USA > Illinois > Cook County > Growth of Cook County; a history of the large lake-shore county that includes Chicago, Vol. I > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21
In 1680, when Father Hennepin was writing of LaSalle's expeditions, he titled a chapter: "An account of the building of a new fort on the river of the Illinois, named by the savages Che-cau-gou, and by us Fort Creveceaur."
(This fort was built by La Salle during the winter of 1679-80 at what is now Peoria. In the winter of 1682-83, however, La Salle had the fort abandoned and re-established at Starved Rock, farther up the Illinois river, naming it Fort St. Louis.)
The Indians at that time, according to the earliest writers, were calling the Illinois river the Che-cau-gou, the word mean- ing "great" or "strong."
La Salle applied the name, Che-cau-gou, to the upper branch of the Illinois river, now known as the Des Plaines. (The Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers merge to form the Illinois.) Shortly thereafter La Salle and others began calling the nar- row water divide between the Des Plaines river and the "arm" or "channel" of Lake Michigan the Chicago Portage, altho the word, Chicago, then was spelled in many ways. And shortly thereafter they referred to this Lake Michigan "channel" as the Chicago river, which name was to stick and eventually give a great city its name.
To support this meaning of great or strong, Historian An- dreas wrote: "St. Cosme, visiting this locality in 1699 and
74
again in 1700, spells the name variously; as Chikagu, Chikagou, Chicagu, Chicago, and Chicaqu. The latter spelling is equivalent to Chicaque, or Checaqua, which was the name borne by a long line of Illinois chiefs-and as applied to them, would mean the great, or powerful, chiefs.""
To inject confusion, however, the Chippewas had a word, shegahg, meaning skunk, and she-gau-ga-winzhe, supposedly meaning skunk-weed and also wild onion. And since this area around the little river running into Lake Michigan was known to have both wild onions and skunks, by deduction detractors of the fair city might say that Chicago may have been named after either wild onions or skunks.
The comparatively faint support for such doubtful meanings, however, does include the fact that Indians once deeded to William Murray, land speculator, a tract extending "up the Illinois to Chicagou or Garlick Creek." Thus by association and presumption the point here is made that Chicagou could have meant "garlick," that this "garlick" is the same as present day garlic, and that it might mean onions to Indians.
It also is to be remembered that Che-ca-gua was the name of a noted Sac chief, and meant in the dialect of that tribe "he that stands by the tree." The Pottawatomie Indians also had a word, choc-ca-go, that meant "destitute."
With its steadily-growing population, Chicago soon was to find its town form of government inadequate, so on March 4, 1837 it was incorporated as a city by an act of the state legislature. In May William B. Ogden was elected its first mayor. At that time the city's population was estimated at slightly in excess of 4,000.
*
Chicago Goes To Press
Cook county's first newspaper was the Chicago Democrat,
1. Andreas, History of Chicago, p. 37.
75
the first issue of which appeared Nov. 26, 1833. (Complete files of the paper are carefully preserved by the Chicago His- torical Society and are a fount of information for historians.) A four-page, six-column affair, it was published each Tuesday in the small building that then stood on the south-west corner of South Water and Clark streets.
The owner-publisher was John Calhoun who came to Chi- cago from Watertown, N. Y. Subscription price was $2.50 per year. Calhoun sold the paper on Nov. 23, 1836 to the fabulous "Long John" Wentworth who later became mayor of Chicago.
In the spring of 1837 the county board appointed Calhoun county treasurer, and as such Calhoun made the 1837 and 1838 assessments. Following a revision of the state revenue laws, Calhoun was appointed county collector, serving in that capacity from 1839 until 1841 when he was elected alderman from the second ward.
In contrast to today's huge metropolitan dailies which are capable of editing, printing, and distributing news within min- utes after it is turned in by reporters, the printing of the Democrat (and other early newspapers) was a slow, laborious process.
Local news coverage was meager and inadequate, the pub- lisher quite possibly feeling that since the community was small (pop. 350), everybody already would have heard of local happenings before he could print them in the paper the following Tuesday. Besides, with little or no help, Publisher Calhoun was too busy rounding up advertising, setting type by hand, and running off the copies on a hand press to spend much time in gathering and writing news.
There being no wire services in that day, the publisher obtained national and foreign news by reprinting stories pub- lished weeks previously in eastern newspapers and brought to Chicago by the mail carrier who arrived once a week on horseback.
