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 26
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The direct Chicago and Liverpool grain trade was established by C. Y. Richmond, the sailing vessel "Dean Richmond" making the first trip from one port to the other. The box receipts of the Chicago postoffice for the year ending June 30, 1856, were $5,717. This was greater than those of Washington, Buffalo, Detroit, Cin- cinnati and Baltimore, but less than those of Boston ($9,674), Philadelphia ($5,863), St. Louis ($6,000) and New York ($25,- 572). A new policeman arrested a drunken man on the Illinois Central tracks and charged him with obstructing the railway.
A big fire on August 13, 1856, destroyed the Michigan Southern and Rock Island freight depots, the Rock Island and Walker hotels and other property to the amount of $100,000. In the fall of 1856 the Massasoit hotel was opened on South Water Street. On Janu- ary 2, 1857, the lake was frozen out farther than ever was known before and many skaters went out in safety several miles. The Democratic Press of January 3 said : "At 4 o'clock at least a thou- sand boys and men were skimming the glassy surface, many quite as far out as they could be seen from the shore." At this date red winter wheat was worth $1.06, and white winter $1.15. Chicago forwarders were sharply criticised for putting on extra charges for handling goods here shipped from Eastern points to places west of this city. The "back charges," as they were called, were de- clared to be unfair, because the consignee had no voice as to how
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
much he should pay the Chicago forwarder. Western merchants claimed they not only took the profits but the goods also. William B. Ogden still continued to press the project of a steamboat chan- nel from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river.
POSTMASTERS.
Years.
Commissions.
Expenses.
Surplus.
J. S. C. Hogar
1836
$2,148
$ 300
. ...
Sidney Abell
1837
2,835
1,804
Sidney Abell
1838
4,456
2,649
Sidney Abell
1839
4,778
2,820
Sidney Abell
1840
5,081
2,943
$ 138
Sidney Abell
1841
4,571
2,604
William Stewart.
1842
5,293
3,368
....
William Stewart.
1843
6,263
4,274
..
....
William Stewart.
1845
7,963
5,329
643
H. L. Stewart.
1847
7,897
6,175
....
H. L. Stewart.
1848
9,681
7,674
6
R. L. Wilson
1850
14,630
11,863
766
G. W. Dole
1851
13,704
8,766
2,937
G. W. Dole
1852
13,894
9,900
1,993
G. W. Dole
1853
17,573
13,179
2,394
Isaac Cook
1854
30,356
21,645
6,711
Isaac'Cook.
1855
50,364
32,204
$16,159
Isaac Cook.
1856
65,804
41,130
:22,673
....
William Stewart.
1844
7,228
5,259
H. L. Stewart.
1846
7,228
5,234
H. L. Stewart.
1849
12,488
10,535
The Illinois game law went into effect on January 15, 1857- on deer, quail, prairie chicken, wild turkey, pheasant, woodcock, etc. Prior to this a city ordinance had in a small measure pro- tected such game. On January 22 it was sixteen degrees below zero, and on the 23d twenty below. Early in 1857 work was commenced on Dearborn hall, a building 62. by 100 feet on Dear- born, between Lake and Randolph. The city in January and February made a determined fight against watered milk. The report of the water commissioners in February, 1857, showed that a total of fifty-two and one-half miles of pipes had been laid. The Democratic Press, speaking in February of the large business houses of the city, said: "One of these firms handled during the business season of 1856 the aggregate of $15,000,000 in their transactions in grain and other descriptions of produce. There has passed through their hands 5,256,000 bushels of grain, mostly wheat. Their check account at a single one of our banking institutions foots up nearly eight millions of dollars."
The old cemetery (now a part of Lincoln park) was declared in February, 1857, to be too small and too near the city, and a new one was demanded. It was proposed to trade the old one, consist- ing of over sixty acres, for a tract of 640 acres owned by C. V. Dyer ten miles south of the city, and $30,000 to be paid in ten years.
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
The tract was at Riley's tavern and the little village of Comorn. A new city charter was discussed in January and February, 1857. By act of February 16, 1857, the Chicago Hydraulic company was authorized to borrow, in addition to sums previously specified, the sum of $500,000, but not for more than 7 per cent interest.
