John Peter Altgeld
Encyclopedia
John Peter Altgeld was the 20th Governor of the U.S. state
of Illinois
from 1893 until 1897. He was the first Democratic governor of that state since the 1850s. A leading figure of the Progressive movement
, Altgeld improved workplace safety
and child labor
laws, pardoned three of the men convicted of the Haymarket Affair
, and rejected calls in 1894 to break up the Pullman strike
with force. In 1896 he was a leader of the left wing of the Democratic Party, opposing President Grover Cleveland
and the conservative Bourbon Democrats. He was defeated for reelection in 1896 in an intensely fought, bitter campaign.
in the German
Westerwald
, the son of John P. and Mary Altgeld. He came to America early in life with his father's family, who settled on a farm near Mansfield, Ohio
.
He left home at age 16 to join the Union Army
(lying about his age), where he fought in Virginia
with an ill-fated regiment and nearly died of fever. He then worked on his father's farm, studied in the library of a neighbor and at a private school in Lexington, Ohio
, and for two years taught school.
After a brief stint in an Ohio seminary, he walked to Missouri
and studied to become a lawyer while working on itinerant railroad construction crews. He was elected district attorney of Andrew County, Missouri
, and a year later resigned and moved to Chicago, where he founded a prosperous law firm that soon employed such rising stars as Clarence Darrow
.
He also became wealthy from a series of savvy real estate dealings and development projects, most notably the Unity Building (1891), the 16-story office building that was at that time Chicago's tallest building. In January 1890, Altgeld bought a lot at what is now 127 North Dearborn Street in downtown Chicago, and he established the Unity Company to build and manage the future Unity Building. He indiscriminately contributed his own fortune toward the endeavor, and for a while the construction was moving more quickly than expected. However, this led to a $100,000 mistake and much of the framework of the building had to be rebuilt. Altgeld also made an error by trying to borrow $400,000 from John R. Walsh, president of the Jennings Trust Company and of the Chicago National Bank. Technicalities in the contract caused many problems for Altgeld. Eventually a new contract was signed, but Altgeld was only able to borrow $300,000 from Walsh. He ended up raising the rest of the money himself, and the construction of the Unity Building was completed. In 1893, he declared that the Unity Building had given him the most personal satisfaction of all his achievements.
He was married to Emma Ford, the daughter of John Ford and Ruth Smith, in 1877 in Richland County, Ohio
.
, “is synonymous with the dawn of the Progressive era.” In 1884, Altgeld published an essay on penal reform entitled, Our Penal Machinery and Its Victims. His essay argued that rather than reform criminals, incarceration produced hardened criminals. Altgeld ran for Congress in Illinois's Fourth Congressional District in 1884. Although this district was heavily Republican, Altgeld garnered 45.5 percent of the vote in his race against incumbent George Adams
, a better showing than well-known Democrat Lambert Tree
had made two years earlier. As a Republican leader recalled, “He (Altgeld) was not elected, but our executive committee was pretty badly frightened by the strong canvass he made.” He was elected to a judgeship in 1886, and served on the bench until 1891.
He was drafted by the Democrats to run for governor, and narrowly defeated incumbent Joseph W. Fifer
. He suffered a nervous breakdown shortly after his victory, and nearly died of a concomitant fever. He managed to appear at his inauguration, but was only able to deliver a brief portion of his speech. Although the General Assembly hall was so warm as to cause several men to faint, Altgeld, clad in a heavy topcoat, was pale and visibly shivering. The clerk of the Assembly delivered the remainder of his speech.
As governor, Altgeld spearheaded the nation's most stringent child labor
and workplace safety
laws, appointed women to important positions in the state government, and vastly increased state funding for education.
Historically, Altgeld is remembered chiefly for pardoning the three surviving men convicted in the 1886 Haymarket bombing (four others had already been executed, one committed suicide in prison). After reviewing their cases, he concluded, as have subsequent scholars, that there had been a serious miscarriage of justice in their prosecutions. He came under intense attack.
