spllRI "1/1 B RARY OF THE UN IVER_SITY Of 1LLI NOIS 977 ..31 B644 WiH«l Hfr jiUNtw iii&NuucAL saivsr Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://archive.org/details/littlehistoryofgOObond A LITTLE HISTORY OF A GREAT CITY A LITTLE HISTORY OF A GREAT CITY FREDERIC WILLIAM BOND An informal presentation of the author's impressions of the most significant episodes in the birth, struggles and growth of the Wonder City of the World CHICAGO ^ Illustrations by KATE BACON BOND Published by THE BOOK AND PRINT GUILD WINNETKA On Chicago's North Shore ILLINOIS Put in type and produced in offset lithography in the U. S. A. COPYRIGHT, 1934, BY F. W. BOND ^77 ;^ 32719 7^ £• »J? ORE WORD Now that the last word has been written I am wondering if the title of this modest effort should not have been "A Little History of the 'Spirit' of a Great City". This story makes no pretense at being a comprehensive "history". The elimination of detail was premeditated and intentional. I have purposely refrained from relating the sordid tales of vice rampant, politics good or bad, petty disturbances and those events which were common to the growth of all large American cities. When I view a beautiful monument I am interested in the mental processes that conceived it, the patient, determined labors that created it, and the materials that give it enduring quality. And so do I look at the city Chicago. I have endeavored to see the indomitable spirit that has ever been her driving force, and to recognize the physical and spiritual evidences of that spirit. If I have helped you get a new picture of this marvelous city I am more than delighted. I am indebted to many author helpful attendants at the Public Library and The Chicago Historical Society, and others, (or very capable assistance in the gathering and compilation of the material for this work. The illustrations of early Chicago have been worked out from material owned by The Chicago Historical Society, and due credit is hereby acknowledged. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page "Chicago, destined to greatness since the creation of the world" (Chicago's geographical advantage) 15 "Father Marquette blazed a trail that the millions have since followed" (French appreciation for Chicago's future) 21 "These were trying days that tested the mettle of the bravest of men" (The First Fort Dearborn and the Massacre) 27 "Chicago starts building on the site of its first courageous endeavors" (From the second fort to the advent of railroads) 43 "A clapboard city that was little more than 'boxes' on stilts in mud" (View of the city in the 40's and 50's) 57 "A vital, youthful town rapidly becomes a striding giant among cities" (Chicago, from Civil War to the Great Fire) 67 "A curtain of fire drawn between an era of wood and one of steel" (The Chicago Fire of 1 871 ) 93 "The new city built on a foundation whose cornerstone read 'I Will' " (From the Great Fire to the Fair of 1893) 105 "The Chicago of today, a monument to an American Century of Progress" (The city today, and A Century of Progress) 1 21 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page Chart of the Great Inland Waterway 14 The Lake Michigan Watershed 16 Marquette's Map of the Chicago territory 18 Decoration and Map of the Chicago Marquette found 20 Chicago before the first Fort Dearborn 22 The cabin of Jean Baptiste du Sable 24 The schooner Tracy unloading Fort supplies 28 Diagram of the first Fort Dearborn 30 The interior court of the Fort 34 A Fort Cannon 38 The Kinzie House 40 The Lee Farm, "Hardscrabble" 42 A view of the Chicago of 1 830 44 The Wolf and Miller Taverns 46 Chicago's first Post Office 48 First Drawbridge over the Chicago River 50 "Rotten Row," the first retail shopping district 52 Stage Coach and Stage Office 54 Chart showing various boundaries of the growing city 56 Map view of Chicago in the 1 840's 60 State Street in the 1 850's 62 Old Market Hall 64 Illinois Central Railroad Terminal 68 The Court House Square 70 The Republican "Wigwam" 74 Colonel Wood's Museum 78 The Second Sherman House 82 The first Chicago University 84 Water Reservoir and Second Baptist Church 86 Boat traffic in the Chicago River 88 The Old Water Tower 90 Chart of the path of the Great Fire 92 The City in Flames 94 Group fleeing from the fire 98 Newspaper published during the Fire 1 02 The Kerfoot Building 1 04 A Chicago scene in the 1 880's 106 The Exposition Building 110 A view of the Columbian Exposition, 1 893 112 The Administration Building, '93 Fair 114 A Night Scene of the '93 Fair 116 The Palace of Fine Arts, '93 Fair 118 Michigan Avenue Today 122 Wacker Drive at Night 124 A view or A Century of Progress Exposition 1 26 A view of A Century of Progress Exposition 130 A view of A Century of Progress Exposition 1 32 A view of A Century of Progress Exposition 134 A Sentinel in Chicago's Frontyard 1 36 Buckingham Fountain 138 0 H O 2 Co C« I - O £Tl Z m rn Co > 4 1 7> rn BASSin DE LA FLORIDE V* Ab » K *njP fi ^'^ 45 "'•.. Z./IC i-ivnon 44 5 Hi o << FLORIDE 43 Al Al A" V Jfc 37 AN EARLY MARQUETTE MAP A copy of a portion of Father Marquette's autographed map of the Lakes region. Many of the designations are unreadable on available copies. Original owned by St. Mary's college, Montreal Chicago is becoming a "seaboard" city whose hospitable shores welcome closer contact with its neighbors in distant lands. Any history of the Wonder City of the World is inseparable from the personal exploits, unmatched courage and tireless energy of those hardy pioneers who fought and conquered everything from rum-crazed Redskins to one of the world's most devastating conflagrations. With due reverence to the Creator's part in making Chicago's greatness possible, the following pages will relate history in terms of personal endeavor, from the coming of the town's first "white" citizen, who, by the way was a negro. 19 Map of the Chicago Marquette found Father Marquette blazed a trail that the millions have since followed rom that brilliant summer day in 1673 when Father Marquette, in company with the intrepid and resourceful Louis Joliet, five French companions and a band of Illinois Indians, set foot on the banks of the Chicago River, until the arrival of the city's first citizen, Jean Baptiste du Sable, ("a free mulatto man 7 ' according to his own description) about a hundred years later, there is little recorded history of Chicago. Marquette and Joliet had not set out to "discover" Chicago — the party was returning from an exploration of the Mississippi River, to determine, if they could, whither the great Father of Waters flowed. The expedition had been sent out by the French governor of Canada in furtherance of French dreams to find and usurp bigger and better domains. Another interesting sidelight on the origin of the name Chicago is La Salle's designation of the place with the label "Circago", 21 M Z B »- o J o * : a -S3 — v% — 5 "B ■81 5 <■» w at _e CO o 3 o o < I .5? o C — o . i * from the two latin words "circum" and "ago" as he believed that future residents "would feel compelled to be alert and doing". The French considered Chicago of sufficient importance as a stop-over point between their Canadian bases and Fort Saint Louis at Starved Rock/ Illinois/ to build a small fort here in 1684. The fact was substantiated by a reference of General Anthony Wayne in the treaty of Greenville in 1795 when he mentioned "the mouth of the Chikaugou River, where formerly a French fort stood". The writings of French explorers recorded the establishment of a French Mission near the north branch of the river, in 1696/ but this seems to have had only a short and unimportant existence. Such fragmentary notes as exist tell of the comings and goings of French traders, of La Salle's explorations from his headquarters at Fort Saint Louis (now Starved Rock ), of Indian wars, and of the Redman's alliance with the French, against the British. The Illinois tribe were such hearty supporters of the French cause that they traveled as far as Quebec and Montreal to battle for their Great White Father. They were with the French invasion of New York in 1687/ they massacred the British at Braddock's defeat in 1 755 and repeated the deed at Fort William Henry. The 23 "J ( „--•*"">/ / . - V"' V / „ ^^ _ f X >- '■.■■•■■■.■ ' " ;, ' : 'W* ;-]^Sji=SS «?■■'.'.■:. ..■.. — ■■ - - THE CABIN OF JEAN BAPTISTE DU SABLE Built in 1779, twenty-five years before the fort. Its principal claim to importance is that it was the first house in Chicago, and that later, after much remodeling became the Kinzie home Redman acquired such a dislike for the British that, when the New France finally fell, he stubbornly resisted every westward advance of his new masters. The conquest of Quebec by the British General Wolfe and the battle on the Plain of Abraham in 1 759 was a momentous factor in the shaping of Chicago's destiny. It ended forever the dream of a "New France" and put the future of the new world into the keeping of the Anglo-Saxon. The British dominated the land of French dreams until the "Revolution of the West" ended with Wayne's victory over the Indians in 1 794 and the evacuation of the last British outpost in 1 796. jy And shortly thereafter the history of Chicago/ as a community, began. Following du Sable's intermittent sojourn, the first citizens, in the person of a handful of troops, arrived at the mouth of the Chicago River in August, 1 803, followed a year later by Chicago's most famous early citizen, John Kinzie, who took up his abode in the cabin formerly owned by du Sable, v The stirring events that followed the coming of these fearless men can never be fully appreciated by a generation bred and raised in the lap of comparative ease. 25 And with the establishment of this outpost of civilization, the courage, determination and energy of this little band wrote the first glorious pages of the history of this young giant among cities that has grown more in the last hundred years than have the greatest cities of the old world in the last ten centuries. 