USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > The biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of representative men of Chicago, Minnesota cities and the World's Columbian exposition : with illustrations on steel. V. 1 > Part 10
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California. Edwin Burnham removed to Chicago with his family in 1855, and was a wholesale merchant until his decease in 1874. He was president of the old Merchants' Exchange. Young Burnham was a pupil in Professor Snow's private school, located on the present site of the Fair, on Adams street, and afterwards attended the old Jones school and the Chicago High School. Later he spent two years under private instruction at Waltham, Mass., and one year with Professor T. B. Hayward (previously of Harvard University), at Bridgewater, Mass., as his sole pupil. Returning to Chicago in the fall of 1867,
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he spent the following year and a half in the office of Messrs. Loring and Jinney, architects. He then went to Nevada and for one year was engaged in mining, after which he returned to Chicago and entered the office of Mr. L. G. Laurean, architect, where he remained one and one-half years.
Immediately after the great fire of October 8th and 9th, 1871, he entered the office of Messrs. Carter, Drake and White, where he made the acquaintance of Mr. John W. Root, with whom, in the spring of 1873, he formed a co-partnership which lasted until Mr. Root's demise in January, 1891.
Among the buildings planned and constructed by Mr. Burnham may be mentioned the National Bank of Illinois building, the Chemical Bank building, Montauk block-ten stories high, the Rialto, the Rookery, the Insurance Exchange, Phoenix, the Counselman building, C., B. and Q. general offices, Rand and McNally building, Calumet and Calumet Club buildings. He is now constructing the Woman's Temple, sixteen stories high ; the Masonic Temple, twenty stories ; the Northern Hotel and Monadnock, sixteen stories; the Herald building on Washington street; St. Gabriel's Catholic Church; Church of the Covenant (Presbyterian); the new Methodist and Presbyterian Churches at Evanston. He has also just finished in Cleveland, Ohio, the
Society for Savings building. At Kansas City he has built the Midland Hotel, Board of Trade and American Bank buildings. At Topeka, Kansas, the A., T. and Santa Fé General Office building ; also the Phoenix Hotel at Las Vegas, Hot Springs, N. M. The Chronicle building and Mills build- ing in San Francisco, the latter being the finest office building in America, now constructing ; also a large office building at Atlanta, Ga. (ten stories). Mr. Burnham originated the Western Association of Architects and was its first presi- dent. He is also a member of most of the city clubs. In October of 1890, Mr. Burnham was appointed by the Directory of the World's Columbian Exposition Chief of Construction and Supervising Architect. He makes all draw- ings and contracts, supervises the artistic and working construction and disbursements for the buildings.
The buildings of this exposition will cover fifty per cent. more ground than those at Paris, and the enclosed grounds will be three times greater then ever before occupied for a like purpose. The exposition will surpass anything of the kind heretofore attempted in the magnificence of its buildings and equipments and the marvels of the exhibits; the planning of the whole of it was due to Messrs. Olmsted and Company and Burnham and Root, and the management of its execution is in the hands of Mr. Burnham.
CHARLES S. FROST,
CHICAGO, ILL.
O attain to success and prominence in one's calling before reaching mid-life falls to the lot of comparatively few men. Many things con- spire to these much-desired ends, but, in the main, they lie along the line of patient, persevering and faithful work. To say that Mr. Frost may be num- bered among this favored few is fully warranted, in view of the position to which he has attained while yet a young man. He is a native of the State of Maine, and was born at Lewiston on May 31, 1856, the son of Albert and Eunice (Jones) Frost, and traces his ancestry back through some of New England's most noted families.