In 1894, the Pullman Rail Strike
, led by Eugene V. Debs
, flared into riots, sabotage, and crucially, disruption of U.S. Mail
deliveries, a Federal
concern. Altgeld, however, refused to authorize President Grover Cleveland
to send in Federal troops to quell the disturbances. Altgeld wrote to President Cleveland indicating that reports of strike-related violence had been exaggerrated and warned that real violence would begin only as a result of sending soldiers. Citing Article IV of the Constitution, which permits federal troops to enter a state only if condition of insurrection exists, Altgeld argued that there was no legal bearing to a decision to send the military to quell the strike. Finally, he took the occasion to criticize the attorney general's misuse of court injunctions under the Sherman Act, writing: “This decision marks a turning point in our history for it establishes a new form of government never before heard of among men; that is government by injunction. . . . Under this new order of things a federal judge becomes at once a legislator, court and executioner.” . But on July 4, 1894, Cleveland went ahead and sent several thousand troops to Chicago without Altgeld's approval, an action later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Altgeld's opposition was seen as a highly unusual stance for a state governor at that time.
The Pullman incident and the Haymarket pardons were used against Altgeld by his conservative enemies. In 1896 Altgeld was ineligible to run for president (since he was born in Germany), but he led the fight against the Cleveland forces. Altgeld publicly broke from Cleveland and his conservative supporters. Altgeld helped split the Democratic Party during the 1896 presidential election into Free Silver
and Bourbon Democrats. He ran for reelection on the same ticket with Democratic nominee candidate William Jennings Bryan
. Altgeld had not supported Bryan for the nomination and hesitated to support the “Free Silver” plank that was central to Bryan's campaign. Harper's Weekly
, warned that Bryan would be a puppet of Altgeld, whom it referred to as “the ambitious and unscrupulous Illinois communist.” However Bryan, who was being hurt by Republican charges that he was a stooge for Altgeld, avoided the governor and did not endorse him.
Republicans in Illinois focused their attacks on Altgeld. Theodore Roosevelt
, before an audience of 13,000 cheering partisans in Chicago, said Altgeld was “one who would connive at wholesale murder,” who “condones and encourages the most infamous of murders,” and who “would substitute for the government of Washington and Lincoln a red welter of lawlessness and dishonesty as fantastic and vicious as the Paris Commune.” Altgeld campaigned energetically despite his failing health, and was defeated by John R. Tanner; Altgeld outpolled Bryan by 10,000 votes.
Altgeld ended his political career with a run for mayor of Chicago as the candidate of the Municipal Ownership Party in 1899. Although an early favorite to win, he finished a humiliating third, garnering only 15.56 percent of the vote.
while governor, impairing his ability to walk. He lost all of his property except his heavily mortgaged personal residence, and only the intervention of his friend and former protégé, Clarence Darrow
, saved him from complete financial ruin. Altgeld was working as a lawyer in Darrow's law firm when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while delivering a speech on behalf of the Boers in Joliet, Illinois
in March 1902. He was 54 years old when he died. Thousands filed past his body as it lay in state in the lobby of the Chicago Public Library
, and he was eulogized by Darrow and by Hull House
founder Jane Addams
.
Altgeld is buried in Uptown, Chicago
's Graceland Cemetery
.
Poet Vachel Lindsay
celebtrated his hero, “Altgeld the Eagle”:
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
is on the National Register of Historic Places
. It is currently home to the Mathematics Department, and had previously housed the College of Law and the University Library. The building is one of five castle-themed university structures in the state of Illinois that were particularly influenced by the former governor. The other four are the eponymous edifices at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
and Northern Illinois University
, as well as John W. Cook Hall
at Illinois State University
and Old Main at Eastern Illinois University
. Altgeld Gardens, one of the first housing projects in the United States, was named after the former governor.
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
from 1893 until 1897. He was the first Democratic governor of that state since the 1850s. A leading figure of the Progressive movement
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era in the United States was a period of social activism and political reform that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political...
, Altgeld improved workplace safety
Workplace safety
Workplace safety & health is a category of management responsibility in places of employment.To ensure the safety and health of workers, managers establish a focus on safety that can include elements such as:* management leadership and commitment...
and child labor
Child labor
Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries...
laws, pardoned three of the men convicted of the Haymarket Affair
Haymarket affair
The Haymarket affair was a demonstration and unrest that took place on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at the Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a rally in support of striking workers. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police as they dispersed the public meeting...
