USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Historical review of Chicago and Cook county and selected biography, Volume II > Part 38
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James J. Egan, member of the firm of architects, Egan & Prinde- ville, has been a well-known figure in this professional field for more
JAMES J.
than thirty-five years. He is a native of Cork, Ire-
EGAN. land, son of William and Mary (Fitzgerald) Egan,
and was born on the 15th of October, 1841. He ob- tained his literary and professional education in the Emerald Isle, being a student at a private academy in Cork and at the Government School of Design, and Queen's College, in that city, where he held a science scholarship.
When Mr. Egan came to the United States in 1866 he located in New York City, resuming his work commenced in Cork. both as'an architectural draftsman and student. In 1871 he came to Chicago, and in the great work of rebuilding which followed the great fire of that year he found an incessant demand for his professional services for many years; in fact, there has been little change in the situation since, so far as he is personally concerned. But, like scores of others in the fields of architecture, engineering and constructing, the substan- tial foundation of Mr. Egan's career was laid in what seemed at the time like a great public calamity. Mr. Egan formed a partnership with Charles H. Prindeville, by which he formed the present firm of Egan & Prindeville.
In 1876 Mr. Egan was united in marriage with Miss Margaret O'Shea, and their residence is at No. 2915 Groveland avenue. His business headquarters are at No. 85 Dearborn street.
Alfred Burritt Andrews, of the corporation of Bulley & An- drews, general contractors, was born in Chicago shortly after the great fire. He is a son of Rev. Edwin N. Andrews,
ALFRED B. ANDREWS. a Congregational clergyman well known both east and west. The father was born in New Britain, Connecticut; graduated from Amherst College and Union Theolo- gical Seminary ; came west in the sixties and preached at Kansas City and Chicago. His wife, formerly Miss Mary E. Barry, is a native of Greenville, Illinois, and daughter of Franklin Berry and Mary Henderson Black of Kentucky. Rev. E. N. Andrews served as chaplain in the Civil war with a regiment of New Jersey cavalry. and at different times held pastorates in Kansas City, Champlain (Ills.), Chicago and several other cities of Illinois and Wisconsin.
The Andrews family, of which Alfred B. is a member, has an
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unusual line of American ancestry, dating back to pure colonial stock. The records of the paternal branch are found in the annals of the New Haven and Massachusetts colonies, while those of the mother's side are connected with the Old Dominion. Forty-eight known ancestors fought in the Colonial wars, three in the Revolution- ary war and one in the war of 1812. Mr. Andrews is a direct de- scendant of John and Mary Andrews, who left England and set- tled in New Haven. in 1638. One of his ancestors is also Rev. Thomas Hooker, the famous English divine and Puritan, who assist- ed in the founding of the Plymouth colony. Among his forefathers are Edward Doty, who came to Plymouth in the "Mayflower," and who fought the first duel in New England; William Leete, second governor of Connecticut, and Captain Thomas Willet, first mayor of New York.
Mr. Andrews finished the grammar courses in Chicago and was a student at Ripon and Beloit colleges, both Wisconsin institutions. He entered the latter in 1890, but after a time left college to enter business in Chicago, intending to return later and resume his studies. He first became connected regularly with an insurance office and while thus employed commenced the study of architectural draught- ing at a night school. The youth soon found that this outside occu- pation was far more absorbing than his regular duties. His em- ployers also made the same discovery and one day the chief clerk in the insurance office called the boy to him and said that he must either display more energy in getting off the mail and filing policies or look elsewhere for his weekly envelope. Alfred B. took the advice kindly and shortly after was sitting up against a big board, as an architect's employe, content in his chosen vocation. About this time he joined the First Regiment, his first active service in a military capacity be- ing in 1893 upon the occasion of the Pullman strikes. Then came the hard times, the suspension of all building enterprises, and the de- parture of the would-be architect for the parental home in Wiscon- sin. This waiting for a revival of good times and building opera- tions was both irksome and impossible for one of Mr. Andrews' active temperament, and for occupation and self-support he turned to varied callings, as sign-painting, job printing, carpentry, violin- playing and "barn-storming," in the prosecution of which he wan- dered through various sections of Wisconsin, Michigan and Can-
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ada. At last word came from Chicago that architectural draughts- men were in demand, and he accordingly returned and entered the employ of Flanders & Zimmerman and later of Patton, Fisher & Miller. He was also employed for a time as detailer in a planing mill and also as shop draughtsman in an iron foundry. As an architect Mr. Andrews' first specialty was structural work, but gradually he found his attention and activities centering on the feature of general contracting, with the result that, although he obtained the state li- cense to practice as an architect, he abandoned the profession in favor of the business.