76
But no matter how slow the news of national affairs was in reaching Chicago, there were items that should have been of interest to even the frontiersmen. For example, in this first issue of the Democrat there appears a reprint of a Washington Globe article in which the Secretary of the Treasury announced that he was prepared to pay off the entire national debt of $2,041,611 which consisted of stock that bore interest of 4.5 per cent. (As of Oct. 28, 1958 the national debt was $280,821,613,238.)
This and most of the subsequent issues of the Democrat for the next few years were filled with essays on diversified subjects which, tho of little practical bearing upon the lives of the readers of that day, did partly fill a void that existed because there were no libraries, few schools and churches, and few forms of entertainment. They also served as handy "filler" for the harried editor.
One of the shorter quotations in this first issue follows:
"Old Maids-I consider an unmarried lady declining into the vale of years, as one of those charming countries bordering on China, that lies waste for want of proper inhabitants. We are not to accuse the country, but some of its neighbors, who are insensible of its beauties, though at liberty to enter and cultivate the soil .- Goldsmith."
The First Crime Story
A local story, typical of the reporting of the times, and quite possibly the first "crime" story ever published in Chicago, appears without headline and is buried deep in non-news mat- ter on page three of the Dec. 3, 1833 Democrat. It reads:
"We admonish our neighbors to be on their guard against the approach of certain unwelcome midnight visiters (mis- spelling theirs) who seem to be prowling about our town. On Saturday night last, some person entered the Office of Col. Owen, Indian Agent, and broke open a table drawer containing eight or ten dollars in specie and some private papers which
77
with a small trunk, containing a few articles of Indian Jewelry, and some valuable papers were taken some rods from the Office, where they were next morning found completely divested of the precious metals, but the papers were uninjured. The villain was no doubt greatly disappointed to the extent of his anticipated prize."
Each edition of the Democrat also carried a column devoted to poetry, much of which was submitted by sentimental readers who understood rime if not meter. In some issues the poetry column was advanced to the front page, along with advertise- ments, while such news items as canal building, fires, and the deaths of prominent citizens, if printed at all, were relegated to inside pages and buried so deep in fine print that persons doing research work today often find a magnifying glass of great help.
Display advertising, as found in modern newspapers, was unknown to the Democrat whose ads were limited to mere one-column notices. A typical ad which appeared in the Dec. 3, 1883 issue reads:
P. F. Peck
Corner of Lacelle (La Salle) and South Water Streets
Has now on hand, many staple articles requisite to the exigencies of use and consumption; and intends in future to keep a general and full supply. A share of public patron- age is respectfully solicited.
His stock comprises,
Dry Goods, Hardware, Groceries, Crockery, Boots & Shoes, Hats and a variety of miscellaneous articles.
To the citizens of Chicago, and the adjacent country, he tenders his acknowledgements for past favors. Now on hand, 50 bbls. Superfine Flour
400 galls. Smith's Ohio WHISKEY, by the barrel.
As a public service the Democrat carried a column titled "Chicago Prices Current." The readers presumably were to distinguish between the commodities that wholesalers and proc- essors were buying from the public, and those that retailers were selling.
78
From the Dec. 3, 1833 quotations we learn that the price of fresh beef was two to four cents per pound, dried beef, 10 to 12 cents, and salt beef $8 per barrel; pork $10 to $14 per barrel, and dried venison, 12 cents per pound.
Flour was $5 to $6.50 per barrel, and Indian meal, 63 to 75 cents per bushel (unless this was a misprint). Both corn and oats were 63 to 75 cents per bushel, and wheat, 50 to 63 cents. '
Keg butter was 17 to 19 cents per pound; lard, 10 to 13 cents; and cheese, nine to 11 cents; white beans, $1.25 to $1.50 per bushel, and potatoes, 50 to 75 cents per bushel.
Tallow was 10 cents per pound; dry hides, nine to 10 cents per pound, wet hides, four to five cents; tallow candles, 15 to 16 cents per pound; bar soap, 15 to 16 cents per pound, and beeswax, 18 cents per pound.
The price of tea ranged from 65 cents to $1.25 per pound; coffee, 17 to 18 cents per pound; loaf sugar, 20 cents; lump sugar, 16 cents, and brown sugar, 14 to 15 cents. Molasses was 62 to 75 cents per gallon, and rice, seven to eight cents per pound.
Barrel whisky was 35 to 40 cents per gallon; sperm oil, $1.50 per gallon; brown bed sheeting, 13 to 15 cents per yard, and bleached, 18 to 28 cents; brown shirt cloth, nine to 10 cents per yard, and bleached, 12 to 18 cents. Assorted calicoes were 15 to 38 cents per yard.
