(A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Kewanee had had “hog days” since its founding. This is a brief story of the very first “official” day devoted to “King Hog.”)
On Saturday, September 20, 1947, Kewanee roped off a large part of the downtown business district to welcome more than 50 hog raisers and 155 market barrows from nearby counties to celebrate “King Hog.”
Why?
In mid-March 1947, the director of the United States Bureau of Census announced that an analysis of the 1945 agriculture census revealed that Henry County’s population of hogs totaled 183,329. That was 25,000 hogs more than runner-up Cedar County, Iowa, the former leading hog-producing county in the nation. Henry County took over the crown and kept it.
Soon, the Kewanee Chamber of Commerce decided to take advantage of the Census Bureau’s findings. Combining Henry County and Bureau County, which ranked fifth nationally, along with the hog population of Stark County, the Chamber declared Kewanee, the shipping center of the three counties, “the capital of the nation’s greatest hog-producing area.” In short order, it announced plans “to set aside a day to pay tribute to His Imperial Majesty King Hog.”
The very first official “Hog Day” was born.
After months of planning, the day arrived and Kewanee took on the air of a fair. Signs posted on light poles for the day renamed downtown streets “Hampshire Avenue,” “Duroc-Jersey Street,” “Cross-Breed Alley,” “Chester White Boulevard” and the names of other breeds of hogs.
The Star Courier wrote that “[a]ristocrats of Illinois Hogdom have taken complete control of Kewanee streets today and are receiving the homage paid to them by city and farm alike. Farm trucks began rolling in before daybreak . . . with their loads of royal visitors to be entered in the first annual barrow show held in the ‘Hog Capital of the World.’”
The business section of Tremont Street was crowded with pens of pigs entered in the barrow show, the main feature of the celebration. Another area was devoted to concessions, rides and other attractions.
Throughout the day, throngs paraded past the displays of outstanding thoroughbred swine breeds – Durocs, Hampshires, Chester Whites, Berkshires, Poland Chinas and Spotted Poland Chinas, as well as many crossbreeds. Exhibitors included breeders from Mercer and Rock Island counties. A crowd estimated to be around 20,000 attended the event. Over 150 prizes in savings bonds and merchandise were to be presented. All barrows exhibited were to be offered at auction after the judging if the owners were interested.
Among the entries were “porcine aristocracy” from the Hemphill and Sherer farms near Joy. They had traveled all night from Austin, Minnesota, where their Chester White barrow was proclaimed Grand Champion at the National Hog show. It was deemed the barrow to beat on Tremont, er, Hampshire Avenue.
But Melvin J. Feik of LaMoille showed the hog which was named the grand champion, a 235-pound Chester White. After the win, his barrow brought a dollar a pound at the post-show auction. Feik also sold two other barrows, weighing a total of 425 pounds, at 75 cents a pound at the auction. His sale of the three barrows, along with the $50 grand champion prize money and that $25 he won from the Breed Association, netted him a total take of $758.75.
The day was a complete success.
The Star Courier opined that “[t]he most pleasing feature of Hog Day was the universal cooperation on the part of all concerned. This was the greatest demonstration of community team work . . . ever seen in Kewanee. The average citizen has no idea of the hours of planning and actual physical labor required of the Chamber of Commerce committees responsible for this celebration.”
Finally, after nearly a century of informal hog days, Kewanee began formally celebrating the economic benefit that hog production provided for our hometown. In 1949, Rep. Frank P. Johnson, of Kewanee, introduced a resolution which was passed by the Illinois House of Representatives declaring Henry County and Kewanee “Hog Capital of the World.” The rest, as they say, his history.
In a month, there’ll be carnival rides, the world’s largest outdoor pork barbecue, a parade, entertainment acts, and so much more. As you enjoy all of the activities and that mouthwatering pork, take a moment to look around and imagine the first official celebration held three-quarters of a century ago.
