R.ARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OF ILLINOIS
97731
C93c
v. 3
IUIN3IS i:iSTOR!CAl SURVEY
Chicago: Its History
and Its Builders
A CENTURY OF MARVELOUS GROWTH
BY
'J. SEYMOUR CURREY
Honorary Vice President Illinois State Historical Society, Vice Presi-
dent Cook County Historical Society, Member Chicago Histori-
cal Society, American Historical Association, Illinois
State Library Association, National Geograph-
ical Society, Chicago Geographic Society.
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME III
1012
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XLI
FORMATIVE PERIOD OF THE WORLD'S FAIR
FIRST SUGGESTION OF THE FAIR PROPOSED WORLD'S FAIR IN 1892 MOVEMENT IN
CHICAGO TO SECURE THE FAIR EFFORTS OF OTHER CITIES IN SAME DIRECTION
INFLUENCES BROUGHT TO BEAR ON CONGRESS INITIAL CORPORATION FORMED
SUBSCRIPTIONS TO STOCK ARGUMENTS BEFORE CONGRESS CHICAGO SELECTED
AS SITE OF FAIR CONGRESS PROVIDES FOR A "COMMISSION" POWERS OF COMMIS-
SION THOMAS W. PALMER ITS PRESIDENT THE ILLINOIS CORPORATION NAMES OP
DIRECTORS "WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION," NAME CHOSEN LYMAN J. GAGE
ELECTED PRESIDENT SELECTION OF A SITE LAKE FRONT FAVORED AT FIRST
JACKSON PARK FINALLY DECIDED UPON TWO GOVERNING BODIES THREATEN
CONFUSION HARMONY SECURED BY "COMPACT" CONSTRUCTION DEPARTMENT
CREATED D. H. BURNHAM CHOSEN CHIEF GENERAL PLANS CONSIDERED WIL-
LIAM T. BAKER SUCCEEDS GAGE AS PRESIDENT BAKER IS SUCCEEDED BY H. N.
HIGINBOTHAM HIGINBOTHAM BECOMES GUIDING SPIRIT OF THE EXPOSITION
BURNHAM'S SPLENDID SERVICES FINANCIAL LEGISLATION BY THE GENERAL AS-
SEMBLY TEN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS SUBSCRIBED THE PRESIDENT ISSUES PROC-
LAMATION ANNOUNCING THE FAIR ESTIMATES OF COST COUNCIL OF ADMIN-
ISTRATION CONGRESS ASKED FOR DIRECT APPROPRIATION "SOUVENIR COIN"
MEASURE PASSED DISAPPOINTMENT IN SALES AT PROPOSED PREMIUM SLOW SALE
OF EXPOSITION BONDS THE DIRECTORY AT THE END OF ITS RESOURCES THE RAIL-
ROAD COMPANIES COME TO THE RESCUE 1
V
CHAPTER XLII
DEDICATION AND OPENING OF THE WORLD'S FAIR
FORMAL DEDICATION IN OCTOBER, 1892 IMPRESSIVE CEREMONIES IMMENSE CON-
COURSE OF VISITORS PERFECT WEATHER CONDITIONS THE COLUMBIAN ODE IN-
TERVAL OF SIX MONTHS INCOMPLETE PREPARATIONS UNEXAMPLED RAPIDITY OF
BUILDING OPERATIONS THIRTY-ONE MILLION ADMISSION TICKETS PRINTED THE
FIRE INSURANCE PROBLEM OPENING DAY, MAY 1, 1893 PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S
ADDRESS STARTING THE MACHINERY DEPRESSING CIRCUMSTANCES FINANCIAL
PANIC EMBARRASSES THE MANAGEMENT DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY THE
DIRECTORY ATTENDANCE RECORDS FOURTH OF JULY VISITORS ADMINISTRATION
DETAILS MR. HIGINBOTHAM's HEAVY RESPONSIBILITIES EFFICIENT COOPERATION
OF ASSOCIATES THOMAS B. BRYANTS SERVICES.. ,..20
213098
vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER XLIII
PROMINENT FEATURES OF THE WORLD'S FAIR
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN PROBLEMS OF THE CHIEF OF CONSTRUCTION THE
ADMINISTRATION BUILDING THE VESTIBULE OF THE EXPOSITION DIMENSIONS OF
THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING MACHINERY HALL POWER SUPPLIED TO ALL
BUILDINGS NOBLE PROPORTIONS OF THE AGRICULTURAL BUILDING THE PERISTYLE
AND ITS ARTISTIC PURPOSES THE MANUFACTURES BUILDING THE MAMMOTH
STRUCTURE OF THE EXPOSITION ITS COLOSSAL DIMENSIONS THE ELECTRICITY
BUILDING THE MINES AND MINING BUILDING THE TRANSPORTATION BUILDING
EXHIBITS IN THE TRANSPORTATION BUILDING LAND AND WATER TRANSPORTATION
EXHIBITS THE HORTICULTURAL BUILDING LOCAL TRANSPORTATION INTRAMURAL
COMMUNICATION THE ART PALACE TRIUMPH OF EXPOSITION ARCHITECTURE
FISHERIES BUILDING AND EXHIBITS GERMANY'S WONDERFUL BUILDING AND EX-
HIBITS SPAIN'S BEAUTIFUL BUILDING JAPAN'S MARVELOUS CONTRIBUTIONS
OTHER ORIENTAL PARTICIPANTS 37
CHAPTER XLIV
THE EXPOSITION IN FULL SPLENDOR
THE STATE AND FOREIGN BUILDINGS CONVENT OF LA RABIDA THE VATICAN'S WARM
INTEREST IN THE FAIR RARE EXHIBITS SHOWN IN THE CONVENT SPECIAL GUARD
BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS PRICELESS RARITIES BROUGHT FROM SPAIN AND RE-
TURNED THERETO IN UNITED STATES WAR VESSEL THE ELECTRIC FOUNTAIN THE
MACMONNIES' FOUNTAIN TREASURES OF ART EXHIBITED LARGE CONTRIBUTIONS
BY PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS AMERICAN ARTISTS WELL REPRESENTED ENGLAND'S
CONTRIBUTIONS WONDERFUL EXAMPLES OF FRENCH ART SPANISH AND ITALIAN
EXHIBITS AUSTRIA, THE NETHERLANDS AND RUSSIA ADD IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS
JAPANESE ART THE BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS THE WOMAN'S BUILDING THE
CHILDREN'S BUILDING ACCOUNT OF THE "COLD STORAGE FIRE" THE WORLD'S
CONGRESSES THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGION MR. HIGINBOTHAM's COMMENTS
CARDINAL GIBBONS' OPINION OF THE FAIR THE SUNDAY CLOSING QUESTION
COURSE ADOPTED BY THE DIRECTORY 56
CHAPTER XLV
NOTEWORTHY ATTRACTIONS OF THE WORLD'S FAIR
GENERAL VIEW OF THE EXHIBITS SILVER AND PORCELAIN OBJECTS DIAMONDS AND
GEMS THE CARAVELS SENT FROM SPAIN THE VIKING SHIP FROM NORWAY THE
OLD WHALER "PROGRESS*' FULL-SIZED MODEL OF BATTLESHIP "ILLINOIS" MODEL
OF BRITISH WARSHIP "VICTORIA" GREAT NUMBER OF OTHER MODELS BIG THINGS
ON EXHIBITION SECTION OF BIG TREE FROM CALIFORNIA GREAT GUNS FROM THE
KRUPP FACTORY METHODS OF TRANSPORTING AND HANDLING THE GUNS LOCO-
CONTENTS vii
MOTIVES AND CARS COMPLETE TRAIN OF CARS WITH ENGINE ON EXHIBITION
FLAG STAFF OVER TWO HUNDRED FEET IN HEIGHT SILVER STATUES PUBLISHERS'
EXHIBITS MODEL LIBRARY OF FIVE THOUSAND VOLUMES THE MIDWAY PLAISANCE
ATTRACTIONS DESCRIBED THE FERRIS WHEEL LATER FORTUNES OF THE GREAT
WHEEL CONCESSIONS AND PRIVILEGES STATUE OF COLUMBUS ON THE LAKE FRONT
SPECIAL DAYS AT THE FAIR CHICAGO DAY TOTAL ATTENDANCE AND RECEIPTS
OF THE FAIR COMMENTS OF VISITORS OPINIONS AND IMPRESSIONS 74
CHAPTER XL VI
SOME IMPORTANT RESULTS OF THE WORLD'S FAIR
LOCATING THE ART INSTITUTE TERMS OF OCCUPATION OF ITS PRESENT SITE THE
FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM THE CONTRIBUTION OF MARSHALL FIELD CONTRI-
BUTIONS MADE BY OTHERS RELATIONS OF THE MUSEUM WITH THE PARK COMMIS-
SIONERS LOCATING THE MUSEUM FORMATION OF ITS COLLECTION DR. PEA-
BODY'S REVIEW OF THE EXPOSITION THE WORLD'S PROGRESS ILLUSTRATED EDU-
CATIONAL VALUE OF THE EXPOSITION ITS PRACTICAL AND ARTISTIC VALUE
LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS THE ARTISTIC VALUE OF THE
COURT OF HONOR WORLD'S FAIR RETROSPECTIONS PROPOSAL TO CONTINUE THE
FAIR FINALLY DECIDED ADVERSELY DEATH OF THE ELDER MAYOR HARRISON
DEEP GLOOM ON THE CLOSING DAY CAUSED THEREBY A SERIES OF FIRES CONSUME
THE GREAT BUILDINGS AFTER CLOSE OF THE FAIR DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FIRES
SCENES AFTER THE FIRES SEVENTEEN YEARS AFTER THE FAIR. . . 92
CHAPTER XL VII
SANITARY DISTRICT
FIRST MOVEMENT FOR DRAINAGE CHANNEL PROBLEM OF SEWAGE DISPOSAL FLOOD
DISCHARGES COMPLICATE THE PROBLEM COUNCIL TAKES ACTION COMMISSION
AUTHORIZED ENGINEERS APPOINTED REPORT OF THE ENGINEERS ESTIMATES OF
COST WATER POWER CONSIDERED PURE DRINKING WATER ASSURED COMMITTEE
APPOINTED BY THE LEGISLATURE LAW CREATING SANITARY DISTRICT ENACTED IN
1889 PROVISIONS OF THE ACT JUDGE KURD'S SERVICES SANITARY DISTRICT
BEGINS LEGAL EXISTENCE BOARD OF TRUSTEES ELECTED BOUNDARIES OF DISTRICT
TOPOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT DIVIDE THE CHICAGO AND DESPLAINES RIVER LY-
MAN E. COOLEY FIRST ENGINEER COOLEY's REPORT AND RESIGNATION FREQUENl
CHANGES OF ENGINEERS "SHOVEL DAY," SEPTEMBER 3, 1892 FIRST EARTH
TURNED BY PRESIDENT WENTER WENTER's ADDRESS OTHER ADDRESSES SEVEN
YEARS OF CONSTRUCTION WORK ISHAM RANDOLPH BECOMES CHIEF ENGINEER
JUNE 7, 1893 SANITARY CANAL OPENED JANUARY 2, 1900 THE GOVERNOR'S
PERMIT DETAILS OF THE OPENING GREAT PUBLIC INTEREST IN THE EVENT. . .106
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER XL VIII
CONSTRUCTION OF THE SANITARY CANAL
WORK OF CONSTRUCTION DESCRIBED DIFFICULTIES WITH THE DESPLAINES RIVER EN-
COUNTERED ROUTE OF CHANNEL DIVIDED INTO WORKING SECTIONS ROCK EXCA-
VATION DIMENSIONS OF CHANNEL DAM AND SPILLWAY BEAR TRAP DAM DE-
SCRIBED VAST QUANTITIES OF SPOIL METHODS OF WORKING DIVERSION OF THE
DESPLAINES RIVER BED AUXILIARY WORKS WIDENING CHICAGO RIVER STONY
ISLAND AVENUE INTERCEPTING SEWER THIRTY-NINTH STREET CONDUIT CALU-
MET AND NORTH SHORE REGIONS LAWRENCE AVENUE CONDUIT WILMETTE
CHANNEL BRIDGES OVER THE CANAL ALTERATIONS AT JOLIET LOCKPORT WATER
POWER PLANT ELECTRICAL ENERGY GENERATED TRANSMISSION LINE DAMS AND
LOCKS BUTTERFLY DAM ADMINISTRATION OF THE SANITARY DISTRICT FINAN-
CIAL STATEMENT OF THE DISTRICT SIXTY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS EXPENDED
ASPECT OF THE CANAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE WATERWAY MAIN PURPOSE OF
THE CANAL IMPORTANCE OF WATERWAYS 123
CHAPTER XLIX
WATER SUPPLY AND TUNNELS
WELLS UTILIZED FOR EARLY WATER SUPPLY WATER DIPPED FROM THE LAKE
PUMPING ENGINE INSTALLED RESERVOIRS AND WATER TOWER WATER TUNNELS
FIRST TUNNEL BUILT DIFFICULTIES OF. PLACING CRIB IN POSITION GREAT
PUBLIC REJOICING AT COMPLETION OF THE WORK OTHER TUNNELS BUILT THE
GREAT SOUTHWEST TUNNEL SYSTEM LAKE CRIB DISASTER OF 1909 INTER-STATE
INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITION SUCCESS OF THE ENTERPRISE BUILDING IN USE FOR
NINETEEN YEARS THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES EARLY ACTIVITIES OF THE
ACADEMY ANTE-FIRE PROSPERITY OF THE INSTITUTION COMPLETE DESTRUCTION
OF ITS COLLECTION IN THE GREAT FIRE QUARTERS IN THE OLD EXPOSITION BUILD-
ING LOCATION OFFERED IN LINCOLN PARK THE "LAFLIN MEMORIAL*' BUILT
GREAT EXTENT OF THE COLLECTIONS SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF THE WORK OF
THE ACADEMY 142
CHAPTER L
THE PARKS OF CHICAGO
THE EIGHT MAIN PARKS GOVERNING BOARDS OUTER BELT PARK COMMISSION
SOUTH PARK SYSTEM FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES BEGINNINGS OF LINCOLN PARK
FIRST BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SUBSEQUENT HISTORY LIVE STOCK AND
PACKING INDUSTRY EARLY ACTIVITIES MARKET PRICES OF THE EARLY DAYS
DRIVING CATTLE TO MARKET "flULL^S HEAD" STOCK YARDS UNION STOCK YARDS
ESTABLISHED GREAT INCREASE IN PORK PACKING BEEF SLAUGHTER HOUSES
CONTENTS ix
REFRIGERATOR CARS SKETCH OF JOHN B. SHERMAN PHILIP D. ARMOUR
MATTHEW LAFLIN SAMUEL W. ALLERTON OUSTAVUS F. SWIFT SQUATTER SET-
TLEMENTS "KILOUBBIN" "KANSAS" CAPTAIN STREETER'S ATTEMPT SKETCH
OF POTTER PALMER THE SUNSET CLUB 168
CHAPTER LI
TRACK ELEVATION LIFE SAVING SERVICE, ETC.
GRADE CROSSINGS IN CHICAGO FIRST ELEVATION OF TRACKS IN 1892 ILLINOIS CEN-
TRAL FIRST TO ELEVATE TRACKS LAKE SHORE AND ROCK ISLAND ELEVATE RIGHT
OF WAY CHICAGO & NORTH-WESTERN ENTER UPON EXTENSIVE SYSTEM OF ELE-
VATION SUCCESSION OF ORDINANCES PASSED FORT WAYNE ELEVATES TRACKS
THE CITY'S MOST DEADLY CROSSING BENEFITS OF TRACK ELEVATION PROGRESS
MADE IN EIGHTEEN YEARS SKETCH OF CARTER H. HARRISON, THE ELDER THE
INHERITANCE TAX LAW- ESTATES WHICH HAVE PAID AN INHERITANCE-TAX-
SKETCH OF EUGENE FIELD- -HIS WONDERFUL DIVERSITY OF GIFTS HUMOR AND
PATHOS OF HIS WRITINGS SOME OF HIS POEMS THE UNITED STATES LIFE SATING
SERVICE THE STATIONS AND THEIR EQUIPMENT SOME NOTABLE RESCUES DIS-
ASTERS TO THE STEAMER "CALUMET" 183
CHAPTER LII
THE PULLMAN STRIKE, CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY, ETC.
THE TOWN OF PULLMAN COMPREHENSIVE DESIGN OF ITS FOUNDER GEORGE M. PULL-
MAN'S OWN ACCOUNT PLANS OF THE PULLMAN COMPANY VIEWS OF OBSERVERS
OCCURRENCE OF THE STRIKE OF 1894 CARWARDINE'g VIEWS COMMENTS OF
THE PRESS THE AMERICAN RAILWAY UNION INCEPTION OF THE STRIKE- BOY-
COTT AGAINST PULLMAN CARS THE BOYCOTT BECOMES A STRIKE ALL THE RAIL-
WAYS OF THE COUNTRY INVOLVED METHODS OF THE STRIKERS INJUNCTION IS-
SUED AGAINST THE STRIKERS PRESIDENT CLEVELAND ORDERS TROOPS TO CHICAGO
GOVERNOR ALTGELD'S PROTEST ORDER GRADUALLY RESTORED FAILURE OF
THE STRIKE CHAUNCEY M. DEPEw's REVIEW AFTERMATH OF THE STRIKE THE
CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY NAMES OF THE INCORPORATORS MISFORTUNES OF
THE SOCIETY THE COLLECTIONS TWICE DESTROYED GENEROUS GIFTS RECEIVED
THE SOCIETY RECOVERS FROM ITS LOSSES PRESENT CONDITION OF THE SOCIETY
COOK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY . 204
CHAPTER LIII
IROQUOIS FIRE
THE PLAY OF "BLUEBEARD*'- ALARM OF FIRE HEROISM OF AN ACTOR PANIC IN
THE AUDIENCE EXITS FOUND CHOKED VAIN ATTEMPTS TO ESCAPE RESCUES BY
STUDENTS IN ADJOINING BUILDING MANY PERSONS CRUSHED TO DEATH FIRE-
MEN AND POLICEMEN COME TO THE RESCUE AID RENDERED BY VOLUNTEERS
x CONTENTS
REMOVAL OF THE DEAD SAD SEARCHES FOR LOST ONES GRIEF OF MOURNERS
DEFECTS FOUND IN THE THEATRE HEAVY GATES PREVENT EXIT MEASURES TAKEN
TO AVOID FUTURE THEATRE DISASTERS THE ARMOUR INSTITUTE PURPOSES OF
THE INSTITUTE ITS SCOPE AND RESULTS THE CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE EARLY
EXPERIENCES WAR RECORD OF THE BOARD PATRIOTIC RESOLUTIONS- CORN THE
GREATEST PRODUCT ADDRESS BY GOVERNOR OGLESBY THE NATIONAL CORN EX-
POSITION THE ILLINOIS TUNNEL COMPANY EXCAVATIONS COMMENCED IN 1901
ORIGIN OF THE WORK FIELD OF OPERATIONS DESCRIPTION OF THE TUNNELS
ROUTES OF THE TUNNELS INTERESTING DETAILS ASPECTS OF THE INTERIOR. .223
.
CHAPTER LIV
MUSIC AND DRAMA
MUSIC IN THE THIRTIES POPULARITY OF CONCERTS AND SHOWS CIRCUS ARRIVES
EARLY THEATRICAL PERFORMANCES JOSEPH JEFFERSON THE ELDER- A FREQUENT
. VISITOR TO CHICAGO JOSEPH JEFFERSON THE YOUNGER MUSICAL SOCIETIES
FIRST THEATRE RICE*S THEATRE J. H. MCVICKER's FIRST APPEARANCE MUS-
, ICAL ORGANIZATIONS MCVICKER's THEATRE BUILT IN 1857 BRYAN HALL
WOOD'S MUSEUM SMITH & NIXON's HALL ADELINA PATTI THE PATTI FAMILY
OPERA SEASON OF 1858 BAND CONCERTS SONGS OF THE CIVIL WAR OPERA IN
THE SIXTIES PAHEPA-ROSA- CROSBY'S OPERA HOUSE THEATRES AFTER THE FIRE
PAULINE LUCCA FAMOUS PRIMA DONNAS EMMA ABBOTT MUSICAL FESTIVALS
MATERNA APOLLO CLUB GEORGE F. ROOT CENTRAL MUSIC HALL WELL
KNOWN IMPRESARIOS ORCHESTRA LEADERS EARLY CAREER OF THEODORE
THOMAS THE AUDITORIUM PERMANENT HALL FOR THE ORCHESTRA 242
CHAPTER LV
SCHOOLS OF THE PRESENT DAY
CHILD STUDY DEPARTMENT PEDAGOGY AND MEDICAL SCIENCE COMPULSORY EDUCA-
TION CHILD LABOR- TRUANCY PROBLEM AGE LIMITATIONS THE JUVENILE
COURT JOHN WORTHY SCHOOL PARENTAL SCHOOL CONDITIONS OF ENTRANCE
CRIPPLED CHILDREN SCHOOL FOR APPRENTICES VOCATIONAL SUBJECTS IN
THE HIGH SCHOOLS EVENING SCHOOLS RECREATION CENTERS VACATION
SCHOOLS- MUSIC DRAWING PHYSICAL CULTURE GERMAN OPEN AIR SCHOOLS
ASSIGNMENT OF TEACHERS TEACHERS' PENSION FUND SCHOOL BUILDINGS
FRESH AIR CRUSADE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOLS SCHOOL HOUSE
FOR THE PEOPLE- THE SCHOOLS AT PRESENT 268
CHAPTER LVI
THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY THE PUBLIC SQUARE, ETC.
THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY ITS BEGINNINGS AFTER THE GREAT FIRE -FIRST
SUGGESTIONS MADE BY ENGLISH FRIENDS GIFTS BY EMINENT ENGLISH PEOPLE
RUINS OF OLD RESERVOIR USED AS LIBRARY FORMAL OPENING WILLIAM F. POOLE
BECOMES LIBRARIAN RAPID GROWTH OF THE COLLECTION VARIOUS CHANGES OF
CONTENTS xi
LOCATION NEW BUILDING IN DEARBORN PARK ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS OF
BUILDING DECORATIONS OP INTERIOR BOOK STACKS AND READING ROOMS GRAND
ARMY HALL TREASURES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY BRANCH LIBRARIES NEW DES-
IGNATIONS AND NUMBERING OF STREETS NEW SYSTEM DESCRIBED A VISIT TO THE
HOME OF JULES G. LUMBARD THE VETERAN SINGER IN HIS OLD AGE ORIGIN OF
THE PUBLIC SQUARE EARLY COURTHOUSES EFFECTS OF THE GREAT FIRE THE
NEW COURTHOUSE AND CITY HALL A MONUMENTAL BUILDING LITERARY NEWS-
PAPERS . 293
CHAPTER LVII
BENCH AND BAR
THE ORGANIZATION OF COOK COUNTY FIRST CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE CATON*S RECOL-
LECTIONS EARLY COURT EXPERIENCES CATON's REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE
JUDICIARY THOMAS HOYNE's ARRIVAL IN CHICAGO ADMITTED TO THE BAR IN
CHICAGO HOYNE'S ACCOUNT OF EARLY COURT PROCEEDINGS CHARACTER OF
HOYNE MELVILLE W. FULLER IN CHICAGO HIS EMINENCE IN THE PROFESSION
TRIBUTE TO FULLER- THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM OF THE STATE THE CONSTITUTION
OF 1848 -COOK COUNTY COURTS PRESENT STATUS OF LOCAL JUDICIARY CIRCUIT
COURT APPELLATE COURTS THE MUNICIPAL COURT THE JUVENILE COURT THE
CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION ,.....,..., .307
CHAPTER LVIII
BANKS AND BANKING MAYORS OF CHICAGO, ETC.
BANKING RESOURCES OF CHICAGO HISTORICAL REVIEW GEORGE SMITH & CO. MER-
CHANTS LOAN & TRUST CO. EXPERIENCES IN GREAT FIRE PROMPT RECOVERY
AFTER HEAVY LOSSES- LATER HISTORY OF BANK FIRST NATIONAL BANK LOSSES
IN THE GREAT FIRE CHANGES OF LOCATION PRESIDENCY OF SAMUEL M. NICKER-
SON RAPID GROWTH OF THE BANK THE PRESENT BANK BUILDING STATISTICS
OF ALL BANKS MEDICAL HISTORY RUSH MEDICAL COLLEGE COUNTY HOSPITAL
DR. NATHAN S. DAVIS CHICAGO SKYSCRAPERS MAYORS OF CHICAGO SKETCH OF
HYDE PARK 321
CHAPTER LIX
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT STREET RAILWAYS, ETC.
ADVANTAGES POSSESSED BY CHICAGO EARLY PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURING LARGE}
TRIBUTARY TERRITORY THE "INDUSTRIAL ZONE" STEEL INDUSTRIES IMMENSE
RECEIPTS OF IRON ORE ABUNDANCE OF COAL LABOR CONDITIONS LIVING CON-
DITIONS FOR WORKMEN STATISTICS OF MANUFACTURING EARLY METHODS OF
STREET TRANSPORTATION FIRST LINE OF STREET CARS SINGLE TRACK LINES
xii CONTENTS
THREE COMPANIES BEGIN OPERATIONS DISAPPEARANCE OP SMALL CHANGE IN
1861 DIFFICULTIES IN COLLECTING FARES CHANGES IN METHODS OF PROPUL-
SION THE "TRACTION TANGLE" STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE PEOPLE AND THE
COMPANIES DETERIORATION OF FACILITIES FRANCHISE OF 1907 AGREEMENT
ENTERED INTO REVENUE DERIVED BY THE CITY PUBLIC VIGILANCE THE
"SOUTH SIDE L" RAILROAD ITS GREAT SERVICE IN THE WORLD'S FAIR THE
"METROPOLITAN L" THE "LAKE STREET L" THE "NORTHWESTERN L" THE
UNION LOOP NAMES OF STREETS OBSOLETE NAMES ORIGIN OF STREET NAMES
SETTLEMENTS POST OFFICE LOCATIONS POSTMASTERS 341
CHAPTER LX
PRESENT DAY MOVEMENTS A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE
THE CHICAGO ASSOCIATION OF COMMERCE PRINCIPLES AND PLANS ITS COMPLETE
ORGANIZATION ACTIVITIES OF THE ASSOCIATION GREAT VALUE OF ITS PUBLICA-
TIONS WORK OF ATTRACTING CONVENTIONS COMPARISON _ WITH THE CHICAGO
COMMERCIAL CLUB CITY BUILDERS OF THE PAST CHICAGO'S RAPID EXPANSION
8PON8IBILITY OF THE COMMUNITY MAYOR BUSSE's COMMUNICATION TO THE COUN-
CIL THE CHICAGO PLAN COMMISSION FORMED ENDORSEMENT OF THE CHICAGO
COMMERCIAL CLUB CITY BUILDERS OF THE PAST CHICAGO'S RAPID EXPANSION
PRELIMINARIES CONSIDERED LAKE MICHIGAN'S PART IN THE PLAN BOULEVARDS
AND LAGOONS THE "CIVIC CENTER" DESCRIBED GROUPS OF BUILDINGS PLANNED
INCENTIVES TO THE GREAT ENTERPRISE PRACTICABLE NATURE OF THE PLAN
LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE . 360
Chicago: Its History
and Its Builders
CHAPTER XLI
FORMATIVE PERIOD OF THE WORLD'S FAIR
FIRST SUGGESTION OF THE FAIR PROPOSED WORLD'S FAIR IN 1892 MOVEMENT IN
CHICAGO TO SECURE THE FAIR EFFORTS OF OTHER CITIES IN SAME DIRECTION
INFLUENCES BROUGHT TO BEAR ON CONGRESS INITIAL CORPORATION FORMED
SUBSCRIPTIONS TO STOCK ARGUMENTS BEFORE CONGRESS CHICAGO SELECTED
AS SITE OF FAIR CONGRESS PROVIDES FOR A "COMMISSION" POWERS OF COMMIS-
SION THOMAS W. PALMER ITS PRESIDENT THE ILLINOIS CORPORATION NAMES Of
DIRECTORS "WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION," NAME CHOSEN LYMAN j. GAGE
ELECTED PRESIDENT SELECTION OF A SITE LAKE FRONT FAVORED AT FIRST
JACKSON PARK FINALLY DECIDED UPON TWO GOVERNING BODIES THREATEN
CONFUSION HARMONY SECURED BY "COMPACT*'- CONSTRUCTION DEPARTMENT
CREATED D. H. BURNHAM CHOSEN CHIEF GENERAL PLANS CONSIDERED WIL-
LIAM T. BAKER SUCCEEDS GAGE AS PRESIDENT BAKER IS SUCCEEDED BY H. N.
HIGINBOTHAM HIGINBOTHAM BECOMES GUIDING SPIRIT OF THE EXPOSITION
BURNHAM'S SPLENDID SERVICES FINANCIAL LEGISLATION BY THE GENERAL AS-
SEMBLY TEN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS SUBSCRIBED THE PRESIDENT ISSUES PROC-
LAMATION ANNOUNCING THE FAIR ESTIMATES OF COST COUNCIL OF ADMIN-
ISTRATION- CONGRESS ASKED FOR DIRECT APPROPRIATION "SOUVENIR COIN*'
MEASURE PASSED DISAPPOINTMENT IN SALES AT PROPOSED PREMIUM SLOW SALE
OF EXPOSITION BONDS THE DIRECTORY AT THE END OF ITS RESOURCES- THE RAIL-
ROAD COMPANIES COME TO THE RESCUE.
BEGINNINGS OF THE WORLD'S FAIR MOVEMENT
S T the annual meeting of the stockholders of the Inter-State Industrial Ex-
position, held November 14th, 1885, Mr. Edwin Lee Brown, one of the
directors, offered the following resolution, which was adopted: "That
it is the sense of this meeting that a great World's Fair be held in Chi-
cago in the year 1892, the four hundredth anniversary of the landing of
Columbus in America." This resolution at once attracted public attention and be-
came the subject of much discussion in the press of the city and the country at
1
2 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
large. "Many public men who were interviewed," says Andreas, "heartily com-
mended the proposed World's Exposition, and it was deemed peculiarly appropriate
for Chicago, the youngest, most enterprising and representative American city, to
celebrate the landing of the great navigator of Genoa upon the new continent."
The celebration of the Centennial of the inauguration of George Washington
as the first president of the United States in 1889, in Chicago, gave a fresh im-
petus to the movement for a World's Fair. The assembling on April 30th of that
year of one hundred thousand people in eight mass meetings, and of two hundred
thousand school children in over two hundred meetings, simultaneously, created
such enthusiasm that it was considered an opportune time to prepare for the
World's Fair in 1892. On July 22, 1889, the Chicago Common Council, in a se-
ries of resolutions, requested the Mayor to appoint a committee of one hundred
representative citizens to take charge of the matter, and use all honorable means
to secure the location of the Fair in Chicago. The Mayor on his own motion in-
creased the number of citizens composing the committee to two hundred and fifty.
On the first of August following, the committee met in the Council chamber and
adopted resolutions in harmony with the purposes expressed in the Council reso-
lutions.
While this was going on in Chicago, other cities were not idle. The people
of New York and Washington were also holding meetings of a similar character,
and making plans to have the World's Fair held in each one of those cities, and
later St. Louis also took steps to the same end. New York proceeded to appoint
committees on site, legislation, finance, etc., taking it for granted that the Fair
would be held in that city as soon as the request to that effect should be made to
Congress. These committees apparently did not work in harmony, and there was
no system by which one knew what was being done by the others.
ORGANIZATION OF THE, MOVEMENT
Chicago organized by the appointment of eleven standing committees, with the
same secretary for each committee. Thus through this secretary all serious fric-
tion was avoided, and the committees moved together to the accomplishment of the
one result. Mr. Edward F. Cragin was the secretary appointed for each of the
committees, and his account of these preliminary steps is condensed from his pub-
lished statement made afterwards in the New York Mail and Express.
The membership of these committees was enlarged from time to time until there
were over six thousand citizens of Chicago and the surrounding country members
of these main committees and the sub-committees appointed from them. The ques-
tion of site was not discussed by any of them, except so far as to prepare a num-
ber of sites which were to be presented to Congress as being available. Men thor-
oughly familiar with all the arguments in favor of Chicago were sent into nearly
every state of the Union, with a view of influencing the constituents of the mem-
bers of Congress in their several districts. Thus the congressmen in a large num-
ber of districts were deluged with petitions from labor unions, manufacturers' asso-
ciations, etc., and many state legislatures also passed resolutions favoring Chicago
as the location of the proposed World's Fair.
It thus came about that before Congress assembled the congressmen were made
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 3
fully aware of the wishes of their constituents, among which the preference for
Chicago largely preponderated. Effective work was done by one of the standing
committees,, that on National Agitation, of which Thomas B. Bryan was the chair-
man. "We were very careful in all our speeches and documents," writes Mr. Cragin,
"not to present our case as that of Chicago against New York, but rather to show
the advantage that would accrue to the great interior by having the Fair held in
Chicago."
The argument was made that foreign nations would prefer to exhibit in New
York, and to meet this argument (again using the words of the account), "we cor-
responded with every American consul in the world, asking them to inquire of the
manufacturers and those who would be liable to exhibit, whether a seacoast or in-
terior location for the World's Fair would be most desirable to exhibitors ; and
these answers were published and furnished the congressmen, and showed quite a
majority in favor of an interior city as against a seacoast city."
When Congress assembled, New York, Washington, St. Louis, and Chicago
had each a strong delegation working in behalf of their various cities. "New York's
delegation was specially strong and ably conducted," writes Mr. Cragin. "Messrs.
Platt, Depew, Hiscock, Belden, Flower, Shepard, Whitney, Fitch, Grant, and
others of national prominence were giving superb banquets and dinners, and work-
ing tooth and nail for the success of New York. Chicago men from the first urged
that a vote might be taken promptly; this however, they failed to secure, being
out-maneuvered by the New York managers." The excitement ran high and great
pressure was brought to bear upon congressmen to obtain their support. When
the vote was at length reached it was found that Chicago received nearly as many
votes as had been pledged to her, and it then appeared to the astonishment of the
Eastern people that Chicago from the first had by far the largest number of votes
in her favor.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
A principal source of information regarding the World's Fair is found in the
"History of the World's Columbian Exposition," edited by Rossiter Johnson, and
published in four large volumes, in 1897. This history was authorized and paid
for by the Exposition. In the preface to the work the editor says : "The materials
from which the History has been compiled are the records of proceedings of the
Board of Director's, and documents on file in the general offices ; the reports of
Harlow N. Higinbotham, President of the Company ; George R. Davis, Director
General; Daniel H. Burnham, Director of Works; Mrs. Potter Palmer, President
of the Board of Lady Managers, and other reports by subordinate officers."
It appears that the editor never visited the Exposition at any time, and his
work on the history therefore may possibly be lacking in the inspiration and first
hand knowedge to be. derived only from personal contact with the scenes and incidents
on the spot. The work, however, is as full and satisfactory as could be expected
when it is remembered that it is compiled mainly from official reports. The most
important of these reports was that of the President of the Exposition, Mr. Higin-
botham, whose volume of nearly five hundred pages, separately published, contains
an excellent account of the inception and progress of the Exposition, infused with
n spirit of enthusiasm and sympathy with the subject that is most admirable. This
4 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
report has been largely drawn upon for the account herewith given of the great
Exposition of 1893. The "History of the World's Columbian Exposition," above
mentioned, will be referred to as the "History," while the President's report will
be mentioned simply as the "Report."
In a letter written to the editor of the History by Mr. Higinbotham, giving
some general outline of its scope and purpose, he said: "If asked to write a His-
tory, or tell the story of the World's Columbian Exposition, and it had not been
my good fortune to personally witness its grandeur, I should wish to take such tes-
timony as would convince me beyond a doubt that unlike the vision of St. John,
it did really have a material existence; that it was as real as it was beautiful; that
it did have thrust into it by the hand of man in great abundance, his richest, ripest
and rarest creations; that it was made to throb and pulsate as if it had breathed
into it the breath of life; that it was a Mecca that attracted to its shrine pilgrims
from all quarters of the globe; that yonder in a new city, in a far country, there
sprung up a spectacle that was as awe-inspiring as it was unlocked for and un-
expected."
The Directors paid the publishers, Messrs. D. Appleton & Co., of New York,
twenty-five thousand dollars for publishing the "History," and received three hun-
dred sets printed on large paper, and bound in half morocco. These were distrib-
uted as gifts to members of the official bodies connected with the conduct of af-
fairs, and to various public institutions. Other copies were placed on sale by the
publishers in the usual manner.
FORMATION OF THE INITIAL CORPORATION
The first step in the formation of a corporation was taken on August 14th,
1889. On this date, commissioners to take subscriptions in the corporation to be
known as the "World's Exposition of 1892," were authorized by the Secretary of
State of Illinois. The capital stock was placed at five millions of dollars divided
into 500,000 shares of ten dollars each. The commissioners named were De Witt
C. Cregier, Ferdinand W. Peck, George Schneider, Anthony F. Seeberger, Wil-
liam C. Seipp, John R. Walsh, and E. Nelson Blake.
On April 9, 1890, the capital stock had been fully subscribed, and articles of
incorporation were issued, the object stated being "the holding of an International
Exposition, or World's Fair, in the City of Chicago, and State of Illinois, to
commemorate, on its four hundredth anniversary, the Discovery of America."
In making subscriptions to the stock of the World's Fair it was clearly under-
stood that the subscribers would not be likely to have a full return of the money
thus invested, much less any profit therefrom. At the Centennial Exposition of
1876, the subscribers had one-third of their subscriptions returned to them after-
wards, and it was thought as much might be expected from our own Fair. It is
likely that a result as favorable as this might have been realized had it not been
for the financial panic that broke upon the country during the progress of the
Fair. As it turned out these subscribers eventually received fifteen per cent of
their investment, which the final statements of the Fair will show in a later part
of this history. It spoke well for the generosity and public spirit of the people
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 5
that they subscribed as liberally as they did in the face of the dubious prospect
of little or any returns from the investment in the stock of the World's Fair.
ARGUMENTS BEFORE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES
Committees were appointed by Congress to listen to such arguments as might
be advanced by the different cities contending for the Fair. Mayor Cregier, Thomas
B. Bryan, and Edward T. Jeffery appeared before a committee of the United
States Senate and presented the claims of Chicago. In the course of his speech
Mayor Cregier said: "The people of the city of Chicago are united in the hope
and desire and determination that, wherever this Exposition is held, wherever in
the wisdom of this Congress of the United States it shall be assigned, it shall ex-
cel all former events of the kind, and not only prove eminently successful, but com-
port with the grandeur and dignity of this great and progressive nation. To this
end Chicago stands ready to lend her support. Chicago has been growing, under
the name of a city, only fifty-six years, but during those years the city was wiped
out by the most terrible calamity that history records. She has arisen, recuperated
and resuscitated by the power of will and new blood, to the proud position of second
city on the continent, and metropob's of the West."
Mr. Bryan made an argument to have the Fair held in an interior city rather
than at a city on the seacoast. He said: "The argument against holding the Fair
in the interior, based upon the supposed loss of foreign visitors and exhibits because
it is not held at the seaport, has been completely exploded by the prompt and hearty
responses from leading merchants and the ablest journals of Europe in favor of
Chicago." This argument was reinforced by numerous citations from letters writ-
ten by European manufacturers in answer to a circular of inquiry which had been
previously issued.
Mr. Jeffery presented to the committee a document certifying that five millions
of dollars had been subscribed for the enterprise in Chicago. To this he added
some striking statistics showing the construction activities of the city in the recent
period, the receipts and shipments, the value of manufactured goods, the ability
of Chicago to take care of a multitude of visitors, the railroad facilities, and the
immense tonnage of its lake commerce. He also paid a tribute to the energy and
enterprise of the people of Chicago.
The discussion of the question of the location of the Fair now shifted to the
House of Representatives, where at length the vote in favor of Chicago was taken.
Both houses concurred and the President signed the bill on April 25, 1890. The
Act provided for "celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the Discovery
of America by Christopher Columbus, by holding an international exhibition of
arts, industries, manufactures, and the product of the soil, mine, and sea, in the
city of Chicago."
THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN COMMISSION
The Act of Congress designated the name of the Fair as the "World's Columbian
Exposition," and it remained throughout its existence under that name, though
oftener referred to simply as the World's Fair. The Act provided for a govern-
ing body to be known as the "World's Columbian Commission," and conferred upon
it large powers. It was empowered "in its discretion to accept for the purposes
6 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
of the 'World's Columbian Exposition' such site as may be selected and offered,
together with plans and specifications of buildings to be erected for such purpose,
at the expense of and tendered by the Corporation organized under the laws of
the State of Illinois, known as 'The World's Exposition of 1892.' Provided, that
said Commission shall be satisfied that the said Corporation has an actual bona
fide and valid subscription to its capital stock which will secure the payment of at
least five millions of dollars, of which not less than five hundred thousand dollars
shall have been paid in, and that the further sum of five millions of dollars, making
in all ten millions of dollars, will be provided by said Corporation in ample time
for its needful use during the prosecution of the work for the complete preparation
for said Exposition."
Other powers were conferred upon the Commission, such as determining the
plan and scope of the Exposition, allotting space for exhibitors, and preparing
the classifications, appointing judges and examiners, and generally having charge
of all intercourse with the exhibitors and foreign nations. It was also required to
appoint a Board of Lady Managers. A government building was provided for in
the Act at a cost of four hundred thousand dollars, and the entire sum for which
the government should be liable on account of the Exposition was not to exceed
one and one-half millions of dollars. Articles imported from foreign countries
for the sole purpose of exhibition were to be admitted duty free, but if afterwards
any articles were sold for consumption in the United States they were to pay the
customary duty.
The striking feature of this legislation was that it put the Fair under a dual
authority. "In the planning of so great and complicated an undertaking," says
the author of the History from which we have already quoted, "it is never possible
to anticipate all contingencies, and in this instance it was inevitable that some-
where there should be a clash of jurisdiction between the two governing bodies. As
a matter of fact, while many members of the National Commission served the Ex-
position faithfully and creditably, yet the Corporation not only provided by far
the greater part of the necessary funds, but also did the greater part of the work."
The World's Columbian Commission, according to the Act, was to consist of
two commissioners from each state and territory of the United States and the
District of Columbia, besides eight commissioners at large, and was to exist no
longer than until the first of January, 1898. As we shall presently see, the au-
thority of this Commission seriously conflicted with that of the Illinois Corpor-
ation, and at one stage of affairs threatened to endanger the success of the Fair,
but through mutual forbearance and harmony agreements, all friction was obvi-
ated, and the difficulties of the dual control overcome. The Commission was the
body henceforth recognized by Congress and the President.
It was provided in the Act that the President should appoint the Commissioners,
those from the states and territories on the nominations of the various governors,
the others by the president directly. The two members of the Commission ap-
pointed from Illinois were Charles H. Deere, of Moline, and Adlai T. Ewing, of
Chicago. On June 26, 1890, the Commission held its first meeting, and elected
Hon. Thomas W. Palmer, of Michigan, as President of the World's Columbian
Commission. Mr. Palmer remained president throughout the entire period of the
Fair.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 7
THE ILLINOIS CORPORATION
We will now follow the fortunes of the Illinois corporation. A few days be-
fore the Act of Congress was passed a meeting of the stockholders in the Illi-
nois corporation was held and forty-five directors were chosen. This was on
the 10th of April. The names of the gentlemen composing this first board are
important and will be interesting no doubt to the readers of this history, and are
as follows: Owen F. Aldis, Samuel W. Allerton, William T. Baker, Thomas B.
Bryan, Edward B. Butler, William H. Colvin, De Witt C. Cregier, Mark L.
Crawford, George R. Davis, James W. Ellsworth, John V. Farwell, Jr., Stuy-
vesant Fish, Lyman J. Gage, Harlow N. Higinbotham, Charles L. Hutchinson,
Edward T. Jeffery, Elbridge G. Keith, Herman H. Kohlsaat, Rollin A. Keyes,
Marshall M. Kirkman, Edward F. Lawrence, Thies J. Lefens, Cyrus H. Mc-
Cormick, Joseph Medill, Andrew McNally, Robert Nelson, Adolph Nathan, John
J. P. Odell, Ferdinand W: Peck, Erskine M. Phelps, Potter Palmer, J. C. Peas-
ley, Eugene S. Pike, Martin A. Ryerson, Anthony F. Seeberger, W. E. Strong,
Charles H. Schwab, Charles H. Wacker, Robert A. Waller, Edwin Walker, Fred-
erick S. Winston, C. C. Wheeler, John R. Walsh, Otto Young, Charles T. Yerkes.
QUALIFICATIONS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD
"In selecting this Board, the leading spirits in the movement aimed to choose
from among the prominent citizens men whose business ability was recognized,
and who could be counted upon as possessing both the time and the inclination to
serve the interests of the proposed Exposition. The latter qualifications were
considered most essential, and gentlemen of the greatest prominence and busi-
ness ability in several instances withdrew in favor of younger men, who could
be more easily drawn upon for hard service."
Mr. Lyman J. Gage was chosen President of the Board of Directors on the
12th of April, 1890, and, on June 12th following, a special meeting of the stock-
holders was held, at which the name of the initial organization was changed
from the "World's Columbian Exposition of 1892," to the "World's Columbian
Exposition ;" thus making the name identical with that used in the Act of Con-
gress. The two organizations, however, remained separate, the one created under
the Act being known as the "Commission," and the other as the "Board of Di-
rectors," or more simply as the "Directory." The name thus adopted was ridiculed
by Eugene Field, one of the keenest paragraphers of the day, as a cumbersome
title. "We hear nobody calling it the Columbian Exposition," he wrote. "That
title fell into disfavor the very moment it was adopted by the authorities. The
people never would have it. It is the World's Fair in spite of the sesquipedalian
wiseacres whose talents seem to lie in the direction of unpopularity." In all
official documents and formal statements, however, the name remains as adopted,
but in speech and writing it is, as Field said, disregarded by the people, and the
Exposition is generally known simply as the World's Fair.
BOARD OF REFERENCE AND CONTROL
In order to secure harmonious action on the part of the two governing bodies
which we have described, a committee from each of them arranged a "Compact."
8 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
Under this Compact a Board of Reference and Control, consisting of eight mem-
bers from each of the bodies, was created, upon which was conferred all the powers
and duties of the Executive Committee of the Commission on the one hand, and
of the like committee of the Directory on the other. To this Board was to be re-
ferred all matters of difference, and their action thereon should be conclusive, thus
insuring harmonious action in the future. This Board of sixteen members, also
called the Committee of Conference, was a compact organization of strong men,
and its influence and work were powerful in securing the success of the Exposition.
The members from the Commission were Thomas W. Palmer, of Michigan; James
A. McKenzie, of Kentucky; George V. Massey, of Delaware; William Lindsay, of
Kentucky; Michael H. de Young, of California; Thomas M. Waller, of Connecti-
cut; Elijah B. Martindale, of Indiana; and J. W. St. Clair, of West Virginia. Sub-
sequently Messrs. Lindsay and McKenzie were succeeded by R. L. Saunders, of
Mississippi; and Harvey P. Platt, of Ohio. The members from the Directory were
Lyman J. Gage, Thomas B. Bryan, Potter Palmer, Ferdinand W. Peck, Edward
T. Jeffery, Edwin Walker, Frederick S. Winston, and De Witt C. Cregier. Messrs.
Bryan, Palmer, Jeffery, Winston, and Cregier were subsequently succeeded by
Harlow N. Higinbotham, Robert A. Waller, Henry B. Stone, Edward P. Ripley,
and John J. P. Odell.
"These gentlemen were among the leading professional and business men of
Chicago, and gave their services freely in the interest of the Exposition, often to
the sacrifice of their own private affairs." The two bodies in their separate ca-
pacity had already agreed on the appointment of Colonel George R. Davis as
Director-General of the Exposition, and upon the adoption of the Compact Colonel
Davis began the organization of the Departments, and the several chiefs were soon
after appointed. The departments and their chiefs were as follows:
Agriculture and Live Stock W. I. Buchanan.
Horticulture and Floriculture J. M. Samuels.
Fish and Fisheries J. W. Collins.
Mines and Metallurgy Frederick J. V. Skiff.
Machinery L. W. Robinson.
Transportation Willard A. Smith.
Manufactures James Allison.
Electricity J. P. Barrett.
Fine Arts Halsey C. Ives.
Liberal Arts Selim H. Peabody.
Ethnology F. W. Putnam.
Publicity and Promotion Moses P. Handy.
Foreign Affairs Walker Fearn.
Many of these departments included branches within a broad title, as for ex-
ample, "Liberal Arts," which embraced a vast array of Manufactured articles.
Education, Engineering, Public Works, Architecture, Music, and the Drama.
WORK OF CONSTRUCTION
The next important step was the creation of a Construction Department, and
the appointment of Daniel H. Burnham as Chief. Attached to the Construction
By courtesy of D. Appleton & Co.
HARLOW X. HIGIXBOTHAM
President of the World's Columbian
Exposition
By courtesy of D. Appleton & Co.
BERTHA H. PALMER
(MRS. POTTER PALMER)
DANIEL H. BURNHAM
Chief of construction and director of
works of the World's Columbian
Exposition
By courtesy of D. Appleton tc Co.
THOMAS W. PALMER
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 9
Department were John W. Root, architect; Abram Gottlieb, engineer; and Messrs.
Olmsted & Company, landscape architects. A Board of Consulting Architects was
also selected, composed of Richard M. Hunt, George B. Post, McKim, Mead &
White, Peabody & Stearns, Van Brunt & Howe, Burling & Whitehouse, Jenney &
Mundie, Henry Ives Cobb, Solon S. Beman, and Adler & Sullivan; the last five
firms and individuals being Chicago architects.
The Board of Architects met on January 10th, 1891. "The members visited
the park and conferred regarding the task before them. Before the board had
fairly organized and concentrated its attention upon the task John W. Root was
stricken with pneumonia and died. His death caused universal grief in Exposition
circles, for his genial qualities and his great reputation as an architect had en-
deared him to all. His loss was felt to be almost irreparable, and the Directory
paid a tribute to his memory by placing upon their records a memorial of their
appreciation of his great worth, his genius and exquisite taste, and their grief at
his death."
The success of the building scheme was due to the fortunate selection of the
Board of Architects who had been nominated by the Chief of Construction. At
a meeting of this board held on February 22, 1891, preliminary sketches and
drawings were submitted, and, after some modifications, were approved. It is
related that when the architects assembled to submit the sketches for their several
buildings the} 7 spent the afternoon in an examination and consideration of the
various designs proposed. Each of them expressed willingness to modify his own
views or plans for the sake of the unity of the whole group. St. Gaudens, who
was present, sat all day listening, but scarcely speaking or moving; and, at the
close of the meeting, came to Mr. Burnham, taking both of his hands in his own,
exclaimed: "Do you realize that this is the greatest meeting of artists since the
fifteenth century?"
SELECTION OF A SITE
Now that the organization of the working forces of the Exposition was com-
pleted, the Directory began to turn its attention to such matters as required early
and decisive action. The first and most important question to be settled was that
of the site upon which the buildings were to be placed. Sites were tendered upon
the north, west and south sides of the city, the most available of which seemed
to be the Lake Front east of Michigan avenue, though the area of this tract would be
insufficient without extensive filling towards the lake. "While this area was not
regarded as sufficient," says a writer in the authorized "History of the World's
Columbian Exposition," "it was thought that the most important features of the
Exposition could be located upon this site and the remainder separated from it
and placed upon another site at Jackson Park. It was even thought practicable to
fill a sufficient amount of land to enable placing the entire Exposition upon the
Lake Front. This idea had many champions in spite of the great obstacles it
presented. Its friends were willing to attack grave difficulties for the further-
ance of the plan, on account of its many attractive features and the permanent
benefits that would result to the city.
"Could it have been possible to locate the entire Exposition at this point,
the comfort of the visiting public, relieved of the necessity for securing trans-
10 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
portation facilities to reach the Exposition, and the permanent benefit to the
city occurring from the location of a magnificent park in the heart of the business
district, would have been advantages . worthy of great sacrifices, but nothing less
than the whole plan would answer the purpose."
Nevertheless the Board passed a resolution favoring the Lake Front site,
provided that the city of Chicago should fill up a space to include a total area
of three hundred acres. An obstacle was at once met with in the refusal of the
War Department to allow filling beyond the government dock line. Another
resolution was now adopted including both the Lake Front and Jackson Park for
the uses of the Exposition. Further obstacles to the use of the Lake Front ap-
peared in the opposition of the property owners upon Michigan avenue to the
erection of buildings at this point; and the heavy expense of filling the sub-
merged portion of the land even as far as permitted by the government.
Meantime a committee examined the Jackson Park site, and, with the assist-
ance of the well known landscape architect, Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted, made a
report to the Board favoring this site. The Illinois legislature passed an act
authorizing the Board of South Park Commissioners to grant the use of such
parks as it controlled to the Exposition. Jackson Park embraced about five hundred
acres in its area, and at that time was very slightly improved. The South Park
Commissioners tendered to the Board of Directors of the Exposition the use of
Jackson Park and the wide strip of land, afterwards known as the Midway,
connecting this park with Washington Park, subject to the condition that the
buildings to be erected should be removed at the close of the Exposition. The
dual site idea was at length practically abandoned, and plans were prepared
for the grounds and buildings to be placed in Jackson Park, and were submitted
to the President of the United States for his approval, whose proclamation and
invitation to foreign nations to participate in the exhibition of products was now
awaited. These plans were of course far from having been matured, but on the
basis of the requirements for such buildings as were known to be necessary a
general plan was prepared under the direction of Mr. John W. Root, whose
architectural genius and co-ordinating talent were invaluable for the purpose.
This was among the last of Mr. Root's services to the Exposition.
"At one time it seemed certain," wrote a correspondent, in giving a sketch
of the early history of the Fair, who said he obtained his information from Mr.
Joseph Medill, "that it would be located on Lake Front Park, the park that
fronts the breakwater harbor between Randolph and Twelfth streets, and had it
not been for Mr. Lyman J. Gage, it would have been located there; and that
mistake would have been a blunder of such a serious, if not fatal character, that
all other mistakes would have been as dust in the balance by comparison." For-
tunately, however, this project "was held back from consummation long enough
to enable the minority of the commission to bring about a reaction," and so, finally, its
location at Jackson Park was established.
GENERAL PLANS CONSIDERED
The World's Fair buildings and the arrangement of the grounds was the in-
spiration of the "Plan of Chicago," as set forth in the sumptuous publication of
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 11
the Chicago Commercial Club, issued in 1909. "The Word's Fair of 1893," says
the author of that work, "was the beginning, in our day and in this country, of the
orderly arrangement of extensive public grounds and buildings. The result came
about quite naturally. Chicago had become a commercial community wherein men
were accustomed to get together to plan for the general good. Moreover, those at
the head of affairs were, many of them, the same individuals who had taken part in
every movement since the city had emerged from the condition of a mere vil-
lage. . . .
"Then, too, the men of Chicago, trained in intense commercial activity, had
learned the lesson that great success cannot be attained unless the special work
in hand shall be entrusted to those best fitted to undertake it. It had become the
habit of our business men to select some one to take the responsibility in every
important enterprise; and to give that person earnest, loyal, and steadfast sup-
port. Thus the design and arrangement of the buildings of the World's Columbian
Exposition, which have never been surpassed, were due primarily to the feeling
of loyalty to the city and its undertakings ; and secondly, to the habit of entrust-
ing great works to men trained in the practice of such undertakings."
THE POPE'S LETTER
The letter of the Pope, Leo XIII, lent great encouragement to the friends
of the Fair at a time when they were looking with keen interest towards foreign
people for sympathy and co-operation. The letter was written in Latin, and
was addressed to Thomas B. Bryan. It was dated February 27, 1892, and in
the letter he said ; "While we see on all sides the preparations that are being
eagerly made for the celebration of the Columbian quarto-centenary in memory
of a man most illustrious and deserving, . . . we hear with great pleasure that
the United States has, among other nations, entered this competition of praise
in such a manner as befits the vastness and richness of the country, and the mem-
ory of the man so great as he to whom these honors are being shown. Nothing,
certainly, could be more splendid than what is told to us of the grand and magni-
ficent exposition which that nation will hold at Chicago, bringing together every
kind of produce and work which fruitful nature bears, and the artful industry of
man creates."
CHANGES IN OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS
Mr. Lyman J. Gage resigned as president of the board of directors in April,
1891, because of the pressure of his private business. Shortly before he had pre-
sented his report, which was printed and distributed as the first annual report of
the Exposition. "It was an admirable presentation," says Mr. Higinbotham, in
his report made at the close of the fair, "of the clear ideas and the firm grasp which
Mr. Gage had of the conditions and demands of the World's Columbian Exposi-
tion."
Mr. William T. Baker, one of the original directors, was then elected presi-
dent, a man who had previously held the honorable position of president of the
Chicago Board of Trade, and while on the directory had worked effectively for
the success of the fair. The great problems before the directory during the
year 1891 were those of finance, of adequate transportation facilities, and the
12 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORV AND ITS BUILDERS
awakening among foreign nations of a sufficient interest in the Exposition. In all
these matters Mr. Baker was a master hand at the helm of affairs.
Mr. Baker was again elected president of the directory at the annual meet-
ing in April, 1892, and at the same time Mr. Harlow N. Higinbotham was elected
vice-president. Howard O. Edmonds was elected secretary to succeed Benjamin
Butterworth. Mr. Baker's health failed in the following July, and he resigned
soon after. Mr. Higinbotham was then elected president of the company, a
position which he thenceforth occupied with great ability throughout the whole
remaining period during which the fair was in preparation, and afterwards when
it was open to the world. In fact, owing to his able and efficient administration
of affairs he has continued ever since at the head of the company, and through its
long period of liquidation down to the present time.
Mr. Higinbotham was elected president of the World's Columbian Exposition
in August, 1892, though as vice-president he had acted in that capacity for a con-
siderable period before that time, by reason of the absence of the president in Eu-
rope. It will be remembered that Mr. William T. Baker was the president be-
fore the election of Mr. Higinbotham. Thus, during the most active period of
preparations for the Exposition, Mr. Higinbotham was the guiding spirit in all
the multifarious affairs that preceded its opening. The first great event in his
administration was the dedication of the Exposition, on the 23d of October, 1892,
where more than 100,000 people were gathered in the great Manufactures Build-
ing, then barely completed ; the dedication was followed by the formal opening on
May 1st of the following year. Few of us can understand, unless personally
familiar with its affairs, what strain and stress was endured by the president and
his associates during the whole period of the exposition, and especially during
the period when twenty millions of money had to be provided, and was actually
spent, before returns could begin to be realized.
The corporation known as the World's Columbian Exposition is still in ex-
istence, and Mr. Higinbotham is still its president. It was often said after its
close that the great World's Fair "had passed into history." But no doubt Mr.
Higinbotham has realized often enough since that time that for him, at least, the
exposition had not by any means passed into history, and that the closing of its
immense and world-wide affairs has required years of his time.
The glorious success of the exposition is to be attributed to a variety of favor-
ing circumstances, to a public spirit that perhaps could only have been aroused
in such abundant measure in the city of Chicago, but more than all to the president
of the Exposition who was the genius, the gifted leader, the one who bore the bur-
den of the tremendous responsibilities thrust upon him. It is no doubt true that
our fellow townsman, Mr. Daniel H. Burnham, the wonderfully efficient director
of works, is entitled to a large share of the glory and honor of what was achieved
at the great exposition. His share of the honors is and must be recognized in any
comprehensive and adequate account of the building of the Great Fair.
MR. BURNHAM AS DIRECTOR OP WORKS
Of Mr. Burnham's activities during the period of construction President Higin-
botham says in his report; "The director of works seemed omnipresent. Xo
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 13
hour was too early, no weather too severe for him to be abroad, inspecting and di-
recting the progress of the work and urging on his lieutenants. It was his custom
to drive through the grounds in an open vehicle at daybreak or earlier, accompanied
by his secretary, Montgomery B. Pickett, and a stenographer, and occasionally by
one or more of his officers, making notes and informing himself as to the condi-
tion of the work in every part of the grounds. When the enormous space to be
covered is considered, the labor and exertion of this feat can be appreciated. The
wonderful physical strength of the director of works enabled him to perform this
exertion without apparent effort or detriment to his health. At seven or half
past seven o'clock his officers held a 'bureau meeting,' usually presided over by the
assistant director of works, Ernest R. Graham, at which the director of works
generally assisted. Officers were enabled to secure information, prefer complaints,
and make requests, and minutes were kept of the proceedings. It was possible
at these meetings for the director of works to urge on portions of the work which
were behindhand, calling to account any one who appeared to be delinquent, and
settling every complaint by prompt and vigorous measures. It can easily be seen
that liy these morning inspections and bureau meetings a vast amount of actual
work could be planned ready for execution while the people of Chicago were aris-
ing from bed and preparing for breakfast. It is no wonder that the efficiency of
the department was so great as to render easy of accomplishment things which
would ordinarily be thought impossible within the time allotted."
FINANCIAL AFFAIRS
When, on June 12, 1890, the Illinois corporation changed its name from the
"World's Exposition of 1892" to the "World's Columbian Exposition," the cap-
ital stock of the company was at the same time changed from $5,000,000 to $10,-
000,000, thus to enable it to comply with the terms named in the act of congress.
"It was hoped," says the history from which we have quoted already, "that a con-
siderable portion of this additional stock would be subscribed, thus giving the com-
pany additional funds with which to carry on its work, but it could not reasonably
be expected that, after the vigorous canvass of the city made to secure the first
$5,000,000, it would be possible to go over the ground again and raise an equal
amount. The company was therefore compelled to look to other sources for the
remainder of the sum that congress required it to furnish.
"There was but one other source, an issue of city bonds in aid of the exposition.
This was impossible under the constitution of the state, the city having already a
bonded debt as great as the constitution permitted. To accomplish the desired
result it was necessary to obtain an amendment to the constitution. The situation
was properly represented to the governor, Hon. Joseph W. Fifer, who thereupon
convened the legislature of Illinois in special session on July 23, 1890. The leg-
islature promptly passed a joint resolution authorizing an amendment to the con-
stitution of the state, and providing for its submission to the people at the election
to be held in the following November. This amendment, which empowered the
city of Chicago to issue $5,000,000 of bonds in aid of the World's Columbian Ex-
position, received a substantially unanimous vote of the people of the state."
14 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
FIVE MILLIONS IN CITY BONDS
Immediately after the election, the city council passed an ordinance providing
five millions of dollars for the use of the exposition. The list of subscriptions
previously taken was now freshly scrutinized by the officers of the directory, and
wherever delinquencies appeared it was found that they were more than made good
by new subscriptions, so universally popular was the fair with the people. In
fact the first five millions subscribed was increased by more than a million of new
subscriptions, and when a financial statement was made up the next year after
the fair had closed, there was shown a total of $5,61 4,425, collected on account
of the capital stock subscribed by firms and individuals.
The time had now arrived to make known to the Commission that the required
ten millions of dollars would be available for the uses of the Exposition. The Com-
mission, which was the official channel of communication with the President, there-
upon adopted a resolution declaring that it was satisfied "that an actual bona fide,
legally binding subscription existed, from which the company would realize five
millions of dollars, and that satisfactory guarantees existed for five millions more,
thus complying fully with the obligation placed upon the city of Chicago by the
act of congress." The President upon receiving this assurance from the commis-
sion issued the proclamation, now eagerly awaited, inviting foreign nations to par-
ticipate in the exposition.
The President's proclamation was dated December 24, 1890, and recited as
follows: That "whereas, satisfactory proof has been presented to me that provision
has been made for adequate grounds and buildings for the uses of the World's
Columbian Exposition, and that a sum not less than ten millions of dollars, to
be used and expended for the purposes of said exposition has been provided in ac-
cordance with the conditions and requirements" of the Act of Congress of April
25, 1890, authorizing "an international exhibition of arts, industries, and manufac-
tures, and the products of the soil, mine, and sea, in the city of Chicago," there-
fore it is declared and proclaimed that such international exhibition will be opened
on the 1st day of May, 1893; and an invitation was extended to all nations of
the earth to take part in the same "by appointing representatives and sending ex-
hibits to the World's Columbian Exposition as will most fitly and fully illustrate
their resources, their industries, and their progress in civilization." The proclama-
tion was signed by Benjamin Harrison, president, and James G. Elaine, secretary
of state. Thus the world was officially notified of the great approaching event,
and preparations for the participation of foreign nations at once began.
ESTIMATE OF COST
The total cost of construction of the proposed buildings, and the improvement
of the grounds, was estimated by the construction department at $12,766,890. A
budget committee, appointed by the directory, also made an estimate, increasing the
amount required for all branches of the exposition until May 1, 1893, to $16,075,-
453. The estimated cost was based upon the supposition that the entire exposition
would be located in Jackson Park. "The committee pointed out that the limited
area available on the lake front without filling would undoubtedly increase this
estimate at least one million dollars."
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 15
After M. Berger, formerly director-general of the Paris Exposition of 1889,
had made a eareful study of the conditions existing at Chicago at this period, he
named $17,000,000 as his estimate of the needed capital that would be required,
a figure that coincided strikingly with the total amount named by the budget com-
mittee.
The estimates of the budget committee were adopted by the directory, which
now began to realize the magnitude of its task. "During the following spring,"
says the author of the history, "while the work of dredging and filling was being
rapidly pushed at the park, the plans of the buildings came in, one by one, from
the distinguished architects who had them in charge. These were promptly taken
up and prepared for contracting in the construction department. This department
grew and extended itself rapidly from day to day as the needs of the work in-
creased. With but little friction and without delay that splendid organization
sprung up around the chief of construction which played such a great part in the
results achieved. The discipline and efficiency of the force was greater than that
of a veteran army, for it was composed of intelligent, well-educated professional
men, each one eminent in his particular line of work. The chief of construction
possessed wonderful enthusiasm, and he had the ability to impart it to those about
him ; he had success in choosing his assistants and lieutenants ; he had wonderful
capacity for attracting to him young men of ardent temperament but extraordinary
capacity, whose vigor and enthusiasm, when tempered with the discretion of older
heads, formed the best possible combination for the purposes in view."
GROUNDS AND BUILDING COMMITTEE
One of the committees created by the directory in the early part of 1890
was the "grounds and building committee," which was recognized in the "compact"
previously referred to. This committee of seven members sat almost daily from
the spring of 1890 until the 18th day of August, 1892. On this date the committee
on grounds and buildings went out of existence after its splendid career of serv-
ices, and its functions were assumed by the "council of administration" composed
of four members only, two directors and two commissioners. The title of the chief
of construction was, at the same time, changed to that of director of works. The
council of administration was composed of the following gentlemen: H. N. Higin-
botham, and Charles H. Schwab, of the directory, and George V. Massey, of Dele-
ware, and J. W. St. Clair, of West Virginia, the two latter being members of the
commission.
CHANGES IN THE DIRECTORY
Owing to changes occurring in the board of directors during the period of the
exposition, the following gentlemen became directors in place of others who had
resigned for various reasons, or whose terms had expired: C. K. G. Billings, Ben-
jamin Butterworth, Isaac N. Camp, William J. Chalmers, Charles H. Chappell,
Robert C. dowry, Arthur Dixon, George P. Engelhard, George B. Harris, Charles
Henrotin, Egbert Jamieson, William D. Kerfoot, Milton W. Kirk, William P.
Ketcham, Herman H. Kohlsaat, Washington Porter, Alexander H. Revell, Edward
P. Ripley. A. M. Rothschild, George W. Saul, George Schneider, James W. Scott,
Paul O. Stensland, Henry B. Stone, Bernard E. Sunny, Hempstead Washburne,
John C. Welling, George H. Wheeler.
16 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
FURTHER ASSISTANCE REQUIRED
As we have seen by the estimates made, even the ten millions of dollars re-
quired by the act of congress would not nearly provide the necessary funds to carry
out the plans. Mr. Gage, the president of the board of directors, pointed out
clearly the broad, general features of the situation. He said: "Why should this
company assume the burden and risk of creating an exposition to cost fifteen or
sixteen millions of dollars? Why not, instead, restrict the undertaking to a cost
of ten millions of dollars, unless the national government, or some other respon-
sible and equally interested party, shall first agree to provide the difference?"
In answer to these questions he further said, "Neither the people of our city, of
our state, of our country, nor of the world would be, or ought to be, satisfied with
any exhibition that will not worthily exemplify the progress of the world in art,
science, and industry, and typify the highest achievements in architecture, in art,
and in all things that illustrate the utilization by man of the resources and powers
of Nature."
But the friends of the fair had been frequently warned that the general govern-
ment would do nothing in aid of the enterprise, further than the appropriation
for its own building and exhibit. "The opposition of other cities that had com-
peted for the location of the exposition was an additional ground for doubt as to
the possibility of securing aid from the national treasury, yet it was the firm be-
lief of every director that when the company and the city had met their fair
share of the enormous cost of the great work, in which every citizen of the republic
was interested, the generous recognition and co-operation of those outside of
Chicago could reasonably be demanded. If this expectation should not be realized,
there remained a last alternative of carrying the enterprise through and com-
pelling the patriotic citizens of Chicago to bear the heavy burden unaided. And
there is little reason to doubt that this would have been done had the necessity
arisen."
THE APPEAL TO THE GENERAL GOVERXMENT
Meantime the scope of the exposition and the vast extent of its undertakings
rendered it necessary that its case should be presented to congress with a request
for its aid. The commission, in the autumn of 1891, gave its approval to the
work already undertaken and completed by the directory, and adopted a resolu-
tion approving the plan of making an appeal to congress for a loan in aid of the ex-
position. This, however, did not meet with the approval of the directory. Their
plan was to secure an appropriation outright rather than a loan. "They did not
consider it proper that the government, in granting financial aid to this national
undertaking, after the city had expended over ten millions of dollars upon it,
should receive in return a first lien upon the proceeds of the entire investment,"
thus exhausting the company's capacity to borrow, which would still possibly be
necessary before the fair could be opened and the returns begin to flow in. "What
the company insisted upon as the proper expression of the financial responsibility
of the government for the exposition was an appropriation in its aid without any
requirement as to repayment."
Little doubt had been felt that aid from the national government would be forth-
coming, provided the company fulfilled its duty, administered its affairs properly,
By courtesy of N. D. Thompson Publishing Co.
THE COURT OF HONOR, FROM THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING,
FACING THE PERISTYLE
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 17
and energetically carried the work forward on the grand plans that it had caused
to be prepared. In December, 1891, congress began to consider the matter se-
riously, and a bill was introduced providing for an appropriation of five millions
of dollars in aid of the exposition. A committee of congress visited Chicago in
the following March and made an investigation on the spot. Their report closed
with this tribute to the exposition: "Your committee express without reserve
their confidence in the assured success of the exposition. Fifty-six nations and
colonies have accepted the invitation to participate in the enterprise, and have
appropriated $3,783,000 for that purpose. It is expected that twenty other
foreign nations will also be represented. Complete exhibits will be made by all
countries which promise attendance, twenty-six of which will erect special build-
ings for their own displays. Thirty states and territories of our own republic
will erect buildings and make special exhibits, for which $3,182,500 has already
been provided. It becomes obvious, therefore, that the expenditures of the local
corporation, of individual enterprise of the states and territories, and of our own
and all foreign governments, will reach the stupendous aggregate of not less than
thirty millions of dollars for exhibition purposes. In its scope and magnificence
the exposition stands alone. There is nothing like it in all history. It easily
surpasses all kindred enterprises, and will amply illustrate the marvelous genius
of the American people in the great domains of agriculture, commerce, manu-
factures, and inventions, which constitute the foundation upon which rests the
structure of our national glory and prosperity."
There were many difficulties, however, in the way of enacting the proposed
legislation. The political situation entered into and complicated matters. A
presidential election was approaching, and public measures were invariably con-
sidered with a view to their bearing upon this event. It was intimated that if the com-
pany would accept a loan instead of a direct appropriation, this form of aid
might be secured. The board of directors rejected this proposition, and refused
to be put in the attitude of suppliants for favor, when they were conscious of the
justice of their demands. The struggle continued during a great part of the
following summer, until it became apparent that the bill as introduced could not
pass. Further efforts along this line were abandoned.
At length, however, a compromise was proposed, and the "Souvenir Coin Meas-
ure," as it was called, was introduced and passed without material opposition.
This measure became a law on the 5th of August, 1892, and provided that two
and a half million of dollars in the form of "Columbian Half Dollars" should
be coined, according to devices and designs prescribed by the director of the mint.
These coins were to be paid out by the secretary of the treasury to the World's
Columbian Exposition upon estimates and vouchers certified to by the president
and director-general, "for the purpose of aiding in defraying the cost of com-
pleting, in a suitable manner, the work of preparation for inaugurating the
World's Columbian Exposition." This appropriation was coupled with a con-
dition that the fair should be closed to the public on Sundays. Immediately after-
wards a plan was devised to sell these souvenir coins at a premium, which eventu-
ally increased the amount received by the exposition from this source to a con-
siderable extent.
The advantage thus derived, however, was offset by the subsequent action of
vol. m 2
18 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
congress in saddling upon the exposition the expenses incurred by the commission
in providing for judges and awards. These expenses were estimated to be $570,-
880, and this amount was ordered by congress to be deducted from the two and a
half millions already appropriated, and thus the net amount of the appropriation
was reduced to $1,929,120. But the premiums received brought this up again
to a total of $2,607,854. It was hoped that all the five million half dollars would
be sold at one dollar each, but owing to delay in delivery by the mint the
enthusiasm, shown at the beginning of the sale, and which at first ran high,
soon evaporated, and a large number of them were left to be disposed of eventually
at their face value.
WITHHOLDING THE FUND FOR "JUDGES AND AWARDS*'
The action taken by congress, six months after the passage of the "Souvenir
Coin Measure," in charging against it the amount of $570,880 required by the
commission "for the judges and awards," was looked upon by the directory as
unjust and wholly beyond the purposes expressed in the act itself. The act, as
we have quoted above, specified that the souvenir coins were to be paid out "for
the purpose of aiding in defraying the cost of completing, in a suitable manner,
the work of preparation for inaugurating the World's Columbian Exposition." It
was a departure from the original intention of the act, therefore, to require that
the exposition company should bear this new burden at all. The subject of awards
was wholly within the jurisdiction of the commission, and the company had no
control over it nor responsibility for it. "The commission, through its committee
on awards," says President Higinbotham, in his report, "had prepared plans and
estimates for judging exhibits and making awards thereon, and it asked for an
appropriation from congress to defray its expenses, as in the case of other branches
of the commission's work. The amount estimated by the committee on awards to
be necessary was $570,880. Instead of making an appropriation for the pur-
pose, congress directed that an equal amount of souvenir coins be withheld from
the company until it gave security to the secretary of the treasury that an
appropriation of the amount needed for this purpose would be made out of the
company's funds."
In the report we have just quoted from. President Higinbotham vigorously de-
nounces the action taken by congress in this matter. "At this time," he says,
"when the company was relying, almost from day to day, on the remittances of sou-
venir coins to replenish its treasury, congress diverted this $570.000 of its 1
appropriation to a purpose not in any way connected with the 'completing of the
work of preparation for inaugurating the World's Columbian Exposition.' Such
a thing could not have been attempted between individuals in the great busi-j
ness world without speedy redress through legal process. This act aroused indig-
nation among the citizens of Chicago. The recollection of it is still bitter to the
officers and directors who were compelled to bear the additional burden thus laid
upon the company in the hour of its need."
ISSUE OF EXPOSITION BONDS
During the last few months of the period before the fair was opened the financial
problem hung heavy on the hands of the directory. The bonds issued by the city
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 19
of Chicago for five millions of dollars were readily sold and became available for
the purposes of the exposition. The financial situation at this time showed the
resources of the exposition to consist of the following:
Capital Stock and City Bonds $10,700,000
Souvenir Coins 2,500,000
Receipts Prior to Opening 330,000
Total $13,530,000
It became necessary now to resort to the anticipated issue of exposition bonds,
and, accordingly, an issue of five millions in bonds was authorized. The estimates
in the later revised budgets showed such an increase in the amount required be-
fore the opening day that the total sum necessary would be $19,437,827. Thus
even with the proposed sale of Exposition bonds the total of resources would only
amount to $18,530,000, still nearly a million below the requirements. But there
were amounts which would become available in the meantime, such as refunds
from various exhibits, state and foreign governments, and premiums from souvenir
coins; and these helped to bridge over the deficit.
The situation was made more difficult by the failure of the exposition bonds
to find a ready sale as it had been hoped they would. This source of trouble,
however, was happily averted by the aid of the railroad companies, several of
which took large blocks of the bonds ; and of the banks, which made heavy ad-
vances on the security of about a million dollars' worth of souvenir coins still
held by the exposition awaiting sale at the premium it was hoped to be realized.
When, at last, the opening day arrived, on the 1st of May, 1893, it found
the financial managers of the exposition at the end of their resources. The long
period of disbursements without earnings was at an end. "For three years," says
Mr. Higinbotham, "while we had been building, we had been struggling to pro-
vide the means to reach with credit and success the opening day of the exposi-
tion. That day dawned, and the first great financial problem, that which related
to the raising of funds required to open the exposition, was brought to a final
solution. I repeat that one who had not shared in some way in that task can not
appreciate its gravity and the deep, heartfelt thankfulness of those who had borne
it, when they saw the end of their labors, and the great exposition practically com-
plete, unfolding its noble and beautiful proportions to the eyes of the world."
We will now return to the great occasion of the dedication in the month of
October preceding, a proper account of which should here be given, before describing
the opening and continuance of the fair through the six months of its existence.
It must be remembered that the "Dedication" and the "Opening" were two dif-
ferent events, the significance of and reasons for which will be explained in the
following pages.
CHAPTER XLII
DEDICATION AND OPENING OF THE WORLD'S FAIR
FORMAL DEDICATION IN OCTOBER, 1892 IMPRESSIVE CEREMONIES IMMENSE CON-
COURSE OF VISITORS PERFECT WEATHER CONDITIONS THE COLUMBIAN ODE IN-
TERVAL OF SIX MONTHS INCOMPLETE PREPARATIONS UNEXAMPLED RAPIDITY OF
BUILDING OPERATIONS THIRTY-ONE MILLION ADMISSION TICKETS PRINTED THE
FIRE INSURANCE PROBLEM OPENING DAY, MAY 1, 1893 PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S
ADDRESS STARTING THE MACHINERY DEPRESSING CIRCUMSTANCES FINANCIAL
PANIC EMBARRASSES THE MANAGEMENT DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY THE
DIRECTORY ATTENDANCE RECORDS FOURTH OF JULY VISITORS ADMINISTRATION
DETAILS MR. HIGINBOTHAM's HEAVY RESPONSIBILITIES EFFICIENT COOPERATION
OF ASSOCIATES THOMAS B. BRYAN's SERVICES.
THE FORMAL DEDICATION
date fixed for the dedication of the World's Columbian Exposition was
October 21, 1892, the four hundredth anniversary of the Discovery of
America by Christopher Columbus. This was the first great task en- I
countered by the exposition managers, and caused them much labor and i
grave anxiety ; but the experiences gained on this occasion were of great
value in the management of the multitudes of visitors during the progress of the I
fair. The opening of the fair to exhibitors and visitors was not to take place]
until the 1st of May following, but "the dedication of the exposition buildings six
months before the enterprise was to be actually inaugurated," says the report, "was
approved as a means of disseminating throughout the country a knowledge of the]
grandeur and extent of the exposition, and of the completeness of the equipment
which Chicago had prepared for it." The grounds and the buildings were yet inj
an incomplete condition, but the entrances and driveways had been made passable,
while the great building in which the exercises were to be held, though still far
from complete, had been enclosed and was temporarily fitted up for the purpose.
"The civic parade, upon the day preceding the dedication, was participated in
by many thousands of people, including all the non-military organizations of the!
city, and the governors of most of the States of the Union, accompanied by the
members of their respective staffs. It was a most inspiring scene. The proces-j
sion occupied more than four hours in passing the grand stand at the custom house,
where it was reviewed by Vice-President Morton."
THE DEDICATION CEREMONIES
The task of handling the crowds on the day of the dedication exercises was the
first severe strain placed upon the managers of the fair. The means of travel were
-20
By courtesy of D. ApDleton & Co.
SCENE IN THE MANUFACTURES BUILDING ON DEDICATION DAY,
OCTOBER 22, 1892
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 21
yet far from having reached the degree of completeness that were afterwards at-
tained. Only those who had received invitations, one hundred thousand of which
had been issued, were supposed to attend the dedication exercises, but as it was
observed that great crowds had gathered at the entrances, the gates were thrown
open later in the day and everyone admitted regardless of whether they were in-
vited or not. The transportation lines, however, did effective service, the day
passed without accidents, and the crowds were handled to the satisfaction of all.
The entire central part of the city was cleared by the police for the convenience
of private conveyances. Carriages conveying persons officially connected with the
ceremonies were passed through the police lines by means of cards previously
issued. The members of the board of directors, the World's Columbian Commission,
and the board of lady managers, and the distinguished guests of the occasion formed
in line, in carriages, on Michigan avenue near the Auditorium, whence they were
escorted by United States troops south on that avenue to Twenty-ninth street,
where they were joined by Vice-President Morton and party and President Palmer
of the commission. From this point the procession moved to Jackson park by way
of the Midway Plaisance.
Across the tracks of the Illinois Central Railroad, which had not yet elevated
its road-bed, a large temporary wooden viaduct was constructed, over which the
procession passed to the great Manufactures building, in which the exercises were
to be held. At the middle of the east side of this building was erected a stand or
platform capable of seating twenty-five hundred people. Over it decorations of
flags and bunting were effectively massed, and at the south end, five hundred
feet away, was another stand for the chorus of five thousand voices under the di-
rection of William L. Tomlins, assisted by an orchestra of over two hundred pieces
led by Theodore Thomas. In front of the platform for the speakers were seats
for sixty thousand people. "The scene in the Manufactures building will never
be forgotten by those who witnessed it," says Mr. Higinbotham in his report. "The
grand platform was occupied by officers of the national government, members of
the diplomatic corps, officers of the various states, senators and representatives,
directors and commissioners. Th- eye and brain could scarcely comprehend the
vastness of the audience stretching ut before this platform, nearly every one seated
or being conducted to seats by soldiers and the Columbian Guards in the most or-
derly manner. There was little motion, but the air was resonant with an in-
describable hum of voices." On great battle-fields, where immense numbers of men-
are present, the shouts, outcries and rumbling thunder of cavalry charges, blends
itself and is softened by distance into a continuous hum, often described by par-
ticipants. An artillery officer at the battle of Waterloo noticed this humming noise,
a noise quite apart from the rattle and roar of the firing. He wrote of it as fol-
lows: "We were enveloped in thick smoke, and, in spite of the incessant roar of
cannon and musketry, could distinctly hear around us a mysterious humming noise,
like that which one hears of a summer's evening, proceeding from myriads of in-
sects." This remarkable humming no^se, characteristic of vast assemblages, strikes
the ear with a sense of strangeness and mystery. It was referred to by Dr. Pea-
body in the following passage :
"The day of dedication gathered the largest audience ever assembled under
one roof. It mattered not that the ostensible purpose of the occasion was absolutely
22 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
defeated by the vastness of the multitude. The immense hall was filled with a
resonant murmur, which resembled the soughing of the foliage in a boundless forest
or the rhythmic laughter of unnumbered waves, and yet overpowered the rever-
berating hoof beats of a troop of cavalry riding through the adjacent aisles. The
impressive ceremonies were duly observed ; but the oracles were dumb, no voice
rang through the arched roof. The audience only saw the prayer of the right
reverend ecclesiastic, saw impassioned bursts of oratory and lofty strains of poetry ;
they heard but faintly strains of far-off music, swelling and receding; yet no one
of that great assemblage will ever forget the sense of exultation that he was per-
mitted a share in the grandeur of that unique and most impressive ceremony."
So great was the assemblage of people in this building that the majority of them
were beyond the reach of the speakers' voices. One who was present said : "We
found that although seated only about half way between the platform and the
rear seats, we could not hear a word uttered by the speakers on the platform.
Indeed, we could not hear a sound even, and the movements and gestures of the
speakers were complete pantomime, producing a very singular effect." There were
twenty-five acres of human beings in the audience, which numbered from one hun-
dred thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand people, according to different
estimates, said to have been the largest assemblage ever gathered under one roof.
Perfect order prevailed. The dignity of the occasion seemed to have cast a spell
over the audience.
THE EXERCISES WITHIN THE BUILDING
The dedicatory ceremonies were opened with the "Columbian March," com-
posed by Professor J. K. Paine, of Cambridge. This was followed by a prayer
offered by Bishop Charles H. Fowler, of the Methodist church, after which an ad-
dress was made by the director-general, Colonel George R. Davis. Hon. Hemp-
stead Washburne, mayor of the city, delivered an address of welcome and a tender
of the freedom of the city of Chicago to the vice-president and the representatives
of foreign nations. It will be recalled that Carter H. Harrison, Sr., Chicago's famous
"World's Fair Mayor," did not enter upon his fifth and last term as mayor until the
following spring. A portion of the "Columbian Ode," by Miss Harriet Monroe
of Chicago, was read, and other portions, which had been set to music, were rendered
by the chorus. The president of the board of lady managers, Mrs. Potter Palmer,
then delivered an address on the work of the lady managers. President Higin-
botham, of the board of directors, then tendered the buildings to the president of
the commission, Hon. Thomas W. Palmer, who in turn presented them to the vice-
president of the United States, Hon. Levi P. Morton. The vice-president then,
on behalf of the president of the United States, formally dedicated the buildings
in an address closing with the following words: "In the name of the government
of the United States I hereby dedicate these buildings and their appurtenances,
intended by the government of the United States for the use of the World's Colum-
bian Exposition, to the world's progress in arts, and in manufacture. I dedicate
them to humanity."
An oration followed delivered by Hon. Henry Watterson of Kentucky, which
was followed again by an oration delivered by Hon. Chauncey M. Depew of New
York. The ceremonies were concluded with prayer offered by Cardinal Gibbons
of Baltimore, clad in the full robes of his office. A national salute was fired by
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 23
the artillerj 7 as the ceremonies came to a close. "The fact that the immense as-
semblage gathered in the Manufactures building," says Mr. Higinbotham, "wit-
nessed the impressive program, and dispersed without an accident worthy of note,
either within or without the half finished grounds, spoke well for the care, intel-
ligence, and efficiency of the officers and employes of the company, of the officers
of the army, and of the various transportation lines."
The authorities had even provided a luncheon for the multitude of guests on
the occasion. It was served in the galleries for those within the building, and
at other places for those without. More than seventy thousand persons were sup-
plied with refreshments at the cost of the exposition. "From the number of in-
vitations issued," says the report, "the magnitude of this undertaking will be un-
derstood. It was manifestly impossible to serve a satisfactory meal; the purpose
was to offer merely a slight refection to enable persons within the park to with-
stand the fatigue of waiting for the grand event to take place."
ABSENCE OF THE PRESIDENT
President Benjamin Harrison was prevented from attending the dedication by
Mrs. Harrison's severe illness, which soon afterward proved fatal. Vice-Presi-
dent Morton represented the president upon this occasion.
It will be remembered that the country was on the eve of a presidential elec-
tion at this time. Mr. Harrison was the candidate of the Republican party for a
second term, and Grover Cleveland, who had ended his first term as president four
years before, was the candidate of the Democratic party. An invitation had been
sent to Mr. Cleveland to attend the dedication exercises, but he declined in a let-
ter which showed an intelligent appreciation of the situation as it existed and a
characteristic delicacy of feeling. "I should be very glad," he wrote, "to be present
on this occasion, and there show my appreciation of its importance, if I could do
so solely as an ex-president of the United States. I am sure, however, that this
is impossible; and I am unwilling to undertake a trip which from beginning to
end, despite all effort on my part, would be regarded as a political tour, made by
a candidate for the presidency." To this he added that his general aversion to
such a trip, in this particular instance, was increased by his knowledge of the cir-
cumstances "which detained at the bedside of his sick wife, another candidate for
the presidency."
"The representatives of the press who attended the ceremonies included many
distinguished journalists, and all were so thoroughly impressed with the magnitude
of the preparation and the grandeur and scope of the exposition, that praise and
commendation for the great enterprise awoke all over the country, even in quar-
ters where only adverse criticism had been heard before." "The perfect weather,"
says the report, "contributed to the success of the occasion. The sunshine, the
cloudless sky, and the spring-like air lent a charm to the grounds that seemed to
more than atone for their unfinished condition. We may count the dedication on
October 21, 1892, as possibly the most successful of all the pageants, ceremonies,
and celebrations which occurred in connection with the exposition."
THE COLUMBIAN ODE
The Columbian Ode, written by Miss Harriet Monroe, was a distinctive feature
of the dedication. It was a poem of about four hundred lines in length. Some
24 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
passages are here quoted which will give an idea of its quality and the dignified
sweep of the metrical arrangement. The poem should be read in its entirety. It
opens with these lines :
"Columbia ! on thy brow are dewy flowers
Plucked from wide prairies and from mighty hills;
Lo! towards this day have led the steadfast hours,
Now to thy hope the world its beaker fills.
The old earth hears a song of blessed themes,
And lifts her head from a deep couch of dreams."
Continuing, the poet refers to the assembling of the nations in honor of the great
event :
"Spain, in the broidered robes of chivalry,
Comes with slow foot and inward-brooding eyes."
Following next in the procession of the "queenly nations, elder-born of time,"
comes England,
"Hearing in thine her voice, bidding thy soul
Fulfill her dream, the foremost at the goal."
Next comes Columbia's first friend and ally,
"And France, who once thy fainting form upbore,
Brings beauty now where strength she brought of yore."
Then tribute is paid to the Norseman who sailed "to the green Vineland of the
long ago;" to Russia, coming "from realms of sun and snow;" to Germany, who
"casts afar her iron robes of war;" and Italy, opening "wide her epic scroll;"
and the "calm Orient," saluting "thy conquering youth."
"Lo! unto these the ever living Past
Ushers a mighty pageant."
The poet then goes back to the discovery. She continues thus:
"And the forests, heavy and dark and deep
With the shadows of shrouded years,
In a murmurous voice, out of age-long sleep,
Ask the winds; What creature rude
Would storm our solitude."
The reference to the Father of his Country follows in these lines:
"Ah ! hero of our younger race !
Great builder of a temple new!
Ruler, who sought no lordly place ;
Warrior, who sheathed the sword he drew."
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 25
On down the generations the poet passes to Lincoln, one
"Who held a warring nation in his heart;"
whose mighty task was performed
"Through blood and tears that we might walk in joy."
The combatants in the great strife for the Union are also celebrated, the men
"who in a noble conflict fell, the brave, who having fought, can never die."
The scene is changed and the poem closes with an apostrophe to Columbia,
pictured as a goddess rising "from the misty sea."
"Thy brows were flushed with dawn's first light,
By foamy waves with stars bedight
Thy blue robes floated free.
*****
"Lad}' of Beauty ! thou shalt win
Glory and power and length of days ;
The sun and moon shall be thy kin,
The stars shall sing thy praise.
All hail ! we bring thee vows most sweet
To strew before thy winged feet,
Now onward be thy ways."
THE INTERVAL OF SIX MONTHS
Between the dedication and the opening day an interval of a little more than
six months intervened. After the dedication the temporary fittings for the accom-
modation of the visitors on that occasion were removed, and the work of com-
pleting the unfinished buildings and preparing for the exhibits was resumed with
redoubled energy. "After the dedication had occurred," says the president's re-
port, "the final goal, May 1, 1893, was in sight, and every nerve was strained
in the effort to reach it in satisfactory condition. The work to be done was enor-
mous. Doubts as to the possibility of completing the exposition were freely ex-
pressed, not only by those outside of the organization and coming in contact with
its work only as spectators and critics, but by many of those identified with its
management."
The situation, indeed, looked serious enough. "The dedication, with its beau-
tiful weather and its many triumphs, revealed a glimpse of the park as it was
expected to appear later. The day seemed to prefigure the ultimate success and
to indicate that it was within easy reach. Nothing could have been farther from
the truth. Winter set in with unusual severity and manifold difficulties appeared.
Thousands of cars, containing hundreds of thousands of packages of exhibits of
every size and weight, were expected to come into the park within the next few
months, to be handled and installed by May 1st. Few of them were arriving, and
a traffic congestion later seemed unavoidable.
"But the alarming feature was not the delay in the arrival of the exhibits
so much as the fact, now evident, that the buildings were in no condition to receive
26 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
them. A snowfall, succeeded by a thaw, revealed acres of leaky roofs, insuring
the irreparable damage of exhibits placed beneath them. The most serious case
was at the building for Manufactures and Liberal Arts, both on account of the
vast number of exhibits which it would contain, and the great difficulty of work,
ing upon this roof during cold and stormy weather." The construction depart-
ment, under Mr. Burnham, took hold of the matter in characteristic fashion, and
put hundreds of roofers upon the building, and at length it became fairly satis-
factory. "At one time the building was damaged by avalanches of snow, which
slid from the great curved central roof and fell into the valley between the cen-
tral hall and the lateral roofs. The falling masses of snow and ice destroyed the
lower roof, and in some instances both the gallery floor and the ground floor
beneath."
FALSE REPORTS CIRCULATED
"Owing to delays," continues Mr. Higinbotham's report, "which had occurred
in some departments, in the allotment of space, and the inevitable dissatisfaction
of some exhibitors with the space allotted to them, withdrawals of applications
for space became frequent, and much alarm was felt over the loss of exhibits for
various causes. Some of these losses were irreparable and were greatly deplored
by the management, but in most cases their importance was exaggerated, partic-
ularly by the newspapers of the several localities in which the resigning appli-
cants were engaged in business. Indeed, the temper of the press was such as to
cause many misgivings, especially as the management was naturally sensitive to
criticism, and because only the unfavorable criticisms came to its attention. Doubt-
less much was said in the way of praise and encouragement, but of this the
management seldom heard. Only the exaggerated reports and false statements
came to its ears.
"The erroneous statements so widely circulated seemed sufficiently general
to justify the fear that the exposition was being put in an unfavorable light be-
fore the world, to the detriment of the expected patronage. The condition of the
roofs was widely published, and made much worse than was the fact. The in-
complete condition of the grounds and buildings was noised abroad, coupled with
the assertion that the exposition would not be ready in time, an assertion very
easy to make and very hard to disprove. Criticisms as to the general plan and
the details of the exposition ; statements that great discomfort would be experi-
enced in viewing it; that the grounds were full of side shows and special attrac-
tions to which admission fees would be charged, each being part of a general
plan to defraud the public; that restaurant prices would be extortionate; that
hotels and boarding houses in Chicago, and in fact all lines of trade, were wait-
ing for a chance to practice extortion upon visitors; these were the chief items
of news in regard to the exposition which came to the attention of the manage-
ment, and which it was bound to counteract and disprove by every means in its
power."
The president of the exposition, recognizing the necessity of giving proper
assurances to the public, issued an address on March 25th, in which he stated
that "the exposition will be opened in readiness for visitors May 1st;" that the
admission fee of fifty cents will entitle a visitor to see and enter all the exposi-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 27
tion buildings, with a few named exceptions including the special attractions of
the Midway Plaisance; that "imposition or extortion of any description will not be
tolerated ;" that free medical and emergency hospital service will be provided
on the grounds; and that ample public comfort stations will be located at con-
venient points about the grounds and buildings. These assurances satisfied the
public of the intentions of the management, in which a strong confidence was
everywhere shown, and the plans announced were fully carried out during the
exposition season.
THE PREPARATIONS CONTINUED
During the winter and spring the exhibits began to flow into the park by
rail and truck, until by the time the installations were completed seventy-nine
hundred car loads had been received containing about sixty thousand tons of
material and exhibits, besides twelve thousand tons received by teams. The empty
packing cases were removed to specially constructed warehouses, where they could
be restored to exhibitors at the close. Nearly sixty thousand packing cases were
thus cared for, of which only forty-two hundred were left unclaimed.
Under the provisions of the act of congress and the regulations of the treasury
department the buildings and grounds of the exposition became in effect a bonded
warehouse, in charge of the United States collector of customs, John M. Clark.
All articles imported from foreign countries for the sole purpose of exhibition
were admitted duty free, but such as were sold in this country paid the usual duty.
This involved an immense amount of labor on the part of the collector and his
deputies, and at the end of the period it was found that about one-quarter of all
the foreign exhibits remained in this country, and the rest were returned to the
countries from which they came. The value of the exhibits which were returned
amounted to $12,154,550, while articles to the value of $1,552,230 were acquired
by various universities, colleges, schools, museums, etc., and articles valued at
$2,566,852 were sold on the grounds. The total receipts of the collector's office
at the exposition was $836,786, while the expenses incurred were $234,684, thus
leaving the amount of $602,102 for the benefit of the United States treasury.
ADMISSION TICKETS
It was during this period that the department of admissions was organized,
and a system of admission tickets fixed upon i'or the enormous attendance which
was expected, also for a system of free admissions for those entitled to this courtesy
and for those whose business brought them within the exposition grounds. The
engagement of a force of ticket sellers, ticket takers, inspectors and office em-
ployes, was also required. Eighteen separate entrances were established where
tickets could be procured, besides many other places at different points through-
out the city.
It was at first proposed to use a fifty cent silver coin as a ticket of admission,
but this plan was abandoned in favor of a series of finely engraved tickets which
would be desirable as souvenirs and often retained by the purchaser, as well as
a series in a cheaper style of printing which could be changed at any day. The
engraved tickets were artistic in design and handsomely printed like bank notes,
and the exposition profited greatly by their sale. They were in four series, a
2& CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
vignette portrait of Columbus on one, a typical Indian on another, and portraits
of Washington and Lincoln for the others. Six millions of these souvenir tickets
were ordered, while of those in a plainer form of printing there were twenty-
five millions ordered. The exposition therefore had two forms of general admis-
sion tickets, the first being the elaborately engraved ones good for admission on any
day, and the second being the inexpensive ticket sold at the gates, and good only
011 the day of sale. The expectation that the engraved tickets would be pur-
chased and retained as souvenirs, and never presented at the gates, was realized
to a gratifying extent, and in fact the sale of these tickets continued even after
the exposition had closed.
For those who were entitled to free admission several forms of passes were
used. For most of the free admissions, a photographic pass was provided, in the
form of a book, which bore on the inside of the cover, the photograph and signa-
ture of the person entitled to use it. The rest of the book was made up of coupons,
one for each day of the exposition. For laborers and temporary workmen another
kind of ticket was used, good only for a short period, and to be presented at cer-
tain entrances only. "It cannot be said," says the report of the superintendent,
"that the pass system was not abused. No one .connected with the work ever
hoped to prevent such abuse, but the outcry frequently made during the exposi-
tion season against the system in use, and the' criticisms urged against the effi-
ciency of the department, were in most cases unmerited." Prompt steps were
taken to correct abuses and to bring the details of the system within the require-
ments laid down by the rules.
In the month of July it became apparent that there was a large number of
passes outstanding which were being used by persons no longer entitled to them.
The council of administration then ordered that the passes should all be freshly
scrutinized and countersigned by the superintendent of the department before they
were made use of further. "By means of this order," says the report, "more
than three thousand passes were canceled, the owners of which had either left
the service and were no longer entitled to a pass, or had never been entitled to one,
but had secured it through lack of discipline in certain departments, or through
ignorance of the regulations."
INSURANCE ON EXPOSITION PROPERTY
In the course of the various narratives pertaining to the exposition, the writer
has supposed that the reader will be interested in the financial vicissitudes of that
great enterprise, involving the expenditure of nearly twenty millions of dollars
before returns began to flow in and recoup the vast outlays which had been made.
Thus he has given especial attention to the details of procuring the funds, their
disbursement, the difficulties encountered, and the burdens borne by those men
who courageously advanced at the front and overcame all adverse conditions,
finally winning a victory that stands among the greatest achievements in the his-
tory of Chicago. It is not enough to recount here the physical features of the
exposition. The writer who would wish to attain some degree of fullness in the
account must look behind the curtain, and describe the persevering and prolonged
efforts made to bring the enterprise to a successful issue. We have already de-
By courtesy of D. Appleton & Co.
THE FIXE ARTS BUILDING
^ s -" * ;-ir^
By courtesy of D. Appleton & Co.
THE PERISTYLE. LOOKING SOUTHEAST
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 29
tailed the obstacles which were overcome in the earlier stages of the work of
placing the exposition on a secure financial foundation, and the following para-
graphs will further illustrate some other phases of the problems presented, and
the solutions arrived at.
The placing of insurance against fire on the property of the exposition caused
considerable perplexity to the management. "The exposition property was never
properly covered by insurance," says the president in his report. "The risks were
considered extra hazardous and companies were unwilling to write policies. Suffi-
cient consideration was not given to the extraordinary precautions taken to pre-
vent fires, and to the facilities provided for quenching any which did occur. As
a matter of fact, while small fires were frequent in the park, and several large
fires occurred just outside the inclosure, there was never any serious damage by
fire to any of the company's property within Jackson park. Only one bad fire
occurred during the exposition season, that which destroyed the cold storage ware-
house. "This building was erected under a concession contract and was not the
property of the company.
"During the construction period insurance was written through a committee
of insurance agents who endeavored to distribute the risk among the companies
doing business in Chicago. * * * While exhibits were arriving the companies
began to cancel policies upon buildings and write up to their maxima upon exhibits,
leaving the exposition company unprotected. Thus the amount of insurance upon
buildings was constantly shrinking, until the president, in whose discretion the
matter had been left, finding that a considerable amount was being expended for
premiums without adequate or even partial protection to the company, canceled
all remaining insurance. The management thereafter intensified its efforts to
protect its property from fire so thoroughly as to render loss from this source a
practical impossibility."
INSURANCE ON ART WORKS
The owners of such works of art as formed the loan collections on exhibition
required that they should be insured, but it was found impossible to place the
risks with reputable companies. The estimated value placed upon the loan col-
lections aggregated about three millions of dollars, the value in most cases be-
ing fixed at the amount paid for the work itself by the owner, without making
allowance for appreciation. "Finally," says the report, "the board of directors
authorized the execution of contracts, in the nature of insurance policies, whereby
the exposition became responsible for these exhibits as an insurer." No losses
occurred, however, which fortunate result "must be attributed to the watchful care
of the chief of the department of fine arts, Halsey C. Ives, and his assistants,
and the vigilance of the guard and the fire departments, both of which were
strictly and repeatedly enjoined to use the greatest diligence and every precau-
tion that could be devised for protecting the precious contents of the Art building."
