USA > Illinois > Cook County > History of Cook County, Illinois : being a general survey of Cook County history, including a condensed history of Chicago and special account of districts outside the city limits : from the earliest settlement to the present time, volume I > Part 20
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"By this means we are enabled to give the message to our readers in advance of all other sources, not, however, without going to an expense which no other office in this city was willing to shoulder. This is, however, the age of steam and lightning, and to keep up with the times a paper must be deterred by no obstacle or frightened by no expense so that its readers may have the latest information at the earliest possible moment. From our copy of the message reports have been sent to Detroit and Milwaukee, so that the papers at those two points are indebted to the enterprise of the Chicago Democrat for an early report of the message. The message was expressed by the Government to Louisville, Kentucky, and thence was telegraphed by O'Reilly's line to St. Louis. It occupied from two o'clock yesterday afternoon till five o'clock this morning in its delivery at this point. The delay was occasioned by the Dubuque and Galena offices not being able to receive it as fast as it was deliv- ered." -- (Democrat, December 5, 1850.)
The value of real estate in Chicago in 1850 was $6,114,600; per- sonal property, $1,993,300. Taxes were as follows: For state purposes, $47,026; county, $32,451; town, $3,526; school, $7,000; road, $3,500. Newspapers were as follows: Political twelve, with 14,704 circulation ; literary and educational three, circulation 6,400; medical two, circulation 1,700; agricultural one, circulation 5,000; religious three, circulation 6,472. There were the following libraries : German Literary association, 1,200 volumes; Burley's circulating, 2,000 volumes; Young Men's association, 2,000 volumes; Mechan- ics' Institute, 2,000 volumes. There were five district schools with 2,500 pupils enrolled; there were about thirty other English com- mon schools, with seventy-nine teachers and 3,877 pupils. There were twenty-nine religious societies, with a membership of 17,200. The average daily wages of a carpenter without board was $1.37. A day laborer received $1 and board per day. The weekly wages of a female domestic was $1.25 and board. The price of board per week for a laboring man was $1.25. Monthly wages of farm hands, $12. Mark Skinner was president of the Illinois General hospital. At this time Chicago was devising means to capture more of the trade of the Great West-through advertisements, personal solicitation, railways, the canal and arguments.
"Public Meeting .- The undersigned supervisors of the three towns of Chicago have been requested to call a public meeting of the citizens of said towns to take into consideration the expediency of applying to the Legislature to be set off from the county of Cook and erected into a new county ; or of taking some measure to give them a more just and legal representation on the Board of Super- visors; accordingly the citizens of said towns are hereby requested to assemble in the city hall for that purpose." N. H. Bolles, George W. Dole and Henry Smith, supervisors. In accordance with the above call the meeting was held with Charles Walker as chairman.
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"After a discussion of the township organization, division of the county, and sale of the public square, the following committee was appointed to present a plan to secure the city an equality of repre- sentation in the Board of Supervisors. T. A. Stewart, F. C. Sher- man, E. B. Williams, Alexander Lloyd, John C. Dodge, William Jones, Alexander Fullerton, Elihu Granger, B. S. Morris, N. H. Bolles and Charles Walker." "The meeting last evening adopted a bill with a petition to be sent to the Legislature, making the mayor and aldermen ex-officio members of the Board of Super- visors. Also some amendments to the township law which we will publish tomorrow. A proposition to make a new division of the county into townships of larger size was discussed and the meeting adjourned until Saturday next for its further consideration."- (Democrat, January 22, 1851.)
The adjourned meeting met on Saturday and there were intro- duced resolutions to the above effect. J. Y. Scammon moved their adoption. P. Ballingall moved to amend by declaring it "inexpedi- ent at the present time to amend the city charter." The amendment failed to pass. L. C. Kercheval moved to adjourn ; lost. Scammon's motion was then put to vote and carried. The following resolution was also passed : "Resolved, That the charter recently revised and amended under the direction of the Common Council of the city of Chicago, as the same has been amended by the committee appointed to examine and report upon the same, meets the cordial approval of the citizens of this city."-(Democrat, February 4, 1851.)
