History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 132

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875

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The first tax-levy was also for $ico, as follows: " Ordered therefore, that there be assessed on the real estate and personal property of the town of Hyde Park, the sum of one hundred dollars.

" Witness our hands this 3d day of September, 1861. " PAUL CORNELL, Supervisor ;

" H. A. HOPKINS, Town Clerk; "C. STICKNEY, Justice of the Peace."

The first pound was ordered erected at or near the corner of Elm (Fifty-fifth) and Van Buren (Wood- lawn Avenue) streets, on November 3, 1863." In March, 1865, the meetings of the 'I'rustees were held at the house of John A. Jameson, but he having caused the erection of the building used as a high school, on Hyde Park Avenue and Fiftieth Street, was not re- elected Supervisor, and in December, 1865, it was resolved that the meetings should be held at the house of his successor. The meetings of the Trustees were at all sorts of places until January r, 1876; when the Presbyterian Church trustees sold the church buildingt to the village of Hyde Park, and they then met in the sanctuary. The building, and the south half of Lot I, of the church subdivision of Lot 4, and the south half of Lot 3, in Block 19, cost the village $10,000.

THE TURNPIKE ROAD, -On August 26, 1865, the town of Hyde Park was in a state of fermentation, and the citizens bubbled up in indignation meetings. A charter had been obtained for a turnpike road, with toll- gates; and it was apprehended that, under said charter, the only good road in the town would be seized and held by the Illinois & Indiana Turnpike Company. The citizens stated that they would cut down any toll-gate, or gates, that might be erected, and their animosity to the project was so determined, and their opposition so persistent that the powers under the charter were never exercised. On June 1, 1868, permission was granted the Chicago & Calumet Horse & Dummy Railroad Company to lay lines, and operate horse or dummy cars.

ELECTION DISTRICTS,-On September 20, 1869, the election districts were defined as follows : No. 1, bounded by south line of Chicago, Lake Michigan,

township line between Townships 37 and 38 noril. Ranges 14 and 15, and by west line of town, No. 1. bounded by south line of Township 38 north, Ranges 14 and 15 : east by lake Michigan and State line of Indiana ; south by south line of Hyde Park ; west, by line commencing at intersection of south line of town with Calumet River, thence along center of river 10 outlet of Calumet Lake, thence along the center of said outlet to C'alumet Lake, thence northerly along the shore of said lake to the section line between Sec- tions 11 and 12, Township 37 north, Range 14, thence north between said sections to the northwest corner of Section 1, Township 37 north, Range 14. No. 3 comprised all of Hyde Park not included above, and the voting places were : No, I, station house in Hyde Park, intersection of Oak Street with Illinois Central Railroad; No. 2, school-house at Ainsworth station ; No. 3. school-house in Section 15, Town- ship 37 north, Range 14 east.

THE TOWN OF HYDE PARK al this time was bounded on the north by Chicago; on the east by Lake Michi- gan and State of Indiana; on the south by the town of Thornion, and on the west by the towns of Calumet and Lake. In 1870, some lots were sold at public Vendute, that were bought by the town for clay-bed in 1866. The price paid was $3,075, the price realized 831,376.50, one-third cash, and the balance in one and two years. A real estate investment realizing one thousand and twenty per cent inside of five years. In this year also, the Hyde Park Gas & Coke Company petitioned for permission to lay mains, etc. Such per- mission was given the Hyde Park Gas Company in June 17, 1871. Subsequent to this date the annals of Hyde Park became localized ; the advantages accruing to special portions of the gigantic village will be found annotated in their individual history, and the ramifica- tions of the legislation centered in the town and village hall can only be accurately dissected by the anatomical Instoriographer as individual nerves in their local cen- lers, not as ganglia centered in a corporate history.

