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 II > Part 33
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List of industries : A. B. Fireproofing company, manufacturers; American Brake Shoe & Foundry company, manufacturers; Amer- ican Car & Equipment company, manufacturers; American Stove Board company, manufacturers; William H. Andrus & Co., dry colors; Fred H. Ayer, general machine shop; Baldwin Piano com- pany, see Hamilton Organ & Piano company ; Beebe Box company, box factory; Bonnet, Nance Stove company, manufacturers; Builders' Brick company, brick yard; Caldwell Coal company, coal yard; Otto Canedy Manufacturing company, manufacturers ; Chalmers & Williams, manufacturers; Chicago Color & Chemical company, manufacturers ; Chicago Heights Boiler Works, manufac- turers; Chicago Heights Coal company, retail coal yard; Chicago Heights Iron & Metal company, scrap iron; Chicago Heights Lum- ber company, retail lumber company; Columbia Tool Steel com- pany, manufacturers; Diamond Braiding Mills, manufacturers; Flanner & Fellows Lumber company, retail lumber company; Funk Brothers Manufacturing company, manufacturers; General Chemi- cal company, manufacturers; Gordon Iron company, scrap iron ; C. H. Hall & Co., dyeing; Hamilton Organ & Piano company, manufacturers; Hartwell Brothers, manufacturers; Hessler & Maier, metal heating contractors; Hicks Locomotive works, manu-
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facturers; Hicks Car Works, manufacturers; Inland Steel com- pany, manufacturers; Kennicott Water Softener company, manu- facturers; King & Andrews company, manufacturers; Lalor Road Cart company, manufacturers; J. F. Leising & Co., building ma- terial; Ludowici-Celadon company, manufacturers tiles; Morden Frog & Crossing Works, manufacturers; National Brick company, brick yard; North Shore Electric company, power house; People's Coal company, coal yard; Phoenix Fire Extinguisher company, see King & Andrews company; Quaker Manufacturing company, man- ufacturers; Sauter Coal company, retail coal yard; Sheldon, Foster Glass company, manufacturers; Standard Oil company, oil depot ; Victor Chemical company, manufacturers; Montgomery Ward & Co., manufacturers vehicles; Weber, Costello, Fricke & Co., manu- facturers school supplies; Wood, Smith & Co., manufacturers; Jos. Joseph & Brothers company, rails and railway supplies; Mon- arch Motor Car company, automobiles; Calumet Steel company, Humane Horse Collar company, Hauser Shade Cloth company, Inter-Ocean Steel company, Paraffine Paint company, Standard Varnish company, Economy Wall Paper company.
In addition to the plants already in operation, the following com- panies have purchased land and are constructing factory buildings : The Standard Varnish company, the Paraffine Paint company, and the Inter-Ocean Steel company, the latter occupying a tract of eighty acres and planning a plant costing $1,500,000. In addition to splendid transportation facilities, close proximity to and direct connection with the coal fields of Illinois and Indiana and low water taxes, the most attractive feature of Chicago Heights as a manufacturing center is a local switch line, constructed by the association. This connects every factory, by its own switch, with the various railroads entering the city and keeps five modern switch engines constantly running from and to the connecting railroad lines.
There are at Chicago Heights approximately 2,000 residence and business buildings, about 250 of which are brick or stone structures. The federal government has purchased a site upon which will be erected, in the near future, a postoffice building costing $50,000. The city has a local street railway line and two interurban roads. The latter are the line of the Chicago & Southern Traction com- pany, running north and south, and the line of the Joliet & South- ern Traction company, running east and west. It Has a complete - system of sewers, and a modern sceptic plant for the disposal of sewage is nearly completed. The principal streets are paved with brick or macadam, and a majority of the streets are bordered by cement sidewalks.
The policy of the land association has been to keep the factory district segregated from the residential part of the town, and as a result practically all the factories are located on the so-called
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"East Side." The residence and business portion of the city, the so-called "West Side," is adjacent to wooded and picturesque ra- vines and natural beautiful scenery, affording healthful and attrac- tive locations for fine residences. To justify the prophecy of a continued healthy and rapid growth of this busy manufacturing center, it is only necessary to refer to its past history and its pres- ent undeveloped assets. The value of the ground has risen, in eighteen years, from $100 an acre to $300 a front foot for lots on the principal business streets. The factories already located at Chicago Heights, judging by actual conditions in older towns, would, in course of time, support a population of not less than 50,000, and additional factories are coming fast.
