The following table gives the corporate title, location, date of incorporation, number of teachers and pupils, name of president or principal, and unincumbered value of property, of all incorporated institutions for the advancement of higher education, having an average attendance, in 1888, of 100 or over: COLLEGES, SEMINARIES, AND ACADEMIES: 1839 7 141 1855 12 221 1869 7 117 1855 8 156 H.B.Ridgaway, D.D.,L.L.D., 512,000 20,000 Carthage College, Chaddock College, Chicago Theological Seminary, Concordia College, Elgin Academy, Eureka College, Evangelical Proseminary, Garrett Biblical Institute, Lake Forest University, Springfield, 1879 4 210 . Elgin, Rev. F. Schaub, A. M., * Value of property, less indebtedness. Authorities: "The Public Domain," congressional documents, laws of Illinois, reports of the superintendents of public instruction, and especially papers therein for 1883-4, by Samuel Willard, M.D., LL.D., and in those of 1881-2, 1885-6, and 1887-8, by Prof. W. L. Pillsbury, A.M., in which the author has made exceedingly valuable and interesting contributions to the history of education. CHAPTER LI. State Institutions-Penal, Reformatory, Benevolent. N the early days of Illinois, the number of paupers was few, by was at once a duty and a recreation. In Randolph County, for many years, the board of overseers of the poor was selected from such men as Judge Pope, Senator Kane, and Gov. Bond; and their entire duties consisted in the yearly farming out to the lowest bidder of an old man who was both poor and blind. From this crude beginning has developed the present magnificent system of State charity which, in respect of completeness, economy, and perfection of executive control, is not surpassed by that of any other state. The substitution of imprisonment for public floggings, and the replacement of the rude log jail by a secure place of confinement for prisoners, were reforms of slow growth. The people were poor and opposed to taxation for any purpose, and when at length the frequent escapes of criminals had demonstrated the necessity of more secure places for their confinement, the question arose, how shall the funds for such an expenditure be secured? A happy solution of this problem was at length found. At the request of the legislature, congress ceded to the State some 40,000 acres of saline lands, and a considerable portion of the money derived from their sale was devoted to the purchase of a site and the erection of the necessary buildings for the first State institution-the penitentiary at Alton-in 1827. The sum originally set apart for this purpose, however, was found to be inadequate, so that in 1831 an additional $10,000 was appropriated from the state treasury. Two years later, the prison was completed and ready for occupancy. It was a stone structure, containing twenty-four cells. Additional buildings were erected as they were needed until 1857, when, the accommodations for convicts being found entirely inadequate, the legislature determined to erect a new peniten tiary at Joliet, the State purchasing for that purpose a tract of 72 19/100 acres of land adjoining the city. The plans drawn contemplated a house containing 1000 cells, which, it was thought, would accommodate 1100 convicts-this number was regarded as certainly sufficient to meet the needs of the State for many years. The estimated cost was $550,000. By July 24, 1860, work had so far progressed on the new building that it was ready to receive the last prisoners from Alton, who were sent thither on that date. In less than ten years, the limits of the capacity of the new building had been reached, and the amount appropriated for and actually expended on its construction had reached the sum of $934.627. It was not completed until July 1, 1867, and the total cost was $1,075,000. It is admittedly a fine structure and compares favorably with buildings erected for a like purpose in other and older commonwealths. Major R. W. McClaughry, who had filled the position of warden with marked efficiency for fourteen years, was succeeded in 1888 by Hon. A. W. Berggren, who resigned in March, 1891, and was in turn succeeded by Hon. Henry D. Dement, ex-secretary of state. Samuel H. Jones of Springfield has acted as one of the commissioners of this institution since 1876, the other two members, O. H. Wright of Boone, and Franz Amberg of Cook County, were succeeded, in 1889, by Charles Bent and A. S. Wright. The increasing number of convicts so overcrowded the accommodations at Joliet by 1877, that the thirtieth general assembly decided to provide for the erection of another penitentiary in the southern part of the State. The commissioners, John G. Fonda, Isaac Clements, and R. D. Lawrence, appointed to choose a site, had some difficulty in the selection of a place having all the requisites of the law, namely, convenience of access, elevation, drainage, never-failing water, and convenience to stone and timber. Finally, a site was chosen, near Chester, on the Mississippi River, containing 1221⁄2 acres, and $200,000 was appropriated for the purchase of ground and the erection of buildings in 1877, and $300,000 more in 1879. Work progressed so rapidly that the warden was prepared to receive and care for 200 prisoners on March 21, 1878. The value of ORIGIN OF THE STATE INSTITUTIONS. 