On January 1, 1851, the Southwestern plank road, which had been commenced in May, 1848, was finished to Brush Hill, a distance of sixteen miles, with a branch of six miles toward Naperville. The Northwestern plank road, begun in 1849, was finished eighteen miles to Dutchman's Point, and a branch six miles long reached the Des Plaines river. The Western Plank Road company, organized in the winter of 1849-50, connected with the Northwestern branch at Robinson's and was to be extended seventeen miles westward. The Elgin and Geneva plank road was to connect with the Western in Du Page county. The Southern plank road, organized February 12, 1850, reached Kyle's tavern, ten miles south of the city, on January 1. 1851. Thus in all about fifty miles of plank road radiated from Chicago.
On January 1, 1851, the city contained the following enterpriscs : Six exchange dealers and bankers; thirty-two forwarding and com- mission merchants and produce dealers ; fourteen wholesale grocers ; fifty lumber dealers; also a large number of retailers in all branches of business. The Government during 1850 built the Marine hos- pital, the iron lighthouse, and surveyed the harbor. Important works done by the city were: Planking 6.69 miles of street; 3,967 feet of sewers laid; important lake shore protection with piling ; widened the river Wells to La Salle and Wolcott to Clark; North
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Water street was vacated and a new street opened to the northward so as to provide wharfing lots; also large accessories to sidewalks and grading. Chartered companies in 1850 supplied: 1. Parts of the South and West Sides with hydraulic water from the lake- nine and a half miles of pipe, with 1,000 hydrants, supplying 800 families and 200 business establishments. 2. The Chicago Gas Light & Coke company, located on Monroe near Market, had down six miles of pipe, and on September 4, 1850, the city was lighted with gas for the first time; number of consumers, 197; number of street and bridge lamps, 112; number of burners, 1,417; the city paid $2.50 per thousand cubic feet, others $3.50. The Democrat of January 1, 1851, said: "The buildings erected by private enter- prise during the year 1850 have been on a scale of greater magnifi- cence and attended by a larger aggregate cost than those of any preceding year." Among the most important of these improvements were the Tremont house, 120x180 feet, five and a half stories, cost- ing $75,000, J. M. Van Osdel, architect; a brick theatre building eighty feet on Dearborn between Randolph and Washington, cost $11,000; docks to the extent of 1,830 feet on the North branch, about 2,000 feet on the South branch, and about 2,000 feet on the main river were erected.
On the night of February 7, 1851, upon receipt of the news that the resolution to prevent the Board of Supervisors from selling any part of the public square had passed both houses of the Legislature, a salute was fired, public rejoicing occurred and the salutes and the speaking were continued the next day. Thus this vexed question was so far settled. The city wanted to keep the square, but the county wanted to sell at least a part of it. . The county, having by far the majority on the County Board, seemed certain to have its way, until the Legislature was appealed to with the above result. It now remained to divide the public square between county and city. The new law, passed February 4, read as follows: "That Block No. 39 in the original town of Chicago, be and the same is hereby dedicated to public uses as a public common and square. The Board of Supervisors and all other county authorities of the County of Cook, and the Common Council of the City of Chicago are hereby forbidden to sell, mortgage, encumber or convey said Block 39 or any part thereof. Nothing in this act contained shall be so con- strued as to prevent the location of county buildings on said Block 39. This act to be in force and take effect from and after its passage."
In December the city paid $250 to have the river cleansed with water pumped from the canal. A society for the relief of the poor did excellent work during the winter of 1850-1. By January 1, 1851, the Southern plank road was completed to Kyle's tavern, nine miles from Chicago. During 1850 the Galena railway bought for depot purposes Block 1 on the North Side, south of Kinzie and
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between Dearborn and State, paying therefor $60,000. The lake front was fully protected during 1850. The North Side market was located on Block 8, Wolcott's addition to the North Side. By January 1, 1851, there were 9.59 miles of city streets planked, 2.9 miles in 1849 and the balance in 1850. That of 1850 was as follows : Market street, 4,951 feet; State, 12,667 feet; South Clark, 758 feet ; North, 4,329 feet; La Salle, 760 feet; Wells, 762 feet; East Madison, 272 feet; West Madison, 7,481 feet; West Randolph, 3,672 feet. During 1850, 1,830 feet of docks near the Galena depot were built on the North branch. S. C. Higginson was president of the Western Plank Road company. When the gas works were first started but 10,000 cubic feet were made, but by January, 1851, the quantity was increased to 24,000 cubic feet to be used in twenty- four hours. In January, 1851, surveyors were at work for the Michigan Central Railway company between Michigan City and Chicago. The Chicago & Milwaukee railway was projected in 1850.
