Lake Shore Drive

Chicago Streets

Chicago Tribune, February 11, 1868

LAKE SHORE ROAD.
The Board of Public Works reported in reply to a resolution adopted on the 30th day of December last, requiring the board to report a plan for the construction of the Lake Shore Road. It is stated in the report that under a previous resolution the matter had been referred to the City Engineer, who had stated thot the work was too great to allow of the finishing of the labor by the time required by the order. Estimates are presented for two routes.

One, on the eastern line. For this, estimates are submitted for gravelling driveways of 50, 60 and 142 feet width, respectively, with suitable allowance for protection from the lake, gutters and sidewalks.

On the western line are submitted estimates for gravelled driveways of fifty end sixty feet width respectively, with suitable gutters and sidewalks. These estimates not providing for said damages. It is the judgement of the board that a roadway of 200 feet width will be no more than commensurate with the character of such an avenue when considered with reference to its future use. The board therefore recommend that the right of way for that width be secured, while it does not seem to them necessary that for present purposes there should be constructed a driveway more than fifty feet wide. The estimate of construction, which is not adopted by the board, is $663,434.55.

The report was referred to the Committee on Streets and Alleys is the North Division.

Chicago Tribune, October 11, 1868

In connection with real estate matters, we hear of an important project which is now being discussed by some of our public-spirited men, who have heretofore been connected with almost every other project which has been advocated for the commercial benefit or the beautification of the city. This one now being discussed, though tt has scarcely assumed sufficient definiteness to bo criticised, has in view the making of a Park, or Drive, three miles in length, along the shore of the lake, from Twelfth, street, or Park place. southward. The idea of a Lake shore Drive is not a new one. It is one of the most natural ones that would occur to an intelligent community located on the shores of as magnificent a body of water as Lake Michigan. That there have been previous attempts to realize that idea is attested by the existence of that diminutive patch of ground called Dearborn Park, and the other vacant lot called Lake Park. These were planned when Chicago was comparatively a village, and are useless now for the purposes far which they were intended, because they are out of the reach, of the leisure-hour walk or the Sunday afternoon stroll of thousands of people who live near enough to the lake to walk to it, if there was any place where the water’s margin was accessible. It is, with the idea of securing some such place which shall not only be a Park for promenaders, but a drive such as has been talked off by Chicago people for so long, that the project here referred to is being discussed. It is, in short, to ask the city to propose to the Illinois Central Railway Company to sell to that corporation all the ground lying east of Michigan avenue between Monroe and Randolph streets—if a price can be agreed upon—and to take in part pay the present “right of way” grounds of the railway company from Twelfth street to the southern limits of the city. The railway company would, of course, be obliged to build a new roadbed further out in the lake. This would leave a space of from one hundred snd fifty to two hundred feet between the present western line of the railway company’s “right of way” and the present breakwater, which, if filled nearly even with the top of the breakwater, would make one of the finest driving and promenading places in the world. Without going into any details, it is estimated that if the price of the property in each case was fixed at an equitable valuation there would be a balance coming to the city, that would more than cover all the expenses of improving the proposed drive, or park, or terrace, or whatever else it might be called. One attractive feature of the idea would be that the extent of the new public ground would make its water-side pleasures easily accessible to a greater number of people than any other conceivable plan.

1869 Gold Coast map showing the Catholic Cemetery, just north of Banks St and east of State Street.

Chicago Evening Mail, October 3, 1870

Operations will commence in a few days for the construction of a portion of the Lake Shore Drive in the North Division, from Diversey street, two and a half miles north

Chicago Tribune, August 4, 1871

THE LAKE SHORE DRIVE.
First, by reason of it exceptionally beautiful and attractive peculiarities, should be mentioned the Lake Shore Drive, a mate to which cannot be found in the United State. Beginning at the northern confine of the old City Cemetery, and skirting the edge of Lake Michigan so closely that the spray sprinkles the roadbed at times, when the surf rolls high shoreward, and with Lincoln Park as its counter adornment. It extends northward nearly a mile and a half, a broad, smooth bed of fine gravel, packed upon blue clay, sixty feet in width. With the lake on one side and the park on the other, it would be difficult to conceive of a more enjoyable route over which to take an evening drive. It is highly appreciated by the Chicago upper ten, who have chosen it as a place of regular resort. Each pleasant evening, after business hours, the Lake Shore Drive, with its throng of fast steppers and dashing turnouts, presents a scene of extraordinary interest. It has been contemplated to have the southern terminus of tbe drive at Chicago avenue, but the project is held in abeyance, pending the appointment of the new Board ot North Chicago Park Commissioners, who will not be chosen until tne next session of the Legislature. The northern terminus touches the town of Lake View, the leading residents of which have determined upon continuing the drive northward, upon the lake shore, through their township, and, with that view, nave already begun the construction Of a suitable breakwater and foundation. Should their plans be fully carried out, the magnificent drive will be extended along the lake shore for a total distance of over seven miles—a beach road such as no other city in the Union could possibly secure.

Chicago Evening Mail, May 18, 1872

LAKE SHORE DRIVE
Enthusiastic Meeting at Evanston in Favor of the Lake Shore Drive Project — Adoption of Resolutions.
There was a large attendance at the mass meeting in Lyon’s Hall evening, held for the purpose of furthering the Lake Shore drive improvement Charles Randolph occupied the chair and Theodore Reese took charge of the minutes

Hon. I. N Arnold was the first speaker who addressed the meeting. He dilated on trie great advantages that would be dem ed from the completion of the contemplated drive He read a paper signed by the property owners along the projected route pledging themselves to grant the right of way Bishop Foley had been seen and there would he no difficulty in getting the right of way through Calvary Cemetery.

W. M. Nixon Esq., informed the meeting that he in company with Messrs. Kerfoot, Chase and others was constructing a drive two hundred feet wide (with a park in the center) tor one and a half miles beyond Lincoln Park.

The meeting was further addressed by Morris H. Kerfoot, S. B. Chase, Gen. White J. H. Kedzie and E. L. Brown

Resolutions.
Judge Adams offered the following resolutions which were unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that the proposed lake shore drive will be an improvement of great benefit not only to shore property, but as well to the entire town and that we as citizens of Evanston will co-operate with the citizens of Lakeview in prosecuting the enterprise to an early completion.

