Search Results for: jewel tea

Jewel Tea Company

One year before the Century’s turn a Chicago tea salesman named Frank Vernon Skiff who had saved $700 started a wagon route on his own, peddling dry groceries from door to door. He peddled for two years before he hit on a way of making his business different from any of the other hundreds of mobile stores weaving in and about Chicago.

Frank’s idea was to offer his own coffee, which would be roasted every week. He saved up a few hundred dollars, bought a second hand wagon and horse, and a small stock of housewares, including his own fresh coffee, tea, spices and extracts. His first route was down by the Chicago stockyards. A couple years later his brother-in-law Franklin Ross joined him in this venture and they called their new company Jewel Tea, even though coffee was their main product. They chose Jewel because in those days anything of a superior nature was called a jewel. They took turns driving the delivery wagon and soliciting new business.

There were many tea companies at that time, and they all sold door-to-door, giving premium coupons with grocery purchases. When enough coupons had been saved, the customer had a choice of premium items offered. One day Mr. Ross knocked on the kitchen door of a prospective customer and had hardly stated his business when she grabbed a broom. He returned later that same day and learned that the lady had saved coupons for six months buying coffee and tea from a “wagon man” and had expected to get a rug with her coupons. However, the wagon man stopped coming around. Mr. Ross quickly offered her a premium to be left with her first order, to be paid out with a later trade.

This story varies from a broom to hot water, but the fast thinking Mr. Ross with his idea of advancing the premium set the Jewel Tea Company apart from all other existing tea companies of the day.

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Skiff and Ross’ “not incorporated” store at 643 E. 43rd Street was Jewel’s first permanent location in Chicago in 1901. This is where they made their coffee and teas.

By the end of 1901 their sales had reached $11,000 and they began their own Jewel brand labels. Their sales grew from $25,000 in 1903 to $250,000 in 1905. In 1909, they built their own plant and a year later they reached $1 million in sales with 400 routes. By 1915, they had 850 routes scattered across a wide area in the midwest and $8 million in sales. World War I with shortage of supplies brought some setbacks but in 1919, Skiff sold his interest in Jewel Tea for $16 million and retired.

Jewel Tea Company Headquarters
426 West Washington Street (1327 West Washington Street after 1909)
Designed by Nimmons & Fellows
Constructed in 1908

Chicago Tribune, August 30, 1908

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Jewel Tea Company
Home Grocery Order Card
1915

Chicago Tribune, November 11, 1928

Barrington, a tiny suburb straddling the Cook-Lake county line thirty-two miles northwest of the loop, is going to be the scene of Chicagoland’s most interesting and significant industrial-residential developments, as a result of a big real estate deal closed yesterday. M.H. Karger, president of the Jewel Tea company, announced the purchase by his firm of 211 acres in the northeast part of the town, on which a huge business and home development program is to be carried out.

The total investment in land, industrial, and office buildings and equipment will be approximately $1,000,000, according to Mr. Karker. In addiction it is expected several million dollars eventually will be invested in employes’ homes on the 211 acre tract.

The purchase by the Jewel Tea company of the Barrington property means the concentration of that concern’s general offices, now in the Kesner building, Madison and Wabash, and of most of its light manufacturing and warehouse activities now conducted in Chicago and Brooklyn, N.Y.

The property just purchased lies north of the Northwest highway and east and west of the Chicago Outer Belt line, with a parcel of six acres located south of the highway and north of the belt line.

The consideration was approximately $500 an acre, part of which was subscribed by Barrington citizens in collaboration with the Barrington Chamber of Commerce.

“Barrington, in view of the tentative plans of the Jewel Tea company to build on the property, can normally expect to see the erection of approximately 250 new homes, substantial increases to school equipment, churches and general business buildings and activity,” said an official of the tea concern. The company employs 250 persons in Chicago.

The proposed Jewel Tea company building at Barrington will be 400 feet long, with a depth pf 100 feet. The main section will be five stories high with wings of two stories each. It will be of concrete construction. Floor space will approximate 200,000 square feet. Holabird & Bird are the architects.

Holabird & Root designed the above monumental structure, which is to house practically all of the manufacturing and office activities of the Jewel Tea company. It will stand on a 211 acre tract of land purchased yesterday in the northeast part of Barrington. It is expected to satisfy a civic demand in that suburb for more business and more inhabitants without bringing heavy manufacturing or obnoxious industrial activity into that quiet residential comminity. Details are given in another column. Gilbert Hall made this picture.

