History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 56

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 56

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).

In 1833, the first Tremont House, situated then on the northwest corner of Lake and Dearborn streets, was built by Alanson Sweet. It was kept as a saloon and boarding-house by him and a man from Canada, named Darwin. Then the Couch brothers purchased the property and Ira Couch opened it as a hotel. He ran it until 1836, when his brother James took control. and was managing it at the time it burned, October 27. 1839. In December of the same year the erection of

Ara Cauch

the new house was begun, on the corner where the present Tremont stands, and on the 20th of May, 1840, the building was completed. Both of these structures were of wood and far different in style and cost of construction from the costly edifice which to-day ranks among Chicago's leading hotels, The house, however, did a large business and prospered finely until July 21. 1849. when it was destroyed by fire. Its proprietors, however, immediately set to work rebuilding, this time a brick structure, which was opened in October, 1850. Ira Couch remained the proprietor until 1853, when the house passed into the hands of the Gage brothers, David A. and George W. Two years later John Drake, now of the Grand Pacific, was associated with them, and

Jannes Bouch

in 1858 Gage Bros. & Drake were its proprietors. Speaking of the house in its earlier days, James Couch says that ofttimes they were so crowded that not only all the beds, but every available space of floor room,

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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY.

would at night be occupied by travelers, who were glad by fire, and Mr. Barker removed to the corner of Wells enough to get even a pallet on the floor. A single boat would bring two and three hundred passengers at a trip, and as the Tremont was a popular hotel, it was on such occasions taxed to its utmost for their accommodation,

The Steamboat Hotel, on North Water Street, near Kinzie, was kept in 1835 by John Davis, and from 1836 to 1839 by William MeCorrister, as the American Hotel.

The Chicago Temperance House in 1839 stood on La Salle Street, near Lake, and until 1844 was kept by

and Randolph streets, taking charge of a hotel, then newly built, which he also christened the Baltic House. 'T'his house he kept until 1855. when O. V. Colby took it, changing its name to the Colby House. Mr. Colby remained there until in 1856-57, when the house was torn down and a new building, the Metropolitan Hotel, was erected in its stead.

For some years previous to the building of the Metropolitan, Isaac Speer, a worthy citizen, by trade a jeweler, conducted an extensive establishment at 77

GENERAL STAGE OFFICE

FRINK, WALKER

FRINK & WALKER'S STAGE OFFICE.

David L. Roberts, In the following year it was taken by Augustus Dickinson, who kept it until 1849, when it was probably torn down or was no longer used as a hotel.

The new City Hotel, which stood on the corner of Lake and State streets, was erected in 1848. Before this, for some years, a wooden building under the same name occupied the same ground. When the new house was built, Jeduthan Brown was its proprietor, and the next year A. H. Tuttle became a partner. They con- ducted the house until 1851, when they went to the Sherman House, In 1856 the City Hotel was kept by John H. Thom and William F. Orcott, the next year by Orcott & Sutherland, and in 1858 by Richard Somers & Co.

In 1848 Peleg A. Barker kept the Baltic House, situated on the southwest corner of Dearborn and Ran- dolph streets, Two years later this house was destroyed

Lake Street. He had in his employ a man named Howgate, in whom he reposed every confidence, At the end of the year 1853 Mr. Speer was astonished on balancing his books to discover that, notwithstanding a brisk trade and an apparent prosperous business, he was losing money, The mystery was wholly unexplain- able. He, however, kept on, and the three years fol- lowing showed precisely the same results ; at this time, he found himself on the verge of bankruptcy, but with no satisfactory reasons apparent for his affairs being in so deplorable a condition. While he was thus lament- ing his troubles, the news reached here that the detec- tives of St. Louis had unearthed, in that city, a lot of stolen jewelry, which bore the trade mark of Mr. Speer. Investigation followed, and che fact was dis- closed that Howgate had been systematically robbing him for years, and mainly with the proceeds of his thefts, had commenced the erection of the Metropolitan

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WOLF POINT AND EARLY HOTELS.