Resolved That a committee of fifteen be appointed to devise measures for aiding in the speedy construction of the drive and to report at an early day to a public meeting such plan of action as they may agree upon The following named gentlemen were appointed as the committee: Isaac R. Hitt, Francis Bradley, L. L. Greenleaf, J. H. Kedzie, H. B. Hurd, H. G, Powers, Prof. Kistler, T. S. Hoag, W. B. Seates, E. Haskin, Merrill Ladd, T. A. Cosgrove, J. B. Adams, Hon. J. L. Beveridge, Gen. Julius White, Edwin Lee Brown and Lyman Gage.

Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, November 6, 1882

POTTER PALMER’S NEW HOUSE.
Mr. Potter Palmer leaves today for New York, whence he sails in the steamer Servia for Europe on Wednesday. Mr. Palmer goes directly to Paris, where he will meet his wife and children, and where he will spend the most of the winter. He will return in the spring. Mr. Palmer goes for a vacation and for rest, which he has not enjoyed since the great fire of 1871. He has well under way his new house, on the Lake-Shore drive and Banks street. This house is an innovation in American architecture, nothing like it having yet been built in this country. The style is Norman castellated Gothic, somewhat toned down as to conform to modern ideas, but retaining all the beauties of the medieval period. The exterior has been finished to the roof. It stands in a lot 160 feet front by 300 feet deep. The building has a frontage of eighty feet and a depth of 100 feet. The material used in its construction is Connecticut brown stone, rock-faced, with plain butts of Cleveland sand-stone. The building on the street fronts is three stories high, with turrets and towers, rising above the roof from ten to fifteen feet, and a grand square tower, surmounted with round tower, in which there will be a spiral stairway, the towers reaching to the height of seventy feet above the ground. On the south end there will be a mammoth conservatory, windows to which will be open from the library, sitting, and dining rooms. In the main tower there will be two floors above the roof, each of which will contain a room eighteen feet square, while at the base of the tower there will be a balcony capable of accommodating forty persons, which will give a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. Ferom the top of the house on a clear day one can see across the lake to the Michigan shore, which has already been demonstrated by careful observation. The main entrance and carriage-way are upon the northeast corner of the house. In the house there will be an innovation. On one side of the vestibule there will be direct entrance to the elevator, while on the other will be a stairway for guests leading directly to the upper part of the house.

The roof will not be put on until warm weather commences next year. It will be of iron and masonry arches. The whole house will be fireproof. Mr. Palmer’s enterprise on State street before the fire is well known. It was through his efforts that the street has been made a great broad thoroughfare for a length of five miles.

He now proposes to make the north shore an attractive place for elegant homes. He has purchased perhaps two-thirds of the mile of frontage on the Lake-Shore drive, of the deep lots between Water-Works and Lincoln Park. It took him a period covering nearly three years to get hold of this property, and he had succeeded only after great effort. Through his enterprise the great holes of stagnant water have been dried up and in their place there has been put a filling of clean lake sand, and his efforts and enterprise has caused the Catholic Bishop to do likewise. Mr. Palmer has been asked to sell some of the property, but he has declined until next spring, when he will offer some of it for sale at a reasonable price only to those who will guarantee to build fine residences, in keeping with the surroundings and view to be obtained. Mr. Palmer thinks that this part of will be the most desirable residence portion of the city. It will be frere from dust, away from the railroad and street noises, and that here will be erected the finest homes in the country.

Inter Ocean, March 30, 1892

Forty acres of the choicest residence property in Chicago, embracing 10,400 feet of frontage on parks, boulevards and connecting streets, of a total value of more than $8,000,000, have been purchased and otherwise acquired by Chicago and outside capitalists by concerted action.

The land is bounded as follows:

Pine street

The securing of this great tract of land has been the work of many months. Every now and then a transfer has gone on record, showing that something was happening. Others will follow. One, involving the sale of $350,000 worth of the property noted, will be filed for record tomorrow. Two weeks ago The Inter Ocean published an article detailing the operations of the Pine Street Land Association, a syndicate formed to purchase and sell land in this locality. It is this syndicate, another since formed, and private parties acting with these three associations, that have secured control of the property described.

Some Weeks Ago
the North Park Board, acting with owners of property having the riparian right on lake shore frontage between Oak and Indiana streets, completed negotiations whereby the Lake Shore drive was to be extended in a southeasterly direction, on a line about 1.000 feet east of the then shore line. By the terms of the agreement between the park board and owners, the board acquired 202 feet of right of way, wit the riparion right outside of the outer line. The property owners, in addition to donating the right of way, agreed to the following:

To do all the filing between the shore line and the outer line of the drive and construct the breakwater; to pay an assessment of $100 per running foot for the surface improvement of the drive, and deed fifty feet in width, from Oak to Pearson street, for the widening of Pine street.

For these concessions the board, on its part, deeded to the property owners the right of the State if Illinois to be submerged land between the inner line, thereby perfecting titles in this territory. The board further agreed to maintain the drive as a part of Lincoln Park; to improve as a park the land lying between the water-works, and the drive; to boulevard Pine street as far south as the water-works, and to improve certain property opposite Oak street as a part of the drive.

By These Agreements,
reference to the map to the map will show that a tract of land containing about forty acres is isolated absolutely from anything but the choicest surroundings. Parks and boulevards bound tye land on all sides. That the best use might be made of this property and everything objectionable nature be barred, what amounts to one management has secured control of the entire property.

Two syndicates have been formed to handle property in this territory with the Chicago Title and Trust Company as trustee. A third is in process of formation. An executive committee handles the affairs of each syndicate, and these committees will act together in whatever relates to the improvement of the land.

Such land as is not owned by the syndicate is principally owned by General Charles Fitz Simons and Henry N. Cooper, who are members of the executive committees and largely interested in the syndicates.

The ownerships in the tract, representing the result of all recent purchases and trades, are as follows:

The ownership of Lake Shore drive, corners as follows:

Charles Fitz Simons, Oak and Chestnut streets corners; Lake Shore Drive Association, Delaware place corners; Henry N. Cooper, Walton place and Chestnut and Pearson streets corners.

