RE: Chicago State To Add Football?!
Wiki says this (from a now dead Dekalb Historical Society link)
The Kishwaukee River has been exploited, negatively and positively, by humans for thousands of years. One of its more colorful interactions in the past occurred in the city of DeKalb and surrounds the story of Northern Illinois University locating in that city.
In 1893 a new Illinois governor took office, John P. Altgeld. Altgeld had run on a platform which included adding more teacher colleges to the state, specifically in northern Illinois. Altgeld, a Democrat, faced considerable opposition to his plan in the Republican controlled Illinois General Assembly. In order to spur the plan ahead Clinton Rosette, the publisher of the local DeKalb newspaper began to put pressure on Altgeld to fulfill his promises. Then, Isaac Ellwood tossed his hat into the foray. The barbed wire baron used his influence, as a Republican, to press the state legislature, soon a bill was drafted and introduced to build a state teacher's college somewhere in northern Illinois.
As could be imagined many communities were vying for the new college after the bill became law on May 22, 1895. Delegates from Rockford, Freeport, Oregon, Dixon, Fulton and Polo began lobbying the selection committee for the new college to come to their towns. Every one of the communities in the running for the new college was a river town. Rockford, Oregon and Polo each had the scenic Rock River as inticement for the new college. Fulton had the Mississippi River. But DeKalb had only the Kishwaukee River, practically a creek compared to the Rock and, of course, the Mississippi. In July 1895 the selection committee, which included Judge A.A. Goodrich of Chicago, visited each of the communities in the running.
Ellwood noticed how impressed the committee was with the Rock River so he arranged for DeKalb to be the last community visited. The selection committee decided to take a weekend to rest and visit DeKalb on a Monday. The city had a weekend to prepare. What happened next could be described as deceit, skulduggery, or pulling the wool over.
Julys in northern Illinois are often hot and dry and the Kishwaukee River is little more than a trickle at times, at the least its water levels are extremely low. DeKalb had a plan though. The residents of the city agreed to go without water for the weekend and two dams were quickly constructed on the Kishwaukee. Nearly every member of the community turned out to help dredge mud in key locations and replace it with gravel and pebbles.
The selection committee began their inspection tour on Monday morning. As the committee and Ellwood crossed the bridge over what became Lincoln Highway the dam was released giving the impression of a full, scenic river. Just as the committee crossed the bridge a lone fisherman in his boat near the bridge happened to catch a rather large fish in plain sight of the committee. Impressed, the committee also took note of a stringer of large fish attached to the boat. Ellwood completed the ruse, remarking, "The Kish has always provided us with a good supply of fish."
Of course, the other communities trying to attract what would become Northern Illinois University were not so impressed. A July 1895 editorial in the Oregon Republican complained, "Just where this fish came from is unknown, but it looked haggard and footsore, like it had tramped a long distance. There is some talk of stocking the Kish with salt-cured cod. They stand the pressure all right in either a wet or dry season." The committee paid it no mind and DeKalb was accepted as a finalist to be the host site for the new college. On July 15 each of the finalist communities made their pitch to Goodrich in Chicago.
If the river was not enough other prominent DeKalbians offered up their own incentives for the college to come to the small city of 5,000. Jacob Haish offered to donate $100,000 to the college library and Ellwood offered a $30,000 donation to build housing adjacent to the campus. Joseph Glidden, another of the barbed wire barons of DeKalb, offered to donate 70 acres (280,000 m2) of land for the college. The city of DeKalb offered sewer, water and road connections.
On Oct. 1, 1895 news reached DeKalb that it had been selected as the site for the new college. A celebration exploded with fireworks and factory horns blaring and flags waving from nearly every structure.[8]
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