FINANCIAL .- The first exhibit on file is one show- ing the general town tax for Hyde Park, for the year 1863, by J. Rehm, County Treasurer, as follows:

Tolal valuation. . $193.924 Total amount tax ... $y68 52 Valuation railroad 28.795 Railroad 1ax. 143 98

Total ...... $222.719

Paid by Town Collector including commissions. . 8340 79 Error and abalemenis 9 06

Advertising lots on which judgment was refused .. 50

Treasurer's commission .. 38 15

Paid by Treasurer. 724 28

1112 80

Twenty cenis on $100 makes on $222.719. .$445 44

Deduct proportion of commissions and abate-

ments 25 30

Amount 8417 16

The valuation of real property in the town of Hyde Park for six years thereafter was as follows :

1864, $50,000 ; 1865, $75,000; 1866, $125,000 ; 1867, $500,000 ; 1868, $1,500,000 ; 1869. $2,500,000, In 1870 the Town Assessors valuation of real estate was 82,920,879, and of personal property $100,093. as follows : horses, $18,275 ; cows, $8,210; hogs, $128; carriages, wagons, etc., $6,675; watches and clocks, $2,725 ; pianos, $5,800 ; merchandise, $1,875 ; unenu- merated property, $53,405.

The cash receipts in 1869 were: 885,705.28, and the disbursements $69.520.98; in 1870 the receipts were: $62,331.59, and disbursements, $43.105.71.

" Volumes three and four of the Town Records were destroyed in the Chicago fire. Many courtesies were received from Messr. C. L. Norton, F. F. Hennett and J. G. Flynn, of the Village Hall, by the collaboratur, while compiling official data,

+ l'he church building was leased by the board for some time at &:og per

521

HISTORY OF HYDE PARK.

Prior to 1878, however, the accounts were kept in a Cleaverville, and the embryonic germ ont of which diluted condition, seem never to have been setiled, sprang the favorite suburban residence region of Chi- consequently determinate figures are hard to exhibit. cago. At this period, March, 1851, Mr. Cleaver states But James H. Bowen, as comptroller, submitted the liabilities as $674.408.29, and assets, $662,776.97 for the year 1877-78. there were only a few fishermen and wood choppers, and there were but four or five houses south of Twelfth Street. Mr. Cleaver bought twenty-two and a half From this and subsequent reports can be deduced the following statement : acres from Samuel Ellis-who at that time lived at the southwest corner of Lake Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street, and kept tavern near the site of the Douglas 1877-78. 8662,776 97 ASSETS. LIABILITIES. $674.405 29 monument-and then bought 717.5 acres of Henry 1878-79 . 585.954 59 1879-80. 487.751 56 565.565 27 and Loring Graves ; this property forming Cleaver- 500,669 01 1884-61. 553-460 07 .. 466.873 c9 1881-82 483,271 00 438,334 72 ville. Here Mr. Cleaver erected numerous houses for his workmen, spending sixty thousand dollars in one In '1877-78 the bonds outstanding were $599,cco ; in 1883 the amount uncanceled was $413.000. year for building purposes, and in 1854 found it necessary to build a meeting-house, that was used as a school on week-days and a church on Sunday. This 1880-81 .8321.469 02 RECEIPTS. DISBURSEMENTS. .$218.235 67 building was the first church in Hyde Park and the first church built south of Van Buren Street, and 1881-82 .. 1882-83. 550,163 39 403.718 32 521.837 87 between that street and the Indiana State line, On 446.932 12 The annual appropriations have been as follows : 1873, $78,000 ; 1874, 895,200 ; 1875, $113,600; 1876, $152,102.50; 1877, 8:24,439 ; 1878, 8145,576.32; 1879, $129,700 ; 1880, $136,200 ; 1881, 140.300 ; 1882, 8150,687.64; these appropriations being made in the years specified, and extended to the end of the fiscal year that terminates in the year succeeding that given. As an intelligible resumé of this inadequate financial statement, it may be stated, that the bonds of Hyde Park are held at a high premium, and those consider themselves unfortunate, when by lot it is decided that their bonds shall be redeemed; and the rate of taxa- lion in Ilyde Park does not exceed one per cent on actual value for State, county and village taxes. July 1, 1851, a sort of immature jubilee was held on the Illinois Central, by Mr. Hammond, the superin- tendent, who took an engine and car and about seven- ty-five people and went to Mr. Cleaver's place and picnicked. To the Illinois Central Railroad Company Mr. Cleaver paid $3,800 per annum to get them to run trains to Cleaverville ; along that same line now, fifty- eight suburban trains are ran daily. In 1857 the property mentioned was platted and laid out as Cleav- erville, the plat being recorded as document Number 7.448, in Book 143 of Maps, page 99, on October 4, 1858, The map was entitled "Cleaverville, being the north part of fractional Section 2, Township 38 nonh, Range 14 east, and the south part of south fractional Section 35, Township 39 north, Range 14 east, of HYDE PARK VILLAGE. 3d P. M." Charles Cleaver was born at Kensington Common, London, England, on July As a summary of the locus in situ it may be stated that Hyde Park is a municipal corporation, com- mencing at the Chicago city limits, and extending southward nearly thirteen miles, and having a varying width of fron one and a half miles to five miles, with an area of some forty-eight square miles. It contains about twenty-three distinct settlements, or hamlets, with their own business centers, churches, public and private schools and social organizations. It contains a population of some thirty-five thousand people, nine post-offices, some twelve lines of railroads, eight mil- lion dollars worth of parks, boulevards and walks, a harbor and navigable river, and possibilities that are only bounded by its territorial extent. Constant incur- sions of vast manufacturing interests and industries, only act as additional evidences of the capabilities of Hyde Park, 21, 1814, during the visit of the three emperors in that city, after Napoleon's abdication at Fontainebleau ; and attended the semi-military academy of H. O. Stone al Bexley for seven years. Mr. Cleaver left London on January 18, 1833. and arrived in New York March 13, 1833 ; and had to wait in that city until April 22, for the canal to open. He left Buffalo August 26, arrived in Chicago October 23, and became immediately iden- tified with the commercial interests of the town and city, and subsequently the founder of Cleaverville. in 1854 Mr. Cleaver built a church for the benefit of his workmen wherein was preaching on Sunday and school on week-days." In 1857 Mr. Cleaver discontinued his rendering works and soap factory and engaged in the real estate business, with which he has been identified since. In 1866 or 1867 Cleaver Hall was built, Mr. Cleaver anticipating that it would be useful for a sort of town hall for public meetings and entertainments ; it OAKLAND. was so used for a short time, then a terpsichorean club held sessions therein, and it was also used as a place of worship by some Methodists. It was likewise the first building used for a district school-house. It now stands near Fortieth Street and Grand Boulevard and is occupied as a dwelling-house.