Never before in the history of any American city has such an opportunity been offered as that now before the management of this property. Forty acres of a absolutely the choicest residence land in the city will be brought into existence as virgin territory. With no present improvement, either good or bad to hinder development, the opportunity offers to create a residence district which will be the pride of the city. Among the features which the management of the property should introduce will be such restrictions as will completely bar every thoroughfare to trade traffic. There should be no alleys. A uniform building line should be established for every frontage. No house should be built to cost less than a minimum sum. No cross streets should be allowed. For the convenience of residents one or two paved lanes mighht be run through the center of the long blocks. All streets should be asphalted, and all other street improvements should be uniform.

It may be stated that while the management of this propert has not fully formulated a scheme of improvement, the importance of preserving the high character for the land is recognized. Prompt action will be necessary, particularly in regard to whatever restrictions are to be placed on purchasers. A number of persons desiring to purchase lots for building have been asked to wait until the plan of improvement

Has Been Decided Upon.
No sales will be closed until all details have been perfected, but from present inquiry it is doubtful if any land will be unsold three months from now. The values of the property when improved with houses of the cost designated by such as have expressed a wish to purchase will be largely above and $10,000,000.

These operations present an object lesson in Chicago values that should educate any doubting Easterner. The land a few years ago was comparatively valueless. It would still be of minimum worth were it not for the amicable arrangement with the Park Board. This means warring interests have been harmonized, and titkes, elsewise defective, perfected.

Chicago Tribune, March 26, 1898

John V. Clarke, President of the Hibernian Banking association, has decided to erect an apartment building eleven stories high in Lake Shore drive at Goethe street, just a block from Potter Palmer’s residence. This will be the first building of that character to break into the aristocratic precincts of the drive. Plans have been prepared by Edmund R. Krause and Involve an expenditure of $75,000.

Mr. Clarke said he did not look for any opposition to the proposed building, though the idea of an apartment building has not been pleasing to the residents of the Lake Shore drive in past years, when other holders of adjoining property have proposed such construction.

“I don’t see how any one could object to the building,” said Mr. Clarke. ” It will be rather an ornament than otherwise.”

Site and Building.
The site has a frontage of 80 feet in the Lake Shore drive, 80 in Stone street, and 43½ in Goethe street. Mr. Clarke owns all the triangle except the point where Stone street runs into the Lake Shore drive. This is owned by Potter Palmer, but is too small alone to be of any use for building purposes.

When completed the building will tower to a height of 130 feet and will be fireproof throughout. At the north end, where it reaches the dividing line between Mr. Clarke’s lot and Mr. Palmer’s grounds, its width will be 23 feet. The style adapted la Venetian. The material will be stone, Roman tile, and terra cotta. The stairway will be iron and marble.

Altogether there will be ten apartments, five on each side. The eleventh floor will be devoted to laundries and storerooms. Half the apartments will contain eight rooms end the other half nine rooms. The rentals will be from $1,500 to $2,000 a year.

Arrangement of Apartments.
Each apartment will be in two floors, tho sleeping rooms and bathroom will be above the parlor floor. The apartments will be finished with mahogany, birch, and oak, and handsomely decorated. Each will be provided with mantels, consoles, sideboards, and hardwood floors.

The main entrance will face Lake Shore drive. A side entrance will be made from Stone street for tradesmen. The elevator leading from the main entrance will be accessible from each floor.

Mr. Clarke said he would proceed with the construction of the building within three or four weeks.

It will be finished in four or six months from the time it is started. Mr. Clarke said there was no rule against apartment buildings in the drive. The only restrictions were against saloons and stables. No building line was enforced, he said.

Chicago Tribune, March 29, 1898

Architect Edmund R. Krause presented the plans at the Building department yesterday for the tall apartment building which John V. Clarke is to erect on the Lake Shore drive. The designs provided for a building 128 feet high, but after examining them the department decided that the height must be not more than four times the width of the narrowest side. The height was therefore set for 108 feet.

There will be eleven stories, as at first announced. but enough room is economized in each story and in the garret to admit the reduction. Its cost will be $70,000..

Inter Ocean, May 12, 1898

Work on Lake Shore Drive.
Work on the Lake Shore drive between Chicago avenue and Cedar street, which has been stopped for nearly a year, was ordered renewed again at yesterday’s meeting of the Lincoln park board. Last summer it was found that the work was not being done according to specifications, and it was ordered stopped. The improvement is part of the extension ef the Lake Shore drive south from Oak to Indiana (Grand) streets, over ground to be reclaimed from the lake. There was a good deal of objection to the scheme when it went through the board, and it is said that the investigation to be made by the committee appointed bv the Legislature to look into the affairs of the board will have particular reference to this Lake Shore drive scheme.

The committee has asked for the names of the property owners interested, and has been furnished with tbem. The committee’s first session will be held Sat-riay morning.

Chicago Tribune, June 11, 1899

Residences of Lake Shore Drive.
The drive has played an important part In the history of Chicago. and nearly every important personage who has visited the city has been entertained in some one of the mansions which line it. To visitors to Chicago it has always been one of the most charming sights, and during the World’s Fair it attracted nearly as much attention among strangers as the fair itself.

The principal attraction of the drive, and the one that gives it precedence over the other park drives and boulevards, is the view of the lake, and to take that away from it, its residents say, almost would destroy that characteristic. The Lake Shore drive without the uninterrupted view of the lake would be like “Hamlet ” without Hamlet. The entire drive is but a mile long, and the expense of building some sort of barrier to the waves that would not interfere with the view, they insist, would be well worth the cost. There are other boulevards in the city, but there is not one where the lake is on one side and gardens on the other.

Rand Mc Nally Bird’s Eye Views of Chicago, 1893

The first house we meet here, the home of Gen. Joseph T. Torrence, president of the Elevated Terminal Company, situated at the southwest corner of Bellevue Place and the Drive, (at 88 Bellevue), fronting on the Place, is a familiar example of high-class residences in Chicago. These massive and apparently indestructible edifices are now as numerous upon the fashionable streets as were one-story cottages in the same regions thirty years ago, and no city of the United States presents so many abodes of luxury. Taking the Torrence mansion as a type, there is first the heavy stone coping at the sidewalk, raising the well-kept lawn above the street-level; then the huge under-story of granite or other hard stone, including the rock-work of a porte cochère; other similar constructions for verandas; a tower corner, with curved plate-glass; arches; stone stairways; a lighter or smoother facing as far as the roof, where there is such a diversity of tiles, gables, cupolas, chimneys, Mansard and dormer windows as may suit the taste and individualize the house. The stable is usually built in close similarity.

