History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 149

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

USA > Illinois > Cook County > History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time > Part 149

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Digioo by Google

$72

HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY.

remained ; being moved farther out, from time to time, as the pier has been extended, until in November, 1883. it was at a distance of three thousand feet north and east of the old stone building. Mr. Rushmore since his occupancy has added some improvements to the old building, and has planted fir-trees in the plot adjoining, that makes the place look a little more piet- uresque. It needs all the adventitious romance obtain- able, as it is most prosaically smothered in smoke from the North Chicago Rolling Mills, which are close to it. CALUMET HARBOR *- Naturally is the next portion of the region to be described. The earliest survey of which there is any record, was made by Lieutenant Allen in 1836, at which time the river entered the lake at a point about eight hundred feet cast of the present light-honse, The next survey was made in 1845, by Captain J. MeClellan, and the outlet of the river was found to have advanced one thousand feet eastward. In October, 186g, under instructions from the Chief of Engineers, of date September 10, 186g, Major Wheeler directed Captain Heap to make a thorough topographi- cal and hydrographie survey of the entrance to the C'alumet River ; he dul so, and made his report Novem- ber 30, 1869 ; at the date of the report the ontlet had aulvanced one thousand eight hundred feet eastwardly beyond the point shown in the 1845 survey. Major Wheeler said :

" The river called Calumet is broader and discharges more water than the t'hinago River. From the bend near the light-house tower to the railroad bridge there is an average depth of thirteen fee: in the chan- nel, and the stream varies from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet in width. The banks are low and marshy. A reconnuosanre made as far as Wolf Luke. slows the same average depth of water and width of stream above the bridge as below it. Taken by itself * * * * the C'alumet River is susceptible of being made a rapacious and good harbor, and under certain circumstances would afford relief to the crowded com- merce of Chicago and a harbor of refuge under certain winds."

This extract is interesting as manifesting that, in con- sidering the subject of a harbor at Calumet, it was always as a chapel-of-case for Chicago, never as a pos- sible harbor maintaining its own commercial interests and necessary because of the manufactures existing at Calumet. At the time of Major Wheeler's report the river made a short bend toward the south nearly oppo- site the present site of the light-house, forming an outlet similar to that of the Chicago River in 1833. It entered the lake about three thousand two hundred feet from the light-house ; having between its castern bank and the lake, a bar, or dune, of sand and gravel, abont four hundred feet wide and elevated hut a few feet above the lake level, and at the outlet the river did not exceed seven feet in depth, Major Wheeler, however, reported adversely to the improvement of the Calumet, because of the dangers to navigation from the reef one and a quarter miles from the pier suggested, and two thousand eight hundred feet from shore; also because of the accretions that would result, and because the necessi- ties of the place " now or for the next ten years," would not justify the expenditure. A board of officers called to consider the report coincided with the opinion. But General John A. Logan fought for the Calumet harbor, and obtained an appropriation of $50,000. This, too, in spite of the demarrer made in Congress, that no

* To the muurtesy of Major W. H. II. Benyaurd, Chief Engineer officer. MINtary Division of the Missouri, the collator no lodebied tor much valuable su-

appropriation could legally be made for fresh. ma harbors : only salt-water harbors were alleged t he auen hl. to donations of Federal money for their improvement ; this argument being on behalf of the great seaboard of the Atlantic, and the prepunderan ut power in Congress from States benefited by ac h relig . worked the finances for harbor improvements But the act of Congress, dated July 10, 1870, api-1. printed 85 sooo for a " harbor of refuge" at Chiagi, Ill \ letter, dated July 18, 1870, informell Mapr |1 C Houston, United States Engineer Corps, that this Wasintended for Calumet ; and in August, work was con ked. This consiste in cutting a channel from tu Clemet River to Lake Michigan and protecting i with piis all revetment ; the Calumet & Cha ago Cod und Dock Comp.oy had already commenced the et d the Dome the work was commenced. Before the el wr (1 the working season, three hundred and twenty feet ut piering was put in on the north side of the chan- nel ; the inner crib being three hundred feet from the shore line, This gap was intended to be closed with piles, hint could not be, owing to the lateness of the sea- son ; therefore only the outer row of piling was driven, leaving sixty-nine feet of opening next to the crib-work. Meanwhile the Canal & Dock Company had opened a channel to the lake fifty feet wide, with seven feet of water, Ahout March 1, 1871, a freshet occurred that created a rapid current, and this cut a channel one hun. dred and fifty feet wide and from eight to ten feet derp : the gap between the crib and the pile-work was filled and the channel perfectly protected, and the accre- tion of sand on the north side had reached the first crib sunk, three hundred feet from shore.

