Everything about John Wentworth Mayor totally explained
"Long" John Wentworth (
March 5 1815 –
October 16 1888) was the editor of the
Chicago Democrat, a two-term
mayor of
Chicago, and a six-term member of the
United States House of Representatives.
Born in
Sandwich,
New Hampshire, John Wentworth was a huge man, towering 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) high and weighing more than 300 pounds (136 kg). He drank at least a pint of
whiskey each day and would eat from 30-40 different foods during a single meal.
Wentworth was educated at the
New Hampton Literary Institute and
Dartmouth College graduating from the latter in 1836. Later that year, he left for Chicago, arriving in the city on
October 25. He was managing
editor of Chicago's first
newspaper, the
Chicago Democrat, eventually becoming its owner and
publisher. He started a
law practice, and eventually entered
politics. In 1844, he married Roxanna Marie Loomis.
He served for six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (
March 4 1843 –
March 3 1851 and
March 4 1853 –
March 3 1855 as a
Democrat; and
March 4 1865 –
March 3 1867 as a
Republican). While in the House, a controversial vote arose by which
Wisconsin claimed land in
Illinois as far as the tip of
Lake Michigan. If Wentworth voted to give the land, including Chicago, to Wisconsin, he was promised a
Senate seat. Wentworth declined the offer.
As a Republican, Wentworth served as mayor of Chicago for two terms, 1857–1858 and 1860–1861. Wentworth instituted
chain gangs in the city and tried to clean up the city's
morals. To do this, he hired spies to determine who was frequenting Chicago's brothels. In 1857, Wentworth led a raid on the Sands, Chicago's
red-light district, which resulted in the burning of the area.
Wentworth was a personal friend of
Abraham Lincoln.
He authored
The Wentworth Genealogy - English and American. 1878, 3 Volumes, 2241 pages. The first volume chronicles the ancestry of Elder William Wentworth, the first of this family in New England, and the second and
third
volumes discuss the "Elder's" many descendants. (
Chicago Giant: A Biography of "Long John" Wentworth. By Don E. Fehrenbacher. (Madison, Wis.: American History Research Center. 1957. Pp. viii, 278.))
From 1868, he lived at his country estate at 5441 South Harlem Avenue in Chicago where he owned about of land in what is today part of the Chicago neighborhood of
Garfield Ridge and suburban
Summit. Wentworth died at the estate in 1888, and was buried in
Rosehill Cemetery. The house was then sold and lived in by another family for several decades until it was torn down in the mid-1960s to make way for new single family housing as the Garfield Ridge neighborhood exploded in population.
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