History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 38

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

USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time > Part 38

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In a letter from Charles Butler, published in the American, September 3, 1836, it is stated that in the year 1833 one-fourth of Kinzie's addition was offered to him for $5,500, then (1836) worth $100,000; another tract of land in Chicago of forty acres, worth in 1833 $400, was then worth $200,000; and that the Hunter property (so-called was purchased in the spring of 1835 for $20,000, resold during that year for $100,000 and was worth, at the time he wrote, S500,000.

The Milwaukee Advertiser, July 14, 1836, had the following editorial squib, illustrative of the Chicago craze: "I say," said one gentleman to another, in Chicago, "what did you give for your portrait?" "Twenty-five dollars, and I have been offered fifty for it."

The end of the excitement came unheralded. An act passed by Congress, June 23, 1836. " regulating the deposits of the public money, made it the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to discontinue the use, and discredit the issues of such banks as should at any time refuse to redeem their notes in specie. This was a death-blow to wild-cat banking, and resulted, in the following May, in a general suspension of specie pay- ment throughout the country and the total failure of most of the Western banks which bad run thus far, and Hoated their bills entirely on credit .* All payments to

the Government, under the law, were to be made in specie or bank notes redeemable in specie, on demand. It followed that, with credit greatly extended and prices already enhanced a hundred-fold above what could be measured by the entire amount of specie in the country, in the process of adjustment to the arbitrary conditions of the law, a collapse in prices occurred sufficient to bring the valuation of all property to a speciestandard. Unfort- unately, the debts of the sanguine speculators did not shrink proportionately, with the sudden decrease in the value of their securities. Prices of lots valued in Chicago in 1836 at a thousand dollars suddenly fell to the specie value of three years before-perhaps fifty dollars; while the note that the last speculative buyer had given for it remained $1,000, as before. Wide- spread ruin was the consequence, and the bubble burst May, 1837. When the town of Chicago became a city, many of its inhabitants, who had reveled in suppositi- tious wealth for past years, were in sackcloth and ashes, mourning over city lots from which all value had de- parted, or bewailing the existence of notes of appalling magnitude, which were the only reminders of the glori- ous times gone by, which the law had not rendered valueless.

MINOR ANNALS OF THE TOWN.

The following letter, written by Enoch Chase, from Milwaukee, dated August 2, 1883, is of historic value, showing, as it does, something of the geography of the surrounding country and concerning the town itself from 1834 to 1836.

"In July, 1831, I arrived in Detroit, Mich. From Detroit to Tecumseh there were two lines of stages-the Pioneer and the Op- position. From Tecumseh to Niles there was a tri-weekly line of mud-wagons. From Niles to Chicago the mail was carried on horseback. During the winter of 1831-32 the line of mud-wagons hauled off and the mail was carried weekly from Tecumseh to Chi- cago on horseback. Early in the spring of 1832 Mr. Savary of White Pigcon put on a daily line of post coaches from Tecumseh to Niles, and the travel was brisk from the opening of navigation on Lake Erie till the Sac war broke out (about the middle of May) which put a damper on emigration for that year.

" fo May, 1832, the Michigan Militia was called out to prevent the Indians from passing through Michigan to Detroit. But when we rendezvoused at Niles, an express met us with the information that the Indians were retreating to the north and that our services were not needed. We were, therefore, disbanded and returned home. The inhabitants of Branch and Hillsdale counties consti- tuted a battalion of three companies under the command of Major B. Jones-less than eighty men in all; and not a half dozen able- bodied men left at home in the two counties.

" In the month of October, 1834, I made my first visit to Chi- cago. The country along the Chicago road from Coldwater to Michigan City was tolerably well settled. The travel from the lat- ter place to Chicago was along the beach of the lake, and after a northeast storm, when the sand was packed by the waves, the drive was just splendid; but when the sand was dry and loose, it was just horrible. A good team would make the distance in six hours when the way was all right, and it was a six days' good drive when the way was all wrong.

" The first hotel west of Michigan City was some ten miles out : the second was Bennett's, about ten miles farther: the third was Denis Hard's: the fourth was the Widow Bangs's; the fifth, Maur's, at the ('alumet, and the sixth, Mr. Merrick's, about half way between the Calumet and Chicago.

" The beach of the lake took the main travel in 1835-36. There was another route by the way of Bailey Town and Thornton, which the undersigned drove over in February, 1837.