Opposite the Torrence home, on the northwest corner of Bellevue Place, fronting the latter, is the Borden residence, built of cut-stone, with ornamental frieze-work of the French Renaissance style. This is one of the handsomest houses in the city. At No. 22 on the Drive is seen the home of Mrs. Manvel, widow of Allen Manvel, late president of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad; No. 60, the residence of the Hon. Robert T. Lincoln, late minister to the Court of St. James.

The owners of the homes are as follows: 100 Potter Palmer; 103 Franklin MacVeagh; 109 S. E. Barrett; 111 Mrs. M. D. Ogden; 112 V. C. Turner; 117 Harry G. Selfridge; 120 Herman H. Kohlsaat; 125 A. C. McClurg; 130 Orrin W. Potter

Chicago Tribune, October 27, 1907

On the long, broken wall of handsome dwellings which stretches along the Lake Shore drive from Oak street to Lincoln park there is scarcely a house around which history has not woven its story of romance or tragedy; of prosperity suddenly stricken down by failure or of success and the tremendous cost of its achievement; or of death, or move, or sacrifice.

Since Potter Paimer laid the corner stone of the great wall of residences by setting his castle down in the midst of the prairie grass that ran to the lake’s edge from State street, the work of building the wall of mansions has gone on. Each decade of years has found the wall a few stones nearer to completion and each decade of years has added a cipher or two to the wealth represented in the wall. From a few millions of dollars the wealth of the Lake Shore drive residents sprang to tens of millions of dollars, and if It could be measured now it might be found to have leaped to ten times ten millions of dollars. And yet each one of these houses in which Chicago millionaires dwell has had its romance or its tragedy. This does not even tell the story of the Lake Shore drive.

Death on Story’s Every Page.
The true story finds death on every page. Of all the pioneers who built up the Lake Shore drive only a few are left. Potter Palmer, who built the great castle which popularized the drive and who turned all his talents to account in the work of upbuilding the drive district, is dead. Nat Jones, who built the big stone dwelling which the Harold McCormicks now occupy, is dead. Gen. Torrence, who lived in this great house after Nat Jones moved out of it, is dead. Gen. A. C. McClurg is dead. John Mason Loomis is dead. Prof. David Swing is dead. O. W. Potter is dead. William Borden is dead. Of all the early builders on the drive the only ones who still occupy the houses they built and whose houses have not been entered by death are Franklin MacVeagh, S. E. Barrett, and Robert T. Lincoln.

Every other pioneer has either gone to his grave or moved away. And from Oak street to Lincoln park every house along the drive holds its story of romance or tragedy. Into some of the houses Cupid went un-weleomed and divided the home circle. Into other houses tragedy made its uninvited way.

Around one of the houses is woven a story of a mysterious burglary which never has been explained; another was the starting point of a romantic elopement which reached a climax not long ago in a western divorce court; another has been the scene of a long chain of misfortunes and tragedies which followed so closely one after the other that the superstitious began to look upon the house with grave misgivings, wondering what misfortune would overtake it next.

McCormicks Not Afraid of Hoodoos.
The houses at .the two ends of the wall—the home now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Harold McCormick and the O. W. Potter residence—have more romance and tragedy connected with their history than any of the other homes on the drive. The huge gray stone residence at the corner of the Lake Shore drive and Bellevue place in which the son of the reaper king and the daughter of John D. Rockefeller reside was built by Nathaniel C. Jones, who was familiarly known to Chicagoans as Nat Jones.

Evidently there is no superstition in the composition of Harold McCormick or of the daughter of Mr. Rockefeller. The bent of their minds is away from belief in hoodoos. When Mr. McCormick and his bride moved into the big stone residence on the Lake Shore drive at Bellevue place the neighbors shook their heads and murmured that woe would come to the McCormicks. But Mr. McCormlck’s inherited Scotch Presbyterian sense made him laugh at the sinister predictions and at his neighbors’ superstitious fears.

He was not only willing to live in the residence which had been called the “House of Woe” but he was willing to pay, and did pay, a good round sum for the privilege. He and his family are living there today, and although death has made its way into the home circle there are no external signs of the approach of black clouds on Mr. McCormick’s horizon.

Failure Kills Nat Jones.
The McCormick residence, with one exception, is the largest and most striking dwelling on the drive. It is of rough gray cut stone and about it extends the handsome iron fence, with its massive gate, which was one of the notable exhibits in the Manufactures building at the, world’s fair and which cost as much, perhaps, as many pretentious dwellings.

Twenty yeans ago “Nat” Jones was one of the moat prosperous operators on the board of trade. He was worth several millions of dollars. At the height of his prosperity he made up his mind he would live on the Lake Shore drive. He said he would build the handsomest if not the largest residence in Chicago. The residence at the corner of Bellevue place and the Lake Shore drive was built. The most expensive furnishings that money could buy were carted to the place from the downtown stores. Trains brought furniture from the east and ships brought rugs and rare ornaments and pictures across the ocean.

After the house was ready for occupancy Nat Jones moved in. That day marked the turning point in his career. The house cost him one-third of his year’s income. When it was completed his troubles began and before they were over the house represented nearly all his assets. Full knowledge of Nat Jones’ fall from power did not become public until the new mansion was put on the market for sale. In less than a year after the placing of the turret stone on the great house Nat Jones was financially ruined. Before the end of another year he was dead—dead, declare those who knew him, as a result of a heart broken by his troubles.

Gen. Torrence Buys Mansion.
For a long time the Jones mansion was vacant. Finally It was purchased by Gen. Joseph T. Torrence. the millionaire’ steel and iron man. Gen. Torrence was a picturesque character. He commanded the First brigade, Illinois National guard, and was a sumptuous entertainer and a great horseman. At one time his stable was the most extensiv’e in Chicago. In those days coaches were not much seen in the streets of Chicago and Gen. Torrence’s coach was the talk of the town. The general drove for hours and became a conspicuous figure.