In 1901 Mr. Andrews associated himself with Frederick Bulley. forming the present company of Bulley & Andrews, whose general contracting covers masonry, reinforced concrete and carpentry of all descriptions. Of this corporation he is the secretary and treasurer. The business of the company has extended into many states, although the greater portion of its work has been accomplished in Chicago. The concern is classed among the leading builders of the west. Mr. Andrews is a member of the Chicago Architectural Club, Union League Club and the Masonic fraternity. In his religious belief he is liberal and is identified with the Ethical Society; in politics he classes himself as an independent, believing that progressive legisla- tion at this time can best be accomplished by not conforming too strictly to party lines.
Mr. Andrews was married in 1901 to Miss Jane Van Etten, daughter of Isaac Van Etten and Jane Oakes Van Etten, of St. Paul, Minnesota. Mr. Van Etten was one of the leading lawyers of the state, holding the office of state's attorney, and as a family, the Van Ettens were prominent in St. Paul society. Mrs. Andrews received a thorough education in art and music in the United States and the European centers, her voice culture being conducted under the world's masters of London and Paris and her training completed in all the intricacies of grand opera. Receiving a flattering offer to come to the States in concert and oratorio, she toured the east and shortly after came to Chicago, where she married Mr. Andrews, who had known her for a number of years. Since her marriage Mrs. Andrews hans devoted much of her time to musical composition.
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George Washington Jackson is one of the foremost constructing engineers in the United States, and while he has never enjoyed a
GEORGE W.
technical training in any of the accredited institu-
JACKSON. tions devoted to his specialty, his education being virtually confined to the public schools of Chicago. yet his professional career includes the designing of plans and the direction of the construction of tunnels through mountains and un- der cities, foundations of great structures, bridges and conduits, rail- ways and electrical plants of immense value. He has never held pub- lic office, and avoids public social functions, except in the quiet of his favored clubs, where he frequently entertains his personal and pro- fessional friends in a royal manner.
Mr. Jackson is a native of Chicago, born July 21, 1861, and has been engaged in engineering and contracting since 1883. Locally, he is, perhaps, the most widely known for his identification with the city's underground telephone systems, in whose construction he has had far more to do than any other man. He built about ninety per cent of the entire system of the Chicago Telephone Company, and was the contractor for the system of tunnels of the Illinois Telephone Construction Company. He also devised and built the pneumatic tube system of the Associated Press, and the underground systems of the Postal Telegraph Cable Company and the Western Union Tele- graph Company, as well as the Wentworth avenue drainage system, and is consulting engineer for the local transportation committee of Chicago in its study of the traction problem, and hydraulic engineer for the high pressure water commission of the city. As head of vari- ous contracting and construction companies he has also superintended the building of underground systems at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana ; Muscatine, Iowa; and other cities in the United States, and was the contractor for the Strickler tunnel through Pike's Peak and the fourteen-foot subway at Reading, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Jackson is president of the Jackson & Corbett Company, con- tractors; Jackson & Corbett Bridge and Steel Works; George W. Jackson (Incorporated) Interlocking Steel Sheeting Company, and the Security Trust and Deposit Company. He also holds member- ship in the Western Society of Engineers, Chicago Technical Club, Academy of Sciences, Chicago and Illinois Athletic clubs, the Chi-
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cago Automobile Club, Press Club. of Chicago, and the South Shore Country Club. Fraternally he is a thirty-second degree Mason, Knight Templar and Shriner, and a member of the order of Elks.