1015 the property after the completion of the buildings in 1882 was estimated by the warden to be $594,424. At that time, 525 convicts were in the prison. The arrangement and construction of the various buildings, their convenience and general appointments, are admirably deserving the high commendations bestowed upon them by expert critics. The number of prisoners within its walls, at the date of the last report, was 740. John C. Salter was the first warden, and was succeeded in 1885 by G. M. Mitchell. The present commissioners are Joseph B. Messick, John J. Brown, and James A. Rose. The disposition of the people of this State has always favored a just and humane treatment of the defective and dependent classes, as has been repeatedly manifested, when legislation with reference to these unfortunates has been proposed. In consequence of the existence of two systems of county government, two different methods for the care of the poor by counties have been adopted. In the counties under county organization, the county-court has the charge of public paupers; while in counties under township organization that duty is laid upon the board of supervisors. Nearly every county in the State has its countyfarm and almshouse, and the amount expended for the maintenance of these during the years 1887-8, was $813,767, while the expenditure for outdoor relief amounted to $679,139. Of these sums, $711,353, nearly one-half, was disbursed by Cook County alone. Attention was early directed to the fact that a large percentage of the dependent classes might possibly be regarded as proper subjects of educational if not reformatory influence. Many of them, it was hoped, might be reclaimed from pauperism and taught to be self-supporting citizens. Those regarded as preeminently adapted to such treatment were the deaf-mutes, the insane, and the feeble-minded. Orville H. Browning of Quincy, who had given the subject much thought, and whose interest therein had resulted in extended correspondence, besides many personal conferences with distinguished specialists, was the first in this State to seek to commit Illinois to a policy of this character. As a member of the State senate, on January 2, 1839, he introduced a bill for "an act to establish the Illinois Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb." Judge Wm. Thomas, a senator from Morgan County, who approved of the object of the bill, proposed to Browning that the blank space left for naming a location should be filled by inserting the name of Jacksonville, which action would secure the support of the entire delegation from Morgan County, then the largest in the State. The advice was accepted and the bill became a law February 23, 1839. The first board of trustees was organized on June 29 following, with ex-Governor Joseph Duncan as president and Judge Samuel D. Lockwood as vice-president. Judge Thomas served as a member of the board for many years. Arrangements to begin building by the trustees, numbering twenty distinguished citizens, were not completed until April, 1842. Work, however, had progressed sufficiently to permit of the opening of the school on January 26, 1846. The original building, afterward known as the south wing, was finally completed in 1849, at a cost of $25,000. In 1871, it was declared unsafe, and was consequently torn down and rebuilt. The centre building, begun in 1849, was completed in 1852, but the front walls, having been found unsafe by the architects, were also razed and new ones erected. Work on the north wing was commenced in 1853, and it was completed in 1857; a new dining-room and boiler-house were erected in 1873, and a new school-house in 1876. Farther appropriations have been made as follows: in 1877, $15,000 for workshops; in 1879, $2,000 to convert barn into a cottage for small boys; in 1881, $12,300 for barn, bakery, storehouse, filter, and fire-escapes; in 1883, $11,000 for employés' quarters, kitchen, and refrigerator-house; in 1885, $12,000 for dairy, barn, and gymnasium; in 1887, $8,000 for cottage for little girls; in 1889, $10,000 for extension and improvement of grounds. Thomas Officer of Ohio, was the first principal of the institution. Four pupils were present at its opening, and nine at the close of the first term. Under the efficient management of the accomplished principal, the attendance rapidly increased and the aid of several assistant-teachers was soon found indispensable. Mr. Officer resigned his position as principal in 1856, and was succeeded by Dr. Philip G. Gillett, a graduate of Asbury University, and for some years a teacher in the Indiana Institu |