An easy exercise in local tourism would be to walk by a local police station and contemplate the night that the mayor fired the entire police force on March 22, 1861.
Claiming budget concerns during his second term in 1861, Wentworth reduced the police force and imposed a midnight curfew. Outraged voters prompted the state of Illinois to become active in Chicago’s police politics again. On February 15, 1861, the state legislature established a Board of Police Commissioners in the city. It would be composed of three commissioners, one for each of the three districts—north, south, and west—divided by the Chicago River. The initial commissioners would be appointed by the governor and the successors would be elected.