Mr. Jackson was married in 1883 to Miss Rose Theresa Casey, and their two children, Rose and Thomas, are popular in social cir- cles.
George Bell Swift in 1895 was elected the forty-fourth mayor of Chicago, his being the last Republican city administration until the
one recently inaugurated under Mayor Busse.
GEORGE B. Many permanent improvements and reforms are
SWIFT. dated back to his administration. When he as- sumed his executive duties he was thoroughly familiar with local conditions and the city's business affairs. Under Mayor Roche, from 1887 to 1889, he had served as commissioner of public works. His successful business career and his adaptability for public service had been known to Chicagoans for some years, and he was thoroughly qualified to handle the city's business with energy and skill. He cre- ated the department system in city government, and showed his capacity for municipal management in many other ways.
Mr. Swift spent all his life in the middle west, and in industrial affairs of this section has made a reputation quite commensurate with his political prestige. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 14, 1845, son of Samuel Worrell and Elizabeth (Bell.) Swift, he was taken by his parents to Galena, Illinois, and from there to Chicago in 1862. He got his first schooling at Galena, and after moving to Chicago, attended the old Skinner school, the West Chicago high, and later attended and graduated from the old Douglas University, at Thirty-sixth street and Cottage Grove avenue, this institution be- ing more usually known as the Old Chicago University. Throughout his business career of over thirty-five years he has been a manufac- turer and contractor. He became vice president of the Frazer Lubri- cator Company in 1870, and has held that position continuously since. He would not consider a second term as mayor, because of his busi- ness, and has since devoted himself entirely to his contracting and building interests. He is president of the well known firm, George B. Swift Company, general contractors.
His activity in politics, and especially the activity growing out of a keen interest in municipal affairs, began about 1876, and besides
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the service already mentioned he served two terms as alderman, and in 1893 was nominated by the Republican party to fill out the unexpired term of the assassinated Carter H. Harrison, but was defeated by John P. Hopkins, the Democratic nominee, by a narrow margin. Two years later he defeated Frank Wenter by a large majority.
In Masonry Mr. Swift is affiliated with the Chicago Commandery. Washington Chapter and Hesperia Lodge, and also with the Knights of Pythias, the Royal Arcanum and the Royal League. He is a member of the following clubs: Union League, Illinois, Mid-Day, Hamilton a:>1 South Shore Country. He is a member of the Metho- dist church. November 12. 1868, he married Lucy L. Brown, daughter of a pioneer Chicagoan who came here in 1835. Their children are: Brown F., Herbert B., George L., Grace B., Adelaide P., Eldred B. and Edith L. Their home is at 5132 Washington avenue.
At the time of the Chicago fire in 1871 Addison Eldred Wells was about sixteen years old. He had been born at Janesville, Wis-
ADDISON E. consin, February 4, 1856, a son of Warren Ayer
and Sarah Harper (Harris) Wells. Just before
WELLS. the fire his father moved to this city from St. Paul, his intention being to engage in some form of manufacturing enter- prise. With the destruction of the greater part of the city in the fall of 1871, a new field was opened for his efforts, resulting in the establishment of a contracting and mason business. Addison E .. though at the time of the fire without practical experience in this line of business, at once applied himself to its mastery, and in 1880 became a partner of his father. In 1885 another son, Fred A. Wells, was admitted to partnership, and the firm of W. A. & A. E. Wells was for many years, both during the reconstruction period after the fire and during the steady growth that followed, among the foremost builders of the city. The elder Mr. Wells died in October. 1899, and the following year the business was incorporated as the Wells Brothers Company. Addison E. Wells is president ; Fred A. Wells, vice president and treasurer : W. G. Luce, second vice president ; H. L. Wells, secretary. At no time within recent years could one fail to observe in walking about the business district some construction work being carried on by this firm. Buildings erected by Wells
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Brothers are now landmarks in the city, among the most important being: The Studebaker Theater, Fine Arts building, Studebaker repository, Cable building, McClurg building, Republic Office build- ing and Chicago Savings Bank building, the new Mandel buildings, the new Marshall Field building and the Commonwealth Edison, Fisk and Quarry streets plant. In other cities their work is seen in the Mis- sissippi State Capitol at Jackson, Philadelphia Stock Exchange, built by the Wells Bros. Company of New York; Belvidere Hotel at Balti- more, Baltimore & Ohio general office building at Baltimore, the mil- - lion dollar Court House at Syracuse, the Carnegie Engineering Club, the New York Club, and the New Masonic Temple building and many others in New York City. Up to a few years ago one of Chicago's best known buildings was the old Exposition building on the lake front. This was one of the first large buildings erected by W. A. & A. E. Wells. During the thirty-five years since that work was done it would take many pages to enumerate the various buildings con- structed by the Wells firm.
