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 5
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
line; thence north with the state line to the north boundary of the state; thence west with said state line to the west boundary of the state; thence with said boundary to the place of beginning." What is now Cook county was thus embraced in Pike county.
Edgar county was created January 3, 1823, bordered on Indiana and was twenty-four miles wide. By the same Act "All that tract of country west of Edgar county that is not attached to any other county, and all that tract of country north of said Edgar county to Lake Michigan" was attached to Edgar county. It appears from this Act that the southern part of what is now Cook county was attached to Edgar county-probably all south of an east and west line through the most southern point of Lake Michigan. The remainder of the present Cook county was attached to Fulton county by the following Act approved January 28, 1823: "Beginning at the point where the Fourth principal meridian intersects the Illinois river; thence up the middle of said river to where the line between Ranges 5 and 6 strikes the said river ; thence north with the said line between Ranges 5 and 6 east to the township line between Town- ships 9 and 10 north; thence west with said line to the Fourth prin- cipal meridian, thence south with said line to the place of beginning ; and all the rest and residue of the attached part of the county of Pike east of the Fourth principal meridian shall be attached to, and be a part of, the said county of Fulton until otherwise disposed of by the general assembly." Chicago is referred to in this Act.
Putnam county was created January 13, 1825, with the following boundary: "Beginning at the point where the township line between Townships 11 and 12 north touches the Illinois river ; thence up the river to the south fork (Kankakee) thereof; thence up the said fork to the line dividing this state from Indiana; thence up the said line to the northeast corner of this state; thence west on the north boundary thereof to the range line between Ranges 4 and 5 east ; thence south on said range line to the line between Townships 11 and 12 north; thence east to the place of beginning." Putnam county was placed in the first judicial circuit. Nothing in the Act was said about Chicago.
"By one of the provisions of the Act creating Peoria county, January 13, 1825, all the country north of that county and north of the Illinois and Kankakee rivers, etc., was attached to Peoria county. No part of Cook county was ever in Peoria, but all of it was once in Putnam at a time when all of it was attached to Peoria and when the Peorians held the offices."
"Peter Cartwright, of Sangamon, for the committee on internal improvement, introduced in the House, in 1828-9, a bill that bore no title. In making up the journal the clerk entitled it-'An Act forming the counties of Chicago, Pinckney and Brown.' It was read twice, sent to the committee of the whole, and reported with amendments, and then on motion of Jonathan H. Pugh, of Sanga-
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mon, was laid on the table, where it remained. As originally drawn, the third section of the bill would have created the county of with a boundary line running west from the northeast corner of Township 41 north, Range 14 east, of the Third principal meridian (in the lake near Evanston) to the northwest corner of Township 41 north, Range 10 east (near the village of Barrington) ; thence south (on the line between the towns of Palatine and Barrington) to the northwest corner of Township 37 north (now in the northern boundary of Will county) ; thence east to the northwest corner of Township 37 north, Range 11 east (one of the Du Page-Will corners) ; thence south to the southwest corner of Township 35 north; thence east on the township line to the east line of the state; thence north to Lake Michigan and along the state boundary to the place of beginning, including and embracing the lands covered by the waters of the lake, being within the jurisdiction of the state. In the original bill all the words describing this county have been crossed out, and over them is pasted a slip, evidently the amend- ment of the committee, which names this county "Chicago." The bill attached to Chicago county considerable adjacent territory. . . . It may be that the failure of this bill can be accounted for by the fact that the Senate had passed, and the House was then considering, though it took no final action upon, a bill for "An Act constituting the county of Michigan," which county would have included all that part of the state east of Fox river and north of the Illinois and Kankakee rivers."
