History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 175

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

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" Besides Wolf Print was a place called Hard Scrabble, of early historie interest.

"Max, John II. Kinzie in her bank, ' Waubon.' correctly

631

WOLF POINT AND EARLY HOTELS.

describes the location as ' Lee's l'lace.' Mack & Conant, exten- sive merchants at Detroit, in the Indian trade, became the owners of this property about the year 1$16. They sent Mr, John Craft with a large supply of Indian goods to take possession of it, and establish a branch of their house there, the principal object being to sell goods to such traders as they could residing throughout this country, without interfering with the interests of those traders who purchased goods from him.

" Mr Craft repaired the dilapidated building, adding thereto, and erecting others necessary for the convenience of business. He, I think, named it ' Ilard Scrabble; ' whether he or some one else, it bore that name in ISIS.

" At the organization of the American Fur Company, 1816, Mr. Astor's plan was to control the entire trade by absorbing other companies doing an Indian business. Ile succeeded in buying out the Southwest Company, whose headquarters were at Mackinaw, but failed in his efforts to buy out Mack & Conant.

entitled to more than ordinary credence. The honesty of the writer is not questioned, and his own desire to vindicate the truth of history is shown in the following corrections made with his assent, after an interview with him on February 3. 1884, at which time the letter was read to him. The corrections made were on the following basis of conflicting facts: 1) Mr. Wentworth was not keeping the tavern after the close of 1831; 2 Lieutenant James Allen, as appears from the records and his letters now on file with the Chicago Historical Society, was not here until May 14, 1833. Hence, either Mr. Allen did not paint the sign, or Mr. Went- worth was not the landlord at the time it was painted. It was decided, as probable, that the sign was not

DEARBORN STREET DRAWBRIDGE, BUILT IN 1834.

" Mr. James Ahbott, however, their agent at Detroit, suc- ceeded in buying them out in 1820 or IS21. and they withdrew from the Indian irade, transferring their Indian goods, posts and good will to the American Fur, who constituted Mr. Craft their agent here, he removing his quarters from ' Hard Scrabble ' to the company's warehouse, located north of, and adjoining, the military burying-ground. They enlarged it and built a log ware- house. besides: 1. B. Beaubien, who had previously ocenpied it. removing to the ' Factor House,' adjoining Fort Dearborn. Craft died in the fall of 1826 and Mr. John Kinzie succeeded him. William W. Wallace (who was one of Actor's men on his expedi- tion to Columbia River) took possession of Hard Scrabble' after Mr. C'raft had left the place, and died there during the winter of 1527-28. From that time till the land title passed from the Govern- ment, it was occupied by several families, temporarily, among whom were the Lawton-, for a short time, and James Galloway, the father of Mrs. Archibald Clybourne.

" Yours truly

The foregoing letter gives a circumstantial account of the painting and raising of the wolf sign at the old Wentworth tavern. The letter is of great historical value, and from the known reliability of its author is

painted or hung until 1833, at which time either Charles Taylor, or his successor, William Wattles, was the land- lord. That a sign bearing the image of a wolf, rudely painted, once swung from the pole of the old Wentworth tavern, can scarcely be doubted, but it is also quite cer- tain that it was not put up until long after Wentworth left the hotel-probably in 1833. Zebiah Wentworth Estes , still living, remembers nothing of the sign; John Bates, still living, remembers a rough board sign, put up some time after he came here in the fall of 1832. So che wolf sign, the Wolf tavern, and the accompanying pitt- ure which lacks the sign afterward put up, become historically reconciled. In 1830, there was no sign at either of the taverns at Wolf Point, and no bridges- only a ferry .* In 1833, there was a sign of a wolf swung

· A valuable thread of testimony was presented, too lite for publication in it's proper connection with the article cameran early bridges. It ambele the result of a meeting of the old settlers where names appear. holl lute um the fall of 153%, and was presented In the editors by John Bates, one of Un

"Weall agree that the first bridge across the North Branch of the Chicago River was built in the winter of 18;1 and 1832. The first bruge across the

632

HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

from the sign-post of the old Wentworth tavern, and bridges across both the North and South branches.