There was sharp rivalry between the Michigan Southern and the Michigan Central railways as to which one should reach Chicago first. The Southern endeavored to prevent the Central from secur- ing the right of way through Indiana and endeavored to obtain for herself authority from the Illinois Legislature to go to Chicago without conditions. It was merely an attempt, made in advance, to monopolize the railway traffic eastward from Chicago. In the spring of 1851 there were but four flouring mills here, as follows: Marine mills, four run of stone, capacity 300 barrels per day; City mills, three run of stone, capacity 225 barrels; Hydraulic mills, three run of stone, capacity 225 barrels; North Branch mill, two run of stone, capacity 150 barrels. But a fire early in 1851 de- stroyed the latter, leaving a city of about 25,000 inhabitants with only three flouring mills. The alleged spirit manifestations of the Fox sisters of Rochester, New York, attracted the notice of Chi- cago about this time.
"The lake shore protection seems to answer the purpose finely so far, and we should think would prove a complete barrier for the further progress of Neptune's dominions. What a pity it had not been built years ago. Apropos, would not the lake shore look bet- ter if the bank was leveled off in shape?"-(Democrat, March 14, 1851.)
On January 30, 1851, the thermometer stood fifteen degrees below zero; the Democrat said that it had been as low here as twenty-eight below. It began to be realized now that beyond a doubt Chicago was soon to be the center of railway development in the West. Two roads were soon to be here from the East- Michigan Central and Michigan Southern. Starting from Chicago were the Galena, Rock Island, Milwaukee, Illinois Central and others, with a dozen more in prospect. All this rendered it cer-
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tain that the canal, built by the state, was now soon to be paralleled and largely ruined by the railways built by private corporations. The canal had so long been looked to as the greatest commercial medium that Chicago could secure, that the transit of hope and thought within three or four years to an entirely different expecta- tion was to a considerable degree frightening. The industrial revolution was welcomed.
In February, 1851, the liquor license clause was stricken out of the new city charter bill; there had been received revenue to the amount of nearly $10,000 from this source. The proposed new charter provided that assessors should be appointed by the Council; that in order to vote a citizen must have resided in the state one year, in the county six months, and in the ward ten days; that the city clerk and not the inspectors should give election notices; that citizens qualified to vote could be elected to any city office; that judges of election must make return within three days. Immense preparations were made for building in the spring of 1851. In 1857 "Grandfather" Dutch was called the Nestor of the Chicago press. In February, 1851, the slaughter house bill passed the Senate but was defeated in the House; this was an attempt to drive slaughter houses from the city limits. John Wentworth was at this time regarded by many as the father and preserver of the river and harbor improvement system. An important law of 1851 provided for the drainage of the wet lands around Chicago and embraced Townships 38, 39 and 40, Ranges 12, 13 and 14-in all about 150,000 acres. On March 5 the Sauganash hotel was burned down. Chicago received from Congress $27,176 for the harbor in March, 1851. On March 6 O'Reilly's telegraph line to Milwau- kee was completed and in operation. About the middle of March, 1857, there were in the warehouses waiting for the opening of navi- gation 386,487 bushels of wheat, 589,246 bushels of corn and 279,- 549 bushels of oats. At this time the city indebtedness was about $101,304.19, on a part of which 12 per cent interest was being paid ; steps to refund at a lower rate were taken. The Legislature pro- vided for a board of water commissioners in 1851, the object being to enable Chicago in the end to provide its own water. A perma- nent system of sewerage was recommended and provided for, and finally was carried into effect. The new charter gave the city power to control slaughter-house nuisances. This was a period of great advancement. Schools were multiplied and improved; the river was widened and the harbor deepened; the police force was reorganized and the court laws were amended and simplified.