OPENING DAY OF THE EXPOSITION
The weather conditions on the first of May, 1893, were unfavorable for the
occasion, offering, indeed, a strong contrast with the ideal weather experienced
at the dedication exercises in the preceding October. The climate of Chicago is
30 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
at its best in the autumn season, while the late spring and early summer months
are often cold and backward, as compared with the same season in other parts
of the country. Nevertheless the attendance was fully up to the expectations of
the managers of the fair. There had been a heavy rainfall during the night,
and the sky remained overcast and threatening during the day, but still more
than two hundred thousand people entered the park on the day of the opening.
The Illinois Central line put its World's Fair express trains into operation
for the first time, and so well had the plans for transportation on all the lines
been carried out that the throngs were easily and promptly carried to and from
the exposition grounds.
The opening ceremonies were held in the open air, as the buildings which
might have been available for the purpose, had they been unoccupied, were now
filled with exhibits. The platforms and seats were arranged along the east front
of the Administration building, facing the Court of Honor. At the summits of
hundreds of flagstaffs along the Court of Honor, and upon the buildings flags
and streamers were furled in such a manner that they could be released simul-
taneously at a signal.
President Grover Cleveland and a great number of others took their places
on the platform. Surrounding the president were Vice-President Adlai E. Steven-
son and the members of the cabinet; the Duke of Veragua, a lineal descendant of
Christopher Columbus ; the Diplomatic Corps ; the governor of the state, the mayor
of the city, members of congress, directors of the exposition, members of the
World's Columbian Commission, members of the board of lady managers, members
of foreign and state commissions, and the chiefs of the various departments of the
exposition, with their families.
The "Columbian March," which was given at the dedication, was the first
number on the program. Prayer by Rev. W. H. Milburn, chaplain of the United
States senate, a poem by W. A. Croffut, and music by the orchestra followed in
their order. The director-general, Colonel George R. Davis, then made an address,
concluding with these words: "And now, Mr. President, in this central city of
this great republic, on the continent discovered by Columbus, whose distinguished
descendants are present as the honored guests of our nation, it only remains for
you to direct that it shall be opened to the public; and when you touch this magic
key the ponderous machinery will start in its revolution, and the activities of the
exposition will begin."
THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS
President Cleveland, coming forward, was greeted with tumultuous applause by
the vast multitude, which seemed to fill every inch of the space before and around
him. In his brief address he spoke eloquently of the "stupendous results of
American enterprise and activity," which surrounded those present, and of the
warmth of the greeting which was extended "to those who have come from foreign
lands to illustrate, with us, the growth and progress of human endeavor in the
direction of a higher civilization." "We have built these splendid edifices," he
continued, "but we have also built the magnificent fabric of a popular government,
whose grand proportions are seen throughout the world. We have made and here
gathered together objects of use and beauty, the products of American skill and
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 31
invention; but we have also made men who rule themselves. It is an exalted
mission in which we and our guests from other lands are engaged, as we co-
operate in the inauguration of an enterprise devoted to human enlightenment;
and, in the undertaking we here enter upon, we exemplify in the noblest sense
the brotherhood of nations."
The president now pressed the button which started the great two-thousand
horse power engine, the largest of the seventy-seven engines supplying power to
the exposition. At the same moment, says a writer from whose article we have
gathered some of these details, a young man waved his hat, and at this signal
there fluttered in the air the banners and flags from eight hundred flagstaffs. At
the same moment also the veil fell from the golden statue of the Republic, at the
east end of the lagoon ; and two hundred white doves were set free and circled
over the waters. The fountains began playing, and from the lake, beyond the
Peristyle, the revenue cutter, "Andy Johnson," fired the presidential salute of
twenty-one guns.
THE MULTITUDES DISPERSE TO VIEW THE ATTRACTIONS
This stirring scene was followed by the scattering of the throngs among the
buildings of the exposition, to view the wealth of treasures gathered for their
benefit. Although the attendance was large the paid attendance was only about
129,000, the remainder of the number present being made up of invited guests
and employes. The following day President Higinbotham gave a breakfast to a
large party of the guests and citizens in the Music hall. This was the first social
event of the exposition, and, because of the distinction of the guests and the
beauty of the surroundings, one of the most notable. The party then inspected
the grounds and buildings, and were conveyed in steam launches out upon the
open lake from which point a grand view was obtained.
DEPRESSING CIRCUMSTANCES
The days following the opening marked a great disappointment in the expected
attendance, the first five days thereafter running from ten to eighteen thousand of
paid admissions a day. Meanwhile the approaching storm in the financial world be-
came apparent to the managers of the fair. They recognized the danger there was to
the success of the enterprise in the threatening state of affairs. The Chemical
National Bank of Chicago had obtained permission to open a branch in the Ad-
ministration building, and had received deposits from exhibitors, concessionaires,
and foreigners, amounting to some sixty thousand dollars, as at first stated. Eight
days after the opening the bank failed. Its condition came to the knowledge of
the managers of the fair the evening before the failure was publicly announced.
The deposits in the bank "represented the available cash of several hundred per-
sons," says the report, "many of them strangers, thousands of miles from their
homes, and depending upon their deposits to maintain themselves in Chicago. The
discredit to Chicago, and particularly to the exposition management, by reason
of the failure of the bank which the directors had licensed, would have been com-
plete, and would have seriously impaired the dignity of the enterprise and its
patronage by our countrymen, had not steps been taken to meet the emergency.
3-2 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
"On the night of May 8th, before the failure could be announced in the morn-
ing papers, and before the amount of the deposits at the branch bank had been as-
certained, the president of the exposition [Mr. Higinbotham] and the secretary
[Mr. Edmonds] obtained, over the telephone, from thirty-five gentlemen, pledges
of an amount sufficient to pay at once those depositors who were exhibitors or
foreigners, thus relieving their embarrassment. These gentlemen undertook to
furnish the funds needed for this purpose without knowing definitely the amount
which they might be required to pay." Later, President Higinbotham learned
from the officers of the failed bank that the amount of the claims of exhibitors and
foreigners would probably be between $80,000 and $135,000, and within two hours
the fund was raised. A few days afterward each of the gentlemen who had made
pledges for this purpose sent their checks, and the claims of the depositors were
paid. All the gentlemen were, in fact, afterwards reimbursed by the receiver, but
considering the tension that then existed in financial affairs the sacrifices made by
these men at that critical moment when every one was anxious for his own safety,
were worth}' of great praise.
"The panic grew apace, and the attendance at the exposition increased very
slowly. Heavy obligations for construction work matured, but there were no funds
with which to meet them. The heavy liquidation and the severe contraction of
credit throughout the country made the demand for money everywhere very press-
ing, and it was not easy to withstand the just demands of creditors greatly in
need of moneys due them. Little or nothing could be done, as the small receipts
left only a narrow margin above actual expenses. In a short time unpaid vouch-
ers amounting to over a million of dollars were piled up in the treasurer's office
awaiting the accumulation of funds."
FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES
At various times during the period of construction there had been estimates
made, each time showing a large and alarming increase in the amounts. The esti-
mate made at the beginning of the year in which the fair was opened showed the
appalling total of twenty millions of dollars which would be required before the
opening day, a great part of which had, of course, been already provided ; but an
alarming deficiency still remained.
As the month of May advanced the attendance slowly increased, the admissions
averaging 37,510 per day. In June, however, the attendance grew rapidly, averag-
ing 89,170 per day. The total receipts for May were $583,000; and during June
they were $1,256,000. These increasing receipts made it possible to reduce the
great amount of unpaid obligations that were pressing for settlement. "Thus as
the weather settled into a clear, bright, pleasant, early summer, with soft and
refreshing breezes from the great lake blowing over the park," says the report,
"the exposition received a foretaste of the enthusiastic patronage which it enjoyed
so fully in the fall. Gradually the attendance increased until it frequently ex-
ceeded one hundred thousand paid admissions per day, and on 'German Day,' June
15th, it reached 165,000." But the staggering load of indebtedness was not quickly
relieved, as the language of the report shows. Care and anxiety pressed heavily
upon the members of the council of administration sitting in continuous session in
the Administration building, from early morning until late at night.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 33
"The most threatening and oppressive embarrassment of the company was its
heavy indebtedness, the true extent of which was thoroughly understood about this
time, July 1st. Frequent reference has been made to the difficulty of preparing
budgets of estimates and the rapidity with which they were outgrown by the needs
of the exposition. The latest budget had been prepared on January ], 1893. It
showed a total estimated requirement for completing the exposition, including pay-
ments on account of construction, the expenses of the director-general's depart-
ments, and the general offices of the company, amounting to over twenty millions
of dollars, a large part of which was not expected to fall due until after May 1st.
When this budget was prepared it was thought possible, by using every resource
at the command of the board of directors, that the work might be successfully car-
ried through to May 1st; that this date would be reached with the treasury not en-
tirely exhausted, but with a considerable amount of obligations on contracts which
would not become due until some weeks later; and that the total amount of such
obligations would not be great enough to seriously obstruct the payment of the
exposition debenture bonds. The board of directors had limited the amount of
the bonds of the exposition to five millions of dollars, and had, by implication at
least, limited its power to create debt to this amount also."
On the Fourth of July the attendance reached the gratifying total of 283,273,
and this, the highest number yet registered, it was predicted by many that it would
be the greatest which the exposition might expect for any single day's attendance.
This prediction was destined to be disproved by later experience. "Soon after
July 4th," says the report, "the attendance again fell off, owing to the heat and
the fact that many who had visited the exposition en route for places of summer
resort had gone away, while others were delaying their visits until more favorable
weather should prevail. The same falling off was noticeable in the attendance
at the Centennial Exposition in 1876. Nevertheless, it served to discourage the
hopes of officers and to add to the burden of their cares."
ANXIETIES OF THE OFFICERS
"The infinity of details which burdened the president and the council of ad-
ministration at this time was overwhelming. There was no opportunity for strength-
ening or enlarging our organization, for meeting new business, or for disposing of
arrears. The services of persons unfamiliar with the complex organization and
the duties of hundreds of officers were useless. Directors who, full of sympathy,
were anxious to aid the overworked officers found themselves unable to assist un-
less they had kept pace with the business for months before or went resolutely to
work to acquire the necessary information.
"The president found in Mr. George V. Massey of the council of administration
a firm friend, an industrious fellow-laborer, and a counselor wise, firm, and temper-
ate, whose advice proved invaluable in many emergencies." The President, Mr.
Higinbotham, together with the secretary of the council of administration took up
their quarters in the administration building, seldom leaving the park by day or
night. "The days were occupied with personal interviews with officers and em-
ployes, or with concessionaires appealing their grievances from the superintendent
of collections or the committee on adjustment. The evening was given to corre-
spondence or the clearing up of matters which had accumulated during the day."
vol. m 3
34 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
It frequently happened that one o'clock in the morning found the president and
secretary still at their desks.
DETAILS OF ADMINISTRATION
"An estimate of the floating indebtedness made on May 1st, showed balances
due on construction accounts alone in the neighborhood of two millions of dollars.
In addition to this . . . material of all sorts had been purchased, under the
pressure of grave emergencies, and without proper authority, to an enormous amount,
which in the confusion of affairs at the opening day, could not even be approximately
summed up. Not infrequently bills were presented for payment, regarding which
neither the president, the council of administration, nor the auditor had been able
to get any information, although the obligation had been incurred by some subor-
dinate officer weeks or months before. The opportunity of subordinate officers
seriously to embarrass the company by contracting liabilities to large amounts was
quite ample. Nor was it possible to check this state of things, for the president
and the council of administration, in the main, had confidence in the officers under
them, and felt that it would be unsafe to hamper them as to expenditures at a
time when the paramount object was the completion of the exposition by the time
fixed.
"My only regret is that we were unsuccessful in creating some system which
would have enabled the management to have a better knowledge of the liabilities
as they were incurred. Because of the lack of this knowledge, the president and
the council of administration were frequently criticised and censured, although they
felt that they had done as well as was possible under the trying circumstances. In
the orderly conduct of an established business it is the duty of the president or the
general manager to have full knowledge of the details of every line of expenditure
or obligation incurred. In a heavy and costly work of construction it is never pos-
sible to estimate so closely as in an old established business. This every one
knows who has been identified with the construction of a railroad or a great building.
"In a military campaign, in the time of war, questions of expense are utterly
disregarded, the only object worthy of consideration being the achievement of vic-
tory over the enemy. I have mentioned a great private business, a work of con-
struction, and a military campaign. The World's Columbian Exposition, from start
to finish, resembled the latter more than it did the two former. Great and un-
usual powers had to be entrusted to subordinate hands for the accomplishment of
one result, without accurate count of the cost."
When it is considered that the president of the exposition, Mr. Higinbotham.
was himself in the front rank of able and successful business managers, a partner
in the great firm of Marshall Field and Company, the weight of his words on these
matters may be realized. Like a commander in a campaign he was placed in a
position of responsibility requiring resourcefulness, the power of making instant
and far-reaching decisions, and the exercise of a clear judgment in directing affairs.
His long experience in active business, his knowledge of men, his high sense of
honor and business integrity, his proved ability, were qualities that combined to
make up a leader who came upon the scene of action at a most critical time. The
successful conduct and results of the great exposition were largely due to the Her-
culean labors of Mr. Higinbotham. In his work he had at his back the universal
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 35
sentiment of loyalty to the fair which was shown by the people of Chicago.
This spirit of loyalty, so generally manifested, was the great contributing cause,
in the last resort, to the success of the exposition, a spirit shared by almost every
man, woman and child of the population.
And yet there were times when even this support failed, for when the bonds
of the exposition were issued, and Mr. Higinbotham himself visited the offices of
men who could have purchased the securities thus offered, he was unsuccessful on
many occasions. "I have been as good as shown out of the door, when I called
upon men to urge their purchase," he exclaimed in despair to a friend.
Mr. Higinbotham in his exhaustive report as president of the exposition, has
accorded high praise to his distinguished associates in the conduct of affairs, who-
were indeed well entitled to the high encomiums he passed upon them. But his
own services were naturally passed over in his report with brief and modest men-
tion. It is therefore necessary to go to other sources for a proper appreciation
of his own great part in the work, and it is thus clearly seen that the chief fig-
ure in the galaxy of honorable men who brought the great exposition through its
difficulties to its glorious accomplishments was that of Harlow N. Higinbotham.
We cannot dismiss this subject without a mention of the great personal sacri-
fices, both to his business affairs and his own comfort, that was involved in Mr.
Higinbotham's devoted attention to the affairs of the exposition. Something may
here be said as to the attitude of Mr. Field, the head of the house of Marshall Field
and Company, towards the fair, and the necessary and prolonged absence of Mr.
Higinbotham in its service. In general it may be stated that Mr. Field disap-
proved of Mr. Higinbotham's temporary abandonment of his business duties, and
frankly expressed his opinion to that effect. But after the fair was over he gener-
ously accorded to Mr. Higinbotham praise and approval of his course, and said
to him: "If it hadn't been for you we wouldn't have had a fair." Besides saying
this he complimented him on the general management of its affairs. Mr. Field,
unquestionably one of the greatest merchants of his time, was a man of great re-
serve, and it often happened that for long periods together his most intimate
business associates and employes knew little or nothing of his views regarding their
services. "In the forty years of my association with Mr. Field," said Mr. Higin-
botham, "he never interfered further than to consider results, and upon them his-
judgment was solely based."
Mr. Field abundantly made good any deficiency of interest he may have felt
towards the fair in the beginning, when, near its close, he placed a million dollars
in the hands of the board of trustees to purchase objects then available for a col-
lection to be known as the Columbian Museum, which in his honor was afterwards
called the Field Columbian Museum. Elsewhere is given a more detailed account
of this great project, and of the increase of Mr. Field's contributions.
THOMAS B. BRYAN
Praise should be accorded unstintingly to Mr. Thomas B. Bryan for the great
service he performed in the cause of the fair. When it was seen that the Eastern-
ers must be won over to an approval of the plan for a fair to be located at Chi-
cago, Mr. Bryan visited the East, and was instrumental in gaining a hearing in
many influential quarters. His speech before the congressional committee far sur-
36 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
passed in convincing power the pleas advanced by the men from New York; and
his able defense of the fair in the public prints when it was attacked, his declining
the salary attached to the office of vice-president of the board of directors, his en-
tertainment of distinguished guests from abroad, all go to prove his enthusiastic
devotion to the interests of the fair. Mr. Bryan was also one of those who visited
Europe on behalf of the exposition, where he made a very good impression and won
many friends for the enterprise. The time and money expended by him in this
cause must have been very great, and it was always done in a spirit of self efface-
ment truly admirable.
An account of Mr. Bryan's distinguished public services at the time of the
World's Fair is but a repetition of his activities in all periods of Chicago's historv
with which he was contemporary, during his long residence here. From the days
of the great sanitary fairs held in Chicago in the period of the Civil War down to
the last days of his life, there has never been a crisis of any kind requiring an ex-
ercise of public spirit on the part of its citizens, but that Mr. Bryan has always
been found ready to lend effective aid and service. As a writer said in a news-
paper article, nothing less than a statue should be erected in some suitable place
as a testimonial to this public spirited citizen and friend of the fair.
CHAPTER XLI1I
PROMINENT FEATURES OF THE WORLD'S FAIR
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF. DESIGN PROBLEMS OF THE CHIEF OF CONSTRUCTION THE
ADMINISTRATION BUILDING THE VESTIBULE OF THE EXPOSITION DIMENSIONS OF
THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING MACHINERY HALL POWER SUPPLIED TO ALL
BUILDINGS NOBLE PROPORTIONS OF THE AGRICULTURAL BUILDING THE PERISTYLE
AND ITS ARTISTIC PURPOSES THE MANUFACTURES BUILDING THE MAMMOTH
STRUCTURE OF THE EXPOSITION ITS COLOSSAL DIMENSIONS THE ELECTRICITY
BUILDING THE MINES AND MINING BUILDING THE TRANSPORTATION BUILDING
EXHIBITS IN THE TRANSPORTATION BUILDING LAND AND WATER TRANSPORTATION
EXHIBITS THE HORTICULTURAL BUILDING LOCAL TRANSPORTATION INTRAMURAL
COMMUNICATION THE ART PALACE TRIUMPH OF EXPOSITION ARCHITECTURE
FISHERIES BUILDING AND EXHIBITS GERMANY'S WONDERFUL BUILDING AND EX-
HIBITS SPAIN'S BEAUTIFUL BUILDING JAPAN'S MARVELOUS CONTRIBUTIONS
OTHER ORIENTAL PARTICIPANTS.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
HE plan adopted by the chiefs of construction at the beginning was that
certain scales and dimensions in all the structures around the Court of
Honor should be uniform ; for example, that the cornice lines should be
sixty feet in height, that the bays in the continuous arcades around the
court should be twenty-five feet in width, and that no dome or tower
should rival the height of the Administration building, but should be kept in sub-
ordination to its commanding eminence. Everything else was to be left to the
individual discretion of the designers. "The leading motives of composition,"
said one of the architects, "were to obtain such a disposition of the greater build-
ings as should make the best and most effective use of the natural conditions."
But all dispositions were to be "made subordinate to the situation furnished by
the wide expanse and horizon of the lake." There were many earnest friends of
the exposition who feared that in planning the buildings and grounds too much
care would be given to the mere bigness of scale, losing sight of the artistic effects,
the crown and glory of the whole. Others raised a cry "that the Philistines would
rule."
But in the councils of the able architects that the chief of construction had
gathered about him "it was decided to hold to a general plan. They adopted es-
tablished architectural traditions and styles, and worked on accepted formulas.
None of the designers was to make special features outside of the accepted styles,
and there were to be no eccentricities of personal taste." This policy was strictly
37
38 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
adhered to so far as the great buildings surrounding the Court of Honor were con-
cerned. Some deviations were noticed among the widely scattered buildings in
other parts of the grounds.
"Another cry arose," says the History, "when it became known that classical
forms of architecture had been adopted, but it came from a much smaller num-
ber of people than that which predicted the slighting of art at Chicago." It was
feared by these critics that "originality would be stifled," but no such consequences
appeared; and since that time we have witnessed a renaissance of the ancient
forms which has resulted in stimulating originality rather than in its repression.
In describing the World's Fair adjectives must be employed in profusion. We
make no apologies for making use of them even if they are "overworked." The
English language contains these words, and there is no escaping from their proper
use. Seldom has there been an occasion in the annals of a city or nation that
required so many and such strong expressions in the superlative degrees, as the
sights and scenes of the World's Fair of 1893. We shall not flinch, therefore,
and if the repetitions become tiresome, the reader must make the proper allowances.
THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
It is not intended to write an exhaustive description of the World's Fair build-
ings in this history, as such a description, if at all adequate, would occupy more
space than can be devoted to it. We must therefore confine this account to a de-
scription of the more important structures.
The Administration building was designed by Richard M. Hunt, the dean of
American architects. "Mr. Hunt," says William A. Coffin, "built an edifice of
commanding majesty for the administration offices, which from its position in the
group of the court of honor formed a center for the converging lines of the other
buildings." The administration building has been called the "gem and crown" of
all the buildings, the "vestibule" of the exposition. Standing within the great
rotunda, the visitor felt that here indeed was the "stately pleasure dome" of "Kubla
Khan," a dome the principal purpose of which was to give a noble impression,
while its form was an expression of beauty instead of mere utility.
Nothing like this was ever before attempted in our country. For in this build-
ing we saw a different purpose than that of defense, as in the castles of the Middle
Ages, or of worship, as in the cathedrals of Europe, or to perpetuate the memory
of departed monarchs and great men, as in the Pyramids of Egypt or the tombs
of the Appian Way a purpose of expressing simply and strongly the beauty of
form.
This building was placed at the west end of the court of honor, and in front of
it towards the east was the MacMonnies' Fountain, an elaborate work of art. Be-
yond this stretched the Great Basin, flanked on either side by the Manufactures
building and the Agricultural building, ending with the colossal statue of the
Republic and the impressive colonnade of the Peristyle, making it, as Lorado
Taft said, "the finest architectural display in the world." The dome of the build-
ing rose two hundred and seventy-five feet in the air, but, within, the interior dome
was considerably lower as usual in such constructions. The dome was one hundred
and twenty feet in diameter. The base of the building was two hundred and sixty
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 39
feet square. The four great entrances were fifty feet wide and of the same height,
deeply recessed. At the bottom of the recesses were entrance doors, and above
them great screens of glass, which with the "eye" at the summit of the dome, fifty
feet in diameter, gave light to the central rotunda. When illuminated with its
three thousand electric lights, and with the great flaming torches, fed by natural
gas, on the parapets along the upper portions, it became a magnificent and im-
pressive spectacle.
Mrs. M. G. Van Rensselaer, the well known architectural critic, in a descriptive
article printed in the New York World, written before the building was completed,
says: "As it is one of the largest domes in the world, so it is one of the most
stately in expression, one of the most graceful in outline. Outside, it is fifty-seven
feet higher than the dome of the Capitol at Washington, forty-two feet higher than
the dome of the Invalides in Paris, and about the same height as the dome of St.
Paul's in London. That is, although St. Paul's is always said to measure three
hundred and sixty-five feet, and this dome only measures two hundred and seventy-
five feet from the pavement, the extra height at St. Paul's is absorbed by the lantern
above the dome and by the tall gilded cross which it carries. The dome of St.
Peter's in Rome stands some ninety feet higher than ours. But ours is only twenty
feet less in diameter than St. Peter's, and in this dimension exceeds any other dome
in the world.
"Of course, when I said that, inside, the great hall is open to the eye to the
top of the dome, I did not mean that the interior height is the same as the ex-
terior. For the past two hundred years no one has built a great dome with a single
shell, and thus carried the ceiling as high as it could go under the outer roof. At
St. Paul's, as at the Invalides in Paris, and in all later large domed interiors, there
is an outer dome and an inner one, differing greatly in height an artistic expedient
adopted in order that a dome which is high enough outside to be effective, both
from near and from distant points of view, shall not dictate an internal height of
disagreeably tall proportions and cavern-like effect. So, too, it is at Chicago. Mr.
Hunt's dome, which rises to a height of two hundred and seventy-five feet outside,
measures only one hundred and ninety feet inside. But this means that it is quite
as high inside as it could be to look well, even with so great a diameter, and that
it is fifteen feet higher than the interior dome of the Invalides, ten feet higher
than that of the Capitol at Washington and only twenty feet lower than that of
St. Paul's, which, as every traveler must remember, is distinctly too tall in an in-
terior view. Taking height and diameter together our dome is the largest in the
world excepting St. Peter's ; and for combined grace and dignity of exterior out-
line only the domes of St. Paul's, of the Invalides, and of the Cathedral of Flor-
ence, which it resembles more than any other, can be called its equals.
"When completed, with its external flutings and ornaments in relief, and the
open work coronal which will surround its central eye, and with its internal coffer-
ings, sculptures and paintings, it will be one of the most impressive and beautiful
architectural sights in the world."
By way of comparison, the dimensions of the dome of the Federal building in
Chicago, completed in 1905, may here be stated. This building carries a lofty
dome, the extreme height of which is two hundred and ninety-seven feet, witli an
inner dome much lower of course. This therefore is a loftier dome than that of
40 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
the Administration building by twenty-two feet, but the beholder can thus mentally
gauge the height of the latter, which has since passed away from mortal gaze "in
clouds of glory."
A verse of Eugene Field's on this noble structure is quoted here:
"So let them enter underneath this dome,
Pour as the years pour, go as armies go;
Its head is reared above the wash and foam
Of the spent centuries ; we only know
One loftier work, the master's, wrought in Rome,
And Hunt has challenged Michael Angelo."
MACHINERY HALL
Flanking the Administration building on the south, stood the building for the
exhibition of machinery. The size of this building was eight hundred and fifty
by five hundred feet, and its interior consisted of three enormous arched spaces,
as if three great train sheds had been joined at their sides, open between. The
building was designed by Peabody & Stearns, architects, of Boston, and by some
it was considered as being second only to the Administration Building in its mag-
nificence. Its exterior was a classic grove of columns, the colonnades seeming to
be marching at times in serried rows, or supporting lofty porticos, and again ap-
pearing far above in circular arrangements most engaging to the eye.
Machinery Hall had a dismal experience of disasters and delays during the
period of preparation. In the spring before the opening, much damage was done
by snow and ice sliding from the higher parts of the roof into the valleys between
the trusses. Quantities of snow and ice broke through into the spaces below, and
even after repairs were made the roofs remained in a dangerous and leaky condi-
tion, because of the unequal expansion and contraction of the great arched trusses,
and the immense surfaces of glass in the roofs. The progress of installation was
thus very seriously delayed.
By almost superhuman exertions the great traveling crane for handling the
heavy machinery and exhibits was placed in position, and early in the spring the
building began to be occupied. There were nearly one thousand car loads of ex-
hibits brought to the building. The boilers for generating power were placed in
a continuous line in an annex to Machinery Hall. There were fifty-two boilers
equivalent to a power capacity of somewhat more than twenty thousand horse
power. A gallery was constructed which gave visitors an opportunity of over-
looking the whole range of boilers, and which proved to be an exhibit of the great-
est interest. The engines in the power and electric plant constituted perhaps the
most extensive and interesting exhibit of the kind ever brought together in one
place. There were seventy-seven engines of all sizes and designed for various
purposes. At a later period in the Exposition season a platform was built on the
great traveling crane, fitted with seats and used to carry passengers from one end
of the great hall to the other. This proved to be a great attraction. Power re-
quired for the various buildings on the grounds was supplied by an immense Allis
engine of two-thousand horse power.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 41
AGRICULTURAL BUILDING
This noble structure was designed by McKim, Mead and White, a firm of
architects in New York. It was one of the buildings facing north on the Great
Basin of the Court of Honor, and therefore occupied a distinguished position in
that splendid group. No building at the Fair was so profusely ornamented with
sculpture as this one. It offered to the eye more distinct groups of statuary,
standing out in clear relief against the sky, than any building at the Fair. "I
have rarely seen anything," wrote Mrs. Van Rensselaer, in the New York World,
"that I thought finer than the main porch of this building, very richly treated,
yet quiet and dignified in effect, witli the low, finely modeled mass of the dome
close behind it."
The projecting porch was crowned by a sculptured pediment, behind which
rose the dome, "not unlike the dome of the Pantheon in outline." On its apex
was placed St. Gauden's beautiful statue of "Diana," which had previously orna-
mented the tower of Madison Square Garden in New York, mounted so that it
served as a weather vane.
The rotunda of the Agricultural Building was -a sort of temple to the Goddess
of Agriculture, Ceres. The interior of this rotunda was covered by the dome just
referred to. It was one hundred and twenty-nine feet high and seventy-eight feet
in diameter, in the center of which was the statue of Ceres. Its facade was a
noble one, and its extensive frontage, eight hundred feet in extent, was divided,
like that of the Manufactures Building on the opposite side of the Great Basin,
by a central pavilion, or main porch. The walls on either side ended at the cor-
ners with pavilions, all three supporting domes. The style was Corinthian, the
most sumptuous of all the classic styles, and the building as a whole was regarded
by an eminent critic as "the most permanently interesting and satisfying of any
of the great buildings at the Fair, excepting only Mr. Atwood's wonderful Art
Building, far away at the northern extremity of the grounds."
THE PERISTYLE
In planning the buildings for the Court of Honor the east end of the Grand
Basin was left to the last. It was agreed that Mr. St. Gaudens should be asked for
a design, for, unless the Court of Honor was enclosed in some way on the lake
side, the whole architectural scheme would be weakened. St. Gaudens suggested
thirteen great Corinthian columns to be placed along the eastern end surmounted
by statues, which were to typify the thirteen original states of the Union. The
space over which these columns were to be ranged was five hundred and seventy feet
in length, thus leaving the columns forty-four feet apart. This suggestion was
placed in the hands of Charles B. Atwood to develop, but Mr. Atwood felt that
more noble treatment was required at this point. Accordingly he designed an
arch for the center on which would be placed a quadriga of colossal proportions,
on either side of which should extend the columns surmounted by an appropriate
entablature, the whole arranged in a continuous open arcade from one side to the
other. Through the openings between the columns thus placed the blue waters
of the lake could be seen as part of the general composition.
This design was accepted and this structure was thenceforth known as the
4-2 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
Peristyle. Atwood was appointed Designer-in-Chief in April, 1891; and so con-
tinued until after the Fair was opened. He was also the designer of the beautiful
Art Building, noticed elsewhere. The Peristyle was ordered to be built according
to the design submitted by Atwood, and won high praise from the critics and vis-
itors. At one end, the colonnade joined the Music Hall and at the other the Ca-
sino. The arch at the center spanned a water way between the Grand Basin and
Lake Michigan, and the great quadriga above it represented a chariot drawn by
four horses abreast, together with other figures. This beautiful structure har-
monized perfectly with the other great buildings surrounding the Court of Honor.
Beyond the Peristyle the Casino Pier extended twenty-four hundred feet into
the lake, built for a landing place where the great excursion steamers could load
and discharge the vast throngs of humanity that chose this mode of travel between
the Chicago river and the Exposition grounds. On the pier a broad movable side-
walk, provided with settees, was installed. It was in the form of a loop, and
visitors thus conveyed were enabled to enjoy the lake breezes in the most com-
fortable manner.
MANUFACTURES BUILDING
There were many wonders at the World's Fair, and perhaps the great building
known as the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building was the most wonderful
structure of the "White City." In size it was far and away the largest on the
grounds.
The following description of this building is quoted from the "History of the
World's Columbian Exposition," published under the authority of the Board of
Directors. "The location of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building was
prominent, as its importance and great size would merit. It was on the lake
shore, its south front forming the north side of the Court of Honor. The west
side faced the Electricity Building and the Wooded Island, and the north front
looked toward the United States Government Building.
"This was the mammoth structure of the Exposition. It covered about thirty
acres and a half, and was therefore about twice the size of Machinery Hall. Com-
pared with notable buildings of the world, it was about six times as large as the
Coliseum at Rome (five acres and a half), which seated 80,000 spectators, had five
times the area of St. Peter's Cathedral (six acres), and nearly three times the
area of the largest Pyramid of Egypt (eleven acres). The extreme length of the
building was 1,687 feet and the extreme breadth 787 feet, so that the distance
around it was about ninety-five one hundredths of a mile. The height was 237
feet from the floor level to the peak of the highest roof. This would be equal to
a building nineteen stories high with a height of twelve feet for each story. . . .
Its galleries had an area of twelve acres and a half, so that the total floor area
was about forty-three acres. It was rectangular in outline, with projecting pavilions
at the centers of the four facades and at the four corners.
"Architecturally considered, the building consisted of a series of naves 175
feet wide and 133 feet high, surrounding a large hall or covered court 382 feet
wide and 222 feet high, supported by steel arches without intervening columns.
This hall, or court, constituted about one-third of the ground area of the building
(eleven acres and a quarter). The facades were treated in the Corinthian style
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 48
of architecture, ornamented at the centers by triumphal arches suggestive of the
Arch of Constantine at Rome, while the corners were accentuated by others that
recalled in some measure the Arch of Titus. The central pavilions, which marked
the main entrances of the building, rose to a height of 124 feet above the ground.
Their walls were decorated with sculpture and relief ornament, descriptive tablets,
and symbolic figures, and the domed ceilings were painted in fresco by noted Ameri-
can artists. The corner pavilions, 9-1 feet high, were similarly treated and were
in harmony with the center.
"Between these main points extended the long vista of arches, which made up
the facades, with broad loggias which served for cafes, promenades, etc., and as
resting places for tired visitors. The entire surface and decoration of the exterior
were of staff, which in its appearance has something of the massive character and
repose of marble, and is capable of the most elaborate treatment in reproducing the
various ornamental forms used in classic work.
"The main aisle, fifty feet wide, running north and south through the center of
the building, was known as Columbia Avenue, and a similar aisle crossing the build-
ing from east to west divided the exhibit space into four main sections. Along
these broad avenues were arranged the most notable exhibits according to their
nationalities, and through them moved the great currents of sight-seers.
"The galleries, about twenty feet above the ground floor, were constructed
throughout the entire length of the naves, along the outside walls, and against
the great steel trusses of the inner court. Frequent cross galleries connected these
along the walls, so that about half the area of the naves was covered by galleries.
In the original plans access to them was provided by thirty staircases, twelve feet
wide, at different points in the building. During the Exposition period two addi-
tional stairways, twenty-five feet wide, leading directly from the main avenues of
the great court, were supplied by the exhibitors in the American section, which
materially increased the attendance in the galleries. The estimated cost of the
building was $1,812,691. The light was provided by windows in the outside walls
and by skylights in the roof. The total amount of skylight surface was thirteen
acres and a half, or about three-sevenths of the entire ground area of the building.
The architect was George B. Post, of New York.
"The difficulty in the designs of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building
lay in its enormous length of facades. The architect became convinced, upon giv-
ing the matter careful study, that, in order to produce an effect of dignity and
grandeur, the motif of the design should be as large and simple as possible ; that
any attempt to break the horizontal lines, except at their ends and centers, would
belittle the effect ; and that the introduction of sculpture or any serious amount of
mural enrichment, except at the centers and ends of the facades, would have the
same result.
"On his demonstrating, to his own satisfaction, the accuracy of these conclu-
sions, the selection of a motif for the design followed naturally. It had been de-
cided that the work should be pure Italian Renaissance, and in carrying out the
design no attempt was made to improve the proportions of details of columns or
entablatures established by the great examples of the Renaissance; the form of
the triumphal arch for the central and corner porches, and of the repeating arches
found in the Roman aqueducts for the screen walls seemed to meet all the re-
44 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
quirements. The Temple of Jupiter Stator, in Rome, was selected as a model,
and was copied as literally as was possible."
The great building was very impressive in all respects. "The visitor," as an
observer, viewing it while it was under construction, said, "standing at the foot
of one of the great trusses, and tracing its course upwards with his eye, seems to
see it soar like a rocket into the sky, gracefully curving until it meets and joins
its mate from the opposite side, 'grappling in the central blue.' "
THE ELECTRICITY BUILDING
The design of the Electricity Building was made so that its architectural de-
tails might be shown to advantage in illuminated outlines at night, and the towers,
flagstaffs and cornice lines should gleam with electric lights. The building was
designed by Messrs. Van Brunt & Howe, of Kansas City, Missouri, and was seven
hundred and sixty-seven feet long and three hundred and fifty feet in width. It
stood east of the Mines and Mining Building. Its main entrance, facing towards
the .Administration Building, was a vast recess in the center of which was placed
a statue of Franklin, the work of the sculptor, Carl Rohl-Smith. Within, the most
prominent of the objects met by the visitor was a magnificent tower constructed in
honor of Thomas A. Edison, the inventor of the incandescent light. It was a
column eighty-six feet high, on the outside of which were placed lights in a regu-
lar design and in different colors. These colors were flashed out separately or in
combinations in a manner which in these days are seen on every street, but were
then a new device attracting the wondering gaze of multitudes of visitors. On the
top of the column was a crystal figure like an incandescent lamp six feet high, and
containing thirty thousand pieces of crystal, which when illuminated, flashed in
a myriad brilliant scintillations of light. A bust of Columbus, sixteen feet high,
was wrought in various colored lights. At the north end of the great hall was
arranged a half circle of arc lamps in colored globes hung from the trusses, which
produced an extremely beautiful effect.
There were four search lights which, though belonging to the displays of the
electricity department, were mounted on the roof of the Manufactures and Liberal
Arts Building, one of which was the most powerful that had ever been constructed
at that time. It was placed at a height of two hundred and thirty feet, and its
beam was seen at Milwaukee, eighty-five miles distant, on the night of the 15th
of July, during the season of the Fair. It was said that a person could read a
newspaper by its light at a distance of ten miles.
MINES AND MINING BUILDING
Facing the elaborate grounds surrounding and contiguous to the Administration
Building with its lofty golden dome, the Mines and Mining Building was placed
in a dignified situation, and contained exhibits of extraordinary interest appropri-
ately installed under its roofv The architect of this building was Solon S. Beman,
of Chicago, and it was erected at a cost of $265,000. Its area was seven hun-
dred by three hundred and fifty feet, and it was provided with four entrances of
imposing dimensions, the north and south entrances being fifty-six feet in height,
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 45
and thirty-two feet in width. . The interior was spanned by steel cantilever roof
trusses, leaving a clear space in the center unencumbered with supporting columns,
six hundred and thirty feet long and one hundred and fifteen feet wide.
The mineral resources of all lands were exhibited in this building, ranging
from the diamond mines of Africa to the coal fields of Illinois. The raw material
exhibited here may be considered the groundwork of all the arts, sciences and me-
chanical industries. All the precious minerals, all the economic minerals, all the
precious stones, all the coals, all the building stones and marbles, all the clay
and sands, all the salts and pigments, as well as the machinery, implements and
appliances employed in their conversion to the uses of man were here represented.
Mining machinery, apparatus, and every detail of their use, were shown. Mineral
collections of crystals, quartzes, ores, and coal, were gathered here in endless va-
riety of arrangements, under the roof of this building. Foreign nations partici-
pated largely in this department of the Exposition.
TRANSPORTATION BUILDING
The architects of the Transportation Building were Messrs. Adler & Sullivan,
of Chicago, and their strikingly original building added greatly to the interest of
the structures of the Exposition. It was situated facing east and close to the la-
goon which surrounded the Wooded Island. Along its western side was an annex
running almost the entire length of the building. Its length was nine hundred and
sixty feet by two hundred and sixty feet in width. The general design was simple,
but the details were rich and elegant. A cupola, suggesting an Oriental model,
rising to a height of one hundred and sixty-five feet, surmounted the roof. The
entrance, consisting of a series of concentric arches, was richly decorated in gold
and colors, and for this reason was called the "Golden Door." This splendid en-
trance became one of the architectural attractions of the Exposition.
This building with its annex covered a vast space, and was filled to its utmost
capacity with exhibits of surpassing interest. One of the inscriptions was a quo-
tation from Bacon, and was placed upon the left spandrel of the great doorway.
It read thus: "There be three things that make a nation great and prosperous, a
fertile soil, busy workshops, easy conveyance for men and goods from place to
place." On the right spandrel was an inscription taken from Macaulay, as fol-
lows: "Of all inventions, the alphabet and printing press alone excepted, those
inventions which abridge distance have done most for civilization."
The problem of transportation has, perhaps, been solved more completely by
Americans than by any other nation on the globe. "American development," says
the History, "owes its unparalleled rapidity to the improved methods of trans-
portation which characterized the century. Americans believe that in this field
of progress their country equals any in the world, and in the comfort and rapidity
of long-distance travel they claim superiority. James Dredge, of the London 'En-
gineering,' says further that 'Americans may fairly claim to have solved the prob-
lem of the rapid and cheap transportation of freight over long distances more suc-
cessfully than any other nation.' The city of Chicago is itself the result of a re-
markable combination of water and land routes of transportation."
46 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
EXHIBITS IX THE TRANSPORTATION BUILDING
Foreign manufacturers of railway engines and rolling stock had no motive for
sending their goods for display at the Exposition, as there is no market for them
on this side of the water. The foreign railway exhibits that were secured were
sent mainly by European railway companies rather than by manufacturing estab-
lishments, and were due to their desire to see their countries creditably represented
at the Exposition. The very full and attractive displays of foreign railway en-
gines and cars were a great attraction in the exhibits shown at the Transportation
Building, and were studied with the greatest interest in comparison with the ex-
hibits made by American railway companies. The London & North-Western Rail-
way constructed a pit lined with brick, over which stood the monster locomotive,
the Queen Empress, thus permitting visitors to go under and examine the engine
in all its parts to better advantage than would have been possible otherwise. In
contrast with this was the new locomotive "Number 909," with a full train of cars
attached, from the New York Central Railway. Included with the British exhibit
was the locomotive "Lord of the Isles," first seen at the World's Fair of 1851, in
London. This was a world's wonder at that time, having a single pair of driving
wheels eight feet in diameter, with a gauge of seven feet, and a record of forty
years' service.
Water transportation was fully represented in this department, and in addition
to the smaller craft which it was possible to place beneath the roof of the build-
ing there were models of the great sea-going vessels both of war and the mer-
chant service. Shipbuilding on the seaboard, as well as on the Great Lakes, was
illustrated by a series of elaborate models. Some portions of the marine exhibits
were found in the Fisheries and the Government Buildings. One could see in the
Transportation Building an immense display of wheeled vehicles, including bi-
cycles, then approaching the height of their popularity, not only from makers in
our own country but from all lands and all times. All known methods of travel
were represented by everything that would move on wheels or slide on runners.
Field guns were exhibited in this department, showing the mounting of the guns
and their operation.
THE HORTICULTURE BUILDING
The design of the Horticulture Building was made by W. L. B. Jenney, a well
known Chicago architect. It covered five and a quarter acres, and presented the
longest front of any of the buildings of the Exposition, with the exception of the
great Manufactures Building. Its cost was $300,000. It was nearly one thousand
feet in length, with an extreme width of two hundred and fifty feet, its roof sur-
mounted by a glass dome one hundred and fourteen feet in height by one hundred
and eighty feet in diameter. After the Exposition had closed, this dom.e was re-
moved to Springfield, Illinois, and rebuilt upon the grounds of the State Fair,
where it can be seen at the present time.
The building was well adapted for its purposes. The plants were installed in
the autumn previous to the opening, so as to be in a flourishing condition of growth
at the proper time. The long spaces in the wide extending wings were filled with
the growths of every climate, the tallest of which were placed under the central
dome. "This dome," says the History, "although kept as low as good proportions
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 47
would admit, was nevertheless, by its location on the borders of the lagoon, and
its contrast with low curtains on either side, a conspicuous feature, shining in the
sunlight like a crystal sphere." The decoration of the building was placed in charge
of Lorado Taft, of Chicago, the figures and groups adding greatly to the charm
of the structure. On either side of the grand entrance were placed groups by Mr.
Taft, one the Sleep of the Flowers and the other the Awaking. Within were ar-
ranged trees and plants in bewildering variety, ranging from the giant cacti of
Arizona, to the dwarf cedars of Japan.
Fruits were extensively displayed in the Horticulture Building, every known
variety of tropical fruit that could be obtained, as well as the productions of the
temperate zones in all lands. Thirty-seven foreign nations were represented in
these displays, and nearly every state in the Union participated. A large lawn
space, including tracts on the Wooded Island opposite to the building, was filled
with a rich display of trees and plants, arranged in the best style of the land-
scape gardener's art. Geometrical beds were laid out on the lawns near the build-
ing, showing flowers in masses of colors. On the island there was a growth of
wild trees and shrubbery, in harmony with the designs of the landscape architects
to produce an effect of cool forest depths intersected by shady paths.
LOCAL TRANSPORTATION
The great difficulty in transporting the crowds which were expected to attend
the Fair seemed to the projectors the most serious problem they had to contend
with if the Fair were to be located at Jackson Park. This location was seven
miles away from the center of the business district, and only such facilities as
those possessed by the Illinois Central Railroad were then available. When, how-
ever, the decision to locate the Fair at Jackson Park had been made, measures
were speedily taken to provide adequate transportation facilities. The Illinois
Central people at once began to prepare for the increased travel expected, and
spent a million and a half of dollars in elevating that part of the line passing
the park entrances, building viaducts, and laying additional tracks. They also
added largely to their equipment of passenger cars and engines, thus increasing
the estimated carrying capacity of the road to twenty-five thousand persons a day.
The South Side Elevated Railroad hastened the extension of its line on Sixty-
third street, the passenger capacity of which when completed would about equal
that of the Illinois Central. Added to these was the cable line on Wabash avenue
and Fifty-fifth street, with its Fair terminus at the Fifty-seventh street entrance.
There was also the lake route available with a proposed fleet of excursion steamers.
This addition to the transportation facilities was made and proved very success-
ful. The great "whaleback" steamer "Christopher Columbus," afterwards engaged
in this service, was able to carry five thousand people at a time, and could make
several trips every day. Thus the problems confronting the directors were gradu-
ally solved, and when the Fair was opened these provisions for transportation were
found fully adequate for the purpose. The supreme test was on Chicago Day,
when there were upwards of 716,000 visitors registered, though many of these
found other means of conveyance than those which have been mentioned. And
yet on that day, and on all the great days of the Fair, the various means of trans-
48 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
portation, while often taxed to their utmost capacity, met every demand made upon
them.
INTRAMURAL COMMUNICATION
Among the various means of transportation within the Exposition grounds was
the Intramural Railroad, carried on an elevated structure three and a tenth miles
long. It extended along three sides of the park with loops at the terminals. Its
equipment consisted of fifteen trains of four cars each, the motive power being
electricity, operated on the "third rail" system. The trains ran three and a half
minutes apart, stopping at eleven stations, from a loop at one end to a similar
one at the other, the round trip occupying forty-two minutes. The fare was ten
cents. The total number of passengers carried was 5,804,000, an average of slightly
over 34,000 per day for 170 days. Only one person was injured during the en-
tire period of its operation. This means of going from one part of the grounds
to another saved the visitors much time, and greatly lessened the fatigue of mov-
ing about over so large a space.
ART BUILDING
"There has been nothing like this since Athens," exclaimed St. Gaudens when
this magnificent building burst upon his view, the design of Charles B. Atwood,
of Boston. "If I were to vote for one, and only one, building to remain as a
monument of the Fair," said an observer, "I should ask for this." Its style was
pure Ionic, and, but for its dome, it would have seemed in place even among the
ancient temples of classic Greece. It was one of the most beautiful of all the
Exposition structures. Its Ionic architecture was of the most refined type, the
details being modeled after the Erechtheum, the ruins of which stand on the
Acropolis of Athens. In the Art Building we had a splendid example of a return
to an antique and classic design, after dismal wanderings in the desert of weak
imitations. Fortunately we have this building still standing in its place, worthily
sheltering the great Field Museum at Jackson Park.
This building was comparable in size with the great structures on the Court
of Honor, though standing a half mile from them ; it covered a vast space, eleven
hundred and fifty feet from one of the extremities of its wings to the other, with
a depth of five hundred feet. It was built much more substantially than most of
the buildings of the Fair, as it was to contain works of art of almost priceless
value. The main walls are of brick, while the roofs, floors and galleries are of
iron. Its exterior was covered, like nearly all of the Fair buildings, with "staff,"
which is not a durable material, and since the days of the Fair the outside walls
have required extensive repairs. In front of the building was placed a replica of
the choragic monument to Lysicrates, the original of which is still standing in
Athens.
"Architects, painters, and sculpttffdc have singled out the Art Building as one
which is the crown and jewel of the whole," said a magazine writer, describing the
scenes at the Fair. A visitor, if shut up in a landscape with the frontage of the
Art Building before him only, would become possessed with its charm and loveli-
ness. To see this miracle of harmonious form at sunset, with all its lovely length
reflected in the lagoon, was a rare and beautiful sight, bringing to mind the won-
By courtesy or the N. D. Thompson Publishing Co.
THE GOLDEX DOORWAY OF THE TRANSPORTATION BUILDING
courtesy of the N. D. Thompson Publishing Co.
THE MERCHANT TAILORS' BUILDING
THE GERMAN BUILDING
By courtesy of the N. D. Thompson Publishing Co.
THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 49
derful landscapes of Turner. Said another writer: "There is one splendid build-
ing which is like a star, and dwells apart from the giants around the Grand
Basin, and that is the Palace of Art, designed by Charles B. Atwood. White,
noble and serene, it stretches its long colonnades just north of the lagoon, to
which terraces and flights of steps lead down. By far the most purely classic of
the Exposition buildings, it yet departs from the strict Greek style by the addi-
tion of a broad, low, finely modeled dome."
A verse from a poem by H. C. Bunner gives poetical expression to the senti-
ments of many beholders.
"Say not, 'Greece is no more!'
Through the clear morn
On light wings borne
Her white-winged soul sinks on
The New World's breast.
O Happy West!
Greece flowers anew, and all
Her temples soar."
THE FISHERIES BUILDING
In a building specially constructed for the purpose covering three acres, the
exhibits of fish and fisheries were held, and proved to be among the most enter-
taining of the attractions. An aquarium of sea fish was perhaps the most remark-
able, in which were shown numerous forms of marine creatures, shell fish, and
every form of swimming fishes that it was possible to procure. The aquariums
were supplied with sea water brought in tank cars, the water being procured
from the Gulf Stream far out in the Atlantic Ocean. Experiments had been made
with evaporated sea water in order to save transportation of so great a quantity
as was required, but for some mysterious reason the restored sea water would not
answer and the fish died. It was found practicable, however, to filter the sea
water in the aquariums, and thus the same water was used with frequent changes.
The Government aquariums were in a circular building nearly one hundred
feet in diameter. A row of aquariums lined the outer walls, and there was an
inner row as well. The aquariums were well lighted while the visitors passed
along in darkened passages, thus the effect was as if one were walking on the
bottom of the sea or lake with the water held back by sheets of heavy plate glass,
through which all the forms of aquatic life could be examined at a close range of
vision. One immense aquarium, seventy-two feet long, contained specimens of
Mississippi River fish, giant catfish, sturgeon and other varieties of river fish.
Other aquariums contained fish from the great lakes and rivers of the west. In
Ogilvie's Encyclopaedic Dictionary, published in 189-1, under the word "aquarium,"
this remark is made: "The most wonderful aquarium in the world was that of
the Fisheries department of the World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in
the summer of 1893."
Illinois had on exhibition, preserved in glass jars, a collection of one hundred
and thirty-nine species of fish, gathered from all parts of the state. The darters
vol. m
50 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
and minnows alone numbered thirty-two species, ranging in length from one to
six inches. In the lagoons thousands of lake trout were turned loose, the tanks
not being able to contain the great number sent, and they no doubt soon made
their way into Lake Michigan. The process of fish hatching was shown through
all its stages, and, after hatching, millions of the tiny fish were sent out into the
lake to fare for themselves. There was also shown the apparatus used in fish-
ing, hooks, lines, rods, nets, and numerous models of fishing boats. Mam- models
of actual vessels, perfect in every detail down to the tiny tackle-blocks and dead-
eyes, were shown with every rope and sail in its proper place. These models il-
lustrated the history and development of fishing vessels from the early times down
to the present, and were veritable works of art in the completeness of their finish.
FORESTRY BUILDING AND EXHIBITS
The exhibits in the Forestry Building were of the most interesting character.
If one were to say that this was one of the most useful, beautiful and wonderful
displays on the grounds, he would not be far from the truth. "One thing that
makes the Forestry Building attractive," said a writer, "is that it contains the
only forestry exhibit, as such, that the world ever saw. All previous world's fairs
have dabbled in this subject, assigning it a corner in the agricultural department.
But never before has a great separate building been devoted to it, and never be-
fore has the collection been so exhaustive."
Only a brief notice can be given of the exhibit here. The teak wood from
Burmah was shown in carved specimens for architectural ornaments, besides square
timbers and planks for shipbuilders' use. The Japanese sent a couple of boards,
smoothed but not varnished, the grain of one like watered silk, and that of the
other apparently a series of ridges, so that when the hand was passed over its
surface one was surprised to find it level and smooth. The collection of specimens
sent from the Argentine Republic astonished every one by its variety and rich-
ness. Brazil, Paraguay, British Guiana, and other Southern American countries
sent a wealth of specimens. Those from Mexico were built into a pavilion of
striking design. Canada's exhibit, though an extensive one, conveyed but an im-
perfect idea of its immense forest resources.
The exhibits of the United States government in this department were scien-
tific and complete. The several states of the Union made exhibits of the various
woods produced within their various domains. California, Washington and Oregon
excelled all in size of timber; the Western states, especially Michigan, were rep-
resented by a vast number of specimens. The forestry exhibits of New York state
were complete and well prepared, consisting of one hundred species. North Caro-
lina, Louisiana, West Virginia and Kentucky sent representative specimens of
their forest resources.
THE ILLINOIS BUILDING
The State of Illinois made an appropriation of $800,000 for its representation
at the Exposition. Of this amount $230,000 was expended on the building. It
was the largest of any of the state buildings, built in the form of a Greek cross,
the principal axis of which was four hundred and fifty feet long and one hundred
and sixtv feet wide. It was surmounted bv a dome two hundred and thirtv-five
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 51
feet high and seventy-five feet in diameter. Within the building a large amount
of space was assigned for exhibits, with ample reservations for reception rooms
and offices. One portion of the building, known as Memorial Hall, contained a
collection of war relics from the state capitol, battle flags of Illinois regiments,
mementos of Lincoln, Grant, Logan and others. In the rotunda was installed an
artificial lake with a fountain and cascades, spanned by a rustic bridge, from which
might be viewed great numbers of fish swimming in its depths. The margin of
the lake was lined with aquatic plants and its banks with shrubs and flowers. An
educational exhibit was regarded as the culminating triumph of all the exhibits in-
this building; there was a model district school room fully furnished and equipped,
and the schools for defective children were also represented. The University of
Illinois illustrated all departments of its work.
THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING
The Government Building, as well as the Illinois Building, was much criti-
cised, especially in regard to the domes of the two buildings. It was said that
the domes, and indeed the general designs of these buildings, did not reach the
artistic standard of excellence achieved in the designs of the other great build-
ings of the Exposition. It may be remarked, however, that the general appearance
of the buildings, as viewed from any point at some distance, was greatly indebted
to these domes for a noble impression. Neither of the buildings referred to was
near enough to the group surrounding the Court of Honor to come into competition
with the great dome of the Administration Building. The architects in both cases
doubtless had in mind the appearance of the buildings in mass as well as individu-
ally, and it seemed to many observers that such an effect was accomplished to an
eminent degree.
The Government Building was a well built structure, measuring three hun-
dred and fifty by four hundred and fifteen feet for its ground area, and cost four
hundred thousand dollars. The imposing central dome was one hundred and fifty
feet in height, and one hundred and twenty in diameter. Included in its exhibits
were those of the Departments of War, State, Postoffice, Treasury, Justice, Ag-
riculture, Interior, and the Smithsonian Institute. The Mint showed every coin
made by the United States, and the Bureau of Engraving exhibited specimens of
the paper money of the national government. There was also an exhibit of heavy
guns and explosives. In the center of the rotunda was placed a large Sequoia
tree, a section thirty feet long here standing upright, its diameter at the base being
about the same.
ENGLAND'S BUILDING AND EXHIBITS
The Victoria House was so named at the request of the Queen herself. Its
design was that of the best type of English half-timber houses of the Tudor and
Elizabethan period. It occupied a beautiful site near the shore of the lake. The
interior finishing and furniture were reproductions from many well known houses
in England. In front of the building was a replica in terra cotta of the large
group "America," from the Albert Memorial in London. This group was presented
to the City of Chicago by Henry Doulton, Esq., of the great English pottery firm
of that name.
52 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
The Queen loaned a painting to the Exposition, owned by herself, entitled, "The
Roll Call," the work of Miss Elizabeth Thompson when she was only twenty-two
years of age. The opportunity of seeing this renowned painting was greatly ap-
preciated by visitors to the Fair. This painting, it will be remembered, represents
the muster of a regiment after a battle in the Crimean war, the men bravely ap-
pearing in line, though showing the effects of the sanguinary conflict in which they
had been engaged. Yet the picture was without exaggeration in the details, and
full of force and interest for those who admire brave deeds.
The British shipbuilders were well represented by a great variety of models
of war and merchant vessels, showing the development of marine architecture from
early times. All the great Transatlantic and Oriental steamship lines sent models
of their many splendid ships, the models in many cases costing thousands of dol-
lars each. The greatest and most valuable of all the numerous models shown at
the Exposition was that of the ill-fated "Victoria" which is referred to elsewhere.
A huge locomotive, known as the "Queen Empress," and a number of other
engines, were seen at the Transportation Building. The Queen Empress was
without the familiar cowcatcher to be seen on engines used in the United States,
neither was it provided with any shelter for the engineer. It is said that Eng-
lish engineers scorn such a protection, and declare that it would hamper them in
their movements in running the engine. In bad weather they simply put on an
oil-skin coat as does the sailor, and thus face the storm in perfect comfort.
At this exhibit was seen the historical "Rocket" of Stephenson in a full sized
model, as well as other ancient forms of locomotive engines. The road-bed equip-
ments of the early railroads in England were shown, exhibiting all stages of de-
velopment from wooden and strap-iron rails to later forms. Before sleepers and
ties were used the methods of fixing the tramway to the surface, with the rails
resting upon stone blocks and longitudinal timbers, were illustrated.
THE FRENCH BUILDING AND EXHIBITS
The building erected by the French nation occupied a prominent site near the
east end of the Art Palace. The entire structure was of elaborate design and ex-
quisite beauty. A semi-circular colonnade extended between two pavilions, thus
forming a court in which was a bronze fountain. In the vestibules and balconies
were replicas of famous statuary, and many beautiful paintings by eminent artists.
Historical interest centered about the collection of mementos and relics of Wash-
ington and Franklin treasured by the French people, and the sword of Lafayette
presented to him by the American Congress. The French government had ap-
propriated four million francs for the purposes of the Exposition, and added to
this were the immense expenditures of the French exhibitors in their various dis-
plays. Not less than ten millions of dollars' worth of goods, it is said, was shown
in the French sections of the various departments of the Exposition, and in this
is not included the immense values of the paintings loaned by the French to the
great collection in the Art Building.
For dainty refinement of design and exquisite finish the French exhibit of fur-
niture distanced all competitors, cabinets of boxwood and onyx, in ormolu and
lacquer, gilded wood chairs and sofas upholstered in silks and brocades.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 53
GERMANY'S BUILDING AND EXHIBITS
The official building of Germany at the Exposition was one of the largest and
most costly of the foreign buildings. The government of Germany appropriated
$900,000 for its building and exhibits. The German Building alone cost $250,-
000, and it was given to the City of Chicago after the Fair. It is still standing
where it was built. Its leading architectural features are partial reproductions of
several historical buildings in Germany. It is surmounted by a lofty tower one
hundred and eighty feet in height, and its front, sides and interior are decorated
with characteristic designs. The exposed timber work of the exterior walls on
some portions of the building give it a most picturesque appearance. A tower at
the southwest angle contained in its belfry a chime of three bells, four, four-and-a-
half, and five feet high, respectively. These bells had been made for a memorial
church in Berlin, erected by Emperor William in honor of his grandmother, the
Empress Augusta, and were loaned to the Exposition prior to their use in that
church, thus showing the Emperor's great interest in the success of the enter-
prise. Within the building were shown many documents of great historical in-
terest, an extensive library of books, while the walls were frescoed with many
designs and inscriptions. A visit to this building was a glimpse of the German's
Fatherland.
The statue of an allegorical figure entitled "Germania" was placed in the open
air in the south part of the grounds. The statue was of copper and stood twenty-
five feet high on a pedestal which raised it to a height of fifty feet above the sur-
face, the whole placed on a platform of elaborate design. Its first appearance iu
public was at the Exposition, as it was intended to be placed on the new building
for the Reichstag in Berlin after the Exposition had closed. This statue was ex-
hibited here through the special permission of the German Emperor.
SPAIN'S BUILDING AND EXHIBITS
The Spanish Building was an impressive structure, modeled after a famous
building in Valencia, Spain. The building was formally opened by the Princess
Eulalia, a member of the royal family of Spain, while a Spanish military band of
eighty musicians gave a concert on the adjoining lawn. Within, the building was
filled with twenty-four spiral columns supporting a groined arch ceiling, and the
walls were covered with paintings and works of art. Here, as well as at the Con-
vent of La Rabida, were interesting relics of Columbus loaned by the Duke of Ver-
agua, who was also present at the Fair; and there were many articles sent by
the women of Spain. This building divided the honors with La Rabida. It cost
the Spanish government forty-five thousand dollars to construct. The total cost
of the Peninsular exhibits to the government of Spain amounted to a quarter of a
million of dollars; and the value of the exhibits, including the many priceless relics
and original documents, was simply incalculable.
The magic that lies in the very name of Spain has often appealed to the im-
agination of poets and romancers. A verse from a poem printed in the "Century
Magazine" for May, 1893, by Charles W. Coleman, expresses the sentiment of the
dreamer whose visions wander towards that land of romance and chivalry.
51 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
"Be never the land so far, so far,
Be never so broad the main;
There's a ship on the sea that belongs to me,
And over the sea lies Spain."
The generous treatment received by the American people from the Spanish
authorities and the Spanish people at the time of the World's Fair causes one to
feel a poignant regret that in later years the two nations should have been en-
gaged in a bloody war with each other. The courtesies shown to our people by
the Spaniards, the consideration given to our many and urgent requests, the lib-
eral expenditures they made that our Exposition might be a success, showed a
friendliness towards us, and a devotion on their part to high ideals of international
relations, which seemed to render it impossible that this flow of humane sentiments
and actions could be rudely interrupted by letting loose the dogs of war.
Had an International Tribunal, with the prior consent of all nations, been able
to take jurisdiction when the war clouds began to gather, what losses of life might
have been prevented, what destruction of ships avoided. The Spanish people,
whose esteem we wished to possess, might never have been obliged to suffer the
deep wounds to their national pride inflicted upon them by us in the unhappy war
of 1898. But would Cuba have been free?
JAPAN'S BUILDING AND EXHIBITS
In the period of preparation for the Exposition the Mikado of Japan, learning
of the plans for a World's Fair in the United States, asked permission to present
to Chicago, for use during the Exposition season, and to be retained permanently,
a building which should be a partial reproduction of one of the most celebrated
historic buildings of Japan, the Ho-o-den Palace. A place was found for this on
the Wooded Island, where the surroundings were in harmony with the structure.
The island was connected with the mainland by bridges of Japanese design, and
the buildings and bridges have since become permanent and attractive features of
Jackson Park.
Early in 1892, a company of Japanese artisans made their appearance in Chi-
cago, bringing with them their own tools and implements, and the materials for
the construction of the proposed building. This band of Japanese workmen were
watched with great interest by persons admitted to the grounds in the early period
while the building was going on. They were very skilful in the use of their im-
plements. Their lacquered and polished woods were remarkable for the power
of withstanding climatic effects. "Little Japan," said an editorial writer, "con-
sidering its distance from Western civilization, must be credited not only with
making a magnificent exhibit at the World's Fair, but with a display of remark-
able enterprise and public spirit. It was the first of all the nations to complete
its buildings." In speaking of the thorough preparations made by the Japanese
for all their exhibitions the editor further says: "There is not another nation
represented at the Fair which has come here as thoroughly equipped as the Jap-
anese. The explanatory works they have brought form a large and valuable
encyclopaedia of information, and testify eloquently to the enterprise and public
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 55
spirit of this little people of the Orient, who have invaded a World's Fair in com-
petition with the older Western nations and carried off extraordinary honors."
In the light of subsequent history this language in reference to "little Japan,"
seems odd enough, though it fairly indicated the usual state of mind then exist-
ing regarding that wonderful nation of people. When we stop and consider that
in the years intervening Japan has been engaged in two great wars, both of them
with nations supposed to be far superior to her in resources, and has come off
victorious in both, the estimates then held seem totally inadequate, and lacking in
appreciation of her real power and fast rising eminence in Western arts and cul-
ture.
ORIENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS
The Sultan of Turkey sent sixty Arabian horses, or "steeds" as story writers
prefer to call them, accompanied by a troop of Bedouin Arabs in their native dress
to care for them. The exportation of full-blooded Arabian horses is forbidden by
law in Turkey, but in this case the horses being intended for exhibition only, the
Sultan withdrew the restriction placed upon them, and by special decree per-
mitted these horses to be exported. Dromedaries and camels also formed a part
of this exhibit. The Ottoman government also provided for a small but beauti-
ful building on the grounds of the Exposition, the interior of which was finished
with panels of inlaid wood, and richly decorated in "barbaric pearl and gold,"
with many texts on the walls taken from the Koran. In this building were dis-
played many priceless rugs, rich fabrics and furniture.
Siam sent to the Exposition a pair of elephant tusks over nine feet in length,
and a plank of teak wood three inches thick and nearly six feet in width. From
India came a six-foot model of the Taj Mahal, the most beautiful building in the
world, and a variety of fine inlaid work. A separate building was filled with ob-
jects from India in handmade brass work, carpets and rugs, Hindoo shrines and
images of Buddha, and the work of Indian armorers, targets, battle-axes, and
swords. There were in this exhibit tusks of ivory carved in intricate lace pat-
terns, within which were minute figures carved with infinite patience and perfec-
tion. The Chinese section in the Manufactures Building was a marvelous collec-
tion of curious articles, shrines, idols, porcelain ware, and ivory carvings.
CHAPTER XLIV
THE EXPOSITION IN FULL SPLENDOR
THE STATE AND FOREION BUILDINGS CONVENT OF LA I: Mill) \ THE VATICAN'S WARM
INTEREST IN THE FAIR RARE EXHIBITS SHOWN IN THE CONVENT SPECIAL GUARD
BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS PRICELESS RARITIES BROUGHT FROM SPAIN AND HE-
TURNED THERETO IN UNITED STATES WAR VESSEL THE ELECTRIC FOUNTAIN THE
MACMONNIES' FOUNTAIN TREASURES OF ART EXHIBITED LARGE CONTRIBUTIONS
BY PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS AMERICAN ARTISTS WELL REPRESENTED ENGLAND'S
CONTRIBUTIONS WONDERFUL EXAMPLES OF FRENCH ART SPANISH AND ITALIAN
EXHIBITS AUSTRIA, THE NETHERLANDS AND RUSSIA ADD IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS
JAPANESE ART THE BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS THE WOMAN'S BUILDING THE
CHILDREN'S BUILDING ACCOUNT OF THE "COLD STORAGE FIRE" THE WORLD'S
CONGRESSES THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGION MR. HIGINBOTHAM's COMMENTS
CARDINAL GIBBONS* OPINION OF THE FAIR THE SUNDAY CLOSING QUESTION
COURSE ADOPTED BY THE DIRECTORY.
STATE AND FOREIGN BUILDINGS
OME account of the numerous state and foreign buildings will be expected
in this place. There were thirty-eight buildings constructed by as many
states, and eighteen by foreign nations. The locations of these build-
ings were in the north end of the grounds near the Art Buliding.
The building of the State of Illinois, some description of which is
elsewhere given, was by far the largest and most costly, as it was appropriate it
should have been. Most of the buildings were designed as resting and meeting places
for the people who attended the Exposition from the states which had constructed
them with accommodations also for visitors from other sections, who were welcomed
at all times in the most cordial manner. In these buildings were found full details
of the production and advancement in the arts of the states represented, and in
some cases exhibits were made which were in addition to the regular exhibits in
the larger buildings.
California's building was next to that of Illinois in size, and was built on the
model of an old mission house, with a roof garden decorated witli palms. New
York State's building was a beautiful example of the Italian villa style of archi-
tecture, three stories high and richly furnished. Pennsylvania's building was colo-
nial in design, and in part was a reproduction of Independence Hal] in Philadel-
phia, in which was placed the old Liberty bell. Massachusetts furnished a replica
of the John Hancock house in Boston, surmounted by a gilded codfish as a weather
vane, after the manner of the State House on Beacon Hill. Florida's building
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CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 57
was a reproduction on a smaller scale than the original, of old Fort Marion at
St. Augustine, its walls covered with plaster and coquina shells. Iowa's building
was an extension of a structure previously standing in the park, where it had been
used as a shelter. After the Exposition it was restored to its original form and
use. Maryland's building was a fac-simile of the capitol at Annapolis. Virginia's
building was a reproduction of Washington's old home at Mt. Vernon. The build-
ing for the State of Washington was constructed largely of immense logs, some
of them four feet in diameter, brought from that state, and at the front was planted
the giant flagstaff, two hundred and fifteen feet in height, referred to elsewhere.
Beautiful structures were built by the following states, embodying many in-
teresting features in their designs and surroundings: Arkansas, Colorado, Con-
necticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana. Maine,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jer-
sey, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont,
West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
THE FOREIGN BUILDINGS
Some of the buildings erected by foreign nations have been noticed elsewhere
in this account of the Exposition. Referring to them more at length in this place
the first one to be noticed is that of Brazil. This building was a strikingly ornate
structure, built at a cost of ninety thousand dollars. The Government of Brazil
made an appropriation of $650,000 for the use of its Commission, and in addition
Brazilian exhibitors themselves made contributions estimated at $350,000. This
building won a large share of the admiration bestowed by the visitors on the for-
eign buildings. Naturally coffee was the chief exhibit of the Brazilians, of which
they had some two thousand different specimens on view.
The pavilion erected by Ceylon was built of woods brought from that far dis-
tant island. A party of fifty-three natives of Ceylon came to the Exposition, with
three hundred tons of materials, and attended to the work of construction them-
selves, just as the Japanese did with their building. Wonderful carvings were
shown on the exterior, and the interior was finished in satinwood, teak and ebony
woods. India's beautiful pavilion, built after Oriental models, and filled with rare
And costly articles, was a conspicuous object among the foreign structures.
Among the foreign buildings were those of Canada, the interior of which was
finished in a great variety of native woods ; of Colombia, with an exhibit of re-
markable interest to ethnologists; of Costa Rica, with bird specimens native to
Central America; of Guatemala, with an important coffee exhibit; of New South
Wales, with a characteristic exhibit of Australian products ; of Norway, containing
exhibits of fish and fisheries ; of Sweden, with exhibits of Swedish steel and iron,
and fine specimens of artistic jewelry, silver ware and tapestries; and of Venezue-
la, with many varieties of her products on exhibition.
THE CONVENT OF LA RABIDA
"Along the Palos shore where rose the head
Of rocky Rabida against the sky,
Columbus, with his little son, passed by
To beg at convent door for rest and bread.
58 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
His eager feet from court to court had sped,
From churchly scorn and Learning's blinded eye,
To find at last a hope that would not die,
Within the sacred walls where life was fed.
And here in that wide land he greatly found,
Above the murmur of the inland sea,
La Rabida still stands on gracious ground,
Outreaching arms of pity to the plea
Of childhood ill and mother love profound,
And breathing hope in all her breezes free."
Sonnet, by Horace Spencer Fiske.
The reproduction of the ancient Convent of La Rabida at the Exposition was
suggested as the most appropriate shelter for the relics of Columbus which it was
proposed to gather together for the occasion. The structure was a replica of the
Convent of La Rabida at Palos, Spain, the port from which Columbus sailed on
his world-renowned voyage of discovery. No building in the world was so closely
identified with the discovery of America as the convent, or as it is sometimes
called, the Monastery of La Rabida. It was at its door that Columbus, disap-
pointed and disheartened, asked for food and shelter for himself and his child,
and it was here that he found an asylum until he secured the royal authority which
he sought to obtain for his voyage. In this convent Columbus lived while making
preparations for his voyage, and it was here that he again found shelter when he
had returned with the news of his great discovery.
The suggestion of constructing such a replica met with world-wide acceptance.
Pope Leo XIII took a deep interest in the proposal, and considered it a most ap-
propriate plan to use a facsimile of that venerable building as a shelter for the
Columbus relics, and made it known that he would contribute some objects of art
and of historical interest from the treasures of the Vatican. The Papal Secretary
of State, Cardinal Rampolla, gave the visiting Commissioner gratifying assent to
his requests, except as to certain originals which could only be furnished in fac-
similes. The Cardinal said that the question of loaning the records of the Vati-
can had been considered by the College of Cardinals, and he was authorized to say
that every printed book or map or other article desired would be sent to Chicago,
but that "they had decided that it was not proper for them to remove from the
Vatican any original papers belonging to the records of the Church. He said
the question had received very serious consideration ; that the Holy Father and
the officers of the Church were anxious to do everything in their power to promote
the success of the Exposition, but they did not think themselves justified in taking
the risk that would attend the removal of original papers from the files. They had,
however, made arrangements to furnish facsimiles of any documents that might
be desired." The conditions were accepted, and the magnificent exhibit of the
Vatican at La Rabida was the result. The success of the negotiations carried on
to obtain these exhibits is to be attributed to the industry of the Exposition Com-
missioner, Mr. William E. Curtis.
The building, which still stands in Jackson Park on the spot where it was
built, is now used for a children's sanitarium. It cost twenty-four thousand dol-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 59
lars to construct, and, during the period that the relics were sheltered there, it
was constantly guarded by United States soldiers detailed for the purpose. Among
the most valuable documents were those sent by the Duke of Veragua of Spain, a
lineal descendant of Columbus. These treasures were brought from Europe in a
United States man-of-war, and were returned in the same manner. Many of the
facsimilies, however, were left in this country as gifts to the Field Columbian Mu-
seum.
There were shown in the Convent a book of Marco Polo's Travels and a brevi-
ary which Columbus carried with him on his first voyage; many maps, charts, old
arms and armor, and a crystal locket in which was enclosed a portion of the ashes
of Columbus. "Historically the Monastery of La Rabida might be considered the
shrine, the heart, of the Exposition," says the History. Standing among the many
majestic monuments to Columbus in Jackson Park, every visitor recognized the
fitness of this modest edifice, "a model of the simple little structure that sheltered
Columbus when he was homeless and friendless." From one of the windows of the
Convent might have been seen the caravels floating in the adjoining lagoon.
THE ELECTRIC FOUNTAINS
Two great electric fountains were built \n the Grand Basin, one on either side
of the MacMonnies' Fountain. The caissons to surround and protect the apparatus
for their operation were sunk nine feet below the level of the lake, the sides made
water tight. Each of the fountains was a combination of nineteen separate foun-
tains, with a series of color screens, so that an immense variety of color effects
could be produced by the operators. The operating of the fountains was directed
by a manager in one of the towers of Machinery Hall, and from this point signals
were sent to the operators stationed in the caissons. The basins of the fountains
were each sixty feet in diameter, and the streams were directed in such a manner
that fanciful shapes were produced, such as the popular "wheat sheaf," and many
other striking effects.
The night displays of these fountains were an endless source of wonder to the
visitors, the changes of colors producing effects as mysterious as they were beau-
tiful. A writer of the day described the scene as follows: "A torrent of flashing
silver changes to mellow amber, resolves to the pale green of an ideal fairy's moon-
light, takes on a cerulean hue, passes to an opaline, iridescent and exquisitely beau-
tiful, merges into a Vesuvian cataract of fiery lava, and returns to a cascade of
molten silver."
THE MACMONNIES' FOUNTAIN
The form of the MacMonnies' fountain was that of a decorated barge, in the
center of which was the figure of "Columbia" seated, and the rowers eight sym-
bolic figures in standing positions, representing the arts and sciences. In the bow
was an' allegorical figure of Fame with trumpet in hand, and at the helm was
Father Time directing its course. Rising out of the water near at hand were the
horses of Neptune, himself in command, and attended by tritons, mermaids and
dolphins. This fountain was regarded as a masterpiece, and held a conspicuous
place in the Grand Basin directly in front of the Administration Building.
60 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
TREASURES OF ART
The Art Palace contained over ten thousand distinct exhibits, of which half
were oil paintings, and the other pastels, water colors, engravings and etchings,
drawings and statuary. "The collection," says the History, "was the most im-
portant, the most catholic, and the most complete exhibition of all the schools
that has been made in modern times, not excepting the Paris Exhibition of 1889,
in which the Germans had no part. Such a collection of the best works of the
American painters, of artists whose studios are in Paris, and of those residing in
London or Rome or the German homes of art, as well as of those who live and
work at home, was never before assembled. The whole left an impression of the
artistic activity of the American nation and of the correct feeling and tendency
of the art and the technical proficiency of American artists that raised us above
some countries where the art of painting is an old and proud tradition; though of
the native school, the genuine American art, there was yet no sign.
"The collection was generally permeated with French influence, except the
works of artists trained in Munich or Dusseldorf. Most distinctively American
were the landscapes, and of these the best were often the ones that showed the
least French impress. The working of English tradition was seen in the artists
of home training who affected romantic, sentimental, or humorous subjects. There
were in the American section over eleven hundred oil paintings, most of which had
before been exhibited in Europe or America. The range of subjects was very
wide, covering everything, ideal, allegorical, sacred, rarely historical, and pas-
toral themes, portraiture, landscape, seascape, still life, domestic and society genre,
realistic compositions of popular life, and humorous extravaganza or mystic fantasy."
AMERICAN ART AND COLLECTIONS
In the American section there were one hundred and forty-eight pieces of stat-
uary. "Those American sculptors whose style was formed by classical studies,
or under the influence of European schools," says the History, "made a very good
showing beside their competitors of other countries. Those who have drawn their
chief inspiration from nature and life on this continent furnished some of the
strongest and most original work that was seen at the Exposition." Bush-Brown,
Dollin, Tilden, Preston Powers, and others, in their work, represented scenes from
the life of the plains and mountains in many striking compositions. Daniel C.
French, the sculptor who designed the great statue of the Republic which stood at
the eastern end of the lagoon in the Court of Honor, also had in the collection his
well known work, "The Angel of Death," now a part of the collection of the Art
Institute.
The American artists here found a great opportunity to show that their work
could stand comparision with that of other nations. Thus the work of American
artists, retrospective as well as contemporary, was very full and complete, and in
addition famous collections of foreign art, possessed by American collectors, were
shown in special loan exhibitions, the selections showing a high order of discrim-
ination.
An exhibit of the works of the early American painters was loaned from private
collections, which contained many good examples of Gilbert Stuart, Benjamin West,
By courtesy of the N. D. Thompson Publishing Co.
THE FISHERIES BUILDING
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 61
Copley, Iniiess, Peale, Allston and the other pioneers of art on this continent.
Other American painters represented were Winslow Homer, Whistler, McEwen,
Church, Abbey, Shirlaw, Sargent, Eastman Johnson, Frederick Remington, Ken-
yon Cox, and in sculpture Edward Kemeys and our own Lorado Taft.
"Another loan collection of a hundred works from American private galleries
contained a congeries of masterpieces of the modern French schools such as could
with difficulty be matched even in Paris, comprising some of the most famous
works of Millet, Corot, Troyon, Diaz, Rousseau, Daubigny, Fromentin, Delacroix,
Decamp, Meissonier, De Neuville, Mauve, Ingres, Gerome, Fortuny, Degas, Manet,
Cazin, and many others. There were good examples also of the English masters,
Constable, Swan, Morland and Watts.
ENGLAND'S CONTRIBUTIONS
"The English painters, who are scarcely more familiar to Americans than those
of Austria or Russia, were determined to make a fuller and more creditable ex-
hibit than they had at Philadelphia, and they succeeded so well in their purpose
that none of the other art galleries was so thronged with admiring gazers, whose
delight was amply justified; for Sir Frederick Leighton and his fellow-commis-
sioners had made a most careful selection from the most prominent works of re-
cent years, forming an exhibit equal in general excellence to that of any other
country. Besides the best works of forty-eight of the leading members of the
Royal Academy, living and deceased, there were the choicest products of the Hi-
bernian and Scottish academies and noted paintings of outside artists character-
istic of each new school and tendency." Some of the British painters represented
were L. Alma Tadema, Sir John Millais, Hubert Herkomer, G. F. Watts, Walter
Crane and many others.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE
From France came five hundred paintings in oil, one hundred in water colors,
and one hundred and fifty pieces of sculpture. The paintings were thoroughly
representative of the different methods and manners of the French school. Be-
sides those French painters mentioned above there were examples of the work of
Jules Breton, Raffaelli, Flameng, Dupre, Veyrassat, Bougereau, Marais, and Delort.
The French collection of sculptures included two hundred and forty-one pieces.
"While in refinement and technical perfection the French work excelled all the
other sculpture," wrote a critic, "in freshness of ideas and vigor of treatment the
sculptors of the New World bdre off the palm." The "Rhinoceros Attacked by
Tigers," by Cain, the "Conqueror," by Sanson, the "Diana," by Lombard, to men-
tion but a few at random, were noteworthy specimens of high excellence. M.
Bartholdi had a group of colossal size representing the meeting of Washington
and Lafayette. "There were few portrait busts in the French collection, in con-
trast with the American and English sections, where these abounded."
The collection sent by the Bureau des Monuments Historiques consisted of
replicas in plaster of sculptures which appear on historic French buildings. There
were more than one hundred and fifty of these, some of them of immense size, among
them a portion of the facade of Amiens Cathedral, a doorway from Notre Dame
62 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
in Paris, and examples from Rheims, Rouen, Chartres, and Limoges, besides many
reproductions from the early sculptors. All the architectural casts were presented
to the city of Chicago, and it is interesting to mention that these remarkable archi-
tectural replicas may now be seen in Blackstone Hall at the Art Institute. In
the publication of the Institute for 1910, containing a historical account of the
institution and a description of its contents, occurs this reference to the collection:
"These casts, of cathedral portals and other architectural sculpture from the elev-
enth to the nineteenth century, were sent to the Columbian Exposition by the
French Government, and thence passed into the' possession of -the Art Institute.
The collection was formed under the direction of the French National Committee
on Historic Monuments, from the Trocadero, the Louvre, and the Museum of Deco-
rative Arts in Paris. Some of the casts are thirty-five feet long and more than
thirty feet high."
One of the noteworthy exhibits made by the French was the collections of casts
which were reproductions of the collections kept in the Trocadero Palace at Paris
illustrating the history of French Sculpture. These, with the architectural casts
previously spoken of, were presented to the Exposition by the French Government,
and may now be seen at the Art Institute.
SPANISH AND ITALIAN EXHIBITS
"The paintings in the Spanish exhibit, though the principal masters of Spain
were absent, were all of fair merit and remarkably even in quality. The Spanish
paintings were characteristized by bright coloring and sunshine. Scenes in Colum-
bus' voyage of discovery and like historical subjects were treated in many of
them, and there were scenes of bull fighting, dancing, and pictures of anecdote
and incident and still life, usually handled adroitly with technical skill. A couple
of military pictures, full of action, were cleverly painted in an impressionist man-
ner."
"Italy sent a collecton of some two hundred oil colors that were fairly illustra-
tive of contemporary Italian art, at least the light and pleasing phase of it, which
seemed redundant, consisting so largely of young female figures in gay costumes,
very well drawn and excellent in harmony and depth of coloring. There were
sea pieces also correct and pleasing, Venetian scenes in the open air with charm-
ing female figures, and some pieces of domestic genre not lacking invention and
diversity."
THE GERMAN CONTRIBUTIONS
"The Germans made a special efforV, to form a collection of their best works on
this occasion. Their artists were as eager to exhibit their work as those of any
other nation, and, besides their contributions, the National Gallery of Berlin and
the Bavarian Government loaned many choice paintings and sculptures. The gal-
leries of Dusseldorf, Dresden, Weimar, and Carlsruhe also loaned some of their
finest examples of the recent schools of German Art. A bronze statue of William I
was loaned by the Royal Academy of Berlin. The catalogue of the German sec-
tion enumerated five hundred and four paintings, one hundred and eighteen pieces
of sculpture, and fifty engravings and etchings. Max Koncr's portrait of the
present Emperor was remarkable for the strong and original treatment of flesh
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 63
tints and textures. The patriotic loyalty of the Germans WKS manifested in por-
traits of the three emperors in every uniform, attitude, and scene, by various ar-
ists. Professor Saltzmann had an imposing canvas representing the Emperor
whaling in the North Sea. Professor Werner Schuch's picture of him reviewing
troops had high merit as a military painting. A monster canvas ' by Professor
Keller pictured the apotheosis of Kaiser Wilhelm I as the founder of the German
Empire."
"Austria sent a good selection, consisting of about a hundred paintings, ad-
mirable in technique and allied to the German schools, in which the proportion of
serious and impressive religious painting was especially noticeable." The most
striking work in this section was Makart's Five Senses, a series of allegorical
figures.
THE NETHERLANDS AND RUSSIA
The art contributions from the Netherlands included some two hundred oil
paintings, and more than a hundred water colors. Canals and sea views with wide
stretching levels, were appropriately the leading subjects in this section; while
old Dutch scenes and groups preserved the traditions of the early painters. Among
the Dutch painters Josef Israels held the leading place, the painters of the Dutch
school being very successful with quiet and homely subjects.
The Imperial Academy of Fine Arts at St. Petersburg sent a magnificent rep-
sentation of the Russian school, consisting of more than a hundred paintings. The
animated figures and rich coloring of the Russian masters produced a strong im-
pression upon the visitors at the Exposition Art Galleries. The famous paintings
of Verestchagin were shown in this section. "One of the most perfect of modern
paintings," wrote a critic, "is Repine's 'Cossacks' Answer,' in which the derisive
scorn with which the warriors of the steppes received the summons of the king of
Poland to pay homage and tribute, was rendered with intensely dramatic interest."
THE ART OF JAPAN
"The art of Japan had never before been represented in an international ex-
hibition," says the History. "Recognizing the radical difference between the meth-
ods, conceptions, and materials of Japanese art and those of the western world,
the Art Department did not bind the exhibitors to the formal classification estab-
lished for other nations, but invited such a thorough and characteristic national
exhibit as would be presented in Japan itself. The Japanese exhibit, consisting
mainly of a collection of paintings and sculptures of the highest artistic merit, ex-
cited the surprise even of those who had visited the island empire and were familiar
with Japanese art, for most of these priceless treasures had been guarded in the
private apartments of the Mikado's palace."
The fine art collections in this department contained some four hundred pieces,
including sculptures in wood, plaster, and bronze and other metals, carvings in
wood and ivory, paintings, prints, cloisonne enamels, pottery and porcelains, lac-
quers, metal work, and architectural models. A teakwood figure of a Japanese
philosopher pointing to a skull carved in ivory was a thoroughly characteristic
specimen in the collection. Hideous forms, dragons, monsters, with armed men in
attitudes of defense or attack, were favorite forms of allegorical compositions.
64 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
"The Japanese display of paintings was large, and was notable as proving that,
while many brilliant Japanese artists have been trained in the tendency to Western
methods and ideas, there are others, perhaps more vigorous and important, that
under the influence and teaching of the Japanese Academy of Fine Arts adhere
faithfully to the traditional forms and methods. In the collection exhibited, only
three paintings in all were executed in the European style."
Among numerous animal pieces some were masterpieces judged by the purest
canons of art. There was a great variety of landscapes, and the tapestries and
textile pictures were as remarkable and almost as expressive as the paintings. A
huge tapestry containing hundreds of figures, woven chiefly by hand with very little
aid from a loom, was twenty-two by thirteen feet in size, and was the result of
the labors of several sets of weavers working constantly day and night for two
years. In cloisonne enameled ware the most striking example was a pair of vases
nearly nine feet high remarkable for their beautiful finish and execution. The
collection of lacquered work contained some masterly specimens in the form of
boxes and cabinets, finished with exquisite delicacy.
The foreign artists represented in the Art Galleries at the Exposition had a
powerful incentive to send their best works to America, aside from their disposi-
tion to do everything possible to enhance the credit of their respective countries
in art production. .They had seen the United States become one of the greatest
markets in the world for art works, and had noted the steady stream of the art
productions of the highest excellence coming to this country. Every foreign artist,
therefore, appreciated the value of the reputation he might gain by the exhibition
of the best examples of his work.
LADY MANAGERS
A Board of Lady Managers had been provided for in the Act of Congress au-
thorizing the Exposition. This Board was to be of such number and with such
duties as should be prescribed by the Commission. The board was created with
the same number of members and from the same states and territories as those
of the Commission. Mrs. Bertha M. Honore Palmer of Chicago was made Presi-
dent of the Board of Lady Managers, and Miss Phoebe W. Couzins of Missouri
Secretary. Miss Couzins was succeeded in April, 1891, by Mrs. Susan Gale
Cooke of Tennessee.
It is curious to note that the name of Palmer was honorably connected with
the three great Boards exercising authority at the Exposition. Hon. Thomas W.
Palmer, formerly United States senator from Michigan, was president of the
World's Columbian Commission ; Potter Palmer of Chicago was a member of the
Board of Directors of the World's Columbian Exposition, and his wife, Mrs. Bertha
M. Honore Palmer, was president of the Board of Lady Managers.
This unprecedented organization of women, in their meetings, showed an earnest
desire on their own part to carry out to the best of their ability the expectations
of Congress and of the Commission. They were, however, hampered in the earlier
period of their activities by the want of funds for their expenses, which had not
been provided in the act of Congress creating the Board. Accordingly they ad-
dressed a communication to the Commission on the subject, requesting instructions
in regard to a proposed building. The Commission replied that a suitable build-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 65
ing should be erected on the Exposition grounds for the use of the Board of Lady
Managers, that the Board should labor to arouse the interest of the people of
their respective states and territories in the success of the Exposition, but "that
it was inexpedient at this time to formulate any further instruction." The Com-
mission promised, however, to join with the Board in a request to Congress to make
an appropriation for their expenses. This request was eventually complied with,
and a suitable appropriation was made by Congress for the expenses of the Board.
The Board of Lady Managers then passed a resolution recommending the erec-
tion of a suitable building to be known as the Woman's Building. . A copy of this
resolution was sent to the Directors of the Exposition with a request that such a
building be provided, and in due course it was agreed to. The size of the build-
ing was to be two hundred by four hundred feet and the cost was to be $200,000.
At the same time it was agreed that a woman architect should be employed to
design the structure. Miss Sophia G. Hayden of Boston, a graduate of the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology, was chosen. In March, 1891, Miss Hayden
came to Chicago and entered upon the task of construction according to the design
she had previously submitted, and which had been accepted.
In one of the later appropriations made by Congress for the purposes of the
Lady Managers, there was included a provision that ten thousand dollars should be
in the form of souvenir coins of the denomination of twenty-five cents, according
to a request to that effect. The coins bore on the obverse a portrait of Queen
Isabella, and on the reverse a symbolic figure. These coins came to be called
"Isabella Quarters," and were readily sold at a premium, thus increasing the
amount of the benefit derived therefrom.
THE WOMAN'S BUILDING
The Woman's Building proved to be one of the most popular and talked-of
features of the Fair. There was some confusion at times as to the class of ex-
hibits that should be made in the building, it being thought by some that exhibits
should be made in the class to which they belonged regardless of the Woman's
Building. But it was found that there was ample material displaying the works
of art and industry produced by women, for any space in which they could find a
place. The use of the building was by no means confined to the display of ex-
hibits, however. It was a place of resort for tired sight-seers, for families with
children, and special arrangements for their comfort were made. "The interior of
the Woman's Building," says the History, "owing to the various uses to which it
was devoted, was quite different in construction and arrangement from the build-
ings that were intended only for exhibition purposes. It was a two-story structure,
with added clearstory and end pavilions, having for its main feature a large cen-
tral hall or Rotunda, rising to the full height of the building and covered with a
skylight. Around this rotunda were grouped the smaller rooms, the pavilions form-
ing large exhibition spaces on the first floor. Entrances were provided on the
four sides of the building, those on the east and west being the more important,
and opening into large spaces called the Eastern and Western Vestibules. Stair-
ways at the four corners of the rotunda led up from corridors to the second floor.
The rooms in the second story were arranged in the same manner around the ro-
66 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
tunda, each opening into an arched, cloister-like gallery overlooking the hall. At
the north and south extremities of this gallery were stairways on both sides, giving
access to the roof gardens and third-story additions."
The Rotunda was the most prominent feature of the Woman's Building, its
"geniality and elegance" being among the points of excellence for which an award
was given to the architect. The mural decorations, the sculpture, fountains, and
other works of art, were done by women entirely, representing nearly every nation
in America, Europe and Asia. The center of the vestibule was adorned by a foun-
tain executed in silver and gold, purchased and loaned by the women of Montana.
A roof garden was arranged with a large seating capacity as a place of rest and
refreshment, and this became so popular that it taxed the ability of the ladies to
provide accommodations for the throngs. A model kitchen with daily lectures on
the art of cooking was one of the most useful and entertaining of the works un-
dertaken. The attractions of this building were so great that the services of the
guards and janitors were required to preserve order on many occasions. A library
of books, presenting as nearly as possible a complete view of the work of Ameri-
can women in literature, was also gathered and formed an exhibit of great interest.
THE CHILDREN'S BUILDING
There was erected, under the auspices of the Lady Managers, a Children's
Building. The building was constructed at a cost of twenty-four thousand dol-
lars, all of which was raised by a special subscription. Its location was just south
of the Woman's Building. The committee in charge of this branch of work con-
sisted of Mrs. George L. Dunlap, Mrs'. L. Brace Shattuck, Mrs. Solomon Thatcher,
and Mrs. W. W. Kimball, all of Chicago. There were installed a gymnasium, a
nursery for infants where mothers could leave their little ones under competent
care while visiting the Fair, a kindergarten, a school for deaf and dumb and other
unfortunate children, besides many other features and attractions. It is interest-
ing to note that out of ten thousand children cared for at the nursery but one child
was left uncalled for, a boy about three months old who was abandoned by an un-
natural mother. This infant was taken in charge by the Children's Aid Society,
and afterwards provided with a good home.
The exhibits in this building were intended to illustrate child life, its toys and
occupations, as well as the most approved methods of rearing children. All foreign
countries were asked to contribute articles connected with their child life, and
books, toys, dolls, masks, cradles and costumes were received from many lands,
and placed on exhibition to the delight of mothers and children.
THE COLD STORAGE FIRE
On the tenth of July, while the Fair was in progress, the Cold Storage ware-
house was destroyed by fire. This building was designed to manufacture ice by
artificial means, and was intended as an exhibit of ice-making machinery, as well
as a place to store perishable materials. Notwithstanding its prosaic purposes it
was a beautiful building and attracted much attention, especially the tall, square
tower which rose to twice the height of the main structure. Unfortunately the
tower had been utilized as a smoke stack, which ran through its center, and in this
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 67
originated the fire which proved so disastrous to human life. After the arrival of
the Fire Department, twenty men, members of the first company on the scene,
headed by Captain James Fitzpatrick, ascended the tower to reach the blazing
portion, when suddenly it was discovered that the fire had broken out far below
them, and had cut off their retreat by the stairway. There was no escape except by
leaping from the tower to the main roof. This they did, one at a time, before the
eyes of a horrified throng of thousands of spectators. Several of the firemen broke
through the roof by the force of their falls, and were plunged into the seething
mass of flames within the building, which had become a roaring maelstrom of fire.
Others were too much injured by their fall to move and could not escape. Captain
Fitzpatrick, in a dying condition, was lowered to the ground by some of the fire-
men on the roof, who themselves had scarcely descended before the entire roof
fell in. Seventeen men were killed, and nineteen injured in this disaster, the only
serious one occurring during the Fair period. Except in this case no fire or other
catastrophe took place upon the Exposition grounds.
A subscription was at once started among the spectators for the relief of the
families of the unfortunate victims. The gate receipts of the Fair for one day
were applied towards the fund, which soon reached a total of $104,000. A portion
of this fund was used to relieve immediate distress, and the remainder was in-
vested and the income devoted to the support of the widows and the education of
their children.
Doubtless the thorough preparations made in the Fire Department and by the
Columbian Guards saved the Exposition from other serious disasters. "Incipient
fires were frequent," says the History, "and often more than once in a day the
scene would be enlivened by the spirited dash of an engine across the Court of
Honor, and the Columbian Guards coming on the 'double quick' in fine order from
all directions to the point of danger."
Richard Watson Gilder, the poet, wrote a couple of verses on the Cold Storage
disaster, which he entitled, "The Tower of Flame." The words of these verses
are as follows:
"Here for the world to see men brought their fairest ;
Whatever of beauty is in all the earth:
The priceless flower of art, the loveliest, rarest,
Here by our inland ocean came to glorious birth.
"Yet on this day of doom a strange new splendor
Shed its celestial light on all men's eyes ;
Flower of hero-soul, consummate, tender,
That from the tower of flame sprang to the eternal skies."
THE WORLD'S CONGRESSES
Between the two wings of the building erected by the Art Institute on the
Lake Front Park were placed two large audience halls, with seats for nearly three
thousand persons in each. The north hall was named the Hall of Columbus, the
south one the Hall of Washington. These halls were temporary structures and
were to be removed at the end of the Fair, leaving the space to be occupied there-
68 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
after by the Art Institute for its own purposes. In these two halls were held the
sessions of the World's Congresses, which were a part of the general plan and
under the auspices of the Exposition. It was proposed that the great Fair should
not be merely an exhibit of industrial achievements and mechanical triumphs, but
also a meeting place for discussions and conferences on themes of world-wide im-
portance and interest. In the words of the announcement "the world of govern-
ment, jurisprudence, finance, science, literature, education, and religion should be
represented in a congress of statesmen, jurists, financiers, scientists, literati, teach-
ers, and theologians, greater in numbers and more widely representative of 'peo-
ples, nations, and tongues,' than any assemblage which had ever yet been convened."
The "World's Congress Auxiliary" was organized with Mr. Charles C. Bonney
as president. This department of the Exposition was recognized by the United
States Senate, in a report of the committee on Foreign Relations, "as the proper
agency to conduct international congresses in connection with the World's Colum-
bian Exposition." This gave the department a proper diplomatic standing, and
thus the co-operation of foreign governments and learned bodies was secured.
Quoting from Mr. Bonney's report, which appears as an appendix in President
Higinbotham's report, it is said: "The printed publications of the Auxiliary de-
clared that it was the leading idea of the World's Congresses of 1893, to bring the
leaders of human progress from the various countries of the world together at
Chicago, during the season of the World's Columbian Exposition, for the purposes
of mutual acquaintance and the establishment of fraternal relations, and the chief
work of the congresses would be to review the achievements already made in the
various departments of enlightened life, and sum up in each congress the progress
of the world in the department involved, to the date of the congress ; to make a
clear statement of the living questions of the day which still demanded attention,
and to receive from eminent representatives of all interests, classes, and peoples,
suggestions of the practical means by which further progress might be made and
the prosperity and peace of the world advanced."
THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS
The various departments on the program of the Auxiliary occupied the time
from the first session held, May 15th; each one holding sessions of several days.
These sessions were continuous until the close of the program, late in October.
There were congresses of the department of Woman's Progress, that of the Pub-
lic Press, Medicine and Surgery. Temperance, Moral and Social Reform, Commerce
and Finance, Engineering, Music, Art, Literature, Education, Government, Science
and Philosophy, and a general department, comprising such branches as were not
represented in any of the other categories mentioned. The series culminated in
the great Parliament of Religions, which included forty-five general divisions.
Most of the participating organizations held denominational congresses of their
own, but the chief interest of the religious congresses centered in the Parliament
of Religions, which began its sessions on September llth, and continued for sev-
enteen successive days.
The Parliament of Religions was organized by Dr. John Henry Barrows. All
the great religions of the world were represented in this congress, which was the
first one of the kind in the history of the world. Its proceedings excited a world-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 69
wide interest, and its echoes were heard in all lands. This congress stands, in the
estimation of many thinking men, as the most enduring monument of the work of
the Exposition. It met with an extraordinary success, the attendance at its ses-
sions often overflowing the capacity of the hall in which its sessions were held.
"The Parliament of Religions, unique and unprecedented," said Professor Max
Miiller, "will be remembered and bear fruit when everything else of the mighty
Exposition shall long have been swept from the memory of man."
"I do not hesitate to say," said Mr. Higinbotham, in an address, "that the
highest award belongs to the Parliament of Religions and its creator [Dr. Bar-
rows]. As I had the pleasure of saying at the opening ceremonies, it was the
proudest work of the Exposition." And when Dr. Barrows passed away in 1902,
Mr. Higinbotham, at the memorial exercises, summed up in many glowing passages
the importance of this branch of the Exposition's activities. "Dr. Barrows," he
said, "believed that any religion was better than none. This made it possible to
achieve what seemed impossible. He realized keenly the obstacles, the mountains
of prejudice and rivers of tradition to be overcome. He realized at the outset
that others with larger experience and wider influence in the world of affairs had
tried to bring together a Parliament of Religions, and had all ignominiously
failed. . . .
"It was not his purpose to array these religions against each other in an his-
torical controversy, or even to place emphasis on the striking contrasts presented
by the assemblage. Rather his strife was to show how much of good was held in
common by the followers of all faiths and creeds." The delegates "went away
(in the words of Dr. Peabody) filled with a livelier appreciation of the na-
tionalities with which they had mingled, a higher respect for those living in other
climes, a kinder affection for all as sons of the same Divine Father, a recognition
that in a certain large sense they had been promoted to citizenship of the world.
