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 25
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The plan for the improvement of Union park, which comprised about eighteen acres, was prepared by Carter & Bauer; the first sum assessed for improvement of the same was $6,333.33. In May, 1855, the Board of Sewerage Commissioners offered $1,000 for the best plan of a systematic drainage system for Chicago and vicin- ity. Another sale of canal lands occurred in May. For the sum- mer of 1855 a special health officer was appointed from each of the nine wards. Quarantine was established in May, and all arriv- als by vessel, canal and railways were rigidly scrutinized for cases of cholera, smallpox, ship fever, etc. The Council appropriated $25,000 for quarantine purposes, of which amount the mayor and Board of Health were authorized to expend on buildings and grounds, for quarantine service, not to exceed $8,000. W. H. Stickney was chairman of the committee on quarantine.
The cities of Chicago and Milwaukee were united by railway on May 19, 1855. Already the bridewell was found to be too small. The space along the lake front between the Illinois Central tracks and the shore was a stagnant pond at this time; the newspapers demanded that -it be filled. In the spring of 1855 the police depart- ment was reorganized, the ordinance allowing eighty men under C. P. Bradley, chief. At first under the new system seventy-three men were set at work.
As stated before, the first proposition for a street railway (called horse railway then) was made in 1854, and thereafter until May 26, 1855, the subject was duly considered by both people and Coun- cil. All proceedings culminated on the latter date upon the passage of the first street car ordinance by a vote of nine for and four against. Permission to cover the following streets was given: State street south to the city limits; Ridgely place to Colbourn avenue; Ringgold place and Cottage Grove avenue; Washington from State to Market; on the North Side, Dearborn to North, Division, Clybourn, Racine and Sedgwick. These streets pierced the most densely populated parts of the city at that date.
On May 26, 1855, at the Clark Street Methodist church 1,800 children participated in a memorable temperance celebration. The owner of the Sauganash hotel site raised a petition to the Council
264
HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
in May, praying that such tract be used for the proposed new post- office and customhouse. At the vote on prohibition throughout the county in May, vigilance committees of the prohibitionists and liquor interests stood guard at the polls in Chicago and other saloon localities. In June the Council appropriated $500 to be used in opening an entrance through the bar into the harbor; the same amount was raised by subscription from the citizens. Light iron fronts began to supplant massive stone fronts on many stores and other buildings. In June, 1855, the Council approved the Sau- ganash site for the location of the proposed postoffice and custom- house. On July 14 the mercury reached eighty-one degrees above zero; the 15th, ninety-two; the 16th, ninety-four; the 17th, ninety- six; the 18th, ninety-four; and the 19th, ninety-one. On the 17th it dropped suddenly from ninety-six to sixty degrees, but rose again during the night. The newspapers noted that at 3 o'clock P. M. on the 17th the heat at ninety-six degrees was almost suffocating, but by 6 o'clock P. M., with the mercury at sixty degrees, a fire was comfortable. In July vessels of large draft could not cross the bar into the harbor. On July 13 red winter wheat sold at $1.80, and white winter wheat at $2 per bushel. July 21 new winter wheat was worth $1.60 to $1.70.
"It is hardly possible to pass through a street in the city with- out coming upon buildings in process of erection." . "The planks on our streets have been placed on the even surface of the ground-not elevated in the center or turnpiked. The result is a constant splashing or squirting as you ride on them."
"Our railroads are the work of capitalists all over the country, who had the sagacity to see that the resources of the Northwest were boundless, and that Chicago was the natural seat of empire of this vast region. . Our citizens deserve credit chiefly for making the best use of the facilities for trade and commerce which they find created, as it were, over night, to their hands. We have grown in population and wealth because we could not help it."-(Press, July and August, 1855.)
Electric fire alarms and signals for the city were first considered in July, 1855. New winter wheat was worth $1.75 on July 24, but soon fell to $1.40. It was so cold on July 30 that woolen cloth- ing was comfortable, and on July 20 the mercury fell from ninety- six degrees to fifty-eight degrees. Observers declared that tide variations in Chicago reached a height of about two feet. A con- test of the firemen to see which company had the best engine and the most efficient force was held on August 10. Two of the great- est improvements in 1855 were the new depots for the Illinois Cen- tral and the Michigan Central railways. Both of these railways laid double tracks in and near the city in 1855. In August, De Gol- yer's pavement was laid on the section of Lake street down town- probably the first used in the city. The deaths from cholera in 1855
K
267
HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
prior to August 1 were 448; all efforts and precautions failed to prevent its ravages; many fled, but busy Chicago as a whole was about as strenuous as ever. In September the city leased of the county the old poorhouse property on the lake, about five miles south of the city, and converted it into a reform school. It em- braced ten acres and was leased for five years without rent. About $500 in repairs was spent upon the property by the city.
