumination in the frontier home was provided by tallow candles or lard oil lamps. Crude lanterns utilizing candles were carried when one ven- tured outdoors at night. Each backwoods home was a family manufacturing plant. The pioneer mother carded the wool from sheep shorn by the men folks. She spun the yarn and wove it into cloth which was used to garb the family. Within eight years after the settlement started, however, the pioneer housewife could purchase a wide variety of articles in the village. In the Winnebago County Forum, one of the county's first newspapers, local stores advertised brass nails, bed ropes, iron and Britannia teaspoons, quills (for pens), "ink powders and waters," cassimere, satins, buffalo cloth, Kentucky jeans, moleskin, muslin, cambric, "India rubber overshoes," spinning wheels, itch ointment, shoe varnish, brimstone, sal- eratus, scythes, and mill saws. Germanicus Kent was probably responsible for naming the river settlement Midway when, in a letter to a friend in Ala- bama late in 1834, he gave directions for reaching "Midway" from Galena. In spite of the fact that in 1835 Haight, Josiah C Goodhue, and others renamed the settlement Rockford, the designation Midway clung for many months. To add to the diversity of nomenclature, that part of Rockford on the west side of the river was known locally as Kentville, while the sec- tion on the opposite bank was called Haightville. The rivalry [19] between the communities was so pronounced that if a resident of one camp could be enticed to take up residence on the oppo- site bank it was an occasion for rejoicing. In June, 1836, the general assembly made provisions for the organization of Winnebago County and the construction through Rockford of a State Road between Galena and Chicago. To Kent's chagrin, Haight succeeded in being named one of the three commissioners appointed by the assembly to designate the route of the State Road. Consequently the new highway was built past Haight's dooryard, several blocks north of Kent's place. Kent scored a victory in the same year, however, when his candidate, William E. Dunbar, was elected one of the three county commissioners. The commissioners' court immediately gave Kent a concession to establish a ferry service at a point where the State Road reached the river. Winnebago County was established on January 16, 1836. At an election held in Haight's house, Haight was chosen sheriff; Daniel H. Whitney, recorder; Eliphalet Gregory, cor- oner; and Don Alonzo Spaulding, surveyor. The last-named was a government surveyor who had in the previous year begun the survey of Winnebago County. Then began a spirited contest for the location of the county seat. Ambitious farmers laid out townsites amid their corn- fields and erected in some instances framework of buildings. One of the strongest contenders was Boilvin's village of Winne- bago, a speculative real estate development of Nicholas Boilvin, former Indian agent at Prairie du Chien, and Charles Reed of Joliet. Anticipating the formation of the new county these men had bought two sections of Indian land along the river near the site of the present Auburn Street Bridge. When the county was organized they laid out a town which on paper consisted of 2,436 lots fronting on wide streets. Actually, it comprised a lime kiln, a blacksmith shop, a two-story house, and a ferry landing. A road was built from Winnebago to join the State Road east of Rockford. Boilvin filed his plat in 1836 and deeded twelve blocks to the county for a county seat. The com- missioners refused the gift on a technicality and the county seat contest was not finally settled until 1839 when a legislative act [20] permitted the matter to be decided by the electorate. Winne- bago received 75 votes, Rockford, 320. Meanwhile, the rivalry between the east and west sides of Rockford had been manifested in the settlements' street layout. In January, 1836, Kent hired Spaulding to survey three or four streets parallel to the river on the west side and divided by cross streets running to the stream's edge. A few months later Haight engaged the surveyor to lay out streets on the east side of the river. When Spaulding's preliminary survey revealed that the contour and condition of the land on the east side would pre- vent building streets there to correspond with the cross streets on the west bank of the river, Kent was requested to permit some minor changes on his side. This he refused to do. But though Kent and Haight could not agree on street alignment they showed a perverse harmony in selecting street names. Certain thoroughfares on each side of the river were given identical names despite the fact that they were unrelated seg- ments. Each side had a "Main" Street paralleling the river. The resultant confusion was not dispelled until Rockford was incorporated as a city in 1852. Immigration to the Rock River Valley in 1837 and 1838 amounted virtually to a land rush. From the East came a steady stream of settlers traveling in all manner of conveyances, some of them carting household and personal effects and others bringing little more than the clothes on their backs. Winne- bago County acquired a good proportion of this increase in population and Rockford began to boom, although other parts of the country were experiencing a depression. To John H. Thurston, who came here from New York with his father, Henry Thurston, in March, 1837, at the age of thir- teen, Rockford is indebted for the preservation of much of its early history. In reminiscences published in 1891, Thurston recalls that when he arrived Rockford consisted of a cluster of buildings at State and Main (now Madison) Streets. On the northeast corner was the framework of Daniel Haight's new house and, directly east, the Haight log cabin. The Haight stable, formerly the Bundy and Goodhue General Store, stood on the southeast corner, and on the southwest corner was the [21] new Bundy and Goodhue Store. The framework of the main part of Haight's Rockford House stood on the northwest corner of the clearing. Other buildings were scattered throughout the woodland, including the blacksmith shop of William Penfleid at the northwest corner of Market and Madison Streets; James Boswell's log cabin at the southwest corner of First and Prairie Streets; Haight's barn at the northwest corner of State and Third Streets; and the Haymarket on the east side of South First Street opposite the Vance General Store. On the west side of the river the majority of buildings were centered around the Kent sawmill, close to the present sfte of the Tinker Cottage (see Points of Interest). A log hut stood east of the mill and the Kent cabin was east of Main Street and south of the creek. Nat Loomis and his son, Henry, lived on the southeast corner of State and Main Streets; Loomis occasion- ally kept lodgers and his house was sometimes known as the Loomis Hotel. Abiram Morgan's homestead was in the block now bounded by Mulberry, Winnebago, Jefferson, and Court Streets. The Rot. John Morrill lived in a cabin on the present site of the armory. The first social and civic event in the history of Rockford was a Fourth of July celebration held at the partly completed Rockford House in 1837. The day was ushered in by firing salutes with anvils from William Penfield's blacksmith shop. After a patriotic program in Haight's new barn, at which Attorney John C. Kemble, a new arrival, and Charles Horsman were the speakers, the entire countryside assembled at the Rockford House at noon for a dinner of boiled beef, bread, and coffee. New shingles from Kent's sawmill served as plates and the diners provided their own cutlery. In the evening a dance was held at Haight's new house which was just ready for plas- tering. An orchestra of three fiddles led by Jake Miller, the town's other lawyer, played the only dance tune in Jake's reper- toire, "Old Zip Coon." The Rockford House was completed in the fall of 1837 and immediately became the center of much of the village's social life. The tavern's guests included trappers, traders, ped- dlers, cultured New Englanders, sober-faced farmers, debonair [22] gamblers, unscrupulous land speculators, mechanics from east- ern cities, and rough and ready prospectors en route to the lead mines of Galena. Lodging per night was at the rate of \2Vic per person, meals cost approximately 37c a day, and a glass of liquor could be bought for 6V4C Much of the currency in use was French, English, and Spanish coins of small denomination. Haight's big barn, which had a threshing floor large enough to accommodate three horses abreast, was another social center in those days. Here religious services were held before a church was built and here assembled the villagers on Saturday afternoons to watch foot and horse races. In the fall and throughout the winter, spelling and singing bees, quilting par- ties, and candy pulls were held in the various log homes. In 1837 Andrew Lovejoy opened a dancing school and instructed the gayer settlers in the fandango and other popular steps of the time. On August 13, 1837, Haight was appointed postmaster and the post office was opened at 107 South Madison Street. Mail heretofore had been brought from post offices at Chicago, Ga- lena, or Vandalia. On September 15, 1837, the first mail sack arrived from Chicago, but no key accompanied it and the bag had to be returned. On the second trip the key was sent along. The first mail was carried on horseback but in the following January stagecoach service between Chicago and Rockford was begun by Frink and Walker of Chicago. Several independent stagecoach operators continued the service west of Rockford to Galena. Haight's barn was the stage stop. The trip from Chicago required one day and the fare was $5. Haight served as postmaster until 1840. In the Rockford House on the night of October 29, 1838, Joe Jefferson, the renowned "Rip Van Winkle" of later years, took part in the first theatrical performance in Rockford. Jef- ferson, then nine years old, and his parents were members of the McKenzie- Jefferson troupe of players. The troupe was snowbound in Rockford, en route from Chicago to Galena. While the blizzard raged without, villagers gathered in the dining room of the hotel where, upon a makeshift stage with candles for footlights, the troupe gave a presentation of Wives [23} As They Are and Maids As They Were. Between acts young Joe sang "Lord Lovell," an ancient ballad that continued in popularity. Stagecoach service increased travel through Rockford to the lead mining country. The need for additional lodging facilities was felt immediately and three hotels were built in 1838. The Washington House, later known as the Rock River House, was erected by Jacob and Thomas Miller at 307 East State Street. The Log Tavern, known as the Stage House, was opened on the west side on the southeast corner of West State and Main Streets. Diagonally across the street from the Log Tavern, Dr. George Haskell built the first brick hotel, the Winnebago House, the ground floor of which was occupied by a store. This is said to have been the first brick store building on the Rock River above Rock Island. Dr. Haskell, for whom Haskell Park and Haskell Avenue are named, was one of the group of newcomers who arrived in Rockford late in April, 1838, aboard the "Gipsy," a St. Louis steamboat, which was the first steam powered craft to ascend the Rock River and dock at Rockford. Dr. Haskell and his family had boarded the "Gipsy" at Alton and the vessel had made its regular run to Galena. On the return trip the doctor persuaded the captain to attempt an ascent of the Rock River. Dr. Haskell's nephew, Samuel Haskell, William Hull, and R. H. Silsby, doubting that the boat could reach Rockford, left the "Gipsy" at Savanna and completed the journey over land. The day the "Gipsy" docked near the store of John Piatt and G. A. Sanford on the west bank of the foot of Elm Street, Rockford's inhabitants cheered until they were hoarse. Only after several attempts had the boat landed against the swift current. That night people gathered from all about the town- ship to attend the dance held on deck while the boat steamed on an excursion to Rockton and return. Dr. Haskell, originally from Harvard University, was a Dartmouth graduate who had become prominent in Alton. He was an ardent abolitionist and, following the murder of the Rev. Elijah Love joy by proslavers, he decided to settle in a locality where the slave question was not so bitterly contested. [24] In his earlier days the schoolmaster of John Greenleaf Whittier at East Haverhill, Massachusetts, he is immortalized as the schoolmaster in Whittier's poem, Snow-Bound. Among the prominent early citizens of Rockford who came to the settlement in 1838 and early in 1839 were James Madi- son Wright, Jason Marsh, Francis Burnap, Duncan Ferguson, Thomas D. Robertson, Ira W. Baker, Edward H. Baker, Henry M. Baker, David S. Penfield, Shepard Leach, Willard Wheeler, Samuel, Isaac, William, and Benjamin Cunningham, Joel B. Potter, E. L. Herrick, Samuel Herrick, John, Charles, and Amos Catlin Spaiford, Phineas Howe, William Worthington, Laomi Peake, Sr., William Hulin, Daniel Barnum, Harris Barnum, Horace Miller, Mr. and Mrs. John Benjamin, Mo wry Brown, Isaiah Lyon, and Caleb Blood. The last three named had ar- rived with Dr. Haskell on the "Gipsy." Leach and Penfield opened a hardware store at 322 East State Street in 1838. Ephriam Wyman and Bethuel Houghton were operating a bakery, the first in the village, on South Main Street, West Rockford. There were between twenty and thirty buildings on the east side of the river at this time and a total of nineteen on the west side. The year 1839 brought several important changes. With a total population of 236, the twin settlements joined forces to incorporate as a town. At the first election, April 10, 1839, D. S. Haight, Ephriam Wyman, Josiah C. Goodhue, Samuel Little, and Isaiah Lyon were elected as members of the town board. Haight was chosen president. Of greater import to landholders in Rockford and Winne- bago County was the congressional act of 1839 that provided for land purchases and ended the evil of claim jumping. Prior to this time settlers had no better than squatters' rights to the land they occupied, hence disputes over claims were common. Among the first comers were many unscrupulous speculators who gained control of choice tracts by staking out claims in the names of relatives or fictitious persons. The injustice of this trickery caused many honest settlers to disregard the specu- lators' claims. There were also lawless persons who attempted, many times successfully, to coerce farmers into paying money [25] to be allowed to live in peace on land they themselves had set- tled and cultivated. The practice, which in many respects was like a modern "protection racket," caused disputes that often flared into open violence. In Rockford the land problem was made increasingly acute by the so-called Polish Grant which Congress had given to a group of political refugees from Poland. By the terms of tke grant, its beneficiaries were entitled to thirty-six sections of land in any part of Illinois or the territory of Michigan. Count Chlopicki, representing his fellow exiles, came to Rockford in 1836 and claimed Rockford and Rockton townships, each of which contained budding villages and improved farmsteads. The claim failed because Chlopicki neglected to select any land in the intervening township of Owen, thereby violating a pro- vision of the grant which stipulated that the thirty-six sections must be in contiguous townships. But it was not until 1843 that the title of lands in Rockford and Rockton townships was cleared by a government sale at which settlers were permitted to purchase for nominal sums the lands they were occupying. Following the settlement of the land title question, the locations of the county buildings gave fresh impetus to the rivalry between the east and west sides of Rockford. As early as 1836, Haight, in laying out his plat on the east side of the river, provided for a public square at what is now Haight Park in the hope that the county courthouse might be erected there. In the first three years after the county's organization, county business and court sessions were conducted in private residences, but in 1839, when Rockford won the county seat election, the commissioners designated Haight's public square as a building site and selected a lot for the county jail just west of the present public library. Since the county was without funds, no build- ings were erected. Consequently, when in 1841 a group of west side residents offered to provide suitable quarters for the county offices their proposal was accepted. Charles I. Horsman, George Haskell, Abiram Morgan, John W. Taylor, David D. Ailing, Nathaniel Loomis, Ephraint Wyman, Horatio Nelson, Derastus Harper, and Isaiah Lyon, prominent citizens of the period who had settled on the west bank, provided a structure that stood on the site now occupied [26] by the Mead Building, Chestnut and Main Streets. The couacy offices were housed here for almost two years until Haight, realiiing that the county was still without sufficient money to construct a building and fearing the loss of east side prestige, offered to erect a structure which would cost not less than $4,000 on his square. The offer was table by the commissioners, who a few days later accepted a similar proposal by west side citizens. The commissioners selected the present site of the courthouse. Elated west side residents promptly built a brick jail and a one-story frame courthouse of Greek Revival style. By this time the influence of Germanicus Kent in Rockford affairs had begun to wane. Disheartened by heavy financial losses in the late 1830's and convinced that Rockford held little promise of a prosperous future, Kent took his family to Virginia in 1843 and never returned. Before departing, he freed his Negro slave, Louis Lemon Kent, the only slave in Rockford. [27] The Water Power Although the founders of Rockford staked the future of the community on the assumption that the settlement would thrive as a river port and shipping point, the upstream cruise of the "Gipsy" in 1838 and a similar voyage by the "Lighter" in 1844 were the only instances in which the Rock River was navigated by steamboats. The rapids and shoals between Rockford and Rock Island were hazards that checked even the most daring captains. The early 1840's were marked by numerous unavailing at- tempts of settlements in the Rock River Valley to obtain gov- ernment aid for dredging a deep channel. The channel was improved in 1845, but not enough to encourage navigation. In 1846 there was unsuccessful agitation for a ship canal to join Lake Michigan with the Rock River; two years later, when work was begun on a railroad between Chicago and Rockford, the question of improving the Rock River became relatively unimportant. In 1843 the general assembly enacted a bill providing for the formation of the Rockford Hydraulic and Manufacturing Company. In 1845 the company completed a dam of brush and stone with a framework of wood near the foot of Park Avenue. Millraces were dug on both sides of the river. Gregory, Phillips and Daniels built a sawmill at the head of the race on [28] the east side; Thomas D. Robertson and Charles I. Horsman Built a sawmill on the opposite side at the head of the race; and Wheeler and Lyons operated a third sawmill on the east side at Walnut Street. Moses Nettleton opened a grist mill on the south side of State Street in 1846, and Orlando Clark started a water-powered iron foundry. On September 3, 1847, Ho-no-ne-gah, wife of Stephen Mack, died at the age of 33. Announcement of her death in the Forum concluded with the following observation: "An- other disciple of Christ has gone to her reward and while her family and friends deplore their bereavement on earth, angels greet her in heaven." Mack died at the age of 52, on April 10, 1850. In the last days of his life he was a civic leader and an associate justice of the county court of Winnebago County. By 1850 Rockford had more than conquered its first ob- stacle, the struggle to become a self-sustaining community. But inhabitants reared in the cultured East wanted more than that. There was a need for better schools, better streets and sidewalks, and local laws to provide for sanitation. Nascent industries required adequate transportation to obtain raw materials and to send their products to outside markets. These were pressing problems to which the fifties brought at least a partial solution. Three events occurred between 1851 and 1853 to insure Rockford's progress: Rock River was effectually dammed, Rock- ford was incorporated as a city, and the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was opened between Chicago and Rockford. The dam built by the Rockford Hydraulic Company had been a makeshift incapable of coping with Rock River. Spring floods battered the structure to pieces and the mills at Rockford were without power. On July 15, 1851, the Rockford Hy- draulic Company was succeeded by the Rockford Water Power Company. This firm constructed a permanent dam on the site of the rock ford and dug an L-shaped millrace. The Water Power, as this development was called, attracted many pioneer industrialists to Rockford and the millrace was soon crowded with factories from end to end. [29] Rockford was incorporated as a city on January 3, 1852. Three months later William Wheeler was elected mayor at an annual salary of $150. Four aldermen, representing each of the city's wards, composed the city council. Among the early acts of this group were ordinances prohibiting nude bathing in the Rock River between sunrise and sunset, forbidding livestock from roaming the streets, and establishing an office of "meas- ures and inspectors" to insure that purveyors of cordwood gave honest quality and good measure. The first council's main achievement, however, was to -ob- tain permission from the state legislature to bond the city and build a bridge at State Street to replace a ramshackle structure that Derastus Harper had built in 1845. The new covered bridge was completed in 1854 at a cost of $15,000. It was used until 1871, at which time a civic-conscious press referred to the once-impressive structure as a "five hundred foot livery stable." After a two-decade struggle against financial handicaps, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad succeeded in reaching the east bank of the Rock River in 1852. Here it paused for about a year, pending the construction of a railroad bridge. Stage- coach lines connected the railhead with points farther west. On August 2, 1852, the "Pioneer," first train to arrive in Rockford, steamed in to the accompaniment of cannonades, clanging bells, and cheering crowds that had gathered from all parts of the region. The "Pioneer" is now preserved as a museum exhibit in Chicago. The railroad immediately increased the population and in- dustry of Rockford. The first immigrants to arrive at the city by rail (1852) were Swedes who had fled political oppression in their homeland. Legend has it that they bought tickets as far west as the railroad could take them. It is also said that succeeding immigrants arrived at New York, bearing a tag with the inscription, "Kishwaukee Street, U. S. A." A sturdy, hardworking, thrifty people, the Swedes were quick to establish themselves. Their skill in woodworking greatly aided the estab- lishment of furniture manufacturing in Rockford, an industry that added much to the city's stature after the Civil War. [30} Meanwhile, the Water Power and the manufacturing of farm implements were the economic mainstays of Rockford. No man contributed more to the establishment of the latter in- dustry than John H. Manny, of Amsterdam, New York. At the age of twenty-seven Manny had perfected a reaper that showed great merit in competitive trials held at Geneva, New York, in 1852. Orlando Clark, of Clark and Utter, Rockford's first manufacturer of agricultural machinery, induced Manny to come to Rockford in 1853. Under the inventor's supervision, 150 reapers were built in the following spring. To obtain new capital for expansion, Wait and Sylvester Talcott were taken into the firm as partners in 1854, and the concern's name was changed to John H. Manny and Company. During that year 1,100 machines were built. Jesse Blinn and Ralph Emerson joined the firm at this fime and the name was again changed to Manny and Company. The success of the Manny reaper in European trials gained an international reputation for the ma- chine. Although the New York Tribune referred to Rockford in 1853 as the "Forest City," a sobriquet which has lasted to the present day, the city was better known in the fifties as the "Reaper City." Cyrus McCormick, generally credited with being the in- ventor of the^eaper, believed the Manny machine infringed on his device. A tedious lawsuit resulted and ultimately Manny was vindicated. The case attracted attention because of the calibre of the lawyers on both sides. A silent member of the defense was Abraham Lincoln, who received $1,000 for his services. Lincoln's only visit to Rockford was made in connec- tion with this case. The suit was tried in the federal court at Cincinnati, Ohio. The defense legal staff was headed by George Harding and Edwin M. Stanton, both of whom are said to have regarded Lincoln with contempt. Later, the lanky lawyer from the Illinois backwoods was, as President of the United States, to appoint Stanton and Harding to important posts in the gov- ernment. He is said later to have remarked that the $1,000 fee was used to help finance his presidential campaign. John H. Manny died on January 31, 1856, just too soon to profit from his court victory. The untimely loss of his genius did not, however, retard the industry's progress in Rockford, [31] for Wait Talcott and Ralph Emerson were able successors. On the death of Emerson in 1914, the firm that Clark and Utter had founded was a $50,000,000 enterprise with branch plants throughout the country under the name of the Emerson-Brant- ingham Company. Other members of the Manny family contributed to Rock- ford's progress. John P. Manny came to Rockford in 1854 to manufacture the knife sections of the John H. Manny reaper, employing an oil hardening process said to be still unsurpassed. In 1860 John P. Manny perfected his own combination reaper and mower. This machine was manufactured by N. C. Thomp- son of Rockford. For a number of years thereafter Manny received a royalty of $15 per reaper on an average annual out- put of 4,000 reapers. Competition ultimately destroyed the market for the Manny reaper and Rockford lost its preeminence in this field. Among other inventors and manufacturers who laid the foundations of Rockford's farm machine industry were W. D. Trahern, James B. Skinner, and Bertrand and Sames. As early as 1848 Trahern began manufacturing threshing machines and "horsepower" machines; later he moved to a new plant in the Water Power where he made iron pumps. James B. Skinner transformed his blacksmith shop, which stood on the present site of the Palace Theater, into a factory making gang plows and riding-cultivators of his own design. As business grew he too moved down to the Water Power. In the mid-fifties Ber- trand and Sames began manufacturing plows, sulky cultivators, and vibrating colters. Historian Charles A. Church credits M. L. Gorham of Rockford with the invention of the twine binder. Prior to its development, sheaves of grain were bound with wire. A visiting inventor, realizing the possibilities of Gorham's device, is as- serted to have taken the idea and put practical machines on the market before Gorham had perfected his own. Cyrus McCor- mick's company is said to have purchased the Gorham patents for $25,000. The growth of the farm machinery business created .allied industries. It is probable that the foundry Duncan Forbes started [32] about 1852 turned to the production of malleable iron castings a decade later in answer to the demand of the farm machinery manufacturers for castings. The D. Forbes and Son Foundry, forerunner of the present Rockford Malleable Iron Works, was one of the first to produce malleable iron west of Pittsburgh. Rockford grew swiftly throughout the fifties. In 1853 it had twenty-four dry goods stores, ten tailors, six drug stores, fourteen groceries, six boot and shoe stores, five hardware stores, nine millinery shops, five furniture stores, three liveries, two gun shops, a marble yard, six wagon shops, twelve blacksmiths, a brewery, a distillery, a book-bindery, an express agency, eight churches, an institute, a seminary, and sixteen private schools; it had sixteen ministers, seven doctors, eighteen lawyers, four barbers, a tobacconist, and five tanners. There were bakeries, saloons, wholesale provision houses, seven hotels, a music store, a soap factory, four lumber yards, a water cure establishment, a steam wagon shop, two exchanges, five harness shops, two saw- mills, and a flour mill. Two Daguerrean salons recorded "likenesses" for posterity. Rockford of the mid-fifties was a cross-section of the new and the old. The railroad and the stagecoach met at the city. Covered wagons still wallowed through the muddy streets carry- ing settlers into the little known West. The telegraph, skep- tically received by the world in 1842, reached Rockford in 1855. The Rockford Gas Light and Coke Company was char- tered that year and in 1856 a gas plant was built on the site of the present public library. To celebrate the advent of gas lights, Christmas night of 1856 was a gala occasion. Two of the city's public halls were lighted with the new fuel. A great banquet was spread at Warner's Hall on the corner of Main and State Streets. There were eloquent speeches by public-spirited citizens. Later, ladies in hoops, crinolines, poke bonnets, and Paisley shawls and gen- tlemen in frock coats, flowered vests, and silk cravats repaired to Metropolitan Hall where fiddle and bassoon played gay music for quadrilles and Virginia reels. Rockford's stores were first illuminated by gas on February 3, 1857. Despite a charge of $4 per 1,000 cubic feet, the com- pany failed and was sold to satisfy creditors the following year. [33] Operations were resumed successfully in 1861. By 1869 the city had installed fifty gas street lamps. At one time a move- ment was started to mount gas floodlights on huge towers at various points throughout the city, thereby supplanting street lamps. Interest in this plan waned, however, and it was never adopted. The city charter of 1852 provided for cisterns and wells as public safeguards against