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 28
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By August 27, 1860, the city had nearly forty-seven miles of sewers, six miles being laid in 1860. The system had cost. up to July 1 a total of $748,181.43. It was recognized at the time that the system was only in its infancy and that perhaps the most im- portant step thus far had been raising the grade. It was also admit- ted that the next most important step was to dig a channel and force the water of Chicago river into Illinois river. The various plans talked of at this time were as follows:, 1. To cut down the summit of the Illinois and Michigan canal; 2. To dig a new channel through Mud Lake to the Des Plaines; 3. To dig a steamboat canal 200 feet wide and six feet deep; 4. The same twelve and a half feet deep.
Prince Napoleon, second son of Jerome Bonaparte, was at the Tremont house Septmber 2. Said the Tribune of September 5: "A New Public Park .- A public park of eighty acres in extent is being rapidly formed in the North division. The park will embrace the extreme northern section of the cemetery grounds and is already underbrushed and laid out with roadways." The Mechanics' Insti- tute fair at the Wigwam was a success in September. There were in Chicago at this time fourteen public schools, three universities, six libraries, four asylums, five hospitals, nineteen Masonic lodges,
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eleven Odd Fellow lodges, two Good Templar lodges, three benevo- lent societies, two medical colleges, two musical societies, two theo- logical seminaries, four cemeteries, two theaters, one law institute, and fourteen public halls. Graceland cemetery, with seventy acres, two miles north of the city limits, was dedicated on August 30; Thomas B. Bryan was president. Wheat rose 20 cents a bushel in August. An attempt to burn the Rock Island bridge, presumably at the instigation of St. Louis persons, kindled the wrath of Chicago this year; it was supposed to be an attempt to divert the trade be- yond the Mississippi from Chicago to St. Louis. On September 1 there were received here 190,396 bushels of wheat, the largest amount ever received up to date in one day ; on September 5, 192,394 bushels were received. The loss of the steamer "Lady Elgin" on Friday night, September 7, sixteen miles north of Chicago and twelve miles off Winnetka, caused intense grief and horror here and throughout the country; Spencer and Combs, students of the Garrett Biblical Institute, heroically saved many lives by swimming out and rescuing them in the surf. The steamer was owned by Gur- don S. Hubbard and collided with the schooner "Augusta," laden with lumber. For weeks after the event the shore was patrolled by watches to recover the bodies washed up. Nearly four hundred persons were lost; bodies were found as late as the last of October. Several unidentified bodies were buried at Rosehill.
The Prince of Wales, traveling as Lord Renfrew, arrived here on September 21 and stopped at the Richmond house. He came from . Detroit over the Michigan Central and was received by a large crowd at the station. A committee consisting of William B. Ogden, John Wentworth, William Bross and W. McComas, was author- ized to welcome him and suite to Chicago and Illinois. He declined a public reception-wanted rest, but showed himself to the public from the balcony of the hotel and rode around the city. A newspaper called the Tribune was started here by Mr. Ryan as early as 1838. Later it was discontinued and in 1847 another Tribune made its appearance. It was united with the Press in the fifties under the name of Press and Tribune and on October 25, 1860, the name Press was dropped and since that date the paper has been issued as the Tribune. Dr. William B. Egan died on October 27, 1860; he had come here in the fall of 1833 and had located on the North Side. He owned the Tremont house corner-paid $500 and $200 in medi- cal attendance for it. He delivered the oration when the ground was broken for the canal. The propeller "Globe" blew up in the river at Wells street in November, killing about fifteen persons.
The new Postoffice and Custom House at Dearborn and Monroe was first occupied on November 20, 1860. During the fall of 1860 the following among other ceremonies were held in the Wigwam: Mechanics' fair, Zouave receptions, a concert, three days festival of the Catholics, tornado relief concert, obsequies of Capt. Jack Wil-
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son of the "Lady Elgin;" Sabbath school concerts, and religious services every Sunday evening. It was noted in 1860 that the street cars were robbing the omnibus lines of their passengers. An excel- lent skating pond was on Wabash, north of Twelfth. Col. Richard J. Hamilton died here on December 26, at the house of his son-in- law, Murray F. Tuley.