Addison E. Wells also has large interests with the Chicago Engi- neering & Construction Company and the Allen Electric Company. He is chairman of the finance committee of the West Park Commis- sioners of Chicago, and is well known in club life, being a member of the Union League, Illinois, Builders' and Lake Geneva Country clubs. His business office is in the Monadnock building. Besides a home on Ashland boulevard, he has a beautiful country house at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He married, January 1, 1877, Miss Alice Mary Conant. of Janesville, Wisconsin. Their four sons are Arthur Fred, Harry Lord, Percy Addison and Warren M.
Charles Abbott Phillips, among the younger and rising architects of this section, is a native of Chicago, born in August, 1870, to Wil-
lian Butterworth and Marion (Goss) Phillips. The
CHARLES A. PHILLIPS. family is of English ancestry. Charles A. has lived in Evanston, Illinois, most of his life, and received his early education at the academic department of Northwestern Uni- versity. Afterward he pursued courses in architecture at the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, and the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Paris.
Mr. Phillips began the practice of his profession in 1899, when he located in Chicago. He designed the Evanston Public Library and
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other buildings in the classic city, and his business interests have gradually centered there.
Louis E. Ritter, member of the firm of Ritter & Mott, well-known civil engineers of this city, is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, born March
LOUIS E. 14. 1864, son of Louis and Harriet ( Lambert ) Rit-
RITTER. ter. He obtained the foundation of his education in
the public schools of his native city, and, prior to actual practice, pursued his professional training in the Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, from which he graduated in 1886.
After he left school Mr. Ritter's first practical work was in connec- tion with the surveys and construction of the Cleveland & Mahoning Valley Railway, and he was engaged on this work for nearly three years. From 1889 to 1892 he served in the United States engineering corps engaged on the various improvements of the Mississippi river. coming to Chicago in the latter year to become associated with Jenney and Mundie, the architects, as the engineer in charge of their construc- tion work. In 1899 he formed a partnership with Arthur D. Mott, and since then. under the firm name of Ritter and Mott, has been senior partner in a professional business which has acquired prominence. Both as designing and consulting engineers the firm stands high. Mr. Ritter personally is a member of the Western Society of Civil Engi- neers, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Railway Engi- neering and Maintenance of Way Association, and belongs to the Engineers', Press, University and Evanston Golf clubs, the Loyal Le- gion, and Chicago Association of Commerce.
Married in Cleveland, Ohio, to Miss Mary Stair, in 1889. Mr. Rit- ter is the father of two children-Louis Stair and Francis Hamilton Ritter. The family residence is in Evanston, Illinois.
Ernest Robert Graham, a leading architect and member of the widely known firm of D. H. Burnham & Co., was born in Lowell. ERNEST R. Michigan, and is a son of Robert William and GRAHAM. Emma (Post) Graham, both natives of England. In May, 1888, just before he had reached his ma- jority, Mr. Graham became a resident of Chicago, and, with a high school education as the basis of his professional training, commenced work in an architect's office. During the construction and operation of the World's Columbian Exposition he was assistant director of
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works under Mr. Burnham, and general manager, and in 1894 be- came associated with him as a partner.
Mr. Graham was married in Chicago, in 1894, to Mrs. Carlotta Hull, and their residence is at 4858 Washington avenue. He is quite prominent in social life, being a member of the following clubs : Chi- cago, Union League, Mid-Day, Glen View, Chicago Golf, South Shore Country and Exmoor Country, of Chicago, and the Duquesne and Union, of Pittsburg.
