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{{short description|American newspaper editor, publisher, and politician (1823–1899)}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox politician
| name           = Joseph Medill
| image          = Joseph Medill.jpg
| image_size     =
| order          = 26th
| office         = Mayor of Chicago
| term_start     = 1871
| term_end       = 1873
| predecessor    = [[Roswell B. Mason]]
| successor      = ([[Lester L. Bond]]), [[Harvey Doolittle Colvin]]
| birth_date     = {{birth date|1823|4|6|mf=y}}
| birth_place    = [[Saint John, New Brunswick]], [[British North America]]
| death_date     = {{death date and age|1899|3|16|1823|4|6|mf=y}}
| death_place    = [[San Antonio, Texas]], U.S.
| resting_place  = [[Graceland Cemetery]]
| party          = Free Soil, Whig, Republican
| spouse         = {{marriage|Katherine "Kitty" Patrick|1852}}
| children       = 3
| residence      = [[Wheaton, Illinois|Wheaton]], [[Illinois]]
| signature      = Joseph Medill signature.jpg
}}

'''Joseph Medill''' (April 6, 1823 – March 16, 1899) was a Canadian-American newspaper editor, publisher, and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] politician. He was co-owner and managing editor of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', and he was [[Mayor of Chicago]] from after the [[Great Chicago Fire]] of 1871 until 1873.

==Early life==
Joseph Medill was born April 6, 1823, in [[Saint John, New Brunswick|Saint John]], [[New Brunswick]], [[British North America]], to Margaret and William Medill. His parents were [[Scotch-Irish Canadians|Scots-Irish]]. In 1832, the family moved to [[Massillon, Ohio]]. He grew up on a farm and was taught English grammar, Latin, logic and philosophy from Reverend Hawkins, a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church in [[Canton, Ohio|Canton]]. He graduated from the Massillon Academy in 1843. He read law under [[Hiram Griswold]] and was [[Admission to the bar in the United States|admitted to the Ohio Bar]] in 1846.<ref name="McKinney">{{Cite book |last=McKinney |first=Megan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FNYeFiBIu5EC |title=The Magnificent Medills |date=2011 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=9780062097750 |location=New York |pages=10 |access-date=7 December 2017}}</ref><ref name="bio">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/biographicaldi1271mose/page/n23/mode/2up |title=Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of the Representative Men of the United States, Illinois Volume |publisher=The Lewis Publishing Company |year=1896 |editor-last=Moses |editor-first=John |pages=13–18 |access-date=2023-09-05 |via=[[Archive.org]]}}{{Open access}}</ref>

==Early career==
[[File:Joseph Medill School, Navarre, Ohio.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Medill taught at this school in [[Navarre, Ohio]], in the 1840s.]]
After joining the bar, he started a law practice with [[George W. McIlvaine]]. They dissolved their practice after three years.<ref name="bio" />

==Publishing career==
{{citation needed span|In 1859 Medill purchased the ''Coshocton Democratic Whig'' then renamed the paper as the ''Democratic Whig.'' In 1853, Medill and [[Edwin Cowles]] started the ''Leader'', a newspaper in [[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]]. (It was later absorbed by ''[[The Plain Dealer]].'') In 1854, the ''Tribune''{{`}}s part-owner, Captain J. D. Webster, asked Medill to become the paper's managing editor. Medill was further encouraged to come to [[Chicago]] by Dr. Charles H. Ray of [[Galena, Illinois]], and editor [[Horace Greeley]] of the ''[[New York Tribune]]''.|date=October 2024}}

In 1855, Medill sold his interest in the ''Leader'' to Cowles and bought the ''Tribune'' in partnership with Dr. Ray and [[Alfred Cowles, Sr.|Alfred Cowles]] (Edwin's brother).<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Rushton |first=Wyatt |title=Joseph Medill and the Chicago Tribune |access-date=2007-10-24 |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gcc7AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA7-IA2 |year=1916}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1895 |encyclopedia=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States |publisher=James T. White & Company |url=https://archive.org/details/nationalcyclopa01whitgoog/page/n255 |access-date=2007-10-24 |last=White |first=James Terry |page=224}}</ref>

