Silver pitchers, railroads and John B. Cohrs

This is a reprint of a “From the Local History Room” column that first appeared in July 2014, before the launch of this weblog.

Silver pitchers, railroads and John B. Cohrs

By Jared Olar

Local History Specialist

In the early summer of 2014, the Pekin Daily Times featured an article by Springfield State-Journal Register writer Tobias Wall that told of the return to Illinois of a 150-year-old silver pitcher that has a connection to Pekin.

The pitcher had been presented by the city of Springfield to Illinois State Sen. John Benson Cohrs of Pekin in 1867 to thank him for leading the effort to ensure that Springfield would remain the state capital. (John B. Cohrs was born in 1838 in Charleston, S.C., and died June 5, 1898 in Los Angeles, California.)

Somewhere along the line, however, Cohrs’ silver trophy was lost and, as Wall’s article explains, it eventually was acquired in 1949 by the Bell family of Washington, D.C. A Bell descendant recently donated the pitcher to Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois so he could return it to Springfield, where it is now on display in a corridor outside the House chamber on the third floor of the Illinois Statehouse.

Wall’s article says that besides making sure Springfield remained Illinois’ capital, State Sen. Cohrs “did almost nothing else of note during his one term as state senator.” That term lasted from 1864 to 1868. The one other thing the article mentions was Cohrs’ public opposition to the Emancipation Proclamation, a stance he later renounced and apologized for. That stance is not surprising in light of the fact that Pekin and Peoria were hotbeds of pro-slavery and pro-Confederacy agitation during the Civil War, and that Cohrs himself was a native of Charleston, South Carolina.

John B. Cohrs, Williams College Class of 1854, is listed here on page 18 of the “Catalogue of the Chi Psi Society” (1852)

While those are the two main things for which Cohrs is remembered – when he is remembered at all, that is – he also made a mark in Pekin, and therefore his name appears a few times in old publications about our local history in Tazewell County.

For example, the 1902 “Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County” refers to Cohrs in its biography of Pekin attorney and judge Sabin F. Puterbaugh. The biography says, “In January, 1857, [Puterbaugh] passed an examination before a committee of which Abraham Lincoln was a member, and was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court, at once becoming a partner of Hon. Samuel W. Fuller, then of Pekin, and State Senator from that District. Mr. Fuller having removed to Chicago in 1858, the firm of Fuller & Puterbaugh was dissolved, and, in 1860, Mr. Puterbaugh formed a partnership with John B. Cohrs, which lasted until the fall of 1861 . . . .”

Cohrs ran for the Illinois Senate in the election of 1864, his opponent being none other than the Rev. George Minier, founder of Minier. In Lawrence B. Stringer’s “History of Logan County, Illinois,” vol. I, page 286, we read, “John B. Cohrs was elected State Senator over George W. Minier, both of Tazewell, by the following vote: Cohrs, 7,623; Minier, 7,465.”

After his single term in the Illinois Senate, Cohrs appears prominently in efforts to develop railroads in and around Pekin. Ben C. Allensworth’s 1905 “History of Tazewell County,” page 860, notes that during the 1870s, “J. B. Cohrs” was the secretary of the Pekin, Lincoln & Decatur Railway Company. Then on the following page, Allensworth says, “John B.  Cohrs, at that time one of Pekin’s most prominent attorneys, was the originator of the Peoria & Pekin Union [Company] and, owing to his legal skill and foresight, this road is one of the richest for its length in the United States.”

Allensworth does not provide a full biography of Cohrs, but on page 879 he lists him among the “attorneys who have practiced law and lived in Tazewell County, and are now dead,” and also notes on page 902 that he served as Pekin’s city attorney from 1861 to 1862.

The Cohrs name appears in one other important event in Pekin’s history – the founding of the Pekin Public Library. In this case, however, it’s not Cohrs himself, but rather his wife, who took part in this aspect of our local history.

The Pekin Public Library began as the Ladies’ Library Association of Pekin, which was formally organized on Nov. 24, 1866. The minutes of the meeting of that day list the 23 women who gathered to start the library association, and the very first name on the list is “Mrs. John B. Cohrs,” as we find on page 939 of Allensworth’s Tazewell County history. On the next page, Allensworth mentions that “Mrs. Cohrs” served as president of the Ladies’ Library Association in 1868.

“Mrs. Cohrs” was Anna Elizabeth (Rider) Cohrs, John’s first wife. She was born circa 1837 in Chatham, N.Y., a daughter of David Wilson and Anne (Varney) Rider, who were Quakers. Anna had two sisters and a brother. She studied at Troy Female Seminary 1849-1851 (today it’s the elite prep boarding school for women called The Emma Willard School). She and John B. Cohrs married in 1853 in New York State. Their children were named Sara Frederica, Florence McKenzie, Anna R., and Charles H. Mrs. Anna Cohrs died March 19, 1887, in Chicago, and was buried in Charleston, S.C. John afterwards married again, to Ida Taylor.

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Pekin Public Library exhibits mementos of its past

As a part of the ongoing celebration of is 125th anniversary, the Pekin Public Library this year is exhibiting a selection of mementos, artifacts, and papers from its early history. The exhibit is displayed in the library’s Local History Room, and will remain on display through the end of the year.

