A Centennial history of the city of Chicago E-Book

Charles Anderson Dana

• Herausgeber: Jazzybee Verlag
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Seitenzahl: 732

Beschreibung

For sure this book can not claim that it is a complete, comprehensive history of Chicago's first 100 years, but the publishers believe it contains more important facts concerning the growth of the city during the first century of its existence than many other like publications. The superior arrangement of facts and events mapped out stand for themselves and mirror the condition of the city at the dawn of the 20th century.

Leseprobe

A Centennial History of the City of Chicago

CHARLES ANDERSON DANA

A Centennial History of the City of Chicago, C. Anderson Dana

Jazzybee Verlag Jürgen Beck

86450 Altenmünster, Loschberg 9

Deutschland

ISBN: 9783849648718

www.jazzybee-verlag.de

[email protected]

CONTENTS:

FOREWORD... 1

CHAPTER I. CHICAGO'S FIRST CENTURY.2

CHAPTER II. THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION... 5

CHAPTER III. EARLY CHICAGO.7

CHAPTER IV. GROWTH AND THE MAYORS OF CHICAGO.24

CHAPTER V. CHICAGO IN WAR.. 37

CHAPTER VI. CHICAGO'S GREAT FIRE DISASTERS.41

CHAPTER VII. THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.45

CHAPTER VIII. THE ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL. 48

CHAPTER IX. CHICAGO'S WATER SYSTEM.52

CHAPTER X. THE DRAINAGE CANAL. 56

CHAPTER XI. CHICAGO'S PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM... 62

CHAPTER XII. CHICAGO'S LIBRARIES. 70

CHAPTER XIII. CHICAGO AS AN ART CENTER.74

CHAPTER XIV. THE CHURCHES OF CHICAGO.78

CHAPTER XV. CHICAGO PARKS. 81

CHAPTER XVI. CHICAGO'S NEWSPAPERS.90

CHAPTER XVII. CHICAGO'S CHARITIES.102

CHAPTER XVIII. CHICAGO'S RAILROAD SYSTEMS. 106

CHAPTER XIX. BANKS OF CHICAGO... 134

CHAPTER XX. BOARD OF TRADE.166

CHAPTER XXI. THE CATTLE MARKET OF THE WORLD.176

CHAPTER XXII. CHICAGO'S MANUFACTURING INTERESTS.190

CHAPTER XXIII. CHICAGO'S BUSINESS INTERESTS.212

CHAPTER XXIV. PROMINENT MEN, PAST AND PRESENT.277

Foreword

During the five years since the first edition of the Inter Ocean's history of Chicago was presented to the public, the city has rounded out its first century. In presenting this volume the general plan of the original work has been followed. The progress made by the city in its various lines of activity has been carefully recorded.

The claim is not made that it is a complete, comprehensive history of Chicago's first 100 years, but the publishers believe it contains more important facts concerning the growth of the city during the first century of its existence than any other like publication.

The superior arrangement of facts and events mapped out by the Hon. Frank Gilbert, in the original edition, has been adhered to as closely as changing conditions warranted. Much of the matter is preserved intact. Except where it has been necessary in bringing the work up to date, no material changes have been made. Mr. Gilbert's plans can be best outlined by quoting from the preface of the first edition:

"It was his thought that facts and events would thus be placed before the reader more attractively and the book be better adapted for the purpose of reference. It is hoped that this method of treatment will find favor with readers. The great public undertakings which are closely connected with the life and growth of the city are especially exploited and the private and personal enterprises which have been great aids in the building of the city are given the attention they so justly deserve. The men, too, whose ability, genius and forethought have added to the city's character, wealth and renown have been remembered, and not the least interesting, historically considered, are the biographies of these city-makers. This is not a pretentious or great work, but it is hoped that it will be found useful and be given a place in many libraries."

CHAPTER I. CHICAGO'S FIRST CENTURY.

The history of Chicago's first century is a record of stupendous contrasts.

One hundred years ago a frontier fort with one white settler under the protection of its sheltering stockade

Today a community of over two million souls.

A century ago unmarked on the country's map. To-day the second city in the United States and the fourth in wealth and commercial power in the world. In 1803 one Indian trader.

In 1905 a commanding metropolis with a commerce more valuable than was known to Alexandria, Venice, Carthage and Tyre.

Outstripping all competitors, the center of the most fertile region on earth, the great Middle West, from which the wealth of the nation is mainly drawn, Chicago at the beginning of its second century looks forward to a maturity that can be measured only by its unparalleled past.

Its massive buildings, its countless homes, its thousands of factories, its hundreds of churches, its palaces of art and industry, its great railroad systems, its magnificent parks, its splendid financial institutions, with their hundreds of millions of deposits, its boundless charities, its great thoroughfares and boulevards, its billions of commerce on land and lake, its schools with their army of 300,000 children, its colleges and great universities - all these attest the work of Chicago's first one hundred years.

While Chicago has not the traditions of the older cities of the continent, nor the poetry and romance of the historic centers of the Old World, it has taken its place among the great cities of the Globe with a rush that has set aside all records and set a new mark in the growth and development of municipalities.

It was needed and it came.

Chicago's entire history is record breaking. Its accomplishments, failures, disasters, experiences have all been of the superlative degree. It has always done things on a big, broad gauge, wholesale scale. Its growth in population, its expansion in area, its park and boulevard system, its strikes and riots, its fires, its World's fair, its universities and public schools, its drainage system, its tall buildings, its Americanism despite its polyglot population, its murder mysteries, its commerce, have all be epochal. There have been no half way possibilities for Chicago. It always "goes the limit." It is the busiest, richest, poorest, most advanced, and most backward, windiest, most growing, swiftest moving, and most aggressive city in the world.

Chicago's commercial pre-eminence is due primarily to its geographical location. At the headwaters of Lake Michigan, which dips into the very heart of the great inter-mountain region of the nation, it is the natural gateway and centering point of most of its commerce. The great leaders in the early commercial activity of the city recognized this, as did the first white men who pierced the western wilderness.

It is borne out by the great highways of commerce, the railroads that center here. Over their rails are carried two-thirds of the entire tonnage of the United States. No city on the face of the earth can compare with Chicago as a railway center. Chicago railways have under their control or directly tributary to them 80,000 miles of tracks. They operate more trains in and out of Chicago daily than come into and leave any other city in the world.