The new postage law of 1851 made a great difference to busi- ness houses-3 cents per half ounce of prepaid, otherwise 5 cents. The Marine hospital was nearly completed in March, 1851. Chi- cago milk was complained of-was said to be from distillery swill. During the winter of 1850-1 a new and dangerous sand bar formed
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across the harbor entrance; it extended over one thousand feet southward from the end of the north pier; vessels had to come in over a crooked course and pass over nine and one-half feet of water, reduced to less than seven feet during heavy swells. Lieu- tenant Webster recommended the discontinuance of the present system of pier extension and the construction of an outside jetty so located as to concentrate the shore current upon the bar and thus carry it away to the southward. The Board of Trade was par- ticularly active at this time to improve the harbor. United States Circuit and District courts were located here about this date. The first Board of Water Commissioners were John B. Turner, Horatio G. Loomis and Alson S. Sherman.
It was noted in April, 1851, that business houses to an unusual extent were crowding out private residences in the down-town dis- tricts. The Common Council now met in rooms fitted up in the north end of the city hall. In May city scrip was 5 per cent dis- count; county orders the same: Illinois and Michigan canal indebt- edness 75 per cent discount; Galena railway stock par; exchange on New York three-quarters of 1 per cent discount. At this date the following preemption claims against the canal trustees were still unsettled : Scott's claim on the West Side; Sanger's on the south of the North branch; Lynch's in Bridgeport at the hydraulic works. Orders regulating the slaughter houses were passed in May. It was at this time that the planking on the streets began to give way, get out of repair and place, and cause serious vexation and trouble. Iron columns, pillars, sills, capitals, beams, etc., began to make their appearance in buildings. Schuyler Colfax was for a time connected with the old Tribune of the forties. In June, 1851, nine acres on the North Side between Clybourn and Sheffield avenues sold for $300 an acre. At the same time forty-two acres on the South Side near the city limits (Twenty-second street), between Ulrich's and the river, sold for $150 an acre.
The first Lake street bridge was proposed in June, 1851. On June 13 the Northwest plank road was completed two and a half miles beyond Colonel Anderson's at Niles, which village was four- teen miles from Chicago. The first annual meeting of the trustees of Northwestern University was held in June. A question which had come up often before was discussed at this date, namely, the right of the Galena railway to bridge the North branch to reach their new depot on the North Side. As the river and its branches were navigable streams, a right to bridge at all was denied; but despite this contention bridges from the start had been constructed here and were continued. The railway was enjoined. but later was permitted to resume work on the bridge. It was noted in June that West Chicago had grown faster than either of the other two divisions-North and South. The lighthouse at the mouth of the Calumet was ordered commenced in June, 1851. On June 16,
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1851, for the first time so far as known, a tunnel under the Chicago river was considered by the Common Council. This city had become the best horse market in the West; prices from $40 to $1,000 were paid.
It was at this date that the "cut-off" question came up to disturb the dreams of Chicago. It was seen that the railway lines bound from the East to the West would have to pass south of the southern extremity of Lake Michigan. Why then should such lines be run up a considerable distance north to Chicago, when time and track would be saved by continuing them directly west- ward from the southern point of the lake? The Michigan Cen- tral, Michigan Southern and Illinois Central were particularly concerned in this question. Had Chicago remained a small town, such an eventuality would have occurred; but the enormous growth of the city compelled the railways to center here. The Illinois Central thought to bring pressure to bear on Chicago in the "cut-off" emergency; they acted as if they wished to mulct this city of a large bonus for coming here at all. The Rock Island took this cue and offered to come to Chicago instead of passing eastward south of the southern point of Lake Michigan, if the citizens would raise $100,000. By July 14 $30,000 was sub- scribed. Finally the Council, on June 30, authorized the mayor to subscribe for $100,000 worth of stock in this road, "subject to the express condition that the connection between said Chicago and Rock Island and any other railroad from the East shall be made at some point within five miles of the present southern boundary of the city of Chicago." The first Tuesday in August was set as the day to vote upon this issue of bonds. In forty- eight hours, about June 24, over 2,000,000 feet of lumber were received here-thus breaking the record. The new postal law of 1851 reduced to one dollar the postage necessary to convey the Democrat one year to subscribers; it had required $3.12 before this year. In August, 1851, it was noted that there was no sick- ness here and that doctors had little or no practice. During some weeks there was not a single burial. A union of printers in Au- gust fixed composition at 16 to 25 cents per thousand ems. Hal- sted street was the west line of old Chicago and for a long time remained unoccupied, but by 1851 buildings far beyond it had been erected. Carpenter's addition was bounded north by Kinzie street, along which ran the Galena railway; north of Carpenter's addition was Ogden's addition and south was Madison street and Duncan's addition. On the east of Carpenter's addition was Hal- sted street and the Old Town of Chicago. Off to the westward of Carpenter's addition was old Bull Head tavern, built by Mathew Laflin and used largely by drovers and cattle dealers; it stood near where Madison street and the Southwest plank road met. In that vicinity the well water was declared to be excellent.