The exhibit includes artifacts and papers that reach back to November of 1866, when the Ladies Library Association of Pekin, predecessor of Pekin Public Library, was organized by the leading ladies of Pekin society. Other items in the display include original blueprints of Pekin’s 1902 Carnegie library, a copy of an old photo of one of the early pre-1902 buildings that housed the library during the 19th century, portrait photographs and copies of letters of the “parents” of Pekin’s Carnegie library (Miss Mary E. Gaither, Andrew Carnegie, and George Herget), and a large number of artifacts that were preserved in the Carnegie library’s cornerstone time capsule.

The public is invited to examine the exhibited materials during regular library hours. Photographs of the exhibit, by Emily Lambe, public information and programming manager for the Pekin Public Library, are shown below.

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Pekin Public Library spotlights 125+ years of history at ‘Business After Hours’

After a hiatus of about a year, the Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce resumed its popular “Business After Hours” events on Thursday evening, April 8, 2021, when leaders of local business and community life attended a social gathering in the second-floor Community Room of the Pekin Public Library. Pekin Public Library Director Jeff Brooks took the occasion of its hosting “Business After Hours” to display a large number of its mementos and artifacts which illustrated the Pekin Public Library’s vital place in Pekin’s community life reaching back to 1866, when the prominent ladies of Pekin society organized the Ladies Library Association of Pekin, forerunner of the Pekin Public Library. The library’s local historian and researcher on staff, Jared Olar, also spoke for about 25 minutes, giving an overview of the library’s history from 1866 to the present. Throughout the event, a video highlighting the library’s history, prepared by Emily Lambe, public information and programming manager, was played.

“Business After Hours” at the Pekin Public Library is just one of the ways the library has been celebrating the 125th anniversary of the library’s existence (counting from February 1896, when the Pekin Library Association became a department of Pekin city government). Additional events will appear on the library’s program calendar throughout 2021.

Below are photographs from the April 8 “Business After Hours,” all taken by director Jeff Brooks.

Pekin Public Library’s local history specialist Jared Olar, who oversees the library’s Local History collection, spoke for about 25 minutes giving an overview of the history of the library from 1866 to the present.

Among the mementos exhibited at Business After Hours on April 8 were photographs of Miss Mary Gaither, Andrew Carnegie, and George Herget, and copies of Carnegie’s and Herget’s letters to Miss Gaither. These photos and letters, which tell of the preparations to build a Carnegie library in Pekin, were preserved in the 1902 Carnegie library cornerstone time capsule.

Among the items displayed during Business After Hours at the Pekin Public Library on April 8 were surviving blueprints of the 1902 Carnegie library, along with catalogues of the materials that were held by the Ladies Library Association and the Pekin Library Association, predecessors of the Pekin Public Library.

The library artifacts exhibited during Business After Hours included the charter of incorporation granted to the Pekin Library Association in April of 1883. The charter was preserved in the 1902 library cornerstone time capsule.

This metal container is the 1902 time capsule that held many of the artifacts and mementos that were displayed when the library hosted the Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce’s Business After Hours on Thursday evening, April 8, 2021. The 1902 time capsule was enclosed in the cornerstone of the Pekin Carnegie library, and was opened May 31, 1973, prior to the demolition of the Carnegie library.

On one end of the exhibit at Business After Hours were two of the library board’s old official seal stamps.

Donna the Kangaroo, an orange plastic children’s rocking chair in the shape of a beloved character of an older generation of Australian children’s literature, is well-remembered by Pekinites for her many years in the Pekin Public Library’s Youth Services Department. Donna usually is kept safely in storage these days, but she came out the greet the attendees of the Pekin Chamber of Commerce’s Business After Hours on the library’s second floor Thursday evening, April 8, 2021. As part of the library’s 125th anniversary celebrations this year, the library will provide opportunities for photographs with Donna at 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 22, and again at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 26.

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The ‘Pekin Public Library’ comes on the scene

By Jared Olar
Library Assistant

As we continue the story of the early history of Pekin’s library, this week we will learn how “Pekin Library Association Inc.” became the Pekin Public Library.

As we recalled last week, it was on April 5, 1883, that the Ladies Library Association of Pekin was formally incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois under the new name of “Pekin Library Association” (a name the association had begun to use by 1882). In this way, the library ceased its existence as a local service club.

The decision to incorporate was taken with an eye toward possibly reestablishing the library association as a free community service that would be owned and provided by Pekin’s city government. Thus, Miss Mary Gaither’s history tells:

“In June, 1883, a committee called upon the City Council with a proposition to make the Library a free city Library, but the Council committee, to whom was referred the request, reported adversely.”

With that, the idea of turning the library into a department of city government was to lay dormant for another decade.

Three years later, Gaither’s history notes that the Library Association employed Miss Agnes Alexander was employed as librarian at a salary of $8 per month. The library cards that the association issued to its patrons had to be renewed every three months.

This 1883 Pekin Library Association library card was among the items preserved in the 1902 Pekin Carnegie library cornerstone time capsule. The card belonged to one of the daughters of Pekin’s pioneer historian William H. Bates, a local printer and journalist.

The library in those days continued to operate from the second floor of downtown Pekin buildings along Court Street. The 1888 Bates City Directory of Pekin says the Pekin Library Association then had its Library Room at 411 Court St., with its entrance between 413 and 414 Court. The library’s hours were, “Open every Tuesday evening and on Saturdays from 3 to 5 and from 7 to 9 p.m.,” the directory says.

According to Gaither’s history of the library, in the Spring of 1889, the library association relocated from the Frederick Building on Court Street to Pekin’s old city hall and firehouse at the corner of Fourth and Margaret streets.

