Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 05.djvu/149

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ILLINOIS
121
ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL

were $28,223,025,000, an increase over the previous year of $2,581,154,000.

Education.—The school population of the State is about 1,700,000, and the enrollment in public schools about 1,200,000. There are about 35,000 teachers employed, of whom about 26,000 are women. About $25,000,000 is annually paid to teachers and the annual yearly salary of teachers is about $700 annually. A total of $40,000,000 is paid annually for education purposes. There are five normal schools, with 260 teachers, and about 12,000 pupils.

Among the most notable colleges are the University of Chicago, Northwestern University at Evanston, University of Illinois at Urbana, Lake Forest University at Lake Forest, Knox College at Galesburg, Augustana College at Rock Island, Northwestern College at Napierville, Illinois Wesleyan at Bloomington, James Millikin at Decatur, Loyola University at Chicago.

Churches.—The strongest denominations in the State are the Roman Catholics, Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, Lutheran, Synodical Conference, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian, German Evangelical Synod, Congregational, Protestant Episcopal, and United Brethren.

Railroads.—The railway mileage in the State in 1919 was 13,413 miles of single main line track. There was practically no new construction during the year. The roads having the longest mileage are the Illinois Central, the Wabash, and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis.

Finances.—The receipts for the fiscal year 1919 amounted to $32,240,681, and the disbursements to $26,374,900. On Sept. 30, 1919, there was a balance in the treasury of $26,861,321. The State has a very small bonded debt amounting to about $17,500.

Charities and Corrections.—The most important charitable and correctional institutions are hospitals at Elgin, Kankakee, Jacksonville, Anna, Watertown, Peoria, Chicago, Chester, and Alton; school and colony at Lincoln; schools for the deaf and blind at Jacksonville; training school for girls at Greneva; training school for boys at St. Charles; industrial school for the blind, at Chicago. There are also other institutions for the care of the blind, deaf and the mentally defective. The State spent over $7,500,000 annually for the support of these institutions. There are about 260 benevolent institutions, hospitals, orphanages, homes and schools for deaf and blind in the State.

State Government.—The governor is elected for a term of four years and re- ceives a salary of $12,000 per annum. Legislative sessions are held biennially and have no time limit. The Legislature has 51 members in the Senate and 153 in the House. There are 27 representatives in Congress. The State government in 1920 was Republican.

History.—The first white settlement in Illinois was the Jesuit mission at the Indian village Kaskaskia, founded by Marquette in 1673. In 1679 La Salle built Fort Crevecœur on the Illinois river near Lake Peoria, and in 1680 established a colony there. After the cession of Canada and the French possessions E. of the Mississippi to England in 1763, Illinois was considered part of Virginia, and in 1778 a military force from there seized Kaskaskia and obtained allegiance from the inhabitants. It was part of a county of Virginia till 1787, when it became part of the Northwest Territory, and in 1809 it became the Territory of Illinois. On Aug. 15, 1812, the garrison of Fort Chicago, and nearly all the settlers near by were massacred by the Indian allies of the British. Illinois was admitted to the Union in 1818 and in 1832 the Black Hawk War broke out. Several massacres occurred, but the Fox and Sac Indians were finally removed from the State. Hostility to the Mormons led to the murder, by a mob, of the founders of the sect, Hiram and Joseph Smith, in 1844, and the subsequent emigration of the Mormons from the State. In 1847 a new constitution was framed and became operative the same year. The present Constitution was ratified, July 2, 1870.

ILLINOIS COLLEGE, an institution for higher education, founded in 1829 at Jacksonville, Ill. In 1919 there were 26 members of the faculty and 439 students. The library contains about 15,000 volumes and the endowment amounts to about $400,000. President, C. H. Rammelkamp.

ILLINOIS RIVER, the largest river in Illinois; formed in Grundy county by the union of the Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers, and flowing a general W. and S. W. course, enters the Mississippi river at Grafton, between Jersey and Calhoun counties. During its course it receives several rivers of considerable size, and affords communication between important towns and villages, being navigable for steamboats for about 286 miles above its mouth.

ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL INSTITUTE, an institution for normal and higher education, founded at Normal, Ill., in 1857. In 1919 there were 70 mem-