History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 141

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

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5º3

MUSIC.

returned to Chicago and entered the employ of Captain Turtle, as a detective, superintending his business and assisting upon the Penny Press at Cleveland, Ohio, until 1882, at which date the Mooney & Boland Detective Agency, of New York, established a branch agency here, and he accepted the position of superintendent, a place he still holds (ISS4). As editor, from 1854 to 1856, of a paper that ranked as the leading literary journal of the West, he was better acquainted with the writers of the country than most men at that time. Among the more noted of his own works, in fact the one which, perhaps, gained him most reputation, was a novelette, " Ethzelda, or Sunbeams and Shadows," published as a serial in the columns of the Literary Budget. It was a tale of the prairie region as it once existed, and was subsequently issued in book form by Rufus Blanchard, who then had a publishing house on LaSalle Street, and also in Phila- delphia by a prominent publishing house. The story deals with a band of robbers and counterfeiters whose headquarters were in a large cave in the banks of the Mississippi, somewhere on the western boundary of the State of Illinois. Its dramatic arrangement is very good, the incidents as interesting and exciting as the nature of the tale would suggest. In addition to this, Mr. Whipple contributed a great number of short sketches to the columns of the Literary Budget, together with book reviews and biographical sketches of the then leading writers of the West. Among the latter was an extended and ably written article on the life and writings of that popular novelist, Emerson Bennett. This article was widely read and copied by the leading papers of the country.

W. H. BUSHNELL .- Previous to and contemporary with Mr. Whipple, and also a popular writer and con- tributor to the paper of which he was editor, was a gen- tleman, by profession a civil engineer, William H. Bush- nell, then of this city. This gentleman, aside from being a poet of acknowledged ability, a sketch of whose life, together with specimens of his poetry, can be found in "Coggshall's Poets and Poetry of the West," was a pleasing and graceful writer of prose stories, sketches, Indian legends, etc. He was born in the city of Hud- son, N. Y., June 4, 1823, and was educated at the Uni- versity of New York City. He was first announced as a poet in the year 1843, when he delivered, before the Young Men's Lyceum of Chicago a poem enti- tled " Knowledge is Power." He then lived in this city engaged in the practice of his profession, but found, it seems, time to contribute to the columns of the Gem of the Prairie, and later to the Literary Budget, stories, poems, and graphic sketches of Indian life in the West. He was also connected in various capacities, editorially or otherwise, to many other Chicago publications. Under the pseudonym of " Frank Weber " he wrote a novel, "Prairie Fire," first published in the Garden City, which was well received throughout the West; in fact so pop- ular did it become that it was printed in book form, rap- idly ran through six editions, and is to-day found in the trade. Subsequently he hecame one of the editors and contributed largely to the Sunday Leader, the proprietor of which was the now public printer, Hon. S. P. Rounds, who was also the publisher of the Printer's Cabinet, for which Mr. Bushnell has continuously written for over a quarter of a century. Leaving Chicago for New York, just prior to the war, Mr. Bushnell then devoted his time mainly to authorship. He became a contributor to the best literary publications, and has written many serial novels, sketches, poems, etc., which have made his name familiar throughout the land. As a writer of passionate fiction he may justly be proud of the name he has won;

as a writer of Indian romance so great an authority as B. P. Shillaber (" Mrs. Partington ") has declared he had no equal since Cooper; and Mrs. Ann S. Stephens that his " Indians were too good and true to their subtle char- acter to be appreciated by the masses " and that "each of his poems contained a sufficient number of beautiful similes to exhaust any author." He has been twice married

A writer in the Criterion for August, 1882, said:

" Haste of composition has much marred the literary work of Mr. Bushnell. All of his productions reveal this, and it is to he regretted. He has written an amount scarcely to be credited, his other engagements considered, and still accomplishes far more than many a younger man, and one who has all his hours at command. Vet, as a rule, he has written strong, well, and with a wonderful command of language and illustration; his serials exhibiting a deep insight into the mature passions of the human heart, and his poetry the love of the beautiful and tenderness of a woman."