fires. An effort was made to organize a volunteer fire department in 1855 but the four engines or- dered were unsatisfactory. A year later two companies were formed, the Winnebago Company No. 1 on the east side and the Washington Company No. 2 on the west side. A second west side unit was organized a short time later. The volunteers received no reward for their fire fighting other than social pres- tige and freedom from paying a poll tax. The roster of the various companies reads like a social register and memberships were at a premium. Firemen's balls and other annual affairs were red letter days on Rockford's social calendar. The early fire engine resembled a handcar with pumps or "brakes" operated by hand. The engines were hauled by ropes and equipped with leather pails and leather hose. When the first rubber hose came into use it was extremely brittle and had to be carefully protected from the wheels of wagons. The swift- est runners in the fire company were detailed to pull the engine, or if at night, to carry brass lanterns to light the way over streets so muddy that often the wagons were stalled in the mire. The less speedy manned the brakes or formed the bucket brigade between the fire and the municipal fire cistern or well nearest the scene. Fire chiefs were empowered to conscript spectators for service; failure to serve was punishable by a fine. A full-time fire department was established in 1881. John T. Lakin, the first salaried fire chief, received $45 a month; his force consisted of five firemen who were paid $1 a day. At Chief Lakin's insistence, the city installed a fire alarm system of ten boxes, connected electrically with the water department and the central fire station. New equipment, including steam en- gines and elaborate hook and ladder carts, was added as the department grew. The smoking fire engine, drawn by three horses abreast, clattering madly through the city streets to a fire, was one of the most thrilling spectacles of the times. [34] Birth of a City The importance of education was recognized in the earliest days of Rockford. Private schools that often accepted food or personal services in lieu of tuition were established in the city throughout the 1840's. Pedagogy was a precarious profession, as more than sixty teachers learned in their efforts to found schools in the first twenty-one years of Rockford's existence. Of the various institutions that provided elementary and higher education prior to 1855, only one, the Rockford Female Semi- nary (now Rockford College), managed to survive. In February, 1855, the private grade schools were doomed by the enactment of the common school law which provided the first sound basis for a public school system in Illinois. In- dicative of Rockford's interest in public education was the fact that by June, 1855, the city had established school districts in accordance with the new law. As so often in Rockford's his- tory, the river served as a dividing line. The east side of the river was designated as school district No. 1, the west side as No. 2. Jason Marsh, A. S. Miller, and Dr. George Haskell constituted the first board of inspectors. By the autumn of 1855 Rockford children were attending schools financed by general taxation. Classes were held in rented quarters. The basement of the First Baptist Church, then on the southwest corner of Mulberry and North Church [35] Streets, served as the west side school; A. W. Freeman was the teacher at an annual salary of $800. On the east side, the old courthouse on North First Street was converted into a school, and H. Sabin served as the teacher. The first municipally owned school building was completed in 1857. Meanwhile, efforts were being made to establish the Rock- ford Wesleyan Seminary on a site near the present intersection of Elm Street and Independence Avenue. A number of build- ings were erected there in 1856 and $57,000 were subscribed to back the venture. It failed, however, and the school buildings were moved into Rockford. The present Henry Freeman School, 910 Second Avenue, stands on the site of the Adams School, the first public school on the east side. O. O. Blackmer was the first principal. In 1859 Henry Freeman became principal and later superintend- ent of east side schools until 1880. Nine female teachers con- stituted the staff. The first west side school was erected at 405 North Court Street. George G. Lyon was the first principal; the teaching staff consisted of twelve women. In 1857 the annual expense of the principals and instructors was $10,000. Subsequently, as additional grade schools were built, the original schools on the east and west sides were converted into high schools, serving as such until the reorganization of the school system in 1884, when a central high school was opened in upstairs rooms at 1 1 3 West State Street. One hundred and fifty pupils were enrolled at the first sessions of this school. Professor A. W. McPherson was principal, Miss May Frye, assistant principal, and Misses Anna Lathrop and Jennie Waldo, teachers. Miss Waldo continued teaching until her retirement in 1930. Coincident with the growth of the school system was the development of mediums for cultural and social expression. One of these was the Young Men's Association, in existence from 1853 to 1860. Through the efforts of this group Rock- ford enjoyed lectures and concerts by Horace Mann, Horace Greeley, Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Russell Lowell, Henry Ward Beecher, Adelina Patti, Ole Bull, and Wendell Phillips. In commenting on the address of Emerson, Hiram Waldo is [36] quoted as having said: "The hall was packed, but half the audi- ence was sleepy. The lecture was pronounced by some to be a failure." Following a nation-wide religious revival in 1858, several Rockford churches sponsored the organization of a Young Men's Christian Association. At the outbreak of the Civil War the association was disbanded but it was reorganized in May, 1876. Mrs. D. S. Penfield donated a site at the northwest corner of East State and Madison Streets in 1890, and a $42,000 Y. M. C. A. building was erected. The association existed until 1907, when waning interest forced its dissolution. Sporadic attempts to revive the organization in later years proved un- availing. The first library in Rockford was established by and for members of the Sinnissippi Division No. 134 of the Sons of Temperance. On September 11, 1855, the Young Men's Asso- ciation acquired this library and opened a public reading room. The first effort to provide a genuine community library was made in March, 1857, when a subscription paper was circulated to raise money for that purpose. By October 14, 1858, approxi- mately $6,000 had been subscribed. A library of 1,000 vol- umes was opened in rooms on the third floor of the Robertson, Coleman and Company Bank. F. H. Bradley was the librarian. Interest lapsed during the Civil War and the books were later sold at auction, most of them to Robert H. Tinker. Many of these volumes are still in the Tinker Cottage (see Points of Interest). The enaction of a bill by the state legislature in 1871, providing for tax-supported libraries, spurred Rockford to at- tempt the establishment of such an institution. The city was unable to advance money for the purpose at that time, and Major Elias Cosper, known as the "Father of the Library," con- ducted a campaign to raise funds. About $2,000 were soon subscribed. Reading rooms were opened August 1, 1872, on the second floor of a building that stood on the west side at the northwest corner of Main and State Streets. Miss Mary Rankin served temporarily as the first librarian. The appointment of William L. Rowland, a Yale graduate, as permanent librarian on September 17, 1872, gave the new in- [37] stitution a man who made his work a labor of love. Upon his death on September 27, 1900, he was succeeded by the present librarian, Miss Jane P. Hubbell. In June, 1876, the library was moved to the second floor of a building at 101 West State Street. It remained there until the completion of the present Carnegie Library in 1903 (see Points of Interest). The Winnebago County Fair, organized and operated by the Winnebago County Agricultural Society, contributed much to Rockford's social life for many years. The first fair, held in 1841 at a grove on the northeast corner of what is now Oak and First Streets, was attended by 1,000 persons. The livestock exhibits were tied to trees and the domestic exhibits were displayed in the Rockford House. One of the prizes awarded was for the best skein of silk made in Winnebago County. Fifteen years later the Horsman pasture was leased for the fair. In 1857 twelve acres of this site, now Fairgrounds Park, were purchased; ten more acres were subsequently added to the tract. When Henry P. Kimball was elected secretary of the Fair Society in 1861, the organization acquired a showman whose publicity methods were to make the fair one of the best known in the country. Kimball was secretary for twenty-two years. General John A. Logan was the speaker at the fair in 1866, and other notable men appeared from year to year. An invita- tion was extended to Jefferson Davis in 1875. The former Confederate president accepted, but withdrew later when Union Army veterans protested. In 1880 General U. S. Grant and his wife were guests of the fair, as were Governor Cullom, and Alfonso Taft, father of President Taft. The fair continued to be an important event for many years. It was held for the last time in 1902; two years later the grounds were sold to the city and converted into a public park. Since 1902 the fair has been held at Pecatonica, about 16 miles west of the city. [38] Ellsworth's Zouaves By the late fifties Rockford had become not only nationally but internationally minded. It greeted with jubilation the completion of the laying of the Atlantic cable on August 17, 1858. This celebration had barely subsided when another event of historic importance occurred. The second, and by far the most important of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, was held at Freeport, Illinois, on August 27, 1858. Eight coachloads of Rockford residents went to the debate, and others traveled in wagons, on horseback, and afoot. Long after the meeting Illi- noisians talked of Lincoln's cleverness in maneuvering Douglas into declaring himself for or against the Dred Scott decision. Douglas' reply, the so-called "Freeport Doctrine," offended proslavery forces in the South and failed to placate antislavery adherents in the North. Consequently, the "Little Giant" for the presidency, two years later, was predestined to meet with defeat. Lincoln owed his rapid advance in politics to the debates with Douglas, for although they cost him the Illinois senator- ship they made him president of the United States. His elec- tion in I860 crystallized the slave issue which had been gather- ing deadly momentum for more than forty years. Long before the flaming passages of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, began to fan the smoldering flames of hatred against slavery into a fearful conflagration, abolitionist societies [39] were being organized throughout the North. Early Rockford newspapers carried notices of the meetings of these groups and editors published many columns on slavery. Perhaps it was the militant spirit of the times that was re- sponsible for the formation in 1856 of the Rockford City Grays, a cadet corps that became distinguished as the first in the United States to be trained in the spectacular Zouave System of close order drill introduced to this country by Colonel Elmer Ephriam Ellsworth. The Grays, primarily a social organization, was one of many similar corps that flourished in Illinois in the fifties. When the Civil War broke out these groups enabled the state to provide the Union with many well-trained soldiers. Colonel Ellsworth, handsome young military leader, was the first commissioned officer to be killed in the war. The dashing young officer was just twenty years old when he came to Rockford in December, 1857, with a group of Illinois militia officers to attend a banquet given by the Grays at the Holland House. In recognition of the knowledge of military drill which he had exhibited while instructor of a gymnasium class in Chicago, Ellsworth had recently been appointed major on the staff of Brigadier General R. K. Swift. In keeping with cadet corps tradition the leader of the Grays tendered the command of his company to any of the guest officers at the banquet. The various officers eligible for the honor declined in favor of Ellsworth. The youthful major directed the company so skilfully that he was urged to return to Rockford and train the corps intensively. Thus, during the following summer and autumn, Ellsworth drilled the Grays in the Zouave system. A short time later the popularity of this method of drilling swept the country. Zouave corps were or- ganized in most of the large cities and Ellsworth became a heroic figure to millions of persons. During his first summer in Rockford, Ellsworth fell in love with Miss Carrie Spafford. Carrie's father, Charles H. Spafford, Rockford's leading banker, though approving of Ellsworth's manly character and high ideals, insisted that the man who married his daughter must be equipped for a more substantial career than the training of cadet corps appeared to offer. Spaf- [40] ford recommended the profession of law. Ellsworth returned to Chicago and attempted to study law, but he was soon lured from his books to organize the spectacular United States Zouaves of Chicago, with whom he toured the nation. At Springfield he attracted the attention of Abraham Lincoln. He became a clerk in the Lincoln and Herndon Law office and a confidant of Lincoln who afterward said of him: "In size, in years, and in youthful appearance a boy only, his power to command men was surpassingly great. This power, combined with a fine in- tellect and indomitable energy, and a taste altogether military, constituted in him it seems to me the best natural talent in that department, I ever knew." Colonel Ellsworth stumped Illinois for Lincoln and in March, 1861, accompanied the president-elect to Washington, D. C, where he remained as a White House favorite. He was to have been appointed director of a new governmental bureau for the coordination of the states' militias, but war interrupted this plan a few weeks after Lincoln's inauguration. Ellsworth hurried to New York and in a few days recruited his famous regiment of Fire Zouaves, which he took to Washington to help guard the capitol. On May 24, 1861, the Fire Zouaves were ordered to occupy Alexandria, Virginia. Upon arriving at Alexandria, Colonel Ellsworth noticed a Confederate flag flying above the Marshall House. He entered the inn with several of his men, climbed to the roof, and personally removed the flag. As he was returning down the stairway the young commander was shot and killed by the proprietor of the hotel, who in turn was slain by Ellsworth's corporal, Francis E. Brownell. Ellsworth's funeral was held in the East Room of the White House with President Lincoln and his family, the cabinet and many other dignitaries in attendance. On June 2, memorial services were held for Ellsworth at Rockford, Chicago, and other cities. To his many Rockford friends, Ellsworth's death was a personal loss and to Carrie Spafford, his betrothed, the tragic end of a happy romance. Her only consolation was the scores of letters she had received from Ellsworth in the preced- ing four years. These letters, preserved by the Spafford family, [41] are considered the most important data upon the life and brief career of this remarkable young man. Ellsworth's death shocked the nation and aroused northern youths to a frenzy of bitterness against the Secessionists. Photo- graphs of the colonel bearing the words "Remember Ellsworth" were circulated in great numbers and are credited with influ- encing thousands of young men to enlist in the Union Army. In January, 1861, the Rockford Zouaves were organized under the command of Capt. Garrett L. Nevius. The corps included cadets of the Rockford Grays and members of the Wide- A wake Marching Club, which had been formed in I860 to support Lincoln's presidential campaign. In less than four months after the formation of the Zouaves, Fort Sumter was bombarded and President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion. The Rockford Zouaves responded instantly and on April 16, 1861, they were ordered to report at Springfield. Patriotic fervor burned high at Rockford. Popular subscrip- tion totalled about $1,200 to accouter the Zouaves properly, and the women of the city set up sewing machines in a public hall to manufacture uniforms. When it became necessary to sew on Sunday to complete the garments on time, patriotism overcame religious scruples. On April 24, 1861, to the cheers of thousands gathered at the railway station, the Zouaves en- trained for the state capital. Camp Fuller, one of several temporary rendezvous estab- lished by Adjutant-General Fuller, was built north of Rockford in the summer of 1862. The camp site occupied the area now bounded by Guard and North Main Streets, Post Avenue, Auburn Street, and the Rock River. The general headquarters were at the foot of Guard Street and National Avenue. Four regiments — the Seventy-fourth, Ninety-second, Ninety-fifth, and Ninety-sixth — were given brief training at Camp Fuller before leaving for the front. These units comprised volunteers from Lake, McHenry, Boone, Ogle, Carroll, Joe Daviess, and Win- nebago counties. The last regiment left Rockford on Novem- ber 4, 1862. The camp then was closed and the barracks were sold at auction on January 31, 1863. Guard Street and Post, [42] Camp, and National Avenues, named for cantonment thorough- fares, and Ellsworth, Sheridan, Sherman, and Logan Streets, lo- cated in the old camp area, are the sole vestiges of Camp Fuller in present-day Rockford, save a many-gabled residence at 1260 North Main Street, said to have been used as a hospital. Six volunteer companies were organized. The exact number of Rockford men who served in the Union Armies cannot be determined, however, owing to incomplete records. At least 3,187 soldiers, 25 more than the quota, volunteered from Win- nebago County. On September 15, 1864, the Board of Super- visors, supporting Lincoln's call for 500,000 more men, offered a bounty of $300 to volunteers. By October 1 more than 300 men had answered the last call in Winnebago County and conscription was unnecessary. Winnebago County contributed $434,038 and Rockford raised an additional $65,964 to defray the local expenses of the war. On June 1, 1866, a Rockford post of the Grand Army of the Republic was organized in the office of William Lathrop, an attorney. A charter was received four months later. Although the names on the charter are at variance with post records, the first members generally are conceded to have been W. D. E. Andrus, Frank Peats, Evans Blake, J. G. Manlove, Jr., and John F. Squier. The post was named in honor of Garrett L. Nevius, colonel of the Eleventh Illinois Infantry and formerly captain of the Rockford Zouaves. The original number of the post was 124 but in 1877 it was officially designated Post No. 1, since all previously organized posts had been abandoned. For many years the G.A.R. was a potent force in local and national politics. In 1868, when Memorial Day was adopted by the North on the order of Gen. John A. Logan, then com- mander-in-chief of the G.A.R., the veterans of '61 assumed a new importance that grew with the years. During the active period of the organization Rockford was host to the state en- campment four times. In 1894 Col. Thomas G. Lawler, who had served thirty-nine terms as commander of the G. L. Nevius Post No. 1, of Rockford, was elected national commander of the G.A.R. [43] Beginnings of Industry RAILROADS COME TO TOWN Perhaps no midwestern town was more ambitious than Rockford after the Civil War. Already possessed of flourish- ing mills, a suitable water power for industrial expansion, and a geographical location favorable to growth, the city sought to become the hub of communication for the surrounding region. It strove to strengthen its manufacturing by diversification and to make its civic and cultural institutions conform to those of established cities in the East. The period between the close of the war and the Panic of 1893 was one of mounting progress in which Rockford became the chief city in north central Illinois. In I860 Rockford was a community of 6,979. The popula- tion of Winnebago County was 24,491. This ratio between urban and suburban populations became significant in succeed- ing years when efforts were made to reach out into rural areas by railroad in order to draw trade to Rockford. For several decades railroads were projected in all directions regardless of their ultimate practicability. Rockford's residents begged for them, editors demanded them. When the rural population reached a comparatively stable figure in subsequent decades, the absurdity of the idea that more railroads meant more trade became apparent, but not until thousands of dollars had been squandered on ill-advised ventures. [44] There was, however, a need for direct outlets to convey the products of Rockford's mills to national markets and to bring in raw materials for fabrication. The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, subsequently acquired by the Chicago & North Western line, gave access to the region east and imme- diately west of Rockford after 1852, but the stagecoach con- tinued to be the main means of transportation to points north and south. This territory was not tapped by railroads until after the Civil War, with the exception of a line built between Rock- ford and Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 1859- The city of Rockford lent $50,000 toward the completion of the Illinois section of this railway. The portion of the road in Wisconsin was con- trolled by a separate company. In 1864 the entire line was purchased by the Chicago & North Western. Immediately after the Civil War, the Rockford, Rock Island, & St. Louis Line was proposed. The Rockford press campaigned vigorously for construction of this road, and, at a special town meeting held in 1870, a proposition to advance $50,000 to- wards its completion was enthusiastically approved. The new line was built from Rock Island to Sterling, where, owing to financial difficulties, it languished and expired. Despite such failures the fervor for railroad building con- tinued; plans for new lines were proposed and abandoned in rapid succession. The incorporation of the Rockford Central Railroad in 1869 is an example. This line proposed to link Mendota, Rochelle, and Rockford with Wisconsin railroads. After twelve miles of roadbed between Rochelle and Rockford had been graded, a merger was effected with the Madison and Portage and the Sugar River Valley railroads, and the consoli- dated company was called the Chicago and Superior Railroad. A London bonding house agreed to consider financing the new line and its engineer arrived in 1873 to make the preliminary survey. By the time he was ready to submit a favorable report the bonding house had failed, and the line to Mendota and Rochelle was immediately abandoned. The Rockford press meanwhile began to clamor for a new route east of the city in order to combat the high rates of the Chicago & North Western line. Consequently, when an oppor- [45] tunity arose to connect Rockford with the Chicago and Iowa Railroad by means of a branch line, it was eagerly grasped. Construction was begun in 1874 and completed the following summer. For charter reasons the new spur was known as the Chicago, Rockford and Northern Railroad. The branch line and the Chicago and Iowa Railroad did not prosper; their bond issues went unpaid and foreclosure pro- ceedings were started. The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, believing it had obtained the rights to the branch line, attempted to take it over but the agent at Rockford refused to surrender the station. A railroad war ensued. Considerable railroad property was destroyed and traffic was blocked until the matter was taken into court. A receivership was declared and in November, 1881, an agreement was reached whereby the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul leased the branch from Davis Junction to Rockford. On August 5, 1888, the first Illinois Central Railroad pas- senger train arrived at Rockford. In order to make room for the Illinois Central station and freight yards, the historic Manny mansion was razed. From Rockford the Illinois Central was extended to Freeport. This railroad is credited with bringing the first Italians to Rockford. Employed as track hands, they settled in the area south of the Illinois Central station. The last line to enter Rockford was the Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota Railroad, built to the city in 1905. It was later acquired by the Chicago, Milwaukee and Gary Railroad, which was absorbed by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad after the first World War. During the years following the Civil War, increasing com- petition retarded the phenomenal growth of the Forest City's flour milling and farm machinery industries. In the early seventies, however, when Rockford's population was 11,049 and that of Winnebago County approximately 30,000, the de- velopment of two new industries, furniture and hosiery manu- facutring, enabled the city to maintain its swift rate of growth. SEAMLESS SOCKS The knitting industry owed its inception at Rockford to the genius of William Burson and John Nelson, local inventors. [46] Burson, who had already obtained many patents on farm imple- ments, and Nelson, operator of a sash and door plant, saw ways of improving the Lamm knitter while attending a trade exposi- tion in Chicago, where one was on display. They set up a shop in the loft of an old barn and began to experiment with new apparatus. Nelson added a control wheel to the Lamm knitter and Burson devised a yarn carrier that automatically changed the yarns required in making the different parts of the stocking. Nelson obtained patents on the improved knitter in 1868, but the machine failed to satisfy its creators. Further experimenta- tion was rewarded on July 23, 1870, when the Burson-Nelson machine produced its first sock. Additional improvements made in 1872 and 1873 included parallel row machines which knitted the heel and toe in one operation, thus permitting vol- ume production. The Rockford seamless sock was an instant success and competing types of hosiery were soon forced off the market. From that time onward local knitting machines have been pro- ducing this internationally known sock. The name ''Rockford Sock" became so famous that one southern city is said to have been renamed Rockford so that socks made there might bear the same imprint as the northern product. The normal daily output is now (1941) between 4,000 and 5,000 dozen pairs. So well did Burson and Nelson do their job that the seamless socks manufactured today are substantially the same as those first produced in 1870. The Burson-Nelson Knitting Company was incorporated as the Frank R. Brown Company and later named the Nelson Knitting Company. Since the Nelson Knitting Company pro- duced cotton work socks only, its stockholders formed the Rock- ford Mitten and Hosiery Company in 1881 to make wool hose, combining with the St. Charles Woolen Mills of St. Charles, Illinois. William B. Ziock, another pioneer in the Rockford hosiery industry, was brought to Rockford to direct the new enterprise. On his death in 1905 he was succeeded by his son, W. H. Ziock. The Rockford Mitten and Hosiery Company later began manufacturing wool cloth and blankets. [47] Following John Nelson's death on April 15, 1883, four of his sons organized the Forest City Knitting Company, incor- porated in 1890 with Fritz F. Nelson as president. Franklin Nelson patented a ribbing device which made possible the knit- ting of rib and sock in one operation, thereby decreasing pro- duction costs. William Burson subsequently began manufacturing wom- en's hosiery. He developed a practical machine to knit fash- ioned seamless stockings of silk or lisle. In 1892 he organized the Burson Knitting Company which today (1941) is the larg- est knitting factory in Rockford, using between 1,500 and 2,000 machines and employing 500 workers. The demand for full-fashioned hosiery caused by changing feminine fashions was the basis for the founding of the B-Z-B (F. R. Brown, W. H. Ziock, W. Burson) Knitting Company. The firm, started in 1910 with a capitalization of $600,000, makes ladies' silk, lisle, and mercerized hose. In 1928 the Contour Hosiery Company was established. It has since competed successfully with the other hosiery mills of Rockford, and together with them forms an industry that em- ploys about 3,000 workers. [48] I r >$>< \ . \ * w % •\ i.