USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > History of Chicago : historical and commercial statistics, sketches, facts and figures, republished from the "Daily Democratic press" ; What I remember of early Chicago, a lecture, delivered in McCormick's hall, January 23, 1876 (Tribune, January 24th) > Part 8
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PLANK ROADS.
We have several plank roads leading out of the city. The Northwestern com- jnences near the Galena Railroad Depot on the West Side, and extends to the town of Maine, seventeen miles. Seven miles from the city the Western road branches off and is completed seventeen miles from
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the city. It is intended to extend this road to Elgin.
The Southwestern Plank Road leaves the city at Bull's Head, on Madison street, and passes through Lyonsville to Brush Hill, sixteen miles. From Brush Hill the Oswego Plank Road extends fourteen miles to Naperville.
The Southern Plank Road commences on State street, at the south line of the city, and is finished to Comorn, ten miles south of the city. We believe it is to be extended south to Iroquois county.
THE BLUE ISLAND AVENUE PLANK ROAD
Is a more recent, and on many accounts a very important, improvement, and there- fore merits a description more in detail. It extends from the village of Worth, or Blue Island, due north on the township range line between ranges 13 and 14 east of the third principal meridian, to the southwestern corner of the city; thence on the diagonal street of the same name, or- dered planked by the City Council, it is continued to the heart of the city on the west side of the river. It will be but about thirteen miles from Worth to the city limits by this road, and being on a direct line, it must command the travel coming to Chicago from the south, nearly all of whichi concentrates at Worth. This road is rapidly progressing toward completion, and as it runs through a region of country heretofore without a road, it will have the effect to add another rich suburban settle- ment to Chicago. The lands upon the line of this road are the most fertile in the vicinity of the city, and to facilitate this improvement for gardening purposes, the owners of many of them have cut them up into ten and twenty acre lots, and are sell- ing them to actual settlers and others very low, and on good time. This arrangement will secure a dense population on the line of the road, and make all of the lands along it very valuable, as it must be one of the gardening sections of the Garden City. The very large ditches cut by the drainage commissioners along this road, furnish a very high and splendid grade, made of the earth excavated, six miles of
which cost ten thousand dollars for ditch- ing alone. These ditches render the lands at all times dry and arable. The avenue on the prairie is to be one hundred and twenty feet wide ; on either side of which trees are to be planted by the owners, so as to make it a most beautiful " drive " from the city.
The town of Brighton, at the crossing of this and the Archer road, is to be im- proved this spring by the erection of a fine hotel and other buildings. As by this road, cattle can be driven to the city without danger of fright from locomotives, and as two of the principal roads entering the city meet at Brighton, with abundant water at all times, and pasture and meadow lands in almost unlimited quantities be- yond, no one can doubt its favorable posi- tion for becoming the principal cattle mar- ket of Chicago.
LAKE SHORE PLANK ROAD.
ยท This road was recently organized, is now under contract. and commences at the north line of the city limits on Clark street. It runs thence northwardly nearly parallel with the lake shore for about two miles, to the new and elegant hotel recently erected by Jas. H. Rees, Esq., of this city, and E. Hundley, of Virginia; thence through Pine Grove Addition, and to Lit- tle river ; thence northwestwardly to Hood's Tavern, on the Green Bay road, which is in reality an extension of North Clark street. The whole length of the road is about five miles. It will open up a beautiful section north of the city, in which will soon be located elegant resi- dences, surrounded by beautiful gardens, furnishing one of the finest " drives " from the city. There are some of the most beautiful building spots on the line of the road that can be found anywhere in the vicinity of Chicago.
COOK CO. DRAINAGE COMMISSION.
Among the most important of the recent improvements affecting Chicago, the drain- age of the neighboring wet lands should not be omitted, as well in an agricultural and commercial view, as from its effect upon the sanitary condition of the city
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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
and its vicinity. This highly important improvement is being effected by the " Cook County Drainage Commission," a - body incorporated by act of legislature, approved June 23, 1852, in which Henry Smith, Geo. W. Snow, James H. Rees, Geo. Steele, Hart L. Stewart, Isaac Cook, and Charles V. Dyer are named as Com- missioners. Dr. Dyer, 28 Clark street, is Secretary of the Board.
