Inter Ocean, July 22, 1883
OLD CHICAGO.
The Town in 1833.
When Chicago was born will always be a matter of conjecture, and so will the date of 1te baptism probably, but the city has an anniversary which may be kept and that may be called its majority or the date of its first vote. This was, according to all history left by early settlers, Aug. 10, 1833, and the fiftieth anniversary is now so near at hand that there is some talk of an appropriate celebration of the semi-centennial.
In 1831 the Legislature of Illinois passed a law for the incorporation of villages and towns, in which it was provided that villages of 150 inhabitants or more might be incorporated as towns. Adopting the methods of cities in late years, which had more inhabitants before the United States census was taken than afterward—that is, of making exaggerated guesses—it was claimed in 1833 that Chicago had a population large enough to take advantage of the State law and incorporate as a town. The history of that act is given in “Colbert’s Chicago,” and is as follows:
The great event of the year 1833 was, however, the incorporation of Chicago As a Town. A public meeting was held Aug. 5 to decide whether or not the important step should be taken. T. J. V. Owen was President, and E. S. Kimberly Clerk. The following was the vote:
For Incorporation—John O. Hagen, C. A Ballard, G. W. Snow, P. L. Hamilton, S. T. Temple, John Wright, G. W. Dole, Hiram Pearsons, Alanson Sweet, E. S. Kimberly, T. J. V. Owen. Mark Beaubien-12.
Against Incorporation—Russel E. Heacock-1.
An election was held Aug, 10 at the house of Mark Beaubien. The following are the names of the voters and of the Town Trustees elected. It is presumed that every vote in the place was cast on the occasion:
Voters—E. S. Kimberly, J. B. Beaubien, Mark Beaubien, T. J. V. Owen, William Ninson. Hiram Pearsons, Philo Carpenter, George Chapman, John Wright, John T. Temple, Matthias Smith, David Carver, James Kinzie; Charles Tavlor, J. S. C. Hogan, Eli A Rider, Dexter J. Hapgood, George S. Snow, Madore Beaubien, Gholson Kercheval, George W. Dale, R. J. Hamilton, Stephen F. Gale, Enoch Darling. W. H. Adams, C. A. Ballard, John Watkins, James Gilbert.
The following trustees were elected: T. J. Y. Owen, 26 votes: G. W. Dale, 26 votes; Madore Beaubien, 23 votes; John Miller, 20 votes, and E. S. Kimberly. 20 votes.
The trustees organized by the choice of Mr. Owen as President, and appointed Isaac Hamilton Clerk, agreeing that their meetings should be held at the house of Mark Beaubien. Their first meeting was held Aug. 12. On the 6th day of November they extended The Limits of the Town of Chicago, and described it as being bounded by Jackson street on the south. Jefferson and Cook streets on the west, and Ohio street on the north; eastwardly it was bounded on the north side of the river by the lake, and on the south side of the river by State street. The total area of the town was barely seven-eighths of a square mile.
The first important public improvement ordered by the Board of Trustees was the establishment of another free ferry to connect the North and South Divisions. The location was at Dearborn street. George W. Dole was appointed Treasurer of the board at the same session, Sept 3, 1833.
Nov. 7 the board adopted a simple code of laws for the government of citizens. They were forbidden to let pigs wander in the streets, to “shoot” off any “firearms,” to steal timber from the bridges for firewood or other purposes, to endanger the public safety by pushing a red-hot stovepipe through a board wall, to run a race-horse through he principal streets, to exhibit a stallion without the consideration for public decency, to leave lumber lying loose in the streets, or to throw dead animals into the river. This was “all and singular” the town code.
At the same meeting Benjamin Jones was chosen Street Commissioner and Fire Warden, and Isaac Harmon, Collector.
The city was at this time governed more particularly by State and county laws, but these special provisions by the trustees were The First Code. the town ever had, and their enforcement depended upon the citizens and county officers. There was no police force, and whenever penalties or fines were imposed for violating one of these ordinances one-half of the amount went to the informer. This provision was made when the trustees on May 9, 1834 passed an additional ordinance declaring that it should be $5 fine for riding or driving over the bridge faster than a walk. They offered to give one-half of the fine to the citizen who would report the cases of law breaking.