%<. m ■4 . Ml mm % Lfi, * i! m Gardens, Sinnissipp; Park jjjjjg-y. 59i Chandler Starr Residence ^mjmrA v.. CO .to 8 o "So • «^ '^^^T "' . • * • . if ■ U i a L _ f U- u. Of Swedes and Industry It may be that the Chicago fire of 1871 was in a measure responsible for the beginning of the furniture industry in Rock- ford. Tradition has it that Jonas Peters, of Rockford, was sell- ing furniture for a Chicago manufacturer when the great fire razed the Chicago plant, and threw him out of work. He re- turned to Rockford to his old job in the planing mill of Andrew C. Johnson and J. P. Anderson in the Water Power, and is said to have persuaded his employers to manufacture such articles of furniture as the planing mill equipment permitted. He was then assigned to sell the output. In 1873 L. D. Upson became a partner of Anderson and Johnson, and a new factory was built near the southeast corner of Race and Mill Streets. The new organization, named the Upson- Johnson Furniture Company, may be said to be the parent of the furniture industry in Rockford. Anderson and Johnson soon withdrew from the firm. E. L. Herrick joined with Upson and together the two men operated the plant until it burned down in 1877. Two years later the Central Furniture Company was incorporated and its factory was built on the site of the Upson- Johnson plant. Anderson and Johnson had meanwhile accepted a free tract of land in a new subdivision. In 1874 they opened the Forest City Furniture Company factory on Railroad Avenue, the first major furniture factory in Rockford. This factory was acquired [49] in 1920 by the Brunswick-Balke-Collendar Company of Chi- cago and, later, by Lawson's Transfer Company which now uses it as a warehouse. The subsequent development of Rockford's furniture in- dustry was shouldered mainly by Swedish settlers. By tradition the Swedes were furniture craftsmen and as factory after fac- tory was established, Swedish immigrants filled each place at the bench. Many of the new plants were co-operatives and the humblest worker owned at least one share of stock. By 1890 Rockford had twelve furniture factories. These employed about 1,500 workers and their annual production was valued at $1,305,000. Commenting on the industry, the Morning Star of January 12, 1890, said: Our furniture is sold in every city of the United States and every year shiploads are sent across the water to the old world. The furniture business has done nearly as much for Rockford as all other industries put together. In 1893 Rockford had twenty-six furniture plants, of which twenty-one were co-operatively owned. At that time the city was said to be the second largest furniture center in the world. A single lumber dealer in Wisconsin shipped 100 carloads to Rockford annually, and another lumberman in the South shipped 500 carloads per year. The co-operative plan was so firmly entrenched that when one of the factories employed wood- carvers who were not stockholders, the shareholding carvers went on strike. The strike was broken by the introduction of wood carving machinery. The city's furniture industry was dominated by Pehr August Peterson, whom the New Orleans Picayune referred to in 1893 as the "King of the Swedes." Peterson, born in Sweden in 1846, had come to the United States in 1852, settling in Rock- ford with his parents. When a group of Swedish workmen founded the Union Furniture Company in 1876 Peterson was made the secretary as he was the only one among them who understood bookkeeping. Even more important was his shrewd- ness and foresight that made him a stockholder and director in fifty or more Rockford firms at the time of his death in 1937. He left an estate of approximately $4,000,000. [50] The Panic of 1893 closed the co-operative furniture fac- tories. While there are conflicting reports on his managerial policy at that time it later became apparent many would never have been re-opened at all had it not been for Peterson's genius for organization. Rated a millionaire, he remained a common man to the end, carrying his lunch to work with him and dis- cussing business over a sandwich. After his death it was learned he had left large sums of money to Swedish charities, including a Swedish Old People's Home and $500,000 to build a Y.M.C.A. on the east side. Despite this bequest, no Y.M.C.A. building had been begun by 1941. Rockford's furniture industry has undergone profound changes since the nineties. The co-operatives were not re-estab- lished after the panic. Old factories disappeared either through merger or bankruptcy and new ones were opened. The twenty furniture plants that are now (1941) operated in the city pro- duce a wide variety of products undreamed of in the days of hand-tooled chairs and tables. One of the plants, which manu- factures radio cabinets, employs almost as many workers as all of the factories of the nineties combined. The offshoots of Rockford's furniture industry include plants that manufacture woodworking machinery, ornamental fittings for furniture, and mirrors for buffets and dressers. Sev- eral of the auxiliary plants have expanded into other fields. Among these is the W. F. and John Barnes Company, which was originally formed to make foot-power jigsaws and other small woodworking equipment. The company eventually be- gan to produce power drills and lathes for metal working, and is now important in the machine tool industry. OTHER INDUSTRIES The manufacture of farm implements, hosiery, and furni- ture, however, was by no means the chief source of employment in the Rockford of the eighties. The millraces of the Water Power were lined with factories, large and small, which in the aggregate possibly employed more men than the three major in- dustries. Most of these factories have disappeared. Some were absorbed in competition and several were forerunners of indus- tries that became important in later years. A direct link with the [51] city's past is preserved in the Rockford Bolt and Steel Company. Founded in 1866, the "Bolt Works" (as everyone called it), still occupies a stone structure in the Water Power. The water wheel that supplied the Bolt Works' power was but recently dismantled. The present Hess and Hopkins Leather Company started in 1866 at its present site under another name and, according to an atlas of Winnebago County published in 1871, was then one of the few factories not dependent on the Water Power. Contemporaneously, H. W. Price operated a tannery and glove factory on Chestnut Street by the river. The Rockford Weekly Register reported in 1880: H. W. Price can hardly find enough skins for his factory. It is said that he already has used 30,000 goat skins, and 10,000 deer and sheep skins into gloves and mittens, and now he has 1200 horse skins from New York he proposes to work up. The Price Glove Factory has passed into oblivion and with it the once busy Shoudy Soap Company, the Rockford Baking Company, the Stonefield-Evans Shoe Company, Blakeman and Dodson's Churn Factory, Rhoades and Utter's Paper Mill, Savage and Love's Model Shop, Dyson's Woolen Mill, Lander's Planing Mill, and William Ghent's Factory. The last-named plant was destroyed by fire in 1881 just as Ghent was ready to ship six machines for making barbed wire to De Kalb, Illinois. Several nearby factories were also damaged. Prior to the advent of the automobile, the Hess and Hopkins Leather Company employed about 450 workers in manufacturing harnesses, sad- dles, horse collars, and leather novelties. The company now Operates on a part-time schedule. There are many persons in this country and Europe who still carry Rockford watches, although the Rockford Watch Com- pany produced its last timepiece in 1916. This colrIpany;"or- ganized in 1874, was directed for many years by Levi Rhoades, H. W. Price, and H. P. Holland. Rockford residents were in- tensely proud of the concern, especially those who lived on the east side of the river where the plant was located. Smoldering embers of rivalry between the east and west sides of Rockford flamed afresh in 1890 when it was rumored that the watch factory was to be moved to a new site across the [52] river. The indignation of east side residents, perhaps as much as anything else, caused the company to decide to keep the plant in its original location. In the following year financial difficulties were encountered and the factory was taken over by Chicagoans who operated it until 1916. A stone structure formerly occupied by the factory is now used as an administra- tion building by the Rockford Board of Education. A parking lot at the southeast corner of Elm and Wyman Streets is the site of what in 1882 was a new industry of such local importance that it was favored with its own column in ths^Rockford Daily Gazette, captioned "Silver Plate Squibs." The editor of that day expressed the belief that the pending re- moval of the Silver Plate Company from Racine, Wisconsin, to Rockford would require the erection of many new "tenements" to house the workers attracted to the city by the new industry. The Silver Plate Company was expected to give employment to several hundred persons. For many years it did precisely that, but competition forced it to close in the early 1920's. The present Sheets Rockford Silver Company maintains the tradition of Rockford as a center of fine silverware. Another large concern that flourished in the eighties and nineties and then passed into oblivion was the Rockford Grape and Sugar Company, which in 1881 built a large stone factory on the east side of the river opposite Montague Island. The plant cost approximately $150,000, and when operating at full capacity used 5,000 bushels of corn daily. Besides benefiting the farmers in the vicinity, it provided employment for many of Rockford's residents. In 1877 Isaac Lockwood, a clerk in Israel Sovereign's hard- ware store, succeeded in weaving wire window screens on a hand loom in a room over the store. He and N. E. Lyman then established a small factory to fabricate wire cloth, as it was called. Wire plant stands were added to the output of the firm and Charles Andrews of Detroit was hired to supervise that branch of production. In 1885 Andrews established his own factory, the Andrews Wire and Iron Works. Now a division of the Washburn Company, the Andrews Wire and Iron Works employs 200 workers and manufactures more than 2,000 prod- [53] ucts; it is said to produce more bicycle baskets than any other factory in the world. The concern is managed by Charles, Jr., and A. G. Andrews, sons of the founder. In 1889 Major George S. Roper purchased an interest in:the_ Van Wie Gas Stove Company and induced the firm to mave from Cleveland, Ohio, to Rockford. A building was acquired on Huffman Boulevard and the stove works was operated there until a disastrous fire in 1904. The following year Roper ob- tained all patent rights and established the Eclipse Gas Stove Company in the abandoned Knowlton Building in the Water Power. He adopted the slogan "A gas range is a coal stove with a college education." The firm was later renamed the George D. Roper Corporation in honor of George D. Roper, son of the founder. The present plant on Blackhawk Avenue is one of the three largest gas stove works in the country. Many other companies opened factories in Rockford in the eighties and nineties. The Ward Pump Company, established in 1889 to make hand and windmill pumps, then much in demand in the Middle West, enjoyed a large domestic and import trade. This firm later became the Ward-Love Pump Company which suspended operations in 1932; its farm division was taken over at that time by the W. L. Davey Pump Company. The Rock- ford Brass Works, founded in 1890 by Frank B. Trahern to make brass and bronze castings, is still in business. The Spang- ler-Loomis Manufacturing Company, organized in 1891, was one of 174 factories operating in Rockford that year. This firm now manufactures pencil sharpeners. [54] City Aware of Itself Rockford of the sixties had few of the conveniences afforded by towns of similar size in the East. Its unpaved streets were dusty in summer and sometimes impassably muddy in rainy weather; its board sidewalks were considered inadequate make- shifts and a constant menace to public safety. Until as late as 1865 there was no organized system of street numbering al- though the population numbered almost 11,000. Stepping stones or plank or stone "crossings'" bridged the streets at inter- sections so that pedestrians would not bog down in the mire. Water for the household had to be carried from wells and cis- terns. There were no sewers nor facilities for the disposal of garbage and refuse. The recurring epidemics of those years must have been caused in many instances by the proximity of private wells to outdoor toilets. In short, there was a total lack of the facilities which residents of a modern city accept as a matter of course. Even the most casual reader of the files of Rockford's early newspapers and periodicals will be impressed with the fact that the aggressive, ofttimes pompous and verbose editors of those years exerted a tremendous force on community progress. Per- haps few persons now living remember the Golden Censor, a non-sectarian religious weekly first published in 1868. The Golden Censor subsequently had 18,000 subscribers in Rock- ford and vicinity, a circulation several times greater than that of [55] all the city's newspapers. In its thirty years of existence this journal wielded a great influence for Rockford's cultural and moral advancement. During 1869 and 1870 the Winnebago County Chief was vitriolic in its attacks on Rockford's frailties. Waging a cam- paign for better sidewalks it opined that Rockford women would stop having children if no effort was made to replace side- walks which were so cracked and uneven that a baby carriage could not be wheeled over them safely. But it was many years before the wooden walks were replaced by sidewalks of stone and later of cement and tar. Before the boardwalks were out- lawed the city was forced to pay out many thousands of dollars in damages to persons injured in falls. The growing demand for a city water works was succinctly expressed by the Winnebago County Chief in 1869: "Wanted — another fire to stir our people up on the Holly Water Work Question." The city had become too large to have its volunteer fire fighters rely on the old fire cisterns for their water supply. In spite of an ordinance to prevent the public from drawing water for laundry purposes from these public reservoirs, they were often empty at critical times. But it was not until 1874 that the city contracted with the Holly Manufacturing Company to dig a well and install pumping machinery at a cost of $35,000 and to furnish 125 hydrants at $40 each. The first well was only twenty-seven feet deep and five feet in diameter. Central Rock- ford was soon piped for water but within a few years the water became of such doubtful quality that many persons preferred to use their own wells for drinking and cooking purposes. In 1881 the filter well system was unable to supply enough water and a new well was dug. It was fifty feet in diameter, thirty-eight feet deep, and had a daily capacity of 1,000,000 gallons. In the summer of the following year the Rockford Daily Gazette declared: "We hear complaints on every side about the water that the pumping works are at this time sending over the city. . . . Here in this office. ... If we turn the faucet, a stream of liquid mud, yellow, nasty, and bad-smelling, rushes out. It is unfit to wash in; to bathe in it reminds one of the mud baths of Germany, and to drink — bah!" [56} The general dissatisfaction with open wells resulted in the drilling of an artesian well in 1885. By 1891 the city had five such wells producing a total of 1,100,000 gallons daily. Sub- sequent extensions of the sewage system created demands that exceeded the capacity of these wells. In 1892 the city built a 1,000,000 gallon reservoir to provide for emergencies, such as fires. The panic of the following year disrupted Rockford's finances and delayed the drilling of another well until 1897. Meanwhile, had it not been for the existence of private wells and the practice of using river water occasionally, the city would probably have undergone severe water shortages. During this period river water was turned into the mains as it was found to be more pure than well water. The reliance on river water was to have tragic consequences. In 1912, as a result of drink- ing contaminated water, 512 persons contracted typhoid fever, and 58 of them died. Rockford's present water plant, built in 1921, is one of the city's major assets. The central pumping station at Cedar and Stanley Streets is supplemented by smaller stations throughout the city and a 5,000,000 gallon reservoir. Chemists check the purity of the water daily. # # # Although Rockford's government had included a health officer since 1854, it was not until 1885 that a board of health was organized. The department began its program of food protection in 1888 by sponsoring an ordinance that banned the watering of milk. Additional restrictions imposed in succeeding years included measures to prohibit the bulk sale of milk and the capping of milk bottles by hand. Milk handlers were re- quired to take physical examinations, and finally pasteurization was made mandatory. In 1913 fresh air rooms in schools and fresh air camps for pre-tubercular children were established. A municipal tuberculosis sanitorium was built in 1916. The suc- cess of the foregoing provisions is evident in the sharp decline of Rockford's tuberculosis rate. In 1901 about 169.2 persons in every 10,000 died of tuberculosis; by 1923 the tuberculosis mortality rate had been reduced to 45.2 per 100,000. Other services established by the board of health include prenatal care, plumbing codes, carbon dioxide tests of theaters [57} and public buildings, a venereal clinic, and the Illinois Cottage for the care, treatment, and education of physically handicapped children. The board has been responsible for the enactment of a great number of ordinances aimed to protect public health, ranging from sanitary provisions for restaurants to bans on the common towel and common drinking cup. Pupils in public schools are trained in dental hygiene and given physical exam- inations at regular periods. The Rockford Visiting Nurses As- sociation, established in 1911, co-operates with the board of health in maintaining many of its services. The city's first hospital, the present Rockford Hospital, was opened on October 1, 1885 in Dr. W. H. Fitch's residence at the corner of Chestnut and Court Streets by the Rockford Hos- pital Association, where the present hospital now stands. The staff consisted of Mrs. Martha J. Smith, matron; Drs. S. A. Mar- tin and F. H. Kimball, attending physician and surgeon respect- ively; and Drs. R. P. Lane, D. S. Clark, W. H. Fitch, and Henry Richings, consulting physicians and surgeons. In 1899 Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis opened St. Anthony's Hospital, now the largest in Rockford. According to a popular belief, the Swedish- American Hos- pital had its origin when the Svenska-Posten, a Swedish lan- guage paper, no longer published, received a dollar from a subscriber with the request that it be given to a non-existent Swedish-American Hospital. Some months previously a Luth- eran minister had attempted to establish a sanitarium in the city but failed because of insufficient funds. A plea to aid the sani- tarium had appeared in the Svenska-Posten and the subscriber had belatedly contributed to the institution, which he imagined was named the "Swedish- American Hospital." The incident served to arouse interest in the establishment of such a hospital. Prominent Swedish residents held a meeting at the Sveas Soner Hall in 1911 and organized the Swedish- American Hospital Association. The board of directors was composed of twenty- four members who represented the Swedish churches and so- cieties of Rockford. Through the subsequent efforts of the association, the present hospital was built in 1918. [58] Forest City Nine Few baseball fans in Rockford are more than vaguely aware that their city was once represented by one of the best teams in the country. Incredible as it seems in these days of big league baseball, the Forest City's nine of 1869 and 1870, although composed of amateurs, defeated almost every team of conse- quence in the United States. The Chicago Evening Post re- marked July 12, 1870: If Chicago has no cause for local rejoicing over the achievements of her professional baseball representatives (the White Stockings) now making themselves famous in the East by the facility with which they are getting beaten, she can at least join heartily in the State pride re- sulting from the remarkable record made by the club of amateurs residing in and legitimately belonging to the flourishing town of Rock- ford, Illinois. . . . Based upon a purely legitimate and sportsmanlike standard, we consider the Forest City nine the champion club of America. The original Forest City nine, organized in 1865, had as its stars Dr. S. J. Sawyer, Albert Barker, H. S. Warner, C. E. King, W. Stearns, M. L. Wheeler, S. Lakin and T. E. Webster. To this group were admitted Albert G. Spalding and Roscoe Barnes. Within a few years sports writers throughout the nation marveled at the "Club of amateurs from a country town in Illi- nois," and lauded their youthful pitcher and captain, Spalding, a lad still in his 'teens. Later Rockford's team included John Kling and Adrian C. Anson, players who made baseball history. The story goes that Rockford's interest in the game, then newly introduced in the Middle West, had its origin in the chance remarks of John Lewis, an insurance agent from Cincin- [59] nati, who suggested to a group of boys laying out a cricket field that they give up the English sport in favor of the new American game. The idea appealed to the boys, and the entire club of 150 members abandoned cricket in favor of baseball. Dividing their membership into several teams, they laid out a diamond and played the game according to the Abner Doubleday rules, a copy of which they procured from Cincinnati. As the club was composed of boys and young businessmen seeking recreation, no particular effort was made to compete with larger cities in building a championship team. The Forest Citys, which was the name adopted by the club on August 10, 1865, consisted merely of local youths who played for the sport of it. The New York Clipper of April 9, 1870, reviewing the his- tory of the Rockford team, states that the Forest Citys in their opening year, 1865, won one game and lost two, and that dur- ing 1866 they won six games and lost one. The following year they won six games and lost two, defeating the Nationals of Washington, D. C, an event that brought them national atten- tion. In 1868 they lost four games, all to experienced eastern teams, and won twelve. By the end of that season they were established as one of the clubs to be watched. Then began a period when the city closed shop to attend home games, when season tickets were sold for three dollars at "Hi" Waldo's Book Store, and an individual admission into the field at the fair grounds cost twenty-five cents. Crowds of several thousand were not unusual, although the census of 1870 gave Rockford only 1 1,054 inhabitants. The team won twenty- one games and lost four in 1869. The defeats came at the hands of the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Two home games were lost to that team by scores of 13 to 34 and 7 to 28; one game was lost at Chicago, 32 to 53, in which the invincible Red Stockings were scored upon more frequently than in a hundred previous games; and the final game at Cincinnati was lost on errors, 14 to 15. In reporting the last game the Cincinnati Gazette, July 26, 1869, headlined the story: "A Sucker Club Comes Within One of Dealing the Red Stockings a Socker." Measured by the ability of the opposition, the season of 1870 may be said to have marked the peak in Rockford's base- ball history. The success of two brief tours in 1869 prompted [60] the board of directors to send the club on an eastern visit early in 1870. During a month on the road they scored thirteen vic- tories, one tie, and three defeats. The games lost were to the Philadelphia Athletics, 10 to 16; to the Chicago White Stock- ings, 14 to 28 (both of these teams were subsequently defeated by Rockford), and to the New York Mutuals, 13 to 21. Rock- ford was widely publicized through the team's activities. The players were besieged with offers to join professional eastern clubs, but professional baseball was not the lucrative pursuit it now is, and, since most of the players were regularly employed in Rockford, all offers for that season were refused. As the home of the sensational Forest City nine, Rockford played host to some of the finest professional teams in the country. How well the local team met this opposition is re- vealed by a resume of the sport in the Rockford Register, No- vember 19, 1870, stating that the "defeats sustained by the leading clubs during the past season are as follows: Red Stock- ings, 6; White Stockings, 8; Athletics (Philadelphia), 10; Forest Citys, of Rockford, 10; Forest Citys, of Cleveland, 12; Mutuals (New York City), 15; Haymakers (Troy), 14; Eck- fords (Brooklyn), 14; Atlantics (Brooklyn), 16; Unions of Morrisania, 17." The Mutuals of New York and the White Stockings of Chicago were claimants of the world's championship, although no explanation was given to justify the rival claims. Haphazard scheduling of games at the time precluded the determination of a championship or even the relative ranking of the teams. It is significant that Rockford's amateur nine rated comparison with professional clubs, and more important, that the Forest Citys defeated every team on the list except the New York Mutuals (defeated Forest Citys twice), the Eckfords (no games with Forest Citys), and the Unions of Morrisania (tied score: 4 to 4, game called because of rain). Judging by the high scores the Forest Citys made against amateur competition — 69 to 4 over the Mutuals of Janesville, 44 to 8 over the Lone Stars of New Orleans, 97 to 13 over a picked Kansas nine in 7 in- nings, 52 to 3 over the Cream Citys of Milwaukee, and 37 to 7 over the Valley Citys of Grand Rapids — they would have been fully justified in claiming the amateur title of the country. [61] The Forest Citys lived with one goal in mind — to defeat the Cincinnati Red Stockings. After the fourth defeat by that squad in 1869 the Winnebago County Chief editorialized: When the boys of the F.C.B.B.C. meet any other than the 9 red legged giants gathered from the four quarters of the Union, and rendezvoused at Cincinnati, they can "scoup them," "gobble them up," "clean them out," "get away with them," and crow like victorious game cocks, but when they run against these 9 "scarlet runners" they come in contact with 9 gentlemen whom they cannot handle. The boys might as well come down gracefully as to make themselves ridiculous by even think- ing of fighting the champions of the world on even tally. All that was needed to make the 1870 season a success was a victory over the crack Red Stockings. On July 11, 1870, Rockford held the Red Stockings to a 16 to 16 tie at Rockford. It was the beginning of the Cincinnati players' downfall, and in the weeks that followed they were defeated several times. After a 1 3 to 1 6 defeat in Chicago by the White Stockings early in October, the Red Stockings returned to Rockford to play the Forest Citys in their last meeting of the year. Tickets were raised to 50c with "No extra charge for carriages," to comply with the demands of the visitors. A large crowd gathered, sensing victory. Rockford won by 12 to 5, the worst defeat Cincinnati had experienced. The Forest City line-up for the Cincinnati game follows: Robert Addy, 2nd., Roscoe Barnes, S.S., Joseph Simmons, C.F., Scott Hastings, C, Joseph Foley, 3rd., G. Stires, R.F., Joseph Doyle, 1st., Fred Cone, L.F., and Albert G. Spalding, P. Al Barker also played in Stires' position during the season. In 1871 Spalding, Barnes, and Cone were induced to leave Rockford and join the professional Boston Red Stockings under the arrangement of Harry Wright, former Cincinnati player, in the newly formed National Association, the first professional league in baseball and precursor of the present National League. The Forest Citys joined the Association, thus becoming one of the nine original clubs in the League. But the days of the Rockford team's glory were gone. Public interest lagged, and at the close of the season, in 1871, the Forest Citys withdrew from big league baseball never to return. Adrian "Pop" Anson, one of the immortals of baseball, was a member of the 1871 Forest City team. Rockford again attempted to recapture some [62] of its former glory by joining with teams from Dubuque, Daven- port and Omaha to organize the first minor league. It was not a success. After his departure for the East, A. G. Spalding's career was followed with avid interest by residents of Rockford. Although born in Byron, Illinois, on September 2, 1850, Spalding had come to Rockford in 1863 to attend local schools and a com- mercial college and was therefore regarded as a native son. When he first started pitching for the Forest Citys he was work- ing as a grocer's clerk for $5 a week. His success in the East never caused him to forget the team with which he had gained his start. Throughout his life he felt a sincere friendliness for Rockford and its people. In each season from 1872 through 1875 he pitched Boston to a pennant in the National Associa- tion. In 1876 he joined the Chicago club and pitched it to a title. Soon after, he retired from baseball and founded the A. G. Spalding and Brothers Sporting Goods Company. In later years he returned to Rockford to visit old friends and in honor of the local nine pitched some of the twisters that had made him famous. He died on September 9, 1915. In 1908 Henry Chadwick, a Brooklyn newspaperman who was called "the father of baseball," prepared a list of players who were preeminent during the first 37 years of professional baseball, 1871 to 1907 inclusive. The list follows: John Kling, c; Albert G. Spalding, p; Adrian C. Anson, lb; Roscoe C. Barnes, 2b; Henry Steinfeldt, 3b; Hugh Jennings, ss; Joseph J. Kelly, If; Hugh Duffy, cf; William Keeler, rf. Of these nine men the first four made their start in the profession in Rockford. No other city in the world could claim so many members of this honor roll. [63] Politics and Personages Although dominantly Republican in state and national elec- tions, the Rockford electorate has traditionally abandoned party lines in local campaigns. The liquor question was the stock issue of the city's opposing political forces for more than fifty years. In the present century the battles of the Wets and Drys have been interspersed by those of the liberals and conserva- tives. The liberals have come to exert increasing influence since the election of Mark Jardine, Rockford's first labor mayor, in 1911. Mayor Jardine's administration began the practice of exacting a franchise tax from utility companies. Two of Rock- ford's subsequent mayors, J. Herman Hallstrom, and C. Henry Bloom, have been candidates of labor groups. The Wets and Drys first clashed in the post-Civil War period. The issue of that day was whether saloonkeepers should pay high license fees or none at all. In succeeding decades the tide of battle surged back and forth, neither party gaining vic- tories. In 1908, however, the Wets were routed: saloons were voted out of existence by a majority of 156. Two years later the Wets conquered and saloons were restored. In 1912 and 1914 the Wets suffered smashing defeats and the saloon was again banished. The city thereafter was known as a "dry town," a factor that contributed to its selection as the locale of Camp Grant in 1917. Upon repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1933, however, the sale of liquor was legalized in the city. [64] Despite the large population of Rockford and Winnebago County and the keen interest of their electorates in state and national political contests, only four residents of the area have served in important offices. The late John T. Buckbee, whole- sale