"During the first session of the Seventh General Assembly, 1830- 1831, there was presented to the House a petition from Jo Daviess, Putnam, and the attached parts of Tazewell and Peoria counties, asking the formation of a new county. Then Joel Wright of the Pike, Adams, Fulton, Schuyler, Peoria and Jo Daviess district pre- sented a petition from the inhabitants in the neighborhood of Chi- cago in the county of Peoria praying for a new county. On motion of John F. Posey of the Fayette, Bond, Tazewell, Montgomery and and Shelby district, it was resolved that a select committee be appointed to lay off all the country on the other side of the Illinois river from Peoria county to Chicago into counties and to report by bill. The committee was composed of Posey, Wright and Jona- than H. Pugh of Sangamon. To the same committee was sent, on motion of Posey, after its second reading, a bill introduced by Jacob Ogle of St. Clair for 'An Act to organize the county of Columbia.' This select committee reported a bill for 'An Act to create and organize the counties therein named,' which passed the House. It was amended in the Senate, the House concurring, and became a law January 15, 1831. It created Cook and La Salle, changed the boundaries of Putnam and added some territory to Henry."
"It was enacted by the first section of this act, that the country Vol. I-5.
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within a line commencing at the Indiana line where it intersects the line between Townships 33 and 34 north (in Will county) ; thence west to the southwest corner of Township 34 north, Range 9 east, of the Third principal meridian (on the Grundy-Will line) ; thence north to the northern boundary line of the state; thence east with said line to the northeast corner of the state; thence southwardly along the state line to the place of beginning, shall constitute Cook county and the county seat shall be at Chicago. The thirteenth section of this act attaches to Cook all the territory north of Cook county and parallel with the lines of the same as far northwardly as Rock river. This act gave Cook all its present territory, all of Du Page and Lake, three miles now at the east end of McHenry and about two-thirds of Will."
"The original bill for the 'Act to create and organize the coun- ties therein named' gave Chicago as the name of the county formed by the first section. In the second section it is provided that the boundary line of La Salle county shall begin at the southwest cor- ner of Chicago county. There is nothing on the original bill to indicate when the name of this county was changed."-(The above quoted paragraphs were contributed by William D. Barge, attorney, of Chicago, who has made an elaborate and special study of early Cook county affairs.)
"Notice is hereby given that application will be made at the ensuing Legislature for the erection of a new county, to be taken from the counties of La Salle, Cook and Iroquois, as at present organized."-(Ottawa newspaper, July 24, 1834.)
By act of January 12, 1836, Will county was created with the following boundary: "Beginning at the northwest corner of Town- ship 37 north, Range 9 east, and running thence east to the east line of Range 10, thence south six miles, thence east six miles, thence south six miles, then east six miles, then south six miles, thence east to the state line, thence south to the Kankakee and down the same to the north line of Township 31, thence west to the west line of Range 9, thence north to the place of beginning." As will be seen, this division cut away a considerable portion of Cook county.
By act of January 16, 1836, McHenry county was created with the following boundary: "Beginning at a point on Lake Michigan where the township line dividing Townships 42 and 43 strikes said lake, and running thence west along said line to the east line of Range 4, east of the Third principal meridian, thence north to the northern boundary line of the state, thence east to Lake Michigan ; thence along the shore line of said lake to the place of beginning." This cut off another large slice from Cook county.
"During the session of the Tenth General Assembly, '1836-37, there was presented to the House a petition from Cook, Will and Kane, praying the establishment of a new county, and it was sent to a committee that was soon afterwards, at its own request, dis-
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
charged from consideration of the matter. Then John Naper, a county member, had the petition sent to the committee on Internal Improvements, and he later introduced and there was passed a bill for the formation of Michigan county, which was approved March 2, 1837. It provided for the establishment of a county of that name out of that part of Cook lying west of the line between Ranges 11 and 12 (all of the town of Lemont, the county of Du Page and the towns north of it) if a majority of the voters in Cook at the election therein provided for consented thereto, but they did not do this, so the act failed to have any effect."-(William D. Barge.)
"In 1838 a scheme to make four counties out of Cook met with some favor, and committees were appointed and meetings held to promote it. One county was to have nine townships out of the northwest corner of Cook, and another (Du Page) immediately south of this was also to have nine townships. A failure of the committee to meet at the appointed time disconcerted the promoters, and the scheme failed."-( Blanchard, History of Du Page County.)
