During his final years, the wealthy Hesing engaged in a number of philanthropic ventures, including a large role in financing of Chicago's Schiller Theater.

Anton Caspar Hesing was born January 6, 1823, in Vechta in the German Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, today part of Lower Saxony in Germany.

[5] The year following his return, Hesing sold his grocery business and invested the proceeds in a hotel located on Race and Court Streets in Cincinnati.

[2] This enterprise came to an end with the death of his business partner by suicide in 1854, however, causing Hesing to sell his interest in the hotel and to move with his family to Chicago.

[2] Undeterred by his initial lack of success, Hesing made another entry into the brick manufacturing business in partnership with a man named Charles S. Dole, opening a more conventional brickyard at Highland Park, located just north of Chicago.

[4] A staunch supporter of the Federal government in the American Civil War, Hesing helped to recruit soldiers during the conflict, playing a part in the organization of the immigrant-dominated 24th and 82nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiments as well as Shambeck's Dragoons.

[10] Necessary lead type for producing a German-language paper proved impossible to obtain on short notice and as a temporary measure production was moved briefly to the German enclave of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

[10] A new permanent home for the paper was finally located about one mile away from the Chicago city center, in a new multi-story structure built at the corner of Washington Street and Fifth Avenue.

Medill, a Canadian-born Republican, was induced to begin enforcement of previously ignored anti-liquor Blue laws — measures deeply offensive to the cultural traditions of the German immigrant population.

[2] The wealthy Hesing was involved in a number of philanthropic ventures, playing a key role in the establishment of St. Elizabeth Hospital in Chicago and the Altenheim German Old People's Home in Forest Park.

[4] He was also one of the primary contributors to the construction fund for the Schiller Theater on Randolph Street,[2] a 1300-seat venue opened in 1891 for the hosting of the performances of Chicago's German Opera Company.

[2] On the evening of March 30, 1895, agitated by a recent action of the Chicago City Council, Hesing set to work writing an editorial that was to be published in the Staats-Zeitung above his own signature.