USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time > Part 159
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man House, and on the corner of Lake and Clark streets. Several large marble yards started up in Chi- cago during the year 1852, several of them drawing their supply from the Athens quarries. H. & O. Wilson had extensive yards, on the corner of State and Wash- ington streets, established in the summer of 1853. John Shumer & Co., successors to A. S. Sherman, on Water Street, also were actively engaged in that business. The " Illinois Stone & Lime Company " was organized in December, 1853, purchasing A. S. & O. Sherman's interest in the quarry at Lemont, and also the lime kiln near Bridgeport. The organization consisted of W. S. Gurnee, president ; M. C. Stearns, secretary and treas- urer; A. S. & O. Sherman, superintendents. The reputation of the Athens stone extended until it became the favorite building material in the city. Professor Hitchcock while on a visit to Chicago, during the winter of 1855-56, examined and analyzed it, and called it "Athens Marble." Although really a magnesian lime- stone, it has since been known by that name.
In 1857 the amount of capital employed in the stone business of Chicago was fully $1,500,000. During that year the six thousand tons of Athens marble, shipped mostly from Chicago, found its way to all the important cities in the Northwest, and became a serious compet- itor in the market with the products of the Lockport quarries, in New York.
Messrs. Rossetter & Pahlman established the "Chi- cago Woodenware Manufactory " in 1854. The value of its product the next year amounted to $100,000. At this time it was the only establishment of the kind in the West, and the largest one in the United States. E. & D. Brunswick established their billiard table manu- factory on Randolph Street at an early day. I. Brown started the first match factory on Wells Street. In 1854 Chapman & Atwood established the "Eagle Match Factory." In June, 1854, the first paper box factory was started at No. 71 Lake Street by Wiegle & Co. The first manufacturer of tobacco was A. Meyers, who commenced business in 1849. In 1856 L. Lyon erected a factory for the manufacture of white lead on Halsted Street, corner of Fulton.
The manufacture of musical instruments was started in 1854. During that year R. G. Green started a melo- deon manufactory at the southeast corner of Washing- ton and Market streets. The business had been carried on by Mr. Green and partners in an unostentatious way for two years, and assumed a prominent place among the manufactures of the city and county at this time. when he became sole proprietor of the business. Hle employed twenty workmen, and made three hundred instruments during the year, valued at $25.000. The capital invested was 810.000. Following this first manufactory came additions in 1855. During that year Knaub & Sons began the manufacture of pianos at 145 North Clark Street. Their invested capital was 83.000. They employed nine workmen, and made the first year thirty pianos, valued at $10,000. 11. Stone also began the manufacture of piano- the same year, at the corner
.
571
EARLY MANUFACTORIES.
of Clark and Water streets. His capital was Szo0; he employed two workmen and made, in one year, eight instruments, valued at $2,000. John Preston was also making pianos at this time, but his capital, the number of operatives employed, or the extent of his business, are not matters of record. The summary of this branch of business; for 1855, as shown by the Democratic Press, was: Capital invested. $13,200; number of hands employed, 31; pianos manufactured, 38; melodeons made, 300; total production, valued at $37,000.
Late in 1855, the first type foundry was started by C. G. Sheffield, at 43 Franklin Street, where he adver- tised a "type foundry and printers' warehouse." His first investment was $15,000, and he employed fifteen hands. Besides the type he manufactured, he kept for sale the first full stock of printers' material ever offered in the city. His advertisement stated that it included everything in the printer's line, "from a Washington press to a bodkin."
As has been remarked, the revival of manufacturing dates from the "wholesale " introduction of railroads in 1852. In 1851 the total capital invested in foundries was $55,000; in agricultural implements, $98,000; in wagon and carriage manufactories, $22,300, and in the black . smithing business, $10,700. By 1854, $1,650,000 was in- vested in locomotive, engine and machine shops: $310,000 in agricultural implements; $220,000 in wagon and car- riage manufactories, and many other lines of manufacture were represented in proportion. A comparison of the value of manufactures for 1854, 1855 and 1856, shows that within those three years it more than doubled.
In 1854 the value of manufactures was as follows: Locomotives, engine, machinery and iron works, railroad cars, furnishings, etc., $3,200,000; agricultural imple- ments, $350,000; carriages and wagons, $500,000; fur- niture and cabinet work, $350,000; planing mills, sash factories, etc., $500,000; brass and copper works, $135,- 000; stoves, leather, soaps and candles, and all other branches, $2,800,000.