Hotel on the site formerly occupied by the Baltic. Howgate was apprehended, brought to trial, and the matter finally settled by Mr. Speer receiving the new hotel, in reparation for the losses he had sustaincd. In 1857 the Metropolitan was kept by John Mason and a man named Goodman.

The Matteson House was built in 1850 by C. H. Bissell, immediately following the destruction of the old Baltic, already mentioned. It was completed and opened to the public, with W. L. Pearce as proprietor, in the month of August of the following year. Mr. Pearce kept the house until 1854, when it passed into the hands of Herrick Stevens and J. P. Willard, who, under the firm name of Stevens & Willard, were its proprictors until 1859. In that year Charles H. Bissell and William S. Goodrich took it, and a few years later it was purchased by Robert Hill, who kept it until it was destroyed in the fire of 1871.

In 1854, besides the hotels already mentioned, there were the following : The Bissell House, at 224 Lake Street, P. Bissell & Son, proprietors; the Bradley House, corner of Van Buren and Sherman streets, by Boyington & Turlcy ; the Bull's Head, by H. Hopkins, at the head of Madison Street, where is now situated the Washingtonian Home ; the Breman House, by C. Nockin, at 245 South Clark Strect ; Doty's Hotel, by Theodoris Doty, at 64 and 66 Randolph Street ; the Foster House, by Geiselman & Bro., Kinzie, corner of Clark ; Hamilton House, by J. F. Draper & Co., at 14 North Clark ; the Lake View House, by J. H. Rces, on the north lake shore ; the McCardel House, MeCardel & Crane, 17, 19 and 21 Dearborn ; Merchant's, La Salle Street near South Water, by E. Moore ; Naper- ville House, at 191 Randolph, by A. Schall ; National Hotel, Randolph, ncar Pcoria, by Brown & Crout ; the New England House, at 40 Kinzie, by Briggs & Felt- housen ; the Philadelphia House, Washington, corner of Franklin, by Buest & Bunn ; the Planter's House, by J. McDonald, Randolph, corner Wells ; the Rock Island House, south end Clark Street, H. Longley ; the Yorkshire House, J. Watson, Wells, near Randolph.

From this time up to 1859 the hotels of minor im- portance multiplied rapidly, Those of any prominence or worthy of mention, erected during this period, were : The Audubon House, Nos. 68 and go West Lake Street ; the Boardman House, corner Clark and Har- rison ; the Briggs House, Randolph and Wells, built in 1854 by William Briggs and kept by John Floyd & George H. French, who were still its proprictors in 1857 ; the Cleveland House, also new, kept by A. Cleveland, at Nos. 46, 48, 50 and 52 West Lake ; the Richmond House, corner South Water and Michigan Avenue ; and the Young America, which stood on the southeast corner of Randolph and Dearborn, near Rice's theater. Of perhaps a score, the names of which have not been mentioned, it is only necessary to say that they were boarding honses, transitory, many of them, in their character, and not living long enough to become fixed or permanent houses of public entertain- ment.

FAMILY OF ELIJAN WENTWORTH,-The following sketch of the family of Elijah Wentworth is compiled from the very authentic and elaborate work of John Wentworth, LL. D., entitled " The Wentworth Gene- alogy. English and American," published in 1878, in three volumes. Some additions and unimportant emen- dations have been made from the statements of Mrs. Zebiah Wentworth Estes , given during the summer of 1883.