During the year of 1833 there was not much done by the first law-makers of Chicago; but they met once a month, and the present City Council might, with profit to the city, follow their example. But there was not then the inducement “to legislate” that now exists, as the total taxes collected in 1834 for town purposes, upon a ¼ per cent limitation was $48.90. The ordinance providing for this levy was at the close of the first year as a town, July 11, 1834.
At each meeting of the Board of Trustees some business was attended to, but it would be impossible to now find a record of this, for it has been ascertained that the minutes of the first meeting and all subsequent ones were kept on loose scraps of paper, some of which were lost and others were destroyed in the fire, they being the property of private citizens.
At the meeting Dec. 4 George Snow was elected Assessor and Surveyor and John Dean Caton was appointed Corporation Counsel.
The first legislation for wharfing was also passed at that time. They provided that owners of lots on the river might use all of the street running near them to the river, except eighty feet (Water street was then on the banks of the river), by paying a tax of $15 per year. Some of the people paid the $15 and some did not, but those who wished used the street.
At the meeting of Feb. 24. 1834, the Board considered the question of allowing showmen to give exhibitions in the place and decided that their president should act as censor, and permit nothing immoral or indecent. They also provided that all showmen visiting the place should pay a tax of $10. March 5, 1834, the Board met to deliberate upon the conditions of the streets, and it was ordered that the town surveyor should pitch South Water street from the United States reservation to Randolph street, and that it be done by the first of the next April. It was a peculiar task, and it is not recorded whether it was completed. If the conditions were like those of this day, it is safe to say that it was not.
June 6 the Trustees ordered that each able-bodied man in the village, between the ages of 21 and 50 years, should put in three days’ work on the streets and bridges to keep them in repair.
It was August 11, 1834, the second election was held. None of these meetings were reported in the daily papers, for the first Chicago newspaper was started by John Calhoun, Nov. 26, 1833, some months after the incorporation.
Twenty-five years ago the quarter centennial anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Chicago was celebrated by the publication of lithographs and wood cuts, giving news of the village in 1833. These were accepted as correct at the time, but at a later date the members of the Historical Society instituted an inquiry that called out many conflicting opinions.
The cut given on this page is, with the exception of some made at modifications, the suggestion of old settlers, a reproduction of the sketch published in the Chicago Magazine in 1857, and is substantially the same as the large lithographs published in 1867. The view is at the junction of the two branches of the river, and shows the Wolf Tavern, Father Walker’s cabin and the Miller House, as they were in 1833. The engravings were prepared from a sketch made by George Davis, in 1833, but be claimed that the engravers were at fault in making the river a smaller stream than it was. Certain it is that the picture on this page gives the best view extant of Chicago of 1833-4.
THE OLD WESTERN HOTEL.
First Frame House on the West Side.
On the southeast comer of Randolph and Canal streets there stands a part of what is claimed by some old settlers to have been the first frame building erected in Chicago. It is not an attractive building. and as it now stands does not speak well for the architecture of any age, but this is not its original glory, but the dress of a late date and in keeping with the surrounding which, unfortunately for that part of the city, were not removed by the great fire to give place to better buildings with better business and a better population. The building is small, two-story, a square front without cornice, and a depth of perhaps forty feet. The drab paint that covered the weather-boarding has faded with time and exposure to sun and rain until it is of an uncertain hue. The lower part of the front is occupied by a saloon, and in the rear is a restaurant. The upper part of the house seems to be used as living rooms by the people who keep the place. It is the remains of The Old Western Hotel.
There is not much of it, but the man of the bar said to the inquisitive reporter. that there had several fires visited the place, and the old hotel had finally been reduced to these modest proportions.
When the Western Hotel was built is a disputed question, which may never be settled, but the recollections of one or two old settlers may refresh those of others, and it can at least be learned whether it is what its owner and builder claimed, the oldest frame house on the West Side.
It was built by W. H. Stow, who came to Chicago about 1833, it is claimed and before his death, two years ago, he said it was built in 1834. Mr. Stow did hot claim that this was older than the Green Tree House, whose history. was given in these columns three weeks ago, but he did claim that the Green Tree was originally of logs and it was not until years afterward that it was covered with weatherboarding and given the appearance of a frame building. Upon his recollection Mr. S. W. Fallis made a sketch of the original build-ing. and the cut given on this page is a copy of that sketch, which Mr. Stow pronounced an excellent picture of the old hotel.