{{citation needed span|Under Medill's management, the ''Tribune'' flourished, becoming one of the largest newspapers in Chicago. Medill served as its managing editor until 1864, when [[Horace White (writer)|Horace White]] became editor-in-chief. At that time Medill left day-to-day operations of the ''Tribune'' for political activities.|date=October 2024}}

{{citation needed span|But White clashed with Medill over the [[1876 United States presidential election|presidential election of 1872]]. So, in 1873 Medill bought additional equity from Cowles and from White, becoming majority owner. In 1874, he replaced White as editor-in-chief. Medill served as editor-in-chief until his death.|date=October 2024}}

==Political activity==
Medill was a leading Republican in Chicago.<ref name="RRRS">{{cite book |last1=Simpson |first1=Dick |title=Rogues, Rebels, And Rubber Stamps: The Politics Of The Chicago City Council, 1863 To The Present |date=8 March 2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-97719-0 |language=en |pages=44 and 45}}</ref> Under Medill, the ''Tribune'' became the leading Republican newspaper in Chicago. Medill was strongly anti-slavery, supporting both the [[Free-Soil]] cause and [[Abolitionism in the United States|Abolitionism]]. Medill was a major supporter of [[Abraham Lincoln]] in the 1850s. Medill and the ''Tribune'' were instrumental in Lincoln's presidential nomination, and were equally supportive of the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] cause during the [[American Civil War]]. The ''Tribune''{{`}}s chief adversary through this period was the ''[[Chicago Times]]'', which supported the [[Democratic Party (U.S.)|Democrats]].

Medill was among Chicago's [[Protestant]] elites (see, [[White Anglo Saxon Protestant|WASP]]). His rabid anti-Irish sentiment was published daily in The Chicago Tribune.  He regularly dismissed the Irish as lazy and shiftless.  “Who does not know that the most depraved, debased, worthless and irredeemable drunkards and sots which curse the community are Irish Catholics?” This came even as Irish laborers worked feverishly to complete Chicago's stately St. Patrick's church at Adams and Desplaines Streets in the mid-1850s.<ref name=gambler/>

In 1864, Medill left the ''Tribune'' editorship for political activity, which occupied him for the next ten years. He was appointed by [[Ulysses S. Grant|President Grant]] to the first [[United States civil service|Civil Service Commission]]. In 1870, he was elected as a delegate to the Illinois [[Constitutional convention (political meeting)|Constitutional convention]].<ref name="McKinney" />

Medill joined with [[Samuel Snowden Hayes]] and [[Rosell Hough]] (prominent Chicago [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]]) in order to oppose conditions of [[military draft]] laws during the [[American Civil War]], feeling that the government was demanding too many troops to be drafted out of [[Cook County, Illinois|Cook County]]. On February 23, 1865, they met with President Lincoln. On February 27, they had a meeting with both Lincoln and Secretary of War [[Edwin Stanton]]. Stanton rejected their concerns. Lincoln castigated them, particularly chewing-out Medill. Lincoln argued that Chicagoans and Medill's newspaper had been most uncompromising in their opposition to the south's stance on slavery, and therefore should muster the men demanded of them to supply the Union with troops.<ref name="RRRS"/>

===Mayoralty===
[[1871 Chicago mayoral election|In 1871]], after the [[Great Chicago Fire]], Medill was elected mayor of Chicago as the candidate of the emergency fusion "Union Fireproof" party, defeating [[Charles C. P. Holden]], and served as mayor for two years.

Medill was sworn in as mayor on December 4, 1871.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mayor Joseph Medill Inaugural Address, 1871 |url=https://www.chipublib.org/mayor-joseph-medill-inaugural-address-1871/ |access-date=26 May 2020 |website=Chicago Public Library}}</ref>

As mayor, Medill gained more power for the mayor's office, created Chicago's first public library, enforced [[blue law]]s, and reformed the police and fire departments.<ref name="McKinney" /><ref name="themayors">{{Cite book |last=Green |first=Paul M. |url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=-L_shTgapuIC |title=The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition |last2=Holli |first2=Melvin G. |date=2013 |publisher=SIU Press |isbn=978-0-8093-3199-4 |edition=4th |pages=1–14 |language=en |access-date=26 May 2020}}</ref>

