USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Discovery and conquests of the Northwest, with the history of Chicago, Vol. I > Part 53
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Of all people known to history, the Indians are the best subjects of whom to study the first elements of mental philosophy, because their minds were untram- meled by any other influence except what was inherited from nature, which cannot be said of any of the ancient nations of savages in the old world. No penetration could measure from the wooden immobility of his face the depths of his subtlety as an enemy; and where in civilized society shall we find his match in self-sacrifice, when, as a captive, he returns to his enemies on a parole of honor, with an almost certainty that he will be executed ?
Numerous instances of this have occurred in their more heroic age, but one has recently occurred, a living witness of which now lives in Chicago (1881). Among the victims of the Indian creek massacre in the Black Hawk war was a family named Beresford. After the peace, two young Indians were identified as the per- petrators of the crime, and indicted by the grand jury of La Salle county and placed in the custody of Mr. George E. Walker, of Ottawa (sheriff). Soon after, the tribe to which these indicted Indians belonged were removed to the Missouri, Mr. Walker allowing the alleged criminals to go with them, under a voucher that they should return to be tried; and so much confidence did he place in their honor, that he signed their bail bond. Six months later their trial came, and Mr. Walker went alone after them, and they voluntarily
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Beck's Gazetteer.
returned to Ottawa in his custody for trial, expecting to be executed, but they were cleared for want of positive evidence .* Let us not forget the griefs the Indians have suffered at the hands of our apostates of civiliza- tion, and remember that their condign vengeance was measured out to offset these abuses. Never blame an Indian for anything he does to a white man, was a fron- tier proverb, not without some shade of justice.
The following from Beck's Gazetteer, of Illinois, is copied as the best known authority, to show what Chicago was at that time. No official census had then been taken, and his statement as to the population is an estimate too high, in the opinion of old settlers. Mr. Williams' estimate for the year before was 200, it will be remembered.
"GAZETTEER, OF ILLINOIS." PUBLISHED BY R. GOUDY, JACKSONVILLE, 1834.
Chicago, the seat of justice for Cook county, is situated on a river or bay of the same name, at the junction of north and south branches, and from one-half mile to a mile from Lake Michigan.
The town is beautifully situated on level ground, but sufficiently ele- vated above the highest floods, and on both sides of the river. It con- tains three houses for public worship, an academy, an infant and other schools, twenty-five or thirty-five stores, many of them doing large business, several taverns, mechanics of various kinds, a printing office which publishes the Chicago Democrat, and 1,000 or 1,200 inhabitants.
Its growth, even for western towns, has been unusually rapid, as two years since it contained five stores and 250 inhabitants.
The United States government is constructing a harbor at the mouth of the Chicago, by cutting a wide and deep channel through a sand bar at its mouth, and constructing piers to extend into the lake, beyond the action of the waves upon the bar. Twenty-five thousand dollars were expended last year for this purpose, and the present congress has appro- priated an additional sum of $32,801, which, added to the previous appropriation, makes the sum of the original estimate.
When this work is completed, the Chicago will form one of the best harbors for steamboats, schooners and other craft in all the lake regions. Steamboats and schooners will pass along a deep natural canal through the center of the upper part of the town, with the greatest con- venience.
These facilities, the natural position of the place, the enterprise and capital that will concentrate here with favorable prospects for health, must soon make this place the emporium of trade and business for all the northern country.
Back of the town toward the Desplaines river, is a fertile prairie, and for the first three or four miles elevated and dry.
Along the north branch of the Chicago, and the lake shore are exten- sive bodies of fine timber. White pine in small quantities is obtained on the Calamic, at the south end of the lake, fifteen miles distant. Large quantities exist in the regions toward Green Bay, from which
* Ottawa Free Trader, November 17, 1874. Mr. Walker died in November, 1874, at the residence of his son in Chicago, No. 34 Indiana avenue.
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Wharfing Privileges.
lumber in any quantities is obtained and conveyed by shipping to Chi- cago. Yellow poplar boards and planks are brought across the lake from the St. Joseph's river.
The mail, in post-coaches from Detroit, arrives here semi-weekly, and departs for Galena, for Springfield, Alton and St. Louis, and for Dan- ville and Vincennes.
