History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 158

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

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CYRUS A. STONE. principal of the Irondale publie school. was born in Solon, Somerset Co., Me., June 1. 1847, son of Suliman N, and Sarah (Mason) Stone, both natives of New Ilamp. shire, and of English aoeestry. Ilis father died in 1853; his mother is still living. in Neponset Village, Boston. Mr. Stone received his preparatory education in the schools of Salem, Mass.,

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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY.

Kimball Union Academy, al Meriden, N. H., and Phillip's Aead. emy, at Exeter, N. H., and graduated from Williams College in the class of 1972. Before entering college he was employed for three years in Putnam's horse-shoc factory. at Neponset Village. Boston, Mr. Stone taught school in the State of Connecticut, and Will County, Ill., until September 1, 1879, when he took charge of the Irondale school. He is a member of the Congregational Church.

FRED TAEGER, retailer of wines, liquors, eigars, and pro- prietor of billiard parlor, was born in Prussia, June 6, 1837, and there was raised a shoe-maker. September 1, 1859, he eanie to America, and at Chicago, after one and a half years of general wr.rk, opened in the boot and shoe trade, losing all he had in the great fire. Then for two years he ran a boarding house and saloon, removing in the same business to Cummings in 1875. where he erected a house and has since been located. August 20, 1865, he married Miss Minnie Schmidt, a native of the same place in Germany. Mr. Taeger is a member of the 1. O. O. F., the German Druids, and the German Society of Harugari of Illinois.

W. H. TAYLOR, real estate dealer, was burn in Jefferson County, N. Y., in 1837, and was raised and educated there. In 1862 he married Miss Harriet Clark, of Potsdam, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. ; they have one son, John E. In :968 Mr. Taylor came 10 Chicago, and engaged in office work until 1879, when he removed to Cummings and worked in the office of Joseph HI. Brown's rolling mill. In 1852 he was appointed real estate agent for Chicago parties.

ROBERT WILLIAMS was born in Wales April 22. 1851. He was raised in Brecknockshire in the steel business from Thir- teen years of age, and had charge of a department for some time. In 1877 he came to America, and worked for the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company, then for a year at Chattanooga, Tenn., thence took charge for Messrs. anderson & Woods, at Pittsburgh, Penn., returning again to the Cleveland Rolling Mall Company. In 1882 he came to Chicago, and March 1, 1983, took the foreman. ship of the steel department of the Calumel Iron & Steel Com. pany's works. Mr . Williams is a member of Newberg Blue Lodge and Chapter, A. F. & A. M., South Chicago, also Catrica Indge. 1. O. O. F., of Newberg, Ohio. November, 1874, he married Miss Jane Rees, of Dowlais, Glamorganshire, Wales. They have two children-Barbara and Joseph Rees.

DANIEL. WINK. of Jakway & Wink, dealers in hardware, stoves and household furniture, was born in Chicago April 4. 1956, where he was raised and educated. He began life as elerk in a stationery store, afterward followed painting three years, then was book-keeper in a furniture factory until in June, 1891, he went into the furniture business. On January 1. 1862. the firm of Jakway & Wink was formed in Cummings, and they have 1wo large stores.

HEGEWISCH.

This is a city of the future, but a future that is quite near. The rapid erection of Pullman has demin- strated in how brief a time a city, perfect iu its appoint- ments, can arise like an ignis fatuus out of a marsh, and Hegewisch is to be another city created by capital and genius. The site of this city is upon Sections 31 and 32, Township 37 worth, Range 15 cast : Section 5, Township 36 north, Range 15 east, and that part of Section 6, Township 36 north, Range 15 east, lying cast of the Calumet River. The site may be generally described as being near the forks of the Grand and Little Calumet rivers, just south of the southern ex- tremity of Hyde Lake. The town receives its name from Adolph Hegewisch, president of the United States Rolling Stock Company. This company are erecting their works on one hundred acres secured to the company by the energy and foresight of its president, which site was supplemented by fifteen hundred aildi- tional acres secured to parties largely interested in the success of that enterprise. These fifteen hundred acres are devoted to the purpose of a town site, and for the erection upon theni of such lesser industrial buildings as may be attracted to that locality. The real estate is owned by a symlicate representing millions of dollars ; Adolph Hegewisch will be the dominant power at the works and in the administration of the affairs of the land company, while the following gentlemen act as