In 1892, the library board approved a resolution that the Pekin Library Association should seek to become a municipal library operated by the Pekin city government. On Feb. 6, 1893, the association formally submitted a petition to the city government asking that the library and its collection be transferred to the city’s ownership.

The work to bring this transfer to completion took about three more years. It was through the efforts of Mrs. George Rider, library board president, and Miss Emily Weyrich, board secretary, that transfer of ownership to the city was accomplished, thereby converting library into a department of the city, called “the Pekin Public Library.” The library then had 2,449 books in its collection, 341 library card holders, and weekly circulation was 600 books.

Under city ownership, the library board’s first president was Mr. Henry M. Ehrlicher, and the secretary was Mr. Ben P. Schenck – men who would continue to play important roles in the library’s history in the coming years, as we shall see.

Most interestingly, although it wasn’t until mid-February of 1896 that the city assumed full ownership of the library, the Pekin Library Association began using the new name “Pekin Public Library” as early as 1893, the year the association submitted its petition to the city.

Thus, the Bates City Directories of Pekin for the years 1893 and 1895 both list the library as “Pekin Public Library, junction Court and Broadway” (i.e. Seventh and Court). The library was then operating out of a building at 616 Court St., which is now the parking lot of First Federal Savings of Pekin, and it would remain at that spot until 1899.

Next time we will tell of the Pekin Public Library’s early years as a city-run library.

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Pekin library’s first 16 years: From local service club to ‘Inc.’

By Jared Olar
Library Assistant

In recent weeks we have renewed our memory of the founding and early history of Pekin’s library. As we recalled earlier, the library began over a year after the end of the Civil War, when 23 of the more prominent women of Pekin organized the Ladies’ Library Association on Nov. 24, 1866. This week we will review the library association’s first 16 years of existence, up to the point when the association decided to formally incorporate under Illinois law.

During most of the years of the library association’s existence, the association had no building of its own, but would rent rooms in various building in downtown Pekin. The 1870-71 city directory says the Ladies’ Library Room was over the drug store on Court Street between Third and Capitol, opposite Empire Hall, and that the association met Wednesdays and Saturdays each week.

In 1873, the trustees of the Congregational Society in Pekin offered to permanently donate the basement of their proposed new church to the Ladies’ Library Association so the association could have a permanent location rent-free. However, after considering the offer, the association’s board unanimously voted against it.

By the time of the 1876 city directory, the location of the Ladies Library Association’s Library Room was indicated by the vague and unhelpful words “in Court Block, up-stairs.” That would refer to a room in one of the buildings in the 330-360 block of Court Street. A few years later, the Ladies Library Association is stated to have been operating out of rooms rented in Friederich’s Block on Court Street (according to Miss Mary E. Gaither’s 1902-3 library history).

As a private civic association, the Ladies Library Association raised operating funds through regular social parties, formal dances, and “dramatic performances and other entertainments by home talent,” Gaither said in her historical account.

Shown here is the front cover of a lady’s dance card for an April 25, 1882 formal dance to raise funds for the Ladies Library Association of Pekin. A lady at a formal dance would give her card to gentlemen who desired to dance with her, and the gentlemen would write their names on the card indicating which dance would be theirs. (Although the association did not legally incorporate under the name of ‘Pekin Library Association’ until March-April 1883, this card shows the association was already using that name by April 1882.)

Another way the library association raised money during these years was by sub-letting its room to other community organizations and social clubs, such as the Sons of Temperance or the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). Some of the association’s community activities were not as successful as others, however, as indicated by an extract of an 1870 report of the association’s secretary Miss Mary Clemens that was quoted by Miss Gaither in her historical account:

“Repeated experiments have demonstrated that entertainments of a literary character are not well sustained in this city. For that reason the cherished plan of offering a course of popular readings and lectures to the public, was, with many regrets, abandoned.”

The following excerpt from Miss Gaither’s library history is significant, because it reveals that she herself had been a member of the library association at least since 1875, when she became one of the association’s officers:

“The officers in 1875 were Mrs. Barber, Mrs. Henry, Miss Addie Turner, Miss Eunice Sage and Miss Mary Gaither, followed a year later by Mrs. Clemens, Mrs. G. F. Saltonstall, Miss McHenry, Miss Sage and Mr. C. Alexander. Thus, a gentleman was a second time appointed Librarian.”

The first gentleman, as we previously recalled, was William S. Prince.

The next significant development in the history of Pekin’s library is recorded in Gaither’s history of the library in these words:

“In March, 1883, a special meeting was called to consider the question of incorporation under the laws of the State. On motion, the names of nine ladies were selected, by lot, to be the incorporators, as follows: Mrs. J. F. Schipper, Mrs. H. W. Hippen, Mrs. B. Swayze, Mrs. E. Vincent, Mrs. R. D. Bradley, Mrs. F. E. Rupert, Mrs. C. C. Cummings, Mrs. Worley, Miss Luella Miller.

“On April 11, the articles were drawn up by Mr. A. B. Sawyer, the name being changed to ‘The Pekin Library Association.’ There was a Board of twelve directors named, to be chosen annually. Mrs. Rupert was elected President; Mrs. D. C. Smith, Vice-President; William Blenkiron, Secretary; and Mrs. Schipper, Treasurer.”

In this way, the Ladies Library Association, which had been organized and run as a privately-run community service club, officially became the Pekin Library Association, Inc.