26 These were trying days that tested the mettle of the bravest of men nly after repeated attempts to establish and maintain a fort on the eastern shore of the lake, at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, did the War Department, of which General Henry Dearborn was Secretary, decide that perhaps "Chikago" was, after all, a more desirable location for the then furthermost western outpost. V Accordingly the government schooner "Tracy" was loaded at Detroit with material and supplies for the fort and started on the way toward her destination in the early summer of 1 803/ At the same time a company of sixty-three men and three commissioned officers marched overland, arriving a few days after the schooner had cast anchor off shore near the mouth of the Chicago River. The Captain of the garrison, and his family, befitting one of his rank, made the journey on board the schooner. Building operations on Fort Dearborn were begun on the 4th 27 UNLOADING THE SCHOONER TRACY This vessel brought the supplies for the first Fort Dearborn, from Detroit. The neighboring Indians were awe-struck and fascinated by the sight of this "canoe with great white wings" of July and completed some two months later. Its location was on the south bank of the river at about the present Rush Street and almost directly in the present channel of the river, which at that time wound its way some two hundred yards to the north, swung south along the present Michigan Avenue then turned into the lake in a line with our present Madison Street. ^The Fort consisted of two blockhouses, one at the southeast with the other one at the northwest corner of the stockade enclosure. These, the barracks and the storehouses were constructed of hewn timbers but the powder magazines were of necessity built of brick. Although a well was dug inside the stockade, a subterranean passage from the parade grounds to the river afforded an auxiliary means of securing water, as well as a route of escape in case of extreme emergency. Although du Sable is usually referred to as Chicago's earliest resident and John Kinzie as its "first citizen", the coming of the garrison found a number of traders who had maintained a more or less permanent residence here for a number of years. Among them was a French trader named LeMai who had purchased and remodeled the house built by du Sable and which was sold by 29 DIAGRAM OF THE FIRST FORT DEARBORN 1, Barracks (or the troops; 2, Southeast Blockhouse; 3, Main Entrance; 4, Officers' Quarters; 5, Northwest Blockhouse; 6, Powder Magazine; 7, Underground Passage to the River LeMaito John Kinzie, who occupied it until his death in 1828 except for his enforced absence from 1812 until 1816. Among other residents who preceded the Fort was Antoine Ouilmette, to whose Indian wife the government later gave the tract of land occupied by the present village of Wilmette. He lived a few yards west of the LeMai house. A man by the name of Pettell lived close by, and another trader, Guarie, had his abode on the west bank of the north branch of the river just above the junction. For years the north branch was known as Guarie's River, the south branch as Portage River, and only that portion from the junction east to the lake was called the Chicago River. >The drab monotony of typical wilderness outpost life at Fort Dearborn, from 1803 until 1812, was punctuated only by an occasional skirmish with unfriendly Indians. All social life of the community centered in the Fort. The families of the soldiers with those of the scattered residents outside the stockade made up an unbelievably happy community in spite of all the hardships and continual threats of danger that were their lot. The Fort was built and commanded by Captain Whistler until 31 his transfer to Fort Wayne in 1810. He was, by the way, the grandfather of the eminent painter, James A. McNeil Whistler. He was succeeded in command by Captain Nathan Heald, whose blind obedience to War Department orders, poor judgment and obstinate rejection of the wise counsel of John Kinzie, resulted in the needless massacre two years later. Much has been written about that fatal day of August 15th, 1812, when that brave, defenseless band was marched out of the stockade into the very face of almost certain death. History has concerned itself more with extolling the bravery of those gallant pioneers than with relating portentous and unmistakable events that forewarned against thefoolhardiness of peaceable evacuation. The fact that the account of that summer's events within the Fort as related by a Lieutenant Helm, one of the survivors, was suppressed for years and not made public for almost a century is sufficient evidence that those in high command had misjudged the situation. The first faint rumblings of trouble echoed from the activities of Tecumseh, chief of the Shawnees, who in 1811 fostered the uprisings against the westward invasion of the Americans. The 32 first untoward incident of a series that later culminated in the massacre/ occurred on the afternoon of April 7th, the next year. A prosperous resident who lived "at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Madison Street", with a number of helpers farmed a large tract of land four miles southwest of the Fort. This farm was known as "Hardscrabble", a name applied to the territory for many years after. Late in the afternoon of this April day a small band of painted and bedecked Indians, strangers to the three men and a boy who were alone in the house, entered and seated themselves on the rough board floor. Sensing that these Redskin visitors meant no good, one of the men and the boy talked their way out of the house on the pretext that they had to feed the cattle browsing along the river bank. Having gained the river and a canoe beached there, they fled to spread the warning. When only a short way up the opposite bank, rifle shots told them the fate of the two companions they had left behind. Most of the civilian community was soon huddled within the protecting walls of the Fort, including a Mrs. Burns and her one day old child. Everything was made ready to resist the attack which all expected would follow. The sound of the signal cannon 33 '■■•f^irii'.i^'r;'--*^,'^^-^"-^-- • ■tfgtihtw'' VIEW OF THE FORT COURT The blockhouse shown is the one at the northwest corner, commanding the banks of the river. The brick structure at the right of the blockhouse is the powder magazine; all other buildings were wood at the Fort had apparently dissuaded the invaders, for they left for their tribal haunts without further delay. In fairness to the Indian neighbors about the Fort, it should be stated that these marauders were Winnebagos from quite a distance who had been incited to violence by the propagandist Tecumseh. During the next three months a number of incidents indicated the temper of many of the Indians, albeit the wiser chiefs advised peace. Such apparently trivial acts as an Indian walking into Captain Heald's headquarters without permission, taking a rifle from the wall, firing it into the floor and walking out without so much as an ''Ugh"; another brave, observing two officers' wives playing battledore, remarking to an officer of the Fort that, "The White Chiefs' wives are amusing themselves very much; it won't be long before they are hoeing in our cornfields", all indicated a growing disrespect for the authority of the American. On the afternoon of August 7th, Winnemeg, a friendly chief of the Potowatomis, arrived from the fort at Detroit with a dispatch from its commander. The message informed the garrison that war had been declared between America and England, and closed with an order to Heald to "evacuate the fort, IF PRACTICABLE 35 (the capitals are mine) and in that event, to distribute all United States property contained in the Fort, . . . among the Indians in the neighborhood". The order was read at parade the next morning. All listened in grave silence. In spite of the fact that the Fort was well armed and provisioned for six months, the Captain decided to follow his orders literally, disregarding the "if practicable" clause entirely. Winnemeg firmly counseled against such action. John Kinzie, and his wife who as a child was a forcibly adopted daughter of the Seneca Indians for five years, understood the Indians, and endeavored to persuade Captain Heald from his purpose, without success. The Captain forthwith held a council with the Indians, informing them of his intentions both to distribute his stores among them and to evacuate the Fort. In return he asked for an escort and an assurance of safe conduct for his party to Fort Wayne. With a blind faith and a further show of his strict disciplinary attitude he ordered the line of march out of the Fort on the morning of August 1 5th. A Captain Wells who had arrived a day or so before with a party of friendly Miamis, headed the march, followed immediately by the wagons bearing the women, children and supplies. The 36 armed force consisted of only 52 privates, 4 officers and the first Chicago militia of 1 4 citizens. As the troops left the Fort the band struck up the Dead March. The procession followed the sandy beach. As they proceeded south, their escort of 500 supposedly friendly Potowatomis deployed to the right and having reached higher ground about a mile and a half from the Fort, opened fire. The troops hastily formed to charge the slope but with only twenty-five rounds of ammunition per man and outnumbered ten to one there could be but one outcome. The Indians massacred two of the nine women, twelve of the eighteen children and every male civilian except John Kinzie. A bare handful of the troops survived, among them Captain Heald and Lieutenant Helm, all of whom were very seriously wounded. They were all made prisoners except Kinzie who was returned to his home and carefully guarded by friendly Indian Chiefs against further attacks. The Fort was fired the next morning and the apparently fatally wounded promptly dispensed with via the tomahawk. Some of the prisoners were released, the others being carried away to be ransomed later by traders. After months of hardships most of the families were reunited and took up their abode among 37 AW 1 n **»* .$$« mM ; ■- , ^?*^---";^S ■*«**&• ' ^SsrS »PP|s|| ! !, >^Ki :#: m* •■??