Charles Cleaver, the eponym of Cleaverville, or Oakland, built a house, in 1853, on the property laying between Oakwood Avenue, Brook Street (so called by Mr. Cleaver because of a brook that ran there), Cedar and Elm streets; the house has since been enlarged and divided, but its integral part remains at the resi- dence, 3938 Ellis Avenue. This house was built sub- sequent to his removal from the house he occupied where Standard Hall is now situated,-corner of Thir- teenth Street and Michigan Avenue-and was built there because of its contiguity to the soap and render- ing works, which Mr. Cleaver erected in 1851, near the foot of Thirty-eighth Street. This house was the nucleus around which clustered the settlement of

Mr. Cleaver named his residence Oakwood Hall, and thence was derived the name for the boulevard ; the streets Oak, Elin, Laurel, etc., etc., he named because he planted rows of those species of trees along their roadways. To say that Mr., Cleaver did a great deal for Cleaverville is to merely state the exact truth ; he worked hard and earnestly for its welfare and ex- pended thousands of dollars in its improvement. Mr. Cleaver married, on March 6, 1838, Miss Mary Brookes, . See History of the Oakland Congregational Church.

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522

HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY.

daughter of Samuel Brookes," one of the first Justices of the Peace of the town of Hyde Park. Mr. Brookes was one of the original members of the Horticultural Society and of the Zoological Gardens of London, was an accomplished botanist, horticulturist, florist and carpologist, and is noted as having first introduced the azalea into Europe from cuttings taken in China. Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver have six living children, Charles Samuel, Frederick Walter, Louisa-now Mrs. John Barwick -Myra, Emily and Fanny.