The first wheat ever to come from Iowa to Chicago wholly by rail arrived on September 20. It was grown twelve miles west of Davenport, was shipped from that city, and comprised 600 bushels, which brought $1.20 per bushel. The State Fair was held here in 1855 on the South Side, just beyond the city limits, on the bank of the South branch. Much difficulty in reaching the grounds was experienced. Tugs, omnibuses and private conveyances were brought into requisition. White winter wheat was worth $1.60 to $1.70 in October. The famous tract called "Egan's Garden," at Jefferson and Lake streets, on the West Side, sold in October, 1855, for $59 to $75 per front foot. Big sales of lots in Elston's and Sheffield's divisions on the North branch were recorded at this date. The De Golyer pavement was referred to as the "wooden streets of Chicago." The fire engine companies held a trial of efficiency on October 21. A vigorous but abortive attempt to organize a stock company to build a tunnel under the main river was made at this time. Rev. D. B. Nichols became first superintendent of the Reform School, with a salary of $1,000; he had previously been a city mis- sionary.
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The Times of October 24, 1855, declared that Chicago, "the great metropolis of the Northwest-the city of Abolitionists and Know- nothings-the greatest grain emporium in the world-is without a dollar to pay its honest debts! Its bank funds are gone-its orders are refused by the banks and depreciated with individuals-its credit is comparatively worthless." The Press replied as follows: "It is sufficient to say that the paragraph is utterly and basely false. Last Monday evening the city treasurer reported $7,798.34 cash on hand, and there has not been a time within our recollection for the past seven years when 'its credit was comparatively worthless.' The credit and resources of Chicago are undoubted."
On November 5, 1855, red winter wheat was worth $1.60 to $1.65 and white winter wheat $1.75 to $1.80 per bushel. Lots in Archer's addition to the South Side were offered for sale in Novem- ber. The fierce struggle in Kansas began to attract attention and to kindle the wrath of Chicagoans. The large Stables of Frank Parmelee & Company at State and Randolph streets were com- pleted in December. The building operations in 1855 were enor- mous-were declared at the time to be greater than for any year. At the session of Congress 1854-55 the harbor bill was supported by General Cass, but Douglas worked against it and Pierce vetoed Vol. I-16.
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
it. This moved the Press of December 22 to observe: "The piers of Chicago harbor are going to wreck and ruin; the bar at the mouth of the harbor has seriously obstructed navigation and sundry vessels have been wrecked, and yet Mr. Douglas and Mr. Pierce can grant us no appropriations. True, the receipts of our custom- house for the past year will probably reach three-quarters of a mil- lion dollars, but Chicago cannot have appropriations for the improve- ment of her harbors."
About the close of 1855 an elaborate sewerage system for Chi- cago was decided upon. The district to be covered was bounded as follows : Division street on the north, Reuben on the west, North on the south, and Lake Michigan on the east. The important ques- tion was, Into what should the sewerage be drained? The follow- ing routes of drainage were proposed: 1. Into the river and its branches; 2. Directly into the lake; 3. Into artificial reservoirs, thence to be pumped up and used as fertilizing material; 4. Into the Chicago river, thence by the proposed steamboat canal into the Illinois river. After mature deliberation plan 1 above was adopted. Approximately State and Washington streets were the high lines or the ridges of the South Side, from which the drainage should radi- ate. On the North Side three main lines of drainage were neces- sary-into the Chicago river, into its North branch and into the lake. On the West Side all drainage was toward the North and South branches. The river was to be flushed from the canal and the lake. It was decided that the mains should be from five to six feet in diameter. The estimated cost of the existing (1855) sewer lines was as follows: South Side, $157,893 ; North Side, $156,522; West Side, $188,831. The drainage of the above described tract under the new system proposed in 1855 was estimated to cost $2,300,000.