Twenty-five years of faithful and efficient work in America, of which sixteen have been spent in Chicago, have placed Joachim
JOACHIM G. Gottske Giaver among the leading structural engi-
GIAVER. neers of the United States, his present position being chief engineer for D. H. Burnham & Com- pany, the world-famed architects. In this capacity he has charge of all the structural work, including foundations, for the numerous buildings designed by the firm, and in the discharge of his important duties is called to all the large cities of the United States, and has even designed work for a large building in London, England. Mr. Giaver first became connected with the firm in 1891, when he secured a position as assistant chief engineer on the staff of the chief archi- tect and engineer of the World's Columbian Exposition, D. H. Burnham.
J. G. Giaver comes of an old Norwegian family, which originated in Germany, while his mother's people (the Holmboes) constitute one of the strongest and most ancient of pure Norwegian families, its record dating back for hundreds of years. Mr. Giaver himself was born at Gjovig, Norway, on the 15th of August, 1856, the son of Jens Holmboe and Hanna Birgette (Holmboe) Giaver. He ob- tained the foundation of his education through private tutors at home, and his technical training at the Technical College of Throndhjem, Norway, graduating from the latter in 1881.
Mr. Giaver arrived in America in the spring of 1882, and first worked as draftsman in the bridge department of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company at St. Paul, Minnesota, filling that position until the fall of 1883, when he became connected with the Shiffler Bridge Company, of Pittsburg, and by the spring of 1885 had been advanced to the head of the engineering department of that concern.
Lunchin . Graver
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The latter post he filled with credit until the summer of 1890, when he left the country for a trip to his native land.
In January, 1891, upon his return from Norway, Mr. Giaver came to Chicago, and soon afterward commenced work on the staff of the chief engineer of the World's Columbian Exposition. It was not long before he was assistant chief engineer, as such superintend- ing the designing of all structures for the exposition, examining and approving the plans for all the buildings erected on the grounds. He retained this position of great responsibility until the completion of all the structural work, in August, 1893.
At the conclusion of the exposition work Mr. Giaver entered into the general engineering and construction field, continuing thus until 1897, when he accepted a position as designer of bridges for the Chicago Drainage Canal, which he held for the succeeding two years. Since 1899 he has been chief engineer for D. H. Burnham & Com- pany, the responsible duties of which office have been already de- scribed. Professionally, Mr. Giaver is identified with the Western Society of Civil Engineers and the Engineers' Club, of Chicago, while for recreation he turns to the Columbian Yacht Club and the Norwegian Quartette Club.
Mr. Giaver's wife was formerly Louise Caroline Schmedling, and of the family born to them two girls and three boys are living: Astrid, Birgit, Erling, Finn and Einar ; three sons died in infancy. The pleasant family home is at 1356 Sawyer avenue.
General William Sooy Smith has achieved a highly honored repu- tation both as a military leader of the Civil war and a civil engineer in the construction of great works through original
WILLIAM S. SMITH. processes. In the latter field he has acquired even more than a national reputation in the construction of the foundations of heavy office buildings, his basic theory being that the substructure should rest on hard bottom. He and his son, Charles Sooy Smith, civil engineer, introduced into the United States the freezing process for difficult subaqueous work, by which through artificial refrigeration quicksands and other deterrent formations (under former conditions) were handled with ease. Upon one oc- casion he sunk two shafts through quicksands and bowlders to a depth of over one hundred feet. He has also constructed many vast foun- dations, after the bulk of the surface soil has been excavated, by driv-
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ing piles through fifty feet or more of soft formations until they finally rested on hard clay or bedrock; and where these could not be driven, without endangering the foundations of adjacent buildings, he has used columns of concrete for the same purpose. In this and other ways he has assisted in the development of steel construction for bridges and buildings which has now come into general use. He was the pioneer in the construction of iron bridges and so became fa- miliar with the defects of that metal as a bridge-building material, as compared with mild steel then coming into use. With the assistance of the American Society of Civil Engineers, he then procured the appointment of a board of engineers by the United States govern- ment for testing American metals, and was a very active member of the board during the three years of its existence.
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