Emigration to the West reached high water mark in 1856, after which it declined until 1860, when it nearly doubled that of 1859, but later fell off, owing to the war. By March, 1861, the total number of miles of railroad centering in Chicago was 4,915; total receipts of grain in 1860, with flour expressed in wheat were 36,504,772, with total shipments expressed in same, 31,256,697 bushels, the largest ever known up to that date; the total receipts of corn were 15,487,966 bushels; hogs packed, 101,816; live hogs shipped, 133,612; hogs reecived, 275,095; cattle packed, 25,209; live cattle shipped, 104,122. The slaughter houses at Bridgeport were considered a great nuisance in March, 1861; their removal was talked of. Nathan H. Bolles, an old and prominent settler, died at this time. In the warehouses here in March were stored 4,300,000 bushels of grain. In 1861 four suits aggregating $280,000 were begun against the sewerage commissioners-Sylvester Lind, Philip Conley and S. D. Webster, who were that amount short in their accounts.
The act of February 18, 1861, provided that no encroachment should be made upon the land or water west of a line mentioned in the second section of an ordinance concerning the Illinois Central railroad (which line was not less than four hundred feet east from the west line of Michigan avenue and parallel thereto), by any rail- road company ; that no cars should be permitted to occupy the same; that the City Council should never allow any encroachment west of said line; that any person owning a lot on Michigan avenue should have the right to enjoin any company or persons from violating the above provision; that "neither the Common Council nor any other authority should ever have the power to permit encroachments on said tract without the assent of all persons owning lots or land on said street or avenue, 'because of the fact that the State of Illinois by its canal commissioners had declared that the public ground east of said lots should forever remain open and vacant.'"
The act of February 21, 1861, provided for the organization in Chicago of an executive department of the municipal government to be known as "The Board of Police of the City of Chicago" to consist of three commissioners to be chosen from the three princi- pal divisions of the city and to have control of the police force of the city. It was made their duty to preserve the public peace, to pre- vent crime, to arrest offenders, to protect the rights of persons and property, to guard the public health, to preserve order, to remove nuisances, to provide a proper police force at every fire, to protect
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strangers and travelers at stations and landings, and to obey and enforce all ordinances of the Common Council. It was provided that the acts of the police department should be under the control of the board and that there should be a general superintendent of police, three captains, one deputy superintendent, six sergeants and sixty police patrol and as many more of the latter as should be ordered by the Council on the application of the board of police. It was also provided that the city could be divided into police pre- cincts or districts without regard to ward boundaries and could be governed the same as the board should deem best. The board could appoint captains and sergeants to certain precincts and provide precinct stations. The supervisors of Cook County were empowered to raise by tax money sufficient to carry this act into effect. The Board of Police was given all the powers theretofore conferred by law upon the Mayor of Chicago. In March, 1861, Mayor Went- worth, acting under this law, discharged the entire police force and appointed three police commissioners-Tuttle, Wayman and Cov- entry-under whose reorganization the force was as follows: Gen- eral superintendent of police salary, $1,500; his deputy, $1,200; three captains, each, $700; six sergeants, each, $650; sixty patrol- men, each, $600.
In 1861 the Legislature passed a joint resolution providing that the board of trustees of the Illinois and Michigan canal should cause a prompt and thorough survey, examination and estimates to be made of the Illinois river, the Illinois and Michigan canal and por- tions of the Des Plaines and the Chicago rivers, and of the portage between said rivers "for the purpose of accurately ascertaining the comparative value, cost, efficiency, benefits and advantages, direct, prospective and incidental, of the different methods proposed or de- sirable for improving the navigation of the Illinois river." The Chicago Board of Underwriters was incorporated February 22, 1861, by T. L. Miller, Julius White, H. B. Wilmarth, C. N. Holden, S. T. Atwater, B. W. Phillips, S. C. Higginson and Alfred James. Isaac Cook, postmaster, resigned in March, 1861. The Skating Park company, formerly the South Side Skating Pond company, offered their park at Michigan avenue and Twelfth street to the volunteers for a parade ground in April, 1861. Under the ordi- nance of April 26, all the indebtedness of Chicago contracted prior to April 1, was liquidated by the issuance of new bonds to the amount of $343,114.74. The total city debt at this time was $588,303.61. The city owed the cemetery fund $6,477.01; the school tax fund $3,472.05; and the Reform School fund, $15,654.05. On April 27. 1861, there were run off on the Tribune double cylinder press 27,000 copies of that paper, the largest edition printed here up to that date. The New Sherman House was opened in the spring of 1861.
