OUR CITY

IS

BORN

21

in turn, traded her for a horse, after

which she was traded

again for a yoke of oxen.

At this time, 1799, several incidents happened in Washington which were felt in our immediate vicinity. One of the members of the House of Representatives from the state of Vermont was a witty, red-faced and rabid Republican and Irishman named Matthew Lyons. He and Griswold, a Federalist who was also a member of the House, had a rough and tumble fight on the floor of the House. Lyons, fearless and unafraid to say or publish anything, had criticized in a Vermont newspaper, some laws passed by the federalist government. For this and for the fight, he was arrested, fined one thousand dollars, and sent to
prison
in
for

four
the

months.

Forty years

later,

after

his

death,
interest

1839,

government

returned

the

fine

with

to his descendants, in

the form of western lands. John

Mes-

senger, one of the descendants,

was given
is

160 acre farm on

the old Collinsville road,

which today

George Hoffmann, John Messenger.

a lineal descendant of

owned by a man named Matthew Lyons and

THE BIRTH OF OUR CITY

Who
site

the

first

white

man was

to

set

foot

on the present

of Belleville remains a question.

It is

believed by some that

French traders and trappers had passed through the woods and prairie that now are occupied by our city.
1794 Reverend James Lemen, Sr., of Monroe County, and six other men of his settlement camped here for a week. The camp was under a large pecan tree on the spot where the old Presbyterian Church once stood. They were on a hunting expedition as well as
It
is

known

that in

New

Design, in

looking for better lands to

settle.

for they killed a bear, several deer,

At hunting they were good, and many turkeys.

in the vicinity of Belleville, and were John Teter, Abraham Eyman, William Mueller, John Primm, Martin Randleman, and Daniel

Settlements were
the
first

made

among

settlers

22

OUR CITY

IS

BORN

Stookey. Roving bands of Kickapoo and Pottawatomie Indians

were often seen by these early

fought against them.

settlers

and many of them

later

town of Belleville was the pioneer citizen, George Blair, whose home, erected in 1806, was the first to be built in this city. For several years he kept it as a home and a hotel. As a man he seemed to have no extraordinary talents, but he was prominent because he owned a two-hunderd acre farm on which the central part of our city now stands. Me didn't like to work on the farm and therefore cultivated only a small part of it. He was not well educated, but he loved to use words of great length even though they were not suited to the meaning he wished to convey. He was good natured and possessed a benevolent spirit.
original proprietor of the

The

Contrary to most opinions, Belleville was not founded by the French nor the Germans but was settled by the Americans to protect themselves against the French. Studying the map, it will be seen that our city is ideally located, being about halfway between the two oceans and evenly divided between the North and the South. This places us far enough south to escape the severe northern winters, while our four seasons offer us a variety of climate. The Mississippi and its tributaries tie us
closely
to

the
tie

South and West, and the

Illinois

and Lake

Michigan
location
is

us equally close to the North and East.

Our

in the heart of the Mississippi Valley,

one of the

nation's richest industrial, commercial, and agricultural districts. This valley produces seventy percent of the agricultural products, seventy percent of the petroleum, seventy-five percent of

the lumber,
States.

and

sixty percent of the minerals of the

United

The

greater part of our city

is

located in Section 21,

Town-

ship 1, north of Range 8, West. It is situated on a gende rising plain near the center of St. Clair County. The beauty of the surrounding country is not surpassed by any place in southern
Illinois. It is

not only equal to but even surpasses

many

of the

OUR CITY
most
fertile

IS

BORN

23

and productive
it

agricultural regions of our country.

In distance,

is

about midway between the Mississippi and

Kaskaskia Rivers.

had not yet been officially designated as was nevertheless a strong desire on the part of the early settlers for a more central location for their county government. The county seat had been at Cahokia since 1790, but this village being French, the Americans were anxious to get rid of the unprogressive ways of these earlier
Although our
city

the

County

Seat, there

settlers.

