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LI B R.AR.Y

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BRIKF HISTORY

OF THE

Charitable Institutions

OF THE

STATE OF ILLINOIS

1893.

JOHN MORRIS COMPANY, PRINTERS,

118 AND 120 MONROE STREET,
CHICAGO.

1.2

PREFACE.

To let the world know what a magnificent work the State of Illinois
has done and is doing for her unfortunate people, the Blind, the Deaf
and Dumb, the Feeble Minded Children, the Insane, her Disabled Sol-
diers, and the Orphans of her Soldiers, the Committee on State Charitable
Institutions of the Illinois Board of World's Fair Commissioners had
prepared and published for gratuitous distribution a brief history of each
of the State Charitable Institutions. These histories were prepared by
the Superintendents of the several Institutions, and may therefore be
considered as authentic and reliable. They have been given to all visitors
to the exhibits of these Institutions who desired to read them. To put
these histories in a more convenient and more permanent form, the Com-
mittee on State Charitable Institutions ordered that 200 copies of these
histories be bound in one volume, each volume containing one copy of
each of these histories, for distribution to the State and County offices
> and to the State Institutions, Charitable and Educational, and this vol -
ume is the result of that order.

JAMES M. WASHBURN, Chairman. } Committee on

A. B. HOSTETTER. State

B. F. WYMAN.

-,T _. 0 Charitable

W. D. STRYKER.

J. W. JUDY. Institutions.

r-t

HISTORY

EDUCATION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB

JACKSONVILLE, ILL

1838-1893.

Presented by the ILLINOIS BOARD OF WORLD'S
FAIR COMMISSIONERS.

JOHN MORRIS COMPANY, PRINTERS,

118 AND 120 MONROE STREET,

CHICAGO.

HISTORY

OF THE

ILLINOIS INSTITUTION FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE
DEAF AND DUMB.

During the year 1838 Hon. Orville H. Browning, a resident of
Quincy, 111., while making a journey by steamboat on the Missis-
sippi river, met an educated deaf-mute gentleman who interested
him very much not only in himself but in the subject of deaf-mute
education. Mr. Browning, a man of legal talent, was abreast of the
times in all public educational and humane enterprises. Indeed he
was rather ahead of his times in such causes. The interest once
aroused in his mind on this subject did not abate. He at once
entered into correspondence with Rev. J. A. Jacobs, Principal of
the Kentucky Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb,
asking his advice as to the best method of procedure to establish an
institution in Illinois. Mr. Browning, being a man whom his fellow
citizens delighted to honor (he was often in the public service in
various capacities as Congressman, U. S. Senator and member of
President Lincoln's Cabinet), was a member of the Senate of the
State of Illinois at the session of the General Assembly which con-
vened at the capital (Vandalia) in December, 1838. He prepared
and presented at that session a bill which became the charter of
what is now known as the Illinois Institution for the Education of
the Deaf and Dumb, though it was at first styled an asylum, as was
common in those days. Mr. Browning's bill very clearly shows
that he had the correct estimate of the character of such an insti-
tution as purely educational; and that the deaf-mute from being an
infant in law, might, by educational instrumentalities, be advanced
to the position of honorable and responsible manhood. That one
having this just and proper conception should consent to style the
proposed corporation an asylum seems strange. But this may be in
a measure explained by the consideration that in practical affairs it
is often necessary to defer to the unintelligent views that prevail in
society. There has always been and still remains a disposition to

regard institutions for the deaf as asylums. We can understand
why this should be so in case of the earliest institutions for them,
as previously they were held as little better than human brutes on
whom the contempt and jeers of conrse minds were too frequently
visited, or as infants incapable of rational acts, so that they did,
indeed, require an asylum for their better protection, and to withhold
them from the perpetration of unreasonable conduct that their ignor-
ance often impelled them to. An uneducated adult deaf-mute is at
once a pitiable and a dangerous character. Absolute solitude is one
of the most dreadful conditions to which one can be subjected. A
poet has sung

Oh solitude, where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms
Than reign in this horrible place.

Alexander Selkirk on the island of Juan Fernandez was scarcely
more solitary than is an uneducated deaf person. The consequence
is that his ceaseless, unintelligent introspection with the many
taunts he receives, in time brings him to the verge of lunacy, feroc-
ity or brutishuess. As children they are as lovely and interesting
as any others, but as adults they have only the infant mind, with
manly passions and brute strength. Were there no schools for
their education, the asylum for their protection and restraint would,
indeed, be of the first importance. This was always obvious even
to the careless thinker. Hence it is easy to perceive that when the
first movements were proposed for their amelioration, the asylum
idea should be first and uppermost in the public mind. Though
scarcely more than twenty years had elapsed since the first efforts to
instruct the deaf and dumb had been made in America, yet Mr.
Browning in his bill showed a conception of the nature of the work
to be done quite in advance of the popular idea. Section third of
his bill says: ';The object of said corporation shall be to promote
by all proper and possible means, the intellectual, moral and phys-
ical culture of that unfortunate portion of the community, who, by
the mysterious dispensation of Providence, have been born, or by
disease become deaf, and, of course, dumb; and by a judicious and
well adopted course of education, to reclaim them from their lonely
and cheerless condition, restore them to the rank of their species,
and fit them for the discharge of the social and domestic duties of
life."

Mr. Browning's bill passed the Senate without a dissenting vote,
and passed the House of Representatives by a large majority and
was approved by Governor Thomas Carlin, February 23, 1839.
For the support of the institution the bill appropriated one-quarter
per cent, of the interest upon the whole amount of the school, col-
lege and seminary fund; thus most intimately connecting the new
institution with the school system of the State, since its maintenance
came from the same funds from which the public schools derived
theirs. The theory was that the deaf-mute children of the State
had as good a right to a portion of school funds as those who were
more favored. Certainly a most enlightened view.

In securing the passage of this bill Judge Browning was
promptly assisted by the Senators and Representatives from Mor-
gan county, among whom were Hon. William Thomas, Hon. New-
toii Cloud, and Gen. John J. Hardin. Gen. Hardin died on the
battle-field of Buena Vista. Messrs. Thomas and Cloud were fast
friends of the institution till far advanced in life. Never has a
nobler type of honesty and magnanimity been in public life than Rev.
Newton Cloud. When very far advanced in life as a member of the
House of Representatives, a patriarch among the younger members,
who delighted to honor him, he still gave to the institution his best
service, and to his dying day delighted to visit it and rejoice in its
growth and success.

The first Board of Directors of the Institution named in the act
of incorporate >u comprises a galaxy of brilliant names in the history
of Illinois. Thomas Carlin, Thomas Cole, Joseph Duncan, each at
different times governors of the State ; Samuel D. Lockwood, Sam-
uel H. Treat, Cyrus Walker, eminent jurists and judges of the Su-
preme Court; William Thomas, repeatedly a member of the Legis-
lature, and many years a member of the Board; Julian M. Sturte-
vant, President of Illinois College, and one of the foremost educators
of the State; Otway Wilkinson, Dennis Rockwell, George M.
Chambers, and Matthew Stacy, men who to the close of life enjoyed
the highest confidence of their fellow citizens. In this connection
there is but one cause o'f regret, which is that the name of Hon. Or-
ville H. Browning does not appear. No name might more fittingly
have appeared. But the act was drawn by Judge Browning, and
the modesty that accompanies merit caused him, while naming
others to omit himself. Strange that some one did not move to in-
sert his name in the bill; but though never actively and officially

connected with the institution, he never ceased to entertain for it
the liveliest interest as was manifested by his sending to it valuable
public documents while lie remained in public life, and by his earn-
est inquiries concerning its work until his earthly career terminated.
Judge Browning's complete disinterestedness in the subject is
manifested by his naming another place for the location of the
institution than the city of his own residence. The best and
most convenient location was the one he desired, and as Jackson-
ville seemed in those days (preceding railroads) to combine most
advantages, he named that city in the act, only stipulating that the
citizens should provide a site comprising not less than five acres of
land. The omission of his name is the more to be regretted since we
may hope that had he been one of the Board of Directors seven
years would not have elapsed before the school would have been
opened for pupils, as was the case.

On the 29th of June, 1839, a majority of the directors named in
the Act of Incorporation met in Jacksonville and proceeded to or-
ganize. Gen. Joseph Duncan was elected President, Samuel D.
Lockwood, Vice-President, Otway Wilkinson, Treasurer, and George
M. Chambers, Secretary. Gen. Duncan was a most suitable man
to be placed at the head of any educational enterprise, having, in
addition to his experience in Congress, and as a general in the Black
Hawk war, had the honor of being the author of the first school law
of the State of Illinois. He was a man of large views, of noble im-
pulses and public spirit. Gen. Duncan continued President of the
Board until his demise, when he was succeeded by Col. James Dun-
lap, July 1, 1845. Col. Duulap had been elected a member of the
Board February 16, 1842, vice Thomas Carlin, resigned. He had,
at the incipieucy of the enterprise, shown a deep interest in the in-
stitution, having made the largest subscription toward the purchase
of land required by the Act of Incorporation. He was continued
in the Presidency of the Board as long as he remained a member of
it. His interest in the institution continued until the close of his
life. One of the last acts of his life was on his death-bed, to send
for the superintendent of the institution and talk with him upon
matters connected with the institution. Col. Duiilap was a man
who devised liberal things and undertook large enterprises. There
have been but few, if any, more public-spirited citizens in Illinois
than Col. James Duulap.

With such men as have been named in the Board of Directors

it seems strange to us at this distance of time that two years and a
half elapsed before a site had been secured for the institution,
and that seven years should pass before any deaf-mutes had been
admitted to its halls, or any instruction given them, and then to
only four pupils. But it is due to the good men of those times to
remember that the grand scheme of internal improvements which
had been inaugurated in 1835 had collapsed, leaving the State
overwhelmed with debt, its bonds and State warrants far below par,
and hard times prevailing with a severity of which the active gen-
eration of to-day have no knowledge. The first and uppermost
thought of the citizen then was to extinguish the debt of the State,
and of the people to secure their homes. It is also true that a great
system of State institutions, such as now form so important a part
of every State government, was then unknown.

This was the first institution established by the State for the
alleviation of misfortune, and upon it fell the task of arousing the
public mind to the practicability and importance of public benefi-
cence, and of the extent of the demand for it, as well as the una-
voidable outlay necessary in its prosecution. Institutions for the
education of the deaf and dumb have this distinction in almost all
States of the Union. The American Asylum (for the education of
the deaf and dumb) at Hartford, Connecticut, opened in 1817, was
the precursor of all those great institutions for the Deaf and Dumb,
the Blind, the Insane and the Feeble-minded, that form so large a
department of the government of all the States of the Union, for
whose support, in some States, more than half of the public expen-
diture is made.

In view of these facts it is not at all strange that, in the third dec-
ade of this century, and only twenty years after the first institution
had been established in the old and well-peopled east, that a new
and young State should proceed in a manner that now seems to us,
in the light of seventy years1 experience, quite alow. But, though
the progress of the first few years was slow, it was determined.
That such a humane work should be commenced immediately on its
suggestion, though at a time of most distressing financial depres-
sion, is greatly to the credit of the men of those days. It seems to
one reviewing it like a turning away from the wild speculation of a
few years before, when, as a historian of the State says, "The fever
of speculation rapidly advanced in intensity until the fever devel-
oped into mania, reason was dethroned, and the folly of inflation

held high carnival/' to the more honorable work of caring for those
who could not care for themselves, in practical obedience to the
Divine command, "Thoushalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Obe-
dience to the Divine command was speedily followed with the bless-
ing of Providence, and the State of Illinois at once entered upon a
career of prosperity, slow indeed at first, but unremitting in growth
and increasing in rapidity that is the marvel of the world. " Them
that honDi1 me I will honor," has been shown to apply to the State
as well as to individuals. The State can in no more forcible man-
ner acknowledge the Creator than by beneficence to the needy and
helpless.

There are two beneficent results accruing from the instruction
of the deaf and dumb by the body politic. First, to its subjects
who are elevated to a plane of enlightenment in which they can enjoy
the noblest pleasures of family ties and social life, and secondly, to
the State which thus secures for itself intelligent, self-reliant citi-
zens instead of ignorant dependents who, otherwise, for the term of
their natural lives, would be an incubus upon society in some form.
It costs less to educate the deaf child, maintaining him for a few
years, than to care for and to support him for several decades as a
man but little elevated above a brute. The sum of money expended
by the people of Illinois in the support of its Institution for the
Deaf and Dumb is large in the aggregate and is easily computed,
but what the expenditures by society for its beneficiaries would
otherwise have amounted to, being made in innumerable driblets,
no one can compute with certainty, but certain it is that the sum of
all these would far exceed the former.

Let it not be supposed that between the incorporation of the
institution in February, 1839, and its opening in February, 1846,
that the Board of Directors had been unmindful of their trust.
There were frequent meetings of the Board and its Prudential
Committee during those years. A building, then deemed ample
for many generations, was erected and paid for. To effect this
result in times of financial depression, so severe that Auditor's
warrants were sold as low as thirty cents on the dollar, was a matter
of such difficulty as the present generation knows nothing of,
when the State Treasury contains a surplus, the State debt is all
paid, and holders of its bonds refuse to present them for payment.
The building erected was eighty-six feet long, fifty wide, three
stories and an attic high. The writer has been told that by some it

was then regarded as far beyond all the requirements of the next
hundred years, and sometimes derisively styled the State's folly, so
little was the demand for such an institution understood. Not a
vestige of that building remained after thirty years. Could the men
of that day, with prophet's ken, have looked down the vista of only
forty years upon the great and beautiful structures that now suc-
ceed theirs, it would have seemed to them that they were viewing
the baseless fabrics of a dream. But in their day they planned and
labored as hard as we have since, and practiced far more self-denial
than has fallen to our lot. During the summer' of 1845 eight rooms
of the building were finished. With these the Board of Directors
felt that they would be able to open the school. They were now
brought to the most serious and important duty that could come to
them. In all that had thus far devolved upon them in their respect-
ive spheres of life the members of the Board were as wise and as
sagacious as any body of a similar number that could be gathered
in Illinois or any other State. They were, as already seen, men
eminent at the forum, in the halls of legislation, in agriculture, the
pulpit and the arenas of trade. They were fully cognizant of the
necessity of the greatest prudence in the selection of a principal
whose success or failure in the conduct of the institution would
make effective or paralyze all they had thus far done, thus bring-
ing credit or mortification to them. There is probably no position
in society in which a man more surely requires technical skill,
based upon years of actual experience, than does the position of
superintendent or principal of an institution for the education of
the deaf and dumb. The gentleman who first, in America, under-
took this peculiar work, prepared himself by long previous study,
investigation and work in institutions of foreign lands, and then,
not until he succeeded in inducing a man of still longer experience
in a European institution to assist him in his new work, did he act-
ively enter upon it. The first instructors of the deaf and dumb in
America were all college-bred men of the most brilliant attainments,
and of ability that would, and did in some cases, achieve success
and distinction in the most exalted walks of life ; some in college
faculties, some in divinity, some in law, and some in authorship.
No profession — for the instruction of the deaf is as truly a profes-
sion as law, medicine, theology or art — was ever inaugurated by a
better class of men or style of mind than was this. Its pristine
dignity it has maintained as well as any other profession. That

some individuals have been improperly admitted to it is not to be
denied. Still more regretful is the fact that there have been foisted
upon it some incompetent and unsuitable persons as a reward of
party service. But this has not, in any case, been by the influence
of members of the profession, but in spite of them. Repeatedly has
the high-toned and expert instructor felt the tinge of shame and
indignation when he has seen his loved and honorable profession
made a shuttle-cock to be bandied back and forth by party heelers
as though it was legitimate party spoils. If the " boodler " could be
of some service, the case would not be so shameful, but he not only
can do nothing in his new sphere, but he is actually an obstacle
who can only strut around, hold down an office chair and draw a
salary he has not earned. To direct the benefactions of a generous
people, appropriated by them for a noble purpose to such use, lacks
but little, if any, of the essential spirit of knavery and robbery,
even though it is done under the forms of law. It is impossible to
conceive of anything more absurd than to place in charge of a
company of youth, to direct their morals, manners, instruction, and
look after their welfare, one who can not even ask after their ail-
ments in sickness, or give them a word of comfort in trouble. This
iniquity, it is due to say, has not often been practiced anywhere,
and never in connection with this institution.

The Board of Trustees have from the first recognized and acted
upon the principle that so sacred a work as superintending such an
institution, should be intrusted only to one who was versed in the
work of instructing the deaf, who could communicate with them in
their own language since they can not use ours.

Before the building was ready for occupancy the Board had ap-
pointed a committee to seek for a thoroughly competent man to take
charge of the new institution at its opening. Extensive correspond-
ence was opened with institutions in other States with the result
that Mr. Thomas Officer, who five years preceding had been en-
gaged as a teacher in the Ohio Institution, was elected principal.
It is quite surprising that the records of the Board and the reports
of the institution make very little reference to Mr. Officer. So far
as they are concerned it would only appear that he was employed
at a meager salary, and after a period of nine years withdrew from
the institution. The writer, as his successor and from some per-
sonal acquaintance, and from inquiry of his coadjutors and com-
rades both in the Ohio and in this institution is prepared to say

that the Board made a most happy and fortunate selection for their
first principal. Mr. Officer was well posted in his profession, to which
he was an ornament, was a good teacher, a fine executive, with
pleasant, genial bearing, eminently becoming the Christian gentle-
man. He had an urbane and winning manner that ingratiated him
instantly with all well-disposed persons and soon fixed him in their
confidence. While the earlier reports of the institution after his
advent make very little reference to Mr. Officer, the subjects they
discuss and the manner of their discussion, is so different from those
preceding them as to clearly show that they are inspired by a mind
such as previous reports have not felt the influence of. That mind
could have been no other than Mr. Officer himself, though his name
was not attached to them. In March, 1849, Mr. Officer was elected
secretary of the Board, and in that capacity prepared and signed
the last three reports of the Board before the time of his departure
from the institution. This statement will readily explain the fact
of so little reference to him in the printed 'reports of the institu-
tion.

Mr. Officer arrived in October, 1845. Necessary arrangements
for opening the school were made, such as providing furniture and the
appointment of a steward, and the first day of 'December fixed upon
as the date for opening the school, notice of which was published
in the newspapers throughout the State. The day for opening
came, but no deaf-mutes came with it. Accordingly, Mr. Officer
started out on a search for them. In the course of several weeks
twelve were found whose parents promised to send them, but at the
designated time they failed to put in an appearance. However, by
the last of January, 1846, four had reached the institution, and in
the month of February, seven years after the passage of the bill
establishing the institution, it began its noble work. Accessions to
the number of pupils were made during the next spring so that dur-
ing the first term there were nine deaf-mutes admitted. This seems
to us now a small beginning, but other institutions had before this
been opened with small numbers; the American Asylum with but
six; the Pennsylvania with seven; the Ohio Institution with three,
only six more during its entire first year; the Tennessee Institution
with nine, and the Indiana Institution with six. Hence, the direct-
ors, nothing daunted, sent out on a tour of search the superintend-
ent during the summer vacation. His success in securing promises
of attendance were so encouraging that an additional teacher was

employed for the new term which was to open on the 17th of Sep-
tember. During the fall and early winter there were five acces-
sions, so that in its second term fourteen pupils were enrolled, some
being quite tardy in their arrival. In their report made at this
time, December, 1846, the directors state to the General Assembly
that if the means to complete the building were supplied they could
also admit the deaf-mutes of Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas and Wis-
consin to a participation in its advantages. Except Arkansas, all
of these States did, in a few years, send deaf children to this insti-
tution for instruction.

A regulation that seriously impeded the growth of the institu-
tion in its early history was one which had a similar paralyzing
effect on institutions in other States, namely, a provision that re-
quired parents of deaf children who could not command the means
to pay for their tuition and board to make an affidavit to that effect
before a justice of the peace who should then certify to that fact.
In recommending the repeal of this provision the directors say:
" The only effect in requiring these certificates, so far as we can
see, is to deprive many of those who are actually too poor to pay
for the advantages of the institution. Many parents, though barely
able to provide food and clothing for their families, can not bring
themselves to submit to the disagreeable task of going before jus-
tices of the peace and asking for certificates of poverty." Dur-
ing the year 1846 earnest efforts were made to ascertain the num-
ber, names and residences of the deaf and dumb within the State
by personal exploration of the State, circulars of inquiry to census
commissioners of 1845, and to clergymen of various denominations,
by which means the names of one hundred and sixty were obtained
of whom but six or eight were in circumstances to pay for their
support at the school. These efforts in time bore fruit, though
probably not as soon as was expected.

In the fourth biennial report, December, 1848, only three years
after the opening of the school, the directors find that the building
that in their first report they had stated would answer for many
years to come, and in their third report had intimated its adequacy
for the deaf-mutes, not only of Illinois, but also for those of Mis-
souri, Iowa, Arkansas and Wisconsin, was now quite crowded, though
only sixty pupils had been received, ten of whom were from Mis-
souri and one from Iowa. They accordingly applied to the General
Assembly for an appropriation of ten thousand dollars to extend the

buildings by the erection of a main building to which the existing
structure should be a wing. For most other purposes the building
then in use would have been adequate for a much larger number of
persons than it then served. Such a multiplicity of things must be
done for the deaf and dumb in the course of their education that
they require more room than any other class of people. Separate
provision must be made in sitting-room, dining-room, bed-room,
school-room, chapel and shop, so that at the very infancy of this
institution, for each one six separate and distinct provisions had to
be made, besides those provisions which can be used in common
such as kitchen, bath-rooms and lavatories and laundry.

With the coming of new classes at the opening of each school
year it became necessary to employ additional instructors. At the
outset the directors clearly determined that their policy should be
to employ only competent instructors with previous experience in
this peculiar work. The principle that had governed them in the
selection of a principle they adopted as a governing one in the ap-
pointment of subordinate officers. In the fourth biennial report,
the second after the opening of the school, the directors wisely say,
" In the employment of instructors the directors have endeavored
as far as possible to engage none but those possessing the very best
qualifications, and it is their design to continue in future to act
upon the same principle. The difficulties to be encountered in teach-
ing the deaf and dumb are such that persons possessing even the
best common education could be of little service. We deem it,
therefore, of the highest importance that the instructors be men
possessing a thorough education." No profession or vocation in
life more seriously demands skillful training and protracted expe-
rience than the profession of deaf-mute instruction, and yet it seems
impossible to make many people understand this. No one would
seriously think of placing a piece of fine goods in the hands of a
novice to make a garment, yet the importunities sometimes made to
place a mere tyro in charge of a class of children to practice on
their minds for a term of years until he acquires skill would be
amusing were they not astounding. It is a pitiful scene to witness
the blunders of a novice in his efforts to instruct a class of deaf-
mutes. The intentions are good and the well-meant efforts are the
best he can do. If the loss resulting from his mistakes was visited
upon the tyro it might be patiently tolerated, but, alas, it falls upon
the deaf-mute child whose golden moments are being wasted. A

thoroughly educated young person with a natural aptitude for
teaching can not become fully equipped for this work in a shorter
time than seven years, and even then will, if honest, confess that
he has but just entered into acquaintance with the profession and
is but beginning to get a view of its philosophy and scope and the
immense difficulties it involves. The loss of a capable teacher is
a calamity to an institution, while to gain one is a stroke of good
fortune indeed. This institution has been compelled to train and
induct some young persons into this work who, in process of time,
have become thoroughly efficient, but whenever able to do so, has
drawn them from elsewhere. Upon the institutions in ten States
we have at various times made drafts.

When the school was first opened the policy was adopted of en-
trusting the domestic department to a steward, allowing him a
stipulated sum for boarding each pupil. This plan was continued
for two years, when, being found unsatisfactory, it was discontinued
and the steward was made an agent of the Board. He was, how-
ever, continued an independent officer amenable only to the Board.
This arrangement makes an institution a double-headed affair, in
which there will inevitably be conflict and misunderstanding. It
has been tried in most, if not quite all public institutions with the
same results. It has seemed almost as inevitable for an institution
to pass through this experience as for children to be attacked with
colic, measles and whooping-cough. It is a principle that every-
where else is universally condemned as subversive of order and
system. As well undertake to wage a war with two generals to an
army, or send a ship on a voyage with two captains, as to under-
take to successfully operate a public institution with two heads by
whatever titles they may be called. This plan was followed in this
institution for eight years with such friction that the Legislature
by legal enactment, regardless of the Board of Directors, abolished
the office of steward and placed the institution under the sole man-
agement of one head. Had this sensible and reasonable plan been
entered upon at the outset a vast amount of unnecessary animosity
and wrangling would have been avoided. This action of the Gen-
eral Assembly was upon a recommendation of a special committee
appointed to inquire into the difficulties and troubles that had so long
disturbed the institution. This was a joint committee from the Senate
and House of Representatives, of which Senator Robert Boal, then
of Marshall county, but later of Peoria, Illinois, was chairman. Dr.

AN ARTICULATION CLASS-ONE OF THIRTY-NINE.

AN ARTICULATION CLASS— ONE OF THIRTY-NINE.

Boal was soon after appointed a member of the Board of Directors,,
which relation he sustained for seventeen years, part of the time
being President of the Board. Dr. Boal's influence on the institu-
tion was most enlightened, helpful and progressive.

The subject of industrial training secured immediate attention
upon the opening of the institution. The pupils when admitted in
those days had already become stout youth and were well able to
perform physical labor. The boys were required to pass a portion
of each day in doing such chores as sawing, splitting and carrying
wood, and working in the garden. The girls were taught various kinds
of housework and sewing, but there was soon developed the neces-
sity for trades as a department of systematic instruction. The first
teacher who was permanently employed, Mr. Nathan M. Totten,
while a pupil of the New York Institution had acquired some
knowledge of cabinet-making. In May, 1848, the Board purchased
an inferior frame structure which they hauled upon the grounds of
the institution. In the following month Mr. Totten, in addition to
his labors in the school-room, began the instruction of male pupils
in the cabinet-maker's trade. About this time some sporadic work-
was done by pupils at shoemaking, but not till October, 1857, Avas
the instruction in this trade systematic and regular. The directors
in their fifth report, December, 1850, speaking on the importance of
trades in an institution for the deaf and dumb speak so wisely that
it is fancied a more lucid and satisfactory statement of the whole
question has seldom, if ever been made.

" The more we see of the practical workings of the plan of con-
necting manual labor with mental and moral instruction, of calling
into exercise the physical energies, and directing them to some
definite and useful object, while the intellect and heart are being
trained, the more we are convinced of its importance and practica-
bility. Without some regular employment, requiring bodily exer-
cise, many neglect to take such an amount of daily exercise as is
necessary to a healthy condition of the body, or to a vigorous exer-
cise of the mind. Although at times the ordinary games and sports
of youth, in which the deaf and dumb engage with as much zest as
others, would seem to afford an abundance of healthy exercise, yet
these all in turn become wearisome to the most lively and play-
ful, and frequently for weeks together they seem to take no pleas-
ure in them. This want of exercise superinduces listlessness, low
spirits, discontent, dissatisfaction, and other kindred feelings, which

are utterly incompatible with success in the great object for which
they are assembled together.

" Another advantage gained by the connection of manual with
intellectual labor is, that there is much less liability to disturbances
and irregularities of conduct among the pupils after school hours.
This, among a large number of youth, is a matter of no small con-
sequence. Possessing, as mutes do, all the varieties of disposition
as exhibited by others, it would be unreasonable to expect harmony
and good conduct among so many, if left without regular employ-
ment during the hours necessarily devoted to exercise and recrea-
tion. Frequent disputes and difficulties would unavoidably arise.
Furnishing them with some stated occupation during a portion of
those hours is the best security against these difficulties. No
serious disturbance has ever occurred among the pupils at the Illi-
nois Institution, and it is chiefly to be attributed to the fact that
they are thus occupied.

" But the chief advantage remains yet to be mentioned. It is
that the pupils thus acquire habits of industry, which are of great
•value to them in after years. In comparison with this it is a small
matter that a few dollars are saved annually to the institution by the
labor of the pupils. The attainment of this object would, we think,
justify the outlay of considerable sums, if necessary; for unless such
habits are formed before leaving school, it is greatly to be feared
that, in view of the difficulties which a mute has to encounter in
getting employment, many of them will lack the energy and tact
necessary in providing for themselves. Failing in this they will
lose their self respect and will be too apt to become wandering beg-
gars, living upon the charities of others. Wherever there is a
mute in the family it almost universally calls forth the tenderest
sympathies of the parents. Feeling that they can not reason with it
as they can with their other children, about right and propriety, they
too often allow it to grow up almost entirely without restraint, re-
quiring of it no more labor than seems agreeable to its own feel-
ings. If the habits of indolence which they thus form are allowed
to continue during the whole period of their attendance upon
school, by the time that they are ready to go forth from the institu-
tion, these habits will have become so fixed that there will be little
prospect of their ever being entirely eradicated. When, moreover,
it is considered that the pursuits upon which a large majority of
them must depend for earning a livelihood are of that class which re-

quires considerable physical exertion, we can not but regard manual
labor, and the training to habits of industry, as a necessary part of
the system of education which should be adopted in all such institu-
tions.

" In the accomplishment of this object, shops are an indispensa-
ble requisite. Without them it would be impossible to furnish
many of the pupils with regular employment, and besides, their
energy should, as far as practicable, be directed to the acquirement
of some useful occupation. The aim and purpose of every institu-
tion for the deaf and dumb should be to prepare the pupils in every
respect — physically as well as mentally and morally — for becoming
good and useful citizens, supporting themselves by their own exer-
tions, without being dependent upon the community at large or
their friends. To this end not only should industrious habits be
formed, but opportunity should be given for acquiring practical
knowledge and skill in some honest and useful calling. An insti-
tution which makes no such provision fails to discharge an impor-
tant duty which it owes to the deaf and dumb. For, however good
their education may be in other respects, when they go forth from
the institution, unless they have also acquired some considerable
knowledge of a trade, experience proves that few tradesmen will take
the pains necessary to impart that knowledge to them. The diffi-
culty does not arise from any want of aptness on the part of the
deaf and dumb to learn trades; on the contrary, their ingenuity is
proverbial ; but it arises solely from the inconvenience which neces-
sarily attends the communication of ideas on the part of those un-
acquainted with the sign language. This makes it important that
trades be taught them at the institution, where, through the
medium of their own natural language, instruction in mechanics
can be imparted to them as readily as any other kind of instruction.

" As there is the same diversity of talent and taste among mutes
as among hearing and speaking people, it is important that
several trades be established at the institution. Those who can not
succeed in one trade may be found to excel in another, and it would
be well to give them an opportunity to make a selection from several
pursuits."

In their fourth report the directors made two important
recommendations to the General Assembly, which, by an act approved
February 3, 1849, were carried into effect. The first, changing the
name of the corporation from the Illinois Asylum for the Education

of the Deaf and Dumb, to the Illinois Institution for the Education
of the Deaf and Dumb, and the second, providing that section 7 of
the act of incorporation which required certificates of poverty from
all who were unable to pay tuition and board, should be repealed,
and that the institution be made free to all within the bounds
of the State. The Board, in urging the latter change, state: " The
only effect of requiring these certificates, as far as we can see,
is to deprive many of those who are actually too poor to pay,
of the advantages of the institution. Many parents, though barely
able to provide food and raiment for their families, can not bring
themselves to the disagreeable task of going before two justices
of the peace and asking for certificates of poverty."