The city balance sheet for 1856 gave the following statistics : Cost of fire department, $81,264 ; health, $32,136; interest, $40,797 ; loans, $103,543 ; salaries, $43,761; schools, $70,990; police, $99,- 972. The total expense of the general fund was $678,137.77; total funded or bonded debt, $535,000; total liabilities, $639,661. An additional ward-the Tenth-was added to the city early in 1857. On March 7 red winter wheat was worth $1.05 to $1.10 and white winter $1.15 to $1.20. It was noted often during the early years of the city's history that at no time did accommodation keep pace with population and improvement. The city government in every department struggled far in the rear to keep up with development and growth. Although the city government was restricted to bor- row but $100,000 in any one year, it had gone to the limit for several years and thus was deeply in debt for improvement to its water, sewerage and other systems. Mayor Wentworth in his in- augural of March, 1857, said :
"While our city government is amply sufficient for us, we are paying largely for a county government which would be entirely unnecessary save for our relations to certain territory outside our city limits which cannot be conveniently attached to any other county. This territory is so scattered around our city that it cannot be erected into a single county. From their location the inhabitants of the country towns affiliate more with our citizens than they do with each other. Thus naturally they throw the responsibility of county government upon us, while we are almost entirely indifferent to it, as will be seen by the small number of votes cast at the election of ward supervisors. We have a city assessor and county assessor, a city treasurer and county treasurer, a city physician and county physician, a city attorney and county attorney, and so on, dupli- cating almost every city officer. In many cases, no doubt, there is an understanding between these duplicates to divide work with each other and thus make our tax payers pay twice for work that need be done but once. Our county taxes have increased without good cause. Our supervisors meet too often and pay themselves too much for their services. No alderman can be interested in any city contract, nor hold any office the salary for which comes out of the city treasury. The reverse is the case with the supervisors, and they are not at all modest in appointing one another to office. Indeed, it is very seldom that they go out of their own board in their selections. These supervisors appoint themselves dis- bursing officers for their own towns. They generally take the money as soon as it is appropriated and then account to each other
276
HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
for its expenditure. There is no responsibility beyond themselves, while each has a personal interest in not questioning the account of his fellow supervisor. And I know of no particular instance of wrong done among our supervisors, but such practices have never failed in the end to lead to the greatest abuse and corruption. I suggest the appointment of a committee on county relations. There is now in our county treasury nearly one hundred thousand dollars of surplus money. The taxes of this year will greatly increase this amount. And yet our county has bonds outstanding upon which we are paying 10 per cent interest. Thus in our county, as often in our city, money has been borrowed at high rates of interest to lie idle in the hands of officials, or to be loaned out at their pleasure at from 2 to 5 per cent a month."
The new office of city comptroller gave satisfaction in 1857 by placing before the people a more detailed and better knowledge of municipal affairs. C. G. Hammond occupied this office in 1857, with a salary of $4,000, the highest ever paid to a city official. At this date, owing to the want of suitable ordinances or the lack of their rigid execution, crime and outrage were rampant. The hack- men continued to be robbers, highwaymen and swindlers and were guilty of more than one attack on women. In one case even several members of a fire department seized a respectable woman, compelled her to enter their building and there abused her. The police were involved in these outrages. They were in civilian's dress, with nothing but a star to distinguish them. Often they pocketed their stars and engaged in outrages without being discovered. The bar at the harbor entrance continued to cause annoyance and loss. Under President Jackson five bills appropriating money to the amount of $162,000 for Chicago harbor had been passed. One was passed under Van Buren, two under Tyler, one under Fillmore, but Polk and Pierce vetoed all river and harbor bills that came before them. The press of the city contested sharply for the ap- pointment as corporation newspaper and paid a bonus to get it; before 1856 $100 had been paid by one newspaper and $350 by another. In 1856 $3,000 was paid for the appointment. In the following extract from Mayor Wentworth's inaugural in 1857 he probably referred to Allan Pinkerton and associates when he speaks of "a highly respectable police":
"Our police system has been gradually falling into disrepute, and it is a lamentable fact that while our citizens are heavily taxed to support a large police force, a highly respectable private police is doing a lucrative business. Our citizens have ceased to look to the public police for protection, for the detection of culprits, or the recovery of stolen property."
The act of February 13, 1857, incorporated the Lake Michigan and Chicago Canal company and authorized it to construct a canal from the South branch of Chicago river to Lake Michigan, the
277
HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
canal "to be located on the most eligible route between the south line of the city and the south line of Sections 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, Township 38 north, Range 14 east in Cook county, or with the consent of the Common Council of the city of Chicago and the owners of property adjacent thereto, between the south line of said city and the south line of South street in said city," also to construct piers and breakwaters on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the canal. The company was authorized to take for its use a strip of land not over 300 feet wide. The capital was fixed at $500,000, but could be increased. The corporate powers were vested in a board of directors which could make its own rules and regulations and could fix its own rate of toll. They were authorized to borrow money for construction purposes. Nothing was done.