Years later, when items were selected to be included in the library’s 1902 cornerstone time capsule, among the items included were the Pekin Library Association’s original charter of incorporation, granted by Henry D. Dement, Illinois Secretary of State. The charter, filed March 5, 1883, and issued April 5, 1883, was perfectly preserved during the seven decades they spent in the time capsule.

Shown is the State of Illinois charter of incorporation, issued April 5, 1883, by which the Ladies Library Association of Pekin became the Pekin Library Association, Inc.

The decision to incorporate was taken with an eye toward possibly reestablishing the library association as a free community service that would be owned and provided by Pekin’s city government. Thus, Gaither’s history tells:

“In June, 1883, a committee called upon the City Council with a proposition to make the Library a free city Library, but the Council committee, to whom was referred the request, reported adversely.”

With that, the idea of turning the library into a department of city government was to lay dormant for another decade.

Next time we will pick up the historical thread with the story of the Pekin Library Association, and how it became the Pekin Public Library.

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Pekin library’s first president and first librarian

By Jared Olar
Library Assistant

Last week we reviewed the earliest history of Pekin’s library as recorded in 1902 by Miss Mary Elizabeth Gaither. As her written account says, when the leading women of Pekin society gathered on Nov. 24, 1866, to organize a library association, they elected Mrs. Charlotte Donigan as the association’s first president.

She held that post only until the association’s meeting in Jan. 1867, when the association elected and appointed a full slate of officers, and hired a librarian. At that time, Mrs. Sarah Cummings, wife of Columbus R. Cummings, was elected president; Miss Cora Cummings was elected secretary; Mrs. S. E. Barber was elected treasurer; and William S. Prince was hired as Pekin’s first librarian.

Although Gaither recorded the married surname of the library association’s first name as “Donigan,” a closer look at the contemporary records of her life shows that her surname was more properly spelled “Dunnigan.” Her family knew her by the nickname “Lottie.”

Born in 1836 in Whiteside County, Illinois, Charlotte came to Pekin with her parents Jonathan and Sarah (Hinsey) Haines in 1849. As readers of this column will recall, Lottie’s father Jonathan was the inventor of the Illinois Harvester, which he and his brother Ansel manufactured and sold from their factory at the corner of Ninth and Broadway. Lottie’s uncle William had been one of the co-founders of Pekin in 1830, and she lived with her parents at the Haines place between Haines and Sixth streets.

The U.S. Census on Dec. 11, 1850, shows Charlotte, 16, living in Pekin with her parents and siblings. Then, in the U.S. Census returns of June 12, 1860, she again is shown living with her parents and siblings in Pekin. At that time she was 24 and unmarried. However, the 1850 and 1860 censuses also show an Ohio-born man named Alpheus Dunnigan, born circa 1819, living in the Haines household. In 1850, Alpheus is described as a laborer, and in 1860 he is listed as a carpenter. He probably worked for Jonathan and Ansel Haines in their factory.

Notably, in the 1860 census Alpheus is listed with a 7-month-old baby girl named Sallie Dunnigan, born in California. From the fact that no wife is listed with Alpheus and Sallie, we may suppose that he had been married, but Sallie’s mother perhaps died in childbirth. Within a year or two, Charlotte married Alpheus.

Charlotte and Alpheus did not get a chance to enjoy a long marriage together, for Alpheus was mustered into the 108th Illinois Infantry, Company K, in Aug. 1862, to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War. During his tour of duty, Alpheus fell sick at Young’s Point, Louisiana, and died Feb. 8, 1863, leaving Charlotte a widow. She never remarried. Charlotte had been a widow for almost four years when she was chosen to serve as the Ladies’ Library Association’s first president.

In the U.S. Census returns of July 7, 1870, Charlotte is shown living in Pekin in the home of her brother Murray and his wife Mary. Sallie is not listed with her, evidently having died between the 1860 and 1870 censuses, perhaps even before her father married Charlotte. Our last record of Charlotte is the U.S. Census of June 19, 1880, when she and her younger sister Annie Hughes were recorded with their widowed mother Sarah Haines, the three living together in a house in San Jose, Illinois. Charlotte died around 1886, according to an Ancestry.com family tree.

In comparison to Mrs. Charlotte Dunnigan, not very much is known about Pekin’s first librarian William S. Prince. He appears in the U.S. Census returns dated Oct. 15, 1850, as “William Prince,” 11, born in Pennsylvania, being enumerated along with “Maria Prince,” 7, born in Pennsylvania (evidently William’s younger sister), both of them living in the household of Catesby and Fanny Gill in Tazewell County. From this, we know William Prince was born circa 1839 in Pennsylvania.

William next appears on record in June 1863 when he registered for Union Army’s Civil War draft. The draft register has two entries, both of which seem to be William: “Prince William S.,” 23, white, Clerk, single, born in Illinois, living in Washington, Ill., and a second time as “Prince William S.,” 23, white, Clerk, single, born in Illinois, living in Atlanta, Ill.

Although these entries say he was born in Illinois rather than Pennsylvania, they certainly are entries of our William S. Prince, who apparently was not sure where he was born. Note that in the 1850 census he was not living with his parents, who presumably had died, leaving him and Maria as orphans who were then raised by the Gills. It is unknown whether the Gills were related to the Princes.