Peru iron was seven to nine cents per pound; cast steel, 27 to 30 cents; German steel, 18 to 21 cents; wro't nails, 17 to 18 cents; and cut nails, nine to 10 cents. Muskrat pelts were 16 to 18 cents each, and raccoon skins, 20 to 25 cents.
The half-dozen stores of the time often advertised that the produce of farmers would be accepted in trade for merchandise. (One can imagine the consternation that might ensue now were a farmer and his family to appear in a large State street store carrying a dozen live chickens, a basket of eggs, a few
79
pounds of home-churned butter, and some raw muskrat pelts which they wished to exchange for goods.)
Sandwiched in with the ads in the Dec. 17, 1833 issue was this notice:
"The office of the clerk of the Circuit and county courts, is removed to the building one door west of the house of Col. Owen."
Once-a-week Mail
Without headline, of course, there appeared in the Jan. 7, 1834 issue of the Chicago Democrat, on page three, the follow- ing notice which, by modern journalistic standards, might have rated the front page:
"We are requested to state that a general meeting of the citizens of Chicago and Cook county, will take place at the Eagle Hotel, (Mr. A. Steele's) on Saturday next, at 11 o'clock, A. M., for the purpose of taking into consideration the pro- priety of adopting measures, in concert with the citizens of La Porte county, Indiana, for the improvement of the Post Road leading from Detroit to this place, and also for the pur- pose of memorializing the Post Master General in relation to the mails.
"The importance of the subject above alluded to, to the people of Chicago, and surrounding country, is almost in- calculable; and it is greatly to be hoped that the people will generally give their attendance at the hour appointed. - The very fact that we have a mail but once a week from Niles to this place, and that transported on horseback, is enough to awaken the people at once, and induce them to look to their immediate and direct interests."
Chicago at that time had a population of about 1,000, but Niles (Mich.), with a population that could be accommodated in only "nine houses," was receiving its mail three times a week.
The next issue of the Democrat, on Jan. 14, carried an equally obscure account that the meeting was "well attended"
80
and that resolutions were adopted asking both Congress and the postmaster general to improve the road from Niles to Chicago, a distance of 90 miles, so that mails could be sent more often. The resolutions were signed by John B. Beaubien, "president" (of the meeting), and J. Dean Caton, "secretary."
The pleas apparently had the desired effect. By the following year (1835) the road had been so improved that the mails were arriving more frequently-just how often is not clear- and in covered wagons.
Thomas O. Davis brought out a second weekly, the Chicago American, the first issue of which appeared on June 8, 1835.
In the May 28, 1836 weekly issue of the American appeared the following ad which reflects a nation-wide condition of that time:
$100 REWARD
Runaway from the subscriber, living near Fredericktown, Madison county, Missouri, on the 9th day of May, 1836, a negro man by the name of Martin, about 53 years of age, 5 feet 10 or 11 inches high, of a black complexion, stout build, uncommon large arms, high forehead, rather hard features; he has had one foot badly burnt, which left a scar; had on when he left my residence, a pair of leather breeches, the body of a blue jean coat, the tail having been cut off; he took with him, also, a blue cotton frock coat, a mixed pair of breeches, and other wearing apparel not recollected, and an old black fur hat. Fifty dollars reward will be given any person who may apprehend said boy and secure him so that I can get him, and if delivered to me at Fredericktown, I will pay all reasonable charges in addition.
Josias Berryman
ALSO,
A negro man name of TITUS, being of a yellow complex- ion, rather forward, feminine voice, about 25 years old, be- longing to Felix Gregory, living at Mine la Mote, Madison county, Mo. For the apprehension of said negro fifty dollars will be given. Address me at Fredericktown, Mo.
Felix Gregory
The Chicago Land Rush
Whereas the population of Cook county numbered some 350 in 1833, it jumped to 1,800 in 1834, and the rush was
81
on. The federal government on June 1, 1835 opened a land office in Chicago for the sale of properties not only in Chicago but for all of the northern district of Illinois.
With the Erie canal (then in operation ten years) a success, settlers and speculators streamed in by boat to Chicago. Others came overland by wagon and horseback, and some walked. Many of them thought of Chicago only as a gateway to the fertile lands lying to the west and northwest, and after reach- ing here promptly moved on to their originally-planned des- tinations. Others, however, saw the possibilities of Chicago, itself, and stayed. Mostly speculators, they likened the "find" of Chicago to a "strike" during a gold rush.