These three taverns and Kinzie's store made Wolf Point the site of the real Chicago of 1830. The sale of the canal lots, the improvement of the harbor, the erec- tion of warehouses, and, in fact, the evolution of a great city on the lake shore, changed the center of the town from Wolf Point to a region before not believed to be habitable, and that location lost its importance, which waned as its taverns died, and strangers sought board

the house again changed hands, William W. Wattles becoming its proprietor and landlord. In Novem- ber, he sold out to Chester Ingersoll, who ran it an uncertain length of time, first as the " Traveller's Home," and afterward as the Western Stage House. It went out of sight as a hotel in 1834-

With the wane of the hotel interest on the Point. its importance fell off, and with the great impulse of grow- ing trade at the new town, with the erection of a first- class hotel, the Lake House, and the removal of the

I.BRAUNHOLD.

THE SAUGANASH HOTEL

and lodging in the new town and at new hotels. The old Wolf Hotel, after Wentworth left it. next came into the possession of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Taylor

post-office farther down town, it ceased all pretentions as the true Chicago after 1834. The movement of the center of business and the center of population until

Ches, Pay low

Mr. Kinzie and family boarding with them in part payment for the rent. This was in 1832. In 1833,

South Branch was hunlt in the winter of 1832 and 18 ;3; wunl that luch bridges were built on abutments and two " bents.' The aboutments were built of logs in the shallow water near the banks. The beats were of four heavy lugs, resting un the bottom. in deeper water. stringer-of heavy lugs stretched from the alant- ments to the beats, and between the bents, In these stringers pum beans of split Juges were laul for A door. These brulges were alsut ten fret wide and without railings, for the first few years, after which ; nirds, or ruling», were ulled. They were both sinon bridges, and were almont six feet almove the water, se that trams passed under them on the ice freely. The bridge on the South Branch stoned till the spring of love. when it was gone; it was there in the Called 13; Hatons. Vitorwares in ga; for the foot bridge they Lesbed wine heavy tunher-, which formed a floating bridge, only wide enough tur font passengers, or a well trained siddhr-hur-r.

" Cleaver remember- driving acrimes the first bridge over the North Branch; it was a wagon bridge, ten or twelve feet wide.

*[. I1. Curos. "CHARLES CIF WER,

Mary. A. Taylor

the great city absorbed all the various hamlets in one great whole, is traced by the building and success of the various early hotels. Following is a sketch of the early hotels other than the two Wolf Point taverns "Iready sketched, which, by their success, marked the location and growth of the great city in its carly days.

Mark Beaubien, whose name is inseparably linked with almost every chapter of Chicago's early history, was a famous hotel-keeper in his day. He came here in 1826, from Detroit. In 1831 be built, as he claimed. the first frame house in Chicago, the Sanganash Hotel. It is related that while he was at work on his house. Billy Caldwell Sauganash one day said to Beaubien, " I suppose you will name your new hotel after some great man ?" " Yes." replied Beaubien. "I will.

633

WOLF POINT AND EARLY HOTELS.

shall call it the . Sauganash.' " He kept his word : the house became famous, and its name has gone into his- tory as for years being the largest and finest hotel in Chicago. Mark, as is well known, was a jolly host ; after having given his guests the best his larder afforded, he would of evenings tune up his violin, on which he was, for those days at least, a skilled performer, and often, till late at night, amuse and entertain them with his melody. Dancing, too, generally formed no small feature of these sports ; and so the Sauganash became popular through the character of its proprietor as a musician as well as for its excellence as a hotel. This house was situated on the south side of Lake Street, at the corner of Market, though one or two old settlers have given the impression that it fronted as much on Market as on Lake. The accompanying illustration of the building, showing it as it appeared in 1833, has been pronounced by Hon. John Wentworth and by Charles R. Vandercook, who were in that year boarders at the hotel, a most excellent representation of it as it then was. It seems, too, that the cabin which Mr. Beaubien built when he came here stood on the site where, a few years later, he built the Sauganash Hotel. Mrs. Harriet Murphy, whose husband John Murphy was at different