Several of the people of Cook sent to the Senate of the Eleventh General Assembly, 1838-39, a petition praying that the territory in the county within Range 9 (the towns of Barrington and Han- over), and the west half of Range 10 (Palatine and Schaumberg), be annexed to Kane county. The petition went to the standing com- mittee and was never heard of afterwards, possibly because the passage of the bill for the creation of the county of Du Page might be considered as giving sufficient relief. That act was passed upon petitions from Cook and Will for a new county, and was approved February 9, 1839. It was not to become effective unless a majority in those counties voting at the election therein provided for con- sented thereto. The result of the election took from Cook county all of the present Du Page with the following boundary: Com- mencing on the east line of Kane county at the division line between Sections 18 and 19, in Township 37 north, Range 9 east, of the Third principal meridian, pursuing the same line eastward until it strikes the Des Plaines river; thence following the said river up to the range line between Townships 11 and 12 east, of the Third principal meridian; thence north on said line to the township line between Townships 40 and 41; thence west on said line to the east line of Kane county ; thence south on the east line of Kane county to the place of beginning.
An unsuccessful effort to create a new county out of Cook and Will was made before the Twelfth General Assembly in 1840-41. The people in Range 9 and the west half of Range 10 in Cook asked the Thirteenth General Assembly, 1842-43, to annex that territory to Kane. Others in Cook asked that the county be divided. Some wanted another county out of Cook and McHenry, and others asked for a new county out of Cook and Will, but all their efforts failed. Three hundred and twenty-five citizens of Cook petitioned
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
the Fourteenth General Assembly, 1844, for the formation of a new county, and three hundred of Cook and Will asked for another county. Neither petition accomplished anything. The next effort to divide the county was made during the session. of the Seven- teenth General Assembly, 1851, and it failed.
"To the Voters of Cook County:
"The undersigned voters residing in the territory now compris- ing the towns of Schaumburg, Palatine, Barrington and Hanover beg leave respectfully to submit the following facts to the considera- tion of the voters of Cook county, and in view thereof to appeal to their magnanimity and sense of justice to allow the people of said towns to be relieved from the inconvenience they now endure by detaching the said towns from Cook county and adding them to Kane county. 1 .- All legal and political business of a county is generally transacted at the county seat. The average distance from such towns, in a direct line to the county seat of Cook county, is about thirty miles (by traveled route it is still more), while to the county seat of Kane county it is only a distance of about sixteen miles-a difference in distance in favor of Kane county of about one-half-and by public conveyance the difference is still greater. 2 .- Most of the business of Schaumburg and Palatine and nearly all of Barrington and Hanover is now transacted in Kane county. At Elgin and other points on Fox river our milling, mechanical busi- ness, merchandising, etc., are done; our social relations and interests are also mostly with the people of Kane county. 3 .- The west line of Hanover and Barrington is from half to one and a half miles east of Fox river, to which river, as is usual in such cases, the trade and commerce of a belt of country on either side thereof naturally tend; so that by the laws of trade as well as socially the said towns ought to be attached to Kane county. Toward the peo- ple of Cook county we entertain none other than friendly feelings, and were it not for reasons enumerated above-evils to us arising solely from our peculiar position-we should never consent to a separation ; but as things exist our wants and inconveniences impel us to ask a separation, and in this manner we earnestly solicit the voters of Cook county to be just-to do with us as they, in a similar situation, would be done by, and vote for striking off said town from Cook county, March 16, 1853.
John Hill. Charles Merrifield.
Wm. McNamara.
G. Rosenkearns.
George E. Smith.
John Hammer.
Luther Herrick.
Simeon Drake.
Terrence Ryan.
John Herrick.
Nathaniel Ballard.
C. J. Wiltzie.
Artemas Grave.
Samuel Gould.
D. C. Adams.
Peter Bussett B. Morgan.
S. S. Hammer.
John F. Cook
A. Leatherman.
W. Adams.
P. Hammond.
H. Wilmarth.
O. B. Jerome. Abel D. Gifford.
A. Spitzer.
M. E. Johnson.
W. Woodworth.
S. W. Slaid.
Guy Adams. Benj. Adams. ,
Cyrus Butterfield.
Alexander Jewell.
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
L. Hill.
N. Alvord.
Henry Schierding.
Horace Adams.
Jason Alvord.
H. H. Gage.
John Guptail.
Chester Babcock.
Cornelius Jaquish.
A. H. Johnson.
Thomas De Wise.
James Smith.
Ebenezer Colby.
Simon Quick.