*»* ^K*«. >rK«lS;;-^ ONE OF THE FORT CANNON These old muzzle-loaders were mounted in the upper stories of the blockhouses. What appears to be a shelf in the background was a rifleman's platform, for firing through port openings in the walls friends in settlements that afforded ample protection. Captain Heald had been taken prisoner but was soon released through the intercession of his Indian friends and he and his wife were sent by boat across the Lake to St. Joseph. His release so incensed some of the more incorrigible of the tribe that they set out to recapture him. He and his wife were forced to flee in a canoe three hundred miles up the Lake to the Island of Mackinac, where he surrendered to the British. The Kinzies later made their way to St. Joseph where the father remained while his wife and four children proceeded to Detroit. With the help of friendly and sympathetic Indians he attempted to recoup his fortunes, the while disguising himself in paint and Indian dress to escape capture. But his longing for his family led him to join them some months later. After a while the British, who had recently captured Detroit, suspecting he was furnishing information to the American authorities, imprisoned him for some months, in Detroit and Quebec, and finally put him on a vessel bound for England. The unseaworthy craft had to return to port. Sometime later he was released in an exchange of prisoners. An interesting side light on the affection of the Indians for Mr. Kinzie is that twice 39 / • w ' . '>?■'■ : THE HOME OF CHICAGO'S "FIRST" CITIZEN This is the house originally built by du Sable, later owned by Le Mai, a French trader, who in turn >ld it to John Kinzie in 1804. Birthplace of the first white child born in Chicago sol while he was forcibly detained by the British, Indian chiefs asked for and secured his release. The nine year history of the first Fort Dearborn, 1 803 to 1 81 2, was contemporary with the efforts of three nations to subdue a continent. This outpost was an important link in a chain of early frontier defenses, and in spite of the disaster which overwhelmed it, marked the birth of the agricultural and commercial prosperity of the great northwest. 41 . ' ■■■■■' \ : ' '. ' ,W' > '>'.-.-') I THE FARM KNOWN AS "HARDSCRABBLE" Situated about (our miles from the mouth of the river. Owned by a Charles Lee. The property was occupied by employees, the Lee family living near and under the protection of the fort Chicago starts building on the site of its first courageous endeavors I he second Fort Dearborn was built in 1816 on a larger scale than before. The Kinzie family returned to Chicago the same year. > All of Kinzie's trading posts had been abandoned, his stocks of valuable furs and goods lost or destroyed and except for his large holdings in real estate, he was poorer than when he arrived twelve years before with his wife and one year old son. During the following years until his death in 1828 he was the prime mover in every undertaking designed to develop this young city in the wilderness. He was a firm believer in its ultimate destiny but unfortunately did not live to see the fulfillment of any of his visions as the city made little progress until 1830. X Upon demand of the citizens of the community called Chicago the Illinois State Legislature appointed a commission to make a survey of the town site proposed in the petitioners' request. A 43 >■#■; a O m oo co £> = o 3 0> -O "C £4 o _ O w u > O * g ^ - < ff .i U . c — -o * 1 -5 -5 «-» § .= O 5 5 ■3 J ^ S °- > "S £ m 5 - — 5 3 > *» E E J» < ~ 5 C 6> o E 1 1 S. .2 " a .£ plat filed August 4th, 1830, defines the original boundary lines as Madison Street on the south, Desplaines Street on the west, Kinzie Street on the north and State Street on the east. The Illinois General Assembly passed an act on January 1 5th, 1831, creating Cook County and establishing Chicago as its county seat. The first election, in 1833, recorded twenty-eight voters, and it is assumed none of them were repeaters. K This squalid little city, mired in mud that at times completely stopped all vehicular traffic, had contact with the east only through the one mail a week (and at times it didn't get through), brought on horseback from Niles, Michigan. The Great Land Craze struck the city in the spring of 1834. Speculators and attorneys-at-law seemed to make up the principal population, due perhaps to the fact that they were so much in evidence. This first and greatest boom transformed what had been little more than a military and trading post into a mushroom city overrun with all the frenzied riff-raff and "get-rich-quick" elements that usually attend such developments. Even New York was wildly speculating in Chicago lots. A Mr. Hubbard who had become part owner of an eighty acre tract 45 S5^is$sa^^ »:.-.".- A ^»**-:«-.f'-;~t'> *.- smb ■y w %v M r „~$&tim w -'■- / -,<■— gsri \ •y THE WOLF AND MILLER TAVERNS In the early days the junction of the two branches of the river was known as Wolf Point. It was the site of three early taverns, the Wolf (left), the Miller (right), and the Sauganash, located nearby lying between Kinzie Street and Chicago Avenue just west of the north branch of the River, went to New York, conducted an auction and sold half the tract for $80,000. He had paid only $5 7 000 for the entire parcel. A The town limits were extended in 1835 south to Twelfth, west to Halsted and north to Chicago Avenue. In 1837 they were again moved, to Twenty-second on the south, Wood Street on the west and North Avenue on the north. By this time Chicago had become a community of several thousand ( "with and without souls'' according to one historian) and was taking on all the aspects of a young city. ^^ The panic of 1837, of which President Jackson's famous (?) specie circular was the father, depressed the new metropolis to an extent equalled only by the frenzied mania that had just passed. For several years the city was stagnated. Fortunes were wiped out as quickly as they had been built. Dreams of a Utopia vanished and the sterner citizens set about building on surer and firmer economic foundations. The chronology of my story and the significance of the event dictate that the founding of Chicago's first daily newspaper be 47 (,i wi^^,/i;,- . CHICAGO'S FIRST POSTOFF1CE BUILDING The first postmaster held forth in the Kinzie home. The second postmaster built the above structure in 1832, near Wolf Point. First class postage in those days was twenty-five (25c) cents mentioned here. The first issue was published on April 9th, 1 839. As always, the newspaper is so necessary a part of the political, social and commercial life of a community that the founding of one marks a new step in community development, and forecasts a unity of thought and action otherwise impossible. The period of the Forties and Fifties has been characterized, fittingly, as the era of the "iron horse and the mechanical man" otherwise known as the railroad and the reaper. Heretofore Chicago's commercial routes consisted of water routes and stage lines, of which there were many, covering in all, two thousand milesNjhe opening of the Erie Canal blazed a new trail for immigration from the east. The completion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal (La Salle's dream) provided a direct route to the Gulf. This latter connection accounts in part, J assume, for the very much in evidence Southern influence on the city's early life. Many of the finest homes of the time were unmistakably Southern in architectural design. Wide sweeping porticos, two story high columns and ceiling high windows fairly breathed a spirit of the hospitality of the old South. \ The commercial birth of the reaper is recorded as 1848 when 49 m - &mm ■<>;\tf^v&^ aw* 8 ' 1 4 fjJSSlM*' ,> N FIRST DRAWBRIDGE OVER THE CHICAGO RIVER Built at the foot of Dearborn Street in 1834, a year after the village was incorporated, the start of Chicago's century of progress. Note the narrowness of the river at that time Cyrus H. McCormick, in partnership with William B. Ogden, started manufacture of the mechanism that was to write such an important page in the history of the development of the west. The factory was situated on the Kinzie homestead at Kinzie and Rush Streets. This spot seemed destined to mark important eras in the city's history. It is significant that this same spot was the starting point of Chicago's first railroad. Strange as it may seem, our first railroad ran west instead of connecting with the east. Again economic necessities determined the plan and purpose. The panic following 1837 impressed the fact that Chicago's future was dependent upon the development of its hinterland, the great northwest. Under the able leadership of William B. Ogden work was begun on the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad in 1847 and on October 25th of the following year a locomotive, tender and two cars ran to the end of the line, about five miles in the direction of Desplaines. This was Chicago's first train. Not until 1853 had the line been extended as far as Freeport. It never was built to Galena, as in the meantime the Illinois Central had extended its line from there to Freeport, and the G. & C. U. 51 ■ ■ /- THE FIRST RETAIL SHOPPING DISTRICT Scene alons "Rotten Row", as Chicago's original shopping district on Lake Street, was called in 1843, (note the signs). Lady shoppers chatted in the middle of the street free from traffic dangers arranged to run over the Central's tracks. The present C. & N. W. system is the giant offspring of the old Galena and Chicago Union. Chicago was not without competition in the race to develop the wilderness. Milwaukee was equally convinced that it was the logical terminus of routes that should extend to newly discovered mines and the latent riches of the upper Mississippi River valley. In consequence it started to build what was to be the forerunner of the great Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul system. By 1857 the line had reached Prairie du Chien. A year later a second was laid to La Crosse. In the meantime roads were coming into Chicago from the east. The Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana entered the city in February, 1852 — the first train over the Michigan Central arrived three months later. And so was Chicago's development as the world's greatest railroad center inaugurated! The rapid march of events made the advantage of Chicago's strategic position obvious and likewise made Milwaukee's claim to commercial supremacy untenable. The Milwaukee line was extended to Chicago a few years later. Instead of deflecting riches from Chicago, as originally planned, it soon became one of the 53 THE TRANSPORTATION TERMINAL OF THE 1840's The first stage coach line, running west from Chicago, was inaugurated in 1837. At the height of the stage business Chicago was the terminus for more than two thousand miles of stage lines most important feeders for this new commercial giant of the west whose population had increased 835 per cent in two decades. Truly, the coming of the "iron horse" marked the beginning of Chicago as the great central market of the richest valley on the face of the globe. 