Funds for the support of the institution and for making improve-
ments were supplied first by a provision of the act of incorporation
which set apart one-quarter per cent, of interest upon the whole
amount of the school, college and seminary fund, for the use of the
institution, and secondly, by an act approved, February 23, 1847,
making a permanent appropriation of three thousand dollars per
annum for the same purpose, and thirdly, by special appropriation
for specific purposes until the year 1851. In the meantime, the
Illinois State Hospital for the Insane, and the Illinois Institution
for the Education of the Blind, had come into existence and were
sustained by a special tax which gave to them an assured stability
very desirable, and one which this institution very greatly needed
for its more confident progress. The vicissitudes that always
attend an appropriation before a Legislature are seriously distract-
ing, not only to a board of trustees and superintendent, but also to
all subordinate officers who can not be oblivious to the fact that an
oversight or a clerical error may subject them for two years to
weighty inconvenience, if not to the entire loss of the means of sub-
sistence; and to the pupils also, who are well aware that the entire
course of their life may be changed to their very great and lifelong
disadvantage and perhaps discomfiture. It is as true of deaf-mutes
as of others, that for the best results of school work their minds
require the absence of distracting anxieties and disturbing
influences. It is entirely an error to suppose that the pupils of
such an institution take no thought upon these subjects. Indeed
no other class of students enter more fully into all that effects their
instructors as well as themselves. The directors in the fifth report
presented this subject to the General Assembly and recommended

that the institution thereafter should be sustained by special tax.

"The directors would respectfully urge upon your consideration
the propriety of establishing the institution upon a more permanent
basis. Although the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb was the
pioneer of the three noble State charities amongst us, yet, while the
other two have a permanent fund upon which to rely for their sup-
port from year to year, this institution is obliged to solicit special
appropriations at every session of the Legislature. We have no
cause to complain of any want of liberality on the part of the Legis-
lature toward the institution; on the contrary, we are proud in being
able so say that no appeal has ever been made by the institution
but what has been met by a hearty response from both branches of
the General Assembly. Still we can not but feel that there is a
degree of uncertainty and instability necessarily connected with
this method of supporting the institution, which is a disadvantage
to it. We would therefore beg leave to recommend that the institu-
tion be supported either by an appropriation which shall be annual
and sufficient to cover at least the ordinary expenses, or by a special
tax, as is the case with the other two institutions. Of the two
methods proposed, the Board would prefer the latter, as it would
relieve them of the responsibility and embarrassment connected
with the disposal of so large an amount of auditor's warrants, and
as the institution would thereby become more extensively known
throughout the State than by any means of publication within the
power of the Board."

This subject was favorably considered by the General Assembly
and an act approved April 18, 1857, provided:

" That for the purpose of defraying the ordinary expenses of
the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb,
a separate fund is hereby created and established, in addition to
the fund provided for in the act of incorporation to be denominated,
' The fund for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb,' which shall
consist of one-sixth of a mill upon each dollar's worth of taxable
property in the State, to be taken and deducted from the tax of
two mills on the dollar, authorized to be assessed and collected for
paying the ordinary expenses of government by the act passed on
the first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and forty-five,
entitled 'An act to provide for paying a portion of interest on the
State debt,' and as the revenue of the State is collected and passed
into the treasury, the Auditor shall direct the Treasurer to credit

the aforesaid fund by the amount of one-sixth of a mill, in a sepa-
rate account to be kept for that purpose."

Such a provision for the support of an institution is the ideal
one, so far as the institution itself is concerned, but whether
this does not in a measure estop the frequent exhibit to the people
of its workings and prevent the recognition of the accountability
which should never be forgotten by public officers, may be seriously
questioned. As the manager of an institution, one should most
unhesitatingly favor it, but as a citizen and taxpayer one would
object to it. But whether the wisest or not, the law under considera-
tion was continued in force only four years, being repealed by an
act amending the revenue laws, February 14, 1855, since which time
its necessities have been provided for by special acts of successive
sessions of the General Assembly, with the exception of the
small amount that accrued to the institution in pursuance of the
act of incorporation, which set apart to it, as already detailed, a
small portion of the interest of the school, college and seminary
fund. This, however, was taken from it and turned over to the Ill-
inois Normal University in the year 1872.

Reference has been made to the conflict between the principal's
and steward's departments, which resulted in the dismissal of three
stewards by the Board and the abolishment of the steward's office
in all the institutions of the State by an act of the General As-
sembly, February 13, 1857. The events that led up to these dis-
missals and this enactment were attended with very unpleasant
controversies between the friends of the parties most interested.
Bitter antagonisms, as was inevitable under such circumstances,
were engendered which could not be suppressed. The consequence
was that after the failure of repeated efforts to harmonize the dis-
cordant elements in the Board of Directors, and in the institution,
that on the 16th of October, 1855, Mr. Thomas Officer resigned the
office of principal of the institution. This was shortly followed by
the resignation of the secretary and treasurer, and by the with-
drawal of two members from the Board. Rev. Thomas M. Newell,
who had been one of the instructors for four years, was offered the
office of principal, but declined to accept it or even to superintend
the school until a competent principal could be found. The insti-
tution being without a competent head was thrown into great con-
fusion; the pupils most of them absconded, or were removed by
friends; some teachers withdrew, and others, having nothing to do,

were dispensed with, only two remaining to instruct the few pupils
who had continued at the institution. Rev. Newton Cloud, a mem-
ber of the Board, a gentleman held in the highest esteem by the
entire community, was requested to accept the office of principal,
and was by action of the Board clothed with all authority pertaining
to that position. Mr. Cloud consented to do the best he could under
the demoralized condition of affairs, but knowing himself not
qualified for the position, and being too honest to hold a position
he could not faithfully and efficiently fill, would only consent to oc-
cupy it until a competent principal qualified by professional knowl-
edge and actual experience could be obtained to discharge its
duties permanently. Soon after Mr. Officer's resignation a com-
mittee of five members of the Board was appointed, " to ascer-
tain who can be employed to act as principal of the institution,"
but the withdrawal of the chairman of the committee from the
Board and other causes prevented their doing anything in the
matter. After reorganization and some futile efforts to act, the
committee, upon their own request, were discharged, and the presi-
dent of the Board was requested to visit various institutions in
search of a competent man for the position. After a search of
two months he returned and recommended to the Board Mr.
Edward Peet, of New York, who was unanimously elected and
notified thereof, and requested to enter upon his duties as prin-
cipal of the institution without delay. Mr. Peet promptly ap-
peared on the ground, and a meeting of the Board was convened at
his desire to conclude' negotiations, but when the Board convened,
to their surprise Mr. Peet had " quitely folded his tent" and re-
turned to New York without waiting to meet the gentlemen of the
Board, some of whom lived in remote places in the state. Mr.
Peet, however, favored the Board with a letter from his home in
New York declining to accept the appointment. The President of
the Board was instructed to open immediate communication with
Mr. Philip G. Gillett, of the Indiana Institution, with whom he had
some negotiations while on his way to the East, and who had failed
to receive an important communication forwarded him by mail sev-
eral weeks before. The President carried out his instructions by
deputizing Rev. Newton Cloud, the acting principal, to personally
visit Mr. Gillett at his home in Indianapolis and close an engage-
ment with him if possible. Mr. Cloud, who had grown weary of the
novel labors he had undertaken and had become satiated with its

honors, lost no time in making the proposed visit and bringing back
with him the young man in search of whom he was dispatched. Mr.
Cloud having captured, wisely bagged his game and took him at
once to the institution, where he was safe from any evil influences
that might tend to scare him away. Mr. Gillett, after a few days'
survey of the situation, and becoming assured that all requisite and
proper authority and prerogatives, including the selection of all sub-
ordinate officers, would be accorded him, and that he should be
the sole head of the institution and the sole organ of communication
between the Board and the subordinate departments, signified his
willingness to accept the position of principal. Some of his friends
thought it a rash thing for a beardless youth to do, but accounted
for it upon the principle that " fools rush in where angels fear to
tread." Mr. Gillett (derisively styled "that boy that's come to run
the deaf and dumb") at once (April 26, 1856) entered upon the
duties of the principalship of the institution. Of the one hundred and
seyen pupils that had been present in the fall only twenty-two re-
mained. The matron and all but two of the teachers had left the in-
stitution, feeling, as one of the local papers said in announcing Mr.
Gillett's coming, that " acceptance under such circumstances was
proof positive of incompetence and untrustworthiness." To bring to-
gether and organize a new corps of officers and restore confidence in
former pupils and their parents, and overcome prejudice, was the
difficult task to be done as soon as possible. Guilty of the " atrocious
crime of being a young man," with a face innocent of down, he not
unfrequently experienced amusing episodes as well as trying and
vexatious unreasonableness. Time, however, rapidly healed the mis-
fortune of youth, as Mr. Gillett promised it should if only a due
amount of patience was shown him. The Board of Directors,
in the eighth biennial report, December 26, 1856, eight months
after Mr. Gillett's advent, in announcing the change of Principals*
say: "The Board of Directors now have the pleasure to announce
that they have been enabled to procure the services of Mr. Philip G.
Gillett, of Indiana, as superintendent, and that the school opened this
session with, and has now a larger number of pupils than at any
previous session, the number being one hundred and nine. The
Board of Directors deem themselves fortunate in having procured
the services of Mr. Gillett. He is a gentleman of strong and vigor-
ous mind, an accomplished scholar and experienced in teaching the
sign language; indeed, he has made this his occupation for life, and

with him it is as much a labor of love as duty. Mr. Gillett comes
to us highly recommended from the Indiana school and from dis-
tinguished citizens of our neighboring State, and we are well
satisfied that the people of Illinois will be content with the action
of the Board in calling Mr. Gillett to the head of the institution."
Twenty years later, in 1876, in preparing their report for the cen-
tennial year, the Illinois State Board of Public Charities review
the history of all the State institutions then in existence, and in
their review of this institution, say : " With the advent of Mr. Philip
G. Gillett to the superintendency, in 1856, the institution entered
upon a new career of vigorous youth and expansion. His energetic
spirit has driven the school, the public and even the Legislature
before him. When this has been impossible, he has sometimes gone
in advance himself and waited for the rest to come up."

Three serious problems presented themselves to the new prin-
cipal immediately upon assuming the responsibilities of his office.
The first was to secure the return of the absent pupils and to gain
the confidence of their parents and friends; the second to bring to-
gether and organize a corps of officers ; and third to hasten the com-
pletion and proper furnishing of uncompleted buildings. No parents
are more chary of entrusting their children to strangers than the
parents of deaf-mutes. This is reasonable, for the deaf child's
every want has been the subject of parental solicitude in every hour
of its life. Unable to make known its wants by ordinary methods,
their anticipation has become the parental habit, and its limited
gestures always appealing most touchingly to the sympathy of mem-
bers of the family, are understood by them only. It is extremely
hard for the parents to believe that another can or will do this bet-
ter than themselves. The ordeal of committing a deaf child to
strangers is one of the most trying that ever comes to a parent.
After witnessing it continuously for forty years, and having been
one of the parties in more than two thousand cases, it still remains
to me an affecting scene. While of necessity it possesses an element
of business, yet its element of sentiment is as decided as at first.
Personal visits in the horned of the pupils were the means chiefly
relied upon and found most effective in inducing the return of pupils
to the institution at the beginning of the next term, which opened
with a larger attendance of pupils than any previous term.

Experienced teachers and a matron were secured in other
states, some former teachers were continued or re-engaged and

4-2

a new one was taken under training in time to be of some avail
when needed. Up to this time the profession of instructing the
deaf and dumb had been practiced only by men, and solely by
hearing and speaking men who were college graduates or by
deaf men who were graduates from institutions for the deaf and
dumb. No women to this time had been regularly appointed
anywhere upon the corps of instruction, though there were a
very few instances in which females who were born or reared
in institutions had been for a time engaged to supply vacancies,
but this had been regarded as unprofessional, irregular and not
to be approved. Necessity sometimes drives us to the adoption
of most excellent expedients, as was the case of the women
alluded to. There are no other persons who so well know the
deaf and dumb, and so fully enter into sympathy with them,
and so clearly understand their inner life, as those who have
been born and reared among them. In entering upon the work
of instructing the deaf they have advantages at the outset that
one differently reared can acquire only by long years of associa-
tion with them. Indeed, it may be questioned if any others even
as fully, accurately, and justly understand the deaf and dumb as
they. Consequently it would seem as almost an imperative duty
for such persons to devote their lives to the work of deaf-mute
instruction.

Mr. Gillett having seen some of these sporadic cases of women
temporarily engaged in instructing deaf-mutes, and believing
that as teachers of children none are superior to women, in
organizing a corps of instructors appointed a woman upon it
as a regular and permanent teacher. This has been followed by
similar appointments in this and all the other institutions of
America, until now more than two-thirds of the teachers of
deaf-mutes in America are women. It is urged by eminent au-
thority that in this the profession has deteriorated, but no one
has yet shown that the work accomplished in the school-rooms
of the institutions for the deaf and dumb is at all inferior to
that of forty years ago. It is believed to be better. In select-
ing women for instructors the same governing principles were
recognized as in selecting men, that they should have a college
education or its equivalent. On this subject, in his first report
to the Board of Directors, the principal insisted. In the organ-
ization of an institution nothing is of greater importance than

to secure persons of superior attainments to fill the offices of the
intellectual and its cognate departments, and to make their sit-
uations permanent. " No person is qualified for a situation in
a deaf-mute institution who could not succeed in any profession,
especially one which depended mainly on public speaking; nor will
the ordinary duties admit of taking men worn out in other pro-
fessions; nowhere does a drone succeed more poorly than teach-
ing the deaf and dumb. For teachers we must look to young,
enterprising persons in the prime of life ; and, as a general rule,
the employment of young, active officers is desirable in all de-
partments. If we expect persons in the prime of life, with the
world opening before them its long vista of hopes and anticipa-
tions, it must be perfectly evident that a remuneration corre-
sponding with the emoluments of other professions must be af-
forded, otherwise we shall be unable to procure and retain men
of the right stamp; a result which would be extremely detriment-
al to the literary character of the institution and of but slight
advantage as regards its finances." These have been the ruling
principles in the selection of officers to the present time. No in-
fluence has ever been allowed to contravene them. In conse-
quence its corps has always maintained a high standard of effi-
ciency and honor. This is well attested by the fact that from
its corps, ten have been called to superintend similar institutions
in other States; two have been called to college professorships,
and one to the acting presidency of an important college. To
obtain capable, experienced officers has been no slight difficulty.
Applications for situations have been numerous, but from indi-
viduals who had no knowledge of the labors they were seeking
to enter upon. Young men who would not trust their skill to
cut a side of leather to make a pair of shoes, and young women
who would not trust themselves to cut a piece of silk to make
for themselves a dress lest there might be waste of material,
have often thought it a very proper thing that they be entrusted
with twenty plastic minds to practice on, in order to acquire
skill in the intricate and difficult work of instructing the deaf
and dumb. If the blunders and mistakes entailed loss only on
themselves they might be tolerated for a time, but unfortunately
upon the deaf-mute pupils are visited the evil consequences of
inexperience in the teachers.

In securing competent persons for its official corps this institu-

tion has, at various times, drawn from those of eleven other States.
The only question that has ever been discussed with reference to
proposed appointments has been capability and fitness. Party
affiliations and sectarian predilections have never been considered
in this connection. That practice that of late years has debased
some institutions for the deaf and dumb in other States to party
boodleism has never invaded the Illinois Institution.

The subject that engaged much solicitude at the reorganization
of the institution was the condition of the buildings. The mem-
bers of the first Board of Directors were men eminent and success-
ful in their own callings, and of great prominence in the State,
but they are a striking instance of how important it is for any
enterprise to be directed by a mind that understands what he has in
hand and how to accomplish the work in contemplation. The first
building erected, in three years after its occupancy, was proved in-
adequate, which the directors explain in their fifth report, saying:
"The original building was put up before any one had been em-
ployed who was familiar with the wants of such an institution.'
Some remodeling was done on this in connection Avith the construc-
tion of a main edifice, which was completed in the year 1852. But
in two years this latter was found to be insecure, and in the year
1854 its front was torn down to be rebuilt in connection with the
erection of a north wing. At the time of the reorganization these
buildings were incomplete, being unplastered and only partially
floored. The plans for warming and lighting them contemplated
ordinary wood stoves and lard oil lamps. This subject was accord-
ingly urged upon the Board and the Legislature with the result that
the appropriations were made to adopt steam heating and gas light-
ing.

In the first report he prepared, Mr. Gillett called the attention
of the Legislature to the subject of the education of feeble-minded
children. The processes of education practiced in this institution
being the most elementary of any practiced in the State, such chil-
dren were often brought here under the misapprehension that as
they were speechless that they must be deaf. A mistake common
even yet, a frequent concomitant of mental imbecility being absence
of speech when the hearing faculty is perfect. At that time there
was a general disbelief in the practicability of teaching the feeble-
minded, though in the Eastern States a few institutions for this
class were advocated by the most cautious and conservative citizens

as a wise measure of political economy, as well as a public duty.
In this report (the eighth) Mr. Gillett stated: "It will certainly be
a proud day for Illinois when she can boast of institutions whose
blessings, like the rains and dews, the air and sunshine, are fes-
tooned alike upon all her unfortunates." This subject was pre-
sented from time to time till the Legislature, in 1865, was induced
to make an appropriation for an experimental school for feeble-
minded children, which was conducted by the trustees and princi-
pal of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb until it was established
upon the same independent basis as the other State institutions.
It is with no little pleasure that that institution, in a sense the child
of this, is seen to occupy a most honorable position among those of
a similar nature throughout the world.

Soon after steam heating was adopted as a means of warming the
institution, a scarcity of water was experienced. Previous to this,
wells and cisterns had been found adequate, but under the new sys-
tem so much more water was required that they utterly failed to
meet the requirements. Resort was had to hauling water from
other sources, but this was expensive and laborious, and obliged
the limited use of an element that should be used freely. An
expedient was adopted of throwing out wing ditches on the north
side of College Hill, to catch the storm water and conduct it to a
reservoir on a piece of low ground on the institution premises, but
this failed to meet the expectations that had been entertained. The
subject became more serious until it threatened the life of the insti-
tution. In the early winter of 1870 the Board of Directors decided
to construct a water-works plant on a stream known as " The
Brook," a mile south of the institution, and pump the water there-
from to the reservoir they had already built. It would have been
wiser had they abandoned that reservoir and constructed a new one
on the high ground over which the water was pumped from the
brook. This plan would have ever after placed the water in the
building by gravity and saved the perpetual labor of pumping it.
This was appreciated at the time, but, having as a dernier resort
assumed the authority of constructing the water-works, the Board
of Trustees, influenced by a desire to make the smallest possible
outlay, continued the use of the old reservoir. The water- works
were not finished until midwinter, the pipe being laid in trenches,
dug through hard, frozen ground, much of the way the frost being
driven out of the ground by fires along the line where it was pro-

posed to lay the pipes and the foundation for the pump and boiler
house. This proved successful and had the effect not only to relieve
the institution from its distress but demonstrated to the public the
practicability of securing a supply of water for the city of Jackson-
ville upon the same general plan. But a few years later the city
constructed a system of water- works for its own use, from which the
institution has since secured its supply of water, favorable terms
having been offered upon which this service would be rendered.
Only one who has passed through the experience of managing, with
a limited supply of water, a large establishment, when the warmth,
cleanliness, health and daily routine of work and study of a multi-
tude of persons is involved, can fully appreciate the situation of
one so circumstanced. The spectres that rise before one in this
condition are truly appalling.

The satisfactory settlement of the water question opened the
way for the rapid growth and enlargement of the institution,
which was at that time greatly needed, as an epidemic of cerebro-
spinal-meningitis largely increased the number of deaf children in
the state.

The south wing, that had been completed in 1846 and remod-
eled in 1850, was deemed unsafe and was, in 1871, rebuilt in a sub-
stantial manner, and in style corresponding with the north wing
and main building, as rebuilt in 1855 and 1856. Two years later
a dining hall, one hundred by sixty-seven feet, and a hospital of six-
teen rooms were erected. These were followed by the erection, in
1874 and 1875, of the school and chapel building, containing
twenty-eight school-rooms and an auditorium capable of seating
a company of twelve hundred persons. This building has been
pronounced by competent judges one of the best school-houses
in the country. Of the dining-hall it is an almost universal remai'k
that it is one of the most satisfactory and pleasing anywhere to be
found.

In 1877 the present industrial building, with ample room for
schools of printing, cabinet-making (with use of planing mill, cir-
cular and scroll saw, with lathes for wood-turning), shoemaking,
and a machine shop and gardener's room and engine and other
steam machinery, was erected. During the year 1879 a large and
well-equipped laundry was built. .

In the year 1881 spacious horse- barns, and a cottage for boys,
a store, bakery and library were constructed and occupied. In

1883 a large dairy barn was built, and in 1884 a splendid kitchen
and a cold storage plant were erected; in 1886 a gymnasium, nata-
torium and drill hall and a cottage for little girls were built; in
1888 and 1889 the electric light plant was extended through the
entire institution, extensive street improvements were made and
the grounds improved and extended; in 1891 a farm was pur-
chased for the use of the institution, and the heating plant
enlarged.

Thus it is seen that the institution has been from its founding
in 1839 an almost constant scene of building and extension. The
improvements since the year 1855 have all been of a substantial and
durable character, designed in the light of experience for the uses
to which they were to be applied. Elaborate ornamentation has
been avoided in all of them, yet all are handsome and tasteful.
The buildings comprise twenty in number and occupy fifteen acres
of ground. They have a mile and a half of cornice, eighteen acres
of plastering, eight acres of flooring, fifteen hundred windows and
seven hundred doors. A thousand electric light lamps are used for
their lighting; seven large steam boilers, with several miles of
steam pipe, are a part of their heating apparatus. The boilers are
also used in culinary operations and furnish power for driving the
machinery, which consists of a planing-mill, three turning lathes, a
circular saw and a scroll saw in the cabinet shop; an engine lathe,
a pipe machine and a small lathe in the machine shop; three presses
in the printing office; five washing machines, a hydro extractor,
a laundry callender, a shirt ironer and a Sturtevant blower in the
laundry; a rotary oven and two cracker machines in the bakery.

Until the year 1868 the sign system was the one pursued in this
institution in the instruction of its pupils. That is to say, not that
signs themselves were taught, but that in explanation of principles
and truths, or the narration of events, and in ordinary conversation
with the pupils the language of signs or gestures was used exten-
sively and its use encouraged. At the same time it had always
been the case that much use was made of writing and finger spell-
ing, while comparatively little attention was given to articulation
and lip signs. For be it remembered that for a deaf person there
can be no articulation though there is articulation by him. Articu-
lation or speech is a combination of sounds. It is as absurd to
speak of seeing a sound or reading speech, as of hearing a color.
The deaf person can produce the sounds but can not hear them.

To him they are as unreal as if they did not exist. Hence he is
forced to substitute vision for hearing. A sign is a distinctive
guiding indication to the eye, whether made by the hand, the arms,
the body, the countenance or the lips. A spoken word is a distinct-
ive guiding indication to the ear. That which is sometimes termed
speech-reading is but the observation of lip, movements or lip signs
much less distinct than manual or brachial signs. As one who
understands several languages will use the one which pleases and
aids him most, so the deaf person will use such class of signs as is
most satisfactory to him. Signs made with the hands and arms,
aided by the countenance, being more perspicuous, and often ideo-
graphic, the deaf person, if left to himself, will almost universally
adopt. Hence it is that children who lose hearing after speech has
been acquired cease to talk and will not resume it until special
efforts are taken to induce them to do so. To impart speech to one
who does not hear, or for such an one to acquire speech, is one of
the most difficult undertakings to which a human being can address
himself, for he possesses only half of the organ of speech since the
organ of hearing is as important an element in speech as the organ
of voice. There is no speech of any race of men independent of the
sense of hearing.

In that large class of persons commonly known in the community
as deaf-mutes, there are several divisions, whose conditions are
quite unlike : 1st, those whose deafness is congenital, or supervened
before speech had been learned; 2d, those whose deafness was ac-
quired after they had learned to talk but at so early an age that
their memory of speech is indistinct ; 3d, those who became deaf so
late that they retain a distinct recollection of speech ; 4th, those
whose deafness is only partial. The third and fourth of these
divisions can, with comparative ease, use vocal utterance, though
the fourth experience much less difficulty in reading the lip-signs
of others. Many of the second and a few of the first division can
learn to speak, though all of the first and second divisions expe-
rience difficulty in reading the lip-signs of others. Just which
members of these classes will be successful articulators and lip-
readers no one can know until an opportunity is given all of them to
test their ability. In the year 1868 classes in articulation and lip-
reading were organized in this institution, and have been continued
to the present time. The practice of the institution is to test all
pupils who are admitted, to learn who give promise of success in

these classes, and continue such in them during their continuance
in the institution. Some meet with very gratifying success while
others but poorly repay the great labor involved in their instruction.
Many enter upon it with avidity which some maintain to the end,
but others, after a time, importune to be excused from articulation
classes, urging that it is a lifeless, uninteresting procedure to them.
The testimony of many of their friends as to its value to them
when away from the institution is very encouraging, but some par-
ents think it labor in vain and request its discontinuance with their
children. In the estimation of the public generally it is regarded
as marvelous, and calls to mind the time of the Savior of mankind
to whom

" The blind, the deaf, the dumb were brought
Lepers and lame, and all were healed."

This department of the institution has been continuously ex-
tended until there are now eight instructors whose sole duty is
to teach articulation and lip-reading.

As this was the first of the State institutions of Illinois, which
have become so numerous, and whose support involves so large an
expenditure in recent years, comprising more than half the annual
expenditures provided for by the General Assembly, it will not be a
matter of surprise that there have been a number of changes in the
law governing its support and management. The act of incorpora-
tion approved February 23, 1839, empowered the directors, twenty
in number, to fill all vacancies in their own body, whether occurring
by death, resignation or otherwise. The Board exercised this pre-
rogative until the year 1849, when by an act approved February 3d,
the number of directors was reduced to twelve, to be appointed by
the Governor for the term of two years, exclusive of the principal,
who was to continue as a director, with the provision that vacancies
occurring between the biennial appointments made by the Governor
should be filled by the Board of Directors themselves. Under these
two acts alwavs a majority and much of the time all the directors
were residents of Morgan county. An act of February 12, 1853,
provided that the directors should be divided into three classes of
four, each holding office for six years, exclusive of the principal,
who was continued ex officio a member of the Board, it being en-
acted that a majority of the members of the Board should reside
without the county of Morgan. February 13, 1857, following the
dissensions already referred to, the General Assembly reduced the

number of directors to six, exclusive of the principal, who was con-
tinued ex officio a member of the Board, no two of whom should be
residents of the same county, with a provision that no member of
the Board should be employed or appointed in or to any office or
place under the authority of the Board, or should be directly or in-
directly interested in any contract to be made by said Board for
any purpose whatever.

This law continued in force till April 9, 1869, when this insti-
tution, with all the others belonging to or sustained in whole or in
part by the State, were brought under the operation of one act
intended to unify the institutional work of the State government.
This last act and one supplemental to it, approved April 15, 1875,
still in force, are founded in wisdom. The population and resources
and improvements of the State of Illinois for three decades had
been growing with unexampled rapidity. Along with this growth
was a large increase of those classes of people found in all times
and races, who by some physical or mental impairment require un-
usual means of instruction, treatment or care. The humane and
enlightened influences of the people of the State kept pace with the
necessities of the times. The consequence was that the little Asy-
lum for the Deaf and Dumb, chartered in 1839 and opened in 1846
with four deaf-mutes, had been followed by others, one at a time,
until at the end of thirty years after the first legislative action they
numbered thirteen, and their inmates were counted by the thousand
with the outlook indicating that an increase of institutions and a
large increase of their inmates were inevitable in the not remote
future. Each of the institutions existed by virtue of enactments
peculiar to itself, no two of them being very similar, and their man-
agement as dissimilar as the laws bringing them into existence; of
course there would inevitably be confusion if not conflict of interest
from so many institutions in various localities throughout the State.
It would not be considered at all strange if under such circum-
stances the managers of the institutions felt themselves invited to
the exercise of such adroit expedients as they deemed not improper
for advancement of their several institutions. The systems of keep-
ing accounts were so diverse that the citizen desiring to ascertain
correct information as to the use of public funds appropriated to
the various institutions could do so only with difficulty.

The Acts of 1869 and 1875 embodied as much practical wisdom
as any that can be found in any one of the United States; it has not,

in this respect, been surpassed by the act of any other state since its
enactment, while it has been copied by many. Their adjustment
of prerogatives and responsibilities between the boards of the re-
spective institutions, and a board having powers of inspection, sug-
gestion and recommendation, but no administrative power, styled
the Board of Charities assures to the respective institutions all the
advantages of the interest of its own board, and secures for it the
advantage of frequent intelligent inspection, and regular .times of
accounting for all expenditures. There is nothing more important
for a public officer than the performance of this service often, regu-
larly and systematically. It is the popular impression that the
public interest demands this, but the officer himself is as much
interested therein as the public. Another eminently wise provision
of this law is the one that members of the local boards and the
Board of Charities shall serve without compensation, the result of
this being that the trusteeships are not sought after for mercenary
reasons, and honorable high-minded men, actuated by a desire to
advance noble, humane and educational enterprises, are chosen for
members of all the boards. There can always be found such men
in a community such as constitutes the population of Illinois.
The character and wisdom of the members of these boards for the
last twenty-three years is aptly illustrated by their reports. No
more reliable, just and true compendium of the relations of the de-
fective classes to the public and the obligations of the public to
to them can anywhere be found than is contained in the eleven bi-
ennial reports of the Illinois Board of Public Charities. Their dis-
cussions and conclusions will be dissented from by different per-
sons, and especially experts in various departments of institutional
work, but these reports will surely stand as acknowledged author-
ity upon the subjects they treat upon, and an honor to the members
of that Board and their able Secretary, Mr. F. H. Wines, who has
prepared them.

That the system of institutional management tends to induce if
not to cause controversy on projected improvements and methods
can not be denied, but controversy, when conducted by earnest, sin-
cere and capable disputants, can only result in good. The proper,
eager interest of one whose life- thought and work has been given to a
particular enterprise may preclude him from duly recognizing the
just claims of others, and his schemes for future development may,
for this reason, all the more fittingly be carefully scrutinized by

wise and discriminating persons who sustain advisory relations to
many others. That there have been sharp differences between the
officers of this institution and the Board of Charities upon the wis-
dom of proposed policies, and animated discussions upon them is
true, but, as should always be the case with high-minded men after
the questions at issue were settled and the " smoke of the contest
had cleared away," no personal animosities remained, and the gen-
eral good had been advanced. All the operations of both the boards
have been conducted with a view upon the part of each to do the
best possible. The pleasant working of this system, so far as this
institution is concerned, has been largely due to the fact that the
members of both boards were men of honor, entirely above influ-
ence of partisan or personal considerations. Only men of such
character are suitable for such trusts. The State of Illinois may
be congratulated that its executives have so wisely exercised their
appointive power.

The subject of a library for the use of the pupils and the officers
of the institution received no attention worth naming in the first
years of its ^existence. Some regard was had to it in thesecondxlec-
ade of the institution, but it was not until the year 1870 thaOhe
subject was systematically and energetically taken in hand. At
every session of the General Assembly since that, the subject has
been presented, with an application for a small appropriation to^be
used in this way. It is a pleasure to say that this has met with
the most ready and hearty approval of every session of that hon-
orable body. An annual appropriation of five hundred dollars, for
the purchase of books and repairs of the old and worn ones, has
been made. A judicious use of the money, with the trade discounts,
has brought together a collection of over thirteen thousand volumes,
which are among the best productions of ancient and modern times.
The greatest care has been exercised in the selection of these books
to secure the works of the best authors. The departments of his-
tory, poetry, fiction, travel, science, biography and art, with the best
encyclopedias and other books of reference are each quite full.
Nothing tends more to give an institution a good uplift than a good
library. Its influence is not ephemeral but far reaching, affecting
the taste and habits of the pupils to the remotest periods of their
lives, keeping them upon a higher plane than they would, without
it, ever have attained. The love of good books is one of the most

enobling traits that any one can possess, but to a deaf person it is
of far greater importance than to any other person.

Since the commencement of the school there have been two
thousand, three hundred and eleven pupils enrolled, of whom one
thousand, three hundred and seventeen are males, and nine hun-
dred and ninety-four are females. They were members of two
thousand and sixty-one families. In one family there were six
deaf-mutes. In seven families there were four deaf-mutes. In
fifty- four families there were three deaf-mutes. In one hundred
and fifteen families there were two deaf-mutes. In one thousand,
eight hundred and twenty-nine families there was one deaf-mute.