Under Mayor Wentworth, for the first time in the annals of the city, policemen were required to wear certain caps on which were their stars and numbers, and hackmen were required to wear brass plates or badges. County supervisors were elected from the towns of the county and also from the wards of the city. William Price became postmaster in April, 1857. A terrible gale in April de- stroyed much property. In April, 1857, new and vigorous demands for a higher grade for the streets were made. It was proposed ' to raise the streets thirteen feet above low water mark, which would necessitate raising them an average of about three feet above their grade in 1857. A mass meeting demanded the thirteen-foot grade. The Burlington (Iowa) Board of Trade complained of the back charges of Chicago forwarders. The wholesale trade of the city was enormous in the spring of 1857, as was also the emi- gration westward.
For many years the sand disposits on the north side of the river adjoining the lake had continued to grow until in 1857 they num- bered many acres of solid ground. From the start squatters had located thereon, laid out rude streets, built shanties and fenced in small patches for gardens and yards and otherwise made themselves at home. They paid no rent and soon they paid little or no atten- tion to law. Occasional raids of the police served only to unite them for mutual protection against their deadly enemies-police- . men and landlords. By 1857 the whole tract called "The Sands" was covered with shanties and was the resort and retreat of the rabble, tramps, thieves, criminals, etc., of every description. It was not safe for a policeman to venture there alone even in the daytime. Should he do so, like lightning the wireless message flew to all parts of the tract. There would be a hurrying and skurrying ; hos- tilities to his intrusion would be manifested; no information what- ever would be given him; and if he attempted any liberties, missiles of every description would assail him from a score of clapboard ramparts, until he took pleasure in retreat and delight in escape, regardless of official dignity. Processes of law demanding their
278
HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
evacuation were met by threats and open and vigorous battle. Pre- vious to 1857 raids had been made upon the dwellers there and they had thus been kept from openly attempting to ransack and destroy the city-at least in daylight. In the spring of 1857 it was deter- mined to break up this haunt of crime. Accordingly a sheriff's posse numbering about a score visited the tract, tore down about sixty shanties which had previously been marked, and generally renovated that section and placed it under the eye of the police. Those who submitted and paid their rent were usually permitted to remain-about twenty shanties in all. This raid cleared "The Sands," but the criminals moved a few blocks to the westward and soon were even more formidable, wicked and defiant than ever. It was even necessary later to again raid "The Sands."
Alderman Coughlin was convicted of misdemeanor on election day and sentenced to pay a fine of $250 and to an imprisonment of two months. On May 1 inmates of the bridewell numbered 104; ninety-three were committed in April. Small hotels and merchants, hackmen and salesmen-many of them-were guilty of extortion at this date. Offenses of every description poured like a flood over the inefficient legal restraints until the Council controlled them with ordinance after ordinance. In May, 1857, it was ordered that Twelfth street from the river westward to the city limits should be planked six feet wide with three-inch oak, at a cost of $19,534, to be assessed upon the property benefited. The same was ordered for Van Buren street from the canal to the Southwest plank road, at a cost of $11,927 ; the same for Canal street from Van Buren to Old, at a cost of $20,814; and the same for Van Buren from the South branch to Clark, at a cost of $5,420. This was the first move- ment to plank the streets outside of the down-town district. The "runner" nuisance had become unendurable; they infested the boat landings and railroad depots and kidnapped passengers if they could not secure them any other way; they were regulated by ordinance. In May, 1857, in an excavation on South Water street between State and Wabash, numbers of skeletons of white men were uncovered by the workmen; they were supposed to be those of General Scott's soldiers who had died of cholera in 1832 and been buried in un- marked graves; the bones were removed to the city cemetery. In a raid on gambling dens in May $2,500 worth of property was con- fiscated.
On May 28 spring wheat was worth $1.23 to $1.30 and winter wheat $1.60; hogs, $5 to $5.50; cattle, $5.50. A squad of town and city officials in May were indicted, tried and found guilty of being in league with disreputable houses and criminals. Thomas G. Prendergast, police magistrate and justice of the peace, and Charles O. Malley, acting justice of the peace, were thus convicted. Messrs. Ford, Quinn and Nolan were convicted of blackmail and extortion. There was an enormous increase in "police cases" during
279
HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
the spring and summer of 1857. It was now the regular custom for tugs to take vessels out beyond the harbor. Long John Wentworth made a model mayor; he tore precedent and obstruction to tatters; uprooted crime, cleaned the streets, enforced order and economy, regulated the municipal departments and made the city a city in fact instead of a dirty, disorganized village, with hogs on the streets and crime in the doggeries. A line of propellers ran regularly to Collingwood, Canada. The Rush street bridge was opened in June; it was a double draw with a center pier, and worked on a pivot; it was 210 feet long, had a clearance of eighteen feet and cost nearly $50,000.