The Americans on the high lands east of the American Bottoms outnumbered the old French setders along the Mississippi River. This almost necessitated a more central location of the county seat than was the village of Cahokia. This question was one of the issues in the election of members for the state legislature in 1813, which was then meeting in Kaskaskia. In December, 1813, the legislature appointed the following committee to select a new seat of justice for our county, 1. John
2. James Lemen, 3. Issac Enochs, 4. William Scott, Jr., Nathan Chambers, 6. Jacob Short, 7. Caldwell Cains. These men met at the home of George Blair on March 12, 1814, and the majority of them voted to build the county seat on Blair's land. Blair, in return agreed to give them one acre of land for

Hay,
5.

a Public Square.

Up
Hill,

to this time

our locality had been

Blair decided that

known

as

Compton

he wanted a city on his farm, he said that he had found a place where he was going to form a settlement which might become one of the most beautiful cities of America, and therefore he named it Belleville, from the French word, meaning "Beautiful City." He appointed a surveyor, John Messenger, to lay out the city in the summer of 1814. This survey was completed a few years later by Governor Ninian Edwards and officially placed on record in our County Court. In the spring of 1819 the state granted
but

when George

us a village charter.

24

OUR CITY

IS

BORN

Streets were named by Mr. Blair. The most eastward was called Church Street, while w^est of that were Jackson, High, Illinois, Spring, and Hill. North and south of the Square, the streets were numbered First, Second, Third, etc. The street extending east and west through the Square was called St. Clair Avenue, but by common usage, it has become Main Street today. Main and Illinois were laid off 66 feet wide

The

street

and

all

others 49Vi.

the city was built, in places part of the earth was cut away, while in others it was filled in. To the south of East Main, between High and Jackson, was a pond of water that

When

extended well into High Street. After rains it was often 80 yards long and 40 yards wide. No trace of it is left today because it has been filled in.
In
1814, the Court

House was removed from Cahokia

territorial

to

Belleville where it had been bought by the

has since remained. In 1793, Saucier's

home

government

for use as a

court house of St. Clair county which, at that time, included

all

of

North and Central

Illinois.

In September, 1815, the contract for the construction of a court house was given to Etienne Pensoneau. It was completed and accepted by the county on September 10, 1817. The population of our county was then 3,000, while our little

new

village

had onlv about

state

150.

We
cit)'

remained a
charter.

village until

1850

w^hen the

granted us a

THE PUBLIC SQUARE

our city was created the Public Square was made a part of it. It is over one acre in size and had been given to the County for its use and benefit. On it later were built the County Court House, the County jail, and the market house. It soon became the civic and commercial center of our city

When

and became so important revolved around it.

that

all

the early history of Belleville

OUR CITY

IS

BORN

25

use that was made of our Pubhc Square seems to was an inclosure for stray cattle. It was on March 8, 1820, that the village commissioners, Ed. P. Wilkinson and Cornelius Gooding, issued the following official order: "On petition of sundry inhabitants praying that the Public Square in the town of Belleville be inclosed, securing thereby citizens during court from disorderly persons on horseback, and the public buildings from damage, and the trustees of the town of Belleville be authorized to inclose the same, letting streets run around it instead of through it, and that this court allow a reasonable sum for defraying the same." The petition was granted, and the court ordered that the sum of $100 be authorized to defray expenses. The inclosure was to serve as a stray pound, to be inclosed with posts and rails, neatly finished, and ordered that the clerk certify the same to the trustees of the town of Belleville. It was in this inclosure where was located our first Court House and Market House. It was here that

The

first
it

be that

the housewives of the past haggled while at the market, and,

before the days of the state penitentiary and county

jails, punishour pillory Here, w^e had ment for crimes was here meted out.

and whipping

posts.