Mr. Bushnell is now engaged as a proof-reader in the Treasury Branch of the Government Printing Office at Washington, a position his years of newspaper life have well fitted him to fill. He still finds time to write much for the Press.

HENRY A. CLARK .- Another writer of those days, also an occasional contributor to the literary journals, was Henry A. Clark, an attorney of this city. Mr. Clark wrote, among others, a novel, the " Banditti of the Prairie," which was published early in the fifties, though at that time its authorship was credited to Ed- ward Bonny, a then noted detective who lived in Du Page County, near what is now Prospect Park. Later, however, it became well known that Mr. Clark was the anthor. The book had an immense sale, and at once took its place among the popular romances of the day.

BENJAMIN F. TAYLOR, whose literary works have long since given him more than a national reputation, was for many years a resident of this city. For thir- teen years he occupied an editorial position on the Chi- cago Evening Journal, during which time he wrote much that contributed to the fame which has since been accorded him as one of the most graceful and pleasing writers in the West. Mr. Taylor was born in the town of Lowville, Cass Co., N. Y., in 1822. His father, Stephen W. Taylor, LL. D., was president for many years of the Madison University, at Madison, N. Y. The son received a good education and, coming

Benj. T. Saylor

West while yet a young man, began life surrounded with all the generous possibilities of a new and growing country. His writings early attracted attention, and were distinguished by an originality of thought and a vigor of style hitherto almost unknown in the literature of the West. Among the earlier poems written by Mr. Taylor, and which at once gave him prominence, were: " Rhymes of the River," " June Dews," " Shall I Know Her Again?" " God Bless Our Stars," and " The World's Embodied Thought." In 1855 a volume of his edito- rial writings, entitled " January and June," was pub- lished in New York, and a few years later a second edi- tion was issued by a firm in this city. Mr. Taylor now lives on a farm in northern Indiana, from the quiet se- clusion of which he contributes occasional articles to several of the leading periodicals in the East, as well as to various journals in this and other States.

WILLIAM KOUNSEVILLE, who began, in October,

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1845, the publication of the Western Magazine, the first literary periodical published in this city, was a writer of rare and versatile talent. Bits of poetry, charming sketches in prose, historical reminiscences, and well- written fiction, all flowed from his ready pen; and into whatever field he entered, he treated his subject with a grace, vigor, and thoroughness which bespoke the rarest qualities of intellectual strength and culture. Aside from his editorial duties, he contributed a great number of articles to his magazine, which well deserve to be preserved as among. the best specimens of early literature in the West. In the initial number of the Magazine, there appear credited to his pen the following articles: A charming sketch, " The Pioneer of the Prairies;" a well-written article on the " Arms and Ar- mour of the Ancients," a subject which he carried through all the numbers in the first volume; an histori- cal sketch, " An Incident of the Revolution;" and two short poems, "They Bid me be Sad," and "Can the Mother Forget her Child?" The pages of every num- ber teem with the fruits of his prolific pen. Among the other contributors to this periodical were W. H. Bushnell and Judge Brown, whose works have already been noticed in this chapter. The Western Magazine lived but one year, when it was discontinued, and its editor turned his attention to journalism, but later en- gaged in the publication of an Odd-Fellows' Monthly. Mr. Rounseville then removed to Peoria, where he re- mained several years. He again returned to this city, living here until his death, in 1878.

ARCHITECTURE.

The first house built in Chicago from plans drawn by an architect was the residence of William B. Ogden. In the fall of 1836, Mr. Ogden, being then in New York on a visit, employed the services of J. M. Van- Osdel, an architect of that city, in drawing plans for a dwelling which he proposed building during the follow- ing year. Hs also induced Mr. VanOsdel to come to Chicago, in the spring of 1837, and personally superin- tend the erection of the house. This residence, which was still standing at the time of the fire of 1871, was the finest and most attractive in the city. It stood in the center of Block 35, Kinzie's addition, and was bounded on the east by Rush, on the south by Ontario, on the west by Cass and on the north by Erie. The building was of the Grecian style of architecture, and was almost square, two stories in height, the roof sur- mounted with an observatory, while on two sides were recess-porches flanked with large ornamental columns. Mr. VanOsdel, after completing the building, decided to make Chicago his home and is now living here. Not long since he began a series of articles on the " History of Chicago Architecture," which were published in the Inland Architect, a monthly journal of this city. In the first paper are found the following interesting recol- lections, stated in the third person:

" Mr. VanOsdel arrived early in June of 1837. Passing front the landing toward Mr. Ogden's office on Kinzie Street, he noticed a block of three buildings, three stories high, the fronts of which had fallen outward and laid prone upon the street. Upon inquiring he found that the frost of the preceding winter had penetrated to a great depth below the foundations, and the buildings, having a south front, the sun neting upon the frozen quicksand under the south half of the block, rendered it incapable of sustaining the weight of the building. At the same time, the rear, or north part, of the block, being in shadow, the frozen ground thawed gradually and continued to support the weight resting upon it. The conse- quence was that the block careened. Mr. VanOsdel's first work in Chicago was to readjust the floors in this blick, which, at first de- *

signed for stores, was completed for dwelling houses, *

The brick buildings in the city in the spring of 1837 were the Lake House, on the southeast corner of Rush and Michigan streets, a building about eighty by one hundred feet, four stories high; the St. James church, a pretentious semi-Gothic structure, with a square brick tower, located on Cass, between Michigan and Illinois; Will- iam Norton who built the hrst bridge across the river at Dearborn Street, had a two story brick residence on Indiana, near Dearborn Street; there were two stores, two stories high, on North Water Street near the foot of Cass. These, with the frontless block fir -! mentioned, included all the brick structures in the North Division of the city. There were but twe brick buildings in the West Divis- ion, one a two story dwelling, corner of Jackson and Canal street -. owned by Laframboise, an Indian chief; the other was Archibald Clybourne's residence, in the (then) extreme northwest corner of the city. In the South Division was the court-house, on the north- east corner of the public square, having a basement and principal story, dimensions about thirty by sixty feet; the court-room and jury rooms on the principal floor; clerk's and recorder's offices and vaults in the basement; the front was ornamented with a four-col- umn Dorie portico of wood work."

On the opposite corner, where the Sherman House now stands, was the City Hotel, and north of that, on Clark Street, was a two-story building occupied by Peter Pruyn, and the "Saloon Building," which was four stories high. It was discovered, after the roof was put on, that there were no chimney tops, and not a flue in the build- ing, and they were constructed afterward inside the walls, as they were needed. There was a three-story building on the southwest corner of South Water and LaSalle streets : also a three-story dwelling, southwest corner of Randolph and Wells, owned by Charles Chap- man, and a two-story dwelling, southwest corner of La- Salle and Washington streets, the property of P. F. W. Peck. The foregoing comprises all the brick buildings in Chicago in the spring of 1837. In that year the principal builders in the city were A. D. Taylor, Azel Peck, Alexander Loyd, Peter L. Updike, Charles Low- ber, Asbel Steele, F. C. Sherman, Alson S. Sherman, and William Worthington. In his second paper Mr. VanOsdel continues as follows :

"Among the very few buildings that made any pretentions to architectual ornament were the residences of W. H. Brown and John H. Kinzie in the North Division, and of Dr. John T. Temple and George W. Snow in the South Division. Mr. Snow was the inventor of the 'balloon frame' method of constructing wooden buildings, which in this city. completely superseded the old style of framing with posts. girts, beams and braces. The great rapidity in the construction and the large saving in cost, compared with the old fashioned frame, brought the ' balloon frame' into general use. It is conceded that a frame with every part spiked together offers greater resistance to lateral force than any other method of construction. As an evidence of its power to resist such force it may be stated that the ' Bull's Head Hotel,' built by Mathew Lafin in IS4S, at the junction of Ogden Avenue and Madison Street, was a three- story 'balloon frame' of large dimensions. Standing upon the open prairie, with hardly a building within a mile of it. this structure was exposed to the fierce, unbroken prairie winds. yet remained unshaken for many years, until it was taken down to give place to the Washingtonian Home, which now occupies its former site."