According to the published testimony of some of the early set- tlers at Bloom, the first preaching in the vicinity was by the Rev. J. W. Morrison, a traveling minister from South Carolina. He held meetings in the neighborhood at stated intervals and tried, but failed, to plant a church. The Presbyterian church at Bloom was probably the first religious society organized in what is now Bloom township. The Rev. John McMaster was its organizer, in 1843, and its constituent members numbered twenty-five. A church edifice was built in 1845, which long since gave place to a more modern successor. Following is a brief mention of the principal churches in Chicago Heights in 1909: First Presbyterian, Chicago road and Twenty-first street, Rev. J. Budman Fleming, minister ; First Baptist, Otto boulevard and Fifteenth street, Rev. S. P. Mahoney, pastor; First Methodist Episcopal, Sixteenth and Oak streets, Rev. G. F. Rassweiler, pastor (has branches on Portland avenue and at Jackson avenue and Twenty-ninth street, South Chi- cago Heights) ; St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran, Four- teenth street near Chicago road, Rev. H. G. Sandvoss, pastor ; Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Immanuel, Fifteenth street and Park avenue, Rev. P. O. Bersell, B. D., pastor ; St. Agnes' Roman Catholic, Chicago road and McEldowney street, Rev. J. C. Welch, pastor; Swedish Methodist Episcopal, Fourteenth street and Vin- cennes avenue, Rev. Oscar Sundberg, pastor; German Evangelical, St. John's, Sixteenth street and Vincennes avenue, Rev. Hugo Weichelt, pastor; Swedish Evangelical Missionary, Otto boulevard and Fifteenth street, Rev. A. Swanson, pastor; Calvary Church of the Evangelical association, Fifteenth street and Center avenue, Rev. A. J. Byas, pastor; Christian, the Tabernacle, Sixteenth street and Vincennes avenue, Rev. R. E. L. Prunty, minister ; Swedish Baptist, Fifteenth street and Chicago road, Rev. Oscar W. Johnson, pastor; English Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension, Fifteenth street near Otto boulevard, Rev. C. S. Brewer, pastor ; St. Ambrose Episcopal, Chicago road and Fifteenth street, Rev. A. C. Cummings, priest in charge.
From September 5, 1859, to April 21, 1894, a period of thirty-
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five years, public schools were conducted in district No. 1, after- wards district No. 170, under the management of a Board of Direct- ors consisting of three members. The first Board of Directors con- sisted of John McEldowney, chosen for one year; John Holmes, for two years, and Archibald Caldwell, for three years. The last Board of Directors, which was succeeded by a Board of Education in 1894, consisted of Jacob Kirgis, A. J. J. Miller and Theodore Weiderhold.
The Board of Directors turned over to the new Board of Educa- tion a four-room school building on the present site of the Washing- ton school, and the new board found itself in control of seven teach- ers, three of which were teaching in rented rooms-two in Chicago Heights and one in Steger.
From a system of seven teachers in 1894 the district grew in eleven years to a system of thirty-nine teachers in 1905. During these eleven years the amount of time and labor that has been given to the district by the members of the Board of Education may be appreciated in a small measure when it is remembered that in addi- tion to the usual labor incident to maintaining and operating there has been all the extra labor of securing sites, erecting and furnish- ing buildings.
The names of the presidents of the Boards of Education from 1894 to date are as follows: Jacob Kirgis, 1894-1901; W. G. Stowell, 1901-1905; E. E. Beach, 1905 to the present time. The Board of Education serving in March, 1909, was thus constituted : E. E. Beach, president; A. V. Edman, J. W. Hobbs, J. Hansen, P. P. Lauritzen, George F. Kreuger, James M. Whelan, Harry W. Green, O. F. Middleton; F. M. Richardson, superintendent of schools and clerk of the board. The Chicago Heights school dis- trict is known as district No. 170, Cook county, Illinois, and is thus bounded : On the north by an east and west line through the middle of sections 16, 17 and 18, except that the southeast one- fourth of the northwest one-fourth of section 17 is included in said district; on the east by State court; on the south by the south line of sections 28, 29 and 30; on the west by the west line of Bloom township. Its area is seven and nine-sixteenths square miles.