Here he was the first Chicago millionaire to own a a private house. His beautiful wife and daughter were as much horse lovers as the general himself. They drove fearlessly, following the hounds across country to the hunts in the east, where they spent much time. At that time the hunt was not a sport taken by the women of Chicago, and Mrs. Torrent and her daughter were regarded with envy forming.

Gen. Torrence and family had lived in the Jones mansion only a short time when the shadow of a tragedy was thrown over the household. Mrs. Torrence and her daughter left home in the afternoon in a high cart. Their course took them up Lake Shore drive into Lincoln park, and the drive beyond. As they were near the Macoun residence the spirited animal which Mrs. Torrence was riding took off in fright at a steam roller and bolted.

Mrs. Torrence’s Runaway.
The driveway was filled with vehicles Torrence pluckily and she succeeded in guiding the runaway animal to avoid collisions. The daughter sat by the middle and made no outcry. The runaway horse had a distance of two blocks when it suddenly turned sharply to the right, despite the efforts of Mrs. Torrence dashed the cart against a tree. Mrs. Torrence and her daughter were both hurled to the ground, the daughter escaping without injury, but the mother was dead, with a cruel gash in her brow.

This tragedy aged Gen. Torrence visibly. After a period of mourning he was more into social life, but his friends saw he was only half heartedly. His daughter was 17 years old. A young New Yorker named Kinsley Magoun, a man who was passionately fond of her fell in love with her and after a time they were leaving the aged general alone. Shortly after their marriage Mrs. Magoun was thrown from a cart and for days lay between life and death. Finally she recovered, but the shock was so great that the general became seriously ill the general became seriously ill.

At about this same time financial troubles overtook the general as they overtaken Nat Jones, and after a while he died with an estate of only $200,000 instead of the millions he was supposed to have had. By the terms in his will, Gen. Torrence left everything to his daughter but before the property could be transferred suddenly someone appeared on the scene a young man who claimed he was the son of Gen. Torrence by a previous marriage.

More than this, the man furnished proof that when the general was humble in walks of life as a village blacksmith he married a woman of his own station and that he was born of the union. The son gave proof that Torrence acknowledged him as a son, and that the neighbors shook their heads moreover. Then the whole story of the big mansion from it was built by Nat Jones until it was occupied by Harold McCormick was a story of romance and tragedy. For a time Mr. and Mrs. Magoun occupied the house. Then they moved to New York, and Mr. Magoun was thrown from a horse and instantly killed.

But the McCormick’s not the only dwelling on the drive which has held romance and tragedy. The Borden house, across the street, is one of the few houses on the drive which has not changed ownership since it was built and one of the few houses which has not been the scene of either romance or tragedy. Its builder, William Borden, died a few years ago. but the big house is still occupied by the widow. Of course John Borden had a love affair which culminated the other day when he married Miss Waller, but a son’s love affair is too commonplace an event to be chronicled in a history of the houses of the drive.

Tragedy Overtakes Ward Home.
The houses just north of the Borden house and running to Cedar street were built by Potter Palmer and none of their original occupants now lives in them. One of the houses has passed into the hands of a girls’ school. Passing the apartments which have just been erected on the drive at the northwest corner of Cedar street, the “Seeing Chicago” man will point out the residence of Charles H. Hulburd, which is too new to have a history, and next he will take you past the Coonley house.

This handsome structure was built by Mrs. John C. Coonley and is now rented for the winter. In this beautiful residence a romance of strange interest was unwoven shortly after Mrs. Coonley and her four sons moved into it. Mrs. Coonley herself was the heroine of the romance. She had occupied the new home only a few months when she annexed the name Ward, her husband being a great scholar and rarely seen on the streets and never in society.

While Mrs. Coonley-Ward was constantly in society and in the swim of club life Mr. Ward was perhaps less known than any resident of the drive. Last year Mr. Ward met a tragic end—no less tragic than the end which overtook Nat Jones, Mrs. Torrence, Gen. Torrence, and Mr. Magoun. He was crossing a street in Buffalo when he was run down and killed. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Coonley-Ward has spent most of the time traveling, and is now in Europe.

Across the street from the Coonley residence is the dwelling built by Col. John Mason Loomis, who always wore a military cape and was one of the most eccentric figures known to Chicagoans. A few years ago the builder of this house died, and it is now occupied by his widow. The Edward F. Lawrence house is occupied by the widow of its builder. Mr. and Mrs, Robert T. Lincoln still occupy the house they erected at 60 Lake Shore drive in the early days of the drive, and, although tragedy has not come into the home circle, there has been enough of romance to make the story of this house worth the telling. Jessie Lincoln not many years ago figured in a runaway marriage with a professional baseball player named Beckwith, and this romance came to an end a few months ago in a western divorce court. A few days later Beckwith, who obtained the decree, remarried.

The Wentworth residence at 62 Lake Shore drive, the High residence which adjoins it, and the J. Whitney Farlin and Carl C. Heisen residences are comparatively new and have not yet been the scene of romance. Next to the Heisen residence is the old David Swing residence. Its builder is dead and Peter Schuttler, who purchased it from the Swing estate, is dead, and Lillian Schuttler, his daughter, a few months ago figured in a serious accident in Los Angeles, being kicked in the head by a horse.

No. 67 Lake Shore drive is a house which no longer is occupied by its original owner. Although built only recently it already has been occupied by three families. Mr. and Mrs. Owen F. Aldis were the builders and shortly after the house was completed, they lost their only son. The house was next occupied by John P. Stevens, who vacated it to become engineer of the Panama canal. Its present occupants are Mr. and Mrs. P. C. Stohl.

Palmer Castle Has Few Inhabitants.
The history of 100 Lake Shore drive is well known. It is kept closed most of the time now that Potter Palmer, its builder, is dead, and is occupied only by Potter Palmer Jr. and a host of servants except during the brief visits of Mrs. Palmer to her home city.

The Franklin MacVeagh house is one of the few houses on the drive which still is occupied by its builder. The S. E. Barrett residence at 109 Lake Shore drive still is occupied by its builder, although Mr. Barrett is in extremely poor health and his two beautiful daughters have married. No. 111 Lake Shore drive was built by Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Towner, who have not occupied the house for many years. For a time it was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Frank B. Noyes, and the present occupants are Mrs. C. C. Burnes and her daughter, Miss Marjorie Burnes, and Mrs. Augustus Byram, whose daughter Muriel met such a tragic death a few years ago.