During his mayoralty, Medill worked successfully to have the [[Illinois General Assembly]] modify the city charter to increase mayoral authority.<ref name=themayors/> As mayor-elect, on December 4, 1871, he tapped Judge [[Murray F. Tuley]] to draft a "Mayor's Bill" to be submitted to the General Assembly in its next session.<ref name=themayors/> After successful lobbying by Medill and Tuley, the bill passed on March 9, 1872.<ref name=themayors/> It went into effect July 1, 1872,<ref name=themayors/> and provided the mayor with the new authority to,
*Serve as presiding officer of the [[Chicago Common Council]] (city council); to appoint all unelected city officials with the advice and consent of the Common Council<ref name=themayors/>
*Remove all unelected city officials, with only the requirement that they provide the City Council with reasons for such a removal<ref name=themayors/>
*Appoint the standing committees of the Common Council and serve as an [[ex officio member]] of those committees<ref name=themayors/>
*Veto any ordinance, including all or part of an appropriations ordinance, with a two-thirds vote of the Common Council required to override such as veto<ref name=themayors/>
*Exercise special police powers<ref name=themayors/>

In his first year as mayor, Medill received very little legislative resistance from the Chicago Common Council.<ref name=themayors/> While he vetoed what was an unprecedented eleven Common Council ordinances that year, most narrowly were involved with specific financial practices considered wasteful and none of the vetoes were overridden.<ref name=themayors/> He used his new powers to appoint the members of the newly constituted [[Chicago Board of Education]] and the commissioners of its constituted [[Chicago Public Library|public library]]. His appointments were approved unanimously by the Common Council.<ref name=themayors/>

Medill sought funding for the recovery of Chicago.<ref name=themayors/> Medill had strongly lobbied on behalf of the city to receive state financial aid, taking advantage of his connections with state legislators in the state capitol of [[Springfield, Illinois]].<ref name=themayors/> While, at the time, state law prohibited the direct appropriation of state funds to the city, Medill was able to get the legislature to pass a special act reimbursing the city for $2.9 million the city had expended on the state-owned [[Illinois and Michigan Canal]].<ref name=themayors/> Medill also sought federal financial help.<ref name=themayors/> Medill took advantage of his connections in [[Washington, D.C.]], to seek such aid.<ref name=themayors/> In his third month in office, he wrote Vice President [[Schuyler Colfax]] to urge the passage of a tariff rebate that would help increase the supply of inexpensive material for the reconstruction of the city.<ref name=themayors/> Despite strong opposition from lumber interests, the legislation succeeded in passing.<ref name=themayors/> Medill also convinced President Grant to give a personal $1,000 contribution to aid the city's reconstruction.<ref name=themayors/> More than $5 million in gifts and loans were collected from people and cities across the world.<ref name=themayors/>

Taking Medill's lead, on February 12, 1872, the Common Council approved 26-6 an ordinance that prohibited the construction of [[wood frame]] buildings in city limits.<ref name=themayors/>

Medill was a strong Republican loyalist who supported President Grant for re-election in 1872. This caused a breach with Tribune editor, Horace White after White supported the breakaway [[Liberal Republican Party (United States)|Liberal Republicans]], reformists who nominated Horace Greeley for president.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maddock |first=Kathryn |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/29155197.pdf |title=Joseph Medill: An Editor of the Old School |date=1916 |publisher=University of Illinois |isbn=0260147303 |page=11}}</ref>

In his second year as mayor, tensions arose as he began to further utilize the new powers given to the mayor.<ref name=themayors/>  At the first 1873 meeting of the Common Council, Medill announced that he would be using the power to select the chairmen of members of the council committees. He appointed his loyalists to lead most important committees, while aldermen of wards consisting of immigrant populations received lesser consideration for appointments.<ref name=themayors/> In the first three months of 1873 alone, Medill practiced his veto power on five Common Council ordinances.<ref name=themayors/>

Medill and his police superintendent [[Elmer Washburn]] cracked down on [[gambling]].<ref name=gambler/>