55 Chart showing various boundaries of the growing city A clapboard city that was little more than boxes on stilts in mud o word picture can possibly paint the mental impressions any one of us might get if we could turn back the hands of time and step from comparatively luxurious homes (I say that advisedly) directly into the scenes of the Forties and Fifties. Clapboard houses set on posts driven in the mud; bumpy dirt streets that normal rains turned into veritable quagmires, often for weeks at a stretch in the spring; plank sidewalks for a few blocks on the busiest streets; cows tied in the back yards within a block of "downtown"; no waterworks; no lighting system; no sewerage disposal except through natural drainage; few and irregular contacts with the outside world; these are only a few of the handicaps under which the early residents worked and lived - and happily so if we are to believe their own statements. If we chose to make our visit about 1845 we would find that 57 it would take a week to come from New York, if we had no mishap. The best route would be New York to Albany by boat, a train over a more or less insecure track to Buffalo, by steamer to Detroit, the strap rail Michigan Central to Kalamazoo, and the balance of 1 70 miles (now a three hour ride) in a sort of combination stage coach and lumber wagon. And the sight that would meet our eyes would give little reason to suspect that a century later would see in its place the leading metropolis of the world. Our sightseeing tour would not take a great while. The business section stretching for some three blocks along Lake Street from Wabash Avenue west, would probably claim our first attention. At 121 Lake we would drop into Dr. Scammon's drugstore for a little chat; we might then pass on to Lock's clothing store next door. A little farther west we would see the store of Mosely & McCord on the north side of the street, from whose front door we could look south as far as Blue Island without a single building in view. As the other stores and small shops offered no more of interest than those we had just seen, we will pass on. On Water Street we come upon a half dozen warehouses and a few stores that profess to do a wholesale business. Having seen 58 the principal commercial section of the village we express a desire to look over the residential district. Our escort inquires as to our preference in means for crossing the River, explaining that the only two ways available to cross to the north bank are the Dearborn Street bridge, a curious sort of contrivance which operated on a scow-like turntable, and the Ferry at Rush Street propelled by the tender pulling on ropes secured to the river banks. We choose the bridge, and go over to the north side especially to view the palatial home of William B. Ogden, Chicago's first Mayor. Here, bounded by Erie, Cass, Rush and Ontario Streets, we find the delightful grounds well planted with a variety of beautiful trees among which stands a stately two story frame house with wide porticos and high columns. Stables, conservatories and fruit houses add to the air of extensiveness. There were numbers of other comfortable homes about the neighborhood, scattered somewhat of course. Turning our steps southward toward the river we soon come upon the Lake House, the most famous hostelry of the day, at Kinzie and Rush Streets. To the east of it we see the old Kinzie homestead now occupied by John H. Kinzie, son of the town's "first citizen". Crossing to 59 •v : w., i» ..." '.i ii 1/ "». J v .••"'<* ■<«#: ofl a O in r* Ul 3 ATHOUSfc z °tf Z a > < > 4 BANDOIP H STREET z D C30 I < o a < a i o a < £5 a 5 C Muft CH £±> s & a «* D 1 S O w a ol a 4| B l STUE E T n Map view of Chicago in the 1840s the south bank via the antiquated Ferry we must pause a moment at the Fort, still standing and in good repair even though it has been unoccupied since 1 837. To the left we notice a plot of open ground which we learn is the"tourist camp"of the day, immigrants headed for the west using it to park their prairie schooners, families, cattle, et al, for a period of rest and provisioning. As we proceed south on Michigan our attention is called to two very fine homes just north of Lake Street. They are built of blue limestone which had been brought in as ballast from the lower lakes. The aristocracy of the occupants is further emphasized by the flagstone walks in front of these palaces. We must hurry along, so we quicken our steps as we cover the residential district on the "south side" which we find extends on Wabash and State Streets almost to Van Buren. Homes on the north and south streets started at Randolph, one block from the retail section, and are found scattered thinly to the south branch of the river on the west. Some of the more pioneering will soon be, no doubt, building west of the river, as the Lake Street bridge has recently been completed. One thing impresses us quite forcibly — the concentration of 61 ii(SS!'JSiS*S^S®S^^^affi^k5ASjSi^^^K' ' ', " ■ . STATE STREET IN 1856 A view, in the days of horse cars and hoop skirts, north from Washinston Street. The present store of Marshall Field & Company stands where the stonecutter's establishment is shown at the risht churches on "Church" Street, now Washington. From La Salle east we find the First and Second Presbyterian, the Methodist, the Baptist, Unitarian, Universalist and the Catholic Churches. In our hurry we may have missed one or two but what we observed spoke effectively of the religious temper of the population. Before we complete our visit we must see the old Court House, a one-story brick building, thirty by eighty feet, on the northeast corner of the present site, with the little log jail conveniently nearby at the northwest corner. And there is the Sherman House across the street north, the American Temperance House (a hotel most of the newcomers patronized) at Lake and Wabash, the City Hotel, a rather pretentious three story brick affair at Clark and Randolph, and Dearborn Park on the lake front where the Public Library now stands. We are so fortunate as to arrive during the drier season of the year and so escape plodding through knee-deep mud, streets that often are impassable for weeks at a time. There are no pavements and but only a few sidewalks, most of which are planks laid on stringers. The exception is on the "Gold Coast" where we found some flagstone for a half block. 63 " OLD MARKET HALL, 1 848 Located on State Street near Randolph. The curious old belfry of this then imposing structure was a landmark for years. Market stalls occupied the first floor, council chambers the second We are told that, during the Spring, wagons are stalled in the streets for weeks, with trade practically stopped, as people can get about only with the greatest difficulty, and the farmers cannot get to town. Store clerks while away the idle hours marking the worst holes with warning signs reading "No Bottom Here", "The Shortest Road to China" and the like. ■ •■•■■■ This condition could not long be tolerated and the city fathers after much deliberation, decided upon an experiment in paving which indicated their inexperience with such tasks. Lake Street was dug down to almost the level of the Lake and then planked. The theory, and that is all it proved to be, was that the sewerage would settle in the gutters and be carried off. The only part of the plan that worked as intended was that the sewerage settled in the gutters — but stayed there. The attendant stench became almost unbearable. The street was then filled in and the grade raised some six to eight feet above its natural level. Buildings had to be raised to meet it. For the next year or two the town rested on jackscrews. Some places we would find four and five levels in the sidewalk in a single block, and it seemed as much time was spent in running 65 up and down short (lights of steps connecting the various levels as in going forward. By 1 850 we find the city levelled off and squared away ready for what were to be her first strides toward the great commercial and cultural developments of the next half century. 66 A vital, youthful town rapidly becomes a striding giant among cities hile an amazed world watched, sometimes with admiration, sometimes with envy, Chicago struck astride that later years proved neither war, panic nor conflagration could stop, albeit at times misfortunes may have temporarily halted her pace. The city had put a half century behind her since the building of Old Fort Dearborn. In spite of the protestations of stage line owners and their sympathizers, the railroad had intruded upon the scene. McCormick had established the important reaper industry, the packing business was getting started, and Chicago's commercial frontiers were rapidly being extended. With these activities there was a growing appreciation for the need of better facilities and conveniences for this community that had in so short a span of years become a young metropolis. As a start in civic betterment the streets were lighted with gas in 1 850. 