As a boy, he was thoughtful, studious, an apt
scholar and fond of books. He received a thor- ough common-school education, and, after finish- ing his studies there, spent three years in an arch- itect's office in his native place, and there laid the foundation of his subsequent success. The call- ing is one to which his natural bent inclined him, and the experiences of those first years of close application are recalled with pleasure by him, for they were the stepping-stones on which he mounted to his present position. In order to more thoroughly fit himself for his life-work, he next pursued a special course of study at the In- stitute of Technology in Boston, and during the three years following his course of study, put his
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knowledge into practical operation in different offices of that city before opening an office on his own account. Being thus thoroughly prepared for his work, his success was marked from the first. In 1882 Mr. Frost removed to Chicago and associated himself in business with Mr. Henry I. Cobb, under the firm name of Cobb & Frost. This partnership continued until 1889, since which time Mr. Frost has carried on his business in his own name, his office at this time (1892) being in the Pullman building. While associated with Mr. Cobb, the firm planned, among other buildings, the Chicago Opera House, the Owings Building, and many private residences. Among the promi- nent structures designed by Mr. Frost since he has been in business by himself, may be mentioned the Passenger Station of the Chicago and North- Western Railroad Company at Milwaukee, which is regarded as a model of its kind, and one of the
finest station buildings belonging to that company; also the Western Bank Note Company's building at the southwest corner of Madison street and Michigan avenue, Chicago ; the private residences of Mr. R. T. Crane and Mr. G. B. Shaw, on Mich- igan avenue ; of Mr. N. W. Harris, on Drexel boule- vard, and the University School building on Dear- born avenuc.
Personally, Mr. Frost possesses qualities of a high order. Prompt in business, firm in his friendships, generous, hospitable and charitable, he has attracted to himself a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, who esteem him for his manly character and noble qualities of head and heart.
Mr. Frost was married January 7, 1885, to Miss Mary Hughitt, a daughter of Mr. Marvin Hughitt, general manager of the Chicago and North-West- ern Railway.
GEN. WILLIAM E. STRONG,
CHICAGO, ILL.
W ILLIAM EMERSON STRONG is a na- tive of Granville, Washington county, New York, and was born August 10, 1840. When he was nine years old his parents removed to New Fane, in Western New York, and four years later settled on a farm near Clinton, in Rock county, Wisconsin. Until his seventeenth year young Strong worked on the farm, spending a few months in the meantime in study at Beloit College. In November, 1857, he began the study of law in the office of Messrs. Strong & Fuller, at Racine, Wisconsin, and in April, 1861, passed a creditable examination and was admitted to the bar.
On the day of President Lincoln's proclama- tion calling for 75,000 men, April 15, 1861, young Strong raised a company of volunteers at Racine, then called "The Belle City Rifles," but subse- quently known as Company F, Second Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. This was the first Wisconsin regiment mustered into the United States service for three years, or during the war. In May, '61, the command was ordered to Wash- ington and assigned to Col. William T. Sherman's Brigade, Gen. Tyler's Division, Army of the Potomac, commanded by Gen. McDowell, and
was engaged in both the battle of Blackburn's Ford, July 18, 1861, and the battle of Bull Run three days later.
September 12, 1861, Capt. Strong was promoted to the rank of Major, and assigned to the Twelfth Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, then forming in Wisconsin, and at once reported to it for duty, and aided in organizing and equipping it, and in December following was sent with his regiment to the command of Gen. David Hunter at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Major Strong was after- ward promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of this regiment, which during January, Febru- ary, March, April and May served under Gen. Robert B. Mitchell in the State of Kansas, marching during those months over 800 miles. In the latter part of May, the regiment was ordered down the Mississippi river, and reached Columbus, Kentucky, just after the evacuation of Corinth by the Confederates. During the remain- der of the war our subject was with the Army of the Tennessee in all its battles, marches and cam- paigns, serving at different times on the staffs of Generals McKean, James B. McPherson, John A. Logan and O. O. Howard, as Inspector-General
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your very truly The Strand
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of the Sixth Division (McKean's); of the Right Wing, Army of the Tennessee; of the Seven- teenth Army Corps, and of the Department and Army of the Tennessee. During the campaign from Atlanta to the sea, through the Carolinas, from Beaufort to Goldsboro, Raleigh, and on to Washington, he was chief-of-staff to Maj .- Gen. Howard.
September 12, 1864, he was brevetted Colonel, for distinguished services in the Atlanta cam- paign, and on March 21, 1865, for gallant services in the Carolina campaigns, was brevetted Briga- dier-General. On September 1, 1866, after five years and four months of continual service, Gen. Strong retired from the army with a brilliant record and honors well deserved and meritoriously won.