seed merchant of Rockford, served as Republican member of the House of Representatives (1927-1936). Fred E. Sterling, editor and publisher of the Rockford Register-Gazette, was a prominent figure in the Republican Party for more than thirty years. He served as state treasurer (1919) and lieutenant gov- ernor (1920-1932). He died in 1933. Rockford's pioneer in the realm of national politics was William Lathrop, first of a prominent family identified with the practice of law in Rockford since 1852. Lathrop served in Congress from 1877 to 1879- He won nation-wide attention by refusing to recommend any Rockford resident for appointment as postmaster until the electorate had taken a referendum to determine the popular choice. William Lathrop's impeccable character, his prominence in the legal profession, and his fine civic spirit entitle him to a memorable place in Rockford's his- tory. His daughter, Julia Lathrop, became Rockford's best known and most loved citizen. Miss Lathrop, the first woman to serve as chief of the Chil- dren's Bureau of the United States Department of Labor, was born in Rockford on June 29, 1858. She attended Rockford College and Vassar. After working for several years in her father's law office, she was employed as a business secretary. Then she joined Jane Addams at Hull House, Chicago, and continued in social service until her death on April 15, 1932. From 1892 until 1902 and from 1905 to 1909 Miss Lathrop was a member of the state board of charities. When the Children's Bureau was created in 1912, President Taft appointed her as the bureau's first director and she remained in that office until 1922. Many of the reforms she had advocated in the early years of her social work career were adopted during her term as director, and she gained an international reputation through her studies of social conditions in other lands. Although most of her life was spent away from Rockford, she returned for frequent visits. When the old Lathrop residence on Rockton Avenue was razed she used the bricks to build a new house on National Avenue at Guard Street, where she spent her last years. Her life is recounted by Jane Addams in My Friend, Julia Lathrop. ^ "On Wings of Song Ascending" Brown's Hall, now a part of the Weise Building on West State Street, was built in 1864 and opened in the following year. There were several other halls in the city at that time, but none was large enough for the city's needs. The hall was leased by Dr. J. P. Norman, who until his death in 1883 was the local impresario. The first noted actor to appear at Brown's Hall was John Murdock who on March 28, 1865, gave readings from Shakespeare. He was followed by a long succession of celebri- ties including Ole Bull, Artemus Ward, Lawrence Barrett, and Blind Tom. A review of the concert by Ole Bull, famous Nor- wegian violinist, and Blind Tom, a Negro boy pianist, in the Winnebago Chief suggests the conflict between the urge for self- betterment and the robust backwoods spirit that dominated the period: But we must be allowed to protest against the manner of encoring — with the feet. It does seem to us that no well-bred person should ever forget the rules of propriety so far as to furiously stamp, like madmen, as an expression of pleasure. Rockford's theatergoers soon outgrew Brown's Hall and de- manded an opera house. After many unsuccessful attempts a number of leading citizens, including Tom Lawler, Levi Rhoades, W. T. Robertson, George S. Haskell, Robert Tinker, John H. Sherratt, and A. C. Deming, raised $25,000 for the construction of the Rockford Grand Opera House. The build- [66} ing was formally opened on November 14, 1881, with a concert by the great operatic soprano, Clara Louise Kellogg. Said to be one of the largest theaters in the Middle West at the time, it had a seating capacity of approximately 1,000. The management was particularly proud of a novel convenience for minstrel troupes — extra lavatories for removing burnt cork. Among the first celebrities to appear at the Grand Opera House were Oscar Wilde and Edwin Booth. For the latter's performances, speculators charged $5 a ticket. In following decades came a steady stream of famous artists: prominent among them were Thomas Keene, Madame Franziska Magda- lena Janauschek, Minnie Maddern Fiske, Richard Mansfield, Julia Marlowe, Madame Helena Modjeska, E. H. Sothern, Sid- ney and John Drew, the Barrymores, Mary Anderson, Julia Sanderson, Theodore Roberts, Guy Bates Post, William Gillette, Ignace Paderewski, Robert Mantell, and Eddie Foy. The Grand Opera House was condemned in 1924 and razed two years later. # # # Rockford's appreciation of music has been expressed in varied and plentiful ways. The city's first music organization, the Forest City Band, was formed in 1867. Some of its members later played with the Rockford Watch Company Band, which eventually became the Rockford Military Band. In the 1880's there was a burst of musical activity, ranging from the tear- persuasive efforts of barber shop quartets to the organization of the Mendelssohn Club (1884). The Weber Quartet, composed of Myron E. Barnes, L. J. West, Frank H. Andrew, and Charles G. Rogers, became famous overnight in 1889 by singing O. C. Osborn's campaign song, "What's the Matter with Harrison?" They later sang at Presi- dent Harrison's inauguration. In 1890 the Sveas Soner Singing Society was organized, pledged to keep alive the songs of Swe- den. It later purchased a building for choral practice and concerts. The Mendelssohn Club, founded under the leadership of Mrs. Chandler Starr, has in its fifty-seven years of existence exerted a profound influence on Rockford's cultural growth. In 1934 Mrs. Starr was honored at the Chicago Century of Prog- [67] ress Exposition for her long service in the interest of music. She is still (1941) a leading spirit of the Mendelssohn Club and the city's grand patron of music. Under the auspices of the Mendelssohn Club, Rockford has heard many great artists: Enrico Caruso, Mme. Ernestine Schu- mann-Heink, David Bispham, Emilio Gogorza, Edward A. Mac- Dowell, Harold Bauer, Emil Liebling, Fannie Bloomfield-Zeis- ler, Geraldine Farrar, Percy Grainger, Vladimir Horowitz, Tito Schipa, Fritz Kreisler, Albert Spaulding, Lawrence Tibbett, Charles Wakefield Cadman, John McCormack, Josef Lhevinne, Galli Curci, Nelson Eddy, and Lily Pons. The club has also sponsored concerts by the Flonzaly String Quartet, Kneisel String Quartet, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn Club of Boston, and Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Natives of Rockford who have contributed to the develop- ment of music include Katherine Tanner Fisk, contralto, who toured the British Isles in the nineties; Alice Sovereign, operatic singer; Corinne Rider-Kelsey, a distinguished dramatic soprano; and Wilhelm Heinrich, "the blind tenor," who appeared in concerts throughout this country and Europe. More recently, Frank LaForge has won distinction as a composer, pianist, and voice coach. The churches of present-day Rockford maintain large choirs and soloists of more than common ability. The Lyran, the Svithoid, and other Swedish societies have creditable choral groups. The Rockford High School Band, organized in 1907, is said to be the oldest in the country. The Rockford Symphony Association, led by Andreas Fugmann, director of the Rockford College Music Department, is attempting to build an orchestra that will be comparable to the larger symphonic groups in the country. [68] Horsecars and "Hello Girls" In 1880 seventy-four telephones were installed at Rockford by the Western Union Telegraph Company. The year will also be remembered as that in which P. T. Barnum's "Greatest Show on Earth" came to town and performed under a 'vast pavilion of patented French waterproof canvas"; Belford's Bakery of- fered a choice of veal cutlets, pork chops, or sausage, with bread, butter, potatoes, and a cup of tea or coffee, for fifteen cents; Miss Charlotte Emerson's French class gave a party at Tinker's Swiss Cottage (with half of the program in French) ; and the People's Bank advertised that deposits of ten cents and upward would be cheerfully accepted. Col. Robert Ingersoll attracted 10,000 listeners to his lecture at the fair grounds, the Swedish Baptist Church was organized, four or five new factories were estab- lished, and plans were afoot for the building of an Opera House. The most exciting event of the year, however, was the arrival of the telephone. The telephone of 1880 was a crude boxlike apparatus equipped with two shiny bells and a crank which one twisted vigorously to "ring up" central. It was a mysterious machine. During thunderstorms blue sparks danced about its metal parts and the bells jingled without reason. It gave haphazard service at best and could be depended upon to be out of commission during sleet and wind storms, for its single strand of bare wire was easily torn from the short, widely-spaced poles. Neverthe- less the telephone was the marvel of the age. [69} The Rockford exchange of the Western Union Telegraph Company had only 300 subscribers in 1888; five years laterjthe number had grown to 630 and the company employed six "hello girls" and two linemen. The Home Telephone Company-jwas established in 1901. The Stowager Automatic Telephone Com- pany acquired the Western Union franchise in 1903. Business houses and persons who required complete telephone coverage had to subscribe to two companies, a circumstance that caused endless confusion. Order was finally established in 1218_when the Central Union, a subsidiary of the Bell Telephone- Com- pany, owning the Stowager franchise, consolidated with the Home Telephone Company. Late in 1880 the Rockford Street Railway Company was organized. A franchise was granted on June 27, 1881, and the construction of the system was immediately undertaken. The first car line extended from the intersection of Montague and South Main Streets to State Street, thence east to Kishwaukee Street and south to Fourth Avenue. On November 10, 1881, the first streetcar was unloaded at the Kenosha railroad crossing at East State Street and placed on the new streetcar track. Dr. j. P. Norman boarded the new car and refused to leave until he had ridden six feet, thus becoming the first passenger. The directorate of the street car company was evenly divided on the question of the motive power to be used. Half of the mem- bers favored mules, the other half horses. The tie was broken by Anthony Haynes, president of the company, who cast his vote for horses. The new method of transportation was not satisfactory. Travel was slow and the horses were often skittish. In 1889 the Rockford Street Railway Company went bankrupt. It was shortly succeeded by the Rockford Traction Company which began operating electric street cars in 1890. The expansion of Rockford into the West End during the late eighties, prompted James S. Ticknor, who owned a sub- division in the area, to organize the West End Street Railway Company in 1890. Ticknor's company laid many miles of track on the west side of the river and then ran hopelessly into debt two years later when it invaded the east side. The company went bankrupt in 1895 and the Ticknor family lost a large fortune. [70] In 1898 the West End line was added to the system of the Rockford Traction Company which then became known as the Rockford Railway, Light and Power Company. This firm con- solidated with the Rockford and Belvidere Interurban Line in 1902 and adopted a new name, the Rockford & Interurban Company. Interurban lines connecting Rockford with Freeport and Janesville were purchased in 1904. Five years later the Rockford & Interurban Company became a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Power and Light Company and was renamed the Rockford City Traction Company. Foreclosure proceedings were brought against the traction company in 1926. Properties were sold at bankrupt sale and the Rockford Public Service Company organized. Interurban service to Belok and Janesville, Wisconsin, was abandoned in 1929 and in 1930 between Rock- ford and Elgin and Freeport, Illinois. In 1928 the Central Illi- nois Electric and Gas Company acquired the franchise for city and interurban transportation. On July 4, 1936, Rockford's trolley cars were replaced by a fleet of fifty-eight motor buses. # # # In 1883 the Forest City Electric Company established a small plant on Market and Madison Streets to produce what an enthusiastic Rockford merchant called "that marvelous electric fluid." At that time gas lights were not too common, many businessmen preferring the reliable and economical kerosene lamp. The Rockford Electric Power Company was organized in 1887. Its powerhouse was built in the Water Power on the site of the Rockford Brass Works. The company soon went bank- rupt and its equipment was bought by the Forest City Electric Company. The latter firm was sold to the Rockford General Electric Company in 1896, which, three years later, was named the Rockford Edison Company. The present power plant on South Water Street was begun in 1896 and rebuilt several times in later years. In 1§02 Fred K. Huston, George Briggs, and J. A. Walker organized the Central Heat and Power Company to furnish heat and transmit power. The Rockford Electric Company pur- chased this plant and heating system in 1908. It continued to [71] sell steam heat to property owners in downtown Rockford, a service used at present in 90 per cent of the stores and office buildings in that area. In 1928 a new Koppers Coke oven plant was built on the Avon Street gas plant site at a cost of $1,500,000 with a capacity of 180 tons of coke per day. At the same time virtually the entire gas plant facilities were expanded and modernized. An outstandingly important unit in this program was a new 2,000,- 000 cubic foot capacity storage tank further insuring the city r s unbroken record of almost eighty-five years of uninterrupted gas service. The Rockford Gas, Light and Coke Company changed its name to Central Illinois Electric and Gas Company in February, 1931, and absorbed at that time the Rockford Electric Company, moving to its present offices in a new office building at Main and Jefferson Streets. [72] Naive Nineties Revelling in its size and increased importance, Rockford, with a population of 23,584, was much like a cocksure youth at the beginning of the nineties. A boom was in the air. The newspapers were filled with reference to "boomers," new buildings, new real estate developments, multiplying land values, and the importance of "corner lots." The air of prosperity that buoyed up Rockford's residents was in direct contrast with the glum and apprehensive mood of the farmers who were then attempting to organize in the hope of securing better crop prices and to avoid bankruptcy. In the first eighteen days of January, 1890, conveyances of property in Rockford totalled $480,000, an unprecedented fig- ure in local history. The Morning Star commented in late January that "The Chicago Herald advertised Rockford's boom of the past ninety days to the extent of a column and a quarter yesterday and yet the half was not told." The Buffalo Times de- clared that "One of the booming towns of Illinois, Rockford, has her progress vividly set forth in the Morning Star of that city. More than a million dollars was spent last year (1889) on new buildings and improvements, which is a good deal for a town like Rockford." Concurrently, the Illinois Central Rail- road was exploiting Rockford as "a new manufacturing city that has become a world within itself." r73] Facets of the city's rapid development were evident in such items as the following from the Morning Star: If the fact that Cherry Valley and New Milford are petitioning the city fathers to be annexed to Rockford is not convincing evidence for the skeptical that we are a growing city and getting metropolitan, let 'em take a walk up and down State Street and make a note of the plate glass fronts behind which Rockford merchants do business. Fifteen years ago there were only three business blocks in the city that sported plate fronts. Little 2x4 panes of blown glass were good enough for the merchants of that day and the foxy spider spun his silken trap for the unwary fly in the corners of the small panes of crystal. . . . Nearly 300 plate fronts, shining like burnished silver and giving as little ob- struction to the inspection of artistically displayed goods as thin air itself, can now be counted in this city. In a similar vein the Morning Star drew a little vignette of the period in the following commentary: About a score of Seminary girls were out sleigh riding last evening in bob sleighs and while they did not exactly paint the town red, they tinted it slightly .... it was an occasion for fish horns and many a cigarette dude's heart beat fast as the dear girls looked too sweet for any use and the boys all tipped their hats as they passed by. It is probable that among the songs sung that night were the popular successes of the day, "Down Went McGinty," "Little Annie Rooney," and "Where Did You Get That Hat?" Will F. Cheshire's new music store on Seventh Street was offering these songs for sale in an advertisement in the same issue of the Star, and Al Henry, jeweler, was displaying a new music box which, it was asserted, played all the latest ballads and operatic airs in a manner as to "make all competitors sound like a Jew's harp in comparison." Possibly the "dudes" referred to wore "seal or plush caps" and silk suspenders advertised by L. B. Halstead's West State Street store and some of the Seminary girls unquestionably had taken advantage of Miss Beech's curling fluid guaranteed, in the Star ad, to "keep the hair in curl from seven to fourteen days, rain or shine." The social life of the community was also undergoing changes. A Blue Book was published, listing the names of the local gentry and designating the days of the week reserved as calling days for residents of various streets. The local aristocracy dwelt in fine large houses surrounded by cast iron fences which kept straying dogs from invading the preserves of the cast iron [74] deer. Many of the mansions boasted stables or carriage houses as large as the average six-room dwelling of today. In addition, those estates which bordered on the river had boathouses with docks for canoes, launches, and sailboats. One's place in the social strata was indicated by the degree of opulence in the fam- ily carriage. Almost everyone owned a horse and buggy of some kind, and the more wealthy had victorias, broughams, and landaus. The modest residence had its more or less ornate hitching post, the mansion had its porte-cochere. It was the day of mandolin clubs, zither soloists, whist, par- chesi, banjo clubs, oyster suppers, masquerades, "watch" parties, chafing dish suppers, and progressive cinch parties. "Hops" were sponsored by a plethora of fraternal and social organiza- tions. Theatrical fare consisted of minstrel shows and such plays as Little Lord Fauntleroy, Don Quixote, The Three Musketeers, and Uncle Tom's Cabin (with two Topsys). Visiting celebrities of the stage were generally entertained in royal fashion by the Rockford Elks Club. Nat Goodwin, a stage favorite of the day, drew the fire of the Rockford Press in 1890 when he appeared in "A Gold Mine," because he "failed to be a gentleman in the presence of gentlemen" by becoming intoxicated and neglecting to appear at an Elks club party in his honor. The Rockford Elks of that day were well known to Broadway celebrities. Of the local fraternal group the New York Clipper of that year said: The Rockford Elks are growing to be one of the favorite lodges of the western country and all professional people as well as brother Elks are warmly greeted by them. For the younger generation, Harlem Park, with its attractive expanse of river frontage, was the Garden of the Gods. It had been built originally by the traction company to give added impetus to the popular tendency to go trolley riding for pleasure. Soon it became a recreation center in its own right. Chautauqua grounds were established there, making it particularly attractive to many ardent church-goers, who shunned popular amusements. Crowds came from miles around and camped while the Chau- tauqua was in progress. When Chautauqua was over, band con- certs drew throngs. With the more adventurous spirits, a switch- back, the park's first riding device, enjoyed tremendous popu- larity. When America began singing of "Daisy Bell" and her "bicycle built for two," all Rockford took to wheels. Bicycle [75] clubs were formed and races were held on a mile track at the Rockford Driving Park (Huffman Boulevard and Fulton Ave- nue) and on the small Fairground Park track. Both men and women participated. The races attracted riders from all parts of the country. Several Rockford men, among them Addison Burr, became nationally known as leaders in this popular sport. "Scorchers" pedalled their way into the headlines of sporting journals and the hearts of smiling pompadoured maidens. Scarcely less memorable were the uniformed flambeau clubs drilled by "Lish" Thayer, which paraded the streets with flaming torches at the wildly enthusiastic political rallies of the period, and at the Fourth of July celebrations where patriotism was expressed with beer, pink lemonade, yellow ice cream, red fire, giant firecrackers, and dynamite caps on streetcar tracks. # # # By 1890 the city's lone bridge across the river (the State Street Bridge) had become a bottleneck for the increasing traffic between the east and west banks. In that year the Morgan Street Bridge was built and the construction of the present girder bridge on State Street was begun. The city had 130 miles of sidewalks and more than 100 miles of streets, 14.5 miles of which had been "opened and turnpiked" within the year. Ex- cept for a short strip of 1,730 feet of wood block laid in 1889 on East State Street, these thoroughfares had no modern pav- ing. In 1890, however, 1,775 feet of West State Street and 3,770 feet of South Main Street were paved with cedar blocks. In this connection the Morning Star said: There is no need for a single individual in Rockford to be out of work. The contractors who are paving South Main Street are kept back be- cause of their inability to hire a sufficient force. So if you are out of a job and want work, call there today and good wages will be given you. Three days later the block paving from the Chicago and Iowa (now the Burlington) Railroad station north to Elm Street was afloat because of a cloudburst. Two houses drifted down Kent Creek and smashed into the Winnebago Street viaduct. Ten bridges across Kent and Keith creeks were destroyed and others were damaged to the extent of $15,000. The total losses suffered by Rockford and Illinois Central Railroad Company was estimated at $300,000. [76] The responsibility for this misfortune was assumed by red- bearded George Jacob Schweinfurth, prophet and "Second Christ" of the Beekmanites, a religious cult that had gained considerable prominence in the Middle West. When inter- viewed by a reporter, Prophet Schweinfurth solemnly declared that he had visited the cloudburst upon Rockford as punishment for the city's sinfulness and its scornful attitude toward his cult. Schweinfurth's "heaven," the headquarters of the cult, was located on the Weldon farm six miles southwest of Rockford, near Winnebago. Here, surrounded by a court of "angels" se- lected from among the most comely feminine converts, the self-proclaimed "Christ reincarnated" performed "miracles," preached his strange doctrines, and ruled his little flock in regal style. Schweinfurth averred he had inherited the divine spirit from its previous possessor, Mrs. Dora Beekman, wife of J. C. Beekman, pastor of the Second Congregational Church at Byron, Illinois. In 1873, Mrs. Beekman had experienced revelations which convinced her that Christ had been reincarnated in her form. Inspired by this fancy she left her husband and went to Alpena, Michigan, to establish a church and seek converts. Schweinfurth, then a young Methodist preacher in Alpena, be- came her principal convert and returned with her to Illinois. In 1882 Mrs. Beekman and Schweinfurth converted the Weldon family and took over the large farm with its spacious dwelling and fine farm buildings to establish a small colony and the seat of their new religion. Mrs. Beekman died in 1883, and although the cultists were disappointed when she failed to arise from the dead in three days, their faith remained firm when Schweinfurth explained that Mrs. Beekman's spirit had passed into his body. Once established as the new Messiah, Schwein- furth proved himself to be a businessman as well as prophet. He remodeled the house and out-buildings, which still bear vestiges of the red paint that he selected for their adornment, outfitted the house with the finest furniture, and stocked the farm with purebred cattle and horses. For nearly twenty years Rockford was alternately amused and shocked by stories of the scandalous events enacted at "heaven." Non-believers who lived on farms in the neighbor- [77] hood of "heaven" declared that the behavior of the "angels" was frequently at variance with angelic tradition. Missionaries of the cult attested to miracles performed by their leader. Mem- bers of the colony openly avowed that the red-haired children of several of the loveliest of the angels were sired by the Holy Ghost. Schweinfurth dressed in the height of fashion and drove spirited horses on his frequent visits to Rockford. At the Wel- don farm he headed a colony of about twenty-five persons, most of whom were merely workers who enjoyed no special privileges and lived on dry bread and mush. The favored members of the flock, and the prophet himself, ate the best of foods. Twice each week the "angels" donned flesh colored tights to dance and stage tableaus authored by Schweinfurth. Some of the tableaus were biblical in character, others historical, and still others purely Schweinfurthian. The prophet's Sunday sermons were recorded by stenographers and typewritten copies were mailed to the lesser "heavens" where they were read the following Sunday. To Rockford's embarrassment, the cult attracted nation-wide attention. Typical of the character of the articles published is that in the Chicago Daily Tribune of May 29, 1892, describing the ceremony at "heaven" which welcomed Schweinfurth home from his missionary tours: The woods were scoured and stripped of every blossom, florists at Rockford were called on for elaborate displays. One hour before he was expected, the prettiest damsels, decked in gala attire, carpeted the road for a mile with flowers. The heavenly host met him two miles from the house, unhitched the horses from the carriage that bore his sacred person, and attaching a rope covered with evergreen, hauled him to the abode that was lonely when he was away. Cheers rent the air as the procession moved over the flower-strewn road. Old Deacon Weldon was standing on the front step and as soon as a halt was called, the deacon advanced with stately step and placed a gilt paper crown over Schweinfurth's pompadour and stentoriously shouted, "Hail thou mighty King, thou the Almighty God." Then true revelry broke loose. All the pretty girls in short dresses, very short ones too, danced until they could dance no more. Fiddlers fiddled, an angel who expected to be chief harper in New Jerusalem harped until several strings broke. The welcome ended in a grand feast that evening, at which wine flowed like water — for Schweinfurth and his favorites — the rest of the poor devils ate dry bread and cold mush. In the late nineties Schweinfurth was brought into court and accused of taking money and property from converts who were [78] required to surrender all their worldly goods to the cult. Found guilty, he was forced to return most of the real estate he had accumulated. In 1900 he disbanded his flock and moved to Rockford, engaging in the real estate business for several years. Later he moved to Chicago where he died in 1910. At the beginning of 1893 there was little reason to believe that Rockford's prosperity would soon be disrupted. In that year the Nelson House, a $250,000 hotel, was nearing comple- tion, and the new station of the Chicago & North Western Railroad was built at a cost of $45,000. The city had two state banks and six national banks and 187 factories. The school system included a central high school and fourteen elementary schools. A new post office had been approved by Congress and the site where the present Federal Building now stands had been purchased. Civic-minded persons were attempting to have the then-proposed Yerkes Observatory established at Rockford, for, as the local newspaper commented, it "will spread the fame of the city to places so far away that they haven't heard of our furniture." Rockford's boom was thoroughly deflated by the nation- wide Panic of 1893. Twenty-six factories passed into receiver- ship in one day. The furniture co-operatives, lacking cash re- serve, were dealt death blows. Two hundred houses in the course of construction were left unfinished. Hundreds of per- sons lost their jobs and many families were destitute. Soup kitchens were opened by charity societies to serve soup and bread for a penny a person. Hard times persisted until the last years of the decade. In 1897 Mayor E. W. Brown, referring to local conditions, said: The work which had been taken up by the Ladies Union Aid Society is commendable; I believe there is no better method of helping the unemployed than to aid them to help themselves. The utility of the potato patch plan is a step toward making the unemployed self-sup- porting during hard times, as has been demonstrated in Detroit and a number of other cities to be very successful. There are a great many acres of unemployed land lying about Rockford which may be suc- cessful used for this purpose. I wish to recommend to the council that the services of teams be donated by the city for plowing the land for this purpose. [79] Near the end of the decade two events of national signifi- cance pushed the panic and its worries into the background. One was the war with Spain in which militia companies H and K, the successors of the old Rockford Greys and Rifles, saw active service; the other was the Klondike Gold Rush in which a number of Rockford's young men participated. {80} Second Rational Church HS to s Mi: (J C >3 jP^St, Emmanuel Lutheran Church Wheels Under Rockford With the beginning of the new century Rockford entered on an era of normal growth and prosperity that was to continue without appreciable interruption