67 a PP' THE RAILROAD BUILT ON STILTS The Illinois Central bought the last of the Fort Dearborn Reservation in 1850 and ran its tracks to Randolph Street where it built what was then the most expensive station in the country The original water works being only a system of troughs hewn from logs, into which oftentimes as much fish as water were pumped, had to be replaced with one more modern and sanitary. After two years in construction the new works was put in operation in 1 866, water being taken in at a crib built two miles off Chicago Avenue and brought through a brick tunnel ninety feet below the level of the Lake, to the pumping station near the present Old Tower at Michigan and Chicago Avenues. Refuse disposal was provided by sewers constructed of oak boards. Improvements in the streets, many of which were planked, the starting of the first City Railway line (horse drawn cars) in 1 859, and the completion of the new Court House all indicated rapid progress. Chicago was building for the future. A very significant evidence of this fact was that the new water works was built with a capacity to care for a population of 450,000 at a time when the city could boast only about one-fourth that number. It seems quite unnecessary to mention that the city limits now had been extended far beyond those given in an earlier page. They had reached Thirty-fifth Street on the south, almost to Crawford on the west, and had taken in that section east of the north branch 69 ' -'-'■>. . : ' ^sfe. ; THE OLD COURT HOUSE SQUARE The first Court House was a small one story affair. In 1853 the above building, two stories, without the wings, was erected. The third story, wings and dome were added in 1858 of the river and north to what is now called Fullerton Avenue. ■ ■•■■■■ One should remember that the nation, at this time, was in the throes of the Civil War — and Chicago was ever actively a party to that struggle. With the exception of a considerable Southern-born citizenry the native population was, at the start of the War, at least, loyal to the Union while the foreign-born peoples were divided. The Germans and Scandanavians, who settled on the northwest and north side of town, were enthusiastic supporters of the cause of the North. The inhabitants of the southwest side, (mostly recent comers from the Emerald Isle) were never more than lukewarm in their support, and often were openly hostile to the prosecution of the War. Whenever there was a worthwhile Union victory the North Side would burst spontaneously into a furor of enthusiasm, but there would be little or no interest among the residents of the Southwest Side. Let news of a Rebel victory reach their ears and then "Bridgeport" and its environs would outdo the North Siders — both in noise and direct action. A favorite finale to these 71 demonstrations was hunting down any or all colored brothers who may have inadvertently strayed within the forbidden territory. One should not get the mistaken idea that there was unanimity of convictions and actions among even the so-called civic leaders. Chicago was, politically, a Democratic city, with a Democratic Mayor and Council/ and the administration's official organ was the Democratic newspaper, the Times. While it is true that the organized opposition was not concerned with aiding and abetting the cause of the South, it was vigorously opposed to "the war as waged by military satraps of the administration . . a war that was a subversion of the Constitution and the people's rights under the law". As the War progressed feeling ran high and both sides became more and more outspoken. The Times was summarily suppressed on June 2nd, 1863, by order of the Union General Burnside -- and the local "battle" was on. There was the unpleasant prospect of a civil war within a civil war. Angry crowds packed the Court House square crying "If the Times is not allowed to publish there will be no Tribune". Wiser heads counseled caution. The most vigorous opponents 72 of the Times and the principles it espoused decried the action of the military in suspending the sheet. Pending the drafting and dispatching of a petition to President Lincoln asking that the order be rescinded, the judge of the local branch of the United States Court, upon demand of leading citizens of both factions, issued a writ against the execution of the suspension order. The President rescinded the order on June 4th. The feverish tension subsided, and the circulation of the Times increased by leaps and bounds as usually happens when organized effort tries to "get" a paper. During the last years of the War Chicago was the meeting ground for the political opponents of the Lincoln administration. The rallying cry of the Democratic National Convention, held in Chicago in 1 864, was "Peace at any price". The influx of disgruntled elements from the surrounding territory combined with the local opponents of the administration to form a mighty, raucous voice that sent shivers of dismay through the loyal Union and Abolitionist ranks. Lincoln was "tried and convicted" from the Convention platform. A typical outburst was "If I am called upon to elect between the freedom of the nigger and disunion and separation, I shall choose the latter. You might search hell over and find none 73 THE HISTORIC REPUBLICAN "WIGWAM" Constructed to accommodate the Republican National Convention of 1 860, located at Market and Lake Streets. This was the scene of the first nomination of Abraham Lincoln for the presidency worse than Abraham Lincoln". Others were just as vitriolic. Despite the seemingly preponderant antagonism to the Union cause Chicago and Illinois furnished troops and supplies far and away beyond their quotas — and without resort to the draft at any time. Chicago alone furnished 1 5,000 troops, a worthy tribute to the spirit of the city when it is recalled that the total of the voting lists at that time was only 18,747. Chicago's "loyal" citizens, through the local Union Defence Committee, enlisted and equipped some of the most illustrious fighting units in the Army of the North. Chicago women played major roles in organizing and maintaining medical aid at the front and in providing comfortable retreats for the furloughed and the wounded. Still other groups were continuously occupied with entertaining and caring for the almost constant procession of troops that passed through Chicago to and from the scene of action. It is idle speculation to imagine what the outcome of the War might have been had the local enemies of Lincoln's administration been able to prevent the generous support of men and materials which Chicago provided unstintingly. It is enough to realize that in the first demand upon Chicago for aid in a great national crisis 75 the city acquitted itself in a way to earn the admiration of the generations that have followed those resolute leaders of the then new metropolis of the west. The Chicago of the days immediately after the close of the War possessed more than admiration for the great man Lincoln. It loved him as a "foster" son, for was it not here that he was raised from a semi-obscure local reputation to national prominence when the fate of these United States was placed in his hands in the old "Wigwam" in 1860? The successful conclusion of the War had stilled or softened the harsh criticism earlier directed at the Great Emancipator. Now animosity turned to support in the problems of rehabilitation and reconstruction. It is no wonder that the news of the death of the man Lincoln should have stunned and bowed the heads of the people of Chicago a little more than it did those of their fellow countrymen. The city's bereavement was everywhere apparent on that sad day when the mortal remains of the man so many knew and loved as "Uncle Abe" were brought to the city. The streets were lined with all the native population to which was added the thousands who came from all surrounding territory. Houses along 76 the line of march were fittingly draped. As the imposing military procession slowly moved over the principal streets church bells tolled — and tolled — and with every slow, sombre note struck sorrow deeper into the hearts of the multitude. Later the remains lay in state in the Court House rotunda, to be viewed by countless thousands. Now Chicago fully realized it had reason to be proud of whatever it had contributed to the Great Leader, and jealous of all he had contributed to its life and ideals. • ■•■••• Space does not permit mentioning more than the high spots in the city's development during the next few years. As might be expected the Civil War somewhat retarded the spectacular growth this vigorous city had previously enjoyed — it can hardly be said that it did more. It cannot be forgotten that the population grew from 109,000 to 1 78,000 during the four years of the Rebellion. In the October 8th, 1863, issue of "The Chicago Tribune" we find this comment, 7 On every street and avenue one sees new buildings going up, immense stone, brick, and iron business blocks, marble palaces, and new residences everywhere; the grading of streets, the building of sewers, the laying of water and gas pipes 77 COLONEL WOOD'S MUSEUM OF CURIOSITIES This showplace housed, in the early 60's, over 150,000 objects, curious and otherwise, and was the greatest exhibit of its kind in America. Located on Randolph Street near Clark are all in progress at the same time. The unmistakable signs of active, thriving trade are everywhere manifest, not at any one point, but everywhere throughout the city, where the enterprise of man can gain a foothold. As we view Chicago's "downtown" of today, with its very definite segregation of financial, retail and wholesale interests one wonders what influences conspired to make Lake Street the first shopping center, and Dearborn and Randolph the then "busiest" corner, and still what other influences later decreed that La Salle Street, south of Madison, was to become the financial hub of the great middle west, that State Street should become the world's greatest retail shopping mart, and that Michigan Avenue should rival century-honored showplaces of the Old World. Until the advent of railroads from the east, Chicago's contact with eastern centers was through the Great Lakes Waterway. The Chicago River docks, running from the site of Old Fort Dearborn to the confluence of the North and South Branches a few blocks west, was the freight terminal for Chicago and all her contiguous territory. Wholesale houses sprang up along South Water Street and retail and other businesses clustered naturally close around. 