The schools are known as Washington, Washington annex, Lin- coln, Garfield, Franklin and Mckinley. The average annual in- crease in school population since 1892 has been about 160. The average annual increase in school enrollment in the same period has been slightly larger. The greater part of the instruction in the schools is elementary in character. The school population is just out of its infancy. Nearly one-fourth of the entire enrollment is in the first grade and nearly three-fourths in the first four grades, only about 12 per cent having reached the seventh grade. This suggests adding to the length of the average school life by admit-
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ting the children a year earlier to kindergartens. It also testifies to the fact that Chicago Heights is not a city of old settlers or of retired farmers.
The Steger district has been separated from that now known as district No. 170. Bloom township high school is located within the city limits of Chicago Heights.
District No. 170 has a library of goodly proportions which, with the city's free library, affords to the pupils library facilities far in advance of those of some older cities.
The following local organizations of secret and benevolent socie- ties flourish at Chicago Heights : Chicago Heights lodge No. 851, A. F. and A. M., meets evening of each Tuesday of each month except the fifth Tuesday, at Masonic hall, Main street; W. G. Stowell, W. M .; James M. Street, secretary. Chicago Heights chapter No. 218, R. A. M., stated convocations at Masonic hall, first and third Fri- days of each month at 8 P. M .; F. J. Baudell, E. H. P .; James M. Street, secretary. Chicago Heights chapter No. 551, Order of the Eastern Star, meets in Masonic hall on the evenings of the first and third Wednesdays of each month; Mrs. Alice Klinger, W. M .; Mrs. Bertha Pannenborg, secretary. Prospect lodge No. 627, Knights of Pythias, meets every Tuesday evening at Ben Hur hall, No. 5 Illinois street; Edwin W. De Voe, C. C .; Max Verne, K. of R. and S. Bloom council No. 134, Royal League, meets in Odd Fellows hall evenings of the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month; H. L. Wichman, Archon; Ed Evans, Scribe. Chicago Heights council No. 997, Knights of Columbus, meets in Odd Fel- lows' hall evenings of the second and fourth Mondays of each month; George D. Meyers, G. K .; F. M. Mayer, R. S. Chicago Heights lodge No. 1066, B. P. O. E., meets in Elks' hall, 92 Seven- teenth street, evenings of the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month ; James M. Street, E. R .; E. H. Kirgis, secretary. Chi- cago Heights Aerie No. 1059, F. O. E., meets on the evenings of the second and fourth Thursdays of each month at Mee's hall; F. B. Wendell, W. P .; F. C. Deist, secretary. Star court No. 10, Tribe of Ben Hur, meets evenings of the first and third Saturdays of each month at Ben Hur hall; Mrs. Anna Booze, Chief; Mrs. S. W. Bishop, Scribe. Chicago Heights Trade and Labor Assem- bly, American Federation of Labor, meets at Union hall, West End avenue near Nineteenth street, on the evenings of the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month; W. A. Behm, president ; L. W. Asher, secretary and treasurer.
Five railroads enter Chicago Heights, two great trunk lines, the Frisco System and the Michigan Central, two belt lines, the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern and the Chicago Terminal Transfer railroads, con- necting with thirty-two railroads entering Chicago, and one coal road, the Chicago Southern Railway. Chicago Heights is also a very important station on the Illinois Traction Company's line from Seventy-ninth street, Chicago, to Kankakee.
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Chicago Heights has a large and rapidly growing home trade, supplied by seven dry goods stores, some of which are big and modern enough to be ciassed as department stores, about sixty gro- ceries, several large hardware stores and many clothing, book and stationery, millinery, jewelry and drug stores, some of which com- pare favorably with establishments of their respective classes in Chicago. Some of these are mentioned in connection with the Chi- cago Heights Business Men's association. The town has nearly a dozen hotels, the best of which offer first-class accommodations to the traveling public. Its manufactures are numerous, rapidly in- creasing in number and growing in importance. Its railway and express facilities are unsurpassed and it has telegraph and telephone connections in all directions, city water, electric lights and power, macadamized streets, parks, walks and drives, a fine opera house and several popular theaters.
