1885

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1885 - Maurice Joyce, an anti-Bowmanite is elected to a two year term as mayor.

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East St. Louis will become infamous for its unsolved crimes and murder cases. Former four-time mayor John Bowman is assassinated while walking to his home (the gothic house) at the Howe Institute on 10th and College where he lived with his third wife. He is shot one time at close range (the bullet struck his spine and killed him instantly) by a .41 caliber American Bulldog revolver. He had recently organized a Citizen's Committee to put an end to the corrupt practices and rampant crime that had a stranglehold on the city.

He was a graduate of the University of Heidelberg and fled the country after participating in the ill-fated liberal revolutions of 1848. He was a tireless promoter of the city. The former mayor gave the site for St. Patrick's church and contributed a generous sum for St. Henry's church. He established the city's first public library.

Each year he personally gave $1,000 to be distributed to the poor of the city. Bowman was responsible for bringing the Vanderbilt interests to the city by promoting the stock yards. He made East St. Louis be to St. Louis what Brooklyn was to New York City.

He made many enemies by fighting the river front monopoly held by Wiggins Ferry and by pushing through the high grade ordinances. Bowman was the city's leading booster and as a lawyer he had his hand in everything. His estate at the time of his death was worth over $200,000.

Another tragedy befalls the city. Thomas Winstanley dies after being gored by an ox on his farm.

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 Thomas Furlong, the Jay Gould railroad detective who earlier broke up a ring of boxcar thieves, finds two witnesses who say that Bowman was killed by two city policemen. Some think that his death was bought and paid for by the Wiggins Ferry monopoly because Bowman was representing the other side in a lawsuit that could have cost them plenty. However, the two witnesses mysteriously disappear and his killing is never solved. A reign of terror grips the city after Bowman's assassination. Gangs of thugs and cut-throats roamed the city assaulting and robbing citizens with impunity. James W. Kirk, crusading editor of the Gazette (forerunner of the Journal), fought off two men with brass knuckles on Missouri Avenue. East St. Louis continues to be the vice playground of St. Louisans.

 

Charles Hissrich establishes the First Mutual Savings and Loan Association. Other prominent incorporators included former railroad engineer Melbern M. Stephens, proprietor of a new hotel called the Fourth Ward House, Anthony Isch, Daniel Sullivan, M. Baker, and two brothers active in insurance and real estate, Stephen and Henry Sexton. The company became the forerunner of Illini Federal, which was located on Route 159 near St. Clair Square in Fairview Heights.

Live Stock Exchange is organized at National City.

The Women's Excelsior Club is organized for the purpose of combating the consumption of alcohol.

C. W. Spiesbach begins a manufacturing firm specializing in hardwood stairs, office furniture and interior wood fixtures. They made the fixtures for Southern Illinois Bank and National Stock Yards Bank, as well as the M. L. Harris Real Estate office.

 

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