This building will be used for the manufacture and distribution of more than fifty grocery products, including coffees, teas, spices, breakfast foods, macaroni products. general food products, extracts, laundry products, toilet soaps, etc.

Aside from the business lines, the huge building will house various welfare activities, such as a swimming pool, bowling alleys, a cafeteria, an auditorium, card rooms, squash or handball courts, a company garage, etc.

Probably Chicagoans don’t know much about the Jewel Tea company, although it’s a local concern, for its products are not sold in Chicagoland. In fact, it has no stores at all, unless you’d call a motor truck a shop on wheels. All of the products of the company are sold to to its 800,000 customers, scattered about in 5,000 American cities and towns, located in thirty-four states, by means of more than 1,200 automobiles. The company empploys 2,000 person throughout the country.

The company was established in Chicago in 1899. Its sales in 1927 approximated $14,500,000. The 1928 sales are expected to be in the neighborhood of $15,500,000.

“The idea behind the Jewel Tea company’s move in the Barrington direction is a desire to get the large grocery and food business out of the city, where a more satisfactory and pleasing environment will be found,” explained President Karker. “A more close and congenial association of employes is hoped for.

The company’s present lease on its plant in the Central Manufacturing district expires on April 30, 1930. It is hoped to complete the Barrington plant by April or May of 1930.

Chicago Tribune, March 14, 1932

Acquisition of the seventy-seven Chicago stores of Loblaw Groceterias, Inc., by the Jewel Tea company has been completed, according to an announcement made yesterday by the latter firm. The deal which has been under way for several weeks gives Jewel its first retail outlets in a metropolitan center.

Previously the firm’s business has been confined to distribution through a system of delivery routes throughout the country.

It also was announced that Jewel had acquired the entire business of the Middle West Stores company operating four stores. The new properties will be operated under separate management as a subsidiary known as Jewel Food Stores, Inc.

The acquisitions will not affect the development of the company’s present system of distribution, but will enable it to develop business in Chicago and other areas of concentrated population where wagon routes cannot operate economically, officials said.¹

Chicago Sunday Tribune, June 4, 1933

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Chicago Tribune, May 20, 1934

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Chicago Classified Telephone Directory, February, 1934

Chicago Tribune, February 25, 1961

Jewel Tea company yesterday announced the acquisition of Osco Drug, Inc., self service drug store operator, and reported record sales and earnings in the 52 weeks ended Dec. 31. The acquisition was made thru an exchange of stock.

The acquisition of Osco, which operates 30 drug stores in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin, represents a step toward further growth in self-service retailing.

Chicago Tribune, January 12, 1962

A Jewel Food store and Osco Drug store had their combined grand opening last Wednesday at the Appleton Plaza Shopping center, Wellington and Ashland avenues, following a gala open house preview for the neighborhood the night before.

The two stores, connected by a passageway between their checkout areas, offer customers, all under one roof, most of their everyday needs, plus a large variety of general merchandise. There is parking space for 250 cars.

In addition to a modern prescription department staffed by three pharmacists, the Osco store carries more than 30,000 items of merchandise, including drugs, cosmetics, household appliances, hardware, baby supplies, toys, greeting cards, pet supplies, liquor, photographic supplies, stationery, luggage, and glassware. The Osco store features self-service, with low prices for quality merchandise, and has four checkout counters for fast service. Richard Green is the store’s manager.

The new Jewel store will have the first demonstration center ever to be provided in one of the chain’s supermarkets—a special area in which different demonstrations will be presented each week.

A Jewel kitchen department provides a full line of home-made salads and other prepared foods, including barbecued chickens and ribs, fresh baked pies, and carry-out sandwiches. This department also offers service of completely prepared menus for 40 to 4,000 persons and specializes in fancy hors d’oeuvres and snack trays.

Other Jewel features in the new store include an old fashioned sausage shop, and a Jewel pastry shop, with more than 100 varieties of specialty pastry and brread items from the company’s own bakery. The manager of the new Jewel store is Robert R. Hayes.

A refreshment bar serving hot coffee, chilled fruit juices, and assorted pastries is available to customers visiting the combined stores.