"Urbs in Horto-A City in a Garden .- It was once true of our city. It is still on our municipal seal, but the din of business and the rise of block after block of iron, marble and brick stores, ware- houses, mills and manufactories are fast destroying the truth of our motto and driving our garden afar from the dusty streets. The time is fast approaching, nay, is even now upon us, when our mer- chants and our solid men, our clerks, our lawyers, will seek their homes without the din and bustle of business in quiet suburban retreats. And of these none is probably more delightful than Hyde Park, five miles south of the river, on the lake shore."-(Press, June 20, 1857.) "Boston has its Malden, its Auburndale and its Melrose; New York has its Staten Island and its Brooklyn Heights; and Chicago will have its Hyde Park, its Highland Park, and its Evanston. Our citizens are now looking about for residences out of town."-(Press, June 22, 1857.)
The act of February 14, 1857, incorporated the Brighton Hotel and Stock Yards company with capital of $50,000, located at or near Brighton, in Cook county. The object was to establish a cattle, sheep, hog and horse market, with all necessary buildings to care for the animals. The company was authorized to build a hotel and to borrow money on the pledge of its property. The act of February 22, 1861, changed the name of the "Brighton Hotel and Stock Yards company" to "Brighton company." On February 5, 1857, the Chicago Merchants' Exchange company was incorporated by George Steele, John P. Chapin, Samuel B. Pomeroy, James Peck, Julian S. Rumsey, Edward K. Rogers, Thomas Richmond, Thomas Hall, Walter L. Newberry, Edmund D. Taylor, Hiram Wheeler, George Armour, Elisha Wadsworth and Walter S. Gurnee. The objects were declared to be to promote the commercial interests of Chicago and to formulate rules to facilitate the transaction of busi- ness among merchants and traders in the city.
So great were the number of burglaries and other crimes in June, 1857, that the Democratic Press published daily lists of them, duly numbered; from two to eight occurred each night. By June 27 there were forty-eight burglaries for that month alone. Many hackmen were convicted and punished for passing counterfeit money
280
HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
on travelers; they had made a business of it. The ordinance for the new thirteen-foot grade was being carried into effect at this time. In July it was dicided to add another story to the courthouse. The Fourth of July was duly celebrated by the militia and fire companies. On that day the corner stone of Chicago University was laid at Cot- tage Grove, Stephen A. Douglas and Isaac N. Arnold delivering appropriate addresses. On July 14, 1857, the "Madeira Pet," a British schooner direct from Liverpool with a cargo of earthen and china ware, hardware, cutlery, Britannia ware, paint, iron, etc., entered the Chicago river; its displacement was 123 tons. One hundred guns were fired to celebrate the event. The Chicago Press of July 15 said: "This event is regarded as one of the most im- portant and significant in the commercial history of our city." The Board of Trade passed the following resolution: "That we hail the arrival at this port of the 'Madeira Pet' direct from Liverpool as the pioneer of an immense foreign trade soon to be opened be- tween Chicago and Europe." The "Dean Richmond" had gone from Chicago to Liverpool in 1856.
In the autumn of 1855 the Illinois Central began to use coal- burning locomotives-the first here. City rents were ruinously high. Proprietors of daily newspapers were forced by the Associated Press of New York to pay exorbitant sums for telegraphic service and complained bitterly and repeatedly. At this time 'Change recognized seven grades of wheat; in July it was proposed to cut them down to four. The Cook County Agricultural and Horti- tural society, with Edgar Sanders president, was organized in July at the office of the Prairie Farmer. In August, 1857, the "Madeira Pet" cleared for Liverpool with a cargo of 4,000 cured hides. It was escorted out of the harbor with much ceremony. An omnibus line ran four times daily between Chicago and Holstein; lots there sold for $125 to $300. That suburb was high, rolling and drained to the North branch. It was about half a mile west of Ward's roll- ing mill on the north branch and about three miles from the Lake street bridge; John Donlin sold lots there. Steps to have branch postoffices in different parts of the city were taken in August, 1857. A ferry on the river at Polk street was upset and thirty persons were thrown into the river; no lives were lost. Union park was being greatly improved and beautified in August.