Who shall estimate the influence, near or remote, of these lessons in smoothing the
asperities that arise between nations, in developing the hope of universal peace,
founded on brotherly affection, and the substitution of reasonable concession for
the arbitrament of war." Quoting again from Mr. Higinbotham's address, he said
in closing, "Let me repeat the statement concerning the great Exposition, that its
best work, its highest achievement, that which will longest endure and shed the rich-
est blessings upon mankind, is the Parliament of Religions."
DR. PEABODY'S COMMENTS
In his review of the Exposition given in the final chapter of the History of
the Exposition, Dr. Peabody says, "No great exposition could present fully the
exponents of the higher forms of human progress if it made no provision for the
intellectual and spiritual phase, and this phase, like every other, will submit only
to methods of presentation proper to itself. The spiritual can only be spiritually
discerned. To this end an organization was provided bearing the modest title,
The World's Congress Auxiliary. Its significant motto was: 'Not things, but men;
not matter, but mind.' From the opening of the Exposition until the close thereof
the Auxiliary maintained many series of assemblages, often concurrent, each a
practical exposition of advanced thought in some definite and important field. The
spirit of high endeavor that pervaded these spiritual exhibits emulated the elevated
70 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
standards that ruled the material collections ; they were intended to show the fur-
thest progress made in each specific field of research. These Congresses were at-
tended by men of eminence, attracted from all parts of the world, and national
lines of differentiation were most wisely erased.
"For the first time, representatives of all the great creeds exchanged cordial
greetings and discussed in friendly spirit, from the same platform, the cardinal
doctrines of their respective beliefs. It did not follow that many, or any, went
awa}' convinced of material error; but all, as they departed, bore away to their
homes, some of them antipodal, a larger respect for each other's honesty and in-
tegrity, a surer bond of sympathy in their common desire to banish evil passions
from the human soul, and an abiding faith in the brotherhood of man, the offspring
of the ever-living God."
A DISTINGUISHED PRELATE'S OPINION OF THE FAIR
Cardinal Gibbons made an address at one of the sessions of the World's Con-
gresses, in which he paid this high compliment to the Fair. "What an inspiring
and consoling spectacle is this," he said. "Whether I consider the magnitude of
your numbers or your representative character for you represent almost every
state and diocese and city of the Union, or whether I contemplate the intelligence
that beams on your faces, I cannot but exclaim: this is a sight well calculated to
bring joy and gladness to the hearts of American Catholics. During the past four
months millions of visitors have come from all parts of the United States, nay
from every quarter of the globe, to contemplate, on the Exposition grounds, the
wonderful works of man. They know not which to admire more, the colossal di-
mensions of the buildings, or their architectural beauty, or the treasures of art
which they contain. The caskets and the gems were well worthy of the Nineteenth
century, worthy of the nations that brought -them, worthy of the indomitable
spirit of Chicago. Let us no longer call Chicago the windy city, but the city of
Ioft3' aspirations. Let me christen her with another name; let me call her Thnu-
matopolis, the city of wonders, the city of miracles."
The Archbishop of Greece, in the beginning of his address at one of the gath-
erings, after being introduced by Mrs. Potter Palmer, spoke of the impressions
he received while in this country, as follows: "I have ascended the pulpits of my
church perhaps more than one thousand times, but in ascending this platform at
the World's Columbian Exposition I feel myself especially honored. I feel very
glad because everywhere I go I meet the spirit of the greatness of my ancestors
of the old Greece. I have been in the city of Washington, and having before me
the buildings of the city, I thought I was in old Athens. Here in Chicago, when
I come within the precincts of the Columbian Exposition, I think I am in Olympia.
When I have before me these buildings, and all these exhibitions of art, I think
I am in the Acropolis before the Parthenon."
THE SUNDAY CLOSING QUESTION
There was no single problem of the administration that caused as much trouble
and perplexity and aroused so much controversy as the question of opening or
closing the gates of the Exposition on Sundays. On one side of the question were
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 71
arrayed those who for religious reasons demanded that the gates should be closed
on Sundays. "On the other side," says the History, "were those who urged that
the Exposition, a great moral and educative power, should be permitted to exert
its benign influence on one day as well as another; to grant its blessings to the
toiling multitudes who might otherwise be debarred from them."
The trouble originated at the time of the passage by Congress, on August 5th,
1892, of the act to provide the Exposition with $2,500,000 in the form of souvenir
coins, coupled with the condition that it should be closed to the public on Sundays.
"This provision," says the History, "was of necessity accepted by the Board of
Directors, the members of which felt that they had done all that the situation re-
quired of them to secure the opening of the Exposition on Sunday, unless Congress
could be induced, at its next session in the winter of 1892-3, to release them from
the condition attaching to the souvenir coin appropriation. Congress failed to rer
yoke this condition, but in the spring of 1893, it passed an act which the Board
of Directors held released them from the obligation that had been imposed. This
act, approved March 3d, provided for the withdrawal of the sum of $."570,880 from
the appropriation of $2,500,000 previously made, and required that the sum so
withdrawn should be set aside for the use of another body and for a different pur-
pose." This refers to the expenses to be incurred by the Commission for the
"Awards," spoken of previously.
"Many persons within the Directory and without," continues the History, "held
the opinion that as the appropriation was coupled with a condition, and the ac-
ceptance thereof of the Directory included the condition, the two actions constituted
a mutual obligation having the moral force of a contract ; and that the act of March
3d, 1893, withdrawing a part of the money previously appropriated, violated the
contract and freed the other contracting party, the Exposition Directory, from
whatever obligations that contract had imposed."
On the 7th of May, the first Sunday of the Exposition, the gates were closed,
and also on the following Sunday; but on the 17th the Directory voted to open the
Exposition on Sundays as well as week days. The operation of the machinery in
Machinery Hall, however, was to be suspended so far as practicable, exhibitors
and employes to be relieved from duty except so far as their presence was neces-
sary to protect property and preserve the peace, and religious services were to
be provided in Choral and Music Halls. Accordingly, on Sunday the 28th of May,
the Exposition was opened to visitors, on which day the paid attendance was over
seventy-seven thousand, nearly twice the average daily attendance of the previous
six days. Thousands went on that day simply to record their sympathy with the
action of the Directors; and until the middle of July the Sunday attendance con-
tinued at a high figure, the visitors being made up mostly of those who seemed to
be regardless of whether or not the exhibits were covered or the machinery in oper-
ation, provided they could enjoy the charming views of landscape and architec-
ture, and listen to the music.
Sunday visitors found the exhibits mostly covered up and the attendants absent,
the main attractions being the rare and beautiful buildings, and the lovely land-
scape. The Art Building, with its treasures, however, remained open on that
day, and it was continuously thronged. The eagerness to behold the contents of
this building was one of the most agreeable features of the Sunday attendance.
72 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
Persons who observed the Sunday crowds, and studied the individuals that com-
posed them, found it difficult to appreciate the objections that were urged by those
opposed to the opening of the gates of the Exposition on Sundays.
It has come to be recognized by all the friends and advocates of the "Ameri-
can Sabbath," as well as other liberal minded people, that the art galleries, libraries
and parks fulfill their purposes most completely on the Sabbath day, a day of rest
and change from the occupations and cares of everyday life. Rest is the central
idea of the Sabbath day, the meaning of the word in Hebrew being "a day of
rest." The Master himself reproached the Pharisees for the stress they laid on a
mere external strictness in observing the Sabbath without corresponding purity
of heart and life. The people who resorted to the Exposition on Sundays were in
general observing the Sabbath day in its truest and best sense, and it is passing
strange that unthinking zealots should have so perverted the manifest intentions
of the management of the Fair in their endeavors to provide for the wants of
strangers in the city, who were drawn thither by the great attractions offered by
the Exposition. This restriction greatly embarrassed the managers in their well
uieant efforts to supply every reasonable demand upon them in the way of profit-
able entertainment and instruction.
THE COURSE OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Board of Directors was charged with bad faith because it opened the
gates on Sunday after accepting the souvenir coin appropriation of $2,500,000
with the condition that it would keep the gates closed on that day," says President
Higinbotham in his Report. "Those making the charge ignored, or forgot, the fact
that the first breach of contract was on the part of the Government, and that, too,
under such embarrassing circumstances, as to seriously damage the Exposition's
finances. Nothing but the loyalty and public spirit of Chicagoans saved the Ex-
position from irreparable disaster before its gates had been opened to the public.
Attached to the appropriation of $2,500,000 were several conditions of great im-
portance, all of which the Company had fulfilled.
"The first Act of Congress providing for the Exposition required the company
to raise ten millions of dollars for use in preparing for holding the Exposition.
This had been done. The souvenir coin act required the company to provide what-
ever sum might be necessary in addition to the two and a half millions thereby
appropriated, to complete the Exposition, the total cost of which, at that time, was
expected to be about nineteen millions of dollars, but which afterward proved to
be much greater. The company was even required to prove to the Secretary of
the Treasury that it had actually disbursed two and a half millions of dollars, in
addition to the original ten millions of dollars, before it could receive the two and
a half millions of dollars in souvenir coins from the government. After this con-
dition had been complied with, Congress diverted $570,880 of the souvenir coin
appropriation to other purposes not within the scope of the duties of the company.
The imposition of the task of replacing the sum so diverted nearly ruined the
company.
"Moreover, upon the credit established by the plain terms of the souvenir coin
appropriation, and the other resources of the company, an issue of five millions
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 73
in bonds had been authorized by the board of directors, and nearly four and a
half millions of them sold and paid for. By this act of the government the se-
curity of the bondholders was injured to a much greater amount than the amount
of money withheld; in fact, the security of the bondholders, resting in the solvency
of the company, was in danger of being totally destroyed.
'"Another condition of the souvenir coin appropriation was that the company
would pay the expenses of the great exhibit departments organized by the director-
general of the World's Columbian Commission, which expenses constituted a heavy
drain upon the company's resources, amounting in the aggregate to more than the
entire souvenir coin appropriation. Thus it will be seen that, so far from there
being any obligation, moral or legal, for the return of any moneys received from
the government, there was a debt due the company from the government, morally
if not legally, for moneys expended in excess of the total requirements imposed
by the original act of congress relating to the exposition."
SUNDAY CLOSING IN THE COURTS
The matter reached the courts in the form of injunctions issued by different
judges, one by petition of a stockholder of the exposition restraining the manage-
ment from closing the gates, and another, inspired by parties in favor of Sunday
closing, compelling the management to keep the gates closed on Sundays. After
a series of complicated proceedings, the case was presented for decision before the
United States Circuit Court, where it was fully argued before Judges William A.
Woods, James H. Jenkins, and Peter S. Grosscup. On the 8th of June, the ma-
jority of the judges decided that the exposition must be closed on Sundays, Judge
Grosscup dissenting, however. An appeal was taken and the case was again argued
before Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller, and District Judges William J. Allen,
and Romanzo Bunn. The order of the lower court was reversed and the case
remanded, but it was soon afterwards dismissed. The exposition thereafter remained
open on Sundays, except one Sunday in the latter party of July, until the end
of the period.
"The entire agitation of this subject," says the History, "was a unique and
disagreeable experience. Men of the best intentions, and aiming only to do right,
according to their views, were accused of being enemies of society and religion,
and were thundered at from many pulpits, often intemperately."
CHAPTER XLV
NOTEWORTHY ATTRACTIONS OF THE WORLD'S FAIR
GENERAL VIEW OF THE EXHIBITS SILVER AND PORCELAIN OBJECTS DIAMONDS AND
GEMS THE CARAVELS SENT FROM SPAIN THE VIKING SHIP FROM NORWAY THE
OLD WHALER "PROGRESS" FULL-SIZED MODEL OF BATTLESHIP "ILLINOIS" MODEL
OF BRITISH WARSHIP "VICTORIA" GREAT NUMBER OF OTHER MODELS BIG THINGS
ON EXHIBITION SECTION OF BIG TREE FROM CALIFORNIA GREAT GUNS FROM THE
KRUPP FACTORY METHODS OF TRANSPORTING AND HANDLING THE GUNS LOCO-
MOTIVES AND CARS COMPLETE TRAIN OF CARS WITH ENGINE ON EXHIBITION
FLAG STAFF OVER TWO HUNDRED FEET IN HEIGHT SILVER STATUES PUBLISHERS'
EXHIBITS MODEL LIBRARY OF FIVE THOUSAND VOLUMES THE MIDWAY PLAISANCE
ATTRACTIONS DESCRIBED THE FERRIS WHEEL LATER FORTUNES OF THE GREAT
WHEEL CONCESSIONS AND PRIVILEGES STATUE OF COLUMBUS ON THE LAKE FRONT
SPECIAL DAYS AT THE FAIR CHICAGO DAY TOTAL ATTENDANCE AND RECEIPTS
OF THE FAIR COMMENTS OF VISITORS OPINIONS AND IMPRESSIONS.
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE EXHIBITS
T is not intended that a full description of what was to be seen at the
great exposition shall be given here. The effort will be to mention
some of those that seem to be typical of the immense concourse of exhibits
there assembled. It has been estimated that the sum total of the value
of the buildings and exhibits at the exposition closely approximated one
hundred millions of dollars. The task of enumerating the articles exhibited was
undertaken by the various departments, and the results were shown in a series
of official catalogues which can be found in the libraries and profitably consulted
by persons interested. In this place we shall confine the descriptions to a com-
paratively few subjects, embracing such as are deemed of interest to the general
reader, although some of them have already been referred to. Such subjects as
have been chosen are those which have been selected to enable a reader who did
not see the exposition to form a fair idea of its size and importance, as well as to
recall some of its notable features to those who attended it and who will take
pleasure in the remembrance of the wonderful displays there witnessed.
There will be many features recalled by former visitors to the exposition, of
which they will find no mention here, simply for the reason that in the multitude
of buildings and articles exhibited a few only can be either described or even
referred to.
EXHIBITS IN THE MANUFACTURES BUILDING
It is possible to mention here only a few among the countless thousands of
objects exhibited in the Manufactures building. Perhaps the most attractive of
74
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 75
any, judging by the interest shown, were the displays of jewelry, precious stones
and ceramics.
England, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Russia and Japan sent exhibits of
priceless value. "The liberality with which the most distinguished men of the
[German] Empire," . . . says a writer, "have lent their priceless articles
for exhibition here is merely part of the generous and magnanimous policy which
Germany has displayed in her whole connection with the Fair." But the triumphs
of this branch of the arts were to be found in the American exhibits. Among
these there were superb examples of inlaying; the great magnolia enameled vases
in the Tiffany exhibit, and bowls etched in damascene work, were original work
in the silversmith's art; and in the exhibits of cut glass the Americans were
especially prominent.
The Russian exhibits of jade, of bronzes, lapis lazuli and jasper, were espe-
cially remarkable. In front of the French court stood two immense Sevres vases,
and within were some two thousand specimens of the Sevres works. The English
also had a magnificent group of exhibits, the product of their potteries. Den-
mark and the Netherlands were represented by wares in blue and white, panels,
tiles and other articles. The American potteries also had fine exhibits. Japan
exhibited an immense quantity of enamels, a pair of vases nine feet high being
among the largest pieces of enamel work ever produced. Austria's exhibit of
glass artistically treated was truly wonderful, including the Bohemian glass pro-
ductions, famous for ages.
THE WATCHES OF SWITZERLAND
The watches of Switzerland were not the least among the manifold attractions.
Interest here was unflagging, the visitors always thronging the booths where they
were displayed. Watches in endless varieties, their works, their cases, pendents
and chains, were shown, as well as watches of ancient make placed as a his-
torical background to the industry of watchmaking. As an example of these
among others was an oval watch, centuries old, actuated by the "fusee and string"
method, which could be wound up and would keep time, ticking as loud as the
chirp of a cricket. An ancient specimen was called the "Nuremberg Egg" by
reason of its shape, which sounded like a coffee mill while being wound up. There
were watches set in diamonds and some in pearls, watches which would play airs
like a music box, striking watches, and watches with wooden works like Con-
necticut clocks of the olden time.
The enamels, porcelain, decorated ware, stained glass and similar articles were
in fairly bewildering variety, among them vases of towering size and of great
artistic value. Large purchases were made among these rare treasures for the
Field Columbian Museum, which through the munificence of Mr. Marshall Field
was formed at the time.
The booths in which these treasures were displayed were themselves built on
a liberal scale, but in this great enclosure there was vast space between their
tops and the roof of the building. For constructions of those kinds placed under
a sheltering roof, the design and ornamentation could be carried to a degree of
detail not permitted in buildings placed in the open air. Some of them were
76 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
provided with serviceable roofs of canvas to protect their contents, as it was soon
found by experience that the lofty roof of the Manufactures Building was by no
means waterproof.
DIAMONDS AND GEMS
Commissioner Ludwig Wiener from the Cape of Good Hope, on behalf of the
great Diamond mining companies in South Africa, sent to the Exposition, and
had installed in the Mines and Mining Building, an exhibit of the diamond mines
in that region. A quantity of clay and rock in which the rough diamonds are found,
together with the machinery for separating them from their natural resting places,
was brought. A hundred and fifty tons of diamondiferous earth and rock had
been imported, and an entire washing plant set in operation, worked by several
Kaffir miners, who accompanied the exhibit from Africa. The stones that were
found were passed over into another department, instituted with the aid of Messrs.
Tiffany & Company, whose diamond cutters and polishers were at work with their
wheels, shaping the gems into brilliants. Ten thousand carats of uncut diamonds
were shown in the exhibit.
Mr. Frederick J. V. Skiff, chief of the Mines and Mining department, was so
fortunate as to discover a rough diamond at the first inspection of the ore, after
it was brought to the building. The Commissioner, who stood by him, said at
once that it was a diamond of the first water, and at the same time he presented
it to the chief. He also thanked Mr. Skiff for the great assistance he had given
the exhibitors in installing and arranging their exhibit, and begged that he would
accept the stone, being the first one ever taken from its native ore in Chicago. It
was a beautiful white gem, and when cut and polished, it was estimated that it
would weigh about four carats.
A glass case in one corner of the pavilion was continuously a center' of attrac-
tion and fascinated visitors crowded about it and gazed upon the treasures within.
In this case were uncut diamonds roughly valued at $750,000. Thus the public
were shown the history of the diamond, from the time it is taken from the mine
in its crude form until it arrives at its finished state.
THE CARAVELS OP COLUMBUS
The caravels seen at the Exposition were built by the Spanish government,
as nearly as possible in the exact form and size of the three vessels which formed
the little fleet of Columbus, which crossed the ocean on his voyage of discovery.
They bore the names of the original ships, the Santa Maria, the Xina, and the
Pinta. These vessels were designed by the naval architects from descriptions and
old prints of the original ships. They were built at Barcelona, Spain, a Mediter-
ranean port; and brought around to Cadiz on the Atlantic coast, where they were
prepared for the voyage to America. There was some fear that they could not
make the passage safely, and they were therefore convoyed by the United States
cruiser Newark, following the ancient course through the Sargasso Sea. The
little fleet finally sighted Watling's Island, the famous "landfall" of Columbus,
and soon after reached Havana. Their first appearance in the United States was
at the naval review in Hampton Roads, and they participated in the ceremonies
By court,*, of the N. D. Thompson Publishing Co.
TWO OF THE CARAVELS, THE NINA AND THE PINTA
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 77
there. They were then towed up the Atlantic coast to the mouth of the St.
Lawrence, up that river to Lake Ontario, through the Welland Canal, through the
Detroit and St. Clair Rivers, and past the Straits of Mackinac to Chicago, where
they arrived early in July, 1893. They were stationed in the lagoon near the
Convent of La Rabida, where they remained during the Exposition.
Within the admiral's cabin of the Santa Maria the visitor might have seen
the reproductions of the original furnishings, the bed on which Columbus slept,
the table on which he wrote, his armor hanging on the walls, and the arms, such
as cutlasses, pikes, and shields, characteristic of the time. The caravels, together
with the exhibits made by the Spanish people and government, and the building
in which their exhibits were housed, were presented to the United States by
Spain, thus manifesting a liberal and generous spirit on the part of that nation
which was so soon to be followed by the rude blasts of war, in strange contrast
with these peaceful and humane activities. The caravels attracted great interest,
and after the Exposition they were allowed to remain, and may still be seen in
the lagoon at Jackson Park.
There was also the Viking ship, a reproduction of the strange craft in which
Leif Erikson sailed, in the year 1000, on a voyage from Norway, when, it is
believed by many, he landed on the coast of New England. The Viking ship
was seventy-five feet long, fifteen feet in extreme breadth, and six feet in depth.
It was provided with sixteen long oars, and also with a mast which carried a
sail, by means of which its crew sailed her across the Atlantic from Norway along
the track followed by Leif of old. There was a fleet of Venetian gondolas on
the lagoons which were fully and profitably employed by the gondoliers who had
been brought from Venice to man them.
A service of electric launches was installed on the lagoons and proved to be a
most successful means of communication between the points of the grounds reached
by them. They carried about a million of passengers during the Fair without a
single accident occurring. These boats could pass out into the lake both from
the Grand Basin and from the north end of the lagoons, so that visitors could
obtain a view of the Exposition from the lake.
THE WHALING SHIP, "PROGRESS"
There came to the Fair as a curiosity of great interest a real whaling ship
which bore the name of "Progress." It was sent from New Bedford, Massachu-
setts. It had a history of actual service in many seas, but had outlived its use-
fulness as a whaler. It was brought through the chain of lakes, and lay at
anchor in the lagoon near the caravels. In its hold had been arranged an interest-
ing exhibit which attracted many visitors. The old ship had the misfortune of
being sunk by a scow in the Chicago River after its arrival at that point, but was
raised and in due time was installed as one of the attractions. It finally became
the prey of the junk dealers.
THE BATTLE SHIP, "ILLINOIS"
A model of a battle ship was erected in Lake Michigan at a little distance from
the shore on the same scale as to size as the real ships of the navy. It was built
78 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
on a substantial foundation of piling. The sides were of brick covered with
cement. It was three hundred and forty-eight feet in length, sixty-nine-feet in
breadth, and armed with regular service guns, except the thirteen-inch and eight-
inch guns which were "dummies," or what used to be called in Civil war times
"Quaker guns." Access to the ship was obtained by means of a pier against which
it was apparently moored. The fittings within were the same as those of a ship
in the navy, except that no machinery was installed. In this structure the United
States Navy Department placed the principal part of its exhibit.
MODELS OF SHIPS
A collection of models of a great variety of ships was shown in the Trans-
portation Building, and included among them were many of the latest forms of
war ships. One of these models was that of the "Victoria," a British iron-clad
of the first class. Most of the models were complete in form, and with every
external detail worked out to perfection. The model of the Victoria was made
so that one half of it, lengthwise, was placed against a mirror, and thus its entire
form was brought into view. This model was some thirty-five feet in length, and
was considered the most attractive of them all. While the Fair was in progress,
news came that the war ship Victoria had been sunk in the Mediterranean while
at practice, in collision with another ship of the fleet, and that several hundred
men had been drowned. This event gave an added and sorrowful interest to the
model, which was draped with mourning emblems during the remaining period of
the Fair.
"BIG THINGS" ON EXHIBITION
The "bigness of things" in nature was well represented in the Forestry Build-
ing by a huge log of mahogany wood, twenty-four feet long and four feet square,
one side polished to show the grain; two bamboo stalks seventy-five feet in length,
a plank from a Washington redwood tree sixteen feet in width, a half section of
a Sequoia tree from California, and a section of a grape-vine stalk from Missouri
a foot in diameter. The flagstaff in front of the Washington State building was
composed of the trunk of a giant Puget Sound fir tree which it had been found
necessary to cut into two parts to permit of its transportation, and spliced to-
gether after its arrival. This flagstaff was the tallest ever erected, its total
length being two hundred and thirty-eight feet, with a diameter at the base of only
thirty-two inches, and weighing thirty-one tons. Some twenty-five feet of its
length was buried in the earth. It was quite an engineering feat to raise this huge
mast, the derrick employed for the purpose being one hundred and twenty feet in
height, with guy ropes running in all directions.
In the Government Building was seen a section of one of the monarchs of the
forest from the Pacific coast. This section was thirty feet in length and twenty-
six feet in diameter. There were logs in the Washington State building, the first
story of which was constructed log-house fashion, of yellow fir over one hundred
and twenty-five feet long, one of which was said to have been cut from a tree
which stood three hundred and fifty feet in height.
From the State of Washington, also, was sent the largest single block of coal
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 79
on exhibition, weighing twenty-five tons. Pennsylvania sent an "anthracite obelisk,"
sixty-two feet in height. A "cob of cannel coal" from England, weighing nearly
twelve English tons, was one of the natural wonders shown.
Some of the artificial "big things" may be mentioned. One was the model of
the great steam hammer of the Bethlehem Iron Works. This was a full-sized
model, the original of which was said to be the largest in the world, and weighed
nearly twenty-four hundred tons. It was shaped like a letter A, its- highest point
standing ninety feet in the air. The United States government sent to the Ex-
position a mammoth gun built for coast defense purposes. Its calibre was twelve
inches, its length thirty-three and a half feet, and its weight fifty-eight tons. It
was capable of throwing a projectile of one thousand pounds in weight a distance
of eleven miles. The tube for the great telescope intended for the Yerkes Ob-
servatory, then under construction at Williams Bay, Lake Geneva, was mounted
in a prominent place in the Manufactures Building. The tube was of steel, sixty-
four feet long, and four feet in diameter, but without the great object glass which
had not yet been finished. The driving clock was attached to the mechanism, and
the giant tube was made to point in different directions at the will of the operator.
Other big things on exhibition were a monstrous cheese from Canada weigh-
ing twenty-two thousand pounds ; and a structure built of chocolate cakes, piled
like bricks, in which there were thirty thousand pounds of that article.
THE EXHIBITS OF GREAT GUNS BY THE KRUPPS
The most powerful engines of war made by man are undoubtedly the guns
made by the Krupps of Germany. There was a large collection of guns at the
Exposition sent by the Krupps, and shown in a building especially constructed
by them, because space for their proper display could not be obtained for them
elsewhere. This building was situated near the Convent of La Rabida, and was
nearly two hundred feet in length by eighty-two feet in width. It was designed
and manufactured in Germany and put together upon its arrival at the Fair
grounds. The Krupp exhibit was, perhaps, the most elaborate and expensive one
at the Exposition. The German Commissioner, Herr Wermuth, stated in an
address at the opening of the exhibit that its cost was three millions of dollars,
one half of which sum would be required in transporting it to this country and
back again to Germany.
The largest gun in the exhibit was a monster which measured forty-six feet
in length, six and one-half feet in diameter at its thickest part, with trunnions
two feet in diameter, and with a calibre of sixteen and a half inches. Its weight
was one hundred and twenty-two tons. It was said to have a range of sixteen
miles, and capable of throwing projectiles of over a ton in weight. The gun
was brought from Baltimore, where it was landed, over the Baltimore & Ohio
and the Pennsylvania Railroads, carried on two specially constructed flat cars
each having sixteen wheels. It was placed on a heavy bridge truss resting on
pivots at each end, and these in turn on the cars. When it was landed at Bal-
timore, a hoisting apparatus one hundred and twenty feet in height, built by the
Krupps and sent over with the gun, was made use of in handling it. The gun
and cars on which it was carried together weighed two hundred and thirty tons.
80 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
The cars, cranes and hoisting apparatus used were afterwards placed in the Trans-
portation Building as exhibits. There were in addition a great number of other
guns in many shapes and sizes, all, including the great gun, being appropriately
mounted, and their workings shown to visitors. It was remarkable to an observer
how completely and easily these heavy pieces of ordnance were controlled by
their operators. The muzzles were elevated or depressed, the guns themselves
swung from side to side, and the breech-loading devices opened and closed with
the greatest ease. After the Commissioner had concluded his address at the
opening, a signal was given and all the guns were made to bow in unison to
the great amusement and delight of the spectators.
OTHER KRUPP EXHIBITS
But the Krupp establishment is not exclusively occupied with the construction
of weapons of warfare. While the central part of the building was filled with
terrible engines of war, the spaces at the sides and ends were devoted to the
exhibition of shafting, screws, rudders, bow and stern frames for great ocean
ships, made of steel and other metals. A plate of steel rolled out to a thick-
ness of an inch and a quarter was sixty-five feet long and weighed sixteen tons.
A steamer shaft was ninety feet long and in places four feet in diameter, and
weighed over one hundred tons. As one who described it said, "it looked strong
enough for the axis of the earth."
LOCOMOTIVES AND ROLLING STOCK
The exhibits of locomotive engines and cars, in and near the Transportation
Building, was an exceedingly interesting one, both from the historical and modern
standpoints. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company was represented by a com-
prehensive collection of originals and models, one of the former being the famous
locomotive "John Bull," which began to run on the Camden & Amboy Railroad,
sixty-two years before. It came to Chicago under its own steam, with two equally
antiquated passenger coaches drawn by it, occupying five days for the journey.
Faithful reproductions were shown of eight locomotives that had seen service in
this country between 1825 and 18-18, with models of passenger and freight cars
of the same period. A big frame contained the seals of two hundred and eighteen
corporations which had been consolidated with the Pennsylvania system since 18-16.
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad had full sized working models of the rolling
stock used by that line in the early thirties. One of the quaint old engines on
view had the old fashioned walking beam device mounted upon it. Every form
which the locomotive had assumed in its various changes was here represented,
until the engines of the latest pattern closed the long series. The New York Cen-
tral Railway had on exhibition the "DeWitt Clinton," the first engine used on
that road in 1831, with its coaches of corresponding antiquity. This exhibit con-
tained a train of splendid modern cars with engine attached, standing in close
proximity to the early forms of rolling stock, the contrast being very striking.
The Chicago & North-Western Railway's contribution was the old engine known
as the "Pioneer," built by the Baldwins in 1836, and well known in Chicago in
the fifties.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 81
SILVER STATUES AT THE FAIR
The famous French sculptor of the Statue of Liberty at New York, Bartholdi
was the designer of a statue of Columbus cast in pure silver metal. The exterior
was finished with an oxidized surface, to give better expression to light and shade
effects than could have been produced under a high polish. The statue was a little
more than life size and required thirty thousand ounces of silver to fill the moulds.
It was placed in the Manufactures Building near the central clock tower, as a
part of the exhibit of the Gorham Silver Company. The statue as a work of art
was highly spoken of, and by some was thought to be one of the best of Bartholdi's
works.
A statue of "Justice" in the Montana section of the Mines Building was said
to contain sixty-four thousand ounces of silver. The polished surface of this statue
somewhat lessened its artistic effect. It was modeled by R. H. Park, was five
feet and ten inches in height, and rested on a pedestal cast in pure gold valued
at $250,000; the bullion for which was loaned by one of the great mining com-
panies of Montana. Miss Ada Rehan, the actress, posed for this statue, which
bore a close likeness to the original. "The features are those of Rehan," wrote
a reporter of one of the newspapers, "but the smile of the artless Rosalind is
missing; in its place is an austere expression, more befitting the face of Justice."
BOOK PUBLISHERS AND LIBRARIES
Among the exhibits in the Liberal Arts sections were the publishing and illus-
tration of books in all stages of their preparation, from the manuscript of the
author and the sketch of the illustrator to the finished volume. All the great
publishing firms and companies made displays of their productions in most attrac-
tive arrangements. Rare books in fine bindings, editions de luxe, books of mam-
moth size, minute volumes brilliantly bound and glittering like jewels, and books
centuries old, furnished delight to the lovers of books and book collectors. In the
booth of the Century Company was shown the evolution of a dictionary, through
all the stages that the Century Dictionary had to pass. The French exhibit of
literature consisted of a display of the publications of some sixty firms and
individuals, about two thousand volumes in all. Book binding in its most artistic
form was naturally to be found in the French exhibit.
But the most extensive exhibit of literature was that of the German publishers
in the German Building, in which three hundred and thirty-three firms took part.
The Tauchnitz exhibit alone contained upwards of two thousand volumes.
Chicago publishers were also well represented in this department. Messrs.
A. C. McClurg & Co., F. H. Revell & Co., Rand McNally & Co. and others made
interesting displays. Chicago's veteran bookbinder, Mr. P. Ringer, had beauti-
ful examples of his w r ork, among them a copy of a miniature Horace printed in
diamond type and bound in full blue morocco, a gem of beauty.
A MODEL PUBLIC LIBRARY
In the Government Building was installed a model library consisting of five
thousand, two hundred and thirty volumes. This collection was installed under the
82 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
joint auspices of the Government Bureau of Education and the American Library
Association. Incident to this exhibit there was issued an official catalogue pre-
pared by the latter body, concerning which Mr. W. T. Harris, United States Com-
missioner of Education, said in his letter of transmittal: "Our people are justly
proud of the American Library Association which, by its zeal and practical energy,
has done so much to devise means for the successful management of libraries.
This Association has given its time and assisted this office with money to procure
and install a model library of five thousand volumes, which forms a part of the
exhibit of the Bureau of Education at the Columbian Exposition." The printed
catalogue was designed to be of practical service to librarians in the selection
and purchase of books, and in classification and cataloguing. The catalogue was
issued as a government publication, and in later years it was extended to a catalogue
of eight thousand volumes under the editorship of Mr. Melvil Dewey, of the New
York State library, and again, in 1904, was published by the government, and has
become an indispensable manual in the hands of librarians.
In 1908, the American Library Association established its headquarters at
Chicago, and occupies rooms in the building of the Chicago Public Library.
MIDWAY PLAISANCE ATTRACTIONS
The Midway Plaisance was mostly given up to attractions managed by con-
cessionaires. It was a notable feature of the World's Fair, and a potent influ-
ence in drawing visitors. The narrow strip of territory connecting Jackson Park
with Washington Park, appropriately named the Midway, is nearly a mile long
and six hundred feet wide, and is a part of the park system; the three divisions,
Jackson Park, Washington Park, and the Midway Plaisance being known under
the general name and title of the South Park, controlled by the South Park Com-
missioners. The Midway offered an admirable location for picturesque displays
characteristic of the customs of foreign and remote nations, aboriginal and half-
civilized tribes; and for various forms of amusement, refreshment, comfort, and
rest. It gave an opportunity for isolating special features which would not har-
monize well with the more dignified buildings and exhibits in the main part of
the Exposition grounds.
Along the broad avenue, running through its center, were ranged a great
variety of attractions. Among them may be mentioned the Streets of Cairo, the
German Village, the Japanese Bazaar, the Hagenbeck Animal Show, the Panorama
of the Alps, the Dahomey Village, Indian Village, Javanese Village, Irish Vil-
lage, Beauty Show, Captive Balloon, Ferris Wheel, Old Vienna, Chinese Theatre,
Moorish Palace, Temple of Luxor, Tunisian Bazaar, and many others.
SCENES ALONG THE MIDWAY
A correspondent of a New York newspaper wrote entertainingly of the Mid-
way. "It is probable," he says, "that the average visitor to the World's Fair,
when he has said all that he can say of its beauties and of the pleasures he had
there, will confess that, after all, he had more fun in the Midway Plaisance than
anywhere else. Of course, like all the rest of the Fair, it is educational and
instructive, but the object is simply to amuse. Of all its forty-one separate
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 83
shows, there is not one that is dull, and several are so amusing that people visit
them again and again without getting tired of them. It is idle to make compari-
sons between this exhibition and similar exhibitions at other international fairs,
and it may be that at Paris three years ago there was all or nearly all that there
is in the Midway Plaisance; but this does not alter the fact that there never was
anything like it, and that the visitor who does not enjoy it must be phlegmatic
indeed."
Starting at the head of the street which leads through the center one saw
a strange scene. "On your left hand," continues the correspondent, "a gray
castle rises, from the turret of which floats a large green flag which bears an
inscription saying that it is the Irish Village, showing the Irish cottage industries ;
and looking farther down you see a small New England loghouse and school-
house. Across the road from this is a model Philadelphia workingman's house,
and next to this a big building for a theatre, and you see more similar structures
until the architecture passes into Asiatic forms." Here one sees the Japanese
bazaar, the Javanese village, Turkish buildings where the mosques and minarets
tower above, the Streets of Cairo, an Egyptian temple, and the Moorish palace.
In passing one sees an imposing cluster of old Vienna buildings, the picturesque
German village, the Ferris wheel, a striking object, the Dahomey natives in their
rude huts, Laplanders with reindeer, Bedouin Arabs, and red Indians from the
plains.
The cosmopolitan character of the throngs on the Midway was especially notice-
able. "Here you may see a high-caste Turk, gorgeously arrayed in bagging
trousers, and there you will encounter a South Sea Islander, who walks along clad
in a simple pair of short trousers and nothing else. Then you meet a Bedouin
Arab wrapped in folds of white cloth, and next to him a little fellow from Java
with a large white turban on his head. Add to these German cavalrymen in uni-
form, Irish peasant girls, with Chinese and Japanese and a number of others,
and you will have some faint idea of what the crowd in the Midway Plaisance
looks like." It was a place, as another writer said, where a man, if so inclined,
"could have a fight in forty languages."
At the Irish village, there was a reproduction of the famous Blarney castle,
over which the Duchess ' of Aberdeen presided, one of the most tireless workers
in making it a success. When it was opened she and the Earl made addresses,
and by their efforts won a large patronage. Near the Irish village was the Beauty
Show, consisting of fifteen or twenty young women dressed up in the costumes
of different nations. "Whether or not they are pretty," says the correspondent,
"is a matter of taste, and at all events a visitor can find hundreds of prettier ones
to see in the grounds without paying for the pleasure."
The next big exhibit was Hagenbeck's Menagerie. Here were some marvelous
performances of wild beasts with their trainers. Lions, leopards, elephants, tigers
and bears were shown in a great variety of performances and tricks seemingly
impossible to wild creatures. Beyond this was the German village, the central
building of which was a medieval stronghold surrounded by a moat. In this vil-
lage was a succession of concerts given by two excellent German military bands,
and a large restaurant fitted up on a liberal scale within the buildings. At the
place called "Old Vienna" was a collection of thirty-six houses of the original
84 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
size existing in Vienna a century and a half ago. This was one of the most inter-
esting exhibits on the Midway, and, like the German village, was provided with a
good band and a large restaurant.
At the Chinese theatre an endless Chinese play was proceeding, and near it
was a company of sixty-nine Dahomey natives living in their village, having also
a band of music consisting of primitive drums, upon which they pounded incessantly.
Among the Dahomey natives were twenty-one women said to be "Amazon warriors,"
looking fierce and warlike indeed, but understood to be quite harmless. There
were also an Algerian theatre, a model of St. Peter's church at Rome, the captive
balloon, the Moorish palace, and a variety of panoramas.
Eugene Field took note of the Midway, which interested him hugely. He
wrote many humorous verses about the World's Fair, and the attractions on the
Midway, a few lines of which are given:
"The Moors, the Turks, wild men with dirks,
Here show their customs curious ;
The Japanese, and folk like these
Wear knives that are injurious.
Here are balloons and foreign tunes,
That skirl both fast and furious;
And Cairo folk as brown as oak,
And Zulus true or spurious."
THE FERRIS WHEEL
One of the engineering wonders of the World's Fair was the Ferris Wheel,
named in honor of its designer, Mr. G. W. G. Ferris, a Pittsburgh engineer. The
wheel was in process of construction for twelve months before it began revolving
in its place on the Midway Plaisance. "It was a kind of gigantic merry-go-round,"
as one writer expressed it, only that it revolved vertically rather than laterally.
It was composed of two great rims, each two hundred and fifty feet in diameter,
placed thirty feet apart with proper bracing between them. Between the rims
were swung thirty-six cars, each capable of holding forty passengers. The im-
pression it gave the beholder was that of an enormous bicycle wheel, with its
maze of rods and trusses.
The swinging cars resembled ordinary street cars, each one suspended by a
steel axle six and a half inches in diameter. The structure itself was suspended
on an axle thirty-two inches in diameter, resting upon two steel towers one hun-
dred and fifty feet high. There was a space of fourteen feet between the ground
and the lower periphery of the wheel, where the engine of one thousand horse
power was placed which controlled its motions. The entire height of the struc-
ture was therefore two hundred and sixty-four feet, and its total weight was
about eleven hundred tons. Its cost was said to have been three hundred thousand
dollars.
Around the entire periphery of the wheel there were two rows of cogs, six
inches deep and eighteen inches apart, and engaged with them were two sprocket
wheels nine feet in diameter, these being directly controlled by the engineer. Near
A,
Bv courtesy of D. AppleU n & Co.
THE CAPTIVE KALLOOX OX THE MIDWAY I'LAISAXCF,
By courtesy of D. Appletun & Co.
THE FERRIS WHEEL OX THE MIDWAY
PLAISAXCE
liy courtesy of D. Appletun & Co.
THE MARIXE CAFE
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 85
these sprocket wheels were placed two wheels slightly larger, with air-brake attach-
ments, intended to stop the motion of the great wheel if the engine should fail to
control it.
The Ferris Wheel was not ready for service until seven weeks after the open-
ing of the Fair, owing to unavoidable delays in completing it. Its unusual form
and its manner of construction as well as its enormous size involved many and
intricate engineering problems not previously encountered, nothing like it ever
before having been constructed. It was freely predicted that it would not be
able to stand the constantly varying strains to which it would be subjected while
revolving, and that it would topple over in a severe gale of wind. Nothing of
the kind happened, however. No accident imperiling life or limb occurred, though
it had a fearsome look and required a considerable degree of resolution to enter
the cars and ascend the dizzy height to which the passengers were carried, and
for a time it was not easy to assure the public of its safety.
On the opening day a band of music occupied the first car and played stirring
airs as the great wheel revolved with its first load of passengers. "The cars
moved up so slowly," says a writer, describing the event, "that their motion was
almost imperceptible and quite noiseless. It seemed as if the earth were sinking
away out of sight slowly and quietly. Going up the passengers had the whole
of Chicago and the prairies for miles beyond laid before them unobscured. There
was a clear view of the whole extent of the great Fair seen at a single glance,
while the sail-dotted lake was beyond, and the swarming Midway Plaisance right
beneath." This proved to be one of the principal attractions on the famous Mid-
way, and the stockholders were rewarded with liberal dividends.
After the Fair had closed it was removed to the north side of the city, and re-
erected on North Clark street near Diversey Boulevard, where it was a promi-
nent object in the landscape for some years. Its patronage while in this location
did not meet the expectations of its owners, and when the Louisiana Purchase
Exposition was held at St. Louis, in 1904, the wheel was removed to that point.
It was afterwards broken up and its material sold for old iron.
CONCESSIONS AND PRIVILEGES
The term "concession" was understood to mean "every line of business con-
ducted upon the Exposition grounds for purposes of gain, whether the object of
such business was the comfort of the public or its amusement or entertainment."
Concessionaires were required to pay either on the "bonus" or percentage system.
A "privilege" was granted to exhibitors who, in the process of exhibiting the details
of manufacture of their wares, produced many articles which could be sold to
visitors, in this way lessening their expenses. The latter were not required to
pay as large a proportion from their sales as the former. These sources of revenue
were keenly looked after by the management, and produced returns of over four
millions of dollars, a very handsome and much needed addition to the receipts of
the Fair.
STATUE IN LAKE FRONT PARK
The World's Fair management very generously made a provision for a statue
of Columbus on the Lake Front which in due time appeared mounted on an appro-
86 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
priate pedestal. The figure was of bronze, colossal in size and cost a large sum
of money, but it soon fell under popular condemnation. It was supposed to repre-
sent the great discoverer at the moment when he beheld the shores of the new
world for the first time. The critics were not pleased with the manner in which
he exhibited his emotions, considering that his attitude was lacking in dignity,
that there was an expression of startled surprise in the attitude chosen, instead
of a calm sense of triumph more fitting in such a situation.
Another figure, which was as much lacking in artistic merit, perhaps, as the
one just mentioned, enjoyed a great degree of popularity at that time. It was
that of a goddess with the legend "I Will" displayed on her breast, intended to
represent the spirit and genius of the Chicago people. This, however, was looked
at askance by the art critics and leaders of culture. An amusing suggestion was
made by some wit that the "Lake Front Columbus" and the "I Will" girl ought
to elope together. Columbus did not last very long, and a year or two later was
pulled down from his pedestal and ingloriously flung into the junk heap. But
the "I Will" goddess has survived all unfavorable criticism, and, in the form of
statues and pictures, has been constantly before the eyes of the public to the pres-
ent time. Its first presentation was in the form of a drawing, but it has been often
modeled in clay and cut in stone since that time, and continues to do excellent serv-
ice as one of the stock figures of the cartoonist.
SPECIAL DAYS AT THE FAIR
It was the custom to distinguish certain days during the countinuance of the
Fair by names, which it was supposed would arouse special enthusiasm, and thus
cause an increased attendance. Thus there was an "Illinois day," a "British
Empire day," a "Grand Army day," a "Michigan day," and the like. The twenty-
second anniversary of the great fire occurred on the 9th of October. This day
was set apart as "Chicago day," and it was celebrated by a remarkably large
attendance, amounting to the extraordinary total of 716,881 paid admissions. The
largest attendance on any one day at the World's Fair held in Paris in 1889, was
397,000, which established the record of the highest number of persons ever in
attendance at a World's Fair up to the time of the "Chicago Day" celebration. In
addition to a great number of visitors from elsewhere the people of Chicago turned
out in multitudes.
By railroads, elevated trains, electric cars, cable cars, carriages and every
other sort of vehicle, on foot, in passenger boats, the people poured in all
day and evening at the numerous entrances to the grounds. The celebration of
this day appealed to the pride of almost every inhabitant of the city, and it was
determined to make "Chicago Day" the red-letter day of the Fair. The results
exceeded the most sanguine expectations of the people. While the displays and
amusements were at the height of their attractiveness at that period of the Fair,
the vast concourse of people on that day, moving about on the grounds and in
the buildings, was the greatest sight of all. The broad avenues between the build-
ings were packed, and the buildings were overflowing with humanity, and yet a
more happy and merry lot of human beings was never collected together; the day
fortunately was pleasant and everybody was there to have a good time.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 87
One who entered the Fair on that day, in company with his son then quite a
youth, relates that after passing through one of the side entrances along the Mid-
way, together they proceeded towards the main portion of the grounds, where they
found the crowd had become very great, though it was by no means a tight jam,
as might have been expected where there were so many. Every one seemed to
have room enough to move about comfortably. The two, in their wanderings,
avoided the more popular attractions and spent some time in the Art Palace, where
they rightly judged it would not be so crowded. From there they took a train
on the "Intramural" and rode to the southern part of the grounds. They visited
the great Machinery Hall, where there seemed to be plenty of room for every
one to see what he wished without any undue pressure. Anticipating that there
would be an enormous throng they had expected to have a struggle to proceed any-
where on their tour, and it therefore seemed a surprise to find the passage so
easy. But when it was desired to procure some refreshments at any of the restau-
rants it was then seen what effect the overwhelming crowds had upon those neces-
sary resorts. However, that event had been anticipated as a possibility and they
got along very comfortably with a lunch that they had brought with them, though
obliged to do without the warm drink they wished to procure. The memories of
those days are among the most delightful of the many happy days that the past
holds for us, even though some of them are flecked with shadows. The unprece-
dented attendance, as it was announced in the papers the next day, surprised
every one of the friends of the Fair, and that is as much as saying the whole
population of Chicago. Never, in its history, was there such a deep and strong
flow of enthusiasm as that felt for everything that would make for the success
of the Fair, by the people of Chicago, and indeed of the whole western country.
THE GREATEST DAY OF ALL
"On the anniversary of an unprecedented calamity," wrote Dr. Selim H. Pea-
body, "rehabilitated Chicago showed that she remembered her destruction only
as the day from which to reckon her grandest achievements, and on that day she
passed nearly three-fourths of a million people through the portals of the Expo-
sition. The avenues, the plazas, the buildings, every acre of the great enclosure,
were filled with an ever-moving throng, which was thoroughly responsive to the
inspiration of the occasion and the environment. There was no symbol of con-
trol, for no control was needed. There was no instance of excess, or intoxication,
or disorder. There was no soldiery, and no police other than the uniformed serv-
ants of the Exposition, who were guides rather than guards. This vast multitude,
intelligent, interested, happy, was itself an exposition of the progress and social
status of an educated and free people, moving amid such scenes of beauty and
such treasures of information."
The New York Tribune of the 10th commented on the event as follows: "It
was Chicago's own day, and right royally did she celebrate it. No previous World's
Fair ever saw such a host of people as swarmed in Jackson Park yesterday, and
the world will be considerably older before this unprecedented scene is repeated.
Chicago doesn't do things by halves. She didn't when she erected the splendid
88 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
group of buildings on the lake shore, and of course she didn't on the day set
apart for her own special glorification. Chicago Day was a stupendous success."
Mr. Higinbotham, the president of the Fair, was highly gratified at the result.
"Everything favored the Fair," he said. "The weather was perfect. I was
prepared for a big crowd, but the most extravagant estimate I had made on the
day's attendance did not reach more than 500,000, and I would have been satis-
fied with that figure, for it would then have been the largest number of persons
ever assembled at one time within an enclosure."
There were many other special days during the progress of the Fair, but none
approached the number in attendance on Chicago day. The attendance on the
Fourth of July was 283,273, which up to that time exceeded all previous records.
Other important days in the attendance record were Illinois Day, (August 24th),
243,951; Wisconsin Day, (September 6th), 175,409; Iowa Day (September 21st),
199,174; Indiana Day (September 27th), 196,423; and Manhattan Day (Octo-
ber 21st), 298,928. Some other "days" exceeded even these figures, but the in-
creasing interest among those visitors who had deferred their visits until the late
days of the Fair was largely responsible for the attendance records shown.
ATTENDANCE AT WORLD'S FAIR
The total attendance at the World's Fair for the six months during which it
was open, from May 1st to October 30th, inclusive, was 21,480,141 ; to which
may be added those admitted on passes, officials, workmen, concessioners, and
exhibitors, 6,059,380; making a grand total of attendance 27,539,521. At the
Paris Exposition of 1889, the total attendance was 28,149,353; but as the rates
of admission were lower, their receipts from admissions were only about six mil-
lions of dollars, whereas those of the Chicago Fair were $10,626,330. The at-
tendance at the Chicago Fair far exceeded that of the Centennial Exhibition in
Philadelphia, in 1876, which was 9,910,996; with receipts of $3,813,724.
COMMENTS OF VISITORS
Walter Besant, the English novelist, writing on the Fair, saw in the throngs
at the Fair a class of people representing the average all-around conditions of
American life. "Let us say then," he says, "that the mass of the people are,
apparently, of that very large class who do not possess the highest culture, the
widest knowledge, the finest education or the largest fortunes in a word, the
Average People. It is for them that this Fair has been designed; every national
work must be designed for the Average People ; not for the few at the top or for
the helpless lot in the gutter, but for the Average.
"Let us remember that many of these people belong to that vast country west
and south and northwest of Chicago which is newly settled, newly populated, and
without noble or venerable buildings. Americans of the east are brought up in,
or near, cities which are full of great buildings, some of which are beautiful and
even venerable. Our own people live among the most beautiful village churches
and the most lovely old houses. Our little island is crammed with ancient memories
and places made sacred, even to the rustics, by mere memories. These Average
People have no such surroundings, and no such memories. Here they see, for the
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 89
first time, such buildings as they have never before imagined. These lines of
columns; these many statues standing against the deep, blue sky; these domes;
these carvings and towers and marvels reflected in the waters of the Lagoon will
these People ever forget them? When they have seen at night the innumerable
lines of white electric light; the domes outlined with the yellow light; the electric
fountain ; the illuminations ; the gleaming waters will these weary people from
an unlovely Average village can they ever forget the scene? Never. It will
remain in their minds as the Vision of St. John an actual sight of the New
Jerusalem; all the splendors that the apostle describes they will henceforth under-
stand."
"As for Exhibitions things shown I do not love them. Early in life I was
prejudiced against them. It was this way. ... I was born in good time
for the exhibition of 'fifty-one.' I was taken there as one of a small company
of boys. The visit was designed strictly for instruction. Improvement was 'rubbed
in' as they say in ninety-three during the whole of that long, dull, dreary day.
We were told not to forget this and to make a note of that. I remember it is
forty-two years since that day how wonder and delight quickly gave way to
satiety, and that, in its turn, to utter weariness, and that to silent apathy. . . .
"Exhibitions thus became, to my youthful mind, collections brought together
for the instruction and improvement of youth under the pretense of amusement.
I still regard exhibitions with some prejudice, and I still look around I never
fail to find them for the family party trailing round the galleries; for the weari-
ness of the children's limbs, the dragging of their feet, the set mouth and the glaz-
ing eye. What I have desired all my life is an Exhibition without exhibits, and
at Chicago that great and long-felt want is provided.
"There are, I believe, exhibits provided in the buildings, if you choose to go
and look at them. But you need not. For the uncommercial drummer, the bag-
man without his bags, for one who is not in the least interested in machinery,
processes, and the way in which things are made, there need be no exhibits at all,
and one can meditate undisturbed by the intrusion of exhibits, as long as he
pleases, about and around and among the buildings, and the waters and the
walks of the Fairy palaces beside the lake."
Walter Besant, from whom we have just quoted, says further:
"Those English travelers who have written of Chicago dwell upon its vast
wealth, its ceaseless activity, its enormous blocks of houses and offices, upon every-
thing that is in Chicago except that side of it which is revealed in the World's
Fair. Yes, it is a very busy place; its wealth is boundless, but it has been able to
conceive somehow, and has carried into execution somehow, the greatest and most
poetical dream that we have ever seen. Call it no more the White City on the Lake,
it is Dreamland."
"Then again, the poetry of the thing! Did the conception spring from one
brain, like the Iliad? Were these buildings every one, to the unprofessional eye,
a miracle of beauty thus arranged so as to produce this marvelous effect of beauty
by one master brain, or by many? For never before, in any age, in any country,
has there been so wonderful an arrangement of lovely buildings as at Chicago in
the present year of grace! The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were fine. There
90 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
were some very fine things in Rome, especially when Nero was emperor and
architect, but the common people saw little of his palace. . . . But nowhere,
at any time, has there been presented to the world any group of buildings so
entirely beautiful in themselves and in their arrangement, as this group at Chi-
cago, which they call the World's Fair."
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS
A writer in the Chicago Record's "History of World's Fair," says, "Most of
the visitors to the Fair grounds must have been impressed by the great contrast
between their southern and northern sections. In the first the effect aimed at is that
of the formal, the academic, the ceremonial. In the second, art makes some conces-
sion to nature and the balance and symmetry required by the classic style give way
to an adjustment that permits a free expression of the informal and the pic-
turesque. The southern section is in the hands of New York and Boston. The
northern section, grouped principally around the wooded island and the lagoons,
has been intrusted chiefly to Chicago. The transition between the two sections
begins through the comparative freedom of design noticeable in the Electricity
and Mining Buildings; the new order is apparent in the informal disposition and
independent draughting of the buildings of transportation, horticulture and fish-
eries among others, and reaches its frankest and freest developments among the
various state buildings at the extreme north of the grounds.
"The same principle of easy transition also affects the landscape gardening
and the various waterways. The stately parapets and terraces of the grand
canal and its branches merge gracefully into the picturesque and winding courses
of the lagoons, whose shores are fringed with a growth of aquatic plants. At
one end of the grounds we find straight promenades bordered with formal parterres
of grass and flowers ; at the other end of the grounds visitors may stroll over the
meandering gravel walks that lead through the natural groves of oak."
Charles Dudley Warner, writing in the Hartford Courant in July, said, "To
one who studies the Fair, two things are special causes of wonder. One is that
this marvelous thing could have been erected in the short time it was erected in.
It is safe to say that no other nation could have done it, and it is safe to say
that no other community in all history, except the Chicago community, could
have done it. In no other city in the United States is there the requisite public
spirit, generosity, and headlong energy. I think that this is y perhaps, the greatest
exhibition that America makes at the Fair. It is an achievement, so far as I
know, unparalleled. . . . The other wonderful thing is the mind that is put
into the conception of the scheme and the administrative detail with which it is
carried out. Nothing seems to have been neglected. The more we study the de-
tails of administration in any branch, the more we are impressed with this."
"THIS SURPASSES EVERY DREAM"
Mr. William Dean Howells, writing in the New York Sun of October 22d.
said of the Fair: "It is the greatest thing that ever came into my life. It gives
verity and value to everything. I have not been in Greece, and my conception
of antiquity is rather of the grandeur of Rome than of the glory of Greece, but
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 91
this surpasses every dream. There never was and there may never be again
anything so beautiful. Whatever may be done in the future, such an undertaking
could never have been carried out before in this country, for we had not the tal-
ented men to take hold of it. I think it was such a big conception, that of loosen-
ing the hands of the artists and leaving them free to carry out their own ideas
without cramping them by lack of sufficient means, or narrowing them to some
preconceived idea. There was no niggardly competition, but rather emulation
toward the highest and best. And the result is that the aesthetic interest in the
Fair has quite eclipsed the industrial, which is a great thing for America."
A writer in "Harpers' Weekly" commented as follows: "It may be said without
exaggeration that neither antiquity nor the middle ages nor modern times have
brought forth anything comparable to this majestic architectural harmony." The
writer laments the passing away of all these magnificent structures. "Like a
gorgeous dream of human genius it has arisen, and like a vision it will pass
away. It will live, however, as a glorious memory, and long be spoken of by
this and coming generations as one of the greatest marvels of the closing nineteenth
century."
In closing the account of the wonderful Exposition we realize that whatever
we may have said here of it has been totally inadequate and incomplete, that its
glorious reality far transcends the power of words to describe. W T e have been
able to mention a few things only that seemed to be necessary to give the reader
some faint conception of its beauty, its splendor, its "far-flung line" of glories,
that are a precious memory to every one who beheld them.
Some of those who were filled with the spirit of the vision, in later years were
invited to attend other great expositions; and the remark was often heard from
such persons that, after the Chicago World's Fair, one had no desire to witness
another of the kind that might dim or confuse the impressions there received.
There is a beautiful fable that has come down to us from the ancients, which illus-
trates this desire to remain blind to all further spectacles and oblivious to their
inspirations after a supreme experience of this kind. There was a hunter named
Tiresias, who while wandering upon the side of Mount Helicon, in the heat of
summer, sought to quench his thirst at the fountain called Hippocrene, sacred to
the Muses. At the same moment Pallas Athene, the goddess of W T isdom, called
by the Romans Minerva, in company with another goddess named Chariclo, who was
the mother of the hunter, was also at the fountain; and thus Tiresias ' inadvertently
beheld them. For this he was immediately struck blind, in accordance with the
laws of Saturn which declared that whosoever should behold the gods against
their will should suffer a heavy penalty. When Tiresias had fallen into this
calamity, Chariclo besought Minerva with tears to bestow upon her son some bless-
ing or gift in compensation for his affliction. Minerva therefore endowed Tiresias
with the gift of prophecy and length of days. She even caused his prudence and
wisdom to continue after he had entered among the shades, so that an oracle spake
from his tomb. And hence Nonnus, in his writings, introduces Actaeon exclaim-
ing "that he calls Tiresias happy, since without dying, and with the loss of his
sight merely, he had beheld the goddess Minerva, and thus, though blind, could
forevermore carry her image in his soul."
CHAPTER XL VI
SOME IMPORTANT RESULTS OF THE WORLD'S FAIR
LOCATING THE ART INSTITUTE TERMS OF OCCUPATION OF ITS PRESENT SITE THE
FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM THE CONTRIBUTION OF MARSHALL FIELD CONTRI-
BUTIONS MADE BY OTHERS RELATIONS OF THE MUSEUM WITH THE PARK COMMIS-
SIONERS LOCATING THE MUSEUM FORMATION OF ITS COLLECTION DR. PEA-
BODY'S REVIEW OF THE EXPOSITION THE WORLD'S PROGRESS ILLUSTRATED EDU-
CATIONAL VALUE OF THE EXPOSITION ITS PRACTICAL AND ARTISTIC VALUE
LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS THE ARTISTIC VALUE OF THE
COURT OF HONOR WORLD'S FAIR RETROSPECTIONS PROPOSAL TO CONTINUE THE
FAIR FINALLY DECIDED ADVERSELY DEATH OF THE ELDER MAYOR HARRISON
DEEP GLOOM ON THE CLOSING DAY CAUSED THEREBY A SERIES OF FIRES CONSUME
THE GREAT BUILDINGS AFTER CLOSE OF THE FAIR DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FIRES
SCENES AFTER THE FIRES SEVENTEEN YEARS AFTER THE FAIR.
THE ART INSTITUTE
HAT part of the original plan for locating the whole or part of the Fair
on the Lake Front was finally modified to a contribution towards the
building of the proposed Art Institute on that site. The plans for a
permanent building had been matured by the managers of the Art In-
stitute, and in aid of this the Exposition appropriated two hundred
thousand dollars, with the understanding that the Art Institute, with the assistance
of this appropriation, would construct a building at a cost of six hundred thousand
dollars, which should be used by the World's Congress Auxiliary during the Ex-
position season, and at the close become the property of the Art Institute.
In 1892, the Art Institute, which had been incorporated in 1879, sold its build-
ing on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Van Buren street for $425,000, and
was therefore prepared to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by the Co-
lumbian Exposition to obtain a footing upon the Lake Front. "The Columbian
Exposition had determined to expend $200,000 upon a temporary building upon
the Lake Front to be used for World's Congresses," says Mr. W. M. R. French, in
the historical sketch of the Art Institute, printed in 1904. "It was proposed by
the officers of the Art Institute that they should be allowed to add to this sum such
amounts as they could raise, and erect a permanent building, which, after serving
the purposes of the World's Congresses, should be permanently occupied as a
museum by the Art Institute.
"By city ordinance, passed in March, 1891, permission was given for the erec-
tion of such building upon the Lake Front, opposite Adams street. Between Feb-
92
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 93
ruary, 1892, and May, 1893, the present museum building was completed after the
plans of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, architects. During the construction, an in-
junction was issued, restraining the city from allowing the erection of any build-
ing upon the Lake Front, but it was dissolved upon a rehearing, mainly upon the
ground that the Legislature of Illinois, by an act of 1890, had authorized the city
to permit the erection of buildings connected with the Columbian Exposition upon
the Lake Front, and to retain some of them permanently.
"By this decision, and under circumstances quite exceptional, the Art Institute
was firmly established in its rights upon the Lake Front. The cost of the original
building was $648,000, including two temporary halls removed at the end of the
Fair, costing $27,000. Of this sum the Columbian Exposition paid $200,000, and
the Art Institute $448,000. The money contributed by the Art Institute was raised
partly by the sale of former property and partly by subscription. The ownership of
this building was vested in the City of Chicago, until 1904, when it passed to
the South Park Commissioners, while the right of use and occupation is vested in
the Art Institute so long as it shall fulfill the purposes for which it was organized,
shall open the museum free to the public on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays
and public holidays, shall make the Mayor and Comptroller of the city ex-officio
members of the Board of Trustees, and shall conform to some other simple condi-
tions. This property, comprising four hundred feet front on Michigan avenue, is
exempt from taxation of all kinds. The Art Institute thus in effect made a gift
to the people of the city of the money expended by it upon the building, and gained
a public character very advantageous for the public service at which it aims."
THE FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM
One of the results of the Fair was the formation of the Field Columbian Mu-
seum. Towards its close it was seen that the opportunity for forming a great
museum was a most favorable one. Many of the exhibitors would be willing to
leave valuable articles worthy of a place in a museum, provided there was an or-
ganization formed that would be responsible for their preservation. Many rare ar-
ticles could be purchased at exceedingly low prices, some exhibitors preferring to
take a merely nominal sum rather than to take the trouble of removing them. There
were many beautiful articles shown at the Fair which were uniques, and if not
acquired by an institution here would likely go elsewhere, and disappear from the
view of our people forever. There would never in the future be an opportunity
that- could compare with the present occasion for making a successful start with
an institution of this character.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE MUSEUM
In the month of September, 1893, articles of incorporation of the "Columbian
Museum" were taken out by the following named gentlemen, who had been con-
stituted a committee for that purpose: Messrs. George E. Adams, Emil G. Hirsch,
John A. Roche, Carter H. Harrison, Sidney C. Eastman, Adolphus C. Bartlett,
Edward E. Aver, Robert McCurdy, and Charles Fitzsimmons. On the 26th of
October. Mr. Marshall Field announced that he would give one million dollars
for the purposes of the museum, on certain conditions of contributions to be made
94 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
from other sources. The conditions made by Mr. Field were that $500,000 more
in cash should be secured, and donations of $2,000,000 in stock of the Exposition,
then thought to be worth about ten cents on the dollar. Subsequently, however,
these conditions were waived.
The first Board of Trustees consisted of fifteen members. Their names were
as follows: Norman Williams, Cyrus H. McCormick, Edward E. Aver, Martin
A. Ryerson, George R. Davis, Edwin Walker, George Manierre, Harlow N. Higin-
botham, Owen F. Aldis, William J. Chalmers, George E. Adams, Watson Blair,
Norman B. Ream, Huntington W. Jackson, and Arthur B. Jones. Other large
contributors to the Museum were: George M. Pullman, who gave $100,000, H. N.
Higinbotham, $100,000, and Mrs. George Sturgis, $50,000. In June, 1891, the
name of the institution was changed to the "Field Columbian Museum." This
name remained in use until November, 1905, when it was again changed to the
"Field Museum of Natural History."
By an act of the State Legislature, dated May 14, 1903, the Park authorities
are permitted to levy a tax of half a mill on each dollar of the assessed valuation
of the property in the South Park district for the maintenance of the Museum.
By the terms of the act referred to an admission fee of twenty-five cents for adults,
and ten cents for children under ten years of age may be charged, but the Mu-
seum must be open three days in each week free of charge. Entrance for school
children must be free at all times.
THE LOCATION OF THE MUSEUM
The Art Building had been constructed in a more substantial manner than
most of the other buildings at the Fair, having in view the safety of the priceless
treasures it was to contain. It was regarded as a fire-proof building. This build-
ing was fixed upon as the home of the museum. As the exhibits at the Art Build-
ing were the first to be removed the Museum trustees obtained possession of it
soon after the Exposition closed, under an agreement with the South Park Commis-
sioners, and articles for the Museum were placed there until they could be properly
installed.
Frederick J. F. Skiff was chosen Director of the Museum and the work of
gathering desirable objects began at once. The donations of articles were numer-
ous, indeed exceeding all expectations. The public took an enormous interest in
this splendid sequel of the Exposition just closing, regarding it as a perpetuation
in some sense of the glories of the Fair. Foreigners were large benefactors and
the Museum came at once into possession of a vast number of articles which under
other circumstances it would have taken many years to acquire. With the gener-
ous provision made by Mr. Field and others the plans of the Museum authorities
could be made on a broad scale.
After the gifts of Mr. Field and others for the Museum had been announced,
the news was commented upon by "Harpers' Weekly," of New York, in its editorial
columns, as follows : "What extraordinary givers these Chicago men are ! It is
exhilarating, even at this distance, to see the superb confidence with which they
back up their town. Other cities get bequests now and then, but Chicago's rich
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 95
men have not had time to die, and neither she nor they can wait for that. They
want to see that investment in actual being."
DR. PEABODY'S REVIEW OF THE EXPOSITION
The following extracts from the "History of the World's Columbian Exposi-
tion/' are inserted here, and are from the concluding chapter of that work. This
chapter was written by Dr. Selim H. Peabody, and it is considered by Mr. Higin-
botham as the most satisfactory review of the Exposition in its educational and
moral aspects.
"During the later centuries," writes Dr. Peabody, "the people of lands widely
remote have frequently assembled in large numbers, and for friendly purposes,
but with results as widely divergent as were the inspirations that attracted them.
Many of these gatherings have been essentially commercial." At all times the
question in the minds of those who resorted to them was the amount of profit they
would gain. Fairs, such as were held in various countries of Europe, had the ex-
change of goods as the principal reason of their existence, though it is not denied
that they had an educational value as well ; still this was only incidental and casual.
"The world's great expositions, held within the past half century, have differed
essentially from such fairs in their inception, development, and personality of at-
tendance, and therefore in their results. In them the commercial element, though
never eliminated, has purposely been made subordinate."
The exposition, in general terms, has gradually assumed a new aspect. By a
natural process of selection, only the best is offered for competition, and the ex-
hibits come from wider and remoter regions. "The exposition stands at the meet-
ing of the world's highways, where gather the nations of earth, burdened each with
the evidences of its newest and noblest achievements. It is an epitome of the
world's progress, a history and a prophecy. The latest discoveries, the newest
inventions, the triumphs in art, in science, in education, in the solution of social
and even of religious problems, are here arrayed. Here stand the most effective
dynamo, the swiftest locomotive, the telescope piercing the remotest heavens, the
most productive printing press, the most destructive artillery; machines that spin,
weave, set type, thrash grain, mine coal, drill rock, fashion railway bars; the ar-
tist's dream on canvas or in marble, in clustering column or aspiring dome, in woven
fabric or in decorated vase; the flower's effulgence and the fruit's alluring blush;
all products of the soil, the mine, the sea; whatever testifies to the industry, the
skill, the creative and almost divine power of human thought when stimulated to its
most earnest endeavors. . . . There is a fascination in the enumeration of
such items. In a way, they are properly accepted as indices of the progress they
are supposed to record. They are like the mountain summits towering above the
masses that stand as their foundations. They are like the flashing waves that
run along the sands before the surges of the advancing tide."
THE WORLD'S PROGRESS ILLUSTRATED
"In this presentation of the purposes of a great exposition," continues Dr. Pea-
body, "the subject has been viewed generically, without reference to specific ex-
96 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
amples. To none are these propositions more applicable than to the Columbian
Exposition of 1893, an example as eminently typical as it was fully developed.
The student devoted to any department of research found here his most coveted
opportunity for investigation. The chart of the world's progress was spread be-
fore him. In certain instances, as in the Department of Transportation exhibits,
there was an epitome, not merely of a condition of advanced superiority, but of
all the successive periods passed through, from that of the Appian Way to that of
the bridge over the Forth ; from the experimental Rocket to the Pullman train and
the Empress-Queen locomotive, with all the multitudinous appliances of present
railway practice. Such objective instruction was never before so completely or-
ganized.
"At no former exposition were the earth's folk so numerously represented.
Each quarter of the globe furnished its contingent. Aboriginal tribes came from
the Arctic Zone and from the Southern Ocean; from the heart of Africa and from
the Xorth American forests. The Aryan, the Mongolian, the Semitic, the Malay-
sian, met and mingled, until the Pentecostal miracle was repeated. From all these
exhibits, each typical in its way, might have been arranged the gamut of civiliza-
tion. . . . While the Exposition thus set forth the peculiarities of every land
and every clime, it also illustrated every phase of human progress, from days be-
fore those of the Pharaohs and Confucius to the moment" of its opening.
THE EXPOSITION'S EDUCATIVE VALUE
"Thus, by suggestion rather than by exhaustive analysis, do we discover the
first phase of the educative value of the great Exposition. It was an epitome of
all that was extant in the world as the outcome and the evidence of its advance-
ment in every department of human effort; it was a condensed history of the suc-
cessive epochs through which the human race has pursued its long and toilsome
march toward the realization of its nobler destinies. To this may be referred all
that is implied in the phrase acquisition of knowledge, the boundless opportunity
for laborious examination, note-book in hand, amid a bewildering infinity of ex-
hibits, over which no human being ever won the mastery.
"Education is not instruction so much as it is inspiration. This doctrine is
often stated, commonly accepted, and yet, apparently, is but feebly appreciated.
Educative values, educational results, are to be estimated not by facilities for im-
parting knowledge, but by the power of kindling in the soul its latent energies and
of developing rightly balanced character. Knowledge is power, not per se, but
as the stimulus of thought, or as the material on which the thinking mind may
work. Prometheus bringing fire from heaven typified the true educator.
THE EXPOSITION'S PRACTICAL AND ARTISTIC VALUE
"In numerous instances the history of the great expositions records their power
to startle nations from a fancied security into new and vigorous action. The sur-
prises of the Exposition of 1851 are not forgotten. It was there made evident
that in certain particulars the people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland did not maintain the supremacy which they had long fancied was their
By courtesy of the N. D. Thompson Publishine Co.
THE CALIFORNIA BUILDING
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 97
own, and a commission of Parliament was directed to report upon the facts and
their causes. In due time important educational reforms were instituted, and the
agitation found a responsive echo in the United States, to which may be attributed
the foundation of so many great technological and industrial schools in our country.
"The art exhibits at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 were a revelation to
the masses of the American people, and from them flowed an inspiration that founded
art schools and ingrafted art instruction upon many of our school systems, followed
by a genuine revival of plastic, pictorial, and decorative art that beautifies and en-
riches all our life, public and private. To similar sources of inspiration, found
also in the great expositions, may be traced the new renaissance, which now holds
so strong a place in all enlightened nations.
"In the face of well-remembered maxims that forbid premature reckonings it
may be hazardous to predict any specific educational movement such as has been
cited. But in certain aspects the Exposition was peculiar, and by its peculiarities
its capacity for instruction and inspiration was augmented. Its scheme of organ-
ization was broadened and was carefully differentiated. As it was evident that
no departing visitor could ever boast that he had compassed the whole, it was im-
perative that none should have occasion to lament that nothing therein concerned or
interested him. Proper classification aided the student in finding what he sought,
and that in such a collocation as to make its lessons most impressive. Of the eleven
exposition departments, five had not before been separately organized in a great
exposition. These were the departments of Fisheries, Mines, Transportation, Elec-
tricity, and Ethnology. In each case, to the new department and to that from
which it had been withdrawn, isolation lent an added dignity, a more elaborate ad-
ministration, greater richness of detail, a completer presentation, and a much more
impressive educational value. If by this arrangement exhibits were sometimes
duplicated, it was only that relationships might be more clearly discerned, and
that the ensemble of a department be more perfectly established. This movement
was a step toward a more complete and therefore more desirable method of organi-
zation, which would arrange an exposition by subjects, rather than by states or
nations ; which would collect in one group whatever the world has to offer in any
special field of science, discovery, or invention. For a congeries of many displays
it would substitute one grand and thoroughly organized exposition.
LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS
"The lessons that most impressed the millions who visited the wonders of the
Exposition, which they accepted with greatest unanimity, and which they will
most gladly recall as memory reproduces the events and the scenes of their pil-
grimage, were those taught by the achievements of the landscape gardener and
the architect. Entering upon a spacious area of virgin marsh, occupied only with
alternate ridges of sand and lanes of water, vocal with the boom of the bittern,
or rustling with the soft whirr of the mousing owl, these artists had absolutely
tabula rasa for their work. There were no buildings to be removed, no trees to be
preserved, no elevations to be leveled, no rocks to impede their progress. Did
they wish for a lagoon, a steam dredge entering from the lake and floating in the
channel made by itself readily transferred the sand from beneath to the adjacent
98 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
shore, where the almost fluid material presently assumed the qualities of an un-
yielding foundation. Upon such foundations, with the swiftness of an exhalation,
and with a simulated solidity that appeared to emulate the endurance of the Par-
thenon, they reared a city whose magnificent grandeur was the delight of all na-
tions. Attuned to a perfect harmony, the different edifices were but the varied
tones of one sympathetic chord. There was the deep diapason of the building for
Manufactures and the Liberal Arts; the vox humana and the celeste of Agriculture
and Machinery; the falsetto of Transportation; while the aspiring dome of the
Administration Building, like the commanding resonance of a mighty clarion, dom-
inated and subdued all into one grand accordant strain, whose reverberations still
ring within the memories of man.
"Designed under the influence of a common motive, the buildings presented
that motive as interpreted by vigorous minds, acting independently under no re-
straints but those imposed by a style mutually accepted, a style already made glori-
ous by the genius of two milleniums. The resulting group was such as might have
been designed by the architects of the age of Pericles, builded of Pentelic marble,
adorned by Phidias, and decorated by Apelles. To the visitor who, from the arch
of the Water Gate, saw the Court of Honor under the light of the morning sun,
or from the porches of the Administration Building when the steeds of the Quadriga
were gilded by his setting rays, or from any coign of vantage beneath the soft
effulgence of the midnight moon, came a vision of artistic fitness, perfect, enduring,
uplifting. And at the twilight hour, when the lengthening shadows were penciling
the lagoons, when by sudden and successive impulses electric rays flashed along
the water's edge, along uplifted architrave and gable, and climbed the ribs of the
great dome, crowning it with a coronet of glory; when other lights burst into bril-
liance rivaling the sunshine; when great searching beams, like spectral flails,
thrashed the air, or poured upon groups of statuary a pure, cold whiteness like
that of driven snow; and then when from the caverns of the earth sprang streams
of gleaming color, or the heavens throbbed with the coruscations of jewels that
blazed forth like meteors then the eager and delighted throngs awoke to a full
appreciation of the wondrous things that science has revealed from the arcana of
Nature, and has added to the joys as well as to the utilities of life.
i
BLENDING OF NATURE AND ART
"Nor were such lessons to be learned only in the Court of Honor. By a turn
of the flashing oar the gondola glided from a scene of artistic beauty, that was
nevertheless wholly artificial, to another where Nature seemed to work in her
own profusion. No longer within the restraint of marble walls, the waves washed
grassy slopes and sedgy banks, where tangled thickets grew and wild flowers bloomed
and water fowl concealed their nests. The Wooded Island was equally a creation
of art.
"The millions who wandered through the thoroughfares of Jackson Park, who
skimmed the lagoons in the electric boats and threaded the mazes of the Rose
Garden, and consciously or unconsciously absorbed the beauty and the art re-
vealed by decorated walls and towers and domes, must have carried to their
homes impulses whose beneficial results can hardly be estimated. . . . The
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 99
Exposition will revive among the people of our country, if not of the whole world,
a clearer appreciation of the subtle and satisfying value of classic architecture
and of its perfect adaptation to buildings erected for large public use, where am-
ple space may furnish the perspective necessary to an intelligent understanding of
its harmonies."
WORLD'S FAIR RETROSPECTIONS
In April, 1909, the Chicago Association of Commerce gave a banquet in honor
of the Japanese envoys who were visiting this country to gain information to use
in the conduct of a World's Fair which the Japanese people are preparing for in
1917. On that occasion Mr. H. N. Higinbotham was present and was one of the
principal speakers. In the course of his address he reviewed our own World's
Fair of 1893. "I think I am safe in saying," said he, "that what we sought and
strove to do was more than accomplished. We installed the very best examples in
every department of human endeavor. The landscape gardener and the architect
had the fullest opportunity to do their best. Landscape effects were produced as
if by magic. The Wooded Island sprang into being, a thing of beauty. The Court
of Honor appeared to rise out of the marsh with all the grandeur and loveliness
of the dream of St. John on the island of Patmos.
"The Exposition was really the flower or culmination of the civic pride of the
citizens of this great city. There was no aristocracy in its creation or manage-
ment; it was of and for the people, and the joy and profit was theirs. Those of
us who stood by and carried out their commands were amply repaid by the great
measure of good it accomplished, and the satisfaction everywhere manifested by
those who were at once the creators and the immediate beneficiaries."
The gale of popular enthusiasm which reached its greatest force at the World's
Fair subsided slowly. It gradually blew itself out. It is not likely that another
enterprise of the kind can be inaugurated and carried through for generations to
come, indeed some think never.
PROPOSAL TO CONTINUE THE FAIR
The enthusiasm shown by the people for the Exposition was slow to subside,
and a strong public sentiment in the closing days began to be manifested for the
retention of the buildings in Jackson Park, with a view to reopening them in the
spring following the closing date and continuing the exhibition. Mr. L. J. Gage,
always a wise counsellor, said on this subject: "My instincts are against continu-
ing it. There are several aspects of that side of the question that have struck me
with considerable force. In the first place, the foreign governments would not be
represented as they have been this .year without new action on their part, and in
fact many of the foreign commissioners have been already ordered to remove their
installations to Antwerp to be shown at the exposition there next year. I do not
think we could afford to have a second year of the Fair of a reduced quality. If
the Fair should be carried over I am very much afraid it would be everywhere con-
strued as a purely speculative piece of business, and in fact it would be such. The
high lines on which it has been run would be degraded."
Another consideration was, in Mr. Gage's view, that the country towns would
regard the continuation of the Fair as a grievance, because their people had spent
100 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
their money lavishly in attendance at the Fair, and had been obliged to economize
severely in their home expenditures to the detriment of the local trade, and another
year of it would continue the drain. It was estimated that the visitors spent one
million dollars a day during the continuance of the Fair, which reduced the re-
sources of the people to an alarming extent. "We have made a good record,"
said Mr. Gage. "Chicago has won bright laurels to adorn it in all history. I
should not like to take the risk of soiling them."
Mr. Joseph Medill, editor of the Chicago Tribune, discouraged the idea of
continuing the Fair through another season. "International expositions," said he,
"are not expected to be permanent. They are, of necessity, intended to exist for
a brief period only in any particular city." The official time for closing the Ex-
position had been fixed, and the exhibits would be rapidly removed, leaving only
the buildings without their contents, and it would be almost impossible to fill
them again in anything like the profusion and completeness of the Fair period.
"Chicago has had her day with the Fair," continued Mr. Medill, "and I believe
it would be a mistake to attempt to prolong it. ... I cannot resist the con-
clusion that the show is over, and it is time to ring down the curtain."
The dream for the perpetuation of the glories of the Exposition was referred
to in a letter of Charles Dudley Warner's in an Eastern paper, after the gates
were finally closed: "But is the Fair ended?" he asks. "Not in Chicago," he
continues. "Nothing is ended in Chicago. Every day is a day of new enterprise.
While thousands were thinking, 'what a pity that this vision of beauty by the lake
should vanish,' those men who make Chicago were already recasting a greater fu-
ture for Jackson Park."
The sentiment at first was in favor of reopening the Fair in the following
year, but as this was seen to be impracticable the people were content to build their
hopes upon the magnificent provision for a Museum, the nucleus for which could
be secured from the treasures that exhibitors would dispose of either by sale or
gift. The Art Institute also inherited valuable portions of the art works shown
in the Art Building, so that in the city of Chicago today there are thousands of
reminders of the glorious period of the Exposition.
CLOSING DAYS
"To the management," says the President's Report, "the latter days brought a
sense of great relief, with a feeling of extreme weariness. The debts were paid
and there was a surplus sufficient to pay all expenses of closing, with a million dol-
lars besides to return to the stockholders. The work was done. There was no
more rush and hurry, for the battle was over. Nevertheless there was sadness in
every heart as it became realized that the great Exposition was to be closed and
removed, and that the waste place which had blossomed and grown so beautiful
would soon become almost as barren as it had been at first." Again says the Re-
port in its summing up of the Exposition's glorious career, "With all its short-
comings and failures, with all the false rumors and sensational reports, with the
shortness of time, with the heavy financial burden and the coldness and lack of
sympathy of the National Government, notwithstanding these and many other
difficulties, our Exposition stamped itself indelibly upon the closing years of the
By courtesy of the N. D. Thompson Publishing Co.
VIEW OF THE WOODED ISLAND WITH DOME OP THE HORTICULTURAL
HALL IN THE DISTANCE
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 101
Nineteenth century, and has left a mark upon our times, particularly in matters
of taste and refinement, that seems to grow deeper as the Exposition vanishes into
the past."
"We are turning our backs upon the fairest dream of civilization," said Dr.
Barrows, at the closing of the Exposition, "and are about to consign it to the
dust. It is like the death of a dear friend. It is like bidding farewell to one's
youth. It is like all those times in the life of a man when the thoughts of the
present are choked with the emotions of the past. At such times the call of duty
alone can uplift the heart and arouse it to meet the things that are yet to come.
That call is upon each one of us now. It echoes in the hearts of all that have
been touched by these wonders which God has brought to pass. It bids us learn
the lessons of the past season to the everlasting benefit of ourselves and our chil-
dren. It bids us to appropriate to ourselves the imperishable parts of this high
feast of the arts, industries, and sciences, and so embalm them in Memory's treas-
ure house that they may be best preserved, and produce the largest fruits in the
generations to come."
THE DEATH OF MAYOR HARRISON
On Saturday evening, October 28, 1893, Carter H. Harrison, Mayor of the
City of Chicago, was shot and killed by an assassin on the threshold of his own
home. This tragic event, an account of which is more fully given elsewhere, spread
a pall of gloom over the closing days of the Exposition. It had been intended that
on the last day of the Exposition, a programme of exercises appropriate to the oc-
casion should be carried out; but all the plans that had been formed were sus-
pended, and it was publicly announced that the programme had been abandoned.
Instead, a meeting was held at which were present the officials and members of
the Commission and Directory, and resolutions were adopted expressive of the
sorrow felt by all in the presence of this terrible tragedy just as the closing hours
of the Exposition had arrived. "Nothing has ever occurred in our midst," said
the preamble, "that has so disturbed and distressed our citizens as the very wicked
and wanton termination of the life of Hon. Carter H. Harrison. In the vigor of
life, ... in the enjoyment of the confidence and esteem of all, in the quiet
evening of a day with its duties done, he sought rest only to be aroused by the
rude entrance of an assassin bent on his destruction for a grievance wholly im-
aginary. The tranquillity of the city has been shaken as if by an earthquake."
The sense of the meeting was further expressed in these words of appreciation
of Mr. Harrison's character: "No official has done more to impress on the Ex-
position its true character of generous rivalry among nations and individuals in all
things that tend to national prosperity and international brotherhood, and none in
his representative capacity could have more thoroughly attested the generous hos-
pitality of this city whose chief magistrate he was."
The last day of the Exposition was marked by the display of flags at half
mast, and an entire absence of anything like festivity, in view of the great bereave-
ment thus suffered by the people of Chicago. "What would otherwise have been
one of the most notable days of the Exposition," says the History, "passed in com-
parative silence and sadness. All the pageants, both land and water, and the grand
spectacular effects that were to have marked the close, were abandoned, and the
102 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
day ended with the firing of the national salute and the lowering of the flags at
sunset."
As the closing moment of the Exposition arrived the flags were hauled down
from the flagstaffs on the Administration Plaza, amid an assemblage of silent
spectators. "The great flags had been at half mast on the graceful standards upon
the Plaza all day," says the Report, "on account of the recent tragedy. At sun-
set they were silently lowered to the ground and their folds fluttered down upon
the multitude beneath, where they were gathered up by the employes and borne
into the building, while the bystanders stood with uncovered heads. Many of
those who witnessed this simple act could not restrain tears of 'sorrow for the sad
ending of the glorious Exposition."
Mr. Charles Dudley Warner, writing in "Harpers' Weekly" and commenting
upon the gloom which had enveloped the closing hours of the Exposition, said:
"There is always a touch of tragedy in the career of Chicago. It is the pathetic
penalty of great achievement. In the hour of triumph is the note of sorrow. It
seems to be the law that there shall be no success without sacrifice, and it is the
sacrifice as much as the heroism that consecrates. The history of this marvelous
city is a record of suffering nobly endured, of disasters made the stepping stones
of unexampled progress. Destiny has always some surprise in store for her, and
if in the opinion of the world she is the child of fortune, there is the inevitable
note of pathos in her life, without which no man and no city is taken to the heart
of the world."
FIRES SUBSEQUENT TO THE FAIR
As we have seen, there was but one fire of .importance during the Fair, that
being the destruction of the Cold Storage building on the 10th of July, with the
loss of many lives. After the Fair had closed the exhibitors rapidly removed their
goods, and the buildings were thus left after a time without occupants. The care
of the buildings was left to the Columbian Guards who were still in service. There
was naturally a fear that fires would be started among the great empty buildings.
The first of the series of fires, which eventually destroyed nearly all of the large
Fair buildings, occurred on the 8th of January, 1894. "This fire," quoting from
the report, "originated in the Casino, which, together with the Peristyle and the
Music Hall, was completely destroyed. The fire communicated to the wooden
promenade on the roof of the Manufactures Building, and this walk was consumed
for several hundred feet. The fire was finally extinguished, but not until some ex-
hibits which had not been removed had been damaged by falling sparks and brands,
or by water used to quench the flames. For some time after this, fires broke out
very frequently, indeed almost daily, justifying the suspicion that they were of
incendiary origin."
One morning in the following February, the Colonnade at the end of the
transverse canal opening out of the Grand Basin towards the south was discovered
to be on fire. The fire department arrived promptly on the scene after wading
through a deep snow which greatly impeded progress. The extent of the
conflagration was confined to the Colonnade, and the great Agricultural Building
and the Machinery Hall connecting at either end of it escaped for the time being.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 103
It was no doubt the work of an incendiary whose purpose could only have been the
witnessing of the spectacle it would have created.
In the meantime officers of the Exposition endeavored to sell the buildings, and
had succeeded' in disposing of quite a number. During the following summer, how-
ever, the fire-fiend anticipated the work of removal. On the evening of the 5th
of July, 1894, the year following the Fair, the great destruction of buildings oc-
curred. About six o'clock in the evening a fire was discovered in the Terminal
building, just west of the Administration building, and though a prompt response
by the fire department followed, the flames quickly enveloped the big railroad sta-
tion and soon it was observed that the Administration Building was on fire. The
blaze started at the base of the dome and quickly burned through, while the intense
draft from the interior made the dome in a few minutes a roaring furnace. It
was not long before smoke was seen issuing from the top followed by a roar, as a
long tongue of flame shot into the air. The spectators waited for the collapse and
in ten minutes it came. Using the language of the Tribune reporter, "There was
a sort of a shifting of motion around the base of the dome and then the monster
'dream in gold and white' tottered, stood still for an instant, and then shut up as
if it were a huge accordion." .
Brands from the Administration Building flew across the space and soon the
Electricity Building and the Mines Building were seen to be in flames. The mo-
ment that the blaze got inside of the Mines Building it seemed to shoot the entire
length of the interior with the speed of an express train, and in a few seconds it
was a roaring furnace. Then there was an explosion, and one-half of the roof
and wall on the west side were blown outward. This gave full play to the flames
and it was not long before all that was left were rows of red hot columns standing
upright in the air and one by one slowly falling into the ruins.
DESTRUCTION OF THE GREAT MANUFACTURES BUILDING
By this time the Manufactures Building was on fire, at the south end. It took
an hour to destroy this huge building. The roof was the first to burn, and in the
progress of the fire the great girders were exposed to view. These held their posi-
tions for a time, but soon they began to sway, and, with a roar that sounded like a
battery of artillery, half of the monster roof fell into the fiery furnace. The walls
fell in directly afterwards. "Occasionally a tall pillar reached its way up through
the fire and smoke as if it would defy the destroyer, but its reign was brief. Its
base was soon melted and it followed its fellows into the burning mass."
Meantime on the other side of the Court of Honor the fire had pursued its re-
sistless course and Machinery Hall and the Agricultural Building were quickly con-
sumed. The papers of the following day contained graphic descriptions of the
great conflagration, but it was noticed that no feeling of regret was shown by the
people over the destruction and loss of the World's Fair buildings. They had
served their purpose and their mission was fulfilled; their final disposition had be-
come an embarassment to the officers of the Exposition. And while the fire did not
by any means sweep away all the buildings on the grounds, the greatest and most
difficult to dispose of had been laid low in a few hours, though in such a tangled
mass of wreckage that it was still a matter of great difficulty to clear away the
104 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
ruins. It was a matter of great satisfaction that the fire had not reached as far
as the Art Building, now changed in its use to that of the Field Columbian Museum,
containing vast treasures.
As a spectacle this fire exceeded anything of the kind that had occurred since
the Great Fire of 1871. After darkness had set in the glow of the fire could be
seen to a great distance. People in Waukegan, forty-three miles away, could plainly
see the light of the fire. In the city hundreds of persons went to the upper stories
of the tall buildings in the down town district to watch the spectacle, and many
took cars to the south part of the city in order to obtain a closer view. The masses
of spectators in the grounds found a favorable point of observation at the Wooded
Island, which was crowded with people. From that point the destruction of the
Manufactures building could be seen to the best advantage.
"A grand, a glorious ending," says the report in the Tribune, "was the ex-
pressed sentiment of the great crowd that witnessed the forest of fire." The one
hundred thousand people congregated made the trip leisurely to Jackson Park, and
good naturedly walked around viewing the sight from different points. After a
time the thousands became settled in favored spots and quietly gazed upon the
magnificent destruction, much as they gazed at the fireworks display of the
previous summer. "There was no regret, rather a feeling of pleasure, that the
great buildings had been consumed by fire, and had not fallen a prey to the
wreckers."
SCENES AFTER THE FAIR
The melancholy desolation that pervaded the landscape after the fire saddened
and oppressed the beholder. A few days thereafter a visitor to the scene describes
his impressions. It was less than one year after the great Exposition had closed,
and the visitor was still under the spell of its memories. "Of the palaces that
fringe the Court of Honor," he writes, "including the Administration Building,
which used to wear its electric-studded dome at night as if it were a tiara, there
is no vestige, not even a broken column to serve as monument. But there is one
gleam of gold in that desolate landscape. It is the statue of the Republic, which
the leveling of all the palaces has left in magnificent exposure. By it rises a ros-
tral column supporting a statue of Neptune, a column fretted with the prows of
Roman galleys a column such as some victorious Emperor raised in Rome to
commemorate his triumph. . . .
"Where the vast Manufactures Building once reposed its mammoth length not
one of its great columns and arches remains. Not one of those walls which might
have sheltered armies was left standing. The huge iron framework has shriveled
into something which looks like the backbone of a leviathan retaining the contor-
tions of its death agony."
SEVENTEEN YEARS AFTER
An echo of the Exposition is found in an address made by Thomas Nelson Page
in December, 1910, before the convention of the American Civic Association in
Washington, D. C. He characterized the "White City" of the World's Columbian
Exposition as "the real beginning and the inspiration for a new era of art and
architecture in this country." The speaker looked back to the state of architec-
ture as it existed in the time previous to the Exposition. "Out of the worst period
RESIDENCE OF IIARLOW X. HIGINBOTHAM
RESIDENCE OF MRS. POTTER PALMER
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 105
of American architecture," said Mr. Page, "when we had all gone wild about
mansard roofing and the Queen Anne style, there suddenly arose a city within a
city, a city like a dream. Chicago, the parent city, had been regarded as the very
center of commercialism, but it gave birth to the 'White City' which sprang up on
the shores of Lake Michigan. The great Exposition which it housed was supposed
to represent the triumphs of commerce and of trade, but in its planning and con-
struction the White City really did represent the greatest example of modern genius."
The great impetus given to the World's Peace Movement by means of Mr.
Andrew Carnegie's gift of ten millions of dollars as an endowment for this pur-
pose, was commented upon by Mr. H. N. Higinbotham in an address made on the
18th of December, 1910, in Chicago. Mr. Higinbotham recalled the work of the
World's Congresses at the Exposition, which he regarded "as the sowing of the
seed that resulted in the beautiful flower of Mr. Andrew Carnegie's munificent en-
dowment, the fruitage of which will undoubtedly be 'Universal Peace in all the
Earth.' " Further, referring to Mr. Page's address in Washington Mr. Higin-
botham said: "Thomas Nelson Page has most graciously acknowledged that our
World's Columbian Exposition was an inspiration in architecture, a dream city
that will never die; although as a material entity it disappeared even more quickly
than it sprang into being."
CHAPTER XLVJI
SANITARY DISTRICT
FIRST MOVEMENT FOR DRAINAGE CHANNEL PROBLEM OF SEWAGE DISPOSAL FLOOD
DISCHARGES COMPLICATE THE PROBLEM COUNCIL TAKES ACTION COMMISSION
AUTHORIZED ENGINEERS APPOINTED REPORT OF THE ENGINEERS ESTIMATES OF
COST WATER POWER CONSIDERED PURE DRINKING WATER ASSURED COMMITTEE
APPOINTED BY THE LEGISLATURE LAW CREATING SANITARY DISTRICT ENACTED IN
1889- PROVISIONS OF THE ACT JUDGE KURD'S SERVICES SANITARY DISTRICT
BEGINS LEGAL EXISTENCE BOARD OF TRUSTEES ELECTED BOUNDARIES OF DISTRICT
TOPOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT DIVIDE THE CHICAGO AND DESPLAINES RIVER LY-
MAN E. COOLEY FIRST ENGINEER COOLEY's REPORT AND RESIGNATION- FREQUENT
CHANGES OF ENGINEERS "SHOVEL DAY," SEPTEMBER 3, 1892 FIRST EARTH
TURNED BY PRESIDENT WENTER WENTER's ADDRESS OTHER ADDRESSES SEVEN
YEARS OF CONSTRUCTION WORK I8HAM RANDOLPH BECOMES CHIEF ENGINEER
JUNE 7, 1893 SANITARY CANAL OPENED JANUARY 2, 1900 THE GOVERNOR'S
PERMIT DETAILS OF THE OPENING GREAT PUBLIC INTEREST IN THE EVENT.
FIRST MOVEMENT FOR DRAINAGE CHANNEL
HE Citizens' Association of Chicago, through the newspapers and printed
pamphlets, began, in 1880, the work of creating and fostering a public
sentiment which demanded better drainage for the city. Expert exam-
inations were made by the association and their results made public,
and although the suggestions made by the association were not always
practical, "they kept the people thinking, a very useful preliminary to public legis-
lation." Of the various plans proposed the one which received the approval of
the committee on drainage, appointed by the association, provided for the con-
struction of an entirely new canal or channel, to be called "New River," to start
from the West fork of the South Branch, running between the old canal and the
Desplaines river and ending at Joliet, a distance of thirty-one and a half miles.
To carry out this project would require legislative action creating a drainage dis-
trict. The estimated cost of the New River was nearly seven millions of dollars.
The Fullerton avenue conduit, something over two miles long, was completed
in 1880. It was a brick tunnel twelve feet in diameter, built along Fullerton ave-
nue from the lake to the North Branch. Pumping machinery was placed at the
river end and water could be pumped into the river from the lake or into the lake
from the river as might be required. This conduit, however, was not able to keep
the North Branch clear of offensive sewage; for even after it was finished and at
work the sewage in that stream continued to increase. It was found that more ef-
106
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 107
ficient means for flushing the North Branch must be provided, though this problem
has had to wait many years for its solution.
The extraordinarily rapid growth of the cit> with the consequent greatly in-
creased discharge of sewage soon made it evident that the Illinois and Michigan
canal was utterly inadequate as a channel of drainage. Early in August, 1885,
si heavy flood on the Desplaines swept over the divide into the South Branch and
carried the entire contents of the river out into the lake. The pollution of the city
water supply was so intolerable that action was hastened to remedy the drainage
conditions. Another committee made a report soon after the flood occurred. This
committee was composed of Ossian Guthrie, Lyman E. Cooley, F. W. Reilly, Will-
iam Rutherford, Charles A. McDonald, David Bradley, J. J. Glessner, and Ed-
win I.ee Brown. In the report of this committee it was stated that the water of
Lake Michigan in its natural condition was perfectly satisfactory, but that the
water supply of the city was frequently, and during considerable periods of time,
dangerously contaminated; and that the river water and sewage have, on several
occasions, reached the crib "in an unbroken flow;" and attention was called to
the danger in the future from such "flood discharges." The closing of the Ogden-
Wentworth ditch permanently was recommended. "For ten years at least," said
the committee, "the ordinary flow of the Desplaines from a watershed of many
hundred square miles has come to Chicago to complicate her main drainage and
render the canal ineffective; and with each year larger proportions of flood waters
find their outlet in this direction, threatening a complete diversion at an early day,
unless remedial measures are adopted." This committee concluded its report by
urging the appointment of an expert Commission whose duty it should be to make
an exhaustive investigation of the whole subject of sewage disposal.
ACTION BY THE COMMON COUNCIL
The great interest in the matter taken by the Chicago Citizen's Association, to-
gether with the urgent appeals of the press, prompted the City Council to pass
a resolution authorizing the creation of a "Drainage and Water Supply Commis-
sion." This resolution was adopted on January 27, 1886. Heretofore all the
committees had been of a private character, and their reports made to a private
organization. But now the first official step was taken by the Chicago Common
Council in the movement which resulted in the excavation of the great Drainage
Canal, one of the greatest engineering achievements of the nineteenth century.
We shall feel justified, in view of the importance of the subject, in giving the full
text of the preambles and resolution adopted by the Council.
TEXT OF RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING COMMISSION
"Whereas, Pure water and scientific drainage are necessities of this community,
and the people demand a system of water supply and drainage adequate to meet
the requirements not only of the present, but of years to come, nor will any tem-
porary expedient or makeshift satisfy them ; and
"Whereas, A thorough and permanent system of supplying pure water to our
citizens and caring for the drainage of the municipality cannot be paid for out of
current taxation, therefore it is desired that a plan shall be devised and perfected
108 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
before the next meeting of the Legislature to the end that necessary legislation may
be had.
"For the purpose of carrying into effect the objects sought, there is recom-
mended the appointment by the Mayor of a Commission to consist of one expert
engineer, whose reputation is so high that his opinion and report will command the
respect of the community, and with him one or two consulting engineers of like
experience in engineering and sanitary matters. The duty of this Drainage and
Water Supply Commission, made up as above set forth, should be to consider all
plans relating to drainage and water supply which may be brought to its attention ;
to make such examinations and investigations and surveys as may be deemed neces-
sary ; to collect all information bearing on this problem ; to consider all recent de-
velopments in the matter of sewage disposal, and their application to our present
and future needs; to consider and meet the necessity of increasing our water sup-
ply and of protecting the same from contamination ; to remedy our present inade-
quate methods of drainage and sewage disposal; to consider the relations of any
system proposed to adjacent districts, and whether there may not be a union be-
tween the city and its suburbs to solve the great problem; to determine the great
question as to the interest which the State and the United States may have in the
disposal of sewage by way of the Illinois river; to devise plans to meet any ob-
jections thereto, if such a system shall be thought best; and, in general, to con-
sider and report upon any and all things which relate to the matter of water sup-
ply and drainage of the City of Chicago.
"The Commission should report on the whole matter committed to it in the
most full and comprehensive manner, with maps, plans and diagrams complete, and
accompany the report with estimates of the first cost and annual requirements for
the maintenance of the system proposed.
"The report of the Commission should be made as early as practicable, and
not later than the convening of the next session of the Illinois Legislature, in
January, 1887.
"In consideration of the foregoing, be it
"Resolved, That the Mayor be and he is hereby authorized and directed to
employ on behalf of the city one expert engineer of reputation and experience in
engineering and sanitary matters, at a salary not to exceed ten thousand dollars
per annum, and also to employ such consulting engineers, not exceeding two in
number, as may seem necessary, and such assistant engineers as may be required,
all to be paid according to services rendered, for the purpose of carrying out the
objects set forth in the preamble hereto. For the fees of said assistant engineers
and for all expenses connected with said work there shall be allowed not to ex-
ceed the sum of twenty thousand dollars. All fees, salaries and expenses connected
with said work shall not exceed in the aggregate the sum of thirty thousand dol-
lars, and the same shall be paid from the water fund of the city upon vouchers
audited by the Mayor and City Comptroller."
