History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 228

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 228

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SUMMIT.

This quiet little settlement is situated upon the line of the -Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, and upon

twelve miles southwest of Chicago, on Fifty-fifth Street extended. The population is mainly Hibernian in the village, with Germans and Irish in the farming district adjacent. The numerical strength of the settlement is about three hundred. The place is noted on account of its being the "Suminit," the central ridge of the watershed, from whence waters pass from one side into affluents of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and from the other into affluents of the Gulf of Mexico.

The first house built in Summit was the stage-ranche, on the location of the hotel now (1884 kept by Dennis O'Brian, erected by Russel E. Heacock about 1838. Other narrators state that the ranche was huilt by the stage company about 1835, and that it was subsequently bought by Mr. Heacock. However the institution of the hostelry may be, it is conceded to have been the primary architectural effort in the village. The Archer Road was the first road laid out through the settlement, and over it the stages of Dr. John Taylor Temple, in the spring of 1834, and subsequently those of Frink & Walker, used to travel toward Juliet-now Joliet-and Galena. Rnssel E. Heacock had a farm about two miles south of Summit, and is buried on the okl Brown farm, that used to be owneil by William Brown, familiarly designated " Old Scotch " Brown.

The oklest living settler is Mrs. Katharine Garran, who came there in 1838, and the exercise of the recol- lections of the cheerful old lady revealed the names of the following carly residents of the place itself, and the country immediately contiguous thereto: Russel E. Heacock, John Maher, William Brown, "Tom " Butcher, George W. Beebe who died at Willow Springs', Patrick Doyle, Daniel Sweenie, Mrs. Callahit, Michael Murphy, Dennis Doyle, Larry Haffey who subsequently hung himself in his shanty\, Dennis Coghlan, John Kirk, Sergeant Curtiss, "ould " Stack , Dennis Doyle's father- in-law, John Healy and John Murray-the majority of these residents being drawn hither by the canal. The old stage tavern was kept by Thomas Butcher, and at the time of Mrs. Garran's arrival in Summit, there was no house between Butcher's and the present locality of the rolling-mill at Bridgeport but one kept by a man named Lynch close to the mill.

About :846 the first school was taught by Miss Gay, who was succeeded by Miss Curtiss, the daughter of Sergeant Curtiss, in a big buikling near the canal, that had been built as an hotel and boarding-house for the canallers. The first public school was maugurated by Squire James Michie. The present school has hetween eighty and ninety pupils, and M. W. Martin is principal and Miss Jessie Carnahan, assistant. The school board are Otis Graves, president; R. J. Allison, clerk, and John Welborn, clerk.

Dennis O'Brian, who has been prominently identified with the township government, came to Summit in the fall, of 1845, and shortly afterward occupied the old stage- house, Stephen White being the occupant at the time of his arrival. Mr. ()'Brian thinks that a Mr. Skinner had the hotel prior to Mr. White. Mrs. Donnelly also came in the year 1845. In 1840, a man named Osterhoudt kept the tavern. To stand in this old tavern and re-neo- ple the scene with old inhabitants; to imagine the lumber- ing stages on their way to Ottawa, via Lockport and Juliet, dashing up with all the jingling of harness and prancing of steeds attendant upon the " Rocket's " speed of ten miles an hour, and in fancy to hear the passengers dis- coursing of the transactions in the town of Chicago, and the latest epigram of " Long" John; this is a curious and interesting feat of mental calisthen:os, And, coming to the present, casting one's eyes down the Archer Road

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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY.