They and their successors in office are empowered to locate, construct and main- tain ditches, embankments, culverts, bridges and roads, on any lands lying in townships 37, 38, 39 and 40, in ranges 12, 13 and 14, in Cook county : to take land and materials necessary for these purposes, and to assess the cost of such improve- ments upon the lands they may deem to be benefited thereby.
Objection was made to the creation of this Commission, that the powers entrusted to it were too great, and might be abused, and the act was passed with some difficulty. But it was seen that full powers must be given to the Commissioners, in order that their efforts for the benefit of the public and a large body of proprietors might not be stopped or impeded by a few short- sighted objectors. Their powers, in effect, are simply those given to any railroad or canal company, for the purpose of effect- ing a specified object.
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The two years of their corporate exist- ence have shown that the Commissioners have used their powers faithfully and effi- ciently. They have located and constructed their works generally upon the petition of the proprietors of the land to be drained, and it is believed that in every case these improvements have been followed by an immediate and commensurate advantage to the lands through which they pass.
Their examination showed the Commis- sioners that a vast body of land within the limits of the commission, which had be- fore been deemed valueless, lay in fact from four to twelve feet above the lake, and needed only a proper drainage to make it available for purposes of agricul- ture and occupation.
Acting upon this knowledge, they have expended some $100,000 in constructing
ditches and other works, under the super- intendence of an able and experienced engineer, with the most salutary effect upon a large extent of country. Houses are now being built with dry cellars upon ground heretofore covered with water. In one in- stance, a quarter section which had been repeatedly offered for sale at five dollars an acre, brought one hundred and twenty- five dollars after beingdrained, and a simi- lar rise of value in lands has been produced in other cases. The objects of the Commis- sion will be vigorously prosecuted during the coming summer, and it is hoped that the unsightly swamps which have hereto- fore disfigured this and adjoining town- ships, will soon become " smiling gardens and rich fields of waving corn."
MANUFACTURES.
What is presented under this head can not be considered as exhibiting anything like a complete view of Chicago manufac- tures. There are many branches, such as the making of hats and caps, clothing, boots and shoes, fur goods, harness, trunks, saddlery, etc., etc., which are omitted entirely, and others are sadly im- perfect; but the fact arises from our ina- bility to obtain correct data from those engaged in the various departments of business. We have repeatedly been prom- ised facts and figures which have not come to hand, and the publication of our article cannot longer be delayed. Enough is shown, however, in what follows, to establish the truth of the declaration that the position of Chicago is not less favora- ble for a manufacturing than a commer- cial centre, and that capital invested in manufactures is here sure to yield a large profit.
CHICAGO LOCOMOTIVE COMPANY.
The attention of our business men was . called last September, to the importance of establishing at this point the manufac- ture of locomotives, an enterprise which was demanded by the concentration of so many extensive and diverging lines of railroads at this place; a company was at once formed, with a capital stock of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and
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the following gentlemen chosen a Board of Trustees :
Wm. H. Brown. E. H. Hadduck.
Thos. Dyer. J. H. Collins.
Geo. Steele. J. P. Chapin.
Robt. Foss. W. S. Gurnee.
W. H. Scoville.
The company was fully organized by the election of the following officers :
WM. H. BROWN, President.
W. H. SCOVILLE, Treasurer.
SHOLTO DOUGLASS, Secretary.
E. H. HADDUCK, ROBERT FOSS, Executive Committee. WM. H. BROWN,
Messrs. H. H. Scoville & Son, who had been for several years extensively engaged in the construction of various kinds of machinery, and the building of railroad cars, and had large buildings well located and adapted to the wants of the new com- pany, offered their establishment ; it was accordingly purchased, and is now the headquarters of the Chicago Locomotive Company. The Messrs. Scoville had al- ready commenced a locomotive, which was placed upon the track soon after the organization, and was the first locomotive built in Chicago. It was named the " En- terprise," and its entering into the service of the Galena and Chicago Union R. R. was made the occasion of an appropriate celebration. Since that time, the Loco- motive Company have furnished the same road with another engine, the " Falcon," pronounced by all a first class locomotive. Their third locomotive will be put upon the track in a few days, and will add to the growing reputation of Chicago-built engines. In a short time the company will employ about two hundred men at their works, and will be able to turn out two engines per month, every portion of which will be manufactured from the raw material in this city. We are happy to learn that the company are supplied with orders for sometime to come, and from the arrangements they have made for the best material and most skillful workmen, together with an abundance of capital, it is certain that a short time will demon- strate that it is no longer necessary for railroad companies to order locomotives
exclusively from Eastern manufacturers.
