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 23
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A terrible railroad accident occurred April 26 about ten miles south of Chicago at the junction of the Michigan Southern and Michigan Central railways, through which about sixteen were killed and nearly fifty wounded. At that date trains were not required to slow up or stop at crossings. But the coroner's jury found. the train crews of both roads guilty of gross carelessness and neglect. The journeymen shoemakers struck in April. In May Warren Parker bought all the city omnibuses and thereafter operated them; before this date they had been run by the hotels-Sherman, Tremont, Matteson, City, American, New York, Doty, Commercial and others. "We counted over one hundred persons at Clark street bridge the other day, who stood in the rain fully thirty minutes waiting for the bridge to close. The $20,000 now annually lost by the bridge nuisance would go a long way toward building a tunnel," said the Democratic Press of May 5. At this date the piles for the Illinois Central track along the lake front were being rapidly driven. Canal sales of about $1,000,000 again took place in May. The tunnel question was again agitated in June. It was announced that the total cost of the new courthouse, including fence and furniture, was $114,055.55. Despite the great number of arrivals here, there was actually a dearth of laborers for buildings, railways, etc. "The city of Chicago has built herself up, doubled her trade, doubled her manu- factures, trebled the value of her real estate and rendered it saleable by a single act of policy-that of making herself a railroad center."
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-(Detroit Advertiser, June, 1853.) During a fire on the West Side in June, 1853, the private wells and cisterns there were soon exhausted, whereupon a line of men half a mile long to the river was formed and an abundance of water was thus secured. In June, 1853, the city clerk was authorized to advertize for plans for a tun- nel under the river; this is believed to have been the first official action in the matter.
"The pipe of the new waterworks has all been laid in the North division of the city; in about a week more it will all be down on the West Side and by the first of August all down on the South division-thirty miles in all. The crib work to be put down in the lake is all prepared. . . . The engineer hopes to be able to have the entire work completed by the middle of October. That will be the proudest day Chicago has ever seen."-(Democratic Press, July 2, 1853.)
Although the arrival of lumber was very great, yet in June, 1853, so enormous was the shipment of the same westward and its use here, that building lumber was actually scarce in this city. The Blue Island Plank Road company called for subscriptions in July ; the line was to be a continuation of Hoosier (Blue Island) avenue through Canalport to Blue Island. The Democratic Press of July 12 said: "It is inside of the mark to say that the commerce of Chicago has been more than quadrupled since the opening of the canal and the first section of the Galena railway." It was proposed that the following parking should be built :
"On the South Side, in addition to Dearborn Park, Lake Park and the Courthouse Square, two parks of ten acres each between State street and the river, north of Twelfth street, and one of ten and one of fifty acres between Twelfth street and a line drawn west of Myrick's. On the West Side, two of ten and two of fifty acres at proper distances from the river and from each other. On the North Side, two of ten and one of fifty acres, properly located. This, perhaps, to the minds of some seems to be a large amount of precious land to devote-perhaps waste is the word they would use-for such a purpose. The necessity for them does not appear, as it will be fifty years hence when Chicago shall contain half a million people. Five years ago $3,000 would have purchased more land suitable for such purposes than $500,000 will now. For the time being the wide streets and open spaces answer all the pur- poses of parks, but the latter will soon be covered with dwellings and stores."-(Democratic Press, July 11, 1853.)
"We well remember the fears which were expressed by many of our citizens upon the completion of the canal lest that important work should merely prove an elongation of the lake on the one hand and of the Illinois river on the other, bearing northward or southward the trade of a region of country which had hitherto come to Chicago. The same class of persons foreboded results equally
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as disastrous to our city by the completion of the various lines of railroad which are to center in Chicago, and for the same reason. But how different the result!" "Tuesday afternoon (July 12, 1853) we passed down the ninth division of the Illinois Central railroad to Kankakee, returning on yesterday. It was opened on Monday (the '11th), as our readers are aware."-(Democratic Press, July 14, 1853.)
At the mass meeting to consider the tunnel question on July 22, 1853, Mayor Gray presided. The following citizens were appointed a committee on resolutions : B. S. Morris, E. C. Larned, G. S. Hubbard, G. F. Foster, Alderman Dwyer, Peter Page, W. H. Stickney and D. S. Cameron. It was "Resolved, That this meeting do hereby call upon the Common Council of this city to take measures to have a tunnel built as soon as practicable."