A comparison for the years 1855 and 1856 is given in detail. No reports were received in 1857. the year of the panic, but upon the authority of the Democratic Press it may be stated that before the end of the year the total value of the manufactures had equaled that of 1856.
COMPARATIVE VALUE OF CERTAIN MANUFACTURES.
IS55.
I856.
Locomotive, engine, machinery and iron works
$2,876,000
$3.887,054
Agricultural implements ..
649,790
1,134,300
C'arriages and wagons
702,104
948, 160
Furniture and cabinet works
455.500
543,000
l'laning mills, sash, door and blind Factories ...
749,684
1,092,397
Brass and copper works
377,200
471,000
Whisky, ale, porter, beer, etc.
S26,645
1, 150,320
Oils, soap, candles, etc.
464, 130
528,021
1.eather
290,000
432,000
Marble and stone
583,900
$96,775
Brick
260,000
712,000
Stoves
195,000
235,000
Besides the important branches especially mentioned were many others which should be recorded as having become established prior to the close of 1856. The following table from the Democratic Press gives the essential particulars concerning many of them :
MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURES OF CHICAGO, JANUARY 1, 1857.
Name of Firm.
Manufacturers.
Capital Invested
Value of Manufact- ures.
Employed./
Stearns & Co ....
Lime.
..
$S0,000
$ 87,350
SS
William Holmes.
Look'g glass, &c.
25,000
150,000
10
Jordan & Olcott
Ship builders ...
S0,000
75,000
60
Weeks Bros.
Ship builders. ..
10,000
20,000
50
Huntson & Towner.
Coffee, Spic's &c.
8,000
100,000
50
John C. Garland.
Trunks, etc ..
50,000
100,000
50
W. & G. Wright
Trunks, etc.
15,000
50,000
20
I. Speer.
Jewelry
30,000
5,000
W. A. Hendrie
Jewelry
20,000
....
1
D. A. Frost ..
Silver Plater.
3,000
15,000
S
A. S. Beckwith.
Gold Pens.
2,000
......
W. & E. Cook.
Glass Stainers. .
2,000
5
Held & Bro.
Scales, etc.
1,000
2,000
4
E. Smalley
Cisterns
200
4,000
2
H. C. Rosin.
Patterns
600
300
A. Hesler.
Daguerreans
22,000
40,000
Fassett & Cook
Daguerreans
5,000
15,000
5
Aker & Downer.
Malster ..
3,000
4,000
George Drake.
Painter
2,500
8,300
7
F. Weigle.
Paper Boxes.
500
5,000
9
Sundell & Co.
Soda Water.
3.000
10,000
6
E. Scanlan
Confections
5,000
75,000
15
Simm & Co ..
Confections
4,000
25.750
5
Page & Co.
Confections
7,000
105,000
E. R. Bowen
Gloves, etc .. . .
3,000
7.500
5
C. Schilling.
Gloves, etc.
200
500
I
Frazer & Forsythe
Baking, etc ..
4,000
15,000
6
C. J. Wilder.
Crackers, etc ...
5,500
20,000
8
Worthing & Melville.
Crackers, etc ...
2,500
15,000
S
Crackers, etc ...
1,000
5
M. Guvies
Crackers, etc ...
300
10,000
6
E. S. Wells.
Shoes, etc.
8.000
10,000
S
Pearson & Dana.
Shoes, etc.
20,000
17,000
20
J. Kirby & Co.
Boxes .
5,000
8,000 +
20
Culver, Page & Hoyne.
Blank Books, etc.
12,000
44,247
27
T. Asmus.
Blank Books, etc.
200
250 |
I
S. Fisser.
Caps, etc.
400
......
..
Totais.
$439,700 |$1,644,697 502
The Democratic Press gave the following:
SUMMARY OF MANUFACTURES, JANUARY 1, 1857.
Capital.
Value of Hands. Manufactures
Iron works, steam engines, etc ..
$1,763,900
2,866
$3,887.054
Stoves ..
185,000
70
238,000
Agricultural implements.
597,000
575
1, 134,300
Brass and tin ware, etc.
257,000
35I
471,000
Carriages, wagons, etc.
356,000
948,160
High wines, beer, ale, etc.
497,000
165
1,150,320
Soap, candles, lard, etc ..
296,000
100
528,021
Furniture ..
354,000
504
543,000
Stone, marble, etc ..
617,950
S.43
$96.775
Planing mills, sash, doors, etc.
