Joseph Medill
26th Mayor of Chicago
In office 1871–1873
Preceded by	Roswell B. Mason
Succeeded by	(Lester L. Bond),Harvey Doolittle Colvin
Personal details
Born	(1823-04-06)April 6, 1823 Saint John, New Brunswick,British North America
Died	March 16, 1899(1899-03-16) (aged 75) San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Resting place	Graceland Cemetery
Political party	Free Soil, Whig, Republican
Spouse	Katherine "Kitty" Patrick ​ ​ (m. 1852)​
Children	3
Residence(s)	Wheaton,Illinois
Signature

Joseph Medill (April 6, 1823 – March 16, 1899) was a Canadian-American newspaper editor, publisher, andRepublican Party politician. He was co-owner and managing editor of theChicago Tribune, and he wasMayor of Chicago from after theGreat Chicago Fire of 1871 until 1873.

Joseph Medill was born April 6, 1823, inSaint John,New Brunswick,British North America, to Margaret and William Medill. His parents wereScots-Irish. In 1832, the family moved toMassillon, Ohio. He grew up on a farm and was taught English grammar, Latin, logic and philosophy from Reverend Hawkins, a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church inCanton. He graduated from the Massillon Academy in 1843. He read law underHiram Griswold and wasadmitted to the Ohio Bar in 1846.^[1][2]

After joining the bar, he started a law practice withGeorge W. McIlvaine. They dissolved their practice after three years.^[2]

In 1859 Medill purchased theCoshocton Democratic Whig then renamed the paper as theDemocratic Whig. In 1853, Medill andEdwin Cowles started theLeader, a newspaper inCleveland,Ohio. (It was later absorbed byThe Plain Dealer.) In 1854, theTribune's part-owner, Captain J. D. Webster, asked Medill to become the paper's managing editor. Medill was further encouraged to come toChicago by Dr. Charles H. Ray ofGalena, Illinois, and editorHorace Greeley of theNew York Tribune.^{[citation needed]}

In 1855, Medill sold his interest in theLeader to Cowles and bought theTribune in partnership with Dr. Ray andAlfred Cowles (Edwin's brother).^[3][4]

Under Medill's management, theTribune flourished, becoming one of the largest newspapers in Chicago. Medill served as its managing editor until 1864, whenHorace White became editor-in-chief. At that time Medill left day-to-day operations of theTribune for political activities.^{[citation needed]}

But White clashed with Medill over thepresidential election of 1872. So, in 1873 Medill bought additional equity from Cowles and from White, becoming majority owner. In 1874, he replaced White as editor-in-chief. Medill served as editor-in-chief until his death.^{[citation needed]}

Medill was a leading Republican in Chicago.^[5] Under Medill, theTribune became the leading Republican newspaper in Chicago. Medill was strongly anti-slavery, supporting both theFree-Soil cause andAbolitionism. Medill was a major supporter ofAbraham Lincoln in the 1850s. Medill and theTribune were instrumental in Lincoln's presidential nomination, and were equally supportive of theUnion cause during theAmerican Civil War. TheTribune's chief adversary through this period was theChicago Times, which supported theDemocrats.

Medill was among Chicago'sProtestant elites (see,WASP). His rabid anti-Irish sentiment was published daily in The Chicago Tribune. He regularly dismissed the Irish as lazy and shiftless. “Who does not know that the most depraved, debased, worthless and irredeemable drunkards and sots which curse the community are Irish Catholics?” This came even as Irish laborers worked feverishly to complete Chicago's stately St. Patrick's church at Adams and Desplaines Streets in the mid-1850s.^[6]

In 1864, Medill left theTribune editorship for political activity, which occupied him for the next ten years. He was appointed byPresident Grant to the firstCivil Service Commission. In 1870, he was elected as a delegate to the IllinoisConstitutional convention.^[1]

Medill joined withSamuel Snowden Hayes andRosell Hough (prominent ChicagoDemocrats) in order to oppose conditions ofmilitary draft laws during theAmerican Civil War, feeling that the government was demanding too many troops to be drafted out ofCook County. On February 23, 1865, they met with President Lincoln. On February 27, they had a meeting with both Lincoln and Secretary of WarEdwin Stanton. Stanton rejected their concerns. Lincoln castigated them, particularly chewing-out Medill. Lincoln argued that Chicagoans and Medill's newspaper had been most uncompromising in their opposition to the south's stance on slavery, and therefore should muster the men demanded of them to supply the Union with troops.^[5]

In 1871, after theGreat Chicago Fire, Medill was elected mayor of Chicago as the candidate of the emergency fusion "Union Fireproof" party, defeatingCharles C. P. Holden, and served as mayor for two years.