"There is hardly a branch of mechanical business that is not prospering in our city. One cannot turn a corner or walk the length of a block without observing some class of mechanics busily employed at their avocation. Especially is this true in regard to all those connected with house building." "The present force of the night police is twenty men. Owen McCarthy is cap- tain, James Donahue lieutenant, which leaves eighteen men to be employed on the watch. They start out on their beats at eight o'clock in the evening and come in at four o'clock in the morning. There are two men on each beat and they always go in company. There are five beats in the South Division, two in the North, and two in the West."-(Democratic Press, March, 1853.)
"Last Saturday afternoon the officers of the Rock Island Rail- road company treated a portion of our citizens to a most delightful ride. The company assembled at the depot at four o'clock and then, all things being ready and all aboard, the hosts gave the sig- nal and the train was off for Blue Island." . . - (Democratic
Press, April 11, 1853.) "The amount of travel now pouring over the great thoroughfares which lead into this city is truly astound- ing. Every train that comes in or goes out is full to overflowing. As an indication of the amount of travel daily passing through our city, we publish the following statement of the number of meals served during the last five days at the Sherman house: Monday, 569; Tuesday, 628; Wednesday, 674; Thursday, 684; Friday, 731. This, be it remembered, is but one of the ten or twelve hotels of the city-all of which are taxed to their utmost capacity."-(Press, April 23, 1853.)
"During the rains of the last fortnight the streets have been silently teaching the existence of a great want in our young city -- prompt and vigorous measures for a thorough and effective system of sewerage. Situated as our city is upon a substratum of clay totally impervious to water and with but slight natural grades, it follows that most of the water which falls remains either upon
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the surface or passes off by the slow process of evaporation. . . No city upon the continent requires a thorough drainage more than Chicago. None would be more benefited by it-none can be drained so cheaply and effectually. . . The system of sewerage heretofore adopted in this city has served its day. . . Although it is but two or three years since sewers were sunk in our principal streets, we nevertheless believe that, could a section of them be casually disclosed to public view, it would be regarded as one of the most remarkable curiosities of the day, and the minds of the public would be filled with wonder at the short-sighted policy which dictated such inefficient and ephemeral structures for so im- portant a purpose. We want no more wooden sewers in Chicago. . . We are arriving at a point in the history of our city when we must enter upon some general plan of sewerage. Let not an- other dollar be expended in works of this character until a definite and judicious system has been determined upon. Enough money has been wasted upon public improvements in Chicago."-(Demo- cratic Press, May 5, 1853.) The following plans of city drainage were proposed at this date: 1. On the principle of declination ; 2. Drainage vats and pumps to clear them; 3. Main and branch drains in each division ; 4. Deep canals at definite intervals.
Early in July the Rock Island railroad began to take shipments for points westward of the western terminus of the canal. The tunnel committee was making elaborate and searching investiga- tions. The Palmer omnibus line soon had rivals-S. B. & M. O. "Walker established one in July, 1853. New wheat in August brought 98 cents to $1.03 per bushel. There was a united move- ment of the owners of buildings against the carpenters about this date. Eastern "drummers" for the first time in considerable num- bers began to drum for trade not only here but farther westward; this was a step by Eastern wholesalers to retain the trade that was fast going to Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, etc. When the Illi- nois Central tracks were first laid along the lake front, they were out a considerable distance from the shore line, leaving a body of water between. It was proposed in July to fill in the space between the tracks and the shore line and convert the same into a park. In March, 1853, a Chicago-built locomotive was turned out from the shops of the Galena & Chicago railway and was named "J. B. Turner," for the president of the company. A large octagonal reservoir was built about this time at. Clark and Adams streets; it was made of boiler iron, was supplied with a twelve-inch pipe, contained 500,000 gallons, and was twenty feet in diameter, twenty- eight feet deep and elevated sixty feet. Yellow fever in New Orleans caused much consternation here in August; the previous visits of the cholera were not forgotten. By September 6, $3,294 was raised for the sufferers at New Orleans; by September 12 it was $4,394. Large numbers of foreigners not able to speak
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John a. Gauger
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English passed through here daily for the West. In June, 1852, the Legislature incorporated the "Cook County Drainage Commis- sioners" and empowered them to drain the lands around Chicago. This they did in 1852-53-built many drains through the city, at a cost of about $30,000, by July, 1853, and in the main advanced this sum from their own pockets or borrowed it on their own responsibility. They put assessments on the lands benefited, but did not get what was due them and so asked judgment against the delinquents. Before Judge Rucker there were filed two objections that the law was unconstitutional and void and that Jefferson was exempted by the last Legislature from the operation of the law. The court overruled the constitutional objection, but sustained the Jefferson objection. I. N. Arnold, George Manierre and G. W. Thompson were the attorneys for the commissioners, and Grant Goodrich, C. B. Hosmer, E. Martin and A. N. Fullerton were the attorneys for the objectors. This judgment resulted as follows: All land outside of Jefferson, delinquent, was to be sold, and in the end Jefferson would have to pay for the ditches already built there.