The G. & C. U. R. R. have rebuilt sev- eral locomotives at their extensive ma- chine shop, and within a few weeks they have turned out an entirely new first class engine, which may properly be called a Chicago locomotive, since the drafting and all the work was done at their shop, except the boiler and driving wheels. The " Black Hawk " compares favorably with the best Eastern locomotives, and is doing daily duty for its builders, never yet hav- ing been " behind time."
AMERICAN CAR COMPANY.
The American Car Company com- menced business in the fall of 1852, but did not get fully under way until the fol- lowing March, when all the various departments of the factory were properly organized. Their works are situated on the lake shore, in the southern part of the city, about three miles from the mouth of the harbor, and the buildings, with the necessary yard room, cover thirteen acres. The Michigan Central and Illinois Central Railroads pass by the factory, so that the location is most favorable on many ac- counts. They have a foundry where they cast wheels and boxes and all the casting requisite for cars-in fact, they manufac- ture every portion of their cars from the raw material, except cloths, and such ornamental trimmings as belong exclu- sively to other branches of manufacture. The American Car Company has construct- ed about seven hundred cars of all kinds, the great majority of them being freight cars. Nothing can exceed the passen- ger cars which they have furnished the Illinois Central road for completeness of arrangement and perfection of finish. The number of men employed at the works varies from two hundred and fifty to three hundred. The value of finished work sent out from the factory up to the first of January, 1854, is a little beyond four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. D. H. Lyman, Esq., is the able and ener- getic Superintendent of the Company.
UNION CAR WORKS.
A. B. Stone & Co. are the proprietors of this establishment. The ground it now
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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
occupies was an unbroken prairie in Sep- tember, 1852, when they commenced the erection of their buildings. In February, 1853, they had their buildings and machinery erected and turned out the first car ; since which time they have fur- nished two hundred and fifty freight, and twenty first class passenger, ten second class passenger, and ten baggage and post- office cars. Their machinery is driven by a seventy five horse power steam engine. They have consumed in the past year about one and a half million feet of tim- ber ; six hundred tons of wrought iron ; one thousand tons of cast iron ; two hun- dred tons of coal, and employed 150 men. They have the equipping of the C. & R. I. R. R. and the western division of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad. In addition to the iron work for their cars, they have manufactured all the iron for Messrs. Stone & Boomer, used in the construction of bridges, turn-tables, etc. They have enlarged their buildings and increased their facilities sufficiently to enable them to turn out five hundred freight and forty passenger cars per year.
BRIDGE BUILDING, ETC.
Messrs. Stone & Boomer, builders of Howe's Patent Truss Bridges, Locomotive Turn-tables, Roofs, etc., occupy for their framing ground and yard several lots ad- joining the Union Car Works. They have had contracts the past year for bridges on twenty-four different railroads in Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin, embracing one hundred and fifty bridges, the aggregate length of which is thirty-seven thousand linear feet.
This company has a capital invested of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and employ upon an average three hun- dred men. They have used two thousand tons of iron, and five and a half million feet of lumber. Bridges completed, ten thousand linear feet ; bridges not completed, twenty-seven thousand linear feet. Turn-tables completed, nineteen ; not completed, twelve. Cubic yards of masonry-completed and not completed, nine thousand. Gross earnings, eight hundred thousand dollars.
ILLINOIS STONE AND LIME COMPANY.