The builder of 112 Lake Shore drive—Volney C. Turner—is dead, and this handsome dwelling now is occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Archibald E. Freer. No. 117 Lake Shore drive was built by Mos. Barbara Armour and later was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Harry Gordon Selfridge, who have since moved to England, leaving it the only unoccupied house on the drive. Mrs. J. T. Harahan, it is said, has made an offer for the house, but it is not believed the Selfridges will sell the mansion.

No. 120 Lake Shore drive is another house which no longer is occupied by its builder. having been built by Allison Armour, who occupied it for only a short time. The death of Gen. A. C. McClurg, the builder of the palatial dwelling at 125 Lake Shore drive, followed by the death of Mrs. McClurg a few years later, added to the list of the builders of the drive who have passed away. The house now is occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Ogden Trevor McClurg, son and daughter-in-law of the builder.

The last house on the north end of th drive holds perhaps a little more of romance and almost as much of tragedy as any house on the drive. The furore caused by the publication of “The Social Lion,” the first work of Margaret Potter, daughter of the builder; the Potter burglary, the death of Mrs. Potter, the remarriage of the aged steel magnate, and finally his death are events which are still fresh in the mind of the reading public.

Yes, the Lake Shore drive has had its romances and its tragedies, but withal it is still to be called the most beautiful drive in the world; and in spite of its romances and its tragedies most of its families have been devoted and happy, and everybody secretly flourishes an ambition to live on the drive some day—everybody with social ambitions.

Chicago Tribune, November 9, 1907

Lake Shore Transactions.
Two interesting transactions are reported in the block between Burton place and Schiller street on the Lake Shore drive, one of the finest residence blocks in the city. These transactions comprise the placing under contract of sale to La Verne W. Noyes of the O. W. Potter residence at the southwest corner of Burton place, and the lease to R. T. Crane Jr. of the Harry G. Selfridge residence at 117 Lake Shore drive for a term of three years.

The Potter residence is one of the finest on the drive and has been on the market for $173,000. It is reported Mr. Noyes is to pay around $125,000 for it. About a year ago it was announced Mr. Noyes contemplated building on property he owns along the drive, but this plan evidently has been abandoned.

Built Twenty Years Ago.
The Selfridge residence is one of the best known properties on the drive and was bult by Mrs. Barbara Armour nearly twenty years ago. After her death it passed to her son, J. Allison Armour, and was bought by Mr. Selfridge in 1899. It was reported he paid $100,000 for it. About three years ago he made improvements at a cost of between $30,000 and $40.000.

It is an English basement house and contains over twenty rooms. The lease was negotiated by Knott, Chandler & Co.

The Bowes Investment company has purchased for R. R. Bailey and W. D. Walker from Louis McCagg,
represented by Eugene H. Fishburn, 120×188 feet at the southwest corner of the Lake Shore drive and Erie street at a reported consideration of $40,000.

Chicago Tribune, May 8, 1910

It begins at Oak street and it ends at Lincoln park—the same being statistical and therefore uninteresting facts. It runs for a time in a straight line and then it takes on the curves such as the waves of the lake wash out when they advance and recede with their “melancholy, long withdrawing roar?”

Beautiful houses. stately houses. houses that look like a county jail, houses designed by masters of their craft, and containing, some of them, all of the misery and others of them all of the joy which the human soul can experience, line one side of its length. A public park lies on the other, containing in it an automobile drive. a horseman’s turf, a cement walk for indigent pedestrians, and a green for little children of the rich, for little heirs of all the ages whose inheritance is a patch of blue sky.

It is the most cosmopolitan spot of all the earth. The board walk at Atlantic City offers nothing more variegated. At least it never did until it started in to specialize at this particular art of being cosmopolitan. Perhaps a modification might be made out of respect to conservatism. It is so variegated in tone, so world wide in its appeal, without any attempt on the part of those who reside along its classic length at making It an international play and show ground, the most cosmopolitan street of—well, one of the most cosmopolitan show and play places of the world.

Promenade an “Occasion” on Sunday.
Fashionable men in Prince Albert coats and dainty, lovely, “stylish” women in swishing, tailored, appliquéd and otherwise richly ornamented costumes promenade up and down its length with white prayer books in their hands—this, of course, happening only on Sundays. Little curly haired, greasy faced, brown eyed, tender voiced Italians get out on week days and turn somersaults on the lawn of the park.

Behind the portcullis or the high, prohibitive iron fence of the great house at Bellevue place and the Lake Shore drive, the daughter of one of the richest men in the world plays with her children, plans her social entertainments—her dinners served on plate of gold—and wishes that she might have the privilege of ameliorating the misery of this world. That misery which she has so little opportunity for observing at first hand; and which, pent up in human breasts, is smoldering so near her.

Not far from the big stone residence of Mrs. Harold McCormick. one of the show places of the drive, over on Oak street, is a whole community who could thrive and be happy for a year on what goes for floral decorations in that home of the daughter of John D. Rockefeller. There is a scrub woman whose little boy had his leg cut off by the North State street car. She had to start down for her day’s work just as the little child went under the anesthetic. She dared not stay away because she would lose her 90 cents in wages for the day. If she did and she might lose her job as well. She bad been five years in procuring it and rising to her present eminence in which she earned 10 cents more a day than any woman there except one who had worked for ten years and so had 10 cents more.

Competition Drives Hard the Poor.
Following close at her heels was another half Starved woman, who was giving her a “run for her money.” She was competent and she was unscrupulous and she desired that job. And so the scrub woman on Oak street could not attend the operation on her little boy. Besides she would do so little good—the physicians said this to her by way of consolation, and that is what the other physicians in Wes mortal ills, the physicians who look after the starved and the bruised In spirit, tell to Mrs. McCormick and the other women who have periods of brooding over the misery that they know must lie about them.

“There is no remedy,” such soldiers of the common good set forth to the daughters of the rich “except to elevate the standards of the whole race. The individual is nothing.” Great philosophers before them have set forth this desolating truth. And acting on its principles, Mrs. McCormick, Mrs. William J. Chalmers, Mrs. Potter Palmer, Mrs. John Borden, and those women who count their incomes by the ten of thousads set about laboriously and with kindly intent to organize societies for the prevention of unhappiness of one kind or another in far away wards and districts and kingdoms and this, when there is deep, sordid unhappiness right across the street from them disporting itself under soiled gingham dresses and smiling countenances in the park along the Lake Shore drive.

