How did Knoxville lose its seat?

Tracking History

Saturday, October 6, 2007

The Tracking History lesson last week revealed that the tiny hamlet of Henderson, north of Galesburg, became the first unofficial seat of government for Knox County in the 1830s.

When Knox County became incorporated, Knoxville was chosen as the official seat of government and a permanent courthouse was constructed on the public square in 1840. The stately two-story red and white brick structure is still in use today as a museum and meeting center.

Unfortunately from the beginning, a fight ensued with Knoxville's neighbor, Galesburg, over the legal rights to host the county seat. Speculation remains today that Galesburg's success in out-dueling Knoxville for the railroad right-of-way enhanced the city's side of the battle. A case can be built that the rapid growth of Galesburg encouraged a bullish right to take over the county seat.

It is interesting to note that William Selden Gale, son of the Rev. George Washington Gale who established Galesburg and Knox College, almost single handedly took on the task of removing the county seat from Knoxville. With the coming of the railroad and the rapid burst of Galesburg's population, the need for attorneys to handle the surge of land property acquisitions soared. These same lawyers soon became extremely irked to drive the five miles from Galesburg to Knoxville to complete their legal matters. It seemed that the main topic became, "Let's move the county seat to Galesburg!"

Knoxville seemed to have the better right to retain the county seat. It was the geographic center of the county and was more accessible to the other townships. The people of Knoxville had built a fine courthouse and its residents and the majority of the adjoining townships couldn't see any advantage in a change. Initially, the original 16 townships, with little exception were satisfied with Knoxville as the county seat.

Although the odds seemed to be stacked high against Galesburg obtaining rights to the county seat, young Selden Gale proved to be a tenacious fighter and political strategist. Gale was one of two Galesburg representatives on the county board of supervisors and quietly laid out his plans to eventually secure a majority on the side of Galesburg.

Meanwhile, in Springfield, Galesburg had suddenly come into political favor in the state legislature. Before the Civil War, the state legislature had been on unfriendly terms with abolitionist Galesburg and had sided with pro-slavery Knoxville during the railroad controversy. The tables turned when both the governor and legislature became Republican like Galesburg. The powerful Galesburg lobby, led by Selden Gale went into action and succeeded in pushing through legislation that allowed putting the issue of where the Knox County seat of government should be located before the county electorate.

Even though Galesburg's wishes were popular in Springfield, the feelings of the majority of Knox County residents changed little. An election was held and Knoxville retained the county seat by a large majority vote. The Galesburg Free Press newspaper visibly mourned the defeat. Another man might have given up the fight, however the defeat gave Selden Gale additional incentive. The continued fight to move the county seat raised a constant shadow over each ensuing meeting of the county supervisors.

Eventually the persistence and political wrangling of Gale resulted in the board of supervisors becoming deadlocked on the issue 13-13. The normal proceedings of the board became so tied up that it interfered with public business. Balloting for a chairman lasted three days and the bickering and squabbling between the rival parties became so intense that choosing the chairman had to be decided by a flip of the coin.

Galesburg's next move was to elect Selden Gale to the state legislature. As soon as Gale arrived in Springfield he rounded up his forces and passed legislation to have another county vote to decide the long-standing issue. Election day came on April 6, 1869. When the vote was concluded, a multitude of citizens flocked to the smoky rooms to witness tellers count the returns. The tabulating went on through the night. Mysteriously enough, Knoxville did not show her hand until early the following day. To the surprise of hundreds, the final results revealed that Knoxville had once again prevailed by a majority of 247.

"Fraud" screamed Galesburg, "You too!" answered Knoxville. Galesburg people were greatly angered; Knoxville's vote was three times as large as its perceived population. The whole county was in uproar and a special meeting of the county supervisors and an eventual court battle revealed that Knoxville's legal vote total was 639, not 1,520. Later, it was revealed that Knoxville truly thought that Galesburg would stuff the ballot boxes and that Knoxville people decided to "out-stuff em."

To make a very long story short, Galesburg and Selden Gale succeeded in removing the county seat from Knoxville. One old timer said, "There's nothing like a county seat fight to stir up the people inside, people go just plum crazy!"

Whether or not there are people who are still bitter about the unfortunate fight over where the seat of Knox County government was rightfully to be is not completely clear. One might easily conclude that Knoxville should be saluted for losing the battle with "class" and for sure, continues displaying that "class" to this day.

Tom Wilson is a local historian. Write to him at wilsont29@insightbb.com or at The Register-Mail, 140 S. Prairie St., Galesburg, IL 61401.