79 Dearborn Street (on which was one of the two bridges across the river) was the most direct route for the North and West Siders in their daily exercise of that vanished American custom -- "going for the mail". The permanence of Lake Street as THE shopping district was never questioned until, in the late sixties, the firm of Field, Leiter & Company (the business started by Potter Palmer) moved its store to State Street, and the four decade supremacy of the old retail district was given a death blow from which it never recovered. When, a few years later, the Board of Trade decided to move "way down" to Washington and La Salle Streets, the old timers predicted all sorts of dire happenings because of this desertion of the "main business center". But contrary to popular expectations the move was followed soon after by office buildings, banks and insurance companies — and the nucleus of the great present-day financial district was permanently established. During this period, up to the Great Fire, we find the marking of many spots with structures bearing the names or housing the businesses of those with which we of the younger generation are more familiar. 80 The new six-storied Sherman House, built of marble, was quite the finest building in the city. On the corner of Washington and La Salle Streets a very fine office building was erected, with the Union National Bank as its chief tenant. The building also housed the Western Union, the Associated Press, the Western Army Headquarters (in charge of General Philip Sheridan), and another bank. On the northeast corner of Washington and Clark Streets was built the Larmon Block of four stories, having for its tenant on the upper floor, Bryant and Stratton's Business College, a fact that was announced to the wayfarer by a sign so conspicuous as almost to belittle the Court House dome as an object of attention. The ground floor was occupied by Buck and Rayner's Drug Store. Other firms who have served the needs of Chicago buyers for two generations, were nearby. On the north side of the square (yes, Chicago had followed the great American custom of building around a court house square) was the Metropolitan Block on the northeast corner of Randolph and La Salle. Between it and the Sherman House stood only one and two story frame shacks, hangovers from an earlier period. The west side of the Square, along La Salle, housed numbers of financial 81 -i'<;'^u^--'-^--''-''' "''...■■ ■■.■ "; Hip ."■'<•«. THE SECOND SHERMAN HOUSE This hostelry was the finest in America when built. It was inseparably linked with the civic and social activities of the period. Built on the site of the first and present Hotel Sherman concerns. To the south we would have found many old houses most of which were in a state of unrepair. The south side could boast little better. The east or Clark Street side was THE center of most of the city's business activity. • ••■••■ In imagination, let us step back sixty some years. To gain a better picture of the Chicago of that day we must ascend the dome of the new Court House for a bird's-eye view of the unusual and interesting panorama spread before us. As we gaze to the east we are amazed to see clearly the sand hills of Michigan, thirty miles away, glinting in the sunlight. But it must be remembered that this is before ten thousand factory stacks were belching smoke into Chicago's air. Turning to our right, tree-lined Wabash and South Michigan Avenues and richly wooded Cottage Grove Avenue stretch to the southward to Hyde Park. The building you see in the midst of a grove of unusually large oaks, at about Thirty-fifth Street, is the old Douglas (later Chicago) University, founded by Stephen A. Douglas, who owns much of the land in the neighborhood. Between Thirty-second and Thirty-fifth Streets, and west from 83 pp^m <**<"*% --- ? '-" v*> f** r * • THE FIRST CHICAGO UNIVERSITY The school founded by Stephen A. Douglas in 1857 and located at Cottage Grove Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street, on the site of Camp Douglas, famous during the Civil War Cottage Grove, we note a high board enclosure filled with barracks. In the early days of the Civil War this served as a recruiting camp, but later held some 10,000 "Johnny Rebs" prisoners of war. Half a mile or so west is a clearing for the most part owned by "Long John" Wentworth. A part of it is occupied by the Union Stock Yards and the Dexter Trotting Park. From its beginning for nearly a mile we see the thinly settled Archer Road. Then there is quite a group of large, low buildings — these are slaughter and packing houses. Except for a few scattered structures along the South Branch of the River, the entire section lying between Archer Road and Blue Island Avenue is largely unsettled marshland. This is the territory known to the old settlers of the Fort days, as "Hardscrabble." The great lumber district, with its large, busy mills, is little more than a bog. Lumber yards are strung along the South Branch, from Eighteenth Street north, with a considerable group at the mouth of the River. Grain elevators stand in bold relief against the sky at different points along both the South and North Branches. And with these things we have viewed Chicago's "Big Three" industries, for an amazed world has learned that this is already the foremost 85 - J ' 1 A VIEW ON CHICAGO'S WEST SIDE The Second Baptist Church and the old Water Reservoir at Morgan and Monroe Streets, in 1864. Peter Schuttler's residence is seen in the distance, in the center of the picture grain mart, lumber market and packing center of the world. Looking to the west of Aberdeen, south of Adams Street we see many unsettled sections where land is still being sold by the acre. Our attention is held for a moment by the residence of Peter Scnuttler, on the outskirts of what is rapidly becoming a decidedly pretentious residential section. Near it stands the Second Baptist Church and the old water reservoir (I presume there is nothing significant in their close proximity) at South Morgan and Monroe Streets. The section between Adams and Lake Streets is fairly well built up west to Union Park, but beyond that there is little to be seen. The horse car lines have pushed way beyond, to Western Avenue, primarily to haul picknickers to the groves west of town. The northwestern part of the city is still practically unsettled. From Center Avenue and Lake Street to Milwaukee Avenue, not an obstruction could be seen except the tracks of the old Galena Railroad. Although the west and northwest sides of the town present an interesting panorama of groves and stretches of prairie, it is not until we turn our gaze to the north and slightly to the east that we realize why Chicago was once generally known as the "Garden 87 CHICAGO, THE GREAT INLAND PORT Thousands of sailing vessels paid regular call on the port Chicago during the booming period, 1850 to the 1880's,the river often being taxed to capacity. At times bridges were open more than closed City/ 7 We now see a magnificent forest in the midst of the city, an unbroken stretch of woodland, with comfortable, sometimes pretentious, homes, many reposing in the center of a square block surrounded by a veritable park. North Avenue seems to be the north boundary of the "built- up" section although scattered homes are noted as far as Fullerton. Lincoln Park has not yet become a popular locality for a portion of it had until quite recently been a cemetery. From our vantage point atop the Court House we are impressed with the fan-like diagram made by the principal streets that radiate from the center of town. These settled lines mark the original plank roads, known as Archer, Blue Island, South Western (now Ogden), Northwestern (now Milwaukee), Cly bourne, etc. Fortunately these exits from the early settlement were retained in subsequent platting, for they became most convenient avenues for facilitating rapid transit as the city grew. These original roads followed the higher ground, and the early settlers stayed close to the plank highways, for as one old resident remarked "during rainy seasons wading was a frequent alternative for walking." '^^i^^^^^&0^' ' ' ' ''■"• THE OLD WATER TOWER This historic structure was erected in 1869. It withstood the Fire of 1871 although it sustained some damage. Rising to a height of 154 feet it was quite a vantage point in the pre-skyscraper period And so we leave the scene of this beautiful city of homes, the young giant of the west that boasted a population of some three hundred thousand. Mot even the most vivid imagination could conceive this same panorama laid in ashes, a catastrophe that was to be visited upon it within a fortnight. 91 Chart of the path of the Great Fire A curtain of fire drawn between an era of wood and one of steel doubt if any single incident in the world's history more definitely marks the end of one episode and the beginning of another in the life of a city than does the Great Fire. This holocaust that snuffed out the lives of 300, left 100,000 homeless and consumed more than 200 million dollars worth of property, sprang on an unsuspecting city like a jungle animal on its defenseless prey. If the town had been built in preparation for a huge bonfire, the job could not have been done better. Of the 60,000 buildings more than 80 per cent were of wood. True, there were a number of business blocks of brick and stone, several of which were believed to have been fireproof. But the utter disregard of fire hazards is obvious when we realize that the authorities had permitted coal and lumber yards in the congested districts. Lumber mills and tar roofed factories stood side by side 93 THE GREAT FIRE OF 1871 The most famous cow in history supposedly was responsible for this conflagration that resulted in the death of more than 300 people, made 100,000 homeless and that consumed 17,450 buildings with buildings that housed stocks valued in the thousands. The gas works was in the heart of the town. Litter, shacks/'tinder" was everywhere. Nature conspired with man's thoughtlessness to pave the way for this catastrophe. The Summer of 1871 was exceptionally dry. Blistering winds from the southwest had parched the landscape and driven the last vestige of moisture from the lumber in buildings, sidewalks and cedar block pavements. Dangerous fires had raged intermittently for weeks in the forests of Michigan and Wisconsin. Incipient blazes in Chicago had kept the fire department busily occupied all week. On the night before the Great Fire four blocks had burned, the fire being conquered only with greatest difficulty. In the face of all this Chicago felt secure, for didn't she boast the finest water works and fire department of any city her size? Fate was to prove these were not sufficient. On the night of October 8th, 1871, at about 9 o'clock, Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a