THE. MONEY APPROPRIATED

was as follows :

July in, 1870 .. $ 50,000

March 3. 1871 50,000

Inve 10, 1572

March 3. 1973. 40,000

25,000

March 3. 1875

20,001

August 14. 18;6 ..

15,000

June 15, 187%.

12,1%)0

March 3. 1>79

20,000

June 14. 1850.

30.000

March 3, 1881

35.000

August 2. 1882

Total . $362,000

In addition to this amount must be taken $4.000 paid to the Canal & Dock Company for one hundred feet by three hundred feet for the light-house, and. $6,000 for the improvement of the light-house.

In 1870, three hundred and twenty feet of piering was put on north side of channel.

In 187t, the north pier was extended three hundred and eighty-four feet, and two hundred and fifty-six fect of piering were constructed on the south side, the inner rrih of the latter being located one hundred and eighty- four feet outside shore-line; four hundred and seventy- five feet of pile, pier and revetment was done, and the channel had nine feet of water.

In 1872, the north pier was extended four hundred and sixty-four feet, and the south pier two hundred and twenty-eight feet, and the channel had cleven feet of water. The accretion on the north shore had reached out about four hundred and twelve feet.

In 1873, buth north and south piers were advanced two hundred feet, and the channel was eleven feet deep in the shoalest place. The accretion on the north side had thirty feet added to it by the littoral deposit,

June 23. 1874.

23,000

573

HISTORY OF HYDE PARK.

In 1874, the channel had twelve feet of water.

In 1875, the south pier was extended two hundred feet, and the channel was from thirteen to fifteen feet in depth.

In May, 1877, Captain G. J. Lydecker relieved Major G. L. Gillespie, Since the beginning of the work in 1870 the shore-line on the north had advanced about eight hundred feet; from April, 1876, to July, 1877, the shore-line made out two hundred and twelve feet.

In 1878, the shore advanced one hundred and fifteen feet, and the least depth on the bar in the spring of that year was 10.3 feet.

In 1879, the shore made out on the north side eighty-five feet ; the least depth on the bar was 10.7 feet. The total length of pier constructed to June, 1879, was four thousand two hundred and sixty linear feet; total dredging performed, two hundred and eighty thousand cubic yards.

In 1880, two hundred feet was added to the north pier, the total length of which was two thousand nine hundred and forty feet ; the total length of the south pier was one thousand five hundred and twenty feet. Vessels drawing twelve and a half feet could pass in fair weather. The North Chicago Rolling Mill Com- pany's slip, one thousand fect long, was cut through.

In 1881, the north pier was three thousand one hun dred and ninety feet long; the south pier one thousand five hundred and ten feet long ; the year's operations being two hundred and fifty linear feet of pier built, and 14.547.97 cubic yards of dredging. Vessels draw- ing thirteen feet could enter at low water. The total advance of the shore-line on the north since 1870 was one thousand two hundred and seven feet. In the year 1880-81 only twenty-one feet were made. The total dredging performed to date was two hundred and ninety-eight thousand four hundred and fifty-eight cubic yards.

June 19, 1882, Major W. H. HI. Benyanrd relieved Major G. J. Lydecker. The former officer states in his report that the shore north of the pier advanced about thirty-five feet; further northward it increased seventy feet. South of the pier the shore-line receded gradually until 1882, when the recession was greatly increased. Near the pier it was forty-two feet west of the line of 1880, further south it was eroded two hundred feet. The total length of the north pier was three thousand three hundred and forty feet, and of the south pier one thousand five hundred and twenty feet. The total dredging performed was three hundred and fifty thou- sand nine hundred and eighty-three cubic yards, and the channel was sixteen feet deep below low water.

Up to November, 1883, three hundred feet had been added to the north pier, and thirty thousand cubic yards of mud and sand dredged. It is the intention of the authorities to still farther extend the south pier.

'The first boat through was the schooner "Coral," belonging to Charles Mears; that was brought into har- bor by James H. Bowen with the tug Belle Chase on April 1, 1871.