Mr. Fallis said to a reporter a few days ago that when he made the sketch of the old Green Tree House, just before it was removed two years ago. Mr. Stow remarked that the old building on Randolph street was the remains of an older building and had a better history—it was the first frame house built on the West Side. Mr. Fallis went to look at the building but could get no idea of what it was originally. He offered to make a sketch of it if Mr. Stow would describe the building. This was done and the sketch made, which was afterward changed as Mr. Stow directed until he was satisfied with the picture. Mr. Fallis further says that Mr. Stow told him he built the house in 1834.
“Did he claim that it was built before the Green Tree House?”
“No, but he argued that the Green Tree was originally built of logs, and that this was the first frame building.”
“Do you remember anything about the building yourself?”
“Nothing of its early history. I remember how it was twenty-five years ago. There was a justice’s office in one of the upper rooms, a saloon on the first floor, in the corner; a cigar factory on the other end, and the remainder of the building used as a tenement house, I think.”
Mrs. Calhoun. widow of John Calhoun, the first Chicago editor. was seen, but she had no recollections of the old Western Hotel.
While the reporter stood on the corner of Canal and Randolph streets, looking at the various tumble-down shanties in the neighborhood, trying to find in one of them a faint resemblance to the picture he held in his hand, Mr. D. M. Ford came up, and asked what he was hunting for.
“The old Western Hotel. Can you tell me where it is, or what remains of it?”
“Yes; but one who saw the hotel in 1840 would not recognize the remains. There is all that is left of the old Western Hotel, which used to be
One of the Best Hotels in the city.”
*What! that little saloon over there?”
“Yes, that is all that is left.”
“But tt don’t look at all like this picture.”
“Let me see the picture. Well, that is very natural. It is just as the old house looked. But it ought to have a sign across the Canal street side as it has on the Randolph street front. The sign in large letters was clear across both front and side.”
“Do you remember the old building?”
“I don’t remember when it was built, but I remember how it looked and a good deal about its history in the forties. In 1840 it was the last house this way to the west. Over there where the Barnes House stands, on the opposite corner, was a lumber yard. In 1845 that property was sold at auction in town lots. Mr. Barnes and Mr. Yates bought a good part of it, and the Barnes House and Yates Building are named after those men who built them at a later date.”
“Do you remember when the old house here was built?”
“No, I have no recollection about it being built. I was about this side of the river a good deal when a boy, and I remember the old old house as it stood here early in the forties. The picture is as I remember the house. The front was on Randolph street, and a long wing extended back along Canal street. In the east end of the front building was the office and bar-room, placed there instead of in the room on the corner, because it was nearer the stores to the east—there were No Buildings to the West and because the entrance to the stable yard was there, and farmers and teamsters, who constituted the traveling public in those days, could drive into the yard and have their teams taken care of, then step into the office or bar-room. Had this been in the other end of the building they would have had to walk the full length of the house be. fore they could reach the office or the bar. which was generally more closely looked after.
The parlor was in the west end of the front. The dining-room and kitchen were in the wing. All the upper floor was devoted to sleeping rooms. A few years later, about 1850 perhaps, the parlor and bar-room changed places, because Canal street had become quite a business street, and the bar must be located where it would be convenient to either street. I boarded there in 1853, and the house was the same with this exception, then.”
“Where was the business portion of the West Side?”
“Between the Western Hotel and the river were all the stores. The first block of stores on the West Side was built by Wadsworth, Dyer & Chapin. Tom Dyer, one of the firm, was elected Mayor in 1856. His opponent for the office was Francis B. Sherman, first proprietor of the Sherman House, who was a Know Nothing, Free Soldier, or something of that kind. Dyer was a Democrat, and that gave him the foreign vote and the election.
This block of stores extended from the hotel to where the mill now stands. The river has been widened since then and Market street was set back.”
“Where was West Water street?”
“Where the railroad tracks are. The viaduct crosses it. It ran from Lake street to Madison. You can see what a grade has been raised in these streets when you consider that Randolph at one time crossed Market street at a level. There is now twenty and twenty-five feet difference.”
“When was that block of stores built?”
“About 1844. I think. Mr. Stow must have built the Western Hotel about 1836 or 1837. He afterward built a block of stores which joined the hotel on the east and extended clear through to the alley. Next to the alley the building was three stories high, and it had a large hall which was at one time used for a theater. It burned a few years afterward. The hotel also burned, all except a small portion of the corner, about 23×30 feet and one story high. It was the law then under the fire ordinance that you could rebuild a frame structure to the highest point left standing. I remember there were several pieces of timber left standing which ran up as high as the roof had been. They were pieces of joist or studding, and the old proprietor took advantage of this to rebuild that part of the house and make it full two stories high, as it had originally been. I suppose that little building left there now is about as it was rebuilt.”