"Chicago, in October, 1534, at the time of the Indian pay- ment, was a lively place. There were two hotels. The Sauganash, which was situated near the junction of Lake and South Water streets, was kept by Mark Beaubien, who said he ' kept tavern like h -- 1 :' and a log tavern on the north side of Lake Street. The South Branch was crossed by a bridge, and if I recollect right the bridge was covered with poles or puncheons [as split logs were called] instead of planks. Besides the log cabin on the West Sisle. kept by Mr. Stiles, there was a blacksmith shop. That was all. On the North Side were John Kinzie's house and a few others.

. See History of Banking in this volume.

139

CHICAGO IN 1833-37.

A similar bridge crossed the river about half way between the forks of the river and the lake. On the South Side there was one house south of Lake Street, which was situated on the west side of Clark Street just south of Lake. On Lake and South Water streets was the main village. Lake Street boasted one brick block, which belonged to either "Yankee " Hubbard, " Horse" Hubbard or " Indian " Hubbard, I forget which. It was quite an imposing structure. Clybourne's butcher shop was not far from it. Jim Kinzie's store, P. F. W. Peck's store, Harmon's and Loomis's were all on South Water Street.

" It seems to ine that the Indians were paid on the north side of the river nearly opposite Fort Dearborn. 1 had occasion to go west as far the crossing of the Desplaines River. Between Stiles's log tavern on the west side of the South Branch and the tavern at the crossing of the Desplaines River, there was not a vestige of civilization except the wagon tracks, and it seemed to me the dreariest road I ever traveled. The prairie mud of the North Branch was drier.

" Of all the men in the early days that I was acquainted with, including Clybourne, John H., Robert and James Kinzie, Crouch, Rossiton Darwin, Stiles and G. S. Hubbard, the latter alone sur- vives.

" Chicago is a wonderful city, and has been lucky in having far-seeing citizens who gave her a start on the road to prosperity. While the early settlers of Milwaukee were wrangling about which side of the river should be most prosperous, the citizens of Chicago acted as a unit to promote the interest of the whole .* But while Chi- cago is the most enterprising, Milwaukee is the most beautiful city- on the American continent ; and let those who doubt the truth of this assertion come and see for themselves.

" In the spring of 1835, the only houses between Chicago and Milwaukee were those at Grosse Point, Sunderland's, west of Wau- kegan, and Jack Vicaw's, at Skunk Grove. Myself and party, on our way to Milwaukee, staid the first night at Ouilmette's, near Grosse Point ; the second night at Sunderland's, and the third night we camped in the Milwaukee woods. From Sunderland's to Mil- waukce woods we followed an Indian trail. We found a bridge over Root River and Oak Creek, but the Kinnekenick we forded.

" The above short sketch will give you a slight idea of the country from 1831 to 1835. While Chicago was well known to the people of the United States in 1831, I never heard the word Mil- waukee spoken till 1834. When on my way from Milwaukee to Coldwater, Mich., in May, 1835, I heard the leading citizen of Michigan City discussing the merits of Milwaukee and the Terri- tory of Wisconsin. The conclusion they came to was that it was a cold, bleak, inhospitable country which would never be inhabited except by Indians and Indian traders. Little did they imagine that in less than half a century the territory west of Lake Michigan would contain white inhabitants enough to constitute an empire."

POSTAL AFFAIRS .- The post-office in 1833, John S. C. Hogan, Postmaster, was kept in a small log building near the corner of Lake and South Water streets. At that time there was but one Eastern mail per week, to and from Niles, Mich., which was carried on horseback. The building was twenty by forty-five feet in size, was partitioned off so as to serve as a post-office on one side, and as the store of Brewster, Hogan & Co., on the other. John Bates, Jr., still living in Chicago, was the Assistant Postmaster, and assorted the mails, deliv- ered the letters, and was the executive factotum of the place. John L. Wilson also became an assistant in the summer of 1834. John Bates, Deputy Postmaster at that time, in an interview October 31, 1883, said :

" The Eastern mail was carried once a week, on horseback, by a little, short, stocky Frenchman, whom we called Louis. In 1834 or 1835 the pony mail express of Louis was abolished, and John S. Trowbridge took the contract to haul the mail between Viles and Michigan in a wagon. Trowbridge afterward 'went West,' and at one time was Mayor of Little Rock. Ark. The receipts of the post-office in IS33 were from $15 to $20 per quar- ter. 1 never knew him by any other name. The mail came once a week ; speculation set in, and the village began to grow Ihr- ing the last of it the mail used to weigh thirty to forty pounds, and was so big that Louis had to walk, and the bags on the horse's back spread out like wings, making the pony look like some kind of a queer bird. Chicago was then the central office for a sweep of a hundred miles around. l'eople came thirty or forty miles to inquire for a letter, and, if they did not get one, they looked sick. Men from the ' Vankee settlement' on Hickory Creek, Naperville, and other outside places used to come up, with a list of all the names

in their place, and take the mail in a lump. Letter postage was then twenty-five cents on each letter, and sometimes we had to trust for the postage." *