The Gill family had settled in the areas of Dillon and Atlanta, Illinois (Atlanta is also where Prince lived in 1863). Catesby (1787-1853) and his wife Frances “Fanny” (Vaughn) Gill were the parents of Thomas Nelson Gill (1820-1872), whose wife was Theresa. That is the Mrs. Thomas N. Gill who was one of the 22 original members of the Ladies’ Library Association, and who hosted the meeting where the Ladies’ Library Association of Pekin was first organized. Prince’s ties to the Gill family explains how William S. Prince came to be hired as the first librarian in Nov. 1866.

Prince held the post of librarian for the Pekin Library Association until 1868, when he was succeeded by Miss Alice Finley. Two years after that, at the time of the 1870 U.S. Census, we find “Prince Wm,” 30, male, white, County Clerk’s Office, born in Illinois, living in the boarding house of Thomas and Theresa Gill of Pekin. At the same time, the 1870-71 Sellers & Bates Pekin City Directory shows “Prince W. S., recorder’ office, bds ss Washington southern terminus Buena Vista Avenue.” So, after his stint as Pekin’s first librarian, Prince moved on to the staffs of the Tazewell County Clerk and Recorder.

This detail from the 1870-71 Sellers & Bates City Directory of Pekin shows William S. Prince, a staff member in the Tazewell County Recorder’s Office. Prince served as the first librarian of the Pekin Library Association from 1866 to 1868.

Prince does not appear in the 1876 Bates city directory of Pekin, for he had moved elsewhere by then. It is probably our William S. Prince who was enumerated in the 1900 U.S. Census as a resident of Springfield, Missouri. The record lists him as “William S. Prince,” 60, born Oct. 1839 in Illinois (sic), single, an abstracter residing in a boarding house at 424 South St., Springfield, Mo. This census record says his father had been born in France and his mother in Kentucky.

Prince ended his days in Illinois, residing in the state capitol Springfield, where he died Saturday, Jan. 22, 1916. His obituary, printed in the Jan. 28, 1916 Farmer City Journal, says:

“William S. Prince, who made his home with his nephew, Fred Winsor, in this vicinity for several years, died on Saturday morning in a Springfield hospital, after a year’s illness. He was 77 years old and is survived by two sisters, Mrs. A. B. Winsor and Mrs. Herbert L. Denison of Bloomington. The funeral took place at Atlanta, a former home.”

Next week we will continue with the story of the Pekin Library Association in the latter 19th century.

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How Pekin got a library

By Jared Olar
Library Assistant

Last week we recalled how the Pekin Public Library became a department of Pekin’s city government 125 years ago. That was not when the library came into existence, however, for by that time the library had been operated for nearly 30 years.

The real birthday of the library was Nov. 24, 1866, the date of the organization of the Ladies’ Library Association of Pekin. The reason for its name isn’t that the library was an exclusive women’s club, but that the association was the brainchild of the leading women of Pekin society, who took charge of the project and ran Pekin’s library as a private service club for the benefit of the community.

Most of what we know of the early history of Pekin’s library is what was compiled and recorded by Miss Mary Elizabeth Gaither, who presented a report on the history of the library to the Librarian of Congress in November 1903. Gaither’s history was included in Ben C. Allensworth’s 1905 “History of Tazewell County,” and copies of her history are preserved in the library’s historical archives. Gaither’s historical account had previously been included in the 1902 library cornerstone time capsule.

This handwritten invitation to the Nov. 24, 1866 organizational meeting of the Pekin Library Association (originally known as the Ladies’ Library Association) was preserved in the 1902 cornerstone time capsule of Pekin’s former Carnegie library. The invitation says the meeting took place at the home of Mrs. T. N. Gill, that is, Mrs. Thomas N. Gill or Mrs. Theresa Gill, who then lived in a house on Washington Street at the southern end of Buena Vista — that is currently the location of the later Carl Herget Mansion.

Here is Gaither’s story of the founding and earliest days of the Ladies’ Library Association, from pages 939-940 of Allensworth’s volume:

“Some reference to the material and social aspects of Pekin in 1866, will enable us the more clearly to judge of the surroundings and circumstances under which the Ladies’ Library Association was organized.

“Pekin, in 1848, was made the county-seat of Tazewell County, and, with a population of 1,500, was granted a city charter in 1849. In 1866 the streets were first lighted with gas, the first National Bank was organized, and stock was subscribed for the Danville, Pekin & Bloomington Railroad, the first railroad (to Jacksonville) having been in operation about six years. The population was between four and five thousand, and plans were made for a High School building which was finished in 1868, and the better grading, under the new school charter, of the public schools at that time was the foundation of the efficient work which has been accomplished in later years. A flourishing choral society, concerts and lectures by eminent talent gave evidence of intellectual advancement, while the building of pretty homes, the greater attention to improvement in churches and public buildings, showed material prosperity.

“On November 24, 1866, a large number of the ladies of Pekin met to organize what was, for many years, known as the ‘Ladies’ Library Association.’ Much enthusiasm was shown in discussion, and much wisdom, also, in plans for its maintenance and management. As evidence of the good and worthy reasons for such an organization, we copy the preamble of the Constitution, which reads as follows:

“’Whereas, Societies for mutual improvement recommend themselves to our unqualified approbation; and

“’Whereas, In the ample provision made for our entertainment and amusement, we too often neglect our moral and intellectual advancement, which involves the highest interests of the community; and,

“’Whereas, We, the ladies of Pekin, being impressed with these views, and desirous of contributing our influence to the moral elevation of the community in which we live, do hereby establish a Library organization and do adopt the following Constitution:’

“Quoting again from Article 6, we read:

“’The object of the Association is, not only to collect and establish a Library of select and useful works, but also to promote a literary taste by encouraging lectures, holding discussions, etc.’