Though there are, doubtless, some of whom the fact has not
been learned, yet one hundred and ten of the pupils enrolled have
been reported as the offspring of parents of consanguineous origin
as follows:

79 children of first cousins.
12 children of second cousins.
11 children of third cousins.

8 children of fourth cousins.

1 the grandchild of first cousins.

1 the child of uncle and niece.

It is worthy of note that in families where the parents were
first cousins in one case there were four deaf-mutes; in three cases
there were three deaf-mutes; in seven cases there were two deaf-
mutes. In families where the parents were second cousins in one
case there were three deaf-mutes; and in one there were two deaf-
mutes. In families where the parents were third cousins in one
case there were three deaf-mutes, and in two there were two deaf-
mutes. In families where the parents were fourth cousins in one
case there were four deaf-mutes, and in one case there were three
deaf-mutes.

The deaf-mute relationships reported among the 2,255 pupils
enrolled (though there are probably others) are as follows:

CASES.

Father and mother 8

Father, mother and brother 2

Father, mother and two grandparents l

Father, mother and two brothers, two uncles

and two aunts l

Father, mother, brother, sister, two uncles

and two aunts — 2

Father, mother, uncle and two grandparents 1

Father, mother, aunt and half-uncle l

Father, grandfather and uncle 1

Father and brother 1

Father and sister 1

Father, uncle and aunt 1

Mother 1

One brother 101

Two brothers i.0

Three brothers 3

Two brothers and sister 9

One brother and one sister 52

One brother and two sisters 8

One brother and half-sister 3

Two brothers and one sister 1

Three brothers and two sisters l

One half-brother 3

Three brothers and sister 3

Four brothers and one sister 2

One half-brother and half-sister 1

One half-brother and sister 1

Brother, sister and two grandparents 2

Brother, sister and uncle 2

Brother, uncle and aunt l

One brother and one great-uncle 3

One brother, two sisters and one second

cousin 1

Two brothers and one uncle 1

Two brothers and third cousin 3

One brother and three third cousins 2

One brother and one second cousin l

One brother and two cousins 2

One brother and three cousins 2

Two brothers and one cousin 1

Two brothers and three cousins 2

One brother, one sister and three cousins. . . 2

One brother and one cousin 1

One brother and two second cousins l

One brother, one sister, one uncle and two

aunts 5

One brother, two sisters, one uncle and two

aunts . 3

CASES.

Two brothers, one sister, two uncles and

four aunts 3

One brother, one sister and cousin 3

One brother, one sister and second cousin.. 2

Two brothers and two cousins i

One half-brother and one sister l

One brother and one niece i

One brother, one great-uncle and one great-
aunt i

One brother and one fourth cousin 3

One brother and one great-uncle l

One sister 92

Two sisters 24

Three sisters 2

One sister and one cousin i

One sister and one second eousin 3

One sister and one third cousin 2

One sister and one fourth cousin l

One sister and two second cousins l

Two sisters and two second cousins 2

Two sisters and two great-grandparents ... 1

One sister and one great-uncle l

One sister, one great-uncle and one great-
aunt l

One cousin 57

Three cousins ....'. 6

Five cousins l

One second cousin 15

Two second cousins 8

Four second cousins 2

One third cousin 7

Two third cousins 2

One fourth cousin 2

One cousin and three second cousins 1

One second cousin and one third cousin 1

Three second cousins l

Two fourth cousins 1

One uncle 1

One uncle and one great-uncle 1

One uncle and two aunts 1

One uncle and one niece 1

Two uncles and one aunt. l

One great-uncle 1

Two great-granduncles 1

One niece 1

Two nephews and one niece 1

One aunt 2

Two groat-aunts 1

One niece 1

The assigned causes of deafness supervening after birth have
been reported by friends, usually the parents, to be as follows:

C erebro-spinal meningitis 347

Scarlet fever... 159

Brain fever 114

Sickness (not specified) 93

Fever 60

Gathering in head 65

Typhoid fever 58

Measles 57

Cold 33

Fall 31

Inflammation of the brain 28

Whooping cough 24

Spasms 21

Catarrh 20

Diphtheria 16

Quinine 17

Congestion of the brain 13

Dropsy of the brain 11

Lung fever , 10

Scrofula 10

Inflammation of the ear 10

Bilious fever 9

Mumps 8

Winter fever 8

Teething 7

Nervous fever 6

Spinal fever 5

Disease of the ear 5

Congestive chill 6

Paralysis 4

Catarrhal fever 5

Disease of the ear 4

Pneumonia 4

Cholera infantum 4

Fright 5

Sore mouth 4

Erysipelas 4

Intermittent fever 4

Fall into water 4

Eemitting fever 2

Congestion of the spine 2

Sunstroke 2

Malarial fever 2

Cramps 2

Seasickness ... .2

Small-pox 2

Cold water

Stroke on the head ,

Hemorrhage

Pernicious fever

Heat...

Sprain

Chicken-pox

Bronchitis

Typhus fever

Bronchial affection

Shingles

Worm fever

Clap of thunder

Water on brain '.

Collection in ear

Kidney disease

Congestive fever

Jaundice

Cancer

Absence of external ear and aural orifice. ..

Perforation of tympanum

Lye

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Influenza 1

Salt in ear 1

Concussion of the brain 1

Vomiting 1

Inflammation of bowels 1

Cough 1

Cold plague

Scald

Ague

Apoplexy

Drinking lye

Swelling in head .

Fall on stove

Scald head

Burn...

Chill

Pneumonitis

Rickets

Cholera

Shock of lightning.

Weakness

Cramp

A cause inducing congenital deafness which does not appear on
the foregoing list is one upon which, from its peculiar nature, it IB
exceedingly difficult to obtain information. Eeference is here made
to prenatal impressions, popularly known as birthmarks. As oppor-
tunity has favored, inquiries have been made of parents with refer-
ence to this, causing the persuasion that it is an active cause, and
may account for many cases of deafness otherwise inexplicable.

The ages at which deafness has occurred, as far as information
has been furnished, have been as follows:

CASES.

Congenital 602

Undertone year 302

At one year 219

At two years 226

At three years 131

At four years 86

At flve^years 63

At six years 35

At seven years 39

At eight years 19

CASES.

At nine years 11

At ten years 16

At eleven years 14

At twelve years 4

At thirteen years 11

At fourteen years 11

At fifteen years i

At sixteen years i

At seventeen years i

At twenty years i

The reports received of pupils who have passed through the in-
stitution and are engaged in the battle of life are of a very gratify-
ing nature. They are in a great variety of occupations, including
the clergy, teachers, artists, farmers, book-keepers, mercantile and
all the mechanic arts. Thirty-three of them are known to have
been engaged as teachers in schools for the deaf. An extended ac-
count of their successes and difficulties might be written, but pres-
ent limits will not admit. Their position in society is such that
they enjoy the universal respect and esteem of the community
wherein they reside. As heads of families many of them are rear-
ing excellent and well-ordered households, bringing their children
up to a condition of usefulness and respectability thaf is quite equal,
if it does not surpass that of the average in society at large. Their
intermarriage has been promotive of their happiness and comfort,
and has not tended to the multiplication of deaf-mutes, as may be
seen by a careful study of the preceding table of pupils.

The institution is an honor to the State of Illinois, and has re-
paid manifold all that has been expended in its upbuilding and
support.

BRIEF HISTORY

ILLINOIS INSTITUTION

EDUCATION OF THE BLIND,

LOCATED AT

JACKSONVILLE, ILL.

1849-1893.

Presented by the ILLINOIS BOARD OF WORLD'S
FAIR COMMISSIONERS.

JOHN MORRIS COMPANY, PRINTERS,

118 AND 120 MONROE STREET,
CHICAGO.

SAMUEL BACON (Blind).
1849-1850.

W. S. PHILLIPS.
1588-1890.

DR. JOSHUA EHOADS,

1850-1874.

KEY. F. W. PHILLIPS.

1874-1888.

FRANK H. HALL,

1890-1893.

HISTORY

OF THE

ILLINOIS INSTITUTION FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE

BLIND.

LOCATED AT JACKSONVILLE.

The question is often asked, " How did it happen that three of
the twelve State Charitable Institutions were located at Jackson-
ville?" Briefly the answer is in the character and ability of the
early settlers of that city. Here were men who were not only ex-
ceptionally capable in the management of affairs but who were
deeply interested in every public enterprise; who abounded in good
works — religious, political, educational, and philanthropic.

A leader in benevolent and educational enterprises, was Judge
Samuel D. Lockwood whose home was in Morgan county from 1829
to 1853. His name appears as a member of the first Board of Trust-
ees of every state institution in Jacksonville, and to him, perhaps,
as much as to any other man, is that city indebted for the location
of these institutions within its borders. Associated with Judge
Lockwood in philanthropic and educational effort were Judge Will-
iam Thomas, Col. J. J. Hardin, Dennis Rockwell, Col. James
Dunlap, Judge James Berdan, Dr. David Prince, William W.
Happy, Gov. Richard Yates, Joseph Morton, Samuel Hunt, Dr.
Nathaniel English, Joseph O. King, Matthew Stacy, Julian M.
Sturtevaut, Dr. Samuel Adams, and Gov. Joseph Duncan. Had
these men settled in Peoria county or in Madison county instead of
Morgan county, it is altogether probable that Jacksonville would
not have secured for itself in a period of twenty years (1830 to 1850)
Illinois College, The Female Academy, Illinois Female College,
Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, Illi-
nois Hospital for the Insane, and Illinois Institution for the Educa-
tion of the Blind.

THE DEAF AND DUMB.

In the winter of 1838-39, Hon. Orville H. Browning of Quincy,
Illinois, prepared and introduced into the General Assembly of
Illinois, a bill for an act to establish the "Illinois Asylum (now In-
stitution) for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb." This bill
passed the Senate without a dissenting Voice; passed the House of
Representatives by a large majority, and was approved by Gov.
Thomas Carlin, February 23, 1839. In securing the passage of
this bill, Judge Browning was ably assisted by Hon. William
Thomas, Hon. Newton Cloud, and Col. J. J. Hardin, of Morgan
county. Presumably through their efforts, the school was located
at Jacksonville. The " Asylum " was not opened for the reception
of pupils until December 1, 1845. and no pupils were enrolled until
January 26, 1846. This was the first of the great State Charitable
Institutions of Illinois, provided for by legislative enactment, and
the first to open its doors to the unfortunate.

THE INSANE.

In response to a most eloquent appeal made by the sainted Do-
rothea Dix, a bill for an act to establish the "Illinois Hospital for
the Insane " passed both houses of the General Assembly with
little opposition. It received the signature of Gov. Augustus C.
French, March 1, 1847. The second section of this act named nine
gentlemen, all residents of Morgan county, as trustees. On March
20, 1847, the Board organized, electing Judge Lockwood as Presi-
dent, and soon after agreed upon a site for the location of the
Hospital about one mile south of the Court House in Jacksonville.
The first patient was received from McLean county, November 3,
1851.

What is now known as the Illinois Central Hospital for the In-
sane was the second of the great State Charitable Institutions of
Illinois, to be provided for by law, but as will appear from what fol-
lows, the third to open its doors for the reception of inmates.

THE BLIND.

In the summer of 1847, Samuel Bacon, who had just graduated
from the Ohio Institution for the Instruction of the Blind at Colum-
bus and who had been employed there during the previous year as
a "pupil teacher," determined to seek his fortune in the West.
Accordingly he embarked at Cincinnati with the intention of going

to Galena, Illinois. While on the steamboat below St. Louis, he
became acquainted with a gentleman from Southern Illinois who
was a member of the Constitutional Convention then in session at
Springfield. By him Mr. Bacon was informed that a large building
was about to be erected in Jacksonville, Illinois, in which, when
completed, a school for the blind was to be opened. Thinking that
he might obtain employment as a teacher in the new institution, he
turned his course toward Morgan county and arrived at Jackson-
ville, August 12, 1847. Here he learned that the supposed insti-
tution for the blind was a hospital for the insane.

Mr. Bacon remained several days in Jacksonville during which
time he met Mr. John W. Lathrop and by him was introduced to
Dr. English, Judge Lock wood, Judge Berdan, Dennis Rockwell,
and others, by whom he was encouraged to attempt the establish-
ment of a school for the blind.

Concerning the visit of Mr. Bacon to Jacksonville, Mr. Lathrop
relates several interesting incidents. On one occasion Mr. Bacon
was in Mr. Lathrop' s store in consultation with Judge Lock wood,
Dennis Rockwell, and others. A gentleman entered who desired
to pay a note the amount of which was at that time due Mr. Lathrop.
The note was produced and read in an undertone, but loud enough
for the sensitive ear of a blind man to hear every word. The note
bore an endorsement indicating that one partial payment had been
made. " What is the legal rate of interest in Illinois?" inquired
Mr. Bacon. " Ten per cent.," replied the holder of the note, and
before Mr. Lathrop with paper and pencil could solve the problem
presented, the blind man named the amount due which proved to
be correct to a cent.

Mr. Bacon inquired if there were any blind persons in the vicin-
ity. On being informed that there was a family near Lynnville,
eight miles distant, in which were one or two blind children, he
immediately declared his intention of visiting them, and that he
would go at once. Judge Lock wood suggested that without doubt
he would find an opportunity to ride to Lyunville within two or three
days. He assured the Judge that he would rather walk than wait
one day ; and as soon as he could obtain the necessary directions, he
started on his midday journey in the dark, afoot and alone. He reached
Lynnville before sunset, spent the night with Mr. Hays the father
of the blind children, and returned alone to Jacksonville next
morning.

Soon after this Mr. Bacon visited Springfield. The constitu-
tional Convention was still in session and he had the opportunity of
meeting many of the prominent men of the state. On all proper
occasions he urged the necessity of a school for the blind of Illi-
nois. From Judge William Thomas of Morgan county, who was
a member of the Convention and also at that time one of the trus-
tees of each of the two state institutions already located in Jackson-
ville, he received some encouragement, although coupled with the
remark that it would require a very skillful and persistent effort to
succeed.

It will be remembered that at this time the state was just emerg-
ing from a period of very great financial embarrassment. In 1841
Illinois state bonds declined to fourteen cents on the dollar, and it
was many years after this before the Auditor's warrants were always
worth the amount named on their face.

To interest an already overburdened people in the education of
the blind to the extent that they would be willing to provide the
necessary funds, seemed almost a hopeless task. But toward the
accomplishment of this most humane object, Mr. Bacon had set his
face and it was not for a moment in his thoughts to turn back.

He left Springfield for Galena, going by stage through Peoria,
Hennepin and Dixon. While on this journey and while in Galena,
he constantly carried in mind the interests of the blind children of
Illinois. He kept up a vigorous correspondence, gathering all pos-
sible information concerning this unfortunate class and interesting
the friends of the blind in the prospective institution.

In the following spring he returned to Jacksonville and on
April 1, 1848, met, at the office of Brown & Yates on the east side
of the public square, a number of gentlemen who favored his enter-
prise. It was then and there determined that Mr. Bacon should
continue to gather information which would show the necessity of
such an institution, and, as soon as practicable, open in the city of
Jacksonville, a private school for the blind. To defray the ex-
penses of such an undertaking a subscription paper was drawn up
and circulated among the citizens of the town. Judge Thomas'
name appeared at the head of the list with a subscription of $100 ; Col.
George M. Chambers subscribed $50; Judge William Brown, $50;
Richard Yates, $25; D. A. Smith, $25; Col. James Dunlap, $25;
Harmony Lodge No. 3, A. F. & A. M., $40; Thomas Officer, $20.
The original papers cannot be found, but it is known that the follow-

ing names in addition to those given above, appeared on the list,
the amounts subscribed by each varying from $3 to $15 or $20:
Samuel Dunlap, Prof. Sturtevant, Dr. David Prince, George Dun-
lap, Matthew Stacy, Joab Wilkinson, Rev. Andrew Todd, Dennis
Rockwell, E. Walcott, Dr. Samuel Adams, Judge S. D. Lockwood,
J. W. King, J. Neely, Ira Davenport, James Jackson, J. J. Cassell,
David Robb, Samuel Markoe, M. H. Cassell, F. Stevenson, J. H.
Finch, A. Coffin, William D. Freeman, Cornelius Hook, A. F. Mil-
ton, G. W. Harlin, J. O. King, and Robert Hockenhull.*

Dr. English was appointed superintendent of the enterprise, J.
O. King collector and treasurer, and Judge Berdan, secretary. Mr.
Bacon was authorized to continue his work of securing information
concerning the blind in the state and of interesting their friends in
the establishment of a state school. For this purpose he visited
many counties traveling on foot, by stage, on horse-back, by boat,
and by wagon, more than two thousand miles.

A PKIVATE SCHOOL FOB THE BLIND.

When Mr. Bacon returned to Jacksonville he had nearly sixty
names of blind children who were residents of Illinois, many of
whom he had visited. Selecting four from this number, George
Springer of Adams county, John Jones of Marion county, Joseph
and Nancy Fielding of Pike county, a school was opened June 5,
1848, in a two-story frame building which stood on the ground now
occupied by the Wabash depot. Mrs. Sarah Graves was employed
as matron and Mr. Bacon was the teacher. Miss Sarah Graves a
daughter of the matron did much reading for the pupils and for
their teacher, and has continued to read for the teacher ever since
that time. They were married July 12, 1849, and are now living
at Nebraska City, Neb. Later one or two pupils came into the
school, but the four named seem to be the ones upon whom Mr.
Bacon depended to prove his point, namely, that it was worth while
to attempt to educate the blind. The school continued in session
for about seven months. Of the work done, Mr. Bacon says: "The
pupils were taught to sing twenty quartettes. The geography was
elementary as we had no maps. In arithmetic they were taught
all forms of fractions, also cube root; and they were able to solve
any arithmetical question."

*These subscriptions were paid in installments and the entire amount was not collected as the
sum subscribed was larger than was needed to pay the expenses of securing the necessary in-
formation and conducting the school.

On the 3d or 4th of January, 1849, these four pupils were
taken to Springfield, and on the evening of the 9th they were ex-
hibited before the members of the Legislature in order "to satisfy
them that the blind could be and ought to be educated." On the
next day a bill for "An Act to establish the Illinois Institution for
the Education of the Blind," which had been prepared by Judge
William Thomas and introduced by Hon. (afterward governor)
Richard Yates, passed both Houses and on January 13, 1849, was
approved by Gov. Augustus C. French. The blind children were
sent from Springfield to their respective homes.

Much work had been done gratuitously by Mr. Samuel Bacon in
order to convince the citizens of Jacksonville of the necessity of a
school for the instruction of the blind in Illinois. To convince the
public of the necessity of a state school, cost the citizens of Jack-
sonville in money expended, about four hundred dollars; and in
addition to this, prominent and philanthropic residents of that city
devoted much valuable time and effort to this worthy cause. It
need not then be a matter of surprise that the legislative enact-
ment that brought the school into existence, named in its first sec-
tion, five Morgan county men as trustees, and that section twelve
provided that the school should be opened and continued in or near
Jacksonville.

THE STATE SCHOOL.

TRUSTEES.

SAMUEL D. LOCKWOOD, President.

JAMES DUNLAP, W. W. HAPPY,

DENNIS ROCKWELL, SAMUEL HUNT.

SAMUEL BACON, Principal.

On February 3, 1849, just twenty-one days after the bill pro-
viding for the school became a law, the gentleman named in the
first section of the Act, met and organized by electing Judge Samuel
D. Lockwood president and Judge James Berdan secretary. At
this first meeting of the Board of Trustees, Mr. Bacon was ap-
pointed, principal of the school at a salary of $600 per annum, and
it was determined that if a suitable building could be secured, he
should begin work on the first Monday in April. A few days later
Col. Dunlap's "Mansion House" situated a little south and west of
Illinois College, was rented for one year, at $225. Five hundred
circulars were issued and distributed among the friends of the
blind, announcing the opening of the school at the date named.
Mrs. Sarah Graves was appointed . matron. Mr. Bacon was in-

structed to procure the necessary books and apparatus, and at the
appointed time the doors were thrown open for the reception of
sightless students. No pupils came until the following Saturday,
April 7th. On that day George Springer of Adams county, and
Mary Stuart of Madison county, came to the "Mansion House"
and were duly enrolled as students at the Illinois Institution for
the Education of the Blind.

From the foregoing it will appear that this institution was the
third of the twelve state charitable institutions of Illinois to be
provided for by legal enactment, and the second to open its doors
for the reception of inmates. It is interesting to note that all the
charitable institutions of Illinois that were established " before the
war" were located in Jacksonville.

As before stated the first term of the state school began in April,
1849. It continued without vacation until July 10, 1850, a period
of fifteen months. The number of pupils, small at first, gradually
increased, until on the 2d of July, 1849, there were fourteen in
attendance. At this time Mr. Aaron Rose, a blind man who had
been educated in the Ohio Institution, was employed as teacher of
music, and Miss Lavinia Booth, a blind lady from the same school,
was appointed "teacher of handicraft in the female department."
By the end of the term the number of pupils had increased to
twenty-three. After a public examination they were dismissed
until the first Wednesday of October.

ME. BACON'S RESIGNATION.

On the 24th day of June, 1850, just before the close of the first
term of the state school, the Board of Trustees ordered that $100
be allowed Mr. Bacon to defray his expenses during the summer
while he should visit institutions for the blind in Boston, Phila-
delphia and New York. Three days later, there being some dis-
satisfaction in regard to salaries, Mr. Bacon, Miss Booth and Mr.
Rose tendered their resignations to take effect at the close of the
term. These were promptly accepted. A month after this Mr. Rose,
at his request, was reinstated, and Mr. Dennis Rockwell was
authorized to visit institutions for the blind in the East for the pur-
pose of collecting information, of procuring needed books and
apparatus, and of engaging a competent superintendent who should
be "a seeing man experienced in the conduct of a blind school."

After leaving Jacksonville, Mr. Bacon was instrumental in

establishing two other schools for the blind; one at Viuton, Iowa,
and one at Nebraska City, Neb. He is now (1893) seventy years
of age and is residing upon his own farm a few miles from the
Nebraska school. He is a living proof that blindness, though very
inconvenient, is by no means a bar to financial success.

PREPAEATIONS FOB BUILDING.

The legislative enactment establishing the Illinois Institution
for the Education of the Blind, provided that " the proceeds of a
tax of one-tenth of a mill upon every dollar's worth of taxable
property in this State " should annually be paid to the trustees for
the purposes set forth in the bill. To enable them to commence
building at once, the sum of $3,000 was appropriated " out of any
money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated."

On May 2, 1849, the Board voted to purchase twenty-two and
forty-five hundredths acres of land that was a part of the Col.
Hardin estate, and is situated about three-fifths of a mile east of
the public square in Jacksonville. For this now valuable property
they paid $75 per acre. Mr. Napoleon Koscialowski prepared the
plans and specifications for the building. These were accepted and
work was begun in September, 1849; but at the close of the first
term, July, 1850, the foundation had not been completed.

DR. JOSHUA RHOADS SUPERINTENDENT 1850 to 1874.

In the summer of 1850, Mr. Rockwell visited several schools for
the blind in the East, and succeeded in securing as Superintendent
of the Illinois Institution, Dr. Joshua Ehoads who had formerly
been Superintendent of the Pennsylvania School. Mrs. Rhoads was
employed as matron. On the first Wednesday in October, 1850,
school opened again in the " Mansion House " with eighteen pupils
present. By the first of the following January (1851) the number
had increased to twenty-three. In their report at that time, the
trustees announced that "the accommodations of the building which
is temporarily occupied for the purpose of the institution, are not
sufficient and no more pupils can be received except as vacancies
may occur in the present number."

In Dr. Rhoads' first report to the trustees we find the following
" Order of Business ":

"Rise at 6; prayers and reading in Bible, 6:45; breakfast 7;
literature and music, 8 to 12, with half-hour iutermssion; dine and

recess 12 to 2; literature and music 2, to 6, with three-quarters of
an hour intermission; supper and recess, 6 to 7; history, 7 to 8; re-
tire, 9:30."

Of the progress of the pupils in their studies Dr. Rhoads says:

" Two years only have passed since not one of the pupils of this
institution knew the letters of the alphabet. Now, all the pupils but
two, read the Inspired Word with pleasure and profit. The benevo-
lent heart of the Christian must thrill with delight, when he beholds
the blind enjoying, in their solitude and physical darkness, an inti-
mate communion with the inspired penmen, and feel itself repaid
for all the labor, time, and attention bestowed."

During this term Mr. Rose continued in charge of the music
while the superintendent himself did all the teaching in the literary
department. The girls were taught sewing, knitting and bead work
by the matron.

As an indication of the difficulty in securing the necessary
" help" at that time, it may be stated that the records show that Dr.
Rhoads was allowed $55.80 "for expenses in bringing two servant
girls from Philadelphia."

FAVORABLE LEGISLATION.

An act of the Legislature of 1851 provided that for two years
(1851-1852) in addition to the tax already provided for, a tax of
one-tenth of a mill on every dollar's worth of taxable property in
the state should be assessed and collected, the proceeds to be applied
to the completion of the building then in process of erection. It
was also provided by the same act that the Governor should appoint
five trustees for this institution, and biennially thereafter, should ap-
point five. The persons appointed in accordance with this act met
April 19, 1851, but did not organize until their second meeting
which occurred April 29, after their bonds had been approved by
the Governor.

TRUSTEES.

SAMUEL D. LOCKWOOD, President.

JAMES DUNLAP, SAMUEL HUNT,

\V. W. HAPPY, WM. B. WARREX.

DR. JOSHUA RHOADS, Principal.

There was the usual vacation in the summer of 1851, and with
the walls of the new building less than half completed school opened
again in the " Mansion House " October 1. Some additional as-

sistance was employed, and the superintendent took upon himself
the instruction of the male pupils, in brush-making, basket-making,
and rope-making.

The writer is unable to learn the number of pupils in attend-
ance during the third term of the school ; but at the close of the
second biennial period (January, 1853), thirty-three pupils had
been enrolled since the opening of the state school and twenty-five
were present. The family in the "Mansion House" at that time
consisted of Dr. Rhoads, Superintendent and teacher; Mrs. Rhoads,
matron and teacher; four daughters of the Superintendent, the eldest
being eleven years of age and the youngest under one year; Mr.
Rose, teacher of music; Mr. Dunham, assistant in the literary de-
partment; twenty-five pupils (eleven males and fourteen females) ;
"a porter and three female domestics by whom all the washing, cook-
ing, etc., for the establishment was done, with the exception of the
hire of a washerwoman one day each week."

MOEE LEGISLATION.

An act of the Legislature which became a law in the spring of
1858, provided that the number of trustees of the Institution for the
Blind should be six inclusive of the Principal who should, exofficio,
be a member of the Board. It was also provided that a majority of the
trustees should reside without the county of Morgan. In accord-
ance with this law Gov. Matteson appointed a new Board of Trus-
tees, and on March 15, 1853, they met and organized.

BOAKD OF TRUSTEES— 1853.
SAMUEL D. LOCKWOOD, Jacksonville, President.
NIVIAV W. EDWARDS, SAMUEL HUNT,

MATTHEW STACY, SAMUEL MARSHALL,

JOSHUA RHOADS, Principal and, ex offlcio, member of the Board.

Afterward Judge Lockwood removed from Jacksonville to Ba-
tavia, 111., and on July 11, 1853, Mr. Stacy became President of the
Board.

In the autumn of 1853, school opened again in the " Mansion
House;" but in January, 1854, the work on the new building had
so far progressed that it could be occupied, and accordingly the pu-
pils with their officers and teachers took possession of their new
quarters.

It was not until January, 1855, that the building was fully
finished and furnished. The Board of Trustees then announced
that they were " prepared to receive as pupils all the blind of either

sex, capable of receiving an education, within our State, who may
apply for admission."

In the fall of 1853, James Dunlap was appointed as teacher in
the Industrial Department. Soon after this Mrs. Dunham accepted
a position as assistant teacher and Mr. Joseph Ramsey (blind) was
employed as a teacher of music.

LEGISLATION.

In 1855, that part of the law of 1849 which provided for the levy-
ing of a tax of one-tenth of a mill on every dollar's worth of taxable
property in the state for the purpose of creating a fund for the In-
stitution for the Blind, was repealed. The amount of money col-
lected under the laws of 1849 and 1851, and paid over to the trustees
was, including the $3,000, special appropriation made per section
14, of the act of incorporation, $99,431.90. The law of 1855 appro-
priated to the Institution for the Blind for the next two years after
its passage, the sum of $14,000 per annum.

In May, 1856, plans were made, bids received, and the contract
awarded, for building a work-shop sixty feet by thirty feet and two
stories in height. The building was to be of brick and to cost be-
tween three and four thousand- dollars. Soon after this, the build-
ing was erected on the ground now occupied by the " East Wing."

January, 1857, the Superintendent reported as follows:

" Every pupil in our first class can make a good brush, a good
broom, a tolerable basket, and a strong rope, in addition to his
acquirements in literature and music." At this time there were
fifty-six pupils in attendance.

LEGISLATION.

By a law in force February 13, 1857, the number of trustees
was reduced to five, no two of the trustees to be residents of the
same county. It was also provided that no member of the Board
should be " employed or appointed in or to any office or place under
the authority of the Board; and that no member of the Board
should be " directly or indirectly interested in any contract to be
made by said Board for any purpose whatever." It was further
provided that the accounts of the institution should be so kept and
reported as to show the kind, quality, and cost, and of whom bought,
of every article purchased. The Board appointed under this law,
met and organized April 8, 1857.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES— 1857.

MATTHKW STACY, Jacksonville, President,

S. D. LOCKWOOD, Batavia, WM. H. BROWN, Quincy.

JOHN MAGOUN, WM. BUTLER, Springfield.

DR. JOSHUA RHOADS, Principal.

The law of 1857 also provided that "in all cases where the
parents of pupils sent to the Institution for the Education of the
Blind, are too poor to furnish them with good and sufficient cloth-
ing, or where said pupils are without parents and unable to furnish
themselves with such clothing, the judge of the county court of the
county from which they are sent shall certify the same to the
Principal who shall procure such necessary clothing and charge the
same to said county and pre sent the account with the vouchers to the
Auditor of Public Accounts who shall draw upon the county Treasurer
for the amount so charged to the county." This law remained in
force until the passage of a law now in force, that made the same
provision for pupils, but changed the method of collecting the
amounts due the institution from the several counties.

To secure the attendance of pupils, notices were sent to the
editors of newspapers throughout the state, informing the people
that the doors of the institution were open to every blind child
within the limits of the state. Once in two years, the Principal
accompanied by a number of pupils (usually twelve), visited many
large towns giving concerts and exhibitions. At the end of the fifth
bienriium (January, 1859), fifty-eight pupils were present and ten
more were expected to arrive.

In 1857, the Jacksonville & Carrollton Railroad obtained and
entered upon, for its own use, a strip of ground about thirty feet
wide and nearly 1,000 feet long near the west end of the tiact
occupied by the institution. February 3d of the same year, the
trustees put on record the following declaration :

" The Board can not concede permission for the railroad to pass
through its grounds, and the President is appointed to attend to the
interests of the institution in this case."

The controversy growing out of this trouble continued, in and
out of the courts, until 1869; when, the Board of Trustees protest-
ing, the matter was settled by legislative enactment, the railroad
company retaining the land and another and wider strip west of the
strip before mentioned and paying therefor into the State treasury
the sum of $5,700. A full account of this iinfortunate litigation can
be found in the report of the Board of Public Charities, 1876, pp.
130-132.

Some building was done during the year 1857-8. The barn
was enlarged and a brick smoke-house built. The latter is still
standing, having been converted, several years ago, into an outside
water-closet connected with the sewer.

LEGISLATION.

By the law of 1859, the annual appropriation for the institution
was reduced from $14,000 per annum to $12,000. The latter sum
was the amount appropriated for the annual expenses of the institu-
tion from this date until 1865.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES— 1860.
MATTHEW STACY, Jacksonville, President.

