Western Illinois University - Sequel Yearbook (Macomb, IL)

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S The Western of today is a splendid monument to the efforts of a few patriotic Macomb citizens who a generation ago conceived, fostered, and developed the idea for a state school in Macomb. The air View shows not only the buildings but the campus and the sparsely wooded slopes of the prairie north of the school.

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Westernls Saga I-IE day of April 24, 1899. Speaker Sherman's gavel smacked the rostrum with a crack, audible to the most remote nook of the assembly hall. The legislative measure, carrying Western Illinois State Normal to the very brink of reality, had been stamped with the approval of the Gen- eral Assembly. The movement to locate a normal school in the Military Tract Country, like most activities which enlist the efforts of the many, was not individually conceived. Rather it came about after a general feeling that had arisen over 'western Illinois that this section of the state was in need of and soon to have an institution for the training of teachers. Even amid the general clamor for such a school, naturally, some one person or a group of persons first dared to think of the possibility in a concrete manner. The presence of the college in Macomb is the best evidence that this mind, daring first to visualize, was possessed by a Macomb citi- zen. What a monument is Western, as the school appears today, to that first uncertain, feeble, yet hopeful conception, born less than two- score years ago. To whom should go the credit for having first entertained the idea of a normal school in Macomb, it is difficult to say. The late John Keefer was wont to honor Jacob C. Thompson, who at the time of the school's inception was studying law in the office of the distinguished Judge Lawrence Y. Sher- man, as the man first to advance Macomb as the logical place for the location of the new normal school. Mr. Thompson, with the tact and modesty of a cultured gentle- man, is firm in his refusal to admit or deny his connection with the school's very early jThe map shows all of the cities which were desirous of Securing the new normal school, which was to be lo- cated near the center of the Military Tract. Spring- field, Peoria, and Keokuk were not interested cities but are shown nierely to secure the proper geographic rela- tionships. history. Fortunate it was that Lawrence Y. Sher- man, then speaker of the lower house of the S Lawrence Y. Sherman, well known Illinois political fig- ure at the turn of the cen- tury, was keenly interested in locating a school at Macomb, his home city. He was speak- er of the Illinois Assembly, a position which gave him tremendous influence. Illinois Assembly, was found as a champion for the newly born cause. Whether the desire for a school in Macomb originated with him or one of his asso- ciates may remain undeter- mined, but Macomb could not have hoped to be chosen as the site without the tremendous in -- fluence of Speaker Sherman. KEOK UK SALEDO . GAL 1-:S BURG onmouw PEORIA RUSHVILLEQ D MT. ST ERLINGQ OUINCY Sh om ' f fffi QMACON5 ,A .nm l I 14 ,XA I SPRINGFIELD'

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HE bill for the creation of such a school was written by Mr. Thompson, who was at the time a bill carpenter for Judge Sherman. A host of others, including C. V. Chandler, W. A. Compton, I. M. Feilheimer, H. C. Agnew, John Keefer, and editors, Van H. Hampton, W. H. Hainline, and T. J. Dudman, gave freely of their time and effort in order that the school might be brought to Macomb. As the original bill p-rovided, every avail- able location in the territory was to be ex- amined before the place for the school was determined. Sites were offered by Mon- mouth, Oquawka, Aledo, La Harpe, Ma- comb, Rushville, and Quincy, while each city was ready to comply with stipulations set by the Board. The prospective sites were visited by the Board of Trustees during the month of August, 1899. The value of hav- ing the institution located in their respective towns caused much competition among the civic minded citizens of the contesting com- munities. On August 31, after having visited each locality, the Trustees met at Galesburg and there heard the pleas of the competing towns. Of the act creating the schools, the portion which authorized the Trustees To receive from localities desiring to secure the location of said school proposals for dona- tions of a suitable site and other valuable considerationsv was interpreted to include monetary contributions. Accordingly, the towns offered, besides the sites, varying sums of money as follows: Rushville, S120,000g Aledo, S70,000g Macomb, 3570,- jThirty years have transformed the ravine from a small brook winding its way through very ordinary countryside into a place of shaded beauty. The photograph was taken south of the campus, probably as far south as Calhoun Street. ' 000, Monmouth, S54,000g Quincy, 530,- 900g and La Harpe, S10,000. A In an attempt to decide the issue, the Board was in session thirty-seven days, held sixty-one separate sessions, and cast five hundred ninety-seven ballots. At just the moment when it appeared that the Board was about to make a decision deciding in favor of Aledo, Monmouth, or Rushville, the Governor requested their resignation and created a new board. The rules governing the new Board abolished the pecuniary con- siderations. Less than one year later, August 14, 1900, the Board assembled at Spring- Held, and cast one ballot unanimously se- lecting Macomb as the future site of Wes- tern Illinois State Normal School. The building season being too far ad- vanced and the appropriated sum ridicu- lously inadequate, it was decided to con- struct only the foundation of the building at that time. Plans and specifications sub- mitted by tlte State Architect were accepted by the Board and the contract was awarded for 512,000 to the Tri-City Construction Company of Davenport, Iowa. jThis unusual photograph was taken in 1875 from the top of a windmill, located over the well now known to Western students as the Old Well. The large building seen in the distance is the present Court House, just completed when the picture was taken.