n,
^
A.?" '^fff?\f?
THE
Ghqrm
-0F-
aRKO-KEB
U\AL Smarms 0f Kankakee.
^n the B'lm P
nmeval
Days
One golden autumn day, two hundred years ago, the
famous ChevaUer La SaUe, with Hennepin, the Jesuit his-
torian, and Tonty, the explorer, making a voyage famed in
story along the shores of the mighty Northern lakes, dis-
covered the source of what is now the Kankakee river.
Before that time no white man had trod those pebbled
shores, and there was only wilderness, howling beasts
and still more savage men. Charmed by the crystal river
that flowed through the soft green fields, the explorers
ventured to penetrate the country through which it ran, and
thereby reached the valley of the Kankakee, called by the
Indians "Wonderland." "There," says the historian, "we
rested to enjoy the beauties of landscape of which before
we had but dreamed."
'y
'ream o
f 1i;e Present.
The many years since then have given to that garden
•,pot of the North only such additional beauties as man
5
CHARMS OF KANKAKEE.
could supply without despoiling nature's fairest handiwork.
In the depths of this smiling valley lies the City of Kanka-
kee — fifty-six miles, or two hours' run, due south of Chicago,
six hours' ride from Springfield, nine hours from St. Louis,
twelve hours from Cairo, nine hours from Cincinnati, five
hours from Indianapolis, and about two hours from Lafay-
ette, Ind., and also easy of access from every other quarter
by the following railroads which center there : the Illinois
Central; the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis & Chicago;
the Kankakee cSc Seneca, and the Indiana, Illinois &:
Iowa. This city presents itself in most fascinating lights
to those who seek the pleasures of a summer, with all the
charms of the country and the beauty of rustic scenes,
and still the life and pleasure of a leading watering-place.
The natural advantages could hardly be improved.
Oool Dreezes of tpe [foortr).
The river valley stretching southward from the big lakes
of the North forms a sort of natural channel for the fresh,
cool breezes of the great Lake Michigan region, sweeping
over miles anil miles of sweet-smelling grain, until they
reach down among the mammoth oaks and quivering maples
of picturesque Kankakee. Centrally located with regard
to all roads, and in one of the most beautiful curves of the
Kankakee river, stands the new and elegant Hotel River-
view.
rirst Ploor.
Vv^
Guest's
5.-D
Chamber
'^ 5-
7
Guest's
3
Chamber
Kitchen
Tliiril J"Ioor.
CHARMS OF KANKAKEE.
)\)e Hotel l\ive
rview.
The Hotel Riverview was erected by the Riverview Hotel
Company at a cost of about $70,000. It is of the Rustic
Villa style of architecture, 135 x 140 feet on the ground, four
stories high, and a high granite basement. It is furnished
in exquisite taste and lighted and watered in the most im-
proved methods; contains 80 guest chambers and can
accommodate about 200 people at a time. From its wide,
cool galleries — for its broad piazzas face the sweeping
landscape at all points of the compass - are visible all
the scenic beauties of the place for many miles away. It
is beautiful in design and finish, with superb entrance,
carriage portiere and broad balconies and verandas look-
ing in all directions. All the rooms are outside rooms ;
every room contains a closet, and all rooms are con-
necting, so that a family may occupy as many or as few
rooms en suite as they may desire. Many rooms contain
fire-places, and the whole house is heated by steam— an
entirely new device in summer-resort hotels, but made
essential in Northern watering-places by the sometimes
cool nights and mornings. There are several gen-
eral bath-rooms, and many suites have separate baths
with hot and cold water. In fact, the house has every
beauty and convenience that modern invention and money
can supply as completely as any hotel in New York
or Chicago. There are row-boats and steam yachts on
CHARMS OF KANKAKEE.
II
the river, billiard-rooms, lawn-tennis courts, and croquet
grounds. A landscape gardener, imported from abroad, has
laid out the scene with all the perfection of art.
The Riverview is under the management of Captain
Jewett Wilcox, a well-known and successful hotel manager.
He formerly conducted the Tremont House, in Chicago, and
the famous Lafayette, Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota. His
name is, of itself, a sufficient guaranty of the skill and care
with which the establishment will be directed.
^\)Q Beauties of t^e l\
iver.
Following the sinuous shores, edged with pebbly beaches,
olf to the far northwest, the eye is first arrested by the del-
icate tracery of a suspension bridge which spans the river,
erected and used by the Illinois Central Railroad.
