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 29
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The second annual report of the Board of Public Works made on May 1, 1863, gave the following statistics: Length of distributing water main, 98 miles and 2,643 feet ; all pipes, 104 miles and 4,890 feet ; cost of the Water works, $1,118,494.09, of which all except $67,700 had been paid with 6 and 7 per cent bonds. There Vol. I-18.
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
were received in water rents from January 1, 1862, to March 31, 1863, $188,448 and in profit tapping pipes, $847. The total expense for repairs during the same period was $122,615. It was estimated that a tunnel two miles out in the lake would cost $307,552. Three miles of sewers were built in 1862; in May, 1863, the total length of sewers was 573/4 miles. Two pivot bridges were built in 1862- one at Wells street, costing $6,000, and one at Clybourn avenue, costing $2,000, one-half of which was borne by the city. The Board recommended that the park (Lincoln) at the north of the ceme- tery, about fifty acres, should be improved. From November 30, 1855, to March 31, 1863, the Reform school had received 711 inmates. At the latter date it contained 250 inmates and was in good condition. Fifty-six men who had been inmates were in the Union army. The school was divided into three divisions, depend- ing on educational and other attainments. J. F. Curtis was instructor.
In 1863 the citizens complained that the city did not have one good driveway where speeding could be indulged in. The Rosehill and Evanston Plank road was the best, but it was too far from the city. North Clark street was very bad; Wells fair, Michigan ave- nue good as far as Twelfth, South State and South Clark were poor. On the West Side was not one good street of considerable length. "Never before have out merchants, our manufacturers and our produce dealers done so large and profitable a business as they have during the past year. We are not only the largest grain mar- ket, but by far the largest primary market on this continent. We have the satisfaction of knowing that we have done much to furnish men and means to crush out the rebellion. The noble and patriotic move of the Board of Trade to raise and equip men for the service and means to support the families of those who went to fight the battles of their country, has given our city a notoriety and a name of which we all may feel proud."-(Tribune, April 7, 1863).
The act of February 13, 1863, reduced the various acts relative to the City of Chicago to one act. The corporate limits were declared to "embrace and include within the same all of Township 39 north, Range 14 east, and all of Sections 31, 32, 33 and fractional Section 34, Township 40 north, Range 14 east, together with so much of the waters and bed of Lake Michigan as lies within one mile of the shore thereof and east of the territory aforesaid." It was declared that the North division consisted of all north of the center of Chi- cago river, and east of the center of the North branch of Chicago river ; that the South division consisted of all south of the center of the main Chicago river, and south and east of the center of the South branch and of the Illinois and Michigan Canal; and that the West division should consist of all lying east of the center of the North and South branches and of the Illinois and Michigan canal. It was further provided that the city should be divided into sixteen wards as follows :
305
HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
First Ward .- All that part of the South divison which lies south of the center of the main Chicago river and north of the center of Monroe street.
Second Ward .- All that part of the South division which lies south of the center of Monroe and north of the center of Harrison street.
Third Ward .- All that part of the South division which lies south of the center of Harrison street and north of the center of Sixteenth street.
Fourth Ward .- All that part of the South division which lies south of the center of Sixteenth street and east of the center of Clark street and a line corresponding with the center of the last named street, projected southerly to the city limits.
Fifth Ward .- All that part south of the center of Sixteenth street and west of the center of Clark street and a line corresponding to the center of the last named street projected southerly to the city limits.
Sixth Ward .- All that part of the west division which lies south of the center of Van Buren street and east of the center of Jefferson street continued to the south Branch of the Chicago river.
Seventh Ward .- All that part of the West division which lies south of the center of Van Buren street, west of the center of Jeffer- son street continued to the South branch and east of the center of Morgan street continued to the South Branch.
Eighth Ward .- All that part of the West division which lies south of the center of Van Buren street and west of the center of Morgan street continued to the South branch.
Ninth Ward .- All that part of the West division which lies south of the center of Fourth street and north of the center of Van Buren street.
Tenth Ward .- All that part of the West division which lies south of the center of Randolph street, east of the center of Curtis street and Aberdeen street and north of the center of Van Buren street.
Eleventh Ward .- All that part of the West division which lies south of the center of Fourth street, east of the center of Curtis street and north of the center of Randolph street.
Twelfth Ward .- All that part of the West division which lies north of the center of Fourth street continued to the North branch.