they descry a tremendous barn and a big barrack of a farm-house which are landmarks of the farm of Hon. John Wentworth. He has in the township of 1.yons the comfortable little holding of four thousand seven hun- dred acres, a large part of which is under cultivation. The feature of the farin however, is the stock-farm, there being about one hundred and fifty thoroughbreds npun the place, including a little anim. three years uld, named the Eighth Duke of Kirklevington, and who weighed on March 13, 1884, two themsand four hundred aml thirty- five pounds, and this ducal buff has a pedigree about as long as any illustrions nobleman, Mr. Wentworth raises a large number of bludded cattle, one of the handsomest being a httle bul, called Summit, after his birth-place. Hon. John Wentworth, the proprietor of the farm. was born in Sandwich, Strafford Co., N. H., on March 5, 1815, of the Hlan. Paul and Lycha (Cogswell Went. worth, He obtained his education in New England, and left there October 3, 1836, for the West, settling in Chicago October 25 of that year On November :3. 1836, he wok editorial charge of the Chaga |lemo. crat, which paper he retamed for twenty-five years and. while its proprietor, was a,qAnteil the first corporation printer, and in 1840 starteil the first daily Democratic newspaper in the Northwest. In i84t he was admitted to the Bar. On May 18, 1843, he was unanimously nominated for Congress by the Denterratic Conveminn ad Juliet. and was a Congressman for iwelve years in the Twenty-eighth, I'wenty- ninth, Tlnrtieth, Thirty first, Thirty. third and Thirty-ninth Congresses. Ile was a member of the Baltimore National Convemion idf 1844. and of the Lansen- tion of 1848, and was chairman of the committee that convoked the celebrated Kiver and Harbor Convention in 181 ;. He was one of the original stockholders of the Chicago & Galena Railroad, and was chairman of the executive rum. mittee of the bread when the road was consolidated with the North Western. In 1857, Mr. Wentwrath was umani- mously nominaten, in a convention of delegates from all the old political parties that existed at that time, as a candidate for Mayor, and was nominated and elected to the Mayor- alty in 1860. He was school inspector and member of the Board of Education, and a strenuous and persist- ent advocate of the common-school system, and was also Police L'ommissioner.

On November 13, 1844, Mr. Wentworth married Rox- anna Marie, only chikl of Hon. Riley and Roxanna (Atwater) Loomis, of Troy, who, after many years of delicate health, died February 5, 1870. They had five children, all of whom died young, except Miss Roxanna Atwater Wentworth, now living.

The present Postmaster of Summit is R. J. Allison, appointed March 7, 1864, succeeding Charles Reed, who was the successor of Lawrence Riley, Mr. Allison is of the opinion that the office was established about 1859, ten years subsequent to his arrival. R. J. Allison is the son of Robert Allison, whose name appears in the Chicago Directory for 1839, as house carpenter, Pine Street, near Michigan,

"The theological necessities of the inhabitants are provided for by a German Church, pastor Mr. Borland, about a quarter of a mile from the village; the Catholics

attending the church mentioned in the article upon the village of Lyons.

The principal industry of Summit is that pertaining to the quarries and lime-kilos of the Chicago & Sum- mit Lime and Stone Company, Meacham, Wright & Rice, proprietors. Is 1851 there was a brickyard openal by Peter Kearns who died in 1852; it was then purchased by J. C. Tiffany, who closed it in 1856.

The railroad company are considering the question of erecting a large and elegant depot at Summit, and the running of fast suburban trams may develop the town into a locality for suburban residences. It is questionable whether anything else will materially aug- ment the population in a short space of time.

MOUNT FOREST.

This suburban retreat,embosomed amid the gladesand acclivities bordering the southern bank of the Desplaines River, is seventeen miles from Chicago, and is reacheil hy the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad. It is an eligible residence site, and is replete with rustic attrac. tions, and also having many of the material luxuries of

S. I. MUXSON'S RESIDENCE,

civilization, such as a post-office, W. I. Cronin, Pust- master, and direct telephonic and telegraphic communi- cation with Chicaga.

The oldest settler of the hamlet is probably William C'ronin, who came to the State in 1848, and to the loca- tion of Mount P'arest shortly afterward. The original subdivision was made by H. W. Fowler and H. S. Dietrich, in 1873, and the property was rapidly pur- chased by prospective and actual settlers. One of the finest resulences there is that of S. B. Munson.

So rapidly did this suburb become infected with metropolitan ideas that, in 1881, John and Henry Cu- burn started a newspaper, called the New Era; its era of existence, however, was but of six or seven weeks. There are no special industrial enterprises in Mount Forest: the ice-harvesting and storing enterprises of A. S. Piper & Company there, and at Willow Springs, one- half mile distant, are the only evidences of commercial energy.

The means of transit were further enhanced in the fall of 1883, hy the completion through that region of the Chicago, St. Louis & South-Western Railroad. The school in the vicinity of Mount Forest is taught by Ed- ward P, Summers,

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HISTORY OF LYONS.