But to get down to something like facts. This cosmopolitan thoroughfare is less than a mile long. It is less than a half century old, and it can scarcely be said to have a history. Mrs. Potter Palmer. when she was a bride, told her wealthy husband that she thought the sort of home she should like would be a stately, frowning castle on a little patch of ground he owned, an unpretentious little spot she chanced to fancy overlooking the lake on the corner of Schiller street.

Castle Built for the Bride.
And so by way of starting housekeeping the bridegroom built for his bride—his duchess one is naturally inclined to say of one so cold and so beautiful—he built the dusky castle, with its towers and its turrets, and its ornate iron doors, and its vestibules, and antechambers on his plot of ground. That is how the Lake Shore drive and Mrs. Potter Palmer’s life as a leader of fashion began.

As has happened before in more pretentious undertakings and in humbler ones, it turned out that this severe and costly looking residence proved not to be exactly the plaything which could satisfy the innermost cravings of Mrs. Palmer’s innermost soul. That elaborate piece of architecture. that big, lonely edifice on which all of Mrs. Palmer’s best girlish taste was expended, that mansion which led to the existence of the Lake Shore drive, proved not to be just what Mrs. Palmer wanted after all. And now she uses it only for about six weeks a yearscarcely so much as thatas ft place in which to rest while in Chicago visiting her children and their children, as a place in which to give an occasional bridge party and in which to let club women hold forth on the subject of art and how to make things in a chafing dish. As for her, she has secured for herself other playhouses in London and Paris, which doubtless fail of complete perfection. even as must, according to the limitations of this imperfect life, an elegant castle on the Lake Shore drive.

At any rate Mrs. Palmer drew a majestic patronage to “the drive.” Mr. and Mrs. Franklin MacVeagh built across the street from her and grew so attached to their pleasant, modest, cozy little cottage of twenty-seven rooms built in three stories with an elevator connecting them and a ballroom, with Italian balconies in connection with it, that they made the place over into a real house with some space in it, and a fireplace as big as guest chambers in many well to do homes.

Strangers Now Occupy Mansion.
After the mistress of this mansion had put her home Into livable shape and had just finished spreading out her art treasures—collected from every quarter of the earth—about her, her husband was appointed secretary of the treasury and she was rewarded by having to pack all of her belongings together and find herself another domicile in Washington.

Mr. and Mrs. La Verne Noyes have bought the great, gray stone house to the north of them and the new mistress of the stately place has had her turn at play-housing on the Lake Shore drive. The rugs which lie on the floor of the front room are so big that they would cover all of the flat of the bride and the bridegroom who have just taken the top flat of an apartment opposite them over on State street.

That bride said when moving into her apartment that she wanted it because she could see the lake from her three front windows. It seemed to her that life with her bridegroom and in a spot from which she could get a bird’s-eye view of the lake in its serenity and its rampagings would be complete indeed. Mrs. Noyes said that she selected her mansion because she had felt that she had lacked something in her residence here in Chicago. She was married to a successful man and she had what she wished in the way of trips around the world and rich treasures. But she craved the sight and the sound of the lake. She and the bride on State street have both attained that which they thought would make them happy, and let us hope that it has done so.

One Resident at Least Happy.
In any event there is one person living on the classic shores of the Lake Shore drive who is happy, although neither because nor in spite of the fact of where she happens to reside. She should not be cited, to prove or to refute any theory which rich appearances might suggest on that vexed subject of whether or not wealth makes happiness. Her residence there is a mere circumstance and detail of her happy romance.

Mrs. John Borden, the pretty, youthful wife of the young millionaire who lives in his mother’s home just across the street from Mr. and Mrs. Harold McCormick. is the one referred to. She is happy, because she is married to the man she loves and has a pink cheeked, adorable baby, and these are the only legitimate, sure. and lasting provisions for happiness that there are.

Mrs. Harold McCormick is happy, too. and for the same reasons—not because she lives in a palace with pictures of her children on her drawing table encircled in frames of gold—not, that is because of the frames of gold, but decidedly so because of the pictures and of the children of whom the pictures are likenesses, the children in whose hearts, to use her words, she is enthroned as queen.

Such are a few of the wealthy and distinguished residents of the Lake Shore drive. But they are by no means all who participate in the loveliness of this prettiest part of Chicago. The “heirs of all the ages” whose heritage is everything that nature has produced in the way of beauty and the benefits of all that art and science have achieved—they claim their share of the bounties of the Lake Shore drive.

All the Patrons Not “Exclusive.”
While big machines go booming along in their ostentatious, unobserving way little children of people in moderate circumstances dodge in and out between the procession made by the automobiles. They scamper over on to the green where other poorer, dirtier children are at play and they join these parties. For in spite of the fact that this Lake Shore drive is one of the richest and the most exclusive of thoroughfares, some of the patrons of it are “mixers.” At evening time you see them—all of the excursionists to the drive and the residents along the length. From the curtained windows of their homes the people who live there look out at the evening sky coming down on the wild field of lake. And under the wide, free dome of sky little ragamuffins, lovers. and tramps turn their faces away from the setting sun out where “the quiet colored end of evening smiles miles on miles until the sky line melts into the lake.”

Marshall Apartments

Chicago Tribune October 5, 1937

Chicago Tribune, December 5, 1937

The intersection of Michigan avenue, Lake Shore drive, and Oak street has become the heaviest traveled set of pavements in the world, with an average daily traffic of 120,000 vehicles. It has also become a major bottle neck in Chicago’s street transportation system.

A survey last week found that this and other weak spots on the lake front boulevard system have become more aggravating with a heavy increase in outer drive traffic since the opening of the new bridge on Oct. 5. Officials are feeling a growing demand for further improvement.

A study of Chicago’s traffic map as a whole, however, shows that the west side has the strongest claims for relief from acute congestion and auto mobile hazards. Mayor Kelly’s traction program, with its elevated highways, promises such relief, unless it is defeated by politics or by some organized effort to sell depressed realty to the public for a local parkway.