“It is well to recall to memory the original signers of the Constitution, for to them we owe gratitude beyond measure. Their untiring labor in earlier years kept money in the treasury of the Association and books on the shelves, when many social enterprises failed for lack of support. Through the inevitable changes of later years, difficulties arose to be faced, new names appear, and fresh efforts by younger workers bring order again. We honor and thank all, but not least those who first organized the Pekin Library. Herewith is the list of the names: Mrs. John B. Cohrs. Mrs. C. C. Cummings. Mrs. C. R. Cummings. Mrs. W. M. Tinney, Mrs. John W. Casey, Mrs. S. A. Trowbridge, Mrs. S. E. Barber, Mrs. Richard Tinney, Mrs. Erastus Rhoades, Mrs. W. W. Clemens, Mrs. Robert Briggs, Mrs. George Smith, Mrs. John Aydelott, Mrs. H. I. Robinson, Mrs. Charlotte Donigan, Mrs. H. P. Westerman, Mrs. T. D. Vincent, Mrs. Fisk, Mrs. I. E. Leonard, Miss Cora Cummings, Mrs. James Milner, Mrs. T. N. Gill, Miss Mary Reeves.

“The first President elected was Mrs. Charlotte Donigan. In January, 1867, a more permanent organization resulted in the election of Mrs. C. R. Cummings, President; Miss Cora Cummings, Secretary; Mrs. S. E. Barber, Treasurer; with William S. Prince as librarian. Two ladies were appointed to wait upon the City Council and solicit aid, and $100 was granted them. Mr. J. B. Clark donated $50, a generous gift for those days. Membership tickets were printed and sold for $2.00 to ladies, and $5.00 to gentlemen. A special program was arranged for the opening of the room to the public. Mr. B. S. Prettyman made an address, some excellent singers contributed vocal music, and the Constitution and by-laws were read by Mrs. H. P. Westerman.

“During the winter season following, many social parties, dramatic performances and other entertainments by home talent gave financial aid to the Library, and in this way several hundred dollars were added to the treasury.”

Next week, we’ll take a closer look at the Library Association’s first interim president, Charlotte “Lottie” (Haines) Dunnigan, and first librarian, William S. Prince.

#charlotte-donigan, #charlotte-dunnigan, #ladies-library-association, #lottie-dunnigan, #mary-elizabeth-gaither, #mrs-t-n-gill, #mrs-theresa-gill, #mrs-thomas-n-gill, #mrs-thomas-nelson-gill, #pekin-public-library-history, #theresa-gill, #william-s-prince

Looking back over 155 years of Pekin library history

By Jared Olar
Library Assistant

This month the Pekin Public Library marks an important anniversary in its history: it has been 125 years since the library became a branch of Pekin’s city government. It was in Feb. 1896 that the city of Pekin formally assumed the ownership and management of the old Pekin Library Association, a private corporation that was first organized in Nov. 1866.

So, while the library itself will turn 155 this November, the institution known as “Pekin Public Library” is now 125 years old. This anniversary provides a good occasion to take a look back over the library’s history. In today’s column, we’ll run through a general overview of the history of the library and the library building. In columns over the next few weeks and months, we’ll take close looks at specific aspects and episodes of the library’s history.

As both longtime residents of Pekin and attentive visitors to the library know, the current Pekin Public Library building is not the first one to be erected on its site. Prior to the construction of the current library in 1972, Pekin’s readers were served by a smaller structure that stood at the corner of Fourth Street and Broadway. When the old library was demolished, its former site became a sunken plaza, but since the 2015 remodel and expansion of the library, the old sunken plaza is no more, replaced by a quiet reading room and a grove of trees with water drainage.

That earlier library structure – one of the nation’s many Carnegie libraries, built in 1902 under the patronage of famous American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie – was the first building constructed in Pekin to serve specifically as a public library. In 1900, Miss Mary Elizabeth Gaither (1852-1945) had written to both Carnegie and to Pekin banker George Herget, seeking their support for the construction of a library building. Carnegie agreed to provide funds, and Herget donated land to the city to provide a site for the new library, and Bloomington architect Paul O. Moratz was hired to design it.

Shown in this clipping from a 1901 edition of the Pekin Daily Times is Bloomington architect Paul O. Moratz’s sketch of his proposed design for the 1902 Pekin Carnegie Library. It has been 125 years since the city of Pekin assumed ownership of the Pekin Public Library.

To celebrate this milestone in Pekin’s history, a formal dedication ceremony took place on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 1902. On that occasion, the library’s cornerstone was laid – and within the cornerstone was placed a time capsule containing an assortment of documents and relics pertaining chiefly to the history of the plans and preparations leading up to the construction of Pekin’s Carnegie library.

The time capsule remained sealed for 70 years. When the old library was replaced with a new, expanded facility in 1972, the cornerstone was opened and the contents of the time capsule were found to be in a very good state of preservation. For many years after that, the cornerstone materials were stored at Herget Bank, later being transferred to the Pekin Public Library’s own historical archives, where they are stored and preserved today.

