The first utilization of the inventions of Cadmus and Faust in the city of Chicago was by John Calhoun, who issued the first issue of the weekly Chicago Democrat, from a building at the corner of Clark and South Water streets, on the 26th day of November, 1833. Mr. Calhoun was in charge of the paper for three years when he disposed of the property to John Wentworth, who later became mayor and afterwards a member of Congress.
In 1840 Wentworth issued the Democrat as a daily, it being the first undertaking in that line with which the city favored. With the inauguration of Lincoln and imminent danger of civil war, Wentworth looked on the time as propitious to cast aside his burden of responsibility as the publisher of a daily paper, which he had been running for more than twenty years, and in 1861 the pioneer daily was turned over to the Tribune and it ceased to exist.
Story of Chicago, In Connection with the Printing Business, 1912
The first newspaper published in Chicago was issued by John Calhoun, in November, 1833. Calhoun was a practical printer and started a weekly called the Chicago Democrat. The great West was then attracting settlers, and the disturbed conditions in the South incident to the nullification ideas of South Carolina made the time auspicious to establish a paper which would support the policies of Andrew Jackson, the then President. The Democrat continued to espouse the cause of “Old Hickory,” and it found a field for its views more encouraging by far than it found substantial support in a material sense. Mr. Calhoun was in control of the pioneer paper for three years, when he disposed of the property to John Wentworth, who later became mayor and afterward served as a member of Congress.
Newspapers had been started in other portions of Illinois previous to Calhoun’s venture; in fact, there were many much more promising sites for thriving and successful papers than Chicago presented in 1833, and as a consequence the newspaper history of Illinois is an old and interesting
one.
In 1840 Wentworth issued the Democrat as a daily, it being the first undertaking in that line with which the city was favored. The paper continued in its support of the principles of the Democratic party until the divisions in the organization over the slavery question became so wide that a new party came to the front, and Wentworth gradually left his former affiliations and later landed in the Republican party. Party ties were being adjusted on new lines, and the Democrat became pronounced in its allegiance to the new party. With the inauguration of Lincoln and imminent danger of civil war, Wentworth looked on the time as propitious to cast aside his burden of responsibility as the publisher of a daily paper, which he had been running for more than twenty years, and in 1861 the pioneer daily was turned over to the Tribune and it ceased to be issued. The later period of the Democrat’s career was at a time of tremendous consequence to human rights, problems being put forward that shook the very foundations of free government and really precipitated the bloody strife of four years for final settlement. In all these Chicago was in evidence, and in many particulars it was an important factor, the newspapers contributing their full share to the extraordinary development now so observable on every hand.
Would you be so kind to allow us to use the above images of the Chicago Democrat in an upcoming video we are producing on the Tanner Family of Aurora, Illinois. We (Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley) are a non-profit organization located in Aurora, Illinois. We are producing short videos on the lives of local leaders from our past. Evidently, John Calhoun was the cousin of William Tanner and Tanner lived with him for a brief period. It is so hard to find visuals of life in the early to mid-1800s. This would be very helpful. Please know that we do not receive any profit from our videos. They are placed on our website as a public service. Thank you for your consideration.