A. Harwood. Lysander Beverly.
E. E. D. Wood.
R. H. Wiggins.
Thomas S. Clark.
George Hammer.
Richard Kelly.
T. Clark.
James Schoonhoven.
R. Y. Perry.
Morgan S. Johnson.
James Jones.
S. W. Kingsley.
John Hubbard.
Robert Gardner.
R. Nute.
John K. Hubbard.
George W. Waterman.
Isaac Thomas.
Daniel Leatherman.
S. R. Sabin.
William James.
Charles B. Hawley.
Thomas Schoonhoven.
J. H. Hawley.
Daniel S. Jenck.
Joseph R. Stebbins.
George T. Waterman.
E. F. Colby.
Joseph Horne.
These petitioners secured the passage of the Act to provide for annexing certain towns in Cook county to the county of Kane, approved February 12, 1853, and provision was made for a vote upon the proposed transfer of those towns. To make the act effect- ive there was required a majority of all the votes in Kane and a majority of all those in Cook who voted on the question. The change was not made. The bill for the act was introduced in the House by Homer Wilmarth, of Cook. During the session of the Eighteenth General Assembly, 1853, when the act last mentioned was passed, efforts were made to establish a new county out of Cook and Will, and to form one out of Cook, Will and Iroquois, and for one out of Will and Iroquois. There was introduced in the Senate a bill for An Act to establish the county of Columbia, and for other purposes therein named. It was read twice and sent to a committee that was afterwards, upon its own request, dis- charged from further consideration of the matter, and the bill was laid on the table and never taken up. The act that created Cook originated in the House, and the honor of selecting the name belongs to Samuel Alexander, of Pope county, a member of the Senate, who, when the bill was pending there, secured the adoption of his amendment striking out Chicago and inserting Cook. The name was chosen in honor of Daniel Pope Cook, Auditor of Illinois Ter- ritory, Judge of the Territory, Attorney General of the State and the first Congressman elected from the State."-(Ford, History of Illinois; Davidson & Stuve, History of Illinois; Reynolds, Pioneer History of Illinois.)
Nathaniel Pope was chosen territorial delegate to Congress in 1816. To his determination and efforts is due the fact that Chicago is in Illinois and not in Wisconsin. To understand the force of his argument, the condition of affairs at that time must be consid- ered. The Ordinance of 1787 fixed the northern boundary of Illi- nois on the east and west line passing through the southern extrem- ity of Lake Michigan, thus giving the state no lake coast except at a single point. There were no railroads in those days and it was not known that there ever would be. It was thought that com- merce would have to depend upon water for transportation and that
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an eastern outlet for the shipments of products over the Great Lakes would be of vital importance. Indiana had succeeded in having its northern boundary extended ten miles to the northward, thus giving it considerable stretch of lake coast. Michigan had left an abundance of coast and the new state to be formed in the north- west (Wisconsin) would also be well supplied in this regard. But Illinois had none. It had no outlet through the Great Lakes, but was entitled to one and could only get it by having its boundary extended northward. If the boundary were extended northward only ten miles it would come near passing directly through Chicago and would cut in half and place in two states the proposed canal sure to be built connecting Lake Michigan and the Illinois river. The proper step to take, therefore, was to remove the northern boundary far enough north to locate both Chicago and the pro- posed canal wholly and surely within the State of Illinois. That was the logic of the situation. It was sound and reasonable, and it won. The proceedings in Congress are interesting.
"The House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the bill to enable the people of Illinois Territory to form a constitu- tion and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on a footing with the original states. Mr. Pope moved to amend the bill by striking out the lines defining the boundaries of the new state and to insert the following :
"Beginning at the mouth of the Wabash river; thence up the same and with the line of Indiana to the northwest corner of said state; thence east with the line of the same state to the middle of Lake Michigan ; thence north along the middle of said lake to north latitude 42 degrees 30 minutes; thence west to the middle of the Mississippi river ; thence down along the middle of that river to its confluence with the Ohio river; and thence up the latter river along the northwestern shore to the beginning."