NOTES:

¹This move to retail stores was a result of the “Green Rivers Ordnance” of 1932 which prohibited door-to-door solicitation. Under such an ordinance, it is illegal for any business to sell their items door-to-door without express prior permission from the household. Some versions prohibit all organizations, including non-profit charitable, political, and religious groups, from soliciting or canvassing any household that makes it clear, in writing, that it does not want such solicitations (generally with a “No Trespassing” or “No Solicitations” sign posted).

The ordinance is named for the city of Green River, Wyoming, which in 1931, was the first city to enact it. The ordinance was unsuccessfully challenged on constitutional grounds by the Fuller Brush Company in 1932.

Jewelers Building

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Jewelers Building, Pure Oil Building, North American Life Insurance Building, 35 E. Wacker
Life Span: 1926-Present
Location: 35 E. Wacker Drive
Architect: Giaver & Dinkelberg/Thielbar & Fugard

JEWELERS BUILDING (1926-1928), at 35 E. Wacker drive, on the southwest corner of N. Wabash avenue, later the Pure Oil building (1928-1962), was built 1925-1927. Giaver & Dinkelberg were the engineers and architects, and Thielbar & Fugard the supervising architects. The building is 24 stories high, with a 17-story tower and three basements, supported on rock caissons, This building was one of the last of the large-scale commercial structures in Chicago to be designed in the classical revival style that became popular in the wake of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893.

This was also the first building designed to take advantage of the Wacker Drive Esplanade, on which construction was proceeding concurrently. The lower floors of were opened to their first tenants in May, 1927, the upper stories opened in the summer and the tower in October.

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Chicago Tribune April 16, 1924

BY AL CHASE

Chicago is to have the world’s tallest garage and the city’s second highest office building, combined in one structure, 502 feet high at the southwest corner of Wabash avenue and South Water street. This will be the forty story Jewelers’ building, to represent an investment of $10,000,000 and to house several hundred members of the Jewelers’ association of Chicago and allied industries.

Details of the Project.
The 162×140 site was bought in four parcels through Callistus & Ennis & Co., who will be the agents of the building, with Clark & Trainer associated in the purchase. Title was taken by Earl A. Clemons of the C. W. Ruth Engineering company, and will be at once transferred to the Riverside-Plaza corporation.

Glaver & Dinkelberg have drawn plans for a main section of twenty-three stories above the proposed South Water street boulevard level. Towering above this will be several setbacks, the tip of the main dome being 502 feet above the boulevard, 17 feet higher than present level.

Twenty-five percent of the entire structure, or 51,148 square feet on each of the first twenty-three floors, will be devoted to garage space, accommodating 625 cars.

Work Starts This Summer.
The balance of the entire building, 75 percent, will be used for offices, as well as clubrooms, grill, etc., for the Jewelers’ association. Work will start in about two months.

At present the Chicago Temple is Chicago’s highest building, being 556 feet, one foot taller than the Washington monument. The Jewelers’ will come next, then comes the Straus, with 475; the Tribune Tower will be 462½ feet. The Wrigley is 400 feet.

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Mounted on the third floor at the Wabash Avenue and Wacker Drive corner, the 35 East Wacker Drive Building dock is one of the best-known time pieces in Chicago. Weighing an estimated six tons, the clock was donated to the building by one of its first major tenants, the Elgin National Watch Company.

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The automated parking system originally installed in the 35 East Wacker Drive Building was a constant maintenance headache. It often broke down and, as a unique system, over time was increasingly difficult to repair due to the lack of available replacement parts. Although they were for a time determined to retain the garage as a desirable marketing tool, Thielbar & Fugard apparently gave up the idea when automobile designs changed. The proportions of the new cars of the late Thirties were longer and wider in their wheelbase than those of the early Twenties, which were tall and narrow. This shift in automotive style rendered the garage elevators of 35 East Wacker Drive obsolete; they were too narrow to accommodate the wider bodies of the new vehicles, with the result that the majority of the tenants could no longer make use of the garage. Faced with the choice of widening elevator shafts that extended over 200 feet in height, or leaving tens of thousands of square feet of unusable space on every floor from the second through the twenty-fourth, it was decided in 1940 to remove the system entirely. One redesigned elevator was retained for added passenger access and all of the spaces formerly used for automotive storage was converted into usable office space.

