Editing Woodstock, Illinois (section)

=== Eugene V. Debs' prison stay ===
[[File:WoodstockILCourtHJail.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|The Old McHenry County Courthouse and jail in Woodstock]]

In 1895, [[Eugene V. Debs]] served a short federal prison sentence in the Woodstock Jail following the [[Pullman Strike|1894 Pullman labor strike]] in Chicago. Debs, the former president of the American Railway Union, was held in Woodstock instead of Chicago because federal officials feared that he would be surrounded with too many sympathizers in a Chicago prison and therefore could have still incited further unrest. Debs was instead assigned to a cell in the newly constructed Woodstock Jail, which occupied the lowest floor of the [[Old McHenry County Courthouse|Woodstock Courthouse]] on the town square.<ref name="Debs">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cUwuAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA45|title=Debs: His Life, Writings and Speeches: With a Department of Appreciations|last=Debs|first=Eugene Victor|date=1908-01-01|publisher=C. H. Kerr & Company|language=en}}</ref>

During his time in the jail, Debs received several influential socialist visitors and encountered the works of [[Karl Marx]]. He is said to have considered the Woodstock Jail one of the "greatest school[s]," and passed his time reading and writing many letters from his cell. By the time he was released in November 1895 (to great fanfare and before crowds of onlookers assembled in the Woodstock Square), Debs had become a [[Socialism|socialist]] and a national celebrity.<ref name="Debs"/> He later ran for the [[United States Presidency]] five times between 1900 and 1920 as the candidate for the newly formed [[Social Democratic Party (United States)|Social Democratic Party]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.history.com/topics/eugene-v-debs|title=Eugene V. Debs - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com|website=HISTORY.com|access-date=2017-02-24}}</ref>