Two miles farther down the river, toward the northwest,
is the village of Bourbonnais, where .St. Viateur's Catholic
college is located. This is a very pretty village, and the
drives and scenes in this neighborhood and along the river
are very interesting and picturesque, taking in Rock Creek,
"The Caves," and many striking and peculiar formations oi
nature.
Just at the bend of the river, southeast from the hotel,
a dark-green clump midstream marks the beginning of the
chain of islands that dot the river thence to Waldron and
CHARMS OF KANKAKEE, 13
through which the httle steamer, Minnie Lilhe, wends a devi-
ous way on her many daily trips.
Northwest from the Hotel Riverview towers the Gothic
Arcade. In the Arcade the people's wants are supplied. It
is a veritable commercial casino, containing within its red
brick walls and vaulted roof, the theatre, First National Bank,
Post Office, Western Union Telegraph, American Express,
stores and offices, the whole finished and proportioned in
artistic style. Directly north from the hotel, half a mile
away, is the depot of the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis
& Chicago Railroad, familiarly known as the "Big Four."
From this depot Chicago Avenue runs south to the hotel.
^be B
els and U\
ouievards and Unves
Just before reaching the " Riverview " the avenue takes
the form of a boulevard and, making a gentle curve, runs
around the house and loses itself among the groves that
skirt the river banks. This avenue is to be still further
transformed into a broad boulevard for driving and riding,
and, when completed, will rank with any of the noted park-
ways around Chicago, offering easy and delightful means of
approach to the many beautiful groves that he all along the
river from Kankakee to Waldron, a quaint little village just
above the junction of the Iroquois and Kankakee rivers,
and distant from the City of Kankakee about five miles.
CHARMS OF KANKAKEE. 15
Near the hotel, half hidden in deep clusters of majestic
oaks, are the most beautiful residences of the city, promi-
nent among which are those of Mr. Lillie, Judge Hickox
and Hon. Emory Cobb — the last a great, gray mansion of
the "old style," such as our fathers knew in "the stately
days of old."
rrfoodern ^toci? Harm.
At the east, and adjoining the hotel grounds, lies Mr.
Cobb's stock farm, which is noted as the home of improved
Shorthorns, some of which have been sent to England at
the long price of $3,000.
From the southeast porch of the hotel the view of this
farm and the water-works, with the river winding away to the
southeast, is not rivaled anywhere in this section of the
country.
Dird s-Qye View of ti^e Illinois Qastern Hospital.
Southwest from the Hotel Riverview, across the river and
about half a mile distant, can be seen the buildings and
grounds of the Illinois Eastern Hospital. Here everything
is system and neatness. The dark-gray buildings rear their
tops among the upper branches of the surrounding trees,
underneath which slope undulating lawns, lightened here
and there by beds of bright flowers. ♦
CHARMS OF KANKAKEE. 17
Waving Fields of trrain, and t[;e l\ailroads
centering from all Uirections,
The entire southwestern prospective from the hotel
broadens into a wide expanse of billowy fields of grain,
across which light and shadow chase each other as the
breeze bends the tall wheat and murmurs softly to the
nodding heads of rye. Railroad lines, stretching to the
northwest, south and southeast, mark the course of the
Illinois Central and Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis iv
Chicago Railroads, which offer safe and rapid transit
from all points of the compass to this Queen of Summer
Resorts.
Huntinn and Kisl^inp.
Within about an hour's ride from Kankakee, due east, on
the line of the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroad, is the famous
Beaver Lake hunting ground, where, in the season, abound
thousands of ducks, geese, etc., and within a half-hour's
ride on the Southwestern branch of the Illinois Central
are the headwaters of the Vermilion river, where fine duck
shooting is to be had \n the game season. The river at
certain seasons of the year affords fine bass and pickerel
fishing, and the gently sloping banks offer most tempting
spots for excursion and fishing parties.
PRACTICAL
0DVANTAGES 0P KaNKAKEE
Sts Water rower, Ooal Hields, l\ailroads and
rr manufactories.
But the advantages of Kankakee are not limited to its
charming scener}', its beautiful river and its invigorating
climate. The river that gives color and shape to its topog-
raphy, is 500 feet wide at this point, and affords one of the
finest water powers in the country for manufactories. The
railroad advantages and proximity to the coal fields of both
Illinois and the East are such that coal for manufacturing
purposes can be laid down in Kankakee at a great reduction
on prices for the same coal in Chicago.