SOUTH CHICAGO VILLAGE.

South Chicago may be said to have assumed its real estate form in 1856, when the inhabitants, thinking all the prospects of the Calumet region blighted because of the discontinuance of the light-house, were heart- sick and ready to debark anywhere out of Calumet, when Elliot Anthony went among the discontented and gradually acquired title to the property owned by Jason Gurley, I. Egglchart, Willam Bradshaw Egan, heirs of

Lewis Benton and Elijah K. Hubbard and others, until he owoed ahont three-fourths of the town lots, The remaining one-fourth Oramel S. Hough purchased, all but eighty acres owned by John Wentworth, but he ultimately secured them, and thus Anthony and Hough became virtually the proprietors of the land whereon South Chicago first was laid out. In 1869 these two gentlemen associated with them enterprising and wealthy men, and on March 10, 1869. the Calumet & Chicago Canal Dock Company * was incorporated. The incorporators were Elain G. Clark, Daniel J. Schuyler, George W. Waite, James H. Words- worth, Charles V. Dyer, John McCaffrey, George Schneider, John V. Le Moyne and George W. Stanford. Of this corporation, James H. Bowen, was the first president, and Chauncey T. Bowen Oramel S. Hough, Elliot Anthony, Sheridan Wait, Thomas L .. Dobbins, and Charles A. Gregory, were the board of directors. This company was the formative power of South Chicago, and had the man for presi- dent to whom is justly given the title of the father of that city. To the foresight of Mr. Bowen, to his indomitable energy and persistent hard work, to hiscare. ful and intelligent measures for the augmentation of the interests of the place, South Chicago is permanently indebted ; and his memory should be held in grateful remembrance by her citizens.

JAMES H. BOWEN was born March 7, 1822, in the town of Manheim, Herkimer Co., N. Y. His parents were Stephen and Lucinda Bowen, the former a direct descendant of the Plymouth Rock puritans. Till the age of fourteen he had lived with his parents, having attended the district school at Manheim, and assisted his father in carpenter work. In May, 1836, he became a clerk in a country store, post-office, etc., near his home; and for the compensation of board and thirty dollars a year, he tended counter, drove team, kept books, and otherwise made himself useful. At the end of three years he vacated his position in favor of a younger brother, and took a situation at one hundred dollars per annum and boaril, with the leading merchant of Little Falls, Herkimer Co., N Y. He was carly noted and commended for his attention and business capacity. and within three years he became treasurer and secretary of the Wool Grower Manufacturing Com- pany in Little Falls, N. Y., the mill belonging to the company employing 160 hands, and consuming 1,000 pounds of wool daily. He was not quite twenty- one years old when he assumed this trustworthy position, which he held for four years, till the death of his father, who was the agent of the mill. During this period he was the first American Express agent at Lit- tle Falls, and worked almost day and night in the dis- charge of his multifarious duties. On the first of July, 1846, Mr. Bowen moved to Jefferson County, N. Y., where he commenced business on his own account as a dealer in general merchandise. In 1848 he made a change to the stove, hardware and house furnishing line, and was appointed Postmaster at Evan's Mills, N. Y. Two years afterward he was made assist- ant United States Marshal ; also receiving the appoint- ment of Colonel of the 36th Regiment of New York State troops, and organized that regiment under the new law which has recently been passed. In 1853 he made another change, removing to Albany, N. Y., where he engaged in the china, crockery and earthen ware trade. He remained there until his removal to Chicago

" A company had existed prior to the Calumet company. called the Land 1mm- provement & Irigation Company : it was merged into and became the Calu met & Chicago Canal and Dock Company.

Dio od by Google

574

HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY.

in 1857. He had, some time previously, invested a part of his savings in Chicago property-believing, with many others, that the future of the West was bound up with the prosperity of the Garden City and the Calu- met region.