Thirteenth Ward .- All that part of the North division which lies north of the center of North avenue.
Fourteenth Ward .- All that part of the North division which lies south of the center of Division street.
Fifteenth Ward .- All that part of North division which lies south of the center of Division street and north of the center of Huron street continued to Lake Michigan to the North branch of the Chi- cago river.
Sixteenth Ward .- All that part of the North division which lies
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
south of the center of Huron street continued to Lake Michigan and to the North branch of the Chicago river and north of the center of the main Chicago river.
It was provided that the municipal government should consist of a Common Council composed of the mayor and two aldermen from each ward and that the other officers should be a clerk, comptroller, board of public works, city engineer, board of police, superintend- ent of police, school agent, board of education, superintendent of schools, board of guardians of the reform school, commissioner of the reform school, counsel to the corporation, city attorney, treas- urer, collector, city physician, board of assessors, two or more police justices, clerk of police court, one chief engineer and two assistants of the fire department, one or more harbor masters, one inspector of fish, three inspectors of elections for each ward or election precinct, and others to be decided on and appointed by the Common Council.
It was further provided that municipal elections should be held on the third Tuesday of April in each year ; that the Common Coun- cil should divide the wards into election districts; that the mayor, city attorney, treasurer, collector, clerk of the police court and chief engineer and first and second assistants of the fire department should be elected by the people; that these officers should hold their offices for two years; that the boards of police and public works should each consist of three commissioners, one from each of the three divi- sions; that the board of education should consist of fifteen school inspectors, to be elected by the Common Council. Very full powers to manage the affairs of the city were given the Common Council.
Probably the most important event of 1863 was the canal conven- tion in June. The object was to plan, herald and support the con- struction of a ship canal from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan, with the still further object of continuing the canal eastward to the Atlantic. For weeks Chicago prepared for this convention. There was an immense attendance, one of the largest ever gathered in the city. A large tent seating six thousand was erected on the lake front, between Harmon and Eldridge courts. Here prominent men from nearly all the States met to deliberate. Mayor Chauncey Fil- ley of St. Louis was temporary chairman, and Hannibal Hamlin, Vice President of the United States, permanent chairman. The address of welcome was delivered by Dr. Daniel Brainard. The convention passed resolutions that such a canal large enough to admit the passage of gunboats should be built as a war measure if for no other purpose. The importance of this convention to Chicago and the West has ever since been compared to that of the River and Harbor convention of 1848. There was collected from all sources to pay the expenses of the convention $8,671, but only $6,171 was expended on the convention itself. Out of the amount there was paid to the Soldiers' Home $420, leaving on hand $2,080.
The canal convention had scarcely dispersed before the manufac-
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
turers convention assembled to consider subjects of interest to that branch of industry. The national Christian Convention also met here in June. The surreptitious and corrupt passage through the Legislature in June, 1863, of a bill to construct a "horse railway" on Wabash avenue and other streets, whereby the rights of the city and the citizens were not adequately considered and protected, kin- dled the indignation of all Chicago. The Council promptly passed resolutions denouncing the bill as a swindle and requesting the Governor to kill the same with his veto. The Legislature was asked to reconsider the bill and to pass no act unless consented to by the Chicago Council and the property owners along the right of way. The Tribune of June 10 said: "No bill ever passed an Illinois Legislature more corruptly, and none contains so open and defiant a contempt of the city government and of the people of Chicago. It was stolen through the Senate and bribed through the House. .
.
The whole current of talk in the city yesterday turned on the enormous gridiron swindle attempted by the hungry Chicago law- yers who are engineering the Wabash Horse Railroad project. All classes of citizens execrate the scheme as monstrous."
In June, 1863, the first steps to build a water tunnel under the lake were taken by the Board of Public Works. The tunnel was to be five feet in diameter. The bed of the lake out two miles had been fully examined before these steps were taken. Dull & Gowan of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, secured the contract to dig the tunnel at $315,139. In July, 1863, Dearborn street, between Madison and Monroe, was again ordered opened and widened. The directory of July, 1863, gave the following statistics :
INDUSTRIES.
1857.
1863.
Agricultural implement manufacturers.