The United States government owns a strip of elevated ground between the town and lake, about one-half mile in width, on which Fort Dearborn and the lighthouses are situated. Here are stationed about 100 United States troops, including officers, as a check upon the Indians in the adjacent territory. As the title to the Indian lands in the northern part of Illinois and the adjoining territory, as far as Green Bay, is extinguished by the treaty of September, 1833, and the Indians are to be removed west of the Mississippi, this garrison will soon be broken up, and the town to be extended to the lake shore.
Such was the eagerness to obtain property in this place, that the school section adjacent to the town plat, after reserving twelve acres, was sold in small lots last October, for $38,705. The money was loaned out at 10 and 12 per cent interest, and the avails applied to the support of schools in the town. Chicago is situated on section nine, township thirty-nine north, in range fourteen, east of the third principal meridian.
Chicago, the stream or bay on which the town of Chicago is situated. It is made by north and south branches, which form a junction in the upper part of the town, about three-fourths of a mile from the lake. The Chicago resembles a vast canal, from fifty to seventy-five yards wide, and from fifteen to twenty-five feet deep. Northerly and easterly winds throw the cool waters of the lake into this channel, and raise it about three feet.
North branch, which is the largest, rises a short distance above the boundary line, and near the lake, and runs parallel with the lake shore a southerly course, and is navigable for small boats. Its banks are well timbered and the land fertile.
South branch rises in an opposite direction in the prairies toward the Saganaskee swamp, runs a northern direction about twenty miles, and forms a junction with the north branch in the town of Chicago. The timber is rather scarce on the south branch.
The following gentlemen were trustees of the town of Chicago in 1835, as appears from the lease of a wharfing lot 50 x 40 feet on the river, immediately west of Clark street bridge. Hiram Hugunin, George W. Dole, Samuel Jackson, Eli B. Williams, Francis C. Sherman, James Kinzie, Alexander Lloyd, Walter Kimball and Bryan King, trustees, leased said lot to L. Harmon, H. G. Loomis and D. Harmon. The terms of the lease were $500 cash down, and $1,500 payable in equal in- stallments of one, two and three years, with interest at 6 per cent per annum. After which the lessees were to pay an annual rental of one barleycorn, on the 23rd day of November. These were the terms on which the wharfing lots were first leased, but subsequently they were modified to suit a more modern style of business, when the payment of the annual barleycorn (a form inherited from old English usages) was no longer demanded. One of these old leases is now in the hands of Mr. G. F. Rumsey.
The same year a statement appears in the Democrat of November 25th, estimating the population of Chicago at 3,265 inhabitants. This may be set down as the first year of that speculative excitement for which Chicago has ever since been remarkable. The receipts at the land office which was opened this year, exceeded $500,000 for the first six months.
The following has been copied from Prof. E. Col- bert's "Historical Notes of Chicago," which have been
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Wild Bear in Chicago.
compiled with his accustomed care, and are here in- serted by permission from him:
During the summer of 1833 not less than 160 frame houses were erected, and the number of stores was increased from five or six to twenty-five. Among the new buildings was the Green Tree tavern, by J. H. Kinzie, which was the first structure ever erected in the place for that purpose; its predecessors were simply private residences, thrown open to the public for a consideration.
The year 1834 witnessed the establishment of closer commercial rela- tions with other points east and west. The second week in April a schooner arrived from St. Joseph, and two cleared for the same port. On the 30th of the same month the corporation organ announced that emigration had fairly set in, as more than 100 persons had arrived by boat and otherwise during the preceding ten days. On the 4th of June the Democrat announced that arrangements had been made by the pro- prietors of the steamboats on Lake Erie, whereby Chicago would be visited by a steamboat once a week till the 25th of August. On Satur- day, July 11th, the schooner "Illinois," the first large vessel that ever entered the river, sailed into the harbor amid great acclamations, the sand having been washed away by the freshet of the spring previous. In its issue of September 3rd, the paper stated that 150 vessels had dis- charged their cargoes at the port of Chicago since the 20th of April pre- ceding. The total number of votes polled in the whole of Cook county this year was 528. The poll list of Chicago had increased to 111, out of a population of 400, besides 200 soldiers in the fort. It is noteworthy that not less than thirteen of the 111 were candidates for office at the August election.