On May 26, 1861, the large main pipe, three hundred and thirty
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feet long, of the Gas Light & Coke company, was laid across the river at Franklin street. About June 1 the Times was sold in part by C. H. McCormick to Wilbur F. Storey of Detroit. Owing to the war, business here in the spring of 1861 was unsettled, erratic and more or less hazardous.
In June, 1861, the city had eight steam fire engines as follows : South Side-"Long John," with eleven men and four horses at La Salle, near Washington; "Enterprise," ten men and five horses, State, near Congress; "Little Giant," nine men and two horses, Dearborn, near Washington; "Economy," eight men and two horses on Old street. North Side-"Atlantic," ten men and four horses, Michigan, near Wolcott; "Liberty," nine men and two horses, Illinois, near Franklin. West Side-"Island Queen," ten men and four horses, Lake, near Jefferson ; "U. P. Harris," ten men and four horses, Jackson, corner Clinton. Attached to each engine was a hose cart, drawn by a single horse. In addition there were five independent hose carts and four hand engines. U. P. Harris was Chief of the Fire Department.
It was at this time (June, 1861), that the city lost heavily during the financial crisis and crash of the banks-a total of $295,733 in the Marine, Carver's and Tinkham's; also Sylvester Lind, the sewerage treasurer, was short a large amount. Thus the city at this date faced such loss, with a large debt already on its hands, and with the' war expenses looming up in the foreground like a pirate ship. A period of intense heat characterized the summer of 1861. The mer- cury stood as follows: July 30, at ninety-three degrees; 31st., ninety-four; August 1, ninety-four; 2d., ninety-six; 3d, eighty; 4th, ninety-nine; 5th, eighty; 6th, eighty-nine; 7th, ninety-seven ; 8th, ninety-five. The State fair at Brighton (stock-yards), was an important event in September, 1861. During 1860 and 1861 Chi- cago and Cook county made a strong effort to secure the proposed agricultural college. It was proposed to locate it at Cottage hill on the Galena railroad, fifteen miles from the city. By October 1, 1861, about $17,000 had been subscribed here on the fund with which to buy the land. Prof. J. H. McChesney and Thomas B. Bryan worked for the location there.
"The city apparently was never more busy than at the present time. The streets are crowded with an endless caravan of buses, wagons and drays laden with merchandise of every description. The constant arrival and departure of trains heavily freighted, the cartage of such vast quantities of goods, the hotels swarming with guests, the rapid and daily increasing influx of strangers, the arrival and departure of regiments for the war, and the walks crowded with hurrying pedestrians, impart a genuine metropolitan and business air to the city, which it has not worn since the palmy days of 1856."-(Tribune, October 15, 1861.)
In October work on the Union Station on the West Side was in
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rapid progress. The Board of Trade corrected grievous wrongs in the inspection of grain. The State Horticultural Convention met at Bryan hall December 3. In December, 1861, the Tribune began to issue three editions daily. In 1860 building operations amounted to $1,188,300; in 1861 they amounted to $797,800. On January 7, 1862, the city paid the following interest : On water bonds, $34,855; on sewerage bonds, $29,700; on municipal bonds, $29,142.88. It also paid off bonds issued in 1852 to the amount of $25,000. The capital invested in manufactories in 1861 was $6,537,000 and the output of products that year was worth $16,948,381. In a terrible railroad accident at Hyde Park Judge W. A. Barron of this city was decapitated. A Board of Trade committee divided on the sub- ject of the reciprocity treaty with Great Britain in February, 1862. The first golden wedding in Chicago was that of D. B. Heartt and wife on February 13, 1862, at 122 Buffalo street; they came to Chicago in 1836. In February, 1862, an examination of city water disclosed that it was very impure. In March, 1862, the paid fire- men numbered ninety-three and the volunteer firemen two hundred and ten. The Mercantile Association in March, 1862, passed a resolution endorsing the Illinois and Michigan ship canal bill then before Congress and recommended its passage. There was great complaint about the stench of the river in the spring of 1862. The contractors who in 1860 had put new cells in the courthouse jail were not paid until March, 1862; they complained at the injustice of the delay. The Tribune for some years had made fun of "Went- worth and his Wines." In December, 1861, small fish choked the screen at the pumping well, whereupon the screen was removed, letting the fish be drawn into the water mains, where they died, polluting all the water of the city. An actual experiment in March, 1861, had shown that the pumps at Bridgeport could cleanse the river of sewage, but not of slaughter-house refuse and the stench. The first annual report of the Board of Public Works was made in + May, 1862. The following departments had been in operation one year: Water, Sewerage, Parks, Streets, River and Harbor, Pub- lic Buildings, Bridges, Lamps and Lights, and Public Improve- ments. The muddy streets in March, 1862, were in places almost impassable. The following wheat grades were established in March: Extra club, Northwest club, No. 1 Spring, No. 2 Spring, Rejected Spring.