APPOINTMENTS ON THE COMMISSION
Mayor Carter H. Harrison appointed Rudolph Hering as chief engineer, Bene-
zette Williams and Samuel G. Artingstall as consulting engineers, these three
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 109
constituting the Drainage and Water Supply Commission. Mr. Hering entered
upon his duties on the 28th of March; Mr. Williams on the 17th of September, and
Mr. Artingstall on the 21st of December, 1886.
The Commission made a report in January, 1887, as required by the Coun-
cil's resolution. It is signed by the three engineers above named. "The investi-
gation designated by the resolution," says the report, "was a formidable one, com-
prising no less a task than the consideration of the entire subject of the future
water supply and drainage of Chicago. It appeared doubtful from the beginning
that a report such as was demanded could be furnished within the specified time,
for the simple reason, if for no other, that observations of the lake phenomena, and
of the flow of certain rivers, should be extended over at least one year, covering
four consecutive seasons, in order to draw satisfactory deductions."
ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF THE REPORT
From a great variety of plans and suggestions offered and considered in pre-
vious reports, newspaper discussions and personal observations, added to the spe-
cial investigations made by themselves, the engineers of the Commission were able
to recommend a coherent, consistent and practicable plan, which in the main was
the one finally adopted. In their report the whole subject was considered, the
faults and shortcomings of previous methods condemned, the future growth of
the city and its requirements outlined, and a large and comprehensive treatment
of the problem insisted upon. One branch of their investigation extended "to the
elements governing the proper size for the waterway from which a larger propor-
tion of the storm water has been excluded. The area still draining into it will
consist largely of paved streets and roofs, allowing of no absorption and shedding
the water rapidly. It requires a careful consideration," says the report, "to de-
termine the maximum quantity of water that may enter the proposed channel, and
for which an ample allowance must be made to prevent a back flow of the pol-
luted water to the lake.
"The proper degree of sewage dilution in the new channel demanded a careful
investigation," continues the report. "When sewage is mingled with a sufficiently
large quantity of water it not only becomes inoffensive, but readily finds the oxy-
gen which gradually purifies it." Then follows an estimate of the volume of wa-
ter that the proposed channel should carry in order to afford a proper degree of
dilution. "We have assumed," say the engineers, "thirty-six hundred square feet
for the cross section, and a velocity of the water three feet per second, or two
miles per hour. This gives a discharge of six hundred thousand cubic feet of water
per minute, or twenty-four thousand cubic feet for each one hundred thousand per-
sons, which we believe equal to the requirements of a population of two and a
half millions of people."
The cost of the proposed channel then became the subject of consideration in
the report. Following a detailed series of estimates for separate parts of the
work, the report continues: "The total cost of the Desplaines drainage project
would therefore be, for the main district, between twenty million, two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars, and twenty-four million, five hundred and fifty thousand
dollars." Further the report says: "Besides the economical advantages of the
110 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
Desplaines scheme, its superiority is still further emphasized by advantages of
another kind. The proposed canal will, from its necessary dimensions and its regu-
lar discharge, produce a magnificent waterway between Chicago and the Mississippi
river, suitable for the navigation of boats having as much as two thousand tons
burden. It will establish an available water power between Lockport and Mar-
seilles fully twice as large as that of the Mississippi river at Minneapolis, which
will be of great commercial value to the state."
COMPARED WITH PRESENT CONDITIONS
This vision of the future may be compared, in passing, with the actual condi-
tions of to-day. Mr. Robert R. McCormick, President of the Board of Trustees
of the Sanitary District, in his message to the Board, for the year 1909, says that
for a distance of thirty-two and four-tenths miles the canal "is an absolute arti-
ficial waterway, carved out of the prairie, or built above ground," that "the south
nineteen and eleven one-hundredths miles of the canal runs through solid rock,
where it is one hundred and sixty feet wide on the bottom, with vertical sides, and
approximately twenty-six feet deep." Following this statement he says, in ref-
erence to the plan of making use of the canal for navigation purposes, the favorite
idea entertained by the projectors, "One familiar with the channel and with the
handling of ships cannot but wonder how ships of the lake-going class, or the kind
which need movable draws to pass by bridges, will ever go as far as Lockport. The
cut through the rock, as has been said above, is one hundred and sixty feet in
width. The modern freighter, shall we say, is five hundred feet long and fifty
feet broad. The current through the rock section will be two and one-half miles
per hour. Imagine one of these ships lying at the dock, increasing the current
to three miles an hour. Imagine a stiff breeze across the channel, and the dif-
ficulty with which a ship moving down stream will pass. Imagine the rock section
lined with docked ships and imagine the passage. Or even if no ships are tied
to the dock what shipowner will wish a five hundred thousand dollar vessel to
steam against a current of three miles to the hour, when a sheer of fifty feet to
either side will destroy this property?"
This eminently practical view of the subject is always ignored by the philoso-
phers who write to the papers, or make speeches on the uses of the great channel
as a waterway between the lakes and the Mississippi.
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS OF THE REPORT
The report of the engineers included the following passage: "In reaching the
conclusion that the sewage of the city should be discharged into the Mississippi
valley, the question of water supply is materially simplified, because the lake will
then at all times furnish good water wherever intakes are desired for an exten-
sion of the works. . . . With the sewage kept out of the lake, there is no
need of locating the intake farther than two miles from the shore, where water
can be obtained sufficiently free from suspended earthy matter, and where a depth
of about thirty feet is generally found, which is the least depth desirable for a
submerged inlet."
When the commission approached the close of their exhaustive report, pre-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 111
senting the results of the investigations upon which their conclusions had been
based, "indicating the general solution of the Chicago drainage and water sup-
ply problem," they suggested the manner of its control and management. "We
desire to state," said the engineers, "that, in 'order to reach the best results, it is
imperative to have all the main drainage works, such as intercepting sewers, wa-
terways and pumping stations, executed and maintained under a single manage-
ment." The plan here suggested of placing the water supply and the drainage sys-
tems under one management, seemed, to the members of the Commission, a prac-
ticable method, but, as we shall see, this plan was modified in the legislation fol-
lowing the presentation of the report. In the main, however, the engineers compos-
ing the Commission marked out the best method of dealing with the problem, which
essentially was followed in the plans finally adopted. Referring to this report,
Mr. Lyman E. Cooley in his work entitled "The Lakes and Gulf Waterway," pub-
lished in 1890, said that "the available data had been practically exhausted by
the labors of the Drainage and Water Supply Commission . . . and was made
full use of in maturing the present law." This law will be referred to presently.
The drainage question in Chicago has always been bound up with that of the
water supply, it being necessary to consider the two subjects together. In this
respect the problem has been different from the problems usually presented in
other great cities where the one question is not involved with the other. At this
time perhaps no city in the world has so complete and thorough a drainage system
as' Chicago has, but it is likely that we would never have expended the enormous
sums to accomplish it that we have done if our people had not been driven to it by
the necessity of maintaining a pure water supply.
THE LEGISLATURE APPOINTS A COMMITTEE
A few months after the report of the engineers had been made to the Chicago
Common Council in January, 1887, the Illinois State Legislature adopted a resolu-
tion providing for the appointment of a committee of five, whose duty was to ex-
amine and report upon the subject of the drainage of Chicago and its suburbs to
the next session of the Legislature. This committee consisted of B. A. Eckhardt,
John A. Roche, and Thomas C. MacMillan, of Chicago, Andrew J. Bell, of Peoria,
and Thomas H. Riley of Joliet. "If such commission," said the resolution, "shall
find upon investigation that the most practicable solution of the problem is in the
construction of a waterway for the sewage from Chicago to the Desplaines River
at or near Joliet, the commission shall report what requirements should be made
as to the construction of such waterway, and the dilution of such sewage for the
protection of the health and comfort of the people along the Desplaines River
at and below Joliet."
During the two following years the committee, or Commission (either term
being employed indifferently), held many public meetings and had many confer-
ences with the people living in the Desplaines and Illinois river valleys. As a
result of this interchange of opinion, together with a careful study of the needs
of the city of Chicago and the welfare of the inhabitants of the river valleys, and
with the aid of the best legal counsel, a bill was reported in the legislature on
February 1, 1889, entitled "An Act creating the Chicago Sanitary District." The
112 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
committee stated in their report, accompanying the bill, that it had "visited and
surveyed the territory sought to be improved," had held conferences "with the
representatives from all the leading cities, towns and villages affected," and had
found an earnest spirit "manifested to aid in the solution of this important prob-
lem." The committee concluded their report as follows: "The plan agreed upon
by the commission, as set forth in detail in the bill which accompanies this report,
is believed by the commission to be the most feasible, practicable and satisfactory
method for all the varied interests involved."
During the time that the bill was under consideration by the legislature, "argu-
ments for and against it were heard from prominent citizens of Chicago and towns
in the interior of the State. A delegation of citizens was sent from Joliet to
Springfield to urge the passage of the bill, and resolutions advocating its passage
were adopted by the business men of Marseilles and forwarded to the House." 1
The bill was passed by the legislature and received the governor's signature on
May 29th, and became effective July 1, 1889.
JUDGE HURD'S SERVICES
The man who was most efficient in the preparation of the law creating the Sani-
tary District was Mr. Harvey B. Hurd of Evanston. The "best legal counsel,"
mentioned in the report of the Commission, referred to him. Mr. Hurd was called
"Judge," out of respect for his legal attainments. He never held the office of
Judge, though he was once an unsuccessful candidate for the Supreme bench.
Judge Hurd unselfishly gave his time and talents to the formative work of the
Sanitary District, which was followed by the construction of the Sanitary Canal.
He never charged the District one cent for his services, and never received from
it a fee of any kind. From an early period he had taken a deep interest in mat-
ters affecting drainage of large districts, ~>nd, as far back as 1855, he was the
moving spirit in the work of draining the low prairie lands west of Evanston.
In the preparation of the bill for the organization of the Sanitary District, it
was Judge Hurd who advised the plan of a separate taxing body or municipality
whose object should be "the maintenance of a common outlet for the drainage" of
an area, which "will conduce to the preservation of the public health." The
City of Chicago was unable to finance so large an undertaking as would be in-
volved in the construction of adequate drainage works, and hence this device of a
separate municipality, with independent powers of taxation and issuance of bonds,
became necessary in order to make possible the raising of adequate funds for the
purposes contemplated. So well had the plan been considered and so soundly
was it based on fundamental principles of law, that the legislation creating the
Sanitary District has stood every legal test which was afterwards applied to it,
as the decisions of the Illinois Supreme Court show. In its progress through
the Legislature the bill was known as the "Hurd bill," and to Judge Hurd must
be given the credit and glory of this splendid legislation; the people of Chicago
are under lasting obligations to him for the services he performed during its
initial stages.
1 Brown, History of the Drainage Channel, p. 376.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 113
In an obituary notice printed in the Chicago Legal News for January 20, 1906,
soon after Judge Kurd's death, the following passage occurs. "Mr. Hurd has
the credit of being the father of the new drainage system of Chicago. While
he did not first suggest such a channel, he was, without doubt, the author of the
plan of creating a Municipal district of the city of Chicago- the Chicago Sani-
tary District and getting it adopted. He was the author of the first bill on the
subject introduced into the Legislature in 1886, known as the- Hurd bill, which
resulted in a legislative commission to investigate further the subject and pre-
sent a bill. The bill, reported by that commission, passed in 1889, although it
differed in some respects from the original Hurd bill, was in the main the same."
THE SANITARY DISTRICT BEGINS LEGAL EXISTENCE
Under the Constitution of Illinois special legislation is prohibited. Hence the
language of the act is general, and intended to meet a certain set of conditions.
"Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois," begins the act, "That when-
ever any area of contiguous territory within the limits of a single county shall
contain two or more incorporated cities, towns or villages and shall be so situated
that the maintenance of a common outlet for the drainage thereof will conduce to
the preservation of the public health, the same may be incorporated as a sanitary
district under this act."
The manner in which the preliminary steps are to be taken is then specified.
A petition to form such a district must be signed by five thousand voters, an elec-
tion is to be held, and, in case a majority of the voters approve of its formation,
it "shall thenceforth be deemed an organized sanitary district under this act."
The petition was to be addressed to the county judge, who would then direct the
preliminaries.
In accordance with the law a drainage district within the limits of Cook County
was outlined and its boundaries indicated. More than the requisite five thousand
signatures were readily obtained, and the County Judge, Honorable Richard Pren-
dergast, ordered an election to be held November 5, 1889. The vote was as fol-
lows: "For the Sanitary District," 70,958; "against," 242. This indicated the
almost unanimous approval of the people for the proposed district.
FURTHER PROVISIONS OF THE ACT
In continuance of this summary of the provisions of the act, which is precise
and enters into many details, it is further stated, that a board of nine trustees
shall be elected who shall choose one of their number to be president, and "such
sanitary district shall from the time of the first election held by it under this act
be construed in law and equity a body corporate and politic, and . . . may
sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with, acquire and hold real estate
and personal property necessary for corporate purposes, and adopt a common
seal. . . . Said board of trustees shall have power to pass all necessary ordi-
nances, rules and regulations for the proper management and conduct of the busi-
ness of said board of trustees and of said corporation, and for carrying into
effect the objects for which such sanitary district is formed."
vol. m s
114 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
CHANNELS, DOCKS AND WATER POWER
The act further provided that, "The Board of Trustees of any sanitary dis-
trict organized under this act shall have power to provide for the drainage of such
district by laying out, establishing, constructing and maintaining one or more
channels, drains, ditches and outlets for carrying off and disposing of the drain-
age (including the sewage) of such district, together with such adjuncts and
additions thereto as may be necessary or proper to cause such channels or out-
lets to accomplish the end for which they are designed in a satisfactory manner;
also to make and establish docks adjacent to any navigable channel made under
the provisions hereof for drainage purposes, and to lease, manage and control
such docks, and also to control and dispose of any water power which may be
incidentally created in the construction and use of said channels or outlets, but
in no case shall said board have any power to control water after it passes beyond
its channel, waterways, races or structures into a river or natural waterway or
channel or water power or docks situated on such river or natural waterway or
channel: Provided, however, nothing in this act shall be construed to abridge
or prevent the State from hereafter requiring a portion of the funds derived from
such water-power, dockage or wharfage to be paid into the State Treasury to
be used for State purposes. Such channels or outlets, may extend outside of the
territory included within such sanitary district, and the rights and powers of said
board of trustees over the portion of such channel or outlet lying outside of such
district shall be the same as those vested in said board over that portion of such
channels or outlets within the said district."
POWER TO BORROW MONEY AND LAY TAXES
The power to issue bonds for borrowed money is given to the corporation,
to an amount not to exceed five per cent on the valuation of taxable property. The
board of trustees shall provide for the collection of a direct tax to pay the interest
on the bonds, and to discharge the principal as it becomes due.
The Board is also empowered to acquire public or private property in the
same manner as is provided in the act already on the statute books, "for the
exercise of the right of eminent domain." It may "enter upon, use, widen, deepen
and improve any navigable or other waters, waterways, canal or lake within the
limits of the county, wherein the sanitary district is situated."
CAPACITY OF CHANNEL OR OUTLET
Under this head the act provides that "Any channel or outlet constructed under
the provisions of this act, which shall cause the discharge of sewage into or
through any river or stream of water beyond or without the limits of the district
constructing the same, shall be of sufficient size and capacity to produce a con-
tinuous flow of water of at least two hundred cubic feet per minute for each one
thousand of the population of the district drained thereby, and the same shall
be kept and maintained of such si^e and in such condition that the water thereof
shall be neither offensive or injurious to the health of any of the people of this
State, and before any sewage shall be discharged into such channel or outlet,
RIVER GATEWAY TO CANAL
NATURAL STONE BANKS THROUGH THE "ROCK CUT"
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 115
all garbage, dead animals, and parts thereof, and other solids shall be taken there-
from."
On this basis a district containing a population of three million of people would
require a continuous flow of six hundred thousand cubic feet of water per minute.
At the time the act was passed, in 1889, it was provided that no channel should
be constructed of a less capacity than three hundred thousand cubic feet of water
per minute, with a current not exceeding three miles per hour, though a greater
capacity would have to be provided when the population should increase. As the
population of the district was increasing at a rapid rate in the years succeed-
ing the passage of this act, the trustees wisely determined to provide a channel
for a population twice as large as there was at that time, as we shall see.
BOUNDARIES OF THE SANITARY DISTRICT
The boundaries of the Sanitary District lie wholly within the county of Cook,
the law, as we have seen, confining such district "within the limits of a single
county." The district includes the ' entire City of Chicago, together with terri-
tory lying beyond the city limits on the north and south, as shown on the map.
The eastern boundary from Rogers Park to South Chicago is located three miles
east of the shore line of Lake Michigan, thus giving the district control over the
discharge of sewers into the lake. The total area of the district is three hundred
and fifty-eight square miles.
On January 18, 1890, the first meeting of the board of trustees, elected the
previous month, was held. The first board was composed of the following gentle-
men: John J. Altpeter, Arnold P. Gilmore, Christopher Hotz, John A. King,
Murry Nelson, Richard Prendergast, William H. Russell, Frank Wenter, and
Henry J. Willing. Murry Nelson was elected president of the board.
TOPOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT DIVIDE
The Commission of 1887, composed of the engineers Hering, Williams and
Artingstall, had indicated a waterway as the main feature of a system of water
supply and drainage, such waterway to cross the Chicago divide at or near Sum-
mit, the lowest point in the dividing ridge between the Chicago River and the Des-
plaines at Lockport, and to flow from the former river into the latter. The law
which was afterwards enacted specified the size of the waterway and the speed and
volume of its flow. It now remained for the new board of trustees to decide
upon a route for the waterway. Nature had, indeed, limited the choice of a
route to a line closely parallel with the old Illinois and Michigan canal, but a
new set of difficulties confronted the engineers in the plans for a channel deep
and wide enough for the purposes contemplated, not encountered by the engineers
of the old canal. It is necessary therefore to make a summary of the topographical
and hydraulic conditions of the region before proceeding with a description of its
construction.
The Desplaines River takes its rise far to the north beyond the Wisconsin
state line, and at Riverside, the nearest point of approach of the Desplaines to
the "divide," it is about sixty or seventy miles from its source. At Riverside the
bed of the Desplaines is considerably higher than that of the Chicago River some
116 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
five or six miles distant, but an elevation of land, that is, the "divide," prevents it
from flowing into the latter river, though at times of high water its flood often
poured over the divide. The bed of the Desplaines, however, in its southwesterly
course rapidly declines, and at Lockport it is considerably lower than Chicago
datum.
The South Branch of the Chicago River divides into two forks near Twenty-
second street, the West fork and the South fork. The West fork had its source
in the swampy lands known as the Mud Lake region. The South fork, a mere
bayou at first, was dredged out for navigation purposes as far south as Thirty-
ninth street, where it ends. The South fork receives the drainage of the slaughter-
houses at the stock-yards, and as it has practically no current its condition is
always exceedingly foul. It is locally known as "Bubbly Creek," from the fact
that the gases generated in its depth are constantly breaking into bubbles at the
surface.
The "height of land" at Summit is twelve feet above Chicago datum. The
face of the country shows no rise perceptible to the eye, seeming, apparently, to
be as level as a floor. At some remote period in its geological history nearly the
entire area now occupied by the city of Chicago was submerged by the waters
of Lake Michigan, then some forty feet higher than at present. These waters found
an outlet into the Illinois river valley through the low point in the divide at
Summit. In the gradual recession of the lake level the water ceased to flow in
that direction, but the height of the barrier is so slight as readily to suggest the
plan of piercing it with a canal, an idea which the first explorers imbibed as soon
as they saw the situation.
SURVEYS FOR THE NEW CHANNEL
Directly after the first board of trustees had organized, Mr. Lyman E. Cooley
was appointed chief engineer. He was instructed "to make such surveys and other
investigations between the Chicago River and its south branches and forks and
Summit as would enable the trustees to select one of not less than four routes
for a channel of the dimensions required by law ;" also to make investigations in
the region between Summit and Lake Joliet. These instructions were given on
the 18th of June, and Mr. Cooley at once laid plans of great thoroughness, and
proceeded to carry them out. As the expense incurred was considerable some
of the members made a protest, and on August 12th the president of the board,
Mr. Nelson, called the engineer's attention to the matter. Mr. Nelson said he
did not see the importance of setting gauges for the study of the water discharge
at various points in the Desplaines valley and elsewhere. "It is quite apparent,"
he said, "that we differ as to the practical utility of that work, and as I am quite
convinced in my own mind that it is an expense which should certainly be deferred,
if not avoided entirely, I respectfully suggest that the expense be stopped." Mr.
Cooley replied that the work was virtually required under his instructions, and
entered a counter protest against the interference.
A few weeks later Chief Engineer Cooley made his first report, in which be-
sides giving a summary of the surveys and investigations so far completed he
outlined extensive plans for the future. "A work of this magnitude," said Mr.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 117
Cooley, "demands the most careful and thorough work, and all work hitherto under-
taken or projected is upon the most comprehensive scale and by the most exact
methods. It is proposed to leave nothing to guess work or assumption." The
board, however, became impatient, and the chief engineer was directed "to file
within thirty days such a report as would enable the trustees to locate a route
as far as Summit." Mr. Cooley replied that he was unable to comply with the
order, and soon after the board ordered the suspension of a great portion of the
work in which Mr. Cooley was engaged. The tension between the board and the
chief engineer increased until, on the 10th of December, Mr. Cooley resigned. Soon
after William E. Worthen was chosen as chief engineer, and General John Newton
consulting engineer.
CHANGES IN THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
At the annual election of December 2, 1890, Richard Prendergast was elected
president of the board of trustees. A year had passed without any plan having
been decided upon, and there was much public dissatisfaction over the delay. In
February a report by Engineers Worthen and Newton "indicated that the cost of
construction of the smallest channel permitted by law, fourteen feet in depth
through the earth and eighteen feet in the rock, would be $22,700,000. Aux-
iliaries would increase the cost to $26,800,000." The trustees declared such a sum
could not be raised, and it was not contemplated that the work should cost so
much. It was therefore proposed to go to the legislature and ask an amendment
to the law, so that instead of requiring a flow of two hundred cubic feet of water
per minute for each one thousand of the population, that it should merely require
a sufficient flow of water "to carry and dilute all the sewage."
The attempt to amend the law did not meet with favor among the people and
the legislature declined to take the action as requested. Meantime both Mr.
Worthen, the chief engineer, and General Newton, the consulting engineer, re-
signed on April 21, 1891. Samuel G. Artingstall was soon after chosen as chief
engineer. The board still hesitated to take definite action and it was subjected
to severe criticism by the press and the public. It was plain that the board, as
it was then constituted, were unwilling to assume the responsibility of choosing
a route on the recommendations that had been made. Three members of the board,
Murry Nelson, John A. King and Henry J. Willing, resigned later in the summer,
and were succeeded by William Boldenweck, Lyman E. Cooley, formerly chief
engineer, and Bernard A. Eckhart. Trustee Wenter was elected president at
the meeting December 8, 1891. Those in favor of proceeding with the work,
as it was prescribed by law, were now in a majority.
DELAY ENDS, WORK BEGINS
The board now began to take vigorous action. As it was yet far from plain
what route was best for the channel, and what the cost would be, it was determined
to select that part of the route about which there was no uncertainty, and begin
the work with as little delay as possible. President Wenter, having arrived at the
firm conviction that work must be actually commenced without further delay, rec-
ommended in his first message to the board that "the right of way at the lower
end of the channel, which would run through rock, be secured at once." It was
118 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
evident, he said, that "this portion of the channel would require the longer time
for construction, and should be commenced first."
Soon after Chief Engineer Artingstall resigned his position, and on Jan-
uary 16, 1892, Benezette Williams was chosen to that office. Mr. Williams fav-
ored a route ioi the channel which should run "on the south and east side of the
Desplaines River, between the river and the Illinois and Michigan canal. It
crossed the bends of the river in a few places, but in such a manner that with
a small amount of excavation the river channel might be so changed as to protect
the new work. The line involved a new location of the Chicago, Sante Fe and
California railway for a distance of twenty-two thousand, two hundred feet."
With some modifications this line was adopted by the board of trustees, and
proposals were asked from contractors for that part of the line, some fourteen
miles long, known as the "rock section," extending from Willow Springs to a
point near Lockport. This part of the line was divided into fourteen sections,
each section covering a distance of about one mile. Contracts were let in July,
the total amount of which was $10,696,751.98.
INAUGURATION OF THE WORK
"Shovel Day," as it is known, was on the 3d of September, 1892. 2 On that
day the work on the Sanitary canal was inaugurated with appropriate ceremonies.
A special train running over the Sante Fe railroad carried about five hundred
guests from Chicago to the boundary line between Cook and Will counties, thirty-
one miles southwest of Chicago, and two miles below Lemont. A platform had
been erected over the center line of the channel, and the first earth was lifted
from the two counties.
President Wenter made an address in which he said: "Today, after nine
months of energetic work by the present board as organized, we are ready to
order practical operations to begin, and we are here to put the shovel in the
ground as a token of activity; as a sign to thousands of toilers that employment
can be had; as a notice to the people of the Illinois valley that the agreement,
ratified by the State, is to be carried out in good faith, as a notice to the country
at large that Chicago, through the Sanitary district, proceeds to construct a mighty
channel which will rank with the most stupendous works of modern times.
The waters on the west within ten miles of her main arteries find their wav
through the Desplaines and Illinois rivers to the Mississippi. What prevents
the blue waters of Lake Michigan from flowing in the same direction? A little
ridge called Summit forms the divide, about twelve feet above the level of the
lake. This divide we propose to cut through and send the waters of Lake Michi-
gan southward, thereby solving her sanitary problem for all time, and insuring
her future growth and prosperity.
"The importance of the work cannot be over-estimated, either from a sanitary
or a commercial standpoint. The commercial value of the channel to be con-
structed is very far-reaching. While the work now planned will not complete a
continuous waterway, yet it will only require another link to weld the chain
- "Drainage Channel and Waterway," by G. P. Brown, p. 425.
CHICAGO AVENUE WATER WORKS
BEAR TRAP DAM AT LOCKI'ORT
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 119
complete and make Chicago the commanding city over river commerce as well
as lake." Mr. Wenter closed his address in these words: "We today, as trustees
of the Sanitary District of Chicago, in the presence of many of the officials of
city, county, state and the United States, many of its citizens and representa-
tives from the Illinois valley, have assembled on the line of Will and Cook coun-
ties, in the valley of the Desplaines, to officially inaugurate this great work con-
necting Lake Michigan with the Mississippi, to create a condition that undoubtedly
in ages gone by existed, to tap the great reservoirs above that will swell and
stimulate the sluggish stream of the Illinois, and with proper assistance make
it the great waterway from the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico."
At the conclusion of his address, President Wenter stepped down from the plat-
form and raised the first shovelful of earth from its native bed, using a nickel-
plated shovel prepared for the occasion.
OTHER ADDRESSES
Mr. Lyman E. Cooley, who had been identified with the project from its
earliest inception, then made an address which was listened to with much interest.
"We stand here," he said, "on the divide, between these bordering hills of the
Desplaines valley, on the floor of the ancient outlet over which but yesterday, in
time, flowed the waters of the lake plateau twenty and more feet in depth. Five
feet above the Michigan-Huron lake, the water would spill here in storms but
for the little alluvial barrier at Summit. . . . We may well marvel at the
narrow margin, the strange mischance, which favored the forbidding St. Lawrence
Gulf with the lake outflow, and inquire of Nature why we lost our heritage, why
she tilted the lake plateau, shifted the outlet and bared the floor of this old pass.
Man's creative intelligence can remedy Nature's caprice, restore the
ancient outlet; and even more, extend [it] through the continent from fog bank
to tropic breeze, as though it were the sea, joining coast, lake and river systems
in one whole, as is not possible elsewhere on earth."
Mr. Cooley, at the conclusion of his address, "touched an electric button which
fired the first blasts of rock in the bed of the channel. One of these was from a
spot five hundred feet west of the platform, and the other, the same distance
east of it."
Trustee Eckhart made some remarks on the cost of the channel, and compared
it with the cost of other great undertakings. "In this stream," said he, "will
be borne away all the sewage which now contaminates our lake, and in the mighty
rush of the waters it will be inoffensive and harmless. On the bosom of this
great stream will sail the merchant marine of a new world of commerce, of which
Chicago will be the queenly metropolis, but which will benefit and enrich every
village and town by which it passes." Addresses were also made by Hon. James
R. Doolittle of Wisconsin, Hon. Thomas Henderson of Princeton, Hon. Ralph
Plumb of Streator, Mayor P. C. Haley of Joliet, and by Ex-Mayor Carter H.
Harrison, Corporation Counsel John S. Miller, Dr. Frank W. Reilly, Hon. Thomas
C. MacMillan, and Fernando Jones, of Chicago. Mayor Haley of Joliet said that
"all the people of the valley and all the people of Joliet are satisfied when the
board of trustees honestly and in good faith live up to the letter and spirit of the
120 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
law. We expect and we believe that if a channel of the size and capacity which
that law requires the trustees to make, is made, and the volume of water turned
into it which the law requires, and the sewage diluted before it is turned into the
channel as the law requires, that it will not only answer the purpose of Chicago,
but that it will also give Joliet that relief which we believe we are fairly and
justly entitled to."
Mr. Fernando Jones in the course of his remarks recalled the occasion when
work on the old canal was commenced. "On the 4th of July, 1836," he said,
"the Illinois and Michigan canal was formally begun by digging and wheeling
out a lot of sod." This refers to the time when Mr. Jones, then a stripling, to-
gether with other youngsters, had nearly disrupted the programme of proceedings
on that occasion, by beginning the work themselves, and thus robbing the older
people of all the glory of the affair. While the preparations were being made
preceding the turning of the first shovelful of earth, young Jones and his com-
panions had filled a wheelbarrow with "a sacred load of earth," as Gale in his
"Reminiscences" relates it, and dumped ,it before they were discovered. How-
ever, nothing of the sort disturbed the proceedings on this occasion, and "Shovel
Day," September 3, 1892, thus took its place in the calendar of important dates
in the history of the Sanitary canal.
THE SANITARY CANAL OPENED
The period of construction work on the Sanitary canal occupied the time from
September 3, 1892, to January 2, 1900, a period of seven years and four months.
During this period there were a number of changes in the board of trustees. When
the canal was completed the board was composed of the following gentlemen:
Frank Wenter, William Boldenweck, Bernard A. Eckhart, Joseph C. Braden,
Zina R. Carter, Alexander J. Jones, Thomas Kelly, James P. Mallette and Thomas
A. Smyth. Mr. Boldenweck was president of the board.
The most important change during the period of construction was the appoint-
ment of Mr. Isham Randolph as chief engineer. The resignation of Mr. Benezette
Williams took place on June 7, 1893. On the same date Mr. Randolph was chosen
to the position, and he remained as chief engineer until the canal was com-
pleted. In fact, he so remained until August 1, 1907, when he retired, and has
since held the office of consulting engineer of the Sanitary District.
In the later years of the construction period, sightseers thronged into the
empty channel, where it had been completed, and viewed the tremendous work of
excavation. Excursion parties from the city and other localities frequently visited
the scene. The view in the rock section was especially impressive. Beneath was
a level floor of rock, while on either side of the channel rose the perpendicular
walls, cut through the stratified layers of limestone, rising to a height of thirty
feet or more for many miles. Temporary stairs and ladders were in use at va-
rious points to permit of entering and leaving the channel. The long vista between
these walls, running true and straight as far as the eye could reach, made an
impression on the beholder comparable to that of standing at the bottom of a
river canyon in the west.
"On the morning of the 2d of January, 1900," says the record printed in the
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 121
Proceedings of the Board of Trustees, "at about 10:35, the barrier which held
back the water from the flume, which had been constructed at the south end of
the Collateral Channel, was cut, and the waters rushed into the Main Channel.
The flow continued thereafter, and at 4:54 on the evening of January 6, the first
water passed over the sill of gate number two at the Controlling Works. . . .
On Monday, January 15, the dam at Campbell avenue was cut through and the
waters on the opposite sides came together at 11 :08 a. m. The channel was
filled to lake level by Sunday morning, January 14th."
THE GOVERNOR'S PERMISSION GRANTED
Before opening the "Bear Trap Dam" at Lockport, which controlled the water
at the lower end of the canal, thus allowing it to flow into the Desplaines river,
it was necessary to receive the permission of the governor. The governor of Illi-
nois at that time was John R. Tanner, and he had already appointed a board of
commissioners "to make an examination and survey of the Chicago river, and of
the Chicago Drainage Channel, to determine whether the said channel had been
completed in accordance with the requirements of Section twenty-three of the
act, entitled, 'An Act to Create Sanitary Districts and to remove Obstructions in
the Desplaines and Illinois rivers.' " This board having certified to the gov-
ernor "that said channel has been and is now completed in accordance with the
law creating said Sanitary District," the permit was granted on January 17th,
the third day after the channel was filled and ready to flow.
The governor's permit began with a preamble reciting the facts as above, and
continued as follows: "Now, therefore, I, John R. Tanner, Governor of the State
of Illinois, do hereby authorize and direct you, the said Board of Sanitary Trus-
tees, to open and let into the said Channel the waters of Lake Michigan and of
the Chicago river, and the sewerage of said Sanitary District, and to use and
employ said Channel for all the uses and purposes for which said channel was
constructed."
The records of the Sanitary District show the following entry in its Proceed-
ings, continuing the account of the admission of the water into the main channel.
"On January 17th Governor John R. Tanner accepted the favorable report of
the Special Commissioners, and gave permission to open the controlling gates at
Lockport. The Bear Trap Dam was used, and at 1 1 :05, in the presence of trus-
tees Boldenweck, Braden, Carter, Eckhart, Jones, Kelly, Mallette, Smyth and
Wenter, the crest of the dam was lowered until a thin sheet of water flowed over it.
"In this position it was held until President Boldenweck introduced Colonel
Isaac Taylor, President of the Special Commission, who in a few appropriate
words stated the facts relating to the satisfactory completion of the work and
the permission granted by the Governor. As soon as he ceased speaking, Presi-
dent Boldenweck gave the word for action. The valves were opened and the
massive steel dam settled beneath the torrent which rushed over its crest; and at
11:16 the official act was accomplished, and the flow of the Sanitary Channel was
passing into the Desplaines valley."
The flood carried by the great Sanitary Canal, or Main Drainage Channel,
as it is otherwise called, was at last set free on its "dark, rolling path to the
122 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
sea." The joy and satisfaction of the people of Chicago was extreme over this
consummation of the work of nearly eleven years since the law was passed, and
of over seven since the actual work began. Throngs of people gathered at the
bridges, at windows overlooking the river, on the docks, or from passing street cars,
to note the unusual spectacle of the river current setting briskly upstream instead
of lying stagnant as before. The pumps at Bridgeport, the only means of handling
the sewage up to that time, could scarcely, even at their utmost capacity, do more
than hold the river from flowing into the lake, and send an insufficiently diluted
stream down the old canal. For days the body of the river showed a steady im-
provement over its usual foul condition, until the water began to look almost as
blue as the waters of Lake Michigan which now flowed in at the river's mouth.
The people of the valley towns and cities below the outlet of the channel,
however, looked upon the descending flood with considerable anxiety and appre-
hension, to note whether the dilution provided by the great increase in flow would
neutralize the offensiveness of the sewage carried with it to the extent which had
been promised. But they became gradually reassured, after the foulest portion
of the flood had passed in the first few days and perceived that the water puri-
fied itself to a considerable degree in its movement down the channel, and much
more rapidly when spread out over the shallow flats of the river below, just as
it had been predicted it would do. Many of the property owners on the river
banks below closely observed the effect of an increased flow in the rivers, with
the purpose of establishing claims for "damages. In fact, a large number of suits
were begun against the Sanitary District, and large sums were subsequently paid
in settlement of damages for overflowed lands.
CHAPTER XLVIII
CONSTRUCTION OF THE SANITARY CANAL
WORK OF CONSTRUCTION DESCRIBED DIFFICULTIES WITH THE DESPLAINES RIVER EN-
COUNTERED ROUTE OF CHANNEL DIVIDED INTO WORKING SECTIONS ROCK EXCA-
VATION DIMENSIONS OF CHANNEL DAM AND SPILLWAY BEAR TRAP DAM DE-
SCRIBED VAST QUANTITIES OF SPOIL METHODS OF WORKING DIVERSION OF THE
DESPLAINES RIVER BED AUXILIARY WORKS WIDENING CHICAGO RIVER STONY
ISLAND AVENUE INTERCEPTING SEWER THIRTY-NINTH STREET CONDUIT CALU-
MET AND NORTH SHORE REGIONS LAWRENCE AVENUE CONDUIT WILMETTE
CHANNEL BRIDGES OVER THE CANAL ALTERATIONS AT JOLIET LOCKPORT WATER
POWER PLANT ELECTRICAL ENERGY GENERATED TRANSMISSION LINE DAMS AND
LOCKS BUTTERFLY DAM ADMINISTRATION OF THE SANITARY DISTRICT FINAN-
CIAL STATEMENT OF THE DISTRICT SIXTY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS EXPENDED
ASPECT OF THE CANAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE WATERWAY MAIN PURPOSE OF
THE CANAL IMPORTANCE OF WATERWAYS.
HOW THE SANITARY CANAL WAS BUILT
O far in the course of this narrative the actual work of construction has
not as yet been described, though it is perhaps the most interesting
portion of the history of the Sanitary Canal. The chief engineer, Mr.
Isham Randolph, has from time to time published in pamphlet form
descriptions of the canal for popular use, the several editions aggregat-
ing eighty thousand copies. Each edition was brought down historically and
statistically to the year of its publication. The manuscript for a later edition
was prepared which brought the history down to the year 1908. For some rea-
son the Board of Trustees of the District did not make an appropriation for its
publication, however. The editor of the Engineering News requested permission
to publish the report in his paper, and he was permitted to do so. The Sanitary
District authorities then ordered ten thousand copies for distribution.
The following account of the work on the canal as it was carried on through
its different stages has been quoted or summarized from Mr. Randolph's history
of the work, omitting some details, but preserving the essential features of the
story.
EARLY STAGES OF CONSTRUCTION
The first work put under contract in the Main Channel in 1892 extended south-
west from the Willow Springs Road. These sections were numbered one to fif-
teen ; and had an average length of nearly one mile. Easterly from Willow Springs
123
124 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
Road, the sections were lettered from A to O (omitting J). The lettered sec-
tions are, except for a short distance near Summit, entirely in glacial drift.
Sections one to fourteen were put under contract in July, 1892; those from
A to F, late in 1892 and early in 1893; and those from G to M in December,
1893. Sections N and O were put under contract May 2, and Section fifteen,
August 27, 1894. Earth was first broken on "Shovel Day," September 3, 1892,
on the "rock cut" below Lemont.
About thirteen miles of new river channel had to be excavated parallel with
the location of the Main Drainage Channel, and about nineteen miles of levee
built to divorce the waters of the Desplaines watershed from the channel which
is to receive the waters of Lake Michigan, and pass them on to the Mississippi
river by way of the lower Desplaines and the Illinois rivers. The width of the'
River Diversion Channel on the bottom is two hundred feet; side slopes, one to
one and a half; grade, generally one and two-tenths per thousand.
At the head of this river diversion it was necessary to provide a safety valve
in the form of a "spillway," to allow surplus water to flow toward Chicago, pend-
ing the completion of the work necessary for carrying the entire floodwaters of
the Desplaines through Joliet. This spillway is a concrete dam capped with cut
stone, and having its wings faced with stone masonry. It is three hundred and
ninety-seven feet long, and its crest is sixteen and twenty-five one-hundredths
feet above Chicago datum. No water flows over this spillway until the water pass-
ing the water gauge above it reaches three hundred thousand cubic feet per minute.
This spillway now has been raised to an elevation which prevents any water from
flowing over it at any time.
The cross section of the earth sections from A to E inclusive, a distance of
five and three-tenths miles, is two hundred and two feet on the bottom ; side slopes,
two on one. This section extends for about five hundred feet into the west end
of F and then reduces to one hundred and ten feet on the bottom, preserving the
same side slopes for a distance of seven and eight-tenths miles. The explanation
of this change of cross sections is as follows: Throughout the rock sections, and
those sections in which there is a preponderance of hard material, or where rock
may appear, the section adopted is designed according to law for a flow of six
hundred thousand cubic feet of water per minute, which means provision for a
population of three million people. The narrower channel provides for the flow
of three hundred thousand cubic feet per minute, or for about the present popu-
lation of Chicago. The enlargement of the narrow channel can be made by the
easier methods of excavation, such as dredging, whenever the needs of the city
require it.
FURTHER DETAILS OF CONSTRUCTION
The grade throughout the lettered sections is one foot in forty thousand, and
the bottom of the Channel at Robey street is twenty-four and forty-five one-hun-
dredths feet below datum. The numbered sections, from one to six inclusive, are
underlaid with solid rock. The width of the bottom, in rock, is one hundred and
sixty feet. Walls of masonry laid in cement have been built upon the rock surface
to a height of five feet above datum. Sections seven to fourteen, inclusive, are
in solid rock; the width at bottom is one hundred and sixty feet, and the sides
BUTTERFLY DAM
Photograph by A. W. \Vatriss
BEAR TRAP DAM AT LOCKPORT, ILLINOIS
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 125
are vertical. The prism was taken out in three slopes, with offsets of six inches
on each side for each cut, making the top width one hundred and sixty-two feet.
The grade in the rock is one foot in twenty thousand.
Section number fifteen is also in rock and its cross section is enlarged at its
south end so as to form a "windage basin" in which large vessels may be turned
around. The controlling works are located on this section. These works con-
sist of seven "Stoney" gates and a movable "bear-trap" dam by which the flow
of water from the Main Channel into the tail race (which is to deliver the out-
flow into the Desplaines river) can be controlled. This river below Lockport
follows the trough of the valley down a steep declivity to the canal basin in
Joliet. The fluctuations in Lake Michigan, by varying slope of water surface,
will be felt at the controlling works. Provisions have been made to meet these
fluctuations within a range of five feet above datum, and twelve feet below, or an
extreme oscillation of seventeen feet. The fall from datum at the controlling works
to the level of the upper basin is about forty-two feet in a distance of about four
and three-tenths miles.
THE BEAR TRAP DAM
The controlling works comprise seven sluice gates of metal (with the necessary
masonry bulkheads) and one bear-trap dam. The sluice gates may be considered
as a modification of what is known as the Stoney gate type. The gates have a
vertical travel of twenty feet on openings thirty feet wide. The bear trap dam
has an opening of one hundred and sixty feet and an oscillation of seventeen feet
vertically. This dam is essentially two great metal leaves hinged together and
working between masonry bulkheads. The down-stream leaf is securely hinged
to a very heavy foundation, and the up-stream leaf is so placed as to present
a barrier to the water. This structure is operated by admitting water through
properly constructed conduits (controlled by valves) beneath the leaves. To raise
the crest of the dam, water is admitted from the up-stream side, and the discharge
shut off until the desired height is obtained. Then the valves are adjusted so
that the volume of water beneath the leaves shall be constant. To lower the
crest, the water beneath the leaves is drawn off until the desired height is reached,
when the valves are again arranged so as to maintain a constant volume of water.
VAST QUANTITY OF EXCAVATED MATERIAL
The total amount of excavation involved in the construction of the Main Drain-
age Channel is thirty-eight million, nine hundred and fifty-eight thousand cubic
yards, of which nearly one-third is solid rock. To this must be added the material
excavated from the river diversion, something over two million cubic yards. The
work between Lockport and Joliet, including the controlling works, involves one
million, two hundred thousand cubic yards of excavation. The grand total for
the Main Channel, river diversion, and Joliet project, was forty-two million, two
hundred and twenty-nine thousand cubic yards.
The quantity of "spoil," or material excavated from the bed of the channel,
can be imagined more clearly after reading Mr. Randolph's illustration. "The
whole volume of spoil, earth and rock, if deposited in Lake Michigan in forty feet
of water, would make an island one mile square, with its surface twelve feet above
126 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
the water line." The mountainous piles of spoil now visible on the banks of the
canal give sufficient evidence of the colossal character of the excavations, the
enormous amount of labor required, and the effectiveness of the appliances used in
removing it.
SUMMARY OF DIMENSIONS OF MAIN CHANNEL
By ordinance the Main Channel of the Sanitary District begins at Lake street.
The plans under which the Chicago river has been improved require a width of
two hundred feet; a depth of sixteen feet at dock lines, increasing to twenty-six
feet at fifty feet out from the dock; the middle one hundred feet is twenty-six feet
deep below the hydraulic grade line with Lake Michigan at datum.
The artificial channel begins at Robey street, six miles from the mouth of the
Chicago river. The first division of the artificial channel is seven and eight-tenths
miles long (ending at Summit) ; its minimum depth is twenty-two feet ; bottom
width, one hundred and ten feet; side slopes, one on two. The second division
extends from Summit to Willow Springs, five and three-tenths miles. It is two
hundred and two feet wide on the bottom, with side slopes of two on one. The
third, or rock, division extends from Willow Springs to the controlling works,
fourteen and ninety-five one-hundredths miles ; bottom width, one hundred and
sixty feet ; sides vertical with two offsets of six inches each, giving a width at
water line of one hundred and sixty-two feet. At the controlling works there
is a fan-shaped basin with an extreme width of five hundred and two feet. From
these works to the power plant, two miles, the channel is of irregular width,
nowhere less than one hundred and sixty feet. Below the power-house, a width
of one hundred and sixty feet is maintained in the channel.
METHODS OF WORKING
On the earth sections some novelties were introduced. On sections L and M,
specially constructed cars were loaded by steam shovels and drawn by steam
hoists up a steep incline to a proper height, where they ran on to a tipple and
were automatically dumped. Each incline was equipped with two four-yard cars,
which loaded and dumped alternately. On Sections I and K, the contractors erected
bridges spanning the spoil bank at proper height, their supporting piers being
carried on trucks which traveled on tracks parallel with the channel. From the
channel end of the bridge, an inclined track ran down into the cut. In connec-
tion with this device, two eight-yard cars were used; these were successively loaded
by steam shovel, drawn up the incline on to the bridge by a steam hoist, and then
automatically dumped, and immediately returned to the pit. An output of one
hundred cubic yards per hour was probably sustained by this combination of
devices.
On Section H, a conveying machine, designed by Hoover & Mason, was con-
structed on a mammoth scale. It was essentially a bridge spanning the channel,
with cantilever arms projecting far enough beyond on each side to overhang the
spoil area. On this structure were mounted the necessary sprocket wheels and
other machinery for carrying a series of steel pans, which formed the conveyor.
The machine was mounted on trucks traveling upon tracks parallel with the channel,
and its capacity was five hundred cubic yards per hour. This capacity, however,
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 127
was that of the conveyor only; the arrangements for excavating the earth and
loading the conveyor were never perfected to an extent which secured recognition
for the device as one of the successful inventions applicable to great public works.
On Section F, the material was taken from the steam shovel by cars fitted with
pneumatic dumping apparatus, the power for which was supplied from the loco-
motive. The engineman operated these dump cars just as he would apply the air
brakes. Sections A, B and a portion of C are located in the old channel of the
Desplaines river, and were overlaid with muck to a considerable depth. This
muck was removed by hydraulic dredges. Each of these dredges had a capacity
of about twenty-five hundred cubic yards in ten hours, and this output in solid
matter represents about eight per cent of the capacity of the pumps. One great
advantage of the hydraulic method of removal is that the material can be removed
to any desired dumping ground within a distance of three thousand feet without
adding anything to the contract price of the excavation.
On those sections which are partly in earth and partly in rock, all of the
usual methods of removing earth were employed, varied to suit the peculiar con-
ditions or to meet the ideas of the contractors doing the work. On Section number
six, a large amount of muck had to be removed, and a very ingenious contractor
improvised a hydraulic dredge at a small cost, and did the work at a very moderate
expense.
THE ROCK SECTIONS
On the rock sections the sides were cut down vertically by channeling ma-
chines, and the merits of several devices were satisfactorily demonstrated on this
work.
A channeling machine is a great chisel clamped to the free end of a piston rod
of a vertical engine. Its office is to cut a deep, wide gash down into the solid
rock on the line of the edge of the channel. The machine consists of a vertical
boiler and engine mounted on a heavy car which moves automatically back and
forth on rails laid alongside the edge of the canal. As the chisel works up and
down, the car slowly moves forward and back until the huge chisel has buried it-
self from four to six feet in the rock.
"Channeling" is done in connection with air or steam drills, which drive holes
a few feet apart across the work, from one side to the other. Dynamite cartridges
are placed in the holes and exploded by electricity. The effect is to blow forward
a cross-section of the work. The gash cut by the channeling machine facilitates
this operation and at the same time gives a smooth finish to the sides of the rock
cut.
The cableways as first constructed were not very successful, but experience
gained upon this work resulted in improvements from time to time, until by the
adoption of a simple improvement, devised by Mr. H. C. Locher, one of the con-
tractors, they were brought to a stage of efficiency which made them worthy com-
petitors of the cantilever conveyors. The high power derricks used upon two
of these sections did not come up to the expectations of the builders, and their use
was confined to the machines already in place. The revolving derricks on Sec-
tion fourteen, after a great deal of costly experimentation, developed considerable
.128 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
merit. The cantilevers are probably the most perfect devices now known for
hoisting and disposing of material from rock cuttings such as these.
AUXILIARY WORKS
The primary object of the work undertaken by the Sanitary District is the
protection of Lake Michigan (the great reservoir from which the city of Chi-
cago and its urban and suburban neighbors draw their drinking water) from
sewage pollution due to the discharge directly into it, or into the rivers which
empty into it, of the sewage of the city of Chicago and its aforesaid neighbors.
The first work undertaken was the construction of a great canal from Chicago (at
Robey street) to Lockport. That done, the logical sequence was the improvement
of the Chicago river by deepening and widening and removing bridge obstructions
so as to make it possible to secure an adequate flow of water through it without
injury to navigation.
WIDENING THE CHICAGO RIVER
The distance from the mouth of the Chicago river to Robey street (the junc-
tion of the Main Drainage Channel with the west fork of the South Branch of
the river) is six miles. From Lake street to Robey street the channel is to be
widened to two hundred feet and given a depth of twenty-six feet, for a mid-
channel width of one hundred feet, shallowing up to sixteen feet at the dock
lines. The standard docks are of timber secured to anchor piles thirty-eight feet
back from the dock face. The District has constructed a concrete dock on the
west side of the river extending from Randolph street to Madison street. This
is the first permanent dock ever built on the Chicago river.
Much work has been accomplished in executing the plans of the District for
river improvement. Up to May 31, 1908, 488,650 square feet of land had been
acquired for widening, nearly all of which has been excavated by dredging and
the frontage docked. The dredging thus far aggregates 2,935,691 cubic yards,
and the docking 10,822 lineal feet. Eleven bascule bridges have been completed,
one of which is a double-track railway bridge of two hundred and seventy-five feet
span between points of support. The bridge at Ashland avenue is a trunnion
bascule, of a type invented by John W. Page; all of the others are of the Scherzer
"rolling-lift" type.
While the Sanitary District of Chicago has been carrying on its great work,
the city of Chicago has been reversing sewers which discharged into the lake and
discharging them into the Chicago river, this involving the building on Thirty-
ninth street, from the lake to the east end of the stock yards slip at Halsted
street, of a conduit twenty feet in diameter. Along Stony Island avenue and the
lake shore, from Seventy-third street north to Thirty-ninth street, the city has
completed an intercepting sewer increasing in diameter from twelve and one-half
feet at the south end to sixteen feet at the north end. This intercepts the sewers
which previously discharged into the lake. It leads to the twenty-foot conduit
on Thirty-ninth street, just mentioned, extending from the lake to the east end of
the stock yards slip (Chicago river) at Halsted street.
At the lake end the city has constructed a pumping plant with four sewage
pumps. These pumps are to be operated by the Sanitary District. On its part
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 129
the District has erected two pumps in addition to those erected by the city for
the purpose of pumping lake water. The total pumping capacity of these six
pumps is one hundred and twenty thousand cubic feet of water per minute, dis-
charging into the Thirty-ninth street conduit. From the conduit the diluted sewage
flows into the Chicago river and unites with the flow down the Main Drainage
Canal.
THE CALUMET AND NORTH SHORE REGIONS
What has been described, however, does not embrace the whole problem of
sewage and water-supply. On the south there is a large urban and suburban
population fouling the Calumet river, which discharges into the lake within three
and five-eighths miles of the Hyde Park four-mile water-supply crib. On the
north, beyond the limits of the original Sanitary District, still other urban and
suburban populations are discharging their sewage into the lake.
The Legislature of 1903 enacted laws for the annexation of these adjacent
territories. On July 14, 1903, this legislation became operative and the original
Sanitary District, which contained one hundred and eighty-five square miles, was .
enlarged by the annexation of the North Shore District (seventy-eight and six-
tenths square miles), and the Calumet District, (ninety-five and forty-eight one-
hundredths square miles.) Thus the total area of the Sanitary District today is
three hundred fifty-eight and eight one-hundredths square miles.
The topography and hydrography of the North Shore district precludes a
gravity flow through channels ending so far up the North Branch, and it is there-
fore provided in the plans, now approaching completion, that both the channels
described below shall be supplied with pumping works.
THE LAWRENCE AVENUE CONDUIT
The Lawrence Avenue conduit has a capacity of thirty-five thousand cubic
feet of water per minute. This conduit is sixteen feet in diameter, and extends
the full length of Lawrence avenue from the lake to the river, a distance of two
and one-half miles. The water to flow through this channel must be supplied by
pumping, and for that purpose a pumping plant, having a capacity of sixty thou-
sand cubic feet per minute that is nearly twice what would be required for a
normal flow, has been erected at the intersection of Lawrence avenue and the
tracks of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway, twenty-four hundred feet
from the lake. This conduit and pumping plant were constructed and paid for
by the city of Chicago, but will be operated and maintained by the Sanitary District.
THE NORTH SHORE CHANNEL
The North Shore Channel, often referred to as the Wilmette Channel, has
its lake connection in the southeast corner of Wilmette, and its course from thence
is generally southwest, passing through the northern part of Evanston, and con-
necting with the North Branch of the Chicago river at Lawrence avenue. Thus
the river terminus of the Lawrence Avenue conduit and that of the North Shore
channel are in close proximity with each other. The latter has a total length
of eight and one-half miles. It is forty feet wide at the bottom, and the depth
130 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
of water is twelve feet. The water supply for this channel is of course secured
from Lake Michigan by means of powerful pumps located near the lake end of
the channel. The pumps are operated by electricity supplied from the great
generating works at Lockport, nearly fifty miles distant, the current being carried
on steel masts especially designed for the purpose. The volume of water pumped
averages sixty thousand cubic feet of water per minute. The sewage of Evanston
and other North Shore towns is to be diverted into this channel which, however
will require some years to carry into effect. The North Shore Channel will permit
of barge navigation, access being afforded through a lock constructed alongside of
the barrier at the pumping works.
The following interesting description of the North Shore Channel is taken
from President McCormick's message for November, 1910:
"After a careful consideration of the physical conditions along the route of the
proposed North Shore Channel, a few changes were made from the old ordinance.
The purchase of the first piece of right of way was made June 26, 1907, and
construction work was started on 'Shovel Day' at the Wilmette end of the channel,
but the actual work of construction was not started until the month of April of
the following year, when a steam shovel and cars were installed and the excava-
tion of the Wilmette end of this channel was started. As fast as right of way
was procured contracts were awarded along the whole length of the channel, a
distance of about eight and one-half miles. The result is that the work has been
completed in three seasons, which is remarkable progress when it is considered
that the last piece of right of way was procured for the construction of this
channel in the latter part of June, 1910.
"The work of constructing this channel through Evanston and Wilmette, a
distance of one and one-half miles, was done by day labor by the Sanitary Dis-
trict for the reason that this part of the channel runs through the residence district
of these north shore towns, and on account of the incomplete records it was impos-
sible to specify the work in sufficient detail so that a contractor could intelligently
bid on it; and for the further reason that the Sanitary District desired to incon-
venience the residents of this district as little as possible under the circumstances
as, at the best, the construction of a channel of this kind through a residence dis-
trict is bound to be of considerable annoyance to the people in the vicinity. It
is a pleasure to state, however, that very few complaints have been received from
the officials of these municipalities.
"Although the side slopes of this channel were designed according to the best
modern practice, there occurred during the construction several slides which were
removed, with the exception of one which still remains in the channel. It has
been the history in the construction of all canals of this kind, including the Main
Drainage Channel, the Panama Canal, the Hennepin Canal and the Barge Canal
of New York State, that slides have occurred where the channel has been dug
through clay in spite of every precaution that could be taken. In some cases
slides or breaks have occurred where the channel was practically through solid
rock. It is impossible to foresee where these slides will occur and it is also im-
possible to tell the reason of the slides in some cases, even after they occur. The
reason for these slides on the North Shore Channel, as near as can be determined,
is that there are several stretches of very soft clay, often 20 or 30 feet below the
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 131
surface of the ground, which is not of sufficient consistency to sustain the material
above it, and the material taken from the channel which is spoiled upon the banks.
This is particularly so in the vicinity of the Chicago & North-Western Railway
bridge at Mayfair where the slide has been left in the channel and will have to
be removed, after the water has been turned in, by means of dredges and scows,
as the banks of the channel are now so loaded with material as to render it un-
safe to place more weight upon them.
"The sides of a channel are not nearly so apt to cave when the channel is
filled with water as when it is empty, for the reason that the water produces a
pressure against the sides of the channel which tends to hold the banks in place.
Most of the damage that occurs in channels of this kind occurs when the channel
is empty and the sides are exposed to the continual freezing and thawing during
the winter months. . . .
"Comparing the cost of excavation work on this channel with the cost of similar
work on the Main Drainage Channel, it is a pleasure to state that with the im-
provement of methods of excavation since the time of the construction of the Main
Drainage Channel, the average cost of this work has been a little over 20 cents
per cubic yard as against 29 cents per cubic yard, the cost of similar work on the
Main Drainage Channel, a saving of 9 cents per cubic yard, the result being that
the channel has been completed considerably under the cost of the original estimate.
"Water was turned into the North Shore Channel on November 29, 1910,
but it will probably be some time before the pumps can start to work, for the
reason that the contract for these pumps provides for an elaborate test which
will take some time to make, the result of which test will determine the price to
be paid for the pumps. The test could not take place before the water was turned
into the channel."
THE CALUMET-SAG CHANNEL
The topography and hydrography of the Calumet District admit of treatment
that will secure a reversal of the current of the Calumet river and a gravity flow
therefrom into the main channel of the Sanitary District through the depression
known as the Sag Valley. Surveys have been made and a channel partially located
which will accomplish the purpose. The. tentative plans for this channel contem-
plate that it shall be seventy feet wide at the bottom in earth and ninety feet
in rock, with side slopes in earth of three on five, and a depth of twenty-two feet,
below hydaulic grade line.
BRIDGES OVER THE CANAL
All the bridges on the Main Channel are designed to be made movable struc-
tures when eventually required as such. There are six bridges for public highways.
One was built for the use of the Southwest boulevard and Western avenue. It
has double roadways, one for heavy and the other for light traffic. There are
seven railway bridges, one being an eight-track rolling-lift structure, with a chan-
nel span of one hundred and twenty feet. One is a four-track swing bridge, and
the others are double-track structures. The bridges on the walled and solid rock
sections of the channel are all "bob tail" (or with arms of unequal length),
counterweighted structures, with pivot piers on the right bank, and the long
arms spanning the entire channel, thus avoiding any obstruction to the flow from
132 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
center and protection piers. These bridges conform to the heaviest modern speci-
fications. The entire weight of the iron and steel used in their construction was
upwards of eleven thousand tons.
Although all of the bridges on this channel are designed as movable struc-
tures, yet the law allowed the District to keep them closed and used as fixed struc-
tures for a period of seven years, dating from January 17, 1900. At the expira-
tion of that period they were to be equipped with operating machinery and go
into service as movable bridges. Up to the present time, however, the equipment
of the main channel bridges with operating machinery has not been accomplished.
ALTERATIONS AT JOLIKT
The work of the Sanitary District beyond the controlling works at Lockport
consisted of straightening, widening and deepening the Desplaines river, to give
it a flowage capacity of one and a half millions cubic feet of water per minute.
In the city of Joliet dams across the river already existed. Two of these had been
constructed for the old Illinois and Michigan canal, which crosses the river at that
point. Extensive alterations were here required involving the rebuilding of dam
"number one," the removal of dam "number two" and the "Adam dam," and the
"guard lock."
The stone arch bridge at Jefferson street was removed to make way for a steel
structure of greater span and of width equal to that of the street. The Cass street
bridge also gave place to a modern steel structure of greater span and width.
From Lock number five to Jefferson street, a massive concrete retaining wall has
been constructed, extending from Jackson street to Jefferson street. At Jackson
street a great deal of costly excavation has been made to admit of an extensive
water power development, which is the property of the state.
THE LOCKPORT WATER POWER DEVELOPMENT
From the date of the lowering of the bear-trap dam, January 17, 1900, until
August 30, 1907, the water flowing through the Sanitary Canal escaped over that
dam or through the Stoney gates at the controlling works, and a great potentiality
ran to waste. The legislative enactments of 1903 made it possible to stop this
waste. The plans for water power development were adopted, and on October 7,
1903, bids were opened covering the extension of the Main Channel as a water-
way and power canal for four miles south from the controlling works. Contracts
were let and a vigorous prosecution of the work was entered upon. For two miles
this extension was between walls and massive clay embankments, heavily faced
with rip-rap. The power-house was located at the end of this stretch, where a
drop of thirty-four feet was available under average conditions.
The channel above the power-house is of varying width and nowhere less than
one hundred and sixty feet. All of the area available was taken into the channel
so as to impound water for lockage purposes and so minimize possible fluctuations
of head due to taking water into the locks. The structures at the end of this first
stretch of ten thousand, six hundred and four feet are ice fenders, penstocks,
power-house, movable dams and canal lock. The channel below the power-house
is three hundred and thirty-six feet wide where the tail water discharges, nar-
VIEW OF STATE STREET NORTH FROM VAN BUREN STREET
STATE STREET NORTH FROM MADISON STREET
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 133
rowing in eight hundred and fifty feet to one hundred and sixty feet, and a mini-
mum depth of nineteen and seven-tenths feet. These dimensions are held for six
thousand feet to a junction of the Desplaines river channel, where the depth is
only ten feet; but the total width is four hundred feet.
DETAILS OF POWER PLANT
The power plant is located on the west side of the channel and the entrance
to the forebay is protected by an ice fender consisting of a massive concrete wall
carried upon fourteen submerged concrete arches of nineteen feet span, built on a
skew. The entrance to the penstocks is guarded by the usual iron gratings. There
are nine penstocks thirty-two feet wide, seventy-four feet long and twenty-eight
feet high from floor to intrados of arch.
The central penstock is devoted to the exciter equipment containing three ex-
citer units. They have thirty-inch Jolly-McCormick wheels. The installation in
the four west penstocks was made by the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Company, of
Cleveland ; each unit consists of six Jolly-McCormick fifty-four inch runners
(wheels) upon a horizontal shaft. This shaft is twelve inches in diameter, seventy-
one feet, five inches long, and is made in three sections. The outer section is of
open-hearth steel, the middle section of nickel steel and the inner section of nickel
steel annealed. The requisite strength for the parts is thus secured by the quality
of the steel rather than by increasing the weight of metal. The shafts revolve in
oiled bearings, the oil being in constant circulation by means of a pumping system.
Inspection tubes give free access to the bearings at all times. This is the first
installation using six turbine runners on a horizontal shaft.
The draft tubes are of original construction, molded in concrete, designed to dis-
charge the water with a minimum of disturbance and consequent loss of head.
The bulkheads of the penstocks form the north wall of the power-house. The
building is seventy feet wide, three hundred and eighty-five feet long and forty-
seven feet high. It is built wholly of concrete, the superstructure being of con-
crete blocks. The roof is of red tile. The architecture is dignified and impressive.
This house contains the electrical machinery, exciters, generators, transformers,
switchboard, etc.
The exciters and generators were supplied by the Crocker- Wheeler Company,
of Ampere, New Jersey. These generators are connected directly to the turbine
shafts by suitable couplings.
ELECTRICAL TRANSMISSION
The current is stepped up to forty-four thousand volts and transmitted to the
transformer house at Western avenue and the Canal in Chicago, a distance of
twenty-nine and one-half miles. There the current is stepped down to twelve thou-
sand volts for distribution to twenty-three sub-stations. The electrical energy de-
veloped at the power house is equal to forty-two thousand horse power. The
line over which the current is carried is recognized by engineers as the finest ex-
ample of modern high-tension transmission to be found anywhere.
The towers are sixty feet high, set in concrete, and built of steel angles and
lattice bars, galvanized. Each of the towers have two steel cross arms also of
134 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
riveted lattice construction and galvanized, carrying six insulators of umbrella
type. There are nine aluminum wires, each five-eighths of an inch in diameter,
used for transmission. The spacing of the insulators keeps the wires seventy-two
inches apart. Power can be transmitted over any combination of three wires, so
that seven of the nine wires must be broken or grounded before the supply of cur-
rent would be stopped. The towers are placed three hundred and fifty feet apart
on straight lines, where there are changes of direction they are placed nearer
together.
The territory covered by the Sanitary District's lines extends south to Dolton
and Joliet, west to McCook, north to Wilmette and east to Lake Michigan. The
longest distance to which power is transmitted from the generating station is about
fifty miles. Supplying electrical current for both lighting and power purposes
by the Sanitary District, by means of the water power at Lockport, is one of the
most hopeful attempts heretofore made to carry on an enterprise under the plan
of public ownership.
DAMS AND LOCKS
There are two movable dams adjacent to, and east of, the power-house at Lock-
port. They were designed by Mr. Ernest L. Cooley. Their simplicity is admir-
able and their operation most successful. One of these dams is an outlet from the
forebay; it has a length of twelve feet on the crest. The other one, forty-eight
feet long on the crest, is an outlet for the channel. The vertical range of these
dams is fourteen feet.
The canal lock is of the dimensions prescribed by the legislature of 1903;
twenty-two feet wide, one hundred and thirty feet long between miter sills, and
with twelve feet of water over the sill. This is a concrete structure and is the
highest lift lock yet built. The lift will at times be as high as forty feet; the
mean lift will be about thirty-six feet. There are some novel features about this
lock in the way of gate operating mechanism and filling and emptying valves.
Space has been reserved for the building of a lock of proper dimensions for the
larger navigation of the deep waterway.
THE BUTTERFLY DAM
The creation of the water power resulted in holding a great body of water at
an elevation of nearly forty feet above the level of a large area in Joliet, about
two miles away. While all of the structures which hold this water up are of ample
strength to insure the safety of the people down-stream, yet the authorities of
the Sanitary District were willing and anxious to make "assurance doubly sure,"
and to that end they caused the Butterfly Dam to be built at the entrance to the
water power extension, after a design by the chief engineer. This device affords
a prompt and effectual method of shutting off the water in case of accident, but
under normal conditions is no barrier to navigation.
This dam, which is described below, is the only one of its kind in existence.
Its efficiency and ease of operation have been abundantly demonstrated. The dam
went into service at three a. m. August 27, 1907, when the cofferdam which held
back the waters of the main channel was blown up. On August 30, at 1 : 45 p. m.,
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 135
the filling of the channel below the dam was commenced, the twelve valves in the
dam being opened for that purpose.
In the figure is shown the general design and arrangement of the Butterfly
Darn which resembles a large steel lock gate, pivoted at the center instead of at
the sides. It lies normally in the center line of the channel, leaving a navigable
pass on each side. When in this position its ends are protected by concrete piers,
and a fixed bridge is built between these piers to hold the top pivot of the dam.
The bottom pivot is in a steel frame let into the rock bottom of the channel to a
depth of forty feet. In the dam are sets of small valves (A and B) each six feet,
four and one-fourth inches long and four feet, one inch high.
Ordinarily the dam is open under the service bridge or brace span. To close
the channel, the dam is started by rack and pinion mechanism which throws it
into the current. At this time the six valves (A) are opened and the six valves
(B) are closed, so that the current acts against a larger closed area on the (B)
side than on the (A) side. The dam is then swung across the stream into the po-
sition shown in the plan, thus closing the channels. To open the channel again
for navigation, the valves (B) are opened and the valves (A) are closed. This
throws the greater pressure on the (A) side which swings the dam back to its
open position. The operating mechanism is at the center.
A tunnel for the use of the operator extends from the west abutment to the
north pier. When the dam is in service and the lower channel is empty, the pres-
sures are 1,739,000 Ibs. on the top pivot and 3,776,000 Ibs. on the bottom pivot.
This bottom pivot is thirty-two inches in diameter. The dam is one hundred and
eighty-four feet long and thirty feet and one inch high. The weight of the dam
proper is seven hundred and ten tons. The total weight of steel in the structure
is one thousand and eighty tons.
ADMINISTRATION
The nine trustees composing the board of the Sanitary District are elected by
popular vote. The Sanitary District forms an independent organization separate
and distinct from the municipal government of Chicago. They may levy and col-
lect taxes for carrying on the work intrusted to them up to one per cent of the
assessed value of the taxable property within the corporate limits of the District.
By an amendment passed in 1895, this power was increased to one and one-half
per cent for a period of three years, beginning with the year 1895. Subsequently,
as it appeared that the District would not have sufficient funds to complete the
work, the Trustees procured the passage of an act in 1897, extending the levy of
one and one-half per cent for two years more, or until and including the year
1899. They may issue bonds to the extent of five per cent of the value of the
taxable property of the District as determined by the current assessment for state
and county taxes previous to the issue of said bonds.
This outline of the work shows that the primary purpose in the construction
of the Sanitary Canal is sanitation, and that in attaining that vital object it pro-
vides an artificial waterway of great utility, and develops water power of immense
value. Sanitation, navigation and industrial development are the visible results
of the vast expenditure made by The Sanitary District of Chicago.
In a pamphlet descriptive of this great work, recently published by the Sani-
136 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
tary District, the following statement is made: "It is no exaggeration to say that
the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is one of the greatest artificial waterways ever
constructed. Other canals may have cost more, and they may exceed this in
depth, but this canal has a greater cross section than any other. None presented
half the difficulties which were encountered and overcome in this undertaking, but
to this work neither the general government nor the State of Illinois has yet con-
tributed a single dollar."
THE SANITARY DISTRICT OF CHICAGO
Summary of Net Receipts and Expenditures from Organization to December 31, 1910.
RECEIPTS.
Taxes collected $45,752.651.55
Bond Account
Flint Issue (bondsoutstandir.it) $ 200,000.00
Second issue (bonds outstanding) 600,000.00
Third issue (bonds outstanding) 600,000.00
Fourth issue (bonds outstanding) 1,000,000.00
Fifth issue (bonds outstanding) 240,000.00
Sixth issue (bonds outstanding) 280.000.00
Seventh issue (bonds outstanding) 200.000.00
Eighth issue (bonds outstanding) 190,000.00
Ninth issue (bonds outstanding) 500.000.00
Tenth issue (bonds outstanding) 500,000.00
Eleventh issue (bonds outstanding) 1,250,000.00
Twelfth issue (bonds outstanding) 1,200.000.00
Thirteenth issue (bonds outstanding) 000.000.00
Fourteenth issue (bonds outstanding) 975,000.00
Fifteenth issue (bonds outstanding) 975,000.00
Sixteenth issue (bonds outstanding) 1,552,000.00
Seventeenth issue (bonds outstanding) 416.000.00
Eighteenth issue (bonds outstanding) 444,000.00
Nineteenth issue (bonds outstanding) 444,000.00
Twentieth Issue (bonds outstanding) 888,000.00
Twenty-second issue (bonds outstanding) 1,776,000.00
Twenty-third Issue (bonds outstanding) 944,000.00
Twenty-fourth issue (bonds outstanding) 2,500,000.00
Twenty-fifth issue (bonds outstanding) 500,000.00
Twenty-sixth issue (bonds outstanding) 1.000.000.00
20.074,000.00
Deposit on purchase of twenty-seventh issue of bonds 50,000.00
Interest on bank balances 426,227.80
Electrical Department. Interest Account 56.278.58
Dock and Land Improvements and Rentals Account 224,378.48
Tax Levy 1896 (warrants outstanding) 1,932.04
Deposit on Contract for Stone 2,500.00
$66.587,968.45
EXPENDITURES.
Right of Way, North Branch. Chlcaco River $ 17,150.00
Right of Way. South Branch, Chicago River 5,224,477.51
Right of Way. North Shore Channel 1,203,435.05
Right of Way. Main Channel and River Diversion 3,107,392.46
Right of Way, Calumet-Sag Channel 52,303.23
Right of Way, South of Joliet 11,826.56
$ 9,616.584.81
River Diversion Construction $ 1,055.806.98
Bridge Construction. River Diversion 142,486.20
Main Channel Construction 19.331.786.77
Bridge Construction, Main Channel 2,546,244.49
Controlling Works. Lockport 331. 253. 65
Bridge Construction, Controlling Works 7,873.35
Joliet Project 1,308,251.12
Bridge Construction. Joliet Project 276.386.76
Illinois and Michigan Canal Improvement at Bridgeport.... 77.016.08
Chicago River Dredging. Docking, etc 2,383.254.34
Bridge Construction. Chicago River 3,019,536.71
Wllmette Pumping Station 231.444.21
Thirty-ninth Street Pumping Station 552, 444. 75
West Thirty-ninth Street and Western Avenue Sewers 157,247.48
North Shore Channel Construction 978.093.3fi
Contract Section No. 7, North Shore Channel 90.909.53
Bridge Construction, North Shore Channel 483,974.77
Calumet-Sag Channel Construction 466,032.81
Bridge Construction, Calumet-Sag Channel 1,590.93
Lowering LaGrange and Kampsvtlle Dams 20,803.76
Raising Roadway of Brandon's Bridge
Water Power Development at Hickory Creek 6.570.70
Warehouses Nos. 1 and 2 on Western Avenue 22,592.99
Sewage Disposal Experiments 21,920.51 ..,.,,,,
oo.oiy,4i..yo
Capitalization and Maintenance of Bridges $ 403.S54.60
Bridgeport Pumping Works 90,388.80
Maintenance of Highway Bridges 30.399.01
Maintenance and Operation Account 308.969.1,1
83o.ll 1 n 1
Electrical Department ,- 4,144,844.13
Interest on Bonds $ 10.B1 8,228.54
Interest on Tax Warrants *SS'J55'2
Discount and Interest on Loans 25.004.67 ^ ^^ 6S690
Taxes on Land. Cook County $ 93,311.58
Taxes on Land. Will County 69 '2iS'52
Taxes on Land, DuPage County _ 1.870.42 164 ""S 50
Land Damages * 1 ??1^'^
Marine Damages IB. 47.1. IB 149.311. BO
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 137
... 242.9 1885
1,346,520.51
480 484 39
1,248,755.95
0,320.328.53
5 533 20
119 887 38
66,093.680 20
$ 8.685.45
444.802,80
$66.587.968.45
LIFE SAVING DEVICES
It became apparent to the authorities after the canal was filled with water
that it was a serious menace to life on account of the exposed character of
its margins. Especially was this true in that part of the canal which was cut
through the rock and where cement walls had been constructed. It was evident
that a person, heedless or unfortunate enough to fall into the canal along that
portion where the sides were perpendicular, would have no chance to escape by
climbing out, and he must inevitably perish unless help was at hand. Even if he
were a good swimmer his chance would be slender as the walls are continuous for
many miles together.
In an editorial in one of the papers was contained a warning of these condi-
tions, and it was recommended that a series of ladders be attached to the walls
at proper intervals as a means of rescue or escape. "It will be very much better
for the canal commissioners," said the editor, "to do this before there is loss of
life. It is almost criminal to leave the canal in its present condition." The trus-
tees were alive to this danger and provided a cable or life line looped up a short
distance above the water line along both sides throughout the entire distance of
the rock cutting. At intervals there are also placed safety ladders, like fire escapes
at the sides of buildings, and in the event that a person falls into the canal it is
possible for him, if able to reach a life line, to work along hand over hand until
a ladder is reached.
That this precaution has been effective is shown by the fact that the records
show that no loss of life has occurred from accidents thus guarded against. Cattle,
grazing too closely to the brink of the canal, have occasionally slipped into the
channel, but they have usually been rescued by means of extemporized hoisting
tackle without much difficulty.
"Floaters," that is the bodies of unknown persons, have often been recovered
from the channel, such bodies evidently having been those of persons drowned in
the Chicago river. In such cases the coroner has made the usual inquest, and an
appropriate verdict found.
ASPECT OF THE SANITARY CANAL
In the years intervening since its completion the banks of the Sanitary canal
have become covered with an abundant growth of young trees, willows, silver
poplars and cottonwoods which give the vicinity an attractive and rural aspect
greatly in contrast with the bare and desolate appearance it originally possessed.
Throughout the entire region through which the great canal passes the general
aspect of the country is apparently level, the actual rise of the surface at the
138 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
summit or height of land being imperceptible to the eye, and it can only be meas-
ured by instruments of precision. From the point where the canal begins its
course on the South Branch of the Chicago river an observer can look far to the
south and east and behold an unbroken stretch of prairie, except as interrupted
by structures of one kind and another, this level surface being a part of the "Grand
Prairie of Illinois."
DEVELOPMENT OF THE WATERWAYS
"The great Sanitary and Ship Canal is the forerunner of what the people of
the Middle West hope one day will be the beginning of a ship waterway clear to
the Gulf of Mexico," wrote Mr. Hoyt King, in the "World To-Day," for April,
1907. "It is around this so-called big ditch that the campaign for a deep water-
way is being carried on. For years, the deep waterway to the gulf has been a
dream. It was for the present age to give it an impetus by organization and ex-
ploitation. Public sentiment in the towns along the Desplaines river, the Illinois
river and the Mississippi, was first aroused by mass meetings, out of which grew
little organizations, later developing into one great organization called the Lakes
to the Gulf Deep Waterway Association, having its principal offices at St. Louis."
As the result of the campaign thus begun and carried on an amendment to the
state constitution was proposed to the people and ratified at the general election
November 3d, 1908, granting power to the General Assembly to issue bonds to
the amount of twenty millions of dollars to provide for the construction of a water-
way.
TEXT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
The constitution contains this prohibition: "The General Assembly shall
never loan the credit of the State or make appropriations from the treasury thereof
in aid of railroads or canals."
The section of the constitution above referred to was amended by the addition
of the following proviso, namely: "Provided further, that the General Assembly
may, by suitable legislation, provide for the construction of a deep waterway or
canal from the present water power plant of the Sanitary District of Chicago,
at or near Lockport, in the township of Lockport, in the county of Will, to a point
in the Illinois river at or near Utica, which may be practical for a general plan
and scheme of deep waterway along a route, which may be deemed most advantage-
ous for such plan of deep waterway; and for the erection, equipment and mainten-
ance of power plants, locks, bridges, dams and appliances sufficient and suitable
for the development and utilization of the water power thereof; and authorize the
issue, from time to time, of bonds of this state in a total amount not to exceed twenty
million dollars, which shall draw interest, payable semi-annually, at a rate not
to exceed four per cent per annum, the proceeds whereof may be applied as the
General Assembly may provide, in the construction of said waterway and in the
erection, equipment and maintenance of said power plants, locks, bridges, dams
and appliances."
THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THE CANAL
The primary purpose in building the Sanitary Canal was to furnish the people
of Chicago with a pure water supply. From its very inception it was so intended.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 139
the idea of a waterway being entirely subordinate to that of sanitation. The com-
mercial need of a deep waterway, from Lake Michigan through the valley of the
Illinois and the Mississippi rivers to the gulf is great, and it is not surprising that
its utility for navigation has seemed to many of more importance than for its prim-
ary purpose.
However, we find in President R. R. McCormick's message of 1909, that the
thought uppermost in his mind is that of the utility of the Sanitary canal in fur-
nishing a pure supply of water by diverting the drainage of the city down the great
channel to the river valleys below. "Whatever views may be entertained upon its
success as a waterway," says McCormick, "there can be no denying its extraordin-
ary efficiency as a disposer of sewage. I believe it is generally supposed that the
introduction of lake water is made solely for the purpose of diluting the sewage
to a condition where it is no longer violently objectionable. This it accomplishes
within the limits of the city. Its greatest work is performed in the succeeding
forty miles, in which stretch it practically destroys all trace of solid and organic
matter, and even those bacteria which are the constant menace of all water sup-
plies."
IMPORTANCE OF WATERWAYS
"The increasing congestion of traffic during the last five years," says Hoyt
King, "has turned especial attention to the need of inland ship waterways as well
as increased railroad facilities. Limited trackage, shortage of cars, delays incident
to crowded terminals, and uneconomic conditions for the unloading and transfer
of freight, are alleged causes for much of the congestion. The mighty resources
of our great western country are tied up. The country is paralyzed in its lower
litnbs, said Secretar}^ Stone of the Chicago Board of Trade. 'With the develop-
ment of irrigation and the increased productiveness of the soil, the wealth of re-
sources in the West is even now feeling the effect of failure to get to market. It
is essential that transportation methods keep pace with this development, if the
resources of the country are to be availed of.' "
A comparison of the Sanitary canal with other great works of a similar char-
acter is instituted by President McCormick in his message for 1909:
"As a navigable channel it has been customary to compare the Drainage Canal
to the Manchester Ship Canal. With all deference to my friends who have adopted
this view, I am compelled to see the matter in another light. Manchester is a city
of the inland, which built a canal to the sea coast. Chicago is a city on the coast
with a canal extending into the country behind. At the present time the Drainage
Canal as a navigable water way extends nowhere. Some miles from Joliet, it is
even a considerable distance from the city of Lockport. The cost of shipment by
canal and reshipment by wagon to these cities is beyond the cost of railroad trans-
portation, so the canal has never been used as a carrier of package freight. For
natural causes, the transportation on the canal is almost entirely confined to the
carriage of stone. It passes through the limestone country, through the quarries
of the Western Stone Company, and near the quarries of others. There the others
have leased dockage on the canal, and stone in quantities great and small, as crushed
stone, screenings, rubble stone and cut stone, is shipped by water to Chicago. The
stone excavated from the channel itself encourages industry and promotes naviga-
140 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
tion. It has been sold from time to time to various companies as it lies in the
spoil banks at prices ranging from 10 to 15 cents per cubic yard, and in quentities
from 100 to 1,050,000 cubic yards. This spoil bank furnished all the stone for
the new break-water at Lincoln Park, and it is furnishing stone for the new break-
water at Gary, Ind. The Trustees have been unwearying in their effort to sell
the stone. It not only brings in a revenue but its removal creates dock space
which can be rented for commercial purposes."
THE DEEP WATERWAY AND THE WATER POWER
"So in the waterway question the elemental principles of right and equity,
of hydraulics and navigation, brought forward in 1907, are now fought by the
private interests on one hand and submerged in impractical visions on the other.
The visionaries have played into the hands of the grafters by refusing to support
any other than their own schemes, while the self-seeking 'interests' have taken ad-
vantage of the visionaries by throwing their whole strength into framing plans
which their own acumen tells them to be impossible.
"The Des Plaines and Illinois rivers between the dams at Joliet and Marseilles
are sixty-seven miles in length. They have been surveyed for improvement a num-
ber of times, and, with the exception of one report, which, on its face, was made
with the idea of turning over all water power to private companies, all authorities
are substantially agreed upon the proper form of improvement, which is the con-
struction of dams at certain points and the excavation of channels in certain por-
tions. All authorities substantially agree upon the location of these dams. The
only open question is as to the size of the channel to be obtained by the improve-
ment.
"In their present state the Des Plaines and Illinois rivers between Joliet and
Marseilles are navigable, not in law- at least not in the law of Illinois, for the
Supreme Court has so decided it but in fact. The Supreme Court can determine
the law, but it cannot alter the facts. These streams are navigable; I know it
because I have navigated them, and without difficulty. They can be improved,
greatly improved, by the erection of dams and embankments, and the cost of there
improvements can be entirely paid from the water power created at these dams.
"That does not, of course, mean that a channel of any size that man may wish
can be created in these rivers and paid for from the water power developed. Navi-
gation on the Illinois River below Marseilles is profitable, though limited, because
the Illinois does not furnish a through transportation line, nor does it run between
any two large centers of population. Navigation on the Drainage Canal is prac-
tically nil, owing to the fact that the Drainage Canal ends 'in the air,' with no
market at its inner end. But between the southern end of the Drainage Canal and
the northern end of navigation in the Illinois River lies a navigable stream, blocked
by dams, around which there are no locks, which is easily capable of improvement.
Open up this stretch at whatever depth you will, and navigation will grow upon
it and its own growth and development will determine the depth and size of chan-
nel which should be used."
PRESENT STATUS OF THE WATER WAY QUESTION
The waterway proposition is still in a formative state, and remains an unsolved
problem at this time. The General Assembly of Illinois has not made any pro-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 141
vision as vet for the construction of a waterway under the power granted to it
by the constitutional amendment ratified by the people in November, 1908. It is
as large and perplexing a problem now as it has been at any time since the issue
attracted public notice. Hardly a week goes by while these lines are being writ-
ten that the question does not assume some new and unexpected phase, and men's
minds are in a continual state of flux in regard to it. What the form of this
question will take in its settlement it is impossible to predict; but one thing is
certain, the people are now alert and every aspect of the great question is receiv-
ing the consideration it deserves.
CHAPTER XLIX
WATER SUPPLY AND TUNNELS
WELLS UTILIZED FOR EARLY WATER SUPPLY WATER DIPPED FROM THE LAKE
PUMPING ENGINE INSTALLED RESERVOIRS AND WATER TOWER WATER TUNNELS
FIRST TUNNEL BUILT DIFFICULTIES OF. PLACING CRIB IN POSITION GREAT
PUBLIC REJOICING AT COMPLETION OF THE WORK OTHER TUNNELS BUILT THE
GREAT SOUTHWEST TUNNEL SYSTEM LAKE CRIB DISASTER OF 1909 INTER-STATE
INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITION SUCCESS OF THE ENTERPRISE BUILDING IN USE FOR
NINETEEN YEARS THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES EARLY ACTIVITIES OF THE
ACADEMY ANTE-FIRE PROSPERITY OF THE INSTITUTION COMPLETE DESTRUCTION
OF ITS COLLECTION IN THE GREAT FIRE QUARTERS IN THE OLD EXPOSITION BUILD-
ING LOCATION OFFERED IN LINCOLN PARK THE "LAFLIN MEMORIAL" BUILT
GREAT EXTENT OF THE COLLECTIONS SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF THE WORK OF
THE ACADEMY.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE WATER SUPPLY
HE Board of Trustees of the town of Chicago in 1831 paid ninety-five
dollars for digging a well at what is now the corner of Cass and Michi-
gan streets. The settlers, however, soon realized that the lake was the
most suitable source from which their water supply should be drawn,
and for some years private enterprise supplied the wants of the people
by means of water carts. Gale, in his "Reminiscences," says that water was sold
from these carts at ten cents a barrel, which certainly could not be considered an
exorbitant charge. "With a hogshead placed on its side on a two-wheeled cart,
with a hole sawed in the upper surface to receive the contents of the long-handled
bucket, the boys," says Gale, "would drive into the water, and standing on the
heavy shafts fill the cask, which was emptied in barrels at our doors through a
short leathern hose." Those living near the lake or river helped themselves, as
did the cattle and horses also.
In 18-12, five years after the city had been incorporated, a twenty- four horse
power engine was installed to pump water from the lake at the foot of Lake
street, which could raise twenty-five barrels of water per minute into a reservoir,
holding twelve hundred and fifty barrels, thirty-five feet above the level of the
lake. The water was taken from the lake through a fourteen inch pipe at a point
three hundred and twenty feet from the shore, the pipe protected by a pier. The
water pipes in the streets consisted of cedar logs ten feet long, through which three
and a half inch holes were bored lengthwise of the logs. There were two miles
of these log water mains laid three feet under ground.
So far the water supply had been controlled by private enterprise, but, in 1851,
142
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 143
when Chicago had a population of thirty thousand people, an issue was made on
the question of public ownership of the water system. Walter S. Gurnee was elected
mayor, and the rights and franchises of the Chicago Hydraulic Company were taken
over by the city. A new site for the pumping works was selected at the foot of
Chicago avenue. Here a building and standpipe were erected, within which was
installed the great vertical beam engine so familiar to old Chicagoans for fifty
years. This engine was a wonder in its day. Its cylinder was forty-four inches
in diameter, and its piston stroke was nine feet. The great fly wheel had a di-
ameter of twenty-four feet, and weighed twelve tons. The "walking beam," which
was a striking feature of this great engine, was thirty feet in length. For half a
century, from the date of its completion in 1853, barring intervals for necessary
repairs, it continued in service, finally with some other ancient engines being taken
down in 1903, and replaced by new engines of more recent designs. This venerable
piece of machinery was known to the engineers at the pumping station as "Sally."
It was for many years one of the principal attractions for sight-seers and visitors,
the people of Chicago taking a great pride in its size and efficiency. The water
pumped by this engine was distributed through three reservoirs, one located at
La Salle and Adams Streets, on the site of the present Rookery Building, the sec-
ond at Chicago avenue and Sedgwick street, and the third at Morgan and Monroe
streets. Each of these reservoirs held about two or three days' supply.
The Chicago avenue pumping works took its supply of water from a basin
near the shore constructed in the following manner: From the shore north of the
pumping station a double row of piles was driven which extended a thousand feet
into the lake, then south and then back to the shore on the south line of the grounds
of the water works. In the space between these rows of piles rough stone blocks
were thrown, through which the water from the lake percolated into the basin.
In the center of this enclosed body of water was built a crib protected by screens
to keep out floating articles, and through this flowed the water into an inlet pipe
connecting with the pumping works near by.
The water tower was of brick fourteen feet square at the bottom and dimin-
ishing to eleven feet at the top one hundred and thirty-six feet from the ground.
Its foundation proved to be insecure so that when the stand-pipe within was filled
with water the tower was deflected fourteen inches from the perpendicular. The
water was withdrawn from the stand-pipe and the foundation strengthened. The
tower continued in service for many years. The building and tower were replaced
by more substantial structures in 1867, the new tower reaching a height of one
hundred and fifty feet. A report made the next year speaks of the work as fol-
lows: "Chicago has outgrown her water works of sixteen years ago. Today upon
the site of the old buildings stand in their stead white stone structures which for
beauty, strength and magnitude are probably unsurpassed by any buildings in the
United States for like purposes."
In spite of the precautions taken to insure a supply of pure water it was found
that great numbers of small fish were admitted into the inlet pipe and were drawn
through the hydrants. Much complaint on this score, and also on account of roiled
water after storms, obliged the authorities to make plans for a tunnel under the
bed of the lake at the end of which a crib was to be constructed. This tunnel was
completed in 1866 as described below.
144 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
The engineer who proposed and afterwards planned this method of obtaining
pure water was Ellis S. Chesbrough, a man of broad views, and who had been city
engineer since 1855. He had suggested and, under the authority of the Common
Council, had planned the new grades for the city which caused so serious an in-
terruption to city traffic in the later fifties, but with permanently beneficial re-
sults. It will be interesting to describe in detail some of the essential features of
the work on the tunnel, so that the reader may understand the difficulties that the
builders were obliged to contend with at a time when construction of that char-
acter was not so well understood as it was in a later time.
THE TUNNELS OF CHICAGO
Notwithstanding the fact that Chicago stands on a plain of nearly two hun-
dred square miles in extent, it is remarkable that the earth beneath and its ad-
joining waters in lake and river are honeycombed with tunnels. The people of
Chicago have become the greatest tunnel builders perhaps of any community on
the face of the earth. The substratum, composed principally of blue clay to a
great depth, renders this kind of construction easy, as compared with like con-
structions in localities largely underlaid with rocky formations, though at greater
depths rock is met with abundantly.
Indeed so expert have become our tunnel builders that the construction of a
tunnel for any purpose, for the conveyance of a water supply from distant points
in the lake, for a passage under the river, or for freight carrying under the streets,
scarcely attracts more than passing attention. It is a curious fact, which il-
lustrates what is here said, that the Illinois Tunnel Company, described elsewhere
in this work, excavated a network of tunnels some thirty feet under the surface
of the streets, of which the public were scarcely aware until it began to be operated
in 1905.
The facility with which tunnels are built recalls a story of the Civil War re-
lated in the "Memoirs of General Sherman," and quoted by Grant in his "Memoirs,"
"The rebel cavalry lurking in his rear to burn bridges and obstruct his communica-
tions had become so disgusted at hearing trains go whistling by within a few hours
after a bridge had been burned, that they proposed to try blowing up some of the
tunnels. One of them said, 'No use, boys, Old Sherman carries duplicate tun-
nels with him, and will replace them as fast as you can blow them up; better save
your powder.' "
We shall here give separate accounts of the water tunnels, the tunnels under the
river, and those under the streets.
THE WATER TUNNELS OF CHICAGO
Far beneath the surface of Chicago's streets there are flowing rivers of water
conducted through tunnels and supplied directly from the boundless flood of Lake
Michigan. The volume of the waters thus flowing is almost beyond comprehen-
sion, but it is all required for the needs of the great population of the city.
If it were possible that all knowledge of the tunnel system by which the waters
of Lake Michigan are conveyed from the inlets to the various pumping stations
were lost, and no sketch plans existed from which they could be located, it would
WATER RESERVOIR AT THE CORNER OF MORGAN AND WEST
MONROE STREETS
Second Baptist Church on farther corner, Period of the '70s
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 145
be an interesting task for explorers in later ages to locate and trace the courses
of these constantly running streams far below the surface. But strange to say
we find that such a state of things actually exists in the city of Rome. The courses
of many of its subterranean aqueducts are not known at this day, the records, if
there ever were any, having been lost in the twenty or thirty centuries since they
were constructed. Their existence is revealed only where the channel is exposed
to the light of day at some point in its course.
THE "LOST WATERS" OF ROME
"The 'lost waters' of Rome," says Marion Crawford, in one of his works, "are
very mysterious. Here and there, under old streets and far down amongst the
foundations of ancient palaces, there are channels of running water which have
no apparent connection with any of the aqueducts now restored and in use. It is
a water that comes no one knows whence and finds its way to the Tiber, no one
knows how. It is generally clear and very cold, and in the days when the aque-
ducts were all broken and most people drank of the river, the 'lost water' was
highly prized. It appears in the most unexpected places, sometimes in great quan-
tities and seriously interfering with any attempt to lay the foundations of a new
building, sometimes black and silent, under a huge flagstone in an old court-yard,
sometimes running with an audible rush through hidden passages deeper than the
deepest cellars. It has puzzled archaeologists, hydraulic engineers and architects
for generations, its presence has never been satisfactorily explained, there seems
not to be any plan of the city which shows its whereabouts, and the modern im-
provements of the Tiber's banks do not appear to have affected its occult course.
By tradition handed down from father to son, certain workmen, chiefly masons and
always genuine Romans, claim to know more about it than other people; but that
is as much as can be said. It is known as the 'lost water,' and it rises and falls,
and seeks different levels in unaccountable ways, as water will when it is confined
under the earth but is here and there confronted by the pressure of the air."
Such a condition of affairs would doubtless be found in our own locality, if,
after thousands of years of vicissitudes similar to those through which the ancient
city of Rome has passed, the inhabitants of our city had relapsed into such a con-
dition as that city experienced during the intervening ages, and all accurate knowl-
edge of our tunnel system was lost and its connections broken.
MORE LIBERAL USE OF WATER FOR FOUNTAINS SUGGESTED
A suggestion made by Lorado Taft in a magazine article on the subject of the
Ferguson bequest, and the possible uses that its generous provisions could be ap-
plied to, referred to the establishment of fountains throughout the city. He said:
"Some day we dust-covered and dust-choked toilers may learn, as have the Parisians
and the Romans, the artistic uses of water in streets and squares. They have
to bring it from mountain springs many miles away ; we have a supply practically
as boundless as the ocean right at our doors. To be sure we have to pump it, but
why should not some of this vast supply serve us en passant, for the refreshing of
our eyes and the beautifying of our public places? Chicago is delving deep as
well as piling high, and the water could find its way to the subterranean boilers
VOL ni 10
146 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
just as well after sparkling for a moment in the basins of great fountains. Arriv-
ing in Rome on a hot day the traveler is greeted by the splash of water at the very
portal of the station, and its music accompanies him wherever he goes. The mist
of great jets of water floats above him; the tinkle of their cascades^ is ever in his
ear. No one thing would do as much to make Chicago attractive in midsummer
as a generous supply of beautiful fountains."
CONSTRUCTION OF THE TUNNEL AND CRIB
Mr. Chesbrough's proposal was to construct a tunnel two miles under the bed
of Lake Michigan in an easterly direction beginning at the end of Chicago avenue.
At the end of the tunnel was to be built a crib through which the water could be
admitted to the tunnel from which the pumps on shore would take their supply.
It was necessary, however, to obtain the consent of the Federal authorities which
consent was given by an act of Congress passed January 16, 1864. The act con-
ferred power on the city of Chicago "to extend aqueducts or inlet pipes into Lake
Michigan, so far as may be deemed necessary to insure a supply of pure water, and
to erect a pier or piers, in the navigable waters of said lake, for the making, pre-
serving, and working of said pipes or aqueducts: Provided, that such piers shall
be furnished with a beacon light, which shall be lighted at all such seasons and
hours as the light on the pier at the entrance to the Chicago river."
A contract was entered into with Messrs. Dull & Gowan of Harrisburg, Penn-
sylvania, the contract price being fixed at $315,139, and work began May 26, 1864.
The vertical shaft was nine feet in diameter, and at a depth of sixty-six feet a tun-
nel was driven horizontally six feet in diameter, tapering down to five feet in a
distance of twenty feet, after which it continued with the same diameter through-
out its course. The report of the Engineer states that the excavation was gener-
ally through stiff blue clay, in which occasionally sand pockets were found and
sometimes small bodies of quicksand were encountered. Sometimes boulders weigh-
ing several hundred pounds were met with, and on one occasion a boulder was so
large that it was necessary to break it up by blasting. "There was a little ner-
vousness as to the effect of a blast under the lake, but it caused no serious disturb-
ance, either of the ground or the masonry" with which the completed portions had
been lined.
PLACING THE CRIB IN POSITION
At the same time that tunnel construction began work was commenced on a
massive five-sided crib, the dimensions of which were specified to be fifty-eight feet,
horizontal measurement, on each of the five sides, and forty feet high. The inner
portion of the crib had sides parallel with the outer faces and each twenty-two feet
long, thus leaving a space between the inner and outer walls of the crib of twenty-
five feet. This space was filled with a compact body of masonry after it was
placed in position. Three rectangular openings, each four feet wide and five feet
high, were made through the sides so that water could be drawn from near the
bottom, middle or top, as might be required. Each of these openings was pro-
vided with gates so that the water could be cut off whenever it might be thought
necessary. The hollow walls were made water tight and a bottom of planking pro-
vided so that when launched it would float, which it did accordingly. The crib
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 147
was more than a year in course of construction and when completed and launched
it was towed out to its position and preparations were made to sink it in place.
Immediately after the contractors began to fill the crib with stone a very violent
storm arose and drove the vessels loaded with stone into the harbor. The storm
continued for three days and threatened, before it abated, to do serious if not
fatal injury to the crib. After the storm was over it was found that the crib had
worked out of its position some thirteen feet, and the north west angle was three
and a quarter feet lower than the opposite one.
The depth of the lake at the point where the crib was sunk is thirty feet so
that ten feet of the crib walls or "breakwater" rose above the surface. "The
great difficulty there would have been in restoring the crib to its exact position,"
says the Engineer's report, "and the fear there might be another storm mean-
time, prevented any attempt of the kind being made. The very slight deflection
this rendered necessary in the line of the tunnel was of no practical importance
whatever, though regretted, and the variations of the sides of the crib from per-
pendicular . . . did not affect its stability. The filling of the crib was pro-
ceeded with as fast as the contractors could, and since it was completed, about
the middle of August, no variation whatever in the position of this structure has
been perceived. A tremor is frequently felt during severe storms, and when large
fields of ice are passing. The rubbing of field ice against the crib is occasionally
accompanied with a fearful noise. At such times the crib appears to a spectator
on it to be an immense plow moving through the ice. On several occasions the
broken masses lodged on the south side of the crib, forming banks several hundred
feet long, and reaching from the bottom of the lake to ten or fifteen feet above the
surface."
The space between the inner and outer walls of the crib having been filled
with stone a cast iron cylinder nine feet in diameter was sunk within it and after
having the water drawn out excavation was begun and on reaching the proper
depth was continued in a horizontal direction towards the tunnel approaching from
the shore. The daily average of progress was nine and one-third feet and having
reached a point 2290 feet from the lake shaft the two parties met. "The two
faces were brought together on the 30th of November, 1866, when it was found
that the masonry at the east face was only about seven and one-half inches out
of the line from the west end."
Public enthusiasm over the completion of the tunnel was unbounded. A flag
was raised on the Court House tower in honor of the event, and a tour through
the tunnel by the Mayor and members of the Common Council was arranged a
few days later. A tug boat took Mayor Rice and his party to the crib where they
entered the tunnel and were seated on the dump cars a train of which were await-
ing them, the motive power being a mule. On reaching the point where the tun-
neling parties met each other the Mayor made an address and placed a stone in
position inscribed with the words "Closed, December 6, 1866." The party re-
turned to the crib and soon after were joined by another party which had passed
through the entire length of the tunnel from the shore end of it. At this moment
the cannons boomed simultaneously from the crib and the shore. Speeches fol-
lowed, one of them by Mr. Chesbrough, the engineer, who more than any other
man was responsible for the success of the enterprise. A dinner prepared in the
148 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
kitchen of the crib was served, after which the party arriving through the tun-
nel returned the way it came, while the Mayor and his party took passage on
the tug boat.