Chicago Tribune, October 28, 1924

Start Jewelers Building In November.
Earl A. Clemons, president of the Riverside Plaza corporation, announces that it has acquired title to the entire site for the proposed Jewelers’ building at the southwest corner of Wabash and South Water street, and that work will start about the middle of next month on the forty-two story structure.

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Chicago Tribune, July 4, 1926

One of Chicago’s Roof Tanks De Luxe
Before you read this, take a look at the nearby tank panorama and the read the under the cut. Now, assuming you’ve done this, we’ll explain that the above is on the new Jewelers’ Building, at Wacker and Wabash. Instead of sticking four ungainly tanks on steel legs (there are four of these towers on the building), Yiaver & Dinkleberg, architects and engineers of this huge structure, designed these attractive and ornamental tank screens, which beautify the building instead of disfigure it.

M. E. Smith of the Chicago Bridge and Iron works sent in the picture with the comment:

The attached illustration, showing one of the four colonnades on the Jewelers’ building, may be a little overdone for the average building, but it illustrates the point. This company erected four 5,000 gallon Horton tanks, one inside each colonnade, on the Jewelers’ building.

Chicago Tribune, October 4, 1926

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BEJEWELED TOWERS, GOLD AND SILVER

Chicago Tribune, August 24, 1922

Interstate Garage
The Interstate Garage corporation was incorporated under Illinois laws on Nov. 21, 1921. In a statement filed with the secretary of state of Illinois as of May 1, 1922, the company stated that it was selling preferred and common stock to finance the purchase of land on South Water street, Chicago, on which to erect a large garage building. When the land is obtained it proposes to float a bond issue to finance the constructyion of the building. These bonds will, of course, be ahead of the stocks, and it will likely be some time after the garage is completed and in operation before any dividends can be expected. The preferred stock is $100 par value and the common $10 par. As the company is new and the business cannot be started for months, the stock is a pure speculative at present. It represents participation in a new business venture, which may or may not be successful.

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Research is a never-ending journey of discovery. Information posted here is constantly being revised with either additional or corrected information. Therefore, the site is in a perpetual growth and change state. However, browsing through Chicagology is like flipping the pages of a book. You can visit any section or page at random, yet have no difficulty in knowing where you are.

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Chase Hanford & Co. Building

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Chase Hanford & Co. Bldg., Standard Oil Building
Life Span: 1872-~1924
Location: Wabash av. sw. cor. South Water
Architect:

Edwards’ Annual Directory to the City of Chicago, 1870-71
Chase Hanford & Co. Bldg.—(O. P. Chase and P. C. Hanford), paints, oils, glass, white lead, varnishes, &c. 51 S. Water

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1874-75
Chase Hanford & Co. Bldg.—Wabash av. sw. cor. S. Water

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1880
Hanford P. C. & Co.—(P. C. Hanford) oils 51 and 53 South Water and 1 to 5 Wabash av.

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1885
Hanford P. C. Oil Co. P. C. Hanford, pres; S. N. Hurd, sec; 1 to 5 Wabash av.

Lakeside Business Directory of the City of Chicago, 1899
Standard Oil Co. Bldg.—J A Moffett 1st v pres; W P Cowan 2d v pres; G W Stahl treas 5 Wabash av. sw. cor. South Water

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1904
Standard Oil Co. Bldg.—5 Wabash av. sw. cor. South Water

Lakeside Business Directory of the City of Chicago, 1907
Standard Oil Co. Bldg.—5 Wabash av. sw. cor. South Water

Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1911
Standard Oil Co. Bldg.—222 N. Wabash av. sw. cor. South Water

Chicago Evening Mail, October 8, 1872

WABASH AVENUE.
The business limits of this great thoroughfare have been extended since the fire from Madison street to Hubbard court, and even beyond that point there are business houses on the avenue, though it is probable they will vacate for more congenial quarters in the business portions of the city. On the east side of the street, we have such fine four, five and six-story buildings as the Durand Bros., Stein, Couch, Peck, High, Fuller, Lord & Smith, Thatcher, Drake, Giles, Averill, Inter-oceanic, Willard, and Hough. On the west side are the blocks known as Chase & Hanford, Doane, Jaeger, Page, Ballad, Burdick & Mead, Horner, Scammon, Ryder, Pierce, and Prussing.