On the ist of July, 1857, the historical firm of Bowen Brothers commenced business at 72 Lake Street, as job- bers of dry goods, notions, etc., with a capital of $30,- 000. The firm was James H., George S., and Chauncey T., James being the senior member. Only about two months afterward the city of Chicago and the whole country was swept by one of the most severe commer-

Sometry Power

cial panics known in history. The situation was a try- ing one, but the firm had invested their capital judi- ciously and built up a solid and paying business, while many others around them were falling before the storm. The sales of the first year aggregated $200,000, and the business grew, under ceaseless attention and busi- ness management, till, in 1859 the stores known as 74 and 76 Lake Street were added to the first, and the firm was looked up to as one of the leading houses in the city. When the war came, in 1861, with its rapid appre- ciation of values and increased demand for goods, Bowen Brothers were prepared to take the highest advantage of the situation and to meet all its require- inents. Their capital was so judiciously invested that it grew apace, and with it their business grew so much as to necessitate a removal to more commodious quar- ters. They took the two mammoth stores known as Nos. 19 and 21 Lake Street, in 1863, and filled it with

goods from attic to basement. Their business still grew till their then astounding sales amounted to 86,000,000 per annum. 'T'hey then built the three stone front houses known as Nos. 124, 125 and 126 Michigan Avenue, where the three brothers continued to reside next door neighbors till the time of the great fire. In 1866 the firm erected the Bowen building, a magnificent five-story marble front block, Nos. 15 to 29 Randolph Street, at a cost of about $400,000. The business was then transferred thither in January, 1867, and a change made in the firm, James H. and Chauncey C. retired from active participation in the business, and became special partners; George S. remained as the active head of the new firm of Bowen, Whitman & Winslow, which was succeeded by the present dry goudls firm of Richards, Shaw & Winslow. At an early date in the history of the war, Colonel Bowen had recognized the necessity of extending our bank facilities, and gave his active support to the National Bank programme. He organized the Third National Bank of Chicago in 1862, which assumed a leading place under his direction as president from its establishment till 1867. He also made a special effort in behalf of a systematic plan of bank exchange, which resulted in the establishment of the Chicago Clearing House. Soon after the close of the War of the Rebellion he became impressed with the importance of Chicago and the State of Illinois being fully represented in the forthcoming World's Exposition at Paris. He was appointed United States Commissioner to the Exposition, and gave much of his time to the col- lection of material and forwarding it to France. On retiring from active business, in January, 1867, he also sundered his connections with the bank, determined to devote all his energies to a proper representation of the West to the people of the Old World. He visited Paris in the spring of that year, and remained there fully six months, during the whole time that the Exposition was open. Many thousands of those who visited the Champs de Mars that summer still remember how amply and vividly the, to them, hitherto unknown West was opened up. Samples of its minerals and its products, and models of its instructors were accompanied by full statistics showing what had been achieved in and by this region of the world. The Illinois school house and farm house were especially admired and commented upon, not less by the aristocracy of Europe than by the great mass of ordi- nary visitors in 1868. On his return from Europe. Colonel Bowen purchased a controlling interest in the Fourth National Bank of Chicago, and was active in its management for about eighteen months, when he sold out to other parties. Early in 1869 he was commis- sioned to invite and organize a party which opened up commercial relations between the people of the older States and the California slope, on the completion of the Pacific Railroad, in May, 1869. The party numbered about forty persons and met with the heartiest welcome at every point they visited. Colonel Bowen, to whose care and management the success of the trip was largely due, effected the practical as well as the theoretical opening up of the new commercial thoroughfare of the world. He purchased the first invoice of tea which came to Chicago overland from San Francisco, and gave to very many residents of his adopted city a new sen- sation in the drinking of tea which had not been deter- iorated by a double passage through the tropics. The direct tea trade of Chicago has since grown to a very great volume ; and scarcely an ounce of tea that has been transported over the Atlantic Ocean is ever sold in the West. The great work of his life, however,

575

HISTORY OF HYDE PARK.