ELIJAH WENTWORTH, son of Elijah and Rebecca

(Capeni Wentworth, was born in Stoughton, Mass., Sep- tember 25, 1776, He married, in 1798 or 1799, Lucy Walker, of Hampden, Mainc, and, after his marriage, removed to Duck Trap, Maine, In 1817, with his family, hc emigrated West; first to Kentucky; thence to Illinois, and thence to Dodgeville, Wis. He came to Chicago, in the fall of 182g .*

In January, 1830, he opened the Wolf Point Hotel, which he rented of Mr. Kinzie and which he kept until late in the fall of that year, when he removed to a claim lic had taken, eight miles northwest of the city, near where

Elijah Mentworth

Jefferson Station, on the Chicago & Northwestern Rail- road, now is. Here he built quite a large log house and opened another tavern, which he kept uninteruptedly except during a short time when driven into refuge at Fort Dearborn during the Black Hawk War, in 1832), for many years. His wife died of cholera in Chicago, July 22, 1849. He died at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Sweet, at St. Joseph, Mich. in November, 1863. He was buried in Chicago.

. Their chikiren were

Hiram, born in Vassalborough, Maine, April 22, 1800.

ELIJAH WENTWORTH, JR., was born in Lincolnville, Mainc, March 30, 1803. He came to Chicago either in 1830 or 1831. He was elected, by a unanimous vote, the first Coroner of Cook County. He afterwards removed to Lyons, Cook County, where he kept the well-known Black Horn tavern. He was Postmaster for a while ( 1844). In 1875 he was living in Galesburg,

. This date is given by Zeblah Wentworth.

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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY.

Knox Co., Ill. He married, January 15, 1832, Eliza died in 1834, at Pekin, III. Ruth Whitney, died in Jane Weed, Plainfield, Will Co., III. She died in Chi- infancy in lexington, Ky. cago, June 24, 1836; 2 he married Angelina, daughter Zebiah Walker Estes , born in Hampden, Maine, April 19, 1810; married Elijah S. Estes, now of Bay View, Wis .. September 4, 1836, where ; January, 1884, she is still living. Of Demas Colton, Middletown, Conn. She died at East Hartford, Conn., July 25. 1858. 3/ He married at Galesburg, June 13, 1864, Mrs. Elmira 1., Myers widow . He died at Galesburg. November 18, 1875.

Eliza died young in Illinois.

Lucy, born in Lincolnville, Maine, October 25, 1807: married October 12, 1827, in Jo Daviess County, Ill., John Ray, Willow Springs, Wis. She died April 24. 1864.

Mary Wilson, born October 19, 1808; married 1 William Clark, Lewiston, Fulton Co., Ill. He died at Fort Winnebago, Wis., 1831. 2. John Holcomb. She

Susan, born m Hampden. Maine, July 12. 1811; married 1 July 1, William Anderson; 2: Charles Sweet. February 16, 1836, moved to St. Joseph, Mich., where she died, March 25, 1882.

Isaac died in infancy in Ohio, about 1813.

George H., born September 9, 1815, near Lexington, Ky. Now, 1884, living in the town of Lake, Wis.

VIEW ON CLARK STREET IN 1857.

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RELIGIOUS HISTORY.

PRE-CHURCH PERIOD.

The religious zeal of the Jesuits carried their mis- sionaries first to many of the heathen races. They were first to visit the Indians of the great Northwest; but on account of the meagerness of data, it is difficult to de- cide positively with reference to the first missionary or priest who set foot on the soil of the then future city of Chicago, It seems certain, however, that the author of " Pioneers of Illinois " repeats an error in the sentence: " It is said Father Nicolet, a French Jesuit priest, preached to the Indians at the mouth of the Chicago River in 1640, and in all probability he was the first white man that ever rowed a canoe on the waters of Lake Michigan, or trod the soil of Illinois." The re- searches of Benjamin Sulte, of Ottawa Canada, prove the inaccuracy of the above quotation, with reference to the time of John Nicolet's visit to the mouth of the Chicago River. Mr. Sulte says:

" Nicolet is at 'Three Rivers (Canada) again on the 261h of January. 1640, Ile died two years after that date; and during all That time we trace him month by month in the parish register al 'Three Rivers. In brief, Nicolet must have traveled to the Mis- sissippi in the year 1634-35, from July to July, because that period is the only one during which we cannot find him ou the shore of the St. Lawrence."