until World War #1. During these years industries new to the Forest City were established. Machine tool manufacture, a local activity of modest scale since the 1880's, developed into an industry of major importance. It was a period of radical changes but they came so imperceptibly that Rockford adopted them in its stride, scarcely aware that familiar institutions and the old established way of life were being obliterated by the machine age. In 1900 many of Rockford's 31,051 residents were saving magazines to ship to the American soldiers in the Philippines, buggy whip salesmen were still doing a good business, kerosene for lamp fuel was being sold from wagons that made daily rounds of the residential district, and the blacksmith shop was an important commercial institution. Woodshed circulating libraries were well stocked with paper-back dime novels which were generally frowned upon by parents as a contributing factor to juvenile delinquency. The newspapers were devoting as much space to gossip of the stage as present-day papers devote to motion picture and radio news. A widely-known brand of cigarettes was boosting sales by inclosing a photograph of some popular actress in each package. The popular songs were "Just Break the News to [81] Mother" and "A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," both legacies of the war with Spain. Editors were poking fun at a few visionary mechanics who were trying to build flying ma- chines, and the sober-minded were inclined to view the new "horseless carriage" as a novel toy for the rich. A few of the more prosperous Forest City folk owned newfangled talking machines which reproduced the human voice from wax cyl- inders. Rockford had been introduced to its first automobile about 1898 when William Fletcher Barnes, Jr., son of one of the partners of the W. F. and John Barnes Company, brought to the city an electric "buggy," said to have been the first motor car to be shipped west of Chicago. Folks ran to the window to see young Fletcher drive through the streets and crowds col- lected wherever the strange vehicle stopped. In 1901 Barnes became Rockford's first automobile dealer. The first gasoline automobile, an Olds, was owned by Fritz Ulrici, of the Ulrici Paper-box Factory, and the second was owned by A. E. Cutler and his son, Dwight P. Cutler, who later became the Olds dealer. By 1908 there were 216 automobiles in Rockford, but the public generally had not become recon- ciled to the "devil wagons" which continued to rouse the ire of owners of horse-drawn vehicles. One of the first, and unquestionably the most conspicuous, drivers of automobiles in those days, was Rockford's outstanding town character and showman, Dr. Elisha C. Dunn, globe trotter, lecturer, dilettante, and politician. He was a large man of mili- tary bearing, with long flowing hair and a Franz Joseph mous- tache. He owned a spitz dog, whose ears he kept studded with diamonds. With this animal ensconced on a specially-built plat- form attached to the hood of a crimson, brass-ornamented, one- cylinder Cadillac, the good doctor drove through the streets of Rockford, tipping his broad-brimmed Stetson to acquaintances. After Dr. Dunn's death his collection of curios, ancient coins, and Indian relics was given to the Rockford Park Commis- sioners for museum purposes. Included in the collection were the molds with which the doctor had manufactured his rare coins, and a collection of hangman's nooses, alleged to have [82] been used in the execution of many notorious criminals of the epoch. Upon investigation all of the latter were found to have been cut from the same piece of rope. Motion pictures came to Rockford in 1904 when a store building at 106 West State Street was converted into the Rock- ford Motion Picture Parlors. There had been earlier shows in the city — a few films brought by lecturers and the famous Lyman H. Howe's travel pictures — but the Motion Picture Parlors was the first permanent palace. Admission was five cents with special Saturday matinees for children at three cents each. Soon after, the local playhouses began to supplement their pro- grams with pictures. Rockford's population numbered 45,501 in 1910. A large percentage of the increase was due to Italian and Swedish im- migration. By this time the city had 205 factories and many new buildings, theaters, and social service institutions. The Park District had been created, the local unit of the Chamber of Com- merce had been formed, and the city was now the See of the newly created Roman Catholic diocese of Rockford. Rockford residents had their first sight of an airplane in 1911. On August 4 of that year Jimmie Ward, piloting the "Shooting Star," a Curtiss biplane of the pusher type, and Beck- with Havens, flying a companion plane, staged exhibition flights from a field north of Love's Park to the awe and delight of thousands of spectators. But even at this late date, airplane flights were still in the same category as the balloon ascensions which since post-Civil War years had been a feature attraction at Fourth of July celebrations and fairs. * # # Indirectly the automobile contributed much to Rockford's industrial growth. Although the manufacture of cars never gained a permanent foothold in the city, the automotive indus- try greatly stimulated the growth of the machine tool industry which, as a popular expression puts it, "makes machines that make machines." A large measure of the credit for Rockford's prominence in machine tool manufacturing is due to the Inger- soll Milling Machine Company, which was moved to Rockford [83] from Ohio in 1891. Directed by Winthrop Ingersoll, an execu- tive whose democratic nature won the loyalty and affection of his employees, the Ingersoll Company grew steadily and by 1915 employed 425 persons. In 1938 the firm had an average working force of 800 and an average annual payroll of $1,500,000. The Ingersoll plant produces machinery for factories in all parts of the world. Many of these engines are gigantic affairs; single units have required as many as twelve railroad flat cars for their transportation. A battery of machines recently com- pleted by the Ingersoll Company for a famous French manu- facturer of automobiles measured two city blocks in length when installed. Ingersoll products are found in every major automobile factory in this country and in most plants where heavy labor-saving machinery is used. The Mechanics Universal Joint Company, a subsidiary of the Borg- Warner Corporation, one of the world's largest build- ers of shaft assemblies and universal joints, was begun at Rock- ford in 1890 by four men who had $1,000 and the patent rights to a friction-drive drill press. They bought five city lots and built a small shop to manufacture drill presses. Success followed and the small shop was subsequently replaced by the present plant, which cost $500,000. One of the quartet that founded the Mechanics Universal Joint Company was Levin Faust, who, born in Sweden in 1863, had immigrated to Rockford at the age of twenty-four and be- came a worker in a machine shop. He was to the machine tool industry what P. A. Peterson was to furniture manufacturing. By inventions and shrewd investments he amassed a huge for- tune — several of them, in fact — but his estates had dwindled by the time of his death in 1936. Faust, possibly the best loved Swede in Rockford, was better known for his humanitarianism than for his industrial genius. A lover of nature, poetry, and music, he directed many civic and philanthropic enterprises. He was one of the organizers of the Rockford Park District and was a charter member of the Svea Soner Singing Society. The Sundstrand Machine Tool Company is one of the group of factories with which Faust was connected. This firm was [84] incorporated as the Rockford Tool Company in 1905 by Swan Anderson, Charles Rystrom, and Faust to manufacture carving bits and belt sanders. The company has made important con- tributions to the machine tool industry. It introduced a small- size milling machine, and later developed new kinds of hy- draulic pumps and other hydraulic equipment for use with milling machines. Possibly the company is more widely known for the adding machine invented by David Sundstrand and put on the market in 1915. It was the first ten-key adding machine to be popularized and the first that could be used for direct subtraction. In 1926 the adding machine business was sold to the Elliott-Fisher Company. As early as 1922 the Sundstrand Machine Tool Company began manufacturing high-production lathes. On acquiring the American Broach and Machine Company of Detroit in 1936, the company added the building of broaching and broad-cutting tools to its line. The Sundstrand Company sells its products to the automotive, electrical, and aircraft industries. Besides spe- cial machines built to order, the Sundstrand Company produces automatic lathes, milling machines, centering machines, and grinders. The inventive genius of Howard D. Colman, whose auto- matic radio garage door attracted wide attention a few years ago, is directly responsible for the growth of the Barber-Colman Company, machine makers. Beginning as a manufacturer of check pumps for creameries in the 1890's, the Barber-Colman Company later became widely known for its hobbing machines, warp-tying machines, and hand-knotting equipment used in cotton mills. The present plant at the corner of River and Loomis Streets was started in 1902. Since then branch plants have been established in England, Germany, and four American cities. Among other important firms that were established at Rock- ford before the first World War are the Rockford Drilling Ma- chine Company; the Haddorff Piano Company; the Thayer Action Company, makers of piano actions for many of the world's best known pianos; the J. L. Clark Manufacturing Com- pany, makers of cans, tin boxes, and hardware specialties; the [85] Rockford Drop Forge Company, whose products are used in the machine tool and automotive industries; the National Lock Company, manufacturers of cabinet locks, hinges, and similar hardware; and Greenlee Brothers and Company, manufacturers of mechanic's tools, wood-working machinery, and machinery used in the automotive industry. [86] Camp Grant Days World War I found Rockford a quiet, neighborly town, with cast iron hitching posts bordering the courthouse lawn and wooden Indians extending greetings to patrons of the to- bacco shops along State Street. It was a town which moved to the tempo of such leisure-time activities as canoe and driving clubs, "trolley rides," ten-cent movies, and Sunday afternoon steamboat excursions on Rock River. Lifted out of the mild depression of 1912 by the industrial boom caused by the war, Rockford was prosperous. It was, of course, war conscious. War phraseology from foreign news dispatches had been neatly adapted to civilian uses. There was much talk of "slackers" so casual in civic pride as to fail to "do their bit" to put a local charity drive "over the top." The Red Cross, Belgian refugees and French war orphans offered a ro- mantic foreign interest to philanthropically inclined clubs and social service groups. A military influence from abroad was beginning to creep into fashions for women and trench coats were being worn by men. One of the popular songs of the day, nevertheless, was "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier." When the United States entered the War, Rockford's atmosphere changed overnight from quiet neighborliness to regimented militancy. On April 7 a parade down State Street proclaimed in almost frenzied terms Rockford's support of the United States' entry into the war. "This is Rockford's [87] loyalty day," recorded the Register-Gazette of that afternoon. "Thousands of sons and daughters of the Forest City of Illinois paraded the streets this afternoon in a patriotic demonstration of a magnitude not seen here on any other occasion since the Civil War. . . . Under the folds of the greatest and brightest of emblems, men, women, and children, heads upright, braving the drear April wind, stepped vigorously to the enlivening rattle of fife and drum and the quickening marches blared by brass bands." Within a few days "liberty" fried potatoes had replaced the familiar old German fries on the menu of virtually every res- taurant in the city and sauerkraut had gone into general dis- repute. Soon the study of the German language was to be banned in the public schools, the name of Berlin Avenue was to be changed to Rockford Avenue, and to speak with a Teutonic accent was to arouse popular suspicion. By the first of May, forty-two Rockford men had enlisted in the regular army, in addition to those previously recruited by Company H and Company K, Rockford units of the Illinois National Guard, which having been recalled from the Mexican border late in January, had in March again been drawn into federal service. Almost simultaneously with the declaration of war came the announcement of government plans for the establish- ment of sixteen large national army training camps, one of which was to be in Illinois. Alert Rockford business men and civic leaders requested War Department officials to consider a stretch of rolling farmland near the city as a camp site. On June 2, army men inspected the tract and found it suitable. A delegation of Rockford men, headed by John H. Camlin, imme- diately journeyed to Washington, D. C, where on June 7 Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, assured them that the site would be accepted. Other members of the committee included E. H. Keeler, William Sparks, Roscoe S. Chapman, W. H. Barnes, Benjamin J. Harris, Ross P. Beckstrom, Adam Gschwindt, J. V. Riley, Alex Hammerberg, Harry M. Johnson and Gus Boehland, representing the railroads and other utilities, Rockford newspapers and general business. f88] The land chosen was bounded roughly by Rockford on the north, farm lands on the east, the Kishwaukee River on the south and the timber-lined Rock River on the west. Compris- ing scores of some of the finest farms adjacent to Rockford, its natural beauty, drainage and healthful surroundings recom- mended itself highly to War Department officials. In the meantime, Rockford had plunged seriously and strenuously into the war-time activities that were dominating American life. The old tolerance of opposition to the war began swiftly to evaporate. On the day after draft registra- tion, June 5, 1917, several hundred persons marched through State Street to the county jail carrying a banner proclaiming, "All for One and One for All, Peace — Not War." A riot appeared imminent, but at the jail the marchers announced that they merely wished to surrender themselves to the law for failing to register. They were taken into custody and 137 of them, including several members of the local I.W.W. organ- ization who had incited the demonstration, were tried in Free- port before Judge K. M. Landis. In July Judge Landis sen- tenced 118 of them to a year and a day at hard labor in the Chicago Bridewell. A camp committee was organized in Rockford to lease ap- proximately 4,000 acres for the cantonment at rentals ranging from $8 to $20 an acre. Simultaneously a campaign was launched to raise a guarantee fund of $100,000 required from the city to insure farmers against crop losses and to finance highway improvements demanded by the war department. As evidence of good faith the committee immediately deposited $25,000 in a local bank and at the first public subscription meeting a fund of $47,000 was subscribed in pledges ranging from $500 to $5,000. It was estimated that the camp would swell the volume of business in Rockford $1,000,000 a month. To meet these new demands, Mayor Robert Rew, the city council, the Chamber of Commerce and other civic groups made provisions to maintain public safety, control prices and prevent profiteer- ing; to supply accommodations for visitors and new residents, and to afford ample entertainment for the military population. [89] Local merchants organized a "fair play" league pledged to observe a fair price schedule. Eleventh Street and Kishwaukee Street were improved in record time to insure fast arteries of traffic into the camp. Almost simultaneously with the selection of the camp site, thousands of carpenters and their helpers were put to work transforming the grain fields into training grounds. Even be- fore the government had secured complete control of the site, tens of thousands of feet of lumber, roofing, and other building materials had been shipped into the city. On June 24 work on the construction camp was begun and on June 30 first actual work on Camp Grant was started by the Bates and Rogers Con- struction Company of Chicago, under supervision of Major Donald H. Sawyer, construction quartermaster. Within a little more than two months, 1,100 buildings had been erected. By the time it was finished, the camp had consumed more than 48,000,000 feet of lumber, 300 miles of electric wiring, thirty miles of water pipe, 1,000 tons of nails, 150 acres of roofing felt and 170 carloads of plumbing equipment. Eight wells to supply fresh water were sunk; a 250,000-gallon water tank was erected and a 300,000-gallon reservoir built to supplement the elevated tank. Twenty-two miles of macadam and concrete roads were laid. Remnants of some of these roads are still to be found, stretching from Eleventh Street across cornfields. By mid- July endless trains of camp equipment and supplies began to be unloaded at the long line of new warehouses or were shunted down the spur lines that veined the camp. Some- times more than one hundred cars of supplies reached the camp on a single day. Two-story barrack buildings were being erected by the hundreds. Each building was equipped to house about two hundred and fifty men; each contained a large mess hall, a kitchen, a supply room, and an orderly room for the company clerk and company officers. All were heated by steam con- ducted through thirty-two miles of heavily insulated overhead pipe lines connected with centrally located heating plants. At the rear of each barrack was a heated bathhouse equipped with laundry tubs and shower baths. [90] In addition, the camp included hundreds of miscellaneous buildings: officers' quarters and mess halls, a base hospital with accommodations for 1,300 patients, and stables and corrals for hundreds of horses and mules. Recreational buildings were erected by the Y.M.C.A., B'nai B'rith, Knights of Columbus, Salvation Army, Red Cross, American Library Association, and others. A Liberty theater, seating 4,500, was built by the War Department and turned over to the War Camp Community Service Commission to offer motion pictures, big time vaude- ville and musical comedies at popular prices. A parade ground one mile long and 1,000 feet wide was laid out and just east of New Milford a huge rifle range was constructed. On July 2 the first soldiers arrived — Company A of the First Illinois Engineers of Chicago. They soon were followed by the First Illinois Infantry Regiment. Assigned to guard duty, these troops occupied a tented camp on the river bank until the first barracks were ready for occupancy. From the beginning, the life of the camp was reflected vividly in Rockford. As the mushroom soldier city grew, its demands upon the town increased. Although many of the first workmen at the cantonment lived in a construction camp near- by, hundreds thronged into Rockford. They were soon followed by thousands of job-seekers and the workers' families. There was a steadily increasing demand for carpenters, painters, metal workers, steam fitters, plumbers, electricians, and other skilled workers in the building trades. By late August, when work was being pushed to complete a section of the camp for the first of the drafted personnel, over 7,600 workmen were em- ployed. Estimates vary over the total number of men employed in building the camp from 25,000 to 50,000, the turn-over be- ing heavy. Little Sunday or night work was found necessary and labor trouble almost nil. On July 15 it was officially announced at Washington that the Illinois cantonment would be known as Camp Grant in honor of President Ulysses S. Grant, who joined the Union forces while a resident of Galena, Illinois. [91] On August 23-24 more than 1,000 commissioned officers arrived from Fort Sheridan. In equipping their quarters at camp they bought every available sheet, pillow case, mattress and blanket they could use to be found in local stores. The first recruits under the draft law to depart from Rockford and Win- nebago county numbered 28, and they assembled at Rockford on September 5. Before entraining for Camp Grant, where they were to form part of the first four hundred of the new National Army to arrive there, they were given a send-off by the popu- lace, being accompanied by bands as they marched from the old City Hall building down to the Burlington station, there to be addressed by Mayor Rew. This was to become standard procedure as subsequent units departed from Rockford. When the "40 percenters," as they were called, representing forty per cent of the first draft quota, departed on September 22, one of the bands brought forth copious tears as it rendered "The Vacant Chair." "We shall meet, but we shall miss him, There will be one vacant chair, At our fireside, sad and lonely, Often will the bosom swell, At remembrance of the story, How our noble Willie fell." On September 1 over 500 cooks and bakers, many from prominent hotels in the midwest, arrived to make preparations for a cooking school to train cooks for the army. Within three weeks 18,000 draft men arrived from Illinois and Wisconsin. From that point until the next year the camp population never exceeded 25,000 by many as men were transferred to fill incompleted divisions in training in the south. The peak of the camp's population was reached in July, 1918, when there were a few more than 50,000 officers and men. Among the first to arrive some remained to form a base for the 86th Di- vision, which was established by Major-General Thomas H. Barry, first commandant at Camp Grant. On September 13 Companies H and K of the Illinois Na- tional Guard left Rockford for Camp Logan at Houston, Texas, [92} there to receive intensive training for overseas service. Together they totaled 347 officers and men. Some of the men who had served with these two companies during the Mexican border campaign, left just before these units were sworn into federal service, to enroll in officers' training schools. Before sailing for France the two companies became part of the 129th Infan- try Regiment of the 33rd (Prairie) Division. Soon after the Illinois National Guard was mustered into federal service for duration of the World War, a new state militia, designed purely for home emergency purposes, was organized. Of this the Rockford unit was Company I of the Tenth Illinois Infantry Regiment, under command of Captain George M. Hodge. As the camp became solidly established, it became a focal point of interest to the whole midwest. Newspapers of Chicago maintained special correspondents at the camp. Among these were Richard Henry Little, Russell Palmer and Rothwell S. Gregg of the Chicago Record-Herald; Parke Brown, John J. Jen- kins and Hap Floberg of the Chicago Tribune; Con Rourke of the Chicago Daily News; Paul Jeans, representing the Hearst papers; M. E. Newman, army editor, and many more. Mr. Brown accompanied the Division to France. Ring Lardner, then on the staff of the Tribune, was a frequent visitor and made Camp Grant the background of a series of comic articles in the Satur- day Evening Post. Business boomed mightily. New stores and restaurants sprang up over night. Hotels and lodging houses overflowed, with dwelling houses and apartments at a premium. Many new buildings were erected. At the urging of the Chamber of Commerce, many families rented "spare rooms" to the new- comers. Overnight the leisurely pace of downtown Rockford gave way to feverish hurly-burly. At all hours of the day and night, taxicabs, now numbering 500, flashed madly through the streets, and newsboys, some of them veterans of Chicago's Loop, shouted their extras bellicosely from almost every corner. The- aters were crowded nightly. Restaurants had queues extending onto the sidewalks, while the week-end crowds of visitors, num- [93] bering between thirty and forty thousand, literally ate the res- taurants bare. On one Sunday even the gasoline stations sold their tanks dry. Barber shops issued numbers in the forenoon to entitle patrons to service in the afternoon. With thousands of soldiers flocking to it by foot, by trolley, or by the steamer "Illinois," Harlem Park reached the zenith of its glory. Rockford itself by no means neglected its local Coney Island, particularly after the park management adopted the practice of giving away a Saxon cyclecar or a Model T Ford to the holder of a lucky ticket on certain days. In the old Chau- tauqua building free motion pictures were shown. It was at once the heyday and the swan song of the park. Shortly after the war it was abandoned. Central Park, another amusement center, was built during the war and flourished for a while. To- day, it is only a ghost of its wartime self. The old Grand Opera House, which shocked the more sedate by becoming a part of the Columbia burlesque wheel, fell by the wayside after the close of the war and was torn down. After Sunday church services, soldiers by the thousands accepted invitations to dinner in Rockford homes or for Sunday afternoon automobile rides. On the windshields of Rockford cars appeared stickers announcing the driver was anxious to give a soldier a "lift." At the soldier clubs maintained in downtown Rockford and operated by the Rockford War Camp Community Service, the soldiers met Rockford young women at carefully chaperoned receptions and dances. Many returned to settle down in Rockford at the close of the war because of friendships started in these clubs. That the stranger to Rockford might know where to find his favorite club, lodge, church or other amusement, the Rev. Charles Parker Connolly, publicity agent for the War Camp Community Service Commission, prepared a shirt-pocket handbook for soldiers, price five cents. Everywhere were the military police, distinguished by the blue band with a white MP upon their sleeve. It was their province to enforce the regulations laid down by the army to safeguard the health and morals of soldiers within the five mile zone of military jurisdiction established around all camps. Among other things these regulations provided for inspection [94] and policing of places of entertainment, enforcement of the ban on the sale of liquor to soldiers and suppression of vice and the sale of narcotics. Rockford legally was a dry town, but the civil authorities, army police and the local agency of the department of justice were kept busy suppressing a traffic in contraband liquor. Life at camp was a serious, even grim business. Many hours each day were spent at drilling, in bayonet practice, and in mimic battles fought in Camp Grant's twelve miles of trenches. The trench system, laid out under the supervision of French and English officers, covered 100 acres and included dug-outs, bombproof shelters and a "Y" recreation hut which was ten feet underground. In what was known as "Martin's Garden," a secondary trench system on the rifle range, recruits learned to explode hand grenades and occupied trenches while machine gun bullets whistled overhead. There was instruction in the use of gas masks, including periods spent in chambers filled with tear gas. Lectures by French and English officers, fresh from the war zone, gave a fillip to military instruction. The commissary assumed breath-taking proportions. Tons of food were prepared and distributed daily by almost 1,000 mess sergeants, cooks and kitchen police. At one period a day's supply of food approximated, roughly, 225 quarters of beef or 800 pounds of chicken, 30,000 to 50,000 eggs and a similar number of ears of corn, and tons of bread, biscuits, cookies, pies and cakes. A hundred pounds of beans would vanish at a single meal. Several carloads of oranges and lemons and at least one of preserves, jellies and canned fruits were consumed each month. To conserve national resources, Rockford, like the rest of the country, became used to "Meatless days," "Heatless days," and "Lightless nights" when store windows and electric signs were darkened to conserve the coal used to furnish them electric energy. Streetcars stopped at every other corner for the same purpose. Winthrop Ingersoll, president of the Inger- soll Milling Machine Company, was Rockford's fuel adminis- trator, and Henry S. Whipple, manager of the Rockford Light, Gas & Coke Company, food administrator. [95} Rockford was busily engaged in the manufacture of muni- tions, and therefore was exempt from the more rigid coal regu- lations. However, in January, 1918, at the zenith of the fuel campaign, all of the city's major industrial plants were closed because of a snowbound condition which held up freight trains. The chief concern of the food administration soon came to be the conservation of sugar, white flour and meat. To prevent profiteering, food prices on certain staples were regulated by the food administrator. In restaurants sugar bowls were re- placed by tiny envelopes of sugar, and at grocery stores indi- vidual purchases were limited to a few pounds a week, depend- ing on the size of the family. Throughout the fall and winter of 1917-18 Camp Grant was visited by a steady stream of celebrities. Former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, Secretary of War Newton D. Baker and Governor Frank O. Lowden were among the earliest visitors. Among the many notables to visit the camp at one time or another were Major General John J. Pershing, Ignace Jan Paderewski and Sarah Bernhardt. On July 4, 1918, Rockford had a tremendous military pageant, with the 86th Division, consisting of approximately 28,000 men, marching through the city in a farewell parade. It has been estimated at least 100,000 visitors, mostly friends and relatives, witnessed the review. Secretary of War Baker arrived at Camp Grant, but not in time to formally review the troops. Rodeos, band concerts and stunting airplanes enter- tained the visitors while others watched the boxing matches in the new arena, which had just been completed by the one hun- dred German prisoners who had been interned upon America's entry into the war, and brought to Camp Grant on June 12. With the departure of the division on August 16, Camp Grant became an infantry replacement center and one of the principal training