executive committee in behalf of those whose interests they represent : C. D. Roys, W. 11. Rand and J. William Eschenburg, while the interests of Chicago parties in the lands devoted to the site of the new town, are represented in the following proportions : C. D. Roys, 2215 per cent ; William B. Keep, 9 per cent : Albert Krohn, 614 per cent ; H. P. Kellogg, 6 per cent ; J. W. Eschenburg, 2014 per cent; W. H. Rand, 25 per cent ; P. M. Mather, Herman Petersen and Emil Petersen, together, toM4 per cent. The requi- site dredging and docking is in progress and nearly completed ; the side tracks for the distribution of building materials are completed, and thuse for the dissemination of the soil dredged from the river are in course of quick construction ; foundations are laid for the main office buikling, fifty feet by one hundred feet, as are the foundations for three of the five-hundrel- feet-long buildings, and all the preliminaries requisite for the superstructure of a large manufacturing toun are well under way. Several railroads have made Hegewisch a station, and a telegraph office is established there. The land company has sullivided a part of its adjacent lands in Section 31, and the work of opening the streets was commenced in January of the present Year. Auning the contemplated improvements of the site are two canals; one of which will run north to the Calumet River, cutting off a large bend in the river to the westward, and for over half the dis- tance, which is about one mile, a species of gulch. or bayou, can be utilized, and thus dispense with a large amount of dredging that would otherwise be indispen- sable. By the natural course of the river the distance is about three miles; the artificial water-way will be bot one-half of that length, and from the terminal point of the canal the distance to Lake Michigan is about twelve miles, The second canal will commence at a point on the first canal, about two-thirds of the distance between the works and its entrance into the river. At this point an arm of Hyde Lake connects with the gulch, or bayou, that will be employed in the manufacture of the first canal. The distance from that cawal to Wolf Lake is about one mile. The course will then be through Wolf Lake and its ensbouchure to Lake Michigan; whereby she distance by the present sinuous route is lessened one- half. The work of erecting buildings, to accommodate the fifteen hundred employés of the Rolling Stock Com- pany and their families, will be commenced as soon as the weather permits. The works are under contract to be completed by the first of June, 1884; and it is a mat- ter of veracious prediction, that this section will present a scene of marvelons activity and busy life, if sufficient accommodations are furnished to shelter the thousands who will ask for and require them, on the completion of the works. The main architectural features of these works may be thus descrihed: The three wood-work. ing buildings, and paint shops will be of the same size and general appearance, and will be placed end to end in line with each other, separated by spaces one hundred feet in width. They will be built of Chicago brick, with red brick trimmings, and have slate roofs with a large "monitor," or lautern, running the whole length of the building, except the two bays. They will each be five hundred feet in length and one hundred and three fect in width, outside dimensions, and the walls twenty-two feet three inches in length from the floor level to the top of the galvanized iron cornice along the sides, which also forin the gutter. The side walls are divided into thirty-one hays of sixteen feet each by pilasters, which support the roof trusses, each bay containing one cor- ridor forty-two feet in width by fourteen feet in height,

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HISTORY OF HYDE PARK.

giving, with the windows of the lantern on the roof, ample light over the whole area of the shops. The end gables of the wood-working shop will be pierced for one large door, eleven feet wide and fifteen feet eight inches high, capable of admitting a car, and four smaller doors used by narrow-gauge trucks, bringing in and removing lumber, etc., and will be lighted by four large windows below and three smaller windows above. The gables of the erecting and paint shop will have five large doors for the passage of cars, and four smaller doors for the passage of trucks as above. The car truck shop will he one hundred feet in length by eighty feet in width, on a design similar to that of the wood-working, erecting and paint shops, and will contain five tracks on which the trucks will be built up, ready to be run into the erecting shop and placed under the cars. . The ma- chine shop, similar in design, will be two hundred and ten feet by eighty feet, in extreme dimensions, and will have a single narrow-gauge track, down the center and be fitted with all necessary lathes, planers, drills, etc., required for finishing the iron work of the cars and for general machine work. The blacksmith shop will be two hundred and ten feet by eighty feet in outside dimensions, and be fitted with thirty forges, steam and power hammers, and all necessary tools. The foundry will be an irregularly-shaped building, divided into three parts, viz .: a "wheel foundry," in which the wheels re- quired for use in the works will be cast ; a " general foundry," for all other cast-iron work required, and a "brass foundry," for journal boxes and other brass work.