LA GRANGE

This beautiful suburb, attested hy large boards along the line of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad to be the " garden spot " of Cook County, is situated on that railroad about fifteen miles from Chicago. It has two depots on this line, one situated at Fifth Avenue and the other at Stone Avenue, the old depot, however, which was called West Lyons, was situated a short dis- tance west of the Stone-avenue depot. At this point the first settlement was made, although it comprised but a few persons. The land upon which Kensington Heights, and subsequently LaGrange, was laid out was a part of four hundred and forty acres owned by Robert Leitch. Robert Leitch was born in Orleans County, N. Y., in 18zo, of John and Catharine Leitch, and came to Cook County May 2, 1837. He worked by the mouth as a farm-laborer for nearly four years, and for the same length of time for Wadsworth, Dyer & Chapin, of Chicago, in the packing business. He came to the sec- tion of country where LaGrange now is, purchasing four hundred and forty acres of land. At that time there was no one resident of the immediate vicinity, ex cept Thomas Covell, who resided in the timber, and he has stood upon the porch of his house and shot wolves and deer. Mr. Leitch followed farming for a number of years in connection with cattle-dealing and stock-raising, and shipped a great many cattle to New York. He was the first man to settle on the prairie and broke the first land between Lyons and Brush Hill. In 1844, he married Miss Mary A. Wilder, daughter of Colonel Benjamin and Elizabeth Wilder. They have. eight children-Maria E., Benjamin J., Robert, Belle, Edward B., Zephaniah G., Walter B. and Dollie F. Mr. Leitch was Commissioner of Highways for eight years and also served on the school board for eight years, In 1870, he moved to Chicago and engaged in the dis- tillery business ; the distillery burned down in 1872, after which he was connected with the Garden City Dis- tillery. Mr. Leitch sold the tract of four hundred and forty acres to Mrs. Breed, and she sold part thereof to Franklin D. Cossitt, who laid out the town. He now, however, resides on a portion of his original tract, hay- ing returned to LaGrange in 1881.

In this connection, it is germane to remark npon the adventitious booms that elevated the prices of real estate temporarily, as some locality would seem especially favored by the suburban fever, or an imagined right of way, and under such speculative conditions a great deal of money was realized and lost in real estate. In the vicinity of LaGrange some such mutations have been experienced, and also in that vicinity settlement has been retarded because of tenacious hokling of real estate for speculative prices instead of being willing to accept a fair price from actual settlers. Franklin 1). Cossitt and D. B. 1.yman, however, have manifested a liberal and public spirit in their transactions, and by their cx- ertions LaGrange is a garden spot; the natural bleak- ness of the prairie transformed by the liberal planting of thousands of deciduous trees, and the grassy waste made into a garden; the landscape testifying to the en. terprise of the projector and the hundreds of handsome dwellings manifesting the appreciation of the property buyers.

To revert to the antiquities of the town. Mr. Leitch states that the first road that ran through there was about a mile wide, and was called the Chicago & Dixon road ; the road traversing the same route, although cir- cumscribed in its width, is now designated Ogden Avenue. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad

came through about the year 1862, being opened on June Ist. The depot at West Lyons was established about 1868, the agents being J. J. Kimmons, W. E. Smith, W. F. Billings, A. Potter, J. A. Bryden, John Unokl, A. McMillan, W. E. Stanger, E. O. Smith, A. W. Ladd and E. O. Smith, John Van Ottrick, who was president of the road at the time, predicted that it would never pay. " A prophet come to judgment !" The road then ran to Aurora, and thence to Batavia, inter- secting the Chicago & North-Western at Turner Junc- tion. Prior to this, the stages of Frink & Walker ran to Doty's at Lyons, thence to Naperville, and from there to Aurora. The first school was established about 1852-53, and was tanght by Miss Gertrude Smith,

Samuel Vial, one of the oldest living settlers of I.yons Township, lives in the vicinity of LaGrange; he was born in Chester, Orange Co., N. Y., in 1819, son of Joseph and louisa. Smith; Vial; he came to Chicago with his parents in the fall of 1833, the family locating in Lyons Township in the spring of 1834. Mr. Vial was married in 1846, to Miss Margaret McNaugh- ton, daughter of George and Jane McNaughton; she died in 1856, leaving four children, Jane, George 3I., Joseph and Lonisa. In the fall of 1856 he married Mrs. Gertrude North, who died in 1879. Mr. Vial was Supervisor of Lyons Township for five years.

The subdivision of La Grange was made by Frank- lin D. Cossitt in 1871. and since that time its progress has been steady and material. Before this subdivision there was a little coterie settled where John Unold's store now is, but there was no extended settlement.

On May 26, 1879, a petition was filed for the incor- poration of la Grange as a village, and upon June 11 of that year an election was held to ascertain whether Section 4 and the east half of the east half of Section 5. Township 38 north, Range 12 east, of third principal meridian, should be thus incorporated; and the follow- ing vote was cast:

For village organization forty two votes, against vil- lage organization, thirty-four votes.

On July 10, 1879, the election for town officers re- sulted: F. D. Cossitt, I .. I .. Bassford, P. G. Gardner, J. 1). Myers, E. B. Clark and T. W. McMillan, Trustees, of whichr board Mr. Cossitt was subsequently elected President; William G. Little, Police Magistrate, and Benjamin T. Lewis, Clerk.