The balloon frame, however, proved its dangerous character in the fire of 1871, since which time, the erection of frame buildings within the city limits is for- bidden by law. That conflagration destroyed nearly every building in the city which had been erected be- fore 1838, only a few which had been removed to the outskirts of the town being left. Among them was a block of buildings which formerly stood on Lake Street. but were, long before 1871, removed to State Street, near Twelfth. The corniced pediment of thesc huikt- ings was of the Grecian-Ionic order ; the broad en- tablature, under the front caves, was surmounted with a frieze, ornamented with oblong quadrangular openings, which besides serving to adorn were also utilized to light the attic story of the building. In 1839 this was the finest business block in the city.

The difficulties and obstacles which faced the archi-

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tect and builder in the early days of Chicago have now long since disappeared ; indeed many of them are almost forgotten by the builders of to-day. The most serious difficulty encountered was in the character of the soil and the low elevation of the original surface of the ground, on which the main part of the city is situated. As is now well known, the strata underlying the city was first a black loam soil, varying in depth from one to two feet ; underneath was a bed of quicksand, three to four feet in depth, resting on a stratum of blue clay, which was almost impervious to water. In wet seasons it was next to impossible to dig trenches for founda- tions, as the water would fill such excavations to the surface : drainage was out of the question, owing to the low and level surface of the ground ; and, owing to the water-tight stratum of blue clay, already mentioned ; the only resource of builders was to wait until the ground became dry and firm by the slow process of evaporation. In consequence of these difficulties many of the earlier frame buildings of Chicago were built on posts, sunk into the ground and resting on the hard clay, which under the circumstances furnished the best foun- dation to be had. The convenience of having a cellar under a building was practically impossible. Mr. Van- Osdel on this subject says :

" In IS49 the owner of a brick building on the southwest cor- ner of Lake and State streets determined to have a cellar under his store. He made the necessary excavations, and succeeded in plank- ing the bottom and walls with three-inch plank, with caulked and pitched seams, rendering the basement water-tight. The depth was about five feet. Upright posts were placed between the floor and ceiling to resist the upward floating tendency of the cellar floor ; but it was soon discovered that the hydrostatic force was more than equal to the weight of the principal floor, and all the goods resting thereon ; and an upward movement of the interior of the building was manifest. The ark was scuttled and filled in with earth, thus ending the first attempt at cellar construction in the business portion of our city."

Prior to 1852 there were few brick buildings noted for architectural beauty. The majority of them were conspicuous for their plain and simple style and for the utter absence of anything tending to embellish or adorn. In those days, men who built had not the means to indulge in architectural ornament nor any other extrav- agance : hence four walls, well roofed, properly lighted and ventilated, and partitioned into suitable apartments answered every purpose. However, as Mr. VanOsdel observes, "the increase of wealth and prosperity in after years permitted these same men to indulge their latent taste and desire for the beautiful, in causing the erection of many business edifices that would ornament and adorn any city in the world."

Another difficulty in the way of constructing elegant and permanent buildings in early times, was the scarcity of suitable stone for building purposes. The nearest quarries were located at Joliet, a distance of forty miles, and before the opening of the canal, in 1848, the only means of transportation was by wagons. The Scammon school building, which was built in 1846. had its caps, sills and water-tables cut at these quarries, from which they were transported across the country by teams to Chicago.

The Tremont House see Chapter on Hotels', which was eighty by one hundred feet in dimensions, and five stories in height, was furnished with cut stone from the quarries at Lockport, N. Y., as was also the court-house, built in 1853. In May, 1855, the system of sewerage (q. v.) was devised which led to the elevation of the street grades: and a few years later, the Tremont House, notwithstanding the size of the building and its massive character, being built wholly of brick and stone,

was placed on jack-screws and elevated to a level with the new grade. The distance necessary to raise it was seven feet. This remarkable undertaking was safely accomplished, and a new basement was constructed under the building. To better enable the reader to understand the importance of elevating the grade of the city, for the purpose of promoting its architectural and sanitary advancement, reference is made to the topic entitled "Street Improvements," which will be found elsewhere in this volume. But as has already been indi- cated, until this elevation of grade was accomplished, the difficulties to be mer in the construction of large buildings were of the most serious and aggravating character.