Fevered excitement ran high. A town lot on Water street, which originally was sold by the Canal Commission in 1832 for $100, on March 11, 1834 sold for $3,500, and 15 months later sold for $15,000.
Historian Theodore Calvin Pease, in The Frontier State (Vol. 2, page 177, of the Centennial History of Illinois) points out that in 1835 the land sales within Chicago totaled 370,043, and in 1836 jumped to 436,992.
"In the years 1835-1837," says Pease, "land speculation was focused on Chicago. June 18, 1834, the Chicago Democrat remarked the fact that 75 buildings had been erected in Chicago since spring. By December the city had a population of 3,279. Next year strangers were crowding in so fast that for want of accommodations, they were sleeping on floors. Provisions were scarce, and flour sold for $20 a barrel ... Lots that in the spring of 1835 sold for $9,000, by the end of the year were held at $25,000; and rents were correspondingly exorbitant."
Pease might have added that many of those who came over- land by wagon, lived in their wagons on the outskirts of the new village until they found housing.
Thus it was that the village of Chicago suddenly was turned into a budding young metropolis. It was incorporated as a city
82
by an act of the state legislature on March 4, 1837, and soon thereafter the townsfolks elected William B. Ogden its first mayor.
By 1839, with Chicago's population having risen to some 4,200, with suburbs springing up about it, and with the sur- rounding farm lands now filled with settlers, the need for a daily newspaper was seen.
Thus it was that William Stuart, having already purchased the Chicago American, converted that weekly into a daily, an afternoon publication. Its first issue appeared on April 9 of that year. It was comparatively short-lived, however, discontinu- ing in 1842.
The Broad-shouldered Queen
The Chicago American was a four-page publication, and altho it now was a daily, in many respects it continued to resemble a weekly. The editors, in the first issue of this daily, carried the announcement:
"In the language of our Prospectus, we this day present to the Queen City of the State the first daily paper ever issued in Illinois."
Thus we see that Illinois not only had its first daily, but also that it was the desire of at least a few early Chicagoans that the city become known as the Queen City. (Later pages in this chapter explain other nicknames by which Chicago has been known.)
Advertisements in this April 9, 1839 issue of the American help in presenting a picture of life in those times. Here are a few:
BLOW YE TRUMPET, BLOW! Fever and Ague, look out for your shakerism.
Just received a fresh supply of Doct. John Sappington's Fever and Ague Pills, and for sale by his agent, E. Dewey, Apothecary Hall, Dearborn st.
83
100 bbls. superfine Flour
10 bbls. Whiskey, just received and for sale by G. S. Hub- bard & Co.
* * *
1 Span large Bay Horses, I sett double harness and 2 good Lumber Wagons for sale. A. D. Higgins, Lake st.
* *
Pork, Lard, & Smoked Hams
Any quantity of Mess and Prime Pork, Lard, and Smoked Hams, for sale at wholesale or retail, for Illinois Money, or Michigan Money of the following Banks: viz :- Bank of Michigan, Farmers' and Mechanic's Bank of Michigan, and the Commercial Bank at St. Joseph.
Newberry & Dole
* *
200 Bushels of Hair, for plastering. For sale by O. H. Thompson. *
Butter .- An article suitable for Cooking. For sale by Paine & Norton.
*
Ruta Baga Seed
Any quantity of the above article, warranted of last years growth, for sale by
W. H. & A. F. Clark Corner of Lake & Clark sts. * Apple Butter
For sale by
J. L. Hanson
*
Lucifer Matches, for sale by Paine & Norton
*
Fire .- 30,000 superior Spanish Cigars for sale at New York prices. Tuthill King. *
Tho there still was no display advertising by 1839, the larger Chicago department stores at least were making their advertisements more descriptive, as witness the following that likewise appeared in the daily American's first issue:
The proprietor of the New York CLOTHING STORE
Would again beg leave to remind the citizens of Chicago, and his old friends and patrons of the country, that he has just received, and will continue to receive, for several
84
weeks, additions to his already large stock of
Clothing
To which he would particularly invite your attention, knowing it to be in his power to afford his goods at much lower rates, beside the more general satisfaction of having an assortment hitherto unknown in Chicago, or in the Western country.