The manufactories include the Kankakee roller grist
mill, with a capacity of 150 barrels per day; the Kankakee
Paper Company, which manufactures a superior quality of
straw-board and has a daily capacity of five tons; the Keat-
ley stocking factory, which operates forty machines and
makes 15,000 dozen pairs annually; the Kankakee woolen
mill, which contains entirely new machinery and turns out
400,000 pounds of wool yarn per annum; and among other
enterprises are the Woodruff c^: Beaumont foundrv machine
18
CHARMS OF KANKAKEE. 19
shop (Mr. Beaumont being the inventor of the Beaumont
stop-valve and fire hydrant); tlie Rodeke Brewing Company,
which has been refitted the past year with complete modern
machinery; the tile and brick factories, and the shoe factory,
which makes over 400 pairs of shoes daily.
The broad acres of finely watered lantl offer the best of
inducements for stock raising and farming. Building stone
is found here in inexhaustible quantities and of a superior
quality. It is used almost exclusively by the Illinois Central
Company for bridge piers and other construction work.
r opulation, f foewspapers, Water, lSiq^T, Qtc.
This city of 8,000 inhabitants supports three first-
class newspapers: The Gazette, Mr. Charles Holt editor,
and Mr. Arthur Holt local editor; The ChieJ\ R. H. Bal-
langer editor, and R. A. Ballanger (city attorney) local
editor, and The Kankakee Times, edited by Messrs. Livings-
ton & Shaw. These papers prove by their existence as well
as their able writings that the city has its financial as well
as pleasurable advantages.
During the past season a $100,000 system of water-works,
combining the direct pressure and stand-pipe systems, has
been constructed. There are about twelve miles of street
mains and 110 hydrants. Public watering troughs and
drinking fountains are numerous.
CHARMS OF KANKAKEE.
21
The city is lighted by thirty electric arc lights, suspended at
the intersection of street corners at regular intervals of four
blocks. Large and well-equipped gas-works furnish an abun-
dant supply of light of good quality for in-door illumination.
The streets are generally macadamized and finely shaded.
The soldiers' monument in Court House square stands on
a pedestal of Quincy granite, and is surmounted by a seven-
foot figure in bronze of a soldier at parade rest.
Sec.35
T.31 N., R.12. E.OF SrdP.M
T. 30 N., R.llB., E. OF 2nd P.I
NDIAN b&GENDS and HlST0Rie heRE.
(^be Liast rHcin w[)o could (^all? I ottawatomie.
One of the most striking characteristics of Kankakee, and
one that tinges its whole Hfe and appearance with quaint
pecLiUarity, is the prevalence of Indian and Canadian names,
habits and forms of speech. For the cause one must search
back into the dim history of this little valley that was once
the cradle of a race now dead, and whose very speech was
lately lost by the death of Gurdon S. Hubbard, aged 85,
the "oldest inhabitant" of Chicago, and probably the only
human being who could speak the Pottawatomie tongue.
^^e Qarly (^etilers
/
The first white settlers were French Canadians, among
whom was Washington Bourbonnais, whose name still clings
to a reservation in the northwest part of the town, and
Noel Vasseur, agent of the famous American Fur Company,
23
CHARMS OF KANKAKEE 25
then headed by old John Astor, of New York. These early
settlers found the place in the hands of the Indians — Potta-
watomies, Algonquins, Ottawas and Ojibwas, each speaking a
different dialect, based upon a common linguistic founda-
tion. After these settlers came a Jesuit mission, and grad-
ually the white man's encroachments drove off the Indian,
until the autumn of 183S, when the last of the Pottawato-
mies left for the land west of the Mississippi, the other
tribes having gone before.
^be bast of tbe f^ed Hften.
A strange story is told of Shawanassee, an Indian chief-
tain, the last who died in this valley in 1834. He was
buried in a pen of logs, and, according to the custom of the
race, his gun, belt, pouch and pipes were buried with him,
but said to have been afterward stolen by a half-breed
named Joseph Chabonnier. History says that four years
after his burial, the old chief (reminiscences of H. S.