In the spring of 1834, a stage communication was opened up between Chicago and the country to the westward, by means of J. T. Temple's line for St. Louis. The route to Ottawa was piloted out by John D. Caton, who had previously been over the unmarked road on horseback. A bitter storm sprang up, and the driver was obliged to resign his post; he died afterward from that day's exposure to the cold. Mr. Caton, afterward chief justice of the Supreme court of the state, took the stage through to Ottawa, where a better system of roads began, the first settlement of the state having been from the southward, as already stated.
A large black bear was seen on the morning of October 6th, in a strip of timber on the corner of Market and Jackson streets, almost exactly on the spot where the armory was afterward built. He was shot: then the citizens got up a grand wolf hunt in the same neighborhood, and killed not less than forty of those animals before nightfall. It was just at this point, thirty-seven years after, almost to a day, that the flames leaped across the river from the West Division, and thence swept north- ward to the limits of the city.
In this year a draw-bridge was built across the river at Dearborn street; active measures were taken to prevent the spread of the cholera, and a committee was authorized to build a cholera hospital outside the town if the disease should make its appearance; the first Sunday liquor law was passed (September 1st); the large sum of $40 was paid for repairing bridges; and the town was divided into four wards, by an ordinance intended to prevent fires. Prior to this year all the stores were located on South Water street-indeed, Lake street, and all the streets southward of it, only existed on paper. In the autumn of 1834, Thomas Church erected a store on Lake street, which was soon the busiest in the whole town. The packing statistics of the year show that Mr. Clybourne packed 600 cattle, and more than 3,000 hogs; while Messrs. Newberry & Dole slaughtered some 400 cattle and 1,400 hogs in a packing house of their own, recently built on the south branch. The same year Gurdon S. Hubbard packed 5,000 hogs, on the corner of Lake and La Salle streets.
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Prices of Water Fronts.
The first water works of the future city was established about this time, the sum of $95.50 being paid for the digging, stoning and stone of a well, in Kinzie's addition, on the North Side.
In 1835 the hotel accommodations of the year increased in proportion to the population. Besides the Green Tree hotel, on the corner of Lake and Canal streets, there were now three others. The Tremont house had been erected a year previously, on the northwest corner of Lake and Dearborn, and the loungers of that day used to stand on its steps and shoot the ducks on the river, or on the slough that lay before the door. Starr Foot was the first landlord, but he speedily gave way to Ira Couch, under whose management the Tremont soon became head- quarters for the travelers and speculators with which the town abounded. It was burned down in 1839, in the second fire that had visited the place, the first having occurred in 1834. The Graves (log) tavern stood nearly opposite the Tremont, and the Saganash hotel offered accommodations for man and beast, on the corner of Market and Lake streets, the spot where Lincoln was nominated in 1860 for the presidency. At that date the grove of timber along the east side of the south branch was still undisturbed, the north division was thickly studded with trees, a few pines stood on the lake shore south of the harbor, the timber being thickest near the river, and a great pine tree stood near the foot of Randolph street.
By an act of the legislature, approved February 11, 1853, all the land east of State street, from Twelfth street to Chicago avenue, was included within the town lines; except that it was provided that the Fort Dear- born reservation, lying between Madison street and the river, should not belong to the town till vacated by the United States.
In this year (June) an attempt was made to borrow money on the credit of the town. The treasurer was authorized to borrow $2,000, at not more than 10 per cent interest, and payable in twelve months. He resigned rather than face the novel responsibility, and the street com- missioner followed suit.
In this year the Chicago American entered the field to compete with the Democrat for the advertising patronage of the town and its citizens.
Two additional buildings were placed in the court house square in 1835-a small brick edifice on the northeast corner, for the use of the county officers and the safe keeping of the records, and an engine house, costing $220, the latter not being finished till the following year. The first fire engine was bought December 10th, of Messrs. Hubbard & Co .. for the sum of $896.38, and a second ordered. The first fire engine com- pany was organized two days afterward.