Chicago's downtown business section, a little more than a mile square in extent, comprises the life center of the most gigantic freight traffic in the world. In this small congested area, hounded by Twelfth street on the south, the river on the north. Canal street on the west and the lake on the east, are handled daily over 300,000 tons of freight. By teaming alone in the loop district 100,000 tons are carried. The tense activities of 800,000 people are carried on daily in this same territory. Along its thirty miles of streets and alleys these 800 regiments of men, women and children buy, sell and labor during twelve hours of the day. The inescapable commercial destiny of Chicago is manifest nowhere more clearly than in this square mile of territory in the downtown district. The magnitude of this glut of commerce and business activity precludes a boast. Chicago merchants pay no less than $50,000.000 a year for the cartage on the raw material and finished products transported through this district annually. The railroads take into this district and out of it more freight than they load and take from any similar area in the world, more than any other group of railroads give and take from any like district on earth.

Chicago is the pulse of the world's food market. On the floor of the Board of Trade is gauged the nation's business in produce. It is the counting room of the western granary of the nations. The total cereal receipts of the city range from 250,000,000 to over 350,000,000 bushels annually. The receipts of livestock aggregate 15,000,000 head, making this the greatest cattle market the world has ever known. Its stockyards cover 500 acres and 300 miles of railroad tracks gridiron it. Here are employed 50,000 people and the value of the livestock handled is $300,000,000. The products of the great packing houses are sent into every land.

The capital invested in Chicago's manufactories aggregates $625.000,000. An army of 300,000 workers is employed in these industries and the wages paid reach a total of nearly $165,000,000 annually. The output is valued at $1,000,000.000. For twenty years there has been no decrease to the titanic forward strides of the city's factories. Chicago's accessibility to cheap fuel and raw materials, its cheapness of land, its natural and inevitable advantages as a focal point for the transcontinental traffic of the country have all contributed to attract to the city capital and labor. While the greatest conflicts between these interests have been fought here, it has not deterred the steady influx of more money seeking investment and of more workers seeking employment. The very immensity of Chicago has furnished an element that has made for the freedom and interests of both sides. Here no aggregation of capital is great enough to hopelessly crush the workingman nor no labor organization so autocratic as to permanently cripple a great industry.

The second century of Chicago's existence opens up a magnificent vista of municipal development. No greater movement for the education and elevation of the people was ever planned. The schools of the city are adjusted to the needs of modern industrial life. Nor will Chicago be submerged in the intensified commercialism of the age. To teach the coming generations to work with their hands, guided by a trained intelligence, is the aim of the present educational movement of the city. Manual workers and trained housekeepers is the product of citizenship aimed at, both fitted for home builders and useful members of the community.

Coordinated with this central schools system are the parks, neighborhood houses, libraries, art galleries and other public institutions. Already have the park commissioners of the South Side built neighborhood club buildings in the congested districts. Fitted with gymnasiums, baths, swimming tanks, halls and reading rooms they have become the center of the citizen-building movement in the districts where before there was little to inspire the effort to rise above the dead level of depressing environment. The physical and intellectual stimulus can only make for the elevation of the civic life of the entire city.

Nor are the schoolhouses any longer only places for the children five or six hours a day. These are now used as the rallying points for the entire neighborhood. Here the parents of the children and the older members of the family can meet for lectures, concerts and the discussion of questions affecting the community.

Thus the workers in Chicago's industrial army are being fitted for their share in the upbuilding of the city, and influences started that will bear fruit during the city's second century.

CHAPTER II. THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

September 26, 1903, Chicago began a week of celebration in commemoration of the arrival of John Kinzie, the first white settler, and the founding of Fort Dearborn. From all over the West the friends and admirers of the city came to join with the two million Chicagoans in the festivities. For a time the present was forgotten, and every mind went back to the stockaded fort and the solitary white settler in his log shack across the river. The descendants of this pioneer and the officers who led the small company of United States regulars into the western wilderness and built the government outpost, together with the Indians whose fathers were the owners of the land where a city of two million souls now stands, met in a common reunion.

Chicag, the grizzled chief of the Chippewas, older than the city itself, sat upon the platform with the little great-grand-granddaughters of Captain John Whistler and the descendants of Lieutenant Swearingen, and John Kinzie. Push-a-ta-nee-kah, chief of the Sac and Fox nation, delivered an address. These links with Chicago's past brought back the picture of the frontier post of a century before more vividly and emphasized the wonders that had been wrought from the wilderness more eloquently, than did the orators who told the story in rounded periods.

Tablets were placed at historic spots. These will, in time, be wrought in bronze in commemoration of the men and events to whom Chicago owes its beginning and existence. At the public library was placed a reproduction of the first Fort Dearborn built in 1803, and the stockade as rebuilt in 1816. Here the opening exercises of the celebration were held and Margaret Schuyler Joy and Catherine Whistler Joy, the great-great-grand daughters of Captain Whistler who built it, unveiled the memorial.

Tablet No. 2 was placed on the Palmer House. On it was a map of the city in 1871, showing the extent of the great disaster, encircled by two allegorical figures symbolic of smoke and fire. It told the story of that tragedy, "The Chicago Fire 1871, burned four miles along the lake and one mile inland; 2,214 acres of ground, 13,500 buildings destroyed, 92,000 people made homeless $186,000,000 property lost."

The tablet placed on the Masonic Temple bore this inscription. "Fort Dearborn Military Reservation, 75 acres - established 1824 - sold for town lots 1839. This square reserved for Dearborn Park, City Library erected 1898." At Madison and Wabash a tablet in honor of Marquette was placed. The likeness of La Salle was placed on the tablet erected on the Board of Trade. On the city hall were shown in relief the first and second courthouses erected on the site by Cook County. A reproduction of the first railway station and "The Pioneer," the city's first locomotive, was put up at the Chicago and Northwestern depot, Wells and Kinzie streets. Chicago's share in the selection of Abraham Lincoln was recalled in the tablet at Market and Lake streets. On it were these words, "Here stood the temporary Republican wigwam in which Abraham Lincoln was nominated for the Presidency, May 18, 1860.

The second day of the celebration being Sunday, the greatness of Chicago was the theme in all the pulpits. Special commemorative services were held and the destiny of the metropolis of the West vividly portrayed. On the Monday following, a general holiday was declared and hundreds of thousands thronged to Lincoln Park to see the great Indian encampment located there. The scenes of early Chicago were portrayed in the Indian games and pastimes, and in the storming of Fort Dearborn, a realistic reproduction of which had been erected for the purpose. There was a notable gathering of old settlers in the evening at the rooms of the old Chicago Historical Society.