But if in 1634-35, Nicolet visited the mouth of the Chicago River, he did not then, nor at any other time or place, preach to the Indians. The following quota- tions from the same author is conclusive on this point:

"At Quebec, 7th of October, 1637, Nicolet marries Margue- rile Couillard. The marriage contract is dated in that city. 22d of October, to37. . . . . From that moment his wife is present at church every month in Three Rivers up 10 1642, the date of Nico- let's dealli, as the register shows."

The fact of Nicolet's marriage proves that he was not a priest, and Mr. Sulte says he was not a Jesuit. "The name " Father Nicolet," is therefore a misnomer. Hence it is necessary to look to later times for the first Chicago priest, or missionary. His visit to the Indian tribes of the Northwest was made in the cause of com- merce, not religion .*

The gentle, earnest and courageous Father Jacques Marquette was the first priest appointed to the Illinois mission, . It is probahle, however, that he never cele- brated mass, preached or gave religions instruction to the Indians ou any portion of the territory now com- prised within the limits of Chicago; hut one of his biog. raphers says of him: " Upon returning from his last ex- peditiont he took up his residence and pursued the vocation of a missionary among the Miamis in the neighborhood of Chicago." Supposing this to be authentic, the missionary services of this zealous and pious Jesuit father must have been rendered to the Miami Indians in the fall of 1673, as he started on his return up the Mississippi July 17 of that year. As has been said of him: " It was the lofty aim of Marquette to be of enduring service to his fellow-men; it was his integrity, his unselfishness, his untiring zeal, his gentel

* Sre chapter on Early Explorations,

+ His famous expedition of discovery down the Mississippi River in 167).

and uncomplaining disposition, and his early self-sacri- fice near akin to martyrdom, that command our sympa- thies, and these are what made him truly great." Mar- quette died May 18, 1675, and Father Claude Allouez succeeded to the Illinois mission. After journeying. in the months of March and April, 1676, seventy-six leagues on Lake Michigan, Allouez, with his Indian companions and guides, entered the Chicago River, probably about the roth of April. Upon landing he was met and hand- somely received by about eighty Indians. The chief of this baifd advanced to meet him with a fire-brand in one hand and a feathered calumet in the other. He led the reverend father to his cahin and thus addressed him :

" Father ! take pity on me; let me return with thee, to accompa- ny thec and lead thee to my village: my meeting with thee lo-day will be fatal to me unless 1 profit by it. Thou bearest to us the gospel and the prayer: if I kne the occasion of hearing thee. 1 shall be punished by the loss of my nephews, whom thoa seest so num- erous, but who will assuredly be defeated by the enemy. Embark then with us that I may profit by thy coming into our land."

Father Allouez, unfortunately, fails to mention who it was that this addressed him; and thus the name of the orator who delivered this, the first reception speech in this locality, and the first to allude to "the gospel and prayer " within the limits of Chicago, is lost forever. The father and the chief at once embarked and soon reached the village of the latter,

Father Claudius Dablon, who was Superior-General of the Missions of the Society of Jesus, who founded Sault Ste. Marie and visited Green Bay, came as far as the Wisconsin with Allouez, but does not appear to have reached Chicago. Of Father Louis Hennepin it may also be said that he probably never visited Chicago, al- though in 1679, in company with Lasalle, he perhaps sailed along the western shore of the lake on the way to St. Joseph, Mich. It is not easy to determine who was the next after Allouez to visit Chicago, but it seems credible that it was one or both of the Rev. Fathers Pinet and Bineteau. This appears from the journal of Kev. John Francis Buisson de St. Cosme, who was a member of the party which, in 1699, under the leader- ship of M. de Montigny, visited Chicago on their way to the Mississippi. This party disembarked half a leagne from Chicago, and a few of them, M. de Montigny, St. Cosme and Davion, went by land to the house of the Jesuit fathers, St. Cosme says :

"We found the Rev. Father l'inet and Rev. Father Binelead, who had recently come in from Illinois, and were slightly sick. 1 cannol explain to yue, Monseigneur, with what cordiality and marks of esteem these reverend Jesuit fathers received and caressed us during the time that we had the consolation of staying with them. Their house is built on the banks of the small lake, having the lake on one side and a fue large prairie on the other. The In- dian village is of over one hundred and fifty cabins, and one league on the river there is another village almost as large. 'They are both of the Miamis, Rev. Father Pinel makes it his ordinary residence, except In the winter, when the Indians all go hunting, and which he goes and spends at the Illinois."