lamp; thoughtless boys smoked in a hayloft; a man carelessly dropped a lighted cigar; or some one of another half dozen things happened (historians do not agree) near the corner of DeKoven and Jefferson Streets and one of the most 95 devastating (ires in all history was started. No alarm was turned in from the neighborhood, the first report to the fire department coming from a watchman in the Court House tower — and he directed them to the wrong address, causing costly delay. Two fire companies responded to the first call, but in the face of a whipping southwest wind they could not cope with the burning buildings so they devoted their attention to those in the path of the fire. But the fire was soon master. A general alarm was then turned in and all apparatus in the city went to the scene. Dog-tired firemen, some of whom had been on continuous duty for forty-eight to seventy-two hours, wiped the blur from their smoke-filled eyes and went to work with renewed vigor. By this time buildings along the west side of the River were ablaze for a mile. Flying embers started small fires east of the River but these were promptly extinguished by volunteers. Even yet the populace was confident the fire would be stopped at the River. Just then the Van Buren bridge caught, a huge grain elevator fell and its contents immediately ignited, and it was now apparent that the east of the River section was in imminent danger. All apparatus deserted the west side, crossed unburned bridges farther north 96 and took up their stand to fight any intrusion on the east bank. A group of ramshackle buildings east of the River and north of Van Buren was the torch that carried the fire to the heart of the town. Soon after, the gas works exploded and all lights were out. Brick and stone buildings cracked by the terrific heat, crumbled and fell. The Tribune Building, supposedly fireproof, finally gave way to the fire monster. It was only with some effort that the water crib two miles out in the lake was saved as burning embers fell on it continually. By the time the fire reached the main River the wooden roof of the Chicago Avenue water works had ignited, fallen and clogged the pumps and the city's water supply was cut off. People now realized that nothing could save the north side. Many of them tried to protect their homes with water pumped from cisterns and wells. One man even resorted to a barrel of cider, which, with his strenuous efforts, saved his home. His and the house of William B. Ogden, that stood about where the Newberry Library now is, were the only two saved south of Lincoln Park. The fire burned Sunday night, Monday, Monday night and part of Tuesday, at last burning itself out at Fullerton Avenue, principally because it 97 *?&!&<&■■. Ife^', MADDENED THRONGS FLEEING FROM THE FIRE The present Lincoln Park was then an old cemetery from which most of the bodies had been moved. People tried to escape the intense heat and flying embers by crouching in the old open graves ran out of anything to burn. More than 17,000 buildings had been burned, and they were the best in the city. Through the heroic efforts of the pastor and a group of helpers the Wabash Avenue M. E. Church, at Wabash and Harrison, was saved. Buildings around it were dynamited so stop the further southward advance of the fire. This church was taken over forthe Postoffice the next day and was never used as a house of worship after that time. The fire demon marched about two-and-a-half miles in twenty four hours leaving a mass of charred, black ruins in its wake and the results of a generation of soul-trying struggles buried in ashes. People on the west side had escaped with their lives and a few belongings by fleeing farther west. Many from the downtown district crowded into the La Salle Street tunnel until the lights were extinguished, and after finding their way out, took refuge with thousands of others in the old Streeterville district along the lake. Other thousands gathered in Lake Front Park, now Grant Park. The heat was so intense that many stood in the lake up to their necks. Parents buried their children in the sand. Many people kept themselves covered with wet coats or blankets. Thousands 99 congregated in Lincoln Park where they were further endangered by burning and (ailing trees. As the fire raged northward people moved their belongings into the streets, endeavoring to get wagons to haul them to places of safety. Every kind of vehicle was at a premium. People paid from $10.00 to $100.00 for such express service. One banker paid $1,000 to have some boxes of money hauled. General Sheridan, commander of the western branch of the army immediately took charge, placed the town under martial law, and released government supplies. The homeless were housed with friends and neighbors, in churches, schools and other unburned buildings. We must remember, more than half of the homes were spared; the west was almost untouched. Nothing south of Twelfth Street had been burned. But at best hardships had to be met at every turn. People bought water from water wagons or walked to the lake to get it. No one was allowed to use kerosene after the fire. All city lights were out and the available supply of candles was so limited that only four could be sold to one person. When vaults of banks were opened after four days of cooling, a large part of the bank notes was found baked to a brown crisp. They were sent 100 to Washington where experts estimated their value and sent back new bills. A sympathetic and helpful world came to Chicago's rescue quickly and effectively. Every city in the United States and most of the principal ones in the world sent money and supplies — more than $3,000,000 and provisions by hundreds of carloads. As an example of the losses sustained by Chicago merchants, the firm of Field and Leiter suffered to the extent of more than $3,000,000, only $250,000 of which was covered by insurance. But manufacturers and wholesalers extended unlimited credit to all who had lost everything. The city permitted merchants to erect small frame buildings on Lake Front Park with the understanding that they must be removed within a year. Some merchants resumed business on the west side and for a while Halsted and Madison was the center of business activity. Field and Leiter set up business in the horse car barns at Twentieth Street and Wabash Avenue. Mendel's opened close by. The newspapers of some of the largest cities stated positively that "Chicago cannot rise again'. The Chicago Tribune, whose entire plant was destroyed, but which resumed publication within 101 1- ►- EVENING JOURNAL-EXTRA. CHICAGO, MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1871. THE HUT CALAMITY I Chicago in Ashes!! HuftRb of Mlois of Dol- lars' Worth of Property Tiie Sooth, the North and a Portion of the West Divisions of the City in Ruins. All the Hotels, Banks, Public Buildings, Newspaper Offices and Great Business Blocks Swept Away, The Conflagration Still in Progress. Fury of the Flames. Details, BSto.. Zto. Chicago fe horning! Up to this hour of writing tl o'clock p. m t the best part of the city 1b already in aahoel An area of between six and seven mile* tn length and nearly a mil? In width, embracing the great business part of the city, baa been burned over And now lice a mass of smouldering ruins I All the principal hotels, all tbc public buildings, all the banks, oil tbc newspaper offices, all the places of allurement, nearly all the great buelnoss edifice*. nearly all the railroad depots, the water works, the gas works, several churches, tho uds of prh ncd. The proud, noble magnificent Chicago of yesterday. It* to-day a mere -badaw of what it was ; and, helpless before thcetil •weeping flames, the fear Is that the entire city will be consumed before we ehall see the end. The entire South Division, from Harrison street north to the river, almost the entire North Dlvls ion, from the river to Lincoln Park, and several blocks in the West Division ore burned. It 1b ntterly Impossible to estimate the losses. They must In the aggregate amount Lo hundreds of millions of dollars. Amid the confusion and gen i-raJ bewilderment, we can only give a few details. The Are broke out on tbo corner of DeKovcn and Twelfth streets, at about 9 o'clock on Sunday OTening, being caused by a tow kicking orer a lamp In a stable In which a woman was milking. An alarm waa Immediately given, bnt, owing to the high southwest wind, the building was speed- ily consumed, and thence the fire apread rapidly. The firemen could not, with all their efforts, get the mastery of he flames. Building after building waa fired by the flying clndera, which, landing on the roofs, which were as dry M tlndv . owing to the protracted ■fry wea her, instantly took Are. Northwardly and northeastwardly the flamee took their coarse, lapping op house after house, block after block, street afler street, all night long. The sceno of ruin and dovaatatlon la beyond the power of words to describe. Never, In the history of the world, has each a scene of extended, terrible and complete destruction, by conflagration, been recorded ; and never has a more frightful scene of panic, distress and horror been witnessed among a helpless, sorrowing, suffering population. It is utterly impossible, at he first thoogiit. for he mind to take in any conception of he fearful ravages of the fire-fiend, al hough the as oundlng facts stated above, is enough to appal the most heroic. The awful ru h of the si ua Ion will be more fully comprehended by a glance at he follow- ingverj imperfec lis of he cl y's loss. Ills, how- ever, proper to state that, at his writing, the con- fusion in the police and Are departments is so complete as to render it impossible to give anything like a detailed accoun of he terrible con- flagra ion. PARTIAL DETAILS OP THE LOSSES. Tho first to be mentioned, and possibly tbc most startling feature of this carnival of flame, la the i otal destruction of the t'lty Water Works, by which calamity the fln-meu are rendered helpless to make the least endeavor to. arrest the onward march of thu devouring element. Should any other fires oc- cur in parts of the city not burning, they mo«t certainly have their way. At about 12 o'clock last nigh' the sheet of flames licked across the river In tho. neighborhood of