In April, 1822, William D. Noble was punished for forgery by being put in the pillory. He was exposed to the public here

one hour and was required to pay a fine of $1,000 to the and $1,000 to the man whom he tried to defraud. John Re\Tiolds was the judge in the case, William A. Beard, the lawyer, and John Hay, the clerk.
for
state

Two

walnut

trees in the

Public Square saved our County

whipping post. In the early and the whipping post was the only means of punishing a person for a minor offense. The guilty one was first stripped to the waist, then tied to the tree, whereupon the sheriff would inflict the legal number of stripes, making blood spurt at every lick. The usual penalty was from
the expense of erecting a special
jails,

davs there were no

five to forty lashes.

26

OUR CITY

IS

BORN
a cripple,

was found guilty and was given five lashes for this offense. In 1833, Sheriff John D. Hughes was the last to use the whipping post, for the state legislature repealed the whipping post and pillory statutes largely at the suggestion of Ex-Sheriff Hughes, who in 1836 had become a member of that body. The walnut tree and the pillory, though, remained for many years, and the latter became a respectable hitching post
criminal
of stealing a black silk handkerchief
for the farmers' horses.

One

named Bonham,

Our
our
of

Public Square changed in appearance with the growth

of our city.
city.

On

it

have gathered the successive generations of

a resolution that

In July, 1852, the city council, under the guidance

Mayor Goedeking, adopted

was

to

make

the

Public Square more than a bull pen and offered the

following changes: "In the center shall be an inclosure of 119

by 90 feet laid out in grass plots and planted with evergreens and shrubbery and surrounded by a pavement 14 feet wide. The macadamized section of the square will still remain 56 feet wide in the narrowest parts; at the comers it will be 100 feet
wide.
that

The center place will be surrounded with we shall have a shady and airy park."
16, 1865,

shade trees so

our City Council decided to change the appearance of our Public Square once more. One group of council members was known as the "tear-downers," because they

On May

wished to remove the sturdy fence around it, cut down the fifty shade trees, and destroy the beautiful park in the center. Mayor Herman Burkhardt, who opposed this plan, had only three aldermen to support him while five opposed him. To them, it seemed as if the majority of the City Council were bent on committing an act of barbarism, one which in future years would cause the cheeks of the guilty one to tingle with shame. However, the dastardly deed was done, and the mayor and his three supporters resigned saying that it was impossible to give sanction to such acts of vandalism.

The

setback which our Square had suffered early in 1865

OUR CITY

IS

BORN

27

was only temporary, for the city soon restored it to its former beauty. Once more it was adorned with trees, and in that way it remained for many years.
It

was on June

6,

1903, that

we had one
city.

of the greatest

excitements in the history of our

David Wyatt, a Negro

he would not renew and taken to jail, and speedy sentence

school teacher of nearby Brooklyn, Illinois, shot Charles Hertel,

County Superintendent
his teachers' certificate.

of Schools, because

Wyatt was

arrested

but the aroused citizenry feared that a just

would not be passed upon him, so they stormed the jail, took the Negro from his cell, and lynched him on the Public Square. The County Superintendent had not been wounded fatally and soon recovered.

There have been many and varied surfaces

our Public Square. As a part of the old
St.

that have covered

Clair turnpike, the

roadways were planked. Later the entire square was covered with cedar block pavement, which bulged when the heavy rains

came and again went in place when they were dry. On July 16, 1904, it was completely paved with brick. It was then that it took on the appearance that seems to be more familiar with
our present generation. All the street car lines terminated here,

and the bulky, brightly painted

the

trolley cars

stopped for their

passengers in what had been a parking space.

Today
lines.

it

serves

same purpose

for

our

city

and
is

St.

Louis bus

The
pound.

Public Square today

is,

highlighted by the Veterans'

Memorial Fountain and

indeed, a far cry from the old cattle

The fountain in all its beauty does honor not only to the departed veterans but also to those who in the past have built the present city around it. It is today a nucleus of our commercial
development. In this area are located the four banks of our city, the department stores, the large grocery stores, hotels, city and county government buildings, wholesale houses, and, near the outer margin, eleven manufacturing plants.