445,000;
554
1,092,397
Musical instruments
13,200
31
37,000
Leather .
332,000
126
432,000
Barrels, wooden ware, etc.
178,700
Brick
300,000
500
712,000
Flour
325,000
73
636,569
Chemicals
15,000
15
32.000
Ilarness, saddles, etc ..
S2.900
220
271,000
Sheet and bar lead ...
25,000,
75
100,000
Glue and neats-foot oil.
20,000
25.000
Starch, estimated ..
15,000'
25
75,000
Daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, etc ...
75,000,
75
100,000
Engraving, etc.
11,000
30
29.500
Cigars
8,050
26
White lead.
50,000
7,200
Types, etc.
. .
. . .
Boots, shoes, clothing, and other manufactures, estimated ...
500,000 1,750
750.( ** )
Miscellaneous.
439,700
502
1,044.60)7
Total, 1556.
$7.759.400 10,573 $15.515. 03
Total, 1955
6,205,000 5.749
Total, 1954.
4.220,000 5.000 7.870,00
.
G. J. Sutter.
Bakers' Tools ...
500
. ยท
E. Case.
4
2
. .. .
Hands
20
357,250
572
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURING ITEMS FOR IS56.
Number of establishments propelled by steam. 137
Tons of cast iron consumed (reported). . 15,402
Tons of wrought iron consumed (reported) 11, 196
Tons of coal consumed (reported). . .35,516
Cords of wood consumed (reported). 3,000
REVIEW OF TRADE IN 1857.
The year 1857, which closes the period treated in this volume, was one of wide-spread business disaster. One of those periodical business convulsions had swept over the land. Following the unexpected failure of the Ohio Life & Trust Company, a panic occurred in the great Eastern money centers, so general as to com- pletely destroy for the time all business confidence. The sudden and forced liquidation of all debts which followed so lessened values that insolvency became the rule rather than the exception among business men. 'l'rade at the close of the year was completely paralyzed, and the new year showed more business wrecks than any five years before. Chicago could not and did not come out of the storm unscathed. The sudden with- drawal of all orders for the purchase of her grain and other products of export on which the stability of her trade was built, and the great depreciation of all State securities, on which rested the solvency of the Illinois banks, brought many of her citizens to sudden ruin, and forced several of her banks into liquidation. Up to that time the opinion most widely held concerning Chicago by those not personally interested in her was, that her marvelous growth had been of the mushroom order; more largely on the basis of speculative hopes in what the city was to become than on any well-grounded confidence in her based on what she had already achieved. The conservative business element of the East had ever viewed her sudden growth with more of suspicion than of wonder, and predictions had been common that the first business collapse would burst the bubble and leave her the ruin of ruins among the specu- lative cities of the land. The crisis came as unex- pectedly to Chicago as to the other cities of the country. For a few weeks each individual and each community was entirely engrossed in endeavors for self-preserva- tion. When the storm had spent its fury, and so far abated as to allow a comparison of damage done and reserve force remaining, the "mushroom city on the lake" was found to have endured the financial storm with more equanimity and apparently less damage than any of the older cities, and to be awaiting the tide of returning prosperity with a courage and strength which her business reverses had only redoubled. Thenceforth her business standing among the cities of the country was not as it had been before; the problematical dis- trust as to its stability and inherent merit and strength was supplanted by a confidence in its inevitable future which has since then made it the center of confidence for all outside capital as well as the center of hope for all local enterprise.
The sixth annual review of the trade and commerce of Chicago for the year 1857. published by the Chicago Pre-s. gave a ( : '] statistical report of the trade of that year, and in it- editorial comments reflected the prevail- ing spirit and sentiment of Chicago. The report was incited by a combination of the spirits of pluck and brag which was then and has ever since been character- istic of the city. The following excerpts are given :
" In accordance with our invariable custom we present to the readers of the Chicago Daily Press, and the public generally, the Sixth Annual Review of the Trade and Commerce of our city ; and in doing so it is
proper to remark that such a statement for the year 1857 will be looked upon with an unusual degree of interest-for in many respects it has been the most important one in the history of Chicago. While old and wealthy cities on the Atlantic seaboard succumbed to the financial revulsion-while crash after crash occurred in the commercial world, and ruin left it> traces on every hand-from all parts of the country. North, South, East and West, we heard the momentous query put-' How stands Chicago ?' For years the assertion had been made that our city was but a bubble, to be exploded by the first breath of adverse fortune. How nobly she has weathered the storm and falsified the predictions of envious rivals, it devolves upon us, in dry facts and figures that cannot be disputed. to dem- onstrate. We will show the people of the East that not- withstanding they have rolled desolation and panics from the Atlantic seaboard to the Mississippi, that there is in the commerce of our city a vigor and elasticity which are equal to every emergency. We will show that, all things considered. the Trade and Commerce of Chicago throughout the past year, have been most fully maintainedl. and that the falling off in some departments of business is due to the general stagnation of trade throughout the whole country. It will be fully demon- strated by our tables of exports and imports-by the well-known fact that the Northwest was never before so rich in the elements of genuine prosperity-that had there been money and confidence in the East, our products would have moved forward in abundance, and the West would have in return depleted the store- houses of the East of their overstocked importations- that so far as the Northwest is concerned, there was no cause for a panic ; and that had the East not spent her substance in over-trading, over-speculating, and by a long series of violations of the laws of commerce, the West would have saved her from the ruin that followed.