Medill met not only resistance from a Common Council divided over his exercise of power and aspects of his agenda, but also resistance from citizens.<ref name=themayors/> [[Anton C. Hesing]] derided him as "Joseph I, [[Dictator]]".<ref name="gambler">{{Cite book |last=Lindberg |first=Richard C. |url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=IUgbMFn6nCYC |title=The Gambler King of Clark Street: Michael C. McDonald and the Rise of Chicago's Democratic Machine |date=2009 |publisher=SIU Press |isbn=978-0-8093-8654-3 |pages=6, 36–37, 82 |language=en |access-date=19 May 2020}}</ref>

[[File:Grave of Joseph Medill (1823–1899) at Graceland Cemetery, Chicago 1.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Medill's grave at Graceland Cemetery]]

The stress of the job of mayor impaired Medill's health. In August 1873, he appointed [[Lester L. Bond]] as Acting Mayor for the remaining 3½ months of his term, and went to Europe on a convalescent tour.<ref name="McKinney" /><ref name=themayors/>

==Personal life==
Medill married Katherine "Kitty" Patrick on September 2, 1852, and they had three daughters, Katherine, Elinor and Josephine.<ref name="McKinney" /> Medill died on March 16, 1899, at the age of 75 in San Antonio, Texas.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1899-03-17 |title=Joseph Medill is Dead |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120275282/joseph-medill-is-dead/ |access-date=2023-03-05 |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |page=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He was buried at [[Graceland Cemetery]] in Chicago.<ref>{{Cite web |title=11 Men And 1 Woman You Didn't Know Were Buried At Graceland Cemetery |url=https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160413/uptown/11-people-you-didnt-know-were-buried-at-graceland-cemetery/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=DNAinfo Chicago}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Public Figures and Private Eyes |url=https://www.gracelandcemetery.org/public-figures-and-private-eyes/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=www.gracelandcemetery.org}}</ref>

==Legacy and honors==
During World War II, the [[Liberty ship]] {{SS|Joseph M. Medill}} was built in [[Panama City, Florida|Panama City]], and named in his honor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Greg H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A5oWBAAAQBAJ |title=The Liberty Ships of World War II: A Record of the 2,710 Vessels and Their Builders, Operators and Namesakes, with a History of the Jeremiah O'Brien |date=25 July 2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1476617541 |access-date=7 December 2017}}</ref>

The [[Medill School of Journalism|Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications]] at [[Northwestern University]] is also named in his honor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our History |url=http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/about-us/our-history.html |website=www.medill.northwestern.edu}}</ref>

==Relations==
{{Medill Chicago family tree}}

The family tree omits Medill's third daughter, Josephine, who died in 1892.<ref name="McKinney" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading==
* {{Cite thesis |last=Anderson |first=Jeffrey Justin |title=Joseph Medill: How one man influenced the Republican presidential nomination of 1860 |degree=MA |publisher=Roosevelt University |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/871109755 |year=2011 |id={{ProQuest|871109755}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tebbel |first=John William |author-link=John William Tebbel |title=An American dynasty: the story of the McCormicks, Medills, and Pattersons |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1968 |oclc=35906}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
*{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Medill, Joseph |year=1905 |short=x}}
*{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Medill, Joseph|year=1900 |short=x}}

{{Mayors of Chicago}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medill, Joseph}}
[[Category:1823 births]]
[[Category:1899 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)]]
[[Category:19th-century mayors of places in Illinois]]
[[Category:Chicago Tribune people]]
[[Category:Mayors of Chicago]]
[[Category:People of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Writers from Saint John, New Brunswick]]
[[Category:Burials at Graceland Cemetery (Chicago)]]
[[Category:People from Massillon, Ohio]]
[[Category:People from Wheaton, Illinois]]
[[Category:Illinois Free Soilers]]
[[Category:Illinois Republicans]]
[[Category:19th-century American journalists]]
[[Category:American male journalists]]
[[Category:19th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Journalists from Illinois]]
[[Category:Medill–Patterson family]]
[[Category:American abolitionists]]
[[Category:Emigrants from pre-Confederation New Brunswick to the United States]]