The Engineer's Report concludes his account of construction work on the tun-
nel, as follows: "The work of filling the chambers of the main tunnel and the
cleansing of that structure having been completed, water was first let into it on
the 8th of March, 1867, when only the horizontal portion was filled, this precaution
being taken to avoid too sudden pressure on the masonry. By the morning of the
eleventh the shafts were filled to the level of the lake. For the purpose of as-
certaining if any defective workmanship existed where cavities on the outside of
the masonry had been filled in, the water was pumped out of the tunnel sufficiently
to permit the engineer and three representatives of the press to go upwards of
half the way towards the land. Not a brick was observed to be out of place or to
have started. After the examination, the tunnel was again filled with water, and
on the 24th the mouth of the old inlet was cut off from the lake."
LATER TUNNELS
In 1874, another tunnel seven feet in diameter was constructed parallel to the
first one and fifty feet distant from it. The course of the latter was continued un-
der the city to the west works at the corner of Ashland avenue and Twenty-second
street, where the pumps force the water into mains. This increased the daily ca-
pacity to one hundred millions of gallons, though not more than two-thirds of that
quantity was actually used. It was decided by the engineers that the distribution
of water would be more economically and efficiently accomplished by placing pump-
ing stations two or three miles apart in the more densely populated areas, "be-
cause the loss of head and cost of mains and pumping to obtain the least allow-
able pressure are thus reduced to a minimum." It was in accordance with this
view that the tunnels afterwards constructed were located at various points along
the shore of the lake, and pumping stations erected at widely distant points in the
city, and connected with the existing tunnels by tunnels extended under the city's
streets.
In 1892, the "Four Mile Tunnel" was completed. This tunnel extended un-
der the lake bottom nearly in line with Twelfth street, ending at a crib substantially
built of masonry. That portion of the tunnel underneath the bed of the lake ends
at Park Row shaft, from which two tunnels are extended under the land, one of
which reaches the pumping station at Fourteenth street and Indiana avenue, and
the other at Harrison street near Halsted street. All the tunnels have developed
into systems, many of them having become a complicated network connecting at
several different pumping stations, and with each other. Changes, designed to
economize the flow and meet the requirements of rapidly growing sections of the
city, are in progress continually. The engines installed in the various pumping
stations are the finest of their kinds in the world.
The annexation of an extensive area, in 1889, brought within the city limits of
Chicago, the city of Lake View, and the towns of Hyde Park, Lake, and Jefferson.
This increased the area of the city to one hundred and seventy square miles, and
the population to one million, two hundred thousand. Through this annexation the
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 149
city acquired two pumping stations, the Sixty-eighth street station, and the Lake
View station, the latter having already a partially constructed tunnel connected
with a crib five thousand feet from the shore. After annexation it was decided
to extend the tunnel a mile farther, so that the intake crib is practically two miles
from the shore. Later, successive annexations brought within the city limits the
water works plants of Washington Heights, Norwood Park, Rogers Park, and
Cicero.
The annexation of the large territory in 1889 and 1890, and the acquisition of
the several pumping stations of the various municipalities, with the inadequate pipe
systems in use, greatly complicated the water supply situation. As the pumping
stations were all located along the lake shore taking their supply, some from pipes
two and three feet in diameter extended to various distances along the bottom of
the lake, and some from tunnels with submerged intakes, water had thus to be
forced for miles through mains which were laid necessarily without regard to the
new conditions and demands that had arisen. The pipes were too small and the
necessity of additional large feeder mains was imperative in order to insure a proper
distribution of the water as furnished by the pumping machinery then in existence.
The annual increase in population and manufactures was far beyond expectations.
The additional machinery that had been placed during 1892 in the Lake View
and Sixty-eighth street stations, and the opening of the Fourteenth and Harrison
street stations in connection with the Four Mile tunnel failed to give relief to cer-
tain portions of the city. The average daily pumpage during 1894 was nearly two
hundred and forty millions of gallons, or one hundred and fifty-two gallons per
capita. In the western part of the city there still continued to be a deficiency in
the supply, and the authorities were compelled to take further steps in tunnel
construction.
The "North East Lake Tunnel" was ordered to be built in 1896, and this was
completed in January, 1899. It extended from the shore at Oak street northeast-
erly to a new intake crib called the "Carter H. Harrison Crib." Its length was
fourteen thousand feet and it had a diameter of ten feet, and a well in the center
of the- crib was sixty-two feet in diameter. Six ports, each five and a half feet
square, located near the bottom, allow the water to enter the well.
Meantime the tunnel already constructed before annexation by the authorities
of the town of Hyde Park, and taking its water through a submerged intake, was
found insufficient. Another and larger tunnel, seven feet in diameter, was con-
structed, ending at the Sixty-eighth street crib.
THE SOUTHWEST LAND AND LAKE TUNNEL SYSTEM
In April, 1906, construction began on by far the largest system yet designed,
called the "Southwest Land and Lake Tunnel System." This will involve, when
completed in the fall of 1911, some sixteen miles of water tunnels extending un-
der the lake from the new crib adjacent to the Sixty-eighth street crib to various
pumping stations in the southwest part of the city. The expenditure involved to
carry out this great project will be in the neighborhood of eight millions of dollars.
The crib at the extremity of the tunnel is already completed and is called the
"Edward F. Dunne" crib, in honor of Mr. Dunne who was mayor of the city from
150 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
1903 to 1907. A cross section of the new tunnel shows the shape of a horse shoe.
Its interior height is fourteen feet in its course under the lake, becoming smaller
however after dividing into three branches under the land. The center of the
tunnel will be one hundred and twenty feet below the level of the lake, and a large
part of the excavation is through solid rock.
A brief description of this, the largest tunnel among the water tunnels of Chi-
cago, is condensed from the Engineer's report printed in the Mayor's Message for
1906 and that for 1908. The intake crib, that is the "Edward F. Dunne Crib,"
is located close to the Sixty-eighth street crib. The two cribs are connected by a
foot bridge. The tunnel will supply three pumping stations, one to be located at
One Hundred and Fourth Place and Stewart avenue, the second at Seventy-fifth
street and Western avenue, and the third in the vicinity of One Hundred and
Twenty-sixth street and Yates avenue, each station having a maximum capacity
daily of one hundred millions of gallons.
In its construction an intermediate crib was placed on the line of the tunnel
seventy-five hundred feet from the shore, so as to expedite the work of excavation.
This crib will be removed when the tunnel is completed. It was at this interme-
diate crib that a disaster involving the loss of some seventy lives in January, 1909,
took place which is mentioned below. An aerial cableway was constructed by the
contractors in connection with the work, carried on twenty-six steel towers. On
the night of January 30, 1908, the ice carried away nineteen of these towers,
which however were rebuilt and again put in operation in the following August.
THE LAKE CRIB DISASTER
The- temporary crib used in the construction of the new tunnel of the South-
west Land and Lake Tunnel System, situated on the line of the tunnel seventy-five
hundred feet from the shore, caught fire from some unknown cause at eight o'clock
in the morning of January 20, 1909. There was a large force of laborers on the
structure at the time, it having been found impracticable to carry them back and
forth each day on account of the large quantity of ice in the lake. The structure
being of wood the fire once started spread rapidly, and the unfortunate men were
caught as in a trap, and most of them were burned to death or drowned in efforts
to escape before help arrived. Some saved themselves by seeking a precarious
refuge on floating cakes of ice, though some met death by drowning in attempting
to do so. Tugs came to the rescue as soon as they could force their way to the
scene and saved some of those on the ice. The exact number of victims could not
be ascertained, but it was believed that seventy men lost their lives in this appall-
ing disaster.
Some two hundred pounds of dynamite was stored in a powder house on the
first floor of the structure, but "it probably burned without exploding," says the
engineer in charge, Mr. George F. Samuel, in his report of the accident. "None of
the eye witnesses heard or saw an explosion, and the condition of the structure
after the fire did not indicate that an explosion had taken place." The structure
was rebuilt and was ready for use in the following June, but workmen were no
longer housed at the crib.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 151
INTAKE CRIBS NOW IN USE
At the end of the year 1910, there were six waterworks cribs in the lake at
distances ranging from two to four miles from the shore. These cribs may be
briefly described as follows:
Lake View Crib, connected by a tunnel with the shore at Montrose boulevard.
Carter H. Harrison Crib, connected by a tunnel with the shore at Oak street.
Two Mile Crib, connected by three tunnels with the shore at Chicago avenue.
Four Mile Crib, connected with the shore by a tunnel at Twelfth street.
Sixty-eighth Street Crib, connected by a tunnel with the shore at Sixty-eighth
street.
Edward F. Dunne Crib, connected by a tunnel with the shore at Seventy-third
street.
Although the two latter cribs are adjacent to each other the tunnels communi-
cating with them have diverging courses.
INTERSTATE INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITION
The Exposition building, which stood on the lake front at the foot of Monroe
street from 1873 to 1892, was built by the Chicago Interstate Industrial Com-
pany, an association of Chicago business men. Among the leaders of the enter-
prise were J. Irving Pearce, W. F. Coolbaugh, Potter Palmer, and R. T. Crane.
These gentlemen were joined soon after by others who subscribed for the stock; in
all there were five hundred and twenty-two subscribers to the stock. The first meet-
ing of stockholders was held April 4, 1873, and the following officers were elected:
President, Potter Palmer; Vice-Presidents, Joseph Medill, W. F. Coolbaugh, Wirt
Dexter, N. K. Fairbank, and Jacob Rosenberg; Treasurer, J. Irving Pearce; Sec-
retary, John P. Reynolds. The Executive Committee was composed of the fol-
lowing gentlemen: N. S. Bouton, George S. Bowen, A. C. Hesing, R. T. Crane,
George W. Laflin, T. W. Harvey, and David A. Gage.
The Interstate Industrial Exposition began its career just as the disastrous
financial storm of 1873 was breaking upon the business world. Undeterred by
the threatening state of affairs the managers opened the building to the public on
the night of September 25th, while twenty thousand people assembled in the great
structure responded with cheers to the speeches and music of bands. Only ninety
days had been required from the time the ground was first broken to the time of
its dedication. Mr. W. F. Coolbaugh called the vast audience to order. Mr. N.
S. Bouton then made the opening address in which he told the history of the en-
terprise. Lester L. Bond, then mayor of Chicago ; John L. Beveridge, then gov-
ernor of Illinois ; and Senators John A. Logan and Richard J. Oglesby, followed
with speeches.
In the forty-eight days during which the Exposition lasted, six hundred thou-
sand people viewed the 1320 exhibits it contained. The Exposition company had
received permission from the city to occupy the ground for its building for that
one season only, but when the time arrived for the removal of the building the
managers were able to secure an extension until May, 1876; the press of the city,
backed by a strong popular sentiment, supporting the cause of the Exposition with
enthusiasm. When the extended time had elapsed the building was allowed to
152 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
stand by sufferance while its uses multiplied, great political conventions, mu-
sical festivals, garden concerts, balls, cattle shows, and many exhibitions, finding
here adequate space for their purposes and a convenient location for the attend-
ance of visitors. It was thus that the immense advantages accruing to a city from
the possession of such an extensive structure, adapted to so many purposes, began
to dawn upon the people, and becoming, as it did, an important factor in the city's
progress.
IMPORTANT OCCASIONS AT THE EXPOSITION BUILDING
The great National Republican Convention of 1880 was held in this building,
on which occasion James A. Garfield was nominated for the presidency on the
thirty-sixth ballot after one of the most spirited political battles in our history.
Four years later another National Republican Convention was held in the same
place, upon which occasion James G. Blaine received the nomination for the presi-
dency. During the same summer the National Democratic Convention held its
sessions here when Grover Cleveland received the nomination.
The old structure, even then beginning to show signs of decrepitude, had an-
other honor thrust upon it- that of being the arena of the first "May Festival"
given by Theodore Thomas in Chicago. This season of song was held May 23 to
26, 1882. N. K. Fairbank was President, George S. Dunlap and A. A. Sprague,
Vice-P residents ; Philo A. Otis, Secretary; George Sturges, Treasurer; and Mil-
ward Adams, Business Manager. Seven concerts were given four in the even-
ings and three in the afternoons. Included in them was a chorus of one thousand
voices under W. L. Tomlins, and solos by Frau Materna, Mrs. Osgood, Annie
Louise Gary, Emily Winant, Sig. Campanini, William Candidus, Theo J. Toedt,
Georg Henschel, Myron W. Whitney, and Franz Remmertz. Clarence Eddy was
organist. Chicago fairly went wild over the festival, which was run at popular
prices, and another was given under the same leader May 27 to 81, 1884. In the
seven concerts giVen in the second May festival Thomas directed an orchestra of
one hundred and ninety pieces, and Tomlins a chorus of one thousand voices, with
a children's chorus at the last matinee. Solos were sung by Christine Nilsson, Mme.
Materna, Emma Juch, Emily Winant, Hermann Winkelmann, Emil Scaria, Franz
Remmertz, Theo Toedt, and Max Heinrich. In these May festivals Frau Materna,
Winkelmann, and Scaria made their debuts in Chicago.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE EXPOSITION.
During the nineteen years of the existence of the old Exposition building there
was registered a total attendance of six millions of persons. Included in the va-
rious events which took place in that time there were four National nominating con-
ventions, fourteen annual exhibits of horses, cattle, dairy products, poultry; an in-
ternational exhibition of railway appliances, "the greatest of the kind ever held
in the world, occupying all the vast building and part of the Lake Front Park
outside;" operatic festivals, two meetings of the North American Sangerfest, a
national Knights Templar conclave, Theodore Thomas' summer night concerts, ex-
hibitions by school-teachers' associations, and twelve events in aid of charity. On
one occasion, when Marshall Field & Co.'s establishment was damaged by fire the
building was occupied as temporary quarters by that firm, and the three thousand
persons employed were kept at work who would otherwise have been idle.
By permission of Chicago Historical Society
INTER-STATE INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITION
This stood on the lake front at the foot of Monroe street, from 1873 to 1892. It has been
known in late years as the "old Exposition building"
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 153
The purpose of the managers at first was to hold annual expositions, allowing
manufacturers, merchants and tradespeople free space on the floor for exhibiting
their works and their wares, in order that the public might become acquainted with
late methods and production, and trade thus be stimulated. A capital stock of
$150,000 was subscribed, which was soon increased to $250,000, when the city
council granted the use of the lake front for the building site. For the first few
years there was an annual deficit in the financial affairs of the Exposition, which
was made up by the stockholders ; later, when it became self-supporting, and an
annual dividend was declared, the Common Council demanded a rental for the
ground which had been granted to the Exposition company. Objection was rightly
made that the stockholders were in reality guarantors, and that this was primarily
a public-spirited enterprise undertaken for the advancement of Chicago's interests ;
that the losses of previous years more than entitled the stockholders to dividends
when there was a surplus. An annual rental of one thousand dollars was finally
agreed upon.
The Exposition building cost to erect about $280,000. From the beginning no
charge was made to exhibitors for space in the building or for motive power. For
the first few years the price of general admission tickets was fifty cents, but, in
1876, the price of admission tickets was reduced to twenty-five cents, resulting
in a largely increased attendance but in diminished receipts. The management,
however, were well satisfied, for it gave evidence of the general popularity of the
Exposition. The building was used for many purposes beside that for which it
was primarily intended. The great May festivals were held in a large temporary
hall constructed within the great building.
At the annual meeting of the stockholders of the Exposition, held November
14, 1885, the following resolution was offered by Edwin Lee Brown, one of the
directors: "Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that a great World's
Fair be held in Chicago, in the year 1892, the four hundredth anniversary of the
landing of Columbus in America." This was the first formal expression which af-
terwards ripened into the movement making Chicago the place for holding the
great World's Columbian Exposition.
In the spring of 1892 the Exposition building was torn down to give place to
the Art Institute.
THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
"The Chicago Academy of Sciences is believed to have the honor of being
organized at an earlier date than any other scholarly body now existing in Chi-
cago." So wrote the secretary of tKe Academy a few years ago, in giving an
account of the gathering together, in 1856, of a small circle of those who were
enthusiastic for the promotion of scientific investigation. At a later meeting of
these men an organization was completed and officers were elected. The original
members of "The Chicago Academy of Natural Sciences" were James V. Z. Blaney,
Nathan S. Davis, James W. Freer, C. A. Helmuth, Hosmer A. Johnson, Edmund
Andrews, Henry Parker, J. Young Scaminon, Franklin Scammon, Richard K.
Swift, Joseph D. Webster, Eliphalet W. Blatchford and Henry W. Zimmer-
man. Money was subscribed, and a room was rented in a building on the south-
east corner of Clark and Lake streets. In this room were put a few cases to
contain specimens, and here a museum was started. As there was not enough money at
154 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
first to pay the salary of a curator, a few of the members, in their leisure hours,
worked on the cabinet, and the interest was kept up by regular monthly meetings.
The society was incorporated in 1859 under the name "The Chicago Academy
of Sciences," and the members, property and interests of the former organiza-
tion were transferred to the incorporated body. This reorganization resulted in
renewed activity and interest, which was greatly stimulated by Robert Kenni-
cott, a young naturalist of great ability and zeal. He, with Dr. Edmund An-
drews, had brought to the museum the most of the many thousand specimens then
in its possession. In 1859 Mr. Kennicott joined a scientific expedition, con-
ducted by the Smithsonian Institution, to northwestern Arctic America. He
returned three years later with many valuable specimens for the departments of
natural history and ethnology, which he had been able to secure for the Academy
by designating it as the second beneficiary of the expedition, after the Smithsonian
Institution. Interest was growing in the Academy, promises were made by the
Smithsonian Institution of much new material, and as a result of this enthusiasm
Professor Louis Agassiz of Harvard University was invited to address a meeting
in Chicago on February 22, 1864. This occasion aroused such enthusiasm that a
subscription paper which was started soon contained the names of one hundred
and twenty-five persons, each of whom agreed to give the sum of five hundred
dollars. At the time of Professor Agassiz' address, Mr. Kennicott had secured
the passing of the following resolutions, which resulted in the generous sub-
scription list just mentioned:
Resolved, That the creation of a museum of the natural sciences for the in-
crease and diffusion of knowledge is highly desirable, and especially so at the
present time, in order to secure to this city the large and valuable collection now
apparently within its reach.
Resolved, That a committee be appointed to devise ways and means and to
act as trustees of any funds that may be raised for the accomplishment of this
object.
Resolved, That the committee above designated consist of J. Young Scammon,
Ezra B. McCagg, George C. Walker, Edmund Aiken, Daniel Thompson, Eliphalet
W. Blatchford, Henry G. Loomis, William E. Doggett and two others whom they
may name.
The subscribers to the museum fund were made life members of the Academy.
As the raising of this fund was a movement distinct from the work of the Academy,
the committee which was named in the resolutions and appointed to act as trus-
tees for the fund later resolved to be merged in and consolidated with the board of
trustees of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, and all the property and effects of the
two organizations became vested in this board of trustees. A new charter was
obtained in 1865, in order to place the Academy and its property on a firmer
foundation. Rooms were secured in the Metropolitan block, the property of the
Academy was moved there, and new cases were built to hold the specimens sent
by the Smithsonian Institution.
THE EXPEDITION TO SIBERIA
In March, 1865, Mr. Kennicott, the year before made the curator of the
Academy, started on another expedition along the northwest coast of North
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 155
America. The Western Union Telegraph company were planning to send out an
expedition to survey this coast for the purpose of establishing a route for a
telegraph line that would connect this continent with Asia by crossing the Behring
straits. The company generously offered to naturalists the opportunity of join-
ing the expedition through this scarcely known and almost inaccessible country.
Mr. Kennicott joined this party, his outfit for scientific investigation and collect-
ing being furnished by the Academy at a cost of a thousand dollars. On the
Isthmus of Panama, where the party were crossing to the Pacific ocean, Mr.
Kennicott gathered many valuable specimens. His immense energy, high spirits, and
love of fun was infectious, and his devotion to his work and his disregard of danger
compelled admiration. He was there chosen the captain of the expedition. On
their arrival at San Francisco word came to him that he had been elected to the
office of Director of the Academy, and he telegraphed his acceptance of the honor.
But he never returned to resume the duties of his office; in the second year of
his trip he died suddenly, and while alone, May 13, 1866, on the banks of a
far-off river of the Northwest region. The loss to the Academy and to the cause
of science in the death of Mr. Kennicott was great indeed. The collection made
by him on the expedition was later sent to the Academy. To take his place while
away Dr. William Stimpson had been elected curator for a year, and on No-
vember 12, 1866, he was elected Director of the Academy, to succeed Mr. Kenni-
cott in that position. These two were the only persons who have ever been given this
office. Dr. Stimpson had been secretary of the Academy before being made curator,
and was well prepared for the work he undertook. He had been a student under
Agassiz, and for several years was in charge of the department of invertebrate
zoology of the Smithsonian Institution, a branch of research in which he was
regarded as the leading American authority. The Institution deposited with the
Academy a full series of specimens of invertebrates which Dr. Stimpson had col-
lected from all waters, and paid him, besides, the rare honor of sending to the
Academy a large collection of its own specimens for his determination.
VICISSITUDES OF THE ACADEMY
From 1865 to 1871 the Academy grew and prospered. The collection became
so large that by the end of 1865 the trustees, seeing the necessity for more room
in the near future, began to consider the means of obtaining ample accommodations.
A lot was bought on Thirtieth street, with a frontage on Indiana and on Prairie
avenues, for the surprisingly low figure of thirty-five dollars a front foot. This
was done as an investment only, not for building purposes. Offers were made
at about the same time by the trustees of the Douglas estate to donate to the
Academy the necessary land for a building in the vicinity of the old University of
Chicago, at Thirty-fourth street and Cottage Grove avenue. The gift was declined
because the lot was at too great a distance from the center of the city.
On June 7, 1866, the collections and rooms of the society were seriously dam-
aged by a fire which broke out in the Metropolitan block and destroyed almost
the entire property of the Academy. Dr. Stimpson's report of the losses by the
fire includes a list of almost all the priceless treasures in the collections a sad
record of the wiping out of work done and of possessions painstakingly gathered
156 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
from many regions. A large portion of the $30,000 of insurance held was col-
lected, and the remaining possessions were kept in the same quarters temporarily
until a fireproof building might be made ready to receive them. With the intention of
erecting such a building, the trustees purchased a lot on the west side of Wabash
avenue, north of Van Buren street. On a corner of this lot was a brick dwelling
house, which the board repaired and enlarged, and then rented to tenants for
$3,000 a year for a term of five years. Their intention was eventually to put
up on the rear of the lot a fireproof building which should contain exhibition,
library and work rooms, and a hall suitable for the meetings of the Academy and
for lectures. With this plan, it was thought inadvisable to keep the property
on Thirtieth street, and it was sold in 1866 at a large advance over the purchase
price.
The activities of the Academy continued, in spite of the setback caused by
the fire, and in 1867 the society united with the Smithsonian Institution in send-
ing Mr. Ferdinand Bishoff on an exploring expedition along the shores of the
northern Pacific ocean to collect zoological specimens. In this year also a com-
plete set of the game birds of Illinois was prepared and sent as an Academy
exhibit to the Paris World's Fair. In exchange, the Academy received a fine
collection of mounted European birds.
The new building which was constructed on the rear of the Wabash avenue
property was completed in January, 1868; it was finished throughout and con-
tained a basement, a ground story, and above this a museum hall, containing two
galleries. Every precaution had been taken to guard against another loss by fire.
"The supposed fireproof character of its new home," says the report," "which was
unique at that time in the construction of museum building, led many institutions, as
well as private individuals, to send large and valuable collections to the Academy.
This was especially true of the Smithsonian Institution." Specimens were also re-
ceived from the Bishoff expedition and from the Kennicott expedition of two years
before.
INCREASED INTEREST IN THE ACADEMY
To meet the growing interest of the public in the Academy, a resolution was
adopted in November, 1869, to open the Academy to the public every Saturday
from nine o'clock a. m. to five o'clock p. m. Hitherto the museum had been
open only to members of the Academy, students of natural history and invited
guests. This step made the Academy more popular and finally resulted in
opening its doors to the general public every day in the year. The growth of
the Academy was shown in many ways, among them the organization among the
members of sections for special study, a large number of visitors to the museum and
increased membership. At the close of 1871 there were one hundred and thirty-
nine life, sixty-nine resident and forty-six corresponding members. "It was evident
that the affairs of the society were ably managed, and that a strong foundation had
been established, upon which could be built a future valuable alike to the lay and
to the professional seekers after scientific knowledge." It is enough to say of the
influence exerted by the Academy, and the esteem in which it was held, that scien-
tific study and discussion had indeed become common in many homes in the city.
Of great importance in establishing a reputation for the Academy as a rec-
ognized institution among the older European and American societies was in
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 157
the publication of its first volume of transactions. This was a beautiful royal
octavo volume of three hundred and thirty-seven pages, containing eleven papers
which represented original research and were recognized as contributions of the
highest value to science. Many full-page plates and text figures illustrated the
papers.
All this prosperity and the realization of one cherished plan after another
seemed, as we look back, to lead but to a final defeat of effort and ambition. For
the great fire of 1871 included in its wide destruction the portion of the city
in which the Academy stood. There would have been time to carry the most valu-
able of the contents away from the building, but it seemed more dangerous to
remove them than to leave them in their "fireproof" repository. The building and its
contents were completely wiped out. The record in the minutes of the board of trus-
tees gives some idea of the losses :
DESTRUCTION IN THE GREAT FIRE
"On the 9th of October, 1871, in that great conflagration which swept away
all the better portion of Chicago, the Academy building, with all its valuable
contents, was burned. Hardly a vestige remained. It was the work of years
laid low in an hour, and we might truthfully say that in some instances it was
the destruction of all the results of the labors of a lifetime. Many persons had
labored faithfully for the Academy from its very organization. They had watched
its steady growth month by month, and year by year, and felt a just pride in all
it had accomplished. It was very dear to them, for their labor had helped to
make it. Their work had been one for love of science, and they had acted from
a heartfelt desire to benefit their fellow-man. In that building were the collec-
tions of the very founder of the institution, Mr. Robert Kennicott, who worked
so faithfully, but died before he could see the great good he had done. There
were also the collections, library, publications and valuable manuscripts of Dr.
William Stimpson. His loss was beyond computation. It seemed as though all
the labor of his life was gone. In a letter to the secretary he says in reply to
some words of sympathy, he had, indeed, lost heavily in fact his all the product
of days and nights of toil in many parts of the world for the past twenty years.
He had looked forward to the publication of his own works by the government,
and consoled himself with the thought that although he could not leave his chil-
dren wealth, he could yet leave them this assurance, that he had nevertheless
not been idle. But a fatality seemed to attend him. He had just completed, by
his trip in August, the gathering in of all his materials from his father's house,
from Agassiz's, from Ilchester, and from the Smithsonian, just in time for the
fire. 'But had I lost twice as much I shall never regret coming to Chicago, for
I have found there noble and generous friends, not only to myself, but friends of
science such as no other city in America can boast; and of more value to me
than worldly possessions will be the memory of the friendly experiences I have
had with yourself and the other trustees and the friends of the Academy, while
we together built up a monument which, though now leveled with the dust, will
long live in scientific history. May our past be an earnest of our future.' "
Dr. Stimpson's familiarity with the collections was so great that he Was
able to make very nearly a complete report of its past possessions. In this report
158 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
were mentioned several collections of great importance to the scientific world ;
manuscript descriptions of some of these collections ; pamphlets, maps and the
various libraries which were housed in this building; American archaeological and
ethnological specimens. The personal loss of Dr. Stimpson was incalculable, and his
life's work seemed in vain; his health broke down soon after this great blow. After
he made a report of the Academy's losses to the trustees he was given an indefinite
leave of absence, and went to Florida to recuperate. He never returned to
Chicago, and died at Ilchester, Maryland, at the home of friends. He, with
Robert Kennicott, had built up the Academy, and within the six years just
preceding the fire he had done more than anyone else in assuring and assisting
in its growth. He was director of the museum, a trustee of the Academy for
life, and its secretary.
The Academy had now lost its active leader, besides its buildings, its collec-
tions, library and manuscripts. The larger building, supposedly fireproof, was not
insured; the brick dwelling house standing on the same lot was insured for $10,000.
Meetings were soon held, however, for the purpose of providing for the future
of the institution, and the wide reputation of the Academy secured for it many
gifts from societies and individuals, and rooms were offered for the temporary
use of the society. It was decided to mortgage the Wabash avenue property,
and with the borrowed money build a business block, the rents of which would
pay the indebtedness and finally bring in to the Academy a goodly income. The
venture was made, but proved a failure, as the building was not near enough to
the center of trade, and because of the financial depression of 1873 and the
years following. In 1876 an enforced sale was made and the whole property
was thus lost.
QUARTERS IN THE EXPOSITION BUILDING
Just at this crisis the managers of the Interstate Exposition offered to give
space in their building on the lake front at the foot of Adams street for exhibiting
the collections of the Academy. For the privilege of having this attraction in
their building, the managers agreed to furnish an office for the curator, where
the business of the Academy could be transacted, and to pay his salary. For
the next six years, therefore, the collections were on exhibition there, inadequately
protected from dust and wear, and exposed to the dangers of fire. During this
time the president of the Academy, Dr. Edmund Andrews, and the secretary,
Dr. J. W. Velie, were the only active working officers, the latter mounting and
arranging the specimens for exhibit and adding much material to the collections
through his own efforts. He also arranged the programs of the meetings and
kept alive the interest of the public with every means in his power.
In 1891 the new University of Chicago made generous proposals to the Academy
offering to provide room for its collections and offices for administrative purposes;
to pay the curator's salary, and the expenses incidental to the care of the property.
Assurance was made that the independent existence of the Academy should be
preserved. The members had various objections to the plan; they felt that
by this arrangement the identity of the Academy would be lost; they pointed out
the great distance of the university campus from the center of the city; and ex-
pressed the desirability of maintaining the Academy on neutral ground among
Chicago's increasing number of societies and individuals with scientific interests.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 159
The members voted to reject the offer made. The discussion provoked in deciding
this matter aroused much interest. The meetings were well attended, and other
scientific organizations in the city, upon application, transferred their membership
to the Academy. The list of active members was nearly doubled. Many sec-
tions for the study of particular branches of science were organized, and these
sections held monthly meetings.
SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF ITS WORK
A most important branch of the society's work was established in 1892, and
is the department known as the Natural History Survey of Chicago and Vicinity,
which includes three general subdivisions; geology and allied sciences, topography,
zoology and botany. This work of investigating both the economic and purely sci-
entific features of the area covered was entrusted to specialists whose reports and
bulletins were made as nearly monographic as possible. "The area covered by the
survey was known to be peculiar in two distinct systems of drainage, either of which
might, under certain conditions, prevail over the other. As this peculiarity of
the drainage is of great scientific interest, it was thought desirable to empha-
size this by fixing upon the following boundaries: Beginning at the north line
of Cook county and Lake Michigan, thence westward, coincident with the north
line of Cook county to Kane county; thence southward along the east line of
Kane and Kendall counties to the southeast corner of Kendall county ; thence
eastward, coincident with the south line of Cook county to the east line of Lake
county, Indiana; thence northward to Lake Michigan.
"These boundaries include an area of about forty-eight or fifty miles square,
which, after deducting the approximate area of the lake covered portions, leaves
nearly 1,800 square miles of land surface. It comprises all of Cook and Du
Page counties, the nine north townships of Will county, and a portion of Lake
county, Indiana. >
"The importance of this survey will be appreciated when the rapid growth
of the city of Chicago is considered. The surface of the area is constantly chang-
ing, both because of the agency of man and of other forces. The numerous railroads
centering here are constantly bringing new things to the soil, which, finding a
congenial climate, finally become a fixed part of our natural history. More im-
portant still is the recording of natural features that are being exterminated or
effaced, and of which no indication will be left except in printed records. The
historians of Chicago and its environments in future generations will have to de-
pend on the printed documents of the present for the indigenous natural features."
THE LOCATION IN LINCOLN PARK
The Academy was in 1892 without any kind of a home for the future because
the Exposition building was to be torn down. An offer made by the board of
commissioners of the West Park system to erect a building for the Academy in
Garfield park was considered favorably, but when the law regarding such a
building was looked into, this plan was found to have certain serious drawbacks,
and was abandoned. Just at this point the members were informed that some
one in Chicago had offered to build a suitable home for the Academy. Matthew
160 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
Laflin, with his sons, George H. Laflin and Lycurgus Laflin, was willing to give
such a building with the fulfillment of certain conditions :
1. That the building should be fireproof.
2. That it should be erected on an appropriate site in Lincoln park.
3. That the museum should be opened to the public without charge.
4. That the plans for the building should be approved by the family of the
donor.
5. That the building should be started in the year 1893 and completed in 189-1.
The Lincoln park commissioners were willing to enter into an agreement with
the Academy and Mr. Laflin, and to designate a plot of ground in the park for
the occupancy of the building. Then it was remembered that several years be-
fore this time a law had been passed in the state legislature giving authority to
the Lincoln park commissioners to provide for the Academy of Sciences within
the territory which they controlled and to enter into a perpetual contract. The
credit for the passing of this law is due to the wisdom and foresight of William
C. Goudy, then attorney for the Lincoln park board of commissioners. The com-
missioners also agreed to contribute to the expenses of the building provided that
they should have in it rooms for their offices in perpetuity. An agreement was
made by the three parties interested. The building was to cost $100,000, of
which Mr. Laflin and his sons contributed $75,000 and the board of commissioners
$25,000. The building should be known as the Matthew Laflin Memorial, and
should be occupied chiefly for the purposes of the Academy, a suite of rooms being
reserved for the offices of the park authorities. The Academy was to have abso-
lute and perfect control of that part of the building devoted to its uses.
The site and beautiful environment furnished for the building is most desirable.
It is on the west side of the park, opposite the opening at Center street. The
building was designed by architects Patton and Fisher, and is one hundred and
thirty-two feet long and sixty-one feet wide. On the first floor are the entrance
hall, library and offices of the Academy and the park commissioners. On the
second floor is the great museum hall, fifty-five by one hundred and twenty-eight
feet, with a gallery extending around on all sides. The laying of the corner
stone took place on October 10, 1893, and addresses were made by Robert A.
Waller, president of the park board, Governor John P. Altgeld, Dr. Tarleton A.
Bean and Dr. Selim H. Peabody, president of the Academy. A year later the
building was completed, and was opened to the public October 31, 1894, with ad-
dresses delivered by Mr. Luther Laflin Mills, representing the Laflin family ; by
Dr. Thomas C. Chamberlin, of the University of Chicago; by Dr. Sarah Hackett
Stevenson, and Dr. Selim H. Peabody.
The collections had previously been moved into the building and made ready
for exhibition, after being stored near by during the time between their enforced
removal from the Exposition building and their placing in a permanent home.
The work of removal, renovating and mounting had been done by Mr. Frank Col-
lins Baker, the newly elected curator.
A new period of activity was begun when the society took possession of its
permanent home. The collections have grown, interest in its meetings and pub-
lications has continually increased, and the museum library is in constant reach
of the public and is much used by them.
MATTHEW LAFLIN
With his sons, George H. and
Ly<?urgus Lnflin. he contributed the
greater portion of the fund with which
the Matthew Laflin Memorial building
was erected.
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, LINCOLN PARK
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 161
LATER HISTORY OF THE ACADEMY
Ever since the Academy took possession of its home in the beautiful "Laflin
Memorial" in Lincoln Park, its growth has been steady and its work widened.
During the past two years the policy of the Academy has been changed in im-
portant respects, with the purpose of broadening its scope and becoming of greater
usefulness and benefit to the public generally. It was decided to render the
Academy more valuable and accessible as an educational agency than it had been
hitherto, by making the lectures and museum collections available to the children
of the public schools.
The curator now supervises the preparation of loan collections to be sent to
the schools upon due request. These collections are of two kinds: those consist-
ing of a natural history series, such as mounted specimens of birds of the Great
Lakes, and those called the economic series including such industries as the manu-
facture of articles from shells and silk worms.
Supplementing this work, adapted to instruction in the school room, is the use
of the Museum for the children. Not only do school children voluntarily visit
the Museum in great numbers, showing a remarkable interest and intelligence in
the exhibits, but classes are brought by their teachers for study, and "nature talks"
are given by the curator of the Academy in the public schools. One plan adopted
has had especially good results. A course of Saturday afternoon lessons in nature
study was organized and conducted by Dr. H. S. Pepoon of the Lake View High
School. To this course any class of seventh or eighth grade pupils could send
one delegate free of charge. The lecturer reported an immense success with this
class of young enthusiasts, and the teachers found that the reports given by the
delegates were of the greatest interest and value.
By arrangement with the Extension Division of the University of Chicago, a
course of lectures is given at the Academy to teachers, by the professors in that
institution, and due credit can be secured for the work done which can be shown
by certificates. Friday evening lecture courses are offered to the public, which
have been so well attended that often the seating capacity of the lecture hall has
been exhausted, and people have been turned away from the door. The educa-
tional plans made and now being carried out, though involving great expense, are
proving of immense and increasing value, and are many times repaying the effort
and money expended, by awakening a general interest in nature studies and in sci-
entific knowledge. It is now hoped that there may be a children's museum built
on the ground adjoining the Academy's building.
LOCALIZING THE MUSEUM EXHIBITS
A recent change in the policy of the Executive Board is the limiting of Mu-
seum exhibits "primarily to an exposition of the natural resources of Illinois and
the adjacent portions of the Mississippi valley," as we learn from the curator's
annual report for 1909. With the limiting of the territorial scope of the Academy's
interests there is now much greater attention given to making the exhibits of edu-
cational value. With this object in view, the work in connection with the schools
has been still further developed. For this purpose, too, the museum exhibits have
been rearranged and remounted, in such a manner as to attract the visitor and
Vol. Ill 11
162 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
stimulate his interest. Descriptive labels in large type have been put on the cases,
and, with some of the collections, the cases have been provided with false bottoms
which raise the objects nearer the glass, and make them more convenient for scrutiny.
It is also the plan of the curator to complete an exhibit of the nesting birds of
Illinois, which shows the birds in groups illustrating the different stages of the
life of each species. To show the birds thus demands much space, a very elaborate
preparation of many specimens for each exhibit, and a large amount of shrubbery,
foliage and other growths for detailed and accurate settings.
The publications of the Academy continue to be of a high order, and some have
been used as text books by schools and colleges. The attendance at the Museum
is large, owing to its excellent location, on holidays the building being actually
crowded with visitors. Accessible to one of the great resorts of the city, promoting
a large and useful educational movement, and carrying on a splendid scientific
work, the Academy of Sciences has become one of the finest institutions now exist-
ing in Chicago.
CHAPTER L
THE PARKS OF CHICAGO
THE EIGHT MAIN PARKS GOVERNING BOARDS OUTER BELT PARK COMMISSION
SOUTH PARK SYSTEM FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES BEGINNINGS OF LINCOLN PARK
FIRST BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SUBSEQUENT HISTORY LIVE STOCK AND
PACKING INDUSTRY EARLY ACTIVITIES MARKET PRICES OF THE EARLY DAYS-
DRIVING CATTLE TO MARKET- "BULL'S HEAD" STOCK YARDS UNION STOCK YARDS
ESTABLISHED GREAT INCREASE IN PORK PACKING BEEF SLAUGHTER HOUSES
REFRIGERATOR CARS SKETCH OF JOHN B. SHERMAN PHILIP D. ARMOUR
MATTHEW LAFLIN SAMUEL W. ALLERTON GUSTAVUS F. SWIFT SQUATTER SET-
TLEMENTS "KILGUBBIN" "KANSAS" CAPTAIN STREETER'S ATTEMPT SKETCH
OF POTTER PALMER THE SUNSET CLUB.
THE PARKS OF CHICAGO
HERE are eight main parks in Chicago, as follows: Lincoln Park, Jack-
son Park, Washington Park, Garfield Park, Douglas Park, Humboldt
Park, Grant Park, and Marquette Park. Jackson Park and Washing-
ton Park, with the Midway Plaisance connecting them, are often referred
to as "South Park." These parks are controlled and managed by three
distinct park boards, as follows: The Board of Lincoln Park Commissioners, con-
sisting of seven members, the Board of South Park Commissioners, consisting of
five members ; and the Board of West Park Commissioners, consisting of seven
members. The South Park Commissioners are chosen by the Circuit Judges of
Cook County, the commissione,rs of the other two boards being appointed by the
governor of the state. Each of these boards has charge of the parks within a
particular district of the city, and may levy taxes for park purposes and employ
a special police force. The parks of Chicago, consisting of the eight main parks
above-mentioned, thirty small parks and squares, and thirty-one playgrounds, cover
an area of three thousand, one hundred and sixty-five acres, and the connecting
boulevards have a combined length of sixty-three and one-third miles.
PARK COMMISSIONS
In addition to the Park Boards above-mentioned a Special Park Commission
was appointed by the Common Council in November, 1899, which has gradually
become an administrative body under the jurisdiction of the Council. It has been
especially active in the location of small parks and playgrounds. The city owns
and cares for many of these, and many small spaces have been improved and pro-
vided with amusement appliances for children. This work is continually going on,
163
164 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
bathing beaches being among the later provisions in this beneficent work. The
regular Park Commissions have likewise been active in this branch of public ser-
vice, and the popularity of these multiplied conveniences is demonstrated by the
attendance of multitudes of persons, especially of the young. During one year it
is stated that the facilities of the small parks established by the South Park Com-
mission alone were used by more than five millions of people. These small parks
have cost large sums of money, but the use made of them by the people more
than justifies the expense of their creation and operation. Many times the accom-
modations, ample as they seem, are totally inadequate to meet the demand.
Owing to the straitened condition of the city's finances, the appropriations for
the purposes of the Special Park Commission have been reduced, but fortunately
the generosity of private individuals has in some measure supplied the pressing
wants of the committee. In the "City Manual for 1910," the city statistician, Mr.
Francis A. Eastman, says, "Of all the departments of the city government the
Special Park Commission is and has been the only one which has solicited and
received substantial gifts of money, land, equipment of parks, playgrounds and
comfort stations." A gift was made by two public-spirited women each of five
acres in the Twenty-seventh Ward for park purposes. The Commercial Club also
renewed its annual contribution of two hundred dollars for prizes in athletic sports.
OUTER BELT PARK COMMISSION
In 1903, the Outer Belt Park Commission was authorized by the Board of
County Commissioners for the purpose of forming an outer belt system of parks
and boulevards for the county and city. The plan as proposed by this Commis-
sion is an ambitious one, and when carried out will mean the inclusion within the
park area of Chicago of extensive tracts north, south and west of the city, which
even in their present condition possess much natural beauty. This new park dis-
trict as outlined in the report of the Special Park Commission involves the acquisi-
tion by the city and county of the land contiguous to the North Branch of the
Chicago River, north from Lawrence avenue to the county line, west to the Des-
plaines River and south along the Desplaines to a point below Riverside; thence
west, south and east to the Calumet River and Lake Calumet territory, including
the lake and its shores. The creation of many new boulevards and small parks
is also proposed in the report of the Commission.
SOUTH PARK SYSTEM
In 1866, Hyde Park was a village adjoining Chicago on the south, the line of
separation running along Thirty-ninth street, which at that time was the south-
ern boundary of the city of Chicago. Mr. Paul Cornell was then a resident of
Hyde Park, and he with others applied to the Legislature for authority to create
a park district within the limits of the town of Hyde Park, and with power to
issue bonds and levy taxes on adjacent property. The gentlemen associated with
Mr. Cornell in this movement were George M. Kimbark, Chauncey T. Bowen,
George R. Clarke, Obadiah Jackson, J. Young Scammon, and J. Irving Pearce.
The Legislature complied with the wishes of the applicants, and without set-
ting specific limits to the proposed park site authorized the creation of a park board,
JACKSON PARK BEACII, SHOWING GERMAN BUILDING
BOAT HOUSE
SCENES IN JACKSON PARK
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 165
with power to issue bonds and levy taxes, subject to the approval of the voters of
Hyde Park. At the election in the spring of 1867, the voters disapproved of the
proposal and the entire scheme for a park system fell through. Another commit-
tee of citizens took the matter up again. This committee was composed of the
following gentlemen: J. Young Scammon, George C. Walker, George R. Clarke,
J. Irving Pearce, Joseph M. Dake, Henry H. Honore, Chauncey T. Bowen, A.
Emigh, P. R. Westfall, S. S. Benjamin, John Fitch, and John D. Jennings. The
proposal was again presented to the Legislature, this time stating definite limits
to the area desired for the park system, thus meeting the objections of voters who
opposed the previous bill.
Accordingly an act was passed by the state legislature which became a law,
February 24th, 1869, and which was afterwards approved by the voters. This
act defined the limits of the proposed park generally as follows: Commencing at
Fifty-first street and Cottage Grove avenue, the boundary continued south along
the latter avenue to Fifty-ninth street east to Hyde Park avenue, north to Fifty-
sixth street, east to Lake Michigan, and thence irregularly until it reached Fifty-
first street, and along that street to the beginning. Other tracts were also in-
cluded in the description of the proposed park system, in all amounting to ap-
proximately eleven hundred acres. The act permitted the Commissioners to issue
bonds for two millions of dollars. These bonds were to bear seven per cent inter-
est, and were sold at a discount of eight per cent. With the amount realized the
Board purchased the lands at an outlay of $1,700,000.
Naturally there was great disparity in the values paid for different tracts of
lands to be used for park purposes, the prices in some cases only being decided after
protracted litigation. In the main, however, the lots were sold at fair prices by
the owners without recourse to court proceedings. "Relative to the disproportion-
ate amounts paid for the various tracts," says Andreas, "it may be authoritatively
stated that, at the time the first Park Act was passed, property in the district bounded
by Forty-seventh and Fifty-first streets, and Cottage Grove and Vincennes avenues,
was selling for from one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars an acre. There-
fore it is no illusory idea to consider that the one thousand acres of ground re-
quired for park purposes could have been purchased in their present locality at
an average of five hundred dollars per acre at that time. But the defeat of the
first park bill, and the period that elapsed prior to the second bill passing, thor-
oughly informed the people of the prospective demand for their real estate for
park purposes ; and from 1 867 to 1 872-3 the amounts asked were simply enorm-
ous. ... In many cases four and five times as much as the property was ac-
tually wortli was asked."
The great increase in property values in the vicinity of the parks, within the
time that has elapsed since the period referred to, has far surpassed the most
glowing anticipations of the holders of real estate in that region. Had the first
bill passed by the Legislature been approved by the vote of the people, and the
property then purchased before the park demand had excited the cupidity of own-
ers, there is no doubt but that the land required could have been obtained for less
than three-fourths of a million of dollars, whereas the prices ultimately paid were
two and one-half times that amount.
The Board of Commissioners was composed of five members. The following
166 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
gentlemen were members of the first Board: Paul Cornell, John M. Wilson,
George W. Gage, Chauncey T. Bowen, and L. B. Sidway. The Commissioners at
once began work on the park, making plans, and setting out large numbers of
trees. The fire of 1871 interfered seriously with the work, as the office of the
Commissioners was located in the burned district of the city, and it was completely
destroyed, together with the plans, atlases and records of every description. Work
was suspended for a, time, but in the following year new boulevards were laid out
and graded, water mains extended, and a new sewer two miles long constructed.
The panic of 1873 again interrupted the progress of improvements, crippling
the resources of tax-payers who were compelled by necessity to contest the sev-
eral installments. There were others who were influenced by a feeling of genera'
hostility to the enterprise. Not until after legal proceedings had run their course
over several years were the arrears of taxes finally paid and work on park im-
provements resumed.
By 1880 the financial affairs of the Park Commission were in a greatly im-
proved condition, interest rate on bonded indebtedness reduced, and park improve-
ments greatly advanced.
In the report of the South Park Commissioners for 1904, it is said that the
World's Fair left Jackson Park "practically a ruin." The task of removing the
debris of the Fair was a gigantic task. Wrecking companies took only such ma-
terial as was salable, and left the remainder on the hands of the park authorities.
After the wreckage had at length been cleared away, the work of reconstructing
the park was undertaken; filling was provided by dredging, and a two hundred
acre farm was denuded of its black earth to resurface the park where needed.
BEGINNING OF LINCOLN PARK
Part of the tract now included within the limits of Lincoln Park was formerly
a cemetery. "Prior to 1850," says Edward S. Taylor, in a historical sketch pre-
fixed to a report of the Commissioners of Lincoln Park, in 1892, "the city of
Chicago had acquired title to most of the land bounded by Webster avenue, Lake
Michigan, North avenue, La Salle avenue, and North Park avenue; and also to a
tract of land bounded by Diversey avenue, Lake Michigan, Fullerton avenue, and
Lake View avenue. The city laid out into cemetery lots all of the land which it
owned, bounded by a line which would be Menominee street extended to the lake,
Lake Michigan, North avenue, and North Clark street. Nearly all the lots were
sold to private individuals and a large number of interments were made therein."
In a paper prepared by Dr. John H. Rauch in 1858 on the subject of in-
tramural interments and their influence on health and epidemics, read before the
Chicago Historical Society, he said: "Let immediate steps be taken to prevent
all further interments within the corporate limits, and, as soon as practicable, let
arrangements be made for the gradual removal, at proper times and seasons, of
the remains of those already interred, with the ultimate view of converting these
grounds into a public park, which shall contribute to the health, pleasure and
credit of our city."
A petition was presented to the Common Council in the fall of 1858, signed
by a number of the residents and property owners of the North Division of the
city remonstrating against further interments in the cemetery. "This petition,"
LINCOLN MONUMENT
HIGH BRIDGE
HEAR PIT FROM WALK
A GLIMPSE OF THE
LAGOON
HEAR PIT FROM ABOVE
GRANT MONUMENT
LINCOLN PARK VIEWS
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS ]67
says Taylor, "was referred to a special committee, which reported recommending
the adoption of an ordinance authorizing a conference with the managers of Rose-
hill Cemetery with reference to the interment of those whom the city should be
obliged to bury, and directing that the sale of lots in the city cemetery should cease
after May 1, 1859. Such an ordinance was passed March 20, 1859. In pur-
suance of this arrangement, on the 15th of February, 1860, an agreement was en-
tered into between the city of Chicago and the Rosehill Cemetery Company, for
ground in that cemetery.
"On the 10th of January, 1860, a committee representing the citizens of North
Chicago presented a paper to the Common Council, in which they used the fol-
lowing language : 'We propose the abandonment of this tract, the north sixty acres,
to the city, to be used for a public ground and such other public purposes, if any,
as the Common Council may devote it to. We would not advise its sale; such a
step, we think, would be unwise.' The sixty acres referred to was so much of
the land as was owned by the city lying north of Menominee street extended, and
of the ground which had been sub-divided into cemetery lots. Notwithstanding
these efforts to stop burials and suggestions to use the land, or part of it, for a
public park, no further steps were taken and interments were still continued."
THE MOVEMENT FOR A PUBLIC PARK REVIVED
It was not until the 21st of October, 1864, that an ordinance was passed by
the Common Council appropriating all of the land lying between Webster avenue
and that part of the land subdivided into cemetery lots for a public park, but no ap-
propriation for the improvement of the land thus set aside for a park was made.
In the spring of 1865, Mr. Laurence Proudfoot was elected an alderman from
the Thirteenth ward, and he immediately took steps to stop burials in that part
of the ground occupied by cemetery lots, and to obtain an appropriation for the
improvement of the land north of Menominee street. Proudfoot succeeded, says
Taylor, "in obtaining orders from the Council which enforced the prohibition
against burials, and also obtained an appropriation of ten thousand dollars for
the improvement of the new park, which was named in the ordinance Lincoln
Park. Under the direction of the 'City authorities this money was expended, and
the tract laid out in walks and driveways, under the direction of Mr. Swain Nel-
son, a landscape architect. Additional appropriations were made for the improve-
ment of the park in the years 1866, 1867 and 1868."
THE FIRST BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF LINCOLN PARK
By an act of the State Legislature the improvement, management and control
of Lincoln Park was vested in a Board of Commissioners, the board consisting of
five persons, for a term of five years, their successors to be appointed by the Gov-
ernor, subject to confirmation by the Senate. The first board was composed of
the following persons: Ezra B. McCagg, John B. Turner, Joseph Stockton. Ja-
cob Rehm, and Andrew Nelson. After the establishment and organization of the
Board of Commissioners, the control and management of the park passed from
the city authorities to the Commissioners.
The boundaries of Lincoln Park as fixed by the Act were generally as follows:
168 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
Commencing at the point where North avenue intersects the lake, from there run-
ning west to Clark street, along Clark street and North Park avenue to Fullerton
avenue, and along the latter to the lake again. "It was provided that all of the
land within said limits belonging to the city of Chicago should be appropriated
for the park without compensation to the city, and the title to any land not owned
by the city might be acquired by purchase or condemnation, the title to be vested
in the city. Provision was also made for purchasing or condemning any of the
cemetery lots and for the removal of bodies buried therein."
The names of those who served at one time or another, during the next twenty
years, as members of the Board of Commissioners, other than those already men-
tioned as members of the first board, are as follows: Samuel M. Nickerson, Bel-
den F. Culver, William H. Bradley, Francis H. Kales, F. H. Winston, A. C. Hes-
ing, Thomas F. Withrow, L. J. Kadish, Isaac N. Arnold, Max Hjortsberg, Charles
Catlin, J. McGregor Adams, Charles B. Farwell, William C. Goudy, Horatio N.
May, Andrew E. Leicht, James A. Sexton, John Worth} 1 , and William P. Walker.
The first secretary of the board was Edward S. Taylor whose historical sketch
of Lincoln Park we have already quoted from. Mr. Taylor was appointed March
16th, 1869, and remained in that capacity for twenty-four years. Before his con-
nection with the board Mr. Taylor had served a term in the state legislature. He
became a resident of Evanston in 1860, and continued to reside there until his
death in 1905. His end was tragic, having been struck by a train at a railroad
crossing in Evanston and instantly killed. Mr. Taylor was a lawyer of ability
and was especially noted as a speaker in political campaigns on which occasions
he was always found eloquently advocating the cause of the Republican party.
The two pioneer park projects, those of Lincoln Park and South Park, blazed
the way for other parks whose formation followed in time. The organization and
methods of the parks formed later were in general modeled upon the earlier ones,
and it would be unnecessarily tedious to recite the various steps in their history,
as they are found in the reports issued by the Boards of Commissioners from time
to time, and where the readers may find complete details of the subject.
LIVE STOCK AND PACKING INDUSTRY
The live stock, slaughtering and packing interests are so closely interwoven that
the account of them will be given under a common heading. In its earliest stages
we find that Archibald Clybourn erected the first slaughter house in Chicago, on
the North Branch of the Chicago river on its west bank, near what is now known
as Clybourn Junction on the Chicago & North-Western Railway. The original
purpose of the establishment of Clybourn's slaughter house was the supply of the
garrison at Fort Dearborn with fresh meats.
Soon afterward Gurdon S. Hubbard had some part in the supply of meats to
the soldiers and settlers. In his book of "Reminiscences," Hubbard says: "The win-
ter of 1830 and 1831 was the most severe one I ever experienced in the Indian
country, and it was always remembered and spoken of by the early settlers as the
'winter of the big snow.' I was employed in gathering together hogs to drive to
Chicago to kill and sell to the settlers and soldiers at Fort Dearborn, a business
in which I was then regularly engaged. . . . On the 7th of November, 1830,
I started out to gather up my hogs, which were in small droves at different points
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 169
on the road [between Danville and Chicago]. The snow was then about seven
inches deep, and it continued to fall for four or five days. I had men to help me,
and wagons containing corn for the hogs, in which were also our blankets and uten-
sils. When we left Beaver Creek marsh the weather had changed, and the day
was rainy and misty. At dark we had reached the Kankakee and camped in a little
hollow, having left the hogs a mile or so back. It rained hard a portion of the
night, and then the wind changed and it began freezing. The water gradually
worked under the blanket and buffalo robe in which I had wrapped myself, and
on attempting to rise I found myself frozen fast to the ground, and had much dif-
ficulty in freeing myself.
"In the morning we gathered the hogs and drove them to the hollow in which
we had camped, where we left them with our horses and started to find Billy Cald-
well, who I knew was camped somewhere near Yellow Head Point, which was
about six miles from Kankakee. Following up the creek we found him without
difficulty, and were hospitably received. . . . We remained at Caldwell's a
day and night, when we again started the hogs for Chicago, where we arrived in
about thirty days."
Hubbard describes some of the difficulties encountered on the journey. "The
snow was about two feet deep on a level and four or five feet in the drifts," and
on the way he had lost some of the hogs. After killing and delivering the pork
he started to return to his trading post at Iroquois, and searched the route for the
lost hogs and actually found one of them under the snow where the animal had
managed to subsist upon the roots of grass.
Mr. George W. Dole, one of Chicago's early commission merchants, engaged
in the packing of beef in 1832, and some of his products found their way to New
York by way of the lake route. A year or two later Gurdon S. Hubbard had a
packing house at the corner of Lake and La Salle streets, afterwards, in 1837,
moving his establishment to the corner of Kinzie and Rush streets. Sylvester
Marsh was one of the pioneers in the packing industry, joining with Hubbard for
a time in his operations.
In later years, in 1883, Mr. Marsh was a witness before a Senate committee
in Washington, and was asked a question about the prices of pork and beef in the
early days of Chicago. He replied that, in 1841, while work on the Illinois and
Michigan Canal was in progress, he paid two dollars a hundred pounds for all
pork that weighed two hundred pounds or over to the animal, and one dollar and
fifty cents for such as weighed less; and the same prices prevailed for beef, the
dividing line of weights being placed at six hundred pounds to the animal. In
1848, the Chicago Democrat printed a review of the packing business, in Septem-
ber of that year, in which it was estimated that eighteen thousand barrels of beef
would be packed that season.
MESS PORK IN THE EARLY DAYS
A humorous incident of the trade in packing house products is related by a
letter writer of the early days. The letter is written from Racine, Wisconsin Ter-
ritory, under the date of December 6, 1836, and is addressed to the editor of the
Milwaukee Advertiser. ''I went to Chicago a few days since," says the letter
writer, who seems to have kept a store in Racine, "and purchased two barrels of
170 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
Mess Pork at the highest price, and had them shipped to this place. One of them
I sold without opening, the other was sold out by the pound. When the latter
barrel was about two-thirds gone, the clerk had sold out of it six tails, and de-
clared there were nine tails still left in the barrel," a rather large proportion of
the less desirable parts of the animal.
A customer came in a few days later and proposed buying the pork left for
the sake of getting the barrel. The proprietor took him into the back part of the
store, and the customer on examining the remaining contents picked out from one
side fifteen pigtails, and then remarked that that was enough, he would not take it.
"There having been considerable talk and excitement made about it," continued
the letter writer, "it was finally concluded to take an inquest over the tails of the
deceased, and the next day the neighbors were called in, and upon a careful ex-
amination there were found to be thirty-nine tails left, making in the whole forty-
five tails in one barrel of mess pork." *
This result was considered a legitimate cause of complaint, and, quite in the
modern spirit, the dealer stated his grievance in a letter to the paper, where it
might be permanently recorded for the amusement and instruction of posterity.
DRIVING CATTLE TO MARKET
The man who made over three and a half million of dollars in the farming
business was one of the early settlers of Illinois. His name was David Rankin,
and he first appeared in Warren County, Illinois, in 1836, with his father's family,
he then being a boy eleven years of age. Ten years later in 1817, he says in
his little book of Reminiscences, published in 1909, he drove a "bunch of cattle,"
about fifty head, to Chicago. He drove them across the prairie so that they could
feed as they traveled, and they would go to the edge of the timber to stay during
the night. The distance over which the cattle were driven was two hundred miles.
The stock yards at Chicago, he says, "were not much larger than the average load-
ing and unloading yards of the small town of today, and it did not cover one-half
an acre of ground."
The old "Bull's Head" stock yards, situated at the corner of West Madison
street and Ogden avenue, was opened in 1848. Elias Colbert, in his work pub-
lished in 1868, entitled "Chicago," says that for a few years buyers and sellers
were satisfied to drive their cattle and hogs to and from these yards for they had
no railroad connection, but as the trade increased the yards were found to be
too small, and the driving of live stock through the streets became a serious nui-
sance. In 1856, John B. Shernian located yards on Cottage Grove avenue, con-
venient to the tracks of the railroads running along the lake shore. These yards
were called the "Myrick Yards," and their capacity was large for those days.
They could care for five thousand cattle and thirty thousand hogs, and were con-
sidered "something wonderful" at that time. Other yards were opened conveni-
ent to other railroads, but it became apparent that these scattered receiving yards,
located without much reference to slaughtering establishments, involved not only
waste of time but also loss of stock and inconvenience to residents consequent
upon so much driving to and fro.
1 Chicago American, Dec. 17, 1836.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 171
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION STOCK YARDS
The idea of a Union Stock Yards took form in 1864 by the incorporation of
the Union Stock Yards and Transit Company, with a capital of one million of
dollars, the principal portion of which was subscribed by the nine railroads chiefly
interested in the carrying of live stock. A special charter was granted by the
State Legislature, under date of February IS, 1865, with the following gentlemen
named as incorporators : John L. Hancock, Virginius A. Turpin, Resell M. Hough,
Sidney A. Kent, Charles M. Culbertson, Lyman Blair, Martin L. Sykes, Jr., Tim-
othy B. Blackstone, Joseph H. Moore, John S. Barry, Homer E. Sargent, Burton
C. Cook, John B. Drake, William D. Judson, David Kreigh, and John B. Sher-
man. Mr. Blackstone was chosen president, and F. H. Winston, secretary. The
corporation purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land on Halsted street
in the town of Lake, from John Wentworth, paying him the sum of one hundred
thousand dollars for the land.
PORK PACKING
The business of pork packing was not so important as compared with that of
beef, during the period previous to 1858. The city of Cincinnati, then popularly
known as "Porkopolis," was far ahead of Chicago in pork packing. In 1858
and 1859, Chicago began to make great strides in this industry, and by 1862 had
overhauled and passed the production in Cincinnati, and by 1864 had more than
doubled the record of that city. But in 1869, there was a marked decline in the
production. Indeed the Tribune's review of that year made the statement that
"there is no disputing the fact that a revolution is working in the packing busi-
ness. The hogs can be taken alive to the seaboard, killed there in all weathers
by the use of ice, the meat packed on board ship, and cured on the voyage across
the Atlantic, thus saving thirty or forty days on storage, and the use of capital
in the process of curing," and adding a warning that unless our packers accommo-
date themselves to these conditions, "the business in Chicago will soon be num-
bered among the things that were." This gloomy view was scarcely warranted by
the facts as later developments proved. Previously to 1860, packing pork and
beef in barrels for shipment was done only in the winter time, but in this year
two houses entered upon "summer packing," as it was called, and in the course of
the season twelve thousand hogs were thus consumed. The war coming on in 1861
gave a great impetus to the industry, contractors for army supplies purchasing
very heavily in this market. During the season of 186-1-5, there were packed in
the various packing houses some ninety-five thousand head of cattle. This in-
crease went on until the year 1869 when there was a serious decline in the pro-
duct as referred to previously.
After the period of the great fire of 1871, which proved only a slight inter-
ruption to the business, for none of the packing establishments suffered any loss
from the fire, there was a new start taken, and thereafter the history of the live
stock industry, and the packing of cattle and hogs, was one of unexampled growth
and development. After the establishment of the great yards by the Union Stock
Yards and Transit Company, all the great packing houses established themselves
on the adjoining tract west of the yards, and absorbed the offerings by sellers in
great part. The shipping of live stock to eastern points also took a large fraction
172 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
of the receipts, as can be seen by consulting the tables of statistics in the annual
reports of the industry.
ARRIVAL OF BEEF CATTLE
An account of present day conditions is given, as follows:
A corps of buyers representing many packing houses is present at the stock
yards each morning, looking over the arrivals of the previous twenty-four hours,
and making selections. Having come to terms with the sellers, usually commission
men engaged in that business, the cattle are separated and driven to the pens of
the slaughter houses. These buyers are experienced in judging of the quality of
the cattle for beef and make their selections with marvelous rapidity and cer-
tainty. In these pens the cattle are usually given twenty-four hours of rest, and
refreshed with abundance of drinking water. This is not only a humane pro-
vision, but the quality of the beef is improved thereby. If they have been as-
sembled in these pens in the heat of summer, they are also treated to shower baths
from great streams of water directed over their backs, and the evident enjoyment
of the animals during this process is a sight to remember. In former years the
slaughtering of animals was governed by weather conditions, but scientific refrig-
eration has made all seasons the same, and operations can be carried on as well
in the extreme hot weather as in cold.
THE BEEF SLAUGHTER HOUSES
From the pens of the stock yards close at hand the cattle are driven into stalls
adjoining the slaughter house where they are quickly despatched, and in due
course of time arrive at the refrigerators, or "coolers," as they are termed. They
are now in the first stages of the process which furnishes the "raw materials out
of which men are made," food for carnivorous mankind. Having reached the
cool interiors of the great refrigerators they are allowed to remain a suitable lapse
of time and then shipped to their destination.
Refrigerator cars are drawn up along a loading platform, and the beef "sides"
suspended on trolleys are brought out of the coolers and hung within them. The
ends of these cars are furnished with ice boxes, which are filled from above with
broken ice and salt, and the car being closed and sealed it is ready for its journey.
If the distance is long there are stations found on the route where the ice and
salt are replenished, and the contents are thus preserved as cool and sweet as when
they left the packing house. The transportation of fresh beef and mutton is
carried on as a special branch of freight service on all the great trunk lines, and
trains devoted to this service move at a rate little short of express speed through-
out the journey.
SKETCH OF JOHN B. SHERMAX
No account of the Union Stock Yards of Chicago would be complete without
some mention of John B. Sherman whose long connection with that enterprise is
well known among those familiar with the cattle industry.
John B. Sherman, who has been called the "father of the stock yards," was
a native of New York state, where he was born in 1825. "He learned to read,
write and cipher," says an account printed in the South Park Commissioners' Re-
port for 190 1, "but not much more; still he was extremely quick and accurate
From The Book of the Board of Trade, r.tmi
CHICAGO UNION STOCK YARDS
From The Book of the Board of Trade. litOO
EXCHANGE BUILDING. CHICAGO UNION
STOCK YARDS
Containing headquarters of the Union Stock Yards
& Transit Company, The Chicago Live Stock Exchange
and nianv commission firms.
From The Book of the Itmrd of Trade. 1900
WORKS OF THE McCORMICK HARVESTING
MACHINE COMPANY
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 173
in figures all his life. Like most Americans who have made names for themselves,
he went to school to Nature, and she made him see realities and to see them clearly.
The Hudson river and its mountains were ever before him in his impressionable
years, and his calm, broad mind during the rest of his life bore evidence of the
noble visions of his youth."
Mr. Sherman began as so many of the successful men of our time began as a
farmer's boy, but early in life he obtained a situation in a small country store.
He married Miss Ophelia Graham and the result of this union was a family of
four children. The eldest of the family was Margaret who became the wife of
Daniel H. Burnham, the well known architect and Director of Works of the
World's Columbian Exposition.
Mr. Sherman was one of those who was seized with the California gold fever,
and in 1849 made the journey to that far distant land by way of Mexico. He re-
turned within six months with some fifteen thousand dollars in gold, the result
of his work in the mines. Soon after he removed to Illinois and carried on a farm
on Rock River; but after some years he became interested in the stock yards then
situated at Bull's Head, at the corner of West Madison street and Ashland avenue
in Chicago. From there he transferred his activities to the old Myrick stock
yards, at Twenty-ninth street and Cottage Grove avenue, and here he earned what
in those days was considered an ample fortune. When in 1864 the Union Stock
Yards were proposed, a consolidation of the four existing yards was effected, and
Mr. Sherman laid them out. This work accomplished he retired from business
going back to Dutchess County, New York, his native place, intending to settle
there permanently.
The new yards, however, did not prosper and the capitalists of the East who
owned them insisted on his returning and taking charge once more He reluctantly
consented and removed his family to Chicago, and here he remained until his
death in 1902. The Union Stock Yards, under the management of Mr. Sher-
man, began to prosper at once after he had again taken hold; and since that time
have become one of the most certain and satisfactory investments of the country.
They are now the greatest live stock markets in the world.
Mr. Sherman became a member of the South Park Commissioners in 1877, and
kept up his connection with that board for twenty-five years, part of the time serv-
ing as its president. He refused nomination for all other public offices which
were offered to him, including the mayoralty of the city and the governorship of the
state. Upon the occasion of his death the South Park Commissioners passed suit-
able resolutions in one of which it is stated, "that in the death of John B. Sher-
man, the members of this Board lose a friend and associate who will be long re-
membered with affection and respect, and the public a servant of distinguished fi-
delity and zeal."
SKETCH OF PHILIP D. ARMOUR
The manufacturing and commercial successes of Philip D. Armour were so
great that he was the first man, it is said, to have been called "a captain of in-
dustry." In connection with the products of his packing establishment his name
has been carried to the ends of the known world. His deeds of philanthropy have
added greatly to his fame among a host of Chicago citizens who enjoy a similar
distinction.
174 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
Like many other well known men in the commercial world, Mr. Armour was
brought up on a farm. He was born in New York state in 1832. He received a
good education and as he grew older he became fascinated with the stories of West-
ern adventure and the prospects for wealth in the "land of promise." When the
California gold excitement overspread the land young Armour was seized with the
prevailing fever, and in 1852, then only nineteen years of age, he joined a little
company formed to journey overland to the new El Dorado. Six months were con-
sumed in making the trip, and the hardships encountered severely tested the cour-
age, perseverance and endurance of the Empire State farmer boys.
Mr. Armour returned to the East after an absence of four years, having re-
versed the usual order by bringing with him a substantial accumulation of wealth.
It is related of Mr. Armour that while he was away in California he developed an
ambition to buy the best farm in his home region, and that he intended to devote
the money he had gained to this purpose. But during the few weeks he spent on
the visit to his parents he changed his plans. "During his rugged experience in the
mines," says the writer of a sketch relating to Mr. Armour, "he had 'found him-
self.' He had discovered his wonderful executive ability, his mastery over other
men, and he sought a greater field than a farm for the most profitable employment
of his abilities.
"In following out his new purpose, Mr. Armour again turned his face to the
West. He went first to Cincinnati. Then he located in Milwaukee. There he
formed a partnership in the commission business with Frederick B. Miles. This
firm continued until 1863, when Mr. Armour became associated in the pork-packing
industry with John Plankinton. This venture was the turning point in Mr. Ar-
mour's career, since Mr. Plankinton for many years had been connected with Fred-
erick Layton, one of Milwaukee's pioneer residents, and not only stood high and
commanded the respect of the citizens of Milwaukee, but he had built up a large
industry."
The partnership with Mr. Plankinton resulted in a great business success,
and during the Civil War the firm realized large profits. A few years later Mr.
Armour extended the field of his operations into the grain business, and in 1875,
Mr. Armour removed from Milwaukee and took up his permanent residence in
Chicago. A branch of the packing business was established at Kansas City, Mis-
souri, the main office and plant being now at Chicago. The growth of the business
of Armour & Company, as it was now called, was marvelous, the firm being reck-
oned as the largest of its kind in the world. Mr. Armour was its active head, and
though he intrusted many large responsibilities to his associates, its general policy
was directed by him.
Mr. Armour gave largely to charitable and educational institutions, his chief
benefaction being that of the Armour Institute. The scope and purposes of this
institution will be described in a separate paragraph. Mr. Armour's death oc-
curred January 6, 1901. One of his surviving sons, J. Ogden Armour, continues
at the head of the great business which the genius and enterprise of his father cre-
ated.
MATTHEW LAFLIX
The first venture of Matthew Laflin in a business way in Chicago was in the
manufacture of powder, and he found a ready market for this article during the
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 175
work of construction on the Illinois and Michigan Canal. He came to Chicago in
1838, and in that and the following year he made his residence in old Fort Dear-
born. He soon began buying real estate which eventually made him a man of great
wealth. "He built the original Bull's Head Hotel, on Ogden avenue and Madi-
son street, as a resort for stock men, around which he built barns, sheds and cat-
tle pens," says Blanchard. "The Bull's Head tavern was torn down in 1876, after
having been used as an asylum for inebriates, called the Washingtonian Home."
In 1892, Mr. Laflin, with his two sons, George H. Laflin and Lycurgus Laflin,
contributed towards the erection of a splendid building for the use of the Chicago
Academy of Sciences. This building, known as the "Laflin Memorial," is situated
in Lincoln Park at the Center street entrance to the park. It was built at a cost
of one hundred thousand dollars, of which amount Mr. Laflin and his sons contrib-
uted seventy-five thousand dollars.
SAMUEL W. ALLERTON
Successful business men are often enough found to have been "farmers' boys,"
when their history is inquired into, and Samuel W. Allerton was one of these. He
was born in New York state in 1833, but when about twenty years of age he came
to Illinois, and engaged in buying cattle and shipping them to market. He had
had some experience already in his native state in this line of business. An anec-
dote is related of him in a volume recently published, regarding an early venture
made by him. The first hundred cattle Samuel ever bought, runs the story, he
sold in New York. It was the worst market there had been in ten years when his
cattle arrived, and, after settling up with his commission merchants, he found that
he had lost seven hundred dollars on his venture. This so preyed upon his mind
that he fell ill. An elderly uncle, who had been successful in business, said to
him, "My boy, you are pretty sick, but don't lose your courage. I never found
but one dead sure thing, and that was hoeing corn at fifty cents a day. If you
make money you must sometimes lose it. Try it over."
In 1860, Mr. Allerton became permanently located in Chicago, where he es-
tablished a packing house, and for many years conducted a successful business.
At this time, though not engaged in the packing business, he attends to his exten-
sive business interests with all his old time vigor. Mr. Allerton has always taken
part in a prominent way in the discussions of public questions, especially those of
a business or economic character. For many years he was quite a regular attendant
at the meetings of the Sunset Club, where his voice was often heard in the discus-
sions, and always with great attention and respect.
THE HOUSE OF SWIFT AND COMPANY
The great packing house of Swift and Company was incorporated in 1885.
The founder and head of the business was Gustavus F. Swift, a native of Massa-
chusetts. He was the president of the company after it became incorporated, and
so remained until his death in 1903. Afterwards his son Louis F. Swift be-
came president, and has continued in that position down to the present time.
176 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
SKETCH OP GCSTAVU8 F. SWIFT
In an editorial notice of Mr. Swift, printed in the Tribune after his death, it
was remarked: "He began life in the humblest way among the sand dunes of
Cape Cod; he closed it as one of the great powers in the industrial world. He
had the characteristic qualities of the Yankee industry, frugality, sharp sighted-
ness, clear headedness, and cleverness in molding circumstances and managing
affairs to his profit. He had also the qualities of the Cape Cod Yankee quiet
resoluteness, concentration upon a given purpose, reticence, and almost diffidence.
He talked little but accomplished much, and let the results talk for him."
The life chronology of Mr. Swift is shown at a glance in the following list
of dates:
1839 June 24th, born at Sandwich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
1861 January 3d, married to Miss Annie M. Higgins.
1861 Left his father's farm and set up a butcher shop in Barnstable, Massa-
chusetts.
1869 Removed his business to Brighton, Massachusetts, and enlarged it, trading
in cattle between Buffalo and Boston.
1872 Formed partnership with J. A. Hathaway, and removed to Albany, New
York.
1875 The firm of Hathaway and Swift transferred their business to Chicago,
which henceforth was the firm's business headquarters and Mr. Swift's residence.
1878 Firm name changed to Swift Brothers & Company. Slaughter house
established and dressed meat first shipped in refrigerator cars.
1885 Swift and Company incorporated.
1888 First branch established at Kansas City, Missouri.
1890 Branch established at Omaha, Nebraska.
1892 Branch established at St. Louis, Missouri.
1896 Branch established at St. Joseph, Missouri.
1897 Branch established at St. Paul, Minnesota.
1902 Branch established at Ft. Worth, Texas.
1903 Mr. Swift died at his home, 4848 Ellis Avenue, Chicago.
WORKS OF CHARITY
Mr. Swift was generous towards institutions fostered by the Methodist church,
of which he was a member. A list of his benefactions would include the names
of numerous churches and institutions widely scattered. It was said at his funeral
that his name was hidden in the corner stones of "one thousand churches and
colleges." He left a colossal fortune at his death, a portion of which he directed
to be expended for charitable purposes in such manner and to such persons and
parties as his wife might see fit.
MR. SWIFT IN BUSINESS LIFE
Mr. Swift was a man averse to publicity, preferring to be unknown in any
other way than through his ordinary business connections. He was attentive to
details and a keen critic of the men in his employment, whether they were butchers
in a slaughter house, buyers of cattle in the stock yards, or those engaged in the
SCENES IN (JAIiEIELI) PARK
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 177
counting room. Often he was a hard master, but his thorough methods won the
respect of all with whom he had business relations. In dictating letters of in-
structions it is related that after completing them he usually added the words,
"Please answer this and say that you have carried out these instructions."
A man of vast and various capabilities his genius for commercial transactions
and his excellent judgment placed him high among the "captains of industry"
of our time. At his death there were in the various establishments controlled by
his company, upwards of seven thousand employes, and the yearly business of the
combined houses owned and operated by Swift and Company was upwards of
one hundred and sixty millions of dollars.
SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
During the period of the rapid growth of the city, along in the fifties and
sixties, there were many instances of unauthorized occupancy of building sites
by persons unable or unwilling to obtain them by the usual methods of purchase
or lease. Thus "shanties," or rude dwellings, were frequently erected on vacant
lots and occupied before the owners of the land were aware of the trespass upon
their property. Persons thus taking possession of building lots to which they had
no title were called "squatters."
In an article printed in the Chicago Times in August, 1865, some account is
given of the activities of the lawless class above referred to. "A squatter clings
to a piece of ground," says the writer of the article, "with bull-dog tenacity. The
unlucky owner of the property might as well attempt to depopulate half the city
as to get them off his land. . . . The shanty once erected, the pigsty built
and the garden fenced in and planted, the squatter is as confident of his right
of possession as if he held a deed of the land."
"At the head of the list of the squatter villages of Chicago," says the writer,
"stands 'Kilgubbin,' the largest settlement within its limits. It has a varied his-
tory, having been the terror of constables, sheriffs and policemen in days that
are past. . . . Its first site was on North Kinzie street, westward along the
river ad infinitum. It numbered several years ago many thousand inhabitants, of
all ages and habits, besides large droves of geese, goslings, pigs and rats. It
was a safe retreat for criminals, policemen not venturing to invade its precincts,
or even cross the border, without having a strong reserve force.
"The authorities finally got the better of them, and they gained more respect
for the star of authority. Civilization pressed close in upon them, and the squatters
emigrated slowly but surely westward. Rude land owners and sheriffs rushed
in upon the shanties and demolished them; building mills, dwellings and manu-
factories on the old site of Kilgubbin. The squatters soon settled on other lands
and reared other villages. The locality now known by that euphonious name is
situated in the West Division, northward of Chicago avenue, to the point where
Carpenter street strikes the river. It extends north, south, east and west, in so
many offshoots that it is difficult to define its exact limit. Where shanties are
there is Kilgubbin. The present patch contains from forty to fifty acres of land,
most of which is of doubtful title, in actual litigation, or owned by Eastern capitalists,
who care little how it is occupied, so long as the growth of the city continues
yearly to enhance its value."
Vol. III 1?
178 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
There were other "patches" in various sections of the city which in 1865 had
a population of some two hundred and thirty thousand and covered an area of
about twenty-four square miles. There was a region known as "Kansas," which
though it could not strictly be called a squatter village, was referred to by the
opprobious term of "patch," though most of its inhabitants paid a small rent for
their shanties, or the land upon which they were built. "Kansas" was situated
on the west side of the river, between Desplaines and Halsted streets, in the
neighborhood of Harrison. Like Kilgubbin, Kansas had been a place of terror
to the authorities, but its condition gradually improved, and its inhabitants, it
was said, became "quite orderly in their habits," and many of the men became
industrious laborers. It was estimated by persons well informed in regard to
these squatter settlements, that "at least fifteen thousand people reside in them
within the city limits. This does not appear from a casual observation to be
too great an estimate."
CAPTAIN STREETER'S ATTEMPT TO ESTABLISH TITLE
As a preliminary to an account of the attempt made by one George Wellington
Streeter in recent years to establish a title to lands on the north shore, it will
be necessary to describe the early shore lines upon which the contention made
by Streeter was based. When the "Wall Survey" of the lake shore north of the
Chicago river was made in 1821, a "meander line," or shore line, was shown
on the map accompanying that survey, running in a generally north and south
direction. This meander line began at the Chicago river, continuing north nearly
parallel with and a short distance east of St. Clair street, as far as Superior
street, where its course was slightly deflected towards the west.
Other surveys were made at a later time, but in the contentions made by
Streeter, hereafter referred to, he ignored them completely, basing his claim en-
tirely upon the old survey of 1821. For example, a survey in 1833 placed the
shore line at some distance farther east than that shown on the Wall map, owing
to accumulations of sand and gravel which had formed a considerable tract of
dry land. There were other surveys made afterwards at different times, some of
them showing advances and others retrogressions of the shore line, one as late as
1883, which established a line nearly one-third of a mile east of the original sur-
vey. The owners of abutting property made claims to these accumulations and
took nominal possession of the land by virtue of their riparian rights. These
rights were eventually recognized and confirmed by law though much litigation
was found necessary to establish them. While upon this subject it may be re-
marked that in later years the Lincoln Park Commissioners have come in pos-
session of all these claims to riparian rights beyond a certain limit, and they have
built a driveway along the water's edge which now marks the boundary of these
made lands on the east.
When the tract of dry land was thus formed by the accumulations of sand
beyond the old shore line it was promptly appropriated by squatters who here
erected rude shanties and obtained a livelihood by fishing and collecting debris
which had floated ashore, and which had a salable value. The tract became known
as "The Sands," and in time became quite populous with a nondescript class of
people who defied the authority alike of the city police and the officers of the
courts.
From Harper's Weekly
A RAID ON SIGNS. AN INCIDENT OF JOHN WENTWORTII'S ADMINISTRATION
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 179
By 1857, when John Wentworth was mayor, "The Sands" had obtained such
an evil reputation that the mayor determined to clear the tract of its objectionable
occupants, who had no legal title to any portion of the land, as the place had
become the scene of constant disorder and a menace to the peace of the city.
Mayor Wentworth ordered a raid on the Sands, and the police, led by the mayor
himself, descended upon the place, razed many of the shanties to the ground, and
ordered many of the others to be burned. This put an end to this "plague spot,"
as it was called, for the time at least, and the lawless inhabitants were driven
away to make trouble elsewhere. This action of Mayor Wentworth was regarded
as one of the notable acts of his administration.
AN INCIDENT IN THE EXPULSION OF THE SQUATTERS
One of the owners of the land upon which the shanties of the squatters were built
was a man who did not discriminate very closely as to the character of the occu-
pants so long as they would pay rent as some of them did. Hearing of the pro-
posed demolition of the shanties the owner had instructed his agent to mark
with red chalk those houses whose occupants had not paid rent, in the expectation
that the police would destroy them only, and leave the others. On the day when
the demolition was to take place "Long John" appeared on the scene in a carriage
to superintend operations. One Bill Reese a famous character of those days,
approached the carriage and said: "Long John, old man, I did not know that
you eouid be 'played for a sucker' and become a rent collector."
Reese then informed the mayor that the houses the occupants of which had not
paid their rent were all marked with red chalk, as a sign to the police that they
were the only ones to be demolished. The bluff old mayor could not recall that
any such conditions had been mentioned in his order and 'he waxed furious in his
wrath. "Bill," he said, "is there no more red chalk in town?" Upon this hint
some red chalk was quickly procured, and under the mayor's direction every house
in the district inhabited by the squatters was marked, recalling Morgiana's famous
device of a similar character in the Arabian Nights' story of the "Forty Thieves."
Very soon thereafter a force of policemen and firemen appeared and were
seen to be tearing down all the houses as they came to them without distinction.
The owner's agent came running to the mayor appealing to him to save the houses
of the rent payers ; but \Ventworth, with the strength of a giant, threw him down
in one corner of the hack, at the same time remarking that it pained him to see
him so much excited. Every house of course bore the red chalk marks, and they
all went down in the general destruction. After the operation was completed the
mayor turned to the agent, now entirely subdued, and said: "Give my compli-
ments to your boss and tell him that 'Long John' is the best rent collector in
Chicago, but his terms are very high."
We now come to the time when "The Sands," now much increased in extent,
again became the scene of a determined attempt to establish claims to title and
occupancy, which is described in the next paragraph.
CAPTAIN STREETER ARRIVES ON THE SCENE
In July, 1886, while navigating the lake in a small sailing craft in the vicinity
of that portion of the north shore just described, Captain Streeter was driven ashore
180 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
in a storm on "The Sands," at a point near the foot of Superior street; and after
the storm had subsided he found that his vessel was lying high and dry at some
distance from the open water. Finding it impossible to get the vessel afloat he
used it as a dwelling, while in the meantime the sand continued to accumulate
until he found himself at an increased distance inland.
Some of the adjacent land owners suspecting that he intended to make a per-
manent residence on the spot, and thus establish a color of title to the land, at-
tempted by usual court processes to expel him from the neighborhood. In fact
Streeter did assert a claim by "right of discovery" as he said, and his actions
and exploits during the following years became the subject of much newspaper
comment and description. It was found, however, to be a very difficult matter
to eject Streeter, and for some years he and a few followers held the authorities
at bay.
The tract of made land, extending from the Chicago river to Chicago avenue,
and from the old shore line to the new line at the edge of the water a quarter
or a third of a mile to the eastward, was called by Streeter the "District of Lake
Michigan." He pretended that this district was not in the state of Illinois, and
that he owed no allegiance to any authority except that of the United States. In
common parlance the tract was referred to as "Streeterville." Of course Streeter's
fantastic claims, though pressed on the Washington authorities, received no recog-
nition.
Following his claim of ownership to the "District of Lake Michigan" Streeter
subdivided the tract into lots and found buyers for many of them among such
persons as were willing to accept a title from such a dubious source. Streeter
had long since exchanged his stranded boat for a more substantial shanty near
the water's edge, and having gathered a few followers about him held the "fort,"
as he called it, against all who would dispute his claim. In 1900, the property
owners, having formed a "protective association," built another shanty in the
vicinity of Streeter's, and installed a couple of watchmen as a kind of besieging
force. On one occasion a few rifle shots were exchanged and one of the watch-
men employed by the property owners was killed.
Streeter had thus rendered himself amenable to a criminal charge and the
police promptly arrested him and his whole party. It was now possible to prose-
cute the interlopers as criminals, and accordingly they were placed on trial and
three of them, including Streeter himself, were sentenced to various terms in the
penitentiary. This put an end to the occupancy of the tract by unlawful means.
The war was continued, however, in a fusillade of printed circulars, open letters,
and much bombastic talk reported in the newspapers, by Streeter's followers, and
by Streeter himself after he had served his term in the penitentiary. Little, how-
ever, is heard of the matter in later days, there being little or no life left in the
contentions so vigorously made during a period of some twenty years.
While Streeter was incarcerated in the penitentiary his wife, who had remained
in the occupancy of the shanty, died under distressing circumstances of loneliness
and neglect, and although there had been no public sympathy with Streeter in
his absurd claims there was a very general sympathy felt for him in the loss of
his devoted consort.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 181
After having completed his term in the state's prison Streeter engaged in the
ordinary activities of private life.
SKETCH OP POTTER PALMER
Potter Palmer was born in New York state in 1826. His boyhood was spent
on a large stock farm owned by his father. After receiving a common school edu-
cation young Palmer, at the age of eighteen, entered a country store as a clerk,
and in three years became manager of the establishment. Upon reaching his
majority Mr. Palmer went into business for himself from which time he was
steadily successful. In 1852, he came to Chicago and opened a dry goods store.
He startled his competitors, it was said, by inaugurating new policies in mer-
chandising and these resulted in a greatly increased trade for his store. He
announced "that any patron who had bought goods at this store and desired to
exchange them for other goods, or to return them and have the purchase money
refunded, would be accommodated; and that goods might be taken home and
inspected before purchase."
Through these new methods his business prospered, though it was freely pre-
dicted that they would bring ruin to his business. "At the end of ten years
he was known as the individual proprietor of the largest mercantile business in
the Northwest." He then sold his business to Marshall Field and Levi Z. Leiter.
After a period spent in travel Mr. Palmer returned to Chicago and invested
largely in real estate. These investments led in the end to his becoming the most
forceful leader in the upbuilding of the city.
In 1869, Mr. Palmer began the erection of the first structure known as the
Palmer House, at the northwest corner of Stale and Quincy streets. It was
eight stories high and contained two hundred and twenty-five rooms. This hotel
was opened on the 26th of September, 1871, only thirteen days before the great
fire which left it a smouldering heap of ruins. After the fire Mr. Palmer decided
to rebuild his hotel but chose a new site on the southeast corner of State and
Monroe streets. It was built in a strictly fireproof manner and remains today one
of the safest and most popular hotels in the city, though of course greatly sur-
passed in size and elegance by the modern structures of later years.
Mr. Palmer's principal achievement was changing the entire channel of the
retail business of the city from Lake street, which runs east and west, to State street,
running north and south. State street at that time was a narrow, ill-paved and ill-
drained street, lined with unsightly, irregular structures. Mr. Palmer purchased
about a mile of frontage on this street, and in less than four years, after many
difficulties, he accomplished the object he had in view. State street was widened
twenty-seven feet, and he erected some thirty-two of the finest commercial build-
ings in the city, including the first Palmer House. When the great fire swept
the city it seemed at first as if the fortune of Mr. Palmer and the future of the
city had gone down in one common ruin.
But Mr. Palmer had won a great reputation as a man of high integrity dur-
ing the previous years of his busines life in Chicago, and he was able to make a
loan from a large life insurance company, the largest that at that time had been
made to any individual, $1,700,000. In a few years Mr. Palmer had com-
pletely recovered his financial footing, and at his death on the 4th of May. 1902..
182 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
was rated as a millionaire. Mr. Palmer served as a South Park Commissioner
during the early constructive period of the South Side system, from February,
1871 to April, 1874. During the many years that he was a resident of Chicago
Mr. Palmer took part in most of the projects for the improvement of the city,
and for the advancement of its industrial, artistic and social life. He was one
of the incorporators of the Board of Trade, one of the first subscribers to the
May Festivals, one of the three creators of the Interstate Industrial Exposition,
and was a director in the World's Columbian Exposition. President Grant offered
Mr. Palmer the cabinet portfolio of Secretary of the Interior but he declined the
honor.
THE SUNSET CLUB
The object of the Sunset Club, organized in 1889, was stated to be, "To foster
rational good-fellowship and tolerant discussion," and its requirements for mem-
bership were that any "genial and tolerant fellow" might join on approval of the
executive committee, and the payment of the nominal dues. Mr. William W.
Catlin, a young man of great energy and tact and much interested in the ques-
tions of the day, was the moving spirit; and the career of the Club, extending
through several years of activity, was a tribute to his ability in the conduct of
such an organization. The Club disbanded in 1895, but was revived again in
1898, and finally disbanded in 1901. The series of "Year Books" issued by the
Club contain a great number of the printed addresses made at the sessions of the
Club, covering a wide variety of topics.
A humorous "declaration of principles," consisting of some thirty or more
statements, nearly all in the negative form, as "No club house, No constitution,
No dress coats, No preaching, No resolutions, No vituperation, No personalities,
No late hours," etc., were printed on its programmes. A newspaper wag called
it "an Unprincipled Club," because of the declaration formulated by "Father"
Catlin, as above stated. There was usually a large attendance at its dinners, and
old timers recall those occasions as highly enjoyable as well as profitable.
The Sunset Club was modeled after the Twilight Club of New York, with
"some improvements," such as allowing speakers 'twenty minutes instead of five
minutes as at the Twilight Club, and changing its scope somewhat. "All sorts
and all conditions of men belong to the Sunset Club," said a writer in the Chi-
cago Herald. "It is the only club of the kind in Chicago where all meet on a
level. Its discussions have the effect of making the radicals less radical, and the
conservatives more liberal in their views. It is the broadest organization in the
world." The founder, Mr. Catlin, said of it that it was "the only club where
men of the widest, opposite and most radical views meet on the same platform,
and discuss questions in which they take a vital interest, without once display-
ing any bitterness or descending into personality."
Edmund Clarence Stedman, the poet and critic, wrote a letter in approval of
the Club and its principles, and suggested the following as a suitable motto :
"At set of sun one lone star rules the skies,
Night spreads a feast the day's long toil has won ;
Eat, drink, enough no more ; and speak, ye wise ;
Speak, but enough no more, at set of sun."
CHAPTER LI
TRACK ELEVATION LIFE SAVING SERVICE, ETC.
GRADE CROSSINGS IN CHICAGO FIRST ELEVATION OF TRACKS IN 1892 ILLINOIS CEN-
TRAL FIRST TO ELEVATE TRACKS LAKE SHORE AND ROCK ISLAND ELEVATE RIGHT
OF WAY CHICAGO & NORTH-WESTERN ENTER UPON EXTENSIVE SYSTEM OF ELE-
VATION SUCCESSION OF ORDINANCES PASSED FORT WAYNE ELEVATES TRACKS
THE CITY'S MOST DEADLY CROSSING BENEFITS OF TRACK ELEVATION PROGRESS
MADE IN EIGHTEEN YEARS SKETCH OF CARTER H. HARRISON, THE ELDER THE
INHERITANCE TAX LAW ESTATES WHICH HAVE PAID AN INHERITANCE-TAX
SKETCH OF EUGENE FIELD HIS WONDERFUL DIVERSITY OF GIFTS HUMOR AND
PATHOS OF HIS WRITINGS SOME OF HIS POEMS THE UNITED STATES LIFE SAVING
SERVICE THE STATIONS AND THEIR EQUIPMENT SOME NOTABLE RESCUES- DIS-
ASTERS TO THE STEAMER "CALUMET."
TRACK ELEVATION
^PECIAL legislation was not necessary to enable the city of Chicago to
require of the railroads having terminals in the city that they should
elevate their tracks, and thereby eliminate grade crossings. The police
power granted by the charter of the city, which gave the city govern-
ment the right to take such measures as would guarantee to its citizens
protection to life and limb and to promote the general welfare, was sufficient
authority.
The elimination of railroad grade crossings was begun in the earlier history
of Chicago by the erection of viaducts. This unsatisfactory and impracticable
method was continued until 1892, when after several years of agitation and dis-
cussion by those who believed in track elevation as the remedy on the one hand,
and by the railroads who claimed that the cost was prohibitive and ruinous to
them on the other, a commission was appointed by Mayor Washburne, approved
by the City Council February 15, 1892, known as the Terminal Commission.
The viaduct policy had become unpopular. "The height at which it was neces-
sary to erect the viaducts above the original grade of the streets," says the Report
of the Track Elevation Department, issued on January 1, 1909, "required the
construction of long approaches, not only in the streets provided with viaducts,
but in those that intersected the site of the approaches as well." Thus property
contiguous to the right-of-way of railroads seemed likely in time to be "enmeshed
with a network of approaches, which would not only offer long and heavy grades
to street traffic but would considerably depreciate the value of the property
affected."
183
184 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
FIRST WORK IN ELEVATION OF TRACKS
On May 22d, 1892, an ordinance was passed for the elevation of the roadbed
and tracks of the Illinois Central Railroad from Forty-seventh street to a point
near Seventy-first street. Owing to the opening of the World's Fair May 1, 1893,
this work was pushed forward with so much energy that it was completed before
the date of the opening of the Fair. The right-of-way of the Illinois Central
thus raised was two hundred feet in width and admitted of eight tracks to be
run alongside of each other. Thirteen grade crossings were eliminated by this
improvement by subways, three miles of first main track elevated, and twenty-
eight and seven-tenths miles of all tracks were comprised in the same elevation,
at a cost of two millions of dollars.
Properly speaking this was the beginning of track elevation in Chicago which
has since become of such vast proportions. The population of Chicago at that
time was 1,200,000. The elevation of the Illinois Central tracks was a valuable
object lesson, and the satisfactory results witnessed indicated the correct policy
for the future. Public opinion demanded that all the railroads entering the city
should elevate their tracks, and even before the World's Fair had opened, while
the full results of the Illinois Central track elevation were not yet completely
tested, a general ordinance was passed by the Common Council, on February 23,
1893, in conformity with the recommendations of the Terminal Commission, pro-
viding for the elevation of all the tracks of steam railroads within the limits of
the city of Chicago.
This ordinance, however, was too comprehensive, as it involved such a vast
outlay that it was seen to be impossible of accomplishment by the railroads. The
administration therefore modified the requirements and had a survey made of
those zones in which the travel at street and railway crossings was most dense,
and decided to treat each of these zones separately, and, where necessary, to sub-
divide further each zone into suitable portions for convenience of working and to
cause the least interruption to public traffic. Under this plan a gradual approach
to complete track elevation within the city limits has been going on down to the
present time.
"The annual growth of track elevation has been consistent," says the report
already referred to. "The cumulative result is remarkable; the railroads have
executed mile after mile of this kind of construction," without serious interrup-
tion to their traffic and with a minimum of delay to street travel. Great arteries
of travel were often closed up for a time while heavy operations in elevating the
roadbed were carried on, but on the whole it was quite surprising, considering
the many complications involved, how quickly the work was accomplished in al-
most every case.
ELEVATION OF THE LAKE SHORE AND ROCK ISLAND TRACKS
Proceeding on the plan of requiring separate definite portions of roadbed to
be elevated, the City Council, on July 9, 1894, under Mayor Hopkins' adminis-
tration, passed an ordinance for the elevation of the roadbed and tracks of the
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway and of the Chicago, Rock Island
& Pacific Railway, both of these lines making use of the same right-of-way, from
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 185
the crossing of the St. Charles Air Line at Sixteenth street, to Sixty-first street.
At Sixty-first street, or Englewood, these two roads separate and diverge. Be-
yond the point of divergence the Lake Shore line completed a system of subways
at Sixty-third and State streets of the most elaborate and complicated descrip-
tion, over which its tracks were carried. The Sixty-third street subway is 040
feet long between portals, and that at State street is 640 feet measured in the
same way. After passing Englewood the distance covered by the elevation of
the Lake Shore lines was four miles while the distance over which the Rock
Island line carried its elevation was four and one-half miles. The estimated cost
of all the elevation under this ordinance was about three millions of dollars.
When the elevation provided for under this ordinance was completed thirty grade
crossings had been eliminated between Sixteenth and Sixty-first streets besides
others at points farther south, and in their places nearly as many subways, effect-
ing a remarkable improvement in the convenience and safety of the public.
Reviewing the work at this stage of its progress in its broader aspect we may
perceive the wisdom of modifying the over ambitious plan of attempting to carry
through an enterprise of such magnitude in one supreme effort as at first proposed.
"Less than seventeen months," says the Report, "had elapsed after the passage
of the general ordinance, and in this short period the Council found that it had
started on the wrong tack, took its bearings, and threw the helm to another course."
In the four years following seven separate pieces of track elevation were pro-
vided for, causing a large increase in the labors of the administration as well
as of the railroads. In the advancement of this work John O'Neill was the
leading spirit throughout so that he has been justly called the "Father of Track
Elevation." Previous to 1897, O'Neill had served in the Council where he de-
voted himself to the task of preparing the necessary ordinances, but in March of
that year he resigned from the Council and was thereupon appointed "Superin-
tendent of Track Elevation," and continued in this capacity until his resignation
on October 31, 1907.
TRACK ELEVATION ON THE NORTH-WESTERN SYSTEM
On February 18, 1895, during Mayor Hopkins' administration, an ordinance
was passed for the elevation of the roadbed and tracks of the Chicago & North-
Western Railway, beginning at a point within the so-called Rockwell Street Yards
of this company, east of Sacramento avenue, to the west line of Fortieth street.
The right-of-way on this portion of the road is one hundred feet in width, giving
sufficient space for six tracks parallel with each other. By means of this eleva-
tion seven grade crossings were eliminated, in place of which the same number
of subways were constructed and two streets discontinued. The work thus under-
taken and completed was two and a half miles long, and was done at a cost of
$400,000.
During Mayor Swift's administration, that is on March 30, 1895, an ordinance
was passed for the elevation of the roadbed and tracks of the Chicago & Xorth-
Western Railway, commencing at Clybourn Junction, and extending four and
one-half miles northwest to the "Mayfair Yards." By means of this improvement
there were eliminated twenty-seven grade crossings, and the whole work was done
at a cost of one million dollars. Under the same ordinance another piece of the
186 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
North-Western road was elevated on the Milwaukee Division, commencing at
Wrightwood avenue and continued northward to Bryn Mawr avenue. The length
of this piece of track elevation is four and one-half miles and the cost approxi-
mated $900,000.
FORT WAYNE TRACKS ELEVATED
On July 27, 1896, during Mayor Swift's administration, an ordinance was
passed for the elevation of the roadbed and tracks of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne
& Chicago Railway, commencing at a point about sixty feet north of the north
line of Fifty-third street, and continuing in a southerly direction to near the inter-
section of Sixty-seventh street and South Park avenue. The right-of-way is sixty-
six feet in width upon which are laid four lines of railroad tracks. Fifteen grade
crossings were by this means eliminated and in their places were the same num-
ber of subways, and two miles of first main tracks elevated together with parallel
tracks, yards, etc., some twenty-one miles of trackage in all, at an estimated ap-
proximate cost of $750,000.
An amendatory ordinance was passed on January 18, 1897, during Mayor
Swift's administration, for the elevation of the roadbed and tracks of the same
road from the east line of State street, following a southerly direction three hun-
dred feet east of the east line of St. Lawrence avenue. This right-of-way is one
hundred feet in width, giving sufficient space for a five-track road. Two grade
crossings were eliminated by subway, one mile of first main track elevated, with
four and eight-tenths miles of all tracks included in the elevation, at an estimated
approximate cost of $250,000.
OTHER ELEVATIONS
A very important piece of work was provided for on January 18, 1897, when
an amendatory ordinance was passed for the elevation of the roadbed and tracks
of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, commencing at a point north
of Sixty-first street to a point three hundred feet east of the east line of St.
Lawrence avenue. This ordinance increased the plane of elevation over the original
ordinance of 1894, one and eight-tenths of a foot at Sixty-first street and three
and a half feet at State street. This amendatory ordinance for the elevation of
the tracks of the Lake Shore road required that their vast yards should be elevated
to the same plane as that provided for the main tracks.