camps for infantry officers. Hundreds of students from midwestern universities were enrolled in the school. The 16 1st Depot Brigade grew to about 30,000 officers and men at the time the Armistice was signed. [96] ft Ill ' H ■i Lincoln Junior High School L,U& 'A 'i\\Y m Library, lockford College "-■-... The first Rockford man to lose his life in military service was Herman Johnson, who had enlisted in the regular army in the Spring of 1917, soon after the declaration of war, and who died in Salt Lake City, Utah, on July 15, 1917. His body was brought to Rockford for burial. The first Rockford citizen to lose his life in action was Walter R. Craig, who fell in France on August 18, 1918. In mid-September an influenza epidemic, which had ap- peared on the eastern seaboard a few weeks previously, swept into the camp, bringing such tragedy as Rockford never had known. Between September 21 and September 23 over 400 cases were reported. On September 25 two deaths were re- ported. By the end of the month 4,000 men had been stricken. In Rockford the disease spread like wildfire among civilians. Schools, churches, theaters and in some instances, business houses were closed and every resource of the city was marshalled to combat the plague. Emergency hospitals were established in the newly completed Rockford Boys' Club, the Lincoln (now Franklin) School and the Knights of Columbus Club. A garage at 206-212 on North Church Street was converted into a morgue. Hundreds of men and women volunteered their aid to the Camp Grant base hospital as well as the improvised city hospitals, the regular hospitals and at the morgue in receiving sorrowing friends and relatives of the dead. Still others drove cars day and night conveying the parents of dying soldiers from the various soldier clubs to the Camp and back, many taking those without funds into their homes to await the outcome of their illness. In early October the death rate had risen to more than one hundred per day at camp. On October 6, overwhelmed by the spectacle of mounting tragedy in the camp, Colonel Charles B. Hagadorn, acting camp commander, ended his life with a bullet from his army pistol. He had been unable to obtain any rest since the epidemic broke out due to worry over a condition about which he had no control. By the end of October the epidemic had expended itself after causing the death of more than 1,000 men at the camp and 323 residents of Rockford, ending the most disastrous epi- demic in the city's history. [97] Early on the morning of November 11, Rockford was awakened by the din of steam whistles signalling that an armis- tice had been signed between Germany and the Allied powers. Soon the streets were alive with exulting, boisterous crowds — men, women and children, laughing, shouting, even weeping in the hysteria of their joy and relief. Automobile horns, bells and factory whistles added to the general din. Pots and pans, wash tubs and boilers, garbage cans, tin horns, and every metallic object that could be converted into a noisemaker were pressed into service to increase the tumult. Bonfires spotted the city. Traffic became hopelessly snarled, but nobody tried to interfere with the most spontaneous carnival of joy and thanksgiving the city had ever known. In the afternoon a more formal celebration was held with all the city's bands, two military bands from the camp, civic and patriotic organizations and 5,000 men representing the camp, participating. Schools and factories were closed, as thousands cheered the ending of the war. Almost immediately, Camp Grant was selected as a demo- bilization center for thirteen midwestern states. Army records show that more than 250,000 soldiers, including the 86th Division, received their discharges there. Demobilization activ- ities continued well into 1919. When the final accounting was taken, Rockford's economic benefit from Camp Grant proved to have been great. The price paid for the camp site alone was over $835,000. The total cost of installation of utilities, general construction and the land has been set at $13,500,000. In addition to this were farm rents before the government actually bought the lands. An article in the Register-Gazette cited the city's retail sales figures for the month of August, 1918, as typical of the effect of Camp Grant on Rockford's commercial life: $169,043 worth of merchandise was officially bought over the counter from Rockford stores by the camp. In addition there were huge unestimated expendi- tures by individual soldiers, camp workmen and the many thou- sands of visitors attracted to the city by the camp. From 1924 until December 7, 1940, when the camp again reverted to the federal government, Camp Grant was used as a [98] training grounds for the Illinois National Guard. From time to time new buildings and other improvements were added by the state. The Civilian Conservation Corps, six companies of which were stationed at the camp for nine months in 1933, and one company from April, 1934, to November, 1935, did much to enhance the appearance of the grounds. The banks of the Rock and Kishwaukee rivers were improved. One hundred thousand trees were transplanted and extensive landscaping undertaken. Cabins, shelters and picnic areas were constructed. In 1936 some 250 resident members of a Works Progress Administra- tion transient center then located in the camp, continued the work of the C.C.C. With the inauguration of national compulsory military training in 1940 Camp Grant was designated by the War De- partment as a recruit reception center and as the location of one of several medical replacement centers. In November John Griffiths & Sons Construction Company, Chicago, began work on 365 new buildings under federal control. The state had erected 176 buildings, a pistol and machine gun range and a 37 millimeter range for the use of the 7,000 to 9,000 national guardsmen who annually trained for two weeks at Camp Grant. The guardsmen lived in tents. Camp Grant now (1941) is designated as the largest recep- tion center of the new army. Recruits are received, examined and outfitted and their branch of service determined before they are shifted on to the other military camps. The reception center, located in the area east of Kishwaukee Street, is equipped to house 2,500 men at one time, the turn-over is at an approximate rate of 12,000 men per month. The recruit averages about four days at Camp Grant. The medical replacement center, in the south end of the camp, is equipped to train 7,500 troops at one time. A perma- nent staff of 2,500 officers and men are stationed at the camp. A hospital center occupies the site of the 1917-18 base hospital area. The camp of 1941 covers 3,281.32 acres. The estimated cost of the new buildings and roads is $8,000,000. Each bar- rack has its own heating system and is said to be of a more per- [99] manent construction than the barracks of the first World War days. The buildings themselves are smaller. Visitors have been barred from the reservation except on rare occasions as a pre- caution against possible sabotage. Like its predecessor, the camp is a self-contained institution, with a base hospital, fire department, water plant. There is a wireless station for com- munication with other military centers. Recreation halls are being built and four churches with electric organs are under construction for use by this peace time army. [100] Dizzy Decade Following the close of the war, Rockford entered upon the era marked by such innovations — some fleeting, some perma- nent — as mah-jong, prohibition, flappers, radio, psychoanalysis, bobbed hair, concrete roads, home brew, numerology, trans- oceanic airplane flights, marathon dances, electric refrigeration, "bunion derbies," flagpole sitters, "speak-easies," talking pic- tures, auto-suggestion, shirts with soft collars, the Ku Klux Klan, colossal motion picture palaces, installment buying, bal- loon tires, "sex-appeal," contract bridge, motor bus transporta- tion, bathing beauty contests, mechanical cigar lighters, and multi-colored bathroom fixtures. Some of these things had a direct economic effect upon Rockford while others, although apparently more trivial, by their psychological effect indirectly contributed to the facility with which money circulated. High-pressure salesmanship of government bonds and war savings stamps was succeeded by high-pressure salesmanship of commercial securities and peace- time commodities. High-pressure propaganda which popular- ized the war was carried over into the field of post-war commer- cial advertising. The luxury of yesterday became the necessity of today. Novelties became staples, fads became fetishes. Women workers increased in office and factory. Radical changes in women's fashions, at first startling, became accepted one season only to be replaced by more revolutionary styles the [101] next. Unquestionably the increasing popularity of the new sedan-type automobile bodies influenced the transformation in women's mode of dress. Voluminous dresses, wide hats, and an excess of frills could not be adjusted to the limited space and small door openings of closed-model cars. Thus coats, hats, and dresses were drastically abbreviated. But though industry influenced feminine fashions, the con- verse was also true. Rockford, already a hosiery manufacturing center, was directly affected by short skirts and the consequent attention to silk stockings. The Burson Knitting Company and the B-Z-B Knitting Company each began to design types of hosiery which would meet with the esthetic approval of the public eye. The Contour Hosiery Company, the name of which aptly described the character of its product, was estab- lished to meet the new demand. Chappell Brothers, canners of Ken-L-Ration dog food and one of Rockford's most unique in- dustries, was a war baby. The Chappells had been buying horses for the army when the war ended, leaving them with a large number of the animals. The idea of canning horse meat for dog food was suggested. Today the company also exports canned horse meat for human consumption. On July 18, 1919 Walter Craig Post, No. 60, American Legion, was organized with approximately 800 members. Its name was a memorial to Private Walter R. Craig. On two occasions — first in 1933 and again in 1938 — the post was host to conventions of the Illinois department of the Legion. In 1921 Thomas G. Lawler Post, No. 342, Veterans of Foreign Wars, was organized. It is named for Colonel Thomas G. Lawler, Civil War Veteran and later colonel of the Third Illinois Infantry (National Guard). State conventions of the Veterans of Foreign Wars were held in Rockford in 1931 and 1939. In 1920 Rockford had 65,651 residents. This figure rep- resented an average increase of 2,000 in population each year since 1910, a rate of growth which was to continue for an- other decade. Soon Rockford, on the strength of Roger Bab- son's declaration that it was the most prosperous community in the nation, was to become the mecca of job seekers in the Middle [102] West. The Chamber of Commerce proudly acclaimed that the city's diversity of manufacturing interests rendered it immune against business slumps or extended periods of unemployment. This claim seemed to have been substantiated in 1921 when, beyond a temporary decline in real estate values and rentals and some wage cuts, the city suffered few ill effects from the general business slump of that year. Bank clearings had increased from $83,845,620 in 1917 to $110,280,000 in 1919. The former peak year in industrial activity, 1914, in which 265 industries employed 10,422 per- sons and paid $6,645,000 in annual wages, was topped in 1919 when the federal census placed the number of industries at 312, the number of persons employed at 14,992, and the annual total of industrial wages at $18,379,000. The value of manu- factured products for the year 1914, $26,371,000, was almost trebled by the 1919 figure of $74,919,000. Ten years later 19,916 industrial workers in Rockford were paid $28,291,371 in wages for producing goods valued at $157,090,301. Without doubt more physical changes occurred in Rockford between 1918 and 1929 than in any similar period in the city's history. Building activity, which had mounted steadily during the war, spurted upward early in the 1920's and continued to gain. New subdivisions were opened in rapid succession, real estate values reached unprecedented heights, and thousands of new dwellings were built to be purchased or rented as rapidly as they could be completed. Four new bank buildings were erected; two of these were occupied by new institutions, the Security National and the Commercial National. In 1922 the Forest City National Bank built a seven-story building and the Rockford National Bank added four stories to its seven-story building at State and Main Streets. In 1926 the Manufacturers' National Bank moved into a new seven-story building which is now occupied as the Rockford City Hall. In 1918 the Swedish- American Hospital, the Rockford Boys' Club, and the Midway Theater were built. At that time the last-named structure was the most elaborate motion picture house in northern Illinois, excepting Chicago. In 1919 build- ing permits were issued for the erection of 249 dwellings at a £103} cost of $880,000; seventy industrial and commercial buildings at a cost of $1,159,380; and various small buildings and im- provements valued at $293,000. During the next ten years permits for new buildings and improvements in the commercial and industrial fields authorized building operations which cost more than $40,000,000. More than 4,000 residences were built at a total cost of $15,305,065. Significant industrial expansion occurred in 1920. The Na- tional Lock building was erected at a cost of $250,000; the Fyrac Spark Plug Company built a $100,000 plant; the thirteen- story Ziock Building was built at a cost of $150,000; and a $200,000 addition was made to the Rockford Furniture Com- pany plant. Other plant additions made that year included an $80,000 structure at the Rockford Paper Box-board plant and a $90,000 structure at the Sundstrand Adding Machine plant. The building boom reached its peak at Rockford in 1925, 1926, and 1927. The year 1925 was the record year for the construction of residences; 1927 was the peak year for the erec- tion of public, industrial, and commercial buildings. Residen- tial building permits in 1925 numbered 641 with a total value of $2,541,400. Permits for commercial, industrial, and other buildings in 1927 amounted to 2,117 valued at $6,550,873. Among these were the $2,750,000 Faust Hotel, the ten-story Talcott Building, the Coronado Theater, the Rockford Morning Star Building, and the LaFayette Hotel. The $630,000 Jefferson Street Bridge and the $1,000,000 Abraham Lincoln Junior High School were built in 1926. That year, however, is more memorable for a destructive event. On May 1 3 fire destroyed the Sutton Top Shop. Five women were burned to death and twelve other persons were seriously injured. The blaze followed an explosion in a quantity of celluloid stored in the building. Exits were blocked by the flames and the em- ployees who perished were trapped in the building. This con- flagration caused a greater loss of life than any other fire in Rockford's history. Thirty factories and hundreds of residences were flooded by a cloudburst on June 13, 1926. More than four inches of rain fell in ninety minutes. The water was between eight and ten [104] feet deep at Shaw and Charles Streets, Twenty-second Avenue, and for miles along Keith Creek. The storm caused property damage estimated at about $1,000,000 and emphasized Rock- ford's need of the storm sewer system which was installed a few years later. From 1922 through 1927 a street improvement project, which resulted in the paving of Rockford's principal thorough- fares and the surfacing of many new streets at a cost of $1,032,000, was under way. In 1928 work was begun on the $2,500,000 sanitary sewer system and sewage treatment plant which was completed in 1932. With the exception of the building of the Jefferson Street Bridge in 1926 and the widening of Wyman Street, none of the public improvements of the time attempted to comply with the Rockford City Plan approved in 1918. This plan, gener- ally known as the "Roper Plan" in honor of George D. Roper, chairman of the city plan commission which spent three years in formulating an elaborate program of public improvements, recommended the elimination of all grade crossings in Rock- ford by relocating the tracks and changing the elevations of several railroads. Other provisions were the expansion of the park system to include more riverside property, the erection of a new union station, the building of a riverside drive on the east bank of the Rock River, and the extension of many streets and the boulevarding of others. The widening of Wyman Street, authorized by an ordinance passed in 1925, was finally completed on December 7, 1931, at a cost of $651,000. The street, which in the original plat of the west side had been an 18-foot alley and had from time to time been widened to 50 feet, was further widened to 72 feet between Chestnut Street and Park Avenue. This involved the condemnation of considerable property on the east side of the street. Two pieces of property, the northeast and southeast corners of State and Wyman Streets, were completely absorbed and the buildings razed. The project was in county court until April, 1930, before it was entirely approved. Credit for the widening of Wyman Street, for the street improvement project, and, to a considerable extent, for the sanitary sewer program [105] must be given to Mayor J. Herman Hallstrom, who held office from 1921 to 1927 and from 1929 to 1933. Another im- portant innovation made during Hallstrom's administration was the city zoning plan, adopted in 1922. Under this plan Rockford is divided into seven districts, six of which are re- stricted for commercial, industrial, or residential purposes; the seventh zone is unrestricted. When in May, 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh startled the world by making a solo flight from New York to Paris, the Forest City was stirred to an intense interest in aviation. In the two succeeding years Rockford acquired two airports, two air- plane factories, both of which failed, and sponsored a trans- Atlantic flight that was reported on the front pages of the nation's press. Bert R. J. (Fish) Hassell, pioneer Rockford flier, and Fred E. Machesney, Kewanee pilot, are the outstanding figures in Rockford's aviation history. At the time of Lindbergh's flight Machesney, owner of a Waco-9, was carrying passengers from a field on Dr. Warren Miller's farm on North Second Street Road. Machesney's business immediately boomed and on July 8 the Rockford Chamber of Commerce designated his flying field as the city airport. Influenced by the current "good will" transoceanic flight attempts, civic-minded persons began promoting a flight from Rockford to Stockholm. Bert Hassell, of Swedish descent, de- veloped a plan for a one-stop flight over the great circle route. Details of the proposed trip were announced by Mayor Burt M. Allen at a Chamber of Commerce dinner on January 23, 1928. Within two months, a committee headed by Otto Milburn, Rockford contractor, obtained enough money to purchase a specially built Stinson-Detroiter plane which was christened the "Greater Rockford." Parker D. (Shorty) Cramer, a Depart- ment of Commerce aviator inspector, was selected to accompany Hassell as navigator. Cramer had come to Rockford to inspect the new Rockford Airport which Machesney laid out on the William H. Ziock farm. [106] The thousands of spectators who gathered at the field on the morning of July 28, 1928, to witness the take-off, saw the heavily loaded plane lift sluggishly from the runway and, barely missing the trees that bordered the field, disappear beyond the hills across the river. A few minutes later they learned that the "Greater Rockford," unable to gain altitude with its extra bur- den of 400 gallons of gasoline and oil, had crashed in a corn field just west of the city. Its occupants, fortunately, were un- harmed. The plane was sent back to the factory for repairs and a second attempt was made on August 16. This time the plane carried only 200 gallons of fuel. The aviators planned to refuel at Cochrane, Ontario, and again at Mount Evans, Greenland, where fuel previously had been shipped to Prof. W. H. Hobbs of the Northwestern University meteorological expedition. The ship arrived safely at Cochrane and was delayed there for two days by bad weather. The flyers embarked on the 1,600-mile hop to Greenland and nothing was heard of them for two weeks. Then word came that the ship had landed on the Green- land ice cap many miles from Professor Hobbs' camp, for which Hassell and Cramer had set out on foot. They were rescued by a party of Hobbs' men which had been making a final search for them before breaking camp to return to the United States for the winter. The "Greater Rockford," so far as anyone knows, is buried in ice and snow in Greenland. Cramer subsequently made two attempts to cross the Atlan- tic via the great-circle route. The first flight, undertaken with Robert Woods, Chicago newspaper reporter, failed in Green- land. On the second attempt, Cramer, alone at the controls, met his death in the Atlantic. Under Machesney's management the Rockford airport has been a self-supporting venture. Since its establishment almost 53,000 passengers have been taken aloft by Machesney and his co-pilots, and 157 persons have been taught to fly. There have been 9,615 hours of flying in equipment owned by the airport, which generally is considered equivalent to 960,000 miles. Today the airport covers 130 acres, with a 3,800 foot run- way. It has an excellent lighting system, including a revolving [107] beacon. Ten citizens of Rockford house privately-owned planes in its hangars. It is listed as an emergency landing field on the air mail route between Minneapolis and Chicago. Early in 1940 it was designated as a training center for Beloit College student fliers under the Civil Aeronautics Authority program for the training of 20,000 student pilots. Its first class consisted of ten students, nine men and one woman. One of the most serious disasters in Rockford's history oc- curred on September 14, 1928, when a tornado swept through the factory district at the southeast part of the city, causing the death of fourteen persons. Property damage amounted to about $2,000,000. Five factories, three warehouses, two garages, and 360 dwellings were demolished. The Rockford Chair & Fur- niture Company's Factory B, where eight men were killed, was in the direct path of the tornado. The plants of the Elco Tool Company, the Union Furniture Company, the Mechanic's Ma- chine Company, and the National Chair Company were exten- sively damaged. Thirty-six persons were seriously injured and for hours following the storm the facilities of the city's three hospitals were taxed to the utmost in caring for the scores who suffered minor injuries. [108] Crisis and Change At the time of the stock market crash in 1929, Rockford's population exceeded 80,000. Wages were high, one-third more workers were employed than in 1928, and money was circulat- ing rapidly. Loans were easy to negotiate for almost any sort of business expansion. Retail buying was active, as a total of $56,903,830 for the combined annual sales of 1,161 retail stores indicated. Installment buying of real estate, automobiles, furni- ture, and all sorts of commodities had become a community habit. Thousands of persons were purchasing houses at prices raised high above reasonable values as a result of a ten-year orgy of real estate promotion and speculation. Wage worker and retired businessman alike were speculating in the stock market, some plunging, some dabbling — all convinced that the soaring values of stocks and bonds would bring them great wealth. The sudden collapse of the stock market was, of course, fol- lowed by severe local repercussions, but, generally, the deaden- ing effect of the depression was not felt by Rockford's industries until 1930 and 1931. Perhaps the abrupt decline in building activity is one of the best indications of the change which came over the city in 1928-29. In 1930 the value of residential building permits amounted to less than $ 1 ,000,000 for the first time since 1921. The total for the year, $662,200, represented 158 new structures (apartments and dwellings) as compared to the 1929 total of 368 buildings valued at $1,587,200. In 1932 [109] only eleven residential building permits valued at $37,300, were issued; in 1933 six permits valued at $22,500 were issued; and in 1934 the low record in building for Rockford's entire history was established when only two residential buildings were erected. One of these was the impressive mansion of H. L. Clark on North Second Street, built by its owner at this par- ticular time, it was said, as a gesture to encourage building among those who could afford it and thus create employment for members of the building crafts. By this time many workers, subjected to repeated salary cuts or loss of jobs as industrial activity waned, had exhausted their surplus funds and were forced to seek public aid. Insurance policies were surrendered for cash value by the hundreds. Great numbers of installment purchasers of automobiles, electric re- frigerators, radios, and other personal property were forced to release these possessions. Business and industry were starved for want of consumer buying power and many concerns were nearing bankruptcy. Rockford, which a few years before had been reported as the most prosperous city in the nation, now was reported the hardest hit of all. So noticeable was the slump in the very beginning of the local depression when compared with the thriving business of the previous decade, that Rockford's businessmen, early in 1931, believed the low point had been reached and that a prompt up- turn was inevitable. In June, 1931, merchants, civic organiza- tions, business associations, and the general population joined in a plan to stage a great jubilee week to stimulate buying and celebrate the end of the depression. On the morning of June 15, the day on which the jubilee parade was to take place, three of Rockford's eight banks closed their doors, never to resume business. Despite the consterna- tion caused by this event, the parade was held. Few of those who witnessed it will ever forget the incongruous spectacle of marching bands and the display of business-boosting banners passing before the doors of the closed banks, and before the doors of other banks at which frenzied groups of depositors waited to withdraw their funds. As one of the bands in the procession passed before one of the closed banks, it is said to have played, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby." [110] In September, 1931, three months after the tragicomic pa- rade, a new banking firm, the Illinois National Bank and Trust Company, acquired the building of the defunct People's State Bank and entered into business. Subsequently, three of the banks that were forced to close paid unusually high dividends. Today (1941) the Forest City National Bank, its building sold, has returned its depositors 108.2 per cent on their money; Manu- facturers National Bank, 80 per cent; the Rockford National Bank, 72 per cent, a total to be increased when the bank build- ing is sold; the Security National Bank, 55 per cent; and the Peoples State Bank, 38 per cent. The remaining banks in the city firmly withstood the crisis. The Third National Bank, founded in the fifties and incorpo- rated under its present name in 1864, remained solvent through- out the bleakest depression years. In 1941 its capital was $500,000, its surplus and profits, $394,405, and its deposits, $12,019,655. The Swedish-American Bank, established in 1910, likewise came through unscathed. In 1941 this firm's capital was $292,000, its surplus, $301,679, and its deposits, $7,790,372. Throughout Rockford's history the poor and underprivi- leged among its population have been generously assisted. Since 1879 when a group of women representing various churches formed the Ladies Union Aid Society, organized private charity has supplemented the welfare work of local government agen- cies. As Rockford grew, numerous volunteer social service groups came into existence. The Ladies Union Aid Society was succeeded in 1915 by the Rockford Public Welfare Association. The work of this organization was co-ordinated in 1920 with other social service agencies by the organization of the Rock- ford Community Fund, a federation of charities which devel- oped from the wartime United War Work Campaign group. In 1920 the office of the Rockford Public Welfare Associa- tion, managed by Miss Prudence Ross, the executive secretary, became a clearing house at which needy persons were certified as eligible for public aid and then referred to the township poor- master. Volunteer workers were recruited to aid in the investi- gation of relief cases. At that time the number of families in Rockford requiring relief was 255, a figure that was later to swell to thousands. [mi Late in 1930 and early in 1931 direct relief was supple- mented by a county organized work program at which 1,850 persons were employed at odd jobs about the county buildings, on the roads, and in the forest preserves. In 1932 the funds of the township and the Rockford Public Welfare were exhausted. When a county relief committee was organized to administer the distribution of state relief funds allocated to Winnebago County by the newly created Illinois Emergency Relief Com- mission, Miss Ross and the Public Welfare Association's staff were placed at the disposal of the county. The establishment of the Federal Civil Works Administra- tion in November, 1933, enabled a large number of persons to obtain jobs on public work projects at an average weekly wage of $15, and many families consequently were removed from the relief rolls. This continued until March, 1934, when local relief was augmented by funds allocated under the Federal Emergency Relief Act. In January, 1934, the state took over the administration of relief and Miss Ross was appointed Local I.E.R.C. administrator. By February, 1935, the number of families on relief in Rock- ford and Winnebago County had grown to 8,102. This figure decreased sharply in the summer and fall of 1935 owing to the establishment of the Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration by the federal government. By January of the following year 3,758 families, formerly on the relief rolls, were