"Drainage by the commissioners met with pretty severe opposi- tion in some quarters in the outset ; but the evident benefit resulting from the work has changed the minds of all, save the citizens of the only territory in Cook county in which the valuation list shows a decrease in the valuation of real estate during the past year. Jef- ferson township stands alone in that unenviable position. It was she who protested against the assessment; it was she alone who desired to be relieved (?) from the tax; and she alone now has her sloughs and her mire. . . . Several individuals of Jefferson township are now forming a board of their own for the purpose of draining their own lands. These gentlemen protested against the petition of certain citizens of Jefferson township presented last winter to the Legislature, for the exemption of this township from the operations of the drainage law. They knew that the general weal would be sacrificed to the pecuniary saving of vast profits of the few. The law passed, however, but applied so far only as to free her from tax after the date of the passage of the act. W. B. . Ogden said : 'If you want high lands, dig deep ditches.'"-("Jef- ferson" in the Democratic Press, September 15, 1853.)
The city directory of December, 1853, gave Chicago a population of 55,500. There were 156 lawyers, 106 doctors, forty-two churches, six public schools with thirty-one teachers, ten colleges and high schools, four military companies (one mounted), twenty- four periodicals, of which seven were dailies, sixteen weeklies, four monthlies and eight religious. The fire department consisted of twelve companies with a total of about 600 men, eight good engines and three hose carriages. In November, 1853, the Council changed the name of Hoosier avenue to Blue Island avenue. It crossed the Vol. I-15.
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canal and the South branch, formed a junction with Archer road, and then passed south to Brighton, where the Union Stock Yards now are. On December 6 there was an excursion over the Illinois & Wisconsin railway to Elk Grove. There was great dearth of water in November and December; the hydrants were inadequate and peddlers' carts again made their appearance. The newspapers of 1853 are filled with railway extension notices and with predic- tions of Chicago's railway growth and supremacy. Fierce attacks upon the water commissioners for failure to have the works ready in October as agreed were made late in 1853. At this time the drainage committee was busy laying its assessments. In October the hotels were so crowded that the newspapers called for the construction of others. Vessels grounded on the sand bar at the harbor entrance at this time. The tax of Chicago in 1853 was as follows: City tax, $58,946.40; school, $25,262.74; state, $8,420 .- 91; building, $16,841.83; water, $16,841.83; market, $7,243.92; lamp, $2,105.02; whole tax, $135,662.65. The valuation of real estate was $13,130,677 ; personal property, $3,711,154; total valua- tion, $16,841,831. About this time New York, Philadelphia, Bos- ton and other Eastern cities, which had begun an elaborate system of selling goods by sample throughout the West, were seen to be aiming at the life of Western wholesalers; a great outcry against them was therefore raised. In the end Western wholesalers were compelled to adopt the same custom-to sell by sample and drum- mers.
On December 31 the city had eight railroads in operation, with thirty-seven trains arriving and leaving daily ; 7,627 dwellings ; 9,435 families; population, 60,652-native white 29,134, foreign white 29,404, colored 583 ; stores and other business places, 1,184; schools of all kinds, 54; churches, 61; manufactories, 196. In 1847 Chicago had imports valued at $2,641,852 and exports at $2,296,299. In 1852 there were, imports $8,338,639, exports $10,709,333. The total value of real and personal property of Chicago in 1840 was $1,829,420; in 1847 it was $6,071,402; in 1853 it was $16,841,831.