The right-of-way between Sixty-first street and St. Lawrence avenue is be-
tween five hundred and six hundred feet in width. Two grade crossings were
eliminated on the completion of this work and subways substituted for them, two
miles of first main tracks and twenty and six-tenths miles of all tracks elevated
at an estimated cost of one million dollars.
THE CITY'S MOST DEADLY CROSSING
An ordinance was pased on May 17, 1897, for the elvation of the plane of
the roadbed and tracks of the St. Charles Air Line Railroad, which extends from
its connection with the Illinois Central Railroad north of and nearly coincident
with Sixteenth street westerly and across the South Branch of the Chicago River.
The proprietors of the road are the Illinois Central, the Chicago and North-
Western and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Companies. This ordi-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 187
nance required a change in the plane and elevation of the following companies:
the Chicago, Madison & Northern Railroad, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
Railway, the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad, the Lake Shore & Michigan
Southern Railway, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, and the Chicago
& Alton Railway. This ordinance affected more railroad companies than any
previous one, because of the ownership of the St. Charles Air Line by three other
railroad companies and because of the great number of railroads whose tracks
were crossed in so short a distance. The right-of-way of the St. Charles Air
Line is fifty-two feet in width with a four track road. Seven grade crossings were,
eliminated and subways substituted therefor, and one and six-tenths miles of
first main tracks which included four and six-tenths miles of all tracks elevated.
The principal grade crossing among those eliminated in this project was the
crossing at South Clark and Sixteenth streets. This was considered the most
dangerous crossing in the city. It was indeed a death trap, but for u long time
after the policy of track elevation had become a settled one nothing was done to
abolish it, for the reason that it defied the ingenuity and skill of the engineers
to design a crossing that was practicable, because of the numerous tracks in use
at this place. Happily a design was at length prepared, and in its completed form
is worthy of study and admiration for the efficient manner with which it fulfills the
purpose of its ingenious designers.
BENEFITS OF TRACK ELEVATION
The benefits accruing from track elevation are so many that it is difficult to
summarize them in a brief space. The most important benefit to the community
is of course the saving of life and limb, which, indeed, was the principal reason
for the work. The results accomplished in this respect are given in a table printed
in the Track Elevation Report which shows that in the year 1899, there were
one hundred and thirteen fatal accidents at grade crossings, though even then
the work of raising the tracks had made considerable progress. For the years
from 1900 to 1908 the number of such accidents showed a somewhat irregular
decrease, until, at the latter date, there were only twenty fatalities at grade cross-
ings during the year, although the city's population had largely increased. This
is a grade crossing record only, the accidents which occurred on the rights of
way between streets not being included.
Material results are, however, no less significant of the immense benefits which
have accrued from track elevation. An important change for the better is the
avoidance of street car blockades at railroad crossings, which was formerly a most
serious hindrance to passengers. The author of the report referred to, contrast-
ing the present conditions with those which would have obtained if the tracks
had not been elevated, says: "Consider the time that would be lost annually in
case no tracks had been elevated. During the year 1908 there were recorded
613,386,000 passengers carried on the surface lines alone. Most of the railroads
intersect street car tracks every half mile where the city is built up, and where
surface traffic is heaviest." It is fair to assume, he says, that 150,000,000 of this
number would each have been delayed at least one minute by encountering a rail-
road crossing, and that 90,000,000 pedestrians would have suffered a like delay
in the same manner. Thus if track elevation had not been accomplished the time
188 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
consumed in these delays would, in the course of the year 1908 according to these
assumptions, have reached the amazing total of seventy-six years.
By reason of track elevation valuable time is saved by the Fire Department
in reaching the scenes of fires which is of course of the greatest importance in
preventing the spread of conflagrations. The train service over the elevated
roadbeds is greatly improved in consequence of the better time it is possible to
make with a clear track. Less temptation exists for unauthorized persons to
board moving trains, and the cessation of this practice has diminished the num-
ber of accidents from this cause. The maintenance of flagmen, gates, watchmen,
signal towers, and the ringing of bells on engines, are rendered unnecessary, sav-
ing a large expense to the railroad companies and lessening the general din and
uproar of the city. It would not be difficult indeed to specify a much larger
number of other material benefits resulting from the elevation of the railroad rights
of way within the city limits. For example, the underground pipes and sewers
crossing a railroad were formerly difficult of access, but are now comparatively
easy to reach for purposes of repair or alteration; greater accessibility of one
neighborhood to another where lines of railway intervene, so that churches, markets,
schools and workshops are easily and safely reached.
One of the engineers in the Track elevation department gives the following
succinct statement of the beginning, and the benefits accruing from track elevation
to the city of Chicago. "Track Elevation," he says, "was really started in Chi-
cago by the Illinois Centrail Railroad, to take care of the heavy World's Fair
traffic crossing the streets leading into Jackson Park. In that case it was a ne-
cessity in order to allow the running of trains without great danger to foot pas-
sengers, and certainty of considerable delays to them.
"At the time of the beginning of track elevation in Chicago, the annual death
rate due to grade crossing accidents averaged between three hundred and four
hundred persons every year. This could not go on, for with the increase of street
and railroad traffic which has occurred since that time, the fatalities of this kind
would have been enormous in number.
"The delays to traffic due to busy grade crossings are another reason for track
elevation, probably as effectual as the resulting dangers. Comparatively few people
are killed or injured at grade crossings, but almost everybody is affected by
annoying and troublesome delays at crossings, while long freight trains pass or
switch across the street. The railroads could not carry on their business, partic-
ularly freight business, without blocking crossings for longer periods than the
public would stand, and they knew that such conditions could not long continue.
"In fact, conditions were rapidly becoming intolerable on both sides and both
the public and the railroads were anxious to find a remedy. The railroads dur-
ing the past twenty years have been following a policy of rebuilding their lines
in permanent form, and the track elevation and accompanying improvements in
cities like Chicago are only a part of the rebuilding in progress all along the
line."
During the eighteen years within which the work of track elevation has been
steadily advancing a great diversity of designs and methods have been employed.
In the earlier years the use of cut stone and rubble masonry was very general,
but latterly concrete is almost exclusively employed. In the outlying districts
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
189
the elevation often consists of sloping embankments except at street crossings,
where of course abutments and retaining walls are built. The generally level
situation of the city's site makes it an easy task for the engineers to maintain
an even height for all the tracks.
In the earlier ordinances the requirements for the height of the subways in
the clear was placed at twelve feet and six inches. The electric cars now in use
require a greater height than this, and the problem is a serious one at the present
time. Those railroads which had completed their track elevation under their con-
tract ordinances are subject to no further demands. On the South Side fortunately
the City Railway Company had foreseen the possibility of larger cars coming into
use and had demanded thirteen feet and six inches from the first as the necessary
height of the subway ceilings, and it is now the settled policy of the Track Ele-
vation Department to require this height in the clear for all subways.
It does not seem necessary to describe further the numerous different projects
of track elevation which have been inaugurated and completed in the sixteen years
that track elevation has become the settled policy of the city authorities. Enough
have been described to give the reader a fair comprehension of the successive steps
and phases of the track elevation movement, what the scope and purposes of the
work are, and what has been accomplished. In the Track Elevation Report fof
December 31, 1908, there are nine hundred and forty pages filled with the text
of track elevation ordinances covering a great number of separate projects. It
is sufficient for the purposes of this history to give a brief summary of the con-
dition of affairs on the date when this voluminous report was issued.
Down to the date of this report the total mileage of railroad tracks elevated,
subways constructed, and the cost of all work in connection therewith, is as follows:
Work Completed
or under Con-
struction
Work under
Ordinances
but not begun
Totals
Allies of
Roadbed
113.44
35 28
148 72
Miles of
all tracks
, 748.72
166.29
915 01
Subways
559
161
720
Cost . . .
$53,662,000
$19,000,000
$72 662 000
MAYOR CARTER H. HARRISON
The tragic death of the Mayor of the City of Chicago, Hon. Carter H. Harri-
son, during the closing days of the World's Columbian Exposition, on the 28th of
October, 1893, is referred to elsewhere in this history. On the evening of that
day Mr. Harrison was shot and killed by an assassin, one Patrick Eugene Prender-
gast. in the doorway of his own house, number 231 Ashland avenue. Like other
assassins, whose infamous deeds have blackened the pages of our country's history,
the miscreant Prendergast claimed to have a grievance against the Mayor be-
cause he had not been able to obtain employment in the city departments. On
this Saturday evening he came to the entrance of the Mayor's residence. The
Mayor himself came to the door to meet him, when with an angry declaration that
he had come to get satisfaction, the wretch shot the Mayor three times, one of
the shots penetrating his heart. Mr. Harrison lived only seventeen minutes after
he was thus murderouslv attacked.
190 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
Immediately after the murder of the Mayor the assassin was taken into custody,
and in due time was put upon his trial. He was found guilty and condemned
to suffer the extreme penalty. His counsel argued that he was insane either at
the time the crime was committed or afterwards, and should not suffer the death
penalty. The execution was postponed several times to allow the medical experts
to make a thorough examination. It was finally determined that although weak-
minded and viciously warped in his ideas, he was responsible for his acts, and
the sentence of the law was finally carried out, but not until after a long delav.
"The hanging of Prendergast," said the editor of a Chicago paper, "was not the
wreaking of vengeance upon a demented and irresponsible head. It was the free-
ing of society of a man whose further existence was a menace to life, and whose
example, if not treated with stern justice, would have been a standing invitation
to other murderous fools to take other valued lives. The verdict which has been
carried out is a just one, because any other verdict would have been a gross crime
against the safety of the community and against all law, human and divine. 'Just,
though tardy,' will be the verdict of mankind on this closing of a sad chapter in
Chicago history."
SKETCH OF MAYOR HARRISON
Carter Henry Harrison was sixty-eight years old at the time of his tragic
death. He was a graduate of Yale College, and had lived in Chicago since 1855.
He was elected to Congress in 1876, and in 1879, was elected Mayor of the City
of Chicago on the Democratic ticket, the term of office being two years. He was
re-elected in 1881, again in 1883, and again in 1885. He was not a candidate at
the two following elections, but in 1891, he ran again and was defeated. How-
ever, in 1893, he was once more a candidate for the office of mayor and was
elected, entering upon his duties on April 4th of that year, nearly a month before
the opening of the World's Columbian Exposition. Mr. Harrison was a politician
of the old school and believed in giving offices as the reward of party services.
After his last election he welcomed and entertained many of the distinguished
guests and visitors at the Exposition, and frequently addressed meetings in its
interest, for which he was well equipped. A writer in "Harpers' Weekly" of New
York said of him: "He had read widely and deeply, he had traveled far and
often, he knew men and manners very well, and he was kindly, witty, engaging,
wise, and even brilliant. More than all, he admired and loved Chicago, arid was
able to speak for it with a voice that echoed the subtlest as well as the deepest
notes of its enthusiastic pride in its own achievements. . . . He was the
idol of the masses in his city, and their instant anger and subsequent grief were
sufficiently deep to astonish and impress the nation."
A bronze statue of Carter H. Harrison now stands in Union Park, and on
the pedestal is carved an inscription containing a quotation from the speech made
by him as mayor, at the World's Columbian Exposition, on October 28, 1893, the
very day, in the evening of which he met an untimely death at the hands of an
assassin. The words quoted are as follows: "Genius is but audacity, and the
audacity of Chicago has chosen a star. It has looked upward to it, and knows
nothing that it fears to attempt, and thus far has found nothing that it cannot
accomplish."
HOUSE OF CARTER II. HARRISON ON ASHLAND AVENUE
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 191
THE INHERITANCE TAX LAW OF ILLINOIS
An inheritance tax law was passed by the State Legislature which became
effective on July 1, 1895. It was the first law of the kind in this state. This
law was amended from time to time, until on June 14, 1909, a practically new
law was passed, the schedules of taxation being as follows: The tax on property
willed to direct heirs is subject to one per cent on the amount received by each
person in excess of twenty thousand dollars and not exceeding one hundred thou-
sand dollars ; with the provision that any such sum less than twenty thousand
dollars is exempt from the tax, and that the tax applies only to whatever is in
excess of the said twenty thousand dollars. And further, that any amount willed
to any individual of the direct heirs, if in excess of one hundred thousand dollars
shall pay two per cent on the amount so willed, applying only to whatever is
in excess of twenty thousand dollars.
If the property transferred by will goes to collateral heirs, that is, uncles,
aunts, nieces, nephews, or any lineal descendants of the same the tax is greater.
The rate in such cases is two per cent of the value of the property received by
each person, in excess of two thousand dollars, and not exceeding twenty thou-
sand dollars, with the provision that any sum less than five hundred dollars is
exempt from the tax, and that the tax applies only to whatever is in excess of the
said five hundred dollars. And further, that any amount willed to any individual
of the collateral heirs in excess of twenty thousand dollars shall pay four per
cent, applying only to whatever is in excess of five hundred dollars.
In all other cases the inheritance tax rate, says the law, shall be as follows:
"On each and every one hundred dollars of the clear market value of all property
and at the same rate for any less amount ; on all transfers of ten thousand dollars
and less, three dollars ; on all transfers over ten thousand dollars and not ex-
ceeding twenty thousand dollars, four dollars ; on all transfers over twenty thou-
sand dollars and not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, five dollars ; on all trans-
fers over fifty thousand dollars and not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars,
six dollars; and on all transfers over one hundred thousand dollars, ten dollars:
Provided, that any gift, legacy, inheritance, transfer, appointment or interest which
may be valued at a less sum than five hundred dollars shall not be subject to any
duty or tax."
EXEMPTIONS FROM THE INHERITANCE TAX
Gifts by bequest to certain institutions not formed for profit enjoy exemption
from the operation of the inheritance tax. The law on this point is as follows:
"When any beneficial interest of any property or income therefrom shall pass to
or for the use of any hospital, religious, educational, bible, missionary, tract,
scientific, benevolent or charitable purpose, or to any trustee, bishop or minister
of any church or religious denomination, held and used exclusively for the religious,
educational or charitable uses and purposes of such church or religious denomina-
tion, institution or corporation, by grant, gift, bequest or otherwise, the same shall
not be subject to any such duty or tax, but this provision shall not apply to any cor-
poration which has the right to make dividends or distribute profits or assets among
its members."
This will be more clearly understood by a perusal of the following discussion
192 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
of the subject which has been furnished on request by an eminent lawyer, who has
had an extensive practice in the courts in cases involving the settlement of many
large estates, such estates having been subject to a charge for inheritance tax.
The statement made by him may be relied upon as accurate and contains informa-
tion of great interest and value. The statement was prepared especially for this
work.
INHERITANCE TAX LAWS AND LEGISLATION
In 1895 the Legislature of the State of Illinois passed an Inheritance Tax
Law imposing a tax upon the right of heirs and beneficiaries to take deceased
persons' property.
Generally stated, lineal descendants of decedents, such as children and grand-
children and husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, were taxed one (1)
per cent on all property received over and above $20,000. Uncles and aunts,
nieces and nephews and their descendants were taxed two (2) per cent over and
above $2,000 on the property received by each. Strangers in blood were taxed
a graduated rate from three to six per cent. This law was an evolution of the
Inheritance Tax Law of 1828 of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was the first State
in the Union to adopt a tax upon inheritances. In 1885 Pennsylvania re-enacted
and revised its Inheritance Tax Laws, and in the same year New York adopted
an Inheritance Tax Law, taking it largely from the laws of Pennsylvania.
The Illinois Law of 1895 was copied largely from the law of New York of
1885 as amended in 1887. The Illinois Act although providing a means of im-
posing taxes, failed to provide any funds, offices or machinery for the prosecution
of estates. In 1901 our Legislature amended the 1895 act and provided for the
Attorney General appointing an Inheritance Tax Attorney. No office, supplies
or machinery was provided for said prosecuting officer, however, and, in 1905,
when the present Attorney General, W. H. Stead took office, he created an office
in Chicago and provided out of his general fund for the work of prosecution.
Up to 1905 the Inheritance Tax assessments and collections averaged from about
$150,000 to $225,000 per year. After the provision of machinery for the In-
heritance Tax Attorney by the said Attorney General in 1905, the Inheritance
Tax collections increased to an average of $350,000 per year until 1908, when
the Legislature provided an appropriation for the prosecution of estates, said
Legislature realizing the enormous commercial and financial interests in one of
the greatest cities of the world, from which have and are springing up great fortunes.
From 1908 to 1909 the average income of the State from Inheritance Taxes was
about $550,000 per year.
In 1909, the Legislature realizing the many defects in the law of 1895 as
amended in 1901, did, on the recommendation of the Attorney General, re-enact
the law. And said Legislature added a section for the apprehension of estates
wherein no administration was had, in the form of a section known as Section
Nine which provides substantially as follows: That no Bank, Trust Company,
Deposit Company, Corporation, Institution or individual can transfer out of its
possession and control securities, deposits and assets standing in the individual
or joint name of, or owned by a decedent, resident or non-resident of this State,
and providing for notice to the Attorney General and State Treasurer, prior to
the transfer of any such securities, deposits and assets. Said Section also pro-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 193
vided that in case of an infraction of this Section a penalty of $1,000 attaches to
said corporation, institution, etc.
This new Act was instrumental in the collection of $1,400,000 from the entire
state in the fiscal year beginning August 31, 1909 and ending August 31, 1910,
over $1,000,000 of which was taken from Cook County.
A great many large estates have been prosecuted for the purpose of determin-
ing the Inheritance Tax due thereon. The foremost in size and the most famous,
as involving complex and difficult legal propositions, is the estate of Marshall Field
which was determined to have a value of about $85,000,000. This estate was the
largest ever appraised in the United States with the exception of the estate of
the late Edward H. Harriman, which estate exceeded, according to reports, the
value of $100,000,000; said Field estate being larger than any estate of the Vander-
bilts or the Goulds.
A large tax was assessed in the Field estate and it is anticipated upwards
of $1,000,000 will be recovered to the State from this property. Other estates
which have been subjected to the Inheritance Tax Laws are:
Otto Young $11,000,000
Nelson Morris 18,000,000
Gustavus F. Swift 12,000,000
George M. Pullman 7,000,000
Chas. Netcher 4,000,000
Albert Keep 5,000,000
Leander J. McCormick 4,000,000
Albert M. Billings 3,000,000
Wm. H. Mitchell 6,000,000
Otho S. A. Sprague 3,500,000
Thos. Murdock 3,500,000
Benj. F. Ferguson 3,000,000
James C. King 3,500,000
Philip D. Armour 20,000,000
Potter Palmer 10,000,000
John B. Drake 4,000,000
Silas B. Cobb 6,000,000
John V. Farwell 2,000,000
EUGENE FIELD
Eugene Field began his residence in Chicago in 1883, and became a special
writer for the Chicago Daily News, his particular department for several years
being that known as "Sharps and Flats," which was filled with the pungent and
witty productions of his pen. He had formerly been engaged in newspaper work
at St. Louis, Kansas City and Denver. Fields' writings made him famous through-
out the country, a great part of them consisting of short poems written often in
a satirical or humorous vein, relating to the affairs of the day, and numerous trans-
lations of the Odes of Horace rendered in his own inimitable manner. As a poet,
however, he was perhaps best known through his poems of childhood and home,
which strongly appealed to the popular heart. His poems and sketches have
frequently been published in book form, and the earlier editions are much sought
VoL HI 13
194 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
for by Collectors. Eugene Field died in 1895, at the untimely age of forty-five
years, mourned by a large circle of friends and admirers, having made a deep
impress upon the literary life of the community.
In 1910, a new edition of his poems was issued, and a reviewer in the Chicago
Evening Post, referring to his sympathy with child life, said that "Eugene Field
has already been canonized in the nursery," and further says that in his verse
"one does come unmistakably upon gleams and flashes of a certain rare and inti-
mate spirit, the spirit which manifested itself so wonderfully in some of the
Roman lyrists, which we find abundantly in Herrick, in Burns, in Landor; a
spirit so fine as to require to be cherished wherever it appears, and valued at its
height. The poets who have this spirit, in making use of autobiographical mate-
rial, so to speak, do not, like others, transform it into something rich and strange,
but render it with a naive and charming literalness. They take the world into
their confidence, not about a rapture or an agony, but about some delightful trifle.
"That is why one feels the poetry of Field, his newspaper verse is more
certainly enduring metal than that over which some of his contemporaries sweat
blood. There is something permanently fascinating in the way he tells the world
about his friendships, calling his friends by name and describing the home where
he loves to loaf and invite his soul. He relates with infinite gusto his adventures
as a book and print collector recording that he saw some splendid bargains when
he was broke in London in the fall of '89, or that in New Orleans one day he
'blew in' twenty dollars by nine o'clock, a. m. And his books : what a delightful
flavor there is in his talk about bindings and first editions ! It is the authentic
.reality in these things that makes them something more than 'fugitive verse.'"
In writing of the translations from classical authors, so frequently made by
Field, the reviewer says that "for all their admixture of modernity, these viva-
cious paraphrases are more successful than any academic translation in giving an
impression of the spirit of the Roman poet." As an illustration the reviewer quotes
the following "Invitation to Maecenas:"
"Dear, noble friend ! a virgin cask
Of wine solicits your attention:
And roses fair, to deck your hair,
And things too numerous to mention.
So tear yourself awhile away
From urban turmoil, pride and splendor,
And deign to share what humble fare
And sumptuous fellowship I tender.
The sweet content retirement brings
Smooths out the ruffled front of kings."
"But he who does not find himself in sympathy with the artifice of these poems
is only the more sure to enjoy the simple and open-hearted lays and lyrics written
in such a mood as this:
'Little All-Aloney's feet
Pitter-patter in the hall,
And his mother runs to meet
And to kiss her toddling sweet
Ere perchance he fall.'
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 195
"Verses superficially like these are published by the thousands every year.
They are almost a public nuisance in their affectation, their false sentiment, their
utter banality. But one is surely not mistaken in saying that Field's child poems
are real poetry, distinguishable in a moment from all such trash by their accent
of perfect sincerity. They represent the abandon of a gentle, childlike, child-loving
heart, and they have an honorable place in our American literature."
This appreciation from a young writer, who was yet in his infancy when
Field was most active in his work, is a remarkable tribute to his genius, and cor-
roborative of the impressions of contemporary readers who were privileged to
see these writings from day to day through many years. Field was a book lover
of the genuine sort, a follower and disciple of the gentle Dibdin, and the circle
of kindred spirits in the community were rallied and made known to each other
through him and the friends who always surrounded him.
In the old book store of McClurg & Co., then located at the corner of Wabash
avenue and Madison street, a section of the main floor was devoted to out of
print books, in rare editions and fine bindings, as indeed there is in their present
quarters. This place was a favorite resort, presided over by the wise and digni-
fied George M. Millard, and was frequently referred to by Field as the "Saints
and Sinners Corner." For many years there were often gathered here the con-
genial spirits of the book loving fraternity, and the inspirations flowing from such
associations are felt even unto this day.
Field made extensive use of that form of humorous writing, since become so
popular among the "jokesmiths," where names are purposely confused with sim-
ilar ones having entirely different associations, thus producing most ludicrous
effects. For example, in commenting upon Matthew Arnold, who was visiting the
West in 1883, he says: "Since it appears that Matthew Arnold is neither the
man who betrayed his country, nor the man who wrote 'The Light of Asia,' it
is surmised that he can't amount to very much ; unless, perchance, he should happen
to be the author of Arnold's writing ink." In one of his paragraphs he makes
"a suggestion for a British statesman," as follows: "The Right Honorable John
Bright has been making a public address in Birmingham on our revenue system.
It seems to us that he could better employ his time in suggesting a specific for the
popular kidney complaint of which he was the author."
One little poem is here quoted which is a fine example of that rare and subtle
quality in Field's child poems which has earned for him the title of the "Chil-
dren's Friend."
LITTLE BOY BLUE
"The little toy dog is covered with dust,
But steady and stanch he stands,
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
And the musket molds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new
And the soldier was passing fair,
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.
196 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
'Now don't you go till I come/ he said,
'And don't you make any noise!'
So, toddling off to his trundle bed
He dreamt of the pretty toys.
And as he was dreaming an angel song
Awakened our Little Boy Blue
Oh, the years are many the years are long
But the little toy friends are true!
Aye, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,
Each in the same old place;
Awaiting the touch of a little hand
And the smile of a little face.
And they wonder as waiting these long years through,
In the dust of that little chair,
What has become of our Little Boy Blue,
Since he kissed them and put them there !"
The author of a "History of American Verse," Mr. James L. Onderdonk,
published in 1901, thus speaks of Eugene Field, after having reviewed the stand-
ing of some other poets, as follows: "These writers may be regarded as the
founders of a rapidly increasing class whose works are contributing so much to
a strong and healthful Western literature. It would be improper to take leave
of these frontier singers without referring to one who, if so inclined, might have
made the Rocky Mountains as familiar in song as the Sierras have become in
the works of his contemporaries. Eugene Field, at one time regarded as the
Bret Harte of Colorado, was born in Missouri, and had been a resident of New
England as well as of the far West. But his literary development properly be-
longs to the last named section, which he abandoned to assume a position on a
Chicago newspaper. Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region still claim him
as their own, and he never entirely renounced his first allegiance. In his humorous
descriptions of life in the mining camps in the early sixties, we recognize Field
as the cleverest of Bret Harte's disciples, but in such lyrics as 'The Wanderer,'
'Little Boy Blue,' 'Telka,' and 'The Bibliomaniac's Prayer,' we gladly hail Field
as his own master."
Like Thackeray, Eugene Field could draw very cleverly, and often furnished
sketches to accompany his comical pieces. While engaged with the Daily News,
Field's weekly salary was, by his own request, paid regularly to Mrs. Field, whom
for excellent reasons he had appointed the financial manager of the household.
Rarely, however, did it reach her intact, owing to Field's infraction of his .own
rule in the matter. His requests for money at the cashier's office, then in charge
of Collins Shackelford, now the exchange editor of the Record-Herald, were often
written on slips of paper in prose or verse decorated with sketches or fancifully
written in ink of different colors. These were preserved by Shackelford and have
since been distributed among many of Field's old friends and admirers.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 197
NEWSPAPERS AS HISTORICAL MATERIAL
Newspapers satisfy many of the canons of historical evidence. "Their object,"
says Rhodes, "is the relation of daily events; and if their relation is colored by
honest or dishonest partisanship, this is easily discernible by the critic from the
internal evidence and from an easily acquired knowledge of a few external facts.
. . . Moreover the newspaper itself, its news and editorial columns, its adver-
tisements, is a graphic picture of society. . . . Take the newspaper for what
it is, a hasty gatherer of facts, a hurried commentator on the same, and it may
well constitute a part of historical evidence."
The examination of manuscript material is probably the most laborious task
which falls to the lot of the historical writer. But next to that the physical and
mental labor of turning over and reading bound volumes of newspapers is the
most severe, says Rhodes. Newspapers as historical material, like all other evi-
dence "must be used with care and skepticism, as one good authority is undoubtedly
better than a dozen poor ones. . . . For the history of the last half of the
nineteenth century just such material the material of the fourth estate must be
used. Neglect of it would be like neglect of the third estate in the history of
France for the eighteenth century."
THE LIFE SAVING SERVICE OF CHICAGO
It is stated in Andreas' "History of Chicago" that "The high winds and dense
fogs of spring and fall, for many years prior to 1856, had been productive of much
damage to shipping, and wrecks, accompanied by loss of life, and were of frequent
occurrence. In the spring of 1856, the Government sent a life boat to Chicago,
and it was placed in charge of the harbor engineer. The first boat was kept
under Rush street bridge, and, in case of service becoming necessary, volunteers
were depended upon to man it. This boat was made to answer a variety of pur-
poses, and was yet in fair condition, several years later, when a life saving sta-
tion was established, with Captain John Taylor in charge."
The Life Saving Service dates back to the middle of the last century. The
first steps towards an organized effort for assisting shipwrecked persons was the
establishment of a humane society in Massachusetts, and its huts of refuge an(J
volunteer life-boatmen rendered incalculable service in rescuing lives from vessels
in distress. At first this society was supported by voluntary contributions, but
in 1847, Congress appropriated five thousand dollars to provide the keepers of
lighthouses "with means of rendering assistance to shipwrecked mariners." In
the following year the first regular organization of the Life Saving Service was
authorized by Congress, and fifty-four stations were established on the Atlantic
coast. Each year thereafter the service was extended, and the sums appropriated
were increased, until at the date of the last annual report (June 30, 1910) there
were shown to be two hundred and eighty-one stations, and the amount required
for their maintenance was upwards of two and one-quarter millions of dollars.
The history of the Life Saving Service at Chicago and Evanston, recently
prepared by the Superintendent of that department, is given as follows:
In March, 1873, Congress appropriated $100,000 for new life-saving stations,
and called for a report of points for others to be established upon the sea and
198 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
lake coasts, with detailed estimates of cost. To make the report called for by the
law, a commission was formed immediately after the passage of the act, con-
sisting of S. I. Kimball, the present General Superintendent of the Life Saving
Service, and Captains John Faunce and J. H. Merryman, of the Revenue Cutter
Service. The commission visited Chicago and made a personal inspection and
study of the nature, characteristics and needs of the coast of Lake Michigan in
that vicinity, and consulted marine underwriters, shipowners, captains of vessels
and other sources of relevant information. When the commission visited Chicago
it found one of the life-boats which had been authorized by Congress nearly twenty
years previously to be placed at various places on the Atlantic and Lake coasts,
under the Rush street bridge, which was its only shelter.
By the act of June 20, 1874, the Secretary of the Treasury was authorized
to establish life-saving stations, lifeboat stations and houses of refuge for the
better preservation of life and property from shipwreck at certain points on
the sea and lake coasts. In pursuance of the recommendation of the commission
referred to, that act authorized a lifeboat station at Chicago, and a complete life-
saving station at or near Gross Point (Evanston). The lifeboat house at Chi-
cago was located on the Illinois Central pier No. 1, and was placed in the charge
of a keeper who employed volunteers upon occasions of shipwreck. A crew of
surfmen is now regularly employed at the station.
The Gross Point station (Evanston) was completed in 1877, and a keeper
and crew were employed. This station stands on property of the Northwestern
University at Evanston, and is now designated the Evanston Station.
By the act of June 19, 1886, a life-saving station was authorized to be estab-
lished at South Chicago. The station was erected on the Lighthouse reservation
at South Chicago and was placed in commission in April, 1890.
In August, 1892, the Jackson Park station was authorized to be erected to
form a Government exhibit during the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago,
and to take the place of the Chicago station on the Illinois Central pier after the
Exposition should close. It was found, however, that the needs of commerce re-
quired the maintenance of the Chicago station, and it was continued under the
name of the "Old Chicago station," and the Exposition station was also con-
tinued at Jackson Park.
The Old Chicago station was found to be inadequate to the needs of the serv-
ice, and a new station was erected in 1903 on the breakwater at the mouth of
the Chicago river. A new location for the Jackson Park station was found to be
necessary, and in 1908 a new station was erected.
In addition to the usual equipment of boats and apparatus, the South Chicago
station has been furnished with a thirty-four foot power lifeboat, and an open
power surfboat; the Jackson Park station with a thirty-four foot power lifeboat
also ; the Old Chicago station with a thirty-six foot self-righting and self-bailing
power lifeboat, and an open power surfboat; and the Evanston station with a
self-bailing power surfboat.
In filling vacancies at the Evanston station preference is given to students of
the Northwestern University, or to eligibles from any station in the district desir-
ing or intending to become such students, this fact being indicated in their appli-
cations, and evidence being presented tKat they will be admitted as students in
said Universitv.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 199
In addition to the regular stations and crews mentioned above there is a volun-
teer crew and station in Rogers Park, at the foot of Kenilworth avenue. The
government has erected a building for their purposes and it is provided with a
full complement of apparatus. The members of the crew are mostly young busi-
ness men who hold themselves in readiness to respond to calls upon them at any
time they are needed. The station is in charge of the keeper of the Evanston
station.
The activities of the life savers, who are often seen on their regular beach
patrols or passing in their boats on the lake, have inspired the boys at Edgewater
to form a crew of their own modeled upon that of a regular crew of the life-
saving station. These boys are most of them students in the city high schools, and
in this instance have purchased their own boat and practice the regular drills of the
service. These amateurs are regarded with great favor by the regular life savers,
as it is seen that they may on some occasions reach a scene of danger more quickly
than could a boat from a station situated at some distance. They will be spurred to
greater endeavor and can incur greater risks realizing that the regular crew will
not be far behind them in any work of rescue on hand.
The training and discipline thus acquired by these youthful amateurs engaged
in so useful a work, although this particular crew has not been in existence long
enough to furnish any tests of its efficiency, cannot fail to be of the highest value
to them in their future lives, and they certainly do honor to themselves in render-
ing this service to the community. The similarity of the objects of this praise-
worthy movement to that of the Boy Scouts, whose activities have attracted wide-
spread public attention and approval, both movements having in view the main
purpose of rendering assistance in emergencies, is apparent; and invites the ap-
plause of all public-spirited people. The model of a well-drilled and efficient
branch of the government service, as an incentive to youthful activity in the
direction of useful and helpful service, is thus plainly seen ; for without an example
thus furnished by the regular crews of the Life-Saving service it would be diffi-
cult to form and carry out so promising an enterprise.
CONDITIONS IN THE LIFE SAVING SERVICE
The entire shore line of the Great Lakes is dotted with stations of the United
States Life Saving Service. "The cluster of inland seas, known as the Great Lakes,"
said the General Superintendent of the service, Sumner I. Kimball, in an address
delivered in 1889, before the International Marine Conference, "contains an area
of about eighty thousand square miles, and has a coast line within the limits of
the United States of nearly twenty-five hundred miles. These seas are open to
navigation about eight months in the year; at other times being closed by ice.
. . . There are few natural harbors, but a large number of artificial ones.
These are formed at the mouths of rivers by extending piers from their banks out
into the lake for a considerable distance and dredging the bottom between.
"The lakes are generally tranquil, but at certain seasons are visited by violent
gales which throw their fresh waters into furious convulsion with a suddenness
unknown upon the ocean. Vessels unable to hold their own against the severity
of these storms, being land-locked and with scant sea room, are likely to be left
with only the choice between stranding wherever they may be driven, and seeking
200 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
refuge in the harbor that seems most accesible. The latter course is naturally
the one taken. To effect an entrance within the narrow space between the piers
at such times with sailing vessels, and even with steamers, is frequently a task
of extreme difficulty, and the luckless craft are liable to strand upon the bar on
one or the other side of the piers and meet their destruction." During the preva-
lence of great storms many disasters occur in a single day at these harbors.
LIFE SAVING STATIONS AND EQUIPMENT
In the majority of the stations provided by the Life Saving Service, which
is under the control of the Treasury Department at Washington, the first floors
are divided into four rooms, the largest for the accommodation of the life boats
and apparatus; and on the second are the quarters for the men of the crew. Upon
the roofs of each of these stations is a look-out tower and a tall flag staff used
for signalling. The buildings are usually located near the water's edge. An
inclined track from the station to the water is provided, down which the boats are
quickly launched. Each of the stations has telephone connection with others in
the vicinity.
There are thirty-one stations on Lake Michigan which is known as the
Twelfth District. From the report of General Superintendent Kimball, for the
year ending June 30th, 1909, it is learned that during the year mentioned there
were ninety disasters to vessels on Lake Michigan, only seven of which proved
to be a total loss. None of these disasters resulted in loss of life. This record,
however, only covers "documented vessels ;" the record of disasters to "undocu-
mented vessels," that is small craft of all descriptions, showing a number of fatal-
ities. Further on in this chapter will be found a table of disasters which have
occurred on the five great lakes for a period of ten years, together with the num-
ber of lives lost.
PURPOSES AND REQUIREMENTS
While the primary ' purpose of the United States Life Saving Service is to
save and succor the shipwrecked, a considerable number of persons not connected
with vessels are annually rescued from various situations of danger. Among the
services performed within the year given may be mentioned the rescues of per-
sons from drowning while bathing; medical and surgical aid given to persons suf-
fering from sudden attacks of sickness, from burns at fires, bruises and broken
limbs; rescues of unprotected persons from attacks of ruffians; shelter given to
persons who have lost their way on the beaches ; and aid rendered in giving fire
alarms and assisting in extinguishing fires; thus fulfilling in part the functions
of the "first aid" ambulance corps, and of the fire and police departments of the
neighborhood.
Besides this the life savers assist frequently in the recovery and restoration of
a great variety of valuable articles, fish nets, lumber, even automobiles and para-
chutes lost in the adjoining waters; as well as in the rescue of domestic animals.
The keepers of life saving stations "are required to reside constantly at their sta-
tions; are intrusted with the care and custody of the station property, for which
they are accountable; and govern the station premises. They are captains of their
crews; exercise absolute control over them (subject only to the restriction of the
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 201
regulations of the service and the orders of superior officers) ; lead them and share
their perils on all occasions of rescue, taking always the steering oar when the
boats are used, and directing all operations with the apparatus. They are also
ex officio inspectors of customs, and as such take care of the government interests
in relation to dutiable goods on wrecked vessels, until the arrival of other customs
officers. By law they are also made guardians of all wrecked property until re-
lieved by the owners or their agents, or until instructed by superior authority as
to its disposition."
DETAILS OF THE LIFE SAVING SERVICE
The keeper of a Life Saving station receives a salary of one thousand dollars
per annum. One surfman in each crew receives seventy dollars per month, the
other members receive sixty-five dollars each while actually employed. Keepers
are appointed, but surfmen are selected from eligible registers provided by the
Civil Service Commission. Examinations are based on age, physical condition and
experience, and a knowledge of reading and writing.
The duties of a life saving crew are stated to be as follows: "Continuous watch
is kept from the stations both day and night, with beach patrol during hours of
darkness and in foggy or thick weather. Two surfmen are assigned to each night
watch, one of whom proceeds on patrol (in the same direction at the same time from
all stations in a district, if practicable) while the other remains on watch. On the
return of the first man he takes the station watch, and the second man patrols in
the opposite direction." Each patrolman is equipped with a lantern and a num-
ber of red lights, which are ignited in cases of vessels seen to be in distress, or of
those running too near shore, thus serving the double purpose of warning mariners
of their danger or assuring them of succor if assistance is needed.
Among the various articles with which a life saving station is equipped is the
gun from which is fired a projectile, and to which is attached a "shot line." The
projectile is aimed so that it will fly over and beyond the deck of a vessel in dis-
tress, thus giving the sailors a line with which a larger line or hawser may be
drawn aboard. The shot line is attached to the forward end of the projectile so
that it will not be burned off in firing. When the gun is fired the weight and in-
ertia of the line cause the projectile to become reversed in its flight. Only a
small charge of powder is necessary, often not more than two ounces. The pro-
jectile weighs about fifteen pounds and the gun with its carriage about one hun-
dred and sixty-five pounds. The line is coiled on a rack from which it is almost
instantly drawn out by the flying projectile.
NOTABLE INSTANCES OF RESCUES
A difficulty is often met with in the case of a vessel in distress in the inability
of the ship's company to co-operate with the rescuers. It is scarcely credible that
sailors should have to be instructed in the use of the shot line after it reaches them,
but instances have been known where the sailors made no effort to haul the line
aboard with the hawser attached, and the work of the life savers through their
ignorance has been delayed, and deliverance from peril jeopardized.
The most usual method of rescuing persons on a stranded vessel is by means
of the "breeches-buoy," which takes one person at a time over a stretched hawser.
202 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
When there are many persons to be landed the "life-cars" are used, in which a
number can be carried together. Crews from other stations are sometimes called
in to assist in rescues where a number of vessels are stranded in one spot, or
where for any reason there is a special emergency. The superintendent cites two
instances where the Cleveland crew was called to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Newport,
Kentucky, a distance of over two hundred miles, to render aid to sufferers from
the inundations of the Ohio valley. Some two thousand persons were succored on
these occasions. "The crew of the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal station," the su-
perintendent reports, "was once called at night to Chocolay Beach, near Mar-
quette, Michigan, a distance of one hundred and ten miles. Proceeding by special
train, running at the highest attainable speed, and taking with them their beach
apparatus and boat, they reached the beach at midnight, and through a blinding
snow storm and in spite of bitter cold were able to board two stranded vessels and
rescue twenty-four persons, after every effort of the citizens had failed."
The record of disasters on the Great Lakes, the lives lost, and the persons who
were succored at the life-saving stations, for the years 1900 to 1909, inclusive, is
given, as follows:
Year ending June 30 Disasters Lives lost Persons succored at Stations
1900 254 4 103
1901 285 6 123
1902 252 13 105
1903 226 3 102
1904 249 6 115
1905 260 4 91
1906 351 19 123
1907 322 20 260
1908 390 9 86
1909 525 19 123
LIVES SAVED AT THE "cALUMEx" DISASTER
The saving of lives at the time of the disaster, a description of which follows,
was an achievement of the life saving crew stationed at Evanston. The particu-
lars were related in an article printed in "The Junior Munsey," in November,
1900. "On the afternoon of November 27, 1889," runs the account, "the big steam-
ship Calumet, deeply laden with coal, which she was carrying from Buffalo to
Milwaukee, missed the lights of the city of her destination on account of a blind-
ing snow storm; and although she was leaking badly, she was obliged to bear away
for a port at Chicago.
"On her way up the lake the leak increased, because she labored so heavily in
the gale. To complete the disaster, a pump that had served to keep her afloat
gave out, and her master was compelled to head for the beach. She struck a bar
alongshore, just off Fort Sheridan, at ten o'clock at night. As she broached to,
the bilge cocks were opened to fill her quickly and keep her from pounding. She
settled in the sand, with the main deck almost down to the water level, and the
seas making a clean breach across her. The eighteen members of her crew hud-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 203
died on her upper works, where they were drenched by clouds of spray that quickly
sheathed them in an ever growing mail of ice.
"About midnight, A. W. Fletcher, a resident of the neighborhood, sent a tele-
gram to Keeper Lawson of the Evanston life saving, crew, twelve miles distant,
saying: 'There is a large vessel ashore off Fort Sheridan. Come.' The message
reached the station at 12:30 on the morning of the 28th. How the keeper got his
beach apparatus on a train that passed Evanston thirty-five minutes later, and
how the gun was fired from the crest of the bluff and failed to reach because the
wreck was more than a thousand yards away, need not be detailed. The surf boat,
drawn by a livery team, was opposite the wreck when daylight enabled the crew
to use it.
"With the aid of about fifty soldiers who had come from the fort, the crew
lowered the boat stern first down a steep gully until it was in the ice laden surf.
Then, finding the boat was too far down alee of the wreck, the crew grasped the
boat by the rails, and heading it up the beach, they half dragged and half floated
it along, bracing themselves to meet the freezing waves that dashed over them
with almost whelming force, until they were far enough above the wreck to make a
trial.
"Then they launched forth, to find their real danger just begun. The first
breaker that rose upon them, as they crossed the inner bar, filled the boat to
the thwarts. A less sturdy crew would have turned back to empty the boat, but
these men only bent to their oars the harder till beyond the bar, when one bailed
while the rest pulled away to the unfortunates on the breaking wreck. The oars
were coated with ice till they were of more than double weight, and the oar locks
had to be cleared repeatedly. And it must not be forgotten that these men had
been wading through a tremendous surf, had been drenched to the skin, and that
their clothing had frozen stiff upon them. They were knights fighting for lives
while cased in a mail of ice an inch thick, and they won. Three trips in immediate
succession were made on these terms, and six of the crew were brought at each
trip."
CAPTAIN LAWSON AND HIS LIFE SAVERS RECEIVE MEDALS
It was the united opinion of all who witnessed the rescue of the shipwrecked
mariners that but for the heroic conduct of the life saving crew, every man be-
longing to the Calumet must have perished; and in recognition of their noble de-
votion to duty, each man was presented with the gold medal of the service. The
crew was made up of students in the Northwestern University. The names are
as follows: Lawrence O. Lawson, captain; and the members of the crew, George
Crosby, William Ewing, Jacob Loining, Edson B. Fowler, William L. Wilson, and
Frank M. Kindig.
CHAPTER LII
THE PULLMAN STRIKE, CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY, ETC.
THE TOWN OF PULLMAN COMPREHENSIVE DESIGN OF ITS FOUNDER GEORGE M. PULL-
MAN'S OWN ACCOUNT PLANS OF THE PULLMAN COMPANY VIEWS OF OBSERVERS
OCCURRENCE OF THE STRIKE OF 1894 CARWARDINE's VIEWS COMMENTS OF
THE PRESS THE AMERICAN RAILWAY UNION INCEPTION OF THE STRIKE BOY-
COTT AGAINST PULLMAN CARS THE BOYCOTT BECOMES A STRIKE ALL THE RAIL-
WAYS OF THE COUNTRY INVOLVED METHODS OF THE STRIKERS INJUNCTION IS-
SUED AGAINST THE STRIKERS PRESIDENT CLEVELAND ORDERS TROOPS TO CHICAGO
GOVERNOR ALTGELD'S PROTEST ORDER GRADUALLY RESTORED FAILURE OF
THE STRIKE CHAUNCEY M. DEPEw's REVIEW AFTERMATH OF THE STRIKE THE
CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY NAMES OF THE INCORPORATORS MISFORTUNES OF
THE SOCIETY THE COLLECTIONS TWICE DESTROYED GENEROUS GIFTS RECEIVED
THE SOCIETY RECOVERS FROM ITS LOSSES PRESENT CONDITION OF THE SOCIETY
COOK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
THE TOWN OF PULLMAN
N 1880, Mr. George M. Pullman, the founder and president of the Pull-
man Palace Car Company, fixed upon a site for the location of the
works of the company, at a point in the vicinity of Lake Calumet, about
fourteen miles from the central business district of Chicago. At that
time the region was practically unoccupied, and was beyond the limits
of the city. Here Mr. Pullman purchased a tract of thirty-five hundred acres,
and began the erection of an extensive system of buildings for manufacturing pur-
poses. In addition there was built a "model town," "a town from which all that
is ugly, discordant and demoralizing is eliminated, and which was built as a so-
lution of the industrial problem, based upon the idea of mutual recognition."
In the designing and building of the town one architect directed the entire
work. The architect who was entrusted with this task was S. S. Beman, well
known as one of the World's Fair architects. He thus had an opportunity to form
an aggregation of structures in accordance with a well defined plan. It was prob-
ably the first time, says Ely, "a single architect had ever constructed a whole
town systematically upon scientific principles," and the success of the completed
design was acknowledged on every hand. "The plans were drawn for a large city
at the start, and these have been followed without break in the unity of design.
Pullman illustrates and proves in many ways both the advantages of enterprises
on a vast scale, and the benefits of unified and intelligent municipal administration."
One philosopher made a comparison reviewing all the communities which have
had their rise and fall in the last few generations, and noted the faults in each of
204
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 205
them. The failure of Brook Farm was based upon "certain contortions of human
nature," he said. It was an effort to make all the members exactly resemble each
other, and when it was "literally blown to pieces by the explosive elements in dif-
ferent souls," each one returned to his former home "to find personal identity once
more." Other community experiments had been made and all failed, but the phil-
osopher referred to found that Pullman was based on ideas far in advance of any
previous attempt to bring together a large number of families dwelling under a
single management of community affairs. At Pullman, said Hon. Stewart L. Wood-
ford of New York who made the oration at the opening of the theatre, "labor will
earn fair wages and capital will get generous returns. But better than factory,
and richer than material production; sweeter than flowers and more beautiful than
theatre, or library, or church, shall be the manhood that will be developed here."
In 1889, the town of Hyde Park, in which Pullman was situated, was annexed
to Chicago, and thus it came under the general municipal control of the city, with
its representatives sitting in the Common Council. It was thus subjected to the
scrutiny inseparably connected with representative government, and after some
years the peculiar features of its municipal regulations under the proprietary regime
were superseded entirely by the ordinary processes of city administration. This
was followed by court proceedings which finally ended, as stated in a report, as
follows :
"Under a decree of the Supreme Court of this State, made in February, 1899,
this company was required to cease within one year, the performance of all mu-
nicipal functions, and within five years (subsequently extended for an additional
five years) to sell and dispose of all its property at Pullman not required in its
manufacturing business. This decree has been fully complied with, all the dwell-
ings and other buildings of the town, not used for shop purposes, having been
sold, a large number of the houses being purchased by employes in the shops.
From this it will be understood that the Pullman Company has now no relation
to the people at Pullman except as to those engaged in its manufacturing plants,
and that relation is merely employer to employe."
The great enterprise had thus failed to accomplish what its projector intended
should be accomplished in establishing it. It was looked upon by many as a val-
uable object lesson, illustrating "the helpful combination of capital and labor,"
where ideal living conditions were established on an extensive scale, and where
order and system were perfectly organized, according to the carefully laid plan's
of its founder.
MR. PULLMAN'S OWN ACCOUNT
In giving his testimony before the Strike Commission which, after the strike
of 1894, made a full investigation of all the facts, Mr. Pullman gave the following
account of the objects in view when the town of Pullman was established:
"The object in building Pullman was the establishment of a great manufactur-
ing business on the most substantial basis possible, recognizing as we did, and
do now, that the working people are the most important element which enters into
the successful operation of any manufacturing enterprise.
"We decided to build in close proximity to the shops homes for workingmen of
such character and surroundings as would prove so attractive as to cause the best
206 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
class of mechanics to seek that place for employment in preference to others. We
also desired to establish the place on such a basis as would exclude all baneful in-
fluences, believing that such a policy would result in the greatest measure of suc-
cess, both from a commercial point of view and also what was equally important,
or perhaps of greater importance in a tendency toward continued elevation and
improvement of the condition not only of the working people themselves, but of
their children growing up around them. Accordingly the present location of Pull-
man was selected. That region of the country was then very sparsely populated,
a very few hundred people, mostly farmers, living within a radius of perhaps a
mile and a half of the site selected, where there are now living some 25,000 people.
"It is not the intention to sell to workingmen homes in Pullman, but to so limit
the area of the town that they could buy homes at convenient distances from the
works if they chose to do so. If any lots had been sold in Pullman, it would have
permitted the introduction of the baneful elements which it was the chief purpose
to exclude from the immediate neighborhood of the shops and from the homes to
be erected about them. The plan was to provide homes in the first place for all
people who should desire to work in the shops at reasonable rentals, with the ex-
pectation that as they became able and should desire to do so they would pur-
chase lots and erect homes for themselves at convenient distances or avail them-
selves of the opportunity to rent homes from other people who should build in
that vicinity. As a matter of fact at the time of the strike 563 of the shop em-
ployes owned their homes, and 461 of that number are now employed in the shops,
500 others at the time of the strike lived outside, and in addition an estimated num-
ber of from 200 to 300 others employed at Pullman were owners of their houses.
DID NOT SEEK MUNICIPAL POWERS
"The company neither planned nor could it exercise any municipal powers in
Pullman. It was, in fact, within the boundaries of what was legally called the
village of Hyde Park, but was several miles distant from the actual village as
settled at that time. The people lived there first under the ordinances of the
village of Hyde Park and now live under the ordinances of the city of Chicago, and
not at any time under regulations of the company. The relations of those em-
ployed in the shops are, as to the shops, the relations of employes to employer,
and as to those of them and others living in the homes the relations are simply and
only those of tenant to landlord. The company has not now, and never has had,
any interest whatever in the business of any of the stores or shops in the town.
They are rented through and managed by outside parties free from any control
by the company. The people living in the town are entirely free to buy where
they choose, and as a matter of fact the large disbursements in wages at Pullman,
amounting to an average of $2,350,000 a year, from September, 1880, to July,
1894, has created a great competition for the trade of Pullman in the small sur-
rounding towns as well as in Chicago, the natural result of which would be to
bring the prices of all merchandise down to a minimum.
"In carrying out this general plan every care was taken in making perfect sani-
tary conditions by water supply and an extensive and scientific system of sewerage,
paved and well-lighted streets, and open places properly ornamented with trees
and shrubbery, all of which are kept in perfect repair and cleanliness by the com-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 207
pany and at its expense. Due attention was paid to the convenience and general
well being of the residents by the erection of stores and markets, a church, pub-
lic schools, a library and public hall for lectures and amusements ; also a hotel and
boarding-houses. The basis on which rents were fixed was to make a return of 6
per cent on the actual investment, which at that time, 1881, was a reasonable re-
turn to be expected from such an investment; and in calculating what, for such
a purpose, was the actual investment in the dwellings on the one hand and the
other buildings on the other an allowance was made for the cost of the streets
and other public improvements, just as it has to be considered in the valuation of
any property for renting anywhere, all public improvements having to be paid
for by the owners of a lot, either directly or by special taxation, and by him con-
sidered in the valuation. The actual operations have never shown a net return of
six per cent, the amount originally contemplated. The investment for several
years returned a net revenue of about 4*1/2 per cent but during the last two years
additional taxes and heavier repairs have brought the net revenue down to 3.82
per cent."
VIEWS OF OBSERVERS
There were many observers who came and reported upon the "Pullman Ex-
periment," as it was frequently called. Professor Richard T. Ely, the eminent
economist, made a careful study soon after the town of Pullman had been estab-
lished when its clear-cut and methodical policy was already in force. He acknowl-
edged the breadth of views and enlightened motives which had actuated the founder
of the town of Pullman, but he was frank to say, in an article published in "Har-
per's Magazine," in 1885, that after looking over all the facts of the case "the con-
clusion was unavoidable that the idea of Pullman was un-American. . . . It is
not the American ideal. It is benevolent, well-wishing feudalism, which desires
the happiness of the people, but in such a way as shall please the authorities."
The town of Pullman in 1894, the year of the great strike, contained a popu-
lation of some twelve thousand souls. The Pullman works employed about six
thousand hands when running at full capacity, but steady work was not assured
to all. No resident of Pullman could own his own place. Everything belonged
to the Company, and the householder was obliged to lease his house or apartment
from the owner, that is the Company. The rents averaged from fourteen to twenty-
five dollars per month for dwellings, and these rents were rigorously collected
whether the tenants were employed all of the time or only part of the time. Nearly
all the residents were employed in the shops of the Pullman Company.
In 1894, occurred a great strike among the employes of the Pullman Company,
to be described further on, and it then began to be apparent to those who well
knew the conditions which had grown up in the thirteen years since its founding,
that the principles upon which the municipal affairs of the town were conducted
were economically and socially unsound. Writing soon after the great strike the
Rev. William H. Carwardine, pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at
Pullman, said that there certainly was something wrong in the town. "I believe,"
said he, "that the town itself was established in the hope of bettering the condi-
tion of the laboring classes, but it has failed sadly of its original purpose. As seen
from the railway by the passing tourist, it presents a beautiful picture. In fact
it appears to be a veritable Paradise. Beautiful trees and flowers, pretty foun-
208 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
tains, glimpses here and there of artistic sweeps of landscape, gardens, rows of
pretty little brick houses, church in the distance, public buildings of different de-
scriptions, all present a beautiful picture to the traveler."
The writer, however, found another side to this attractive picture. There was
a library but it was not a public library. It was a gift to the town by the founder
and it contained a fine collection of some eight thousand volumes. Those who
used this library were expected to pay three dollars a year for the privilege, and
of course the number who patronized was limited to a very few. Standing on Ar-
cade Row was the "Green Stone Church," so named on account of the color of
the stone of which the structure is built. The company required a rental of three
hundred dollars a month for the use of this beautiful edifice, and as no denomin-
ation could be found able to pay so large a rent the church stood empty for a long
period. It was eventually rented at a much reduced figure.
Carwardine in his book affirms a certain admiration for the founder and con-
siders him worthy of honor for his achievements. "It is no small thing," he says,
"for one man to be able to create a vast productive industry which from a small
beginning has reached a market value of fifty millions of dollars. ... I am
willing to accord honor to a man who has become rich as the result of the estab-
lishment of a great manufacturing industry. As a man of industry, possessed of
a great idea and tenaciously clinging to that idea until he wrought it out to com-
pletion, rising as a poor boy in an obscure village to a great position as a business
man, possessed no doubt with a desire to better his fellow-man, retaining a personal
character which we have every reason to believe is honest and pure, he is an ex-
ample in these things that we can hold up before the youth of our land and bid
them imitate."
But while Carwardine pays this tribute to Mr. Pullman he will not allow that
he belongs in the class with such benefactors as George Peabody, Peter Cooper,
Philip D. Armour, and other philanthropists. The very qualities that made him
successful in life, his determination and resolution, were turned into arrogance and
obstinacy; and the golden opportunity for doing a great work in behalf of his
fellow-men was lost.
The keen criticisms made upon the whole enterprise, after the troubles caused
by the strike had drawn the attention of the press to the real situation in Pullman,
are in strange contrast to the utterances of the optimistic observers we have re-
ferred to. "People are now beginning to wonder wherein lay the claim of the vil-
lage to the much advertised name of 'Model Town,' " said the Minneapolis Times.
"One thing at least is clear," said the Indianapolis News, "and that is, that we
have had quite enough of such towns as Pullman. We have not yet reached a
stage of civilization where it is wise to allow the consolidation of landlord and em-
ployer on a large scale in one individual.!' The Toledo Commercial called it a
"system of perverted paternalism;" that "it should not be permitted to exist under
the laws of any state of the Union."
Looking for the cause of the failure of the town to meet the expectations of
its sanguine friends, the Philadelphia Times said: "One does not have to seek
far to learn why the Pullman experiment failed to create cordial relations between
the employes and the employing corporation. The real source of the failure lay
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 209
in the fact that the Pullman scheme of founding and running a manufacturing
town gave the workmen no permanent or abiding interest in the town."
PRELIMINARY CONDITIONS
On the first of July, 1894, the American Railway Union, an organization of
railway employes in all departments of the service, had a membership of something
over one hundred thousand. The American Railway Union was a union of a
number of other labor organizations and had been but recently formed under the
leadership of Eugene V. Debs, with the purpose, according to its constitution
adopted in 1893, of protecting its members "in all matters relating to wages and
rights of employes." The constitution concludes as follows: "With this declar-
ation of its purposes, and with boundless faith in its conquering mission, the Amer-
ican Railway Union consecrates itself to the great cause of industrial emancipa-
tion."
The organizations previously in existence and now united under one great
organization were as follows :
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, organized in 1863.
The Order of Railway Conductors, organized in 1868.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, organized in 1868.
The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, organized in 1883.
The Switchmen's Mutual Aid Association, organized in 1886.
The Order of Railroad Telegraphers, organized in 1876
The American Railway Union, organized June 20, 1893.
"It was the evident purpose of the American Railway Union," says Bancroft,
"practically to absorb all the existing organizations of railroad employes, by en-
rolling such portion of their members and such large numbers of railroad men not
organized, as to give the union the leadership and ultimate control in all disputes
between the railroads and their employes." ,
Liberal use has been made in the following pages of Mr. Edgar A. Bancroft's
pamphlet printed the year after the strike, in which is given an excellent review
of the events and the legal questions arising therefrom. In a note Mr. Bancroft
explains that in the preparation of his paper he made use of "the exhaustive brief
of Hon. Edwin Walker, special counsel for the government, and of the strong and
luminous opinion of Hon. William A. Woods, Circuit Judge, in the contempt pro-
ceedings, United States versus Debs et al."
It will be seen that the employes of the Pullman Company had no part in the
American Railway Union, and although local unions had been formed among them
during the previous winter and spring they did not join in the great combination
of labor unions we have just referred to. The previous year, the year of the
World's Fair, was marked by a severe financial panic which affected all industries.
During the following fall and winter the Company reduced its force to about two-
thirds of its previous numbers, and at the same time reduced wages from thirty
to fifty per cent. "The result was," says Bancroft, "that the wages earned in the
lower grades of service were hardly sufficient to provide the ordinary necessities
of life. The irritation caused by the reductions was much aggravated by the fact
that the company was also the landlord of the majority of the workmen, and that
210 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
it made no reduction in rents. ... It was, therefore, both natural and rea-
sonable that the employes should be dissatisfied and restless under the condi-
tions existing in the spring of 1894."
THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE STRIKE
On the llth of May a strike among the Pullman employes began, and for the
following seven weeks there was no disorder among the strikers. "The universal
comment," says Carwardine, "was complimentary to the decorum of the strikers."
As time elapsed the company made no effort to resume work. "The strike had
become a lockout; the strikers seemingly were worsted. In the meantime the of-
ficers of the American Railway Union investigated conditions at Pullman, and de-
cided that the strikers ought to be sustained with the full strength of the union."
At a convention of the governing body of the American Railway Union, held
on the 12th of June, President Debs in his opening address said that the Union
was the first of the railway organizations that was properly constructed; that all
others "had blow-holes in their armor while this one was built for war, and no
weakness would be found in it when it came time to test its armament." The con-
vention declared in favor of taking up the fight against the Pullman Company. A
committee was appointed to wait upon the manager who, however, refused to recog-
nize them or treat with them. On June 22, the delegates, having been so instructed
by their respective unions, voted that if the Pullman Company did not adjust its
differences with its employes by noon of June 26, a boycott would then be en-
forced against the hauling of its cars.
On the 25th, the general managers of the railroads having connections at Chi-
cago held a meeting to consider what action should be taken in case the threatened
boycott should take place. The managers adopted a resolution protesting against
the proposed interference with the business of the railroads, and pledging them-
selves to resist the boycott "in the interest of their existing contracts, and for
the benefit of the traveling public." In the evening there was a large public meet-
ing held in Chicago, called in the interest of the proposed boycott. Two of the
officers of the American Railway Union addressed the meeting. "The fight meant
more than the mere settlement of the strike at Pullman," said one of them. "It
was a fight between labor and plutocracy, in which all the forces of capital would
be united and against which all the forces of labor should combine."
BOYCOTT AGAINST PULLMAN CARS
On June 26, telegrams were sent to some two hundred different points on west-
ern railroads, as follows: "Boycott against Pullman cars in effect to-day. By or-
der of the convention. (Signed,) E. V. Debs." More particular instructions were
given in some cases. "No Pullman cars are to be handled or hauled," he explained
to an inquirer. "Convention ordered boycott of Pullman cars, and this means
they shall be cut out and detracked." At Chicago, the Illinois Central Railroad
was selected as the first road to be dealt with, and by nine o'clock that evening
not a wheel was moving on that line within the city limits.
The convention in declaring a boycott on the hauling of Pullman cars had
made no request of the railroad companies, says Bancroft, in his pamphlet en-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 211
titled "The Chicago Strike of 1891." "The boycott was a direct assault upon the
property rights of the Pullman Company, intended seriously to damage its busi-
ness. It was as unlawful, and if successful it would be as injurious as the destruc-
tion of its shops and its cars. It was also an unlawful interference with the busi-
ness of the railroad companies, bound by contract to haul the Pullman cars. It
took from them their control of one branch of their business, and directed their
employes, while continuing in their service, to refuse to perform certain of its
important duties. If employes could be thus controlled by an organization, the
employer would be injured as seriously and as unlawfully as if tangible property
of like value had been destroyed."
The situation rapidly became complicated. Beginning as a boycott in almost
every case the attempt to discriminate against the Pullman cars was resisted by
the officials of the railways, which action was immediately followed by a strike.
"Within forty-eight hours after the issuance of the first orders, a concerted and
similar course of action was adopted at all the important railroad centers from Chi-
cago to San Francisco. Under the direction of the local representatives of the
American Railway Union, the employes first detached the Pullman cars from all
trains ; then when any employes were discharged for disobedience of orders, all
quit the service. . . . The strikers gathered in large numbers upon the sta-
tion grounds and few employes dared to resist their demands. Toward new men
employed to take the strikers' places, similar means were employed. Intolerable
abuse was heaped upon them, violence was freely threatened and used, and they
were in constant danger of assault.
"To prevent the running of trains which despite these dangers the companies
were able to equip, the strikers misplaced and spiked switches, removed switch
lights at night, uncoupled cars, closed crossing gates, and gathered in crowds upon
the tracks. On the first day a crowd of four thousand people blocked the Illinois
Central tracks at Grand Crossing. When police protection was furnished and
the gates were opened, a striker deliberately threw himself in front of the train.
The strikers controlled the gates and opened them for the Michigan Central trains
(because only Wagner cars were hauled on this line), but closed them against those
of the Illinois Central. By these and similar means express trains carrying the
United States mails were held for several days by mobs of strikers. ... At
Blue Island, a mail train was derailed, its engine overturned, and the tracks block-
aded. Freight cars were also overturned by the strikers and some of them set
on fire.
"At Grand Crossing an Illinois Central train was wrecked by drawing the spikes
from the rails, and at Hammond the lines of the Monon and of the Baltimore &
Ohio were complete!}' blocked by a mob that drove the trainmen from their posts,
and uncoupled and side-tracked the cars."
OTHER INCIDENTS OF THE STRIKE
The violence of these mobs was directed against unfortunate passengers as
well. At many places threats of violence or of boycott were used to prevent be-
lated passengers from obtaining food and refreshment. The boycott was used
even to prevent the restaurants and boarding houses from furnishing food to
marshals and deputy sheriffs. By these means, intimidation, violence, rioting
212 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
and mob rule the transportation of the mails and of inter-state commerce was
obstructed throughout the west. At Chicago the railroads were paralyzed.
At the Union Stock Yards and at the great packing houses, all business was
suspended ; trains of dressed meat that had been started to eastern points on the
29th and 30th were stopped, and their contents damaged or ruined. The commerce
of Chicago had come to a standstill. The supply of provisions and fuel ran low
and prices proportionately increased. The principal arteries of trade through
which Chicago received its supplies were controlled and closed by mobs of strikers
and their sympathizers.
This was the condition of affairs when the United States filed a bill in equity
for the removal of obstructions to the transportation of the mails and of inter-
state commerce, and for the prevention of further interference therewith. The
bill for injunction was filed in the United States Circuit Court for the Northern
District of Illinois on July d, and, on the same day, Circuit Judge Woods and
District Judge Grosscup granted the order of injunction as prayed. It was di-
rected against the American Railway Union, its four officers and thirteen other
persons, and "all persons combining and conspiring with them and all other per-
sons whomsoever," enjoining them from in any manner interfering with, obstruct-
ing or stopping any of the twenty-two railroads named, in the carrying of inter-
state commerce, or the United States mails.
The order specified a great number of acts forbidden, and contained a gen-
eral order enjoining individuals from "doing any act whatever in furtherance of
any conspiracy or combination to restrain either of said railroad companies or re-
ceivers in the free and unhindered control and handling of inter-state commerce."
This injunction was served upon several of the defendants named, and on the same
day was read to the mob at Blue Island, by whom it was received with the ut-
most derision and contempt. The mobs at Chicago having continued to increase
in numbers, United States troops were ordered by President Cleveland, on the
evening of July 3d, from Fort Sheridan to Chicago. They reached the point of
disturbance on the morning of July 4th. The troops were assailed by the mobs
with vile language, and an occasional stone was thrown. No organized resistance
was offered, but the mob formed at other places as rapidly as it was dispersed
by the troops, and the acts of violence, interference and obstruction were con-
tinued. The troops, about five hundred in number, were not able to cope with the
mobs, in some cases much exceeding their own number, and soon after other
troops were ordered from Fort Leavenworth, and Fort Riley, increasing the number
of troops to about two thousand.
GOVERNOR ALTGELD'S PROTEST
"On July 5th, Governor Altgeld of Illinois telegraphed the President of the
United States a protest against the ordering of United States troops to Chicago
without any request for them from the state authorities. It stated that there was
no need of such interference and that Illinois had ample military forces for the
preservation of order; that no militia had been called out at Chicago because they
were not needed; that militia had been ordered to two other points in the state
in answer to requests, but it was found that there was no need of them there; and
that the local authorities were able to preserve peace and protect property at all
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 213
points. The immediate withdrawal of the United States troops from active duty
was asked.
"President Cleveland answered briefly that the troops were sent, under authority
of the Constitution and laws of the United States, to remove obstructions to the
mails, and the transportation of interstate commerce, and to the execution of the
process of the Federal Courts."
ORDER RESTORED
"On the following day, July 6th, the mayor of Chicago asked Governor Alt-
geld to send immediately to Chicago such state troops as were available to aid
him in restoring the peace and in suppressing and preventing violence to persons
and property. Thereupon the Governor ordered two thousand of the militia into
immediate service at Chicago, and within two or three days substantially the
entire force of the state was on active duty there.
"On the 7th, President Debs, Grand Master Sovereign of the Knights of Labor
joining with him, sent a protest to President Cleveland against the presence of
United States soldiers. They claimed that the troops were being used to 'coerce
and intimidate peaceable working people into humiliated obedience to the will
of their oppressors.' They further insisted that the troops were unnecessary and
their presence was an unjust discrimination against the employes, and an in-
fringement upon their liberty. 'Now, sir,' they said, 'we pledge to you the power
of our respective organizations, individually and collectively, for the maintenance
of peace and good order and the preserving of life and property, and will aid
in the arrest and punishment of all violators of the civil and criminal laws of
the state or nation.'
"On the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th, the mobs were in control and serious rioting
occurred at different points in Chicago. Depredation was done by wholesale.
Thousands of freight cars were overturned and burned. On the 8th, President
Cleveland issued a proclamation detailing the lawlessness existing, and practically
declaring martial law in Chicago. There were now eleven thousand men under
arms there, beside the three thousand, one hundred policemen. Rioting continued
a few days longer; the yards of two railroads with their buildings were burned;
conflicts occurred between the mobs and the troops. But the blockade, however,
had been raised on several lines at Chicago, and had been entirely broken by
United States troops at western points where the mobs had been in control."
On the 10th, a special grand jury was impaneled, and the four officers of the
American Railway Union were indicted for conspiracy to commit an offense
against the United States. They were promptly arrested and released on bail,
and at once President Debs issued an appeal to all striking employes and sym-
pathizers to refrain from all acts of violence and to aid in maintaining law and
order.
The officers of the American Railway Union, on the 12th, submitted to the
General Managers of the various railway companies a proposition of settlement.
They offered to end the strike if the railroads would re-instate without prejudice
all employes. The proposition was not considered. This marked the end of the
railroad strike, though sporadic acts of violence occurred at a few places thereafter.
214 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
CHAUNCEY M. DEPEw'g ACCOUNT OF THE STRIKE
At the request of the London Times Mr. Chauncey M. Depew, at that time
president of the New York Central Railway, made a statement of the general
causes and real meaning of the great railway strike, which was published in that
paper. "The labor troubles in the United States" said he, "are due to the long-
continued industrial depression, and the strike was caused by the ambitious effort
of Mr. Debs, President of the American Railway Union, to absorb all organizations
of railway employes into one. The success of the disorder and the delay in sup-
pressing it were owing to the heretofore undefined boundary between state and
federal authority. The financial crisis last year crippled many enterprises, and
the uncertainties of tariff legislation which have followed prevented recovery and
closed the majority of the mills and furnaces. This has made the number of un-
employed greater than we have ever known. The abrupt and permanent curtail-
ment of production and consumption has been felt in every department of Ameri-
can activity. From the farm to the factory every business has proportionately
suffered, and the distress among workingmen has been correspondingly severe.
There is universal unrest and almost frantic desire for anything in place of
present conditions.
"The populist party found in this situation its opportunity, or rather the
situation created the party. The idea which its members gather from its teach-
ings is that liberty means the right to violate law and violently stop or seize rail-
roads and industries, providing the law breakers are poor and are sufficiently strong
to defeat or overawe the ordinary peace establishment of the community. In
the states where this party is in power strikes, lockouts, boycotts and suppression
of railway traffic receive direct assistance or passive permission from the authorities.
"With these unprecedented industrial conditions and the anomalous political
relations in a few states, the elements were favorable for what in Latin countries
would be revolution and with Anglo-Saxons riots, at first successful, and then reason
soon reasserts herself and firmly enforces the law. The delay and disappoint-
ments in tariff legislation at Washington impaired the confidence of the country
in the ability of this congress to provide measures of relief or to discover its
incompetency and adjourn. An appeal to the country would lead, as everyone
believes, to an immediate and decisive response.
DEBS BECOMES THE RECOGNIZED LEADER
"Mr. Eugene V. Debs was for many years a high and popular official of the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and the editor of a labor magazine of advanced
socialistic and somewhat anarchistic views. He conceived the idea of breaking up
the existing organizations and gathering the railway world into his order. His
scheme was attractive. The initiation fees were only one dollar and the annual
dues twenty-five cents. The order was to control the railways and coerce their
managers. Debs would begin with $1,000,000 in his treasury and possess an in-
come of $250,000. He made his first appeal to the switchmen and selected the
Great Northern Road for his attack. This line had been built paralleling the
Northern Pacific, had forced the latter into bankruptcy and could not afford a
tie-up. After a few days the managers of that line surrendered.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 215
"Debs' victory surprised himself by its completeness and far-reaching conse-
quences. East of Chicago and in the older and more thickly settled states the
old organizations stood firm against him. He must again demonstrate power.
Finding no real or imaginary grievance on any railway he chose to make his fight
upon the trouble between the Pullman Car Company and the mechanics in its
shops, over the construction of some hundreds of freight cars for various railways.
"Debs ordered a boycott of the Pullman cars, and on the refusal of the rail-
ways to break their contracts with the Pullman Company and inflict nameless
cruelties upon their passengers, he ordered their lines closed. Trains were stopped
wherever telegrams reached them, traffic ceased and business was paralyzed over
about two-thirds the area of the United States. The reliance of the strikers was
upon the impotence of the state governments and the friendship of the local
authorities. They could confidently count on the co-operation of the rival local
politicians. The industrial and financial distress gave them general sympathy,
though their action intensified the suffering a thousandfold.
"The results proved how well Debs and his associates understood the power-
lessness of the states to control the situation. With the exception of three trans-
continental lines, all our railroads are chartered by the several states. State laws
have permitted consolidation of connecting roads, so that many companies run
through several states as one company under one management, but the portion
of the line in each is still wholly subject to its charter in that state. The state
governments, often controlled by opposite parties, have no joint or common action.
Sympathy with strikers in Illinois at one end and in California 2,000 miles off,
at the other, stops travel and traffic.
GOVERNOR ALTGELD'S BAD BREAK
"State autonomy reached its perilous condition when the Governor of Illinois
gave great moral support to the strike by rebuking President Cleveland and
virtually ordering the United States troops out of his territory. It reached its
ridiculous stage when the Governor of California requested a permit from the
strike leader to visit his capital, which was contemptuously refused. The popular
belief has always been that the national government could not act in repressing
riots or disorder until requested to by the state authorities of a commonwealth
which was unable to cope with the insurrection.
"President Cleveland is sluggish but courageous. Legislation following the
Civil war had given the general government powers unused and forgotten. Congress,
in enacting the interstate commerce law, had assumed to regulate commerce between
the states and unconsciously with it the responsibility to keep open interstate lines
as national highways. The President, having satisfied himself as to his powers,
did not hesitate in the performance of his duties. After President Cleveland's
proclamation it required a few days for the general public and the strike leaders
to grasp the idea that the President was in earnest, and the army and navy in
motion, when this gigantic conspiracy collapsed as suddenly as it had organized.
"The losses occasioned by the strike are enormous, but it is destined to prove
of incalculable benefit to the country. The national idea has been strengthened
and broadened. Safe anchorage has been found for persons and property. One
of the hopeful features of the situation has been the unmistakable display of
216 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
loyalty in the south. The so-called rebel states unanimously demanded the inter-
vention of the federal power to restore order before everything else.
" 'We surrendered/ they said, 'to a government with ample power to enforce
the law and we will live under no other.'
"The far-reaching results of this short revolution can be briefly stated. Inter-
state railways are national highways which the government will keep open at
any cost, and a method will be provided for the settlement of differences with their
employes. The general government will find a way to protect the citizens of
the states, who, in a larger sense, are citizens of the United States, from the
cowardice of all state officers or their corrupt sympathy with law breakers. Every
vested interest is more secure and the rights of every one more safe."
AFTERMATH OF THE STRIKE
Notwithstanding the contempt shown for the injunction by the rougher ele-
ments among the strikers, for no doubt many of the rioters were hoodlums who
would be found on any scene of trouble and disorder, it soon began to have its
effect, especially after the arrest of the leaders. But they at once began to dis-
claim any intention of committing acts of violence. Such violence, intimidation
and depredation as had occurred, they said, were entirely unauthorized and dis-
approved. But in view of what had actually happened their statements carried
little weight. "It was not the soldiers that ended the strike," said Debs in his
testimony before the Strike Commission, "it was simply the United States Courts
that ended it. Our men were in a position that never would have been shaken
under any circumstances if we had been permitted to remain upon the field, to
remain among them. When we were taken from the scene of action and restrained
from sending telegrams or issuing orders or answering questions, then the minions
of the corporations would be put to work at such places. The headquarters were
demoralized and abandoned, we could not answer any telegrams or questions that
would come in. The men went back to work . . . and the strike was broken
up, . . . not by the army, and not by any power, but simply by the govern-
ment of the United States in restraining us from discharging our duties as officers
and representatives of our employes."
Criminal prosecutions are utterly valueless in a case like the strike of 189 1.
"The large number of persons in the conspiracy was a great protection against
criminal prosecutions," says Bancroft; "it was deemed by those engaged in the
lawlessness a perfect protection."
The conflicts and disorders occurring during this memorable strike resulted in
the death of twenty-six persons, the serious injury of sixty-eight others, without
taking into account minor injuries to hundreds of others still. The Strike Com-
mission, composed of the Commissioner of Labor, Carroll D. Wright, N. E.
Worthington and John D. Kernan, appointed by the President under an existing
statute providing for such emergencies, held sessions in Chicago to investigate the
causes of the strike. Their report ended their responsibility in the matter, as
the law provided that on the rendering of the report their services should cease.
Bancroft criticises their report as attributing "the lawlessness to defects in the
law" while not indicating what those defects were. A special grand jury was
summoned on July I Oth to deal with the violations of law, and the offenders were
OLD PULLMAN BUILDING
Dearborn Park in foreground, the site of the present
Public Library
:
T? ' 1* ' ; . g sUSJ ^ : * -
lU'^j^r ^W'frv
ft? ' &i ^ 1- ftSfe^ - ^?^
Sfff* iWi ? * 'c'SH'Tif-f >Y vy. * i
PULLMAN BUILDING. MICHIGAN
AVENUE AND ADAMS STREET
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 217
brought to trial. The indictments were against Debs and others for conspiracy,
Mr. Edwin Walker appearing as chief counsel for the prosecution and Mr. S.
S. Gregory for the defense.
Owing to the illness of a juryman during the trial the proceedings were broken
off, and soon after the case was removed from the docket in view of the fact that
the defendants must immediately appear before the United States Circuit Court
and answer to the charge of contempt. In due course they were found guilty
on this charge and Judge Woods sentenced Debs to six months' confinement in
jail, and his co-defendants to three months each; and designated the jail at Wood-
stock, the county seat of McHenry County, as the place of confinement. Here
Debs and his associates served their terms, and thus ended the American Rail-
way Union strike of 1894.
THE TOWN OF PULLMAN TODAY
Eighteen years have passed since the events which convulsed the town of Pull-
man (even then a part of Chicago), and which changed the course of its history
and development took place. No longer do writers, attracted by its fame as a
new and interesting industrial experiment, resort thither to expatiate upon its
wonders in fervid language and indulge in predictions of a new golden age.
The visitor today finds a busy and prosperous community, the inhabitants dwell-
ing in their own houses, so far as they are able to own them; and its affairs con-
ducted like those of any other district lying within the ample area of Chicago.
Most of the residents are now, as formerly, employes in the great works of the
Pullman Company, where they find steady work at good wages, where they enjoy
all the benefits and privileges of a high class neighborhood surrounded by a nat-
urally beautiful location, a broad sheet of water, Lake Calumet, on the one hand,
and the wide prairies and groves, fast filling with dwellings, on the other.
One may see handsome rows of houses, standing in well kept surroundings,
extensive ranges of workshops of good architectural design, while new additions,
constantly being made, follow out in general the same lines of artistic forms. The
old Corliss engine of over two thousand horsepower, which was the wonder of
the Centennial Exposition in 1876, and which Mr. Pullman purchased and had
transported here in thirty-five cars, and which for thirty years has furnished power
for the great machine shops of the company, has at length (January, 1911,)
ceased from its labors, and is now dismantled and its parts consigned to the scrap
heap.
But the majority of the thousands of men employed in the Pullman works
do not make their homes in the so-called "Town of Pullman." Numbering from
fifteen to eighteen thousand hands, not one-fifth of them could find living accom-
modations in the town. They come from all directions to their work, chiefly by
trains on the Illinois Central from Randolph and Van Buren streets where they
gather from regions far up on the north side or far out on the west and south
sides of the city. Heavily loaded trains, running at express speed, bring multi-
tudes to their work in the morning and carry them away at night. As the hour
for beginning work approaches the streets are filled with the human tide gradually
melting away as it is absorbed by the great shops of the company.
Pullman is still an interesting spot to the visitor whose mind reverts to the
218 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
scenes of its earlier history. No place was ever more thoroughly described by
travelers nor more fully illustrated in the publications of the day. Even Brook
Farm with its memories of the transcendentalists, nor New Harmony hopefully
guided by Robert Owen, ever received as much attention from the public as did
the little town of Pullman, which through many vicissitudes has at length emerged
into the white light of common day, a town now prosperously fulfilling the
ordinary functions of community life, and peacefully pursuing the even tenor of
its existence.
THE CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The act of the legislature incorporating the Chicago Historical Society was
passed on the 7th of February, 1857. The persons associated in the formation
of the Society and named in the charter as constituting a body politic were William
H. Brown, William B. Ogden, J. Young Scammon, Mason Brayman, Mark Skin-
ner, George Manierre, John H. Kinzie, J. V. Z. Blaney, E. I. Tinkham, J. D.
Webster, W. A. Smallwood, Van H. Higgins, N. S. Davis, Charles H. Ray, Samuel
Dexter W r ard, Mahlon D. Ogden, Franklin Scammon, Ezra B. McCagg, and William
Barry. The bill was introduced into the legislature by Isaac N. Arnold, then a
member of that body.
The Society had, however, been in existence as a voluntary organization for
some time previous to its incorporation. On the 24th of April, 1856, a constitu-
tion was adopted which defined its general object to be "to encourage historical
inquiry and spread historical information, especially within the State of Illinois,
and also within the entire territory of the Northwest."
The first president of the Society was William H. Brown; vice-presidents,
William B. Ogden and J. Young Scammon; S. D. Ward, treasurer; William Barry,
recording secretary and librarian; and Charles H. Ray, corresponding secretary.
Among the names enrolled on its list of membership at one time or another it
is interesting to note the names of such men as Sidney Breese, Lewis Cass, Ed-
ward Coles, Stephen A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, John Reynolds, Lyman Trum-
bull, Hiram W. Beckwith, Orville H. Browning, Zebina Eastman, Ninian W.
Edwards, George Flower, Joseph Gillespie, Peter A. Menard, John Mason Peck,
William H. Perrin, William Pickering, and Hooper Warren.
The names of those who have been presidents of the Society, given in the
order of their terms of service, are William H. Brown, Walter L. Newberry, J.
Young Scammon, Edwin H. Sheldon, Isaac N. Arnold, Elihu B. Washburne, Ed-
ward G. Mason, John N. Jewett, Franklin H. Head, and Thomas Dent.
Those who have discharged the duties of the secretary's office are as follows:
William Barry, Thomas H. Armstrong, Lemuel G. Olmstead, J. W. Hoyt, William
Corkran, Beldon F. Culver, Albert D. Hager, John Moses, Charles Evans, James
W. Fertig, and Miss Caroline M. Mcllvaine, the present incumbent.
The prosperity of the Society was remarkable. Its work seems to have enlisted
an amount of general interest in the special field of its activities little understood
in these days, when such enthusiasms are confined to much smaller circles. In
1868, only eleven years after the society had been incorporated, Mr. Arnold in
an address before the society reported the total number of volumes, pamphlets
and manuscripts collected as 100,205, "a fact," says Miss Mcllvaine, "which
speaks well for the energy of the early members, who though few were enthusi-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 219
astic." We are further told that "These collections, housed at this time in the
Society's own building erected at a cost of sixty thousand dollars, and thought
to be fire-proof, consisted of complete files of colonial, territorial and state laws,
journals, etc., probably the largest collection of slavery and Civil war material
in the country, including the original Emancipation Proclamation, also early news-
papers, and hundreds of personal narratives by pioneers of the Northwest. All
of these with the records of the Society, were reduced to ashes on October 9, 1871."
ANTE-FIRE HISTORY OP THE SOCIETY
Some years before the fire the Society had made use of a large room in a
building belonging to Walter L. Newberry, at the corner of North Wells and
Kinzie streets, but in 1868 a new building was dedicated situated at the north-
west corner of Dearborn avenue and Ontario street, this site remaining as the
location of the Society to this day. Large gifts of funds had been received from
time to time, notably the generous endowment made by the estate of Henry D.
Gilpin in 1860, amounting to sixty- four thousand dollars. This fund is still
intact and with other endowment funds produces a handsome annual income for
the Society.
Some further details regarding the Gilpin endowment fund may properly be
added. From Miss Mcllvaine's sketch of the Society, printed in the Proceedings
of the Illinois State Library, the following is quoted: "Mr. Henry D. Gilpin, a
public spirited citizen of Philadelphia, who died in 1860, made the Society a
residuary legatee under his will, the proceeds of his .bequest to be used for the
erection and maintenance of a fireproof library building. It might with pro-
priety be said here, in explanation of the fact of so generous a bequest coming to
a western institution from a man whose life was entirely spent in the East, that
Mr. Gilpin had large real estate holdings in Chicago, managed by the dean of
real estate men of his day, Samuel H. Kerfoot. Mr. Gilpin wishing to make
some return to the city where these profitable investments had been made, at one
time asked Mr. Kerfoot to advise him of the name of some institution worthy
to become the recipient of such acknowledgment. Mr. Kerfoot named the Chi-
cago Historical Society, of which he was a life member."
When the building and its contents were destroyed in the great fire it seemed
for a time as if the Society was crushed beyond recovery. But few of its mem-
bers were able to give attention to its interests, being themselves absorbed in
the task of retrieving their own losses in the great disaster. No meetings were
held for three years, and in the meantime the volumes and materials which were
donated to the Society as the nucleus of a new collection were destroyed in a
fire which occurred in 1874. This latter loss, however, was not of so serious a
nature as the former one, but the destruction was complete, and the Society was
without a home, without a collection, but fortunately its endowment funds survived
the general wreck.
A THIRD COLLECTION FORMED
Once more the friends of the Society entered upon the task of forming a
collection. The nucleus of a third library slowly began to take shape. It is
related that almost before the ashes were cold John Wentworth began to re-
220 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
assemble for the Society's collections the files of the Chicago Democrat which he
had previously brought together with much labor and expense. "This," says Miss
Mcllvaine, "is only one instance among hundreds, for loyal pioneer citizens of
Chicago and Illinois, who had not suffered by the fire, contributed from their
private libraries whatever was of interest to the Society. In this way the histories,
directories, and gazetteers of the early days in Illinois were sooner or later almost
all restored to the library."
On the 16th of October, 1877, the new building of the Society was completed,
and stands today as a splendid specimen of architecture, the ornament of the
neighborhood in which it is situated. "The present home of the Society," says
Miss Mcllvaine, "absolutely fireproof in its construction and appointments, now
houses a collection of books and manuscripts larger by one-half than that owned
at the time of the great fire. With the object of collecting the materials for the
history of this part of our country, the officers of the Society have through the
years watched the book marts of the world to buy for the library the source books,
original editions, newspapers, and above all the manuscripts which should make
this collection a storehouse for the future writers and teachers of history to draw
upon, a storehouse where the materials for original research relative to the Middle
West might be found."
In addition to its library the Society possesses an extensive collection of his-
torical objects which are displayed in suitable glass cases convenient for inspec-
tion. The gallery of paintings contains portraits of all the presidents of the
Society, besides those of prominent men and women of the city and state ; also
of historical personages known in connection with the French regime. The most
imposing work of art in the Society's rooms is perhaps the painting by Armitage
to commemorate the burning of Chicago. Allegorical figures of Britannia and
Columbia ministering to stricken Chicago are the principal features of interest
in the painting. It was made on the order of the London Graphic, and presented
to the City of Chicago and afterward placed in the rooms of the Society.
ENDOWMENT FUNDS OF THE SOCIETY
There is a list of the various endowment funds of the Chicago Historical So-
ciety printed in the annual report for the year ending October 31, 1910. These
are as follows:
The Henry D. Gilpin Fund, now amounting to $67,218.90, is the first and most
important. The income from this fund is available only for the maintenance of
the Gilpin Library.
The Jonathan Burr Fund consists of a legacy of $2,000, the income from
which is to be used for printing the publications of the Society.
The Philo Carpenter Fund consists of a legacy of $1,000, the income from
which is to be used for binding books and periodicals.
The Marshall Field Fund amounts to $10,000, the income from which is to
be used toward defraying the expenses of editing, printing and distributing the
Society's publications.
The Polk Diary Fund amounts to $3,500, the income from which is to be
used for defraying the expenses of editing, publishing and distributing the Society's
publications.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS , 221
The Lucretia Pond Fund amounts to $13,500, the income from which is to
be used in the purchase of books, pamphlets and documents, or pictures and paint-
ings of historical interest.
The Elizabeth Hammond Stickney Fund amounts to $5,000, the income from
which is to be used in maintaining the Stickney Library and in making additions
thereto.
Other funds, the incomes from which are not directed into any specified channel,
are:
The T. Mauro Garrett Fund $1,000
The Huntington W. Jackson Fund 1,000
The Lucretia J. Tilton Fund 3,000
The Elias T. Watkins Fund 5,000
The Henry J. Willing Fund 2,500
The enlightened policy of the Society, as administered by its officers and Execu-
tive Committee, places it among the most valuable institutions of its kind in the
city, and renders it capable of performing high class service to the cause of his-
torical research. Its broad and generous dealings with searchers for information
are not as well understood or appreciated as they should be, its treasures are not
as widely known or valued for what they are, and, while its doors are always open
to visitors without charge, it is constantly passed by thousands who know nothing
of what its purposes are or what a treasure of knowledge is contained within its
walls. Though the Society was founded and is maintained by private funds, says
the librarian, "the public is welcome at all times to its library and museum."
THE COOK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The promoters of the movement which resulted in the organization of the Cook
County Historical Society were actuated by the belief that, notwithstanding the
existence of the old and highly esteemed Chicago Historical Society, a society with
the purposes expressed in its title should be formed that could be recognized by the
county authorities, and eventually become a public institution under the auspices of
the county. Throughout the state of Illinois there are some ten or more counties in
which such societies are in existence bearing the names of the counties in which the
field of their activities lays. Owing to the size and importance of the Chicago His-
torical Society, and the broad and liberal policy of its management, no great need
of a county society had been felt in the past, as that society seemed to be working
in a thoroughly efficient manner and giving good service to the public.
The great growth of population in Cook County and its constantly accumulating
stores of material seemed, at length, to suggest a distinctively County Historical
Society. It seemed evident, too, that even with the facilities afforded by the Chi-
cago Historical Society there was still a large and inviting field in the outlying
districts of Cook County, the records of which had so far received but comparatively
slight attention. Cook County, containing fifty-eight distinct municipalities and
covering an area about five times that of the City of Chicago, is possessed of much
historical interest, and the work of the new society would be to gather materials
and awaken an interest among the people in all the regions lying within the limits
of the county. Such a society would have the advantage, if centrally located, of be-
ing accessible to a great number of people.
222 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
The Cook County Historical Society was incorporated June 7th, 1909. Its ob-
ject, as stated in its charter, is "to collect and preserve the materials of history con-
cerning Cook County, in the State of Illinois, and to disseminate historical infor-
mation." The first board of trustees was composed of five persons, Hon. Jesse
Holdom, John M. Ewen, Frank W. Smith, John H. Wigmore, and J. Seymour Cur-
rey. Judge Holdom was elected president, and Mr. Currey vice president.
Recognition was then sought from the county board to the extent of permitting
the new society the use of a room in its building, where a beginning could be made
towards a collection of books and materials. The proposal was not acted upon by
the county board at that time, and consequently the work was not begun. It is
hoped, however, that the board will allow space for the accommodation of the soci-
ety's collection which almost without effort has already begun to grow, several
hundred volumes and pamphlets having so far come to hand.
The Chicago Tribune, commenting upon the announcement that the Cook County
Historical Society had been formed, in its issue of June 12th, 1909, used this
language: "If the newly incorporated society can secure the cooperation of a large
number of people as supporting members and make its existence felt through a
series of popular lectures or by means of creditable publications from time to time
its place in the community will be assured. The stimulus to interest in the story of
local development is sufficient reason for its establishment."
CHAPTER LIII
IROQUOIS FIRE
THE PLAY OF "BLUEBEARD" ALARM OF FIRE HEROISM OF AN ACTOR PANIC IN
THE AUDIENCE EXITS FOUND CHOKED VAIN ATTEMPTS TO ESCAPE RESCUES BY
STUDENTS IN ADJOINING BUILDING MANY PERSONS CRUSHED TO DEATH FIRE-
MEN AND POLICEMEN COME TO THE RESCUE AID RENDERED BY VOLUNTEERS
REMOVAL OF THE DEAD SAD SEARCHES FOR LOST ONES GRIEF OF MOURNERS
DEFECTS FOUND IN THE THEATRE HEAVY GATES PREVENT EXIT MEASURES TAKEN
TO AVOID FUTURE THEATRE DISASTERS THE ARMOUR INSTITUTE PURPOSES OF
THE INSTITUTE ITS SCOPE AND RESULTS THE CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE EARLY
EXPERIENCES WAR RECORD OF THE BOARD PATRIOTIC RESOLUTIONS CORN THE
GREATEST PRODUCT ADDRESS BY GOVERNOR OGLE8BY THE NATIONAL CORN EX-
POSITION THE ILLINOIS TUNNEL COMPANY EXCAVATIONS COMMENCED IN 1901
ORIGIN OF THE WORK FIELD OF OPERATIONS- DESCRIPTION OF THE TUNNELS
ROUTES OF THE TUNNELS INTERESTING DETAILS ASPECTS OF THE INTERIOR.
THE IROQUOIS FIRE
HE end of 1903 was signalized by a tragedy which was the greatest that
had ever befallen the city. 1 On Wednesday afternoon, December 30, a
fire in the Iroquois theatre, on the north side of Randolph street, between
State and Dearborn streets, burned and smothered to death almost six
hundred people, the most of whom were women and little children. The
theatre was crowded, with spectators standing around the walls two or three deep.
The play was the scenic extravaganza "Mr. Bluebeard," with Eddie Foy, the com-
edian, taking the principal part. Not a month before the theatre had been opened
with this play, and on this afternoon scores of women and young girls and chil-
dren were having a special holiday treat. "Don't fail to have the children see 'Mr.
Bluebeard,' " read the advertisement put up everywhere through the city. The
audience was merry with the Christmas spirit, there were many little theatre par-
ties and family groups, some of them from out of town. Little did the pleasure
seekers think, as they admired the splendor and capaciousness of the new corridors
and auditorium, of the barred exits, the defective fire curtain, the inadequate light-
ing equipment, in this so-called fireproof building.
The second act was in progress, and the chorus was dreamily dancing and
winding about in a moonlight scene, when a little flicker of flame appeared in
the scenery above the stage. Those that noticed it saw a stage employe come out
1 This account is based largely on "The Great Chicago Theatre Disaster," by Marshall
Everett.
223
224 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
and try to extinguish it by clapping it out between his hands. It grew larger,
spreading to the network of draperies and scenery above, and still the chorus,
who had seen many such fires as this put out by stage assistants, danced bravely
on to the music of the orchestra, thus reassuring the great audience, which knew
that something was wrong, though it could not tell how serious it was. The fire had
spread through the scenery high above the stage, and embers and bits of blazing cloth
dropped down about the dancers, who fell back, pale and trembling. Just at
that moment Eddie Foy, in strange, grotesque make-up, rushed to the front of
the stage to reassure the audience, who were by this time thoroughly terrified.
They had risen in their seats and were struggling against the impulse to fly,
seeming to realize even in their fright that the danger of a panic might be greater
than the danger of fire. While running onto the stage the comedian, searching
for his little six year old boy, had found him, and called to a stage hand, "Take
my boy, Bryan, there! Get him out! There by the stage way!" When he saw
the boy safely carried through the door he turned to the audience, and "Keep
quiet," he shouted. "Quiet ! Go out in order ! Don't get excited !" At the same
time he was urging the orchestra to play, play, play play anything to keep the
music going. The director bravely led the players, who looked up into the whirl-
ing mass of fire and knew well their danger. Still the actor stood there, alter-
nately begging the terror stricken people to avoid a panic, and urging on the
orchestra. One by one the musicians dropped violin, horn, flute and other instru-
ments, and disappeared through their exit under the stage, leaving the actor and
the director alone, the sparks falling all about them. At last they fled, just in
time to escape the torrent of fire that rushed out into the auditorium. The clown
of the play had become the hero. A few moments before some one had shouted,
"Drop the fire curtain ;" as Foy fled from the stage the curtain started to come
down, stopped, swayed as from a heavy wind, and there it remained caught, leav-
ing a gaping space of several feet between its lower edge and the stage.
THE PANIC IN THE AUDIENCE
As the curtain was dropped, a door in the rear had been thrown open by the
performers, who were fleeing from the fire that was sweeping all about them. The
draft thus formed changed the stage in an instant from a dark, cave-like, smoke
concealed scene of chaos into a bright mass of flame, which was hurled by the
draft bellowing into the auditorium. Before it the crowd broke frantically, the
hundreds of women and children rushing toward the doors, groping desperately
for exits whose location was neither known nor indicated to them, trampling each
other on the ground in maddened effort to escape the burning and suffocation.
Every place of possible exit was jammed in a moment with human beings strug-
gling, fighting for life. Some of the doors were almost instantly choked up with
those who had fallen or been thrown and crushed, so that no human power could
make egress possible. Against this mass came those from behind in frenzied
struggle, while mothers were torn from their children, husbands from their wives,
some being borne along to safety, others to their death.
While some of the exits were made impassable by the bodies of those who had
fallen about them, others were securely locked and barred against those frantically
pushing and struggling to open them. The fire swept through the great spaces,
GLORIFICATION OF DISCOVERY BY CRATT
Statue in Garfield Park
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 225
in a lightning-like blast burning hundreds to black, charred, unrecognizable forms,
and suffocating others with its heat and gases ; then, finding little in the material
of the building itself to feed on, it whirled back upon the stage, where it swept
roaring through the inflammable structure to be found there, leaving its wretched
victims to struggle in horrible darkness.
VAIN ATTEMPTS TO ESCAPE
The most of those on the main floor somehow managed to force their way out.
In the two balconies above, where the aisles and exits were narrower, where people
were thrown down on the stairways and trampled upon, where the draft carried
the destroying flames and gas upward, there were few that were spared. Many
who were not in the fatal press at the doors and landings had dropped down,
burned beyond recognition; and others, buried beneath a mass of humanity, were
not touched by the flames. Others, who were suffocated, appeared in death as
they had looked in life, when they were found later. The blast of fire and smoke
quieted whatever cries of despair there were, and when the firemen entered the
populous chamber of the dead, they found there silence. Although outside the
theatre firemen were pouring over the building great streams of water, it was little
guessed how many hundreds of people within were already beyond saving. No
one could get into the auditorium of the theatre, and unspeakably more terrible,
no one could get out.
In the rear of the building it was very different. The theatre was in the
shape of an L, extending back (north) from the street to an alley, and, in the rear,
west to Dearborn street, along the alley. This north wing, which formed the base
of the L, was occupied by the stage at the extreme end, and the auditorium; the
rest of the theatre being handsomely fitted up with foyer, entrances and parlors.
The alley wall, on the north side of the auditorium and stage, had many windows
and emergency exits and fire escapes built in the form of iron galleries which led
to stairways. These stairways were built close to the wall and led down to the
alley. The actors and chorus had all, except two only, who were burned, escaped
from the stage exit on the alley. To the exits leading upon the galleries the
audience within rushed frantically and, where the doors would open, they surged
out and found themselves carried along resistlessly.
As the mass from each exit made its way along the gallery and down the stair,
it was met at the next exit ahead by another crush of people being pushed from
behind at right angles, coming from another part of the theatre. The two bodies,
each one impelled by a terrible force, made an immovable blockade. Here people
were, already out in the air, apparently away from the dangers of the fire, and
death again before them.
In a twenty foot angle of a stairway where the throngs from two balcony exits
issued, two hundred corpses were piled up, and both passages were made useless
for escape, the dead being heaped ten feet high in front of the doorways. Some
thought to save themselves by jumping to the ground far below, and met their death
in that way. Those farthest in advance had escaped the crush at the exit door-
ways, and were just about to reach the end of the long narrow stairs, and so
escape death, when just in front of them a steel window shutter flew open, im-
pelled by the volume of superheated air within, and out poured a volume of flame
226 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
that destroyed all those who did not jump to their death on the icy pavement
below rather than face this new horror.
RESCUE BY STUDENTS IN NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY BUILDING
A bright spot in this scene of grim tragedy was the heroism of a number of
men who were working in the rooms of the law, dental and pharmacy schools of
the Northwestern University, directly across the alley from the theatre building.
They were papering and renovating some rooms of an upper story opposite the
topmost balcony of the theatre; a glance at the terrible scenes across the narrow
abyss set them instantly at the perilous rescue; dragging to the window long
heavy planks with which they were working, with almost superhuman strength
and ingenuity they thrust the boards through the window, lifted them up, balanced
one end on the window ledge, and dropped the other end.
With anguish of hope and despair the scores waiting in the stifling doorway
opposite, and the breathless spectators below saw the boards fall across the space
towards the useless fire -escape. They came down, and with a great pound landed
on the iron platform. A glad cry went up. They were long enough to span the
distance ! They fell true ! At once the stream of humanity poured across this
frail support, urged terribly from behind.
It lasted but a few seconds, but in that brief time about sixteen human beings
crawled to safety along the plank stretching over the dizzy chasm. The last ones
who crossed came with clothing in flames, and were helped through the window,
fainting with pain and terror. Behind them the fire had overtaken hundreds who
were unable to escape. The workmen, students and policemen then rushed across
the perilous bridge into the smoke and heat, and dragged forth some who had
reached the platform only to be destroyed by the blast from within. Then they,
too, were driven back from the furnace where hundreds were burned to death.