In October, 1855, at a meeting of the old settlers of Chicago called to review early times, it was concluded to organize an old settlers' society, to be composed of all persons who settled in the country prior to January 1, 1835. At a subsequent meeting the following was one of the articles of the constitution adopted : "Article 3. None shall be eligible to membership in this society but the persons who resided in Chicago prior to January 1, 1837; and the male children of those who are now eligible to membership and who were born prior to that date, who shall become so eligible at the age of 21 years, and who desire to become members, must first sign the constitution and by-laws." Among those eligible to membership were the following :
Berwyn Jones, S. B. Cobb, O. J. Heacock, A. J. Pierce, John C. Rue, J. K. Botsford, Ashley Gilbert, James Clark, Dr. Harmon, J. A. Marshall, James Sin- clair, R. L. Wilson, John Calhoun, John S. Wright, George W. Snow, Thomas Cook, P. Ballingall, David Foote, John Foote, A. Lloyd, Frank Gilbertson, Ralph Gilbertson, Francis L. Sherman, Edwin Sherman, Henry Whitehead, Sergeant Adams, James Bickerdike, Timothy Wright, C. Harmon, Walter Kimball, Luther
269
HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
Nichols, P. F. W. Peck, George Bickerdike, Morgan Shapley, Jolın W. Kinzie, George W. Dole, G. S. Hubbard, Aaron H. Taylor, Dervat Taylor, Captain Johnson, C. P. Albee, Sanford Johnson, Jolın Davis, V. A. Boyer, John E. Kimberly, Henry Graves, Alex Robinson, Lewis A. Kimberly, Richard J. Hamilton, James Boyer, Philo Carpenter, Jacob Miller, Dr. Maxwell, William Jones, George Davis, John Noble, Edward Simons, Mark Noble, John L. Wilson, Starr Foote, Hibbard Porter, Orsemus Morrison, J. B. Beaubien, James Morrison, Ezekiel Morrison, Mark Beaubien, Dr. Kimberly, Dr. Egan, Frank Sherman, Thomas Church, E. H. Haddock, E. B. Williams, Joseph Meeker, Ashbel Steele, Rufus Brown, Lemuel Brown, John Miller, John Clark, Archi- bald Clybourn, Samuel Brooks, Charles Cleaver, A. N. Fullerton, Edward Wright, Stephen Gale, William H. Clarke, John Ludley, William Werencraft, Philip Reber, J. Berg, Anthony Berg, J. O. Humphrey, David Andrews. Oliver Lozier, Stephen Rexford, Ezra Jackson, Samuel Everden, Benjamin Butter- field, Zimri Butterfield, John Marshall, Robert Dewes, Samuel Aiken, George Herlington, Erastus Bowen, Leonard Hugunin, Robinson Tripp, Edwin Har- mon, Joseph P. Cook, Joel Ellis, W. W. Taylor, George Smith, Henry Brooks, Frederick Brooks John Spence, Louis Malzacker, Richard Sweet, Charles Walker, William Osborne, Burnett Bailey, Alonzo Huntington, George M. Gray, James Welden, Captain Johnson, J. K. Palmer, George T. Pearson, William Lill, James A. Smith, J. D. Harmon, David McIntosh, John C. Haines, Charles M. Gray, Joseph Kettlestrings, A. C. Wood, William Freeman, Isaac N. Harmon, David McIntosh; John H. Kinzie, 1804; Col. J. B. Beaubien, Mark Beaubien, Gurdon S. Hubbard, 1826; George W. Dole, 1828; Dr. Harmon, 1830; Mark Noble, 1831; John Noble, 1831; Capt. S. Johnson, 1832; J. S. Wright, 1832; John Bates, 1832.
In September, 1855, Chicago had 216 lawyers, 125 doctors, twenty-six banking and exchange offices, ninety-one lumber yards, fifty-seven hotels, sixty-four commission houses, sixty-six clothing houses, seventy-one boot and shoe stores, forty-six wagon and car- riage makers, twenty-one wholesale and 173 retail grocers, forty- five dry goods stores, twenty-six furniture stores, thirty-two hard- ware dealers, nineteen watch and jewerly stores, fifty-five drug stores, fifteen tinware and stove dealers, and ten breweries. Bull's Head was owned by E. Stevens before the summer of 1855, but at that time Belden & Sherman became its owners-hotel, yards, sta- bles, pens, scales, etc.
"Not the least important wonder of the age is the city of Chicago. Its rapid growth and immense trade are subjects of remark in every section of the Union and are beginning to excite the jealousy of older but less enterprising competitors in the strife for supremacy in the West."-(Charleston, Illinois, Courier, December, 1855.)