"One of the principal sources of strength which, amid the recent panic and wide-spread disaster, has enabled Chicago to achieve so commanding a position among her sister cities of the Union is to be found in the solid capital which her bankers and business men possessed -the accumulations of the energy, the prudence, and the successful commerce of the last dozen years. To this should be added the wisdom and far-reaching fore- cast which induced them to sustain and give confidence to our home currency-the bills of the Illinois and Wisconsin banks. These bills are secured by State stocks, and though at one time, had these stocks heen thrown on the market, the bills could scarcely have been worth fifty cents on the dollar-the actual value accord- ing to the sales in the New York market, for most of them ranging at from sixty to eighty cents-yet the people gave them their confidence and passed them from hand to hand in the payment of debts and for the purchase of goods. Our city bankers also acted nobly. Though some of our country banks were forced to close their doors, and all the banks in Illinois and Wisconsin. except the Marine and the Chicago banks of this city. 'which to their honor be it said paid the coin on demand for all their issues, virtually suspended specie payments. yet our bankers received at par the bills of all the coun- try banks, and thus saved the business of the city from utter stagnation and ruin. The position which our bankers assumed toward our business men, and that of business men toward each other, was not one of hostil- ity but of mutual forebearance and support, and never in commercial, as well as in all other matters, was the motto more beautifully illustrated-in union there is strength.
573
REVIEW OF TRADE IN 1857.
" In striking contrast with this liberal policy was the course adopted in our sister city, St. Louis. The bank- ers there became alarmed, and under the self-confident dictation of the State Bank of Missouri, threw out the bills of the States of Illinois and Wisconsin. This at once effectually blocked the channels of trade ; in a few days a large number of her oldest and most wealthy business houses went by the board, and in the end, as might have been foreseen, the banks themselves were forced to suspend. As a consequence, merchants in central and southern Illinois, and in southern Iowa have made their fall purchases in this city, and never has the great fact stond out in bolder relief that Chicago is the great commercial center of the Northwest than within the last few months. Their interests are identical, and their development and growth in wealth and all that elevates and refines our common humanity must go on in a rapidly increasing ratio for untold genera- tions.
" Another fact deserves special notice here. The influence of our commanding commercial position in enabling us successfully to resist the panic, is patent to all men, and it will have a stimulating effect upon the future growth of the city. During the worst weeks of the panic our shipments of wheat were about a hundred thousand bushels per day, and, of all cereals averaged from one to two hundred thousand bushels. This prod- uce went very far toward liquidating maturing West- ern indebtedness. When coin and exchange became dear, our merchants took currency from their customers, bought wheat for it and made exchange for themselves. Such an example of Western energy and shrewdness was duly appreciated by the creditors of Chicago deal- ers upon the seaboard. It is not a mere idle boast ; but a simple fact that Western credit is now stronger than ever before.
" To all those who have persistently slandered our city-who have regarded it as an empty bubble soon to explode, and bring ruin upon all those who had placed any confidence in her stability, the figures which we lay before our readers to-day are a crushing, unanswerable reply.