8. D. LOCKWOOD, Batavia, D. ROCKWELL, Jacksonville,

SAMUEL LONG, M. D., JOHN MAGOUN.

DR. JOSHUA RHOADS, Principal.

In June, 1860, Dr. Samuel Long was instructed to procure an
organ for the institution to cost not over $1,600. He visited St.
Louis and purchased of Henry Pilcher an organ with twenty-four
stops. This instrument was pronounced at that time by competent
judges to be one of the best in the State.

June 19, 1861, probably on account of restlessness on the part
of the older pupils and a seeming lack of appreciation of the priv-
ileges offered by the state, the Board ordered: "That the term of
pupils be limited to five years unless for special reasons to be re-
ported to the Board."

1861 TO 1865.

During the seventh and eighth biennial periods, but little oc-
curred outside the usual routine of earnest, persistent, and cheerful
effort on the part of members of the Board, of teachers, and of
pupils.

During this period, James Magoun retired from the Board;
Dennis Rockwell removed from the State, and Judge Lockwood
asked to be relieved from further duties. The places thus made
vacant were supplied by Robert Hill of — — , — — , E. B.
Hawley of Springfield, William A. Grimshaw of Pittsfield, and
William Coffin of Batavia. On the retirement of Judge Lockwood
the Board caused the following tribute to be spread upon the
records :

"Ordered, That the Board have learned with great regret of the
resignation of Judge Lockwood on account of his advanced age.
The Board feel that they have lost the leading spirit in the man-
agement of the institution from its foundation, and have a high
trust that they and their successors may continue to be guided by
the same spirit which always guided him."

His period of service was fourteen and one-half years.

In October, 1861, Prof. John Loomis commenced his long and
valuable service as a teacher of the blind. During the first few
years his salary was $800 per annum; but in 1865 it was raised to
$1,200; in .1871, to $1,400 and in 1878, to $1,500. This last figure
is the highest salary ever received by any one employed as a teacher
in the Illinois Institution for the Blind. Prof. Loomis was connected
with the Institution until 1881, a period of twenty years. There is
evidence that the pupils became very strongly attached to him, and,
although the methods of instruction employed might not, in some
particulars, meet the approval of modern teachers, there is abundant
proof that the value of his instruction and influence can not be
measured by the standards of worth that are usually applied to
human effort.

In 1862 Miss Alice Rhoads began work as a teacher in the
primary department. She was employed uninterruptedly, part of
the time in the literary department and afterward as teacher of
music and leader of the orchestra, until 1874.

In the summer of 1862, Oscar Butts, of Adams county, a young
man who had left school without permission the previous year, made
a written complaint to the Board regarding the general management
of the Institution and charging the superintendent with inefficiency
and " arbitrary and despotic exercise of power." A special meeting
of the Board was called which continued two days (June 25 and 26,
1862), the members patiently listening to witnesses introduced at
the suggestion of Butts. At a subsequent meeting the following
statement was put on record:

"The trustees present who heard the testimony against and for
Dr. Rhoads, having carefully considered the subject, have unani-
mously come to the conclusion that the charges exhibited against
Dr. Rhoads have not been sustained.

" Resolved by the trustees, that we affirm the decision of the
Board made in December, 1861, that the Illinois Institution for the

Blind is entitled to the confidence of the public and is answering
the purpose for which the institution was established.

" Resolved, That hereafter no pupil shall be returned to the
school for more than five years, unless the trustees, for good reasons
shown to them, shall otherwise order."

On the 16th day of June, 1863, the Board caused the following
to be spread upon the records, and copies sent to the newspapers of
Jacksonville, Springfield, Chicago, and elsewhere, with the request
that it be published:

" Resolved, That we have witnessed with pleasure and very
great satisfaction, the exercises of the institution under the charge
of Dr. Joshua Rhoads and Mrs. Rhoads assisted by able and expe-
rienced teachers, in the respective branches of study in this institu-
tion, and express our great satisfaction at the proficiency shown by
the pupils and return our thanks to the Principals and their assist-
ants for their able management of the institution during the past
year, as shown by the progress of the pupils.

Signed. MATT. STACY,
E. B. HAWLEY,
WILLIAM A. GEIMSHAW.

Near the close of the year 1864, Supt. Rhoads stated as fol-
lows :

" This "institution now contains sixty-eight blind persons of
good moral character, kindly in their deportment to their teachers
arid to each other. About one-half of the number were either born
blind or lost their sight in infancy; the other half of them became
blind from various accidents to which all are subject. Thirty-two
of the pupils are males and thirty-six are females.

1865 TO 1869.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES-1865.

MATTHEW STACY, Jacksonville, President,

WILLIAM A. GRIMSHAW, Plttsfleld, E. B. HAWLEY, Springfield,
M. SHAEFFEK, Salem, H. BUCK, Decatur.

DR. JOSHUA RHOADS, Principal.

LEGISLATION.

The annual appropriation for ordinary expense was raised in
1865 to $20,000, and remained at that figure until 1869. In 1867
there was an especial appropriation of $1,000 per annum (1867 and

1868) "to pay for repairs of buildings and improvements." This
was the beginning of a regular appropriation for repairs and im-
provements, the amount received for this purpose being known as
the K. & I. fund.

Near the beginning of this period, furnaces were introduced
into the building in place of stoves with which all the rooms had
been heated up to this time.

In October, 1865, Prof. A. E. Wimmerstedt was employed as a
teacher of music. He continued to serve as teacher and musical
director till the summer of 1879 — a period of fourteen years.

In January, 1867, the trustees reported eighty pupils inafctend-
ance and " no accommodation for any more." It was a period of
high prices and the Board recommended that the appropriation for
ordinary expenses be increased from $20,000 to $25,000 per annum.

In 1868 Miss Fannie Maginuis commenced a long period of
service as teacher in the literary department. She resigned in
1879, on account of the illness of her mother; was re-elected in
1881, and continued in the work until 1887.

1869 AND 1870.
LEGISLATION.

In 1869 the appropriation for ordinary expense was increased to
$25,000 per annum and $5.000 was appropriated for repairs and
improvements. An act entitled, "An Act to provide for the ap-
pointment of a Board of Commissioners of Public Charities" was
approved April 9, 1869. Since that time the state charitable in-
stitutions have been under the most vigilant supervision of that
Board, the active officer of which, has been from the beginning up
to the present time (April 1, 1893), their Secratary, Rev. Fred H.
Wines.

The act of 1869 further provided that the number of trustees
for each of the state charitable institutions should be three.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES— 1869.

MATTHEW STACY, Jacksonville, President.

E. B. HAWLEY, Springfield, WILLIAM A. GKIMSHAW, Pittsfield.

At ten o'clock on the morning of April 20, 1869, smoke and
flames were seen issuing from various parts of the roof of the main

building of the Illinois Institution for the Blind. The following
statement from the Superintendent's report dated November 30,
1870, gives a succinct account of the fire and of the rebuilding.

" The citizens of Jacksonville rushed in haste to attempt the
suppression of the fire. A profuse supply of water was at hand
— one hundred and twenty barrels being in tanks in the fifth story
of the building; but the progress of the fire was so rapid that
nothing availed to check its ravages. In a few short hours, the
comfortable home for the blind had become a mass of smould-
ering ruins.

" The fire is supposed to have originated from a defective smoke
flue in the attic of the building, and to have been making progress
there for four hours before it was discovered. When first dis-
covered, the flames were breaking through the roof, and the attic
could not be entered from the scuttle in the fifth story ceiling on
account of the heat and flame.

" The citizens succeeded in rescuing all the inmates, and in re-
moving their clothing. The books, papers, and much of the
furniture, including seven pianos, were also removed in safety.
The citizens of Jacksonville opened their houses to our pupils, and,
in a few hours, they were all installed in comfortable homes, and
well provided for until we could arrange to resume the charge of
them.

" Mrs. Eliza Ayers, without solicitation, at once proffered to us
her property, known as the Berean College, and in a week we had
our pupils comfortably domiciled in it, and in our workshops.
The school was at once resumed, and our pupils re-commenced their
studies with accustomed cheerfulness. The school was continued in
session until the usual time for vacation, June 1, when the pupils
returned to their homes.

" The buildings being insured for $20,000, and some other funds
being applicable to the purpose of rebuilding, it was determined
to allow no unnecessary delay in providing a new building. Suit-
able designs were procured, and work was begun on a new building
on the site of the old edifice. This building was pushed forward
with such industry and energy that it was finished and occupied by
the officers and pupils on January 26, 1870.

" The building is seventy-two feet by seventy-two feet, and is
three stories high. It is placed on the site of the former building,
and is planned so as to be the " west wing " to a future main

building and east wing, to be erected when the Legislature shall
appropriate funds for its erection ."

" The cost of the new building was $34,069.39. Of this amount
$20,000 was received from the insurance companies, and, as the
school was necessarily closed, a portion of the amount appropriated
for repairs and improvements, and current expenses became avail-
able for building."

It may be here stated that the Board of Trustees in beginning
to rebuild almost before the foundation stones of the old building
were cold, and in applying, not alone the insurance money, but funds
appropriated for ordinary expense, to this purpose, pushing the
structure to completion in the space of nine months, acted without
the sanction of law. They however did this under the advice of
Governor Palmer, and of individual members of the Legislature of
1869. The responsibility was upon themselves; but so fully did
their promptness of decision and energy of action in the interest of
the unfortunate class placed in their care, commend themselves to
the general public, that no one has been found to make complaint,
either formal or otherwise, of their assumption of authority; though
it has sometimes been said in an undertone that the desire to retain
the institution at Jacksonville had something to do with their very
commendable activity in providing the new building for the School
for the Blind.

The new building contained only about half as much available
space as the former one; yet the school was continued in all its
departments. In the autumn of 1870, there were seventy-four
pupils present, and the Superintendent was obliged to refuse admis-
sion to many others.

1871 TO 1874.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

MATTHEW STACY, Jacksonville, President,

E. B. HAWLEY, Springfield, WILLIAM A. GRIMSHAW, Pittsflekl.
DR. JOSHUA RHOADS, Principal.

In 1871 the annual appropriation for the ordinary expenses of
the institution was reduced from $25,000 to $20,00; and in 1873,
from $20,000 to $17,500.

On November 20, 1871, Miss Clara E. Greenleaf was employed
as assistant matron and, in December, 1872, Avas promoted to the
position of primary teacher. She resigned in the summer of 1878,

on account of poor health, after having been connected with the in-
stitution six years and five months.

The building erected in 1869, was designed as a west wing of
a main building yet to be erected. Before the work was begun on
this " wing," Messrs. Dilger and Jungerfeldt, architects, of Spring-
field, 111., were employed to prepare the elevation and ground plans
for a structure consisting of a main building and two wings. In
1872, the Board made a very earnest appeal to the Legislature then
in session, for an appropriation sufficient for the erection of the
central portion of the proposed structure. On May 3, 1873, a bill re-
ceived the Governor's signature, which provided for an appropria-
tion of |75,000 for this purpose.

Within a month from that time the board advertised for bids
for the construction of the "main building." On July 10 thirteen
bids had been received. That of Loar & Bruce being the lowest,
the contract was awarded to them, the sum named being $58,560.
The work of building was immediately commenced and with the
usual delays, changes in contract, and some additions thereto, com-
mendable progress was made. It was apparent in the spring of
1874, that the building would be ready for occupancy at the begin-
ning of the next term.

In the meantime Hon. John L. Beveridge became governor of
Illinois.

A new Board of Trustees was appointed, and at the last meeting
of the retiring Board (June 2, 1874), they caused the following
tribute to the officers and teachers of the institution to be spread
upon the records:

Resolved, That at this our last meeting, as trustees of this institution, we part
with the officers and employes thereof, yet feeling in them the same confidence
which their zeal, integrity, and devotion to duty has caused us to repose in them
in the past.

Resolved, That we feel our hearts oppressed, in consequence of the painful
illness of our long-time friend and faithful, upright, public servant, Dr. Joshua
Rhoads, preventing him from being present with us, it being the first time in our
official connection with this institution; and we now give to him our most cheering
congratulations, that to him is the consciousness of a life spent in public service
for twenty-four years in the education and training of the blind of Illinois, dis"
charging with uprightness and with a genial heart and true manhood his impor-
tant duties as Superintendent of this institution; and we, as trustees, sympathize
most cordially with him and his amiable family in his present affliction; and we
return to him our sincere thanks for his incessant labors and for his pleasant inter-
course with us in our official capacity, in which his family so considerately co-op-
erated.

Resolved, That we especially present to Mrs. Rhoads, as Matron, our most

hearty thanks for her truly motherly sympathy and charge over the numerous
children who have passed under her kind, considerate and useful training, during
the long period she has presided over this institution, being from its foundation.
l i Resolved, That Miss Alice Rhoads, has our sincere thanks for her exceedingly
happy and efficient effort in training those of the pupils who have been under her
charge, in literature and in music, and we feel it to be our duty to say that she
can not be surpassed in her vocation as a teacher of youth.

Resolved, That Mr. John Loomis, as senior teacher, has always merited and
received our confidence, as he now fully possesses the same, and we commend him
as unsurpassed if not unequaled in capacity as a teacher in the position he has
occupied.

Resolved, That Miss Frances Maginnis and Miss Clara E. Greenleaf, as
teachers in this institution, has each discharged her duty in a highly acceptable
manner and to our entire satisfaction.

Resolved, That we, with pleasure, express our satisfaction in the progress of
the pupils of the institution during the past term, and commend them to the public
as worthy objects of public care, deserving the same by good conduct and entitled
hereto as children of the great State of Illinois.

On June 4, 1874, the new Board consisting of John Mathers,
of Jacksonville; John H. Wood, of Virginia, and John H. Lewis, of
Galesburg, met and organized. Mr. Mathers was chosen President,
and Bazzil Davenport Secretary pro tern. The resignations of Dr.
Joshua Rhoads and Mrs. Rosanna J. Rhoads, to take effect August
1, 1874, were read and accepted.

On motion, they proceeded to the election of a superintendent.
Several names were placed in nomination and on the first ballot Dr.
F. W. Phillips received one vote; Prof. John Loomis, one, and Rev.
W. H. De Motte, one. On the second ballot, Dr. Phillips received
two votes and Rev. De Motte, one. Dr. Phillips was declared
elected. Mrs. Lucy J. Phillips was chosen matron. Prof. Loomis,
Miss Alice S. Rhoads, Miss Fannie Maginnis and Prof. A. E.
Wimmerstedt were re-elected as teachers. At a subsequent meet-
ing the resignation of Miss Rhoads was read and accepted.

At the close of Dr. Rhoads' term as Superintendent, blind
persons to the number of 443, had availed themselves of the privi-
leges of the institution and seventy-two were present.

1874 TO 1876.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

JOHN MATHKRS, Jacksonville, President,

JOHN H. WOOD, Virginia, JOHN H. LEWIS, Galesburg.

DR. F. W. PHILLIPS, Superintendent.

With very few changes in the corps of teachers and officers,
Dr. Phillips commenced his long period (fourteen years) of service

as Superintendent of the Institution for the Blind. Capt. William
A. Kirby was appointed foreman of the workshop, and Mrs. A. C.
Kirby teacher in the literary department, while Prof. T. D. Nut-
ting and Miss Fannie De Motte were employed as teachers of
music.

Immediately after the completion of the new building, circulars
giving notice of the increased capacity of the institution, and
requesting friends of the blind to see that those in need of the edu-
cational privileges thus furnished by the state were induced to
avail themselves of these advantages, were printed and sent into
every county. As a result of this effort, the number of pupils was
increased from seventy-two to one hundred and seven, the latter
being the number in attendance December 1, 1 874.

In 1875 B, B. Gray was appointed foreman of the work depart-
ment in place of Captain Kirby, resigned. Mr. Gray had been em-
ployed as a carpenter and builder at the institution during the super-
intendency of Dr. Rhoads. He is yet (1893) an efficient officer of
the institution, having served continuously for eighteen years.

LEGISLATION.

By an Act of the Legislature in force June 1, 1874, $5,000,
which had before been appropriated and had not been drawn from
the State treasury, was made available for building purposes, and
Section 2 of the same Act appropriated $10,000 for furnishing.
Adding this $5,000 to the amount appropriated by the Act of May
3, 1873, made a total of $80,000. The new trustees found that
" contracts had been entered into and improvements made amount-
ing in the aggregate to $82,332.34, being $2,332.34 in excess of the
appropriations made." Disclaiming any responsibility for this, they
declared the claims to be just and asked the Legislature to make
appropriation for the payment of the same with ten per cent, inter-
est from the first day of August, 1874. Two years later this request
was renewed, and the General Assembly of 1877 appropriated a sum
sufficient to pay these claims with interest at the rate named.

The Board further declared that although the former board had,
"by some mistake or oversight, made improvements in excess of
the appropriation," additional improvements and repairs were needed
which demanded the consideration of the Legislature.

The "center building" was heated by steam, the boilers for this
purpose being located in the rear part of the basement. The wing
was imperfectly heated by four furnaces. The Board reported that

convenience, comfort, safety and economy alike demanded that
there should be constructed a building for the reception of the
boilers, the same to be connected by a tunnel with the main struct-
ure, and that the wing should be equipped with steam-heating
apparatus. In response to their request for $8,000, the Legislature
appropriated $5,000 for building a boiler-house, stack and tunnel,
and supplying the needed pipes and coils for the wing.

The Board deeming this amount insufficient, it appears that they
inaugurated the custom of regarding the amounts received from
counties and individuals for clothing, as well as the amounts of
sales of live stock and articles manufactured in the shops and sew-
ing-room, as a " contingent fund " which they applied wherever it
might seem to them desirable. (This custom was continued until
July 1, 1881; the sum of the orders paid from this fund sometimes
being more than $1,500 per annum. Since that time the receipts
for clothing and sales of stock, etc., are returned to the ordinary
expense fund from which the amounts paid for clothing, for feed,
for live stock and for material to be manufactured, are always
draAvn. )

In explanation of this the Board in their biennial report, dated
October 1, 1876, make the following statement:

"We asked the Legislature for $8,000 to build an engine and
boiler-house, and to heat the wing with steam, and received $5,000.
The building which we were able to erect after steam-heating had
been paid for, is not such as we desire, but will answer our purpose
for years. We could not have built as we did, and when we did,
had we not been able to add our sales and receipts to the amount
the state gave us. We did this when we wanted our sales and
receipts for another purpose, because the amount given us was not
sufficient to build, and the safety and health of the pupils and
security of the buildings, required that the boilers should be
removed."

"The entire building is now uniformly and comfortably heated,
and the tire removed from it, except in the kitchen."

The ordinary expenses for the year 1874 were several thousand
dollars more than the appropriation, and the Legislature, in the
spring of 1875, appropriated $5,000 "to defray the increased
ordinary expense of the Institution for the Blind," and provided
that the act should " take effect and be in force on and after its
passage."

In the Superintendent's report for the same year we find the
following very courteous tribute to Dr. Bhoads:

Since rny last report to you, my predecessor, Dr. Joshua- Rhoads, has died.
His health, feeble at the time of his resignation, continued to fail until February
1, 1876, when death relieved him of his sufferings. A graduate of the Pennsyl-
vania University of Medicine, he was engaged in the active practice of his pro-
fession for a number of years. He was principal of the Pennsylvania Institution
for the Blind for four years. In 1850 he was elected principal of this institution,
which position he occupied for twenty-four years. Possessed of a good mind,
which was well cultivated, he was qualified, both by nature and habit, for the work
to which he gave so much of his life. Methodical, earnest, and in love with his
work, the institution was well conducted and successful under his administration.
At the time of his death he had entered upon his seventieth year.

1876 TO 1880.

The appropriation for ordinary expense for the biennium be-
ginning July, 1875, was $25,000 per annum, with $1,000 per annum,
for repairs and improvements; for the biennium beginning July,
1877, the appropriation for ordinary expense was $28,000 per an-
num, and the amount for repairs and improvements, $1,250 per
annum. Early in 1877, Governor Cullom appointed a new Board
of Trustees for the Institution for the Blind, and on June 4 the
appointees met and organized.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES-1877.
A. C. WADSWOKTH, Jacksonville, President.
N. W. BRANSON, Petersburg, A. G. BUUB, Carrollton.
DR. F. W. PHILLIPS, Superintendent.

For the term 1876-77 Dr. Phillips says in his report to the
trustees " ninety-five permits have been sent out [to pupils], di-
vided as follows: seventy-six returned, three re-admitted, and six-
teen new pupils. An addition of $3,000 to the appropriation made
for ordinary expense by the last Legislature, would enable me to
admit twenty-five more pupils. I have on hand from which to
select that number, eighty-nine applications. Four of these appli-
cants are too old, nine are too young, and one is from another
state. The remaining seventy-five are proper subjects for our care
and instruction, but we can not now receive them."

Mrs. Marion P. Wimrnerstedt was employed for half her time
for one year, as music teacher, her term of service beginning Octo-
ber, 1876.

At the beginning of the next term (1877-78) Miss Lizzie B.

Simpson was employed as a teacher in the literary department, and
Miss Hattie Hobbs as a music teacher in place of Mrs. Wimmer-
stedt. Miss Simpson retained her position until her resignation
was tendered and accepted July, 1885.

Miss Alice Dickey was employed in place of Miss Greenleaf re-
signed. Mrs. Alice Dickey Harsha resigned in the summer of 1884.

In April, 1879, Miss Harriet B. Reed was employed as teacher
in the junior division in place of Miss Maginnis; Prof. H. Breth-
erick, in place of Prof. Wimrnerstedt as musical director. Miss
Reed's term of service continued until January, 1886; Prof. Breth-
erick's, until the summer of 1883.

NUMBER OF PUPILS ENEOLLED.

Terra of 1876-77 96 Term of 1877-78 123

Term of 1878-79 133 Term of 1879-80 142

In response to the request of the trustees, the Legislature of
1879 made appropriations in addition to the usual amount for cur-
rent expenses, as follows:

For new fronts to, and for resetting boilers $ 784 00

For stand-pipe, hose and connections 850 00

For dining-room and kitchen 2,400 00

With these funds the necessary work was done in the boiler-
house, and a large water tank was placed in the attic of the wing
and the necessary connections made to carry water to any part of
the building. A kitchen was built and a dining-room provided
that would accommodate one hundred and fifty pupils.

1880 TO 1884.

In the beginning of this period, the Board of Trustees con-
sisted of the persons appointed by Governor Cullom in 1877,
namely: Hon. A. C. Wadsworth, Judge Branson, and Judge Burr;
but on the death of Judge Burr, June 10, 1882, Dr. J. M. Davis,
of Carrollton, was appointed to fill the vacancy. The following
tribute to Judge Burr was prepared by his colleagues, and the
same was published and spread upon the records:

IN MEMORIAM.

Hon. Albert Gallatiu Burr, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois
Institution for the Education, of the Blind, died at his residence in Carrollton, 111.,
June 10, 1882.

We had known Judge Burr for years, and to know him long and well was but
to know him with increasing esteem and admiration.

As a jurist, his integrity, his manliness, and his legal attainments commanded
confidence and respect, and his death called forth universal grief in the judicial
district over which he presided.

Our association with him as trustee of the Institution for the Blind, which
began June 4, 1877, and closed when his life ended, was characterized by unity of
thought and action. We ever found him attentive to the duties of his office, inter-
ested in the affairs of the institution, and anxious for its welfare.

In our intimate acquaintance with him, we found him a Christian gentleman,
easy of access, pleasant in social intercourse, affable in his demeanor, cheerful in
mind, though at times a great sufferer, and always hopeful of the future.

(Signed) A. C. WADSWORTH,

N. W. BRANSON.

LEGISLATION.

The appropriations for current expenses were as follows:

1879-80, Ordinary expense, $21,000; repairs and improve-
ments $1,000 00

1880-81, Ordinary expense, $25,000; repairs and improve-
ments $1,000 00

1881-82, Ordinary expense, $22,000; repairs and improve-
ments $1,500 00

1882-83, Ordinary expense, $25,000; repairs and improve-
ments $1,500 00

In addition to the usual appropriations, the Legislature of 1881
made the following special appropriations:

For building east wing $33,000 00

For school apparatus and musical instruments 2,500 00

For building barn, coal-house and shop 12,000 00

For engine and laundry machinery 1,440 00

The Legislature of 1883 appropriated as follows:

For fence on east, north, and west side of grounds $1,200 00

For purchasing twenty-two acres of pasture land . '. 2,500 00

For steam mangle 550 00

With the funds thus provided, the east wing, containing twenty-
eight rooms, the inside work being of yellow pine finished in oil and
the openings between the wings and center building protected by iron
fire-doors, was completed in time for the opening of the term of
1882-83.

A brick workshop two stories high and containing eight rooms,
was built, it being located a little northeast of the east wing of the
main building. A brick barn was built a few rods in the rear of the
boiler-house, and between the boiler-house and the barn, was erected
a substantial coal-house. When these improvements had been made
ajid settlements had been made with the contractors, there remained
in the treasury, of the $12,000 appropriated, $1.08.

Twenty-two acres of most excellent pasture land, about half a

mile northeast of the buildings, was purchased, and this continues
to furnish ample summer feed for the eighteen to twenty cows
necessary to supply milk for the inmates of the institution.

Half a mile of substantial fence was built which is yet standing,
and needs but little repair. The drain was provided and the neces-
sary laundry machinery purchased.

On June 9, 1881, Miss Susan Draper was elected teacher of
music (piano), which position she has filled acceptably since that
date.

October 11, 1882, Miss A. L. Nichols (blind) was employed as
a teacher in the primary division. She resigned in 1885.

October 10, 1883, Miss Annie Martin was employed in the liter-
ary department. She resigned in 1887. On the same date, Miss
Kate Smith was employed half her time as teacher of vocal music,
and Mrs. Annie Smith two-fifths of her time as teacher of organ.
Mrs. Kate Smith Dummer and Mrs. Annie Smith resigned in
1885.

The number of pupils enrolled was as follows :

Term of 1880-81 120 pupils. Term of 1881-82. . .128 pupils.

Term of 1882-83 .... 157 pupils. Term of 1883-84. . . 168 pupils.

1884 TO 1888.
TRUSTEES.

A. C. WADSWORTH, Jacksonville, President,

N. W. BKANSON, Petersburg, J. M. DAVIS, Carrollton.

DR. F. W. PHILI-IPS, Superintendent.

On the death of Dr. Davis, in 1885, Hon. Benjamin F. Funk of
Bloomiugton was appointed to fill the vacancy. In the report to
Governor Oglesby. dated September 30, 1886, we find the following:

" We have lost from our Board, by death, Dr. J. M. Davis of Carrollton, a man
worthy and well qualified for the position he occupied, who was interested in the
work of educating the blind and whose loss we regret."

LEGISLATION.

The appropriations for current expenses were as follows :

1883-84, Ordinary expense, $32,000; repairs and improve-
ments $1,000 00

1884-85, Ordinary expense, $32,000; repairs and improve-
ments $1,500 00

1885-86, Ordinary expense, $30,000; repairs and improve-
ments $1,500 00

1886-87, Ordinary expense, $30,000; repairs and improve-
ments .. $1,500 00

In addition to the usual appropriations, the Legislature of 1885
made the following special appropriations:

For the construction of a refrigerator and storehouse $4,000 00

For the extension of the sewer 500 00

For the purchase of a pipe-organ 3,000 00

With the funds thus provided, the sewer was extended and
a pipe-organ, a most excellent instrument built by Hook &
Hastings of Boston, Mass., was put in place and used for the first
time December 25, 1885. The amount appropriated for a storehouse
and refrigerator was unsatisfactory to the trustees and to the Super-
intendent. Nevertheless they proceeded to build as best they
could, the building erected being of brick, twenty-two feet by sixty
feet and two stories in height and situated northwest of the main
building.

TEACHEES.

On the resignation of Mrs. Alice Dickey Harsha in the summer
of 1884, Mrs. Mary Burr, widow of Judge A. G. Burr, was em-
ployed to fill the vacancy. Of this appointment Dr. Phillips says in
his report to the trustees: " It affords me the greatest pleasure to
thus remember the kindness of Judge Burr in his intercourse with
those connected with the Institution, and his faithfulness to his
duties as a trustee." Mrs. Burr continued her work as a teacher
until the summer of 1891.

At the beginning of the term 1885-86 four newteachers were em-
ployed: Prof. Blanpied who was musical director for one year and
Mr. Ira William Davenport who was employed in the literary de-
partment until 1887 ; George R. Parker, a former pupil of the Insti-
tution and Mrs. Mollie Phillips. Mrs. Phillips resigned in 1887.
Mr. Parker is still numbered among the teachers in the literary de-
partment.

At the beginning of the term 1886-87, Miss Anne Wakely was
employed as teacher in the literary department and Miss Emma
Des Plaines, a former pupil, as a teacher of music. Prof. Wallace
P. Day was employed as musical director. Miss Wakely taught one
year and Miss Des Plaines four years. |Prof. Day, who had
previously had several years experience as teacher of the blind in
Canada still remains at the head of the musical department.

At the beginning of the term 1887-88, Mrs. Eliza Caldwell, Miss
Mattie Bevans, and Miss Lydia Hamilton took their places as teach-
ers. Mrs. Caldwell taught the girls of the intermediate division

till the summer of 1891. Miss Hamilton had charge of the senior
division for five years. She resigned on account of serious ill
health. Miss Bevans taught the intermediate class of boys until
1890. During the term of 1890-91, she taught mathematics to the
pupils of all grades between the kindergarten and the high school,
and since that time has taught geography to the same classes.

NUMBER OF PUPILS ENROLLED.

Term of 1884-85 150 Term of 1885-86 168

Term of 1886-87 186 Term of 1887-88 171

DEATH OF SUPT. F. W. PHILLIPS.

On January 17, 1888, after a painful illness, Dr. F. W. Phillips
passed to his reward. There was a special session of the Board of
Trustees, called for January 19, to take appropriate action concern-
ing the death of the Superintendent. Mr. W. S. Phillips was
elected Secretary of the Board and the following tribute proposed
and offered for adoption by Hon. N. W. Branson was spread upon
the records:

" The Board of Trustees convened in special session immediately
after the sad but sacred duties pertaining to the final interment
of the late Superintendent of this institution, feeling acutely
the magnitude of our loss would pay our heart-felt tribute to
the memory of the deceased."

" Whatever honors can be paid to the memory of Dr. F. W.
Phillips will be worthily bestowed. No tribute which affection
may dictate can be worded in language too strong. The late super-
intendent fully appreciated the responsibility resting upon him in
ministering to the mental, moral, and physical welfare of the pupils
under his charge; and he gave to the discharge of his duties
his best energies. His heart was filled with sympathy for
those whose misfortunes made them the worthy recipients of this
noble public charity. With love for this special work and with a
mind fully equipped by nature for the discharge of high pub-
lic trusts, he gave himself up, with entire singleness of purpose, to
the performance of duty."

"In the management of pupils, he was quick to foresee and prompt
to provide for their wants. Courteous, kind, and affectionate, in
his intercourse with them, he yet could be firm as the occasion
might demand, and was always just. His relations with all
who were in any way associated with him were of the most kindly
character."

"As an executive officer he displayed rare ability. The institu-
tion grew and expanded under his wise and prudent administration,
and attained the measure of usefulness which its founders and

prompters had in view. The public funds were applied exclusively
to their proper uses as contemplated by the law and were expended
with economy, with sagacity, and with unquestionable integrity.
Under his thoughtful and efficient management, the entire institu-
tion in all its branches and departments worked like a perfect piece
of mechanism without jar or friction."

" Our Superintendent was a man of principle and of purity ; stain-
less in character and spotless in reputation ; remarkable for the great
variety and extent of his attainments; and he exemplified in himself
the highest attributes of domestic life."

"Although his life was lengthened out to three-score years yet the
death of an upright and useful man, however long deferred, comes
always too soon, but we are not without consolation in the recollec-
tion of his many virtues and in the reflection that it was our happy
privilege to have been so intimately associated with him in his
labor of love; and we, the members of this Board, counting ourselves
as not the least affectionate among the many friends of our departed
brother, will cherish with unfailing tenderness and love, his precious
memory and the priceless inheritance of his virtues."