Inter Ocean, December 19, 1886

AN OIL HOUSE BLAZE
A Stubborn Fire.
Flames were discovered at 4:30 o’clock yesterday afternoon in the five-story and basement building at the southwest corner of South Water street and Wabash avenue. An alarm was immediately turned in by Patrick Sullivan, an employe of the P. C. Hanford Oil Company. A second alarm followed a few minutes after the first. The fire broke out on the third floor of the building, in the portion occupied by F. W. Thurston, dealer in glass and druggists’ supplies. It quickly spread to the fourth and fifth floors, which were occupied by Hanford, Hall & Co., dealers in paints, oils, and pigments. The fire also descended to the second floor, which is occupied by Robert Jeffrey & Co., tea importers, and where are also located the offices of F. W. Thurston, the Fairbank Canning Company, and A. Schubert, a cigar and tobacco agent. The first floor and basement is occupied by the P. C. Hanford Oil Company, the agents in Chicago of the Standard Oil Company.

The building owned by Hanford, Hall & Co. It has frontage on South Water street of 45 feet, and on Wabash avenue of 145 feet. The numbers on Wabash avenue run from 1 to 13. In the middle of the building. running from Wabash svenue back, is a firewall. The fire was all north of this wall, in the part of the building numbered 1, 3, and 5 Wabash avenue.

How the fire originated is unknown, but a rumor was afloat that it started from a pile of rags in the part of the third floor occupied by F. W. Thurston.

The losses are distributed about as follows: Robert Jeffrey & Co., total loss $5,000, fully covered by insurance in the London and Liverpool and Globe Insurance Company; F, W. Thureton, total loss $12,000 to $15,000, insurance unknown; P. C.

Hanford Oil Company and Hanford, Hall & Co., loss $20,000 to $25,000. fully covered by insurance in various companies; Fairbank Canning Company, loss nominal. The damage to the building was variously timated at from $5,000 to $10,000. No mineral, or other explosive oils, were kept In the building, but the stock of linseed and other heavy oils were stored in the basement, and mAy be Inore or less damaged by the vast quantities of water thrown into the building. The office of the Dupont Powder Company is directly across Wabash avenue from the scene of the fire, and a precautionary measure the small quantity of powder aud other explosives in Mock were removed to a greater distance.

It was an hour and a half from the time the alarm was elven until the fire was under control, and it was not entirely extinguished for three hours. No casualties were reported

Rand McNally Birds’ Eye Views of Chicago, 1893

⑨ The Standard Oil Building
Is at the southwest corner of Wabash Avenue and South Water Street, with frontages of 140 feet on Wabash Avenue and 40 feet on South Water Street. 65 feet high in 5 stories and basement, and brick and iron exterior. Here there are 1 passenger elevator and 2 freight elevators. The vast monopoly has its offices here, and shares its building with manufacturers’ agents and wholesale jobbers. The building, which was erected soon after the Great Fire of 1871, was remodeled in 1889.

Inter Ocean, July 12, 1894

While alone in his sleeping apartments in the Metropole Hotel yesterday morning Philander C. Hanford shot and killed himself.

Business complications are said to be the cause of the deed, Mr. Hanford was second vice president of the National Linseed Oil Company with offices in the Old Colony Building, and was supposed to have been worth several million dollars.

For two months Mr. Hanford and wife and an adult daughter have occupied apartments in the Metropole. Tuesday night Mr. Hanford slept in a room adjoining that occupied by his wife and Miss Hanford. About 9 o’clock yesterday morning the younger woman found her father unconscious in his apartments.

Hotel employes were notified and Dr. Hale was soon in the room. He found the bullet had penetrated the region of the heart, and that death had resulted from shock and hemorrhage. Neither Miss Hanford nor her mother heard the shot fired, although Mr. Hanford was heard moving in his apartments about 5:30 o’elock. It is thought he took his life shortly after this time.

Mr. Hanford’s death surprised his friends and business associates. Tuesday he was at his desk in the Old Colony Building. His associates noticed nothing unusual. Tuesday night he visited with Landlord Miller, of the Metropole, and during the day discussed plans for a sea-shore trip, on which he intended starting yesterday morning.