, and rejected calls in 1894 to break up the Pullman strike
Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads that occurred in the United States in 1894. The conflict began in the town of Pullman, Illinois on May 11 when approximately 3,000 employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent...
with force. In 1896 he was a leader of the left wing of the Democratic Party, opposing President Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
and the conservative Bourbon Democrats. He was defeated for reelection in 1896 in an intensely fought, bitter campaign.
Early years
Altgeld was born in the town of SeltersSelters, Rhineland-Palatinate
Selters is a town in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Selters is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Selters, a kind of collective municipality.-Location:...
in the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Westerwald
Westerwald
The Westerwald is a low mountain range on the right bank of the River Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhine Massif...
, the son of John P. and Mary Altgeld. He came to America early in life with his father's family, who settled on a farm near Mansfield, Ohio
Mansfield, Ohio
Mansfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Richland County. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio in the western foothills of the Allegheny Plateau, approximately southwest of Cleveland and northeast of Columbus....
.
He left home at age 16 to join the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
(lying about his age), where he fought in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
with an ill-fated regiment and nearly died of fever. He then worked on his father's farm, studied in the library of a neighbor and at a private school in Lexington, Ohio
Lexington, Ohio
Lexington is a village in Richland County in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is part of the Mansfield, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,822 at the 2010 census, an increase from 4,165 in 2000....
, and for two years taught school.
After a brief stint in an Ohio seminary, he walked to Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
and studied to become a lawyer while working on itinerant railroad construction crews. He was elected district attorney of Andrew County, Missouri
Andrew County, Missouri
-External links:* from University of Missouri Division of Special Collections, Archives, and Rare Books...
, and a year later resigned and moved to Chicago, where he founded a prosperous law firm that soon employed such rising stars as Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
.
He also became wealthy from a series of savvy real estate dealings and development projects, most notably the Unity Building (1891), the 16-story office building that was at that time Chicago's tallest building. In January 1890, Altgeld bought a lot at what is now 127 North Dearborn Street in downtown Chicago, and he established the Unity Company to build and manage the future Unity Building. He indiscriminately contributed his own fortune toward the endeavor, and for a while the construction was moving more quickly than expected. However, this led to a $100,000 mistake and much of the framework of the building had to be rebuilt. Altgeld also made an error by trying to borrow $400,000 from John R. Walsh, president of the Jennings Trust Company and of the Chicago National Bank. Technicalities in the contract caused many problems for Altgeld. Eventually a new contract was signed, but Altgeld was only able to borrow $300,000 from Walsh. He ended up raising the rest of the money himself, and the construction of the Unity Building was completed. In 1893, he declared that the Unity Building had given him the most personal satisfaction of all his achievements.
He was married to Emma Ford, the daughter of John Ford and Ruth Smith, in 1877 in Richland County, Ohio
Richland County, Ohio
Richland County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 124,475. It is included in the Mansfield, Ohio, Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Mansfield–Bucyrus Combined Statistical Area....
.
Political career
Altgeld's name, according to historian Philip DrayPhilip Dray
Philip Dray is an American writer and independent public historian, known for his comprehensive analyses of American scientific, racial, and labor history.-Awards:...
, “is synonymous with the dawn of the Progressive era.” In 1884, Altgeld published an essay on penal reform entitled, Our Penal Machinery and Its Victims. His essay argued that rather than reform criminals, incarceration produced hardened criminals. Altgeld ran for Congress in Illinois's Fourth Congressional District in 1884. Although this district was heavily Republican, Altgeld garnered 45.5 percent of the vote in his race against incumbent George Adams
George E. Adams
George Everett Adams was a U.S. Representative from Illinois.Born in Keene, New Hampshire, Adams moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois, in 1853.He attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire....