The daily papers were the Democratic Press, Journal, Tribune, Democrat, Courant, Commercial Advertiser and Staats Zeitung; tri- weeklies, Northwestern Christian Advocate, Budget, Democratic Press, Democrat, Evangelist, Free West, Garden City, Herald, Jour- nal, New Courant, Olive Branch of the West, Staats Zeitung, Tribune, Times and Tablet; semi-monthly, Sheldon's Bank Note Reporter; monthlies, Prairie Farmer, Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal, Youths' Temperance Banner; bi-monthly, Homeo- path.
The market houses were leased for the following sums: State street market, 1852 $1,808, 1853 $1,900; Market street market, 1852 $320, 1853 $320; Randolph street market, 1852 $911, 1853 $720; North Side market, 1852 $905, 1853 $845. In January, 1854, wheat
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was worth $1.15. On the 23d the mercury stood at 17 degrees below zero. On January 26, 1854, hydrant water was forced to all parts of the city where pipes had been laid. It flowed from the North to the West Side through a pipe at Kinzie street bridge; thence it came to the South Side from the West Side through a pipe laid across the river at South Adams street; but later a pipe across the main river at Dearborn street brought water directly from the North to the South Side.
By act of the Legislature Cook county came into possession of 18,000 to 20,000 acres of swamp land-mostly on the Calumet and easy of drainage. In January, 1854, the county authorities requested the further right to sell these lands to a company that would drain the same and construct a harbor at the mouth of the Calumet. At this time there were nearly 600 places in the city where liquor was sold, and it was estimated that two-fifths of such places conducted gambling games of some sort and many of them were bad resorts. In 1853 the number of arrests was 2,449, of which 2,237 were caused by liquor. There were 220 licensed groceries (saloons) and nearly 400 without license. Capital invested in the liquor business amounted to about $1,000,000 .- (From statistics collected by Rev. Mr. Archibald Kenyon under the direction of the Cook County Maine Law League. )
A quantity of Wisconsin wheat to be delivered in Buffalo in the spring of 1854 sold here in January, 1854, at $1.35 per bushel; good winter wheat was worth here in January $1.28. Corn deliver- able in Buffalo was worth 60 cents per bushel and oats 30 cents; choice hogs, $4.95. Prices were thus sent soaring by the European demand. The whole Legislature visited Chicago in February, 1858, upon invitation of the Common Council. It began to be noted at this time that Chicago, with its numerous railways, was the cen- tral point from which to go everywhere-"it was in everybody's way." On February 20, 1854, the Fort Wayne & Chicago Rail- way company offered to plank Canal or Clinton street, providing they were permitted to run their proposed "horse railway" (street railway) into the city. This was the first public project to run street cars in Chicago. Land on the West Side for a park to be called "Union" was bought of S. S. Hayes, W. S. Johnson, Jr., and an adjoining tract of W. S. Davidson, Isaac Shelly, Jr., and S. L. Baker. The first tract comprised 10,948 acres and the addition Lot 5. The sum of $57,024.66 was paid for all. The tract was bounded by Lake, Reuben, Warren and two diagonal streets on the east. In February, 1854, William B. Ogden, while in Europe, obtained a valuable collection of books which he designed as a nucleus for a public library for the city. He managed to secure the books as a contribution on the proposition of an interchange by the state of Illinois with the governments of France, Belgium, Holland and Switzerland. There were books, pamphlets, maps,
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drawings, engravings, etc., selected by him. He proposed the es- tablishment of a public library and agreed to give $1,000 if $50,- 000 were raised, or $3,000 if $100,000 were raised. This was the real start of Chicago's present splendid public library.
