Hoyne moved to Chicago in 1837, where he turned his back on the mercantile life he had been leading and studied law, being admitted to the bar in 1839. He was elected
Chicago City Clerk in 1840. In 1853, he was appointed United States District Attorney for
Illinois. Six years later, he became a
US marshal for the
Northern District of Illinois. In 1863, Hoyne traveled to New York and then to
Boston to acquire a lens for a telescope for the
University of Chicago. In Boston, he met with
Alvan Clark and purchased an 18½-inch lens and mounting for the
Dearborn Observatory, at the time, the largest refracting telescope ever built. By 1866, he became one of the founding members of the
Chicago Astronomical Society and served as the organization's secretary. Following the
Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Hoyne presided at the meeting that established a free library in Chicago and sat on its board of directors, eventually writing the first history of the Chicago library system. He served as president of the board. Hoyne was a member of the Lakefront Committee, which led activism to oppose the
Illinois Central Railroad's ownership of the lakefront land along
Lake Michigan that is today the site of
Chicago. The committee had been founded at a meeting at the
Tremont House, with Hoyne,
John F. Stafford,
J. Young Scammon being appointed its members. The committee launched a legal battle against the railroad's ownership of
Lake Michigan shoreline land that ultimately resulted in the
Illinois Central Railroad Co. v. Illinois case decided by the
United States Supreme Court Mayoral race In 1875, the city of Chicago adopted the
Cities and Villages Act of 1872, which called for municipal elections to be held in April, instead of November.
Harvey Doolittle Colvin, the current mayor, was informed by his attorneys that his term should be considered extended to the new elections. While the charter did not explicitly extend his term, it also failed to include the office of mayor in a call for special elections to fill the period from November to May. In April 1876, neither the
Republicans nor the
Democrats nominated anyone for mayor, with both parties believing that no election for that office needed to be held until the following year. Hoyne ran as an independent, being listed on
tickets. Hoyne received 33,064 of the 40,000 votes cast for mayor. He and his supporters argued that he had been elected mayor. Colvin refused to relinquish the office, insisting that his term had not expired. Colvin's continued claim to the mayoralty was supported by the city comptroller. Although Hoyne presided over council meetings and gave an inaugural address, the
Cook County Circuit Court declared his claim to the mayoralty null and void. After this decision, Colvin continued to serve as mayor until the courts called for a
special election on July 12, 1876.
Death and legacy Hoyne was killed in a July 27, 1883 railroad collision on the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg railroad near
Carlton Station. He was buried at
Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago. He is the namesake of
Hoyne Elementary School in Chicago. Hoyne Avenue in Chicago is also named in his honor. ==Personal life==