(Signed) A. C. WADS WORTH,
B. F. FUNK,
N. W. BRANSON.

At the time of Dr. Phillips' death blind persons to the number
of nine hundred and three had availed themselves of the privileges
of the institution and one hundred and sixty-four were present.

1888 TO 1890.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES, 1888.

A. C. WADSWORTH, Jacksonville, President,

N. W. BRANSON, Petersburg, B. F. FUNK, Bloomington.

W. S. PHILLIPS, Superintendent.

On May 27, 1888, Mr. W. S. Phillips, son of Dr. F. W. Phillips
was elected superintendent. Fourteen years of the life of Mr.
Phillips had been spent at the institution. He had been book-
keeper and purchasing agent and was familiar with the details of the
work in every department.

To the arduous labors of his new position he devoted all his
energies. He made apparent to the members of the Thirty-sixth
General Assembly the needs of the institution the result of which
was increased appropriations for ordinary expense and generous
provision for necessary improvements.

LEGISLATION REGULAR APPROPRIATION.

1887-88, Ordinary expense, $32,000; repairs and improve-
ments $1,500 00

1888-89, Ordinary expense, $32,000; repairs and improve-
ments 1,500 00

1889-90, Ordinary expense, $38,000; repairs and improve-
ments 2,000 00

SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS.

Legislature of 1887:

For paving one-half the width of street $3,400 00

For building laundry and purchasing appliances 5,000 00

For fire-escapes 1,200 00

Legislature of 1889:

For repairs to cornice $ 1,000 00

For piano-tuning and repair department 3,000 00

For cottage for girls 18,000 00

For covered walk for girls 1,000 00

For repairs to chapel 4,350 00

With these funds, work was done and buildings erected as fol-
lows:

East State Street (to the center of the street), in front of the
grounds of the institution, was paved with vitrified brick. A brick
laundry, thirty by «ixty feet was erected and equipped with all
needed appliances; complete fire-escapes were provided for the
main building. The cornice of the main building was thoroughly
repaired. Of the $1,000 appropriated for this purpose, $455.97
reverted to the state treasury.

A most elegant building was erected near the west end of the
grounds. This edifice is of brick and is known as the Girls' Cot-
tage. It is now (1893), occupied by four of our teachers and
about forty blind girls, there being from two to four in each room.
In this building the pupils do their own " room- work."

The repairs to the chapel were made necessary by a serious set-
tling of the floor, and a fear of dangerous imperfection in the walls
themselves. The settling occurred when there was a large audience
upon the floor, and through the presence of mind of the Superin-
tendent, W. S. Phillips, a serious catastrophe was averted. Com-
petent advice was secured and the chapel (and consequently the
dining-room beneath it) was greatly enlarged and made thorough-
ly substantial and secure.

An attractive exercise walk was built with the $1,000 appropri-
ated for this purpose.

With regard to the expenditure of the $3,000 appropriated for
the piano-tuning and repair department, there was some slight mis-
understanding between the Secretary of the Commissioners of
Public Charities on the one hand, and the Superintendent and
trustees on the other hand. It resulted in the expenditure of this
money for the most part for tools to be used in tuning and repair-
ing, and in the payment of the salary of a competent teacher in tun-
ing, for several years.

It is not improper to say that the special appropriations made
by the Legislature of 1889, were secured largely through the ef-
forts of Mr. Phillips, and that the improvements that were thereby
made possible, a brief description of which appears upon the pages
immediately preceding this, were largely due to his enterprise and
administrative ability. The Board of Trustees, too, during this
period (Hon. A. C. Wadsworth, Judge N. W. Branson, and Hon.
B. F. Funk), were all men of exceptional worth and ability. Alive
to the interests of the institution, they spared neither time nor ef-
fort in its behalf. In spite of some unpleasant episodes, the his-
torian is obliged — is pleased, to declare that this was a period of
unusual prosperity.

TEACHERS AND OFFICERS.

In October, 1888, Mr. Charles A. Hinchee was employed as
boys' supervisor and teacher in the physical culture department.
He resigned in February, 1890, and Maj. C. E. McDougall was
elected to fill the vacancy.

At the beginning of the term 1889-90 Thomas Dower, a former
pupil who had been acting as assistant foreman in the broom-shop,
was put on the pay roll.

In the autumn of 1889 Miss Margaret Taylor was employed and
put in charge of a kindergarten. The Superintendent selected the
largest and best room at his command and caused it to be fitted up
and furnished with every needed appliance. This was the begin-
ning of the kindergarten work in the institution. It should continue
as long as the institution lasts. Miss Taylor resigned in 1891.

NUMBER OF PUPILS ENROLLED.
Term of 1888-89 171. Term of 1889-90 188.

At the close of this period, blind persons to the number of nine
hundred and seventy-eight had availed themselves of the privileges
of the institution.

1890 TO APRIL 1, 1893.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES-1890.

A. C. WADSWORTH, Jacksonville, President,

N. W. BKANSON, Petersburg, BENJAMIN F. FUNK, Bloomington.
FRANK H. HALL, Superintendent.

On July 1, 1890, Mr. Frank H. Hall, who had had twenty-five
years' experience as teacher and Superintendent in the public
schools of Illinois, took his place as Superintendent of the Institu-
tion for the Blind having previously made a brief visit to, and study
of, the institutions of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
and Louisville.

LEGISLATION — REGULAR APPROPRIATION.

1890-91, Ordinary expense, $38,000; repairs and improve-
ments $2,000 00

1891-92, Ordinary expense, $40,000; repairs and improve-
ments 2,000 00

1892-93, Ordinary Expense, $40,000; repairs and improve-
ments 2,000 00

SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS — 1891.

For constructing and furnishing a building to be used as

a dormitory for blind shop-hands $12,000 00

For enlarging and repairing the boiler-house, etc 3,640 00

For constructing a kitchen and bakery 7,500 00

For extra repairs, improvements and appliances necessary

to provide suitable accommodations for sick inmates 2,000 00
For purchasing apparatus, school and mechanical 3,000 00

These funds have been for the most part expended.

A building in which are sleeping-rooms, sitting-room and read-
ing-room, sufficient for fifty blind men, was erected a few rods east
of the main building. It is now occupied by thirty-eight men,
while two rooms are used for instruction and practice in piano-tun-
ing. The foreman of the shop also has rooms for himself and wife
in this building.

A new sixteen-foot, sixty-inch boiler was set and the boiler-
house enlarged, so that when it shall become necessary to cast aside
the three fourteen-foot, forty-eight-inch boilers now in use, they
may be replaced with boilers equal in capacity to the one recently
purchased. A large double-acting steam pump was purchased,
and so set and connected that water may be drawn from either of
two wells or from the city water mains, and thrown into the boilers
or into the pipes that supply water for ordinary use and for pro-
tection against fire.

An ample kitchen and bakery were provided, a twelve-foot rotary
oven was set in place, in which all our baking is done. At present
we use one barrel of flour each day while school is in session.

Near the new kitchen a convenient store-room was provided, and
the old store-house converted into a hospital. This is now an iso-
lated building two stories high with four rooms, besides halls and
closets on the first floor. These rooms are a boys' ward, a girls'
ward, a sleeping-room for nurses, and a kitchen. Ordinarily the
rooms on the first floor furnish sufficient accommodation for our sick
inmates; but in case of severe illness, epidemic or contagious
disease, the second floor can be occupied.

With the $3,000 for purchasing apparatus, we have provided
valuable broom machinery for the shop, philosophical apparatus
and physiological models for the high school, specimens in natural

THE HALL BRAILLE-WRITER.

history for all departments, and appliances for the kindergarten. A
complete printing outfit has been provided. This includes movable
type for printing ''Boston Line " (raised letters), New York Point
(literature and music), and Braille music; a small "Army Press,"
and a large Kidder hand- press. Under the direction of the Super-
intendent, a machine for writing Braille has been constructed by
which the pupil can write many times as fast as he could write with
a " stylus and tablet," with the further advantage of having what
he has written in a convenient position to be read. This machine is
known as the Hall Braille-writer. With these machines the pupils
solve their problems in algebra and write their letters and school
exercises. Although the first machine was not completed till May

27, 1892, twenty -five are now in use in this institution, and about
seventy-five have been constructed and sold to other institutions
and to blind people. Fourteen are in use in the Boston school,
nine in St. Louis, twelve in Philadelphia, six in Alabama, two in
California, five have been shipped to England, and the remainder to
private individuals in different parts of the United States.

A machine has also been constructed (the Hall Stereotype -
maker, cut on page 43), by means of which work can be written on
copper plates. These plates can be used as stereotypes for printin g
with an ordinary press. Thousands of copies can be printed from
each plate. Several hundred such plates have been made, most of
the work of preparing them having been done by blind persons. Al-
though this machine was not completed until January 4, 1893, a
similar one is now in use in tile St. Louis School for the Blind, and
another will be shipped to the Philadelphia school in a few days.

This appropriation also enabled us to purchase two Hammond
typewriters, three Remingtons and ten Merritts. Our " typewriting
room " contains, besides the typewriters here mentioned, six
Braille-writers; and nearly one hundred pupils receive instruction
and practice on one or more of these machines daily.

TEACHERS.

Miss Edith Paxton was employed as assistant in the high
school at the beginning of the term 1891-92. Before the end of the
year her health failed, and her physician advised rest. She was not
able to return at the beginning of the next year, but gradually be-
came weaker, and on Saturday evening, January 21, 1893, a few
hours after caressing a little blind boy that had called to " see " her,
she fell asleep. It is no exaggeration to say that the blind chil-
dren of Illinois lost a most faithful friend when Miss Edith passed
to her long home.

Mrs. Mary Redick Bayly, who had been employed as a teacher
in the Ohio Institution many years ago, accepted the position of
kindergartener in the fall of 1891. She served the blind of the
state most industriously and conscientiously for one year.

NUMBER OF PUPILS ENROLLED.

Term of 1890-91 217 Term of 1891-92 241

AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE.
Term of 1890-91 . . . . 186 Term of 1891-92 . . . . 216

THE HALL STEREOTYPE-MAKER.

With this machine a copper stereotype may be written in Braille (either
English or American) almost as rapidly as one can write on paper with the Hall
Braille-writer. Either single plates, or double plates for interlining, may be
written upon it. The machine is simple and substantial in its construction, and
requires but little skill to operate it. One of the pupils of the Illinois Institution
for the Blind, after a few hours' practice, wrote four lines of a familiar hymn, on
a copper plate of sufficient thickness to " stand up " under thousands of impres
sions, in one and one-half minutes.

MARCH 25, 1893 — PRESENT CONDITION or THE SCHOOL.

There are now 212 pupils in attendance. Of these, thirty-six
are men in the shop department, and five are women in the sewing-
rooms. Of the remaining 171, ninety-one are males and eighty are
females.

The entire enrollment from the opening of the school in 1849
up to the present time, is 1,141.

LITERARY DEPARTMENT.

In this department there are three divisions: First, the kinder-
garten and primary grades; second, the intermediate and gram-
mar grades; third, the high school.

The second division is subdivided into four sections of boys and
four sections of girls.

The teachers and their terms of service are as follows:

HIGH SCHOOL.

Prof. L. M. Coates, one year.

DIVISION 2.

Teacher of geography, Miss Mattie Bevaus, six years; teacher
of reading and history, Miss Tillie Johnson (blind), two years;
teacher of arithmetic, Prof. George B. Parker (blind), eight years;
teacher of language, Miss Eva Hewes, two years as assistant ma-
tron and two years as teacher.

DIVISION 1.

Miss Harriet Rees assisted by the more advanced pupils, one
year.

Miss Minnie Bacon, term of service two years, is employed half
of her time as teacher in the " typewriting room," and the other
half as assistant in the high school. Miss Nina M. Hall, term of
service one year, devotes half of her time to work in the " type-
writing room."

MUSIC DEPARTMENT.

Prof. Day, of whom mention has been made before, is in charge
of the music department. He gives instruction to several pupils on
the pipe-organ, teaches the harmony and chorus classes, and
arranges all the music work. One hundred and fifteen pupils

receive instruction regularly on the piano, fifty-two on the violin,
ten on the pipe-organ, and several on each of the following instru-
ments: cornet, violoncello, viola, piccolo, French horn, euphonium,
etc. Thirty-five have instruction in harmony, twenty-five in vocal
music, while the chorus class (taught always by Prof. Day) usu-
ally numbers about forty. For all these subdivisions, most of the
music is printed on our own press, and a copy put into the hands of
each learner. Several teachers and pupils use the Stereotype-
maker. A person with sight (or two blind persons) can prepare
the stereotype for a page of music in fifteen minutes. Several
hundred copies per hoar can be printed on our Kidder press.

Prof. Day's assistants and their terms of service in the Illinois
Institution are given below:

Prof. M. H. Grist, teacher of violin and other orchestral instru-
ments, three years; Miss Susie Draper, piano, eleven years; Miss
Alice Clarke (blind), piano, three years; Prof. L. M. Hitt, vocal,
two years; W. H. Jackson, teacher of piano-tuning and repairing,
five years; Charles Tederstrorn (blind), assistant in piano-tuning,
two years.

WORK DEPARTMENT.

The subdivisions of this department are as follows;

1. The broom shop.

2. The girls' work-rooms.

3. The boys' work-room.

William R. Boyer has been for the past two years foreman of
the broom shop. About thirty blind men are here employed mainly
as apprentices in broom- making. The sales from the shop are now
over $8,000 per annum, while during the last year ten men have
been sent out to attempt to earn their livelihood as broom-makers.
Some of these are successful.

In the girls' work-rooms, chair- caning, sewing by hand and on
machines, crocheting, knitting, the making of bead-work and horse
nets and hammocks, are taught. The sales from these rooms amount
to from $15 to $25 per month. Miss Jennie Clark, who has been
connected with the institution for many years, is in charge of one of
these rooms, and Mrs. Clyde H. Hall, whose term of service is three
years, is in charge of the other.

Mr. Thomas Dower (blind) is in charge of the boys' work-
room. His term of service is four years. In this room the boys

are taught chair-caning, and the older ones receive instruction in
horse-net and hammock-making.

A "Sloyd-room" has been opened this year in which attempts
are being made to give manual training by working in wood. The
room is provided with a lathe and full sets of wood-working tools.
Mr. Henry Edwards, a pupil in the high school, is in charge of this
room.

During the last two years nearly all the correspondence of the
Superintendent's office has been done with a Remington typewriter
operated by a blind pupil. Mr. Frank Stoddard, of Hillsboro, a
member of the class of 1893, has done a large part of this work.
He writes from dictation at the rate of thirty to forty words a
minute, and his work is unusually free from errors. When several
copies of a paper or a letter are required, he writes first from dic-
tation upon the Braille-writer and, from the embossed copy thus
provided, makes the requisite number of copies with the Remington.

A large part of the work with the stereotype-maker has been
done by Mr. Arthur Jewell, a young man who graduated from the
institution in the class of 1886, and who returned for instruc-
tion in piano-tuning. He writes in copper rapidly and accur-
ately, reads and corrects his own proof, and operates the press
without difficulty. His reading of proof, with the fore finger of
the left hand on his embossed copy, and the fore finger of the right
hand on his stereotype, thus reading simultaneously both the copy
and the proof, called forth the expression from an observer, " It
beats eyes all to pieces." Since January 4, 1893, Mr. Jewell,
besides doing his work as a pupil, has written several hundred
copper plates.

Mrs. Frank H. Hall has been Matron for the last three years
She has generously taken upon herself the employment and manage-
ment of all the female help, and has personally apportioned and
supervised the work done by twenty-six women. In this she has
been ably assisted by Miss Jean Cunningham, who has been con-
nected with the institution sixteen years, and has had charge of
the kitchen and dining-room for three years. Her success in this
work has been marked, and is due to her unusual good judg-
ment, to her untiring zeal, and to her almost ceaseless energy and
activity.

Mrs. Hall has given personal attention to the purchasing of
and keeping in order, the clothing of the younger pupils, and to

providing for the many wants of children in darkness and with-
out a mother's care. In this work she has ever found a most
competent assistant — one whose worth can not be told in words —
in Miss Katie Halpin, who has been employed at the institution
seven years, and who, during the last three years, has acted the
part of mother to twenty-five or ,thirty blind boys. She has
washed their faces, combed their hair and taught them to do
these things for themselves. She has taken splinters out of fing-
ers, attended to sprains, bumps, cuts and bruises; she has wiped
away tears from sightless eyes weeping for a far-away mother,
listened to childish complaints, bathed feverish brows, and in one
instance, at the touching request of a dying boy, she took him in
her lap, and held him in her arms while his spirit passed away
from earth. Many a blind boy in Illinois will never forget " Miss
Kathy."

There are many others too who have been employed here who
are worthy of honorable mention, did space permit. Miss Jennie
Clark, who has been employed here since 1876, has shown much
self-denial and patient devotion to duty. Miss Alice Smith, who
has been in charge of the younger girls for the past two years has
been very helpful, and attentive to the wants of those under her
charge. Miss Titia Grant, continuously since 1885, and for many
years prior to that time has alike served the interests of the blind
and those who have given her employment.

Maj. C. E. McDougall, as Boys' Supervisor; Byron Gray, as
Superintendent of Construction and Repairs (oftentimes — indeed
usually — not only superintendent but laborer as well); E. C.
Schureman as bookkeeper, and Clyde H. Hall as store-keeper and
purchasing agent, have all proved themselves competent in their
several departments, and in a high degree worthy of confidence
and esteem.

The writer of this brief history is aware that it is wanting in
a most essential part, yiz. : the record of what has been accom-
plished after leaving the institution by those who have enjoyed
the advantages so generously provided for them by the state.

The records in the office of the Superintendent, bearing upon
the subject, are so incomplete, and the time allowed for prepara-
tion of this sketch so short, that no satisfactory account can be
given, of the occupations and achievements of former pupils. This
important work must be left for the future historian.

One of the results of the victory of the Democratic party in
the elections of November, 1892, was the resignation of the mem-
bers of the Board of Trustees. Early in the following March, Gov.
Altgeld appointed their successors who met and organized, March
31, 1893.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES-1893.
HON. CHARLKS A. BARNES, Jacksonville, President,
JUDGE HENRY PHILLIPS, Virginia, HON. A. L. LOWE, Robinson.

By request of the new Board at their April meeting, Mr. Frank
H. Hall tendered his resignation as superintendent to take effect
July 1, 1893, and Rev. W. F. Short, D. D. was appointed to fill the
vacancy.

BRIEF HISTORY

ILLINOIS SOUTHERN HOSPITAL

FOR THE

INSANE,

LOCATED AT

ANNA, ILLINOIS.

1869-1893.

Presented by the ILLINOIS BOARD OF WORLD'S
FAIR COMMISSIONERS.

JOHN MORRIS COMPANY. PRINTERS,

Il8 AND 120 MONROH STREET,

CHICAGO.

SOUTHERN HOSPITAL FOR INSANE.

In the year 1869, the same year in "which the Northern Hospital
for the Insane was created, the General Assembly passed " An act
to locate, erect and carry on an asylum for the insane," which was
approved by Governor Palmer, April 16, the same day that he ap-
proved the sister act. The two measures were, in fact, part of a
single scheme, and were supported by the representatives both of
the northern and the southern ends of the State. The title " Illi-
nois Southern Hospital for the Insane " was not conferred until
1875, the date of the adoption of the act to regulate the State chari-
table institutions.

The act of incorporation provided for five commissioners, who
were to select and purchase a site, adopt plans and have entire
charge of the erection, organization and management of the institu-
tion. These commissioners were allowed $5 each per day for their
services until the asylum should be so far completed as to receive
insane patients. Naturally enough, the work of construction
dragged its slow length wearily along. The Board made a tour of
inspection of eastern institutions, for which they charged $2,000
for necessary travelling expenses in addition to their salaries, and
when they made their first report, in December, 1870, they

had expended only a little more than $50,000 out of an appropria-
tion of $125,000, of which $17,000 had been paid for land, and but
$15,000 on the contract for building.

The location selected March 29, 1870, was a tract of land imme-
diately north of the town of Anna and east of the Illinois Central
Railroad. It contained 290 acres. Nominally, the owners deducted
one-fifth of the price asked, and the town of Anna contributed an-
other fifth; actually, the price paid was the full value, if not more,
being at the rate of $60 per acre.

The plans adopted were prepared by Messrs. Schwartz & Dilger.
The contract for the erection of the north wing was let to Richard
Shinuick, of Cincinnati, for $115,000, the preliminary excavations
to be paid for by the cubic yard, in addition to the sum named, at
an estimated cost of $10,000.

The General Assembly, in 1871, legislated the commissioners
out of office and provided for the appointment of three paid com-
missioners to construct the Southern Illinois Insane Asylum and
the Southern Normal University. The new Board took charge May
2, 1871; at that time the basement story was not yet finished. On
the 25th of July, 1871, seeing no prospect of an early completion
of the building, they notified the contractor's securities to meet
them at Anna and either furnish means for a more rapid prosecu-
tion of the work or surrender the contract. The securities there-
upon took the building in hand, finished it at their own cost, and
a final settlement was made with them in March, 1873.

The contract for the rear building and the basement story of the
center was awarded to N. L. Wickwire, of Cairo, June 13, 1872, for

®AC TQO
3pOo, to6.

The appropriation for the center building was made May 3,
1873, but through an error in the wording of the act, instead of its

being made payable from the levy of 1872, as designed, it was
made payable from the levy of 1873, and so was not available
for use before 1874, which occasioned a delay of one year in the
commencement of work under the contract. Richard Shinnick was
the successful bidder, and took the job for $84,000, except the finish-
ing of the fourth story. The l.ast payment was made him in Sep-
tember, 1875.

With the completion of the north wing, trustees were appointed
by the Governor in July, 1873, who elected Dr. Richard Dewey, as-
sistant physician at Elgin, Superintendent. He at first accepted the
appointment but subsequently, on the 23d of September, withdrew
his acceptance, and Dr. A. T. Barnes, of Centralia was elected in his
stead.

The north wing of the asylum was opened for the reception of
patients, December 15, 1873, the first floor being reserved for the
accommodation of officers and employes. The center building was
completed in November, 1875, furnished and occupied in January,
1876, and the entire wing was then surrendered to the use of the
patients.

It was the original intention of the Legislature that this institu-
tion should be an asylum for the care of the incurable insane, but
the act of May 2, 1873, placing it under the laws regulating the
reception, care and treatment of patients at Jacksonville, changed
its character in this regard.

The plans for the center building and south wing were furnished
by Messrs. Walsh & Jungenfeldt, of St. Louis.

The contract for the south wing was taken by Thomas L.
Kempster, of Chicago, July 25, 1875, for $89,723.65. His bid was
believed at the time to be too low and so it proved. He failed to
pay his employes, and on the 6th of June, 1876, the board sus-

pended payments to him, and made all payments on* his account
directly to the parties to whom the same were due. By the 17th
of May, 1877, he was unable to proceed further, the amount due
him, under his contract, less the ten per cent, guaranty retained by
the commissioners, having been exhausted, and all work ceased.
The board then ordered Col. E. H. Sturgess, superintendent of
construction, to complete the building at the expense of the contract-
or and his sureties. No attempt was made to collect the excess in
its cost, however, because it was known that the contractor had
already lost money by his bargain and it was felt to be unfair to
proceed against him. The building commissioners delivered the
south wing to the trustees, November 8, 1877.

Dr. Barnes resigned the superintendency, July 1, 1878, after
nearly five years service and on the 6th of August, Dr. Horace
Wardner, of Cairo, was elected to succeed him; he assumed the
duties of the position in September.

The greatest difficulty to be overcome in the organization of the
Hospital was the securing of an adequate water supply. This was
sought to be obtained at first by building a dam and catching the sur-
face rainage in a large pond. In 1879 connection was made with a
"big spring" about a third of a mile southeast of the building. A
large settling basin and filter were constructed in 1883. A severe
drought, in 1887, led to the sinking of an artesian well.

About 1 o'clock on the morning of April 19, 1881, the north
wing took fire, from some undiscovered cause, and was totally con-
sumed. One patient perished in the flames; all the rest were res-
cued. The General Assembly, which was in session at the time,
made an appropriation of $12,000 for barracks for temporary use,
and another of $90,000 for rebuilding the wing. Mr. L. D. Cleve-
land, of Chicago, was employed as architect, and the work was done

by the Hospital itself without the intervention of a contractor. The
result was entirely satisfactory. While the work was in progress
the male patients occupied the barracks, the chapel and one section
of the upper floor of the female wing. The patients liked the bar -
racks and at the next session of the Legislature they were fitted up
for permanent use, and are still occupied. By this means the ca-
pacity of the Hospital was increased at a very trifling expense.

Electrical lighting was introduced in June, 1886.

In 1889 the General Assembly appropriated $120,000 for the
erection of additional buildings at Anna, to accommodate three hun-
dred patients. Plans submitted by Mr. I. C. Coleman, of Jacksonville,
were adopted, and the building was erected without a contract, by
the Hospital itself.

Dr. Wardner resigned the superintendency in January, 1890, and
was succeeded by D. E. B. Elrod of Flora. The change of ad-
ministration resulted in a general reorganization, including the as-
sistant physicians, matron, farmer and other subordinate officials.

Since the political revolution in Illinois, last November, a new
board of trustees has been appointed and Dr. Elrod has given place
to Dr. W. C. Luce.

The commissioners and trustees have baen as follows:

John Dougherty Jouesboro, 1869 to L871.

Benjamin L. Wiley, 1869 to 1871.

George L. Owen, 1869 to 1871.

Eussel Hinkley, 1869 to 1871.

H. D. Kingsbury, 1870 to 1871.

Elihu Palmer, Carbondale, 1871 to 1874.

E. H. Sturgess, Vandalia, 1871 to 1877.
Hiram Walker, 1873 to 1877.

F. M. Malone, Pana, 1874 to 1877.

Amos Clark, 1875 to 1879.

John C. Boyle, 1875 to 1877.

C. Kirkpatrick, Anna, 1875 to 1881.

W. P. Brunei-, Metropolis, 1877 to 1881.

E. H. Finch, Anna, 1877 to 1891.

John E. Detrich, Sparta, 1877 to 1883.

James A. Viall, Carine, 1881 to 1887.

James Bottom, Sparta, 1882 to 1893.

William H. Boicourt, Golconda, 1884 to 1893.

Marshall Gulp, Anna, 1891 to 1893.

The following gentlemen have been employed as assistant phy-
sicians:

Dr. Frederick W. Mercer, - - to 1879.

Dr. E. D. Converse, 18— to 1878.

Dr. L. E. Stocking, 1878 to 1890.

Dr. W. W. Hester, 1879 to 1890.

Dr. A. B. Beattie, 1890 to 1893.

Dr. N. J. Benson, 1890 to 1893.

The entire amount appropriated by the General Assembly, from
the beginning, for the use of this Hospital, has been $2,785,022,
namely: $1,730,750 for ordinary expenses or maintenance, and
$1,044,272 for other purposes, chiefly for construction and repairs.

The total number of admissions, to June 30, 1892, the date of
the last published report, as shown by the register, is 3,407. The
actual number is less, on account of transfers and re-admissions, and
can not be stated. Of this number, eight hundred and eighty-
four have been discharged recovered, three hundred and nine much
i mproved, two hundred and twenty-five improved, five hundred and
thirty-four unimproved, and five hundred and eleven have died.
The ratio of recoveries to total discharges has been thirty- six per

cent. ; improved, twenty-two per cent. ; unimproved, twenty-two per
cent. ; deaths, twenty per cent.

The average per capita cost of maintenance, last year, was
$166.63; net cost to the state, $151.65.

The average number of inmates last year was eight hundred and
two. The number present, March 31, 1893, was eight hundred and
seventy-eight.

The general appearance of this Hospital is not so neat, and the
discipline is not so strict, as in the other State hospitals, but the
medical results, in the way of recoveries, have been superior.

ILLINOIS STATE BUILDING-WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

BRIEF HISTORY

ILLINOIS CENTRAL HOSPITAL

INSANE,

LOCATED AT

3?ICKSONVILLE, ILLINOIS,

1847-1893.

Presented by the ILLINOIS BOARD OF WORLD'S
FAIR COMMISSIONERS.

JOHN MORRIS COMPANY, PRINTERS,

118 AND 120 MONROE STREET,

CHICAGO.

HISTORY

OF THE

ILLINOIS STATE HOSPITAL FOE THE INSANE.

The Illinois State (now Central) Hospital for the Insane was estab-
lished through the efforts of the eminent philanthropist, Miss
Dorothy L. Dix. In the year 1846, she spent considerable time in
visiting various parts of the State and examining into the number
and needs of the insane with a view of presenting the matter to the
proper authorities for action. The result of these investigations
was the preparation of a memorial to the State Legislature which
was presented to that body in January, 1847.

The memorial as a whole forms a very able and convincing argu-
ment in favor of the State assuming the care of its insane citizens.
It was based upon ttye observations of Miss Dix and urged and
backed by her personal efforts. The following extracts are from
this interesting document:

" Of the urgent necessity for a hospital in Illinois, many are
sensible who will read these pages; but there are, perhaps, a larger
number to whose minds this claim presents itself under the, view of
no serious and positive obligation. A little inquiry will satisfy all
who doubt, that this is either a great or an increasing evil. Illinois,
according to the years since the country was settled, has a full pro-
portion of insane, idiotic and epileptic patients ; not numerous enough
merely to make it expedient to establish a hospital appropriate for
their care and cure, for their own protection, and the protection of
others, but an uncompromising duty, from the voice of whose warn-
ings and admonitions there is 110 mode of escape or evasion. Here
humanity, receiving impulse from woe, selfish motives, claiming re-
lief from anxiety and perplexity, which never cease their distractions,
and political economy, now more clamorous than ever, combine to
hasten your efficient action upon this most solemn question. A few,
the timid and superficial readers of their fellow-men, but a few, will
plead against appropriations for this work on the unsound reasoning

that their constituents will disapprove the measure; but I believe
that it can not be shown that the people at large ever manifest dis-
pleasure when their representatives appropriate their money to such
objects as these. The citizens of Illinois, as other States, will not
be found backward to make even some sacrifices, should these be re-
quired, when it is made evident that great sufferings exist within
their borders which they have the ability to mitigate, to control, and
to limit.

In the poor-houses and county jails of this State, I have not
found, at the periods of my visits, many insane persons; but I have
seen many in private dwellings, in " cabins," in "pens," and wander-
ing at large; often, very often, bearing the marks of rude assault,
and the effect of exposure to storms and frost. In the poor-house at
Galena the master showed me through a small apartment occupied by
poor patients ill of fever, of consumption, and others confined merely
through accident, broken limbs, etc., passing through the adjacent
apartment, also small, I perceived a man -cage constructed on one
side, with strong perpendicular bars, inclosing a space about six
feet by three. "There, madam," said the keeper with emotion,
"there is the only place I have for keeping the furiously insane, when
they are sent to the poor-house — a place not fit for a dog — a pl.ice
where they become daily worse, and where their cries, vociferations,
and blasphemies, with other offenses, drive all peace and quiet from
the place. The sick have no respite, and the family at large no rest. We
want, madam, a hospital in our State, and the people ought to know it.
It costs as much again and three-fold as much to keep them here as
it would in an asylum, and when we've done our best, they are in a
dreadful condition. We got up a subscription in town, and sent our
last madman, under charge of keepers, home to his friends in Michi-
gan— he was furiously crazy, and I don't know how they can man-
age him."

The gentlemen who represent severally the counties of Menard,
Mason, Fulton, McDonough, Schuyler, Cass, Pike and Morgan,
can, I believe, render you such facts respecting the sufferings
of the insane in their districts, as will not only sustain my im-
portunity, but carry the conviction to the minds of any, if there be
any, who may question the necessities of this class. I can not show
you the numbers, by exact numerical computation, which claim
your provident care. I am convinced that many cases have been
overlooked, but I have seen more than enough to convince me that

no appeals in behalf of these can at this time be too earnest. In
the southern, as in the central and northern counties, most distress-
ing cases, of persons whose limbs had been frozen, both through ex-
posure while wandering in the country during inclement seasons
and from being shut up in small cells or pens, without clothing or
fire to temper the cold in the one, or protect from pitiless storms in
the other.

