September 14, 2020
#333

Thank you, Barbara Schock, for sharing your extraordinary gift of these vignettes of Galesburg & 19th century American history.

C.G. Hansen Livery Stables, ca. 1900 - Galesburg, Illinois

Living with Horses

By Barbara Schock

When Carl Sandburg was growing up in Galesburg the last couple of decades of the nineteenth century, there were a great many horses. They were essential for delivery services, farming and moving from one place to another. Many of the large homes north of Main Street had a barn at the back of the lot for keeping horses. There were also a number of livery stables on the side streets off Main Street. The Leroy Marsh Horse Market was a thriving business on Waters Street.
 
There were men who took great pride in having fast horses or having a matched pair of horses to carry a fancy carriage or buggy. There were attorneys who kept fast horses so they could travel to the Courthouse in Knoxville for emergency cases.
 
Farmers prized horses who could pull a wagon loaded with a thousand pounds of produce. And, of course, there were betting men who were enthusiastic about horse racing on the track near Grand Avenue. The Galesburg Public Library photography collection contains photographs of horses and carriages completely decorated with flowers. They were a great attraction in parades.
 
Domestication of horses started about 4000 BCE in Ukraine or Kazackstan. Horses can weigh between 800 and 2000 pounds and have a life span of 25 to 30 years on average. They are considered to be adults when about five years old. They have an excellent sense of balance and are adapted to run to escape predators. They are social animals and respond well to routine.
 
Horses sleep for short intervals (about fifteen minutes) while standing. They will lie down for deep sleep for somewhat longer periods. A horse will eat 15 to 24 pounds of hay per day and drink 10 to 12 gallons of water a day.
 
By the late 1890s, there was beginning to be public complaint about “horse pollution.” All of that eating and drinking by the many horses in cities was fouling the streets. In some cities a horse dying in harness would be left to decay in place. The noise of clattering hooves also raised the level of noise pollution.
 
Carl Sandburg doesn’t mention in his memoir that the horse who pulled the milk wagon on his route probably knew the route as well as Sandburg. There are stories about horses who went on the delivery route without their drivers. We might also mention some of the addresses of houses in Galesburg are based on the fact that deliveries were made to the kitchen door, not the front door. 
 
Today there are still nine million horses in this country. They are used by mounted police in cities and parks. They are used on cattle ranches. They are used in movies and television programs and reenactments. Therapy horses help children with mental health problems. There are few parades that don’t include equestrians groups and the crowds always cheer them.
 
Horses were essential to society in the nineteenth century. With the invention of steam engines, and a few years later, the internal combustion engine, horse power began to decline. It was a sad time for horse lovers and a number of occupations which depended on the horse.