This new Company was organized in this city in December last, purchasing the entire interest of Messrs. A. S. & O. Sher- man in the celebrated stone quarry at Lemont, twenty-five miles south of Chi- cago, upon the Illinois and Michigan canal, also the lime kiln property near Bridgeport. The following are the officers of the company :
W. S. GURNEE, President.
M. C. STEARNS, Secretary and Treasurer. A. S. & O. SHERMAN, Superintendents.
The stone obtained at the quarry now worked by this company, is nearly a milk white limestone, and forms one of the most beautiful building materials to be found in the Western States. The edifices which have already been completed with fronts of this stone, attract the attention and command the admiration of all who visit the city, and are pointed out with an extreme degree of satisfaction and even pride, by our citizens.
The existence of this quarry at so short a distance, of inexhaustible extent, and accessible by water communication, is a most fortunate circumstance connected with the building up of our city. The stone can be furnished where it is wanted, so that the cost of a wall of this material is only one-third greater than that of Mil- waukee brick with stone dressings, while in the beauty of the two styles there is hardly room to institute a comparison.
The Company have been making, dur- ing the past winter, extensive prepara- tions for the activity of the opening season, having in their employ, at the quarry and at the yards here, about three hundred men. We are informed that contracts have already been made for furnishing fronts of this stone to twelve buildings on business streets, besides sev- eral private residences, all going up this summer. The Company expect to in- crease the number of men employed to five hundred, also to increase their facilities for transportation, and provide additional machinery and steam power, in order to fully meet the demand upon their re- sources.
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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
MARBLE WORKS.
There are several establishments in the city for dressing marble for cemeteries. interior decorations for buildings, furni- ture, and various other purposes, but we have only space to speak of one of the principal. Messrs. H. & O. Wilson have extensive buildings with necessary yard room, at the corner of State and Wash- ington streets, erected last summer. The amount of business last year, exceeded fifteen thousand dollars. We mention as a single item, that one hundred marble mantles were sold by them last year.
BRICK YARDS.
The subsoil of Chicago and vicinity is a blue clay, underlying the surface from three to six feet and affording an exhaust- less supply of material for the manufac- ture of brick, which are strong, heavy and durable. We are not able to ascertain accurately the number of brick manufac- tured here last year, but have gathered enough information to show that it must have reached twenty millions. These brick were all used in the erection of building's last season, in addition to those imported from Milwaukee and other lake ports, which fell but little short of three millions. In the spring of 1853 contracts for Chicago brick delivered at the build- ings were closed at four dollars and twenty-five cents per thousand, but they advanced during the summer to six dollars. The contract price for quantities, this sea- son, ranges from six dollars to six dollars and fifty cents. The following are among the principal manufacturers of brick : G. W. Penney ; F. T. & E. Sherman ; Elston & Co .; Anthony Armitage ; Louis Stone.
COACHES, CARRIAGES AND WAGONS.
The manufacture of vehicles of various descriptions to supply the demand of the city and country has kept pace with the increase of other departments of business, and from small beginnings in board shan- ties, has taken possession of large edifices of brick and stone, resonant with the whirl of multiform machinery driven by steam power, where the division of labor among the bands of workmen, each skill-
ful in his own line, results in the produc- tion of articles finished in the best manner for the purpose at the lowest possible cost. It is a noticeable fact that the importation at this place of vehicles from Eastern factories has almost entirely ceased, and is confined to buggies and light car- riages, mostly destined for the interior. We have not space to speak of all the wagon factories in the city ; large and small they number nearly one hundred. We therefore mention only some of the prin- cipal.
B. C. Welch & Co. occupy an extensive establishment on Randolph street, and devote themselves entirely to the produc- tion of buggies, carriages, omnibuses and coaches. The following figures will give an idea of the business of this house, whose work will in all respects compare most favorably with those imported from builders enjoying only a more extended reputation and of longer standing. The capital employed in this establishment is thirty-two thousand dollars, and the amount of finished work disposed of last year reached the sum of forty-five thou- sand dollars. The average number of men in the factory is about seventy. The num- ber of carriages sold during the year was one hundred and eighty-five, of which fif- teen were omnibuses for the various lines in the city, ranging in price from five hun- dred to five hundred and fifty dollars each. Among the number were five close car- riages, ranging from five hundred to eight hundred dollars each.
