Armour Building II
Location: NE corner of Randolph and Michigan Ave., 102 Michigan ave., 153 N. Michigan after 1909
Life Span: 1872-
Architect: TBD
Chicago Tribune, December 12, 1872
The general offices of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, as before mentioned in The Tribune, have been removed to Armour’s building, on the corner of Michigan avenue and Randolph streets. They will occupy the second, third, fourth and fifth stories. The entrance is on Michigan avenue by a spacious stairway. A wide hall runs the full length of the building on all floors, so that any office can be reached without passing through another. Room 1, on the second floor, is occupied by President Walker and his Secretary. Leading out of this is the President’s private office. Both rooms front on Michigan avenue, and are commodious and handsome. They are carpeted with superior Brussels, rich in colors to correspond with the general furnishings of the room. Two handsome gas fixtures in green bronze hang from the ceiling, which is ornamented with plaster centre-pieces and bordering. Room 2 is then offices of Superintendent Harris. This in Charge of Mr. E. S. Washburn, who is also the Chicago agent for the Chicago, Dubuque & Minnesota Railroad. The Superintendent’s private office adjoins this. Both are fitted up in a manner similar to that of the President’s, being carpeted and tastefully ornamented. No. 3 is the office of the Assistant General Superintendent, Mr. W. S. Strong, who was but resently appointed to that position. This office is carpeted very neatly, and Mr. Strong has set before him a desk, which would ornament any library room in the city. No. 4 is the telegraph office. It is very complete in all its parts, and, perhaps, is not excelled in the country, being fitted with every modern invention which would conduce in any way to the rapid transmission of messages. This is likewise carpeted and furnished with taste. In No. 5, may be seen the smiling face of the popular General Freight Agent, General Wadsworth. This is a large, airy room, provided with two rows of walnut desks. General Wadsworth is surrounded by a corps of able assistants. No. 6 is the office of the Paymaster and Receiving Cashier. It is a room admirably adapted to the purposed for which it is being used, for being large and well-lighted. This, indeed, is a feature of the building, every offcie being flooded with light, even on a dark day. No. 7, is the private office of the Treasurer, Mr. A. T. Hall, who has been appropriately called the “Grandfather of the C. B. & Q.” On the third floor, the offices are fitted and like those described above, with carpets and ornamental gas fixtures. The offices are occupied as follows:
No. 9, General Ticket Agent; Nos. 11, 12, and 13, Chicago & Iowa Railroad offices; No. 13, Purchasing Agent; No. 14, Auditor; On the fourth floor, No. 16, is the Conductors’ room; No. 21, Car Department; Nos. 22 and 23, Engineers; No, 24, Assistant Superintendent. The fifth floor is almost entirely occupied by the Freight Auditor, his regiment of clerks, and the Stationer. The entire building is heated with steam, and fitted with speaking tubes, all of which centre in the President’s office. The various officials were glad enough toi remove from their cramped-up offices in the buildings Nos. 504 and 506 Michigan avenue, to the spacious and convenient quarters they now occupy. We trust they may never be ejected from them so summarily as they were the 9th of October, 1871.
Chicago Tribune, February 17, 1874
THE C. B. & Q.—The general offices of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, at No. 102 Michigan avenue, having become too small for the transaction of its largely-increased business, the managers of the road have rented the second floor of the adjoining building and fitted it up for General Freight and Passenger Agency’s offices. The clerks’ room is 86 by 46 feet, and is very neatly fitted up, the floor being laid in alternate strips of maple and black walnut. The private office of J. Q. A. Bean, the General Freight Agent, is 10 by 21 feet, and is partitioned off from the clerks’ office with blind glass walls. In the rear of the main office is a large room 50 by 36 feet, which is fitted up with shelves, pigeon-holes, and book-racks, and will be used for the storage of books and documents. The office of the clerk of the General Passenger Agent is 21 by 23 feet, and is also very neatly fitted up. In the rear of this is Mr. Hitchcock’s private office, which compares favorably with that of any Passenger Agent in the city.
They moved into these offices yesterday afternoon at 4 o’clock, and as all the employees on the Burlington Road belong to temperance societies, the boys were treated to oranges.
153 N. Michigan
Ross & Brown Map
1928
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