" The opening of the year 1857 was not such as would have foreboded a period of commercial disaster. The country was rich in its products after a series of most bountiful harvests-the majority of our people, owing to the scarcity of money in the East, rather curtailing than expanding their business, and in no former period of our history did the average condition of the commer- cial houses of this city appear more favorable As the season advanced, however, matters in the East grew worse, and the Wall-street gamblers, through their organs, raised the cry that the cause of all the disturb- ance was-the West. Libels on the character of our business men-on the general stability of our country, were published far and wide; and a most desperate effort was made to bring back to their coffers the capi- tal which had forsaken them for a more profitable market in the West. The commercial communities in the East had over-traded, and by a long series of enor- mous importations, had plunged the country in debt. and now they began to see that unless they could revo- lutionize the entire country, West as well as East, they alone would be buried in the ruin which their own fol- lies had engendered. But all this could have but slightly affected the Northwest, had the people and the journals of the West been true to themselves. Unfortu- nately there were some blind, dissatisfied and jaundiced leader- who most effectually played into the hands of the 'croakers' of the East. Parties who had large and
extensive time-contracts for produce-made during the winter of 1856-57-in order to affect the market, early in the spring published and most industriously circu- lated reports-said to have been ' carefully made up from actual observation '-that there was comparatively 'no grain in the country '-that our staples were exhausted- that the mighty Northwest had neither money nor prod- uce. Unfortunately there were journals throughout the country-some even in this city-which were too stupid to see through the transparent trick-too corrupt to testify to the truth, or too lazy to investigate the matter for themselves-which, with blatant words, loudly re-echoed this false cry of the general poverty of the West. These slanders were most eagerly caught up by the journals of the East and extensively published under the head of ' Western Distrust of the West.' The effect was instantly felt. Our bankers stood appalled at the drain which immediately set in on them from their cor- respondents in the East. Large sums of money which had been sent forward for the purpose of moving the crops were at once withdrawn ; and when navigation opened, it was a difficult matter for our merchants to accommodate the trade. The Chicago Daily Press stood alone in its position, that the Northwest was entirely solvent-that she was teeming with wealth in her products-that her farmers had their granaries and their storehouses full, and were ready to sell at a fair price. To counteract our statements, trade circulars and 'cooked up' newspaper articles were scattered broadcast over the country, stating that all along our rivers and lines of railroad, the country had run itself out, and that in the whole valley of the Illinois there were not two million bushels of grain of all kinds. In contradiction to this, we at that very time published reliable statements, showing that between Naples and Peoria, there had been found by actual count, over two million bushels of corn. The tables of statistics which follow in this review demonstrate to a certainty the truth of the assertions we then made. We find that the receipts of corn for the season by the Illinois & Michigan Canal are 4. 122,601 bushels; by the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad, 407,- 437; by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 1,892,219; by the Illinois Central Railroad, 192,102; and by the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad was 354,- 166 bushels-nearly all of which was from the crop of 1856. And yet at the commencement of the season, there was ' no corn in the country.'
" Not content, however, with slandering the West by representing her as poverty-stricken in respect to the crop of 1856, the same parties circulated false reports relative to the coming crop of 1857. Because, in some portions of our State, the small crop of winter wheat was injured by the winter of 1856-57, it was stated there would be ' no wheat in the country.' Then again, touching the corn crop of 1857, which proved to be the largest ever grown in this State, the same parties, in the face of the promising accounts which came in from all quarters misrepresented it, both as regards quantity and quality, carrying out the policy-or plan, as it would appear studiously arranged beforehand-to damage Western interests and Western men. True. all now know that the position of the Chicago Daily Press was correct-as the facts above given. and which may be found further in detail in this article abundantly prove; but these truths could not at the time spoken of be demonstrated beforehand to the people of the East-especially as there was a very active party there. who deemed it their only salvation to roll back the ' star of empire' from the Great Valley of the Mini- sippi. The honest friends of the West were frightened
574
HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
by the misrepresentations that had been spread by inter- ested gamblers and their abettors-and the consequent general lack of faith in the West was but the entering wedge to the widespread disaster which followed, and which all, more or less, have felt and do now experience.
" It is not our object or design to brood over the errors of the past; but it is the duty of the honest jour- nalist to chronicle the events of the year, be they favor- able or otherwise, so that our people may have an opportunity to learn wisdom from experience; and in this connection, it is interesting to look around and see the position which those now occupy who labored so industriously to damage the Northwest. They have been the first to fall into the pit they so earnestly dug for others; and if ever they be resurrected, it will be to be looked upon with general distrust. As for those journals which so violently opposed Western interests, while catering for Western support, they have spent their shot, and their shafts are for the future barbless. The mighty Northwest, even now, stands firmly in her posi- tion; Chicago, her center and index, still maintains her commercial supremacy -- and it has been the wonder of the whole continent that she, so young, so ambitious and enterprising, should have so stoutly and so bravely withstood the revulsion.
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