From this extract it would appear that Father Pinet, at least, had been in this part of the country some years, as it had become his custom "to make his ordinary resi-

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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY.

dence " with the Miamis, and " to spend his winters with the Illinois." And, as in 1685, at the time when it is alleged De la Durantaye erected a fort at the month of the Chicago River, which became a kind of depot, Father Allouez revisited the place, there can have been no long time when the Indians were without the pres- ence of some zealous Jesuit among them during the lat- ter part of the seventeenth century. Besides those al- ready mentioned as accompanying M. de Montigny on his journey to the Mississippi, there were the Rev. Fathers de la Ribourde, Membre, Gravierand LaSource, all of whom may have ministered to the spiritual necessi- ties of the Indians, though what was the nature of their religious exercises and duties, or how long they were continued, is not known.

There now occurs an hiatus in the religious history of this vicinity of nearly one hundred years. The next name to be found is that of Rev. Stephen D. Badin, who first visited Chicago in 1796. He was ordained in 1793, at Baltimore, and was the first Catholic priest or- dained in the United States. He does not appear to have become a resident priest, But in 1822 he again visited Chicago, and during his visit baptized Alexander Beaubien, in Fort Dearborn, which was the first baptisni in Chicago of which there is any definite knowledge. The above mentioned missionaries were all Catholics.

The next to arrive, and the first Protestant to preach a sermon in Chicago, was the Rev. Isaac McCoy, a Baptist clergyman, who had established and was con- ducting the mission school at Carey, near Niles, Mich. With reference to this first sermon his own language is as follows :

" In the fore part of October I attended, at Chicago, the pay- ment of an annuity by Dr. Wolcott, United States Indian Agent, anıl, through his politeness, addressed the Indians on the subject of our mission. On the gth of October, 1825, 1 preached in En- glish, which, as I am informed, was the first sermon ever delivered al or near that place."

So far as is known this was the only sermon preached by Mr. McCloy in Chicago.

Rev. Jesse Walker, who was at the time superintend- ent of the Fox River Methodist mission, came up on his boat from Peoria to Chicago, in the spring of 1826, for

the purpose of preaching. It is not known that he preached, but, as he remained some time, it is probable that he did. On the way up from Peoria, according to the Rev. Stephen R. Beggs, "He had all the hands on board cease work till they could attend prayers, and all joined in singing, and then a fervent prayer was offered up in their behalf, asking the merciful protection of a divine Providence throughout the day,"

In 1828 Rev. Jesse Walker was succeeded as super- intendent by the Rev. Isaac Scarritt. About midsum- mer of that year Mr. Scarritt, as he says in a letterto Mr. Beggs :

" Planned a trip to Chicago, distant' some seventy or eighty miles. The next evening we entered Chicago, which, in addition to the buildings constituting Fort Dearborn, contained the old Kinzie house, a new house of Colonel Hamilton's, with perhaps one or two others in that quarter, and those of J. Kinzie and J. Miller up at the l'oint. The latter two gentlemen seemed to be upon a strife with each other, which should excel in honor of popu- larity, whereby to promote their individual interests, I took up