JOHN STEPHEN COATS HOGAN was of Irish parentage, and was born in New York City February 6, ISO5. His father died while he was quite young, leaving his mother with five small chil- dren and little wherewith to support them. The subject of this sketch was, at the age of seven years, adopted by Mrs. Coats, a friend of his mother, he having been named after her only son, who had died. He remained with his foster mother until old enough to go into business for himself, and finally came to Chi- cago as early as 1830. Mr. Hogan here engaged in mercantile pursuits, being at one time sutler of the Fort Dearborn store, and,

JvPC Hryand

in 1831, receiving the appointment of Postmaster. He also acted as a Lieutenant of volunteers during the Black Hawk War. Mr. Hogan's popularity and easy companionship served to elect him to the office of Alderman, when the city was incorporated in 1837. During this year, his wife, formerly Anna Maria, the eldest daugh- ter of Jonathan N. Bailey (Postmaster), died in Chicago, leaving one son, John C. Hogan, long afterward a resident of California. Alderman Hogan's qualities, which made him successful as a local politician, did not serve to add greatly to his material possessions, and the hard times of 1837 found him with his means somewhat extended, and left him in an embarrassed condition. In March, 1848, Mr. Hogan married Mary S., the widow of John Ainslie, advocate, late of Edinburgh, Scotland. One child, Mary, suhse- quently the wife of Professor T. S. Noble, of Cincinnati, was born to them. During the gold fever Mr. Hogan crossed the plains and resided in Sacramento for over a year. Afterwards he lived in St. Louis and Memphis, as business man, editor and politician. re- turning to Boonville, Mo,, in the summer of Jobs. Here he died on December 2, of that year. Mr. Ilogan was a kind, cheerful,

* The first mention of mail communication with Chicago and the East. after the destruction of the fort, was in 1817-18, but details are not given. There appears in Keating's " Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of \t. Peter's River," published in London, IS25-tcupy in Chicago Historical Coller- tion)-the next allusion. It is there stated that in May, 182%. the exploring party met the expressman sent from Chirago for letters, at Fort Wayne, andI defamed him as a guide. His name was Bemns. Acourier was at that tune dispatched from Fort Dearborn to Fort Wayne once a month, for letters.

*Chicago had her sectional wrangles. bu). see " Bridges."

140

HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

well-informed gentleman, and one of Chicago's most popular, en- terprising and respected early citizens.

In July, 1834, the office was removed to the corner of Franklin and South Water streets, where it remained until after the expiration of Hogan's term of office. While there, the Assistant Postmaster was Thomas Watkins, who has been embalmed in history by John Wentworth and other early chroniclers, as the hero of a celebrated wedding, he being the groom, and the bride being Therese Laframboise, daughter of Joseph La- framboise, a chief of the Pottawatomies, well known as an early resident of Chicago .*

No further changes in location of the office were made until Mr. Hogan was superceded by Sydney Abell, who was appointed Postmaster March 3, 1837. In the following June the office was removed to the east side

of Clark Street, in Bigelow's building, between Lake and South Water streets, north of the alley. 'The removal was announced in the American, June 3, 1837: "The post-office has been removed to Clark Street, directly opposite this office. This change will be satisfactory to a large number of our citizens." During Mr. Abell's administration the post-office was again removed to the Saloon Building. Under Mr. Abell the assistants were Ralph M. P. Abell and Charles Robert Starkweather. The latter remained in the Chicago postal service until 1860.

William Stuart, then the editor of the American, succeeded Abell as Postmaster, July 10, 1841. He re- moved the office to the west side of Clark Street, near the Sherman House-No. 50. Subsequently it was re- moved, in 1853-54, to the east side of Clark Street. Hart L. Stewart succeeded to the Postmastership, being

Nast Sindwant

appointed by President Tyler, April 25, 1845. The succeeding Postmasters up to 1858 were: Richard L.