There is at this time in Morgan county a man who has been
furiously mad, most of the time, for many years. Since he became
insane, he has been supported at large expense by the county. His
sister and brother-in law have chai'ge of him. A country officer
writes to me concerning this poor creature, as follows :

" Fanning is in a most wretched condition, being kept more like
a wild beast than a human being." I have, together with several
citizens of Jacksonville, visited this maniac. Those who are paid by
the county for taking charge, seemed to me to err through incapacity
and entire ignorance how to control him, rather than through wilful
neglect and inhumanity. His sister said to me, "he is a sight of
trouble, and costs a dreadful deal — but we had rather take care of him,
than to leave him to strangers, because we are kinder, and treat him
better than they would." Now for the comfort, the situation, the
treatment of this unoffending man, who, before the accident which
induced insanity, was characterized, as is testified by those who
knew him, for intelligence, industry and correct habits.

It was an intensly hot day last summer, when I visited Fanning.
He was confined in a roofed pen, which enclosed an area of about
eight feet by eight — probably a few inches over. The interstices be-
tween the unhewn logs, freely admitted the scorching rays of the
sun then; as they now afford admission to the frequent rains, the
driving snow and the pinching frost. He was without bed and
without clothing ; his food, of the coarsest kind, was passed through
a space between the logs; "no better," said a neighbor, "than the
hogs are fed.."

Some sort of coarse bed-clothing and garments, at times were
supplied, but usually not. His feet had been frozen, and had
perished; upon the shapeless stumps, he could, aided by some mo-
tion of his shoulders, raise his body partially against the side of the
pen. This wretched place was cleaned " once in a week or fortnight,"
in mild weather ; not so in the wet, cold, wintry seasons. I was told
that when the pen was opened for this purpose, the help of neighbors

was requisite: "We have men called, and they go in and tie
him strongly with ropes, and get him on the ground, and then they
clean the place and him, by throwing over pails of water." Of
course no fire is here introduced in cold winter weather; but a
singular expedient has been adopted, as horrible as it is singular —
Beneath the pen is excavated a pit about six feet deep and six on
either side. This dreary, ghastly place is entered through a trap-
door; neither light, heat, nor ventilation there; but there is to be
found a pining, desolate, suffering maniac, whose piteous groans
and frantic cries would move to pity the hardest heart.

Gentlemen, as you read this terrible narrative, and if you choose
may visit the miserable subject of it, place yourselves for a few
dreadful moments in his situation — realize, if you can, some portion,
it needs will be a small part, of his sufferings; consider that these
are spread over years gone by, and may drag through years to come,
if no hospital unfolds its portals to receive and give relief for such
deep distress. The Saviour, whose disciples we profess to be, left
one simple, infallible rule, as a direction of the acts of man to his
fellow-man, viz. : " As ye would that men should do to you, do ye
even so to them." I have laid before you one case, yet not reveal-
ing half its horrors: it varies but very little from many I could ad-
duce ; the list of which other persons can extend, both here and
abroad.

But one effective remedy for these woes is presented ; it can only
be found in a well-established, skillfully-conducted hospital.

Legislators of Illinois, upon your action on this question rest
the peace and happiness, the usefulness and the lives of thousands
of your fellow-citizens; nay, your own immediate interests herein
are indissolubly intertwined. Who shall say that his mountain
standeth firm, and that he is securely anchored upon the rock?
Who shall say that the familiar friend, the revered parent, the child
of his affections, the beloved wife of his bosom, aye, even he him-
self, may not claim the guarding care now solemnly as urgently so-
licited for others? Timely provide for maladies which can not be
wholly averted, but whose dire distresses may be mitigated and
oftener healed.

Rise not from the grave and often perplexing deliberations,
which claim your legislation, till you have added to acts bearing
merely on the political condition of your State, this work of per-
emptory obligation to humanity. Retire not from these halls, in

which honor, integrity and justice should rule, till you have rendered
this noble service to your fellow-citizens; a service which shall be
commemorated long after you shall have passed from the active
stage of this life ; a service,the holy recollection of which will assist to
smooth your path through the " dark valley" ; and which the Record-
ing Angel shall inscribe in the Book of Life: " For the memory of
righteous acts shall never perish, neither in this world, nor in that
which is to come ? Respectfully submitted,

D. L. Dix.
SPKINGFIELD, ILL., January, 1847.

Hon. William Thomas of Morgan county, immediately introduced
a bill providing for the appointment of nine trustees, who were au-
thorized to select a suitable site, purchase land, erect buildings for
the accommodation of two hundred and fifty patients and organize
the institution under proper officers. This bill became a law March
1, 1847. One of the provisions of this bill provides that the pro-
ceeds of a tax on the taxable property of this State of one-fifth of a
mill on the dollar's worth to be continued for three years to consti-
tute a fund for the construction of the hospital.

On the 20th of March, 1847, seven members of the Board met in
Jacksonville and severally agreed to execute the trust reposed in
them by the General Assembly. The members of this first Board of
Trustees are as follows: William Thomas, Samuel D. Lockwood,
Joseph Morton, Owen M. Long, Nathaniel English, William W.
Happy, James Dunlap, James Gordon, Aquila Becraf t. They pro-
ceeded to organize by electing Samuel D. Lockwood as President
and William Thomas as Secretary.

On the 1st of May, 1847, tLe Board agreed upon the location of
a building, and a committee was appointed to purchase a quarter
section of land, which purchase was concluded in the month of June
following at a cost of $3,631.42. The site selected was one mile
south of the square in the city of Jacksonville, Morgan county.
The members of the Board having received such information in re-
lation to the Insane Hospital in Indiana as to induce the belief that
the plan of that building might be safely adopted, Mr. M. C. Goltra
was employed to proceed to Indianapolis and obtain the plans,
drawings and specifications of that building. On the 10th day of
July Mr. Goltra returned with these plans, which were adopted by
the Board and are described as follows: "The principal building,
one hundred feet in front by forty-eight deep, with a basement of

eight feet and three principal stories of eleven feet each, an attic of
eight feet, a center hall ten feet wide, extending from front to rear
and a transverse hall, ten feet wide extending the whole length of
the main buildings, on the center to rise a plain dome, the front to
be ornamented by a plain portico, rising two and a half stories from
the platform of five feet elevation and supported by four doric col-
umns. Two connecting wings, falling back thirty feet from the
front of the principal building and parallel therewith. Each wing
one hundred feet long in front and one hundred and eighteen in the
rear, seventy-two feet of wing to be forty-two feet wide and twenty-
eight feet to be forty-eight feet wide, with a basement story the
same as in the principal building, with three principal stories and
an attic of eight feet upon the above twenty-eight feet, each story
to be traversed by a hall thirteen feet wide, extending the whole
length of the wings and opening at each end with Venetian windows
to the open air."

On the 13th of November the Board adopted a code of by-laws,
which, being approved by the Governor, took effect on the 19th day
of December. At the same meeting of the Board, John Henry was
appointed Steward and James Jackson was appointed Treasurer. On
the 12th of August 1848, Dr. James M. Higgins, of Griggsville,
HI., was appointed Medical Superintendent, but by a resolution
of the Board he was not to enter upon the duties of his office before
the 1st of the following March, nor until the Board should there-
after direct.

On the 29th of August, Dr. Higgins notified the Board of his
acceptance of the appointment. The foundation of the building was
commenced in the fall of 1847, and calculations were then made that
during the summer and fall of 1848 the wall could be carried up to
the second tier of joists; but this calculation was based on the ex-
pectation that the Board would receive during the year 1848, from
the special tax above referred to, at least $18,000, and the con-
tracts were predicated upon this estimate. The failure to assess the
special tax in several counties caused the difference between the
estimate and ihe amount received, and it was not until all the heavy
contracts had been made that it was ascertained that not exceeding
$14,000 would be realized.

The report of the Treasurer for the years 1847 and 1848 showed
total expenditures of 313,121.54.

Although the work was commenced so promptly, there seemed

to be a lack of vigor in pushing it forward, for the record of the
years 1849 and 1850 show that the building operations were carried
on with considerable deliberation. The treasurer reports, for the
same biennial period, an expenditure of $38,619.65, most of which
was for building.

On the 3d of November, 1851 the first patient, Sophronia Mc-
Elhiney, was admitted to the institution. She came from McLean
county, and remained in the Hospital until December 31, 1867.

On account of strife and differences and disagreements in the
Board, an investigation was ordered by the Legislature of 1852-53,
and resulted in a reorganization of the Board of Trustees. The dif-
ferences in the views of the Board arose from the same source that
has made many an institution trouble, and that was the question of
local patronage. About half the Board were in favor of making all
their purchases from the local dealers, while the other half wanted
to throw their purchases open to the competition of other localities.
Dr. Higgins did not meet with favor at the hands of the new
Board and on the 6th of June, 1853, for various reasons, unneces-
sary now to state, the trustees deemed it their imperative duty to
make a change in the superintendency of the institution. Accord-
ingly, with a single dissenting voice, they adopted resolutions re-
moving the Superintendent from office and imposing his duties,
while the appointment of a successor was pending, upon Dr. H. K.
Jones, the assistant physician. The late Superintendent, however,
declined leaving the institution and did not until the action of the
Board was fully sustained by the action of the Supreme Court. Im-
mediate steps were thereupon taken to procure the services of
another Superintendent, and the Board delegated a committee, con-
sisting of two of its number, together with the Governor of the
State, who visited several of the principal institutions of the Eastern
States for advice and council in the selection of a proper man for
this office. This visit to the East terminated in the selection of Dr.
Andrew McFarland, formerly Superintendent of the New Hamp-
shire Asylum for the Insane and on the 16th of June, 1854, he ar-
rived at the institution and assumed its superiutendeucy. The
Treasurer reports expenditures for the years 1853-54, $100,680.93,
while on the 1st of December, 1854, there were one hundred and
sixty-six patients under treatment in the hospital.

Eef erring to the fifth biennial report, which closes with the 1st
December, 1856, we find the Board of Trustees consists of nine

members as follows: Fleming Stevenson, William Butler, Simeon
Francis, Charles H. Lanphier, Benjamin Pyatt, William L. Craven,
Richard Henry, Pleasant L. Ward, James Ward; Secretary and
Treasurer, Alexander McDonald. Resident officers, Andrew Mc-
Farlaud, Superintendent; Charles C. Cornett, M. D., Assistant
Physician; Eliza M. Rague, Matron. Officiating Chaplin, Rev. J.
M. Sturtevant, D. D.

The number of patients has increased to two hundred and four-
teen and the expenses were $73,730.37.

In 1858, ten years after the commencement of the buildings, an
appropriation was granted to construct an additional wing at either
end of the Hospital, the result of which was to double its capacity.
That part of the institution, known as the rear building, was com-
pleted during this year, thereby affording enlarged domestic apart-
ments and a chapel for religious exercises. Gas for illuminating
purposes was also introduced into the building at this time. The
biennial period closes with two hundred and twenty-nine patients,
which were kept at a cost of $82,271.71. It should be understood
that this matter of cost, wherever mentioned, covers a period of
two years.

The usual caution against undue haste in making these improve-
ments available seemed to prevail and it was not until December
1862, that we noticed any special increase in population and then
the number had only risen to three hundred and two, who were
maintained at a cost of $110,551.82. It was in this year also that
the first steps were taken toward a regular and permanent water
supply for the Hospital. Up to this time cisterns and wells had
furnished all that was to be had of this necessity. In 1862 the first
reservoir was built on the banks of the creek, one-third of a mile
east of the Hospital and a regular pipe line established from it to
the institution.

The six years following show a gradual increase in the popula-
tion of another hundred, bringing the total number of patients in
the Hospital December 1, 1868, up to four hundred and six. At this,
the close of the second decade, we find the following organization:

Trustees: Edward G. Miner, Joseph T. Eccles, Francis A. Hoff-
man, Fernando Jones, Isaac L. Morrison.

Secretary and Treasurer, E. P. Kirby.

Resident Officers: Andrew McFarland, M. D., Superintendent;

H. A. Oilman, M. D., Assistant Physician; Mary Johnston, Matron;
Charles A. Barker, Clerk; Rev. J. O. Roberts, Chaplain.

This was, in some respects, an eventful period in the history of
the institution. It was during this period that the lunacy laws of
the State were changed to substantially their present form, and it
was at the close of this period that Dr. Andrew McFarland tendered
his resignation as Superintendent. His resignation was not ac-
cepted at once, nor indeed for over a year. In the reorganization
of the many matters connected with the insane in Illinois, which
took place about this time, the Board of Trustees was reduced to
three members, as follows: Isaac Scarritt, John Tilson, Jonathan
B. Turner, with E. P. Kirby, Secretary and Treasurer. These gen-
tlemen spent some time in correspondence and in visiting other in-
stitutions, and as a result of their investigations, chose as the new
Superintendent, Dr. Henry F. Carriel, of Trenton, N. J. Dr.
Carriel had spent most of his professional life in this specialty,
and his subsequent career as Superintendent fully justified the
excellence of the judgment which elected him for the position.

About this time also two new institutions for the care of the
insane were established in the State, but of course this additional
accommodation could not be made immediately available.

On July 1, 1870, almost twenty years after the first patient was
received at the institution, Dr. Carriel reached Jacksonville and
assumed control of the Hospital.

He immediately turned his attention to remodeling the system of
ventilation, for which the sum of $7,500 had been appropriated by
the preceeding Legislature. This was successfully accomplished at
a cost of $3,500. The balance of $4,000 was expended in repair-
ing the reservoir, which never was filled with water and never could
be with the pumps in use, as the water would leak out as fast as it
could be pumped in. Accordingly the loose bricks placed on the
embankment were taken up and laid in hydraulic cement, covering
both bottom and sides. The pump-house was doubled in size and
an additional pump secured. In 1871 the Legislature appropriated
$20,000 for a new boiler and wash-house, for procuring new boilers,
for building a new fan duct two hundred and sixty feet long and for
fitting up these buildings with suitable pumps, washing machines,
etc., ready for use. In 1872 an additional reservoir was built near
the Hospital buildings capable of holding two and a quarter million
gallons. A brick building forty-two by twenty-four feet and two

stories high was put up for a paint shop and refrigerator. Thirty-
five thousand feet of cast iron pipe four inches in diameter was laid
to the east reservoir to replace the worthless earthen pipe.

In 1874 the room originally intended for a chapel, but long used
for a carpenter shop, paint shop and engineer's shop, was tastily
finished for a chapel and furnished with a pipe organ. The same
year an ice house thirty by sixty feet was built and a brick carpen-
ter shop thirty-three by seventy feet was built and furnished with
suitable machinery. During this period the entire outside walls
of the main building were painted and a new sewer laid for the
whole institution, requiring 1,741 feet of twelve and fifteen-inch
pipe.

The old wash-house was finished and furnished for a kitchen,
and a thousand feet of food duct, six feet wide and six feet high,
built for convenience in the distribution of food. Also a hydraulic
elevator was provided for raising the food car to the kitchen floor.
A building for a filter thirty by forty- five feet, and a filter bed
thirty by thirty-four feet, was made. All the water for all purposes
passed over this filter, the quality being greatly improved. In 1877
and 1878 two wings were added to the institution, increasing the
accommodation one hundred and fifty patients, bringing the total
up to six hundred. A building for ironing and sewing-rooms was
erected. Twenty-three hundred feet of four-inch cast-iron pipe
were laid around the building as a protection against fire. The front
porch was rebuilt, two main stairways in the main building were
renewed and modernized and several barns and sheds constructed
for convenience in the care of the stock. In 1879 and 1880 a con-
servatory was built, also a building thirty -two by eighty-two feet,
two stories high, was put up between the engine-room and carpenter
shop and a new engine was purchased. An amusement hall was
completed from the old ironing-room and chapel and by building on a
stage thirty by fifty-six feet. This hall was frescoed and supplied
with appropriate scenery.

In 1881 and 1882 a second filter bed was made the same size as
the first one. A second refrigerating building, thirty-six by fifty-
one feet, with a capacity for five hundred tons of ice was put up A
wooden building for drying lumber by steam heat was built and an
extension of twenty-six by thirty-four was made to the cow barn.
Power was carried from the wash-house to the barn, a distance of

four hundred and fifty feet by wire rope, and a stone for grinding, a
sheller and a feed cutter supplied.

In 1882 and 1884 an extension to the center building was made,
which has proved to be of great utility and convenience. A brick
blacksmith shop was added to the engineer's department and a
building thirty by forty-five, two stories high, was added to the car-
penter shop. The office was fitted up with a Howard Electric
Clock and the house wired and watch detector boxes put in.

A separate building for the accommodation of three hundred
patients and their attendants was provided by the Legislature of
1883 and $135,000 was appropriated for this purpose. This
building was put up during the period now under consideration.
After its completion a balance of $20,000 remained, which the suc-
ceeding Legislature re-appropriated for the building of another res-
ervoir, extending water pipes and improving the water supply. This
improvement was carried out the next year and a reservoir holding
7,000,000 gallons of water, completed.

In 1889 the Legislature appropriated $120,000 for a second build-
ing to accommodate three hundred patients and their attendants,
and this to include furnishing and heating. This building was
completed and opened for patients August 21, 1891, and the build-
ings above referred to are located in line about a thousand feet dis-
tant from the main building. Between the two, a chapel and amuse-
ment hall is so placed as to be very accessible to the patients from
these buildings. This hall is a handsoire building, fifty by ninety
feet, with a tower in front. The main auditorium is fifty by sixty-
two feet, having a ceiling thirty-two feet high and provided with a
gallery at one end. It is provided with ample stage room, dressing
rooms and scenery, is handsomely frescoed and furnished with a
pipe organ and has a seating capacity of six hundred people.

The above is a brief sketch of the origin, growth and a few of
the most salient points connected with this splendid charity. It cov-
ers a period of a little more than forty years, and in that time has
increased from the one patient received in 1851 to over 1,200 cared
for now. There have been admitted since the Hospital was opened
10,370 patients. Of these 3,208 have been discharged recovered, and
2,660 improved. These are simple figures, but the benefits to
homes, to communities and to the citizens of the State which
these figures represent are incalculable. The plant embraces two
large, and upward of twenty-five smaller buildings, over three

hundred and fifty acres of land, with gardens, lawns and airing
courts, stock, implements and all appliances to the value of $1,250,-
000. It contains all the appliances of a first-class hospital for the
insane, and is considered a fair sample of the congregrate and cen-
tralized system of caring for the insane, as compared with the so-
called cottage plan, and if the people of the State continue to af-
ford it the generous and intelligent support which they have hith-
erto manifested, prosperity and success .will always attend its min-
istrations. The last biennial report gives the following roster of
officers :

Board of Trustees: President, David E. Beaty, Jersey ville, 111.;
Edward P. Kirby, Jacksonville, 111. ; William R. Newton, York-
ville, 111.

Treasurer, Thomas B. Orear, Jacksonville, 111.

Secretary, George E. Myers, Jacksonville, 111.

Resident Officers: Medical Superintendent, Henry F. Carriel,
M D. ; Assistant Physicians, Lewis A. Frost, M. D. ; Frederic C.
Winslow, M. D. ; Frank P. Norbury, M. D. ; Frederick O. Jackman,
M. D.

Apothecary, Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard.

Business Assistant, George E. Myers.

Clerk, Edward L. Fry.

Matron, Mattie L. McCaw.

Since the publication of this report the above named trustees
have either resigned or been removed and a new Board appointed
consisting of the following:

Owen P. Thompson, Jacksonville, 111. ; Joseph W. Page, Jer-
seyville, 111. ; Delos Phelps, Monmouth, 111.

ILLINOIS STATE BUILDING— WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

BRIEF HISTORY

ILLINOIS EASTERN HOSPITAL

INSANE,

LOCATED AT

KANKAKEE, ILL.

1877-1893.

Presented by the ILLINOIS BOARD OF WORLD'S
FAIR COMMISSIONERS.

JOHN MORRIS COMPANY, PRINTERS,

118 and 120 Monroe Street,

CHICAGO.

EASTERN HOSPITAL FOR INSANE.

The act making the first appropriation for the Illinois Eastern
Hospital for the Insane was approved by Gov. Shelby M. Cullom,
May 25, 1877.

Seven commissioners were appointed to select a suitable site "in
that portion of the State east of the third principal meridian and
included between parallels of latitude thirty-nine and forty-one and
one-half." None of them were from within the territory thus
described. From all of the tracts offered they chose, August 2,
1877, the " Cowgill farm," on the Kaukakee river, adjoining the
town on the south, and lying east of the Illinois Central road.
This farm contained two hundred and fifty-one acres, and the price
paid was $14,000, or about $56 per acre. Trustees were then ap-
pointed, who employed Maj. James R. Willett, of Chicago, as archi-
tect and superintendent of construction. With the advice and
assistance of Mr. Wines, the Secretary of the Board of Charities,
Major Willett prepared plans which were accepted and adopted in
January, 1878. It was uncertain whether the detached ward sys-
tem would meet with favor from the trustees and the Legislature.
For this reason the center and rear buildings, with the wings, were
drawn after the old style ; but the grounds were laid out with refer-

ence to the creation of a village for the insane, and Mr. Wines' con-
ception has been since carried out.

The act authorized the commissioners of the penitentiary at
Joliet to bid for this work. The bids were opened at Kankakee
March 19, 1878, and the penitentiary commissioners presented the
lowest bid, which was accepted. They sub-let the entire contract,
except the cut-stone work, which they desired to secure for the
convicts.

In August, 1878, the International Prison Congress convened at
Stockholm, in Sweden. The Governor of Illinois was authorized,
by a joint resolution of the General Assembly, to appoint a special
commissioner from this State to attend it. Governor Cullom ap-
pointed Mr. Wines. One of the ends sought in this appointment
was to enable him to make such studies of European hospitals and
asylums for the insane as would be of service in planning the new
hospital at Kankakee.

A controversy over the " propositions " of the Association of
Medical Superintendents of Institutions for the Insane in the United
States and Canada, which were adopted in 1851, had been in prog-
ress for many years. It was apparent to many of the friends of
the insane that those propositions, admirably adapted as they were
to the small, curative hospitals to which they were meant to apply,
had proven a cast-iron fetter upon any real advance in hospital con-
struction, and that the country had outgrown them. But they were
regarded with a reverence which almost savored of superstition,
aud dissent from them in any particular was regarded in the
specialty as heresy. It required no small amount of courage to
brave the hostility of the entire profession, and to risk reputation
in the effort to demonstrate the feasibility of an experiment the fail-
ure of which was loudly proclaimed in advance, especially because
there was no actual precedent to serve as a guide in the new depart-

ure. But Mr. Wines' observations at Gheel in Belgium, at Cler-
mont in France, at Cheadle in England, and at Cupar-Fife and
Lenzie in Scotland, gave him the courage demanded, and the Gen-
eral Assembly in 1879 made an experimental appropriation of
$30,000 for the construction and completion of detached wards to
accommodate not less than eighty patients. Thirty-eight thousand
dollars for detached wards was appropriated in 1881, and $400,-
000 more in 1883, as the Legislature saw the utility of the new
method and acquired confidence in it.

This undertaking marks an epoch in the history of the care and
treatment of the insane throughout the world. Its success shat-
tered the too exclusive adhesion to Dr. Kirkbride's "propositions,"
and opened the way for other experiments in architectural construc-
tion in many of the States, in nearly all of which the Kankakee
model has been more or less closely followed. It has had also a
great indirect influence in the way of diminishing mechanical re-
straint, promoting the freedom of patients, and increasing the
amount of useful occupation in hospitals constructed on the Kirk-
bride plan, much of which is due to the patience, intelligence,
humanity and consecration of Dr. Richard S. Dewey, the excellent
Medical Superintendent of the Kankakee Hospital.

The plan adopted embraces, as its central feature, the " hospital
proper," that is, a small center building for the accommodation of a
limited number of officers, and one wing for patients of each sex;
each wing built in two sections, containing one ward on each floor
of each section, or twelve wards in all — six for men and six for
women. These wards are large, airy and light, with single dormi-
tories and pleasant alcoves, used as day -rooms, dining-room, bath-
room, etc. The windows are barred, and the doors have spring-
locks, with bolts on the doors of all the sleeping apartments. This
entire building is fireproof, having brick arches turned over all the

rooms as well as over the corridors. It is heated by indirect radia-
tion from steam-coils in the basement. The rear buildings consti-
tute the axis, or center-line, of the entire establishment, and mark
the separation of the sexes throughout. The further extension of
the wings connected with the center building is blocked by roads.
Two broad avenues, parallel with a line at right angles to the line
of the wings, present the appearance of village streets, bordered
with side-walks, and shaded by elms and maples. On each side of each
of these two streets, the laud is laid off in lots for building purposes.
Along the side of the road are laid the sewer pipes, also the gas
and water mains, connected by branches with the detached wards.
The streets are lighted, and fire-plugs have been provided in case
of a conflagration. The general appearance of the detached wards
is similar to that of an English insane asylum upon the "block"
plan, except that the wards are wholly detached, and not connected
by corridors, as in England. They face each other, on opposite
sides of the street, and resemble, to some extent, ordinary dwellings,
with home-like surroundings, such as covered porticoes in front,
shrubbery and flowers, the design being to get rid, to the utmost
possible extent, of the air of an institution or any resemblance to
ordinary asylum grounds. To a certain extent, they resemble the
French asylum wards— in this, that they are all two stories in
height, and are so planned as to provide, in some form, day-rooms
upon the lower floor and dormitories above. But the proportion of
single dormitories is smaller than that usually found in American
hospitals for the insane. A third street, running north and south,
connects the two just described, at their western extremity. The
number of detached wards now built is about twenty, with a capac-
ity for seventeen hundred patients; in addition to which there are
many other detached buildings, such as the Superintendent's
residence, an amusement hall, bath-houses, general storehouse,

quarters for employes, a general dining-room, patients' workshops,
etc.

Dr. Dewey, the very accomplished and devoted Superintendent,
under whose guidance and inspiration the entire plan has been
brought in detail, since the date of his appointment, when but little
had yet been done, thus admirably states the special aims of this
establishment:

This Hospital, while seeking the good results usually accomplished by such
institutions, is especially committed to a course of careful experimentation and
effort in the direction of determining —

First: How moderate the expense of erecting suitable buildings for the insane
can be made.

Second: Whether occupation which will be beneficial in every sense can not
be secured for a majority of the inmates.

Third: To what extent the rigor of confinement and restraint can be removed,
and a natural and somewhat domestic mode of life be introduced among our
patients.

The trustees met and organized, August 8, 1877. Major \Vil-
lett was elected architect, September 13. All of the buildings have
been planned by him, and the Kankakee hospital may be regarded,
in years to come, as in a sense his monument. The plans were
approved by the Governor and by the State Commissioners of Pub-
lic Charities, January 29, 1878. The bids for construction were
opened March 19, and the work began soon after.

Dr. Kichard Dewey was elected Superintendent at a meeting held
June 13, 1879, and not until after the first appropriation of $30,000
had been made for detached wards.

Mr. W. L. Cleveland, of Chicago, was employed to lay out the
grounds.

All the contracts for building, since the first, have been awarded,
after due competition, to Mr. James Lillie.

The Hospital was occupied by the officers and employes, Novem-
ber 25, 1879, and the first patients were admitted, December 4.

In March, 1884, a purchase of one hundred and sixty additional
acres of land was made, for $10,000. The Legislature, in 1885,
granted $3,600 with which to buy a tract of seventeen acres for a
railroad switch connecting the grounds with the Illinois Central
road, and $15,000 for more farm land; the trustees bought three
hundred and twenty-eight acres adjoining the hospital farm on the
south. The Hospital now owns eight hundred acres, but needs still
more in consequence of the great number of patients cared for.

On the 18th of January, 1885, at 4 o'clock in the morning, a
fire broke out in the south infirmary, heated by furnaces, in which
seventeen patients lost their lives by suffocation. This unfortunate
accident led to the perfecting of what is perhaps the most complete
system of fire protection now to be found in any institution in the
United States, in the development of which one of the assistant
physicians, Dr. Prince, formerly connected with the Chicago Fire
Insurance Patrol, rendered most valuable assistance.

In this Hospital a lady physician was first honored with a place
on the medical staff, when Dr. Delia Howe was appointed, in Feb-
ruary, 1885, and given charge of the infirmary for women.

A uniform dress for attendants was prescribed, in May, 1886.
In November following, a training-school for attendants was
organized, which has ever since been in successful operation. Cer-
tificates are given to graduates.

Workshops for the patients were opened in 1887, and have since
been enlarged. About one hundred male patients and eighty female
patients are now employed in them. During the past two years,
Dr. Dewey reports seventy-three per cent, of the entire number of
patients usefully employed in some capacity. In their report for
1890, the trustees say: "A great variety of useful trades are in
successful operation, which tend to increase the self-sustaining

power of the Hospital. All the brooms, baskets, rugs, mats, har-
ness, tinware, mattresses, socks and rag carpets, that are used in
the institution are produced here from the raw material; and the
raw material itself, of the brooms, baskets and mats is also grown
on its farm. Almost the entire supply of underclothing for the men
and women, outer clothing for the women, and a good share of the
men's jean suits, are made in the institution. A scroll-saw, a
turning-lathe, a blacksmith's forge, and a small printing-press are
kept in constant operation by the patients. All repairing of boots
and shoes is done by them; also the repairing and regulating of
clocks. Three or four shoemakers, two tinners, one harness-maker,
one clock-tinker, one or two type-setters, one copperplate engraver,
two or three tailors, and one upholsterer and mattress-maker, are
constantly at work. Rag-carpet making employs six or eight pa-
tients, and preparing raw material in various ways as many more."

Great progress has also been made in the removal of unneces-
sary restrictions upon the freedom of the insane, by the non-use of
mechanical restraints, the institution of open wards, and the paroling
of patients.

In 1892 the Hospital received a very valuable gift of about
eighty oil paintings, presented by the artist, G. P. A. Healy — all
his own work. For this gift the institution is very largely indebted
to the personal friendship of Mr. Healy for the President of the
Board of Trustees, Mr. Ezra B. McCagg.

A complete account of this very interesting and well-managed
institution, in all its details, would take more space than can here
be given it. It is a model and an inspiration. Since it was opened,
in 1879, others have been erected on the same general plan, in the
United States and Canada, as follows:

1885. Jamestown,. North Dakota.

1888. Toledo, Ohio.

1888. Logansport, Indiana.

1889. Central Islip, New York.

1890. Richmond, Indiana.
1890. Ogdensburg, New York.
1890. Mimico, near Toronto. Ontario.

The entire amount appropriated by the General Assembly, from the
beginning for the use of this Hospital, has been $4,066,119, namely:
$2,410,250 for ordinary expenses or maintenance, and $1,655,869 for
other purposes, chiefly on account of construction and repairs. In
view of the predictions freely made that the institution on the de-
tached ward system would be more expensive, both for construction
and maintenance, than one on the Kirkbride or corridor plan, it will
be of interest and value to submit the following comparative state-
ment: The Hospital at Elgin with a capacity of one thousand beds has
cost the State of Illinois, in special appropriations of all sorts $1,091,-
746, or $1,091.75 per bed. The Hospital at Anna, with a capacity
of nine hundred and fifty beds has cost $1,054,272, or $1,109.76
per bed. The Hospital at Kankakee, with a capacity of two thou-
sand beds, has cost $827.93 per bed. In respect to maintenance;
the per capita cost at Elgin, from the opening of the Hospital to
date, has been $197.71 or $116.84, net; at Anna $181.38, or $163.27,
net; at Kankakee, $169, or $155.64, net. The utility of a State
Board of Public Charities in Illinois is demonstrated by the saving
to the Public Treasury effected in this single item of construction
of one institution, which amounts, as compared with the Elgin stand-
ard, to $527,640, or with the Anna standard, to $563,660 in either
case more than four times the total cost of the State Board for
twenty-four years' continuous service.