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"Fourteen large droves of cattle stopped over night at Darrow's hotel on the Southern plank road just out of the city limits last week. Few persons can conjecture the number of cattle that come into our city in a year. Until S. L. Darrow fenced in his large enclosure, there was no such thing as yarding large droves of cattle near the city," said the Democrat of July, 10.
At one time the North Side was the most important part of Chicago; the best and largest stores and warehouses were there. Property was high; steamboats landed at the north docks; this was about 1835 to 1841. The construction of the Great Western road and the bridge over the South branch at Randolph street completely changed all this, and threw the trade to the South Side, where it remained. It remained for the Galena & North- western railroads to revive business there. The Archer road lead- ing from State street to Bridgeport was now an important thor- oughfare. The building of the canal caused the desertion of the old town of Bridgeport and the erection of a new village on a cut of the canal near the old site; in July, 1851, there was hardly a shanty in the old village. One of the early plans proposed to tunnel the river at Washington street with a boiler iron bore twelve feet in diameter. In July, 1851, Wabash avenue was being opened and graded its entire length-to Darrow's hotel on the plank road. Mayor Gurnee's plan of sewerage was to flush and cleanse the sewers with water pumped from the new city water works. The contract for the new courthouse was let on July 16, 1851, as follows: The mason work to Peter Page at $58,785 ; the carpenter work and painting to John Sallett at $29,- 000. The city was to pay five-eighteenths of the whole cost and the county thirteen-eighteenths. Thus of the above amount the city was to pay $24,385 and the county $63,400. Messrs. Bur- ling, Van Osdell and Butler were the arbiters to determine what ' each (county and city) should pay. The county agents who let the contract were C. V. Dyer, W. H. Davis, F. C. Sher- man, Joseph Filkins, S. Anderson and R. W. Everett. The main building was designed to be 100 feet square and in Grecian Ionic style. During one week 'in July, 1851, 8,000 buffalo robes, the property of the American Fur company, were forwarded by Neely, Lawrence & Co. to New York. In July there were five daily papers issued.
In July, 1851, there were a total of 1,506 buildings on the West Side, 2,742 on the South and 1,550 on the North; total, 5,798. From March 1 to July 23, of that year, 127 buildings were erected on the West Side, 110 on the South and 83 on the North. West of Carpenter's adition to the city limits there were but forty-two buildings; west of Duncan's addition, but fifteen. On July 23 order was given to clear the public square of liberty poles preparatory to commencing work on the county buildings. A
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large raft of cedar logs was brought here from the Calumet, worth $6 per 100. In August Dearborn park for the first time was lighted by gas.
It had been thought that the improvements to the lake front shore line would be permanent, but by August, 1851, the waves were again rapidly encroaching on the shore. A second barrier was built. In August, 1851, cholera again made its dreaded ap- pearance here. In this year for the first time a chapel stood in the cemetery. On August 25 Hadduck's big warehouse burned down, also that of H. Norton & Co. The lighthouse at Calumet was nearly completed by September 1. In August 120 died of cholera .. McCormick's reapers met with great success in Europe this year. The corner stone of the new courthouse was laid in September. A new building for Engine company No. 1 was erected. Special permission to widen the river at the old garrison grounds was obtained from Congress. A big storm on the 26th and 27th of September washed away a part of Michigan avenue opposite Mayor Gurnee's residence. At night he rallied a gang of men and repaired the break and checked the damage. In 1831 there were no railways of consequence in the United States; twenty years later there were 11,000 miles of track laid and 10,000 more being laid. The Clybourn & Ellis slaughterhouse burned Septem- ber 30. Germain's warehouse on the North Side was burned.
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