Levi Day Boone (December 6, 1808 – January 24, 1882) served as mayor of Chicago,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

(1855–1856) for the American Party (

Know-Nothings The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...

Early life

Boone was born near

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

, the seventh son of Squire and Anna Grubbs Boone. Squire Boone, Sr. was

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

's father and Levi Boone's great-grandfather, making Levi Boone Daniel Boone's great-nephew. Young Levi lost his father at the age of 9 when Squire finally succumbed to wounds he suffered at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Despite the poverty the family was plunged into by the death of Squire Boone, Levi graduated from the medical school of

Transylvania University Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded in 1780 and was the first university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern ...

in 1829 at the age of 21. He moved to Illinois and eventually established a practice in Hillsboro. In 1832, he served in the

Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", crosse ...

, first in the cavalry and then as a surgeon. In 1833, Dr. Boone married Louise M. Smith, daughter of Theophilus W. Smith, Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, with whom he had 11 children.

Chicago years

Arriving in Chicago in 1835, he helped organize the

Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...

Medical Board and served as the organization's first secretary. Boone had a medical practice with

Charles V. Dyer Charles Volney Dyer (June 12, 1808 – April 24, 1878) was a prominent Chicago abolitionist and Stationmaster on the Underground Railroad. Early life Charles was born in Clarendon, Vermont on June 12, 1808, the ninth of the ten children of ...

. He was elected the first president of the Chicago Medical Society in 1850. In 1843, he contributed to the rift in the congregation of Chicago's First Baptist Church by giving a lecture on the scriptural basis of slavery. In 1850, Boone unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Chicago. He placed second, receiving 32.90% of the vote (losing to

James Curtiss James Curtiss (also Curtis; March 29, 1806 – November 2, 1859) was an American politician who twice served as Mayor of Chicago, Illinois (1847–1848 and 1850–1851) for the Democratic Party. Early life Born on April 7, 1806 in Wethers ...

, who received 45.51% of the vote). Running a second time, Boone was elected mayor in the

1855 Chicago mayoral election In the 1855 Mayoral elections in Chicago, Chicago mayoral election, Know Nothing candidate Levi Boone defeated Democratic Party (United States), Democratic incumbent Isaac Lawrence Milliken by a 5.75% margin. The election was held on March 8. ...

. Supported by a coalition of Know Nothings and temperance advocates, Boone ran for mayor on an anti-

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

platform, along with 7 aldermen running on the same ticket. He defeated incumbent Isaac Lawrence Milliken with nearly 53% of the vote. During his only year in office, he reorganized the Chicago police, combining the Day Police and the Night Watch into a single police force with 3 eight-hour shifts and requiring the police, for the first time, to wear uniforms. No foreign-born police were retained in the reorganization, and all new appointments were native-born Americans. He barred all immigrants from city jobs. Grave of Levi Day Boone at Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago 1

Grave of Levi Day Boone at Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago 1

Though not a

teetotaler Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or i ...

, Boone was a

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

advocate and worked to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol. Anticipating the passage by referendum of a

Maine law The Maine Law (or "Maine Liquor Law"), passed on June 2, 1851 in Maine, was the first statutory implementation of the developing temperance movement in the United States. History Temperance activist Neal Dow helped craft the Maine liquor law whil ...

to prohibit the sale of beverage alcohol in June 1855, he got the city council to pass an ordinance that raised the cost of liquor licenses from $50 to $300 a year, limited the term to three months, and attempted to enforce an old and disregarded ordinance to close taverns on Sundays. Many saw this as a means of attacking German immigrants, and on April 21, the move sparked the

Lager Beer Riot The Lager Beer Riot occurred on April 21, 1855 in Chicago, Illinois, and was the first major civil disturbance in the city. Mayor Levi Boone, a Nativist politician, renewed enforcement of an old local ordinance mandating that taverns be close ...

after several tavern owners were arrested for selling beer on a Sunday. The referendum failed in June 1855, by a statewide vote of 54% to 46%. Boone did not run for re-election in the mayoral election of 1856. In 1862, Boone was arrested and briefly held in Camp Douglas on suspicion that he had helped a Confederate prisoner to escape. He died in Chicago on January 24, 1882, and is buried in

Rosehill Cemetery Rosehill Cemetery (founded 1859) is an American garden cemetery on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois, and at , is the largest cemetery in the City of Chicago. According to legend, the name "Rosehill" resulted from a City Clerk's error – the ar ...

References

External links

Inaugural AddressBiography at Chicago Public Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boone, Levi 1808 births 1882 deaths People from Fayette County, Kentucky Burials at Rosehill Cemetery Mayors of Chicago Transylvania University alumni Illinois Know Nothings People from Hillsboro, Illinois American people of the Black Hawk War American temperance activists Medicine in Chicago 19th-century American politicians Chicago City Council members