Soon after leaving the army, he formed a busi- ness connection with the Peshtigo Lumber Com- pany, and on January 1, 1867, settled in Chicago. On the following July 12, he was made secretary and treasurer of that company, offices which he filled until October 25, 1873, when he was elected president of that organization, an office which he held till his death in 1891. Upon the formation of the Sturgeon Bay and Lake Michigan Ship Canal and Harbor Company, May 7, 1872, he was elected treasurer and assistant secretary, and two years later (Nov. 18, 1874) became one of its directors, and took an active part in the construc- tion of the Sturgeon Bay Canal, which was com- pleted and accepted by the State of Wisconsin in December, 1881. In the will of the late Hon. William B. Ogden, who died August 2, 1877, Gen. Strong was named as one of the executors and trustees of that estate, and from September 13, 1877, when, with others, he qualified as such, in New York City, he continued to discharge the duties of this responsible trust till his demise.
Owing to his long and honorable military record, Gen. Strong always held a high place in military circles, and was honored by his comrades with many positions of trust, having been for several years Junior and Senior Vice-Commander of the Illinois Commandery of the Loyal Legion, and also Commander of that body. The following trib- utes from his comrades will be read with interest : Capt. E. A. Blodgett says: "Gen. Strong is an excellent speaker, a fine singer, and a royal gen- tleman. A past commander of the Illinois Com-
mandery, he is a general favorite ; a man widely and greatly appreciated for his many talents and rare qualities of heart and mind." Judge Walter Q. Gresham thus speaks of Gen. Strong: "He was on Gen. McPherson's staff when the latter was killed in front of Atlanta, and for several years previous thereto. There was a strong bond of friendship between them, which was no more than natural, as their temperaments were very much alike. Both were warm-hearted, generous, confiding and brave. Few men were as popular as Gen. Strong in the Army of the Tennessee ; his patience, tact and rare good judgment enabled him to avoid antagonisms and made him especially valuable to his chief. The traits of character which enabled Gen. Strong to achieve success and reputation in the army have been of great service to him as a business man. While not lacking in firmness and sense of duty, he is ever ready to yield technicalities and non-essentials, and no man is more widely known or more highly esteemed in Chicago than he."
Under the administrations of both Gov. Ber- eridge and Gov. Cullom, Gen. Strong was In- spector-General of the Illinois National Guard, and also of rifle practice ; and was acting chair- man of the local committee of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee at the grand reunion and reception of October, 1879, in honor of Gen. Grant upon his return from his famous trip around the world. Although Gen. Logan was nominally chairman of that committee, the duties of direct- ing that celebrated ovation devolved upon Gen. Strong, and the masterly manner in which he per- formed those duties reflected high honor upon the organization he represented, and displayed in him unusual executive ability and generalship.
Upon his resignation as Inspector-General of the Illinois National Guard, near the close of the year 1879, the following was written as expressing the high esteem in which he was held:
GENERAL HEADQUARTERS. ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, SPRINGFIELD, ILL., Dec. 13, 1879.
Col. William E. Strong, Inspector-General of the Illinois National Guard, tenders his resignation, to take effect Janu- ary 1, 1880. The Commander-in-Chief. in view of the urgent reasons given by Col. Strong for this step, accepts the same with great regret.
Col. Strong was commissioned Inspector-General on the 21st day of December, 1875, and he has worthily filled the
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trust reposed in him to the present date. Under the code of 1877 he ranked as a Brigadier-General. Subsequent legisla- tion, however, reduced the grade of all officers in the State service.
In this resignation the State of Illinois loses the service of a true and tried soldier, and the National Guard one of its ablest officers. To Col. Strong is due the credit of the sys- tem of inspection and rifle practice now in use in this State, and the Commander-in-Chief in general orders takes this occasion to publicly thank him for his distinguished services voluntarily rendered to the State and its troops covering a period of over four years.
By order of the Commander-in-Chief.
(Signed) H. HILLIARD. Adjutant-General.
Gen. Strong was a close friend of Gen. Sheridan, upon whose invitation and in whose company he made six trips across the Western States and Territories, traveling for the most part on pack mules through a wild and unexplored country. These hazardous journeys, with all their hardships and fatigues, as well as the opportunities they afforded for indulging his sportsmanship in hunt- ing big game and fishing for trout, were remem- bered by him as among the happiest incidents of his life.
He was an ardent friend and admirer of Gen. Grant, and at the national convention held at Chicago in 1880, when Gen. Grant was a promi- nent candidate for the presidency, he served as Sergeant-at-Arms, and at the time of his death was President of the Board of Trustees, com- posed of, beside himself, Mr. Potter Palmer, Mr. S. M. Nickerson, Mr. Norman Williams and Mr. E. S. Dryer, having in charge the erection in Lincoln Park of the Grant equestrian statue.