Much of the credit of the successful financial record of thisHos-

pital belongs to Mr. John C. Burt, the business manager, and should
be accorded to him.

The trustees have been as follows:

John H. Clough, Chicago, 1878 to 1882.

William F. Murphy, 1879 to 1881.

AVilliam Keddick Ottawa,* 1879 to 1885.

John L. Donovan, Watseka, 1881 to 1893.

Ezra B. McCagg, Chicago, 1882, to 1893.

Lemuel Milk, Kaukakee, 1885 to 1889.

Walter W. Todd, Kankakee, 1889 to 1893.

The following gentlemen and ladies have been employed as as-
sistant physicians:

Dr. Harold N. Mayer, 1880 to 1882.

Dr. Henry M. Bannister, 1880 to 1892.

Dr.Elmore S. Pettyjohn, 1882 to 1885.

Dr. Cassius D. Westcott, 1884 to 1886.

Dr. Delia Howe, 1885 to 1888.

Dr. L. H. Prince, 1835 to 1887.

Dr. A. L. Warner, 1886 to 1893.

Dr. Ludwig Hektoen, 1887,

Dr. M. M. Crocker, 1887 to 1889.

Dr. Edward Howard 1887 to 1889.

Dr. Anne C. Burnet, 1888 to 1893.

Dr. L. E. Head, 1883.

Dr. B. L. Riese, 1888 to 1890.

Dr. J. P. Houston, 1889.

Dr. L. L. Skeltou, 1889 to 1891.

Dr. J. Chambers Dodds, 1889 to 1891.

*Died March 8, 1885.

Dr. Samuel Dodds, 1890 to 1893.

Dr. Charles H. Bradley, 1891 to 1893.

Dr. George Boody, 1891 to 1893.

Dr. T. R. Foster, 1892 to 1893.

Dr. Dewey, for fourteen years the able head of this Hospital, has
recently been removed for purely political reasons, and has been
succeeded by Dr. S. V. Clevenger of Chicago.

ILLINOIS STATE BUILDING— WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

BRIEF HISTORY

ILLINOIS NORTHERN

INSANE,

LOCATED AT

ELGIN, ILLINOIS

1869-189$.

Presented by the ILLINOIS BOARD OF WORLD'S
FAIR COMMISSIONERS.

JOHN MORRIS COMPANY, PRINTERS,

118 and 120 Monroe Street,

CHICAGO.

NORTHERN HOSPITAL FOR INSANE.

The act to establish the " Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum
for the Insane " was approved by Gov. John M. Palmer, April 16,
1869. It provided for the appointment of nine commissioners
charged with the duty of selecting a location. The site chosen was
on the Fox river, at Elgin. The citizens of Elgin gave to the new
institution the Chisholm farm, containing one hundred and fifty-
five acres, free freight over the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad
for all material to be used in the construction of the asylum, and
the use of a spring of water situated about three-fourths of a mile
west, at an elevation of fifty-four feet above the site of the building.

The Governor then appointed three trustees to erect the neces-
sary buildings and organize the Hospital. They purchased three
hundred and twenty-three acres of land adjoining the Chisholm
farm for which they paid $100 per acre. Plans were accepted which
had been offered, in competition with other architects, by Mr. S. V.
Shipman, of Chicago. The contract for the north wing was let for
$124,000 to the Messrs. W. F. Bushnell & Co., of Mendota. The
work of construction was somewhat hindered by the great fire in
Chicago, October 9, 1871.

In September, 1871, Dr. Edwin A. Kilbourne, of Aurora, was
elected Superintendent, and he retained his position for more than
eighteen years, until removed by death, February 27, 1890. To
his energy, efficiency, and good taste the beauty and excellence of
this Hospital are very largely due.

The first patient was admitted April 3, 1872. The Hospital,
however, was not really opened until April, owing to the failure of
the McElroy spring, on which dependence had been placed for the
water supply. Water had to be hauled from the river and used

with economy, until pipe could be laid and a supply obtained, by
pumping, from that source.

In the act creating this institution permission was given to the
trustees to adopt the "Cottage System," but in their third biennial
report they declare themselves opposed to it, for reasons which are
stated at some length.

On the 18th of June, 1873, a contract for the erection of the
center building and south wing was made with Messrs. Fisk,
Stephens, Sorensen & Co., of Madison, Wis., for $206,000. The
center building was completed in April, 1874, and the south wing
in the month of July following. A separate contract was made for
heating and plumbing with Messrs. John Davis <fe Co., of Chicago,
for $25,500. The heating apparatus proved unsatisfactory, and very
large sums have since been expended in its reconstruction.

Patients were at first received from all parts of the State, but in
1875 the General Assembly, at the suggestion of the State Commis-
sioners of Public Charities, adopted the district system, and assigned
to each county its proportionate quota of beds in the Hos-pital for
the district in which it was included, on the basis of one bed for
each twenty-five hundred inhabitants. The growth of the State
hospitals for the insane has necessitated various changes in the
boundaries of these districts. By an act of 1877 the quotas of the
counties were increased to one bed for each two thousand inhabitants.
These ratios were calculated on the basis of the census of 1870.
In 1881 the ratio was made one to two thousand on the basis of the
census of 1880. In 1889, power to re-arrange the boundaries of the
districts, from time to time, was conferred upon the State Commis-
sioners of Publib Charities, who issued an order, April 17, 1891,
fixing the quotas at one bed for each eight hundred and thirty-four
inhabitants, according to the census of 1890; and again April 20,
1893, at one bed for each seven hundred and thirty-five inhabitants.
This remark, which applies to all of our State hospitals, illustrates
the energy with which the Legislative has sought to make provis-
ions for the care of all the insane of the State.

In 1876 the work of ornamenting the grounds was commenced,
in accordance with a plan submitted by Mr. John Blair.

In 1878 the Hospital at Elgin came into possession of the "Burr
bequest." Mr. Jonathan Burr, a citizen of Chicago, died in 1869,
and bequeathed certain real estate in that city to a trustee, to hold,
manage, and improve the same, and to invest and hold the annual
income " until such time as an insane asylum shall be organized,
located and established in the northern part of the State of Illinois,
under, and by virtue of, some state or municipal authority, or some
charter, which shall give to the institution a character of permanence
and stability" ; and to convey the premises, with the accumulated
income, "to the authority or corporation managing and controlling
said asylum, but in trust, however, to hold, manage, improve and
invest the same, and the net annual income thereof to use and expend
in and toward keeping and maintaining such asylum in a condi-
tion to relieve those who are so unfortunate as to need its treatment
and care." In 1869 and 1870, Cook county erected an insane
asylum (in connection with her county almshouse, and upon the same
ground), and in June, 1873, commenced suit in the Circuit Court of
Cook county, to obtain possession of this bequest. In May, 1878,
Judge Farwell rendered a decree in favor of the county; but in June,
1878, the Supreme Court of this State reversed the decree, and the
property came into possession of the Hospital at Elgin. The esti-
mated value was thirty or thirty -five thousand dollars.

When the State purchased the site for the hospital buildings,
there were three farm houses, two frame and one brick, on the
grounds. As only one was required for the employes, the other
two were fitted up for the use of patients and occupied in April,
1878.

The road in front of the Hospital was changed in 1880, and two
lodges erected at the north and south entrances to the grounds.

An artesian well was bored to the depth of two thousand and
sixty-three feet in 1882.

In 1884 an ornamental iron fence was erected in front of the
Hospital park, and an excavation made for an artificial lake.

The Edison electric light was introduced in the winter of 1884.

In 1889, the General Assembly appropriated $120,000 for the
erection of additional buildings at Elgin, to accommodate three hun-
dred patients. The trustees adopted plans submitted by Mr. I. C.
Coleman, of Jacksonville, and contracted the work for $97,500.

The death of Dr. Kilbourne created a vacancy in the office of
Superintendent, which was filled by the appointment of Dr. Henry
J. Brooks, of Dixon, formerly an assistant physician in the Hospital.
'Dr. Brooks is still in charge of the institution.

The trustees have been as follows :

Charles N. Holden, Chicago, 1869 to 1875.

Henry Sherman, Elgin, 1869 to 1875.

C. W. Marsh, Sycamore, 1869 to 1893.

Edwin H. Sheldon, Chicago, 1875 to .

George P. Lord, Elgin, 1875 to 1881.

Frederick Stahl, Galena, 1877 to 1883.

T. C. Bosworth, Elgin, 1877 to 1885.

S. P. Sedgwick, M. D., Wheaton, 1883 to 1890.

David F. Barclay, Elgin, 1885 to 1893.

Luther L. Hiatt, Wheaton, 1890 to 1893.

The following gentlemen have been employed as assistant phy-
sicians:

Dr. Eichard Dewey, 1872 to 1879.

Dr. Henry J. Brooks, 1875 to 1877.

Dr. John Joseph Crane, 1878 to 1882.

Dr. O. C. Oliver,* 1879 to 1880.

Dr. William G. Stone, 1880 to 1893.

Dr. Allen Fitch, 1882 to 1883.

Dr. James Mills, 1883 to 1885.

Dr. Archibald Church, 1884 to 1887.

Dr. W. Cuthbertson, 1887 to 1889.

Dr. Alben Young, 1889 to 1893.

Dr. William T. Patterson, 1890 to 1891.

Dr. W. S. Haven, 1891 to 1893.

* Died December 24, 1880.

It would be tedious and unprofitable to give here a detailed his-
tory of the changes, additions and improvements during the past
twenty-four years. The entire amount appropriated by the General
Assembly, from the beginning, for the use of this Hospital, has
been $3,091,746.41, namely: $2,000,000 for maintenance or ordinary
expenses, and $1,091,746.41 for other purposes, nearly all on
account of construction and repairs.

The total number of admissions to the Hospital, to June 30,
1892, the date of the last biennial report, as shown by the register,
is four thousand one hundred and twenty-four. The actual number
is less, on account of transfers between the hospitals, and re-admis-
sions of former patients, and can not be stated. Of this number,
seven hundred and sixty-six have been discharged recovered, and
nine hundred and forty-seven much improved. The ratio of recov-
eries to total discharges (not including twenty-one not insane),
has been twenty-five per cent. ; improved, thirty-one per cent. ; un-
improved, twenty-seven per cent. ; deaths, seventeen per cent.

The average per capita cost of maintenance last year was $158.79;
net cost to the State, $148.62.

The average number of inmates last year was nine hundred and
five. The number present March 31, 1893, was one thousand and
eighty-two.

The management of the Hospital has been free from scandal or
reproach of any sort, and the work done by it has given satisfaction
to the authorities and to the people of the State. In many respects
it is a splendid institution, with few equals in the United States or
elsewhere.

ILLINOIS STATE BUILDING— WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

BRIER HISTORY

ILLINOIS

Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary,

LOCATED AT

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

18S8-1893.

Presented by the ILLINOIS BOARD OF WORLD'S
FAIR COMMISSIONERS.

JOHN MORRIS COMPANY, PRINTERS,

118 AND 120 MONROE STREET,
CHICAGO.

H ISTORY

OF THE

ILLINOIS CHAKITABLE EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY.

The association for founding and maintaining the Chicago Char-
itable Eye and Ear Infirmary was organized in May, 1858. At that
time Chicago, although a city of about eighty thousand inhab-
itants, had no public hospital. The "Mercy Hospital," under the
care of the " Sisters of Mercy," then so small, now possessing a
magnificent structure, was perhaps the only one in the country, ex-
cept the United States Marine Hospital for seafaring men. It was
far inadequate, however, to the wants of the sick poor, even at that
time.

There was scarcely a physician in the city, who had taken suffi-
cient interest in ophthalmology to examine the brilliant discoveries
in this department of medicine, which had been made during the
previous few years.

Ophthalmology was almost entirely ignored in the only medical
college in Chicago. There was, therefore, an unoccupied field for
some one who would labor t'o found an eye infirmary for the gratu-
itous treatment of the poor, afflicted with disease of the eye, and
also to offer opportunities to students of medicine for the clinical
study of diseases of the eye and their treatment.

In May, 1858, the Chicago Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary
was organized. The first Board of Trustees was Walter L. New-
berry, William H. Brown, Charles V. Dyer, Luther Haven, William
Barry, Flavel Moseley, Samuel Stone, Philo Carpenter, Rev. N. L.
Rice, John H. Kinzie, Mark Skinner and Ezra B. McCagg, the last
one of whom only is now living. The Board of Surgeons were
Edward L. Holmes, professor; Daniel Brainard, professor; Joseph
Freer and William H. Baltzll, of whom Dr. Holmes only is now
living.

At subsequent meetings the vacancies in the Board of Trustees
were filled by the appointment of Daniel Goodwin, Edwin C.
Lamed, E. W. Blatchford, Henry W. King, Col. Charles G. Ham-
mond, Dr. John Evans, Cyrus Bentley, Wesley Hunger, Thomas B.
Bryan, Edward G. Mason, James L. Stark, H. Z. Culver and Ben-
jamin W. Raymond. Prof. Edwin Powell and H. A. Johnson were
added to the surgeons.

The general financial depression of the country and the excite-
ment during the earlier period of the late war, rendered it very diffi-
cult to obtain funds for the purchase of real estate and the erection
of a suitable building. Consequently, a single room, at the north-
east corner of Michigan and North Clark streets was opened for the
treatment of the poor. During the first year nearly one hundred
and fifteen patients were under treatment. At the end of nearly
four years the dispensary was removed to a room, No. 28 North
Clark street, where it remained until July, 186 4-. Walter L. New-
berry, President of the association, donated, for a term of ten years,
the lease of a lot of land upon which was placed a large two-story
wooden building, purchased for $2,000, and removed from a neigh-
boring block.

The first patient requiring board in the institution applied be-
fore a single room had been cleaned and furnished. For two nights
he slept on a blanket on the floor. The rooms were furnished as
the gradually increasing number of patients required.

In a few months the number of patients, especially of soldiers
with diseases of the eye, supported at the Infirmary by the North-
western Sanitary Commission, and by the Governors of Illinois, Wis-
consin and Minnesota, rendered greater accommodations absolutely
necessary. The building was therefore raised, a brick basement
constructed under it, and the attic divided and finished into three
large sleeping rooms. In the fall of 1869 additional accommodations
became necessary, and were obtained by the construction of a large
building on the rear of the lot. The funds required for the pur-
chase of the building, and for the various improvements above men-
tioned, were advanced by members of the Board of Trustees and
Surgeons, till subscriptions could be raised to repay the amount.
This sum at one period was $6,000.

It would be difficult to estimate the good which was accomplished
in training students in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of
the eye. Numbers of such students have located in various portions

of the State, and acquired reputation in the communities where they
practice for skill in the treatment of diseases of the eye.

In 1865 the Legislature granted the infirmary a special charter,
and in 1867 appropriated the sum of $5,000 a year, for two years,
for the support of such poor patients in the State as desired treat-
ment at the Infirmary. This appropriation was renewed in 1869.
Poor patients from other States could receive gratuitous treatment
on paying the cost of their board.

By the new constitution of 1870 appropriations in aid of insti-
tutions not owned and controlled by the State were made illegal.
The Legislature, therefore, in 1871, unwilling to relinquish its fos-
tering care of the Infirmary, received it into the circle of State insti-
tutions, by a a special act. The Governor was authorized to re-
ceive, in accordance with a form of conveyance approved by him,
all the property, records and accounts of the Chicago Charitable
Eye and Ear Infirmary. The Board of Trustees were required, in
case of their acceptance of the act, to enter on their records a min-
ute to that effect, transferring all the property of the Infirmary to
the State of Illinois, a certified copy of which minute, approved of
by the Governor and filed with the auditor of public accounts, is de-
clared to be and constitute a transfer of the said property. There-
upon the name of the institution was changed by the substitution
of the word " Illinois " for " Chicago."

It is further provided, that whenever the General Assembly shall
cease to make an appropriation of $5,000 per annum for the sup-
port and use of the institution, the property conveyed to the State
shall revert to the Trustees of the Chicago Charitable Eye and Ear
Infirmary or their successors. The endowment fund of the institu-
tion, under this act could be used for the purchase of a site for a
building.

On October 9, 1871, occurred the great fire of Chicago, which
swept away the old Infirmary on Pearson street. There were twelve
inmates totally blind in the house at the time. Fortunately no
injury was sustained by any of them; and the Assembly, at its ad-
journed session, in 1872, appropriated funds for the rent of a suit-
able building for two years, and also for the purchase of new
furniture, which was all that the trustees requested.

In the year 1873 the Legislature, after continuing the appropri-
ation for rent for another year, made a further appropriation of
$28.000 in aid of the erection of a permanent structure for the use

of the Infirmary, and an additional appropriation for furniture. The
Institution then had a fund of $33,000 of its own, derived from the
insurance on the old building, and from gifts, the chief of which
was a donation of $20,000 from the Chicago Relief and Aid Society,
and $5,000 from the United States Sanitary Commission.

An eligible site, at the corner of Peoria and Adams streets, had
been purchased, in 1872, for $18,000. The estimated cost of the
new building was $48,500; it was actually erected for $2,843.59,
and was completed and occupied in the summer of 1874. It is of
brick, with stone trimmings, four stories in height, besides the base-
ment, and is one hundred and five feet in length by forty-seven
in width, well heated, well ventilated, well planned and well built
in every respect. It will comfortably accommodate one hundred
patients. A brick barn was added in 1875.

The good accomplished by this Infirmary is incalculable. From
its establishment until June 30, 1892, 60,032 patients have been
gratuitously treated by its physicians (who serve without charge),
in the house and in the Dispensary, of whom 47,212 were eye pa-
tients and 12,820 were ear patients. Objections have been repeat-
edly made to the continuance of State appropriations for its support,
on the ground that all other diseased persons are equally entitled to
public relief; but the answer which has always overcome this
objection, is that the eye and ear require surgical treatment, which
general practitioners, especially in the country, can not ordinarily
give, and that the salvation of the eye of a poor person, through
skillful treatment, by saving him from blindness, saves him at the
same time from pauperism, thus relieving the community of a pros-
pective and permanent burden.

When the State of Illinois absorbed the Eye and Ear Charitable
Infirmary, in 1871, Governor Palmer appointed five trustees: E. W.
Blatchford, Daniel Goodwin, Henry W. King, Benjamin W. Ray-
mond and Joseph T. Ryerson.

The statute of 1875 provided that it should thereafter have but
three trustees, no two of whom should live in the same county.
Whereupon the Governor appointed Daniel Goodwin as the trustee
from Cook county, Julius C. Williams from Joliet, and S. P. Sedg-
wick from Wheatou.

Mr. Goodwin was elected President of the Board, and has been
reappointed by every Governor since 1871, including Governors
Palmer, Beveridge, Cullom, Hamilton and Fifer, and was uuaui-

mously confirmed by every Senate. The other trustees in turn have
been: Dr. William H. Fitch, of Kockford, who was appointed in 1876
and has served for seventeen years ; Hon. Perry A. Armstrong, who
was appointed from Grundy county and served eight years ; Dr. E.
S. Fowler, of Springfield, appointed in 1885 by Governor Oglesby,
and served for six years; and Dr. Arthur E. Prince, of Springfield,
who was appointed in 1891 to succeed Dr. Fowler.

The Superintendents have been: George W. Davenport, Edgar
C. Lawton and Edward M. Barnard. The acting surgeons and
assistant surgeons have been: Edward L. Holmes, Edwin Powell,

F. C. Hotz, S. J. Jones, Lyman Ware, F. J. Huse, W. T. Mont-
gomery, S. O. Eichey, Koswell Park, E. J. Gardner, F. C. Chaffer,
Robert Tilley, Arnold P. Gilmore, H. M. Starkey, S. S. Bishop,
W. T. Belfield, I. N. Danforth, W. S. Haines, B. Bettman, J. E. Col-
burn, J. E. Harper, J. E. Kenley, I. E. Marshall, G. F. Hawley, E. C.
Abbott, G. F. Fiske, C. F. Sinclair, C. E. Walker, G. W. Webster,
Ernest Epler, Charles H. Beard, G. E. Brinckerhoff, J. J. Anderson,
Charles E. Davey, C. D. Westcott, W. L. Noble, W. A. Fisher, Mary

G. Hollister, William H. Wilder, George E. King, G. M. Hammon,
H. A. Eobinson, G. L. Morganthau, Charles Davison, C. D. Collins,
Charles A. Enslee, Henry W. Woodruff and H. H. Brown.

The present Board of Trustees of the old Chicago Institution
are: E. W. and N. H. Blatchford, H. Z. Culver, Daniel Goodwin,
William H. Hubbard, Henry A. Huntington, Henry W. King, Ezra
B. McCagg, E. G. Mason, James W. Porter and Arthur Eyerson.

To Dr. E. L. Holmes, of all others, is the country indebted for
this most useful institution, and next in order of service and sacri-
fice are Daniel Goodwin and Ezra B. McCagg, all three of whom
have given, not only an immense amount of time and labor, but
thousands of dollars of their own money to build it up and maintain
it for the good of human kind.

ILLINOIS STATE BUILDING— WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

BRIER HISTORY

ILLINOIS

SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' HOME,

LOCATED AT

QUINCY, ILL.

1885-1893.

Presented by the ILLINOIS BOARD OF WORLD'S
FAIR COMMISSIONERS.

JOHN MORRIS COMPANY, PRINTERS,

118 AND 120 MONROE STREET,

CHICAGO.

HISTORY

OF THE

ILLINOIS SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' HOME, QUINCY.

The Home was established in law by act of the Legislature June
26, 1885. The Location Commissioners, after quite a protracted
contest between a number of cities seeking the location, decided,
December 2, 1885, upon a tract of land containing one hundred and
forty acres adjoining the city of Quincy.

Additional land to the extent of eighty-two acres has been ac-
quired since.

The first Board of Trustees, appointed by Gov. Oglesby Decem-
ber 11, 1885, were Daniel Dustin, of Sycamore, L. T. Dickason, of
Danville, and J. G. Rowland, of Quincy. This Board met and or-
ganized December 15, 1885, choosing Gen. Dustin for President.

Contracts for the various buildings, under the first appropriation
were let in May, 1886, the cottage, or detached buildings, plan, hav-
ing been adopted, and the Home was opened for reception of inmates
in March, 1887.

From time to time further appropriations were made and other
buildings were put up, until at this date there are on the grounds
forty-three buildings, namely:

One main building, containing offices, library, etc. ; one hospi-
tal ; one boiler-house and coal-house for hospital ; seventeen cottages,
one main boiler-house; one machine and carpenter shop; one laun-
dry; one soap-house; one warehouse; one kitchen, storehouse and
bakery; one cold-storage house; one Superintendent's residence
(on the place when bought by State) ; one house for dairymen; one
new brick stable ; one old frame stable ; one old frame barn ; one
•blacksmith shop; one greenhouse; one icehouse; one frame carpen-
ter shop and storehouse; one railroad station, built by the C., B. &
Q. R. R. ; one large cow barn ; one piggery building ; one springhouse

house; one paint shop; one gate-house — a total of forty-three build-
ings. (Bird's eye view.)

The general ground plan of main group of buildings covers an
area of about twenty acres. A tunnel twenty-six hundred feet in
length, covered with stone flagging, makes a circuit, the longest
diameter of which is eight hundred and eighty-three feet, and the
broadest, seven hundred and fifty feet, and forms the basis of the
construction. On this tunnel are located the main building and
seventeen cottages, the boiler-house, general kitchen and other
utility buildings. All the piping, sewer, gas, water, steam, etc., is
carried in the tunnel, which is amply large to allow men to walk
through for purposes of examining the plant, making repairs, etc.

The capacity of the Home, as a maximum, may be stated at
1,050, as follows:

8 cottages, 35 men each 280

6 cottages, 70 men each 420

2 cottages, 80 men each 160

1 cottage, 60 men 60

hospital, 130 men 130

Total 1,050

During this winter the average present has numbered over 1.000,
the number on the roll being about 1,300.

The main building is built of Quincy stone, partly, two stories
high, the tower portion being four stories in height. It contains
the offices, library, assembly hall, billiard-room and quarters for
officers.

The utility building, kitchen, warehouse, boiler-house, laundry,
machine and carpenter shops, and some smaller buildings are of
stone also. The other buildings named, except the farm buildings,
are built of brick and all the structures, while plainly finished, are
substantial and durable, and well adapted to their purposes.

The cottages vary in size and hold from thirty-three to seventy
men each, as the number intended to be accommodated. In the
winter season, when the Home is crowded, the smaller cottages
have thirty-five men each and the larger seventy to eighty men.

These residence buildings have sleeping-rooms for six or eight,
men each, sitting-rooms, dining and serving-rooms, closets, bath-
rooms with hot and cold water at all seasons. They are complete

residences except that there is no kitchen. All the food, except for
hospital, is prepared at a large general kitchen, and taken to each
cottage in a closed cart, one for each cottage, and there served each
meal time. The food keeps hot in the coldest weather, as it is in
metal boxes and well protected. Each cottage has its complement
of dishes and table ware kept in the pantry and cared for by cottage
details. A good feature of the cottages is a veranda for each
sleeping- room, contributing to the comfort of the men at all seasons.

The Hospital has a frontage of one hundred and fifty-six feet,
the central portion being three stories high and connected by two-
story corridors with a pavilion on each side. Number of beds for
patients one hundred and fifteen. There is a separate building for
boilers which heat the Hospital.

The boiler-house, sixty by one hundred feet, contains a battery
of ten boilers which furnish steam for cooking and heat for all the
buildings except Hospital. Adjoining is the coal-house, machine
and carpenter shop, laundry and soap-house. A railroad switch is
convenient wherefrom coal and supplies in bulk are delivered.
Near by are the warehouse, kitchen, bakery, and cold storage
houses, all ample for purposes required.

The dairy and piggery buildings are located to the north and
comprise a cow-barn and sheds to accommodate seventy-five cows,
and buildings for grain storage and for care of hogs. Water for all
these comes from a well on high ground, pumped by windmill and
distributed where needed.

The farm of the Home, supplies all staple vegetables required, in
a good season, and there is pasture land beside. About fifty cows
are milked and furnish all the milk needed at a cost of 7^ to 8 cents
per gallon. A large spring-house arranged for cooling and keeping
milk is near the dairy.

Usually about one hundred and fifty hogs are fed from the
Home slop, which is taken to the kettle-house and cooked before
using. There is a good profit on fattening hogs. .

The handsome little railroad station built by C. B. & Q. R. B. is
a great convenience. Most trains of this road and the Wabash
stop at the Home.

The total number of men admitted is 2,474, of whom 825 have
been discharged, and 331 have died, leaving on the rolls 1,318.
There are 237 buried in the Home cemetery. The average age of

members is very nearly sixty years. The number present now is
1,015, the average through the year being about 880.

Nationality of those admitted, 1,430 native born, and 1,044 for-
eign born.

Over nine-tenths of members draw pensions, the average monthly
allowance being nearly $10.

Appropriations made for the Home by the State Legislature to
date are as follows:

YEAE.

Ordinary Expense.
Maintenance.

Special Expense.
Buildings, etc.

Total.

1885

$200,000

$ 200,000

1887 to 1889

( $ 40,000

5,000)

406,500

1889 to 1891

I 224,500
260,000

137,000 5
32,000

292,000

1891 to 1893

290,000

53,300

343,300

Total

$814,500

$427,300

$1,241,800

A law of Congress provides that the National treasury shall con-
tribute to the support of State Soldiers' Homes, under certain regu-
lations, to the extent of $100 per inmate per annum. This money
does not go into the Home's treasury, but is paid direct into the
State treasury, which has received up to this date the sum of $296,-
998.41.

The cost of maintaining the Home, including clothing and trans-
portation of applicants and every expense outside of new buildings
and work for which there are special appropriations, averages about
$3 per week per inmate.

Labor at the Home is mostly done by the members. Exclusive
of officers, foremen of departments and persons having expert work
or hard labor to do, all on the pay-roll are members. Of the two
hundred and forty persons on the roll, there are usually two hun-
dred and ten or two hundred and fifteen inmates.

About eighty-two per cent, of the pay-roll goes to inmates and
citizen employes.

All duties pertaining to the care of cottages, cleaning rooms,
serving the meals, washing dishes, etc., — what may be called house-
keeping work — is done by detail, without pay. Such work as is for
the general good, such as service on the farm, in general kitchen,
laundry, bakery, etc., is paid for.

FIRST BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

NAME. Residence.

Term by Lot.

Appointed by

Daniel Dustin, President Sycamore

6 years

Gov. Oglesby

L. T. Dickason ; Danville

4 years

Gov. Oglesby

J. G. Rowland Quincy

2 years

Gov. Oglesby

Gen. Dustin resigned to accept a Federal appointment, and was
succeeded by James I. Neff.

Col. Dickason was re-appointed on expiration of first term.

Maj. Rowland was re-appointed on expiration of first term, and
resigned to accept the superiutendency of the Home.

Capt. T. W. Macfall was appointed in his place.

PRESENT BOARD OF DIRECTORS.

NAME.

Residence.

Term Expires

Appointed by

L. T. Dickason

, President..

Danville

1895

Gov. Fifer

T. W. Macfall.

Quincy

1893

Gov. Fifer

James I. Neff.

Freeport

1891

Gov. Fifer

SUPERINTENDENTS.

Charles E. Lippincott, appointed December 29, 1886; died
September 11, 1887. J. G. Eowland, appointed September 14,

1887.

ILLINOIS STATE BUILDING— WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

BRIER HISTORY

I LLINOIS

Soldiers'

LOCATED AT

NORMAL, ILLINOIS.

1865-1893.

Presented by the ILLINOIS BOARD OF WORLD'S
FAIR COMMISSIONERS.

JOHN MORRIS COMPANY, PRINTERS,
118 AND 120 MONROE STREET,
CHICAGO.

HISTORY

OF THE

ILLINOIS SOLDIERS' OEPHANS' HOME.

In February, 1864, a meeting was held in Bloomington, the ob-
ject of which was to make provisions for caring for the dependent
orphans of those who had given their lives in defense of the Union.
At that meeting, Gen. John McNulta presented a resolution call-
ing upon the State to make suitable provision for the needy widows
and orphans of the gallant soldiers from Illinois who had fallen in
defense of the flag.

Judge David Davis, Hon. Jesse W. Fell and other prominent
citizens were enthusiastic in their endorsement of the measure, and
the matter was carried before the General Assembly in 1865. Ac-
tion was there taken, establishing the Illinois Soldiers' Orphans'
Home. Nine trustees were constituted a corporation to receive
subscriptions and donations, and to organize and carry on the insti-
tution.

The object of the corporation was declared to be "To provide a
home for the nurture and education, without charge, of all indigent
children of soldiers who served in the armies of the Union during
the late Rebellion, and have been disabled from disease or wounds
therein, or have died or been killed in said service;" but in this act
no appropriation was made from the State treasury for the support
of the Home.

The Governor was authorized to appoint five commissioners, not
connected with the corporation, to receive bids and decide upon a
location, but any location was forbidden until the sum of $50,000
was subscribed and paid to the corporation. As that sum was not
realized, the Governor did not appoint the commissioners to select
a site.

In 1867, however, a bill was passed appropriating $70,000, to-
gether with what was known as the deserters' fund, amounting to
$30,400, for the erection of buildings for the Home. The Locating
Committee was then appointed by Governor Oglesby, consisting of
Dr. Johns, of Decatur; Dr. Niles, of Belleville; Col. Raymond, of
Geneva, Major Beardsley, of Rock Island; and Mr. Marshall.

Normal, Decatur, Springfield and Rock Island were among the
competing places for location. After carefully considering all the
propositions before them, the committee decided to accept the one
from Normal, which was as follows:

Site, sixty-five acres, valued at $12,000 00

Other lands, valued at 21,775 00

Cash and notes 4,525 00

City lots, valued at 920 00

Ornamental trees, valued at 1,000 00

Total $40,220 00

Pending the erection of necessary buildings, a temporary home
was opened in Bloornington in August, 1867. This was soon filled;
and a second home, also in Bloomington was opened in October, the
same year. These two homes proving to be insufficient to meet the
demands, in February, 1868, a third home was opened in Springfield.