Among the items that had been placed in the 1902 time capsule were two local newspapers from February 1896 – a copy of the Pekin Daily Tribune and a copy of the Pekin Daily Evening Post, both of 13 Feb. 1896. They were selected for the time capsule because that date was close to the day that the library became a municipal body of Pekin’s city government.

Shown here is part of the front page of the Feb. 13, 1896, Pekin Daily Tribune, one of the newspapers that was preserved in the 1902 Pekin Public Library cornerstone time capsule.

Miss Gaither, whose actions and advocacy were responsible for the construction of our Carnegie library, prepared a historical report for the Library of Congress in 1903, in which she related the story of the library from 1866 to 1903. (Her historical account had previously been included in the 1902 time capsule.) Her “History of the Pekin Public Library” says:

“On November 24th, 1866, a large number of the ladies of Pekin met to organize what was for many years known as the ‘Ladies Library Association.’” Also included in the cornerstone time capsule was one of the handwritten invitations to that meeting.

On March 5, 1883, the Pekin Library Association formally incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois – the original, sealed articles of incorporation from 1883 also were included in the cornerstone time capsule.

Ten years later, on Feb. 6, 1893, the Library Association petitioned the city to have the library and its collection handed over to the city’s ownership. The process of transferring the library from private to public control was completed three years later.

Pekin’s Carnegie Library served the community for seven decades, after which construction began on an entirely new library in 1972 – the one still in use today. The new facility was also the home of the Dirksen Congressional Center for 28 years, and in June 1973, President Richard Nixon came to Pekin to dedicate the Dirksen Center. Two years later, in August 1975, President Gerald Ford returned to dedicate the new library building.

Since then, the Pekin Public Library has benefited from advances in technology and some remodeling. The most significant changes came in 2014 and 2015 thanks to a $6 million remodel and expansion that included a new entrance, community and conference rooms, study rooms and a quiet reading room, and a fresher, brighter, and lighter look within and without.

#andrew-carnegie, #carnegie-library, #dirksen-center, #dirksen-congressional-research-center, #george-herget, #gerald-ford, #herget-bank, #ladies-library-association, #library-cornerstone, #mary-elizabeth-gaither, #mary-gaither, #miss-gaither, #paul-o-moratz, #pekin-daily-evening-post, #pekin-daily-tribune, #pekin-library-association, #pekin-library-cornerstone-time-capsule, #pekin-public-library, #pekin-public-library-history, #presidents-in-pekin, #richard-nixon

I. E. Leonard, merchant, banker, mayor

This is a reprint of a “From the Local History Room” column that first appeared in Nov. 2014, before the launch of this weblog.

I. E. Leonard, merchant, banker, mayor

By Jared Olar
Library Assistant

Among the drawings illustrating Thompson’s 1864 wall plat map of Tazewell County is one that shows the mansion of a certain I. E. Leonard of Pekin. To have lived in such a house, clearly he must have been a man of some importance in town. Delving into Pekin’s history, that is exactly what we find.

Born April 8, 1822, in Hallowell, Maine, Isaac Eugene Leonard II was a son of Isaac Eugene Leonard (1790-1853) and Julia Washburn, and was a brother of Frederick Washington Leonard (1820-1879) and Julia Maria Leonard (born 1825). I.E. Leonard’s parents were born in Raynham, Mass., and they and their children came to Illinois. The elder Isaac E. Leonard is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Tremont.

The 1840 U.S. Census shows “Isaac Leonard” living in Tazewell County – that could be either the elder or the younger Isaac E. Leonard. Ten years later, the U.S. Census shows “Eugene Leonard” living in Pekin, age 24, a merchant – that’s undoubtedly I.E. Leonard. He had four sons, Louis, Charles G. Isaac Eugene III, and Henry Baldwin.

This detail from an 1864 wall plat map of Tazewell County shows a drawing of the old mansion of Isaac E. Leonard (1822-1879), a Pekin merchant and banker who served as mayor and alderman. Leonard’s mansion was located near the southwest corner of the intersection of Summer and McLean streets.

In fact, I.E. Leonard was one of Pekin’s early merchants. The 1861 Pekin City Directory, page 38, shows “Isaac E. Leonard,” residing on the west side of Leonard (today called Summer Street), two doors south of McLean. The neighborhood where Leonard built his mansion was the Leonard Addition. Also listed in the 1861 directory was Isaac’s brother Frederick W. Leonard. Together, Isaac and Frederick operated the firm of Leonard & Co., and lumber and produce outfit located at the corner of Front and Ann Eliza on the Illinois riverfront.

The 1870 Pekin City Directory shows that Isaac was apparently still living at the same spot: on the west side of Leonard, between Winter and Pearl streets – “Pearl” is today known as Prince Street. The 1873 Atlas Map of Tazewell County shows that a significant stretch of land adjacent to Isaac’s place of residence was then the location of “Leonard Bros.” Leonard’s mansion is no longer there today.

The site of the mansion of Pekin Mayor I. E. Leonard as it appears today.

The 1879 and 1905 Tazewell County histories of Charles C. Chapman and Ben C. Allensworth together show that “I. E. Leonard” served as mayor of Pekin in 1860 and 1861, afterwards being elected as Fourth Ward Alderman on the Pekin City Council in 1862 and again in 1870. Leonard’s leading position in town is further indicated by the fact that his wife was one of the founding members of the Ladies Library Association (ancestral to the Pekin Public Library) and served as the association’s president in 1870. She was noted for her great success at organizing fundraising events on behalf of the library.