being supported by W.P.A. employment. The inauguration of the W.P.A. program superseded other forms of federal aid for the needy and the responsibility for relief was returned to Rock- ford Township. The local office of the I.E.R.C. then became a certifying agency that supplied the W.P.A. with workers from the relief rolls, although the township continued to receive money for direct relief from the fund raised by the 3 per cent state sales tax. The Works Progress Administration completed many worth- while projects in Rockford and Winnebago County in addition to releasing immense sums of money into trade channels. Throughout the county, roads were improved, bridges and cul- verts built, and schoolhouses remodeled and repaired. Much {112} excellent work was done in the Winnebago County Forest Pre- serves. W.P.A. employment in Winnebago County, keenly responsive to business improvements, showed a steady decline each year following its establishment: 4,153 in March, 1936; 2,384 in March, 1937; and 1,365 in January, 1938. The total expenditures of W.P.A. in Winnebago County up to May 1, 1938, amounted to $4,254,168; sponsor's contributions during the same period totalled $1,335,285. Excluding the large projects completed for the Rockford Park Board and the Sanitary Sewer District Board, from Janu- ary, 1936, to April, 1938, the W.P.A. employed 1,000 workers in Rockford at wages totaling $1,590,098. Besides that sum, $357,151 were spent by the W.P.A. for materials and equip- ment, and $597,236 contributed by project sponsors. Thus the amount of money circulated in Rockford through the W.P.A. amounted to $2,544,585 in two and a half years, or more than $1,000,000 a year. By 1941 achievements of W.P.A. projects in Rockford in- cluded the laying of 31 miles of storm sewers, 12 miles of macadam streets, 10 miles of macadam alleys, 12 miles of con- crete curbs and gutters and 3 1 miles of sidewalk, either in orig- inal construction or in repairs; the reconditioning of 10 miles of brick streets; the installation of 200 street lights; the plant- ing of 4,500 hard maple trees in parkways along city streets and the removal of 5,000 dead and objectionable trees; the construction of a pedestrian underpass under East State Street at the Highland School; the laying of 85,000 square yards of riprap wall and floors at Keith Creek and the installation of 1 1 miles of water mains. Also under their aegis, the New Ever- green County School and an addition to Lincoln Park School had been built and more than forty-six schools in Rockford and Winnebago County had been rehabilitated. At Camp Grant W.P.A. projects had improved buildings, and constructed roads, sanitary sewers, and Bell Bowl. Other projects had constructed 44 miles of sanitary sewers in the Rockford Sanitary District and built a disposal plant at Pecatonica, a village about 16 miles west of Rockford. In the summer of 1940 work was under way on an 800-foot dam to impound the waters of Keith Creek as part of the Keith Creek Flood Protection Project. Among other [113] functions, the dam is intended to prevent flooding of the south- east part of Rockford after heavy rains. It is scheduled for completion in 1941. In January, 1940, 1,979 Rockford families were receiving home relief at a cost of approximately $31.34 per case and 4,850 were having their incomes augmented by mothers' pen- sions, old age pensions, or Work Projects Administration em- ployment. A Swedish home for elderly persons, a project of the late P. A. Peterson, Rockford industrialist and humanitarian, will shortly be opened (1941) on Parkview Avenue, north of the Rockford Municipal Tuberculosis Sanatorium. The two-story structure, erected at a cost of over $100,000, will provide indi- vidual rooms for twenty-five persons. The home was made possible by a bequest of $500,000 by Peterson. Architecturally attractive, the building uses Bedford limestone for the large living room overlooking Sinnissippi Park and Lannon stone for the rest of the building. Provisions have been made to add another unit or dormitory if necessary. Although it is to be operated on a non-profit basis, the in- stitution will not be a charity enterprise. Applicants will be required to pay a certain amount before entering to guarantee their care for the remainder of their lives. "I do not know when I have seen in a city of your size as fine a park system," said William G. Robinson of the National Recreation Association during a visit to Rockford in 1937. He further added he knew of no city in the United States where golf could be played so cheaply as on the municipal courses belong- ing to the Rockford Park District. Founded in 1909 by Robert Rew, later mayor of Rockford, Robert Tinker, and Levin Faust, the basis of the present system of sixty-three parks (including parkways and triangles) totalling 1,123 acres, was laid by Paul B. Riis, a national authority on park development and superintendent of Rockford parks for many years. The parks and playgrounds are so located that no child need go far from his home to find supervised play. Over twenty of the parks have playground equipment adjusted to the size of the park and area served. [114} Park authorities have set one acre as the minimum acreage per 100 persons. Today Rockford has approximately one acre for every 75 persons, an unusually favorable ratio. (See General Information and Points of Interest). Supplementing the parks are nine county forest preserves with a total acreage of 1,116 acres, situated in the more pic- turesque sections of the county; all are equipped with conven- iences and may be reached by good highways. In 1915 a survey of trees was conducted by school children to prove Rockford's right to the sobriquet Forest City. No tree of a diameter smaller than one inch was counted, nor were trees in the large, heavily wooded parks or cemeteries included. The census showed that Rockford then had 142,044 trees, or more than 122 trees to each city block. That the city might never lose its fine shade trees Gus J. Boehland, local merchant, has during the past given away, on Arbor Day, thousands of trees to the school children for planting. Indications of a business recovery began to be apparent in 1936 and early in 1937. Rockford was hailed as one of the busiest cities in the nation. By 1940 retail sales, which in 1933 had dropped to $23,392,000, climbed to $59,025,945. Postal savings, $2,853,850 in 1929, leapt to $5,506,635; bank de- posits, $9,787,067 in 1933, to $34,170,696. Employment in 106 industries had risen from 10,971 in 1934 to 18,538 in 1941 with corresponding increase in average weekly earnings from $19-62 to $29.50. Using the monthly averages of 1925 to 1927 as a norm, employment stood at 147.7 and payrolls at 188.7 per cent. Broadly speaking, Rockford's prosperity during the past ten years has followed that of the motor industry as reflected in new car sales. From 1930 onward its machine tool manufacturers have become increasingly dependent upon the automotive in- dustry. Today, rating second only to Cincinnati in the building of specialized machine tools used in the manufacture of muni- tions and machines to make munitions, Rockford is regarded in army circles as one of the key cities in the national defense program. [115} A new element in the city's economic revival has been the rebuilding of Camp Grant. Employment of more than 6,000 men on this $8,000,000 project has proven a great stimulant to trade, adding to the boom in the Rockford machine tool indus- tries resulting from war orders. The defense program has created a local housing shortage and a consequent increase in rent costs. To meet the demand for more living quarters and with the aid of the Federal Housing Authority, hundreds of new homes are being built. In 1940 housing permits reached 243. For the first three months of 1941, 141 permits were issued representing $615,465 in new build- ings. Of this sum $57,000 has been expended on an addition to the Barnes Drill Company; $86,000 on the W. F. & John Barnes plant, and $30,000 for a new building being added to the Rockford Screw Products factory. The erection of the Kress variety store, the Times theater building, modernizing of many store buildings inside and out, re-surfacing of several miles of streets in the business area, the opening of two senior high schools and a third junior high school, have given impetus to Rockford during the past two years. As this story of a typical midwestern city comes to a pause, the community reflects the conflicting emotions that grip the nation. Streets of Rockford again are crowded with men in military uniform. A Camp Community Service Commission of local people is cooperating with the Federal Security Agency and the United Service Organizations to cater to the welfare of the new draft army. Obvious prosperity is reflected in Rock- ford's crowded streets and busy stores; in the increasing number of new motor cars and the work hour rush of traffic. [116] Points of Interest 1. The Rockford News Tower, 97-99 E. State Street, an impressive unit in the river front development program en- dorsed by the newspapers it houses, overlooks the Rock River at the east approach of the State Street bridge. The first part of it to house composing and press rooms and to provide a home for Radio Station WROK was built in 1929-30; the East State Street section in 1932-33. The completed structure cost $750,- 000. The central part of its L-shaped bulk is three stories high from the river level and has entrances on State and Water Streets. The newsroom, pressroom, and compositors' room of the Rockford Morning Star and the Rockford Register-Republic are on the river level. The street level floor contains the news- papers' business offices. The next floor is occupied by various offices and the studios of Radio Station WROK (1440 kc), the "Voice of Rock River Valley," and an affiiliate of the Mutual Network. The tower, rising six stories above the main section of the building houses additional offices. 2. The Harry and Della Burpee Art Gallery (free, 10-5 weekdays, 2-5 Sun.), 737 N. Main St., is housed in an old limestone mansion which Mr. and Mrs. Burpee presented to the Rockford Art Association in 1937. Shows by local artists are held here, but the main purpose of the gallery is to provide a suitable place for traveling exhibitions. The permanent collec- tion consists of several pieces of statuary, more than a dozen prints, and about thirty oil paintings. Among the latter are [117] "Russian Forest" by Leon Gaspard, "Her Daughter" by Walter Ufer, "The Old Covered Bridge" by Elmer Schofield, "Rabbit Hunters" by Victor Higgins, and several portraits by G. P. A. Healy. The building also serves as headquarters of the affiliated guilds of the Rockford Art Association. Workshops of handi- craft groups occupy the basement. In 1940 Mr. Burpee erected an addition to the Art Gallery at a cost of approximately $50,000, providing space and equipment for amateur theatri- cals. The theatre is completely equipped and seats 150. On the second floor a Fine Arts Museum has been established. The building formerly was the family mansion of John Nelson, knitting industry pioneer. 3. The Rockford Public Library (open 9-9 weekdays, 2-5 Sun. and holidays), North Wyman and Mulberry Sts., is a yel- low brick structure suggesting the Classic in its design except for a large copper dome. It was built in 1903 with $70,000 donated by Andrew Carnegie. The first floor contains delivery rooms, general reference and reading rooms, and the second, special reference rooms for research in art, engineering and geneology. Five branch libraries, with collections in foreign languages, are maintained throughout the city. Miss Jane P. Hubbell, librarian since 1900, is assisted by a staff of twenty-five. About 534,659 books were circulated in 1940. The collections of the main and branch libraries total 130,000 volumes, among which are 446 volumes of Civil War history donated in 1906 by An- drew W. Potter. Rockford is said to be one of the first cities in Illinois to provide a circulating library for public school pupils; this service was begun in 1898. 4. A Museum of Natural History occupies a part of the building used by the Rockford Park District for its offices at 807 N. Main St. The collection of stuffed birds and other natural history specimens were gathered by Dr. J. W. Velie, onetime curator of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. 5. Memorial Hall, 211 N. Main St., a two-story limestone structure built by Winnebago County at a cost of $59,000, is the social center and headquarters of Civil War, Spanish-Amer- [118] ican War, and World War veterans. The basement contains a kitchen and dining room, the first floor has clubrooms and a small museum of war memorabilia, and the second floor con- sists of a large auditorium. Memorial Hall was dedicated by President Theodore Roose- velt on June 3, 1903. It was the first structure to be built in Illinois under a legislative act of 1899 which empowered county boards, upon the approval of the electorate, to appropriate pub- lic funds for soldiers' memorial buildings. This act was origi- nally sonsored by Rockford citizens. 6. The Winnebago County Courthouse, S. Church and W. State Sts., a white and yellow limestone structure, hybrid in design, occupies the site of the first courthouse, built in 1844. The main part of the building, fronting on West State Street, was completed in 1878 at a cost of $211,000. Its florid style contrasts sharply with the comparatively simple lines of the wing facing Elm Street. The latter, an addition made in 1918, is intended to harmonize with a new building which will re- place the old courthouse sometime in the future. The cornerstone of the old courthouse was laid June 23, 1876. On May 11 of the following year a huge section of the pediment of the central dome toppled from position and crashed through the floors below, carrying seven workmen to their death. Two others, injured by falling stones, died later. The coroner's jury attributed the accident to faulty plans and cen- sured the board of supervisors for failing to employ a competent architect. A short time after work was resumed, the courthouse was again the center of public attention, this time because of the nude cherubs that graced the half dome above the entrance. Three petitions expressing the indignation of a scandalized pop- ulace are filed in the county records. One of them reads: Whereas, History teaches us that high attainments in Science, Agri- culture and Mechanism are not, and never were, attendants of a nude civilization, making the emblem? on the vestibule of the Court House inappropriate; and whereas, said emblems in our judgment, violate the ordinary rules of modesty and decorum, and are a source of great annoyance and embarrassment; Therefore, We the undersigned, Citi- zens of Rockford, of Winnebago County, would respectfully petition your honorable body to order such changes in said emblems as shall remove all occasion of offense and save the City and County from further reproach. [119] The board of supervisors promptly complied with public sentiment. Workmen mounted ladders and, with a citizen's committee and representatives of the county board as spectators, the bas-relief figures were so modified as to "remove all occasion of offense." 7. Illinois Cottage, 507 Kent St., a two-story frame struc- ture, is maintained by the Rockford Community Fund for the care of physically handicapped children. On the grounds near the main building are a garden, a playhouse, and a smaller structure that serves as a schoolroom and a residence for the staff of seven persons. Illinois Cottage was established in 1919 by the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs in co-operation with the Girl's Protective Bureau; in the same year it was placed at the disposal of the Public Welfare Association. In 1927 the institution was incorporated as a separate unit of the Rockford Social Service Federation. 8. Tinker's Swiss Cottage (open by permission of resi- dent), All Kent St., was built in the early 1870's for Robert H. Tinker, mayor of Rockford (1875). Perched on a rugged bluff above Kent Creek, this gray frame structure with its ornate galleries, broad low gables, and overhanging eaves, is said to be a reproduction of an Alpine chalet which Tinker admired on a tour of Switzerland. The house was once surrounded by the parklands of the Manny estate, but now it is crowded at the east and north by industrial plants and railroad yards. At the front of the house, a suspension bridge leads across Kent Creek. The walls and floors of the interior are of cherry, walnut, and butternut from the forests of Winnebago County. Among the furnishings are antiques and art objects collected over a period of eighty years and curios which Tinker gathered on his world-wide travels, including several idols from the Hawaiian Islands, where he was born. Most impressive of the twenty-six rooms in the "cottage" is the library, a large circular chamber with a ceiling the full height of the house. A balcony midway up the wall is reached by a circular staircase of intricate work- manship. Among the several thousand volumes housed here [120] are an early edition of Shakespeare, beautifully illuminated, and many books which Tinker purchased when Rockford's first pub- lic library was auctioned off in 1865. Tinker's Swiss Cottage, its art objects and curios, and five and a half acres of land lying to the south and west have been conveyed to the Rockford Park Board for use as a museum and park. The bequest will not become effective until after the death of Tinker's widow, Mrs. Mary Dorr Tinker, present occupant of the house. 9. Rockford College, Seminary Street at College Ave., widely known woman's college, chartered in 1847, founded by Anna P. Sill in 1849 as the Rockford Female Seminary, is one of the oldest colleges for women in the United States. Classes were held in the Winnebago County Courthouse until 1852, when the school was moved to the site it now occupies. A col- lege course was added to the curriculum of the seminary in 1881 and degrees, authorized in the original charter, were con- ferred thereafter. The present name was adopted in 1892. Rockford College is known in the academic world for the high standing of its liberal arts courses, as evidenced by the success of its graduates. Many courses given in the late after- noon and evening are offered annually for the community. The average enrollment of matriculated students is about three hundred. The total enrollment including unmatriculated music students and community course students is about five hundred. Mary Ashby Cheek, formerly of Mount Holyoke College, is president of the institution. The music department is directed by Professor Andreas Fugmann, internationally known choral and symphonic maestro, voice coach of such concert stars as Nelson Eddy and Madame Elisabeth Rethberg. The College also has a strong department of Home Economics. The college buildings, arranged in U-shaped formation around the commons, are fundamentally early American in style, their brick walls overgrown with vines and set off by white lintels and cornices. To the north of the drive leading to the quadrangle is John Quincy Adams Hall. Fronting the quadrangle proper are Sill, Lathrop, John Barnes, Talcott, Mid- dle, and Linden halls (built between 1852 and 1920). South [121] of this group on Bluff Street are other structures, including the music building (Emerson Hall) and Maddox House, the latter named for the late William Arthur Maddox, former president of the College. In 1941 the John Hall Sherratt Library was dedicated. The building is attracting wide attention because of its unique arrangement of divisional reading rooms and the informality evidenced in its organization and administration. The late Jane Addams, founder of Chicago's Hull House, was the recipient of the first degree conferred by Rockford College. Among other notable alumnae are Catharine Waugh McCulloch, Chicago attorney; Julia Lathrop, first director of the Children's Bureau of the U. S. Department of Labor, and Doris Emrick Lee, creator of the murals in the United States Supreme Court Building. 10. The Abraham Lincoln Junior High School, Elev- enth and Charles Sts., the most impressive appearing public school in Rockford, was completed in 1927 at a cost of $1,200,- 000. It is a three-story building of tan brick with white lime- stone trim. The three entrances on Charles Street are flanked by huge Grecian columns. The school contains a library, audi- torium, cafeteria, medical clinic, swimming pool, manual train- ing shops, and study rooms for pupils in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. The teaching staff totals sixty-six; the average en- rollment is about two thousand. 11. Sinnissippi Park, 1600 N. Second St., a 123-acre tract acquired in 1909 as the first unit in Rockford's park system, bears the Indian name for the Rock River ("clear flowing"). The spring display of crab apple blossoms along the drives in the park attracts thousands of visitors annually. East of Second Street the park contains baseball diamonds, playgrounds, a wading pool, rustic shelter houses, wooded picnic glens, tennis and horseshoe courts, a clubhouse, and a golf course (9 holes, 25c). On the west side of Second Street are a rosarium, a con- servatory, a lagoon and wild duck preserve, a perennial flower garden, and sunken gardens which extend for about half a mile. A chrysanthemum show is held in the conservatory each fall. [122] The gardens are planned to bloom continuously throughout the growing season, the rosarium is most beautiful from late June through early July. 12. Keith Country Day School, on N. Second St., a short distance north of Sinnissippi Park, occupies a Georgian mansion near the Rock River. The school, privately owned, founded in 1916 by Mrs. Belle Emerson Keith, was moved to its present quarters in 1920. About 140 pupils are enrolled; the faculty has thirteen members. Classes range from kindergarten to the tenth grade. Progressive education is stressed in the curricu- lum. Pupils receive individual instruction and are encouraged in self-directed activities. 13. The Chancery Office and Episcopal Residence of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford, N. Court and Sum- mer Sts., is a limestone structure of Georgian design built in 1930 at a cost of $200,000. It contains the diocesan offices and the residence of the Most Rev. Edward F. Hoban, Bishop of Rockford. 14. Fairground Park, 900 W. Jefferson St., a twenty-four acre tract with a swimming pool (see General Information), bowling green, roque court, baseball diamonds, clay and cement tennis courts, and illumined horseshoe courts, occupies the grounds on which the Winnebago County Fair was formerly held. In the natural amphitheatre here, the Forest City nine played the country's foremost teams from 1866 to 1870. A boulder at the north end of the park commemorates the visit of General Ulysses S. Grant to the county fair in 1880. 15. Ingersoll Memorial Park, W. State St. and Daisyfield Road, covers 153 acres and has tennis courts, playgrounds, base- ball diamonds, shelter houses, picnic grounds, and a golf course (18 holes, 50c). The Rockford Park Commission acquired the first 110 acres of Ingersoll Park by means of $60,000 donated by Winthrop Ingersoll. The donor stipulated that the money should be used to build a golf course in memory of his son, Clayton C. Ingersoll, who was killed in World War#l. Forty- three acres of woodlands adjoining the golf course were subse- quently purchased by the Park Commission. [123] 16. Levings Park, 2200 Montague St., covers 123 acres and includes picnic grounds, scenic drives, recreational facilities, rest lodges and bathhouses of native stone, and a thirty-five acre artificial lake (free swimming). 17. Poor Clare Monastery, 2107 S. Main St., is a cloister for twenty Sisters of the Order of St. Clare. The rough brick buildings of severe unadorned lines are enclosed by a wall. The Sisters make vestments, altar cloths, and communion hosts for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford. The only part of the monastery open to the public is the chapel (Holy Hour services in summer at 7 p. m. each Thursday, in remainder of the year 3 p. m. Sunday; Adoration services first Friday of each month). 18. The Eastern Star and Masonic Home, 2400 S. Main St., is a two-story yellow brick structure, surrounded by eight acres of woodlands which border the Rock River. The institu- tion is maintained for elderly members of the Illinois branch of the Eastern Star. There are 107 residents and the staff num- bers fourteen. 19. Blackhawk Park, on the Rock River at Fifteenth Ave., ninety-one acres of woodland, is equipped with facilities for picnicking and recreation. 20. The Disposal Plant (open to public) of the Rockford Sanitary District, west end of Columbita Road, is the terminal point of the sewage of Rockford and adjoining suburbs. The plant, built in 1932 at a cost of $400,000, consists of various offices, filtration beds, and sludge tanks. After undergoing puri- fication here, the sewage is emptied into the Rock River. The Rockford Sanitary District comprises 28,400 acres, of which 7,700 are within Rockford. 21. The Macktown Forest Preserve, twelve miles north of Rockford on the North Main Road, is dedicated to the memory of Stephen Mack, first settler in Winnebago County. The 214- acre tract, largest in the county's system of forest preserves, borders the Rock River and has picnic grounds and a golf course (18 holes, 35c). In the area is a trading post built of local stone in 1846 and recently restored by the county. 22. The Rockford Armory, 605 N. Main St., a two-story limestone and gray-yellow brick structure, is the home of the [124] 129th Infantry in Rockford, housing Company K, the head- quarters company of the Second Battalion, and Company E of the 108th Quartermaster Corps and State Detachment. Built as a P.W.A. project, the structure was opened for public use January 14, 1937. The auditorium and drill floor, with bal- cony, has a seating capacity of over 4,000. 23. Beattie Park, Effigy Mound, 400 N. Main St., occu- pies 3-38 acres given to the city by the Misses Mary I. and Anna Beattie. Three blocks from the heart of the city, it has a long frontage on Rock River. A well-preserved group of Indian mounds, including the famed "turtle" effigy mound — more than 100 feet long — and resembling a salamander rather than a tur- tle — and others, circular in shape, are located within a few feet of the river. The effigy is believed to be a tribal ceremonial mound. [125] Chronology 1834 Germanicus Kent and Thatcher Blake built a sawmill by Kent Creek (August 24). 1835 Daniel Shaw Haight settled on the east bank of the Rock River (April). Settlement named Rockford by Dr. Josiah Goodhue of Chicago. 1836 Winnebago County organized (January 16). First general election held to elect county officers (Aug- ust 1). Methodist Episcopal Church founded (September 2). Chicago-Galena state road surveyed through Rockford. Germanicus Kent authorized to operate a ferry across the Rock River. 1837 First Congregational Church organized (May 5). First mail arrived (September 15); Daniel S. Haight ap- pointed postmaster. First circuit court convened at Haight's residence (Octo- ber 6). Winnebago County reduced to one half its original size by an act of the state legislature. First tax levy ordered. 1838 First stagecoach arrived (January 1). First theatrical performance given in Rockford House (October 29); troupe headed by Joseph Jefferson, Sr. First steamboat, the "Gipsy," reached Rockford. Daniel S. Haight built a structure for court sessions and religious meetings at the southeast corner of State and Madison Streets. 1839 Rockford incorporated as a town (April 4). Later desig- nated as permanent county seat. Louis Lemon Kent, only slave in Winnebago County, freed by his master, Germanicus Kent. Population: 235. 1840 First newspaper, the Rock River Express, began publish- ing (May 5). [126] Convention called in summer to consider secession from Illinois to join Wisconsin Territory. 1841 Agricultural Society, forerunner of Winnebago County Fair, organized on April 12; first exhibition held in fol- lowing October. Universalist Church founded (April 24). 1842 First Methodist Church established (September 20). 1843 Rockford authorized by state legislature to build a bridge across the Rock River (February 27). Rockford Hydraulic and Manufacturing Company re- ceived permission from state legislature to dam the Rock River (February 28). Land sale held to clear property titles of the Polish Claims of 1836 (October 30). First foundry and machine shop opened. 1844 First courthouse and jail built on present site. 1845 Dam built across the Rock River at the foot of Park Ave- nue; millraces completed on both sides of the river; three sawmills established. State legislature approved an act to cut a channel in the Rock River; the attempt failed. 1846 Rock River Medical Association formed (February 17). First gristmill established. Malarial fever epidemic. Convention held at Rockford by delegates of all counties to be traversed by the proposed Galena and Chicago Union Railroad. 1847 Rockford Female Seminary chartered (February 25). 1848 First bank opened by John A. Holland and Thomas D. Robertson. W. D. Trahern began manufacturing threshing machines under the trade name of Trahern and Stuart. 1849 Emmanuel Episcopal Church organized (May 1). Rockford Female Seminary opened as a preparatory school by Miss Anna P. Sill. Second Congregational Church organized. 1850 St. James' Roman Catholic Church organized. Population: 2,093. [127} 1851 Dam washed out and abandoned. Rockford Water Power Company established. 1852 Court Street Methodist Episcopal Church organized (January 1). Rockford incorporated as a city (April 19); William Wheeler elected mayor. First train of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad arrived (August 2). First Swedish immigrants arrived. Bonds issued by city to build bridge at State Street. 1853 New dam with 1,700 feet millrace completed; marked the beginning of the Water Power. John H. Manny, reaper inventor, arrived at Rockford. Rockford designated as the "Forest City" by a corre- spondent of the New York Tribune. Lowell, Emerson, and Greeley visited Rockford. Hiram R. Maynard succeeded William Wheeler as mayor. 1854 Newton Crawford appointed first health officer. Covered bridge completed at State Street. Moses Bartlett built four-story flour mills, first of a num- ber of flour mills at Rockford which were later to be of major importance in supplying the Union Army. First county fair and cattle show held (October 29-30). Ulysses M. Warner succeeded Hiram R. Maynard as mayor. 