THE FIRST STORE that was established anywhere in the vicinity of Cleaverville was built by Mr. Cleaver at the corner of Pier (now Thirty-eighth) Street and Lake Avenue. It was a grocery, and was kept by William Cleaver for Charles; the former subsequently purchased it from the latter. Mrs. Cleaver states that this store was not troubled by any commercial rivalry for fully ten years. Exactly at what period the Cleaverville property commenced to be eyed wistfully by speculators and prospective residents, it is difficult to determine ; the growth of Chicago does not appear to have influenced its first extensive settlement, but rather the natural affection for a rustic retreat from the city cares, that made villas in the vicinage of Rome fashionable, settled and developed Cleaverville and made OAKLAND. The material history of Oakland is difficult to write because of the extraordinary progress it has made. A work published in 1874t gives the prominent residents at Oakland : Ex-Senator Trumbull, George Trumbull, G. G. Pope, F. P. Van Wick, J. P. Bonfield, L. Huntington, Charles Huntington, S. Faulkner, Charles Cleaver, A. R. Miller, G. H. Miller, M. Hardy and L. G. Fisher. Contrast this meager- and insufficient even for that date-list with the hun- dreds of distinguished citizens whose elegant homes now adorn the avenues and boulevards of Oakland. In fact, there is one residence which not alone eclipses all efforts at domestic architecture in Chicago, but it is questionable whether it has a peer in the United States, the residence of Wilbur F. Storey on the corner of Vincennes Avenue and Forty-third Street ; this marble palace is unique, unapproachable and magnificent. And from this apex of architectural mag- nificence there is a gradual descent through all styles of costliness and all orders and disorders of architecture, down to the lowly cot within the compass of the average journalist. That Oakland is the choice residence property of Chicago's near suburbs is exhibited in its selection by capitalists for their homes ; and one pecu- liarity that testifies to its salubrity and comfort is the fact that those who once make it a residence never want to leave its pleasurable vicinage. But to retrace the history of Oakland it is necessary to recount the Church history, for around the ecclesiasticism of all nations their history is centered, and the intermediate history of Oakland is no exception to this rule. The first church was the Salen Church, whose history is part of the Oakland Congregational Church.

OAKLAND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH .- The origi- nal church edifice was erected by Charles Cleaver in 1854, and was supplied with theology by a Mr. Booth, who was paid for his services by Mr. Cleaver. The place of worship was opened by that gentleman for the instruction and benefit of his workmen and was sus- tained by him until 1857. On Thursday evening, April 9, 1857, a meeting was called for the purpose of organizing a Church, whereat Rev. Washington A. . Samuel Brookes was one of the first florists in Chicago ; he also moved to Cleaverville shortly after Charles Cleaver. + Chicago and fts Suburbs, by Everett Chamberlin ; published by T. A. Hungerford & Co., Chicago.

Nichols presided. The necessity for forming a Church with a settled pastor was conceded on all sides, and a committee to draw up articles of faith and covenant was appointed, consisting of W. A. Nichols, Samuel Brookes and W. B. Horner. The articles prepared by them were adopted and signed by the following persons:" Samuel Brookes, Mary Brookes, Henry Brookes, Harriet Brookes, Sarah Brookes, Margaret Brookes, Caleb Goodwin, Elizabeth Brookes Goodwin, Robert Govier, Martha Govier, W. B. Horner, W. A. Nichols, Mrs. B. A. Nichols, Eliza Beckler, Sylvia A. Northrop, William Waters, I W. Wiltberger, Sarah Kimball and Elizabeth McCobb. The name adopted by the congregation was the Salem Church, and the building stood on the east side of Lake Avenue, between Thirty-ninth Street and Oakwood Boulevard, just in the rear of a block of brick houses now standing near the locality designated. The building remained there until the erection of the Oak. land Church ; when it was sold to Joseph Fahndrick, who moved it up to the town of Hyde Park, in 1872, and used it as a flour and feed store. It is now used as a dwelling house and boot and shoe shop and stands upon the west side of Hyde Park Avenue, south of Fifty-fifth Street.