Bloom) was seen sitting upright on his bier almost as natu-
ral as the day he was placed there. In spite of this, how-
ever, the bones and skull of the old man were afterward
desecrated and taken away, no trace being left of the place
of burial. This hunt for the burial place affords plenty of
amusement and recreation to parties of pleasure seekers in
the summer.
26 CHARMS OF KANKAKEE.
ynlain of the t'iame f\an[?al?ee.
"The Indians called the present site of the city 'Ti-yar-
ack-naunk ' or 'Wonderland,'" said Mr. Hubbard in his
recollections before the old settlers' reunion at the Chicago
Calumet Club; "and," he adds, "truly the name was apt,
for, as I recall my first impressions when the Kankakee
valley burst upon my vision, in the spring of 1822, I
thought I had never seen a more beautiful landscape in
my life."
The origin of the present name is traced through various
corruptions. St. Carme, a voyageur of 1693, called it
The-a-li-ke. Father Wanest, a French priest of 17 12, called
it Hau-ki-ki. Charlevoix called it The-a-ki-ki, which he
says was corrupted to Ki-a-ki-ki. " Theak " meant wolf
in the language of the Mahnigans, a race who were
contemporaneous with the Pottawatomies, if not be-
fore them, and who were surnamed "the wolves." This
race is said to have been related to, if not identical
with, the Mohicans, told of in Fenimore Cooper's novel,
■'■' Tlve last of the Mohicans." Mr. Hubbard says the French
settlers called it " Qnin-que-que," from which the corrup-
tion to Kankakee is but natural. The Pottawatomies were
a race of fighters and played a bloody and leading part in
the massacre of Chicago in 1812.
(q-ReWTH 0P THE 61TY.
Its incorporation — -Its Pirst l\ailroacl.
The original town, now Kankakee, was surveyed in
1853, its postal name being then " Kankakee Depot," which
was changed, in 1853, to Kankakee City. During the latter
year the Illinois Central Railroad erected a freight house
and depot at Rivard Crossing, two miles north of the city.
It then intended to go to Eourhonnais, but, owing to exor-
bitant land-rates demanded by the farmers, quietly changed
its route to the present location. The first dwelling-house
built in Kankakee was that of A. 15. True, completed late in
1852, some time before the town was surveyed. In 1855,
the Grove City House was built and inaugurated by a
"grand ball." The first postmaster was Samuel L. Knigiit,
afterward elected "President of Kankakee." In 1855,
Messrs. A. Chester and Col. A. W. Mack incorporated the
first bank in Kankakee.
27
28 CHARMS OF KANKAKEE.
Klatterina Dusmess rrospects.
Since those early days the town has grown and thrived,
growing in beauty and wealth. The county has a popula-
tion of 30,000, Kankakee, as yet only in its youth as a
city, affords great inducements to both visitors and investors,
and is progressing rapidly and steadily under the influence
of its jiublic-spirited citizens.
Mow to tret (^Ijere.
The Illinois Central Railroad, between Kankakee and Chi-
cago, runs six daily trains each way on week days and two
each way on Sunday; two trains each way daily connect
Kankakee and Cairo and St. Louis and New Orleans, with
sleepers of Pullman's latest design on night trains. Spring-
field, 111., is well cared for by the trains of the Springfield
Branch, which make the run between the two cities in quick
time and by daNdight, in l)()th directions.
Oilman, Champaign, Centralia, Jackson, Tenn., Bloom-
ington, Clinton, Decatur, and many other points which are
reached by the Illinois Central system, are brought within
an easy and comfortable journey.
The Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis & Chicago Rail-
way (Kankakee Line), with its splendid service of numer-
CHARMS OF KANKAKEE.
ous trains, elegant eciuipment, including Pullman sleepers
and chair cars of the latest design and finish, connect Kan-
kakee with Lafayette, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and, by con-
necting lines, with all points in the southeast. Three trains
each way daily are run between Kankakee and Lafayette
and Indianapolis, and two each way between Kankakee and
Cincinnati.
Tourists from the South holding Summer Excursion
tickets to Chicago or other points will be allowed stop-over
privileges at Kankakee, either going or returning, within the
life of the ticket.
For terms, etc., at Hotel Riverview, per day, week or sea-
son, address or apply to Jewett Wilcox, Manager, 124
Washington Street, Chicago, until June i ; after that date,
Hotel Riverview, Kankakee. 111.
/.
^o
tfX9