The wheel foundry will have a capacity for two hun- dred wheels per day and be fitted with a hydraulic crane for each casting-pit, and a large set of annealing-pits, with a hydraulic crane for handling the hot wheels as they are taken from the sand and placed in the anneal- ing-pits to cool, an operation which requires several days to complete. The floor of the foundry between the casting-pits is to be covered with cast-iron plates to give a smooth surface for running trucks with the ex- ception of that portion used for inspecting the wheels, which is floored with wooden blocks placed with the grain on end. Between the wheel and the general foundries will be placed cupolas, four in number-two for the wheel and two for the general foundry. The gen- eral foundry will be fitted with a ten-ton traveling crane, running from end to end and all necessary apporten- ances. In the brass foundry will be a melting-furnace having eighteen melting-pots.

Each of the foundries will have a sand-room attached, and there will be a pattern shop in connection with the building. A boiler and engine room will also be pro- vided in connection with this building for supplying power for driving the blowers, handling the crane, etc. "The car-repair shop will be arranged in the form of one- half of a circular ring, with a turn-table in the center and tracks running therefrom in the building, and will be capable of holding sixty cars at one time undergoing repairs. This building will be five hundred feet in diameter.

The engine repair shop will have dimensions of two hundred by eighty-four feet. It will be a separate building, somewhat similar in appearance to the machine shop, and have a thirty-five ton traveling crane running the whole length of it, with which an entire engine may be lifted if necessary. On one side it will have a flat- roofed annex, containing lathes, planes and other ma- chinery required in making repairs, and provision will be made for two English five-ton walking cranes.

At one end of the wood-working mill, and forming

a wing to it, will be placed the offices and drafting- rooms, where the accounts are kept and the necessary drawings prepared for the use of the works. The draft- ing-rooms will have spinning shed roofs, which will have light from the north. On the opposite side of the wood- working mill, and forming another wing, will be placed the boiler and engine-room for supplying the principal shops with power, the fuel being shavings, conveyed to it hy a pneumatic tube. Separate store buildings will be supplied for paint, oils, and general stores, and a building will also be supplied for the fire department of the works. All the shops, with the exception of the foundries and smith shop, will be floored with asphalt on a concrete foundation.

During the winter the labor attendant upon the preparation of the foundations of these buildings will be maintained as far as possible, and the ultimate result of these preparations are predicted to be-a population of ten thousand people at Hegewisch within two years.

RIVERDALE.

Riverdale is situated on the Little Calumet River in the southwest corner of the village of Hyde Park, about fifteen miles from Chicago. The business inter- ests there are distilling and lumber. The first settlers there were the Dolton family. In 1835, George Dolton, his wife Lena Ellen Stronach Dolton, their children, Andrew H., Charles H, Henry B., George E., Mary Ann, Jane A., and Emily C. Dolton moved to the Little Calumet region and settled upon the southwest quarter of Section 34, Township 37 north, Range 14, now form- ing Dolton's Addition and a part of Bowen's Market Addition to Riverdale. In 1836, J. C. Matthews and family settled upon the southeast quarter of Section 33 and there built a house ; they resided there until they moved to lowa in 1846. In 1840, the inhabitants were augmented by the arrival of Levi Osterhoudt, John Sherman, Frederick Bachmann and John Hansford. In the years that elapsed prior to 1847, there were very few additions to the settlement ; tour or five families from Holland came in that year and settled upon the river's banks. In 1848, five families came and settled upon the Indian Ridge, north of Wildwood, viz .: Frederick G. Reich, Frederick Rau, Frederick Schmidt, Frederick Nitzsche and Emanuel Goldschmidt ; these likewise were Hollanders: under the constitution adopted that year, however, they became legal voters. In 1850-52, during the progress of the Illinois Central Railroad, a few of the workers thereupon located at Riverdale, and when the northern sections were completed, a number of Swedes and Hollanders settled in the vicinity. The first real estate transaction appears to have been the purchase by John Sherman of the Matthews homestead, occurring just after the panic of 1837. The first plat of Riverdale was made by David Andrews, surveyor, for George Dolton in 1868, and embraced the southwest quarter of Section 34 ; now owned by the school trus- tees. The second and main plat was made October 13, 1869, for A. H. Dolton, C. II. Dolton and Henry B. Dol- ton, by George E. Dolton and comprised a part of the west half of the southwest quarter of said Section 34 and was a portion of the homestead tract. Since 1869, several plats have been made ; north of the river are Lockwood's subdivision, B. F. Cuyton's and Market additions.

The first ferry was established in 1836, by George Dolton and J. C. Matthews, who also blazed the Chi- cago & Michigan City highway, now known as State Street ; at the Riverdale crossing was a ferry-boat

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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY.

placed, which was maintained until about 1842, when the first bridge was built by George Dolton and Levi Osterhoudt, and was known as the Dolton bridge. It was maintained as a toll-bridge until 1856, when it was purchased by the county and made a free bridge.