* John Wentworth, in his historic lecture, delivered before the Sunday Lec- ture Society, May 7, 1876, gives the following account of Mr. Watkins: " I re- member attending the wedding of one of Laframboise's daughters. She was married to a clerk in the post-office, and is now the wife of Madore B. Beaubien, heretofore alluded to in this lecture. The clerk was the one who delivered let- ters, and of course well known to our citizens, and was remarkably popular. He went to the printing office and had hity cards of invitation struck off. But when people went for their letters they politely hinted that they expected a card of invitation to the wedding. So he was compelled to go to the printing office and have fifty more struck off. These did not last Inng and he had 100 more. Then he said that tickets were of no use and everybody might come; and about everybody did come. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Isaac W. Hallam, pastor of the St. James" Episcopal Church of this city. Everything was high-toned. well worthy of an Indian chief's daughter. The house was of no particular use, as it was full and surrounded with people. This wedding made a strong impression on my mind, as it was the first time I ever saw the Indian war-dance. Some of the guests not only had their tomahawks and scalping knives, hows and arrows, but a few of them had real scalps which they pretended they had taken in the various Indian wars, Their faces were dera- rated with all the favorite phinres of the Indians. And winie of our vaune white men and ladies played the part of the Indian so well that it was difficult to distinguish them from the real'nnes," Of Mr. Watkins, [Hurlbut. p ;;. ) SIVe: " Mr. Withme was noted wanewhat as an amateur musician, for he was an accomplished player on the guitar. He was famihur with the French language and quite likely also with the Indian dialect, comoun hereabout in these days. for he won the hand of the daughter of the Pottawatumie chief. Joseph La- framboise, and she became Mrs. Watkins. It was understood that the marriage was not a happy one. for it came to be dissolved. Whither and when weat Mr. Watkins we cannot tell; yet the late wife of that gentleman and daughter of Chief Joseph, went to Kansas, it is understood, where she is living as third wife of Chief Madore B. Braubien." Watkins went West with his wife when the trihe removed. The trouble in his family relations occurred after leaving Chicago.

Wilson, appointed by Taylor, April 23, 1849; George W. Dole, appointed by Fillmore, March 22, 1853;

Richard & Milano

Isaac Cook, appointed by Fillmore, March 22, 1855; William Price, appointed March 18, 1857. Isaac Cook was

George W. Dole

re-appointed by Buchanan, March 9, 1858. During the first administration of Isaac Cook the office was removed

to the ground floor of Nos. 84 and 86 Dearborn Street, where it remained until the completion of the

William Trico

Government building in 1855, when it was again re- moved to that structure.

The mail facilities were rapidly increased after the beginning of 1835. On September 19, 1835, Postmaster Hogan's advertisement of arrival and departure of mails was as follows:

"Eastern, via Detroit, every other day.

Southwestern, via Ottawa, arrives Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; departs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Western, via Dixon's Ferry, arrives Wednesdays and Thurs- days; departs Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Southern, via Vincennes, arrives Wednesday, departs Thurs- day Northern, via Green Bay, arrives Monday; departs Tuesday." The notice was supplemented with the following:

" Postage must be paid for when taken. No more credit. Written orders required for the delivery of letters to friends."

From the files of the American it appears that stage- coaches were used on the principal mail routes in the beginning of 1836-probably not much earlier. At that time appear for the first time advertisements of mail- coaches as follows:

" Mail coaches between Detroit and Chicago will leave the New York House, Chicago, for Detroit, every other day, com- mencing Monday, January 1I, at 5 1. M. Persons wishing seats will apply F. Tuttle, agent, or to Mr. Johnson at the New York lIonse."

January 23, an opposition line was advertised- " Winter arrangements from Chicago to Detroit in three and one-half days." D. G. Jones, J. W. Brown, W. E. Boardman, R. A. Forsyth. O. Saltmarsh, and S. Spaf- ford were the proprietors of the rival line.

August 20, F. F. Tuttle, stage agent, advertised that he had removed to Dearborn Street, one door north of

141

CHICAGO IN I833-37.

the Tremont, and that stages would leave for Detroit daily, at 4 A. M .; and for Galena at 4 A. M., on Tues- days, Fridays, and Sundays. He also advertised, August 6, what appears to be a newly established line, to Peoria, Ottawa and Juliet .*

The following new mail routes were advertised October 29, 1836 :

"From Joliet to Chicago, thirty-six miles and back, once a week : Toleave Joliet every Monday at 5 A. M., and to arrive in Chi- cago by 7 P. M .; to leave Chicago every Sunday at 5 A. M., and arrive at Joliet the same day at 7 P. M.

"From Chicago to Galena, via Meachanis Grove, Elgin, Squaw Prairie, on the Kishwaka, and Midway on Rock River, 150 miles and back, once a week. Leave Chicago Monday at 6 A. M., and arrive at Galena every Friday by 6 P. M. Leave Galena Monday at 6 A. M., and arrive at Chicago Friday at 6 P. M.