2
7
Breweries
19
29
Distilleries
7
16
Grain elevators
18
Packing houses
13
52
Iron foundries
8
15
Machine shops
17
31
Tanneries
4
16
Carriage builders
19
26
Wagon makers
24
43
Hotels
77
94
The eighteen grain elevators of 1863 had a storage capacity of 8,615,000 bushels; the shipping capacity per day was 2,555,000 bushels. There were 47 miles and 4,520 feet of gas pipe; 1,310 public lamp posts; 4,467 private consumers; amount of water pumped in 1862, 2,217,279,739 gallons. There were sixty miles of sewers with 1,264 catchbasins.
In July twenty-four squatters were dispossessed on the south ninety feet of Lot 4, Block 6, Old Town, by the verdict of a jury ; Ebenezer Andrews, Joseph E. Otis and Hiram Wheeler owned the
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
land, which was on the North Side, near the mouth of the North branch. This settlement was a revival of old Kilgubbin. Notwith- standing the order of court, a dozen or so of Irish families would not vacate and accordingly a squad of police pulled their shanties down over their heads. Early in the spring of 1863 negotiations for the sale of the West Side street railway were begun and the sale was finally effected late in July. The property sold for $300,000 and consisted of the tracks on Madison and Randolph streets-about ten miles, including switches, 170 horses and mules with harness, 20 cars, snow plows, wagons, etc., and the privilege to run on State street, over to Lake street. The transfer was to take effect on August 1 and $200,000 of the amount was paid in cash. Among the purchasers were J. Russell Jones, John C. Haines, E. B. Washburn, N. Corwith, Benjamin Campbell and W. H. Covington. In Sep- tember, 1863, Comptroller Hayes sold $100,000 sewerage bonds to C. C. Parks & Company, bankers, for $1.11 on the dollar par value.
Previous to 1863 Chicago had no public adornment-no parks, drives, statuary, etc. The open places called parks were really cow pastures and the best drives were rotten plank roads. Even Dear- born Park on the city front was characterized by tin cans, dead ani- mals, cast off shoes and clothing, a few shriveled trees and not a flower. Union Park, on the West Side, was the pasture ground for horses and cattle, the broken-down fences, dead and stunted trees and rubbish, rendering it anything but inviting. Washington Park in North Clark street was the dumping ground for almost every- thing. The courthouse square was "a standing disgrace to the city." Refuse, ashes, old hats, dead cats and filth could be seen there. Cows and horses were allowed to crop the grass growing among the small trees trying to make a living there. There was plenty of land for parks-why not? asked the Tribune of September 25. An equestrian fair was held here in October on the grounds of the Washington Skating Park. Notwithstanding the war, the building operations of 1863 were enormous. The West Division Railway company announced that after October 17 cars would run on Ran- dolph street, between Wood and State, every six minutes, from 6:58 to 7:58 A. M. ; 11:30 to 2 p. M. and 4:18 to 7:54 p. M. daily.
Late in October no vessel drawing eleven feet could get out of the harbor. On October 23 street car tracks began to be laid on Halsted, between Madison and Blue Island avenue, leading to Bridgeport. Omnibus lines still ran where the street cars did not. At this time it was planned soon to extend the tracks to Milwaukee avenue. On November 3, 1863, Rush street bridge broke in the middle and went down with a herd of cattle and a few persons; this was regarded as a singular occurrence. An injunction was granted, to stop the laying of tracks on Halsted street, but the street car company by working all Sunday completed the line from Madi-
309
HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
son to Twelfth. Street laborers were Irish and German, instead of Italian as now. Late in 1863, with Rush street bridge ruined and Clark street bridge often blockaded, there arose a great cry for a bridge at State street. By December 5 the citizens had subscribed $14,000 toward such a bridge. The city added as much more, and the bridge was commenced.
The Douglas tract at Cottage Grove embraced about six blocks, besides the three divisions of Oakenwald adjacent. Cottage Grove avenue ran through the middle of the tract. On the east of the tract was the lake, on the west Douglas avenue, on the north Cook street and on the south Douglas place. Near the center were five acres dedicated to Chicago University. In 1863 the tract sold for less than the mortgage on it-bringing $1,386 per acre.