, a better showing than well-known Democrat Lambert Tree
Lambert Tree
Lambert Tree , was a circuit court judge, ambassador, and patron of the arts. Judge Lambert Tree was a Chicago Circuit Court judge who achieved fame by presiding over the indictment, trial, and conviction of corrupt City Council members. He lost the 1882 U.S. Senate race by one vote, but in 1885...
had made two years earlier. As a Republican leader recalled, “He (Altgeld) was not elected, but our executive committee was pretty badly frightened by the strong canvass he made.” He was elected to a judgeship in 1886, and served on the bench until 1891.
He was drafted by the Democrats to run for governor, and narrowly defeated incumbent Joseph W. Fifer
Joseph W. Fifer
Joseph Wilson Fifer was the 19th Governor of Illinois, serving from 1889 to 1893. He also served as a member of the Illinois Senate, 1881–83.“Private Joe” Fifer was born at Staunton, Virginia on October 28, 1840...
. He suffered a nervous breakdown shortly after his victory, and nearly died of a concomitant fever. He managed to appear at his inauguration, but was only able to deliver a brief portion of his speech. Although the General Assembly hall was so warm as to cause several men to faint, Altgeld, clad in a heavy topcoat, was pale and visibly shivering. The clerk of the Assembly delivered the remainder of his speech.
Labor issues
Child labor
Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries...
and workplace safety
Workplace safety
Workplace safety & health is a category of management responsibility in places of employment.To ensure the safety and health of workers, managers establish a focus on safety that can include elements such as:* management leadership and commitment...
laws, appointed women to important positions in the state government, and vastly increased state funding for education.
Historically, Altgeld is remembered chiefly for pardoning the three surviving men convicted in the 1886 Haymarket bombing (four others had already been executed, one committed suicide in prison). After reviewing their cases, he concluded, as have subsequent scholars, that there had been a serious miscarriage of justice in their prosecutions. He came under intense attack.
In 1894, the Pullman Rail Strike
Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads that occurred in the United States in 1894. The conflict began in the town of Pullman, Illinois on May 11 when approximately 3,000 employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent...
, led by Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
, flared into riots, sabotage, and crucially, disruption of U.S. Mail
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
deliveries, a Federal
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
concern. Altgeld, however, refused to authorize President Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
to send in Federal troops to quell the disturbances. Altgeld wrote to President Cleveland indicating that reports of strike-related violence had been exaggerrated and warned that real violence would begin only as a result of sending soldiers. Citing Article IV of the Constitution, which permits federal troops to enter a state only if condition of insurrection exists, Altgeld argued that there was no legal bearing to a decision to send the military to quell the strike. Finally, he took the occasion to criticize the attorney general's misuse of court injunctions under the Sherman Act, writing: “This decision marks a turning point in our history for it establishes a new form of government never before heard of among men; that is government by injunction. . . . Under this new order of things a federal judge becomes at once a legislator, court and executioner.” . But on July 4, 1894, Cleveland went ahead and sent several thousand troops to Chicago without Altgeld's approval, an action later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Altgeld's opposition was seen as a highly unusual stance for a state governor at that time.
The Pullman incident and the Haymarket pardons were used against Altgeld by his conservative enemies. In 1896 Altgeld was ineligible to run for president (since he was born in Germany), but he led the fight against the Cleveland forces. Altgeld publicly broke from Cleveland and his conservative supporters. Altgeld helped split the Democratic Party during the 1896 presidential election into Free Silver
Free Silver
Free Silver was an important United States political policy issue in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Its advocates were in favor of an inflationary monetary policy using the "free coinage of silver" as opposed to the less inflationary Gold Standard; its supporters were called...
and Bourbon Democrats. He ran for reelection on the same ticket with Democratic nominee candidate William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
. Altgeld had not supported Bryan for the nomination and hesitated to support the “Free Silver” plank that was central to Bryan's campaign. Harper's Weekly
Harper's Weekly
Harper's Weekly was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor...
, warned that Bryan would be a puppet of Altgeld, whom it referred to as “the ambitious and unscrupulous Illinois communist.” However Bryan, who was being hurt by Republican charges that he was a stooge for Altgeld, avoided the governor and did not endorse him.