“Who first kept the Western Hotel?”
“Mr. Stow, built it and kept it until about 1853 when he rented it to Dodge & Irish, who kept it until it burned. I boarded with them in 1853, and the house burned soon afterward.
The old United States Hotel which was kept by the Murphys, and which stood down on West Market street, facing the river, was in 1849 moved to the northeast corner of Randolph and Canal streets, and stood opposite the Western. In 1853 it burned. I remember that very well, for I was in the store that stood where the Barnes House now stands and slept there at night. When the hotel burned a number of the boarders, many of them women, came to the store as they were driven from their rooms in their night clothes, and I let them in that they might have some place to put on the clothes they had grabbed up in their flight.”
“What were the dimensions of the Western?”
“The front was about forty feet and the wing sixty feet. It was in an L. In the rear was the large stable and the yard into which the trains were driven. There were entrances to the yard from both streets, and this was one of the most important parts of the hostlery, for the teams were as numerous as were the guests. There were no railroads then, and all the travel was by stage or by team. It was what you might call a farmers’ hotel, for it was the stopping place for all the farmers town from the west when they came to Randolph street. was then the thoroughfare, the country road leading to the Western towns of Elgin and on to Galena. It was the only western road, or the only important one, and all the travel came this way. Then it had the only bridge across the South Branch from northwest and southwest also had to come this way to get over into the city. This made it an important location, and the two hotels and the stores here did big business. It was the center of business for the West Side, but when other bridges were built the the travel changed, and so did the business. In 1849 the boys over at the engine house, which stood on the other side of Canal street. were having some sport and came very near burning the stables of the hotel. Some of them caught a big dog and covered him with turpentine, and then some fellow on the street touched a lighted match to the poor brute, which caused an instant blaze. The dog ran into the stables and the boys had to do some lively work to save the place from burning. It was in 1854 the hotel burned.
To learn, if possible, something more of this old house, the reporter crossed the street and stepped into the little saloon. Its proprietor proved to be a son of the man who had built and kept the house for many years. Mr. Stow, a man of about 45 years, did not remember when his father built the house, but he had heard it time and again reported that it was The Oldest Frame House on the West Side. He remembered how the house looked when kept as a hotel, and the picture was correct. He had been making some repairs this summer, and he found the old oak timbers as sound as when they were first put in place. He remembered when the house burned in 1854. More of the building might have been saved but for a fight among the firemen, and this came near letting the whole place burn. A reward had been offered for the company that should get the first stream on the fires of that day. The companies were volunteers and the citizens wished to encourage them to do their best at the fires. Engine House No. 5 was just across the street and No. 4 was over the river. The No. 4 company were Irishmen. When the old hotel took fire all the companies were soon on the ground and doing. their best to get the first stream on the flames. In their hurry No. 4 and No. 5 rushed for The Same Fire-Plug and neither would give up to the other. They had a tight, and when they did get the hose in working order it was to throw water at each other rather than at the fire. was another company, No. 2, called the Dutch Company, from the North Side, and while they were not in the fight, they stopped to see how it would come out. The people who had come to the fire also forgot the burning building in their interest in the fight. Mr. Stow saw that his building would soon be destroyed entirely. and he went to No. 2 Company and offered them $25 to continue work on the fire. The boys thought it a generous offer, and they left the other two companies to fight it out while they turned a good stream on the fire and by hard work saved the little corner. It was while Dodge & Irish kept the house it burned, and it was known as the Commercial Hotel.
- Chicago
Drawn by J.S. Wright,
According to Survey
1834
Chicago Tribune, February 25, 1868
Great conflagrations are, if not a consequence, a concomitant of modern civilization; but as everything is only noticeable by comparison, a succession of disastrous fires has so prepared this community against surprises that the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and even millions, by the destroying element, is anticipated as strictly unavoidable. The epidemic continues to rage with unabated fury. The last disastrous fire occurred at about 1 o’clock yesterday morning. the buildings destroyed being the old Northwestern Hotel on West Water street, and a number of adjacent structures, involving a loss of a little less than $82,OOO. on which there ta Insurance amounting to $58,472.