The city's banking facilities are supplied by three staunch insti- tutions : The Bank of Chicago Heights; W. J. McEldowney, pres- ident; J. Howard McEldowney, vice-president; David Wallace, cashier; Frederick Kirgis, assistant cashier. The Chicago Heights Savings bank; J. C. McEldowney, president; W. F. McEldowney, vice-president ; Joseph Kotilinek, cashier. The First National Bank of Chicago Heights; J. W. Thomas, president; E. R. Davis, vice- president; W. W. M. Davis, cashier.
The city's religious and educational advantages are of a high order. All of its church and school buildings are of good construc- tion and some of them are of fine architectural design. It has a well-housed and in all respects ample free library, established partly by the beneficence of Andrew Carnegie. The library build- ing bears date 1902 and was erected under the supervision of a library board constituted as follows: Sam H. Lea, president ; David Wallace, vice-president; Joseph Caldwell, secretary; W. E. Canedy, P. P. Lauritzen, L. A. Snyder, W. H. Donovan, E. R. Davis, C. W. Salisbury. Miss Harriet Taylor has been librarian since the library was opened.
There are published here two ably edited and well printed local newspapers. The Chicago Heights Signal, established in 1888, is issued every Thursday afternoon at 92 Illinois street by the Palmer Printing company. William H. Freeman is its editor. The Chi- cago Heights Star, official newspaper of the city of Chicago Heights, is published weekly at 86 Illinois street, by W. E. Williams. It is in its eighth volume. A city directory of Chicago Heights has been published annually since 1900.
The postoffice at Chicago Heights is ably managed by William J. McEldowney, postmaster, with Charles F. Kargis as assistant postmaster. The local delivery work is so extensive as to employ seven city and two rural carriers.
Chicago Heights is said to have a larger income than any other
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city of its size in the State-perhaps in the country. It is also a pretty sure statement that its business done within her limits ex- ceeds that of any city of its size. In 1895 it was a village of 1,200 people ; it now has from 12,000 to 15,000 people, and it is predicted that in ten years more it will be a city of 40,000 people.
The Manufacturers' association of Chicago Heights was organ- ized in 1906, to foster and promote manufacturing industries in the city. Its members are: A. B. Fireproofing company, American Foundry & Machinery company, American Brake Shoe & Foundry company, Bonnet-Nance Stove company, Columbia Tool Steel com- pany, Chicago Color & Chemical company, Canedy-Otto Manufac- turing company, Chalmers & Williams, Chicago Heights Lumber company, Calumet Steel company, Flanner & Fellows Lumber com- pany, General Chemical company, Hartwell Brothers, Hamilton Piano company, Hicks' Locomotive & Car Works, Inland Steel company, Kennicott Water Softener company, Ludowici-Celadon company, Morden Frog & Crossing Works, Montgomery Ward & Co., Monarch Motor Car company, National Brick company, Quaker Manufacturing company, Quincy-Manchester-Sargent company, Sheldon-Foster Glass company, Victor Chemical Works, and Weber-Costello company. Its directors and officers early in March, 1909, were: G. A. Berry, president; Cass S. Kennicott, vice-president ; C. E. Eshelman, treasurer; D. W. Boyd and Irvin T. Hartz. B. W. Edwards is secretary. There are about fifty con- siderable manufacturing concerns in Chicago Heights, employing about 7,000 persons. Factories have located here so rapidly and in such a comparatively brief period, and the older ones have so increased their capacity that the city is short fully 1,200 houses of enough to barely house its factory operatives, hundreds of whom are compelled either to board or live in Harvey, Kensington, Steger, Crete or others of the surrounding towns. In the location of indus- tries the most important factors are ready interchange with all con- necting railroads centering in Chicago, prompt handling of cars and a rate situation upon the Chicago basis. All these advantages Chicago Heights enjoys, and the ever increasing number of fac- tories locating here is convincing eivdence, and it is believed that Chicago Heights is destined to be within a few years one of the great manufacturing centers of the Middle West.