The Indian festivities were continued on the next day, and throughout the entire week, and in the afternoon a reunion of the Kinzie, Whistler and Swearingen families was held at the Auditorium Hotel. These three names are more closely associated with the founding of Chicago than are any others. The day closed with a great parade in the evening, showing the commercial growth of the city. It was a spectacle surpassing anything of the kind ever seen in Chicago. All the military organizations, police and fire departments, including the old-time firemens' brigade, the Indian tribes and representatives of all the nationalities in Chicago took part. The crowds that had been arriving the previous days packed the downtown districts to witness the parade. On Wednesday the festivities were continued at Lincoln Park, the Indian encampment and rowing and swimming races being the attractions. The Daughters of the American Revolution held a reception at Memorial Hall in the evening, which several thousand attended. A great fire-works display on the Lake Front closed the program for that day. Thursday was known as "Mayor's day," and a banquet to visiting officials was held at the Auditorium Hotel in the evening. The head executives of New York, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Toledo, and many other cities, including most of the Illinois towns were present. A civic mass meeting at the Auditorium followed the dinner at which Mayor Low of New York was the speaker. The week's festivities closed with another extensive display of fire-works on the Lake Front Friday evening, the visitors having spent the day at Lincoln Park, and viewing the great manufacturing and commercial attractions of the city.

CHAPTER III. EARLY CHICAGO.

A little ridge, only from eight to ten feet above lake level, just west of the present limits of Chicago, may be noted as nature's first entry in the history of this city. It served as the starting point of an aquatic revolution, or evolution. Gradually dry land was formed where hitherto the waters of our unsalted, mid-continent sea had held undisputed sway, making for itself an outlet to the Gulf of Mexico. Slowly the soil was prepared for one of the mightiest urban growths of the globe.

But the rescue of a little patch of earth from the domain of water was not of itself enough to ever serve as the germ of a city. It was the short and sluggish stream now called the Chicago River which was the decree of fate. It is no exaggeration to say that the metropolis of the Middle West rests on the river which bears its name. How long the ridge stood and the river flowed before the first step was taken in the fulfillment of this municipal destiny, science cannot determine. The beavers and the Indians made some joint use of the property - just enough to be a prophecy of what civilization would do when the time should come for their realization.

Chicago may be said to have been discovered by Sieur Joliet. It is one of the more notable evidences of man's ingratitude that not even a street in the city bears the name of this prescient discoverer. La Salle, who came eight years later, had a vague yet inspiring vision of the heart of the continent. He caught foregleams of what might be and has been developed from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, but the importance of this portage escaped his observation. Joliet reached it December 14, 1674, and when he returned to Montreal he reported this portage as the most important discovery of his entire trip, extending as far west as the Mississippi River.

The illustrious Frenchmen named, and their compeers, Father Marquette and Tonty, were mere warfaring observers. The first settler who was in any sense a connecting link with civilization was a negro from Haiti. How he came to drift so far from his original moorings is a mystery, but here he was found, living solitary and alone, by Colonel Arent Schuyler de Puyster, commandant at Mackinaw, in the summer of 1779. The record of this curious find bears the date of July 4, 1779. It is a noteworthy and suggestive fact that the military achievement which added the "Illinois country" to the United States, preventing this vast prairie region from sharing the political fate of Canada, also dates from Independence Day. The name of this first settler was Jeane Baptiste Point de Saible. He is supposed to have lived here twenty years, but, tired of waiting, apparently, for the coming of the white man, he removed to Peoria, where his death occurred. The commandant described him as "a handsome negro," and again as a Haitian mulatto, "well settled at Eschikagcu." The humble dwelling of this pioneer was at the corner of Pine and Kinzie streets, a spot hardly less deserving of commemoration than the site of Fort Dearborn.

A little before Saible is supposed to have settled here the first Chicago real estate transaction occurred. One William Murray, then living in Kaskaskia, conceived a grand land speculation worthy of George Law. He organized "the Illinois Land Company" in 1773, and in its behalf made a purchase from the Indians of a tract. The vast tract bought had for its northeast corner mete and bound, as described of record, "Chicagou, or Garlick, Creek." The enterprising Haytian was just over the line, on the north bank of "Garlick Creek." Mr. Murray and his company would hardly have been heard of more but for the casual mention of "Chicagou."

The first white pioneer was John Kinzie, a name conspicuous in the early days of the city, and still familiar. In 1804 he bought the cabin of Saible. It is true that Major Whistler came here the year before and built the first Fort Dearborn, the log structure burnt at the massacre of 1812, but he cannot be said to have been instrumental in promoting Chicago, as a mart of trade and center of population.

Moving on and shifting our viewpoint, it may be fairly said that Chicago was born at Greenville. Ohio, in the year 1795. It was at that point that General Wayne, the "mad Anthony" of military history, met the representatives of twelve Indian tribes, and, as the agent of the United States government, bought the original site of Chicago. One of the minor provisions of the treaty of Greenville was that the United States government should have several isolated pieces of ground for trading posts. In this list is found the following entry: "One piece of land six miles square at the mouth of Chicago River, emptying into Lake Michigan, where a fort formerly stood." That treaty fixed both the geography and the orthography of the city.

The first event to bring Chicago within the scope of general observation was the Fort Dearborn massacre, if even that did it. Massacres quite as revolting and soul-harrowing were not so very unusual in pioneer days as to attract universal attention, and news traveled slowly. It was not. however, so much a part of the price of progress in national expansion as an incident of the second war with England.

The United States declared war June 12. 1812, and on the 9th of August succeeding Captain Heald, commander at Fort Dearborn, received orders from General Hull to evacuate the fort and take his women and children to Detroit by land. The departure was set for the fifteenth of the same month. Some of the women and children were sent by boat, notwithstanding the order. That they were not all quietly dispatched in the same way was one of the mistakes of Hull. The evacuation itself was due to indications that British emissaries from Canada had begun to tamper with the Indians. The party which started out to make that overland march consisted of no white men, ten women, twenty children and 100 Indians supposed to be friendly. This mixed company had proceeded only about a mile when a large body of Indian warriors fell upon them. The friendly Indians either joined in the attack or skulked; most of them were downright treacherous. In ten minutes every white man, woman and child was dead except fifteen. Many a heart-rending tale is still told of that massacre, slightly relieved by a rescue by one genuinely friendly red man. On that day of horror Chicago received its baptism of blood, as October 9, 1871, it received its baptism of fire. The slaughter occurred in the vicinity of Eighteenth street and Prairie avenue. A large elm tree was supposed to mark the spot as near as possible. The massacre tree survived until 1887, when it shed its last leaf, unable to respond again to the quickening call of spring. It was cut down and a fitting monument in bronze commemorative of the tragic event was erected in its place by Mr. George M. Pullman, who owned the ground. Many conflicting reports were made of the massacre, but the account here followed was set down, with many omitted details, by an eyewitness.