At the close of navigation in 1863 the canal was emptied into Chicago river, the filth was swept into the lake, the wind carried it to the city water intake, and the hydrants told the story of contam- ination and impurity. However, it was noted that two miles out where the crib was to be the water was good. In December the West Division Railway company began to lay tracks on Milwaukee avenue, designing to extend the line to the city limits as soon as practicable. On December 24 cars were running on Halsted street and Blue Island avenue, and three-fourths of a mile of track had been laid on Milwaukee avenue. The street car companies tried mules, but finding them unsatisfactory returned to the use of horses. In 1863 the area of Chicago was twenty-four square miles-Bridge- port and Holstein had been added. The amount of business done by the street car companies in 1863 was $340,500. Originally two companies controlled the street car lines-one on the North side and one on the South and West sides; but during 1863 a new company, as before stated herein, bought the West Division lines; so that at the close of 1863 three separate companies owned the lines of the three divisions. The State street line was considered the most im- portant and ran as far as Camp Douglas. The Randolph line was next most important, with its Milwaukee avenue branch. The Hal- sted line was a branch of the Madison line and the Blue Island line was a branch of the Halsted line. These branches had reached the Burlington and Quincy tracks. The North Side line was doing a big business and was to be extended at once to Lakeview and Grace- land cemetery.
A blizzard of unusual severity swept over Cook county from December 30, 1863, to January 2, 1864. On January 1 the mercury reached eighteen degrees below zero in the morning and twenty-five degrees below at night. The snow was so deep that all street cars stopped running. Sixteen thousand tons of hay were handled here in 1863. In January, 1864, the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad company bought a tract of eighty acres just south of the city limits and began to fit the same up for cattle yards. In Janu-
310
HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
ary, 1864, the Board of Trade had a membership of about 1,500 and demanded larger quarters. It was proposed to lease Metropol- itan hall of Mr. Munger and enlarge it. In February West Market hall was sold to Henry Fuller for $2,500. The Chicago and Evans- ton Street Railway was definitely projected in February, 1864-to run past Calvary and Graceland cemeteries; fare five cents. In February the Council granted the street railway company the right to lay its tracks across State street bridge when ready. Late in the fall of 1863 the street car line was graded along the Lake View road from Doctor Dyer's to Graceland Cemetery- a distance of about two and a half miles and the track was laid in the spring of 1864. It was planned to pull the cars in trains with dummy steam engines, brought from Philadelphia. A new and better Randolph street bridge was built in 1864.
In March, 1864, the railway employes struck for higher wages and better conditions, but failed to secure all they sought. On March 17, 1864, ground was formally broken by the Mayor for the lake tunnel. For the fiscal year ending April 1, 1863, there were on hand, strange to record, the following unexpended balances : Water fund, $23,237; sewerage fund, $109,904; school fund, $11,002; reform school, $12,430; interest, $38,566; war fund, . $68,276; police fund, $23,532 ; general fund, $50,791. All of these balances disappeared during the next year-1863-64. The levy had been a little too high. The journeymen tailors, trunkmakers, bak- ers, tinsmiths, confectioners, gas fitters, harnessmakers, bricklayers, shoemakers, printers, masons, carpenters, coopers, hatters, iron moulders and nearly every other trade organization struck for higher wages in March and April, 1864. The war had caused everything but their wages to advance in price ; they now demanded their rights, which employers failed to see. The Tribune of April 4 said, "Strikes among workmen are of daily, almost hourly occur- rence." A new workingmen's hall on Blue Island avenue cost $16,000. A general mass meeting of all the trades of the city assem- bled at Bryan hall on April 26, with George K. Hazlitt as chairman. Ex-Gov. E. W. McComas, the principal speaker, dwelt upon the dignity of labor and the necessity of organization. Steps for per- manent organization of the city unions were taken. It was shown that employers were combining against employes. In April, 1864, the name of the Board of Trade was changed to Chamber of Com- merce. The second Board of Trade met in the Tremont House, also in the Sherman House.
In April, 1864, the "detective corps" was broken up and reorgan- ized by the Board of Police Commissioners. The great and rapid advance in all prices alarmed everybody. In May, 1864, there was hardly a good bridge on the river-the Clark street bridge was out of repair, the Randolph bridge broke down May 10, the Polk bridge also broke in two about this time and the Rush bridge was often
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
unmanageable. "Rush Street Bridge on the Rampage .- During the severe gale on Sunday evening Rush street bridge became for some moments perfectly unmanageable and propelled by the wind it spun round on its axis with great velocity. Many ladies were on board at the time and were considerably alarmed at the violent action of the machine. Even the bridge tenders showed for the nonce an unusual desire to get their charge landed on terra firma."-(Trib- une, September 17, 1864).