On the 14th of November the board of town trustees resolved to sell the leases of the wharfing privileges in the town for the term of 999 years, binding the board to dredge the river to the depth of ten feet at least, within four years from the sale, and the lessees of the privileges being bound to erect good docks, five feet wide and three feet above the water, within two years from the date of the lease. The sale of those immensely valuable privileges took place on November 26, 1835, at the store of Messrs. Jones, King & Co., and it may be interesting to remem- ber now the "minimum prices" at which owners of lots fronting the river had the privilege of buying. On South Water street the price was $25 per front foot; on North Water street, $18.75 per front foot; on West Water street $18 per front foot. The men who got rich in buying such property, at such prices, deserve no credit for speculative ability. But the board, on November 18, 1835, offered still further assistance in their new school of "affluence made easy." They then resolved that they would not be bound to dredge the river, in making leases on North Water street, consequently they lowered the minimum figure to $15 per front foot, in part, and $8.50 per front foot on the remainder of the line. To aid in paying for leases at this rate, the board took secured notes for three and six months, for the first payment of one-quarter of the price,
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First Shipbuilding.
and gave three years in which to pay off the balance. The sale was three times postponed, and while waiting for a sale all the picked lots seemed to have been taken at a minimum price. When the vendue did take place, only six lots remained to be sold, and but one of these found a purchaser, at $26 per front foot. The city will have the right to resume possession of these valuable lots on November 26, A. D. 2834. The "privileges " thus thrown away by a lot of men who ought to have known better, subsequently became matter of much anxious legislation on the part of the board, and with the sale of the magnificent school lands, made October 21, 1833, on a petition signed by twenty-three citi- zens, form the two great sores in the history of the city. Both were literally "sold for a mere song." The school lands, sold for $38,865, have since been worth nearly $50,000,000.
The official seal was adopted in November, 1835-a spread eagle, hav- ing three arrows in his claws, and the words " United States of America" surrounding the same.
Among other ambitions developed in Chicago as a town, was shipbuilding; and on May 18, 1836, the sloop "Clarissa" slid from her stocks into the river, amidst the huzzas of a large assemblage gathered there to cele- brate the event. But the great attraction of the year was the celebration of turning the first sod for the canal excavation, which is told as follows by Mr. John L. Wilson, who was an eye witness:
"The beginning of the canal was celebrated July 4, 1836, by nearly the whole village of Chicago going up to Bridgeport on the small steamer "George W. Dole," towing two schooners. Dr. William B. Egan delivered the address on this most auspicious event, and the Hon. Theophilus W. Smith began the "ditch" by throwing out the first shovelful of earth. The celebration of ' the day we celebrate' then began, and a right joyous one it was, as the canal bill had struggled long in its passage through the legislature, and the probability of ever having a railroad to or from Chicago was hardly dreamed of. On arranging and starting the 'flotilla' homeward bound, a squad of men on the banks of the narrow river, without any cause, began throwing stones into the steamer, breaking the cabin windows, and in- juring one or two ladies, and keeping up the fusillade until a detachment of a dozen or more 'old settlers' jumped ashore (or rather, into the shallow water), and charged among them. Those that I now remember were John H. and Robert A. Kinzie, Stephen F. Gale, John and Richard L. Wilson, Henry G. Hubbard, Gurdon S. Hubbard, Sr., James B. Campbell, Ashvel
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Pioneer Commerce.
Steele, S. B. Cobb, Mark Beaubien and others. There were none of the enemy standing as soon as they could be reached. * The weapons used were only those brought into action in the 'manly art of self-defense,' but they proved exceedingly efficient. And thus ended the 'glorious 4th' of July, 1836."+
The year 1836 closes the career of Chicago as a town, the next year being her first as a city. The following is her commercial record till that time:
Year.
No. Vessels Arrived.
Tonnage.
1833
4
700
1834
176
5,000
1835
250
22,500
1836.
450
60,000
The above list of arrivals of vessels, especially in 1834, consisted largely of three small schooners running to and from St. Joseph to carry passengers and flour. The arrivals, previous to 1833, consisted first of the schooner " Tracy," which brought the officers to build the fort in 1803, after which an annual arrival of supplies from the fort came, dur- ing the time there was a garrison at the fort. The steamboat " William Penn " was used for this purpose in 1832, 1833-34, bringing supplies to Fort Gratiot, Mackinac and Fort Howard at the same time. Besides these channels of communication with the east was a wagon track around the head of the lake, thence one branch running to Detroit, and another to Fort Wayne. This road ran along the beach, crossing the Calumet by means of a ferry which had been established June 7, 1830, by the county commissioners of Peoria county granting to Rev. William Lee the right to keep the ferry, with a stipulated bill of charges for ferriage, as follows: Twelve and one-half eents for a foot passenger; twenty-five cents for a man and horse; thirty-seven and one-half cents for a wagon and one horse; seventy-five cents for a wagon and two horses, and $1 for a wagon and four horses.