For two years Chicago dropped out of sight, and it was four years that the bodies of the victims of the butchery remained unburied. John Kinzie left his home and the Indians had their own way in all this region. Chicago was a scene of desolation. No attempt was made to re-establish civilized life on the banks of "Garlick Creek" until after the second war with England was over.

It was in July, 1816, that the order to rebuild Fort Dearborn was issued, and in accordance with said order Captain Hezekiah Bradley, with two companies of infantry, took possession of the old ruined fort and proceeded to rebuild the same. One of the first duties, however, of the captain and the men under him was the burying of the skeletons of the dead victims of the massacre at the time of the evacuation of the fort. This done, they proceeded to rebuild their home, which was done in a more careful and substantial manner than before. John Kinzie and his family came back, and occasionally other settlers straggled in to renew the process of civilizing the six-mile tract belonging to the government. The Indians were still numerous, but so far as the record goes were never afterward unfriendly. In 1818 the American Fur Company established a branch office here, which enlarged the commercial transactions about the fort. By 1820 there was quite a village, a half dozen or more comfortable cottages, which, together with the soldiers of the fort and the Indians about, made things appear quite lively. About this time (1820) Chicago was honored with an unusual visitation. Governor Cass, with a number of other gentlemen, was making an official expedition through the Northwest and visited Chicago. Accompanying this expedition was Henry R. Schoolcraft, who seemed delighted with Chicago and its surroundings. Mr. Schoolcraft, although he went out as a mineralogist, seems to have been the scribe and reporter tor the party. He says that General Cass and party reached the village (Chicago) about 5 o'clock on the morning of August 29, 1820. "We found four or five families living here, the principal of which were those of John Kinzie, Dr. A. Wolcott, J. B. Beaubien and J. Crafts, the latter living a short distance up the river. The Pottawottamies, to whom this site is the capital of trade, appeared to be lords of the soil, and truly are entitled to the epithet if laziness and an utter unappreciation of the value of time be a test of lordliness." "We found the post, Fort Dearborn, under the command of Captain Bradley, with a force of 160 men. The river is ample and deep for a few miles, but is utterly choked by the lake sands, through which, behind a masked margin, it oozes its way for a mile or two till it percolates through the sand into the lake." Mr. Schoolcraft seems to have been something of an artist, and while he was there he took a sketch of the village, as he says, "from a standpoint on the flat of sand which stretched out in front of the place." The cut herewith presented is a copy of Mr. Schoolcraft's sketch, which he says, "embraces every house in the village, including the fort." Of the country he says: "The country around Chicago is the most fertile and beautiful that can be imagined. It consists of an intermixture of wood and prairies, diversified with gentle slopes, sometimes attaining the elevation of hills, and it is irrigated with a number of clear streams and rivers, which throw their waters partly into Lake Michigan and partly into the Mississippi River. As a farming country it presents the greatest facilities for stock-raising and grain, and is one of the favored parts of the Mississippi Valley. The climate has a delightful serenity, and it must, as soon as the Indian title is extinguished, become one of the most active fields for the emigrant. To the ordinary advantage of an agricultural market town it must add that of being a depot for the commerce between the northern and southern sections of the Union, and a great thoroughfare for strangers, merchants and travelers."

From this it will be seen that Mr. Schoolcraft was much more enamored with the situation of Chicago than most of the early travelers through this region. He saw, too, the advantages of this location from a commercial point of view, and the years since have shown that he was correct in his estimates of the importance of this location for commerce and enterprise. It is in fact true of nearly all the early visitors of Chicago that they saw great commercial advantages for Chicago even when it was only a site it seemed to warm the imaginations of the Jesuit fathers, Marquette and Joliet, more than any other point they visited in all their wanderings. Already Chicago has more than justified their far-sighted wisdom, but the present has more promise for the future than 1820 or 1830 had. The indications now are that in the next seventy years wealth, population, commerce, education, art and all things that relate to the higher life and civilization of a people will increase more rapidly than they have in the last seventy years. It will require more wisdom to prepare the present city to become the wonderful city Chicago should be in 2070 than was required of its founders and builders to produce the city of to-day. Faith and energy were the principal requirements of the founders, but the men that make this city what it should be at the end of the next seventy years must have, in addition to those qualifications, intellectual culture, practical wisdom, high ideals and courage to do and dare. The place where Chicago stands was created for great things, and if citizens of the city and state do their duty that design will be realized before the close of the twentieth century.

Up to 1823 the place was more generally known as Fort Dearborn than as Chicago, the military post being the principal feature of the settlement, but in 1823 the post was again evacuated and for five years continued vacant. During that time the designation "Fort Dearborn" almost entirely disappeared, and the place got its proper name, Chicago. After the evacuation of the fort the only government representative that remained was Dr. Alexander Wolcott, the Indian agent, who still retained his office here. Chicago was then a part of Peoria County, and in the congressional election of 1826 cast 35 votes.

In 1830 William Howard, a United States civil engineer, made a survey of the general location of Chicago, with especial view as to its relations to the Chicago River and the lake. His drawing and report gave the best idea of the Chicago River of that early day that can anywhere be found. The sketch is here reproduced, and the beach of sand from which Mr. Schoolcraft drew his sketch of infant Chicago, ten years previous, is plainly shown. The Commissioner of the General Land Office, at the time of reporting this survey, sent the following letter to Congress in regard to the same, inclosing the sketch:

"GENERAL LAND OFFICE, March 22, 1830.

"Sir: I take the liberty to enclose you a diagram, exhibiting the survey of the public lands lying on Lake Michigan, at the mouth of Chicago Creek, and would recommend that an act be passed, authorizing the President to lay off a town at this point. Section 9 has been allotted to the State of Illinois, under the act granting to her certain lands for the purpose of making a canal.

"Should the United States establish a town at the mouth of the creek, the state would probably derive much benefit by extending the lots into Section 9, as Chicago Creek affords a good harbor through the whole of this section.

"It is understood that the waters of Lake Michigan may be drawn into the Illinois River, by a thorough cut of moderate length, and not more than seventeen feet deep at the summit; when this is affected, and the bar on the outside of the mouth of Chicago Creek is so deepened as to admit into the harbor with facility vessels of the largest class navigating the lakes, Chicago must inevitably become one of the most important depots and thoroughfares on the lakes.

''The government are about bringing into market a vast extent of country between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River, which, as to advantages of local position, fertility of soil, healthfulness of climate and mineral resources, is not perhaps excelled by any other tract of country of equal extent in the United States. The deepening of the inlet of the harbor of Chicago would essentially facilitate the sale of these lands and promote the settlement of the country.