Jackson street, first igniting a i oiall wooden building, which commu- nicated the tire to the Armory, and soon to the South Side Gas Works, the immenso gacoraetcr exploding with a fearful detonation, beard all over the city. Then commenced the fearful ravages, which lu a few hourB laid the the entire South nide In ashes, mirth of Harrison., The Tost Office ami Custom House, the < hamber «.f Com- merce, the Court House and the rest soon went down lu the ocean of the and smoke. In brief, the following prominent buildings have perished with, in almost every case, their entire contents: the New Jcrucalcm Church, on Adams street, and the Catholic Church, on Dcplaines street. The Joihnal office, the Tribune, tho Times, the Republican, the Post, the Mail, the Staatz Zeltuug, the Union, and many other publications. Crosbys Opera HouTe, MeVlekvc'B Theater, noo ley's Opera House, Dcarboru Theater, and Wood's Museum. First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Villon- Northwestern, Manufacturers' Cook County, and Illinois National Banks. The Second Presbyterian Church, Si. Taul a Uni- versalis Church, Trinity (Episcopal) Church, The magnificent depot of the Chicago, Rock Is- land and Pacific and Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroads, on Van Buren street, *t the head of La Sallo street. The Oreat Central Union depot, and the Wells stroct depots of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. The National Elevator, corner of Adams and the river. Armour, Dole & lo'i Elevator, corner Mar- ket aud the river, Hiram Wheeler's Elevator, on same corner as the above, the Galena Elevator. corner Rueh street bridge aud river, and "A" of the Illinois Central. near the Illinois Depot, at the basin. Tremout House, Sherman House, BrlggB House, Metropolitan, Palmer, Adams. Bigelow, European, l Barkft), Garden City and the new Pacific, in pro- cess of erection, on Clark rud La Salle streets. The following prominent business houses are In ashes: Field, Lclthcr and Co. J. V. Farwell's block, and all the magnificent blocks In that locality. The Lake Sid* PubliBhtng Company's new build, ing. on Clark etrect, Terrace Row, on Michigan Av and adjacent residences. Farwell Hall burned at about four o'clock this morning. The great brewerlea, on the North;side, arc gone. In fact, as stated above, the entire South and North Bldee, from Harrison street, northwardly, with a few isolated buildings left standing in some remark, able manner, are In hopeless ruins, HELP COMING. During the night, telegrams were sent to St. Louis, Cleveland, Milwaukee and nearer cities for aid. and at the time of going to press several trains arc on the way to the city, bringing free engines and men to assist us In this dire calamity. B04RD OF TRADE. The Board of Trade has leased for present us e the north weBt cor. of Washington and Canal streets We call attention to the card announcing a meet- ing of the Directors of the Chicago Board of Trade, to-morrow morning, at 10 o'clock, at 51 and 53 Canal Street. COUNCIL MEET1NG-A PROCLAMATION. The Common Council and a number ofof promi- nent citizens a re holding a meeting this afternoon In the First Congregational Church, to make such arrangements as may be possible for the safety of the city. The Mayor has issued a proclamation that all, fires In stoves in tho city shall be extingulshed- THE EVENING JOURNAL. We are under great obligations to the Interior Printing Company. 15 and IB Caual street, for ac- commodations hy which we are enabled to issue this Extra. We hope before many days, to be able to announce permanent arrangements for Issuing The Evlnino Journal regularly, We have saved a portion of our sub- scription books, and hope to be able to rcsuiLs publication without great delay. The Chioago HAVE THEIR ROOMS AT 51 and 53 CAN AL ST. There will be a Meeting of the Directors of the Chicago ei and S3 Canal St. To-morrow, 10th, at 10 o'clock. J. TO. PRESTON, President. -\ ^ ^ 1 NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED DURING THE FIRE two days in a west side print shop, expressed the spirit of the town in an editorial. It said in part "The people of this once beautiful city have resolved that Chicago shall rise again. The hearts of our men and women are still brave. Ten or even Twenty years may be needed to rebuild our fair city but the money to rebuild it fireproof will be found. The losses we have suffered must be borne but the place, the time and the men are here to commence at the bottom and work up again. Let us cheer up, save what is left and we shall come out right. The worst is already over. In a few days most all the danger will be past and we can take up again the battle of life with Christian faith and western grit. Let us all cheer up!" The city you see now is the new Chicago, built so magnificently on the ashes of the old — and in the short span of three score years. Can any spot in this old world offer better proof of faith, courage and indomitable will than the evidence seen everywhere we chance to look? 103 K:^':, ,' a ... .-.j" . \>Xiti xS ; » .40 '''''&■■'■"■. is I Wffiu FIRST BUILDING IN THE LOOP AFTER THE FIRE Built while the ruins were still smolderin 3 . From the signs it appears the Kerfoot Building was the general business headquarters of the district immediately after the fire The new city built on a foundation whose cornerstone read Will //I WA/.ll// he inferno that laid the city in ashes only served to purify her spirit and steel her courage. Before the hot debris had ceased to smoke W. D. Kerfoot erected a shanty (the first building in the "Loop") on which he nailed a sign reading "Everything gone but wife, children and energy". Therein was expressed the spirit of the Chicago that was to rise again — greater and grander than the dreams of her most ardent prophets. The Great Fire was the world's first big advertising campaign. It would have taken millions of dollars to have carried the story of Chicago to the very corners of the world, as did this appalling catastrophe. The eyes of civilization were on Chicago. For the first time the romance, the rapid growth, the resourcefulness and the opportunities of this new metropolis of the west were made known to practically every man, women and child around the globe. While the city was still smoldering Chicago's greatest booster 105 Ml' «i iv*'. $£ .'-.■.'.■ o *2 00 « _* VI >. tfl o 3 on c 00 u _o Ul ~i5 "5 1— _c g> < •0 -a -J <0 c c _w LU u c >. I o u 1— "5 Id 0> _c u o-> Z « JE ■— ■_ M ^ •a 3 a Q£ o a tfl < a ~D Q. ■a 6) $ .£ z in c e O i— "5 wi CO c Q. o u «A tfl z •0 -a c — a _2 I VI _ m CO .£ u < c a >* "5 VI •0 (A 5 z c o — o _o c en LU V "3 z m _o LU >. t» KJ -o on c 3 c/> 3 to of the day, Deacon Bross, co-publisher with Joseph Medill of "The Tribune", was on his way east to secure new capital and to preach the gospel, "Chicago and Manifest Destiny". "I tell you" he cried, "within five years Chicago's business houses will all be rebuilt and by 1900 the new Chicago will boast a population of a million souls". Action was supporting the Deacon's prophecies. Within a week after the fire more than 5,000 temporary buildings had been erected and during the next sixty days some two hundred large buildings, of stone and mortar, were going up. Enthusiasm, energy, courage and confidence were rampant. News of the start of every new permanent structure was the cause for rejoicing, and redoubled efforts. And so did Chicago rear her proud head, shaking from her new and finer raiment the last vestige of the sackcloth and ashes that had so recently been her shroud. The following decade saw the growth of some of America's greatest fortunes. Gustavus F. Swift and P. D. Armour were fast developing their local packing businesses into national institutions. George M. Pullman, who had never forgotten his first comfortless 107 trip on the plank "berth", was perfecting his new Palace Sleeping Car and building his extensive factories and model city at Pullman. Potter Palmer, having retired from active partnership with Field & Leiter, purchased most of the ground on the east side of State Street south to Van Buren, had been instrumental in having the street widened, had built the new store building for Field & Leiter and a new Palmer House, and was busily engaged in the making of his new domain the greatest retail center in the country. The founding of "The Daily Mews" marked the advent of two young men who were to play important roles in city and national affairs. They were Victor Lawson, as publisher, and Melville Stone, later head of the Associated Press, as editor. Their penny paper was making slow headway until Chicago's "big" men, headed by Levi Z. Leiter, demanded that it suspend publication because it had too literally reported the growing labor disturbances over the country. Lawson and Stone refused, and their paper was "made". To further their new venture Lawson persuaded merchants to advertise 99 cent specials, believing that the purchaser would likely spend the penny change for "The News" inasmuch as it was the only penny item for sale anywhere. Other papers were five cents. 108 During this period no little attention was being given to cultural and educational enterprises. The first public library was opened soon after the Fire with several thousand volumes donated by the British through the efforts of Queen Victoria. The Art Institute was founded a few years later, being an outgrowth of the school and exhibit hall formerly housed in the old Crosby Opera House. The Theodore Thomas orchestra was organized. President Harper was laying plans for the new University of Chicago, encouraged by the generous donation of money and a land site by Marshall Field and some half million dollars from John D. Rockefeller, Sr. The city was providing amply, it felt, against future congestion, with parks and boulevards, the start perhaps of Daniel H. Burnham's vision of his City Beautiful . All these marvelous civic and industrial achievements were not without their dark side. The period was one of uncontrollable social unrest. Strikes, riots and violence were common, and not always unwarranted. The rebellion of the "model" town of Pullman against the company restrictions, decreased wages, etc.; the costly railway strike that was more than a local uprising; troubles at the McCormick Harvester 109 SjSjISs