In nearly all reform movements of the forties and fifties Grant Goodrich, Dr. N. S. Davis and Thomas B. Bryan were active and enthusiastic participants and leaders. On February 28, 1854, wheat was $1.08. A survey of Chicago harbor in March showed but eight feet of water over the sandbar; a subscription of $600 was promptly raised to clear it; by March 10 the amount had grown to $1,000 to be expended under the direction of the Board of Trade. "Our harbor, after all, is the life of Chicago. Shut it up and Chicago would be a railroad center, it is true; but her lake commerce is, after all, the mainspring of her prosperity. This fact is well understood by our business men, and hence their prompt attention to everything that affects so vitally the best interests of the city."-(Democratic Press, March 9, 1854. )
Again in the spring of 1854, as for several seasons past, there were too few buildings to accommodate the people; rents were very high and business men declared "We must have more room." All old residents noted the enormous proportion of foreigners here. The new city charter forbade the use of more than $100,000 credit by the city authorities in one year. In 1853-54 Union Park was bought on the credit of the city, of which one-third was as- sessed to the property benefited. A new city hospital was pro- jected. The new water works were not wholly satisfactory, had taken too long and had cost too much. The Legislature accord- ingly granted the city the right to raise an additional sum to com- plete the works. The bridewell was used principally for petty offenders from the Recorder's court. Congress granted the re- quest of the city to widen the river at old Fort Dearborn. New bridges were built and the tunnel was considered. A uniform grade of sidewalks was very important in the estimation of all persons and began to take form late in 1853. All things consid- ered the most notable circumstance of 1853 was the large number of wholesale houses established. The Board of Trade duly con- sidered the pending question of opening a channel across the St. Clair flats. The plan embraced the opening of a ship canal from Lake Erie to Lake Michigan. Mr. Ogden in the spring of 1854 wrote urgently from Paris about it. The artesian well at the Galena station on the West Side encountered 104 feet of blue clay ; 30 feet of marble; 9 feet of soapstone, and 342 feet of solid lime- stone. At 180 feet good water was found, but it would not rise to the surface. E. Sherman, E. I. Tinkham and L. W. Clark were the original proprietors of Holstein, the suburb on the West Side along the North branch. In 1854 goods began to be imported directly from Europe. "Why pay New York jobbers?" it was asked.
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Ten or fifteen years ago, or until the completion of the Wabash and Erie canal, the principal trade of Chicago was from Lafayette, Terre Haute and other Wabash towns. The streets of Chicago were thronged continually with wagons and prairie schooners from the Wabash valley. One of the principal streets of that city was named Wabash avenue in commemoration of the vast amount of trade and the immense number of teams that daily poured into the Garden City from the Wabash."-(Lafayette (Ind.) Courier, March 30, 1854.)
The writer of the Annual Reviews of Chicago in January, 1854, stated that the postoffice was receiving fourteen daily mails and several weekly and semi-weekly mails; that the receipts for the quarter ending January 1, 1854, were over $130,000; that an aver- age of 30,000 letters and seventy-five bags containing 45,000 news- papers, passed through daily. About 5,000 letters were received and sent out daily by Chicagoans.
The act of February 28, 1854, amendatory to the act to reduce the law incorporating the city of Chicago, provided that the corpo- rate limits and jurisdiction of the city of Chicago should be extended to Lake Michigan and should include so much of the waters and bed of said Lake as lie within one mile of the shore thereof and east of the present boundaries of the city. It was provided in this act that in case of more than one vacancy in the office of alderman in any ward, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes should have the longest term, etc .; that the vacancy in 1854 in the Chicago water commissioners should be filled from the West division, that of 1855 from the North division and that of 1856 from the South division; that the city marshal should be elected for two years; that the Common Council should have power to borrow $100,000 for the use of the water works, provided two-thirds of the Council should concur ; that the Recorder's court should sentence criminals to the bridewell; that when expedient the Council could elect a su- perintendent of special assessments; that they could purchase and improve suitable grounds for a house of refuge and correction and to erect buildings thereon ; that they could authorize the construction of tunnels under the Chicago river and its branches; that private persons should have the protection of their property ; that the Coun- cil could regulate the keeping of lumber yards within the fire limits of the city ; that they could annually thereafter levy not to exceed a mill on the dollar to meet the interest accruing on the funded debt of the city; that if the expenses of either of the three divisions should exceed its proportion of the revenue, the Common Council could collect such excess by special pro rata assessment on that divi- sion.
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