The subscriber would not forget to return his most sin- cere thanks to his friends and patrons, for their liberality, and hopes to merit a continuance of their favors by his promptness and assiduity in business, aside from all sin- ister inducements, which all who have called at the New York Clothing store can testify, as unparalleled in Chi- cago or its Vicinity. As a small sample, I will enumerate a few articles of my extensive variety :
Dress coats, various colors
Frock do do do
Hunting coats, of all kinds and qualities
Lionskin jackets, for laboring men
Monkey jackets of all kinds and quality
Superfine blue cloth jackets
Satinett jackets, well lined for winter wear
Pantaloons, superfine buckskin, cassimere, of various patterns
Plain cassimere, of all patterns and qualities; shirts, drawers, socks and hosiery of all kinds and descriptions; sticks, satin, bombazine, mohair and silk of all kinds; val- ises, trunks, traveling bags of superior quality, life pre- servers, India rubber pillows and portmaneaus; overshoes, a superior article, worsted caps of all sizes: fur caps from $2 to 30.
N. B. Canal contractors can be supplied on the most reasonable terms for cash, as many of my goods were ex- pressly got up for the working community, and peculiarly adapted to such as labor on the Canal. I ask you not to take my word, but to do me the favor of calling and examining for yourselves.
T. King
B. The above articles are but a drop in the bucket of my assortment, so call and see for yourselves, at the old stand, Dearborn st., one door north of the Tremont House, Chicago.
Tho the newspapers of a hundred years ago and more were quite indifferent to local news, reporting but little of it, never- theless it is to them that one now must turn for much of the history of those times. The great Chicago fire of 1871 destroyed
85
all official city and county records that had been kept during the 50-year interval since Cook county's creation.
Thus it is that in searching thru the editions of those papers which the Chicago Historical Society has been able to collect and preserve, one comes upon the April 4, 1850 issue of the Chicago Daily Democrat which, as its name indicates, had changed from weekly to daily publication.
This daily was composed of four large pages of seven columns each, and of the 28 total columns, only four were devoted to editorial matter, all found on page two. The entire first, third, and fourth pages, and a portion of the second, con- sisted of advertising matter.
Historical Gold Mine
Nevertheless, those four columns contained more county news, particularly as pertains to county government, than could be gleaned from the combined papers of the preceding 17 years since newspapers had started publishing in Chicago.
Occupying one of the four news columns in this issue is a table that lists all county budgets from 1831 to 1849, in- clusive, which was the entire life-span of the county up to that time. It was prepared by county officials who even then pointed out that some of the county records had been destroyed by a small fire and that others had been inadequately kept. Nevertheless, as the officials and the newspaper's editor pointed out, the table could give the readers of that era a fairly accu- rate picture of the county's activities and expenditures.
We here copy from the table the figures for the nine months of 1831 after the first county board took office, and for the entire years of 1840 and 1849. In 1831, it should be remem- bered, the county had an estimated population of only 100 whites; in 1840, 10,201 and in 1849, an estimated 40,000.
1831
1840
1849
County Commissioners
$ 96.00 $
521.00 $
488.00
Incidental repairs, furniture, etc.
113.75
383.97
474.00
86
Pauper expenses
27.67
4,318.14
5,810.26
Jail-Board of prisoners, guard, etc.
none
5,493.82
3,453.31
Circuit and Cook county courts
34.00
1,116.92
2,126.26
Elections
6.00
235.35
450.80
Stationery
25.00
159.78
689.50
Roads & Bridges
69.12
99.00
2,859.13
Sheriff-serving papers, etc.
53.43
362.85
1,263.17
Coroner-holding inquests, etc.
none
138.25
323.50
County Commissioners' Clerk
none
1,233.44
2,590.63
County attorney and law expenses
none
320.72
231.53
Printing
none
9.25
73.00
Commission to Treasurer, Collector
none
672.01
1,065.31
Interest on Bonds
none
none
none
Total expenditures
$425.97 $15,064.50 $22,898.80
Total Receipts
357.78
8,106.11 17,769.42
The officials who prepared the table said, as reported by the newspaper, that a total of $7,525 in additional "court and road" expenses accrued between 1831 and 1849, but because a fire destroyed some of the records and because other records had been inadequately kept, the years in which the expendi- tures were made could not be ascertained.
That there had been some bonded indebtedness during this period is evident from the further explanation of the officials that $7,309 in interest on bonds had been paid during this period, but that they, for the aforementioned reasons, were unable to break it down by years.
They also declared that altho the county's indebtedness over this 19-year-period totaled $25,000, that if $19,207.55 in delinquent taxes were collected, and if the courts would turn over to the county $7,500 in fees that had been collected, the county would be out of debt, with $1,707 to spare.
No further record is found showing what happened in this financial picture, but the officials appear to have been over- optimistic in leaving the impression that all taxes are col- lectible. They never are.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.