Harrer & Murphy

times proprietor of the hotel, states that the frame part was ah addition built on to the cabin ; and a writer who was at the hotel in the winter of 1833-34 says this room . in the cabin, which was then weather-boarded on the outside, was the warmest and most comfortable place in town. Mr. Beanbien kept the Sauganash until 1834, when he left it, and in January, 1835, a Mr. Davis assumed control. Mr. Beaubien had meanwhile built a new house on the northwest corner of Wells and Lake streets. In August of 1834, Mr. and Mrs. Murphy took charge of this new hotel, which they christened the Exchange Coffee House. They remained there until 1836, when they removed to. the old Sauganash, the name of which they changed to United States Ho- tel. Mr. Murphy continued business there until the following year, when he removed to the West Side, where he opened a new hotel under the same name he had given the old Sauganash, which was then converted into a theater-the first in Chicago. In 1839 the Sanga- nash was once more occupied as a hotel, being kept by Jesse Seymour until in 1840, when Mr. Murphy having leased his new West Side hotel, again became the propri- etor of it. He remained there about a year and a half, when he again returned to the West Side to the United States Hotel, Mr. Smith having surrendered his lease. \ man by the name of Davis next took the Sauganash but failing to make it pay. Mr. Murphy once more assumed its management, at the earnest solicitation of its owner. Augustus Garrett. Just how long he continued to run the house this time is not known, but it was probably in 1843 when he moved out. The next proprietor of the Sauganash was Jeduthan Brown, and he was succeeded in 1844 by 1. M. Osterbandt, who kept it for several years, when it passed into the control of M. & C. Wal- rod, who were its proprietors until this. From the

directory of that year it appears that Newell Stratton had control, and in 1851 B. S. Foster wasi n charge at the time it was destroyed by fire. The conflagration which swept from existence, save in the memories only of those who had known for years this historic build- ing, occurred at half-past 3 o'clock Tuesday morning. March 4, 1851; the following account of which is found in the Gein of the Prairie of March 8, 1851 ;

"At about half-past three o'clock last Tuesday morning flames were discovered issuing from the roof of the Sanganash Hotel on Market Street, between Lake aud Randolph streets, and so rapid was their progress among the combustible materials in that vicinity that nine buildings were destroyed, before being finally subdued by the firenien. The buildings destroyed were owned by the (jarrett estate."

The account then mentions the occupants, and among the rest says, "Sauganash Hotel, B. S. Foster." Concerning the origin of the fire the article concludes .

" It is supposed that the fire was the work of an incendiary. The supposition is strengthened by the fact that while the fire Monday evening was raging at the corner of Lake Street and Wabash Avenue, an unoccupied building adjoining the Sanganash Ifotet was set on fire in an upper story, but was discovered and put out before making any considerable progress."

Thus ends the history of this notable building, which for so long was a prominent mark of interest in Chica- go's early days.

Another hotel and scarcely less noted in its time was the Green Tree Tavern, which stood on the northeast corner of Canal and Lake streets. It was built by James Kinzie in 1833. and opened for business by David Clock, who in a short time relinquished his proprietor- ship to Edward Parsons. The next proprietors were two young men, Snow and Spear, who kept it until 1838, when John Gray managed it until 1841. He sold out to George W. Rogers, who was its owner until 1845. During his time the house was known as the Chicago Hotel. The following year he was succeeded by F. A. McIntyre. From the directory of 1848 it is learned that J. W. Noyes was then running it under the name of Noyes Hotel. In the next year it again changed hands and names, being called the Rail Road House, which title it held until 1851, when it became the Atlantic Hotel. Shortly after that year, Fred Meher took charge of the house and, in 1854. changed its name to the West Lake Street House. He continued to run it until 1859. Afterward it became a tenement house, having, however, a saloon in the lower front part. It remained standing at the corner of West Lake and Canal streets until ISSo, when it was removed to Nos. 33. 35 and 37 Milwaukee Avenue, in order to make room for the American Iron Company's buildings which now occupy its former site. At this time 1884 ) the house still stands at the above numbers, and perhaps scarcely one among the thousands who pass it daily are aware of its historic character or that it is one of the oldest buildings in existence in the city. There stands to-day on the southeast corner of Canal and Randolph streets a small two-story frame building, sadly dinged by age and exposure to the weather, for which the claim is made that it was the first frame house built on the West Side. In years now long since past it was known as the Western Hotel, and was built in 1835, as near as can be learned, by W. H. Stow, who came to Chicago in 1833. Mr. Stow was by trade an iron founder, and at one time had his shops on the rear end of the lot on which he later built his hotel. As he employed a number of men, his house was more of a boarding- house for local custom than for the accommodation of the transient public. Mr. Stow kept the house until 1852, at which time he rented it to Martin Dodge and

634

HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

William R. Irish, who, under the firm name of Dodge and Irish, conducted it until the following year, when Irish retired from the firm, being succeeded by A. P. Collar. The name of the house was, on the retirement of Mr. Stow from its management, changed to Commer- cial Hotel. Dodge & Collar remained the proprietors until early in 1854, when the building was partially destroyed by fire. After this it was rebuilt and in the years 1855-56 appears in the city directories as the Wilson House, kept by T. O. Wilson. With this termi- nated its career as a hotel or boarding-house. It is now occupied as a saloon, which is kept and owned by a son of the man who originally built and owned the house.