The panic of 1857 was heralded here by the refusal of the banks to grant discounts on any terms and by the failure of the business house of Loomis, Abbott & Chapman. A little later Thomas George & Company failed. Brokers were waiting like hawks to swoop down upon the banks at the least excuse. Frost & Bradley (lumber) and Higginbotham & White (dry goods) went down about the middle of September. Fraser & Carr (dry goods), B. F. Farnsworth, G. F. Hamilton and John S. Wright also failed before September 22. Soon banks and bankers began to go down. Ben-
-
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
son & Kingsbury, Baker & Davidson, F. B. Gardner & Company, Seymour & Woodruff and others were forced to close. The con- sternation and dismay were complete. The Press of October 15 said: "It is with pride that we record the fact that Chicago yet stands." One of the worst fires in the history of the city occurred here October 19; twenty-two lives were lost, eighteen bodies were recovered, and property worth $676,200 was destroyed.
A fire brigade was at once planned and to be composed of "a picked corps of men, duly qualified for their functions by the city, to be in attendance at fires, to preserve order, remove and guard property exposed, and by their trained skill lessen the confusion, check pilfering, and generally add to the efficiency of the fire de- partment."-(Press, October 29, 1857.) The plan was proposed by E. E. Ellsworth and approved by the underwriters. The Citi- zens' Fire Brigade was accordingly organized.
On November 5 red winter wheat was worth 68 to 78 cents and white winter 80 to 90 cents. One of the results of the panic of 1857 was the united demand of tenants in November for a reduction of rents. Thousands were thrown out of employment, and their care was a serious question for the city fathers and others. Martin Quinlan, city sexton, and several medical students were indicted in November on the charge of robbing graves in the cemetery for the purpose of dissection. The Press of December 3 said: "Uncle Sam's new customhouse and postoffice on Dearborn street is at last beginning to make its appearance above ground." It fronted eighty- two feet on Monroe and 163 feet on Dearborn; Colonel James was the contractor. It was built under the appropriation of August 4, 1854, and cost a total of $434,894. The total spent for city im- provements in 1857 was over $604,000. Six new bridges and repairs cost $112,000; grading the streets to the new datum, $275,- 023 ; Dearborn park, $16,000; two new schoolhouses, a city hos- pital, three new fire engine houses and a city armory, $111,150; dredging and improving the river, $90,000. The dailies at this time were the Press, Times, Democrat, Staats Zeitung, Journal, Tribune and Union; all were Republican except the Times (Demo- cratic) and the Union (Independent).
For six weeks prior to January 9, 1858, the weather was as fine, fair and mild as April. Hundreds were out of employ- ment in January-were willing to work for 50 cents per day. The new city directory of January, 1858, gave the following statistics : Hotels, eighty; real estate agents, ninety-three; lumber dealers, ninety-three; wholesale grocers, thirty; retail grocers, 380; wholesale dry goods, fifteen; retail dry goods, forty-two; retail clothiers, seventy-three; boarding houses, 240; saloons, 370.
Mayor Wentworth, upon vetoing an ordinance increasing the salaries of certain city officials, made the following observations : "The chief inducements that I had, for only a single year, to accept
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
the office of mayor, which demanded more of my time than I ought to spare from private avocations, were to liquidate the increasing floating debt of our city and thereby save its greatly endangered credit, to prepare the way for a great reduction in taxes, and effectu- ally prevent the further issue of city bonds. Few of our citizens are aware that the right to borrow money has been considered a legitimate source of revenue. The charter limits this right to $100,000 per year ; and after taxing the people to the extreme limit of the charter it has been considered proper to add this annual issue of $100,000 of bonds. Nor has this profligate expenditure of money stopped here. A floating debt has been accumulated and handed down from one administration to another, until I found upon my hands, in coming into office, liabilities to be extinguished during my year of quite a quarter of a million dollars. The funded debt of the city is $535,000 exclusive of what is due by the Board of Sewerage and Water Commissioners. During my year not only the interest on this sum had to be paid, but $25,000 of the principal. So that $300,000 had to be collected from this year's taxes, for which this administration is in no way responsible. The Water Commissioners have borrowed $846,000 at 6 per cent. The Sewer- age Commissioners have borrowed $220,000 at 6 and 7 per cent. . To meet all this we received money in the treasury March 10, . 1857, $64,464.88; tax warrants of 1856, $24,003.96; total, $88,- 468.84. Deduct this from the liabilities that were handed down to us, and this administration may be said to have been inaugurated with no money in the treasury and a debt of over $200,000 to be provided for, besides paying its own expenses. . . . It has been my aim to make the proceeds of the licenses and police court fines pay all the expenses of the police department and also of the bridewell. We have received from licenses $74,248.81, and from fines $26,- 829.77 ; total, $101,077.58 in ten months. The whole expense of our police and bridewell department service amounts of only $80,- 132.62."
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