In March, 1862, the impurity in the hydrant water was largely ascribed to the slaughter houses on the two branches, therefore the special committee of the Council reported that the following steps should be taken : 1. In order to obtain pure water the intake should be farther from the mouth of the river and the wash of the shore-built out at least one mile, at a cost of from $60,000 to $125,000; 2. A brick tunnel six feet in diameter, costing about $125,000 should be dug; 3. The pumping works should be
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removed to Winnetka, sixteen miles northward, and would cost $1,689,600; 4. Filter beds, costing $107,500 should be used; 5. There should be built a subsiding reservoir, costing $107,775. The water of the lake for several miles out was thoroughly exam- ined at this time.
In April, 1862, George Schneider retired from the Staats Zeitung, with which he had been associated as editor and proprietor since 1851. The vote for mayor in 1861 was 8,274 for Rumsey (Rep.) and 6,601 for Bryan (Dem.). In 1862 the vote for the same office stood 7,434 for Sherman (Dem.) and 6,246 for Holden (Rep.). In 1861 only the Fourth and Tenth wards went democratic, but in 1862 the First, Third, Fourth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth polled majorities for that party. In May, 1862, the city was so short of buildings of all kinds that the newspapers called for five hundred more. In May many druggists were fined for selling liquor without a license. The river was such a nuisance at this time that the pumps at Bridgeport were set going to empty the foul water into the canal.
"Glorious News from Bridgeport .- The River Filth Going to the Rebels .- We learn that the pumping works at Bridgeport were started yesterday to pump out the river. All those who are desirous of taking a parting sniff of the Chicago river perfume, would do well to visit Bridgeport today, as at the present rate of progress, all the filth in the river will in a few days be on its way to the rebels. If the latter can stand it, it will be of no use to bombard them any longer."-(Tribune, May 30, 1862.) The pumps there could raise 56,000 cubic feet of water per minute eight feet high.
In the spring of 1862 the grain warehousemen roused the wrath of the grain merchants by inserting in the warehouse receipts a clause branding sound grain as a mixture; a war settled the con- troversy. Teamsters hauling stone with which to macadamize North Wells street struck and demanded twenty shillings instead of seventeen shillings per day. City officials of Baltimore and Pitts- burg were formally received by the Council and Board of Trade in June, 1862. Despite the war great improvement in the city was made in 1862. The Chicago river continued to be the receptacle of every variety of filth and a "Smelling Committee" was sent up both branches in August, 1862, to trace the rotten sources to their owners. As soon as their report was received the Council ordered the nuisances abated. In August J. Y. Scammon, of the old Marine bank, in which the city had had a large deposit, agreed to pay by installments $56,387.24 to settle the account. On September 2, the Pacific railroad convention convened here with seventy-three commissioners appointed by act of Congress in attendance. William B. Ogden presided. The resolutions adopted described how the project should be carried into effect. Also in September the World's Horse fair held here, near Camp Douglas, attracted great attention.
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Also the State Horticultural fair assembled in September. Already the city was famous for its conventions. In September, so great had become the rush for the street cars during the evenings, that arrangements to run them every eight minutes were made. In October a coal famine forced the price of that article up from $5 to $7 per ton.
"Few cities probably in the North have been affected by the war to so little extent as Chicago. Except the continual appearance of soldiers in our streets and the war bulletins there are no indications that a fierce strife is being waged upon our borders. The tide of business flows on unabated. Our streets are fairly choked up with the transportation of merchandise; our stores are thronged from morning till night with customers in the face of panic prices. Amusements are patronized to an unprecedented extent and the present season will be as brilliant and successful as any of its prede- cessors. The fashions are as dominant as ever and the promenades are already blooming with the fall habit. Parties, balls, and routs are opening with a rush."-(Tribune, October 7, 1862.)