The ministers who have occupied the pulpit at various times, as far as can be learned, were Rev. Washington A. Nichols, Stephen Sanford Smith, who commenced in the fall of 1862, and stayed about three years, Chaplain Eddy, Benjamin E. Stiles Ely, James White, D. Craycroft and Z. S. Holbrook. The early days of this Church were full of trouble; opposition to the administration arose and some of the opponents withdrew and formed the Ninth Presbyterian Church, which, after consolidation with Grace Church, becanie an integer of the Sixth Presbyterian Church. The contests were distinguished by acerbity, but that time has softened and extirpated. During one of these dissensions, the Church divided and the congregation remained in the old church until the Memorial Church was formed, and was supplied by James T. Hyde of the Theological Seminary for about two years. This branch was, however, not recognized by the Council so long as there appeared any possibility of success for the other portion of the Church. At length the Mem- orial Church was recognized as the legal and actual successor of the Salem Church. In 1871, this Church relinquished its organization and name and some of its members connected themselves with the Forty-seventh- street Church, which the growing needs of that flourishing suburb had called into existence. Other changes however were in store for the Forty-seventh- street Church, as in February, 1879, the building wherein its congregation had worshipped was moved from its location on Forty-seventh Street, near Drexel Boulevard, to the corner of that boulevard and Fortieth Street; the sphere of beneficent influence being deemed more extensive at its present, than at its former loca- tion. After its removal the present name was adopted of

SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, and at this time it had some thirty-five or forty members, and an attend- ance upon the Sunday-school of about fifty children. The early progress of the Church was impeded by the general prostration of business interests, but upon the restoration of easy times, the Church entered upon a career of prosperity that has been unchecked. It now numbers about one hundred and eighty members and has an average attendance at the Sunday-school of one hundred and forty scholars. There are very few mem-

* The list compnses a majority of the carly settlers of Oakland.

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523

HISTORY OF HYDE PARK.

bers of this Church who have been members of former congregations in this vicinage; the vast influx of residents has brought new people who have affiliated with, or joined this Church, and it now is a unit in social cordiality and in Christian work; these char- acteristics have distinguished this Church since its foundation. The first trustees were Oswell A. Bogue, William E. Hale, Lucius G. Fisher, J. B. T. Marsh and Henry Brookes; the present trustees are William E. Hale, Oswell A. Bogue, George C. Hick and George A. Stannard. The present frame church building is very inadequate to the needs of the congregation and steps are now (January, 1884) being taken to erect a substantial edifice of brick, or stone, capable of seating eight hundred people; after which the present building will be utilized as a Sunday-school room. Under the management of the members of the Church are several social, literary and benevolent societies; the donations made by this Church are very large proportionately with the membership of the Church. One of the enter- prises that has succeeded under its fostering care is the Forrestville Sunday-school that now, with a little assistance from its parent, takes care of itself and furnishes religious tuition to a large number of scholars. The pastor is a close and earnest student and a thought- ful, deliberate theologian; the growth and prosperity of the Church speaks for his capability in the position he occupies more forcibly than any panegyric could do

Edward Franklin Williams, the present pastor, who assumed charge of the Forty-seventh-street Church on the third Sunday in October, 1873, was born at Uxbridge, Mass., on July 22, 1832, of George and Delilah Williams, upon the old homestead farm. He received his education at the common school, and at the academy of Uxbridge, at the Worcester Academy- under the principalship of Charles Burnet, at the Uni- versity Grammar School at Providence-under Profes- sors Frieze and Lyon, and at Yale College, from whence he graduated in 1856, He then taught school for three years, and graduated at the Princeton Theo- logical Seminary, in 1861. In 1861 and 1862, he took a supplemental theological course at Yale Seminary, preaching for a portion of this time at Rochdale, Mass., and then went into the army with the Christian Com- mission, remaining therein until the close of the war, then supplying various pulpits in Massachusetts, and receiving several calls to permanently occupy such pulpits, none of which he accepted. At the close of 1865, Mr. Williams went to Lookout Mountain, and opened the Lookout Mountain educational institution. In 1867, he opened the Normal Department of the Howard University at Washington, with the under- standing that he was to remain there but one term; at the close of which he came to Chicago, studied for a while in Chicago Theological Seminary, preached for a few months at St. Charles, Kane County, became settled pastor of the Tabernacle Church, February 1, 1869, where he remained until he took charge of the South Congregational Church. Mr. Williams married, Octo- ber 24, 1866, Miss Jane C. Pitkin, at Hartford, Conn. In addition to the degree of B. A. received on gradua- tion, Mr Williams has had conferred upon him the degree of M. A., in 1859, and of D. D., in 1883.