Republicans in Illinois focused their attacks on Altgeld. Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, before an audience of 13,000 cheering partisans in Chicago, said Altgeld was “one who would connive at wholesale murder,” who “condones and encourages the most infamous of murders,” and who “would substitute for the government of Washington and Lincoln a red welter of lawlessness and dishonesty as fantastic and vicious as the Paris Commune.” Altgeld campaigned energetically despite his failing health, and was defeated by John R. Tanner; Altgeld outpolled Bryan by 10,000 votes.
Altgeld ended his political career with a run for mayor of Chicago as the candidate of the Municipal Ownership Party in 1899. Although an early favorite to win, he finished a humiliating third, garnering only 15.56 percent of the vote.
Final years
Sickly since his brush with death in the Civil War, Altgeld had suffered from locomotor ataxiaTabes dorsalis
Tabes dorsalis is a slow degeneration of the sensory neurons that carry afferent information. The degenerating nerves are in the dorsal columns of the spinal cord and carry information that help maintain a person's sense of position , vibration, and discriminative touch.-Cause:Tabes dorsalis is...
while governor, impairing his ability to walk. He lost all of his property except his heavily mortgaged personal residence, and only the intervention of his friend and former protégé, Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
, saved him from complete financial ruin. Altgeld was working as a lawyer in Darrow's law firm when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while delivering a speech on behalf of the Boers in Joliet, Illinois
Joliet, Illinois
Joliet is a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. As of the 2010 census, the city was the fourth-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 147,433. It continues to be Illinois' fastest growing...
in March 1902. He was 54 years old when he died. Thousands filed past his body as it lay in state in the lobby of the Chicago Public Library
Chicago Public Library
The Chicago Public Library is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 79 branches, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the city....
, and he was eulogized by Darrow and by Hull House
Hull House
Hull House is a settlement house in the United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located in the Near West Side of , Hull House opened its doors to the recently arrived European immigrants. By 1911, Hull House had grown to 13 buildings. In 1912 the Hull...
founder Jane Addams
Jane Addams
Jane Addams was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace...
.
Altgeld is buried in Uptown, Chicago
Uptown, Chicago
Uptown is one of Chicago’s 77 community areas. Uptown has well defined boundaries. They are: Foster on the north; Lake Michigan on the east; Montrose , and Irving Park on the south; Ravenswood , and Clark on the west. Uptown borders three community areas and Lake Michigan...
's Graceland Cemetery
Graceland Cemetery
Graceland Cemetery is a large Victorian era cemetery located in the north side community area of Uptown, in the city of Chicago, Illinois, USA. Established in 1860, its main entrance is at the intersection of Clark Street and Irving Park Road...
.
Poet Vachel Lindsay
Vachel Lindsay
Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. He is considered the father of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted...
celebtrated his hero, “Altgeld the Eagle”:
Where is Altgeld, brave as the truth, Whose name the few still say with tears? Gone to join the ironies with Old John Brown, Whose fame rings loud for a thousand years. |
Namesakes
Altgeld HallAltgeld Hall
Altgeld Hall, built in 1897 on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus, United States, is home to the Department of Mathematics and the Mathematics Library. Altgeld Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. A feature of Altgeld Hall is the University Chime...
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
is on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. It is currently home to the Mathematics Department, and had previously housed the College of Law and the University Library. The building is one of five castle-themed university structures in the state of Illinois that were particularly influenced by the former governor. The other four are the eponymous edifices at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a public research university located in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1869, SIUC is the flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system...
and Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University is a state university and research institution located in DeKalb, Illinois, with satellite centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon. It was originally founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895 by Illinois Governor John P...
, as well as John W. Cook Hall
John W. Cook Hall
John W. Cook Hall, or Cook Hall, is a building which resembles a castle on the Quad of Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. Cook Hall, named for the university's fourth president, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since the winter of 1986.Cook Hall is one of...
at Illinois State University
Illinois State University
Illinois State University , founded in 1857, is the oldest public university in Illinois; it is located in the town of Normal. ISU is considered a "national university" that grants a variety of doctoral degrees and strongly emphasizes research; it is also recognized as one of the top ten largest...
and Old Main at Eastern Illinois University
Eastern Illinois University
Eastern Illinois University is a state university located in Charleston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a comprehensive university with a...
. Altgeld Gardens, one of the first housing projects in the United States, was named after the former governor.