Medill was sworn in as mayor on December 4, 1871.^[7]

As mayor, Medill gained more power for the mayor's office, created Chicago's first public library, enforcedblue laws, and reformed the police and fire departments.^[1][8]

During his mayoralty, Medill worked successfully to have theIllinois General Assembly modify the city charter to increase mayoral authority.^[8] As mayor-elect, on December 4, 1871, he tapped JudgeMurray F. Tuley to draft a "Mayor's Bill" to be submitted to the General Assembly in its next session.^[8] After successful lobbying by Medill and Tuley, the bill passed on March 9, 1872.^[8] It went into effect July 1, 1872,^[8] and provided the mayor with the new authority to,

• Serve as presiding officer of theChicago Common Council (city council); to appoint all unelected city officials with the advice and consent of the Common Council^[8]
• Remove all unelected city officials, with only the requirement that they provide the City Council with reasons for such a removal^[8]
• Appoint the standing committees of the Common Council and serve as anex officio member of those committees^[8]
• Veto any ordinance, including all or part of an appropriations ordinance, with a two-thirds vote of the Common Council required to override such as veto^[8]
• Exercise special police powers^[8]

In his first year as mayor, Medill received very little legislative resistance from the Chicago Common Council.^[8] While he vetoed what was an unprecedented eleven Common Council ordinances that year, most narrowly were involved with specific financial practices considered wasteful and none of the vetoes were overridden.^[8] He used his new powers to appoint the members of the newly constitutedChicago Board of Education and the commissioners of its constitutedpublic library. His appointments were approved unanimously by the Common Council.^[8]

Medill sought funding for the recovery of Chicago.^[8] Medill had strongly lobbied on behalf of the city to receive state financial aid, taking advantage of his connections with state legislators in the state capitol ofSpringfield, Illinois.^[8] While, at the time, state law prohibited the direct appropriation of state funds to the city, Medill was able to get the legislature to pass a special act reimbursing the city for $2.9 million the city had expended on the state-ownedIllinois and Michigan Canal.^[8] Medill also sought federal financial help.^[8] Medill took advantage of his connections inWashington, D.C., to seek such aid.^[8] In his third month in office, he wrote Vice PresidentSchuyler Colfax to urge the passage of a tariff rebate that would help increase the supply of inexpensive material for the reconstruction of the city.^[8] Despite strong opposition from lumber interests, the legislation succeeded in passing.^[8] Medill also convinced President Grant to give a personal $1,000 contribution to aid the city's reconstruction.^[8] More than $5 million in gifts and loans were collected from people and cities across the world.^[8]

Taking Medill's lead, on February 12, 1872, the Common Council approved 26-6 an ordinance that prohibited the construction ofwood frame buildings in city limits.^[8]

Medill was a strong Republican loyalist who supported President Grant for re-election in 1872. This caused a breach with Tribune editor, Horace White after White supported the breakawayLiberal Republicans, reformists who nominated Horace Greeley for president.^[9]

In his second year as mayor, tensions arose as he began to further utilize the new powers given to the mayor.^[8] At the first 1873 meeting of the Common Council, Medill announced that he would be using the power to select the chairmen of members of the council committees. He appointed his loyalists to lead most important committees, while aldermen of wards consisting of immigrant populations received lesser consideration for appointments.^[8] In the first three months of 1873 alone, Medill practiced his veto power on five Common Council ordinances.^[8]

Medill and his police superintendentElmer Washburn cracked down ongambling.^[6]

Medill met not only resistance from a Common Council divided over his exercise of power and aspects of his agenda, but also resistance from citizens.^[8]Anton C. Hesing derided him as "Joseph I,Dictator".^[6]

The stress of the job of mayor impaired Medill's health. In August 1873, he appointedLester L. Bond as Acting Mayor for the remaining 3½ months of his term, and went to Europe on a convalescent tour.^[1][8]

Medill married Katherine "Kitty" Patrick on September 2, 1852, and they had three daughters, Katherine, Elinor and Josephine.^[1] Medill died on March 16, 1899, at the age of 75 in San Antonio, Texas.^[10] He was buried atGraceland Cemetery in Chicago.^[11][12]

During World War II, theLiberty shipSS Joseph M. Medill was built inPanama City, and named in his honor.^[13]

TheMedill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications atNorthwestern University is also named in his honor.^[14]

The family tree omits Medill's third daughter, Josephine, who died in 1892.^[1]

• Anderson, Jeffrey Justin (2011).Joseph Medill: How one man influenced the Republican presidential nomination of 1860 (MA thesis). Roosevelt University.ProQuest 871109755.
• Tebbel, John William (1968).An American dynasty: the story of the McCormicks, Medills, and Pattersons. Greenwood Press.OCLC 35906.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toJoseph Medill.

EnglishWikisource has original works by or about:

Joseph Medill

• "Medill, Joseph" .New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
• "Medill, Joseph" .Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.

• 1823 births
• 1899 deaths
• 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
• 19th-century mayors of places in Illinois
• Chicago Tribune people
• Mayors of Chicago
• People of the American Civil War
• Writers from Saint John, New Brunswick
• Burials at Graceland Cemetery (Chicago)
• People from Massillon, Ohio
• People from Wheaton, Illinois
• Illinois Free Soilers
• Illinois Republicans
• 19th-century American journalists
• American male journalists
• 19th-century American male writers
• Journalists from Illinois
• Medill–Patterson family
• American abolitionists
• Emigrants from pre-Confederation New Brunswick to the United States

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