Ellithorpe & Kline are also engaged in the exclusive manufacture of carriages, ranging through all the styles from the light open buggy to the heavy family and livery carriages ; and they have already acquired an enviable reputation in their line. Their establishment is in the West Division, at the corner of Randolph and Morgan streets. Their sales last year amounted to fifteen thousand dollars. It is their intention to more than double their business during the present year, in doing which they will employ constantly from fifty to sixty men.
P. Schuttler has a large factory at the corner of Randolph and Franklin streets,
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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
where the business is confined exclusively to the manufacture of lumber wagons. A steam engine furnishes the motive power for all requisite machinery, and about thirty-five men are constantly employed in the establishment, as carpenters, black- smiths, painters, etc. The number of wagons made annually somewhat exceeds four hundred, and their value amounts to nearly thirty thousand dollars.
J. C. Outhet has a factory on Franklin street, from which he sold last year one hundred and fifty wagons, besides numer- ous drays, carts and buggies, sales amount- ing to about seventeeen thousand dollars. The number of men employed here is about eighteen. Mr. Outhet proposes to enlarge his establishment and introduce steam power, by which his business will hereafter be greatly extended.
H. Whitbeck unites the manufacture of wagons, buggies and carriages with that of plows. Within the past year he has greatly enlarged his factory by the erection of a large brick building of four stories, for machinery, besides numerous smaller shops for various purposes. The capital invested in this establishment is in build- ings and machinery, twenty thousand dol- lars ; in stock, fifteen thousand dollars ; total, thirty-five thousand dollars. The amount of sales for the preceding year exceeded forty thousand dollars. The number of vehicles manufactured for the same period is five hundred and eighty- nine, and the number of plows, one thou- sand. This establishment now gives em- ployment to from forty to fifty men, and it is the intention of the proprietor to in- crease his business during the present year.
FURNITURE.
This forms another very extended de- partment of manufacture in our midst, and in which very many persons are en- gaged. Our limits will allow us to speak of but one or two of the largest establish- ments. Numerous as they are, and many of them employing a large capital, they are called upon beyond their power to meet the demand, and there is probably no other branch of manufacture more in- viting at present, than the one under con-
sideration. The rapid growth of the city is to be supplied, and the wide expanse of _ country penetrated by our railroads, filling up with new settlers, while the old ones are increasing wonderfully in wealth and in wants. We have often paused in the railroad depots to notice the immense quantities of furniture accumulating for distribution in the interior, bearing cards of Chicago manufacturers.
C. Morgan occupies a building on Lake street, twenty feet front by one hundred and sixty-three deep, and running up en- tire five stories. The two lower floors are used to exhibit samples, and three upper devoted to the workmen. Although keep- ing a general assortment, Mr. Morgan is engaged principally in the manufacture of chairs and the more expensive kinds of furniture, embracing all the recent styles of pattern, finish and material. His sales last year amounted to thirty thousand dol- lars, the establishment affording employ- ment to over forty men.
Ferris & Boyd have their show rooms on Lake street, and their shop on Van Buren street. In the latter their machinery requires an engine of fifteen horse power, and the increase of their business has com- pelled them to add forty feet of shafting within a few months. They employ con- stantly about fifty men, while their ma- chinery does the work of twenty-five or thirty hands. Their manufactured articles are rather more in the common and useful line than the luxurious and expensive, while neatness of finish and elegance of style characterize all their productions. They connect with their business the manufacture of frames for pictures and mirrors. We believe it is the only estab- lishment in this city where gilt frames are made to any extent. They turn out very fine work in this line; some of their frames go as high as one hundred dollars each. Their entire sales last year reached fifty thousand dollars.
Among the other furniture manufactur- ers in the city, doing a large business, we mention the names of Boyden & Willard, D. L. Jacobus & Bro. and Thomas Mana- han.
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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.
CHICAGO OIL MILL.
Messrs. Scammon & Haven are the pro- prietors of this establishment-the only one in the city. It is capable of manufac- turing one hundred thousand gallons of oil per annum. Owing to the difficulty of supplying themselves with seed, only forty thousand gallons were the product of the mill during the last year.
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