Another Church whose history is a part of the region in the vicinity of Oakland, is the

MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH .- The history of this Church is a narration of persistent struggle, undaunted perseverance and indomitable faith-based upon earnest works; the most justifiable of all faith. "As

stated in the manual of the Church, that history is as follows : "That part of the present city of Chicago lying south of Twenty-second Street, prior to 1859 was mostly an uninhabited prairie. Excepting two small settlements, one about the corner of Twenty-sixth Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, drawn together by the car shops of the Illinois Central Railroad, and another, then known as Cleaverville, on the lake shore. at the foot of Oakwood Avenue, where there was a small manufacturing interest, but very few families, and those separated by wide intervals, had made their homes on this wide extending territory. At each of these centers small Congregational churches had been formed. that on Twenty-sixth Street being now merged in the Plymouth Congregational Church, that on Oak- wood Avenue being extinct. Otherwise it is believed that no Christian Church existed south of Twelfth Street, and no Baptist Church south of Harrison Street, at the corner of which and Edina Place, now Third Avenue, the Edina- place Baptist Church, now merged in the Immanuel Baptist Church, had been located in 1856. On the opening of the University of Chicago, in May, 1859, a few Baptist families were added to the number previously living in the neighborhood."* These disciples held a weekly meeting at the house of Deacon C. T. Boggs, over which Dr. J. A. Smith pre- sided, shortly after which a service was had on Sunday afternoons in the chapel of the University, when Dr. J. C. Burroughs preached, occasionally assisted by others. It was hoped that from this organization a Church would proceed, but the First Baptist Church organized a mission church at the corner of Indiana Avenue and Thirtieth Street ; and at its opening in 1863, the Uni- versity congregation and a Sunday-school of more than one hundred scholars were transferred to the Indiana- avenue Baptist Church. But the members of the old congregation considered the field, whose theological tillage was feasible with the University for a center, requisite to be attended to, and in January. 1867, they re-organized the Sunday-school in the chapel of the University. On September 22, 1868, the Cottage Grove Baptist Society was organized, with Dr. J. A. Smith as pastor, to meet in the University chapel; and on December 6, 1868, the University-place Baptist Church was organized, with ninety-four members, Dr. J. A. Smith, pastor, and A. H. Hovey, Jesse Clement and H. B. Brayton, deacons. In June, 1871, a chapel was completed on Thirty-fifth Street and Rhodes Avenue, at a cost of $25,000. In 1874, the First Bap- tist Church removed to its present location, and this necessitated either the demise or removal of the Uni- versity-place Church ; accordingly, after weary and ineffectual struggles, on May 25, 1881, a committee was appointed to negotiate for the purchase of the Memorial church on Oakwood Boulevard, that belonged to a former Congregational Church. On October 19, 1881, the committee announced that the old church property had been sold, and the new church purchased and placed in repair, and it was then voted to change the name to " Memorial Baptist Church ; " to "thus record God's signal favor in the past," and to " set up as a memorial, from which to enter on a new stage of its history-'Thus far the Lord hath helped us.'". The cost of the property was about $29,000, $6,500 of which was realized from the sale of the old property, and the balance was given by the Church and its friends, so that at its dedication, on February 19, 1882, it was announced that "the Memorial Baptist Church

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History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 132

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas Number of Pages: 875

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875