President McKinley in Waukegan

On October 17, 1899, President McKinley (1843 - 1901) made a 15-minute stop at Waukegan on his way East, traveling on the Chicago & North Western Railway.

 

Postcard view of Chicago & North Western Railway station, Waukegan, Illinois, circa 1910. 

Dunn Museum 61.8.125 

The Chicago & North Western had transported the ten-foot-tall boulder in this postcard view from near the Lake Koshkonong reservoir in southern Wisconsin. It was placed at the depot at the foot of Washington Street as ornamentation about 1910. The boulder was removed about 1925 to make way for a station expansion. The railway placed a similar boulder at their Kenosha station, which is still there. 

According to the Chicago Tribune, "Several hundred school children, each with a flag, were in the crowd that greeted the President at Waukegan. They were even more enthusiastic than the older and stronger lunged auditors."

The President's address was devoted almost entirely to the situation in the Philippines. After defeating Spain in Cuba and the Philippines in 1898, during the Spanish-American War, U.S. officials discussed what to do with Spain’s former colonies, including Cuba, Philippines, Puerto Rico. 

At Waukegan, McKinley said: "Some people say the President is carrying an unholy war in the Philippines, an unholy war to uphold the holy banner which these children carry in their hands." According to the Chicago Tribune these words were "a signal for great cheering and waving of flags on the part of the children." President McKinley (left) speaking at the Chicago & North Western Railway station in Waukegan, October 1899, Dunn Museum Collection. 

Imperialists argued that the U.S. should take the colonies for itself and use the Philippines as a trading port and military base. They also argued that if the U.S. did not claim the Philippines, a European country would conquer the island after American troops left. Anti-imperialists felt the U.S. should promote independence and self-rule for all people, and retaining the Philippines went against the reasons we had fought Spain. 

In the end, the U.S. Senate voted to annex the Philippines. In turn, the Filipino rebels, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, who had fought alongside Americans in defeating the Spanish, now turned against the Americans and waged a bloody insurrection known as the Philippine Insurrection or Philippine-American War (1899-1902). 

In 1900, McKinley ran for a second term as President with Theodore Roosevelt as his Vice President. 

McKinley-Roosevelt campaign button worn by Ann Kelland Carfield of Avon Township, Lake County, IL (1822-1912). Dunn Museum 2006.4.40. 

President McKinley explained that "... there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and to uplift and civilize and Christianize them." Never mind that the Philippines had been a Christian nation for centuries.

  In 1902, President Roosevelt, who became president after McKinley's assassination in September 1901, cited the 27th Infantry for victories on the Island of Mindanao. This arrow (above) was brought back as a souvenir from the Philippines by a Fort Sheridan soldier. Dunn Museum 92.24.72.