Scripps Family, The
CITY:
Rushville
COUNTY:
Schuyler
DEDICATED BY:
Scripps Bicentennial Landscaping Committee and The Illinois State Historical Society
DEDICATION DATE:
September 4, 1977 at 5:00:00 AM
The marker is located in Rushville, in Scripps Park, which is on US 24, 100 yards west of the intersection with US 67. The marker is in the extreme west part of Scripps Park next to the Virginian Clubhouse.
This site was the homestead of the Scripps Family – pioneer journalists and philanthropists. John Scripps (1785-1868), a Methodist circuit rider, settled here in 1831. In 1849 he began publishing the Prairie Telegraph, now the Rushville Times. His nephew, John Locke Scripps (1818-1868) co-founded the Chicago Tribune and wrote the first biography of Abraham Lincoln. A great nephew, Edward Wyllis Scripps (1854-1926), founded United Press and the first newspaper chain in the United States – Scripps Howard. An older brother, James Edmund Scripps (1835-1906), founded the Detroit Evening News; and their sister, Ellen Browning Scripps (1836-1932), pioneered the concept of the feature article in journalism.