The permanent Home was so far completed that on June 1,
1869, the orphans in the temporary homes were transferred to their
new quarters. During that year, additional special appropriations
were made as follows:

For completing the building $25,000 00

For heating and ventilation 6,500 00

For outside improvements 3,000 00

For furnishing 10,000 00

Total $44,500 00

Mrs. Virginia C. Ohr, who had been in charge of the Springfield
Home, was elected Superintendent, a position for which she was pe-
culiarly endowed, and which she filled until the spring of 1887, a
period of eighteen years.

As first organized, the Home was only for children whose fa-
thers had been killed or died, or had been totally disabled while in
actual service; but in April, 1875, "An Act to regulate the State
charitable institutions and the Reform School, and to improve their
organization and increase their efficiency" was passed, containing
the following: "The object of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home shall
be to provide a home for the nurture and physical, intellectual and
moral culture of all indigent children below the age of fourteen
years whose fathers served in the armies of the Union during the
late Rebellion, and have died, or been disabled by reason of wounds
or disease received therein, or have since died: Provided that in
special cases of peculiar inability of a pupil to support himself or
herself, the trustees may retain such pupil, although above the age
of fourteen years, and until such pupil has reached the age of six-
teen, beyond which no pupil shall be retained."

Thus it will be seen that the law now provides for the children
of indigent and disabled soldiers, born any time since the war. And
it makes no provision that these must be the children of first mar-
riages, of marriages prior to the war. The prime conditions are
that the father shall have served in the army of the Union during
the late Rebellion, and that he shall be either dead or disabled and
in indigent circumstances.

This liberal provision, made by the law, accounts for the fact
that now, more than a quarter of a century after the last battle was
fought, over four hundred children of soldiers are cared for
by the State.

The main building, erected in 1869, is an imposing structure,
seventy by one hundred and forty feet, four stories high,
built of brick and trimmed with stone, with a basement mainly
above ground. At the time it was built, it was considered
ample for the accommodation of all worthy applicants. For years
it was the only building used, and served for all purposes, in-
cluding kitchen, laundry, dining-rooms, school -rooms and dormi-
tories. It was heated with hot air furnaces and stoves. But
the increase in numbers rendered additional room necessary,
and in 1871 appropriations were made for school building,
$15,000; for steam heating, $12,000; for kitchen, laundry and
boiler-house, $6,000. The steam plant was duly installed, the new
buildings erected, and the children, as well as those in charge,
greatly enjoyed the additional room thus provided.

But the applications for admission continued to increase; a
greater number of children was admitted than was discharged, and
as a result the Home was again crowded to its utmost capacity
while many worthy applicants remained without.

In 1881, appropriations of $5,000 for a hospital and $4,300 for
a new boiler-house and bakery were made. These were erected and
afforded some relief, as the old boiler-house was made to serve, in
part, some other uses. The appropriations proving insufficient, in
1883 an additional appropriation of $2,500 was made to complete
the work.

In the spring of 1887 Mrs. Virginia C. Ohr, who had been
Superintendent of the Home from its beginning, retired from the
position, and H. C. De Motte, then president of Chaddock College,
at Quincy, 111., was appointed as her successor. To the new
Superintendent was assigned also the principalship of the school, a
position which had been filled by a regularly appointed teacher up to
that time. Mrs. Sarah J. De Motte, at that time professor of Eng-

lish literature and history in Chaddock College, was appointed to
the position of Matron of the Home, and assumed the additional
duties of librarian and organist.

The Home was crowded with children beyond the bounds of
comfort and safety to the health of its inmates, and a large number
of worthy applications were on file in the office, awaiting the action
of approval by the trustees. The demand for additional room on
some consistent plan, looking to permanent improvements, was im-
perative. Under the direction of Superintendent De Motte, plans
were prepared and estimates made for a new chapel building, in-
cluding dining-rooms, play-room and wash-rooms for boys, and
sleeping-rooms for employes, also a kitchen, serving-room, bakery,
storeroom, laundry and boiler-house, and additional room for the
school. Estimates were also made for the necessary changes in
the old buildings to adapt them to the new plan, and for an entire
new steam-heating plant with low pressure, the old heating system
being condemned by competent authority as inadequate and un-
safe.

These plans and estimates were presented to the General Assem-
bly in 1889, and an appropriation for $66,618 for buildings and
$4,000 for additional land was secured. The work on the buildings
was begun in July, 1889, and they were ready for use the following
January. These improvements, together with the additional land,
have added greatly to the comfort, convenience, happiness and
health of the children. The Home now has ample accommodations
for at least four hundred children, and without seriously crowding,
four hundred and fifty can be provided for with comfort. The
changes wrought during the last six years in the home have trans-
formed it into a very different place, and home life now is much
more enjoyable than it could possibly be made with the lack of
room and other conveniences in former years.

The buildings now consist of the main building, seventy by
one hundred and forty feet, four stories; the chapel building,
fifty-two by one hundred and ten feet, three stories and con-
nected with the main building by a double corridor, eighteen by
forty feet; the kitchen building, including the bakery and store
room, thirty-three by sixty feet, with serving-room adjoining,
twenty by 1)hirty feet; laundry building, thirty-two by forty feet;
boiler-house, forty by sixty feet; two coal-rooms, one forty by sixty
feet, including the dynamo-room, the other twenty by forty-eight
feet; hospital, thirty by forty feet; main school building of six
rooms, each twenty-five by thirty feet; and primary building

thirty by forty feet. In addition to these there are two play-
houses, one for girls and one for boys; a greenhouse and a root
cellar, built in 1891 at an expense of $2,250, besides barns and
tool-house for the farm.

The electric-light plant was installed in October, 1891, by the
Thompson-Houston Electric Company, at a cost of $4,000. It is a
four hundred-candle-power plant consisting of two two-hundred-
sixteen-candle-power dynamos, and has given general satisfaction^
It is regarded as one of the best plants in the State. The green-
house is a model of convenience and utility, and affords ample roomy
for all the plants and bulbs needed for the ornamental grounds of
the Home, and at the same time, it furnishes all the propagations-
for the vegetable and fruit gardens.

In the first organization of the Home, the Board of Trustees was
composed of nine members, but in 1869 the number was reduced to-
three. The first board of three was composed of the following
members: Maj. James M. Bearclsley, of Rock Island; Col. E. R. Roer
of Bloomington; and Col. John M. Snyder, of Springfield. From
the biennial reports on file in the office of the Home, the following
list of trustees is taken: 1871-72, Maj. James M. Beardsley of
Rock Island ; Hon. D. D. Evans, of Danville ; Dr. John Sweeney, of
Normal. 1873-74, Maj. James M. Beardsley, of Rock Island; Dr.
John Sweeney, of Normal ; Capt. George W. Holloway, of George-
town. 1875-76, Maj. James M. Beardsley, of Rock Island; Capt.
George W. Holloway, of Georgetown ; Gen. John McNulta, of Bloom-
ington. 1877-78, Gen. John I. Rinaker, of Carlinville; Gen. John
C. Black, of Danville; Hon. Duncan M. Funk, of Bloomington.
1879-80, Gen. John I. Riniker, of Carlinville; Gen. John C. Black,
of Danville; Gen. Ira J. Bloomfield, of Bloomington. 1881-84,
Gen. John I. Riniker, of Carlinville; Gen. John C. Black, of Dan-
ville; Hon. Duncan M. Funk, of Bloomington.

1886-92, Hon. Duncan M. Funk, of Bloomington; Col. James
E. Morrow, of Pontiac ; Capt. Edwin Harlan, of Marshall.

The act of the General Assembly in force after the 1st of July,
1875, provides as follows: " The management of each of the State
charitable institutions and the State Reform School shall be vested
in a board of three trustees, to be appointed by the Governor, by
and with the consent of the Senate, and to be divided into three
classes, and one class appointed every two years, to serve for six
years from the 1st of March in each year bearing an odd number
as follows: Upon the taking effect of this act, three trustees shall
be appointed for each charitable institution and for the Reform

School, of whom one-third shall serve until the 1st of March, 1877;
one-third shall serve until the 1st of March, 1879; and one-third
shall serve until the 1st of March, 1881, as may be determined by
lot, and their successors shall serve for six years each and until
in every case a Trustee shall hold his office until his successor is
appointed and qualified."

The provisions of this act are intended to prevent any unneces-
sarily sudden or radical change in these Boards, thus securing to
the institutions a constant majority of those who have had at least
two years' experience in their management.

Complete records of the transactions in the temporary homes
opened in 1867 and 1868 are not on file in the Home office, hence
the total number of children enrolled in the Home from the begin-
ing of its temporary organization to the present time can not be ac-
curately given. Since 1868, however, the records are complete,
covering a period of twenty-three years. During that time 2,604
children have found a home in the institution. This gives as the
average number of admissions per annum, about one hundred and
fourteen, and the average term of institution life for each child,
about four years.

Some who are admitted do not remain until they attain the
legal age for dismissal. Numerous cases occur in which children
are admitted and cared for until the parent, by pension or other
good fortune, is in condition to provide for them himself. In this
way, many children remain only a portion of their legally allotted
term.

The attendance has steadily increased since the Home was first
thrown open for children. This increase has been limited mainly
by the room provided for those who sought admission. For many
years the number of applications exceeded the capacity of the Home,
and the increase of numbers was accomplished by overcrowding
on account of the urgent pleas in favor of the applicants.

At the present date, judging from the applications that come to
the office, the maximum attendance has been reached. The present
numbers may be maintained for some time yet, and then the en-
rollment from the very nature of the case will rapidly diminish.

The average attendance in 1875 was two hundred and seven-
ty-one; in 1880, three hundred and eight; in 1885, three hundred
and twenty-eight, and in 1892, three hundred and ninety-seven.
The average attendance for the intermediate year shows a gradual
increase in the numbers enrolled. The largest number present at
any one time is recorded February 22, 1892, a peculiar coinci-

deuce tbat it should occur on the anniversary of the birthday of
George Washington.

The form of admission to the Home prescribed by the trustees,
gives ample protection against fraud or imposition. It requires
the date of the birth of the child; its residence at the time the
application is made; the date, company, and regiment of the enlist-
ment of the father; the condition of the father, whether dead, or
disabled, and the character of his disability ; the condition of the
mother, whether dead or living, and if widowed, whether or not
remarried ; and the indigent condition of the children. It further
requires a sworn statement as to the above facts before some per-
son legally authorized to administer the oath, and a certificate as to
the reliability of the party making the affidavit.

A permanent alphabetical record is kept of all children admitted,
in which the above statistics are entered. A daily population rec-
ord is also kept, showing the actual number present every day in
the year. A third record by counties is kept, which gives at a
glance the number admitted from each county, the number and date
of all discharged, and the number actually present from each
county each day in the year. At this writing, there are four hun-
dred and fifteen children present, of whom one hundred and seventy-
seven are girls, and two hundred and thirty-eight are boys. These
children come from eighty different counties in the State. Cook
county has the largest representation at this date, being credited
with twenty-eight children in actual attendance.

In this Home, everything necessary for the comfort and well-
being of the children is furnished at the expense of the State. The
supplies include food, clothing, schooling, medical attendance, and
the many minor items that are needed to make up the sum total of
the needs in child life. Even the paper and postage necessary for
their correspondence with their friends, are furnished by the State.
Each child has the privilege of writing to friends, once each month.
Two hundred and forty-nine postage stamps and nine postal cards
were issued for use the last writing day in February, 1893. Where
there are more than one child from the same family, their letters
are inclosed in the same envelope when writing home, thus econo-
mizing postage and making a less number of letters than of chil-
dren who write.

The food furnished is of the best quality, and consists of bread
baked at the Home, and made from spring and winter wheat flour
mixed in equal proportions, butter, meat of various kinds, all kinds
of vegetables and fruits in their season, and canned fruits and dried

fruits in all seasons, milk, with which the children are served twice
each day, cakes, pies and puddings, thus giving sufficient variety
from day to day to please the taste and secure the most favorable
conditions for health.

The clothing is made of the best material of its kind. The boys
wear genuine indigo blue jeans pants and jackets with military
staff buttons. In the summer they are supplied with cheviot shirts,
shoes and stockings, and hats, and in the winter, with flannel
shirts, boots and stockings, caps and mittens. The girls wear in the
summer, gingham dresses, cotton skirts and underwear, and on
week days, full-length blue check aprons with sleeves, and on Sun-
day white dresses. In winter they are supplied with plaid flannel
dresses, cotton underwear, blue flannel skirts, and full-length blue
check aprons. On Sundays the blue aprons are replaced with full-
length white aprons. They are provided with hats in the summer,
hoods and mittens in the winter, and with neat shoes and stockings
all the year round.

The clothing is made in the Home, one room is set apart for
the manufacture of boys' suits and shirts. One cutter and two
seamstresses are employed in making pants and jackets, and one in
making shirts. Another room is devoted to the manufacture of
girls' clothing. One cutter and three seamstresses are employed in
this department.

Two suits a year are found sufficient for each child. To secure this
economy in clothing, however, requires care and judicious repairing.
One seamstress for the boys and one for the girls, and one shoe-
maker for both girls and boys succeed in keeping the children
presentable at all seasons of the year.

Regular details are made of the older children to aid in the work
of the Home. The girls make beds, sweep, iron, wash dishes, as-
sist in the kitchen, and mending rooms, and the boys serve as
waiters, assist in the kitchen and bakery, in scrubbing and sweeping,
at the barn, and upon the ornamental grounds and drives, and on
the farm. A new detail is made about every eight weeks, and the
children are shifted from place to place, thus giving them the ad-
vantage of a change in work, and affording them more varied
experience in. the common affairs of life.

The increased number of children in the Home, the enlargement
of the buildings, the additional acres added to the farm, and the
electric-light plant, have led to some increase in the working force.
At present, fifty names are on the pay roll, classified as follows:
One Superintendent who serves also as principal of the school, one

matron who serves also as librarian and organist, one clerk, one
physician, one treasurer, seven teachers, nine seamstresses, two
cooks, two in charge of mending-rooms, one children's dining-room
manager, one hospital nurse, two engineers, one fireman, one pump-
man, one watchman, one baker, one launderer, two laundresses,
two managers of girls' hall and bath-rooms, two managers of boys'
hall and bath-rooms, five house servants, one teamster, one gardener,
two farmers, and one shoemaker.

These fifty persons receive, as compensation for their services
monthly. $1,652.66. Of this sum, $771.66 are paid to the twelve
officers and teachers, being an average of $64.30 per month, and
$881 are paid to the thirty-eight employes, being an average of
$23.18 per month. Some positions require skilled labor, and others
demand extra hours of service, some persons being on duty from
twelve to fourteen hours per day. These command higher wages
than the average price. The highest wages paid any employe is
$75 per month, the lowest wages paid is $16 per month.

The current expenses of the Home have varied from time to
time, owing to the variation in the number of children in attend-
ance, and the fluctuations in the market prices of material and
supplies. At the present time it requires about $1,000 per week
to meet all demands. This includes salaries and wages as well as
supplies. The total cost per capita, for the biennial period ending
June 30, 1892, was $133.16, a showing which reflects credit on
the careful and economical management of those in charge.

The regular habits acquired by the children in the Home have
much to do with their health. They rise at 5:30 A. M., have break-
fast at 6:30 A. M., dinner at 12:30 P. M., supper at 6:00 P. M., and
the younger ones retire at 7 :00 P. M., the older ones before nine P. M.
These hours are strictly observed throughout the year.

Careful attention is paid to the sanitary condition of the Home,
and with what success the low death rate during its entire history
will attest. Only fifty deaths have occurred among the children in
the Home since its organization, a period of twenty-five years. This
gives a death rate of less than two per cent, per annum ; and only
seven deaths have occurred during the present administration, a
period of nearly six years. During the same time there has been
an average attendance of three hundred and sixty-five. This
makes the death rate for that period less than one per cent, per
annum.

Thus, the investment which the State has made in these more
recent years, in enlarging the Home and affording better sanitary

conditions for the children, is yielding ample returns in the decided
decline of the death rate among the inmates; and also iu the more
robust and healthy condition of all who share these advantages.
Those eruptive, cutaneous affections, and the painful condition of
inflamed eyes which, for years, were alike distressing to the suf-
ferers, and those whose duty it was to care for them, have well nigh
disappeared. Under the improved hygienic conditions, only oc-
casionally do they now appear, and these isolated cases yield readily
to treatment.

The advantages of a separate hospital building and an experi-
enced nurse, who is at all times ready to care for any cases needing
her attention, can not be overestimated. Incipient forms of dis-
ease are readily met and overcome before serious derangement
occurs, by beginning treatment when the earliest symptoms appear.
In this way, many cases are relieved with only an hour or a day in
the hospital, which, if permitted to develop before proper remedies
are administered, might result in protracted illness, and possibly
terminate fatally. To the cleanly habits required of the children,
the pure, wholesome food, the careful supervision exercised over
them day and night, and the regularity of diet, exercise and sleep,
is to be attributed, under Divine guidance, much of the success
attending the sanitary interests of the Home.

The farm consists of ninety-five acres. About thirty acres are
occupied by buildings and as play and ornamental grounds. The
remainder is carefully cultivated, the products of which are con-
sumed in the Home. Most of the small fruits and vegetables used
in the Home are thus supplied. In their cultivation, the boys as-
sist in regular details mornings, evenings and Saturdays, during
the school period; and they render more constant service between
the close of school iu June and its opening in September.

The farm is thus made to serve a double purpose. It affords an
excellent opportunity to the boys to acquire some practical knowl-
ege of the tillage of the soil, and the growth of its various products,
and, at the same time, it yields ample returns for all the labor
bestowed, by the bounteous harvests of good fresh' fruits and vege-
tables in their season.

Special attention is paid to the physical development of the
children. They are given generous outdoor exercise whenever the
weather will permit. Their play-grounds, two in number, one for
the girls and one for the boys, are commodious and well shaded.
Sleds and skates in their season, foot balls and base balls, swings
and other helps are furnished by the Home. These, with such

other varieties of games as have been handed down from generation
to generation, or as the ingenuity of childhood will invent when
occasion requires, afford ample amusement and profitable exercise
for outdoor sports. Indoors, the less boisterous playthings of the
age are furnished for cold or rainy weather. Here, tops, rubber
balls, history, geography and biography cards, sliced animals, and
birds, dissected maps, puzzles, checkers and dominoep, toy dishes
and dolls afford a great variety of amusement. Drills in all the
foot movements of the soldier are given by a competent drill master,
and thus the children are able to present an attractive appearance
at all times, by the neatness and precision of their movements.
Special drills, with dumb bells, wands, hoops, flags, tambourines
and fans, are organized from time to time, and exhibitions of skill in
these movements accompanied with fancy marches, add greatly to
the attractiveness of the various entertainments given by the chil-
dren. All these things tend toward a more perfect development of
the physical powers, and the easy command of these powers under
any circumstances, and, at the same time, lend interest and variety
to the routine life in the Home.

Special entertainments are frequently given, sometimes for the
children and sometimes by the children. Lectures suited to their
years, popular readings and musical recitals are greatly enjoyed
by them. Magic lantern scenes, with accompanying descriptions,
form one of the most popular and enjoyable hours for the children.

Occasionally programs are prepared either by the Superintend-
ent and Matron, or by the teachers, in which the children are the
performers. These occasions afford much pleasure both to those
who perform and to those who are auditors. The cantatas rendered
by the children at Christmas times have been of a high order of
merit and of pleasing variety, and their rendition has given the
children an enviable reputation for superiority in faultless execu-
tion. Friends fill the chapel to overflowing on these festive occa-
sions.

One of the principal advantages afforded the children in the
Home is the well-graded school into which they are organized,
holding regular sessions for forty weeks each year. A course of
study is prescribed, consisting of eight grades, corresponding to the
grades in our best public schools, but modified somewhat to adapt
it to the peculiar wants of institution life. Seven teachers are
employed and the work is arranged so that pupils are advanced,
upon standing, one-half grade every twenty weeks. The teachers
make reports of the deportment and scholarship of each pupil every

five weeks, to the Superintendent, and a permanent record is kept of
the work performed in the school. The character of the work
accomplished here will not suffer in comparison with that done in
the best graded schools of the State.

In addition to the discipline of the school-room, a library and
reading-room is provided, in which the children take great delight.

About twenty-five hundred volumes of the freshest and best
juvenile literature are here accessible. In addition to these, the
current periodicals for young people are also supplied. In this
library and reading-room, all those children whose school attain-
ments fit them to profit thereby, are gathered four or five times each
week for an hour or two, and spend the time in reading such books
and periodicals as they from choice may select. Many become
greatly attached to the library and often speak of it in their letters,
after leaving the Home, as one of the great attractions while they
were here.

The reading-room is under the direct supervision of the Super-
intendent or Matron, and by kindly counsel and prudent direction,
correct habits of reading are acquired by the children. Thus this
agency becomes a valuable aid to the child in building true char-
acter, and securing the right kind of preparation to succeed in the
work of riper years.

In the Home training, the social and moral nature of the child
is not overlooked. All through the course of study prescribed for
the school, the usages of polite society and the principles of upright
honest living are presented in many ways. Beginning in the pri-
mary grade, in oral form, cleanliness, neatness, quietness, obedience,
promptness, and truthfulness are inculcated. 'These are enlarged
upon and enforced in the next grade, and kindness, order, industry,
politeness, honesty and purity of language are specifically presented.
All through the school life of the child, these cardinal virtues are
kept before him, his attention is directed to correct personal habits,
right motives, respect for the rights of others, general behavior at
home, at school, in church, in society, and the care and rights of
property — the " mine and not mine," of practical life. Not only in
school, but in all departments of the Home life of the child, effort
is constantly directed toward the correct formation of proper habits
of life, based upon sound social and moral principles.

While no sectarian teaching is permitted, and no denominational
bias is given, the religious nature of the child is not ignored.
Sunday-school is held each Sabbath morning at 9 o'clock, and with
the efficient aid of volunteer workers from the young people in

Normal, this department has been well sustained. The Sunday-
school hour is one of the most enjoyable in the child's Home life.
A service of somewhat more general character is held each Sab-
bath afternoon, at which time the children join in the song service,
in reciting selections from the Scriptures, and in listening to short
practical talks from the Superintendent, or some one whom he may
have invited to address them. On each alternate week-day evening
they also assemble in the chapel for a service of song, and such
other exercises as the Superintendent may arrange. These gather-
ings are occasions of interest to the children, and it is regarded as
a hardship to be deprived of the privilege of attendance. Thus,
it will be seen that life in the Illinois Soldiers' Orphans' Home is
far from being one of dull routine, void of anything to awaken into
active energy the dormant powers of the child. Rather is it a life
crowded full of the most helpful agencies for calling into active
use all the powers of both body and mind, and in directing these
toward the accomplishment of the very best results.

It is gratifying indeed to know that such agencies have not been
used in vain. The success which has attended those who have had
this Home training gives unmistakable proof of its efficiency. Few
indeed are the instances in which our boys and girls, in after life,
have failed to strive after the high ideals of manhood and woman-
hood which have been placed before them while in the Home.
And no one can estimate the value, to the State and to humanity, of
the investment which the State of Illinois has made in establishing
this Home for the children of those who answered the call of their
country in its hour of peril. Illinois has well redeemed the pledge
made to her citizen soldiers who rallied to the rescue in the hour
of danger to our Republic. H. C. DE MOTTE,

March 1, 1893. Superintendent.

ILLINOIS STATE BUILDING— WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

BRIEF HISTORY

Asylum for Feeble funded Children,

LOCATED AT

LINCOLN, ILL.

1865-1893.

Presented by the ILLINOIS BOARD OF WORLD'S
FAIR COMMISSIONERS.

JOHN MORRIS COMPANY. PRINTERS,

118 AND 120 MONROE STREET,

CHICAGO.

OF THE

ASYLUM FOR FEEBLE MINDED CHILDREN.

This institution was created by an act of the Legislature in
1865. The first action in relation to the establishment of the insti-
tution was taken by the State Medical Society at their annual meet-
ing held in Bloomington, June 5, 1855. A committee of three of
its members, consisting of Drs. David Prince, E. R. Roe and J. V.
Z. Blaney, was appointed to memorialize the Legislature "with
regard to the establishment of an institution for idiots." The com-
mittee was continued for four years, and presented a written
memorial to each of the two succeeding assemblies. The first
memorial was printed.

In 1856 Dr. Andrew McFarlaud, Superintendent of the State
Hospital for the Insane at Jacksonville, suggested an inquiry by
the Legislature into the number and need of this unfortunate class.
Dr. P. G. Gillett, Superintendent of the Institution for Deaf and
Dumb, at Jacksonville, 111., in 1860, called attention to the same
subject, as many persons whose friends made application to him for
admission properly belonged to an institution for feeble-minded.

The act creating the institution placed it in charge of the
trustees of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Jacksonville,
and they appointed Dr. P. G. Gillett Superintendent ex officio.
The grounds and buildings of the Governor Duncan estate in Jack-
sonville were rented, and the school opened with three children,
May 25, 1865. To Dr. Gillett is due great credit' for his warm
personal interest and labors in behalf of tlie institution during its
early existence.

In September, 1865, Dr. Charles T. Wilbur was elected Superin-
tendent of the institution. Dr. Wilbur had previously been con-
nected with a similar institution in New York, Connecticut and
Ohio. Under his superintendency the institution progressed
favorably and it became necessary to secure more room, in conse-
quence of the increasing number of applicants.

In 1875 the Legislature made an appropriation of $185,000,
and appointed a Board of Commissioners to select a site for the per-
manent location of the institution.

The commissioners, after examining several different locations,
decided in favor of Lincoln, and purchased forty acres of land,
known as Wyatt Grove. Plans for the buildings, submitted by
Messrs. Furness Laing & Fehmers, architects, of Chicago, were
adopted with the approval of the Governor, and the trustees adver-
tised for sealed proposals for the construction of the building.
Among a number of proposals, that of T. E. Courtney, of Chicago,
was accepted. Work was commenced November 5, 1875, and the
buildings were completed in June, 1877.

The main building is of brick, and consists of a center three
stories in height, connecting wings two stories, extreme wings
parallel with center, three stories. The general style is modern
gothic, with slate roof, dormer windows and towers. The rear
buildings and engine house, built at the same time, are of brick and
are of the same general style. The main building faces to the east,
fronting on State street. Its extreme length, front, three hundred
and twenty-four feet; depth, two hundred and fifteen feet; depth of
wings, one hundred and sixty -five feet. The tower of the center
building has an elevation of one hundred feet, and those on the
wings, eighty-five feet. The buildings are heated by steam through-
out, both direct and indirect radiators being used.

Additional buildings have been erected from time to time, among
the most important being a custodial building, a laundry building
and a cottage hospital.

The custodial building is of brick, two stories in height, with
accommodations for about one huudred and twenty inmates. It

cost 340,000, the sum mentioned covering building, heating and
furnishing.

In September, 1883, Dr. C. T. Wilbur tendered his resignation
and was succeeded by Dr. William B. Fish, who at the time of his
appointment was assistant superintendent of the Pennsylvania
Institution for Feeble Minded at Elwyn.

The object of the institution, as defined in the act of Legislature
in 1875, regulated the State charitable institutions, is to promote
the intellectual, moral and physical culture of the inmates, and to fit
them, as far as possible, to earn their own livelihood, and for future
usefulness in society.

In the development of the institution it has been found expe-
dient to enlarge the scope of the work. All institutions of this
character have-been started as schools. In time, however, depart-
ments for custodial care and industrial training have been added.
At the present time the management at Lincoln recognize four
special departments of the institution — the school department,
department of industrial training, custodial care, and farm colony.
In the school department the inmates are classified and placed
under special training by the teachers employed. A portion of the
i nmates in schools receive industrial training for half a day. In
the department for industrial training inmates are employed in the
shoe shop, laundry, wood-carving room, tailor and mattress shops
and sewing-room.

In the custodial department the helpless cases are received and
cared for. The paralytics and extremely helpless are cared for in
special infirmary wards on the ground floor. The broad veranda,
twelve feet wide and six hundred feet in length, connected with this
building, affords them opportunities for fresh air and exercise in
inclement weather.

The farm colony is established about two miles from the main
institution. It is in charge of a farmer and his wife. The inmates
allotted to this department board and lodge at the farm. The State
owns four hundred and twenty-three acres of rich farm land, and in
addition leases four hundred acres at a rental of $3.87 per acre.

The entire tract of eight hundred and twenty-three acres is culti-
vated by the farm boys with the assistance of the farmer and two
hired men. A herd of eighty-six Holstein cattle supply all the
milk used by the institution. In addition to his other duties, the
farmer purchases and slaughters at the farm all the beef cattle
required by the institution. Suitable buildings are provided at the
farm for the care of the inmates and stock.

A five years' experiment on a rented farm inaugurated before
the purchase of farm lauds by the State showed a net profit of
$1,800.00 per annum over all expenses.

The institution at Lincoln is entirely under State control.

The history of this institution would be incomplete were we not
to show the cost to the state, of maintaining the charity. Following
will be found a table, covering a period of eighteen years, which
shows that the economies of the question have been thoroughly
studied, and that the state has received the benefit of the business
ability, which has been displayed by the management of the insti-
tution :

YEAR.

Gross
ordinary
expenses.

Income
not from
state.

Cost
to state.

Average
number.

PER CAPITA COST.

Gross.

Net.

1875

$20,901 76
28,812 87
31,639 52
53,062 88
47,381 69
59,502 70
56,710 94
63,284 23
62,782 06
55,372 82
61,306 37
65,600 72
66,961 51
51,292 42
68,607 07
72,809 83
77,232 99
89,534 55

$2,423 01
2,630 56
2,140 14
3,686 80
2,816 66
5,132 65
6,383 79
7,885 66
6,271 96
4,817 29
3,766 55
4,115 33
4,456 87
5,046 59
7,517 95
6,325 08
9,188 18
8,802 24

$18,478 75
26,182 31
29,499 38
49,376 08
44,565 03
54,370 05
50,327 15
55,398 57
55,510 10
49,555 53
57,539 82
61,485 39
62,504 64
46,245 83
61,059 12
66,484 75
68,044 81
80,732 31

81
80
77
168
224
274
286
279
293
292
312
341
362
387
382
410
414
4b5

$309 65 $279 74
360 16 327 28
410 90 383 11
315 35 1 293 91
210 97 198 95
217 57 198 42
198 21 1 175 97
226 69 1 198 56
210 74 188 70
186 411 169 71
196 38 184 42
102 33 180 31
185 08 172 76
176 95 159 53
179 75 159 97
177 49 j 162 07
186 65 164 45
184 61 166 46

1876

1877

1878

1879

1880

1881

1«82

1883

1884

1885

1886

1887

1888

1889

1890

1891

1892

Total

$1,030,796 93

$93,437 31

$937,359 62

286

$200 27

$182 12

The cost of all the buildings and grounds, including the furni-
ture, $298,000.00. This also includes about five hundred acres of
land, which embraces the farm department of the institution.

The progress made in the treatment of this class of defectives, in
the Illinois Institution, has kept pace with the progress made in the
other branches of medical science. The classification of the various
forms of idiocy, is now made, and the inmates are trained and
treated according to modern methods, with results that exceed expec-
tations. Nearly all are made to conform to social and moral laws,
and may become quite proficient in some branch of learning or
industry. Perhaps the most incorrigible cases that are dealt with,
are those known as moral imbeciles. They are disobedient, impu-
dent, stubborn and devilish, and resist any sort of moral training.
They are the least satisfactory cases that are in the Asylum. But
it is not known what to do with such cases, other than is being done.
If you turn the boys out into the world they will go to the peniten-
tiary. If you turn the girls out they are ruined forever. The best
that can be done with them is to let them remain where they are;
in any event, they are out of mischief whilst in custody.

In April, 1893, Dr. William B. Fish, Superintendent, resigned,
and Dr. Ambrose Miller was appointed to succeed him.

ILLINOIS STATE BUILDING— WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.

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