Chapman’s history, page 347, also lists “I. E. Leonard, Pekin” as one of the 19 vice presidents who on Aug. 6, 1864, were chosen to represent the communities of Tazewell County on the committee overseeing the Tazewell County Sanitary Fair, an event held to raise money for the Soldiers Aid Society’s efforts to provide care for Civil War soldiers and returning veterans.

Allensworth’s 1905 history, pages 872-3, informs us that Leonard was the founding president of the First National Bank of Pekin when it opened in 1866. His brother F. W. Leonard was vice president. The bank only existed for nine years, however. After the bank was liquidated in 1875, Allensworth says, “the private banking firms of Leonard & Blossom and, in 1876, F.W. Leonard & Co. continued the banking business at the old stand of the First National Bank.”

Isaac was not a part of the reorganized banking firm, however. The 1876 Pekin City Directory says “Israel” (sic) Eugene Leonard, retired, then lived at the southwest corner of Delavan Ave. and Winter, four blocks east of his former residence. He died in 1879 and was buried in Section I-3 of Lakeside Cemetery, Pekin.

#1864-tazewell-county-sanitary-fair, #f-w-leonard, #f-w-leonard-and-co, #first-national-bank-of-pekin, #i-e-leonard, #isaac-eugene-leonard, #ladies-library-association, #leonard-addition, #leonard-and-blossom, #leonard-and-co, #leonard-bros, #preblog-columns

The Pekin Public Library’s early history: A glimpse inside a time capsule

This is a reprint of a “From the Local History Room” column that first appeared in March 2013 before the launch of this weblog.

A glimpse inside a time capsule

By Jared Olar
Library assistant

Each week this column delves into the Pekin Public Library’s Local History Room collection to see what we can learn about various aspects, anecdotes and artifacts of Pekin and Tazewell County history. This week we’ll turn our attention toward the history the Pekin Public Library itself, by taking look at a few of the contents of the library’s Cornerstone Time Capsule collection.

As both longtime residents of Pekin and attentive visitors to the library know, the current library building is not the first one to be erected on it site. Prior to the construction of the current library in 1972, Pekin’s readers were served by a smaller structure that stood at the corner of Fourth Street and Broadway, where the library’s sunken plaza is located today. [NB: Since the 2015 remodel and expansion of the library, the old sunken plaza is no more, replaced by a quiet reading room and a grove of trees with water drainage.]

That earlier structure – one of the nation’s many Carnegie libraries, built in 1902 under the patronage of famous American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie – was the first building constructed in Pekin to serve specifically as a public library. To celebrate that milestone in Pekin’s history, a formal dedication ceremony took place on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 1902.

On that occasion, the library’s cornerstone was laid – and within the cornerstone was placed a time capsule containing an assortment of documents and relics pertaining chiefly to the history of the plans and preparations leading up to the construction of Pekin’s Carnegie library.

The time capsule remained sealed for 70 years. When the old library was replaced with a new, expanded facility in 1972, the cornerstone was opened and the contents of the time capsule were found to be in a very good state of preservation. For many years after that, the cornerstone materials were stored at Herget Bank, later being transferred to the Pekin Public Library’s own historical archives.

Placed in the cornerstone time capsule were five local newspapers, three of them from August 1902 and two of them from February 1896. The reason for including three August 1902 newspapers is obvious – they are issues with dates that are close to the day of the cornerstone laying: the Pekin Daily Post-Tribune of Aug. 18, 1902, the Pekin Daily Times of Aug. 16, 1902, and the Pekin Freie Presse of Aug. 14, 1902. (Pekin formerly had a German language newspaper due to the heavy influx of German immigrants to Pekin in the mid- to late 1800s.)

The reason for including the two newspapers from February 1896 is probably not obvious to anyone not well versed in the library’s history, however. Those newspapers – the Pekin Daily Tribune and the Pekin Daily Evening Post, both of 13 Feb. 1896 – were chosen because that date was close to the day that the library became a municipal body of Pekin’s city government.

The library’s history did not begin in 1902, but in fact reaches back to 1866, as we read in one of the documents placed in the 1902 cornerstone: a “History of the Pekin Public Library” written by Miss Mary Gaither. “On November 24th, 1866, a large number of the ladies of Pekin met to organize what was for many years known as the ‘Ladies Library Association,’” Gaither wrote. Also included in the cornerstone was one of the handwritten invitations to that meeting.

On March 5, 1883, the Pekin Library Association formally incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois – the original, sealed articles of incorporation from 1883 also were included in the cornerstone time capsule.

Ten years later, on Feb. 6, 1893, the Library Association petitioned the city to have the library and its collection handed over to the city’s ownership. The process of transferring the library from private to public control was completed three years later, in 1896.

Shown here is part of the front page of the Feb. 13, 1896, Pekin Daily Tribune, one of the newspapers that was preserved in the 1902 Pekin Public Library cornerstone time capsule.

Shown here is the top front of the outer sleve of the Feb. 13, 1896, Pekin Daily Tribune, one of the newspapers that was preserved in the 1902 Pekin Public Library cornerstone time capsule.

#andrew-carnegie, #carnegie-library, #ladies-library-association, #library-cornerstone, #mary-gaither, #pekin-daily-evening-post, #pekin-daily-times, #pekin-daily-tribune, #pekin-freie-presse, #pekin-library-association, #pekin-library-cornerstone-time-capsule, #preblog-columns