Chicago did, however, have a really grand hotel as early as 1835 ; this was the Lake House, located on the

$10,000. William Rickards was the next manager in IS44, and remained in charge several years, finally, how- ever, leaving there to take control of the Sherman House. In 1854 the house was remodeled, inside, an additional story, with a handsome cupola added, and was opened as a first-class hotel by James E. Hays and M. M. Smalley. This firm remained the proprietors until in 1856, when Mr. Boardman took it and ran it until IS58. After repeated experiments to make it a financial success, all of which proved failures, the house was converted into residence flats and was so used until destroyed in the great fire of 1871.

From 1849 to 1852, Edward H. Aiken kept a hotel called the Lake Street House, situated at Nos. 135 and 137 Lake Street. In 1852 this house was destroyed by fire, and Mr. Aiken became the proprietor of the Gar-

THE GREEN TREE HOTEL.

corners of Kinzie, Rush and Michigan streets, fronting on the latter. This hotel, which was built of brick, was three stories and a basement in height, was elegantly fur- nished throughout, and cost its owners nearly $100,000. The men whose enterprise led them into building a house which for those days was far in advance of the needs of the town, were Gurdon S. Hubbard, General David S. Hunter, John H. Kinzie, Dr. W. B. Egan and Major James B. Campbell. The hotel was completed and thrown open to the public in the autumn of 1836, Jacob Russel, of Middleton, Conn., assuming con- trol of its management. In 1839 Mr. Russel left the Lake House to take charge of the City Hotel the pred- ecessor of the Sherman House which had just been opened to the public, and George E. Shelley, of Baltimore, became the proprietor of the Lake House. Mr. Shelley introduced a French cook, printed bills of fare, and various other innovations in the management of the house. The following year Daniel S. Griswold suc- ceeded Mr. Shelley in the management of the Lake House, and some years after this it was sold under a foreclosure of mortgage, by Hon. Isaac N. Arnokl. attorney for the mortgagees, to Hon. Thomas Dyer, for

den City House, which then stood on the corner of Madison and Market streets. Mr. Aiken remained there until in 1855. The house then passed into the hands of R. and G. W. Storrs, who were its owners until 1859. Robert Hill next became its proprietor. Afterward the house was taken by Mr. Throop, the man who built it, and was conducted by him until it was, a few years latter, destroyed by fire. The large wholesale house of Marshall Field & Co. now '1884; occupies the corner where it formerly stood.

The Mansion House was built in 1831 by Dexter Graves : it stood on Lake near Dearborn and almost opposite the old Tremont House. As originally built, the Mansion House was situated some little distance back from the street, but two years later Mr. Graves erected a frame addition in the front, which came out to a line with the street. About this time he soll it to a Mr. Haddock, his son-in-law, who kept it until 1835 when it passed into the hands of Abram A. Markle, who, for two years, thereafter accommodated and entertained many of Chicago's early residents, and travelers coming this way to take an observation of the " town lying in the mud,"

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635

WOLF POINT AND EARLY HOTELS.

In 1837 it was kept by Jason Gurley and two years later by Asher Rossiter. In 1844 Charles Skinner and J. F. Smith were its proprietors. The directory of 1845 shows it to have been in the hands of C. W. Cook. In 1848 Jacob R. Bates took it. Two years later the greater part of the house was removed to the northwest corner of Lake Street and Michigan Avenue, and was fitted up as a hotel under the name of the Dearborn House.

Among the minor houses in the year 1845 was the Eagle Tavern at Dearborn and South Water streets, the Farmer's Exchange on Lake Street near Wabash Avenue, and the Illinois Exchange, corner Wells and Lake streets.

There were in 1839 the following minor taverns : the Columbian House, on the corner of Wells and South Water streets ; the Shakespeare Hotel, corner of Kinzie and Rush streets; the Southern Hotel, corner of State and Twelfth streets; the Buffalo Hotel, on South Water Street; the Lake Street Coffee House, corner of Lake and Wells streets : the Ohio House, on LaSalle Street, and Myrick's Tavern (the Bull's Head, on Cot- tage Grove Avenue, near Twenty-ninth Street.