"The object of this amendment, Mr. Pope said, was to gain for the proposed state a coast on Lake Michigan. This would afford additional security to the perpetuity of the Union, inasmuch as the state would thereby be connected with the states of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York through the lakes. The facility of opening a canal between Lake Michigan and the Illinois river, said Mr. Pope, is acknowledged by every one who has visited the place. Giving to the proposed state the port of Chicago (embraced in the proposed limits) will draw its attention to the opening of communication between the Illinois river and that place, and the improvement of that harbor. It was believed, he said, upon good authority, that the line of separation between Indiana and Illinois would strike Lake Michigan south of Chicago and not pass west of it, as had been supposed by some geographers who had favored us with maps of that country ; and, Mr. Pope added, that all the coun- try north of the proposed state and bounded by Lakes Michigan,
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Huron and Superior, and by the Lake of the Woods and the Miss- issippi river, must form but one state, Congress being restricted by the Ordinance of 1787 from erecting more than five states in the Northwest Territory. This motion was agreed to without a di- vision." The House Committee to consider the Illinois bill were Messrs. Pope of Illinois, Claiborne of Tennessee, Johnson of Ken- tucky, Spencer of New York, and Whitman of Massachusetts.
In January, 1850, when Nathaniel Pope, judge of the District Court of the United States for the District of Illinois, died, the bar of Chicago assembled and adopted suitable resolutions, one of which was as follows: "Resolved, That we recur with high and honorable pride to the period when, as a delegate in Congress from the then Territory of Illinois, he successfully. struggled to embrace within our boundaries the land lying north of the southern border of Lake Michigan, which in his wisdom he foresaw would be so necessary to the future greatness and prosperity of the state."-(See Daily Democrat, January 26, 1850.)
In December, 1828, there was laid before Congress a petition of the inhabitants of Galena and vicinity to the number of one hundred and eighty-seven, for the formation of a new territory to be called Huron. They prayed "that the line passing through the southern- most end of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, as ordained by Con- gress in 1787, be reestablished and made the line between that por- tion of the territory northwest of the Ohio which they inhabit and the State of Illinois; and that they be stricken off from the terri- tory of Michigan and erected into a separate territorial government with the following boundaries, to-wit: Commencing where the line between the United States and Canada crosses Red river of Lake Winnipeg ; thence up said river to Lake Traverse and across the portage to the Big Stone lake; thence in an easterly direction until it strikes the Missouri river; thence down the middle of said river to the line of the State of Missouri; thence along said line to the Mississippi; thence up said river to where the line drawn through the southernmost end of Lake Michigan west to the Mississippi intersects said river ; thence due east along said line to Lake Mich- igan ; thence passing through the middle of said lake to its northern extremity ; thence along the line of the old Territory of Michigan to Lake Superior to the line between the United States and Canada; and thence with said line to the beginning." They prayed that the seat of government might be established at Galena.
In December, 1829, the House of Representatives, Congress, con- sidered the division of Michigan Territory, and after ample discus- sion passed a bill to that effect by a large majority. The new terri- tory was to be called Huron and was to be located west of Lake Michigan and north of Illinois and Missouri. At this time Mich- igan included all the country north of Illinois and east of the Mis- sissippi; over the territory west of that river there was no govern-
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
ment. The new territory was to be bounded east by the center of Lake Michigan, north by Canada, west by the Missouri river and south by Illinois and Missouri. 'Mr. Biddle presented a memorial of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, praying that the integrity of the territorial limits of the said territory may be preserved inviolate; that no part of it may be annexed to the contemplated government of Huron; and that no right or privi- lege whatever may be taken from Michigan as a territory, which would have the effect to impair the future importance of Michigan as a state."-House Journal, second session, XXI. Congress. )
In December, 1829, a memorial from the inhabitants of Michigan Territory west of Lake Michigan praying for a division of the territory was presented to the House. About the same time, also, a petition was received from the inhabitants of Michillimackinac praying not to be included in the territory asked for above. The petitions were presented by Joseph Biddle, delegate from Michigan Territory. At this time (January 18, 1830), Mr. Duncan presented a petition from the inhabitants west of Lake Michigan praying that the northern boundary of Illinois might be established, and that a new territory might be created,etc. But the attempts to change the northern boundary of Illinois and to form the Territory of Huron were unsuccessful. The bills introduced in Congress, though meeting with some favor, were permitted to die in commit- tee rooms.
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