July 24, 1879, 1). B. Lyman was appointed village attorney, and the Trustees divided themselves by lot into holders of one and two year terms of office, as fol- lows; One year, 1. 1 .. Bassford, P. G. Gardner and T. W. McMillan; two year, F. D. Cossitt, J. D. Myers and E. B. Clark. J. K. Philo was also made Village Treas- urer. The poll-tax was decreed to be $1.50, for which two days' labor could be substituted.

August 27, 1879, the prohibitory four-gallon meas- ure became one of the ordinances of the village, and there is not now (1884 a saloon within its limits. The same day David C., Crain was made Constable.

Election of April 26, 18So, resulted; P. G. Gardner, T. W. McMillan and F. H. Vallette, Trustees for two years; B. T. Lewis, Clerk and Gustaf A. Johnson, Con- stable. P. G. Gardner was made President of the board, and J. K. Philo continued in office as Treasurer, William Walmsley was elected to fill the place of J. D. Myers, Trustee, on June 19, 1880, removed from the village, and Samuel Lewis was made Postmaster. The annual appropriation bill for 1879-80 was $350.00-not a very lavish expenditure. The office of village mar- shal was created August 20, 18So, and Charles P. Amet appointed thereto for two years.

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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY.

Election April 19, 1881, resulted: William Walms- ley, W. W. Weatherstone and E. B. Clark, Trustees, and J. A. Brydon, Clerk. P. G. Gardner was made Presi- dent of the Board of Trustees, and J. K. Philo, re-ap. pointed Village Treasurer. The office of pound-master was created in May, and George D. Unold appointed thereto; he declined the office, and Gustaf A. Johnson was thereupon appointed.

Election April 18, 1882, resulted: F. 1). Cossitt, E. G. Squire, James Travis, Trustees, and J. O. Metcalf, Clerk. E. B. Clark was elected President of the board. The Board of Trustees is composed of six members, three being elected each year for two years. On No. vember 1, 1882, George D. Unold resigned as village marshal, and William LeBerge was appointed.

Election April 17, 1883, whereat one hundred and forty-four votes were cast, resulted: G. M. Fox, H. B. Parker and William Walmsley : President), Trustces; B. T. Lewis," Clerk; Charles Thornton, Police Magistrate -commissioned by the Governor, April 17, 1883-and W. W. Bowker, Constable. J. K. Philo was continued in office as Village Treasurer, and on June 20, 1883. Herbert Morgan was appointed village marshal and pound-master.

The post-office is managed by J. K. Philo, Post. master, who thinks the office was established about 1867. To provide the inhabitants, who number about one thousand, with news, the Suburban News is pub- lished every Saturday morning by Whitney & Clevinger at 53 and 55 Michigan Avenue, Chicago. The Subur- ban News is also published in the interest of other sub- urban towns on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- road.

It is contemplated to erect a high school at l.a. Grange, very shortly, the present scholastic facilities being composed of a common school and a kindergar- ten. Of the former, Miss Dora Winds is principal, and Miss Lillie Winds and Mrs. Emily H. Stuart, assistants, and the kindergarten is taught by Miss Mary F. Fox. The number of pupils in both schools is about one hun- dred. The school directors of the district, which in- cludes Western Springs, are W. B. Wickersham, presi- dent; D. B. Lyman, clerk, and John Unold.

Emanuel Episcopal church is an elegant edifice, constructed in the rural English style of architecture. It is built of stone, and presents one of the prettiest ex- teriors of any church in the county, outside Chicago. Ground was broken in the spring of 1875, and the cor. ner-stone was laid June 5, of that year. The church cost 88,000, and is out of debt. 'The vestry are deliberating upon the purchase of an organ, subsequent to which the interior of the church will be embellished and archi. tecturally re-modeled to comport with the exterior. The vestry is composed of D. B. Lyman, senior warden; A. W. Mitchell, junior warden; J. K. Philo, treasurer; Frank- lin D. Cossitt, W. Walmsley, R. F. Ludwig, H. B. Par- ker and J. Travis.

The Congregational Church is situated at the corner of Cossitt and Fifth avenues, and has a congregation of thirty-six members, and an average attendance of eighty-five persons, The church cost $3,000, is a neat and pretty edifice, and was dedicated in September, 188z. The pastor is William Barnes Frazelle, and the deacons are J. E. Snyder and W. E. Little.

There is also a Baptist Society, numbering about forty members, that meets at Masonic Hall, whose pulpit is supplied by theological students.