For several years the Firemen's Benevolent association had been in existence and had done good work. Street cars reached Lake View about the middle of May, 1864. The cars ran a little over an hour apart. Lake Geneva began to be a summer resort for wealthy Chicagoans. In May, 1864, right to lay a street car track tempora- rily on Clinton street, between Madison and Randolph, was granted, but was made permanent upon petition of the property owners there. According to the Tribune of July 16 no improvement wor- thy of the name had ever been made to the twenty acres of Union Park. "Its neglected condition, useless walks, yawning holes, dead trees and toppling fence are disgraceful." The truth was that excel- lent resorts in the country near by were so numerous and so easily reached that the need of parks had not yet been felt beyond the bear- able point. About this time No. 14 State street sold for $24,000 and No. 136 Clark street for $26,000. Nos. 155-159 West Madison street sold for $7,000. The new State street bridge was planned to cost about $35,000; it was to be ready in October, 1864. The Crosby Opera House, a famous structure in its time, was being erected in 1864; also a new music hall at Clark and Washington by Smith & Nixon.
A tunnel under the river, which subject was fully considered in 1855-7, was again brought to the attention of the inhabitants in July. 1864. The Board of Public Works, whose chairman was Mr. Gindele, reported on a La Salle street tunnel to be fourteen feet high and twenty-eight feet wide. In 1864 as in 1863 the distilleries and packing-houses on the river branches were forced to abate their nui- sances. In the fall of 1864 the Government advertised to sell the Marine hospital at auction ; it should never have been built, but the great cry raised at the time by Chicago caused the Congress to yield. On September 5 it was sold to James F. Joy for $132,000. For two successive days-July 29 and 30-the mercury reached one hundred degrees. On July 30 nearly all men here interested in the packing industry met at the Board of Trade rooms "to take into consideration matters pertaining to their mutual interests and par- ticularly the matter of a Union Stock Yards." There were speeches and communications showing the necessity of such a step. The con- dition of Chicago harbor was so bad that a plan to extend the exist- ing piers four hundred feet farther into the lake was considered in August. By August 13 the lake tunnel had advanced about three
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312
HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
hundred and ten feet from the shore shaft. In' August the Tribune put in use an eight-cylinder Hoe press. An effort of the South Side Railway company to lay its tracks on Indiana avenue and on Clark, between Polk and Twelfth, encountered strong opposition from property owners there.
By September 8 the lake tunnel had advanced four hundred and sixty-four feet from the shore shaft. In 1852 New York put in a fire alarm and police telegraph; Philadelphia did the same in 1856. Now, in 1864, Chicago was doing the same. By September 8 about thirty miles of this wire had been laid here-all on the South side, in three circuits and fifty-two signal boxes. Wires were to be laid at once on the North and West divisions.
The mortality of Chicago for a series of years was as follows, which table should be compared with that giving the population :
Years.
Deaths.
Years.
Deaths.
1853
1,206
1859
1,826
1854.
3,829
1860
2,056
1855.
1,970
1861.
2,069
1856.
1,895
1862
2,575
1857.
2,170
1863.
3,475
1858.
2,043
1864
4,032
By January, 1865, about 125 miles of wires had been laid-45 miles in the South division, fifty in the west, and thirty in the north. "The crowds now drawn to the scene of a fire by the sound of the courthouse bell will be wanting; the alarm will be silent to all save those who are wanted to assist. It will also be invaluable as a police telegraph, by which information of losses, robberies, disturbances, etc., can be instantly transmitted to and from the central station. The laying of the corner stone of the New Chamber of Commerce building at La Salle and Washington streets on September 11 was attended with due ceremony. The employment of women compos- itors in the Times office encountered the indignant remonstrance of the men compositors; in fact indignation meetings were held but to no purpose. A firemen's monument designed by Volk and costing $10,000 was erected in Rosehill cemetery in September by the Fire- men's Benevolent Association. By October 3, the State street car line ran as far as Raber's block on Archer road. A double track on Clinton from Randolph to Van Buren was being laid ; from it one branch ran to Jefferson and thence up Jefferson to Twelfth; also one from Clinton on Twelfth to the junction with the other branch. A horse barn for the street railway company was built at Clinton and Van Buren. Fox & Howard, on their contract for dredging the harbor, secured a judgment against the city for a balance of $15,000 and costs. Early in October a mile of street car track was opened on Larrabee street. Center street was soon to have a double track. At this date there were in operation on the North Side twelve miles of track.
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