No Cause for the Rash Act.
His business and family life seemed happy, and, although his wife was an invalid, her condition was not alarming. The family formerly lived at 2008 Calumet avenue, and owned a richly furnished house at that umber, where Mr. Hanford had fine collection of paintings. Since last spring the residence has been closed. Mrs. Hanford was absent for some time at health resort and on her return joined her husband in the apartments in which he committed suicide the Metropole Hotel.

Years ago Mr. Hanford controlled the Hanford Oil Company, and at its head waged determined war against the Standard Oil Company, About five years ago he surrendered, and the great Rockefeller combine absorbed his business. He represented the trust in Chicago for a time, but five years ago became an officer of the National Linseed Oil Company, a position which he held at the time of his death.

Yesterday Mr. Hanford’s wealth was estimated at a million. In addition to his oil interests he owned mines in Montana and Arizona. Much of his time was devoted to private enterprises, and his associates in the Old Colony Building offices knew little of the exact condition of his affairs. It is thought possible that the depression in prices for the last year may have cost Mr. Hanford large sums of money.

The National Linseed Oil Company controls much of the trade in that product, and handles the greater part of the Western linseed mills. Alexander Euston is its president, and Thomas McCulloch its secretary.

The Inquest.
Deputy Coroner O’Brien held an inquest at the Metropole Hotel at 1:30 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Miss Blanche Hanford, a daughter of the deceased, was the first witness.

She testified that it had been the custom of her father to open the dining-room door at 8:30 o’clock each morning so that breakfast might be served. Yesterday morning Mr. Hanford did not appear and at 9 o’clock his daughter went to his room. As she opened the door she discovered him lying on the floor and immediately notified her mother. She also sent at once for Dr. Hale.

Miss Hanford said her father appeared to be in his usual health and spirits when he retired Tuesday night. The witness added that for some time her father had been worried over business matters, but she never saw nor heard anything in his actions or conversation that indicated that her father contemplated suicide.

Dr. Edward M. Hale, of No. 2200 Prairie avenue, testified to having been called to Room 406 in the Metropole Hotel at 9 o’clock yesterday morning. He found the deceased lying dead on the floor and near his body revolver. Blood had flowed from a wound in the left breast in the region of the heart, and also from the mouth. It was the opinion of the physician that Mr. Hanford had been dead two or three hours when found.

The jury found that the deceased came to his death from a pistol-shot wound inflicted by himself with suicidal intent.

The revolver used was of 38-caliber, the hammer being loose and requiring care in cocking it.

Chicago Tribune, October 28, 1924

1900-1909—Chicago’s City Directories

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Chicago’s City Directories

Chicago Tribune, July 13, 1901

The City Directory of 1901 will be ready for distribution on July 20. It will contain 606,700 names, an increase of 22,700 names over last year. This, according to Manager Henry L. Smith of the Chicago Directory company, indicates an increase in population over last year of 70,000 persons, and gives Chicago 381,425 more persons than the government census shows.

The directory publishers, in giving Chicago’s population at 2,080,000, do not place reliance in the census of 1900. The school enumeration of last year indicated a population of 2,010,000, which the directory publishers say has twice been sustalned by the result of the directory canvass.

Confident in Higher Figures.
“Continuing the method which the publishers have heretofore found reliable,” said Manager Smith, with the provision only that if the United States census of 1890 not enormously too great that of 1900 was proportionately too small, the publishers’ estimate that the population of Chicago at the present time is 2,080,000.

“For the benefit of those who believe that figures which are ‘official’ necessarily are correct, regardless of the method of their compilation, a new ratio of population, according to the United States census of 1900 (1,698,575), to directory names in that year and 1901 would indicate a present population of 1,765,000.

“The publishers have seen no reason to alter their estimate because the wide discrepancy between the figures of the directory and school census on the one hand and the population announced by the United States Census bureau on the other. The method by which the census is taken by the government has never been such as to command any great degree of confidence on the part of those familiar with the facts.”

Some of the Directory Features.
There is not change in the appearance of the directory. It commences with the same name, Christian Aaberg, clerk, Lake street, and. closes with Joseph Zy wick; instead of Michael, laborer, 144 Cleaver street.