1855 First volunteer fire department organized. Free public school system started in Rockford. Telegraph line completed to Rockford. Famous McCormick-Manny law suit began (September). Manny declared victor a year later. Rockford Register founded. Edward Vaughn succeeded Ulysses M. Warner as mayor. 1856 Westminster Presbyterian Church organized (January 3). Christian Church, now known as the Central Christian Church, founded (March 18). Gas lights installed at Rockford. James L. Loop succeeded Edward Vaughn as mayor. [128] 1857 N. C. Thompson built large plant in the Water Power. William Brown succeeded James Loop as mayor. 1858 State Street Baptist Church organized (August 17). Library with 1,000 volumes opened to public. Maj. E. E. Ellsworth engaged to drill Rockford City Grays. Y.M.C.A. organized. Seely Perry succeeded William Brown as mayor. 1859 Work begun on a railroad between Rockford and Ken- osha, Wisconsin. Charles Williams succeeded Seely Perry as mayor. 1860 Population: 6,979. 1861 Rockford Zouaves, first Rockford men to join the Union Army, left for the front (April 24). Ellis Rifles formed (April 24). Swedish Mission Church and Swedish Methodist Church organized. 1862 Y.M.C.A. dissolved (January 6). Camp Fuller established. 1863 Col. G. L. Nevius, for whom the Rockford G. A. R. Post was named, killed in action (May 22). 1864 Jubilee staged following Lincoln's re-election, $1,000 contributed for soldiers' families. First, Second, and Third National Banks organized within a few months of each other. Albert Fowler succeeded Charles Williams as mayor. 1865 Public Library closed. Forest City Baseball Club organized (August 10). 1866 Construction begun on the present St. James' Roman Catholic Church. G. L. Nevius Post No. 1, G. A. R., established (June 1). Rockford Gazette first published. Edward H. Baker succeeded Albert Fowler as mayor. 1867 Forest City Band organized. Albert Fowler succeeded Edward H. Baker as mayor. 1868 John Nelson's sock-knitting machine patented. Edward H. Baker succeeded Albert Fowler as mayor. 1869 Seymour G. Bronson succeeded Edward H. Baker as mayor. [129] 1870 Rockford Society of Early Settlers organized (January 10). First sock knitted automatically by Burson and Nelson Company; marked the beginning of the hosiery industry in Rockford. Population: 11,049. 1871 Covered bridge at State Street replaced by iron structure. Forest City Baseball Club disbanded after an unsuccess- ful season with the National Association, forerunner of the National League. J. P. Anderson and Andrew C. Johnson established a furniture factory in the Water Power. 1872 Library reestablished. W. F. and John Barnes Company incorporated. 1873 People's State Bank established. Gilbert Woodruff succeeded Seymour G. Bronson as mayor. 1874 Rockford Watch Company organized (July 21). Forest City Furniture Company opened a large factory (August). 1875 City Water Works installed. Swedish Evangelical Mission Church organized (June 1). Rockford Silver Plate Company opened. Robert H. Tinker succeeded Gilbert Woodruff as mayor. 1876 Y.M.C.A. reorganized (May 1). Centennial Methodist Episcopal Church organized by uniting the First and Third Streets Methodist Episcopal Churches. The Rifles, later known as Company K of the Illinois National Guard, organized with C. M. Brazee as captain. Levi Rhoades succeeded Robert H. Tinker as mayor. 1877 Duncan Ferguson succeeded Levi Rhoades as mayor. May 1 1 — New courthouse falls during construction, kill- ing nine persons. 1878 William Watson succeeded Duncan Ferguson as mayor. Court House completed at cost of $211,000. [130] 1879 Rockford joined with Omaha, Dubuque, and Davenport to form the first minor league in baseball. First telephones installed. Sylvester E. Wilkins succeeded William Watson as mayor. 1880 General and Mrs. U. S. Grant attended Winnebago County Fair (September 16). Population: 13,129. 1881 Horsecar service begun by the Rockford Street Railway System (November 10). First pesthouse opened. Samuel P. Crawford succeeded Sylvester B. Wilkins as mayor. 1882 Rockford Grays, later known as Company H of Illinois National Guard, organized. Hess and Hopkins Leather Company incorporated. Emmanuel Lutheran (Swedish) and Evangelical Lutheran (German) Churches organized. Schweinfurth's "heaven" established near Rockford. 1883 Forest City Electric Company established. Alfred Taggart succeeded Samuel P. Crawford as mayor. 1884 Mendelssohn Club organized with Mrs. Chandler Starr as president. 1885 Board of Health established (May 1). Rockford Hospital opened in residence of Dr. W. H. Fitch. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church organized. First section of Central High School built. 1886 Sewers installed throughout the city. 1887 Horace G. Scovill succeeded Alfred Taggart as mayor. 1888 Rockford Morning Star began publication (March 20). First train arrived on Illinois Central Railroad. 1889 East State Street paved with wood blocks. Manufacturer's National Bank opened. Eclipse Gas Stove Company, now the George D. Roper Corporation, moved to Rockford from Cleveland, Ohio. John H. Sherratt succeeded Horace C. Scovill as mayor. [131] 1890 Forest City National Bank opened. Morgan Street bridge built; State Street bridge removed to Chestnut Street; work begun on girder bridge at State Street. Forest City Knitting Company incorporated. Flood washed out ten bridges along Kent Creek and caused heavy damage to the Illinois Central Railroad. Sveas Soner Singing Society organized. Population: 23,584. 1891 Grace Methodist Episcopal Church and African Metho- dist Episcopal Church established. Ingersoll Milling Machine Company moved from Ohio to Rockford. Spengler-Loomis Manufacturing Company entered busi- ness as Spengler Brothers. Henry N. Starr succeeded John H. Sherratt as mayor. 1892 Burson Knitting Company incorporated. Rockford Female Seminary renamed Rockford College. 1893 Rockford had 187 factories. Panic halted construction of 200 houses; twenty-seven factories bankrupted in one day. Potato Patch Plan adopted to help the needy. Amasa Hutchins succeeded Henry N. Starr as mayor. 1894 Second Congregational Church destroyed by fire. Lyran Society organized. August E. Bargren appointed chief of police, an office he held until 1940. 1895 Trinity Lutheran Church organized (March 10). Post office removed to new Federal Building. Free Sewing Machine Company organized as the Illinois Sewing Machine Company. Edward W. Brown succeeded Amasa Hutchins as mayor. 1896 William Jennings Bryan addressed 15,000 at Fair- grounds. 1897 Six artesian wells sunk to increase local water supply. 1898 Militia companies H and K left for the Spanish- American War. 1899 St. Anthony's Hospital founded. [132} 1900 Population: 31,051. 1901 North End Bridge built. Interurban line to Belvidere completed. Amasa Hutchins succeeded Edward W. Brown as mayor. 1902 Rockford Chautauqua Assembly organized. Christian Science and Swedish Free Churches established. 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated Memorial Hall. Carnegie Library completed. National Lock Company organized. Charles E. Jackson succeeded Amasa Hutchins as mayor. 1904 Interurban lines built to Freeport, Illinois, and Janesville, Wisconsin. Greenlee Brothers removed plant from Chicago to Rock- ford. J. L. Clark Company organized. Winnebago County Home for the Aged established (Oc- tober 2). 1905 Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota Railroad (Later the Chi- cago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad) completed be- tween Rockford and Momence. 1906 Rockford Children's Home opened. 1907 Mark Jardine, first mayor of Rockford to be elected with the support of organized labor, succeeded Charles E. Jackson as mayor. 1908 Rockford Boys' Club incorporated. The Right Rev. Peter J. Muldoon appointed first Bishop of the Rockford Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church (December 15). Prohibition approved by electorate; fifty-one saloons closed. 1909 Chamber of Commerce organized. Rockford Park System established. Rockford Life Insurance Company established. St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church founded. 1910 Old dam at Water Power replaced by concrete dam. B-Z-B Company incorporated. Swedish-American Bank opened. Population: 45,401. [133] 1911 Visiting Nurses Association formed. Sts. Peter and Paul Church (Lithuanian) dedicated. William W. Bennett succeeded Mark Jardine as mayor. Re-elected in 1913 and 1915. 1912 St. Stanislaus Kostka Church dedicated. Rockford Drop Forge Company incorporated. Theodore Roosevelt visited Rockford on his campaign for re-election to the presidency. Typhoid fever epidemic; 512 cases; fifty-eight died. 1913 Rockford struck by tornado and cloudburst. 1914 Public Welfare Association organized. Working Girls' Home dedicated. Temple Beth El founded. Burd Piston Ring Company established. 1915 Rockford women voted in municipal election for the first time. 1916 Municipal Tuberculosis Sanatorium opened (January 2). Companies H and K, Third Illinois Infantry, departed for Mexican border. Shrine Temple erected. 1917 Robert Rew succeeded W. W. Bennett as mayor. Re- elected in 1919. Rockford selected as the site for Camp Grant (June 7). National Guard Companies H and K departed for Camp Logan, Houston, Texas. Five thousand draft recruits arrived at Camp Grant (Sep- tember 19). Motormen and conductors went on strike (September 23). Theodore Roosevelt spoke at Camp Grant (September 26). Winthrop Ingersoll appointed as fuel administrator of Rockford (November 7). Traveler's Aid established. St. Constantine's Greek Orthodox Church established. New bridges completed at Morgan and Chestnut Streets. 19 18 Gen. John J. Pershing visited Camp Grant (January 5). [134] Severe coal shortage experienced (January 11-18); fac- tories closed for five days to save fuel. The 86th Division held a farewell review on the Fourth of July; Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, spoke at Camp Grant. Swedish-American Hospital dedicated. Influenza epidemic broke out at Rockford and Camp Grant. New Rockford Boys' Club Building completed. Rockford City Plan, known as Roper Plan, completed. 1919 About 15,000 men employed in 312 industries; annual payrolls totalled $18,379,000; value of manufactured products amounted to $74,919,000. 1920 Rockford Community Fund organized. Population: 65,651. 1921 J. Herman Hallstrom succeeded Robert Rew as mayor. Held office until 1927. 1922 Camp Grant razed. Eastern Star Home for Aged built. New water plant built at cost of $732,801. Municipal zoning law adopted. 1923 Camp Grant turned over to the State of Illinois to be used by the Illinois National Guard. 1925 Residential building permits for the year totalled 641. 1926 Five killed in Sutton Top Shop fire (May 28). Cloudburst caused $1,000,000 damage (June). Abraham Lincoln Junior High School completed. Jefferson Street bridge built. Interurban lines to Freeport, Janesville, and Belvidere discontinued. Sammy Mandel won lightweight boxing championship of the world on July 4 by defeating Rocky Kansas in Chicago. 1927 Burt M. Allen succeeded J. Herman Hallstrom as mayor. Faust Hotel, Talcott Building, LaFayette Hotel, and Morning Star Building completed. 1928 Bert Hassell and Parker D. Cramer failed to reach Sweden in their plane, "Greater Rockford;" second at- tempt also failed. [135] Tornado caused $2,000,000 damage (September 14); eight killed, thirty-six seriously injured. 1929 Annual retail trade amounted to $59,903,830. J. Herman Hallstrom succeeded Burt M. Allen as mayor. Re-elected 1931. 1930 Rockford designated as an airmail stop. Population: 85,864. 1931 Wyman Street widened at a cost of $65 1,000. About 1,850 needy persons employed on a made-work program. 1932 Sanitary sewer system and disposal plant completed. Illinois Emergency Relief Commission allocated funds to Winnebago County. Secretary of Agriculture Wilbur dedicated new post office. President Hoover addressed 30,000 people at Rockford. 1933 American Legion held state convention at Rockford. C. Henry Bloom succeeded J. Herman Hallstrom as mayor. 1934 Centennial of Rockford celebrated. 1935 Ohave Sholom, Jewish orthodox church, founded. 1936 Works Progress Administration hired 3,758 heads of families of the 7,292 families on direct relief. Streetcars replaced by buses (July 4). 1937 Number of persons hired by W.P.A. in Winnebago County declined to 2,384; 1,885 families received direct relief. Charles F. Brown succeeded C. Henry Bloom as mayor, beginning a four-year term. New North End Bridge dedicated December 4. 1938 More than 5,000 families received direct relief. First municipal celebration of Independence Day at- tended by 100,000 persons. Rockford's large Swedish population participated in the Swedish Sesqui-Centennial celebration of the arrival of the first Swedes in America, an event held in the prin- cipal Swedish centers in the United States. Prince Bertil of Sweden was a speaker. [136] 1939 Rockford high school won the 1939 State Basketball Championship at the University of Illinois. 1940 Chief August E. Bargren resigned in May, 1940, after fifty years on the Rockford Police force. George Washington Junior High School and East and West Senior High Schools dedicated. Rockford population 84,467. Start rebuilding Camp Grant as Compulsory Military Training law becomes effective. 1941 Talcott Park given to Rockford Park District. North building of abandoned high school converted into soldiers recreation center. C. Henry Bloom succeeds C. F. Brown as mayor. [137] Index Abraham Lincoln Junior High School 104, 122, 135 Adams School 36 Addams, Jane. 65, 122 Addy, Robert. 62 African Methodist Episcopal Church 132 Allen, Burt M 106, 136 Ailing, David D 26 American Legion (Walter R. Craig Post No. 60) '. 102 Anderson, J. P _ 49, 130 Anderson, Swan 85 Andrew, Frank H 67 Andrews, A. G. 54 Andrews, Charles 53 Andrews, Charles, Jr. 54 Andrews Wire and Iron Works 53 Andrus, W. D. E 43 Anson, Adrian C 59, 62, 63 Armistice (1918) 98 Baker, Edward H 25, 130 Baker, Henry M 25 Baker, Ira W 25 Barber Colman Company 85 Bargren, August E 132, 137 Barker, Albert 59, 62 Barnes Drill Company 116 Barnes, Myron E „ 67 Barnes, Roscoe 59, 62, 63 Barnes, W. H 88 Barnes, William Fletcher, Jr 82 Barnum, Daniel 25 Barnum, Harris 25 Barry, Maj.-Gen. Thomas H 92 Bartlett, Moses 128 Beattie, Anna 125 Beattie, Mary 1 125 Beattie Park 13 Beattie Park Effigy Mound 125 Beckstrom, Ross P. 88 Beekman, Dora 77 Beekman, Rev. J. C 77 Bell Bowl 113 Benjamin, Mr. and Mrs. John 25 Bennett, William W 134 Bertrand and Sames 32 Blackhawk Park 124 Black Hawk War 16 Blackmer, O. C 36 Blake, Evans 43 Blake, Thatcher 17-18 Blakeman and Dodson's Churn Factory 52 Blinn, Jesse 3 1 Blood, Caleb 25 Bloom, C Henry 64, 136, 137 Boehland, Gus 88 Boilvin, Nicholas 20 Boswell, James 22 Bradley, F. H 37 Brazee, C. M 131 Briggs, George 71 Bronson, Seymour G 130 Brown, Charles F 137 Brown, E. W 79, 133 Brown, F. R. 48 Brown, Mowry 2 5 Brown, Parke 93 Brown's Hall 66 Brown, William 129 Brunswick-Balke-Collendar Company 50 Buckbee, John T 65 Burd Piston Ring Company 134 Burnap, Francis 25 Burpee, Harry and Delia 117 Burr, Addison 76 Burson Knitting Company 102, 132 Burson-Nelson Knitting Company...47, 130 Burson, William 46, 47, 48 B-Z-B Knitting Company 48, 102, 134 Camlin, John H 88 Camp Community Service Commission... 116 Camp Fuller 42, 43, 129 Camp Grant 88, 100, 113, 116, 134, 135, 137 Carnegie Library 38, 133 Centennial Methodist Episcopal Church 130, 131 Central Furniture Company 49 Central Heat and Power Company 71 Central High School 131 Central Illinois Electric and Gas Company 7 1 Central Union Telephone Company 70 Chamber of Commerce 103, 106, 134 Chapman, Roscoe S 88 Chancery Office and Episcopal Residence 123 Chappel Brothers 102 Chautauquas 7 5 Cheek, Mary Ashby 121 Chicago and Iowa Railroad 46 Chicago & North Western Railway 45 Chicago and Superior Railroad 45 Chicago-Galena State Road 20, 126 Chicago, Milwaukee and Gary R.R 46 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul R.R. 46, 133 Chicago, Rockford and Northern R.R. 46 Chlopicki, Count 26 [139] Christian Church 129 Christian Science Church 133 Church, Charles A 32 Civilian Conservation Corp 99 Civil Works Administration 112 Clark, Dr. D. S 58 Clark, Orlando 29, 3 1 Clark and Utter 31, 32 Clark, J. L., Manufacturing Co 85, 133 Colman, Howard D 85 Commercial National Bank 103 Cone, Fred 62 Congregational Church 126 Connolly, Rev. Charles Parker 94 Contour Hosiery Company 48, 102 Coronado Theater 104 Cosper, Major Elias 37 Court Street Methodist Episcopal Church 128 Craig, Walter R 97, 102 Cramer, Parker D. (Shorty) 106, 107, 136 Crawford, Newton 128 Crawford, Samuel P 131 Cunningham, Benjamin 25 Cunningham, Isaac 25 Cunningham, Samuel 25 Cunningham, William 25 Cutler, Dwight P 82 Dartmouth College 16 Deming, A. C 66 D. Forbes and Son Foundry 33 Disposal Plant 124 Douglas, Stephen A 39 Doyle, Joseph 62 Dunbar, William E 20 Dunn, Dr. Elisha C 82, 83 Dyson's Woolen Mill 52 Eastern Star and Masonic Home 124, 135 East Senior High School 137 Eclipse Gas Stove Company 54, 132 Elco Tool Company 108 Ellis Rifles 129 Ellsworth, Col. Elmer Ephriam .40, 42, 129 Emerson-Brantingham Company 32 Emerson, Ralph 31, 32 Emmanuel Episcopal Church 128 Fairgrounds Park 38, 76, 123 Faust Hotel 104 Faust, Levin 84, 85, 114 Ferguson, Duncan 25, 131 Fisk, Katherine Tanner 68 Fitch, Dr. W. H 58, 131 Floberg, Hap 93 Foley, Joseph 62 Forbes, Duncan 32, 33 Forest City See Rockford Forest City Band 67 Forest City Electric Company 71, 131 Forest City Furniture Company 49, 130 Forest City Knitting Company 132 Forest City National Bank 103, 111, 132 Forest City Nine 59, 63, 129, 130 Fowler, Albert 129, 130 Frank R. Brown Company 47 Freeman, A. W 36 Freeman, Henry 36 "Freeport Doctrine" 29 Free Sewing Machine Company 133 Frye, May _ 36 Fugmann, Andreas 68, 121 Fyrac Spark Plug Company Plant 104 Galena 17 Galena and Chicago Union Railroad 30, 45, 127, 128 George Washington Jr. High School 137 "Gypsy" 24, 28, 127 Girl's Protective Bureau 120 Golden Censor 55 Goodhue, Josiah C 19, 25, 126 Goodwin, Nat 75 Gorham, M. L. 32 Grace Methodist Episcopal Church 132 Grand Army of the Republic, G. L. Nevius Post No. 1 43, 129 "Greater Rockford" 106, 107, 136 Greenlee Brothers and Company 86, 133 Gregg, Rothwell S 93 Gregory, Eliphalet 20 Gregory, Phillips and Daniels Sawmill... 28 Gschwindt, W. H 88 Haddorff Piano Company 85 Hagadorn, Col. Charles B 97 Haight, Daniel Shaw 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 126, 127 Haightville 19 Hallstrom, J. Herman 64, 105, 135, 136 Hammerberg, Alex 88 Harding, George 3 1 Harlem Park 75, 94 Harper, Derastus 26, 30 Harris, Benjamin J 85 Harry and Delia Burpee Art Gallery 117, 118 Haskell, Dr. George 24, 25, 26, 35 Haskell, George S 66 Haskell, Samuel 24 Hassell, Bert R. J. (Fish) 106, 107, 136 Hastings, Scott 62 Haines, Anthony 70 Heinrich, Wilhelm 68 Henry Freeman School 36 Herrick, E. L 25, 49 Herrick, Samuel 25 Hess & Hopkins Leather Company 52, 131 Highland School 1 13 [140] Hoban, Most Rev. Edward F 123 Hodge, Capt. George M 93 Holland, H. P 52 Holland, John A 128 Holly Manufacturing Company 56 Home Telephone Company 70 Ho-no-ne-gah 16, 29 Horsman, Charles 22, 26, 29 Houghton, Bethuel 25 Howe, Phineas 25 Hubbell, Jane P 38, 118 Hulin, William 25 Hull, William 24 Huston, Fred K 71 Hutchins, Amasa 132, 133 "Illinois" 94 Illinois Central Railroad 46, 73, 132 Illinois Cottage 58, 120 Illinois Emergency Relief Commission, 112, 136 Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs. .120 Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota Railroad, 46, 133 Illinois National Bank and Trust Com- pany Ill Illinois Sewing Machine Company 133 Influenza Epidemic 97 Ingersoll, Clayton C 123 Ingersoll Memorial Park 123 Ingersoll Milling Machine Company 83, 84, 132 Ingersoll, Winthrop 84, 95, 123, 135 Jackson, Charles E 133 Jardine, Mark 64, 133, 134 Jeans, Paul 93 Jefferson, Joseph 23, 24 Johnson, Andrew C 49, 130 Johnson, Harry M. 88 Johnson, Herman 97 Keeler, E. H 88 Keith, Belle Emerson 123 Keith Country Day School 123 Keith Creek 18, 105, 113 Keith Creek Flood Protection Project 113 Kemble, John C 22 Kent, Arams 1 7 Kent Creek 13, 17, 120, 126, 132 Kent, Germanicus 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 27, 126, 127 Kent, Louis Lemon 27, 127 Kentville 19 Kimball, Dr. F. H 58 Kimball, Henry P 38 King, C. E 59 Kling, John 59, 63 LaFayette Hotel 104 LaForge, Frank 68 Ladies' Union Aid Society Ill Lakin, John T 34 Lakin, S 59 Lander's Planing Mill 52 Landis, Judge K. M 89 Lane, Dr. R. P 58 Lardner, Ring 93 Lathrop, Anna 36 Lathrop, Julia 65, 122 Lathrop, William 65 Lawler, Col. Thomas G. 43, 66 Lawson's Transfer Company 50 Leach, Shepard 25 Levings Park 124 Lewis, John 59, 60 "Lighter" 28 Lincoln, Abraham 31, 39, 41, 42 Lincoln-Douglas Debate (Freeport) 39 Lincoln Park School 113 Little, Richard Henry 93 Little, Samuel 25 Lockwood, Isaac 53 Log Tavern (See also Stage House) 24 Loomis, Henry 22 Loomis, Nathaniel 22, 26 Loop, James L 129 Lovejoy, Andrew 23 Lovejoy, Rev. Elijah 24 Lyman, H. E 53 Lyon, Isiah 25, 26 Lyon, George G. 36 Lyran Society 68, 132 McCormick, Cyrus 3 1 Machesney, Fred E 106, 107 Mack, Stephen 16, 17, 29 Macktown Forest Preserve 17, 124 McPherson, A. W 36 Maddox, William Arthur 122 Madison and Portage Railroad 45 Manlove, J. G., Jr 43 Manny, John H 31, 128 Manny, John P. 32 Manufacturers National Bank. 103, 111, 132 Marsh, Jason 25, 3 5 Martin, Dr. S. A 58 "Martin's Garden" 95 Maynard, Hiram R 128 Mechanics Machine Company 108 Mechanics Universal Joint Company 84 Memorial Hall 118, 1 19 Mendelssohn Club 67, 68, 131 Methodist Episcopal Church 126 Midway Theater 103 Milburn, Otto 106 Miller, A. S 35 [141] Miller, Horace „ 25 Miller, Jacob 22, 24 Miller, Thomas 24 Miller, Dr. Warren 106 Midway, early name for Rockford 11, 19 Morgan, Abiram 22, 26 Morrill, Rev. John 22 Muldoon, Rt. Rev. Peter J 133 Museum of Natural History 118 My Friend, Julia Lathrop 65 National Chair Company 108 National Lock Company 86, 104, 133 Nelson, Horatio 26 Nelson House 79 Nelson, John 46, 47, 48, 130 Nelson, Knitting Company 47 Nettleton, Moses 29 Nevius, Capt. Garrett L 42, 43, 129 New Evergreen County School 113 Norman, Dr. J. P 66, 70 Northwest Territory 1 5 Ohave Sholom 136 Palmer, Russell 93 Panic of 1893 51, 79, 132 Peake, Laomi, Sr 25 Peats, Frank 43 Pecatonica 113 Pecatonica River 16 Penfield, David A 25 Penfield, Mrs. D. S 37 Penfield, William 22 People's State Bank Ill, 130 Perry, Seely 129 Peters, Jonas 49 Peterson, Pehr, August 50, 51, 84, 114 "Pioneer" 30 Piatt, John 24 Polish ^rant 26, 127 Poor Clare Monastery 124 Potter, Andrew W 118 Potter, Joel B 25 Price Glove Factory 52 Price, H. W 52 Rankin, Mary 37 "Reaper City" 3 1 Reed, Charles 20 Rew, Robert 89, 90, 114, 134, 135 Rhoades and Utter 's Paper Mill 52 Roades, Levi 52, 66, 131 Richings, Dr. Henry 58 Rider-Kelsey, Corinne 68 Riis, Paul B 114 Riley, J. V 88 Robertson, Coleman and Company Bank 37 Robertson, Thomas D 25, 29, 128 Robertson, W. T 66 Rock Ford 15 Rockford — General Information, 7-9; Recreation, 9, 10; Annual Events, 10; Altitude, 11; Population (1940), 11; Business sections, 13, 14; Becomes county seat, 21; Land Problem, 26; Incorporated as city, 30; Public School, early, 35, 36; Early churches, 37; First library, 37; Railroads come, 44, 46; Population (1860), 44; Population (1870), 130; Swedes in, 50; Water plant, 57; Health Departments, 57; First hospital, 58; Wets and Drys, 64, 65; Population (1890), 73; Bridges, 76, 77; Boom days, 78, 79; Panic, 1893, 79, 80; Population (1900), 81; Population (1910), 83; and World War I, 87, 100; Street improvement, 105; City plan commission, 105; Airport 106, 107; Serious disasters (1928), 108; Population (1929), 109; Parks, 114, 115 Rockford and Interurban Company 71 Rockford Armory 124, 125 Rockford Art Association 117, 118 Rockford Baking Company 52 Rockford Bolt and Steel Company 51, 52 Rockford Boy's Club 103, 133, 135 Rockford Brass Works 54, 71 Rockford Central Railroad 45 Rockford Chair & Furniture Companies 108 Rockford Chautauqua Assembly 133 Rockford Children's Home 133 Rockford City Grays 40, 42, 129 Rockford City Plan 105, 135 See also "Roper Plan" Rockford City Traction Company 71 Rockford College 121, 122, 132 Rockford Community Fund 11, 120, 135 Rockford Daily Gazette 53, 56 Rockford Drilling Machine Company... 85 Rockford Driving Park 76 Rockford Drop Forge Company 86, 134 Rockford Edison Company 71 Rockford Electric Company 71, 72 Rockford Electric Power Company 71 Rockford Female Seminary 35, 128, 132 See also Rockford College. Rockford Furniture Company 104 Rockford Gas Light and Coke Co 33, 72 Rockford Gazette 130 Rockford General Electric Company 71 Rockford Grand Opera House 66, 61 Rockford Grape and Sugar Company 53 Rockford Grays 131 Rockford High School Band 68 Rockford Hospital 58, 131 Rockford Hospital Association 58 Rockford House 22, 23, 38 Rockford Hydraulic & Mfg. Co 28, 127 [142] Rockford Hydraulic Co 29 Rockford Life Insurance Company 134 Rockford Malleable Iron Works 33 Rockford Military Band 67 Rockford Mitten and Hosiery Co 47 Rockford Morning Star 50, 73, 74, 76, 104, 132 Rockford Motion Picture Parlors 83 Rockford Municipal Tuberculosis Sanatorium 114, 134 Rockford News Tower 117 Rockford National Bank 103, 111 Rockford Paper Box-board Plant 104 Rockford Park Board 113 Rockford Park District 114, 133 Rockford Public Library 118 Rockford Public Service Company 71 Rockford Public Welfare Association 11, 120, 134 Rockford Railway, Light and Power Company 71 Rockford Register 129 Rockford Register-Gazette 65 Rockford Register-Republic 117 Rockford, Rock Island & St. Louis Line 45 Rockford Screw Products Factory 116 "Rockford Sock" 47 Rockford Street Railway Company...70, 131 Rockford Symphony Association 68 Rockford Traction Company 70 Rockford Visiting Nurses Association 58 Rockford War Camp Community Service 94 Rockford Watch Company 52, 130 Rockford Watch Company Band 67 Rockford Water Power Company 29, 128 Rockford Water Works 57, 130 Rockford Weekly Register 52 Rockford Wesleyan Seminary 36 Rockford Zouaves 42 Rock River 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 28, 29, 30, 124, 127 Rock River Express 127 Rock River House 24 See also Washington House Rock River Medical Association 127 Rogers, Charles G. 67 Roosevelt, Theodore 96, 1 19 Roper, George D 54, 105 See P. 105, Geo. T. Roper, Major George S 54 "Roper Plan" 105, 135 See also Rockford City Plan Ross, Prudence Ill, 112 Rourke, Con 93 Rowland, William L 37, 38 Sabin, H 36 St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church 134 St. Anthony's Hospital 58, 133 St. Constantine's Greek Orthodox Church 135 St. James' Roman Catholic Church 128, 130 St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church 131 Sts. Peter and Paul Church 134 St. Stanislaus Kostka Church 134 Sames See Bertrand and Sames Sanford, G. A. 24 Sanitary Sewer District Board 113, 124 Savage and Love's Model Shop 52 Sawyer, Dr. S. J 59 Sawyer, Major Donald H 90 Schweinfurth, George Jacob 77, 79, 131 Scovill, Horace G 132 Seamless Socks 46, 48 Security National Bank 103, 111 Sheets Rockford Silver Company 53 Sherratt, John H. 66, 132 Shoudy Soap Company 52 Shrine Temple 134 Sill, Anna P 128 Silsby, R. H 24 Silver Plate Company 53, 130 Simmons, Joseph 62 Sinnissippi Park 122, 123 Skinner, James B 32 Smith, Martha J 58 Sovereign, Alice 68 Sovereign, Israel 53 Sons of Temperance 37 Spafford, Amos Catlin 25 Spafford, Carrie 40, 41 Spafford, Charles 25, 40, 41 Spafford, John 25 Spalding, Albert G 59, 62, 63 Sparks, William 88 Spaulding, Don Alonzo 20, 21 Spengler Brothers 132 Spengler-Loomis Mfg. Company 54, 132 Squier, John F 43 Stanton, Edwin M. 31 Starr, Mrs. Chandler 67, 68, 131 Starr, Henry N 132 State Street Baptist Church 129 Stearns, W 59 Sterling, Fred E 65 Stires, G 62 Stonefield -Evans Shoe Company 52 Stowager Automatic Telephone Co 70 Sugar River Valley Railroad 45 Sundstrand, David 85 Sundstrand Adding Machine Plant 104 Sundstrand Machine Tool Company, 84, 85 [143] Sutton Top Shop 104, 135 Sveas Soner Singing Society 67, 132 Svenska-Posten 58 Svithiod Society 68 Swedish-American Bank Ill, 134 Swedish-American Hospital 58, 103 Swedish Evangelical Mission Church 130 Swedish Free Church 133 Swedish Home for Aged 114 Swedish Methodist Church 127 Swedish Mission Church 129 Taggart, Alfred 131, 132 Talcott Park 137 Talcott, Sylvester 3 1 Talcott, Wait 31, 32 Taylor, John W 26 Temple Beth El 134 Thayer Action Company 85 Thayer, "Lish" 76 Third National Bank Ill Thompson, N. C 32, 129 Thurston, John H 18, 21 Thurston, Henry 21 Ticknor, James S 70 Tinker, Mary Dorr 120 Tinker, Robert H 37, 66, 114, 120, 130, 131 Tinker's Swiss Cottage 22, 37, 120, 121 Trahern and Stuart 128 Trahern, Frank B 54 Trahern, W. D 32, 128 Trinity Lutheran Church 132 Upson-Johnson Furniture Company 49 Upson, L. D 49 Union Furniture Company 50, 108 United War Work Campaign Group Ill Ulrici, Fritz 82 Van Wie Gas Stove Company 54 Vaughn, Edward 129 Velie, Dr. J. W 118 Veterans of Foreign Wars (Thos. G. Lawler Post, No. 342) 102 Visiting Nurses Association 134 Waldo, Hiram 36, 37 Waldo, Jennie 36 Waldo's Book Store 60 Walker, J. A 71 Ward-Love Pump Company 54 Ward, Jimmie 83 Ward Pump Company 54 Warner, H. S 59 Warner, Ulysses M 128, 129 Washington Company, No. 2 34 Washington House 24 See also Rock River House Water Power 28, 29, 31, 50, 51,71, 128, 129, 134 Watson, William 131 Weber Quartet 67 Webster, T. E 59 West End Street Railway Company. 70, 71 West, L. J 67 Westminster Presbyterian Church 129 West Senior High School 137 W. F. & John Barnes Company 51, 130 Wheeler and Lyons Sawmill 29 Wheeler, M. L 59 Wheeler, Willard 25 Wheeler, William 30, 128 Whipple, Henry S 95 Whitney, Daniel H 20 Wide-Awake Marching Club 42 Wilkins, Sylvester E 131 William Ghent's Factory 52 Williams, Charles 129 Winnebago Company No. 1 34 Winnebago County 11, 16, 20, 21, 44, 46, 126 Winnebago County Agricultural Society 38, 127 Winnebago County Chief 56 Winnebago County Courthouse 119, 120, 127, 131 Winnebago County Fair 38, 123, 131 Winnebago County Forum 19, 29 Winnebago County Home for the Aged, 133 Winnebago House 24 W. L. Davey Pump Company 54 Woodruff, Gilbert 130 Woods, Robert 107 Working Girls' Home 134 Works Progress (Work Projects) Administration 112, 114, 136 Worthington, William 25 Wright, James Madison 25 WROK 117 Wyman, Ephriam 25, 26 Young Men's Association 36, 37 Young Men's Christian Association 37, 51, 129, 130 Ziock Building „ 104 Ziock, W. H 47, 106 Ziock, William B 47 Zouave System 40 [144]