* * * * * *

"With great respect, your obedient servant,

"GEORGE GRAHAM."

It will be seen by the above that the writer took a great interest in the embryo city of Chicago, and that even then, when nobody ever thought of Chicago needing any other drainage receptacle than the lake, he called attention to the fact that the waters of Lake Michigan could be easily turned into the Illinois River by making a cut of moderate length and not more than seventeen feet deep at the summit; in fact, nearly all the pioneers were especially attracted to Chicago on account of the ease with which a waterway could be made joining the lake with the Mississippi River through the Chicago, Desplaines and Illinois rivers. With this fact so prominent in the minds of the earlier explorers, it seems strange that such an enterprise should have been delayed so long as it was. Of course, in those days they did not have such big ships and boats as are now necessary on the lakes and rivers, and to make a navigable stream then required no such a great waterway as our present drainage board have provided. Now, however, that Chicago has spent $33,000,000 in beginning this great work, it will be stranger still if the national government does not follow it up and carry out the idea of the early pioneers and connect the great chain of lakes with the Mississippi River. In no other way can such an extent of navigable water communication be created on the continent.

After the evacuation in 1823, the fort remained unoccupied until 1828, when a new garrison was stationed here, remaining until May, 1831. But it only remained vacant about one year. Owing to the emergencies of the Black Hawk war, the government again stationed a force at this port, and the action proved very fortunate, as the fort afforded a refuge for frightened settlers for long distances around. After the peace that followed the Black Hawk war had become apparently permanent, the troops were again, on December 29, 1836, removed from the fort, and Chicago from that time on took care of herself without the assistance of the war department. Chicago now became a place of comparative activity, looking forward to a position in the commercial world. The year 1837 was quite an important year. Chicago was incorporated as a city and elected her first mayor. In later years the "old settlers" were those who had come to Chicago in 1837 or previously. Anybody that came later was barred that title, or at least barred out of the association as ineligible to membership. In fact, however, it was as far back as 1830 that Chicago began to show evidence of ambition to realize the dream of Joliet and to display signs of commercial life. Before that, however, it had gained very slowly. From 1816 to 1830 it had gained only twelve or fifteen houses and a population of about 100.

A side light is thrown upon the Chicago of that period by the records of the assessor of Peoria County in 1825, seven years after Illinois became a state. There were only fourteen taxpayers in the "Chicago precinct," including John Jacob Astor's Fur Company. More than one-half the assessable property of the place belonged to Astor, whose name now figures as that of one of the shortest but most aristocratic streets of the city. Astor's tax was $50, on a valuation of $5,000. The totals, without counting Astor's Fur Company, were: Valuations, $4,047; taxes, $34.47.

It was not until the last vestige of Indian occupation in bulk had disappeared from Illinois that Chicago began to grow. The Keokuk treaty of 1830 was designed to rid the state of these obstructions, but Black Hawk refused to go. His people occupied a large area of Northern Illinois. The Black Hawk war closed with his capture in 1833. Soon after in the same year not less than 5,000 Indians assembled at Chicago to treat for the sale of their remaining lands in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. It was a tedious process. The Indians did not want to sell, but the hour had come and the assembled red men finally bowed to the inevitable.

The original town of Chicago was laid out in 1830. It extended from Chicago avenue on the north to Madison street on the south and from State street on the east to Halsted street on the west. All east of State street was subject to overflow from the lake. The West Side was substantially unbroken prairie. Real estate speculation began, in a mild form, not reaching the fever point until the red men were well out of the way. The first bridge was erected over the south branch. That was in 1831. Three years later a drawbridge was erected which spanned the main river at Dearborn street.

The first census of Chicago was taken in 1835. It was taken by the town authorities. It showed a population, in November of that year, of 3,255 souls. There were 398 dwellings, four warehouses, twenty-nine dry goods stores, nineteen grocery and provision stores, five hardware stores, three drug stores, nineteen taverns, twenty-six saloons, seventeen law offices. The first Cook County courthouse was erected that year, and on the northeastern corner of the present courthouse square. Chicago was then beginning to get 911.

The first step toward a city charter for Chicago was taken in October, 1836. The town trustees and delegates from the three divisions met in conference to frame a charter. Their work done, it was submitted to the people in mass meeting assembled. With slight changes it was approved. The charter was then taken to the General Assembly, which convened at the beginning of 1837. It was passed and approved March 4,

1837, the same day that Martin Van Buren was inaugurated President of the United States. That original city of Chicago had six wards. William B. Ogden was elected mayor. The whole number of votes cast at the first municipal election in Chicago was only 709. It was between the time that Chicago decided to ask for a city charter and the time it actually got it that it really ceased to be Fort Dearborn, for the garrison was withdrawn December 29, 1836.

It was about this time that the great era of speculation in town lots and of internal improvement by states set in. Chicago was included in one, Illinois in the other. It was a wild storm of great expectations. Nothing could stand before it. Its fury was unabated till the crash of 1837 came. The city of Chicago was still in its cradle, its age counted by months, when the collapse came. Lots which had been bought only a little while before for a few hundred dollars were sold for thousands of dollars, and everything seemed to betoken wonderful prosperity. The collapse came and the fall was greater than the rise. From 1837 to about 1840 was a period of great depression and hardship. Chicago was what the vernacular of to-day calls "a busted boom town.'' To make the misery more complete, drought fell like a blight upon the prairie farmers and an epidemic of cholera visited the little poverty-stricken city.

It was not until 1842 that Chicago gave signs of recovery from the depression, and then only faint and feeble.

The decade of the forties may be set down as a period memorable for its beginnings. In his "Story of Chicago" Major Joseph Kirkland makes this brief summary on this point:

"The forties saw the beginning, in a small way, of nearly all the great institutions Chicago now enjoys. In 1841 the first waterworks were built. The first propeller was launched in 1842, in which year the exports were for the first time greater than the imports. The first book compiled, printed, bound and issued is said to have been in 1843. The first meat for the English market was packed in 1844. The first permanent public school building was built in 1845. In 1846 the River and Harbor Convention met and Chicago was made a port of entry. In 1847 the first permanent theater was opened (Rice's; south side of Randolph street, between State and Dearborn streets), and McCormick's reaper factory was started. In 1848 the first telegram was received, being a message from Milwaukee, and later the 'Pioneer,' our first locomotive, was landed from the schooner Buffalo and started out on the Galena railway. In the same year the Board of Trade was established and the canal opened. In 1849 the Chicago & Galena Union Railroad was opened to Elgin."