* Another way of saying that every one of them were knocked down. + Mr. Wilson's recent contributions to the Chicago press have teemed with reminiscences of the early day here, which pleasantly freshen the memories of early Chicago in the minds of many thousands of its citizens.
HISTORY OF CHICAGO SCHOOLS.
BY SAMUEL WILLARD, A.M., M.D., LL.D.
It is due to Dr. Willard that I should acknowledge my obligation to him for writing the History of the Public Schools for these columns, and that I should congratulate those who take an interest in them, in having their history written by one who was better able to do it than any other person living, he having been associated with them so long with the energy in the work and a zeal for their welfare that earned for him the reputation which he enjoys.
He begins by giving due credit to Mr. Wells, who commenced his work here when there were but ten public schools in Chicago, and among his other labors preserved a record of them from oblivion for the benefit of future historians.
Mr. Wells did another thing, of even greater value, by an exemplary ambition to promote the cause of education, untrammeled with any incentives which could impair their utility. R. BLANCHARD.
The researches of William Harvey Wells, an honored Superintendent of Schools in Chicago for many years, gathered and preserved for us the earliest information concerning the beginnings of education on the ground where the great city now stands. When he came to Chicago in 1856, it was possible to talk with those whose memories kept the traditions, if not the personal knowledge of the beginnings of things to come, "the baby fingers of the giant."
As the history of Chicago is involved in the history of Illinois, some better understanding of even this 618
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Chicago Public Schools.
ยท sketch will be obtained by the reader if he will refer to the reports of the State Superintendent, Henry Raab, Esq., for the official terms of 1883-84, and of 1885-86. In the earlier volume he will find a "Brief History of Early Education in Illinois" by the present writer. This sketch especially describes in detail the early con- ditions and customs of the schools of the pioneers, and the growth of the unorganized schools of volunteer teachers into the system of public education by state authority. This sketch ends with the passage of the Free School Law of 1855.
The second report, 1885-86, contains a very elaborate and full account supplementing the earlier one of Dr. Willard, giving details of matters barely sketched in the "Brief History," and bringing the history to a later time. This work of the Assistant Superintendent, Prof. William L. Pillsbury, is admirably complete in its accounts of the legislation prior to 1855, and of the con- stant efforts of the friends of education to advance the cause: there is nothing to be added to his research; and to one searching the history of our great state, few things are more interesting. In the same volume are biographical memorials of two great educators in Illinois, President Julian M. Sturtevant, of Illinois College, and Superintendent William Harvey Wells.
A fact pertinent to this history is brought to light by the keen research of Prof. Pillsbury. It has often been published that the arguments and influence of Nathaniel Pope, when he was the delegate from the Territory of Illinois, secured for this state the strip of land which includes the city of Chicago and the northernmost four- teen counties, a region which has more than a third of the population and wealth of the state. Prof. Pillsbury finds that we are indebted to Pope for the liberal endowment of school lands granted by Congress. A like grant had been made to Ohio and Indiana for the encouragement of making roads: Pope asked and ob- tained that the grant to Illinois should be devoted to education.
Mr. Wells tells us that the first instruction in Chicago was given by Robert A. Forsyth, aged thirteen, to John
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Chicago Public Schools.
H. Kinzie, aged six: the text book was a spelling book brought from Detroit in a chest of tea. This was in the winter of 1810-II. The first school was opened in the fall of 1816, by William L. Cox, a discharged soldier, in a log building belonging to John H. Kinzie, and standing in his garden, about where Pine Street crosses Michigan. The pupils were Forsyth's former pupil, one brother, two sisters and three or four chil- dren from Fort Dearborn. Probably there were other little gatherings like this; but no one is recorded till a sergeant in the fort in 1820 held one there. A school of the Beaubien family taught by one of that name appears in 1829.
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