In another part of the theatre there was a frightful scene of struggle; in the
angle of the stairway, where the frantic stream of people coming from the second
balcony met and battled with those fleeing from the first balcony, a pile of the
dead covered a space fifteen or twenty feet square, and was nearly seven feet
high. At that point they were entirely out of danger from the fire itself as they
had now come out of the theatre proper into the separate building containing the
foyer. There they were crushed to death in the maddened rush of the panic. In
that part of the Iroquois building, the only evidences of any damage done were
a few windows broken in the human struggle. Everything else around this ghastly
pile of inanimate bodies was untouched, giving no indication of the conflict that
had raged behind the barred and blockaded doors.
FIREMEN AND POLICEMEN ARRIVE ON THE SCENE
A fire alarm had been given by an usher when the creeping flames were first
noticed on the stage, and in a few moments the engines and firemen were send-
ing streams of water over the exterior of the building. Chief of Police O'Neill and
Assistant Chief Schuettler, after ordering the captains and men from a dozen
stations to go to the fire, themselves rushed to the theatre and led the rescuers into
the building. At the doors the dead were piled eight or ten feet high, over which
some of the firemen crawled with hose, to extinguish the flames within. Many
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 227
were discovered to be alive and were carried to a place of safety. With greatest
difficulty, so inextricably interwoven were the bodies of the victims, could the men
begin their work of carrying out the dead.
"Look out for the living!" shouted the chief to his men. "Try to find those
who are alive;" and when from the heap a faint moan was heard, "Some one alive
there, boys," he urged; "Lively now!" And so began the task of bearing out
the victims of this greatest of American theatre disasters. As the firemen were
able to penetrate into the theatre, they found one ghastly scene after another.
At the landing where the stream from the third balcony poured in at right angles
to the raging tide of humanity coming from the first balcony, there had been a
whirlpool of struggling people stamping each other under foot and stopping all
progress down the stairs. Into this mad circle still plunged those who were com-
ing from different directions, some trying to climb over the top of the heap, some
trampled to death, and many caught and held tightly until they were crushed or
suffocated, for the smoke was heavy about that fatal landing.
SUBSEQUENT WORK OF THE FIREMEN AND POLICEMEN
By the light of dim, flickering lanterns the policemen and firemen worked, dis-
entangling and passing out the bodies to those who took them outside, laying them
along the sidewalk or in Thompson's Restaurant next door, which had been hastily
turned into a hospital. The balconies were searched and bodies found in the
aisles; some there were who had remained sitting in their seats, as if still living.
Others of these were burned beyond recognition. After a short time the search
was made more effective by the Edison Company's putting in forty arc lights,
which shone bravely through the smoke. So many little children were among
the dead that the rescuers found their grim task well nigh heart breaking, as
they lifted out one small girl or boy after another, bruised and burned.
"Give that girl to some one else and get back there," shouted Chief Musham
to a fireman, who walked on with his burden. "Hand that girl to some one else,"
the chief commanded. The fireman looked up, and with tears falling down his
blackened cheeks, he said, "Chief, I've got a girl like this at home. I want to carry
this one out." "Go ahead," said the chief, and as the fireman went down the
stairs carrying the body, the little group working at the landing stood aside to
let him pass.
On they worked frantically, hoping to find that some in the heaps of apparently
lifeless bodies could still be revived; now and then a joyful cry from some one
of the workers would tell that he had seen a protruding hand or foot move, and
then they would strain the harder to loosen the bodies and carry the living out
to the air, sometimes having to pull as sailors do at a rope to extricate a body
from the heap. Everybody worked. The newspaper men, who alone beside the
firemen and policemen were in the theatre, threw aside pencils and notebooks and
helped to carry out the bodies. Orders had been sent out for physicians, and
already many had gathered at the improvised hospital to which the victims were
being taken.
AID RENDERED BY VOLUNTEERS
Women who announced themselves as nurses volunteered their services, and
among the dying two priests were offering the comfort of the last sacrament. As
228 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
fast as the victims were brought into Thompson's they were laid on the marble
topped tables and every effort made to revive them. When it was ascertained
that life had departed, they were removed to make room for new arrivals, and
placed along the floor. As fast as ambulances, regular and improvised, could be
filled, they drove away to the morgues, where the bodies were placed in rows.
Each one was marked, according to a system adopted by the police, with a tag
numbered to correspond with the number on an envelope containing the jewelry
and small possessions which had been found on the bodies at the time of their
removal from the theatre. The envelopes were sent to police headquarters, and
those inquiring after missing friends and relatives were sent to the city hall to
inspect the envelopes. Until evening the police searched, and when the last body
had been taken out, the doors were closed and the police called away.
So great was the number of conveyances needed that besides all the ambulances
and police patrols, it was necessary to press into the service many drays and
express wagons. Delivery wagons were sent by dry goods stores on State street,
and by city transfer companies. As soon as one wagon was filled with the blanket-
wrapped bodies lying along the sidewalk, another would back up to the sidewalk
and take its place. Each load was accompanied by two policemen, and many of
the wagons were preceded by policemen who had to make way for them through
the dense crowds which filled the street near by in spite of the fire lines which the
police had established across Randolph street at State and Dearborn streets. At
the morgues the small ornaments and possessions were removed from each body,
numbered according to the adopted plan, and a sheet was drawn over the form, to
cover the pitiful sight.
FRIENDS SEARCH AMONG THE DEAD
At first there were but few people who came to the undertaking rooms to
look for friends, as many knew nothing of the disaster until the theatre-goers
failed to return home at the accustomed hour. Late in the evening the doors were
closed to all but physicians, and those who came were told to return in the morn-
ing. At ten o'clock the doors were open, and the long quiet line passed through
rooms where the lifeless, sheeted forms lay in rows along the walls. Here and
there one stopped to point out a figure which was that of wife, of little son, or
sister, and the body was then taken home. There was stillness and awe in every
chamber, and one heard no hysterical cries or wailings of sorrow there. The
grief was too terrible and too benumbing for that.
In the police offices the men read over to one seeker after another the descrip-
tions written on the envelopes of trinkets, interrupted by the sobbing of women
and the broken voices of men, as they were given a number, and went hurriedly
away to the undertaking room where their dear ones lay. Men had lost their
entire families,- wife and children ; parents had lost their children, and even
whole families had been destroyed together; there was scarcely a neighborhood
throughout the city and its suburbs from which some one had not been taken.
Pitiful was the sight during the first days of the new year, when many a funeral
procession was seen moving along after two or three white hearses, and more
heart rending far was the thought of the homes in which children would no longer
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 229
play and laugh, in which the mother was gone, or the young daughter's presence
was missing.
Five hundred and seventy-one men, women and children had lost their lives
within fifteen minutes, in one of the most terrible catastrophes in the history of
the country. About seventy-five of those on the first floor perished, two hundred
from the first balcony, and 300 from the gallery above. Men of all classes had
proved themselves heroes both during the panic and in the rescue work following.
Only twice before was so great a theatre fire known to be. In St. Petersburg a
theatre burned in Christmas week of 1836, in which seven hundred people lost
their lives. On December 8, 1881, a theatre in Vienna was destroyed, the dead
numbering eight hundred and seventy-five.
THE GRIEF OF THE MOURNERS
The grief of the mourners, and these included indeed the entire city, was
mingled with the bitterness of knowing how needless was the immense loss of
life. Though the building in its furnishings was one of the handsomest in the
city, alleged to be fireproof, and equipped with exits and fire escapes, these were
rendered ineffective through criminal carelessness and oversight of inspectors and
managers.
In the investigation that followed one after another of the city officials and
theatre managers testified to defective construction, lack of precautions taken
and negligence of duty. The fire originated in a spark which flew up from a
stage light, igniting a bit of the scenery. In a few moments it was beyond the
control of those who were trying to smother it. Attempts to extinguish it with
tubes of "kilfyre" were unsuccessful, and when the supposed fireproof curtain
was ordered down, it caught on a projecting bracket used for a calcium light, and
left a space several feet wide through which the flames swept out into the audi-
torium.
Another safeguard that was ineffectual was that of the great flues constructed
so that flames on the stage would be drawn directly upward and not be sucked out
into the main part of the theatre. These flues were found to be so securely cov-
ered with heavy timbers nailed down that there was no possible chance for a cur-
rent of air to be started upward through them. Out in the auditorium, the safe-
guards, even those that had been provided, were made useless. The lights in the
theatre went out, either the wires being burned out near the switchboard, or the
globes bursting with the intense heat of the sweeping flames. Besides this, there
were no lights or conspicuous signs before the exits to guide those attempting to
escape, and many exits were concealed by heavy draperies falling over them.
Crowning horror of all, most of exits were bolted, barred, and padlocked, and
against them the frantic strugglers threw themselves in vain. Heavy gates of
iron bars, four or five feet high, which folded up like an accordion, were located
at landings of the stairways to keep occupants of the balcony from turning into
the stairways leading to the dress circle. These gates were locked, and before
them were found the heaps of those who had been crushed to death in the struggle
to break them down. It was found on examination that they were no part of the
building or stairway as turned over by the builders, and were not part of the
plans of the building, but were put in place by the management after the stair-
230 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
ways were finished and accepted ; no permit was obtained from the city building
department to put the gates there.
MEASURES TAKEN TO PREVENT FUTURE DISASTERS
The intense sympathy and horror that was felt over all the world led to an
adoption of precautions in theatres and public places of meeting by cities far and
near. A fireproof expert, who previously to the fire had given his opinion of this
very building, said that the Iroquois theatre, though reported to be the finest and
safest in the country at the time of its building, was really a firetrap, built of
the cheapest materials, with much veneer and inflammable material in the fur-
nishings, and insufficient exits. Deep and terrible as was the sorrow of the people
after the disaster, it benefited mankind by arousing a demand for safer fire equip-
ment in public buildings, and more means of escape in case of panic or fire.
Among the precautions adopted very widely by managers were improved con-
struction in the locating of flues above the stage, the placing of rear doors to
prevent too strong a draft when they are opened, the protection of stage lights,
proper material and rigging of a fireproof curtain, and the frequent lowering of
this curtain in the intermissions of the performance to assure both audience and
management of its being in order. All theatres and public places were supplied
with two city firemen, to be paid by the directors of the place. Exits are plainly
marked by lights kept burning throughout the performance; no standing room
tickets are sold, and the aisles are kept unimpeded. Doors of exits swing out-
ward and are not locked at any time during the performance. Besides theatres,
other buildings were safeguarded, especially schools, where fire drills were insti-
tuted and fire escapes built, when lacking.
Twenty-nine years before, in the Chicago Times for February 13, 1875, a
warning had been given the people of the city that a terrible calamity awaited
them on account of the scant provision that the theatre managers made for
safety in case of fire. The warning was in the form of a pretended report on
such a disaster, giving details of a tragedy that was in many ways similar to that
which occurred long afterwards. Although this was noticed and talked of at the
time by the citizens, it had no permanent results in the better equipment of theatres.
In a meeting after the Iroquois fire it was pointed out by a teacher in the public
schools that the newspapers of November 2, 1903, reported that the city council
had listened to a complaint that the theatres were violating the laws. This re-
port was referred to a committee, which was the last heard of it. A few days
later Mayor Harrison had made a statement, challenging criticism, and insisting
that the complaints were groundless. From all too many facts of this kind, the
heartsick mourners learned the cruel lesson.
THE ARMOUR INSTITUTE
The doors of the Armour Institute were opened for instruction in September,
1893, and it at once entered upon a career of great prosperity and usefulness.
The institution owed its origin to the munificence of Philip D. Armour who built
and endowed it with ample means and placed Dr. F. W. Gunsaulus in charge of it.
"The institution is founded," says the Circular of Information, "for the purpose
MAIN BUILDING OF ARMOUR
INSTITUTE
LEWIS INSTITUTE, MADISON AND
ROBEY STREETS
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 231
of giving to young men and women the opportunity of securing a liberal education.
It is hoped that its benefits may reach all classes. It is not intended for the
poor or the rich, as sections of society, but for any and all who are earnestly seeking
practical education. Its aim is broadly philanthropic. Profoundly realizing the
importance of self-reliance as a factor in the development of character, the founder
has conditioned his benefactions in such a way as to emphasize both their value
and the student's self respect. Armour Institute is not a free school; but its
charges for instruction are in harmony with the spirit which animates alike the
Founder, the Trustees, and the Faculty; namely, the desire to help those who wish
to help themselves."
The home of the Armour Institute is a fine fireproof building, situated at the
corner of Armour avenue and Thirty-third street. The building is five stories
in height, and is "furnished with every convenience that health, comfort, and the
requirements of such an enterprise could dictate."
For the year 1908-09 the number of students in the College of Engineering,
the principal department of the Institute, was 598; students in the Academy,
208; students in the evening classes, 615; and students in summer courses, 225;
making a total (after deducting 36 names counted twice) of 1,610. Out of the
598 students in the College of Engineering, 416 are from Illinois, 349 of whom
are from the City of Chicago. The other states of the Union send 160, and
foreign countries 22 students. A large faculty of professors and instructors is
employed.
The scope of the instruction furnished at the Armour Institute is preponder-
antly in the line of practical affairs ; engineering in all branches, architecture,
mathematics, physics, economics, together with a working knowledge of the mod-
ern languages. The aim of the instruction in the latter is "chiefly to reach the
greatest practical results, which are thought to be attained when the language
studied has become an effective aid to the continued acquisition of knowledge."
During the twelve years in which classes have been graduated from the Insti-
tute there is shown a total, at the end of the year 1910, of five hundred and
seventy-nine graduates. The institution still remains under the efficient guidance
and direction of Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus.
THE CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE
The first steps toward the organization of the Chicago Board of Trade were
taken on the 13th of March, 1848. The call issued for a meeting of the business
men of the city for the formation of a Board of Trade was signed by the follow-
ing firms and individuals: Wadsworth, Dyer & Chapin; George Steele; I. Burch
& Co.; Gurnee, Hayden & Co.; H. H. Magie & Co.; Neff & Church; John H.
Kinzie; Norton, Walker & Co.; DeWolf & Co.; Charles Walker; Thomas Hale;
Thomas Richmond ; and Raymond, Gibbs & Co.
The meeting was held, a constitution was adopted and a committee appointed
to prepare by-laws. A second meeting was held early in the following April,
the report of the committee was adopted, and a general invitation was extended
to the merchants of the city to meet daily in rooms engaged for the purpose. The
objects of the Association thus formed were stated to be: "To maintain a Com-
mercial Exchange; to promote uniformity in the customs and usages of merchants;
232 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
to inculcate the principles of justice and equity in trade; to facilitate the speedy
adjustment of business disputes; to acquire and to disseminate valuable and eco-
nomic information; and generally to secure to its members the benefit of coopera-
tion in the furtherance of their legitimate pursuits."
"After an experience of more than half a century," says Secretary George
F. Stone in a recent publication, "it is impossible to change this excellent declar-
ation of principles without marring it." In fact this terse statement of the
objects in view, made when the Chicago Board of Trade was formed, has always
been regarded with special pride by Chicago business men as striking the key note
of their commercial dealings, and of itself goes far to account for the unexampled
prosperity and fame to which this widely known body has attained. The first
president of the board was Thomas Dyer, with two vice-presidents, Charles Wal-
ker and John P. Chapin. At that lime Chicago had a population of about twenty
thousand. For many ' years the Board had its abode in rented quarters, but out-
growing these an exchange building was erected at the southeast corner of La
Salle and Washington streets in 1865, only to be destroyed by the great fire
six years later. In 1872, it was rebuilt and the Board continued to use it until
1885, when the present building was completed and occupied.
EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE BOARD
In the early fifties Chicago passed St. Louis in the contest for superiority as
a grain market. The receipts at St. Louis in 1853 were 5,081,468 bushels; in
Chicago the receipts were 6,473,089 bushels of grain of all kinds. Colbert tells
us that although the commerce of the city took such rapid strides, the Board of
Trade, since that time the great channel through which the grain business of the
city is transacted, "was little better than a figure head during the whole of this
period. In 1853, the secretary was instructed to provide a daily set-out of
crackers, cheese, and ale, as an inducement to the members to attend." The mem-
bers preferred to transact their business direct with their customers in their own
places of business.
Colbert further remarks: We find the Board very useful, however, in another
capacity. It was great on resolutions. In 1853, it advocated the establishment
of a monster bank, with a capital of five millions of dollars, to accommodate the
trade of Chicago. In 1854, it took action on the improvement of the Illinois
river, the dredging out of the harbor, building additional piers, erecting a light-
house (built in 1855), and instituted a most important reform in the selling of
grain by weight, instead of by the half bushel measure, as formerly. In 1855,
action was taken in reference to the Georgian Bay Canal, and the reciprocity
treaty with Canada. * * * In 1856 the Board provided standards for the
inspection of grain and lumber into different grades, and had increased in mem-
bership so much that it was found necessary to rent rooms on the corner of South
Water and La Salle streets.
"The year 1856," says Colbert, "was memorable as the one in which the 'Dean
Richmond,' a vessel of 387 tons burden, arrived at Liverpool, direct from Chicago."
Her cargo consisted of wheat which was discharged into the warehouses at Liver-
pool. Great anticipations were built upon the successful completion of this voy-
age. Bross says in his review of that year that other vessels would follow in the
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 233
track of the "Dean Richmond;" and "in the judgment of those who have most
carefully studied this subject, a very few years will render the departure of
vessels for the grain-consuming countries of Europe so common as scarcely to
excite remark."
WAR RECORD OF THE BOARD
Some of the activities of the Chicago Board of Trade during the period of the
Civil war are worthy of special notice. In 1861, the Board occupied the second
floor of a building on the north side of South Water street just east of Dearborn.
Soon after Fort Sumter was fired upon, April 12, 1861, the Board passed a reso-
lution ordering that an American flag be purchased and that it should be hung
on the walls of the rooms of the Board "as an emblen of our devotion to the glori-
ous stars and stripes." Subscriptions of money were called for by the Union
Defense committee created at a mass meeting of citizens, and when the request
was known "on "change," some five thousand dollars were obtained from the members.
A member moved that the Board subscribe five hundred dollars to be paid from
the treasury. "A discussion arose," says Andreas, "as to the legality of such
subscription under the provisions of the charter, which was brought to a somewhat
unexpected close by Charles H. Walker, Jr., who moved that the motion be amended
so as to increase the subscription to five thousand dollars. The amendment was
passed amid such uproarious applause as to completely annihilate all further ob-
jections as to the technical legality of the measure." This was the first of many
subsequent gifts made by the Board during the four years the war lasted.
Within a week from the time that the first gun of the war had been fired a
battery of the Chicago Light Artillery, commanded by Captain James P. Smith,
a member of the Board, left Chicago for the South. Other members of this bat-
tery, afterwards known as Battery "A," who were also members of the Board of
Trade, were Edward Tobey and John W. Rumsey. Another battery was soon after-
wards formed with Ezra Taylor in command, which became known as Battery
"B," otherwise "Taylor's Battery."
Whenever a Union victory was announced the Board of Trade welcomed the
news enthusiastically. When P'ort Donelson was captured in February, 1862,
there was no further business done "on "change" after the announcement had been
made about noon that day. "The whole Board," says Andreas, "was resolved
into a war meeting, and the doors thrown open to every rejoicing patriot who
could crowd into the hall. The Board was called to order for business war
business only. It is unnecessary to portray the scene of uproarious confusion
amidst which it managed that day to do its patriotic and efficient work."
A resolution was adopted stating that "this Board hears, with pride and heart-
felt thanks, the glorious news of the success of our troops in the capture of the
rebel stronghold, Fort Donelson: that we tender the thanks of this Board, also
of all loyal citizens of our city, to the commanding officers and their commands,
for their triumphant efforts to plant the stars and stripes over the same, and that
we do particularly thank our gallant battery, Company "B," Chicago Light Ar-
tillery, for their daring and successful courage."
234 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
PRISONERS BROUGHT TO CAMP DOUGLAS
Many thousands of the prisoners captured at Fort Donelson having been
brought to Camp Douglas to be guarded and cared for until they could be ex-
changed were looked upon by a certain set of persons who were in sympathy with
the Southern cause with so great a degree of friendliness and interest that the loyal
people naturally felt some resentment, in the state of feeling then existing, when
they perceived the attentions bestowed upon them. Among the Confederate offi-
cers were several from Southern cities who, previous to the war, had business
relations with Chicago business men, and some were well known in social circles.
"Instead of being treated with the proper spirit which their recreancy would seem
to merit from all loyal people," says Andreas, "these officers were being cordially
received, hospitably entertained, and otherwise lionized by some of their former
friends." When it became known among the loyal citizens there was much indig-
nation felt, especially when it was remembered that many a gallant father, son
or brother was absent in the field trying to subdue the enemies of their country,
some indeed who would return no more.
The indignation of the members of the Board culminated in a set of resolu-
tions offered at one of the Board sessions. In these it was stated that while
it was our duty as citizens to see that the prisoners were well fed and cared for,
it was also a duty we owed to ourselves as well as to our Government that they
"should receive such attention at our hands as humanity alone would dictate;" and
that "we recommend to the citizens of Chicago to abstain from offering to any of
the prisoners now here, or who may hereafter arrive," "polite and marked atten-
tions," exalting them into heroes, when, so long as war existed, they were to be
regarded as enemies. It was added that "we believe many of the privates among
our prisoners are honest and true men," who had been deceived by their leaders.
The strong Union principles of leading Chicago business men were thus avowed
and proclaimed, and throughout the war and on all occasions the Chicago Board
of Trade, the most influential commercial body of the city, efficiently aided the
Union cause with men and money whenever the need arose. At a later period of
the war the Board adopted a resolution which ran as follows: "Resolved, that
the Board of Directors be requested to refuse admission to the membership of this
Board of any citizen of the United States against whom suspicions of disloyalty
to the General Government are known to exist, until such suspicions are proved, to
their satisfaction, to be unfounded."
CORN THE GREATEST PRODUCT
As one of the most important products of the Northwest, corn occupies the
first place in a mention of the great sources of wealth which have contributed so
materially to the prosperity of the people of Chicago. The statistics are fully
given in numerous publications, in which many useful comparisons are made. For
those who find pleasure and profit in statistics there is the "City Manual," a pub-
lication of the Chicago Bureau of Statistics, which is a compendium of useful facts
and comparisons, and of information on many subjects. The City Manual is pub-
lished annually, and is prepared by Colonel Francis A. Eastman, City Statistician.
The Chicago Board of Trade also issues annually a report containing a mass of
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 235
information arranged in tabular form convenient for seekers of facts. These two
publications are mentioned, but a host of others are likewise available.
While statistics are important in a work of this character and are here fre-
quently used to illustrate a subject requiring information in that form, they are
often tiresome and repellant to the average reader. It has been said that statistics
are the dry bones of history, but nevertheless they are indespensable in their
place.
The immense production of corn, and its far-reaching influence upon our well-
being and prosperity, has aroused the imaginations of thoughtful men on many oc-
casions.
One such occasion was in 1892. On the ninth of September of that year a
harvest dinner was given by the Fellowship Club, when there was present a num-
ber of distinguished guests. Among them was the Governor of the State, Hon.
Richard J. Oglesby, who in the course of the evening was called upon for an ad-
dress. This address has since become something of a local classic and has been
reprinted, once in the Record-Herald for October 8th, 1907, and again by a well
known stationery house, Messrs. Marshall, Jackson & Co., in the form of a leaflet
for distribution among their friends. The delivery of the address was entirely ex-
temporaneous, the speaker taking corn as his theme which he apostrophized in many
glowing sentences.
One of the gentlemen present was Mr. Volney W. Foster, a member of the
club, who some six years later recalled the language of the address and reduced it
to writing. Notwithstanding the severe strain upon his memory after so long an
interval, the reproduction was considered by those who were present and heard
the address, as almost identical with the original delivery. Those who knew Mr.
Foster, and the wonderful feats of memory of which he was capable can well under-
stand this, for Mr. Foster was himself one of the most eloquent speakers on
numerous occasions, and thoroughly imbibed the spirit as well as the words of the
address, some passages of which are given in the following paragraphs.
GOVERNOR OGI/ESBY'S ADDRESS ON CORN
"Look on its ripening waving fields! See how it wears a crown, prouder than
monarch ever wore, sometimes jauntily and sometimes, after the storm, the dig-
nified survivors of the tempest seem to view a field of slaughter, and to pity a
fallen foe. And see the pendent caskets of the corn field filled with the wine of
life, and see the silken fringes that set a form for fashion and for art !" The
speaker then in imagination beholds the scudding clouds throwing their shadows
upon the waving fields as "the gentle winds make heavenly harmonies on a thou-
sand harps that hang upon the borders and middle of the field of ripening corn ;
until my heart seems to beat responsive to the rising and falling of the me-
lodious refrain. The melancholy clouds sometimes make shadows on the field and
hide its aureate wealth, and now they move, and slowly into sight there comes the
glow of promise for an industrious land.
"Glorious corn, that more than all its sisters of the field wears tropic garments!
Nor on the shores of Nilus or of Ind does Nature dress her forms more splendidly !
My God, to live again that time when for me half the world was good, and the
other half unknown ! And now again, the corn, that in its kernel holds the strength
236 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
that, in the body of the man refreshed, shall subdue the forest and compel response
from every stubborn field. Aye, the corn, the royal corn ; within whose yellow
heart there is of health and strength for all the nations. The corn triumphant,
that with the aid of man hath made victorious procession across the tufted plain
and laid foundation for the social excellence that is and is to be. This glorious
plant, transmitted by the alchemy of God, sustains the warrior in battle, the poet
in song, and strengthens everywhere the thousand arms that work the purposes
of life. Oh, that I had the voice of song or skill to translate into tones the har-
monies, the symphonies, the oratorios that roll across my soul, when standing
sometimes by day and sometimes by night upon the borders of this verdant sea. I
note a world of promise ; and then before half the year is gone I view its full
fruition, and see its heaped-up gold awaiting the need of man. Majestic, fruit-
ful, wondrous plant ! Thou greatest among the manifestations of the wisdom and
love of God, that may be seen in all the fields or upon the hillsides or in the valley."
THE NATIONAL CORN EXPOSITION IN 1907
When the National Corn Exposition was held in Chicago in October, 1907, Mr.
H. N. Higinbotham made an address at the opening on the same inspiring subject,
Mr. Higinbotham's broad views and power of statement, so well shown on many
occasions, are manifested in his address, from which we will quote some passages.
"Those of us who were instrumental in inaugurating the movement that resulted
in this Exposition," he said, "have been inspired by the desire to inculcate a larger
and more general appreciation of corn, both as to its beauty and its great value."
"What a wonderful and inspiring sight are the vast fields of corn ripening for
the use of man ! Stored within each grain is not only wealth for the myriad sons
of toil, but the germ of future fields that are to come as surely as the seasons are
to return in their own good time." "Like Tennyson's little flower 'in the crannied
wall,' if we knew the explanation of this wonderful process, we would know what
God and Man are, for the mystery of the universe is as surely wrapped up in a
single grain of corn, as it is in the soul of man, or in the infinite expanse of the
dome of heaven above us ; and, like man, each grain has stored within it the germ
of immortality."
A writer in the Atlantic Monthly, evidently a New Englander, remarks upon
the position occupied by Illinois in regard to the transportation of products between
the east and west. "In the wide area between the Atlantic Ocean and the Rocky
Mountains," he says, "she stands at the middle point. The raw and manufactured
products of the earth north, south, east, and west must, in our seething traffic,
surge largely through her territory; she is, and from geographical necessity must
always be, the chief sluiceway for this ceaseless flood of things. More than this,
the multitudinous sea of restless Americans old ones and new ones pours into
and through her avenues of travel. Unlike New York and Boston, mere filters
through which the immigrant stream rushes or trickles, leaving behind the scum
and dregs of alien peoples, Illinois is a smelting-pot in which the stronger and
more active foreigners are fused with one another and with the older stock into
real American citizenship."
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 237
THE ILLINOIS TUNNEL COMPANY
The system of tunnels constructed by the Illinois Tunnel Company were de-
signed exclusively for the handling of freight, the transportation of passengers not
entering into the plans of the builders. When the tunnel was projected the prin-
ciple adopted was that the streets were for the people and the tunnels beneath
the streets were for the transportation of freight. "Let the people have the sun-
light and the air and the unrestricted space 011 the street levels," said a writer on
the subject; "let them avoid climbing up and down the long flights of stairs; let
them go where they please on the surface of the ground, without its being neces-
sary to keep dodging heavily loaded trucks, coal wagons and ash carts. And make
all this possible by taking all freight, coal and ashes down into the tunnels, twenty-
five feet below the surface, where they can be handled quickly and easily, at the
same time avoiding the crowding and the littering of the streets that would other-
wise be inevitable."
It was upon this general idea that the company spent many millions of dollars
to prove that this was a practical solution of handling the. street traffic of a great
city. In the light of the experience of other cities this view of the benefits to flow
from underground transportation of freight does not meet with general acceptance,
and the tendency of the present day is to develop the idea of passenger traffic for
the underground passageways. Construction of the system of tunnels which we
are about to describe began in 1901, under the charge of George W. Jackson, the
well known engineer and tunnel builder of Chicago. So unobstrusively was the
work begun and carried on that few people noticed the progress of operations.
A descriptive article, written by Mr. Htenry M. Hyde, appeared in the "Tech-
nical World" magazine, in July, 190-1. There was practically no public knowledge
of the work while it was under construction, he said. "Fully a dozen miles of the
subway were entirely completed before one out of ten citizens of the city knew
that a tunnel system was in process of construction," wrote Hyde. "For years,
thousands of people saw once or twice a day the little elevator houses standing
at such prominent street corners as Lake and State streets, without having any
idea of what they meant or for what purpose they were used. But it was through
these little houses that all the dirt taken out of the tunnels was raised and loaded
into wagons, the work being done after dark, so as not to interfere with the regu-
lar traffic."
BEGINNING OF THE WORK
Iii February, 1899, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance "granting
the use of the streets to a telephone company to be operated in opposition to the
old Bell Company. It was under this ordinance that the tunnels were built.
. . . It was not until July, 1903, that the company [which had already be-
gun the work of construction], having reorganized under the name of the Illinois
Tunnel Company, secured an amended ordinance from the city giving it permission
to install an electric railroad in its tunnels, for the transportation of freight and
commodities of all kinds."
Its plan of operation was in general to "serve the purpose of carrying coal to
down-town office and business buildings, and removing the resulting ashes and
other debris." to remove the "enormous amount of waste paper and other rubbish
238 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
originating daily in the big down-town buildings ;" and the "hauling of freight to
and from freight depots and business houses." Chicago, it was said, was one of
the greatest railroad centers in the world. "No less than twenty-five trunk lines
of railroad radiate from it. The aggregate annual volume of freight tonnage is
enormous, almost beyond computation, and it is all received and distributed from
six freight depots, which are located within a territory only one and a half miles
square."
The tunnels themselves, of which there are, in 1911, some sixty-three miles
completed and in use, are nowhere visible from the surface, the only approach to
them being through the shafts communicating with them in the buildings where
connections have been established. A cross section of the tunnels at a given
point would present the form of a horse shoe, with walls, roofs and bottoms of solid
concrete, the bottoms placed at an average depth of from forty-two to forty-five
feet beneath the surface. The usual dimensions of the tunnels are six and a half
feet in width and seven and a half feet in height. There were a few short stretches
of the tunnels constructed of larger dimensions than this, but it was found un-
necessary in the general plans of the system and the larger type of construction
was wholly discarded, and there is actually but little of it in existence.
Electric transmission of power, by means of the familiar trolley wire, is em-
ployed entirely, the motors, or locomotives, being of low and compact construction.
The cars are of various patterns, flat or "stake" cars, box or "shield" cars, ex-
cavation cars, coal cars, and a near approach to passenger cars called "observation"
cars. All these cars, however, are of uniform size, namely, ten and one-half feet in
length with a width of four feet. The track is a narrow gauge, with rails two feet
apart. The weight of the rails used is fifty-six pounds to the yard.
It was decided, after consultation with the city engineer when the tunnels
were projected, that the roof of no tunnel should be allowed to approach the street
surface nearer than twenty- four and a half feet. "In this way, in the opinion of
the city officials, sufficient space was left for the construction of a subway for the
passage of street cars, if, in the future, such should Become necessary."
EXCAVATION OF THE TUNNELS
In September, 1901, "the first gang of miners were started at a point in the
alley between Madison and Monroe streets, immediately west of La Salle street.
As rapidly as possible, thereafter, seven other shafts were started, the basements
of buildings located at the points selected being leased for the purpose." A total
of about eight hundred and fifty men, including miners, cement workers and
others, were employed in the work of construction. "For the purpose of expe-
ditiously getting the excavated dirt to the elevator houses, where it was lifted to
the street level, nine hundred little tram cars were used." These tram cars were
about four feet square, they could be lifted with their loads and dumped into the
waiting wagons, and so perfect were the arrangements that at the end of ten
and a half months' work no less than twelve miles of tunnel were completed.
The primary purpose of the tunnel, as it was often reiterated, was to relieve
the congestion of the streets owing to the heavy traffic in transporting bulky ar-
ticles of freight, coal and other material. As soon as the work had advanced far
enough to permit of the operation of trains within the tunne' connections were
SOUTH WATER STREET SCENE
From The Book of the Board ot Trade. 1910
BOARD OF TRADE BUILDING
CABLE SYSTEM OF THE ILLINOIS TUNNEL
COMPANY
Looking north on Fifth avenue, corner of
Monroe street
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 239
made with many business houses, office buildings, and railroad depots, and the
plans of the projectors were put to the actual test. There is no doubt but that the
streets were relieved of an immense number of heavily laden trucks, but the natural
increase in trade has shown no perceptible diminution to the casual observer.
There have been spent on the work so far (July, 1911) about fifty millions
of dollars.
ROUTES OF THE TUNNELS
By consulting the map of the tunnel routes shown on another page it will be
seen that the tunnels of the Illinois Tunnel Company now underlie nearly every
street in the downtown portion of the city. Tunnels run beneath the river at
twelve different points connecting the North and West Divisions of the city with
the South Division. Turn-outs or by-passes are constructed at all buildings and
depots where the lines have established connections.
While the enterprise is still "a freight carrying proposition," the tunnels serve
the purpose of conduits for the telephone wires and cables of the "Telephone De-
partment of the Illinois Tunnel Company." This department is absolutely in-
dependent of any other telephone company, and already has upwards of twenty
thousand telephones in use throughout the city.
SOME INTERESTING DETAILS
Some details of description, gathered from observation and interviews with of-
ficials, are added, as follows: The sixty or more miles of tunnels are, at this time
(1911), in daily use transporting freight and material between the various whole-
sale and retail houses on the one hand and the railway depots and dumping places
on the other. The office buildings and mercantile establishments connected with
the tunnel system are provided with shafts, through which a car with its contents
is raised or lowered as required. As soon as its load is taken or discharged the
car is replaced on its track below.
The turn-outs or "by-passes" connecting the buildings with the line are usually
placed within the area directly beneath the sidewalk, the main line of course run-
ning along beneath the middle of the street. A by-pass is of the same dimensions
and built in the same manner as the tunnel itself. In use, a car intended for a
particular by-pass is detached from a passing train, and at the center of the by-
pass is run upon an elevator which hoists it to the receiving floor, usually the
basement of the building thus connected, but sometimes the main floor. At the
upper level the car is rolled off the elevator and its journey is extended to any
point required. Basements thus used are often a gridiron of tracks and switches,
where a number of these cars may be seen standing ready or waiting to be used.
There is a contingency to be guarded against, namely the danger from a flood
of water descending the shaft into the turnout or by-pass when a fire might happen
to be raging in the connected building. If this should happen the fire department
would naturally play heavy streams of water into the building, and this water
would seek the shaft into the by-pass for a means of escape; and, as a consequence,
the floor of the tunnel in that vicinity would be deluged temporarily beyond the
usual capacity of the pumps to raise it into the sewers, which, of course, are con-
siderably above the tunnel level. This contingency has been foreseen and at the
240 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
entrance of every by-pass a pair of heavy iron doors with water-tight fittings is
placed, so that when a fire occurs in a connected building these doors may be
closed and fastened. Thus a shaft may be filled with water without the occurrence
of any perceptible leakage into the tunnel.
The Tunnel Company, with its complicated system of tunnels, has also found
it necessary to protect itself with a system of signals which insures against the
danger of collisions in the regular course of operating trains. The track system,
as can readily be seen upon the map, presents a net-work of tracks, loops and
crossings, interwoven like a spider's web. The system of signals adopted is a
thoroughly efficient and "fool proof" device, and, since 1908, when it went into
operation, there has not been an accident involving collision or delay.
Eight to ten cars usually constitute a train in the ordinary course of business
on the line. The speed maintained in operating loaded trains is about eight miles
per hour. But one line of track is placed in a tunnel, the routing of trains being
so arranged as to pass in one direction only, the trains moving in an opposite di-
rection making use of another tunnel. No tunnels run under buildings, except the
by-passes which for a short distance in some cases pass within the building line.
When by-passes are constructed within the limits of a building, the construction
is carried on in an air-lock, so as not to endanger piers ; and when the work is
completed the form of the interior of the by-pass, being elliptical and solidly sur-
rounded with concrete, is as firm in its resistance to pressure as the earth around
it.
The motorman constitutes the entire train crew. It takes a man about three
weeks to learn the various routes, and a new man is on probation for about six
months. The movement of the trains ventilates the tunnels sufficiently through the
shaft connections with the upper air. Indeed, the current of air from the tunnels
is of very material assistance in maintaining a draft for the furnaces of boilers in
some of the office buildings having basement connections with the tunnel network.
The drainage of the tunnels is pumped by sixty electrically operated pumps up to
the sewers which are at a higher level.
At the river crossings, of which there are twelve, the bottoms of the tunnels,
usually from forty-two to forty-five feet below the surface, drop to a depth of sixty-
five feet. Three per cent grades are used on the approaches. The temperature
in the tunnels is about fifty-five degrees the year around.
It is estimated that the excavated material removed by the cars of the tunnels,
and dumped into Grant Park where filling was required, has amounted to a mil-
lion and a half cubic yards.
There are, at the present time, some ninety-two connections of the tunnels with
business houses, office buildings, railroad freight depots, and other points. The
Tunnel Company retains the ownership of each of the connections at these points.
The names of the streets are lettered on the walls of the tunnels at all the street
intersections, exactly corresponding to the streets overhead.
ASPECTS OF THE INTERIOR
Standing in one of the tunnels and looking either way along its vaulted in-
terior as far as the eye can penetrate, the line of electric lights and signals extend-
ing into the distance, the visitor realizes the total isolation from the life and ac-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
241
tivities of the street but a few feet overhead, the roar deadened into perfect silence
by the intervening layers of earth. Only the rumble of the passing train occasion-
ally interrupts this silence. In the outer air above are passing crowds, cars, and
vehicles, and there may be storms, heat or cold, but in these subterranean passages,
one is as "far from the maddening crowd" as if he were immured in the dungeon
of a castle. The catacombs of Rome and Paris are indeed roomier and perhaps
more extensive than these underground passages, but they no longer have any hu-
man use if, indeed, they ever had; but here is found an efficient and important
thoroughfare, relieving the overburdened streets above and contributing to the wel-
fare and convenience of the people.
CHAPTER LIV
MUSIC AND DRAMA
MUSIC IN THE THIRTIES POPULARITY OF CONCERTS AND SHOWS CIRCUS ARRIVES
EARLY THEATRICAL PERFORMANCES JOSEPH JEFFERSON THE ELDER A FREQUENT
VISITOR TO CHICAGO JOSEPH JEFFERSON THE YOUNGER MUSICAL SOCIETIES
FIRST THEATRE RICE'S THEATRE J. H. MCVICKER's FIRST APPEARANCE MUS-
ICAL ORGANIZATIONS MCVICKER's THEATRE BUILT IN 1857 BRYAN HALL
WOOD'S MUSEUM SMITH & NIXON'S HALI/ ADELINA PATTI THE PATTI FAMILY
OPERA SEASON OF 1858 BAND CONCERTS SONGS OF THE CIVIL WAR OPERA IN
THE SIXTIES PAREPA-ROSA- CROSBY'S OPERA HOUSE THEATRES AFTER THE FIRE
PAULINE LUCCA FAMOUS PRIMA DONNAS EMMA ABBOTT MUSICAL FESTIVALS
MATERNA APOLLO CLUB GEORGE F. ROOT CENTRAL MUSIC HALL WELL
KNOWN IMPRESARIOS ORCHESTRA LEADERS EARLY CAREER OF THEODORE
THOMAS THE AUDITORIUM PERMANENT HALL FOR THE ORCHESTRA.
MUSIC AND DRAMA
HERE is a man in Chicago who more than any other person now living
there, is competent to tell the musical history of the city, as he has
watched its development for over fifty years. This is Mr. George P.
Upton, who came to Chicago in 185-1, recently graduated from Brown
University, a youthful amateur in music, though not himself a per-
former. Immediately after his arrival he began work on the old Chicago Journal,
and for fifty years following held a variety of newspaper positions including those
of reporter, city editor, war correspondent, editorial writer and dramatic and mu-
sical critic. From 1859 until his semi-retirement in 1905 he was on the staff of the
Tribune, and has been a stockholder for more than thirty years. Mr. Upton has
come to be best known through his musical criticisms, and through the handbooks
on music which he has published from time to time.
Mr. Upton has been intimately associated with those who have come to the city
to offer their musical inducements, since the time when Adelina Patti, as a little
girl, sang in the early fifties, before a gathering in the dining room of the Tremont
House; and he has been one of the increasing number of appreciative ones who
have watched and welcomed the growth of a music-loving public in Chicago. Upon
his recollections l is based the following sketch:
BEGINNINGS OF MUSIC IN CHICAGO
As far back as 1804 there was in Chicago what is known to us as music, for
John Kinzie had brought a violin with him when he came here, and used to play
1 Musical Memories, by George P. Upton.
242
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 243
on it for his family. When Mark Beaubien started the Sauganash hotel in 1833,
there was music for every comer, as the gay-hearted host played a fiddle while
his guests sang and danced; there was a piano there, too, the first one brought to
Chicago, and an occasional performer joined in with the violin. This was in the
days when there were still countless Indians about the little settlement, and when
the town itself was a crude village with ill-defined streets.
In the early thirties all denominations worshipped in the same building, the
Presbyterian church, at the southwest corner of Clark and Lake streets, and Ser-
geant Burtiss of Fort Dearborn used to lead the singing for the congregation. In
1834 a public entertainment was given, when an admission fee was for the first
time charged. ' In those days a concert, a sleight-of-hand performance, or a
sword-swallowing exhibition were indifferently called a show and welcomed with
undiscriminating joy by the frontier town. An irreverent and incongruous jostling
of circus news with musical announcements, of dramatic with acrobatic events, is
inevitable in an account of the amusements of early Chicago. The eager welcome
of any and all forms of entertainment that were offered is indicative not so much
of a catholic taste as of a hungering for diversion and metropolitan novelty. The
announcements of entertainments were masterpieces of hyberbole, sentimentalism
and alluring description, in which the elegance of the performance was implied
by a free use of the French language on the show bill.
The first showman to come to Chicago was Mr. Bowers, "professeur de tours
amusants," who established himself at the Mansion House and advertised himself
as fire king, ventriloquist and expert in legerdemain. In this same year, 1834,
several shows were given, among them a concert by a Mr. Blisse. The first music
school was opened in July 9, 1834, by Miss Wythe. The next one to open a
music school was a Mr. Samuel Lewis, who also tuned what pianos there were
then in Chicago. A noteworthy musical event was the organizing of the Old
Settlers' Harmonic Society, which gave its first concert December 11, 1834, in
the Presbyterian church. In January, 1836, this society gave its second concert,
after which no more is heard of it. St. James' Episcopal church had the first
regular quartette choir, which was organized in 1836, two years after the church
was founded. Here, too, the first organ in Chicago was installed after building
the church.
THE FIRST CIRCUS
Then came the time, in the same year, when Chicago had its first circus. "The
Boston Grand Equestrian Arena" arrived, the tent was spread near the lake on
a lot on Madison street, and all Chicago for the first time saw and smelled and
heard the delights of a show in a great tent. So great was its success that the
proprietor, Oscar Stone, himself a famous equestrian performer, 2 returned later
in the same year with the additional attraction of "two anacondas expressly pur-
chased for this occasion," which were the first animals exhibited in Chicago by
professional showmen.
THE THEATRE
Those pioneers who came to Chicago from New England, and there were many
such, had brought with them the rigid principles and the staid, methodical habits
2 Andreas, I, 473.
244 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
of their early homes. The latter they were often forced to give up, in the exigencies
and surprises of western life; but their principles stood the strain better. Thus
it was that when, in 1837, actors first came to Chicago they found the license fee
fixed so high that they would not pay it. Later in that year Isherwood and Mc-
Kenzie bought a license, though protesting at its high price, and gave performances
in the dining room of the Sauganash tavern, recently left tenantless. The large
empty hall was fitted up into a crude sort of theatre, and bills were printed and
distributed through the town. The first play they gave, and the first one given in
Chicago was "The Stranger." The success of these performances was so great
that the managers opened a regular theatre, which at first they called "The Rialto,"
and later "The Chicago Theatre." To be sure, it was on an upper floor of a
wooden building, but nothing was lacking in its appointments. The building was
on the west side of Dearborn street, between Lake and South Water streets.
JOSEPH JEFFERSON, THE ELDER
To this theatre came a troupe which included Joseph Jefferson, the elder, his
wife, daughter, and the nine-year old boy, Joseph, who was to become the most
famous of all that talented family. In his autobiography the younger Joseph
describes that theatre, carrying over for us the boy's enthusiasm at the sight of
the new play house. Chicago, as he saw it on his first visit, he describes as a
"busy little town, busy even then, people hurrying to and fro, frame buildings go-
ing up, board sidewalks going down, new hotels, new churches, new theatres,
everything new." And later, "Now for the new theatre, newly painted canvas,
tack-hammer at work on stuffed seats in the dress-circle, planing boards in the
pit, new drop curtain let down for inspection, 'beautiful !' a medallion of Shake-
speare, suffering from a severe pain in his stomach over the center, with 'One
touch of nature makes the whole world kin' written under him, and a large, painted,
brick-red drapery looped up by Justice, with sword and scales, showing an arena
with a large number of gladiators hacking away at one another in the distance
to a delighted Roman public; though what Justice had to do with keeping these
gladiators on exhibition was never clearly explained by the artist. There were
two private boxes with little white-and-gold balustrades and turkey-red curtains,
over one box a portrait of Beethoven and over the other a portrait of Handel
upon unfriendly terms, glaring at each other. The dome was pale blue, with
pink-and-white clouds, on which reposed four ungraceful ballet girls representing
the seasons, and apparently dropping flowers, snow, and grapes into the pit. Over
each season there floated four fat little cherubim 'in various stages of spinal
curvature.' . . . The greenroom was a perfect gem, with a three-foot wavy
mirror and cushioned seats around the wall traps under the stage so convenient
that Ophelia could walk from her grave to her dressing-room with perfect ease."
In this theatre Joseph Jefferson first appeared in Chicago, singing ballads
and comic songs, and adding somewhat to his store of spending money by delight-
ing his hearers into throwing coins onto the stage, a thing that was often done
by the audience when they were highly pleased by a song or a dance.
Prejudice against the theatre continued to be strong, and public as well as
private criticism was often severe. It was not recognized as having educational
value, but as a "nursery of crime," and an "alarming assault on the stronghold
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 245
of youthful rectitude." The audiences were made up almost entirely of men,
and the presence of policemen was necessary to keep order, for frequent and
violent quarrels arose in the audience. The managers tried to tempt the ladies
into the theatre, and finally Mr. Jefferson, senior, succeeded in doing so by address-
ing to them a card saying that in Springfield, Illinois, (where the troupe had
recently been performing during a session of the legislature) the ladies attended
the theatre, and that in New York it was quite the fashion for the ladies to go
to the play. Thus by diplomacy the barriers were broken down. One most gratify-
ing result of this was the good order which thenceforth prevailed in the audiences;
another was the demand for improvement in the manner of acting.
When there was but one troupe at a time in the city to occupy the attention
of the theatre going people, that one troupe must furnish a satisfying variety to
its patrons. Instead of the prolonged engagements of the present day, in which
the same play is presented night after night, each time to a new audience, there
was a change of bill every night, and often two plays were given during the same
evening.
The company of McKenzie and Jefferson, successors to Isherwood and Mc-
Kenzie, left the city in 1839, and for some years the dramatic art was neglected
in Chicago. But by 1840 other entertainments were numerous, given by lecturers,
magicians and singers; art exhibitions were held; P. T. Barnum came, with the
first minstrel troupe, and William H. Russell, famous for his descriptive songs
and ballads, appeared. In 1841 there was a presidential campaign celebration,
when there were illuminations and a street band of sixteen pieces in the town, and
a barbecue on the prairie, in honor of William Henry Harrison, "Old Tippecanoe."
A second theatre was open in 1842 in the Chapin building, at the southeast
corner of Wells and Randolph streets, managed by J. S. Hastings. In spite of
the scruples harbored against the theatre, the managers succeeded for a brief
time. The first museum in Chicago was opened in 1844 in the Commercial build-
ing; it was established in order that "the wonders of nature, the beauties of art,
and the relics of antiquity might be exhibited to the public."
MUSICAL SOCIETIES FORMED
The Chicago Musical Society was organized the same year, having for conductor
C. A. Collier, who had been one of the directors of the Old Settlers' Harmonic
Society, mentioned before. This organization endured but a short time. Dur-
ing the next few years several musical societies were started, of more or less perma-
nency. Among these was the Mozart Society, founded in 1847 and directed by
Frank Lumbard, who was in this year appointed vocal teacher in the public schools.
In later years, particularly during the war, he and his brother Jules became locally
very well known as singers and leaders of choruses. The men who did the most
for music in Chicago during the forties were Frank Lumbard, George Davis,
Samuel Johnston, singers, B. August Bode, a pianist and teacher, and Signer
Martinez, a teacher of the violin and guitar, and an amazing performer on three
instruments at once. His musical feats, though perhaps not artistic, were at least
delightful to his audience.
246 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
PERMANENT THEATRES
Rice's theatre was opened on Randolph street in 1847 by John B. Rice, after-
ward mayor of the city. Until this time the theatrical accommodations of the
city had been merely those provided by the managers of the traveling troupes
as they visited the city. The "Rialto," called later the Chicago Theatre, was a
part of a frame building fitted up by.Isherwood and McKenzie and Joseph Jeffer-
son, senior, and used by them on their visits to the city. Now, however, there
came to Chicago a theatrical manager whose intention was to settle there, and who
saw the advisability of providing for the rapidly growing place a permanent theatre
building. The theatre built by Mr. Rice was finished in six weeks, and perform-
ances given in it at once. On the stage of Rice's theatre appeared such celebrated
actors as J. H. McVicker, and Edwin Forrest in the roles of Othello, Hamlet, Mac-
beth and other heroes ; Julia Dean as Lucretia Borgia ; and Lucius Junius Booth
in his impressive impersonations of Shylock, Richard III, and other Shakespearean
characters. It was after one of Edwin Forrest's performances there that he made
a curtain speech, in which he said "Wherever civilization has spread its human-
izing influence, the Drama had been upheld by the wise and the good, and al-
though from time to time it has been bitterly assailed by intolerance, bigotry and
fanaticism for it is much easier to condemn than to appreciate and so scowling
bigots still denounce the theatre, as they once denounced the inspired teaching of
Galileo; yet it has triumphantly withstood their attacks, and will continue to
do so, so long as there is taste and refinement in the world to appreciate the
genius of Shakespeare, or so long as man is composed of those elements which the
great bard of 'all time' has so truthfully depicted." 3
J. H. McVicker, in his young days, when he appeared at Rice's theatre, was
a singing and dancing comedian the same man who later built the first McVicker's
theatre on the site of the present McVicker's. Many a man in Chicago today can
recall his familiar figure usually to be seen near the entrance to his theatre, ex-
cept during the play; when the play was on, he was generally upon the stage,
in one part or another; for in any kind of emergency he could be relied on, as he
knew many parts. In the church yard scene of "Hamlet" he invariably took
the gravedigger's part, and many a time has he been seen to toss up the earth
and presently to come upon poor Yorick's skull, which he held invitingly up to
Hamlet.
NOTABLE MUSICAL EVENTS
A music teacher that left an impression on Chicago, from long residence and
great popularity, was Nathan Dye, generally called "Father Dye." He had
come to Chicago in 1836 to start a music school, had found the outlook discouraging,
and had gone to Milwaukee. In 1848 he returned, and for twenty years taught
music here. He gave many children's concerts, to which "everybody" went. There
are those living now who were his pupils and who remember the popularity of his
concerts.
In 1848 the people of Chicago heard for the first time a great pianist, when
Richard Hoffman gave a concert at the courthouse The year 1850 marks the
organization of the first Philharmonic society and the arrival of opera in Chicago.
3 Andreas, I, 487.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 247
Thus music is taking a dignified and recognized place in the city, a fact that was,
further attested by the formation of the first quartet, composed of Messrs. Davis,
Dunham, Frank Lurnbard, and Miss Mary Nowlin. Concerts were given by them
and by the German Song Union, also founded that year. The Philharmonic
Society was organized as an orchestra by Julius Dyhrenfurth, a German violinist,
who had come to America in the thirties, had found concert touring in the new
country a failure, returned to Germany in 1841, and finally left there on account
of political unrest. In 1847 he came to Chicago, where he good-naturedly treated
his friends to a tune now and then, and gave a concert. As concerts did not pay,
Dyhrenfurth settled on a little farm at the western outskirts of the city, and
began raising vegetables for the market. That was a time when many Germans
were leaving the fatherland for political reasons, and no small number came to
Chicago; there they were welcomed to the hospitality of the Dyhrenfurth home.
There was much music there, as almost everyone who came could play some
instrument; they began to practice together and to give a few concerts in the city,
and the outcome of this was the formation of the Philharmonic Society.
The first opera season that Chicago ever enjoyed was that of 1850. It was
of short duration, for Rice's theatre, where the opera was produced, was burned
to the ground the second night of the engagement. "Sonnambula" was given, with
Elise Brienti as Amina, Mr. Manvers as Elvino, and Mr. Giubetti as Count Rodolfo.
The theatre at each performance was filled with townspeople, and there were even
some local singers in the choruses, and the season started out well. During the
second performance, cries of fire were heard in the street, flames were seen through
the windows, and the theatre, a wooden building, quickly took fire. In an instant
Manager Rice was standing before the audience and calmly directing their de-
parture, thus preventing a panic. A second and much heralded opera troupe came
from New York in 1853, and during their two weeks' stay presented "Sonnambula,"
"Norma" and "Lucia di Lammermoor."
The burning of the only completely equipped theatre in town temporarily
arrested dramatic progress in the city, though within six months Mr. Rice had
erected a second theatre built of brick, with cornices of galvanized iron. In
the interim between the burning of the first building and the completion of the
second, Tremont Hall was used for the few theatrical performances given in Chi-
cago. A popular play that was first given throughout the country in the early
fifties was "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which in Chicago was so successful that it ran
for the unheard-of length of three weeks. From that time it was often given,
arousing the same sentiments as did the book on which the play was based.
NEW THEATRES CONSTRUCTED
"November 10 [1855] the papers announced that North's National Amphi-
theatre was nearly finished. This building, which was situated on Monroe street
between Clark and South Wells (now Fifth avenue), was a wooden structure,
two stories in height, ninety feet front by two hundred and six feet in depth,
and was built by Levi J. North and Harry Turner. The main entrance was
eighteen feet wide, besides which were two stairways, each eight feet wide, leading
to the boxes in the gallery. Its seating capacity was three thousand and sixty-two
persons ; it had a performing ring forty-two feet in diameter, and the building
248 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
was lighted by one hundred and twenty gas jets. In the rear were the accommo-
dations for the company, also stabling quarters for an entire stud of horses." 4
McVicker's theatre was built in 1857 on Madison street where the present
McVicker's now stands, and in time became the rival of Rice's theatre. The pop-
ularity of John B. Rice and his charming wife, both of whom appeared frequently
on the stage of their theatre, continued until they left the stage to devote their
time to other things. Later Mr. Rice was twice mayor of Chicago, and was elected
a representative to Congress, where he was serving his first term at the time of
his death. It was only when his theatre lost him as manager that its prestige
began to lessen, and the costly new McVicker's took from it its prosperity. Mc-
Vicker's was the handsomest playhouse in the West, had cost $85,000, and was
equipped with every convenience and comfort for actors and audience. Its acoustics
were excellent, its stage property extensive, and its drop curtain, on which was
represented the great railroad bridge connecting Rock Island with Davenport,
was thought to be a beautiful piece of art. From its opening night until its
destruction in the great fire, its stage was visited by such famous dramatic and
musical artists as E. A. Sothern, the Richings, father and daughter. Gottschalk,
Carlotta Patti, William Warren, J. H. Hackett, Lawrence P. Barrett, Joseph
Jefferson, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean, Joseph K. Emmet, and Edwin Booth.
Mary McVicker, the little daughter of J. H. McVicker, appeared on her father's
stage in her tenth year, and so pleased were the audiences with her playing of
little Eva, "the angel child," and other parts, as well as the charming quality of
her singing voice, that she did much to help her father through the first difficult
years of his undertaking in Chicago. At eighteen years of age she became the
wife of Edwin Booth, whom she first met when she played Juliet to his Romeo.
She did not again appear on the stage, but devoted herself to her husband and
home. She died in 1881, only thirty-three years old.
BRYAN HALL
A large hall was built in 1860 by Thomas B. Bryan on Clark street, between
Washington and Randolph streets, where the Grand Opera House now stands. It
was dedicated with a concert given under the direction of Hans Balatka, who on
this occasion demonstrated to the people of Chicago his ability as a conductor.
Bryan Hall was much used during the sixties for concerts, as well as for fairs,
balls and other social entertainments, and its owner was always generous in offer-
ing the use of it for public-spirited and benevolent purposes, or to advance the
cause of art. The hall was bought in 1870 by Richard M. Hooley, the man who
had become famous in this country and abroad for his minstrel shows. Hooley
rebuilt the hall into an opera house, which was destroyed in the fire. The Hooley 's
theatre of later day was built in 1872 on Randolph street, between Clark and
La Salle, on the site of the present Powers' theatre, its successor. Mr. Hooley,
like Mr. McVicker, was usually visible in the lobby of his theatre, well known to
a great number of the Chicago theatregoers of his day.
The famous old Wood's Museum was established in 1863 in some rooms on
the north side of Randolph street east of Clark street. Its attractions included a
4 Andreas, I, 494.
WOOD'S MUSEUM
Looking east on Randolph Street from Clark Street, before the fire
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 249
collection of natural history objects, a hall of paintings, a panorama of London,
and occasional concerts held in the exhibition hall. Colonel Wood became the
proprietor of the museum in 1864, and realizing the importance of dramatic per-
formances to attract visitors, he increased its equipment by annexing to the rooms
already used the building called Kingsbury hall, in the rear of the museum, and
added a stock theatre company to the attractions of the place. During part of
the history of the museum, when Frank E. Aiken was manager, it was known as
Aiken's Museum, but the more familiar name was 'resumed when Colonel Wood
became manager in June, 1871.
Uranus H. Crosby built his opera house in 1865, and it existed through many
vicissitudes until the Fire of 1871 ended its strange, eventful history, which is
told in another part of this history.
A "variety" theatre was opened in Chicago in 1863, but its success was not
like that of the vaudeville houses of the present day; in 1869 it was taken over
by Frank E. Aiken and changed into a "first class place of amusement" (an ade-
quate comment on the feeling then prevailing toward a variety show). In a few
months it became the Dearborn theatre, under new management, which survived
until the general ruin of October 9, 1871.
OTHER HALLS AND THEATRES
Among other public auditoriums in Chicago before the Fire were Smith and
Nixon's hall, on the southwest corner of Washington and Clark streets, having
excellent acoustic properties, and being much used for lectures and musical enter-
tainments; Metropolitan Hall, built in 1851 on the northwest corner of Ran-
dolph and La Salle streets, and used for concerts and lectures; the Academy of
Music, on the south side of Washington street, between Clark and Dearborn, used
sometimes for minstrel shows, and again for opera; the Staats theatre, on the West
Side, and, after it burned down in 1870, the Globe theatre, on the same site
on Desplaines street, between Madison and Washington street.
In the shifting audiences of the modern Chicago theatre there is not the same
feeling of personal interest which existed between the actor and his listeners when
the city was new. Then the players were often well known local figures, or
visitors whose repeated appearances were looked for by a large number of friends.
In turn the actors well knew whom they might expect to see in the audience when
they came out upon the stage. It was then not a matter of choosing between a
score of entertainments, each one offering first class attractions. It was rather
the interest felt in seeing an old favorite appear from evening to evening, in one
play after another, as the bill changed in order to offer to the public a variety of
entertainment.
ADVENT OF PATTI
During the first twenty-five years of the city's growth, musical events were
infrequent, musical societies flourished spasmodically, and opportunities for in-
struction were meagre. There had existed, in slow succession, the Old Settlers'
Harmonic Society, which achieved one concert, in 1834; the Chicago Musical
Society, and the Mozart Society, organized in the forties, and each one the victim
of an early blight; the Philharmonic Society, founded in 1850 by Julius Dyhren-
250 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
furth, which existed intermittently and sometimes precariously for about eighteen
years, and which did much in introducing and popularizing orchestral music in
Chicago. The opera came in 1850, and Richard Hoffman had played in Concert
two years before. So the city had had a taste at least, of orchestral, choral and
operatic music, and of concert playing. Then came a singer who was already,
though a child, one of the world's greatest artists, and who was among the first
of that great number of musicians from abroad who have since then visited and
been welcomed in Chicago.
Adelina Patti came to Chicago in 1853 when she was ten years old, and sang
in the dancing hall of the Tremont House, which had been transformed into an
auditorium after Rice's theatre burned down. Mr. Upton describes her as he
saw her then as "a somewhat delicate, pale-faced, dark-browed child, with thick
glossy black hair hanging in two long braids down her back, dressed in rose-
colored silk, pink stockings, and pantalettes. She is perfectly at ease and glances
around confidently, with a mischievous smile lurking about her mouth, but reserv-
ing her special radiance for rows of young girls in the front chairs, with some of
whom she has made a hotel acquaintance. Upon this occasion she followed up
the execution of a brilliant aria with a request most unconventionally made to
her friend Nellie, who seemed to be the favorite in the little diva's dominion, to
come to her room when the concert was over and get acquainted with the sweet-
est doll in the world. At that time she doted upon children, dolls, candy, and
birds. She could be induced to sing any time by the promise of a box of candy
or a bird in a cage. She was an imperious little creature also. She hated encores
as bitterly as Theodore Thomas did. When they were called for, she would refuse
to give them. The insistence of the audience at last would exasperate her, and
she would shake her head vigorously. Thereupon the amused audience would
redouble its efforts, only ceasing when she began to manifest anger by stamping
her little foot."
On this tour with Patti was Ole Bull, who was also for the first time appear-
ing in Chicago. Although his career was scarcely begun, he was already giving
"farewell" concerts in America, a good old custom which he kept up until the last,
appearing in many a "positive farewell" performance, the last time being in
1880, just before his death. Patti began her series of farewells in 1855, when
she was twelve years old, and continued them in various cities for fifty-two years
thereafter.
SYMPHONY CONCERTS
The first symphony concert heard in Chicago was given in 1853 by the Ger-
mania Society, which was making a tour in the West. This organization was the
real pioneer of instrumental music in America; it introduced new music and
maintained a high standard in spite of the discouragements and financial diffi-
culties which were inevitable with such a movement among people not accus-
tomed to hearing classical music. The society had come to this country in 1848,
and for five or six years gave concerts in different cities. Lenschow was the con-
ductor until 1850, when he became discouraged and resigned his place to Carl Berg-
mann, the first 'cellist in the orchestra. When they came to Chicago they were
accompanied by Camilla Urso, the little girl violinist, who was even then, at ten
years of age, a brilliant artist. A year or so after their visit to Chicago the
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 251
society disbanded. Carl Bergmann, its leader, returned to Chicago to lead the
Philharmonic society, but soon left on discovering that he was actively opposed
by local musicians.
THE PATTI FAMILY
Of Adelina Patti's large family of brothers and sisters, several came to Chi-
cago during the fifties and later. Amalia was the first to come, in 1848, and she
returned frequently thereafter. Her voice was quiet, melodious, and well trained,
and her manner graceful and high-bred. With the overshadowing reputations i of her
two sisters, however, her gifts may have been without the proper appreciation. She
was the wife of Maurice 'Strakosch, the impresario. Carlotta Patti, the great
concert singer, came frequently in later years to sing in concerts, and in 1879
to sing at the dedication of Central Music Hall. Her abilities, thought by many
to have been greater than those of her famous sister Adelina, were discounted by
lameness, which was due to a fracture received in childhood. Her voice is said
to have been as rich as her sister's and of greater range, her beauty was greater,
her dramatic ability marked, and her sentiment very fine. To her misfortune
must be ascribed her lesser fame, as her performances were necessarily confined
to concert singing. Carlos Patti, a brother, was an adventurous, melancholy per-
son, a musician whose heart was not in his work, a man without great success.
The singer Teresa Parodi first came to America as a result of the Jenny Lind
fever. The manager Maretzek, wishing to score such a success as Barnum had
done with Jenny Lind, sent for Parodi, and sought to arouse public interest and
anticipation by inventing the same sort of extravagant tales as had been told
of Jenny Lind. Her success was marked, though not as that of the "Swedish
Nightingale." She was in Chicago frequently during the fifties: with Amalia
Patti in 1851 and 1855; in 1856 with Paul Julien, the violinist, and Henry Ahner,
the cornetist, of the Germania Orchestra, recently disbanded. When the first
regular Italian opera troupe visited the city in 1859, Parodi was a member.
A NOTABLE SEASON OF OPERA
From the time when the New York opera came to Chicago in 1853 there was
no opera there until 1858, when the Durand English opera troupe came to Mc-
Vicker's theatre, which had recently been built. The next year the opera season
was a notable one, for then came the first Italian opera troupe, including Teresa
Parodi. Amalia Patti, Cora Wilhorst, Pauline Colson, Henry Squires, Brignoli,
the elder Amodio, Junca, Nicolo, Ettore Barili and Maurice Strakosch as con-
ductor. Then for the first time Chicago heard the operas "Lucrezia Borgia,"
"Traviata," "I Puritani," "Rigoletto," "II Trovatore," "Martha," "La Favorita,"
"Don Giovanni," "Maritana," "Ernani" and "II Poliuto." The favorite operas
of the season were "II Trovatore" and "Martha," and their lovely melodies were
sung by Brignoli, the tenor, whose "tones had a silvery quality and were ex-
quisitely pure ;" by "the pretty and vivacious Pauline Colson," whose "Last Rose
of Summer" excited frantic enthusiasm in the audience; and by the other artists,
whose singing was of a high order of excellence and charm. In those days it
was the tune and melody of music which appealed to the people, whose taste was
not educated by careful reading of musical criticism or attendance upon music
study classes. From this time opera companies frequently visited the city.
252 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
There had been a number of excellent concerts during these years. In 1857
three musicians came together Vieuxtemps, who "was in most respects the best
trained and most cultivated violinist of his day, and played with an elegance of
style, a richness of tone, and a perfection of technic which have rarely been
excelled even in these days;" Madame d'Angri, a contralto with a fine voice; and
Sigismund Thalberg, a pianist of perfect technic, but little feeling. A memorable
concert was one in which Gottschalk appeared with Carlotta Patti, in 1860. Gott-
schalk "was a charmer at the piano, and fascinating as a fellow-being." He was
a lover of Beethoven's music, though in concert he usually played his own pro-
ductions, which the public seemed to prefer him to do. Two years later he and
Carlotta Patti returned, and again in 1864 he was here to open Smith and Nixon's
Hall, on the corner of Clark and Washington streets. This was his last visit
to Chicago.
BAND CONCERTS
After the breaking up of the Germania Orchestra, which had been led by Carl
Bergmann, Henry Ahner, the first cornet, came to Chicago and organized orches-
tral concerts of a high order. His struggle to maintain his standard and at the
same time to make a living was a hard and futile one, and he died in January,
1858. Later in the chapter there is more told of his work and his heroism.
At the Convention of 1860, when Lincoln was nominated for president of the
United States, Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore was in the city with his band. They
were the escort of the New England delegation to the convention, and during their
visit they gave several concerts at Metropolitan Hall. Gilmore came to Chi-
cago often after that, and was always welcome. He loved to give great 'concerts,
in immense buildings, with hundreds of pieces in the band and thousands of voices
in the chorus. When he gave his Chicago Festival lasting three days, in June.
1873, to celebrate the recovery of the city from the Great Fire, he held the affair
in the new passenger station of the Lake Shore Railroad. "It was a structure
which 'satisfied Gilmore's ideas of bigness, for it was nearly two blocks in length
and accommodated forty thousand people. His band was enlarged to three hun-
dred pieces, and a chorus of one thousand singers was organized by Mr. J. M.
Butterfield. It was the kind of festival Gilmore liked no soloists, simply a multi-
tude of voices and instruments uniting in the 'Hallelujah Chorus,' 'The Heavens
are Telling,' 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' 'The American Hymn,' the 'Gloria'
from Mozart's 'Twelfth Mass,' and other pieces, not forgetting the 'Anvil Chorus'
and all the anvils Gilmore could beg or borrow on the South Side. It was a
gala week for all concerned, and the festival closed with 'the most magnificent
and select social affair ever given in the country,' as the official bulletin described
it 'an elegant and recherche ball' in the rebuilt Chamber of Commerce, in which
all 'the distinguished citizens' cooperated with Gilmore, who furnished three orches-
tras, one for the dance, one for the promenade, and one for 'the collation.' "
WAR SONGS
During the first two years of the war music was of little interest to Chicago
except as it was patriotic in character. On the steps of the courthouse, Frank
and Jules Lumbard, John H'ubbard and Charley Smith used to sing war songs.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 253
and to these gatherings the people were attracted to the loss of whatever rival
musical event 'might be in the city at that time. In the third year of the war
Jacob Grau, the impresario, brought an opera troupe, and again in 1864 he came.
In that year the Soldiers' March from "Faust" was played by the Light Guard
Band, a Chicago organization which was regarded with great pride by the citizens.
The next year was signalized by two visits of the first regular German opera
troupe, and by the completion of the Crosby Opera House and its dedication by
Jacob Grau and his troupe. All this made of 1865 a great year in Chicago's
musical and artistic development.
OPERA IN THE SIXTIES
Crosby's was to have been opened the night of April 17, but when the terrible
news of Lincoln's death came, the date was changed to April 20. On that even-
ing the most brilliant audience that had ever come together in Chicago was present
at the dedication of the new opera house, and a program worthy of the occasion
was given by the singers brought for the purpose. Carl Bergmann was the director
of the orchestra, and the star was Clara Louise Kellogg, fascinating, graceful, and
with "a voice of great compass and beautiful quality." Concert players and opera
troupes continued to visit Crosby's until the end of 1868, though in 'the meantime
the opera house was offered for sale by lottery, and was later managed by the
brother of the original owner. Its history was a varied one from that day; for
it was used for promenade concerts, charity balls (the first given in Chicago),
regular opera and opera bouffe ; for the presentation of the spectacular "Humpty
Dumpty," and for a medley of entertainments, including pantomime performances,
exhibitions of trained animals, gymnastic feats and bellringers. Caroline Richings
came twice to Crosby's in English opera, the second time with her own troupe,
which included Zelda Harrison, William Castle, and "Sher" Campbell, all excel-
lent singers. Mr. Upton speaks of these artists as the best English quartet singers
ever heard here. Caroline Richings "was the smartest, brightest, hardest working
artist of them all. . . . Zelda Harrison, who subsequently married Seguin,
the artist, was one of the most delightful of singers and a charming actress, espe-
cially as Nancy in 'Martha,' Cherubino in 'The Marriage 'of Figaro,' as well as in
the serious parts of Urbain in 'The Huguenots,' Azucena in 'Trovatore,' and Adalgisa
in 'Norma.' William Castle, a handsome, dashing tenor, was a universal favorite.
He was an excellent actor, and had a smooth, rich, velvety voice, that lent itself
admirably to melodious roles. 'Sher' Campbell was the basso of the quartet.
. . . He was not a remarkable actor, but he sang with much feeling and ex-
pression, and was at his best in such songs as 'The Heart Bowed Down' in the
'The Bohemian Girl," and 'The Di Provenza' in 'Traviata.' . . . And how we
all thought that the 'Good Night' in 'Martha' would never be sung so well by any
other four ! Certainly there were never four voices better adapted to each other."
In the season of 1869-70 Parepa brought to Crosby's Opera House her own
English opera troupe, in which was "the charming little Rose Hersee, a fasci-
nating singer and refined and elegant actress." Parepa was a most delightful woman,
as well as a beautiful singer. "Her unvarying good nature and big-heartedness,"
Mr. Upton writes, "somehow blended most happily with her rich, flexible, and
almost inexhaustible voice." This troupe first presented in English the operas
254 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
"Oberon," "The Puritan's Daughter," "The Black Domino," and "The Marriage
of Figaro." "In connection with the first performance of 'The Marriage of
Figaro,' the audience was treated to a revised version of the libretto. It will be
remembered that in the conspiracy to punish the Count, Susanna contrives a
rendezvous with him in the garden, and arranges with the Countess that she
shall disguise herself as the maid, the latter assuming the identity of the Countess.
But at this point an awkward situation arose. As Parepa was very stout and
Hersee was very slender, the scene would 'have been so ludicrous as to spoil the
effect. Parepa and Carl Rosa called me into their council, and at last the prob-
lem was solved by the addition of a few lines, introduced as spoken parts, which
humorously explained the situation and forestalled the inconsistency by preparing
the audience for it. The difficulty was satisfactorily bridged over, and few in
the audience probably suspected the text had been tampered with."
THE EXD OF CROSBY'S OPEHA HOUSE
In the spring of 1871 Maretzek returned to Chicago, bringing with him a
German opera troupe, which sang at Crosby's. During the following summer the
opera house was closed while it was being quite made over at an expense of eighty
thousand dollars for redecoration, and for new and luxurious furnishings. The
opening of the new Crosby Opera House was to be Monday evening, October
ninth, with a concert given by Theodore Thomas and his orchestra. The work
of renovation was completed on Saturday, October seventh, and on Sunday even-
ing a number of those interested in things dramatic and musical had gathered at
the opera house to see it lighted up. They were filled with enthusiasm over the
beauty of the new improvements, and hoped great things for the coming season.
Within a few hours, not only Crosby's Opera 'House, but all the business section
of the city, was swept away by flames; and after they had passed there remained
only flat desolation in every direction.
THEATRES AFTER THE GREAT FIRE
In the Tribune of October 9, 1872, the first anniversary of the great fire, we
find an account of the beginning of dramatic activities after the fire, and read that
Colonel Wood, whose Museum on Randolph street had burned down, immediately
secured the Globe theatre on Desplaines street, an old wooden shell which had
run through various vicissitudes of fortune. Colonel Wood announced but went
no further than announcing a grand renovation of the Globe, brought together
a large number of his old Museum company, and opened the Globe on the 21st
of October, only thirteen days after the fire. The next theatre to be opened in
the down town district was Aiken's, on the northwest corner of Wabash avenue
and Congress street. It was dedicated by the Thomas Orchestra in a concert
given October 7, 1872, almost exactly a year after the same orchestra had come
to Chicago to give a concert at 'Crosby's Opera House and had been forced to turn
back from the burning city. Aiken's later became a variety theatre, and was
called the Adelphi. In the second great fire of 1874, the Adelphi was burned to
the ground.
McVicker's theatre was the first one to be rebuilt after the fire on its former
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 255
site, and was opened August 9, 1872. Since then this theatre, located at the same
place, has maintained its standing among the good playhouses of the city. On
October 17th of the same year Hooley's theatre, the second to be rebuilt on the
former site, was opened. Many were there that night to honor and encourage
Mr. Hooley for the fresh start he had made. Just before the fire he had pre-
pared to leave the theatrical business, having made a comfortable fortune, which
consisted largely of Chicago investments. Both his personal property and prop-
erty in buildings were completely destroyed, and he was forced to return to the
work he had prepared to leave.
A new Adelphi, the successor to that one burned in July, 1874, was built, but
not on the old site. Its manager had leased the old postoffice building, whose
walls had stood from the time of the fire of 1871, and were found to be in need
of very little repairing. Within these walls, securely supported, was built a
second Adelphi. The large seating capacity of this theatre, with its balcony and
two galleries, and its two sole narrow flights of stairs as exits, made it a terrible
fire trap. On January 11, 1875, this theatre was opened to the public. In 1878
it was rebuilt and renovated, being then in the hands of J. H. Haverly, who had
changed its name to Haverly's. To this theatre came Colonel Mapleson with the
first Italian opera troupe which visited the city. In 1882 the lease fell in
fortunately, before the walls did so; and the First National Bank leased the
property, tore down the old walls, and built there a bank which they occupied until
1904, when their handsome sixteen story building, erected on the same site, was
completed.
J. H. Haverly next united with John B. Carson and leased property on Monroe
street, just west of Dearborn, and built a new theatre called the Haverly theatre,
which was opened September 12, 1881. In 1885 the name was changed to that
of the Columbia theatre, suggested by Henry Irving, the theatre being re-christened
by Ellen Terry at the end of one of her engagements there. As the Columbia,
the theatre stood until it was destroyed by fire some years later, happily without
loss of life, the fire occurring late 'at night after the usual performance was over.
Soon after the great fire, on the site of the old Bryan hall and Hooley's opera
house, was built a billiard hall which in a few months was transformed into a
German music garden, and later through various changes into a regular theatre.
In September, 1880, John A. Hamlin opened it under the name of the Grand
Opera House, by which it has been known ever since.
Theatre building has increased rapidly during the last thirty years, until
now Chicago has sixty-three theatres, thirty-seven of 'which have a seating capacity
of a thousand or more. The most striking recent development in this line has been
the enormous vogue for five and ten-cent theatres, of which there are now four
hundred and ninety-five in the city. Many of these theatres devote a large part
of the program to presenting moving pictures, which have become extremely pop-
ular in the last few years.
REVIEW OF THEATRICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Among the managers of the days after the fire were J. H. Haverly, whose
name as manager seemed to insure the success of any theatre, no matter what
its previous standing; C. D. Hess, who was well known through the country as
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
an operatic manager before he became acting manager for John A. Hamlin of
the Grand Opera House; William J. Davis, who was connected with the Haverly
theatre in management, and has been one of the well known managers of recent
years.
The history of the drama in Chicago during the past thirty years is about the
same as that of any other large city of the country, owing to the uniformity in
various communities which results from the combination system. In the days
before the fire the stock company plan prevailed ; the proprietor of each theatre
maintained a company, which played throughout the season at his theatre. These
companies were above all versatile, for their repertoire must include a great num-
ber of plays, in order to offer sufficient variety to their public, which could easily
exhaust the resources of the two or three companies in the town, unless these com-
panies continually offered new attractions. McVicker's, which had long been
recognized as the home of the legitimate drama, maintained a stock company longer
than did almost any other theatre in the country. Owing to the difficulty of
enacting some of the greater parts, for which, often, no member of a stock com-
pany was found adequate, these parts were specially studied by players whose
abilities were considered greater than those of the average actor. These players,
trained in particular parts, and known as "stars," traveled from city to city, in
each place being supported by the local stock company, who had prepared their
parts independently of the principal character. The obvious and well known dis-
advantage of this star system is the stress laid upon the work of the principal actor,
and a growing disregard for the acting of the rest, thus preventing an artistic per-
formance. Among the stars who visited Chicago during the seventies, when the
star system prevailed, were Booth, Barrett, Jefferson, Raymond, McCullough,
Maggie Mitchell and Modjeska.
The introduction of the combination plan gave opportunity for the adequate
preparation for an artistic presentation of a play. By this system a company
makes a specialty of one or more plays, the actors rehearse together, travel in a
company from place to place, and carry with them their own costumes and stage
property. They contract with the local manager for their engagement in each
city. The arrival in Chicago of Daly's Fifth Avenue company, in 1876, was the
introduction in this city of the combination plan.
The first public entertainment after the fire was given the latter part of
October by the Wood's Museum Company, who played "The Poor Gentleman"
at the Globe theatre on the West Side. From that time on during the winter there
were frequent lectures and dramatic entertainments in the city. The first con-
cert after the fire was given at Marline's Hall for the benefit of St. John's church.
In February, 1872, Carl Rosa came to the Globe theatre with an opera company, in
which was Theodor Wachtel, the robust and passionate tenor, who made his
Chicago debut at that time. Of him Mr. Upton tells a touching anecdote: "With
all his bluster and pomposity he had a fine vein of sentiment; . . . one even-
ing a telegram was brought to him between acts, announcing the death of his son.
He finished the opera, and at the end of the last act interpolated the song, 'Gute
Nacht, mein herzliches Kind' (Good night, my dearest child)."
ORCHESTRA HALL
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 257
OPERA STARS
Pauline Lucca first appeared in Chicago in 1873. "She was a graceful, hand-
some, and sprightly little creature, a most accomplished actress, and one with
the highest regard for dramatic truth and propriety. In fact, it is difficult to say
which was her greatest attraction, her beautiful, sympathetic singing, teste 'Kennst
Du das Land?' in 'Mignon,' or her dramatic power, teste the scene with Mephis-
topheles at the church door in 'Faust.' " Her fascinating personality made her
the favorite court singer of old Emperor William, and won for her the devotion of
statesmen and the adoration of the army, which she dearly loved.
An opera troupe came to Chicago with Max Strakosch in 1874, and among
the singers were Christine Nilsson, Annie Louise Gary, Italo Campanini, Capoul
and Del Puente. Since then opera has been given in Chicago almost yearly,
though it has had its serious failures as well as its marked successes. Here and
there an operatic star stands out in particular brilliance. Such a one was Christine
Nilsson, who "had a voice of remarkable sweetness and beauty, vocalization of
the most skilful and fluent sort, and brilliant fioriture. She had a peculiar grace
of manner and seemed to sing with her expressive eyes and every motion of her
supple figure. . . . She always observed a most courteous demeanor before
audiences and had a personal appeal in her singing that gave each one in the
audience the impression that she was singing for him or her."
Another favorite was Clara Louise Kellogg, an aristocratic and refined singer
whose voice was comparable to Patti's, of great compass and beautiful quality;
another, Annie Louise Gary, made her appearance in the seventies and enjoyed
a wide popularity. She "had a noble contralto voice of violoncello quality, and
a free and facile manner of singing which appealed to everyone. . . . She
was fairly radiant with kindly good humor, though she never carried familiarity
too far. She was simply a Maine girl, fond of neighbors wherever she found them.
She was democratic and unconventional, and her friendly, sonorous 'Hello' was
but the expression of her warm, sunny nature. She was as unlike the popular
conception of an operatic artist as it is possible to imagine. Prima donnas are
not usually hail fellows well met. They do not carry their sewing on the trains.
They do not mingle with people. They do not give you a stout grip of the hand.
They do not break out into sunbursts of smiles or resounding laughs, or send wire-
less despatches to friends in the audience. Once Gary went to an Illinois town to
sing and had to put up at an inferior hotel. The room to which she was assigned
was not clean. The windows were dingy. It was forlorn and uncomfortable,
but it was the best room in the house. She ordered the maid who showed her up
to bring a broom, a pail of water, and a mop, and help her clean up. In a short
time the room had undergone a change into 'something rich and strange,' and
Gary, feeling relieved, for she could not abide dirt, sat down with her knitting
and awaited the hour for the concert. Strakosch, when her manager, paid her a
high compliment by declaring that, well or sick, she was always ready to go on
and do her best. She could sing every night and never complained when suddenly
called upon. 'She is a Jewel !' said Strakosch."
Emma Abbott, popular throughout the country as an excellent singer and a
fascinating woman, was born in Chicago in 1850. Personally she is interesting,
for she had many endearing homely qualities, and as organizer and main figure
vol. m IT
258 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
of the Abbott English Opera company achieved great success iii the large cities
of America. As a young girl of seventeen she first appeared in Chicago, in con-
cert, and twelve years later, after study in New York and abroad, she appeared
here in opera. Although her work did not appeal to those most critical musically,
still her really good singing, her charm of manner, and her sterling qualities, sin-
cerity of effort and constant industry gained for her the popularity and great
financial success not acquired by many who were greater artists. Miss Abbott's
firm adherence to religious principles caused her at one time to sever her con-
nection with Mapleson, who wished her to sing a role she considered immoral ;
this occurrence, which she feared would cause heavy financial loss, in reality
proved a valuable bit of advertising and increased the number of her admirers.
In 1874 Miss Abbott was married to Eugene Wetherell, who until his death was
her manager and devoted lover. Together they made and saved a large fortune.
Her death occurred in 1891.
She did much to give to the masses of people of this country an insight into
operatic works that but for her would have been unknown to them. The average
ability among the singers in her company was high, her object being excellent and
symmetrical ensemble rather than individual star work.
Jessie Bartlett Davis was an opera singer who was a part of Chicago more
than any of those who came as strangers and acquired popularity here. She was
the daughter of an Illinois farmer, and came to Chicago in the late seventies to
study music, singing in church choirs. She became a member of the Chicago
Church Choir Pinafore company, which was so successful that it made a tour of
the country. In 1880 she married Will J. Davis, a theatre manager of this city.
She sang with Adelina Patti in grand opera, and was brilliant and graceful in
light opera. For twelve years she was a member of the famous Bostonians, a
troupe organized in Boston for the performance of "Pinafore," whose repertory
also included "The Marriage of Figaro," "Chimes of Normandy," "Trovatore,"
"The Bohemian Girl," and other operas. For a season Mrs. Davis sang in the
principal vaudeville theatres of the country, and during the following season she
made her last appearance in a regular singing organization when she was one
of the "all-star" cast of "Erminie." She died May 14, 1905.
During the eighties both Nilsson and Patti were occasionally in Chicago, sing-
ing in opera and concert. In 1884 they were in the city at the same time, Patti
at the head of old Colonel Mapleson's troupe, and Nilsson with Manager Abbey,
who had with him, besides, Sembrich (who then first sang in Chicago), Campanini
and other operatic stars. Colonel Mapleson, "of her Majesty's theatre" was an
oddity. He was a tall, military, rubicund Englishman, feeling his importance, and
indomitable in spite of a career troubled by whimsical prima donnas and impera-
tive creditors. Withal he was usually an affable and most entertaining person.
To him is due the success of Chicago's great operatic festival of 1885, which was
held in a temporary opera house erected for the occasion in the north end of the
old Exhibition building.
MUSICAL FESTIVALS
The first May festival that was given in Chicago was held in 1882, in a festival
hall fitted up in the old Exposition building. The program, the soloists and the
orchestra were the same as those in the May festivals of that year held just be-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 259
fore in New York and Cincinnati under the direction of Theodore Thomas. The
Chicago choruses were trained by W. L. Tomlins, who had worked with them
for eight months before the festival in securing the excellent results with which
alone he was satisfied. There were nine hundred people in the chorus, two hun-
dred and fifty of whom came from Milwaukee.
Among the brilliant artists who sang in the Chicago May festivals of 1882
and 1884 was Madame Materna, who made her Chicago debut in the first festival.
She is particularly famous because of her interpretations of Wagner. She "be-
came Wagner's chosen Brunhilde and the creator of his Kundry, and was identified
with his music-dramas until her retirement in 1897."
Another great Wagnerian singer who came to Chicago was Lilli Lehmann, of
whom Mr. Upton says, "Her voice was one of great beauty as well as power and
flexibility, and her magnetic influence so strong that many who went to scoff at
Wagner returned converted. Her personations were so informed with emotional
power that few could resist their spell. She was a singer possessed not alone of
a beautiful voice, fluent technic, and most engaging presence, but of the rare power
of impressing the listener with the beauty of the Wagner conceptions and the
dramatic quality of his music."
NEW MUSICAL ORGANIZATIONS
The existence of the early musical societies of the city was precarious. The
Chicago Musical Union, founded in 1857, included the best singers in Chicago.
Its spirit, as well as its warblings, was characterized by harmony, and it fully
succeeded in the avowed objects of its formation, which were "public entertainment,
personal enjoyment, and social hilarity." Toward the end of its existence it had
for leader the conductor Balatka, who had been the leader of the old Philharmonic
Society, and for years a most popular conductor in Chicago. At the same time
the Mendelssohn Society was flourishing, and with Adolph W. Dohn as its con-
ductor was giving occasional concerts, for each of which the training was long
and thorough. The Society sang for the last time at the funeral service of Lin-
coln, which was held in St. Paul's church. Following the disbanding of these two
musical societies in 1865, others came into existence and had varied histories of
sharp rivalry, occasional dissensions and pronounced excellence of work until the
fire in 1871, which put a stop to music for some months, and left the city with
no musical organization of any kind. In the next September, according to the
plan of Silas G. Pratt, a chorus of male voices was brought together, and Mr.
Upton was elected president of the club formed. This was the beginning of the
Apollo Club, whose work is familiar to every music-lover in the city. Mr. Dohn
was made conductor, and the concerts that were given justly attracted great atten-
tion. Some notable soloists assisted, and the club sang with the Thomas orchestra
at the time of one of its visits to the city. When the organization was changed
from a Mannerchor to a mixed chorus, Mr. Tomlins became the leader and brought
the work of the club to a high mark of excellence. Mr. Tomlins later gave up
the leadership of the club, and devoted himself to the training of children's choruses,
in which work he became eminent. His place was taken by Harrison Wild, who
has maintained the high standard of the Apollo club, now one of the leading
choral societies in the country.
260 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
The Beethoven Society, which was formed as a mixed chorus soon after the
organization of the Apollo club, with Carl Wolfsohn as conductor, did excellent
work during its eleven years of existence. "There is no question that Mr. Wolf-
sohn was sincerely devoted to music, that he was uncommercial in every way con-
nected with art, and that he labored honestly and indefatigably to make the
Beethoven Society a power in music; but while he was a better musician than
Tomlins, he was not so able a conductor." The rivalry of the two clubs was
keenly felt, and was finally the cause of the disbanding of the Beethoven Society.
The name of George F. Root immediately suggests the war time music, espe-
cially as it was sung in Chicago. "The Battle Cry of Freedom" was written by
him just after he read Lincoln's second call for troops to serve in the Civil War.
The very day it was composed the Lumbard brothers sang the song at an immense
rallying meeting held in the courthouse square. Immediately the air and chorus
were caught up, and were sung throughout the city, in the army, and in all parts
of the North. "It became the Northern Marseillaise," and was the most popular
song of war times. Mr. Root's compositions include such good old songs as
"There's Music in the Air," "Just Before the Battle," "The Shining Shore," and
cantatas for mixed voices. Mr. Root was a citizen of Chicago from 1861 until
his death in 1895, and there are many who remember the figure of the courteous,
amiable old man whose music store on Wabash avenue was a favorite resort of
music lovers.
CENTRAL MUSIC HALL
The opening of Central Music Hall, situated on the southeast corner of Ran-
dolph and State streets, took place December 5, 1879. A concert was given by
the Apollo Musical Club, with Carlotta Patti as soloist. In this building Chicago
had the finest concert hall ever before constructed in the city, a hall intended ex-
clusively for intellectual entertainments of a high class, such as concerts and
lectures. It contained a double organ which was built at a cost of $14,000. In
the building were rooms for commercial establishments, besides seventy smaller
rooms that were rented for offices. The building stood until 1901, when it was
torn down to make room for the enlargement of the store of Marshall Field and
Company. Mr. George B. Carpenter was the founder of Central Music Hall and
its manager until his death in 1881.
WELL-KNOWN IMPRESARIOS
A figure familiar to opera goers for many years was that of Jacob Grau, who
used often to be seen near the box office of the opera house in which his company
sang, and whose personal appearance was indicative of the success of the season.
"When business was bad, 'J. Grau' would appear near the theatre entrance indiffer-
ently attired, wandering about with dejected mien, one eye furtively watching the
box office, and his whole bearing seeming!}' expressing personal hopelessness and
pecuniary distress. On the other hand, when business was good and crowds were
flocking to the opera like doves to the windows, and the box office was besieged,
behold 'J. Grau' flitting about in his crush hat, immaculate tie, and superlative
evening habit, his face wreathed with a continuous performance of smiles and
an expression of serenest satisfaction. 'J. Grau's' hat was at any time an infallible
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 261
index of business." Yet he clamorously insisted that it was not to make money,
but to offer to the public the best in art, that he journeyed about with his singers.
He was here in the third year of the war, thinking that it was then financially
safe to venture into the "States;" he came to dedicate Crosby's Opera House in
1865, and had a most successful season.
Maurice Grau, the nephew of "J. Grau," served an apprenticeship under his
uncle. He was, however, a much more successful manager and a more pleasing
man than Jacob Grau, being quiet and reserved and invariably courteous in his
dealings with others. For several years he was associated with the managers
Abbey and Schoeffel, and for about ten years was sole manager. During his
career as manager- he introduced in America, Jean and Edouard De Reszke,
Calve, Schumann-Heink, Sembrich, Eames, Melba, Ternina, Gadski, Nordica, Rubin-
stein, Wieniawski, Capoul, Sarasate, Joseph Hofmann, and some great dramatic
artists, among them Salvini, Bernhardt, Coquelin, Re jane, and Henry Irving.
Two great musicians came to Chicago in 1872 Rubinstein the pianist and
Wieniawsky the violinist. They played together in concert, and also with the
Thomas orchestra; "and they gave memorable concerts. They set the standard for
piano, violin, and orchestra playing. . . . [Wieniawsky] was a master of his
instrument, and played not only in artistic style, but with a fervor and at times
a boldness and dash that thrilled you." Rubinstein's playing was expressive of
his great passions, modified by his artistic nature. "He could play with tremen-
dous power, . . . and on the other hand his melody was characterized by
a delightful singing quality, for with all his energy, which sometimes appeared
ferocious, he still had great beauty of tone." Of the playing of Rubinstein and
Wieniawsky Mr. Upton says, "The two players were admirably mated, both trained
musicians, skilled interpreters, and players for whom difficulties did not exist,
and both infused with a divine fury at times."
NOTED ORCHESTRA LEADERS
The story of the first orchestral association formed in Chicago has been told in
that of the old Philharmonic Society, which was the result of the efforts of Julius
Dyhrenfurth. It continued intermittently for same years after its formation, un-
der various leaders, each one giving up the struggle after a short time. Carl Berg-
mann, of the disbanded Germania Society, was at one time its leader; Henry Ahner
directed it later. Among the musical people of Chicago the memory of Ahner is
one to excite deepest sympathy. With an orchestra of twenty-six pieces, he gave
popular concerts in Chicago in 1856, 1857, and 1858. The attendance upon these
at first was good ; but the city was not ready for orchestral music ; the audiences
gradually grew smaller, and Ahner, defeated and disheartened, was finally forced
to give up the work, since he had no financial support and was himself a poor
business man. His friend Mr. Upton says of him, "Never was there a musician of
more honest purpose, a gentleman of finer quality, than Henry Ahner. Never did
a musician work harder, and never was a musician more ungratefully treated or
meagrely compensated. His career in Chicago resembled a tragedy." "He had
some money when he came to Chicago, but lost it all. His appeals for help were
not recognized, but he labored on manfully and courageously. He was a man of
262 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
exquisite refinement and most tender sensibilities, and being also of delicate
physique, the strain was too much for him. I have a letter from him among my
musical souvenirs, written to me two days before his last concert, in which he de-
sires me to print the programme and ask people to come to the concert, adding at
the close: 'I feel that I shall not trouble you again.' The concert was given to
a handful of people, and within two weeks afterwards he died penniless, broken-
hearted, and almost alone. Two or three of us paid his funeral expenses, and ac-
companied his body to the cemetery one bitterly cold January afternoon in a
blinding snow-storm, and left him to his rest."
Hans Balatka was the next noteworthy leader of the Philharmonic Society.
He gave his first concert November 19, 1860, and on that evening Wagner's music
was first played in Chicago, when a chorus from "Tannhauser" was given. For
six seasons Hans Balatka and his orchestra were immensely popular, and in a
musical way Chicago grew almost sophisticated in her possession of a really ex-
cellent orchestra, and in hearing the chamber concerts provided by Balatka. After
this, however, the interest in the orchestra diminished, and at the end of the eighth
season the Philharmonic Society was again discontinued. A new standard in music
had been set, however, for Balatka had introduced much classical music and had
brought to the city many notable soloists. He reorganized the Philharmonic Society
in 1868 and was entering upon a second season with it, when Theodore Thomas
came to Chicago with his Central Park Garden orchestra, and gave his first con-
cert there. The work of Thomas was so markedly of a high order that it hence-
forth became the standard, and Balatka from that time appeared seldom as a con-
ductor.
THEODORE THOMAS
The frequent visits to Chicago of the Thomas orchestra, which acquainted the
public with the highest class of music, enlivened and maintained the interest in
orchestral music to such an extent that there came to be a demand for a permanent
orchestra such as Boston already had. As a result of this, at a meeting of those
who were ambitious for the musical development of the city, the Chicago Orches-
tral Association was organized on March 5, 1891, "formed for the purpose of main-
taining a permanent orchestra of the highest character, resident in Chicago, and
giving orchestral and other musical performances of the class." Theodore Thomas
was invited to be the director, and in spite of conditions that were obviously un-
favorable to the success of such an orchestra in Chicago, he accepted. Of the con-
ditions there he writes in his memoirs, "Chicago is a city of nearly two million in-
habitants, but the great majority of them belong to the class employed in mills,
factories, and at all kinds of manual labor, while the cultivated class is compar-
atively small. This gives only a limited field of activity for a musician, and offers
him little opportunity to add to his income by teaching or private engagements.
The consequence is that there is little inducement outside of the orchestra for men
of the ability required for a first-rank orchestra to settle there, and this makes it
very difficult to procure them. The modern repertoire does not permit any cur-
tailment in the size of the orchestra, and as Chicago could not furnish our lead-
ing players, they had to be brought from other parts of the world. In many cases
the men thus imported were unused to such a rigorous climate as that of Chicago,
and were driven away again by sickness, and had to be replaced."
GEORGE P. UPTOX
THEODORE THOMAS
ILLINOIS THEATRE
Original owned by Chicago Historical Society
McVICKER'S THEATRE BEFORE THE FIRE
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 263
The first regular season of twenty concerts and rehearsals began October 16,
1891, and from that time until the present the concerts given by the Theodore
Thomas Orchestra, as it later came to be known, have been continued regularly.
At first they were given in the Auditorium, an ideal place for presenting orchestral
music; in 1904 the Association completed Orchestra Hall, on Michigan avenue,
which is now the home of the Theodore Thomas Orchestra. Mr. Thomas was
leader of the orchestra from the time of its beginning until his death in January,
1905. Since then the orchestra has been under the leadership of Frederick A.
Stock, and has maintained the high standard set for it by the great man who for
fourteen years conducted it, and who was in the midst of his work when his death
came, a few weeks after the realization of his life-long hope for a permanent home
for his orchestra.
SKETCH OF THEODORE THOMAS
Theodore Thomas was born October 11, 1835, in Esens, East Friesland, by the
North Sea. "Both my parents," he writes in his autobiography, "were refined
and honest people." His father was Stadtpfeifer, or town musician, and the boy
played the father's music. At the age of five he was playing in public. In his
tenth year his family came to America and landed in New York. There the son
played, with his father, in theatre orchestras, and later in a navy band, in order
to help in the support of the family. This made schooling impossible. At fourteen
"Master T. T.," as he advertised himself, was concert touring in the South, trav-
eling from town to town "on horseback alone if possible at night carrying with
me plenty of cigars and a pistol, hoping to be attacked on the road by bandits."
In 1850 he was back in New York. About that time he began to realize the ne-
cessity of an education if he were to accomplish anything in the world.
His experience as orchestra player in the theatre had already made him ac-
quainted with something of Shakespeare, and in the same way he now became ac-
quainted with the plays of great German dramatists. In the fifties many mu-
sicians of the first rank came to America, and an immense stimulus was given to
the boy's development in listening to these soloists and thus having his taste
formed and his musical faculties -trained. He himself played continually, in con-
certs and opera, and was very popular. In 1852 Thomas was leader of the sec-
ond violins in the orchestra of Karl Eckert, who was in America with Madame
Sontag's opera troupe. Of this man, "the only really fully equipped and satis-
factory conductor who visited this country during that period," Mr. Thomas said,
"his influence probably laid the foundation of my career." The next year he was
concertmeister with Arditi as conductor, and wrote, "As concertmeister, I had
both power and responsibility. . . . The order I had learned under Eckert
I retained, and this made a first-class orchestra possible, and gave me much in-
fluence. From that time on there was probably no good instrumentalist who did
not spend his first years in America in the orchestra I formed. It had a standard
thereafter which made itself quickly felt."
In 185-1 Thomas was elected as conductor of the New York Philharmonic So-
ciety. In that year he first visited Chicago, as first violinist in a small orchestra
which came with a concert troupe composed of Amalia Patti, Ole Bull, Maurice
Strakosch and Bertucca Maretzek. In the following year he was first violin in
264 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
the Mason quartet, which gave concerts in New York. In 1857 the quartet was
continued as the Mason-Thomas quartet, and when, soon afterward, Mr. Mason
devoted himself entirely to teaching, Thomas became the leader, and con-
tinued so until 1868, when the quartet was disbanded, owing to Thomas' grow-
ing attention to orchestra work, and his being obliged to travel. During these
years Thomas had been studying the technicalities of music, and had served his
apprenticeship as a practical musician and conductor. It was said of him that
one of the greatest violinists in the world was spoiled to become the greatest con-
ductor in the world.
THE THEODORE THOMAS ORCHESTRA
Convinced that "what this country needed most of all to make it musical was
a good orchestra, and plenty of concerts within reach of the people," Thomas in
1864 organized an orchestra of sixty players; then followed the seasons in which
were given in New York the Symphony Soirees, and the Summer Night Concerts
given in the open air. Traveling with his orchestra, now greatly enlarged, was
tried as an experiment and was found to be successful. It was by this means
that Wagnerian music, then unknown outside of New York, was played in this
country. The custom of giving musical festivals, also unknown in America, was
introduced by Thomas in 1873, when a great festival was given in New York and
another in Cincinnati.