Gen. Strong was a member of the George H. Thomas Post, G. A. R., a member of the Chicago
Commercial and Literary Clubs, and also belonged to the Tolleston Shooting Club, in the latter of which, being a "crack shot," he took special delight.
Upon the decision of Congress to hold a World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, Gen. Strong was elected by the stockholders of that organization one of its Board of Directors, an office for which his wide and varied experience, his accurate knowledge of men and affairs, and his diversified talents most admirably fitted him.
He was a man of marked traits, combining energy, perseverance, will power, and loyalty to principle with a high sense of honor, fairness and justice that never failed to command from all who knew him confidence and respect. As a public speaker Gen. Strong was an orator of note, possessing a style at once clear, simple, logical and convincing, and never failed to hold the close attention of his auditors. He was passionately fond of music, being a fine vocalist, and enjoyed more than local reputation as a singer of army songs. In politics he was always identified with the Republican party. In his religious affiliations and sentiments he was an Episcopalian. He was married April 25, 1867, to Miss Mary Bostwick Ogden, daughter of Mahlon D. Ogden, Esq., and a niece of Hon. William B. Ogden, Chicago's first Mayor, a lady of most estimable qualities and fine womanly instincts. They had one son and two daughters, viz., Ogden, Henrietta Ogden and Mary Ogden. Gen. Strong died in Florence, Italy, on April 10, 1891, aged fifty years and eight months. His remains were brought home, and rest, peacefully enshrouded in the national colors, in his native soil.
WILLIAM LE BARON JENNEY,
CHICAGO, ILL.
W TILLIAM LE BARON JENNEY was born in Fairhaven, Mass., September 25. 1832. His father, William P. Jenney, was a direct descendant, on the maternal side, of John Alden of the " Mayflower," and his mother, Eliza Le Baron Gibbs, was also of Plymouth stock. He has three brothers: Ansel G., Herbert and Walter P., and one sister.
After completing his studies at Cambridge, Mass., he went to France and graduated in 1856 from the Ecole Central des Arts et Manufactures of Paris, as an engineer of construction. Imme- diately after his graduation, he was called to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, where he had charge of the works for the Tehuantepec Railroad Company. Owing to the financial crisis of 1857, the work
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was stopped, and he returned to Paris, where he was appointed engineer of an American company. During an interval which followed, while the company was arranging to commence operations, he studied architecture in various offices and in galleries of sculpture and painting. In 1859, he was sent to the United States by the European bondholders of the Marietta and Cincinnati Rail- way Company to make a report of that road. Soon afterward he was appointed one of three engineers of the Bureau of American Securities in Europe, then forming, of which William T. Sher- man (afterward general in the U. S. Army) be- came president, and William F. Roelofson vice- president. About the time that the affairs of the concern were nearly consummated, operations were suspended by the opening of the civil war in the United States.
Mr. Jenney had opened an office as an architect and engineer at Cincinnati, Ohio, at that time. But shortly after the occupation of Cairo he was appointed by General George B. McClellan as assistant in the civil engineers' department of the army, and accompanied Capt. Henry Benham to Cairo, Illinois, where he was left to complete the fortifications under Chief Engineer J. D. Webster. Receiving from Gen. Fremont an appointment as Ist Lieutenant Vol. Engineers, he was ordered by General Halleck to assist Lieut .- Col. Mac- Pherson (who was afterwards major-general com- manding the Army of the Tennessee, and killed at Atlanta), and was present at the taking of Forts Henry and Donelson, the battles of Shi- loh and Pittsburg Landing, and the siege of Corinth, where he was chief engineer on Gen. Grant's staff. President Lincoln appointed him additional aide-de-camp in the regular army, to date from August 19, 1861, with the rank of captain, and later he built the fortifications at Memphis. He accompanied Gen. Sherman as chief engineer in his expedition against Vicks- burg, and took charge of the work on the "cut-off" canal. He remained on Gen. Sherman's staff during the remainder of the war, and was engi- neer of the 15th army corps at Vicksburg, and later engineer of the Army of the Tennessee. When Gen. Sherman took command in the West, Capt. Jenney was placed in charge at engineer headquarters, Nashville, Tenn.