The Business Men's association of Chicago Heights was organ- ized March, 1908, and has a membership of about 120, among them many of the leading merchants of the city in all lines. John Mich- alek is president; A. L. Hayward, vice-president; H. A. Hood, treasurer ; J. J. Flood, secretary. The members are : Mee & Co., furniture and undertaking; W. H. Donovan, real estate; the Real Estate Exchange; John Gravelot, men's furnishings; Jirtle & Somes, plumbing; Max Seeberg, furniture; H. A. Heinsen, sport- ing goods; Fordtran Brothers, photographs; W. A. Foley, jewelry ;
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John Michalek, hardware; Harry A. Hood, drugs; Charles W. Friend, men's furnishings; the Chicago Heights Star; the Palmer Printing company; W. J. Smith, groceries; Aulwurm Brothers, groceries; J. C. Bradley & Co., drugs; Martin Wald, clothing; G. F. Krueger, groceries; H. F. Thoeming, groceries; G. Berts- heimer, dry goods; G. H. Summerville; D. S. Van Natta & Co., drugs; W. F. Stowell, hardware; Hersler & Maier, heating, roofing and metal work; Rahn, Johnston & Co., builders; Adair & Sons, coal; the North Shore Electric company; Lindhout & Lindhout, lawyers; Phillips Brothers; E. W. Clark, plumbing and gasfitting ; H. S. Blanchard, lawyer; the Chicago Heights Gas company ; Baker & De Bolt; S. Klamitz, tailoring; Victor Nylund, jewelry; Hay- ward & Co., grocers; J. E. Gibson & Co., plumbing; Kappmeyer & Cox, cigars; W. H. Stolte, drugs; McEldowney & Co., real estate; the Bank of Chicago Heights; B. W. Edwards, secretary of the Chicago Heights Manufacturers' association; Otto Jaeger; Charles Hayward, laundry ; Dr. W. H. McChesney; William Wad- dington (the Stock Yards market) ; J. Bagtoglia, wholesale fruits ; E. H. Kirgis, tobacco and cigars ; L. B. Schilling, real estate; J. W. Cole. paints, oils, etc .; J. Krebs, paints and oils ; Collins & Barbay, restaurant; Mayo & Haughey; Dr. C. L. Fritts; Paxton, Baker & Co., furniture; W. H. Doompp, fruits and confectionery ; W. H. Kilgallin, president of the Chicago Heights Land association; A. San Pelipi; Hood, Holbrook & Co., feed; G. Gregory, fruit and candy ; William H. Lane, grocer; Angelo Bianchi, fruit; Carpenter & Rettman, lawyers; W. C. Mackler, constable; H. J. Wilson, civil engineer; F. A. Palmer, merchant; the Chicago Heights Lumber company ; Clovis A. Bonvouloir, horseshoer; the First National bank; J. Casper, groceries; Emil Carlson, groceries; G. R. Blom- stadt, groceries; Marcusson Brothers, groceries; P. J. Jurgensen, groceries; Max Verne, ladies' cloaks and suits; C. E. Sage, gro- ceries; Louis B. Krizan, meats; A. H. Rathe, groceries; M. Asher & Sons, department store; A. V. Edman, groceries; A. Hertkoen, groceries; J. Rosenthal & Co., furniture; A. Swanson, shoes; Jacob Albrecht, baker; Oscar Toll, meats; F. C. Boland, shoes.
Homer Abbott and George A. Brinkman were established in law practice at Chicago Heights in 1870. The local medical men were Drs. H. Raby Bidgood, L. L. Goodenow, N. E. Oliver, A. M. Pease, C. W. Salisbury, G. F. Schreiber, .R. M. Tafel and H. S. Zimmerman. The practicing lawyers in 1909 are Herman S. Blanchard, George A. Brinkman, Craig A. Hood and Lindhout & Lindhout. The roster of physicians and surgeons is as follows : Drs. Elbert M. Barns, C. E. Cord, Talbot Gorrell, Ira Hartman, E. G. Klingler, William McChesney, W. G. Magee, Anna Medaris, A. Pannenborg, W. D. Robbins, Claude W. Salisbury, George F. Schreiber, F. A. P. Smith, Martin Strand, T. Stankewicz, F. A. Walls.
