Aug 2, 2021
#365

Thank you, Barbara Schock, for sharing your delightful tales of Sandburg and 19th century Galesburg & American history.

Galesburg Horse and Mule Company, ca 1922.

Leroy Marsh and the Horse Market

By Barbara Schock

When Noble Leroy Marsh was born January 26, 1843, his parents lived on a farm located in Section 14 of Cedar Township, Knox County. Thomas D. and Sophronia Alden Marsh had purchased the land from the federal government in 1836. They made additional purchases in the following decades which enlarged their holding to 240 acres. Today, part of that land is covered by Lake Bracken.

Young Marsh liked horses and was good at selecting animals for farm work or pulling wagons. He gradually began trading horses in the neighborhood. He was a shrewd businessman and got along well with people. In 1872, he conceived the idea of having a weekly sale market. The stockyards in Chicago and St. Louis wanted him to move near their locations, but he chose to stay in his home area.

After the Civil War broke out in 1861, the government sent agents into the countryside to buy horses for the cavalry and artillery. Marsh met one of those buyers and helped him gather horses for the military. Before the war horses sold for $25 to $50 a head. During the war the price of a horse doubled. Afterward, there was a shortage of horses across the country and the prices went even higher. Young Marsh was able to develop a good business in horse trading at his family’s farm.

In 1877, he decided to establish his business in Galesburg. He purchased the James O’Connor stable on North Cherry Street and named the business the Galesburg Horse and Mule Market. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was convenient for shipping large numbers of animals to other parts of the country. Ten years later, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad was built through Galesburg. It ran parallel to Waters Street for several blocks. Shipping sheds were later built between Cherry and Prairie Streets next to the tracks.

Farmers often bred their horses and had extra animals to sell. Buyers would travel through the countryside to purchase them. They would be shipped or led to Galesburg for the weekly market. Horses were secured from as many as eleven states in the center of the country. Individual farmers would come to the sales to purchase work horses to pull their farm implements and wagons. Old plugs, horses no longer able to work, were sold for slaughter or hog food. They usually fetched $5 or $10. The hides were sold to tanneries to make many useful products.

August Sandburg bought a horse named Dollie which may have been a few years from being sold for slaughter. Carl and his friends bought a horse to take them on a trip to the Illinois River and it died before they were able to return home.

Several years after the Panic of 1893, Marsh’s business failed. One day he met Judge Alfred Craig on a downtown street. Judge Craig, who was affiliated with the Bank of Galesburg, thought the business should be continued as it brought horsemen from all over the country to Galesburg. Along with Capttain James L. Burkhalter, President of the Farmer’s and Mechanic’s Bank, $4,000 was provided to revive the horse market. It flourished until Mr. Marsh sold the business on January 1, 1920.

There was a great deal or work required in operating the horse market. Men and boys on ponies led strings of eight horses to and from the C.B.&Q. Stockyards across the city. The animals had to be fed and watered, exercised, have their health checked, be re-shod by a blacksmith, if necessary, and trained for the work expected of them.

Accurate records had to be kept of each sale. A good auctioneer was necessary to keep the sale moving smoothly and quell any arguments that might erupt. All the activities of the horse market were of interest to bystanders, particularly, small boys.

There were many wild horses in the western states. Some men specialized in capturing these animals which were then shipped to Galesburg. Marsh hired men to break and train the animals. This job was done behind a high board fence at the corner of Broad and Waters Street. On Sunday afternoons, the riders would put on a kind of rodeo which the public came to watch.