George Helgeson Fitch graduated from Knox College in 1897, a year or so before Carl Sandburg entered Lombard University as a preparatory student.

 

Fitch had been born in Galva, the eldest son of Elmer E. Fitch, editor and publisher of the Galva News. George grew up setting type, writing social news and delivering newspapers. His first job as a reporter was with the Council Bluffs, Iowa, Daily Nonpareil.

 

He wrote a series of popular stories set at “Good Old Siwash College” which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post beginning in 1908. They were based on his student days at Knox College. Fitch also wrote a syndicated column entitled “Vest Pocket Essays.” They described subjects of every day usage and experience.

 

One of the essays was titled “Mud.”  It was published with other essays in a compilation in 1916.

 

“Mud is earth which has been put in soak by nature.

 

“Mud is the most valuable thing in the world. After the earth has been mud for a while it produces crops, without which mankind would curl up and die like a baby sparrow on a hot doorstep.

 

“However, since man does not raise crops on the country roads he has no particular use for mud in that particular spot.

 

“All over the central part of this nation the country roads are paved with mud. Mud makes the worst pavement in the world....

 

“American mud is extremely useless on the country roads. It is even more useless on the city streets....it is easy to become distressed over the aesthetic taste of a man who will wade down town ankle deep in last winter's mud all spring, without calling around at the city hall with a rope and pleading to be allowed to hang the administration.”

 

By 1900 Galesburg prided itself on the 19.36 miles of brick paving which had been installed on its streets. The first brick paving had been laid in 1884 on Main Street between Seminary and Kellogg Streets. The construction was 468 feet long and seventy feet wide and cost $6,042.10 (equal to $160,756.25 in today's money).

 

The following year two blocks on Seminary from Thompkins to Main were paved at a cost of $1.37 per square yard. Excavation and curbing were extra.

 

During the 1890s residential streets were paved with bricks after residents had requested the improvement. They were then assessed, according to the value of their property, for the cost of the street improvement over a period of time. During the hard times following the Panic of 1893, there was no street paving done in the city for several years.

 

Many years later the brick streets were covered with bitumin which could be just as slippery when wet or icy.