126 



CITIES, AMERICAN. (ELGIN, EL PASO, EMPORIA, FITCHBURQ.) 



20 miles of street railway. The public schools 

 employ 110 teachers and occupy 10 buildings. 

 There are two prosperous business colleges, with 

 a large number of students. Griswold College, 

 under the care of the Protestant Episcopal 

 Church, has valuable property and considerable 

 endowment, This institution includes Kemper 

 Hall, a boarding and day school for boys, and 

 St. Katharine's Hall for girls. Both these insti- 

 tutions have a wide reputation and attract pu- 

 pils from distant States. St. Ambrose's Acad- 

 emy and the Academy of the Immaculate Con- 

 cep'tion, for boys and girls respectively, are un- 

 der the control of the Roman Catholic bish- 

 op of Davenport. Both institutions have hand- 

 some buildings and a wide patronage. The 

 Soldiers' Orphans' Home is a State institution in 

 the suburbs of Davenport; its buildings and 

 grounds are extensive, and it provides a home for 

 more than 300 poor children. Davenport has 5 

 daily papers (4 in the English language and 1 

 in German) and has 6 weekly papers (3 Eng- 

 lish, 2 German, and 1 Swedish). There are 35 re- 

 ligious organizations, nearly all having houses of 

 worship. The Academy of Natural Sciences is a 

 prosperous institution. Its museum contains 

 large and remarkably valuable collections, espe- 

 cially rich in remains of the mound builders. 

 The Library Association has a valuable library 

 and a building of its own. Davenport was laid 

 out in 1836, and became a city in 1851. 



Elgin, a city of Kane County, 111., on both 

 banks of Fox river, which is spanned by three 

 wooden bridges, and on the Chicago and North- 

 western ami Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul 

 Railroads, 36 miles west-northwest of Chicago ; 

 population in 1890, 17,000. The streets are 

 broad, the public and business buildings of 

 brick and stone, and there are many shade trees. 

 There is good water power, good water supply, 

 and fire protection with 200 hydrants; electric 

 street lighting, and an electric street railroad 

 in process of construction. The water and 

 street-lighting plants are owned by the city. It 

 is noted as the seat of the national watch fac- 

 tory established in 1866, which employs nearly 

 3,000 persons, many of them women, and manu- 

 factures between 400 and 500 watches daily. It 

 has 2 milk-condensing companies, a board of 

 trade for dairy products, butter and cheese 

 factories, 2 national banks, 1 savings bank, a 

 loan and homestead association, 1 large publish- 

 ing house (employing 300 persons), 2 private 

 electric-lighting companies, a public library, 2 

 daily and 5 weekly newspapers, 18 churches, 12 

 public-school buildings (pupils enrolled 2,549, 

 teachers 52), and 4 private schools. The prop- 

 erty valuation in 1888 was $8,224,539 ; the mu- 

 nicipal indebtedness, $137,000 ; school indebted- 

 ness, $66,000 ; total, $203,000. 



El Paso, a city and the county seat of El 

 Paso County, Texas, on Rio Grande river, in the 

 extreme western part of the State. It is the 

 headquarters of one of the largest customs- reve- 

 nue districts in the country. The population in 

 1880 was 736 ; in 1890 it was 10,836, an increase 

 of 10,100 (1.372-28 per cent.). El Paso is a smelt- 

 ing center for the minerals found in Texas and 

 neighboring sections of Mexico, being the out- 

 let into that country through the Texas Pacific 

 and Southern Pacific Railroads, which connect 



there with the Mexican Central. In 1889 there 

 were 2 ore smelters, with capital of $200,000, 

 employing 300 men, and consuming raw material 

 to the value of $3,000,000. The value of the 

 product was $3,835,000. In 1882 the value of 

 imports of coin and bullion in the customs dis- 

 trict of Paso del Norte, of which El Paso is port- 

 was $313,753 ; in 1885, $9,860,301 ; and in 1888, 

 $13,967,142. The total value in seven years end, 

 ing June 30, 1888, was $55,678,676. The total of 

 collections by the custom house on articles of 

 all sorts in the same period was $370,065.74. 

 The exports to Mexico from the United States, 

 through El Paso, in 1887 and eleven months of 

 1888, were valued at $11,087,087.96. The city is 

 also the headquarters of large cattle interests of 

 the two countries, and has a large refrigerating 

 company for preserving meats. The capacity in 

 1889 was for 100 beeves, 100 sheep, and 100 hogs, 

 and 66,000 pounds of ice were manufactured 

 daily. The other industries in 1889 were a 

 foundry and machine company, 2 cigar factories 

 with capacity of $21,000, 1 planing mill, 1 candy 

 and 2 ice factories, 1 marble works, and 1 grist 

 mill. The mercantile establishments number 

 115. Three national banks have an aggregate 

 capital of $350,000. The assessments of the 

 city in 1889 showed taxable values amounting to 

 $5,870,325, including $1,343,837 of personal prop- 

 erty and $1,209,582 in city improvements. There 

 are 3 daily and 4 weekly newspapers ; one of the 

 last is in the Spanish language. The custom 

 house erected at El Paso by the United States 

 Government cost $150,000. 



Emporia, a city, county seat of Lyon County, 

 Kan. ; population in 1890, 7,550. It is beau- 

 tifully situated on a rolling prairie between Cot- 

 tonwood and Neosho rivers, a few miles above 

 their confluence, and has good natural drainage. 

 The reservoir system of water works was com- 

 pleted in 1888 at a cost of $200.000, insuring an 

 almost unlimited supply of water from Neosho 

 river. The State Normal School, with an en- 

 rollment of 1,000 students, has 15 professors, 

 and receives an annual income of $28,000. The 

 College of Emporia, established by the Presby- 

 terian Synod of Kansas in 1884, has about 150 

 students. The building, of Cottonwood river 

 limestone, is on a commanding elevation and 

 displays much architectural beauty. The pub- 

 lic schools of the city are of a high order. 

 There are 33 teachers and an enrollment of about 

 1,600 pupils. Emporia has 14 church edifices. 

 There are 4 banks, 3 daily papers, gas and electric 

 lights, and street cars, but no saloons. The Atchi- 

 son, Topeka and Sante F6" and the Missouri Pacific 

 Railroads, with their numerous branches, afford 

 facilities for transportation. The former has 

 here extensive repair shops and stock yards. 

 Emporia is the center of one of the best agri- 

 cultural districts of the State. The bottom lands 

 are rich and the yield of grain in favorable sea- 

 sons is enormous.' 



Fitchburg, a half-shire town of Worcester 

 County, Mass,, 24 miles north of Worcester 

 and 50 miles west of Boston. It was origi- 

 nally a part of Lunenburg, and was set off and 

 incorporated a town Feb. 3, 1764 : incorpo- 

 rated a city March 8, 1872. The population in 

 1885 was 15,375 ; in 1890 it was 22,007. The 

 north branch of Nashua river flows through the 