The first birth in this region was that of a child of J. C. Matthews, and the first death that of Mrs. Per- riam's eklest son ; the mark of whose grave is still pointed out by old settlers.

In 1867, the school district was divided, and a school built at Riverdale by Mr. Krieger, of Blue Island; the school directors then were F. A. Reich, Jr., Nick- laus Van Heest and Christian Hocffelman : the first teacher was a Mr. Judd and the number of pupils about ten. This frame building, of primitive style, stood upon the site of the present buikling. The subject of erect- ing the present school-house was agitated in 1871, but was opposed. because it was thought that the scholastic necessities of the district did not require so extensive an edifice. It was built, however, in 1874. The pres- ent directors are Charles E. Rehm, F. August Reich and Theodor Hesselman ; the principal of the school is Andrew S. Diekman ; first assistant, Miss Nellie Matthews ; second assistant, Miss 1 .. Baumgartner ; the number of pupils about one hundred and thirty-eight. The population of Riverdale, according to the school census, is abont six hundred.

The early days of Riverdale were not replete with opportunities for worship ; a Mr. Williams, brother of Judge Williams, was the first minister who preached in the district. Theologically, he was a Presbyterian. Subsequently when a minister would arrive, either Mr. Perriam or Mr. Dolton would send out a messenger to acquaint the neighbors and they would assemble at one or the other of those gentlemen's houses on the ensuing Sunday. At present, the Methodist Episcopal denomi- nation meets in Dolton, and the "German Evangelical Lutheran Saint Paul's Church-Unaltered Augsburg Confession," meets at their echfice on the township line. On March 26, 1858, a small church was erected about one and a half miles from the present one and farther down the Michigan City road, to accommodate the twenty- eight worshipers who were preached to by Rev. W. Heinemann. The present church, situated near the Michigan City road, was built in :882, and has a mem- bership of fifty-five. The trustees are Daniel Trapp, Frederick Rau, Frederick Bachmann and Jacob Schmidt. Attached to the church is a parochial school, numbering ninety-three pupils ; the instructor is Charles Noak, the pastor of the church ; in addition to these duties he has a congregation at Cuminings and one at Lansing Station, in Thornton Township. The church and parsonage, with lots, are worth $7,000. A Sunday- school, Charles Petersen, superintendent, meets at the public school-house, and has an average attendance of sixty pupils : this is undenominational. A depository of the New York Bible Society is at the post-office, corner of Indiana Avenueand One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Street,

The post-office was established in April, 1873, with A. Reich, Jr., as Postinaster and F. L. Baecker, assistant. They are still incumbents; the Postmaster's name is F. A. Reich, but inadvertently omitting the primary initial on his assumption of office, he has since continued that way of subscription. Mr. Andrew H. Dolton states that Riverdale and Dolton were one settlement, with the name Dolton, until the establishment of the post-office at Riverdale with that name. As a distinctive portion of the settlement it was, prior to that, called Dolton Junction.

The first store of Riverdale was kept by A. Reich & Son ; now the commercial interests maintain several stores.

The Riverdale distillery is one of the principal inter- ests, and was established, in 1871, by the Union Copper Distilling Company of Chicago. They employ an aver- age of fifty men and upon their grains, etc., one thou- sand four hundred cattle are fattened for market per annum. The product of the distillery for 1883 aggre- gated $1,500,000. 'The officers at present are 'T'heo. Hesselman, president and resident superintendent of the works ; J. J. Kissinger, secretary and H. Wishmeyer, treasurer.

The lumber interest is represented by the Calumet Lumber Company, whose yard is on the river just east of the bridge ; and by Reich & Williams These latter gentlemen are the successors of the Riverdale Lumber Company, formed in 1879. with F. A. Reich, Jr., presi- dent : August Aulich, secretary, and John Anderson, treasurer. In :881, the company built a planing mill, anıl in 1882 sold the interest to F. A. Reich, Jr., and Walter S. Williams. The firm own the two-masted schooner "Anna Tomine," whose appearance at the wharf recalls in the minds of old settlers the aspirations they indulged in in 1838 ; when the arrival of Peter Barton's schooner at Riverdale, en route to the prospective city of Portland, now Blue Island, was an event ; and filled them with goklen visions of being an important adjunct to Portland. The three railroad bridges and the high- way bridge are all swing-bridges, so that navigation is not impeded by them; the tortuous and short wind- ings of the river are the most serious bar to successful and compensative navigation. Three railroads enter the hamlet-the Illinois Central, the Pittsburg, Chicago & St. Louis, and Chicago & Eastern Illinois.