We have now reached a point in the history of Chicago where we must deal with a great city, not the beginnings of one. As the ground on which it stands was long in getting out from under the dominion of the lake, and our river was long a mere pool slowly rising to the dignity of a fresh water estuary, so the city itself made hard work of getting a start. There were at least three cities in the state, Shawneetown, Galena and Alton which gained no inconsiderable importance while Chicago was having a baffling struggle for bare existence. But about the time the city charter was granted the municipality entered upon its career, and from this time on we are not to deal with a rivulet. The municipal river is not only widening, but really has an ever-increasing number of branches, each of which invites to historical exploration. They will be explored, so far as practicable, in the order of their beginnings. This topical indistinction from chronological method seems best suited to a presentation of the past experiences of a great city, as the biographical method is to a presentation of its present life.

MILE STONES IN CHICAGO'S WONDERFUL GROWTH.

1803.

Fort Dearborn built by Captain John Whistler and Lieutenant James S. Swearingen of the United States army, in command of a company of United States troops from Detroit. The post was named in honor of General Henry Dearborn, then secretary of war. Population, seventy-five.

1804.

John Kinzie and his family become the first white settlers under the United States, following the soldiers from Detroit to trade with the Indians. He brought with him his wife and young son. In that year Ellen Marion Kinzie was born, the first white child of the settlement. Mr. Kinzie died here in 1828.

1805.

The first lawyer, Charles Jewett, came to Chicago and was appointed the first Indian agent for the Pottawattamies, and other nearby tribes.

1806.

Efforts made by Tecumseh, the famous Indian chief, and his brother, the Prophet, to form a confederacy of the Indians against the whites at Fort Dearborn and other western settlements.

1810.

The first doctor, John Cooper, surgeon mate. U. S. A., came to Chicago, being detailed for duty by the war department at Fort Dearborn. The Pottawattamies opened warfare against the settlement. First suggestion of government connecting the Chicago and Illinois river by canal by way of the portage.

1812.

August 5, occurred the massacre of the garrison of Fort Dearborn, together with a number of settlers on the south shore. Captain Nathan Head was ordered to evacuate the fort and retreat to Detroit, as a result of the hostilities between the United States and England. Fort Dearborn was burned by the Indians. Population, one hundred and ten.

1813.

Phillip Fouche appointed as first United States marshall for the district embracing Chicago.

1816.

Captain Hezekiah Bradley arrived in command of two companies of infantry and rebuilt Fort Dearborn. The Indian agency and warehouse reestablished. Kinzie family returned. Population, one hundred and fifty.

1817.

Route between Chicago and Mackinac Island established by the schooners Baltimore and Hercules.

1818.

Illinois admitted to the Union as a state. The American Fur Company established agency here.

1821.

First government survey of the shore line of Lake Michigan off Chicago made.

1822.

Alexander Beaubien baptized by the Rev. Stephen D. Badin.

1823.

Fort Dearborn evacuated by federal troops. Dr. Alexander Wolcott remained in charge as Indian agent. His wedding to Miss Ellen Marion Kinzie celebrated, the first marriage in the settlement. Mrs. Wolcott died in Detroit in 1860. Illinois and Michigan canal bill passed by legislature.

1824. Survey for the Illinois and Michigan canal is made.

1825.

The first Protestant sermon preached in Chicago October 9, by the Rev. Isaac McCoy, a Baptist clergyman. Chicago still a part of Peoria County. Population, two hundred.

1826.

Election for congress and for governor held. Only thirty-five votes were cast.

1827.

First slaughter house built by Archibald Clybourne on north branch of the river, which was forerunner of great packing industry. First company of militia organized.

1828.

Fort Dearborn is regarrisoned by Federal troops. John Kinzie died.

1829.

Wolf Tavern built at the forks of the river by Archibald Caldwell and James Kinzie. First ferry established near site of present Lake street bridge.

1830.

Chicago surveyed and platted and first bridge built over the river at Randolph street. Population, five hundred.

1831.

Cook County formed and Chicago made county seat. First county building erected. First post-office established with Jonathan N. Bailey as postmaster. First Methodist church built and first government lighthouse established at harbor mouth.

1832.

First store built of boards, put up by Robert Kinzie on west side of river. First drug store established by Philo Carpenter. Four companies of militia volunteer for Blackhawk war and General Winfield Scott arrived July 8, with regular troops. First sawmill established and first meat packed and shipped. Steamer Sheldon Thompson brought cholera to town.

1833

Chicago incorporated as a town. First newspaper established, The Democrat, by John Calhoun. The first public school opened with an enrollment of twenty-five. First log jail built, five trustees for town elected and code of municipal laws adopted. First shipment of merchandise from Chicago taken out by schooner Napoleon. First Roman Catholic parish, St. Mary's established by the Rev. Father John St. Cyr. First Presbyterian congregation formed by the Rev. Jeremiah Porter. First fire department organized with Benjamin Jones as chief. An appropriation of $25,000 for the improvement of the harbor made. First Tremont house built. Block on which new post office stands sold for $550. Population, eight hundred.

1834.

The city floated its first loan. First Episcopal church, St. James, established by the Rev. Isaac W. Hallam. First mail route established between Chicago and Detroit by Dr. John H. Temple. The first drawbridge built across the river at Dearborn street. The first vessels to navigate river were the steamer Michigan and the schooner Illinois. The first piano brought to town by George J. B. Beaubien. The first divorce is granted, and the first murder trial concluded. Population, 1,600, number of votes cast at election, 528.

The first courthouse, a one-story and basement brick structure, built on the southwest corner of Clark and Randolph streets. United States land office opened with a rush. The first Chicago bank opened, branch of the Illinois State bank. Board of health organized. School census taken. Population, 3,279.

1836.

First ground broken for Illinois and Michigan canal July 4. The Clarissa the first sailing vessel built in Chicago launched. The garrison quartered in Fort Dearborn since 1828, withdrawn and site abandoned as an army post. William B. Ogden's house built from architectural designs, the first of its kind in the city. The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad chartered. Presidential vote of Cook County 1,043.

1837

The City of Chicago incorporated and first city election held. Daniel Webster visited city. First census of city showed a population of 4,170. First theater opened. First financial panic.

1838.

First side-wheel steamer, the James Allen, built. First steam fire engine purchased. The first exportation of wheat, seventy-eight bushels, took place. Congressional vote, 2,506.

1839

First big fire cost the city $75,000. First job printing office opened, and first daily paper, The American, published. Thanksgiving publicly observed for the first time. First brewery established.