The fire originated, it is believed, in the livery stable of Messrs. Coursen & Co., No. 88 West Water street, north of Kinzie, and upon its discovery, after it had gained great headway, an alarm was turned in from Box No. 65, the nearest at hand, quickly succeeded by a general alarm. The steamers reached the scene at a time when little hope was had for the salvation of the hotel, and the attention of the firemen was mainly directed to adjoining buildings, many of which would certainly have fallen a prey had it not been for the utmost exertion. This fire was to all respects the most terrifically grand of any that have visited Chicago for years. The Northwestern House, an immense frame building, with a frontage of 120 feet and a depth of 100 feet gave the flames chance for rapid progress, and within less than half an hour was a pile of smoldering ruins. The occasion was not devoid of exciting incidents, the mention of all of which would require much space. There were, it is stated by the proprietors, about one hundred guests, regular and transient, many of whom narrowly escaped with their lives and a few with sufficient clothing to cover their persons. Some leaped out from the windows and others reached the ground by ropes, while a number were rescued by the hook and ladder company. Mr. Charles Krulkahauk, who had arrived in the late train and taken lodgings at the hotel, awoke to find his room almost enveloped in flames, and barely escaped in robe de nuit and a “stove-pipe” hat. A servant girl named Jennie Moore was nearly suffocated to death, and would have met a horrible fate had she not been discovered and rescued by two policemen. She was found in her sleeping apartment in a perfectly unconscious condition, and was carried out through rectuins flame and clouds of smoke to the ground, where proper medical assistance wae rendered her. In the stables of Messrs. Coursen & Co. were some thirty horses, twenty-three of which were burned. Their screams as the fierce fire swept around them were agonizing in the extreme; and what, with the nervous puffing of the steamers, the strident voices of the Fire Marshals and the crackling of the flames, the scene was one of terror and confusion.
The Northwestern Hotel, formerly the Eagle House, was one of the landmarks of Chicago. It was erected in 1838 by E. Moore, who owned and occupied it until the fall of 1865, when Messrs. Coleman & Adams purchased it and remained its proprietors up to the time of its demolition. It was four stories in height and was composed entirely of wood. The numbers it comprised were from 86 to 94. By its destruction the loss to the firm will amount to little less than $8O,OOO. On the building there was insurance as follows;
T. W. Adams kept a saloon and billiard hall in the basement, Nos. 88 and 91, and lost his entire stock and furniture, valued at about $5,000. No insurance. Nathan Hall, a barber, was located in the basement No. 91 and lost about $1,000, No insurance., The
The stable of Messrs. Coursen was valued at about $3,000, and the horses, vehicles, etc., that were consumed were worth $3,000, making a total of $11,000, insured in the following named companies:
On the horses there was insurance to the amount of $5,371, secured in the Hartford Live Stock Company. The stable was a two-story frame building, and was entirely destroyed.
The Wheeler Honae, a four-story brick building, was damaged slightly in the rear, and the furniture it contained was somewhat injured by water. It faces on Kinzie street, and is numbered 23 and 24. Louis Gazzolli owns the premises, and estimates his loss at $3OO, as follows:
J. B. Wheeler, who keeps the hotel, estimates his loss at about $200, insured for $1,000 in the Mutual Fire and Marine.
No. 27 Kinzie street, a two-story frame, was injured somewhat in the rear. Messrs. Hoff & Ryerson, merchant tailors, occupied the premises, which are owned by M. Mitchel; fully insured.
No. 29, one-story frame, owned by Mitchel and and occupied by D. Leon as a saloon and restaurant, was slightly damaged in the rear. The occupant baa $500 insurance in the Albany City, which covers his loss, estimated at $200. The building is adequately insured.
No. 31, two-story frame, owned and occupied by Anantania Lougurotie as a saloon and dwelling, was considerably damaged. Loss about $500; insured for$2,100 in the Peoria.
A small one-and-a-half-story frame building, No. 98 West Water street, owned and occupied by J. P. Morast, was damaged to the extent of two hundred dollars; insured for $300 in the Illinois Mutual. Next north is a large frame building called the Union Hotel, also owned and occupied by Morast; damaged about $J00; insured for $2,000 in the Fireman’s. A stable in the rear was injured in the extent of about $75, The furniture in the hotel was slightly damaged; covered by insurance of $1,500 in the Peoria.
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