The Riverdale Gun Club meets at the Girard House four times a year. The last list of officers was : E. T. Martin, president ; E. W. Henricks, vice-president ; W. J. Thompson, secretary : D. B. Stancliff, H. Thomas, Fred W. Wood, E. W. Henricks and E. T. Martin, directors.

RIVERDALE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

FRANK R. BAKER, agent and operator for The C., Si L. & P. R. R., Riverdale Station, came to Cook County in November, 1871, and engaged in his present occupation at Lansing, where he remained unii he came io Riverdale. He was born in Warren County, Miss., October 10. 1842, and was raised in Muskingum County. Ohio, on a farm. November 19. 1861, he enlisted in Company C, 78th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and participated in all the battles of his command, including sieges of Vicksberg and Atlanta, battles of Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hill and many skirmishes ; mustered out in January, 1865. He was manied is 1869 to Miss Luanna Huff, of Muskingum County, Ohio. They have three children-Carrie F . Charles R. and an infant daughter unnamed. Mr. Haker is a member of the I. O. O. F.

F. D. BRACKETT. foreman in the lumber yard of Reich & Williams, came to Cook County March 22. 18S1. and engaged in his present occupation. He was born in C'inton County, N.Y. April 15. 1846, and was raised there until 1852, when with bis parents he moved to New Jersey, where he spent the greater por- iion of his life until 1867, since which lime he has lived in the West. Ile was married in 1866 to Miss Jennie E. Marshall. a native of Paterson, N. J. They have five children-John Henry. Fayelle D., Myron M., Edith M. and Frederick.

E. T. MARTIN, superintendent of the Pullman Farm. This farm consists of 250 acres devoted to the production of garden truck, and 750 acres of grazing and meadow land. One hundred and forty of the 250 acres now have the drainage system completed. which required forly-two miles of different sized pipes, ranging from a Iwo-inch tile to a twenty-inch cast iron lube, costing from four cents 10 $3.75 per foot. The sewerage of Pullman towa is here disposed of by irrigation and filtration on the European plan. In 1883 the garden products aggregated a gross amount of $200 per acre, which were sold in Boston, Mass, Hartford, Conn. New Orleans, La., Mobile, Ala., and cities between these points

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HISTORY OF HYDE PARK.

For two years Mr. Martin was assistant engineer on the above farm, and April 1, 1883. he was promoted to his present position. In 1864 he came to Chicago, where he was connected with the sewerage department of the city seven years, beginning as extra rodman, and through practical engineering worked his way up until he was promoted in charge of the sewerage department of the city, where he continued until his resignation in 1880 to go to the Pullman Farm.

WILDWOOD.

Wildwood was first settled by David Perriam and a man named Gillinger, who entered lands where this place is situated in 1837. It is located upon the Indian Ridge and the Little Calumet River, and was originally platted for James H. Bowen, and an addition thereto made by Messrs. Warren & Murray, entitled Warren's addition. Wildwood is the residence of the Bowen family, who have had it since 1869. It used to be a magnificent summer residence, but since the death of Colonel Bowen it has manifested the ravages that time makes, and that can only be averted or dis- pelled by a plentiful expenditure of money. The Pan-Handle and Illinois Central Railroad traverse the west and east boundary of the estate; that com- prises about one hundred acres. Where the Wash- ington Ice Company's ice-houses stand was an Indian burying-ground, and the Indians used regularly to visit that locality. Upon the estate tangible memen- toes of the Indians are continually being exhumed, the last being an old Spanish piece of "dos reales," of date 1777, and a hammer-head of stone. This last is one of the largest found and is in excellent preservation ; it measures nine inches from pein to edge, six inches from edge to groove, three inches thick, and five inches from top to bottom. Sitting in the quietude of Mrs. Bowen's house, the Indian implements tacitly demonstrating the existence of the departed race, the purling of the Cahuemet and the sough of the pines re-peopled the Indian Ridge with the native inhabit- ants, and imagination gave to the sounds semblance of human voices murmuring their tale of love, trust and betrayed confidence. And glancing at the evidences of cultured taste and refinement, that betrayed, alas ! symptoms of age and decay, it was manifest that the hopes and aspirations of the primitive owners of the estate were no more realized that were the kopes of James H. Bowen for his family. The children of his enterprise and calculation are far better cared for than his lineal descendants.

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History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 158

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