"From Chicago to George McClure's, on Fox River, and back. To leave Chicago every Wednesday at 6 A. M., and arrive McClure's Thursday by 6 P. M. Leave McClure's every Friday at 6 A. M., and arrive at Chicago Saturday at 6 P. M."

June 11, 1836, post-office business of Chicago was advertised as follows :

"The post-office is open on week days from 7 A. M. to 8 P. M .; Sundays, from 8 to 9 A. M., 12 to I, and 5 to 6 P. M. If mail arrives on Sundays this office will be open one and one-half hours after the mail has been distributed. Postage for letters must be paid when taken; hereafter no credit will be given. Any person calling for letters for friends must bring a written order.

" Mails arrive and depart as follows :

" Eastern, via Detroit, every other day.

"Southwestern, via Ottawa, arrives Mondays and Thursdays ; departs Tuesdays and Saturdays.

"Western, via Dixon's Ferry, arrives Sundays and Thursdays, at 6 P. M .; departs Tuesdays and Saturdays, at 4 A. M.

"Southern, via Danville, arrives Thursdays ; departs Saturdays at 4 P. M.

" Northern, via Green Bay, arrives Mondays at 8 P. M. ; departs Tuesdays at 4 A. M."

POST-ROADS had been established, although they could hardly be said to be built, on all the stage-routes advertised. The northern, or Green Bay road, as it was called, was surveyed in 1833, stakes driven and trees blazed along the line. It was somewhat improved as far as Milwaukee in 1834, by laying rough puncheon and log bridges over the unfordable creeks and streams, and cutting out the trees to the width of two rods. No grading was done for years afterward, and as late as 1836 it was only a blazed road through the forest between Milwaukee and Green Bay. The western and southern roads were less rough, as they ran out over more open prairie. In dry weather they were fine well-beaten tracks, but in the spring and fall they became long black ditches of mud, through which the hapless travelers floundered most wearily and laboriously to their places of destination.

WHARFING PRIVILEGES .- December 4, 1833, the wharfing privileges of the town were defined at a meet- ing of the Trustees. Owners of lots fronting on the river, where a street ran down to the river, might use all but eighty feet of the street /Water Street then being on the bank of the river: for wharfage purposes only, on the payment of fifteen dollars per year. Stipulations were made whereby the town corporation might subse- quently purchase any wharfage improvements made on lots leased from the town. Several owners of water- lots and others paid the required fifteen dollars during the succeeding month. Wharfing privileges were adver- tised in the Chicago American of November 15, 1835, to be sold, under a lease from the town, for 999 years, by auction, to the highest bidder. Thus the water or wharfage lots came to have a peculiar, if not fictitious value, during the speculative period. These privileges

. Joliet was first Mount Joliot, later named Juliet by one of the early pro- pristors, and wtill later changed to the old name of Juliet, in honor of the early explorer.

were sold on time, and as the notes were many of them never paid, the " privileges " went out by default in the general crash of 1837. On March 24, 1837, the Town Trustees voted to extend the time of payment on wharf- ing lots, " until further notice."

FIRE DEPARTMENT .- Up to September, 1835, there was nothing like an organized Fire Department, or a fire engine in the town. Prior to that time buckets put out any fire that occurred, or it burned itself out. Fire Wardens were appointed September 25, 1834, under the provisions of an ordinance passed by the Board of Town Trustees, which also defined the limits of the fire wards of the town.

The laws and ordinances were at that time quite strict, although not always enforced to the letter. No person was allowed "to endanger the public safety by pushing a red-hot stove-pipe through the board wall," and they were forbidden to carry " open-coals of fire through the streets except in a covered fire-proof ves- sel." The latter provision, in the absence of matches, was deemed a hardship not endurable and was repealed soon after its passage. The duty of the Wardens was defined in an ordinance adopted October, 1834. The Warden in whose ward a fire occurred was to be, for the time being, Chief Warden, and the other Wardens his assistants. They had power to summons any one to aid in the extinguishment of a fire, whether it be "to enter the ranks or lines formed for passing water or buckets, or to aid in promoting such other means as, to said wardens, may seem calculated to carry into effect the object of this ordinance." Citizens or other bystanders refusing to obey the summons of the Wardens when a fire was raging were subject to a fine of five dollars. It was incumbent on all citizens owning or occupying stores or dwellings to keep a fire bucket within their building, in a conspicuous place, and, on an alarm of fire, to promptly repair to the scene of the conflagra- tion, equipped for service with the said bucket. This was the Fire Department and fire organization of 1834.

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 38

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