These hotels, which in the English sense, might more appropriately be called inns, were establishments which met a demand for modest accommodations, peculiarly active in young and growing towns.

The New York House was built in 1834 and opened to the public the following year by Lathrop Johnson and George Stevens, who conducted it until the fall of 1839, when they were succeeded by L. M. Osterhoudt. He remained its keeper until 1843.

In 1849-50 W. R. Green and B. H. Skinner kept a hotel, known as the New York House, at 211 and 213 Randolph Street. A few years later the firm became Smith & Tiernan. In 1858 the house was still kept as a hotel by J. F. Smith, formerly of the firm of Smith & Tiernan.

The United States Hotel, which has been mentioned so frequently in the account of the old Sauganash, was built by Mr. Murphy ; it stood on Canal Street, near Randolph. The house changed hands often during its career, and at the time it burned, in 1852, was kept by David L. Rogers.

The Vermont House, which stood on Market Street, between Lake and Randolph streets, flourished in the days of the old Sauganash and was kept for years, in fact until 1864, by Joshua Bell.

The American Temperance House, situated on the northwest corner of Lake Street and Wabash Avenue, was built by Asher Rossetter in 1840, and opened to the public in the spring of the following year. Charles W. Cook was its first proprietor, and kept it for a num- ber of years, being succeeded by Jeduthan Brown ; later Jason Gurley purchased an interest and the firm in 1845 was Brown & Gurley. Then A. J. Douglass took con- trol, conducting the house until 1849, when it passed into the hands of Milton Barney, who continued its proprietor until 1852. In this year Mr. Rossetter took charge, changing the name to the American House,* omitting the word " temperance." In the directory of 1854 ".A. Rossetter & Co." are put down as propri- etors ; and it was probably at this time that John M. King had managing charge of the house. In the fall of 1854 W. K. Irish, who, it will be remembered, at one time kept the okl Western Hotel, became the proprietor, conducting it until 1856. In the fall of that rear, William Church and Charles Bissel took the house until 1858, when it again changed hands, L. P. Hill taking

See U'dall & Hopkins' City Directory for 1532-5;

control ; he continued its proprietor until, in 1861, the house was torn down to make room for a business block which occupied its site until the fire of 1871.

The City Hotel, subsequently the Sherman House, was built in 1836-37 by Francis C. Sherman. Jacob Russel was its first proprietor, taking possession in December. 1837. In 1844, Mr. Sherman remodeled the house, added two stories, making it five stories high, and changed its name to the Sherman House. Two years later Mr. Russel retired from its manage- ment and was succeeded by James Williamson and A. H. Squier: the next year Mr Williamson retired from

Amticket

the firm, William Rickards purchasing his interest. This firm. Rickards & Squier, retained the proprietor- ship of the house until in 1851, when they sold out to Brown & Tuttle, late of the City Hotel, a building which then stood on Lake Street, near Wabash Avenue, and was formerly the Farmer's Exchange. In February of 1854, Mr. Brown sold his interest to A. H. Patmor, and until 1859 the firm was Tuttle & Patmor. In 1858 the proprietors were Martin Dodge and Hiram Longly.

In 1833. the first Tremont House, situated then on the northwest corner of Lake and Dearborn streets, was built by Alanson Sweet. It was kept as a saloon and boarding-house by him and a man from Canada, named Darwin. Then the Couch brothers purchased the property and Ira Couch opened it as a hotel. He ran it until 1836, when his brother James took control, and was managing it at the time it burned, October 27. 1839. In December of the same year the erection of

fra Cauch

the new house was begun, on the corner where the present Tremont stands, and on the 20th of May, 1840, the building was completed. Both of these structures were of wood and far different in style and cost of construction from the costly edifice which to-day ranks among Chicago's leading hotels. The house, however, did a large business and prospered finely until July 21, 1849, when it was destroyed by fire. Its proprietors, however, immediately set to work rebuilding, this time a brick structure, which was opened in October, 1850. Ira Couch remained the proprietor until 1853, when the house passed into the hands of the Gage brothers, David.A. and George W. Two years later John Drake, now of the Grand Pacific, was associated with them, and

Janes Bouch

in 1858 Gage Bros. & Drake were its proprietors. Speaking of the house in its carlier days, James Couch says that ofttimes they were so crowded that not only all the beds, but every available space of floor room,

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 175

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