1840.

The public free schools were reorganized and made permanent. Scammon's reports were issued, the first book published in Chicago. First Clark street bridge built. Population, 4,470.

1841.

First wave of temperance struck the town and 150 took the pledge in three days. Bridge built at Wells street.

1842.

Forty merchants pass through bankruptcy courts. Works of Chicago Hydraulic Company put in operation. The Independence, the first propeller launched. It was the first steamboat to navigate Lake Superior. Ex-president Van Buren visited the city.

1843

Corn and wheat make low record in February, corn selling at 18 cents and wheat 38 cents a bushel. First Chicago directory published in book form. First session of Rush Medical College held. A tri-weekly express service established between Chicago and the East.

1844.

Tornado wrecks many houses and shipping in the harbor. Great boom in building, 600 houses erected. First fire alarm bell installed. St. Mary's of the Lake University established. Dearborn school, first permanent school building erected at a cost of $7,500. Population, 12,000.

1845

First power printing press brought here by "Long John" Wentworth, editor of the Democrat. County court established.

1846.

July 13 Chicago made a port of entry. Holy Name St. Peter's, St. Patrick's, and St. Joseph's churches established. Recruiting for Mexican war kept town in ferment. First levy for special assessments made.

1847

River and Harbor convention met in Chicago. Rice's theater first opened. First law school opened, and first patients received in hospital.

1848.

First telegram received in Chicago from Milwaukee on April 15. April 10 the first boat passed through the Illinois and Michigan Canal. October 25, an engine and two cars were run over the first five miles of track of the Galena railroad. First session of the new United States court was held. An epidemic of smallpox reigned and vaccination was general.

1849

Storms and flood damage shipping to the extent of $100,000. Waters of Desplaines and Chicago rivers unite in great flood, which tears away all bridges. Tremont house again burned, together with twenty other buildings. Another epidemic of cholera and thirty deaths occur on one day. Panic among banks. Presidential vote, 3,832.

1850

Galena and Chicago Union Railroad opened to Elgin. First gas is turned on in city mains. First opera is given. First streets paved with planks, Stephen A. Douglas made his great speech. Federal census gives Chicago 29,963 population.

1851

Trouble with Michigan Southern Railroad over its contentions of prior rights into Chicago was settled in an opinion by Douglas, which declared that the Illinois Central and the Rock Island roads were entitled to come into the city over their own tracks to their own terminals.

1852.

Chicago's first big loan floated for $250,000 for building the new waterworks. First train is run into the city over the Michigan Southern, arriving in Chicago, February 20. First train on Michigan Central arrives May ,12. City waterworks operated for first time. Northwestern University is located in Chicago, and superintendent of public schools appointed. Presidential vote, 5,024.

1853.

Chicago had its first labor strike. New courthouse is occupied. Ole Bull given an ovation. Wreck at Grand Crossing in collision between Michigan Southern and Galena road, killed eighteen persons. Douglas hooted down while attempting to speak in defense of Kansas-Nebraska bill.

1854

First train on the Chicago and Rock Island road arrived June 5. Illinois Central makes Chicago headquarters instead of St. Louis. Cholera epidemic.

1855.

First train on Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad run as far as Burlington, Iowa, May 30. Main road of Illinois Central completed. Attempt to enforce Sunday law caused riot, one man killed and several wounded. First state agricultural fair held October 9, on the canal near Blue Island avenue. Nearly 1,500 deaths occurred from cholera.

1856.

First high school opened. The Chicago Historical society organized. First ordinance for street railway on State street from Randolph to southern limit of city passed. First sewers are laid and first iron bridge is swung across Rush street. Present grade level of street was established after strong opposition. First direct clearance for European ports by the schooner Dean Richmond. First steam tug in the river. Presidential vote, 11,615.

1857

Great financial crisis, banks in panic and city orders went to protest. Great fire in South Water and Lake streets, caused $500,000 loss. McVicker's theater first opened. Population 93,000, and Chicago recognized as the metropolis of the Northwest.

1858.

The first street car was run in State street and the first paid fire department was organized.

1860.

Steamboat Lady Elgin was lost on September 8, and 293 persons perished. The United States census gave Chicago a population of 109,260. The presidential vote was 18.985.

1861.

The famous Camp Douglas was established at Cottage Grove avenue and Thirty-ninth street, at the outbreak of the war of the rebellion.

1862.

The first internal revenue collector was appointed.

1863.

The city limits are extended to include Bridgeport and Holstein. Up to this time 400 miles of street had been improved and twenty-nine miles had been graveled.

1864.

Work was begun on the first water tunnel at the land shaft March 17. Special assessments were tied up for a year by court proceedings against the law.

1865.

The first tunnel crib was launched July 24. The Union Stock Yards were opened for business and the first fire-alarm telegraph was installed.

1867.

Lake water tunnel was completed and the pumping station and tower at Chicago avenue was built.

1869.

Great celebration held over the completion of the Washington Street tunnel. Courthouse built in 1851 was enlarged by the addition of two wings and another story. The park act was passed. Total tax was $3,990,373 and the bonded debt $7,882,500.

1870.

Bonded debt is increased to $11,041,000. United States census gave Chicago a population of 306,605.

1871.

The great fire occurred on October 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, causing a loss of $290,000.000. Nearly twenty thousand buildings were destroyed. On the West Side 194 acres were burned over, on the South Side 460 acres, and on the North Side 1,470 acres. The La Salle Street tunnel was dedicated.

1872.

Over $30,000,000 is spent in rebuilding the city. Great influx of population because of labor required in building.

1873

Great rebuilding operations continued. Financial panic which affected the whole country struck Chicago. The United States sub-treasury established. Public library opened.

1880.

Federal census gave Chicago a population of over a half a million or 503,185.

1882.

Cable trains first installed and operated on the Chicago City Railway, in State street and Wabash avenue.

1883.

Present city hall and county building were completed.

1885.

First investigation made for building drainage canal.

1886.

Serious riots led by the anarchists took place in Haymarket square on the West Side, many policemen were killed by the explosion of a bomb.

1889.

Sanitary district of Chicago organized and the building of the great drainage canal planned.

1890.

Chicago's population passed the million mark and according to the federal census the city became the second in size in the United States, with 1,105,540 inhabitants. Sanitary district organized.

1892.

Columbian Exposition built in Jackson Park. First elevated railroad put in operation. Ground broken for the building of the drainage canal. Rockefeller rejuvenates the University of Chicago.

1893.

World's fair opened and broke all records for magnitude and attendance.

1894.

