NOTED PEOPLE WHO HAVE SPOKEN IN BELOIT … Ralph Waldo Emerson… in 1854 lectured in the Old Stone Church on Broad St., on the subject of wealth, its significance and its uses…
Julia Ward Howe, [American writer and feminist, and author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,”] lectured in Beloit twice, once in the decade of the 1850s, and again 1876. In the first lecture she was concerned over the lack of higher education for young women. She wanted opportunities for them comparable to those afforded… men. The second lecture was the subject “Men’s Women and Women’s Women.” She had no use for the former…
In… [1855] Horace Greeley lectured on temperance reform and the anti-slavery effort. He was then in his prime; he was the founder and editor-in-chief of the N.Y. Tribune, a paper that had a national influence far surpassing any of its rivals…
The eminent U.S. Senator Charles Sumner… in 1856… visited Beloit. He made no address but said that his mission was to examine conditions here and talk with people as he met them… He was a noted abolitionist and champion for equal rights for all men, whatever their race or color… [H]e was… one of the most gifted orators in our country’s history…
P. T. Barnum lectured in Beloit in 1866 on the art of making and losing money… The lecture was well worth while as it was filled with practical suggestions as to money making…
Frederick Douglas lectured in Beloit in 1867 on the subject “Sources of Danger to Our Republic… ” He was a masterful orator of striking appearance…
Hon. Edward Everett [the distinguished orator] appeared in Beloit in 1862 and spoke on the “Origin and Cause of the Civil War.” … He was… the main speaker at Gettysburg where Lincoln made his memorable tribute. The next day Edward Everett wrote to Pres. Lincoln these words: “I should be glad if I could say that I came as near the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes… ”
In the fall of 1860 Stephen A. Douglas gave a brief political speech at the station of the Western Union Railroad. At that time he was the candidate of the Northern Democrats for the presidency. His debates with Lincoln two years earlier will be recalled…
[In 1878] President [Rutherford B.] Hayes and a portion of his cabinet stopped in Beloit between trains and visited the Beloit Fair, which was then operating; he made no address, but his Attorney General spoke briefly to a crowd at the fair…
In 1879 Thomas Nast lectured to a crowded house on “Cartoons and Their Story.” His was one of the greatest influences in the history of American journalism… He was the one who invented the GOP elephant and the Democratic donkey as symbols of their respective parties…
John Philip Sousa, famed band master and composer, … brought his band to Beloit in January 1896…Sousa composed more than 100 marches… [including] “Stars & Stripes Forever”…
William Jennings Bryan gave a talk to the college students on “Advantages of a Small College.” He himself was a graduate of such a school… He was three times a candidate for the presidency…
William Taft gave a short campaign speech at the North Western Railroad Station [in 1908, and]… two months later he was elected President…
[In 1904] William B. Yeats, the Irish poet and dramatist, gave a lecture on “Poetry Old & New.” It dealt with folklore poems which had been handed down from generation [to generation]… Mr. Yeats was awarded a Nobel Prize for literary efforts [in 1923.]…
Booker T. Washington gave a talk at the College chapel about his life-long efforts to secure adequate education for his race…
Hamlin Garland lectured to a college audience on conservation. He was a native of Wisconsin and keenly interested in the life and history of the Middle West as his novels attest…
Clarence Darrow, criminal lawyer of Chicago, gave a vigorous plea in behalf of “human rights“ [in 1916.] He favored granting license to saloons, in spite of the growing sentiment in favor of prohibition…
[In 1920] Carl Sandburg came to Beloit and lectured on his poems and reading from them…
Robert Frost, New England poet, gave a reading of his poems here [in 1935.]