La Grange Lodge, Under Dispensation, A. F. & A.

""l'o the courtesy of R. T. Lewis, the collaborator is indebted for an allypec. them of the village records.

M., was inaugurated September 1, 1883. The officers are P. G. Gardner, W. M .; E. G. Stiles, S. W .; E. ] .. Sackett, J. W .; J. H. Borwell, S .; T. W. McMillan, T ; -. Howard, S. D. ; C. E. Thornton, J. D., and Charles Thornton, tyler.

La Grange Lodge, No. 693, I. O. O. F., was instituted in May, 1881, with the following officers: 1. W. Briggs, N. G .; D. M. Roberts, V. G .; Charles 'Thornton, sec- retary ; George D). Unold, treasurer, and Charles E. Thornton, P. G. The present officers are G. B. Walker, N. G .; J. W. Darnley, V. G .; Richard Vorpahl, secre. tary; W. G. Little, treasurer, and W. W. Bowker, S. P. G. The members are thirty-eight.

There is one manufacturing establishment at La Grange, where silversmithing and manufacturing for the jobbing and wholesale trade is performed under the management and ownership of J. P. Weatherstone.

The existence of one other institution has to be noted, an unfortunate parenthesis in the history of La Grange, the home of Mrs. Anna Schoeck, particulars whereof can be studied at length in the newspapers of the present year.

WESTERN SPRINGS AND FLAG CREEK.

Western Springs is a suburban hamlet, situated in the northwestern corner of Lyons Township, seventeen miles from Chicago, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. It receives its name from the mincral springs which abound in the vicinity and which originale in Flag Creek, there being eight springs within a radius of five or six acres in addition to the large spring in the valley; during dry weather these springs raise mounils of earth, from the summit of which a spring breaks forth; this volcanic element of the springs being a peculiar feature.

The land upon which the village is situated was pur- chased by the Western Springs Association from David Roth, Edward Fuller and Henry Runge, and the sub- division thereof was made by Thomas C. Hill just before the Chicago fire. The springs were known for a long time before their purchase by the company, an old Swedish woman being a constant visitor at them for the beneficial effect their frequent drinking produced on her system.

The village. is cleanly and handsome, and possesses a school and post office, the latter being established in 1873, with the present incumbent, Thomas C. Hill, as the first Postmaster. The school is attended by from fifty to sixty pupils, and is taught by Miss Nellie Williams, principal, and Miss Rebecca Titsworth, assis- tant. The school-house is utilized for a conventicle when there is occasion for a religious gathering. The population of the village is about two hundred and ninety.

Flag Creek is a stream that heads at Western Springs, and after traversing the western portion of the township empties into the Desplaines River, two miles below Willow Springs. Upon this stream, insignificant in summer, but flooding a considerable extent of territory in fall and winter, are many old settlers' houses, and the reader can in imagination accompany the writer in the wagon of Elias Banker, himself an old resident, through the Flag Creek region. Should the interviews appear defective or the history insufficient, the blame must be given to the unfortunate wagon which, by becoming dis- arranged in its mechanism, stemmed the flow of in- tellectual analysis during the journey of discovery.

One of the oldest historic spots in this region is the site of the tavern of Elijalı Wentworth, Jr., who Imilt

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HISTORY OF LYONS.

and occupied a log hotel about sixty rods north of the Congregational Church on the Plainfield road, near the present residence of Mr. John William Henry. Hle moved out to this region about 1833, and left about 1850. Closely contiguous to this locality is the site of the old residence, hotel, post-office and mail-station of Joseph Vial, these multifarious pursuits being carried on in a building of hewn logs sixteen feet square. In this build- ing the present residence of Robert Vial is built upon the site), the first Democratic Convention of Cook County was held about 1836, and at that convention Peter Pruyne was nominated for State Senator. Some of the members of this " Flag Creek Convention " came a distance of forty miles on horseback to attend it. Herein also, and the old school-house at Flag Creek, were the early religious meetings held when Rev. Isaac Taylor Hinton and Elder l'owell would make an incur- sion into the rural districts, or Rev. Jeremiah Porter make a foray upon the strongholds of sin in this vicin- ity. Elder Hubbard and Father Geddes, an Irish Meth- oulist, were also early preachers. At this hostelry also stopped the stages of Dr. J. T. Temple, also the opposing line of Trowbridge, which became the line of Frink & Trowbridge, after Dr. Temple sold out, and then the company of Frink & Walker. The geographical locality of this old house was in the southeast quarter of Section 18, Township 38 north, Range 12 east, and it fronted on the Plainfield road.

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History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 228

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