The Johnsons dominate with 5,775 names, the Smiths coming second with 4,830. The tribe of Jones has 1,675 representatives, the Millers 2,835, the Olsens 735, and the Olsons 1,260. The Carlsons are numerous, with 1,260 to their credit. In the colors the Browns predominate, there being 2,625. The others are: Green, 630; i Black, 360; White, 1,365; Blue, 27. Only one Red—Alexander by name—is to be found, although there are plenty of persons whose name is spelled Redd.

When it comes to names that make men smile there is Frank Yell and four who are entitled to the name Hell. There is one Rubbers, while one Sorrow, five Sadd, and two Sadden appear. There are 106 Sweet, with only five Sour to counteract their influence. There are three bearing the name Tear, four entitled to be called Tough, and twenty-five. known as Crook.

The name conceded to be hardest to spell or pronounce is George Zajonczkowski, When it comes to animals all are represented from Bruin to Zebra. Nations contain their namesakes, there being eighteen known as France and twenty-six named England. Commodities have their place from Tea and Coffee to Corn and Hay, while occasionally a name like Gooddinner is found.

The directories will be placed about the city the same as last year, being leased wherever they are deposited. Nickel-in-the-slot machines will be more in use than ever..

Inter Ocean, July 11, 1903

Chicago bas grown more rapidly during tbe year just passed than during any of tbe preceding five years, according to figures based on the new city directory, which will be ready for tbe public In about ten days. Tbe alphabetical list of names is already printed. The number of names in the new directory Is approximated at 654,000. This is an increase of 28,500 over the number of names in the 1902 directory, and a greater increase than that which bas been noted in any one of the last five directories over Its predecessor. Upon this number of names the city’s population is estimated at 2,231,000.

There are peculiarities in abundance In the new book, which contains 2,180 pages of names, In all the pages of names there is only one Man. He Is an. architect. A Duke la very ordinary In this book, however, and there are Dukes and Lords in plenty, and while there Is neither Bum nor Hobo, there la one Tramp. His name is William.

“Food” for Reflection.
In this peculiar book one can find Sugar, Milk, Coffee, and Ribbon. There are also numerous Ribbons. There are Victories, but no Defeats. There is Sunshine, but no Moonshine, although there are several Moons.

In the whole list there is only one Medal and one Bore. The latter is registered as a musician, too. There is also just one Big. There are, however, three Bigger and four Biggers. There is one Miser, but no Hermit. There is Bass galore, while the Soprano and Tenor are supported only by Peter and William, respectively, who are also a plenty of Beer. Booz appears three times, and there is one Booze, but not a single Thirst.

There is Music in the book, unaccompanied by Harmony. In relation to the music it should be stated that there is not a single Alto. There is Bass galore, while the Soprano and Tenor are supported only by Peter and William, respectively, who are also, respectively, a barber and a laborer.

To the credit of the book. it should be said that, while there is Justice in large quantities, there is not in the new directory a single Injustice. Light there is, but it is unaccompanied by either Dark or Darkness.

Growing at Both Ends.
Aabel is the first name, as it is in the 1902 directory, but this year there are two of this name Instead of one. as before. The other names mentioned are stretched out through the 2.1S0 pages between Aabel and Zyzna, the last to be registered. Zyka was the last in the 1902 book, but this year there are twenty-eight additional names after Zyka.

Re, Es, and Ex are competitors for the honor of occupying the smallest space, being the shortest names recorded. The longest name? Well, really, no one knows just where or what it is, but it is unpronounceable.

Despite the fact that Henry L. Smith Is the manager of the Chicago Directory company, those of hrs name are outnumbered by the Johnsons. But the Smiths sre running a close second. There are 5,986 Johnsons, to say nothing of the Johnstons, and those of similar name, while the Smiths number 5,374.

The directory publisher’s estimate of the present population of Chicago is based on the ratio of the population in 1890 (as established by the United States census) to the number of directory names in that year, the number of names in the 1903 directory, 654,000. being the third number of an ordinary arithmetical proportion, from which is derived the population at this time.

The figures secured in the national census of 1890 are taken in preference to those of ten years later, because of the fact that it is generally recognized that the last United States census, in so far as Chicago is concerned, was not authentic.

Chicago Tribune, July, 21, 1904

NEW CITY DIRECTORY IS OUT.
Chicago’s Population Is Given as 2,241,000, an Increase of 10,000 Over Last Year.
The new city directory for Chicago was given to the public yesterday. Based on the number of names it gives Chicago a population for 1904 of 2,241,000. This figure is arrived at by computing upon the census of 1890.