remained for him ; the work that presented the Calumet region to the public, improved the harbor and de. veloped the latent resources of the surrounding ter- ritory. From the date of his identification with the Calumet & Chicago Canal and Dock Company, the history and interest of James H. Bowen were identified with South Chicago, and each successive annotation of the growth of that wonderful city is a tribute to James H. Bowen. The great fire of October 9, 1871, took from him fully three hundred thousand dollars, over and above the insurance which he received on his buililings in Chicago, and his share as special partner in the dry goods house which he had founded fourteen years before ; but he faltered not in his devotion to his last and greatest work. The panic of 1873 cut still more deeply into his purse strings by depreciating the selling value of the property in the region of the Calumet, but it only redoubled his exertions, Largely as a consequence of his efforts, the sloughs have been drained, the river deepened and rendered navigable for fully fifteen miles, piers and docks constructed, railroad bridges built, lumber yards established, and numer- ous manufactories brought into existence-prominent among which is the Joseph H. Brown Iron & Steel Works. Colonel Bowen was a member of the Chicago Board of Trade and of the Mercantile Association. As a member of the Union Defense Committee, he took decided ground against the secession during the War of the Rebellion, helped to organize the first six regi- ments which left Chicago for the field and the honor of the old flag. In November, 1864, he was appointed a member of the staff of Governor Oglesby, with the rank of Colonel, and contributed valuable aid in welcoming home the returning boys in blue, who were discharged in Chicago or passed through the city on their way homeward. He also took a prominent part in the arrangements for conveying the remains of President Lincoln from Washington to Springfield, and had full charge of the details of the management of that wonderful cortege during its passage through the States, He was an active worker in political matters, but never sought an office at the hands of the people. He voted for Henry Clay in 1844, and voted the Republican ticket up to his death. He was married on September 19, 1843, to Caroline A. Smith. Three sons are now living-Ira P. Bowen, J. Allison Bowen and Arthur P. Bowen. J. Allison is on the Bourse at Paris, France ; his two brothers are in the Commercial National Bank, of Chicago. One daughter is also living-Mrs. Jennie Bowen French. In 1878 he was appointed comptroller of the village of Hyde Park, in which place his thorough business experience, added to his familiarity with the village affairs, was shown in the material results which followed his examination into and straightening of the accumulated neglected busi- ness of that office as well as of the village. He was one of the first to throw light upon the crookedness, and nnearth the Waldron defalcation, He was identi- fied most thoroughly with the affairs of Hyde Park. He was elected a member of the Board of Village Trus- tees on the 5th of April, 1881, and was made chairman of the committee on finance. While on official business and on a visit to T. W. Johnstone, another member of the board, at half past six p. M., on the first day of May, 1881, on his way home in Mr. T. W. Johnstone's buggy, accompanied by Mr. Johnstone, he was suddenly thrown from the buggy and struck upon his chest, never to speak again. The accident occurred as the party neared the railroad crossing on Commercial Avenue, by Mr. Johnstone's horse becoming frightened at a switch

engine which blew off steam as the buggy was in front of Mrs. Pernod's hotel, about one hundred and fifty feet from the track, Colonel B. wen was thrown into the ditch on the east side of the street, near the side- walk. Mr. Doyle was one of the first men to come to his relief, and he and others carried the body to the South Chicago Hotel and everything was done that his friends could think of to restore him to life, but without avail. The advocate of South Chicago was dead.

VACATION OF CALUMET .- When the Calumet & Chicago Canal and Dock Company applied to the Legislature for a charter they exhibited the old Benton map, but the Legislature declined recognizing it. The company therefore vacated the town of Calumet and George's addition thereto, and on March 29, 1871, was acknowledged by the Company, the Northwestern Fertil- izing Company and Oramel S. Hough. The vacation was filed for record on March 30, 1871, as Document No. 89,112.

SOUTH CHICAGO,-A subdivision by the Calumet & Chicago Canal and Dock Company was filed for record January 17, 1874, and recorded March 6, 1874, in Book 7, pages 7, 8, 9 and 10. In this subdivision the streets and avenues were laid out parallel with the points of the compass, and the lots were made twenty-five by one hundred and forty feet, with twenty-foot alleys. Thus this corporation was inaugurated; a corporation whose operations embrace hundreds of thousands of dollars. In these operations it must not be supposed that those whose title consisted in "squatter sovereignty " did not harbor feelings of intense antagonisin toward the legal holder, who oft became an evictor; and the hostility of years frequently is found now in those whose suppositi- tous claims, under color of title, were ousted from their holdings by the legal proprietors.

THE FIRST SALE by the Calumet & Chicago Canal and Dock Company, after its incorporation and investi ture with its legal rights, was to C. K. Coates, who was in charge of the Government work at South Chicago, on February 2, 1874, of Lots 27 and 28 in Block 57, for $1,484.38. 'Their first office was in a general store oc- cupied by William Gear, on the river a little north of the foot of Ninety-third Street, and from thence into Gaughan's building ; that was the first new store building built on the new street, Harbor Avenue, after the town was called South Chicago. Harbor Avenue was the first street made in South Chicago or in Calu- met. The house referred to is now known as the Lake View House.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 149

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