The court-house (q. v.) was of the Roman Gothic style and was a handsome and well-proportioned struct- ure. It stood in the center of the public square and was one hundred and sixty feet front from east to west; and one hundred and thirty-two feet in depth from front to rear. The county jail was in the basement, offices, court-rooms, etc., on the upper floors.

In filling the square about the court house up to the required grade, it was essential that the lighting and ventilating of the jail apartments should not be inter- fered with. To avoid doing this "an area wall was built on a circular plan, one hundred and eighty feet in diameter, and circumscribing the entire building." It was built three feet above the street-grade with a coping of heavy cut stone, the whole surmounted with heavy iron railing. This arrangement gave ample space for light and air in the basement of the building, while the surrounding yard was filled with dirt obtained in dredg- ing the river.

The first brick building in the city to be raised, by means of jack-screws, to the new grade, was a brick store, situated on the northeast corner of Dearborn and Randolph streets, and owned by J. D. Jennings. This was done in 1859, and the work was done by James Brown, of Boston. Two years later an entire block of buildings on Lake Street, extending from Clark to LaSalle, was raised by the same process simultaneously and without damaging the block in the least. The busi- ness of raising stores and blocks continued through a period of seven years, from 1857 to 1864.

The first churches of Chicago (see Religious), while exceedingly plain and simple in style and construction, as compared with the costly and magnificent edifices of the present time, were yet buildings in which was dis- played a decided taste in architectural design and finish. The First Universalist church on Washington Street, between Clark and Dearborn, built in 1844, was a frame building, resting on a stone foundation six feet in height. The building was of the Ionic order and cost near $3,000. The First Methodist church, completed in I845, was then one of the most beautiful and spacious church edifices in the city. Two plans for the building were drawn by Mr. Sullivan and Mr. VanOsdel, and the church was built embodying features from both designs. It was of the Doric style of architecture, though the entablature was void of any ornament. The other churches in the city, belonging to the same school of architecture, were the Tabernacle church, built in 1843. on LaSalle Street, and the Unitarian church on Washington Street, built in 1840. The latter was rather a handsome edifice, being erected at a cost of $5,000. St. Mary's church Catholic), erected in 1843, on the corner of Wabash Avenue and Madison Street, was an imposing structure, built of brick, with stone founda- tion, and was one hundred and twelve feet long by fifty- five feet in breadth. The side walls were thirty-four

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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

feet in height. Twelve feet of the length in front was devoted to a portico, or recess porch, supported by six Ionic columns, which order of architecture prevailed throughout the entire building. Another building of the Ionic school was the First Baptist church, built in 1844-45, on the corner of Washington and LaSalle streets. The St. James church, built in 1836, was a large and handsome building of the English Gothic style-one of the first houses in the city constructed on this order of architecture. Rush Medical College (q. v.), erected in 1844, the plan of which was drawn by Mr. VanOsdel, was a heavy massive building of the Roman order. From its center arose a huge circular dome, which gave to the structure a marked resemblance to the roof of that celebrated Roman edifice of ancient times, the Pantheon. The Second Presbyterian church, which was built in 1849, was, from an architectural standpoint, a splendid and imposing edifice of the English-Gothic style. A peculiarity about it which made it almost a famous building was the character of the stone of which it was built. Its walls were con- structed from a limestone rock. taken from the quarries near this city, and was the first building of any import- ance constructed of material thus obtained at home. This stone was filled with a black, bituminous substance, strongly impregnated with petroleum, which from the action of the sun exuded from the pores of the stone, and, running down the face of the walls, gave to the edifice an appearance strikingly peculiar and antiquated. The house was regarded as a curiosity, and sightseers in the Garden City were always shown, as among its objects of interest, the Second Presbyterian church. It was destroyed in the fire of 1871, but the stones, uninjured by the heat, were removed, and to-day form a part of the walls of a church since created on Wabash Avenue.

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 141

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340