"In nine years we have paid the penalty of imperfect harbors to the tune of about $13,000,000, and increasing every year, not to speak of the loss of some thousands of lives. A glance at the record we have made will show that nine-tenths of the disasters of the present year have occurred from the want of harbors on the lakes, or from imperfect harbors, obstructed rivers and sand bars. In vain has the commercial public appealed to the Federal government for aid to improve our rivers and harbors. . Take our own harbor for an example. Not a storm occurs but thousands of dollars are sunk at our bars or dashed to pieces against our piers and breakwaters. The loss this year (1856) alone exceeds sixfold what
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
was wrung from Congress at the last session over the President's veto. The Federal government has been too keenly following the scent of Southern popularity to attend to the legitimate interests of the young and vigorous West. Our richly freighted vessels have been dashed to pieces and our seamen hurried into watery graves before the very eyes of statesmen who have been criminally indif- ferent to the fate of both." It was noted that in 1848 the loss on the lakes has been $404,830, while in 1855 the loss was $2,797,839. "Here is a tax upon the commercial interests of the West with a vengeance."-(Press, 1856.)
Nearly one hundred trains arrived and departed daily at the end of 1854. On February 16, 1852, there were forty miles of road completed with Chicago as a center; in January, 1856, there were 2,933 miles completed. In January, 1856, there were actually in operation in Illinois 2,410 miles of railway. Europe and the East had awakened to the importance of investing in the West. For the year 1855 the railway earnings, passenger and freight, of the roads centering in Chicago was $13,292,201.09; total earnings of all railways (forty miles) centering in Chicago January, 1852, was (estimated) $40,000. In January, 1856, fifty-eight passenger and thirty-eight freight trains arrived and departed at Chicago daily.
At the end of 1854 the railroads were completed as follows :
Chicago & Milwaukee.
40
miles
Illinois & Wisconsin.
41
miles
Galena & Chicago.
121
miles
Beloit branch, Galena.
20
miles
Beloit & Madison ..
1612 miles
Chicago & Galena Air Line.
98
miles
St. Charles branch.
4
miles
Central Military tract.
84
miles
Peoria & Oquewka.
35
miles
Chicago & Rock Island
181
miles
Peoria & Bureau Val.
47
miles
Chicago & Mississippi.
265
miles
Illinois Central
587
miles
Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana.
242
miles
Michigan Central.
282
miles
New Albany & Salem
284
miles
Total
2,4361/2 miles
On January 8, 1856, at daybreak the mercury stood at twenty- five degrees below zero, and at the same time the next morning, January 9, it stood at thirty below. So thick was the ice on the river that teams with heavy loads crossed and pleasure sleighs raced up and down on the main river and both branches .- (Democratic Press, January 15 and 17, 1856.) On February 3 the mer- cury stood at twenty-six below zero. Wide Awake Fire Company, No. 12, was organized in January. For the fiscal year ending February 1, 1856, the receipts of Chicago were $583,046.92 and
89
miles
Chicago & Aurora
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
the expenses $550,766.11. During the winter and spring of 1856 the grades of the three divisions were accurately laid off by the surveyors preparatory to the construction of sewers.
A merchants' exchange building was proposed in April, 1856. Soundings were made and a full description of how to enter the harbor over the bar was published in the newspapers. Again in April, 1856, as for several years past, railway trains from the East were crowded with emigrants for the West. In 1833 H. C. West owned eighty feet on Lake street at the northwest corner of Lake and Clark ; he paid $300 for it on a debt and felt cheated. In the fall of 1833 he sold it for $1,000 and felt he had made a big bar- gain, as he really had. In 1856 the same lot was worth $100,000. At the port of Chicago in 1855 the imports were $191,524,165.13 and the exports $214,118,318.25, according to Colonel Graham in the Democratic Press of May 6, 1856. On May 8 the Council authorized the issue of $100,000 worth of city bonds, bearing 6 per cent interest and due in twenty years, to be used for general munici- pal purposes. They were sold to B. F. Carver of Chicago for 901/2 cents on the dollar. The Democratic Press of May 21 said: "It is the first time bonds to so large an amount have been negotiated among our own capitalists and shows that we long ago predicted that we are rapidly becoming independent of Wall street." The dredge was busy removing the bar at the harbor entrance May, 1856.
In May, 1856, an organization, the Chicago South Branch Canal company, composed of William Green, Charles Stetson and W. S. Sampson of Cincinnati, Colonel Mason, Colonel Fish, A. G. Throop and W. L. Sampson of Chicago, bought a tract of 151 acres on the South branch, including the site of the State Fair in 1855, paying therefor $4,000 per acre, or $604,000 for the whole tract. They proceeded immediately to dredge the South branch and to dig canals 100 feet wide at right angles to the river and 250 feet deep. This was the foundation of the first great dock system at Chicago. Sleeping cars on the railroads made their first appearance here in 1856. They would not be looked at now (1909) except with surprise and incredulity, but then (1856) were regarded as the acme of com- fort and luxuriance. On June 25 there were in store here 542,472 bushels of corn. It was about this time that Chicago hackmen be- came the worst robbers, thieves, bandits, rapers of women, and vil- lains and criminals generally that ever infested any community ; severe measures were necessary to suppress their outrages and crimes. During a heavy rain in July nearly all cellars and base- ments of the city were flooded. On July 7 it was ninety-seven de- grees in the shade. The new Randolph street bridge was opened in July ; its bottom was eighteen feet above the river, thus permit- ting tugs to pass under by lowering their smokestacks.
