At the end of Public Avenue, in Horace White Park, stands “The Horace White Memorial” which is a memorial, dedicated by the family of Horace White, in 1919, in a park named for father and son, the father, Dr. Horace White, 1810-1843, his son and namesake, Horace White, 1834-1916. Dr. Horace White has his place in the Beloit Hall of Fame as one of the pioneer fathers of Beloit, his son, Horace White went on to a distinguished career as a journalist and Beloit benefactor and now joins him.

Born in Colebrook, New Hampshire in 1834, Horace White was brought to Beloit by his mother, Elizabeth Moore White, where they joined Dr. White, moving into a one room log cabin. His father, Dr. White, died at the age of 33 when Horace was nine and he wrote in his later years of his regret in not having time to know his father better, because of the esteem in which he had been held by family and friends. He entered Beloit College at the age of 15, graduating in 1853. His first position in his long career as a journalist was when he became city editor of the Chicago Evening Journal in 1854 and in 1855 became Chicago agent for the New York Associated Press.

In 1857 Horace White gave up both of his posts to become assistant secretary of the National Kansas Commission. His duties were to receive and forward arms, ammunition, money and supplies of all kinds to the Free State pioneers – among them John Brown – and to outfit parties of new settlers to move into Kansas and vote for it to be-come a “free state.” In 1857 Horace White himself went to Kansas with the expectation of becoming a settler and a leader in the anti-slavery forces. In 1857 Horace became a stockholder and editor of the Chicago Tribune and in 1858 he was Abraham Lincoln’s traveling companion and reporter for the famous Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

This association with Abraham Lincoln started a friendship between them and Horace White was one of the strong-est supporters of Lincoln in Illinois and part of the group of men who worked to obtain his nomination as President. He remained the confidant and political advisor of resident Lincoln until the death of the President in 1865, was a member of the official funeral party that accompanied the body of President Lincoln from Washington D.C. to Springfield, Illinois and was sought as an authority on President Lincoln by countless authors of books on Lincoln.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, the Chicago Tribune made Horace White its Washington correspondent and he was also appointed as clerk of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, a committee involved during the Civil War in providing insight into the conduct of the war. History tells us that this Committee also tried to politically influence President Lincoln and officers of the Union Army. Horace White was there to help and possibly protect the President from such political influence.

Following the end of the Civil War, Horace White continued as editor and one of the chief proprietors of the Chicago Tribune. His eyewitness report of the Great Chicago Fire, written by him in 1871, is a classic descript-ion of the two-day fire that covered 2,100 acres, caused 200 deaths and destroyed 17,450 buildings. Horace White never forgot his roots in Beloit. He accepted the invitation of Beloit to be the principal speaker at the 4^th of July celebration of our Nations 100^th birthday.

A personal friend of Andrew Carnegie, he was instrumental in obtaining a grant from Mr. Carnegie to build our first public library and spoke at its dedication in 1903. As a Trustee of Beloit College, he then persuaded Mr. Carnegie to give another grant, this time for a Beloit College library and spoke at the dedication of the Beloit College Library in 1905. His many written recollections of early Beloit are treasured for preserving the history of Beloit. In 1883 he became associated with the New York Evening Post, ending his illustrious career as president of the company, editorial writer and editor-in-chief, retiring on January 1, 1903. Mr. White died in 1916, survived by his three daughters.

Note: To read Mr. White’s eyewitness account of the Chicago Fire see:     http://www.nationalcenter.org/Chicago Fire.html