After the war, having been breveted major, he
was ordered to accompany Gen. Sherman to St. Louis and to prepare a map of his campaigns. This map was afterwards loaned by the war de- partment and published with Gen. Sherman's memoirs. He resigned his commission May 19, 1866, and entered the office of Olmsted, Vaux and Withers, of New York city, architects and landscape artists, and was shortly made vice- president of the Mckean Coal Company, and of the Humboldt Oil Refining Company.
Mr. Jenney was married to Miss Lizzie H. Cobb, of Cleveland, May 8, 1867, and has two sons : Max, born May 2, 1868, and Frank Le Baron, born December 6, 1869.
He came to Chicago in the fall of 1867, and formed a partnership with Sanford E. Loring, Esq., with whom he published the Practice and Principles of Architecture. The partnership was dissolved in 1869, and Mr. Jenney was ap- pointed architect and engineer of the West Chicago Park Commissioners, and the same year, superintendent of architectural construction at Riverside, for Olmsted, Vaux and Company. The character of the work required careful and skill- ful associates. Mr. Jenney formed with L. Y. Schermerhorn, John Bogart and L. Y. Colyer, of New York, a partnership which continued one year by agreement. During that time designs were furnished for the West Chicago parks, a part of Washington Park at Albany, N. Y., and for the improvement of the capitol grounds at Nashville, Tenn., aside from the work at Riverside. Mr. Jenney was still actively engaged in architectural work. He has designed the following important structures : Grace Episcopal Church, Portland block, Mason's building, St. Caroline's court at Chicago ; the Sharp and Fletcher Bank building, and the residence of H. Bates, Jr., at Indianapolis, Ind., besides many dwellings in Chicago and Riverside. In 1874 he was appointed a member of the committee of the Chicago Academy of Design, and in May, 1876, Professor of Archi- tecture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In 1876, he was sent by the Secretary of the Interior to report on the construction of the Texas and Pacific Railway, then completed west to Fort Worth.
The Home Insurance building, northeast corner of Adams and La Salle streets, was de- signed by Mr. Jenney, it being the first tall,
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highly finished, fireproof building in Chicago, and in which was first introduced the iron skeleton construction, fireproofed only by masonry, the weight all carried by vertical columns, and which has since become known as the Chicago construc- tion. In this building were used the first steel beams manufactured in this country. Among other important buildings designed by him arc the Union League Club House, the L. Z. Leiter building, State, Van Buren and Congress streets, the Manhattan building on Dearborn street-the first sixteen story building started in Chicago- the Fair building, State, Dearborn and Adams streets. He was appointed one of ten archi-
tects, five of whom were selected from Chicago and five from other sections of the country, to form an Architectural Commission Advisatory, and also to take special charge of the main group of buildings at Jackson Park for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. To Mr. Jenney was specially assigned the horticul- tural building.
Mr. Jenney is a member of the Union League Club and the University Club of Chicago, and of the Loyal Legion ; the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, and Grand Army of the Republic. He is also a member of the American Institute of Architects.
GEORGE T. WILLIAMS,
CHICAGO, ILL.
G EORGE THOMAS WILLIAMS was born on October 31, 1831, in the town of Amc- nia, Dutchess county, New York, and is a son of Richard and Lucinda Williams. His father, a native of Connecticut, was of English descent, and traced his genealogy through a branch of the Roger Williams family of Rhode Island. In early life he moved into the State of New York ; was married to Lucinda Davis, of Quaker Hill, New York, and there engaged in the boot and shoe business. Miss Davis was of Holland Dutch descent. Richard Williams died at the age of seventy-three years; his widow now (1892) resides in Chicago, and is eighty-two years old.
Our subject attended the common schools of his native place, and the old "Quaker School" located in the town of Washington, Dutchess county, New York, and also attended an agricul- tural school, and received a thorough farm train- ing. From his ninth to his fifteenth year he lived with the family of one Stephen Haight, a Quaker- who became strongly attached to him-and worked during the summer and attended school during the winter months. Young Williams was indus- trious and faithful, rising early and working from twelve to fifteen hours per day during the sum- mer months, and was entrusted with important matters by his employer. At the age of seven- teen he abandoned farm life to engage in mercan- tile pursuits, beginning at Dover Plains, on a sala-
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