Events

1888 East Dundee First Election

On Tuesday, April 17, 1888, the Village of East Dundee held its first annual spring election for village officers. Voters chose one President of the Board of Trustees, six Trustees, and one Police Magistrate. The polls opened at 8 o'clock in the morning and closed at 7 o'clock in the afternoon. A total of **114 votes** were cast. The election was held at the Engine House — the village's newly acquired firehouse.

East Dundee First Annual Election — April 17, 1888

Date: April 17, 1888 (tie-breaker: April 18, 1888) Location: The Engine House, East Dundee, Illinois Source: Village Record Book of the Corporation of East Dundee, pages 62–63 (original ledger)

Overview

On Tuesday, April 17, 1888, the Village of East Dundee held its first annual spring election for village officers. Voters chose one President of the Board of Trustees, six Trustees, and one Police Magistrate. The polls opened at 8 o'clock in the morning and closed at 7 o'clock in the afternoon. A total of 114 votes were cast. The election was held at the Engine House — the village's newly acquired firehouse.

The public notice calling the election was dated March 28, 1888, signed by Charles Duncker as Clerk, and a copy was pasted directly into the village record book alongside the election results.

Results

For President:

Charles J. Bothke — 108 votes (elected)
John H. Swarutz — 1 vote
Toomy Funke — 1 vote
W. Lasheres — 2 votes
F. Fisher — 1 vote

For Trustee (six seats):

Frank Steinwart — 109 votes (elected)
Georg Brenuing — 76 votes (elected)
Henry Wendt — 76 votes (elected)
Joe Klim — 85 votes (elected)
Chas. Lonky — 66 votes (elected)
John Bruhn — 56 votes (elected — see tie below)
Fred Roehl — 56 votes (lost tie)
Joe Stephan — 55 votes
W. Wagner — 38 votes
W. Helzman — 31 votes
John Rart — 5 votes
Fred Buchert — 1 vote

For Police Magistrate:

James O'Connell — 125 votes (elected)
G. Taylor — 1 vote
G. B. Kelly — 3 votes
Chas. Roehl — 1 vote
John Washer — 2 votes
John Miller — 1 vote

The Tie and the Match-Drawing

Fred Roehl and John Bruhn each received exactly 56 votes for Trustee — tied for the sixth and final seat. The Clerk notified both candidates to appear before the Board of Trustees on Wednesday, April 18, 1888 to settle the matter.

At that Special Meeting, the board adopted a motion (made by Chas. Duncker, seconded by Frank Steinwart) that the two candidates would draw matches: whoever drew the last match would be the loser.

"The candidates then proceeded in their game of chance. The result of the drawing was in favor of John Bruhn, Fred Roehl drawing the last match."

John Bruhn was then duly declared Trustee of the Corporation of East Dundee.

This is the recorded account of East Dundee's first contested election being settled by drawing matches from a pile — a common frontier-era tiebreaker that left the outcome to chance rather than further deliberation.

Name correction, 2026-07-17: the winner's name was previously given as "John Bamborough Jr." The full verbatim transcription of Vol. 1 found the name written clearly as "John Bruhn" in six separate meeting entries over the following four months (committee rosters, attendee lists), against only one low-confidence "Bamborough" reading in the original election announcement — see `docs/name-spelling-register.md`.

First Meeting of the Elected Board

On April 23, 1888, the new President and Board of Trustees were sworn in by Police Magistrate James O'Connell. Charles J. Bethke presided as President. The board immediately set about organizing committees and setting liquor license rates for the coming year at $500 annually (payable in three installments), a significant increase from the prior $100 per quarter.

Frank Steinwart was appointed Treasurer, with a bond of $3,000.

Context

This election followed a period of informal village governance dating to at least June 1887, when the Record Book opens with the village already operating as "the Corporation of East Dundee" under President Fred Buchert. The April 1888 election formalized the structure under an elected President — a role that had previously been filled by appointment or informal consensus.

John H. Funke — the attorney who drafted all of the village's founding ordinances in 1887 — had "ceased to be a member of the board by removing out of the voting precinct" before the election took place. His departure was noted at the April 2, 1888 Regular Meeting.