Rock Island Argus., 1902-04-26

SoO.OOO.
At the Time of Organization.
The commissioners, who formed the
Legislative branch of the county at
the time of organization in 1888 CON
tinued in existence till December,
lS49. Then the board of county
Judges, composed of The probate
Judge with the same powers as were
two associate justices. whose powers
were those of Legislators merely,
was established. This plan in which
the TWO branches of the government
were so Intimately mingled survived
rill the first board of supervisors was
organized June 20. 1857. Since that
time there has been no further
change.
This county was first part of the
Fifth judicial district together with
Cook, LaSalle. Putnam. Fulton.
Schuyler, Adams. Hancock, McDon-
ough. Knox, Warren. 10 Daviess. Mer-
Ger and Henry counties. The first
session of the circuit court here was
held al the home of John Barrel, in
Farnhamsburg, April 2S. 1894, with
Judge Richard NJ Young on the
bench. One of the first indictments
found i'm the county was against one
William Thompson for setting fire to
The prairies. Many important cases
have been tried in the circuit court
here and i'm six instances has a sen
fence of capital punishment been
passed and carried OUT. Rock Island
is now in the Fourteenth judicial dis
trict with Whiteside, Henry and Mer-
Ger counties.
The present county court came into
existence when the board of county
commissioners was abolished and the
under an act of the general assembly
assumed the Legislative powers. The
associates were not Judges in reality,
having only the power of Legislators
and Tll the court functions were per-
formed by the Judge. At the Novem-
ber election in 1856 the question of
adopting the township form of gov
ernment was submitted To vote of
the people and carried. The county
was then divided into II townships
and names were bestowed in about
the present order. The county court
survived with one Judge as at pres
ent.
Upon the organization of the conn
~ il became part of n Legislative dis
trict with Cook, LaSalle, 10 Daviess.
Putnam and Peoria counties entitled
to one state senator and one member
of the lower house. Since that time
not less than dozen reapportiOn-
ments have been made in the legisla-
tive and senatorial districts. numbers
being given them since 1s4S.By act
of the last Legislature this county
was placed with Mercer and Hender-
son counties in the Thirty-third sena-
torial district. The history of the
changes in the congressional dis
tricts to which il has belonged is also
interesting. At present with the coun-
tics of Mercer. Henderson, Warren
Hancock and McDonough it forms
the Fourteenth.
From the earliest times he posi-
ton of the county gave il great ad-
vantages in trade. When the river
was the only artery of commerce the
towns located on the Mississippi were
great shipping points for the country
many miles inland and several points
in this county that have since drop
ped almost into oblivion were then
important centers. The county's
prestige was still further augmented
by the completion of the Rock Island
road in 1854. il being the first line to
reach the Mississippi. With the fa-
cilities for shipping manufactures
Sprang into existence and while the
county now is not. comparatively
speaking. so widely known for IFS
trade, in point of productive indus
tries il takes rank wa. the first in
the state. outside of Cook. In agri
cultural interests the county is handi-
capped TO some extent by consider