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The first Chicago Heights Chautauqua was held July 17 to 26, 1908, under the direction of the Chicago Heights Chautauqua asso- ciation. Officers: W. A. Foley, president; A. Hayward, vice- president; John J. Flood, secretary; George H. Glazier, superin- tendent. Directors: W. A. Foley, A. Hayward, H. A. Hood, John Michalek, M. L. Rau, A. Aulwurm, A. L. Spindler, Fred Wilkenning, G. H. Summerville. Committee of members of the Chicago Heights Woman's club: Mrs. J. W. Thomas, president ; Mrs. A. G. Clayton, first vice-president; Mrs. David Wallace, sec- ond vice-president; Mrs. James Hood, recording secretary; Mrs. H. W. Blanchard, corresponding secretary; Mrs. W. G. Stowell, treasurer; Mrs. Homer Abbott, chairman literature and art; Mrs. F. M. Richardson, home and education; Mrs. Irving Kelley, chair- man department of civics; Mrs. L. C. Lockhart, chairman program committee. It was inaugurated with the cooperation, assistance and encouragement of the clergymen and laity of every religious denom- ination represented in the city ; with the hearty support and financial assistance of the Business Men's association, the Manufacturers' association, the Liquor Dealers' association, the civic authorities and every organization active in the healthy growth and the moral and social advancement of the community. Attractive grounds were prepared and a fine program was arranged and carried out. The public interest made the affair a success. It is the earnest wish of all concerned to establish a permanent Chautauqua with a sub- stantial pavilion, cottages, pleasant surroundings, and all that tends to make such an attraction profitable and enjoyable from an educa- tional, religious and moral standpoint.
Owing to the several towns and manufacturing centers within its limits Thornton is one of its most populous townships in Cook county. Historically it is one of the most important. It comprises all of Township 36 north, Range 15 east, having an area of about fifty square miles, and is bounded north by Chicago, east by Lake county, Indiana, south by Bloom township, and west by Bremen township.
Early settlers in Thornton found on the present site of Thornton village, ruins of what evidently had been Indian strongholds. They consisted of outer trenches with inside fortifications, on which grew trees perhaps a hundred years old. It should be recorded, however, that Indians attributed these remains to French explorers. Ira Gardner in 1871 exhumed some skeletons, a stone chisel, some stone bullet molds, some flint arrow heads and specimens of pottery. Some of these relics may have been of French, others of Indian origin. It has been suggested that they may have been left by south- ern Indians, once resident here, who were eventually driven away by northern tribes.
Thornton township derived its name from Thornton village. Thornton village was named in honor of Col. W. F. Thornton of Vol. II-21.
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Shelbyville, Indiana, a promoter of the Illinois and Michigan canal, and for some years president of its board of commissioners. Wil- liam Woodbridge, reputedly the first white settler in the township, built in 1834 on the east side of Thorn creek, half way between the sites of Thornton village and Calumet, and removed in 1835 to 160 acres of land adjoining Thornton village on the west. The latter property he sold to John Blackstone and Blackstone sold it to Gur- don S. Hubbard. Stephen Crary came in July, 1835. James Far- well settled that year on the southeast quarter of Section 27. His title was defective and Noah Warren, who bought him out, did not clear it until long afterward. About the same time came the Cases, John and Sanford. In 1836 came Stephen Spoor, Christian Ran- dall, James Barton, David Crandall, John Blackstone, Don Carlos Berry, Joseph Milsted, James Childers, Elisha Young and William Young. John H. Kinzie, of the historic Chicago Kinzie family ; Gurdon S. Hubbard and John Blackstone came in 1835 or 1836. All these located at or near Thornton village. Dolton was settled by Andrew H. Dolton in 1846. His brothers, Henry B. and Charles H., came a few years later. At Homewood early settlers were the Butterfields, Job Campbell, James Walker, Daniel Hood, Samuel James, Horace Briggs, J. H. Scott, C. D. Robinson, James Hart, Cyrus Eastwood, Joseph Gallener, William Van Wyck, John Johnson, William Hall and James Clark. In 1848-50 came many German settlers, among them H. Brinkeman, C. Hecht, C. Hipping, H. Hasberg, H. Rathe, C. D. Rathe, L. Hupe, H. Schonhalz and H. and C. Zimmer. The advance of settlement in the township is indicated by the rise and growth of villages.
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