Of the year 1870 Thomas wrote, "the orchestra had now become a first-rank or-
ganization, numbering sixty permanent members. Leading artists were sitting at
all the first desks, and a high standard began to appear higher, in fact, than had
ever been reached before in America, both in programmes and in execution. The
public began to be interested, and the future looked bright."
Mr. Thomas gave the first series of Summer Night Concerts in Chicago in 1877,
beginning Monday, June 18, in the old Exposition Building, under the manage-
ment of Carpenter and Sheldon. Of these concerts he wrote, "The building in
which these concerts were given had been erected for exposition purposes, and
was an immense structure, two Chicago blocks long, and proportionally wide, and
innocent of either partitions or interior finish. .One end only was used for con-
cert purposes, and was converted into a sort of German garden by evergreen trees
planted in tubs, and tables for refreshments in the rear part of the building. Com-
mon wooden chairs were placed in rows upon the wooden flooring of the front
part for seats, and the passing of many railroad trains outside at times completely
drowned out the music. In short, it was the last place in the world in which
one would have expected orchestral concerts to succeed. Nevertheless, there was
something in the very size and informality of the building which made these con-
certs always delightful, notwithstanding its unsuitability for musical purposes, and
the programmes, though popular in character, were always filled with good stand-
ard music, besides many novelties, and each week we gave one Symphony and
one Composer's programme."
PERMANENT HALL FOR THE ORCHESTRA DESIRED
With the exception of two years spent in Cincinnati, Thomas remained in New
York until 1891, with his mind always set firmly on certain definite results the
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 265
improvement of the public taste and the securing of a permanent hall with endow-
ment for his orchestra. The physical difficulties and financial strain of filling all
the engagements of the orchestra, including concerts given in other cities, was so
great that frequently it seemed impossible to continue the New York concerts un-
less the orchestra might be endowed and made permanent. Of such obstacles to
progress Thomas said, "Justice cannot be done to the present musical literature,
either in quality or quantity, except by a permanent orchestra which rehearses to-
gether constantly. To make such an orchestra earn its own maintenance by play-
Ing every night which means anywhere and everywhere and traveling all day,
does not allow time for rehearsals, nor for any high purpose, and makes artistic
performances impossible. I saw no way of keeping together what I had built up
during so many years of hard labor."
He continued his work there, however, and was able, in 1882, with the help
of choruses which he had formed, to give a gigantic musical festival in New York,
of which he says, "The greatest and most enduring effect was produced by the
Wagner programme, especially the excerpts from 'Die Gotterdammerung,' for
which Madame Materna had been brought over from Vienna. This performance
created the greatest excitement I have ever witnessed, and made many converts to
the Wagner music dramas. Considered from every point of view, this Festival
was one of those great and musical occasions which rarely occur twice in a life-
time; it will long be remembered in the musical annals of New York." This pro-
gramme was given at the fourth Cincinnati festival, which followed immediately,
and a little later at the first of the Chicago festivals.
It is inspiring to read of the increased scope of succeeding concert tours. At
first those cities in which orchestral music was possible were but few. Outside of
New York the cities visited for occasional concerts were Boston, Philadelphia,
Cincinnati, Chicago, and cities along the route. Later trips included the South.
Festivals were given in Cincinnati, Philadelphia, New York and Chicago. Wag-
ner's music was introduced, not only in New York, but in the cities which the or-
chestra visited. Now, in the spring of 1884, a festival tour was made from ocean
to ocean ! In spite of discouragements, of the failure of the greatest American
city to provide permanently for an orchestra, in spite of the necessity of many
years of wearisome traveling and overwork, Theodore Thomas was lifting the
standard of music in this country higher and higher, and was making headway
through every difficulty toward the goal for which he had started in the beginning
the cultivation of the public taste for instrumental music, and making music
something beside a source of amusement to the public.
With all this accomplishment, however, Thomas wrote of the prospect for his
New York orchestra in 1888, "the situation, instead of being better, was even
worse for us than at the start, because all these years of educational work were
beginning to bear their legitimate fruit. The people all over the country were ac-
quiring a taste for orchestra music, but were not yet sufficiently cultivated to be
very discriminative, and this opened a field for inferior orchestras and military
bands. As they interfered with our pecuniary success, I preferred to stop." He
had been promised that a large and well-appointed music hall would be built in
New York for the orchestral concerts, but as the realization of this seemed less
and less probable, he told his friends and the Philharmonic Society that he would
266 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
wait for two years to see if anything were done toward founding a permanent or-
chestra. Boston had established a permanent orchestra in 1880, and ten years
later Chicago, "newly awakened to educational interests of all kinds," was am-
bitious to do the same thing. Still no sign from New York of anything of the
kind, and in the meantime the chance that Thomas had offered was slipping away.
In Chicago an orchestral association was formed in 1891, and the leadership of the
prospective orchestra was offered to Thomas. He decided to leave New York, and
the autumn of 1891 found him in Chicago with sixty men, whom he had brought
with him from New York. To complete the orchestra, thirty more players were
added, and the first regular season of the Thomas concerts was begun.
THE AUDITORIUM
Of one of his great difficulties Thomas wrote, "The only hall in which our con-
certs could be given was the Auditorium, an immense theatre, with a seating ca-
pacity of four or five thousand, which had been erected a few years previously for
opera festivals, political conventions, and other large popular gatherings. The
great size of this theatre called for the largest possible orchestra, but even then
it was often ineffective, notwithstanding the remarkable acoustic properties of the
building. It also contained so many seats that people felt under no obligation to
buy season tickets to our concerts, knowing full well they could always find good
places at the box-office at the last minute, whenever they desired to attend a per-
formance. Thus our audience, instead of being regular, fluctuated from concert
to concert, according to the weather or any other distracting cause. Our season
was also interrupted several times a year by the other engagements for which the
building was rented, such as the opera season, flower show, balls, and the like.
This had the effect each time of scattering our audience and preventing people
from forming the habit of regular attendance as well as of interfering with our
rehearsals, while the preparations for these events were in progress. In other
ways the Auditorium was not suited to our use." The lack of rehearsal rooms,
locker space, waiting rooms, library, offices, and other evident necessities was a
great inconvenience to the orchestra.
It was discouraging work at first. The people who attended the concerts did
not like symphonies, and would even stay away when they were announced. When
the question came before the Association of lowering the standard to please the
majority, the vote was always "No," and each time the cause of good music was
stronger. The work of the Boston orchestra was invaluable as an ally to Thomas
as well as to directors in other cities, who found the inevitable difficulty in intro-
ducing unfamiliar classical music to their audiences. Civic pride made the Asso-
ciation decide that Chicago's concert programs should not be inferior to those of
Boston. So year after year the Chicago Orchestral Association stood by the di-
rector and paid the annual deficit. At last it was decided that the orchestra must
justify itself by standing alone, and efforts were begun to raise an endowment fund
from which a home for the orchestra could be built and the expenses paid. The
music lovers of the city were appealed to, and to the immense gratification of
every one interested in the perpetuation of the orchestra, within a year most of the
prescribed $750,000 was raised, having been given in small sums and large by
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 267
rich and poor. Orchestra Hall was completed in the fall of 1904, and the new
and permanent home, given to the orchestra by the people of Chicago, was dedi-
cated Wednesday evening, December 14, 1904, with a program in which the Apollo
Musical Club and the Mendelssohn Club, both of Chicago, assisted the orchestra.
THE CHICAGO ORCHESTRA
The autobiography of Theodore Thomas, finished the last summer of his life,
at Felsengarten, his vacation home in the White mountains, is closed with this:
"We are now in the fourteenth season of the Chicago Orchestra. Its permanency
is secure, its home is built and the object for which I have worked all my life is
accomplished. The old saying, 'Better late than never' comes to my mind as I
see in my seventieth year the realization of the dreams of my youth. But I trust
I may still live long enough to show my gratitude to the men and women who have
made this possible, and to leave behind me a young and vigorous institution to
crown their achievement with a long future." The note of satisfaction, of work
well done, of an object at last achieved, is clear in these words of the great leader.
Then came the opening concerts of the first season in which the future of the or-
chestra was assured. The sixth concert was given in the Auditorium on Decem-
ber 9, the last to be held there, and rehearsals were begun in the new hall. There
the plastering and fitting work had been so recently finished that the air was still
damp and the building cold and full of draughts. Some of the musicians, among
them Thomas himself, took severe colds. Nevertheless, he continued to conduct
rehearsals, anxious to establish the orchestra in the new hall, and to prove to
the city the excellence of the building. The strain upon his physical strength was
too great, and the concert on Christmas eve, 1904, was the last that Theodore
Thomas was ever to lead. The grippe from which he suffered soon changed to
pneumonia, and at daybreak, January 4, 1905, he breathed his last.
In Theodore Thomas Chicago had one who was called by musicians of note
the greatest conductor in the world. In interpreting the message of the com-
posers he so drew from his players the most skilled and intelligent reading, that
the audience was taught and came to understand the music. Thomas' mastery of
men and of occasions was a great factor in his achievement, as was the splendid
confidence that he felt both in himself and in his public. He was a man of
strength and simplicity of character, of strong passions and marked control of them.
These are some of the qualities, which combined with magnificent bodily health,
brought him near to the final consummation of his noble endeavor. The beautiful
music hall that stands on Michigan avenue is his monument, and his heritage to
Chicago is one of the world's greatest orchestras, which plays to thousands of peo-
ple educated by him to demand the best music and the most artistic execution of it.
CHAPTER LV
SCHOOLS OF THE PRESENT DAY
CHILD STUDY DEPARTMENT PEDAGOGY AND MEDICAL SCIENCE COMPULSORY EDUCA-
TION CHILD LABOR TRUANCY PROBLEM AGE LIMITATIONS THE JUVENILE
COURT JOHN WORTHY SCHOOL PARENTAL SCHOOL CONDITIONS OF ENTRANCE
CRIPPLED CHILDREN SCHOOL FOR APPRENTICES VOCATIONAL SUBJECTS IN
THE HIGH SCHOOLS EVENING SCHOOLS RECREATION CENTERS VACATION
SCHOOLS MUSIC DRAWING PHYSICAL CULTURE GERMAN OPEN AIR SCHOOLS
ASSIGNMENT OF TEACHERS- TEACHERS* PENSION FUND SCHOOL BUILDINGS
FRESH AIR CRUSADE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOLS SCHOOL HOUSE
FOR THE PEOPLE THE SCHOOLS AT PRESENT.
CHILD STUDY
O Dr. W. S. Christopher, a member of the board of education from 1898
to 1901, is due the credit of inaugurating in the public schools of Chi-
cago the work of the department of Child Study and Scientific Pedagogy.
The work consists of a scientific study of the child from the physical
side. Careful measurements and tests were taken among the children
of a school which was selected because it contained what may be called normal
children those whose parents are in comfortable circumstances and who are uni-
formly well fed and well clothed, and are mostly of American birth. By this
means a series of norms or averages was established and could be used as a basis
of comparison in measuring other children. Elaborate tables and charts are made
out based upon the conclusions drawn after anthropometric observations had been
made on a great number of children, and are of great value in determining the
relation of mental capacity to physical characteristics. The conclusions drawn by
Dr. Christopher after a series of tests made were:
1. In general there is a distinct relationship in children between physical
condition and intellectual capacity, the latter varying directly as the former.
2. The endurance of boys is greater than that of girls at all ages, and the
difference seems to increase after the age of 9.
3. There are certain anthropometric indications, which warrant a careful and
thorough investigation into the subject of co-education in the upper grades.
4. Physical condition should be made a factor in the grading of children for
school work, and especially at the entrance into the first grade.
5. The great extremes in physical condition of pupils in the upper grades
make it desirable to introduce great elasticity into the work of these grades.
6. The classes in Physical Culture should be graded on a physical instead of
an intellectual basis.
268
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
The work of the Child Study department is valuable in determining with great
nicety and accuracy the efficacy of the part played toward the pupil's development
by, for instance, the study of manual training. This accuracy of conclusion is ar-
rived at by properly arranged sense tests in the hands of an observer whose
psychological information gives him a full knowledge of the extent, varieties and
the limitations of the senses under examination. Such examinations applied to
groups of pupils furnish reliable data from which to judge of the value of work
done for sense training, to determine the good and bad elements in the work, and
in general to fix its pedagogic value, and therefore the commercial value, of the
whole work or any of its parts.
Other features of the work make it of the greatest value in determining how
to deal with those pupils of foreign parentage whose characteristic hereditary tend-
encies create a special school problem; in studying the characteristics of backward
or defective children or truants; in testing the relative value to the pupil of after-
noon and morning sessions, or of determining whether one or two sessions are best
for pupils of a certain age.
The connection between medical science and pedagogy has long been estab-
lished, and the recognition by the Chicago board of education that pedagogy must
be approached through the medium of psychology and child study resulted in the
establishment in its rooms of a psycho-physical laboratory. The objects and func-
tions of the Department of Child Study and Pedagogical Investigation are thus
outlined :
I. Research work, consisting of
a. Collecting anthropometric and physcho-physical data for the purpose of
establishing norms, and for determining such relationship as may be of ser-
vice in pedagogy.
b. Applying accurate scientific methods to special pedagogical problems,
particularly methods of teaching, and determination of the pedagogical value
of various studies.
II. Examination of individual pupils with a view to advising as to their
pedagogic management.
III. Instruction given to teachers in child study and psychology.
BACKWARD CHILDREN
The ungraded rooms established in certain schools for the instruction of back-
ward children, to which pupils are sent only after examination by the child study
department, have lessened the truancy evil in the schools.
Chicago has the distinction of being the first city in the world to establish such
a department, and much credit is given her by writers of those countries where
education is considered of greatest importance. Dr. D. P. MacMillan is at the
head of the department.
When a child is found by a teacher to belong, in all probability, to one or an-
other of the groups for which the board of education has provided special facil-
ities and training adapted to their needs, it is the duty of the teacher to report
such a pupil to the Child Study department, acting in its capacity as bureau of
information on special education. Besides the pupils sent by teachers for exam-
270 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
ination by the department, many others are brought by interested parents or guard-
ians who wish to learn more of the special peculiarities of backward, unusual or
specially gifted children. Moreover, by courtesy of the board of education, the ser-
vices of this department have been in a number of cases extended to parents and
guardians who are non-residents of Chicago, some of them coming from distant
parts of the country.
At the present time, with the limited resources of the department in bringing
to bear on each case, directly or indirectly, the proper influence for the child's
betterment, and in following up all cases which demand attention, the work is
necessarily partial, and without altogether satisfying results. "Were our educa-
tional system so equipped," writes Dr. MacMillan, "and our social life so organ-
ized that the requirements of each child could be satisfyingly met in line with his
individual needs by providing the requisite physical care and training, the dis-
position of the children brought to this department for assistance could be car-
ried out with more satisfaction to all concerned. . . . Needless to say, our in-
stitutions, public homes and educational facilities in the public schools, are totally
inadequate to successfully cope with the social and educational problems confront-
ing a department which is, in so large a measure, concerned with children which
are essentially misfits, variants and exceptionals in a general scheme of education
in a modern city. It is, however, a very essential first step in dealing with the
problems of special children, to disclose the magnitude of the task of attempting
to cope with the whole set of circumstances and conditions as they are." At pres-
ent the task of the department must be to correct and remedy the cases demanding
immediate attention, and to do everything possible under the circumstances in the
way of prevention of bad conditions through prescribing a special course of edu-
cational treatment and mental hygiene. The establishment and maintenance of
special classes or schools is now a recognized part of the general scheme of every
progressive municipality, and in Chicago assignment of pupils to such classes is
done after examination by the child study department.
Whenever a child needs special physical care and treatment, the child's parents
or guardians, if their financial circumstances allow, are advised to consult the fam-
ily physician; or, if this is impossible on account of the expense, to take the child
to a public dispensary or to ask the assistance of the Children's Hospital society.
Some children were treated free of charge by philanthropic physicians. The
school nurses of the public school system co-operated enthusiastically and efficiently
with the department in acting as intermediary between the school and the home,
to insure that there is action taken to assist the child in gaining from his school
experience all that his powers make possible.
Besides the work with children, the department directs the physical examin-
ations given, with the assistance of the school medical inspectors, to all high school
graduates entering Normal school, those receiving certificates to teach and those
who receive additional new certificates.
It is the hope of the department to be able to increase its work still further in
being able not only to prescribe and furnish more means for the education of chil-
dren placed by circumstances at a disadvantage with their fellows, but to make
a more exhaustive study of normal children, with reference to the gathering of
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 271
further data on the natural growth of children in bodily control and mental de-
velopment.
COMPULSORY EDUCATION
The Illinois compulsory education law was passed in 1893. It was ineffective
because there was no provision made for enforcing a penalty upon parents or
children for disregarding it. The parents of truants could be notified and re-
minded of the law, but if they remained indifferent or deliberately kept their
children from school, no further effort was made to enforce the law. The superin-
tendent of compulsory education and the fifteen truant agents that were appointed
after the law was passed accomplished their main purpose merely by watchfulness
and persuasion. A large number of children were found begging on the streets,
mostly girls between the ages of ten and twelve years, and for these but little
could be done, as their parents were anxious for the money they begged, and ut-
terly indifferent to their welfare. Incorrigibles were also beyond the manage-
ment of either truant officers or parents.
On the contrary, it was found in many instances, after visiting the homes of
children who were out of school, where poverty and its evils prevailed, that help
furnished by charitable organizations or by individuals made it possible, as it
had not been before, for the children to be sufficiently clothed to go to school.
A new compulsory education law of 1897 increased the period of compulsory
attendance from twelve to sixteen weeks, and enabled truant officers to enforce
the regulations. As a direct result of the enforcing of this law, provision was made
by the Illinois legislature for a parental school, where truant and incorrigible chil-
dren under fourteen years may be placed for varying periods.
Through the activity of the compulsory education department the sale of to-
bacco to the school children in school supply stores was checked, and surveillance
by truant officers and police of "catch penny" stores near school houses is main-
tained ; the keepers of such stores are warned against encouraging gambling and
truancy among children.
One branch of the work in this department is that of bringing the crippled
children to and from school in buses furnished by the city. Still another branch
of the department is the medical inspection of schools for the prevention of the
spread of contagious diseases. Not only does medical inspection do much to pre-
vent the spread of disease in the schools, but it helps to disclose to the city health
department attempts to conceal the existence of such diseases in homes to which
the truant officer goes to investigate the cause of absence. The emergency corps
system obtains, by which principals call for a medical inspector, whenever needed,
and an inspector is immediately sent to the school where his services are desired.
Formerly there was a general medical inspection system in the schools, according
to which a large number of inspectors were on duty, each of whom was given a
district containing a group of schools which he regularly visited. The present
system is efficient and is a great saving of expense to the board. The prompt ser-
vice of medical inspectors, followed by their thorough fumigation of infected
school rooms, has helped to check the spread of contagious diseases in the schools.
In addition to making calls when summoned, the inspectors conduct physical ex-
272 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
aminations of crippled children, boys committed to the parental school, and pupils
who are track athletes, and members of football and baseball teams.
TRUANCY PROBLEM
Truancy is often stopped in individual cases when it is found possible to im-
prove the physical condition of the homes of the children whose absence is in-
vestigated. One excellent method of preventing it is the promptness of the de-
partment in sending a truant officer to investigate an unexplained absence after the
pupil has been out of school for four days. This vigilance prevents thousands of
children from developing into habitual truants and reminds parents not to become
lax in sending their children to school.
According to a law passed in 1903 the period of compulsory attendance was
extended to coincide with the school year, and the prosecution of indifferent parents
was provided for. The child labor law excludes children of premature working age
from the factories, and punishes employers who violate it; the Juvenile court and
Parental school laws punish the habitual truant and delinquent, but the compulsory
education law is the only one that imposes a penalty on parents, and parents are,
in most instances, the real culprits. All the corrective institutions of the city,
county and state could effect little if nothing were done to strike at the root of
the juvenile evil the negligent parent. When the children are paroled back to
homes where parents are indifferent, they would probably soon become truants
again were it not that the parents are now made to feel their own responsibility in
maintaining the standard of regularity and correct habits. In the prosecution of
parents it is the custom of the department to give a warning notice when they keep
their children out of school in violating the law. If the warning notices are heeded
and the attendance thereafter regular, no prosecution follows, but if the warning
is disregarded the parents are immediately brought into court and fined. Since
the greatest evils with which this department has to cope are the indifference of
parents, and poverty, so the greatest factors in increasing school attendance and
in checking truancy have been the prosecution of parents under the compulsory
education law, and the enforcement of the child labor law. A decided advance in
placing the responsibility for regular attendance on the parents is that by this
system a greater degree of paternalism of the state is obviated by compelling lax
paternalism in the home to comply with laws that safeguard childhood and assist
materially in maintaining the standard of enrollment and attendance at the schools.
Most of the truants come from the four lowest grades. They are usually boys
who have outgrown their classes physically, while lagging behind mentally. There
are not enough ungraded rooms in the public school system at present, so there is
not a chance for the dull boy to take studies especially adapted to his ability, and
so, hating to be in a "baby class," he becomes a truant. There are many boys of
twelve to fourteen years of age in the primary grades; and on the other hand, com-
paratively few from the seventh and eighth grades are sent to the corrective in-
stitutions. The delinquents, habitual truants, and incorrigibles come from grades
where there is no manual training. In the John Worthy and Parental schools
manual training forms a large part of the work and is seen to be the very thing
needed for most of the boys. The obvious moral to be drawn is that the school
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 273
is more attractive and appeals to the greater interest of boys when the industrial
is included with the academic in the curriculum.
AGE LIMITATIONS
A recent school attendance law increases the compulsory attendance age to in-
clude children between fourteen and sixteen who are unemployed; also to eliminate
a further cause of truancy, the parochial and other private schools of the city have
by special arrangement been included within the service of the compulsory attend-
ance department, and much better results obtained. It is no longer possible for a
pupil to elude the department by taking refuge in the conditions of first one school
system then another. Children are often seen on the streets during regular school
hours, which is accounted for by the fact that they are either among those who are
in half day sessions, or are enjoying a holiday given by the private school which
they attend.
There is a loop hole for the truant who is between the ages of fourteen and
sixteen years, and unemployed, for no boy over fourteen years can be committed to
the Parental school, and until the Parental school law is made to conform with
the school law, which fixes the maximum age for compulsory school attendance at
sixteen years, there will be nothing to do with a truant between fourteen and six-
teen years, who is beyond the control of teachers and parents, is not employed and
is not sufficiently bad to be sent to the John Worthy school or an institution for
delinquents.
The causes of truancy are found almost entirely to be improvidence, hunger,
uncleanliness and intemperance in the home, which also produces the dependent,
the backward, the sub-normal, and underfed child. Wife desertion is a growing
cause of truancy. Usually when a woman is left by her husband she has a large
number of children to care for. She leaves them all day, generally with little to
eat, and with no means of having it properly cooked. The children of the family,
usually the oldest girl, do the cooking, and do it poorly. It is a result of inves-
tigation that many more suffer from malnutrition due to improperly cooked food,
than to actual want of food. For this reason domestic science is strongly recom-
mended by school authorities as a necessary factor in juvenile reclamation. Be-
sides this evil of malnutrition other causes of truancy and delinquency are marital
discord, 'separations, negligence and conflict of parental authority. This but in-
dicates the deep rooted evils that must be removed to eradicate the one evil of
truancy.
In the school year ending June, 1910, the truant officers looking after attend-
ance interests in general investigated 56,997 absences from school public and
private including repetitions ; and pupils temporarily absent for various causes,
as well as truants. Of this number 1,409 'absences were due to truancies among
3,611 truants, which is substantial evidence that repetitions of truancy have been
materially decreased. The department conducted 785 prosecutions during the
year; of this number 617 were prosecutions in the Juvenile court of which 511
resulted in commitment and 236 were released on probation. In the municipal
courts 138 parents were prosecuted.
As a result of the activities of this department great improvement is shown in
274 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
decreasing truancy and the tendency toward it, in 'spite of the growth of the city;
and in the decrease of illiteracy. In charge of the department is W. L. Bodine,
Superintendent of Compulsory Education.
CHILD LABOR
The Child Labor law, enacted and madt effective in 1903, unites with the
compulsory education law in securing the attendance of children at school. By
its provisions children under fourteen 'years of age cannot be employed at re-
munerative labor, and the employment of those between fourteen and sixteen years
of age is regulated; no child between fourteen and sixteen years 'of age may be
employed over eight hours a day, and before being employed he must first receive
an age and 'school certificate approved by the superintendent of schools. The cer-
tificate contains a statement of the date of birth of the child as shown on the
school records, and is sworn to by the parents 'or guardian. A duplicate of each
certificate must be furnished to the state factory inspector, in whose office the cer-
tificates are issued by a 'representative of the superintendent of schools. Evasions
of the child labor law are frequently attempted by parents who swear falsely to
the age of their children in order to hasten 'the time when they may become wage
earners. Children over sixteen years of age can be worked more than eight hours
a day, and require no ''age certificate. From this has resulted the false affidavit
system which the authorities have had to contend with.
THE JUVENILE COURT
The Juvenile Court was established in 1899, in charge of Judge Tuthill, as a
result of the Juvenile Reform law 'providing for such a court, as well as for a pa-
role system and probation officers for looking after truants. The court deals with
young boys who are arrested for offences against the *law,' including those taken by
the truancy officers. The court is effective in carrying out the provisions of the
compulsory education law. When a boy is brought into the Juvenile court, if his
is a first offense he is paroled by the judge to one of the industrial rooms in the
public schools for a specified time, and goes home every evening. A probation officer
is in charge of him, whose duty it is to watch his attendance at school. If he
breaks this parole and is brought before the judge a second time he is sent to the
Parental school. Those brought before the court for other offences are sent to
the John Worthy school or to one of the public reform schools.
Certain cases of delinquency or dependency the judge of the Juvenile court
sends to the Child Study department for the purpose of solving problems center-
ing around the mental status of the boys and girls to be examined. When this
department has discovered the normality or abnormality of the minds of such
children, and the causes of heredity or environment which have induced the con-
ditions which obtain, suggestions are made to the court as to the measures to be
adopted in dealing with the case in question. The establishment of ungraded and
industrial rooms in the schools has reduced the number of arraignments of such
children by appealing to their mental aptitudes and acting as a preventive of tru-
ancy or delinquency.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 275
, JOHN WORTHY SCHOOL
In the school report issued in June, 1896, there is mention that during the year
past two teachers were employed at the Bridewell to teach the boys in that insti-
tution. A building was erected for school purposes in connection with the' Bride-
well and was named the John Worthy school in memory of Hon. John Worthy,
who was for several years one of the Bridewell commissioners. This building had
six class rooms, two large machine shop rooms, a painting room, a drawing room,
wash rooms and an office. The school was organized in the fall of 1896 with a
principal and six assistants. It must be noted that even at the present time the
school does not include a dormitory, so that the boys are still housed with the older
criminals.
This school is connected with the city Bridewell. Boys under sixteen years of
age who are sentenced to the Bridewell are now put in the John Worthy school
instead of being thrown into the company of older offenders. Before the estab-
lishment of a Juvenile court in 1899, and the passing of indeterminate sentences
upon the boys, the average length of time for which each pupil was sent to the
school was thirty days. Since the Juvenile court has been in existence, with Judge
Tuthill presiding, an indeterminate sentence is usually passed and a pupil is kept
in the school until in the judgment of the principal he is ready to be released.
About one-half of the time in the school is devoted to manual training and
manual instruction in various other forms, other instruction including classes in
the work of the eight grades of the elementary schools. The educational life in
the John Worthy school, however, presents a striking contrast to that of ordinary
schools. "The attendance at school exercises is emphatically compulsory," wrote
Robert M. Smith, the first principal. "Every boy committed to the school is, on
his arrival, straightway examined and assigned to school work suited to his present
capacity. He has no choice about this. He must belong to the school and do some
educational task from the time he enters till he leaves. When one considers that
out of every one hundred arrivals about eighty have good natural capacity, and
none have education above the merely ordinary, it will be seen that with these boys
the voluntary system has been a failure. In this school, what a boy can do he
must do; and what he must do, he does do. As the average period of detention is
but a few months, time is lacking to pursue the regular course of study as pre-
scribed by the Board of Education. Omissions are necessarily made, not only on
account of lack of time, but because the knowledge gained by the study would be
of comparatively little value to the boys, and the peculiar discipline afforded by a
study is obtained by the thorough mastery of a part of that study.
"Elementary shop work reaches all the pupils, though the advanced work is
taken by but a small proportion. Promotion to the advanced course rests on ability
and attainment, and boys who receive it give some promise of becoming good me-
chanics. Although the one who has completed the elementary work may never
become a skilled mechanic, he has gained much in hand skill and learned invalu-
able lessons of a moral nature."
Under the direction of the Child Study department, measurements are taken
of the boys in the John Worthy school, and by comparing the results of these meas-
urements with the norms obtained by measuring normal children, it is found that
276 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
the boys in the John Worthy school are inferior in all the physical measurements
taken, this inferiority coming from malnutrition, and seeming to increase with age.
The age of pupils assigned to the first grade ranges from nine to fifteen years, and
a very large proportion are either foreign born or the children of foreign born
parents. The close relation between mental, moral and physical culture and de-
velopment is nowhere more apparent than in the John Worth} 7 and Parental schools.
In spite of the immensely improved methods of dealing with the boys sent to
the Bridewell when the John Worthy school was established, there was still much
improvement to be made in the management of the young offenders. Except for
the five school hours when they were employed in study and manual work, their
time was spent in the care of the guards. Their natural tastes did not turn them
to books, and there was not manual training equipment enough in the school to
keep them busy at this course, which all preferred to other studies. A change was
therefore made in management so that a force of teachers is employed under the
name of "family officers." These are to take care of the boys before and after
school hours, and keep them continuously employed either in the work shops, in
summer at farming, or at their games. The teacher thus takes the place of the
prison guard, and there is the wholesome atmosphere of freedom and constructive
activity, instead of repression, idleness and rebellion. To carry out this plan and
for the purpose of employing as many boys as possible, an additional manual train-
ing shop and a foundry were erected. The building also permitted the installation
of a gymnasium and a printing shop. The prison wall was changed so that about
five acres of farming land became available where boys receive lessons in agri-
culture.
Still the boys are under the dual authority of the city prison system and the
school system, a state of things which seriously interferes with the work. Effort
has been made, though so far unsuccessfully, to get legislation that would enable
the Board to erect a suitable building on some tract of land within the county.
As youthful delinquents are state charges, it was considered fair that a certain state
subsidy be obtained that would cover all costs arising in the conduct of the school
above those of education.
PARENTAL SCHOOL
In 1897 the superintendent of schools made the following recommendation, after
speaking of the work of the John Worthy school: "Could such a building and a
suitable home be provided for the boys and girls who have no parental control,
who are turned out of school because they are insubordinate, and have not yet be-
come criminals, many could be saved to honorable and useful citizenship instead
of carrying forever in consciousness the brand of 'Found Guilty' 'Sent to the
Bridewell for thirty days.' Will it cost any more to care for them before they
become criminals than after?"
Action in the form of a law passed in the Illinois legislature finally resulted
from Superintendent Lane's repeated efforts to arouse the board of education to
a recognition of Chicago's negligence of the children who, defying parental and
school authority, are likely to grow up in ignorance and crime and in many cases
to be ultimately arrested and supported by the state unless some vigorous measures
were taken to save them. This law, passed in 1899, required the board of educa-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 277
tion to establish a parental school within the next two years, and to build, furnish
and maintain it and prescribe its courses. It provided that truant children under
fourteen years of age should be committed to the school for varying periods ;
that children may be released on parole ; that incorrigibles may be sent to a
reform school; that the school must not be erected near a penal institution.
The board of education promptly set out to comply with the provisions of the
law. Mr. Thomas H. MacQueary was chosen superintendent after a careful
search for an examination of available candidates specially qualified for this im-
portant work. After his election, on recommendation by the committee on com-
pulsory education, he was instructed to visit reform and home schools throughout
the East and carefully investigate the systems there in vogue. Since all logical
reform work with truants must in a large degree include manual training and con-
structive work, the supervisor of manual training was directed to accompany the
superintendent of the Parental school on his tour of inspection and investigation.
A full report on the institutions visited was made, and recommendations offered
regarding the conduct of the school. Emphasis was laid on the importance of
physical culture and manual training. It was suggested that the course of study
conform more or less closely to the course of study used in the public schools, but
that they should be more elastic than the regular course to meet the special needs
of these pupils, whose truancy is often due to their distaste for the regular school
work.
The school was built at Bowmanville on a tract of land comprising sixty acres
in the northern part of the city, later increased to eighty acres. On January 31,
1902, pupils were first received. Besides the cottages and main school building,
suitable farm buildings have been erected, including a dairy plant where the boys
help in the work. The fields included within the school tract, which were semi-
swampy at first, are being underdrained with tile as rapidly as possible, greatly
increasing the productiveness of the farm, part of which is cultivated by the boys.
The children, whose average age is eleven years, live in cottages, in families
of a limited number, in order that they may have the advantages of being in a
home, and subject to its beneficient influences, as well as of attending regularly to
school duties. The lack of decent homes is the cause of many cases of truancy, and
filling that want is often the most effective way of doing away with the aversion to
school work. The special studies taught in the Parental school are manual train-
ing, horticulture, gymnastics, military tactics and music. As the manual train-
ing or industrial side of the work has been extended, a corresponding reduction has
been made in the energy expended in what is commonly called government or dis-
cipline.
In accordance with the "Rules of Discipline" adopted by the board of edu-
cation, the school is divided into three divisions. When a boy enters the school
he is placed in the second division, where he must remain at least a month, and
then he is promoted or reduced, according to his conduct and progress in his studies.
After remaining in the highest division for three consecutive months, he will be
recommended for parole to his home school. No corporal punishment of any kind
is allowed. Deprivation of privileges, assignment of "extra duty," and solitary
confinement in a well lighted and well ventilated room for a period not to exceed
278 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
twenty-four hours are the only forms of punishment practised, and these have been
said to be sufficient to accomplish the desired result.
CONDITIONS OF ENTRANCE
Upon entering the school each child is examined by a physician and reports
are made on his case and given to the teachers and family instructors having charge
of the child; when necessary, pupils are fitted with eye glasses. There are five
grades, the boys of the first and some of those in the second being put into what
is practically an "ungraded room." The instruction given is the same as that
given in other public schools. It has been found that many of the pupils sent to
this school are reported as belonging to a grade higher than that which they should
be in, and this doubtless partially accounts for their truancy. Being required to
do work which is too hard for them, they become discouraged and play truant. On
the other hand, if _ they are kept in one grade too long they become ashamed of
it, and play truant rather than continue to go to school with smaller and younger
children. It would seem therefore that an "ungraded room" in every school would
prevent a certain amount of truancy.
Manual training is a prominent part of the school work. One hour a day is
set aside for wood work and other forms of construction. When the weather per-
mits, one hour daily is given each boy for work on the farm and in the garden.
Each boy has the sole care of a plot of ground, where he works under the direction
of his teacher. Upon this plot he plants, cares for and harvests a crop of vege-
tables. There is a dairy which not only is used for educational purposes, but is
also a source of revenue. Two to three hundred quarts of milk a day are produced.
Everything about the dairy is modern, and the milk is handled with the utmost care
from the standpoint of cleanliness and sanitation. The cows are healthy, and
well cared for with the aid of the boys. There are about six hundred chickens,
some of them in chicken houses belonging to individual cottages.
The physical development of this class of children being of the greatest im-
portance, other means of strengthening them are taken. As many children come
to the school underfed or not well fed, plenty of wholesome food is given to them.
Another means of developing their physical growth is well directed military and
gymnastic work. The school is organized into three companies, which have daily
drills ; these drills, aside from their value in physical development, are a most ef-
fective means of discipline. The gymnastic work consists of calisthenics, work on
the apparatus in the well equipped gymnasium, and recreation. Throughout the
year assignments of boys are made for an occasional day to the kitchen, laundry
and farms.
The religious instruction given is in accordance with the Parental school law,
which provides for the organization of three Sunday schools a Jewish (which
meets Saturday afternoon), a Catholic and a Protestant school. Instruction is
given in accordance with the belief of the children's parents.
The average period of time for pupils to be held in the Parental school is six
and one-half months, the minimum term being a little less than four months. The
time of parole is determined entirely by the pupil's behavior and the quality of
his work. Boys are encouraged to earn their parole as soon as possible so that
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 279
they may not become institutionalized, and in order to make room for others on
the waiting list. Opposed to the idea of short periods of residence in the Parental
school are those who argue that if the conditions found in the Parental school
conditions favorable to regularity of work and correct habits could be continued
until the boys reached the age of sixteen years, and were given some suitable, perma-
nent employment, a useful and honorable career in life would be assured to prac-
tically all the boys committed to the school.
After the pupil has left the Parental school and returned to his home school,
careful attention is paid to his attendance and work, and reports of his progress
are sent by his teachers to the Parental school. If these reports continue good for
a year the boy is recommended to the board of education for discharge from the
custody of the Parental school. During the period of his parole the pupil may be
returned on the ordei* of the superintendent of the Parental school for violating the
terms of his parole. Less than one-fifth of the boys are returned, the rest making
a record from fair to excellent in their home schools.
In March, 1907, the board of education authorized the establishment of in-
dustrial rooms for truants in three of the public school buildings. These rooms
are to a certain extent experimental. When a boy is brought before the Juvenile
court for the first time he is paroled to one of these schools for a specified time,
but goes home every evening. If, however, he breaks this parole and is brought
before the Juvenile court again, this being his second offence, he is sent to the
Parental school. Instruction in manual training is one of the leading features of
these industrial rooms.
The Parental school arose inevitably from the necessities of efficient compul-
sory education. It is the aim of those in charge to conduct it strictly as a school,
not as a penal institution. In avoiding this latter evil of management, care has
been taken not to allow it to acquire the reputation of being an elegant boarding
school, where parents may, for a season, be relieved of the care of their offspring.
Its main object is to deter those inclined to truancy and incorrigibility ; an effort
is made to form the school-going habit and to interest boys in their studies. As
one of the first necessities in this corrective and constructive process, the boys
are built up physically through exercise, regular habits and nourishing food ; the
temptation to use cigarettes is removed and real work is insisted upon. It is the
opinion of the teachers in the school that the boys compare favorably in many re-
spects with the boys in the ordinary elementary school. A large majority of them,
after the instruction and discipline received here, return to their schools and be-
come studious and obedient pupils. During the school year ending in June, 1910,
504 new boys were committed to the school by the Juvenile court. The average
membership was 297. The cost per pupil in the Parental school for the year 1910
was $299.82, in the John Worthy school $218.38, as compared with the average
total cost per pupil of all the Chicago public schools of $33.87, including the
Teachers' college, the special schools and these two under discussion.
CRIPPLED CHILDREN
"It remained for Chicago to lead the world in placing the free transportation
and the education of crippled children in the public school system." Such provision
280 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
for these children was first made in 1899 as a result of the enforcement of the
compulsory education law. Classes for them were established in two centers, with
four buses in service to take them to and from school each day. There are now
ten buses in commission, and with each one is a driver and an attendant, furnished
by the chief of police; the attendant helps the children in and out of the bus,
carrying them to the door step when necessary. In the middle of the day a hot
luncheon, which has been prepared at the school, is served to the children. In
many cases the children who are brought to the school are underfed and would be
unequal to the tasks set them were it not for the sustenance thus provided.
The educational work prescribed for pupils of the Crippled Children's schools
embraces the regular course of study. However, special emphasis is placed upon
varied lines of constructive work which appeal to the interests of the children,
and which lay the foundation for a recognition of their own powers and open the
way for some future employment adapted to their needs. A pupil is admitted to
these classes only after examination by the child study department, to determine his
mental status, as well as by the regular medical inspector from the city health de-
partment. In these schools are frequently those who are temporarily crippled
and who under surgical treatment can be restored to fairly normal conditions of
life. As soon as such pupils are able to mingle with the children of their own
home district they are removed from the Crippled Children's school.
SCHOOL FOR APPRENTICES
Provision was made by the board of education in 1901 for extending school
privileges to apprentices of the masons and bricklayers associations. Pupils who
attended the classes organized ranged in scholarship from those who had studied
one or two years in the high schools, down to those who read English with difficulty.
Many who have entered the classes since then have not been able to speak English
when they started.
Legal support was given the school in the passage of an act by the Illinois
legislature in 1903, providing that when indentures are drawn, "in all municipal-
ities where a manual training school is maintained for the technical instruction of
apprentices, such indentures shall further provide that it shall be the duty of the
master to cause the apprentice to attend such school for a least three consecutive
months in each year without expense to the apprentice." The unions approve of
this plan, and to a certain extent co-operate with the school authorities in secur-
ing attendance at classes. Up to the present the course has consisted of me-
chanical drawing in addition to the ordinary subjects of the sixth, seventh and
eighth grades, in which divisions the pupils have all been roughly classed owing
to lack of sufficient number of teachers. Lectures have also been given in anatomy,
physiology, and first aid to the injured, and on architecture, masonry, building and
superintendence, fireproofiing and fireproof construction, terra cotta, and the
manufacture and use of steel.
A serious attempt has been made within the last two or three years to es-
tablish continuation schools for the benefit of the children who have left school
at fourteen to become wage earners. It is the hope to receive the co-operation of
employers, and make it compulsory upon these young workers between the ages
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 281
of fourteen and eighteen to attend such schools from six to ten hours weekly in the
day time. The evening schools draw their attendance from the stronger, more
ambitious class of workers ; those of average strength do not attempt, after an
eight-hour working day, to go to school in the evening, so it is sought to make
other provision for the instruction of young workers of average ability and strength
to be offered the advantages of further education at such hours of the day when
they are not too tired with work to profit by what they study. The course in
such continuation schools would be laid out with reference to the particular needs
of the pupils attending, that their studies might supplement their work. Although
such a school has not yet been started, it seems inevitable in the near future.
VOCATIONAL SUBJECTS IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS
A recent progressive step taken by the board of education is its provision to
include certain courses in the high school curriculum which will be of especial use
to those who do not intend to go to school after leaving the high school. This
is an extension of the former range of the course of study, which for many years
was laid out with reference to the entrance requirements of colleges. "After
many discussions between college and high schools faculties and many protests by
the latter," writes the superintendent of schools in her report for 1910, "the high
schools in the Middle West and in New York City are asserting themselves against
the restriction of their work by the requirements of the college. It is hoped
that the outcome of the discussions and protests will be not so much an increase
in the number of electives that may be presented by an applicant for admission
to college as a decrease in the number of subjects, not credits required for grad-
uation from the high school. The high school course on account of the large
number of subjects that it permits a pupil to carry simultaneously often tends to
develop habits of dissipation instead of concentration of energy. Because the
work in vocational subjects such as cabinet making, forge and foundry practice,
stenography and typewriting, accounting, and correspondence follows the plan of
the high school outline in preparation for admission to college, it is not sufficiently
intensive in the early years to make it possible for those who can spend only one
or two years in the high school to avail themselves of the high school course
during those years, and consequently they withdraw in large numbers to the shops
and business colleges." There is now in the high school curriculum provision for
nine two-year courses in which the vocational aim is recognized to the extent of
offering a fuller equipment than that given by the short course special schools
outside. These nine courses are so planned that all work done successfully in them
will receive credit toward graduation for boys and girls who find at the end of
two years that their interest is so great, or that home conditions have become
such that they can remain to complete a full four-year high school course.
With this broadening of the scope of the high schools in Chicago and the further
hoped-for development in technical and commercial training, the high schools
may be considered the colleges of the people and will have as their direct result
and ample justification a higher and worthier type of citizenship exemplified in the
great numbers who annually graduate and take their part in the activities of the
city.
282 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
EVENING SCHOOLS
The problems involved in the conduct of evening schools in Chicago demand
the highest order of expert management. The attendance in these schools is made
up almost entirely of those who work all day, a large proportion of whom are
foreign born, and with a limited understanding of English. The need of the great-
est part of these is instruction in speaking and writing the new language. In some
districts of the city where there are many people who do not speak English the
schools are composed largely of men and women who are learning to read and write
our English. The teaching of English to foreign speaking people is and probably
will long continue to be the most important part of the evening school work in
Chicago; the problem is to give the people the greatest possible means for ex-
pression. After this need is met there must be instruction given in those studies
which will be of greatest practical good to the student, such as commercial branches,
manual training, domestic arts, and mathematics. The evening school courses in-
clude elementary and high school work, and allow freedom of elective wherever
possible. On account of the problems involved and the necessary flexibility in
arranging the work, it is impossible to grade the evening pupils exactly as day
pupils are graded. However, the day school grading is followed as closely as pos-
sible, and to such an extent that the card of credit issued by the evening school
teacher will admit a pupil to the day schools if he wishes to make the change.
Effort is made to keep the evening students in school for more than one year.
When foreign speaking pupils come back to school a second or a third year it
becomes possible to shift the emphasis from the expression to the subject matter;
when this point is gained, serious and thoughtful work can be done by the pupils.
For many years the evening schools were taught by instructors who were not
regularly trained teachers, and the results were far from satisfactory. It takes the
highest order of teaching ability to present a subject intelligently and attractively
to those who do not readily understand and use our language, and to hold the
attention of those who have already done a long day's work. For this task the regu-
lar day school teacher, with her pedagogic training and experience under normal
conditions, is far better fitted than the teacher who is employed only for the even-
ing school work and whose main interest lies in some other profession. Much dis-
order in the evening schools was due to the fact that the people in charge of them
were not trained teachers, but were struggling lawyers, doctors, clerks and book-
keepers, who were burdened with the intensity of commercial life during the day,
and whose interest in the schools was transient. In the last few years the holders
of evening school teaching certificates are placed on the same footing as the teach-
ers in the day schools, which limits the choice of evening school teachers largely
to the day school teachers, but insures the best available talent for the work.
The present total enrollment in the evening schools of Chicago is about 20,000.
Sessions are held four evenings a week in various public schools as centers through-
out the city, for a period of four months every year. The department is in charge
of one of the district superintendents.
RECREATION CENTERS
Distinct in aim from the evening schools are the recreation centers which have
been established recently, to be open during a large part of the school year. The
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 283
first one was opened in 1909, and later provision was made by the board of edu-
cation for the establishment and maintenance of recreation centers in different
parts of the city. The principal, Miss Azile B. Reynolds, gave her time to the
center, and money for equipment and for the employment of assistants was pri-
vately furnished. The Juvenile Protective League co-operated both financially and
socially toward the success of the center. Library facilities, gymnastics, sewing,
lectures, social dancing and music were offered to those who attended. The dis-
tinctive gain has not been so much what was learned as in the social and moral
conditions that were made attractive, and that tended to draw the young people
from the more dangerous class of amusements which they were likely to frequent.
VACATION SCHOOLS
"One of the most beneficent and wisely conducted charities of the city are the
vacation schools," wrote Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews in 1899, when he was superin-
tendent of schools. "They take children of the congested districts from the hot,
dirty streets and crowded houses to spacious and airy rooms, where their emotions
have vent in music, their minds are delighted and instructed by nature study and
constructive work, and their bodies developed by careful gymnastics. Excursions
to the parks, to the country, to swimming schools on the lake, give them glimpses
of new and larger environment, at the present a pure happiness, for the future a
beckoning vista." The work of the vacation schools is based on the principle that
in a great municipality guardianship over the children should not cease with the
end of the school day nor the close of the school year, and that after the regu-
lar day's work and year's work is over, there should still be opportunities offered
to the children for constructive work and well directed recreation.
In the summer of 1897 the Women's clubs of the city made provision for the
expenses of four vacation schools and the board of education granted to those
schools the use of buildings and equipment. Funds were thereafter contributed by
the Women's clubs, by individuals and by the board of education. In many minor
ways, as through the aid of the public school principals in the selection of teachers
and cadets and the choosing of the proper pupils from among the children who
applied, the co-operation between the public schools and the vacation schools in-
creased yearly. Such co-operation continued until the summer of 1909, when pro-
vision was made by the board to carry on the work entirely at public expense. In
1909 seventeen regular schools were opened for a term of six weeks, and in ad-
dition classes for the deaf were held at the Normal Practice school and accommo-
dations for crippled children were provided at two other schools. Over 13,000
children were enrolled in that year in the vacation schools.
The instruction given the children is chiefly that which brings into play the
motor activities. Books and the usual school accessories are for the time discarded
and the creative powers are directed through such channels as will give to in-
dividuality a wider range and to the constructive impulse a more liberal opportunity.
The work is mainly industrial, including the handicrafts and arts. The curriculum
contains manual training, paper and raffia construction work, sewing, cooking,
physical training, art-reproduction, rote music, and nature study. Each child goes
on a certain number of excursions in the course of the summer. In the teaching
284 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
of personal, domestic, and social hygiene the schools have been ably assisted by
volunteers from the Visiting Nurses Association, who give valuable instruction in
the varied duties of home life and in the care that is essential to the physical and
moral well being of the household. To quote the words of John D. Shoop, the
assistant superintendent in charge of the vacation schools, "The program of the
Vacation School has grown out of the belief that under the stimulus of a health-
ful interest work may be made recreative and that even to the child the joy of
achievement in constructive effort brings to the hour for play a buoyant and ex-
hilarating spirit, sufficient freedom is granted to the children during the progress
of plays and games to encourage spontaneity and initiative and to avoid the con-
ventional attitude and mechanical movement which too frequently are the results
of over-direction during the hour of recreation."
MUSIC
The regular instruction of music began, as we have seen, in 1863-64. From
then until 1874 music was required in the grammar grades, and the results gained
in a high grade of vocal ability and a forming of musical taste, were extraordin-
ary. Then, in 1874, it was made optional in all the city schools, a change which
at once lowered the standard of singing in the schools and lost to the chorus work
some of its essential singing parts. For several years after music was again made
a required study and credit for it given in graduation, the effects of this retrogres-
sive step were felt. Since then, however, the benefits and delight derived from the
music teaching both by teachers and pupils, are generally acknowledged.
The qualifications of special teachers are rigidly tested, and a course of in-
struction is now provided in the Normal school for the preparation of these teach-
ers. There are at present five special teachers of music in the elementary schools.
This limited number makes it impossible for a music teacher to visit the schools
assigned her for supervision except on rare occasions. The regular grade teachers
give the musical instruction and their work is inspected and supplemented during
the visits of the supervisors. In addition to these visits, instruction is given to
the grade teachers through institutes, meetings in the various schools, normal
classes, and through individual instruction given during office hours at the Board
rooms each afternoon in the week after school. The May Song Festivals, which
have been given during the past few years, have come to be an institution recog-
nized by the board of education. These song festivals are given in various centers
through the city by the special teachers and are attended by teachers and parents.
They have been the source of hearty enjoyment by the children and are consid-
ered of great educational and sociological value. An increasing interest on the part
of the boys throughout the city has been one of the pleasing aspects of the de-
velopment of this department.
DRAWING
In late years a change has been made in the teaching of drawing from the
early method of having a special teacher, interested in her one line of work, who
came in to the school room on certain days to give instruction in drawing. There
are still special teachers, but their work is rather to direct the drawing instruction
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 285
of the regular grade teachers, who correlate their pupils' drawing work with their
other studies as far as possible, thus making it a part, not an addendum, of the
school work. The special teachers inspect and criticize the work of the pupils,
and meet the grade teachers in institute classes. They also consult frequently
among themselves for the purpose of keeping in touch with each other and with the
best methods of interpreting the study course and of relating the art work to the
general course of study, as well as to the development of the child as a whole. The
aim of the department in teaching drawing as outlined by the special teachers in
1910, is to agree on the fundamentals of subject matter, technique, presentation and
criticism in interpreting the study course in the schools, to uphold a reasonable
standard in each grade throughout the city, and to encourage adaptation to local
conditions and correlation with other subjects in the curriculum.
PHYSICAL CULTURE
Since 1875 much attention has been given to physical culture in the Chicago
public schools. At first the exercises were given by the grade teacher, who con-
ducted them from three to five minutes a day. Then with the appointment of the
special teacher the exercises were arranged by grades, and according to the pupil's
strength and needs. In 1894 the first high school installed apparatus for heavy
gymnastics, and soon afterwards the first grammar school was equipped with a
gymnasium. Applications were then made by many teachers and principals for
gymnastic equipment in their schools, and as many schools as possible were given
apparatus for heavy gymnastics ; additional special teachers were appointed to
visit such schools regularly and oversee the instruction given by room teachers and
principals. During the past fifteen years excellent gymnasiums were made part
of the new buildings that have been erected. For the teaching and directing of
games in the schools, teachers' institutes were first held in 1905. The field days
held in some of the high schools were successful in quickening the interest of both
pupils and parents in the work of physical development. In certain playgrounds,
heavy, strong apparatus has been erected, which will withstand the ill treatment
which it often receives when the gymnastic work is not directed and the play-
ground is left to the undirected activities of any who may chance to go there.
Manuals describing, illustrating and grading the exercises are used in con-
nection with the physical training in the schools, which consists of light and heavy
gymnastics, and games. Because of the inability of the most of the teachers to
direct the heavy gymnastics, the solution of the difficulty was found to be the
preparation of the teachers in the Normal school; the need for an adequate gym-
nasium for that school was therefore urged upon the board of education. Such a
gymnasium has recently been provided for the Normal school.
The time now allotted for physical training is ten minutes a day in the grades,
and in the high school one hour a week. This is well known to be far too little
and to place Chicago behind almost every other large American city in its pro-
gress in this line. Suggestions are made to have more special teachers appointed
(there are now thirteen assistants to the supervisor) and to provide women teachers
for the instruction of girls in the high schools.
286 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
GERMAN
The study of German, introduced into the schools in 1865, became increasingly
popular as the schools grew, and was elected particularly by the children of Ger-
man born parents. At first it was optional in the primary grades, and later was
restricted as an elective to pupils in the fifth grade and above. With the great
number of educators in this country and abroad in favor of including modern
language study in the school course, the policy of maintaining the study of Ger-
man in the Chicago schools had many supporters, and in 1901, it was first taught
in the Normal Practice school in order to train special teachers in presenting the
subject. By 1902 fifty per cent of the elementary pupils in the public schools
were taking German. Then arose a clamor that the time and effort expended on
German by these pupils was detrimental to their other studies. Certain ones of
the board of education, hearing of this, joined in the complaint, and have gradually
succeeded, by 1910, in reducing the number of elementary pupils of German to
about two per cent of the number in those grades.
OPEN AIR SCHOOL
One of the most interesting of the Chicago public school activities is that one
recently undertaken when an open air school was started at the Harvard school
building during August and part of September of 1910. "Our object," reported
the principal, William E. Watt, "was to benefit the children sent to us and to
make a demonstration of what fresh air during the day and proper food will do
for children predisposed to tuberculosis." The Chicago Tuberculosis Institute co-
operated with the board of education and supplied food, carfares, nursing and cook-
ing.
The experiment, short as it was, showed that the children improved mentally
as they had never done before; that even in the hot summer, there was an average
increase in weight of four pounds each; that with delay in starting the school and
its short duration, still the work was successful.
ASSIGNMENT OF TEACHERS
All regular teachers as well as substitutes, are required to hold valid certificates
to teach in the Chicago public schools. These certificates are secured in two ways
by graduating from the Chicago Normal school, or by passing the examination
for certificates. A list of candidates for positions is kept, on which the names are
placed in the order of efficiency. This efficiency mark is given to graduates of
the Normal school by counting the average at graduation one-half and the service
as cadet as one-half in making up the final mark. In the case of experienced teach-
ers who come from other school systems and secure Chicago school certificates
through examination, the examination mark counts one-half and the mark given
by the principal of the school in which they substitute during the probation period
of four months counts one-half. The adoption in recent years of this method of
assigning teachers places the teaching positions in the Chicago public schools out
of the possibility of interference in appointments or transfers through outside in-
fluence, political or personal. By vote of the board of education in 1902, all teach-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 287
ers who were then in good standing and were regularly assigned as teachers were
formally elected with the understanding that their positions should be permanent
during efficiency and good behavior and their elections as teachers should be merely
confirmed in succeeding years. This in itself tends to give dignity and permanence
to the profession.
As a means of increasing or maintaining the efficiency of a teacher, the normal
and university extension classes have been most effective, and as an official recog-
nition of ability in teachers and therefore an incentive to them the promotional
examination system at present in use in the Chicago public schools is worthy of
high praise. According to this plan, the teachers in the elementary schools are in
two groups. The salaries of those in the lower group reach a maximum point,
fixed by length of service. After outside study and special preparation a teacher
classed in this group can take an examination to be promoted to the higher group,
where the salaries are larger and increase yearly until a maximum is reached. When
a teacher reaches the maximum salary of this second group, three questions are
asked: Is she a good teacher? Has she kept up her study of educational pro-
cesses and methods? Has she kept up her interest in some branch of study out-
side the limits of her regular professional duties? If she meets the test in these
three points she is promoted to the highest group ; if not, her salary remains the
same the maximum of the second group. The first of these three points is de-
termined by the judgment of the principal and the district superintendent; the
second and third are determined by a written examination. There are special rules
governing the appointment of special teachers, high school teachers and principals.
To supply the places of teachers temporarily absent, a list of eligible appli-
cants for substitute work is kept, and from this list teachers are assigned in the
order of their standings to fill vacancies which may occur. During the days they
conduct class work they are paid at the rate of a fixed salary per month, and when
not teaching they are paid at another fixed rate.
To assist in the general oversight of the schools of Chicago there have for
many years been district superintendents, the number increasing as the schools
grew until at one time there were fourteen. In a time of financial strain this num-
ber was cut down to six, and now there are ten holding the position of district su-
perintendent. Without making the district assigned to any certain district su-
perintendent a unit of division, still the superintendent of schools divides the city
into temporary districts for convenience of administration. Each district super-
intendent, while he gives much personal attention to particular districts, is sent
freely to all portions of the city to invest special questions questions which, it
is believed, he has a special fitness to pass upon. The main work of school admin-
istration is done by this body of superintendents organized into a board of dis-
trict superintendents, which meets regularly to discuss the school situation with the
superintendent of schools. Acting as a board they have taken charge of a large
number of matters that were formerly looked after by individual district superin-
tendents. In all matters where uniformity and co-operation seem to be specially
desirable the superintendents act as a body. To this board have been referred
questions of changes of boundaries of school districts, re-distribution of kindergar-
tens, manual training centers, the semi-annual review of the records of elementary
teachers substitutes, and cadets, the assignment and transfer of teachers and many
288 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
questions of a similar character. In questions involving the dismissal of teachers
for incompetency, several, and sometimes all, of these superintendents, are asked
to investigate, discuss, and report on each case. This body has been very fittingly
called the inner, or the real, board of education, in distinction to the official board
of education, whose members, being engaged in other pursuits, can scarcely find
time to investigate personally the innumerable questions arising in the adminis-
tration of so great a system as that of our public schools.
Associated with the superintendent of schools are three assistant superintend-
ents, one of whom is the first assistant superintendent, who acts in the absence or
disability of the superintendent.
Among the organizations which exist among the teachers of the public schools
for mutual benefit and improvement is one which is called the Council System, or-
ganized in 1898. This system is composed of a school council, the principal and
teachers of each school; a district council, the superintendent of the district, the
principal and one teacher from each school; a high school council of the same char-
acter as the district council; and a central council, composed of all the superin-
tendents, supervisors and delegates from the high and district councils. The pos-
sibilities of this organization for favorably influencing school work are great. Ac-
ceptance of any decision, judgment or advice emanating from the organization is
purely voluntary. The influence of any action by any of the councils depends on
the degree on which, by its intrinsic and obvious value, it commends itself to the
judgment of those concerned. The organization makes practicable and easy the
consideration and discussion of important questions on the theory and practice of
teaching, and on other matters in which teachers are interested. Every teacher is
thus made a student of these problems.
The Public School Teachers' and Public School Employes' Pension and Re-
tirement Fund was created by a law passed and enforced in 1895. Its affairs are
administered by a board of trustees consisting of the members of the board, the
superintendent of schools, and two representatives of the teachers and employes
of the board of education; unless such teacher or employe files with the secretary
an official form of withdrawal from the Pension fund. The board of education has
the power to retire teachers and other school employes from the service after twenty
years' service by women, or twenty-five years' service by men; and such teachers
and employes have the right after their term of service to retire and become bene-
ficiaries, provided that three-fifths of that service shall have been rendered within
the jurisdiction of the board. The annuities are paid in ten monthly installments
by the city treasurer, who is the custodian of the money belonging to the pension
fund.
The total number of teachers employed in the Chicago public schools as found
on the books in June, 1910, was 6,383.
SCHOOL BUILDINGS
To keep up with the growing population of Chicago in supplying sufficient ac-
commodation for the school children has been the great difficulty of the board of
education, which at times was an insurmountable one. By building as many as
twenty school buildings and additions in certain years, and adding steadily to the
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 289
number, attempts have been made to furnish, as nearly as possible, school privi-
leges to every child of school age in the city. This end has been gained not only
by erecting new school buildings, but by building additions to old school houses, by
renting rooms, and by placing portable school houses in order to relieve a tempo-
rarily congested district or to supply the need until a new building might be con-
structed. Still another way of making room for more pupils was the adoption of
the half session plan, by which it was arranged that pupils of some of the first
grade rooms should attend school in the mornings only, and others in the after-
noons only, so that the same rooms could be used for two sets of children. It was
one of the notable achievements of the present superintendent of schools that in
her first year of holding this office she so changed the district boundaries of many
schools and created new districts that, with the help of new school rooms built,
the number of pupils in one-half day sessions was reduced from 9,703, so assigned
in November, 1909, to 3,206, in June, 1910.
In a city whose population grows so rapidly as does that of Chicago, and where
districts of the city become built up so suddenly, the problem of school accommoda-
tions for the children recurs constantly, and in varying aspects. A school build-
ing, situated in a once populated district may become suddenly wholly unneces-
sary when the district is built up with great industrial establishments. On the
other hand, the extension of an electric car line for a mile or two, or the improve-
ment in the suburban service of a steam railroad may build up a district in a few
months. To provide for these rapid and uncertain changes in population takes no
little time; rooms must be temporarily rented to admit the children of the new
district. There is necessary besides a large amount of intelligent guesswork, in
allowing for the changes that may occur within a few years. To give temporary
seating room to the pupils of districts where there is no certainty of a permanent
need for schools, the plan has been adopted of setting up portable school buildings
which can be moved away when no longer necessary, or replaced by permanent
buildings if the need is developed. These portable buildings are also placed in
the grounds of schools which have become crowded, pending the construction of
additions. Recently the board of education has each year adopted standard plans,
according to which the school buildings are to be erected during that year. These
types of school buildings are entirely fireproof throughout, with manual training
room, household arts room, and a ground floor assembly hall and gymnasium. In
the new plan the height of buildings is limited to three stories, the stairways and
exits are wide and ample, and the boiler and coal rooms are located outside of the
main walls of the building to reduce the dangers from fire and panic to the mini-
mum. By adopting plans for uniform buildings there was a saving to the board
of education of the cost of making new plans as well as a saving in the cost of
construction of the building itself. Provision is made for plenty of light in the
rooms, and for the most modern heating and ventilating apparatus that can be
procured.
Many who are interested in the subject realize that the most elaborately planned
system of ventilation is not adequate to keep the air in school rooms from being
stale and laden with impurities and often with the most dangerous disease germs.
In recognition of this, a plan has been adopted by the chief engineer of the board
of education by which all school rooms are to be thoroughly aired three times a
Vol. Ill 19
290 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
day by opening the windows and doors throughout the buildings at practically the
same moment, this to be done regardless of the ventilating system of the buildings.
As a result of the fresh air crusade which has been undertaken by many of
those interested in improving ventilation in the schools, an open air school was
started as an experiment in the summer of 1909 and conducted by Mr. W. E.
Watt as principal. The work was so successful that it was continued and enlarged,
as has already been told in this chapter.
An important step was taken in the educational policy of the board of educa-
tion when they decided to increase the size of the building sites so as to make suit-
able provision for playgrounds; hereafter in providing for a new building enough
land will be secured to include a playground.
In the auditor's report to the board of education it is found that the cost of
locations and of sites, new buildings, additions, improvements and equipments
shows a total investment on the part of the taxpayers of Chicago of $43,159,405.
The cost per pupil for the year 1909-1910 was $36.20, and the total expenditure
by the schools in that year was $9,180,181.37, according to the school report for
1909-10. There are 268 school buildings in the Chicago public system, including
the Teachers College, Parental school and the high schools, with a total average
daily membership of 248,501.
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOLS
Beside the income from municipal taxes and from county and state school taxes,
the funds used for maintaining the schools are derived from the school fund prop-
erty. This property consists of those parts of Section sixteen which were not sold
by the school board at an early period of Chicago's history for an insignificant
price; of sundry tracts of land in different parts of the city, the title to which has
been acquired by the foreclosure of mortgages, given to secure loans of money be-
longing to the school fund, and by the annexation of other municipalities to the city
of Chicago. The school fund property is in charge of the school agent. The pro-
vision made for revaluation of this property every ten years for the purpose of es-
tablishing a correct rental basis has caused much discontent and litigation among
the lessees. Some of these (principally the ones who have improved the property
by putting up large buildings) have agreed to a modification of the conditions of
the lease whereby they are to pay certain fixed rentals yearly until the expirations
of their leases ; with other lessees the periodical revaluation and increased rentals
cause fresh objection and litigation, each time the revaluation is made. The con-
ditions on which some of the lessees have made with the school board the agree-
ments referred to have aroused much public suspicion and protest from time to
time; the feeling of the committee in charge, made up of a few members of the
board who have given much attention to the question, seems to be one of satisfac-
tion with the arrangements made.
In order to secure for the management of the large sums of money at the dis-
posal of the board of education a recognized, individual responsibility the secre-
tary of the board has been made the business manager and is held accountable for
the receipt and disposition of the funds belonging to the public schools. Important
among the duties of the business manager are the examination, selection and recom-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 291
mendation of school sites in connection with the erection of new school buildings,
additions to old buildings, and for playground purposes ; the purchase and distribu-
tion of school supplies of every description; the care and cleanliness of the school
buildings and grounds; the care of the supply department, stables and warehouses
connected therewith; the receipt, care and custody of all proposals and deposits
accompanying these, as well as the contracts and bonds for all labor and material
furnished, and the preparation of pay rolls for office and business employes, engineers
and janitors, and the rental roll.
Effort is being made toward still further progress in business management in
order to secure the most efficient service on the most economical basis possible and
to introduce and carry out in the various business departments of the board pro-
gressive business methods which will bring about an administration equal to that
of any successful banking or manufacturing organization in Chicago.
SCHOOL HOUSE FOR THE PEOPLE
Reverend William H. Ryder, who for many years was the pastor of the First
Universalist church, and once a member of the school board, left in his will a pro-
vision that $10,000 be placed in the hands of trustees to be invested, and that the
annual income be used in "procuring and causing to be delivered in the city of
Chicago, annually, free lectures in aid of the moral and social welfare of the
citizens of Chicago." It was suggested by the superintendent of schools, who was
one of the trustees ex officio, for carrying out the provisions of the will, that courses
of lectures given in the assembly halls of the school buildings in different parts of
Chicago would reach the largest number of people; would be given to a class of
people who would appreciate them and who would be greatly benefitted thereby.
Since 1896 these lectures have been given in different school houses and have been
well attended. The school house being used for a purpose like this, becomes more
nearly what it should be a school and meeting place for the people. Consider-
erable latitude has been given to outside organizations in the use of school build-
ings for educational purposes, fpr it is desirable to utilize every bit of educational
interest in the community, and the school authorities favor every movement that
will bring the parents of the child in closer relation with the schools.
THE SCHOOLS AT PRESENT
The tendency of modern education, making in the direction of wider and freer
development of the individual through greater opportunities offered, has been
exemplified in the Chicago public schools, which in some respects are more pro-
gressive than any others in the country. Superintendent Young, in her report for
1910, indicates the present ideal in public education: "In this country and in
Europe there is a general protest against the demands of the elementary school upon
growing children. With the increase of things to be learned that have been de-
veloped through the activities of modern life, our conservatism often makes it a
difficult problem to decide what in knowledge acquired by the race in ancient and
mediaeval times, could be eliminated to the advantage of the learner. Industrial
education, while seemingly an added element in the work of the schools, is really
helping clarify the vision of educational people as regards both the necessary elim-
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
ination of what is abstract to inexperienced minds, and the substitution of expcri-
and a better balanced distribution of the emphasis on different subjects has been
ence for the generalized statement. A revision of the course of study aiming at
the elimination of the unimportant, the recognition of the training of the hand,
made by the education department."
CHAPTER LVI
THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY THE PUBLIC SQUARE, ETC.
THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY ITS BEGINNINGS AFTER THE GREAT FIRE FIRST
SUGGESTIONS MADE BY ENGLISH FRIENDS GIFTS BY EMINENT ENGLISH PEOPLE
RUINS OF OLD RESERVOIR USED AS LIBRARY FORMAL OPENING WILLIAM F. POOLE
BECOMES LIBRARIAN RAPID GROWTH OF THE COLLECTION VARIOUS CHANGES OP
LOCATION NEW BUILDING IN DEARBORN PARK ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS OP
BUILDING DECORATIONS OF INTERIOR BOOK STACKS AND READING ROOMS GRAND
ARMY HALL TREASURES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY BRANCH LIBRARIES NEW DES-
IGNATIONS AND NUMBERING OF STREETS NEW SYSTEM DESCRIBED A VISIT TO THE
HOME OF JULES G. LUMBARD THE VETERAN SINGER IN HIS OLD AGE ORIGIN OF
THE PUBLIC SQUARE EARLY COURTHOUSES EFFECTS OF THE GREAT FIRE THE
NEW COURTHOUSE AND CITY HALL A MONUMENTAL BUILDING LITERARY NEWS-
PAPERS.
THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY
IE present splendid building of the Chicago Public Library occupies a site
formerly known as Dearborn Park. In 1839, when the plat of the Fort
Dearborn addition to Chicago was prepared this half-block of land was
set apart for a park. It was for years the fashionable part of the young
city, and near it were the residences of many of the prominent citizens
of the time. It was surrounded by a fence and within the enclosure trees were
planted, so that in a few years it became a most attractive spot. In 1865, the
great building of the Northwestern Sanitary Fair was constructed on this half-
block of land, but after its removal the park had lost much of its attractiveness
owing to the destruction of the trees. It was from this spot that the tragic balloon
ascension of Donaldson and Grimwood was made in July, 1875, both of whom were
drowned in the lake, as related elsewhere in this work.
It is an interesting fact that the first steps in the formation of the Chicago
Public Library were taken in England. When the news of the Chicago fire of 1871
reached England there was a tremendous outpouring of sympathy among the people
of the mother country. After the first generous gifts for the relief of the sufferers
by that terrible calamity had been made there sprang up a desire among our English
cousins to do more than merely alleviate the physical misery of the unfortunate
people of Chicago, and a mass meeting was called on November 12th, 1871, in
London, at the instance of Thomas Hughes, well known as the author of "Tom
Brown at Rugby," and "Tom Brown at Oxford," the purpose of which was to in-
terest the English public in making donations of books to form a library for the
people of Chicago. Many eminent Englishmen, among them the Duke of Argyll,
Benjamin Disraeli, Justin McCarthy, W. E. Forster, Thomas Carlyle, and other
293
294 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
political and literary leaders, gave assurances of their warm interest in the move-
ment.
It was realized that Chicago had suffered the loss of all its libraries as well as
its scientific collections. At this meeting a subscription was started for the purchase
of books, and an appeal was also made for the gifts of volumes to be sent to supply
the loss. This appeal was responded to in the most generous manner ; authors, soci-
eties, publishers and individuals contributing a total of some seven thousand volumes.
The British Museum sent a full set of its publications ; the Master of the Rolls sent
the Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain; and Oxford University sent the
publications of the University Press, consisting of two hundred and fifty finely bound
volumes. The Queen contributed a copy of "The Early Years of the Prince Con-
sort" with her autograph, and many living authors sent copies of their own works.
Many publishers added largely to these gifts.
As there was no place in which the books could be accommodated after their ar-
rival they were not sent until the following summer. Meantime the citizens of
Chicago, when they learned of this magnificent gift, took steps toward the organiza-
tion of a free public library, and a law was passed by the state legislature authoriz-
ing cities to levy a tax for such a purpose. The offices of the city authorities having
been installed in a temporary building erected on the old reservoir lot on the south-
east corner of Adams and La Salle streets, a space for the necessary book shelving
was found within the great iron cylinder of the reservoir now no longer in use,
which was provided with a roof and the interior lighted by skylights. This was the
first home of the Chicago Public Library and it occupied these quarters until early
in 1874, when it was removed to the second floor of a business block on the south-
east corner of Wabash avenue and Madison street. The temporary structure oc-
cupied by the city authorities, referred to above, together with the shell of the
reservoir utilized for the library, came to be known as "the Rookery," a term used
derisively, but which has since been retained as the name of the splendid office
building which eventually took the place of the hastily erected shelter.
The books sent by the English donors arrived at Chicago in August, 1872, and
were at once taken to the "old tank" and placed in order on the shelves prepared
for them. The first board of directors was composed of Hon. Thomas Hoyne (who
was elected president of the board), S. S. Hayes, R. F. Queal, J. W. Sheahan, D. L.
Shorey, Herman Raster, Willard Woodard, Elliot Anthony, and Julius Rosenthal.
The reading room in the tank was formally opened on January 1st, 1873, with ad-
dresses by Mayor Joseph Medill, President Hoyne and others. The library was
placed in charge of W. B. Wickersham. In the following October, William F.
Poole, formerly librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, and then in charge of the Cin-
cinnati Public Library, was appointed librarian, and entered upon his duties on
January 1st, 1874.
LOCATIONS AND LIBRARIANS
When the library was opened to the public in March, 1874, at its Wabash avenue
location, the number of volumes it then contained was 17,355. It did not remain
in these quarters very long, however, as in May, 1875, it was removed to the third and
fourth floors of the Dickey building at the southwest corner of Lake and Dearborn
streets. Here it remained eleven years when on the completion of the new City
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 295
Hall it found new quarters in the fourth story of that building, (in May, 1886);
having now grown to a total of 120,000 volumes. The library occupied these
premises for another period of eleven years, when in September, 1897, it was
finally removed to its permanent home in the new building. The formal opening at
its new and magnificent home took place on the 9th of October, the twenty-sixth
anniversary of the great fire.
As mentioned above Dr. William F. Poole was appointed librarian on October
25th, 1873, a position which he held until August 1st, 1887, when he resigned to take
charge of the Newberry Library. Mr. Frederick H. Hild was appointed to succeed
him on October 15th, of the same year. Mr. Hild continued in charge for twenty-
two years, when he was succeeded, on October llth, 1909, by Mr. Henry E. Legler,
the present librarian.
On January 1st, 1911, the library contained 410,000 volumes, and about 75,000
unbound pamphlets. The annual expenditure for the maintenance and operation
of the library is about $350,000. The number of employes in all the departments
is two hundred and sixty.
The entire cost of the building was about two millions of dollars, which includes
the furniture, book-stacks and machinery. To Mr. Charles A. Coolidge, then res-
ident member of the firm of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, architects, of Boston, Mas-
sachusetts, is chiefly due the credit for the design and construction of the building,
and for its decorations.
PRESENT LOCATION OF THE LIBRARY
The site chosen for the location of the Chicago Public Library is an ideal one
for an institution of the kind. Its great windows have an outlook upon Grant Park,
beyond which is visible the blue expanse of Lake Michigan stretching away to the
horizon line. The main entrance of the building is on Washington street, its east-
ern side extending in an unbroken facade along Michigan Boulevard to Randolph
street, and completely covering the space to the alley lying between Michigan Bou-
levard and Wabash avenue, known as Garland court.
That Dearborn Park should have been sacrificed, even for such a worthy purpose
as the location of a great library, was no doubt a mistake on the part of the author-
ities. If such a proposal were made at the present time it is not likely that it
would be permitted, in view of the state of public sentiment now prevalent in such
matters. The fact that the great Field Museum and the Crerar Library, seeking
locations in Grant Park, have utterly failed to secure the necessary authority to
construct buildings there shows the changed conditions ; and though the opposition
was for a long time almost wholly centered in one individual, Mr. Montgomery
Ward, the exclusion of these institutions from down town park spaces has been ap-
proved by the people of the present day. It needs but a slight exercise of the
imagination to realize what a beautiful appearance Dearborn Park would have
presented had it been kept free from structures of any kind, other than a monumental
fountain surrounded by foliage, a cool and inviting spot within the line of great
business buildings. The library would have found a suitable site even if this loca-
tion had been denied to it.
296 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDING
The building of the Chicago Public Library is 352l/o feet long, l-iG 1 /^ feet wide,
and ninety feet in height. It contains three principal stories, with two intermediate
floors and a basement. The exterior is of Bedford stone with a granite base. The
foundations of the walls and piers are laid on piles driven to a great depth, the
lower courses of the walls and piers beginning at a depth of about seventy-four
feet below the sidewalk. The walls are of solid masonry construction, and the
floors and piers of steel with hollow tile arches and partitions. The building is
practically incombustible.
The architectural features of the building are thus described in the handbook
issued by the institution: "The general treatment of the exterior of the building is
a harmonious combination of various styles of architecture, the lower part being in
the neo-Greek style with wide arched windows, and the upper part in Grecian style
with pillars and columns separated by windows. The entablature is of pronounced
Roman character, with heavy projecting garlands and lions' heads sculptured on
the frieze. The two entrances to the building vary greatly in style, the Washington
street entrance being a wide arched portal leading directly to the grand staircase
hall; while the Randolph street entrance is a portico with massive Greek columns
before the three doorways opening into a spacious corridor, with the north staircase
and elevators leading to the Grand Army Memorial Hall and the reading rooms
above.
"Entering the building from Washington street, the visitor finds himself at once
under the massive elliptical arch of the main staircase, at the foot of which, embed-
ded in the green and white mosaic floor, is a large bronze replica of the corporate seal
of Chicago. The ascent is by means of wide marble steps, with balconies at easy
distances, and ends in the Delivery Room, which is entered by three open archways
at the top landing. Italian statuary marble from the famous quarries of Carrara is
used in this portion of the building, richly inlaid with mosaics of glass, mother-of-
pearl, and semi-precious stones, and in the balustrades on the staircase, with small
centerpieces of the rare and beautiful Connemara marble. On the third-floor land-
ing panels of mosaic design, with suitable inscriptions and the names of great
writers, are set in the walls.
"The Delivery Room proper, which extends across the entire width of the
building, with a length of one hundred and thirty-four feet, and a depth of forty-
eight feet, is divided into three parts by a rotunda in the center, surmounted by a
beautiful stained-glass dome. Elliptical arches rise from the marble piers at the
four corners, and the walls above are elaborately covered with mosaics, into which
are worked the devices of the early printers and other appropriate designs. The
wings of the Delivery Room are wainscoted in Carrara marble, above which extends a
frieze of glass mosaic, containing large panels of green serpentine marble inlaid
with white inscriptions in ten different languages, and also in various characters,
from Egyptian hieroglyphics to modern Roman.
"Four large book rooms, equipped with three-deck steel stacks with glass floors,
and having a capacity of 350,000 volumes, open directly into the Delivery Room.
The west end of the room comprises the Open Shelf Department, and the correspond-
ing east end is occupied by the Registry Department. The Information Desk and
CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY
; r,-j
CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY BUILDING
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 297
tables for the users of finding lists are also located here. On this floor, also, are
the administrative rooms of the Library.
REFERENCE AND READING ROOMS
"The floor above is occupied by the Reference and Reading Rooms. The former
room, one hundred and thirty-eight feet long, thirty-eight feet wide, and thirty feet
high, with accommodations for two hundred and twenty-five readers, is situated on
the east front of the building, and is directly over the book rooms, with which it is
connected by means of automatic electric lifts, thus insuring rapid service. It is
reached from the south staircase by a long corridor, and adjoining it on the south
are the public card catalogue room, the room for special students, and a three-story
stack room for bound periodicals. Here the scheme of decoration is much less
elaborate than on the floor below, the only noticeable coloring being in the low
wainscoting and baseboards of beautifully mottled Siena marble. On the top floor,
at the south end, are the exhibit rooms and the rooms for art books.
"The great Reading Room for periodicals and newspapers, one hundred and
forty-two feet long and fifty-five feet wide, seating four hundred and fifty readers,
occupies the entire north front of the building on the fourth floor, adjoining the
Reference Room. Richly decorated in warm browns and greens, with verde-antique
marble pilasters and wainscoting, this is one of the most imposing rooms of the
building."
THE GRAND ARMY HALL
"Directly under the Reading Room, and of nearly the same dimensions, is the
Grand Army Memorial Hall, a splendid and dignified apartment, in which again the
deep green of the verde-antique marble, combined with the general color scheme of
red and brown, produces an effect of great beauty. Plaster reliefs of ancient ac-
coutrements of war are introduced in the frieze, flag-cases of bronze are placed at
intervals around the room, and cases for relics occupy the center of the hall. The
handsome lobby leading into the hall is lighted by a dome similar to that at the
south end of the building. Council rooms and ante-chambers, all luxuriously fur-
nished, complete the suite occupied by the local posts of the Grand Army of the
Republic."
The lease of the premises occupied by the Grand Army posts is for a term of
fifty years, dating from January 1st, 1898. While a nominal rental is required, the
main purpose is to provide the veterans of the Civil War with a high class and
comfortable place of resort, a spacious and convenient assembly room, and a home
for the extensive collection of objects and relics relating to the war, all practically
without cost to them. The lease is for a period long enough to answer the purposes
of surviving veterans, and at the end of its term the premises will revert to the
Chicago Public Library.
TREASURES OF THE LIBRARY
Like all great libraries the Chicago Public Library is in possession of a number
of especially valuable books, among which may be mentioned many of those which
were received from England at the time of the formation of the library. Many of
them bear inscriptions of their authors and of eminent men, and also in some cases
they are valued for their rich bindings or superior typography.
298 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
A remarkable work is the catalogue of the Heber Bishop collection of Oriental
jade ornaments and objects, now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. This
catalogue is in two heavy folio volumes, sumptuously printed and illustrated. One
hundred copies only of this great work were printed, the cost of publication amount-
ing to one hundred thousand dollars ; thus each set of two volumes represents a value
of one thousand dollars. The one hundred copies were distributed as gifts to lead-
ing museums and libraries. Chicago was fortunate in receiving four copies of this
work, each of the following institutions receiving one; the Art Institute, the New-
berry Library, the John Crerar Library, and the Chicago Public Library.
BRANCH LIBRARIES
"The wide distribution of Chicago's population," says the handbook, "has made
it necessary to provide small branch or deposit libraries in the residence districts,
thus, in a measure, carrying the benefits of the library to those who cannot con-
veniently come to it. These are established at convenient points throughout the city
and were formerly housed in rented quarters." Arrangements were made, how-
ever, with the various Park Boards by which the library has been enabled to install
attractive little reading rooms and book collections in the field houses of many of
the parks. These small segments of the Public Library, each containing from one
to three thousand volumes, a goodly portion of which are juvenile books, attract the
people of the neighborhood and are a boon to the children.
There are two among the branch libraries, however, which are on a much larger
scale than those mentioned above, and really approach the dimensions of independent
libraries, both in respect to the buildings they occupy and the books they contain.
These two require some special reference and description.
The Blackstone Library is a branch of the Chicago Public Library. "This
beautiful structure," says the handbook already quoted from, "is worthy of particular
mention, not only because it is one of the finest and costliest library buildings of its
size in the world, but also because it marks the beginning of the branch library
system in Chicago. The location is a triangular lot at the intersection of Lake and
Washington Avenues and Forty-Ninth street. The building covers a rectangular
space of one hundred by forty-five feet, with entrance on Lake Avenue. It is con-
structed of white granite in the pure Ionic-Grecian style, modeled after the famous
Erechtheum at Athens." This structure, together with the ground upon which it
stands, was the gift of Mrs. Blackstone in memory of her husband the late Timothy
B. Blackstone, a well known citizen of Chicago. Mrs. Blackstone herself directed
the construction of this splendid building, and upon its completion made a formal
transfer of it to the Library Board.
The Hiram Kelly branch of the Chicago Public Library is located at the north-
east corner of Normal Boulevard and Sixty-Second street. The building covers an
area of ninety-two by fifty-four feet, is constructed of brick and stone, has a capacity
of about twenty thousand volumes, and is appropriately fitted up for library pur-
poses. This building was erected at a cost of about $73,000, from the accumulated
income of a bequest made by the late Hiram Kelly, one of Chicago's leading mer-
chants who died in 1904, and who designated the Chicago Public Library as his
residuary legatee. In the final settlement the library received the sum of $200,000
from the trustees of the Kelly estate. The income "enabled the Board of Directors
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 299
to undertake the establishment of this branch, and to plan for its equipment and
maintenance without one cent of expense to the taxpayers of the city, either for
books or the salaries of the staff."
There are in all seventeen circulating branch libraries embraced in the system
of the Chicago Public Library, two of them as above described having buildings
especially erected for the purpose.
NEW DESIGNATIONS AND NUMBERING OF STREETS
In 1911, the designations of many streets in Chicago were partially changed to
conform to a new system of numbering provided by an ordinance of the Common
Council. In the new system adopted which became effective on the first of April,
1911, Madison Street, from Lake Michigan to the western city limits, was made the
base line for numbering all north and south streets, as well as streets running in a
northerly or southerly direction. For east and west streets, and streets running gen-
erally in an east and west direction, the base line was State Street which extends
from the southern city boundary line to North Avenue (where State Street ends),
thence extended by an imaginary line through Lincoln Park to Lake Michigan.
The plan of numbering on streets of the south side, south of Twelfth Street,
which commenced with an even number of hundreds at each numbered street, had
already been in operation for many years ; so that, for example, the first number on
State Street south of Twenty-Second Street would commence with number 2200, con-
tinuing in consecutive numbers until Twenty-Third Street was' crossed, when the
numbers would commence with number 2300, and so on. This system, however,
did not obtain on streets north of Twelfth Street until the change made on April
1st, 1911, above referred to. After this date the numbering was required to con-
form to the general plan previously in operation on the South Side south of Twelfth
Street, thus superseding the original system in use from the beginning.
By the new system eight hundred numbers were assigned to each mile, or one
hundred numbers to each one-eighth of a mile. Commencing at number one at the
north line of Madison Street the numbers on north and south streets were required
to be used according to this plan, until the streets reached the city limits or arrived
at their terminations. Similarly, the streets running south from Madison Street
were required to use numbers on the same plan until the streets joined those already
using this system on the South Side, beyond which the numbering exactly coincided
on the further course of these streets to the southern city limits. In like manner
numbers on east and west streets, were required to commence with number one at
State Street and continue throughout.
The prefixes North, South, East and West, were required to be used on all
streets according to the general direction except such as are open only on one side
or the other of the base lines, namely, Madison and State Streets. It thus resulted
that Monroe Street, for example, was thenceforth known as West Monroe Street
from its intersection with State Street running towards the west, and East Monroe
Street towards the east. Also all north and south streets thenceforth bore the pre-
fixes "North" and "South" (Madison Street being the base line), and also all
numbered streets and numbered avenues whether open on each side of the base line
or not. The prefixes to all the streets in the district affected by the new plan of
300 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
numbering were thus changed to conform to the system, and the new designations
became a fixed feature in the nomenclature of the city.
The exceptions in the prefixes as noted above were made on all named streets
which were open only on one side of either of the base lines, such as Ann Street on
the West Side (open only north of Madison Street), and Bowen Avenue on the
South Side (open only east of State Street).
As may well be imagined the new designations of streets and the new system of
numbering caused endless confusion to the public for a time, but as the great im-
provement and convenience resulting from the new order of things was realized, the
changes eventually received the hearty commendation and approval of the people.
It may be remarked that the streets mentioned in the various parts of this history
are designated by the names by which they were known before these changes had
taken place, owing to the fact that the manuscript was prepared in great part
previously to the time the changes went into effect.
A VISIT TO THE LUMBARD HOME
An account of the experiences of the Lumbard brothers upon their trip to
Vicksburg, which may differ in some of its details from that given in a previous
chapter is related here. This account was written at a later date than the other,
and, as it is derived from a direct interview, it is more likely to be accurate. It
may be mentioned that in the previous account it was said that General Grant had
sent for the Lumbard brothers to come to the army before Vicksburg and sing for
the soldiers in camp. According to the later account they were engaged to go south
by persons representing the Sanitary Commission. As it might easily have hap-
pened that General Grant had expressed a wish for their presence which the Sani-
tary Commission were complying with, the former statement is allowed to stand, as
in this view it is not necessarily in conflict with the later one.
The writer, taking a hint from the historian Lossing's methods, called on Mr.
Jules G. Lumbard on the afternoon of July 31st, 1911, at his home in Englewood.
He found him sitting quietly at a table entertaining himself with a game of solitaire,
but, like those veterans possessed of a store of interesting memories which they are
willing to share with the seeker for information, he entered at once into the sub-
jects touched upon. The writer had spent many hours with him on two previous
occasions, when he had sung war songs before assemblages, once at a regimental
reunion, and again at Memorial Day school exercises. Mr. Lumbard is in the
eightieth year of his age, a man of large frame but quite infirm, having suffered from
a stroke of paralysis some years ago which, however, has not dimmed his faculties
in the slightest degree. He has been a widower for many years, but he is cared
for in the most devoted manner by his sister-in-law, his brother Frank's widow, who
is but a few months younger than himself.
The conversation led to his experiences in the Vicksburg campaign. The events
were related jointly by Mr. Lumbard and by Mrs. Frank Lumbard (who was pres-
ent at the interview) , for though she did not accompany her husband on that occasion
she had heard him speak of his journey so often that she had become thoroughly
familiar with its details.
The Sanitary Commission, it was related, in carrying out its purpose of fur-
nishing supplies and "good cheer" to the men at the front, had engaged the Lum-
Photograph by A. W. Watriss
JULES G. LUMBARD AT THE PRESENT TIME
One of the famous Lumbard brothers, Jules and Frank, who
were singers of war songs during the Civil war.
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 301
bard brothers, Jules and Frank, to accompany one or more of its representatives to
the army besieging Vicksburg. On the way the party stopped for a short time at
Memphis where Frank was asked to sing at the theatre, a request with which he
readily complied, and among other pieces he sang the "Star Spangled Banner."
During the singing of the latter a number of ladies having secession sympathies
started to leave the theatre in high dudgeon, but found the doors locked when they
attempted to do so. The locking of the doors was done by Edward Jessel, a well
known Chicago auctioneer of that time, who was accompanying the Sanitary Com-
mission party on its southern journey.
Arrived at their destination, the Lumbard brothers performed a valuable service
in furnishing "good cheer" which was part of the programme of the Commission's
work. As already stated the lines of the opposing armies lay so near each other
that the strong and melodious voices of the singers, while rendering the stirring songs
of their famous repertory, were heard in the Confederate camp, and a voice called
out, "We know who's singing, its the Lumbard boys of Chicago;" to which was
added the request, "Come over here and sing for us, we'll treat you like gentlemen
and give you a safe conduct to return."
Frank Lumbard went to General Grant and asked him if it would be proper to
comply with the request. "Better not go," said the General, "perhaps they would
let you come back and perhaps not; and if they did not I should feel obliged to go
over after you." Frank considered this remark equivalent to a refusal and no more
was said about it. The visit of the brothers continued for a week or ten days.
The interview from which the above details were gathered forms one of the many
bright spots in the experience of the writer of this history. Others have had similar
ones especially if the fields of their investigations have lain within the recollections
of living men. Consider for a moment the intense interest with which Thucydides
was inspired while writing his graphic history of the Punic wars, survivors all
about him everywhere and he himself one of the participants. The writer cannot
leave this subject without remarking that this man, and his brother long since
passed away, have never received any official recognition from the government for
which they performed such distinguished and valuable services. One of the reasons
frequently given why enlistments during the Civil War were in sufficient numbers
at Chicago so that the necessity for a draft was avoided (which at one time was
seriously threatened), was owing to the enthusiasm everywhere created by their
patriotic songs at war meetings so frequently held in those years.
Both Jules and Frank, it is said, had opportunities to enter the military service
as commissioned officers, but they were advised by patriotic citizens who perceived
the value of their services not to do so, as they were serving their country in a much
more useful capacity in the work they were doing; and they remained in civil life.
It did not occur to the Lumbard brothers seemingly that in the subsequent distribu-
tions of honors and benefits the absence of their names from the army register pre-
vented them from having any part or lot with the veterans of the army.
There is a vital lack, however, in the lives of these two estimable people, survi-
vors of that far away time of stress and public anxiety, who now in the evening of
their days maintain a precarious hold upon their domicile and with uncertain means
of support, now remain forgotten and almost unknown, while living among people
who would gladly put forth effectual efforts in their behalf, if they were but awarp
of the real state of affairs.
302 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
THE PUBLIC SQUARE
The origin of the title to the block of ground known as the Public Square, on
which stands the County Building and City Hall both included in a single structure,
dates back to the grant made by Congress in 1827 to the State of Illinois, of "land
equal to one-half of five sections in width on each side" of the proposed Illinois and
Michigan Canal. A portion of section nine comprised in this grant, lying within the
present area of the City of Chicago, was subdivided by the Canal Commissioners in
1830, and a sale of lots took place in September of that year as described in an
earlier portion of this work.
Twenty- four of the lots were deeded to the County of Cook on June 16th, 1831,
about five months after the county had been organized, "to aid said county in the
erection of public buildings." Of the twenty-four lots thus given to the county six-
teen were afterwards sold, "not for the purpose of erecting public buildings," said
Judge Henry Brown reproachfully, in an address made some years later, "but to
pay current expenses." The remaining eight lots, comprising the entire block
bounded by Randolph, Clark, Washington and La Salle streets, were thus a gift to
the new county by the State of Illinois.
Judge Henry Brown in the address above referred to (made at the Chicago
Lyceum in 1846), pleaded against any further sales of lots owned by the county.
He said: "It has been proposed to sell the public square," and this proposal he
proceeded to denounce as "an act of double treachery," that is, treachery against
the state from which the gift of the lots had been received, and against posterity;
for if it is "reserved for public use and embellished as it ought to be with trees and
shrubbery, it will be an ornament to our city, and generations now unborn will yet
arise and bless us for having spared it." Fortunately this sound advice was heeded
nnd the county is still the owner of the "Public Square."
BUILDINGS ON THE PUBLIC SQUARE
A substantial brick courthouse and jail was erected in 1835. This structure
was one story in height with a broad flight of steps at the top of which was a classic
portico supported by columns. Thomas Hoyne, when he arrived here in 1837, be-
held it with wonder and admiration, and compared it with the Parthenon at Athens,
pictures of which he had doubtless seen in books. The building was near the north-
east corner of the square, the front of the building facing on Clark street.
In 1851, the city authorities whose offices had been located in the "Saloon build-
ing" for a time and later in the Market building on State street, joined with the
county authorities in planning a new structure to be occupied by both of these cor-
porate bodies. Accordingly, on September 12th, 1851, the corner stone of a build-
ing to be erected at the center of the square was laid with appropriate ceremonies,
and in 1853 it was ready for occupancy. John M. Van Osdel was the architect of
this the second courthouse building. This building was soon found too small and
another story was added to it, with a cupola and belfry. But this again soon became
inadequate for the growing needs of the fast growing young "metropolis of the
west," and, in 1870, it was extensively added to, this time with wings on the east
and west projections, with domes surmounting the additions. It was then regarded
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 303
as "one of the handsomest buildings in the State." Soon after its completion, how-
ever, the great fire of 1871 almost completely destroyed it with its contents, leaving
only some of the exterior walls standing upright, one of the most picturesque ruins
remaining after that terrible calamity.
BUILDINGS SUBSEQUENT TO THE FIRE
After the fire the County and City authorities were obliged for a term of years
to find quarters in a temporary building hastily erected for their purposes on the
southeast corner of La Salle and Adams streets, which owing to the rough manner
of its construction soon acquired a dilapidated appearance, and became known as
the "Rookery." On this location in later years an office building was erected which
was also called the Rookery, thus giving a fitting permanency to the name.
In 1877, the city and county entered into an agreement for the construction of
a building for their joint use on the public square, the county to occupy the eastern
part and the city the western part. It was also agreed between them that the ex-
terior of the building should be of uniform architectural design, and Mr. James J.
Egan, the architect for the county, furnished a design for the entire structure.
Building operations were commenced but it was not until 1885 that the western
portion of the building was ready for use by the city authorities, though the east-
ern portion was completed and occupied by the county some time before that date.
It was intended that a great dome should surmount that portion of the structure
connecting the two buildings, but for various reasons, mainly for lack of funds, this
was never done. The design of this great building was much admired by residents
and visitors, and it was keenly regretted by most people when in later years it
was found necessary to raze it and replace it with a new structure. Unfortunately
it was found after the building had been completed a few years that its founda-
tions were not adequate for the support of a structure with such heavy walls, and
after a succession of alarms from settling and cracking walls it was condemned
and a new building provided for.
THE COURTHOUSE OF THE PRESENT DAY
The great building occupying the entire area of the Public Square, and known
as the Courthouse and City Hall, was finally completed in the early months of
1911. The two parts of this immense building were constructed separately though
forming one complete structure in its finished state. The portion of the building on
the east half of the block is known as the County Building, and the portion on the
west half as the City Hall.
The construction of the County Building was entered upon some two years before
the Chicago city authorities made a definite move to replace the old city hall with
a new one. The county authorities employed Messrs. Holabird & Roche, architects,
to make the design and superintend the erection of the new county building. The
design provided for a building on the east half of the Public Square only, as it was
not known at that time whether or not the City would join with the county in the
erection of one great structure. Accordingly the old county building was demolished
and much of the stone which had been used in it was reduced by stone crushing
machinery to a proper condition for making concrete to be used in the foundation
work of the new. The building was completed and occupied in the fall of 1907.
304 CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS
The design of the architects was remarkable in many respects. "Its design was
influenced very largely by the clamor of the business interests of Chicago for a
business building designed according to the type of the modern fireproof office build-
ing," says a writer in the Fireproof Magazine for November, 1907. "The archi-
tects whose design was adopted desired to make this a monumental structure, and
from the very first endeavored to reconcile the commercial idea with the archi-
tectural idea in its design. It was known that the building should have at least
eleven stories with practical accommodations for all the varieties of official business
to be conducted by the county, as well as for a large number of courts located in
Cook County. In deciding to make the exterior a monumental one they determined
to preserve the proportions of a grand order of architecture as well as they could
with not more than two compositions forming the base of the order. It was neces-
sary to bring eleven stories within these bounds, with varying heights according to
the necessities of their use, and also to provide the proper exterior light for all the
stories and to reconcile the largest width of openings for exterior windows with a
design the main feature of which was to be a colonnade of colossal Corinthian
columns."
DETAILS OF CONSTRUCTION
The wrecking of the old County Building began in October, 1905. Work on the
foundations began in January, 1906, and in the following April the first steel work
was set in place. In the following year and a half the entire structure was carried
on to completion, a remarkable rate of speed for construction of this character.
The size of the building is three hundred and seventy-four feet on the Clark Street
front, and one hundred and fifty-seven feet on each of the Washington and Ran-
dolph Street fronts. The total height above the grade of the street to the top of
the wall over the cornice is two hundred and eighteen feet.
The basis of the whole design is the colonnade of Corinthian columns to which
everything else is subjected; and to preserve the scale throughout the order is
Cyclopean. The columns are engaged with the walls of the building, only about
three-fourths of the shafts standing separate from the body of the structure. The
diameters of the shafts are nine feet and four inches, and their lengths are seventy-
five feet. The cost of construction of the County Building was in round numbers
five millions of dollars.
In the construction of the County Building there were pavilions placed at the
west ends of the Washington and Randolph street fronts, which appropriately
completed the design, as it was not then known that the city would erect a building
as a part of the same exterior design. But about the time the County Building was
completed the city authorities decided to employ the same architects who had de-
signed and built the County Building, and continue the monumental row of Corinthian
columns completely around the proposed new City Hall. This made it necessary to
take down those portions of the wall occupied by the pavilions, work that had only
been completed a few months; and along this space the great columns were substitu-
ted for the pavilions.
The dimensions of the City Hall are the same as those of the County Building,
so that the entire area covered by the combined building is three hundred and
seventy-four by three hundred and fourteen feet. While the exterior lines of the
City Hall are the same as those of the County Building the interior is differently
THE COUNTY COURT-
HOUSE AND CITY HALL,
OCCUPYING THE BLOCK
BOUNDED BY CLARK,
WASHINGTON, LA SALLE
AND RANDOLPH STREETS
This building was completed
in 1885.
By permission of Chicago Historical Society
SECOND COOK COUNTY COURT HOUSE
Erected in 1853; destroyed in the great fire of 1871. This picture shows the proces-
sion leaving the building at the time that Lincoln's remairs were lying in state, May 1,
1865.
THE NEW COOK COUNTY COURTHOUSE AND CHICAGO CITY HALL,
COMPLETED IN 1911
CHICAGO: ITS HISTORY AND ITS BUILDERS 305
arranged except as to the grand corridors. "That this building is monumental,"
says the writer already quoted from, "cannot be denied. It is as high as any of the
sixteen story office buildings in the city ; but, on account of its proportions having
been carefully preserved, it does not have the appearance of extraordinary height.
It may be said that it dwarfs itself through the largeness of its details ; but it is so
large as to impress everyone with its size" and favorably compares with the other
numerous skyscrapers of the city.
At the close of his administration in April, 1911, Mayor Fred A. Busse, in refer-
ring to the building of the new City Hall, said in his report, "In the public eye the
new City Hall is perhaps the most prominent monument of this administration. It
has been erected at a cost of approximately five millions of dollars, and is now
practically completed. It contains more floor space than the County Building which
latter structure has been considered a model of public edifices. Together they will
form a splendid exhibition of the energy, enterprise and public spirit of the com-
munity."
LITERARY NEWSPAPERS OF THE FORTIES AND FIFTIES
"The first weekly of predominantly literary character," says Herbert E. Flem-
ing, in his history of the literary periodicals of Chicago, "was named, in response
to the stimulus of environment, the Gem of the Prairie. This paper retained its
prairie name from the founding in 1844, until it became the Sunday edition of
the Chicago Daily Tribune in 1852." The same writer in a