Future Improvements Planned.
The development of the lake front arterial is free from such threats. Progress in this improvement is scheduled for next year and plans are under way for a continued improvement in future years.

A year before the outer bridge was completed engineers foresaw the Oak street bottle neck. President Robert J. Dunham of the Chicago park district was concerned, but he was without funds for construction of a grade separation. The Illinois highway department, collecting 3 cents a gallon from the gasoline consumed, would not aid with Gov. Horner fighting the Cook county Democrats.

The foresight of the engineers is now verified by daily experience. The intersection is a dam in Michigan avenue and a high hurdle for the express travel lanes to and from the outer bridge. In the morning peak, south bound traffic goes into second gear shortly after leaving Lincoln park and the Chicago Motor Coach company has had to increase the time of its schedules south from North avenue.

Speed Test Runs Made.
In the evening rush, Michigan avenue north bound is held to first and second gear travel from the bridge to Oak street. Repeated test runs in four automobiles last week found the average speed from Chicago avenue to Oak street was 10 miles an hour from 4:30 to 5 p. m.; 6.8 miles an hour from 5 to 5:30 p.m., 5.9 miles an hour from 5:30 to 6 p. m., and 7.4 miles an hour from 6 to to 6:40 p. m.p. The opening of the outer bridge was to have relieved Michigan avenue of such jams.

There will be relief, according to Otto K. Jelinek. traffic engineer of the park district, by July 1. 1938. Construction is to start soon on a grade separation at the intersection of Lake Shore drive and a new extension of La Salle street across Lincoln park to a point approximately at the small bridge over an outlet to the lagoon north of North avenue.

Expect to Break Bottle Neck.
Michigan avenue traffic is to connect with Lake Shore drive at tnis new grade separation rather than at Oak street. There is little traffic in Oak street, so this arrangement is expected to break the bottle neck.

The survey further disclosed that while Chicago has developed its lake front into a modern marvel of the world, there is still much remaining to be done before motorists can enjoy safe and expeditious travel from Evanston to Hammond, Ind.

Starting south at the north boundary, trafic moves by spurts and stops to Devon avenue due to simultaneously timed red and green lights at every intersection. From Devon to Foster avenue there’s an eccentric control of three lanes in one direction and one in the other, an improvision essential to the movement of a heavy volume of motor cars over an inadequate pavement. The park district is negotiating for riparian rights, anticipating the eventual continuation of the outer drive north from Foster avenue on the lake front to Evanston.

From Foster avenue to Byron street 68,000 vehicles a day are moved with facility, crossing grade separations at Lawrence avenue, Wilson avenue, Montrose avenue, and Irving Park boulevard.

Two Pavements Inadequate.
From Byron street south to Bel-mont avenue conditions are not so sweet. The two pavements, separated by a parkway, are inadequate in rush hours from a trafic with a twenty-four hour count averaging 73,000. Another eccentric control system is operated here of necessity to carry the morning load south and the evening load north. Traffic moving north in the morning or south in the evening is seriously penalized by this manuever. The Byron street turn is a bottle neck for both movements.

This section from Byron street to Belmont avenue will be relieved before next July 1 by the construction of one additional slab of pavement similar to the existing pair. The turn at Byron street into Sheridan road will be moved north to the Irving Park boulevard grade separation.

Stockton Drive Overloaded.
South of Diversey boulevard the narrow and winding Stockton drive, on the west side of Lincoln park, is overloaded and is daily the scene of prolonged blockades. It will be relieved of La Salle street traffic by the construction of the La Salle street extension to the lake front next year It will be relieved of rush hour outer drive traffic by the construction of the third pavement in Lake Shore drive mentioned in the foregoing paragraph.

South from Lincoln park the going is good, with the exception of the Oak street stumbling block, although there have been complaints that the progressive timing of the stop and go lights in the express lanes could be improved further. The engineers are working on this, experimenting with various adjustments.

Right Angle Turns Unexpected.
On the outer link bridge the two right angle turns are unexpected on a new $11,000,000 structure. Hugh Young, engineer for the Chicago Plan commission, has designed a correction, consisting of a new viaduct extending directly south of the bridge and then swinging west on an easy curve to connect with Leif Eriksen drive after passing a grade separation at a new Randolph street intersection. It’s an expensive proposal with no financial means in immediate sight.

In Grant park the only weakness in the system seems to be the inadequacy of city streets approaching the outer drive from west of Michigan avenue. The light signals in Michigan avenue have been changed to benefit east and west traffic at the expense of delaying the boulevard traffic. Still the streets west of Michigan avenue are jammed. Mayor Kelly’s traction proposal will ease the strain on downtown pavements. Another proposal is for one way operation of downtown streets, as in New York and many other cities.

Horse and Buggy Driveways in Park.
South from Grant park to Jackson park the outer drive has been developed as a modern highway accommodating 65,000 automobiles a day with safety and dispatch. In Jackson park, however, the traffic uses horse and buggy driveways that are unfit for motor travel and that jeopardize recreational activities in the area. There are tentative plans for future construction of an express route isolated from recreational activities, including lake bathing. A bridge would span the mouth of the present yacht harbor and boats that couldn’t pass under the bridge would anchor in a new basin outside the express route.

This would still leave an important gap in Chicago’s lake front boulevard. An adequate connection is needed between the outer drive and Indianapolis boulevard, the gateway between Chicago and the Indiana industrial district, carrying the heavy traffic from the populous east which passes around the foot of Lake Michigan.

Bond Issue Approved Before Crash.
Before the 1929 stock market crash a referendum approved a $3,000,000 bond issue for the extension of the outer drive on a park to be built by filling the lake south from 67th street. The bonds were not issued because the bottom dropped from the market before the south park district was ready to spend the money. With the merger of the parks a court decision held that the consolidated district could not issue the south park bonds, that the bond proposal was dead.

The park district, however, has not lost sight of this development for such time as money becomes available. If the South Shore Country club will part with its riparian rights for a reasonable consideration a highway can be built on made land in the lake from 67th street to 79th street. South from 79th a parkway could pass just to the west of the lake front mills, on the approximate line at Burley street, to skirt Calumet park and there to connect with Indianapolis boulevard.

Chicago Tribune, September 5, 1937

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