The city hospital was built under the direction of the Board of
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272
HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
Health and the corner stone was laid in June, 1856. Among the founders were George P. Hanson, George W. Dole, Doctor Mc- Vicker and Isaac Speer. It was located on La Salle street between Old and New, two miles south of the river, and cost about $75,000. Chicago by position, canal, railways, etc., was the natural depot for the West. She did not grow any faster than the country. Her growth was not to be compared to that of other cities, because she was vastly, differently situated. She grew as the Western country grew. Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota-all were building her up. Other cities did not grow thus because they had but a limited tributary country. The citizens did nothing but won- der-were open-mouthed at their own growth and grandeur. To say that the enterprise of the citizens or the efforts of individuals made Chicago is idle and incorrect. God Almighty first made the divide; Joliet, second, called attention to it; the canal builders, third, utilized it, and the railways, fourth, supplemented it. Lake Michigan made Chicago largely. This was the end of water as it was the beginning of railways to the West. In 1856 enough people to form two states found their way west of Lake Michigan. In 1856 the Dean Richmond loaded with wheat at the wharves of Chicago and unloaded at the wharves of Liverpool. Steamers ran to the head of Lake Superior. Its situation at the terminus of the great lakes; water communication with the Mississippi; access to the great Illinois coal belt; contact by rail with the lead, iron and copper mines of the Mississippi and Lake Superior regions; in the heart of an agriculture empire and in a genial climate-were the substantial advantages possessed by Chicago.
The Lake street bridge was nearly ready. The Wells street bridge was ready August 4. On August 21 white winter wheat was worth $1.28 to $1.30. This was the time of the "bridge and tug war." The latter demanded the prompt opening of the river whenever they had occasion to pass, but the latter insisted on recog- nizing the rights of the public as well; violence was resorted to, but in the end an ordinance requiring the boats to lower their chim- neys settled the dispute. The new Richmond house was opened in October. On the 13th of that month the Chicago Reform school on the lake shore south of the city was destroyed by fire ; it consisted of four buildings connected together and had been the old county poorhouse. The loss was about $800: the Council promptly appro- priated $3,500 for a new building. The Board of Trade and busi- ness men generally still clung to the idea of the great importance to Chicago of the trade with Canada and Liverpool through the St. Lawrence valley. In October, 1856. the Board of Trade assem- bled at their new rooms in Steele's building at the corner of South Water and La Salle streets. It was particularly noted that on October 19, 1856. one Chicago merchant bought on 'Change corn for immediate delivery to the amount of 145,000 bushels. It was regarded as a remarkably large transaction.
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
In October, 1856, 112 policemen were employed, which number was thirty-two more than the ordinance allowed. On November 10 red winter wheat was worth 94 to 95 cents, and white winter $1. The wrecks on the lake in 1856 were unprecedented in number and value, and from all sides came the cry for better harbors. Prior to December, 1856, the extent of sewerage laid under the new law was as follows: Of six-foot bore, 1,596 feet; five-foot bore, 6,084 feet; four-foot bore, 1,024 feet; three-foot bore, 280 feet; two and one-half foot bore, 1,352 feet; two-foot bore, 12,062 feet; one-foot bore, 3,304 feet; total, 31,662 feet, or almost exactly six miles. During 1856 the following expense was incurred: Wells street bridge, cost $19,182; Chicago avenue bridge, $4,013; Randolph street bridge, $20,811; Rush street bridge, $15,825; repairing South Water street bridge, $13,299; paving Lake, State and Market streets, $29,510. The following work was in progress: New float bridge at Indiana street, $5,000; same at Erie street, $5,000; same at Polk street, $5,000; new iron draw bridge at Madison street, $30,000; improvement of the harbor at Dearborn Point, $40,000; improvement of the harbor around Blocks 6, 7 and 14, Old Town, $43,000. The Democratic Press of December 15 said: "Chicago has already passed that point in her commercial history from which must date the ability and disposition of her citizens to engage in stock and other speculative financial transactions incident to the accumulating of capital."
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