my residence at Miller's, who, with laudable generosity, undertook to administer to my comfort and further my views. The next day was the Sabbath, and I sent word to the Lieutenant that if it were his wish the superintendent of the Indian mission would preach to the soldiers and others, at such place and hour as he might appoint. Answer was returned that he should not forbid the preaching, but that he should neither authorize nor make any arrangements for it. Not to be ontdone by the honorable Lieutenant on the point of in- dependence, I declined going to the garrison under such circum- stances, and made an appointment for preaching at Miller's at night. Most of the citizens and some of the soldiers were present, and gave respectful attention ; but in the matter of congregation we received rather more than we bargained for. During religious services a gang of boatmen, with their vociferous .yo-hes,' com- meuced landing and rolling up barrels, etc., near the door. This was a trick of Kinzie's, so Miller said, out of spite to him for har. ing the honor of entertaining the missionary, and for the agency he took in promoting the religion of the place."

In 1830 the Illinois Conference had a "Chicago Mission District." In the fall of this year the Rev.

Hep how P, Bergs

Jesse Walker was appointed to this mission as its super- intendent; and in June, 1831, accompanied by Rev. Stephen R. Beggs, set out on horse-hack from Plain- field to Chicago, forty miles distant. With reference to this visit Mr. Beggs writes;

. "* When we arrived, Brother Walker gave out an appointment for me to preach in the garrison, in old Dr. Harmon's room. After the sermon was over, he gave it out that I was to preach again next morning at nine o'clock; and this was the beginning of a happy time here. I opened the door for the reception, and I think ten joined the church."

These two sermons were preached, the one on the evening of the 15th, the other on the morning of the 16th of June. 1831. Among the number of those who joined this, the first, church society or class organized in Chicago, were: Rev. William See and wife, Elijah Wentworth, Jr., his mother and two sisters, and Mrs. Dr. Elijah D. Harmon. Rev. William See, a regularly ordained clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the absence of other clergymen, preached as occa- sion offered or required. He was by trade a black- smith and poor in purse, hut of good moral character and highly esteemed. Rev. Jesse Walker, being super- intendent of the mission work from Peoria to Chicago, could preach in the latter place only a few times a year, and so, at his request, Bishop R. R. Roberts, in the fall of 1831, appointed Rev. Stephen R. Beggs to the mission at Chicago, Probably in October, Mr. Beggs came to this field, and found awaiting him the small class he had formed the preceding June. No house of worship having been as yet erected, religious services were generally conducted in the fort. In Jan- uary, 1832, the first quarterly meeting was held; and an ox-team was employed, and driven by T. B. Clark, to draw provisions from Plainfield to assist in sustaining the people during the continuance of the meeting. Mr. Beggs says:

" The meeting commenced with power, and increased in in- terest till Sunday morning. My first sermon was preached on Sabbath morning, at ten o'clock, after which Brother Walker in- vited the people around the sacramental board. It was a season long to be remembered. Every one seemed to be baptised and consecrated anew to the great work to be accomplished in the vil- lage that was destined to become a mighty city."

Mr. Beggs brought Mrs. Beggs to Chicago in May, 1832, and made the village his home, nearly or quite a year. A number of additions was made to the mem- bership of his class or society; six in the early winter of

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CATHOLICISM.

1831-32. A portion of the time meetings were held in the log school-house. In the year 1832, Rev. Jesse Walker was appointed to the Chicago mission to suc- ceed Mr. Beggs, As soon as practicable he moved to Chicago, and entered upon his labors. His first quar- terly meeting was held in a log building, subsequently known as " Father Walker's" log cabin. It stood on the West Side, near the bank of the river where the North and South branches meet, near what is now the southwest corner of Kinzie and Canal streets. This building was used by Mr. Walker as a parsonage, par- lor, kitchen and church. At his first quarterly meeting, held in the fall of 1833, there were present, besides him- self, Rev. John Sinclair, presiding elder, Rev. William See, local elder, Henry Whitehead, who was licensed to preach at that meeting, Charles Wisencraft, Mrs. R. J. Hamilton, and Mrs. Harmon. Mr. Whitehead was the first minister licensed in Chicago ta preach. Mr. Walker became superannuated in 1834 and died in 1835.

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History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 56

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