If the census of 1900 is assumed as a basis upon which to estimate the present population, as determined by the ratio of directory names in 1904 in comparison with those of 1900, the present population is 1,910,700. The directory of 1903 gave Chicago an estimated population of 2,231,000.

The new directory contains 657,000 names, an increase of 3,000 over the directory of 1903. The relatively small increase is accounted for by the fact that “greater care than ever before has been taken in this year’s canvass to exclude the names of unmarried women not in business, and therefore best represented by the names of heads of families.” Last year’s directory had 654,000 names. The 1904 book contains 2,823 pages, or twenty-one more than last year’s directory.

Chicago Tribune, May 2, 1909

OLD STREET NUMBERS KEPT.
Changes Adopted by City Council Will Be Given Merely in “Annex” to New City Directory.
The 1900 City Directors will not contain the changes in street numbers recently adopted by the city council and postoffice department. An “annex” to each directory. however, will contain a complete comparison of the new numbers with the old.

Unfamiliarity of the public with the new names and numbers led the publishers to adopt this course as most satisfactory to the public, but the new street numbers will be used in next year’s directory.

Collecting names for the new directory will be begun tomorrow by a force of 500 agents. The book will be issued Sept. 1.

Chicago Tribune, August 25, 1909

If you are a frequent user of the city directory of Chicago you had better take a course in cross indexing within the next two or three days. The new directory, nearly 300 pages larger than that of last year, will be ready for distribution Friday.

Nearly 200 pages will be devoted to a supplement made necessary by the change in residence numbers which will become effective on Sept. 1.

The supplement is a unique feature gf the volume. In it the streets of the city are list-
ed alphabetically and under the street name in opposite columns marked odd and even numbers are the old residence numbers and the new. The order of the city council for a change in house numbering went into effect after the work of compiling the new directory was well along.

To do the work all over again would have delayed the issue of the volume until New Year’s, and it was decided to compile it on the basis of the old house numbering and to add a supplement showing the changes in street divisions and numbers.

Must Use Supplement.
“There may be considerable difficulty in people using the new directory until they become accustomed to the new street divisions and number.” said Manager E. J. Dillon yesterday. “But the supplement has been compiled carefully and verified from the data of the city water bureau and the map department. As soon as people learn to use the supplement there should be little trouble, for the new volume is more carefully compiled and far better in general than ever before”

The total number of names in the directory is 765,600, an increase over 1908 of 10,500 names The estimate of Chicago’s population, based on the United States census of 1900, is 2,462,600 This estimate records the increase in Chicago population within the last year as 37,600 people.

Humorous features in the matter of names appear. The first name to appear is Aaberg, Christopher, and the last name is Zyzik, Mrs Josephine. The name of Johnson easily leads all others in point of numbers It is repeated 7,056 times. and its nearest competitor is the Smith family, with 5,153 members The longest name in the directory is—take a long breath for a running start—Michael Christophilopanagiotopulos,
182 North Peoria street.

Birds, Beasts, and Fish.
In the new volume the three kingdoms of the world are fitly represented. In the animal branch, as compiled by Manager Dillon there are 407 Foxes, 666 Wolfs, 27 Bears, 40 Coons, 8 Sables, 30 Badgers, 16 Beavers, and one or more representatives of other families.

Now for the birds. There are 208 Cranes, 84 Crows, 122 Birds, 29 Eagles, 57 Peacocks, and 34 Partridges. Among the insect division there are 6 Bees, 4 Beetles, 1 Bug, and 4 Gnats.

Supporters of local option may take hope in the liquor division. There are 36 Sherrys, 7 Beers, 1 Ales. 2 Champagnes, 12 Seltzers. 3 Wines, 15 Ports, and 2 Clarets. But there is only 1 Water and 91 Waters. There are 50 Brewers, 311 Steins, 2 Gallons, 4 Pints, 80 Glasses, and 2 Goblets.

And there are names denoting many kinds of trees, flowers, and fruits. There are names of royalty, such as king, Prince, etc. There are “jewels” of names and the whole gamut of grains. In fact, there is a name for about every object you every heard of in Chicago’s new directory, and that name betokens a resident.