In October, 1862, a branch postoffice was established on the northwest corner of Randolph and Halsted streets, with A. C. Stew- art in charge. James W. Sheahan edited the Post at this time. By November 1 the special committee appointed for the purpose had almost wholly abated the distillery and slaughter-house nuisances on the North Branch and were hard at work accomplishing the same good on the South branch. The South Chicago of this date was Bridgeport. For a long time there had been an urgent demand for a bridge at State street. In November private subscriptions raised $10,000 for such a bridge. The new courthouse bell, weigh- ing 11,476 pounds arrived in December. The newspapers urged that it be put up as quickly as practicable, as it was needed by the fire watchmen and to keep time for all. On December 10, 1862, Comptroller Hayes sold to C. C. Parks, banker, at Dearborn and Lake streets, to be paid for in gold, $75,000 par value of the city bonds bearing 7 per cent interest for 9 per cent premium and in- terest. As gold at this date was at 30 per cent premium, the sale was not as good as seemed at first glance.
The city indebtedness on December 12, 1862, was as follows: Municipal, 10 per cent bonds, $2,000; 7 per cent bonds, $973,500; 6 per cent bonds, $300,000; 7 per cent school bonds, $28,000; sewerage, 6 per cent bonds, $87,500; 7 per cent bonds, $875,000; water, 6 per cent bonds, $1,030,000; 7 per cent bonds, $113,000; grand total, $2,409,000. The assessed valuation of property at this time was-realty, $31,587,545 ; personalty, $5,552,300. The total city tax for general purposes was $564,038. The levy was as fol- lows: City, 31/2 mills ; school, 2 mills ; interest, 21/4 mills; sewerage, 21/2 mills; war, 11/2 mills; reform school, 1 mill; police, 11/2 mills; total, 1414 mills. In the lamp district there was an additional lamp levy of 2 mills. .
DR. NICHOLAS SENN.
JOHN C. PLAGGE.
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
In December, 1862, an astronomical observatory was definitely located here. For some unaccountable reason there was a great deal of sickness in December, 1862-whether justly or not, the inhab- itants ascribed it to the city water. A special committee was appointed to ascertain if Calumet river water could be used to flush the South branch. The big bell on the courthouse was rung for the first time at noon on December 31. When the proposition to run "horse cars" through the streets was first proposed in 1858 it encountered emphatic and determined opposition not only from the Council but from the inhabitants. Messrs. Gage, Parmelee, Fuller, Bigelow and Carver were compelled to make a protracted and strenuous fight to obtain permission to use the streets at all, much more to use them without restriction. The Tribune in January, 1863, said, "Three years have now elapsed since that venture was made and the result arrived at has been more than satisfactory not only to the stockholders but to the citizens. When the question is asked, What should we do with the street cars? the universal reply is, What indeed?" At this date the Chicago City Railway company employed about two hundred men, of whom about one hundred were conductors and drivers and the rest helpers. Thirty cars were run- as follows: Eight on Randolph, seven on Madison and fifteen on State. There were six extra cars for emergencies. The pay roll was about $5,000 per month, and the street expense about $1,000 per month. The total receipts from the three lines run had been as follows: In 1860, $124,625; 1861, 136,079; 1862, $141,783. William H. Waite was president of the company. This was the street car system of January, 1863.
The Board of Trade and the Mercantile Association, in February, 1863, reported on the practicability and importance of a ship canal to unite Lake Michigan and the Illinois river. The spring of 1863 saw the macadamizing of Milwaukee avenue from Ellston road to the old city limits. The old Richmond House on South Water street, at which the Prince of Wales had stopped in 1860, had so run down that it was sold under a mortgage in March, 1863. The big refractor telescope for the observatory connected with Chicago Uni- versity at Cottage Grove, was being made at Cambridge, Massachu- setts, by Alvan Clark & Sons. In March, 1863, the Council was deadlocked between Democrats and Republicans-no quorum could be obtained. In March the City Railway company was ordered to keep its tracks on the South Side cleaner and in better repair. In April, 1863, seventy vessels were counted at one time outside of the harbor.
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