Great strike inaugurated by the American Railway union under Eugene V. Debbs. President Cleveland called out federal troops to assist police and Illinois National guard in maintaining order. Moore Brothers become involved through operation in Diamond Match and National Biscuit stock, and fail for $5,000,000, causing temporary closing of Chicago Stock exchange.

1896.

Greatest political parade in history when 100.000 sound-money Republicans and Democrats get into line.

1897.

New Public Library building dedicated. Joseph Leiter forces a corner in wheat and runs up the price to $1.87 a bushel on Board of Trade. Failure followed in which his losses aggregated over $5,000,000. Levi Z. Leiter comes to his relief and makes complete settlement.

1898.

Union Elevated loop built.

1899.

Drainage canal is dedicated and water is turned into the channel. Corner stone of the new post-office and federal building is laid by President McKinley, October 9.

1900.

Federal census gives the population of Chicago as 1,698,575. Formal opening of drainage canal January 17.

1901.

George H. Phillips cornered May corn and ran price up to sixty cents a bushel. Chicago teachers federation get supreme court decision for taxing property of corporations on same basis as property of individuals.

1902. Movement for new city charter begun in October.

1903.

Centennial celebration of the founding of Chicago and the building of Fort Dearborn. New Iroquois theater pronounced absolutely fireproof burned, and 575 men, women and children suffocated and burned to death.

1904.

Theaters all closed as result of Iroquois fire. Mayor Harrison, building commissioner and theater officials held to grand jury. New building ordinance passed providing for complete fire protection in theaters and public buildings. Orchestra hall, permanent home for Thomas Orchestra, dedicated.

1905.

Theodore Thomas died in January. General teamsters strike.

CHAPTER IV. THE GROWTH AND THE MAYORS OF CHICAGO.

The municipality of Chicago has never fully kept up with its tremendous growth in commerce and population. The civic problems presented have no sooner been solved than others have developed. At the beginning of the city's second century it is still struggling for a wider and more comprehensive city government and for a municipal machinery capable of handling its affairs. The movement for the new city charter, begun in October, 1902, has as yet (1905) borne but little fruit. That Chicago will come into her own by securing an adequate municipal code of laws and schemes of government is a promise of the near future. The demand for such a charter is becoming more urgent every year, and in the gradual process of evolution such a plan will be worked out as will give the city a municipal machinery consistent with its greatness.

Chicago first became a municipal entity on February 11, 1835, when the original Town of Chicago was incorporated. Its boundaries at that time were Twelfth street on the south, Halsted street on the west, and Chicago avenue on the north. The three sections of the city even at that early day were grouped about the Chicago river. On March 4, 1837, the City of Chicago was incorporated and the limits extended to Twenty-second street on the south, Wood street on the west, and North avenue on the north. The territory embraced within the original city limits was 10.635 square miles and the population 4.170. At the end of the city's first century it had grown in territory to 190.638 square miles, and contained approximately 2,000,000 inhabitants.

In the first ten years the city quadrupled in population and spread out further and further from the downtown business center. On February 16, 1847, the annexation to the city was made, consisting of 3.275 square miles of territory lying along the western boundary between Wood street and Western avenue. It also included the original tract from which Lincoln park has been developed. The second extension came five years later, the city having in the meantime increased to a population of over 60,000. The additions were made to all sides of the city, south, west and north. This increase was a little less than four square miles. From then on until after the war Chicago began to grow by leaps and bounds. By 1860 the city had gone beyond the 100,000 mark, and on February 13, 1863 the boundaries were again extended in all directions, on the south to Thirty-ninth street, on the west to Western avenue and on the north to Fullerton avenue, the area taken in aggregating 6.284 square miles, giving the city 150,000 inhabitants. Six years later large additions were made to the west and northwest sides, the boundaries on the west being extended to Fortieth avenue. The increase in territory at this time was 11.38 square miles, making a total area of 35,562 square miles, an increase in area of 250 per cent since 1837. The population by this time had reached the quarter million mark. In 1887 one square mile of the township of Jefferson was annexed to the northwest and two years later another square mile of the same township was added and the western boundaries were extended to Forty-sixth avenue and Forty-eighth avenue. This made the total area of the city, on April 29, 1889, 43.712 square miles. The population of the city proper and its adjoining suburbs had reached the million mark. On July 15, 1889, Chicago's greatest gain in area was made. On the south the great village of Hyde Park was annexed, the town of Lake was taken in to the northwest, part of Cicero to the west, the town of Jefferson to the northwest and the city of Lakeview to the north, a total of 126.07 f square miles of territory being added to the city. This brought the total up to 169.782 square miles and gave the city a population of approximately 1,100,000 inhabitants. Since then numerous small additions have been made, the outlying suburbs being admitted whenever they knocked for admission. These annexations were made in the order named: The village of Gano to the south in the Calumet district, South Englewood, Washington Heights and West Roseland, admitted during the year 1890; the village of Fernwood admitted in 1891; the village of Westridge and Rogers Park and Norwood Park in 1893; part of the town of Calumet in 1895 and Cicero and a part of Austin in 1899. This last addition brought the total area up to 190.638 square miles.

Chicago's longest distance, from One Hundred and Thirty-eighth street on the south to Howard avenue in Rogers Park on the north, is 25.5 miles. From the Indiana boundary line at One Hundred and First street and the lake, the shore line north to Howard avenue, including all indentations, is exactly 134,801 feet or 25.23 miles. The city's greatest width from east to west is at Seventy-eighth street, the distance from the shore to Forty-eighth avenue being 10.5 miles. The greatest width on the North Side is at North avenue. From the shore line to North Seventy-second avenue on the west is 9.25 miles. Western avenue is the longest street in the city, extending from One Hundred and Seventh street on the south to Howard avenue on the north for a distance of 22.16 miles. Ashland avenue if cut through between the same points would be the same length. From One Hundred and Fifteenth street to One Hundred and Twenty-third street, Ashland avenue forms the western boundary of the city for one mile, which if added to it would make it 23.16 miles long. Halsted street comes next. Beginning at Calumet river at about One Hundred and Thirty-second street and extending to the lake on the north it covers a distance of approximately 21.4 miles.

As to the population at the present time (1905) there seems to be no accurate information. That it is well over the two million mark is generally admitted. The estimates for 1904 varied all the way from 1,714,144 to 2,241,000. The school census was taken as the basis for the first estimate and the city directory for the latter. The census bureau in Washington for 1905 gave the estimate of Chicago at over 1,900,000. In compiling the city's vital statistics for 1904, the health department used as a basis the mid-year estimate of 1,932,315 inhabitants. That it is well over the two million mark is believed by many competent judges.