Lawrence & Martin, formerly Shniedewend & Lee Company
Life Span: 1873-TBD
Location: 111 Madison
Architect:
- Edwards’ Annual Directory in the City of Chicago, for 1873
Shniedewend & Lee Company 111 Madison (See adv’t page 1225
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1880
Lawrence & Martin (Henry C. Lawrence and Morris T. Martin) wines, liquors and cigars 111 Madison
Edwards’ Annual Directory in the City of Chicago, for 1873
Chicago Tribune, June 3, 1877
Lawrence & Martin,
who conduct a remarkably large wholesale establishment at the already famous number, 111 Madison street, have a very complete and extensive stock of Kentucky hand-made sour mash whiskies, champagnes, wines, brandies, liquors of all kinds, imported ales, etc. The firm is specially competent to supply families. It also handles the best of cigars, Mr. Lewis Moss having charge of that particular depart-ment. Smokers desiring the best of box goods obtained in this or any other country, should give Messrs. Lawrence & Martin a call.
Chicago Tribune, December 7, 1877
LAWRENCE & MARTIN,
No. 111 Mar street Chicago. The wine and liquor house of the above long-established and reputable firm is located at No. 111 Madison street. Their store, which is elegant in all its various appointments, is one of the finest of its character in Chicago, and is the resort of the elite of the city. The magnet that draws, however, is the popularity of their goods, which are unexcelled for purity and delicious flavor, and which have long occupied a firm and lasting hold upon the public estimation. They keep only the finest brands, and any goods bearing the well-known trade-mark of Lawrence & Marin need no other passport as to their quality. In connection with their large jobbing and retail business they make a speciality of supplying families, and are selling old hand-made sour-mash whiskies, also gins, sherries, and ports at $1 per bottle, or $10 per dozen, assorted to suit. All goods guaranteed perfectly pure. They also have the finest line of new-crop segars ever imported into this market, which were selected expressiy for the holidays.
Chicago Times, May 31, 1879
When Chicago has any great work to do, it is usually done in royal fashion. Individuals and business firms become infected with the spirit of enterprise which has made the city so grandly successful, and the result is we have commercial houses here that carry out more magnificent projects than can be shown by any city of any land.
It may not be generally known, but it is a fact that the planning and successful consummation of the Chicago Jockey and Trotting Club was wholly beloved that chicago was the work of this firm. the natural point for the finest racing course and grandest turf meetings on this continent. What the project needed was to be systematically planned, and then to have the attention of leading citizens called to it. But this planning and this securing the co-operation of the foremost men in the West could only bedone by the right sort of persons. Such persons Messrs. Lawrence & Martin proved to be. They seemed to understand, from the outset, what was requisite to do to be certain of carrying the enterprise to a successful finish. They were liberal in outlay and sagacious in attending to every preliminary detail. They selected the site, built the track, buildings, etc., and were so judicious in placing the stock that the very best men in the city were glad to become financially interested in this organization and to assume positions on the Board of Directors. The entire world knows the rest of the story well enough. Last year the best trotting meeting ever seen was held at the club’s park, and this season running and trotting meetings have been arranged on a grander scale, with larger purses and a greater number of entries than the turf annals ever before had any record of.
This firm recently sent & competent connoisseur in segars to Havana, and kept him there four weeks, just to be sure of having the choicest stock of smoking goods in the West. The agency for the famous “old Criterion” brand is will every are o partet imported segars are to be found at their establishment to an extent quite impossible for any other firm to rival. Indeed it has now come to be well understood in the West by all lovers of the weed, that this place is the headquarters for everything desirable in the line of segars. Experienced judges of this class of goods are associated with Messrs. Lawrence « Martin in the department in question, and the purchaser knows that when he buys segars here he is getting the best the world produces.
The energetic proprietors of this firm have had the eminent champagne vintner, George Goulet, prepare a superb stock of wine, to which the brand “Chicago Jockey Club” has been given. This incomparable champagne will be introduced to the world on the occasion of the forthcoming June races, and is destined to create a genuine sensation among all lovers of a really perfect wine.
We have thus sketched a few examples of Messrs. Lawrence & Martin’s genius, originality, and true Chicago enterprise. All their business is conducted upon a scale of commensurate magnitude. Their liquors and wines are of the most extensive variety, choicest quality and fairest prices. They supply druggists, families, and the general trade to the thorough satisfaction of all, and in their entire dealings with the public prove how well they are entitled to the proud rank they have earned-that of being the leading merchants in their line in the whole northwest.
CHICAGO TROTTING & JOCKEY PARK.
Chicago Tribune, May 26, 1878
A TRACK IN PROSPECT.—In announcing the demise of Dexter Park some time ago, The Tribune spoke of the abolition of that track as likely to result in the building of another, in which all the disadvantages that surrounded the old course and prevented it from ever becoming popular or successful, would be avoided. Ever since then there have been lively times among real estate agents and would-be proprietors of tracks, and numerous schemes have been formed and presented to the public, all of which, however, died in infancy. For some time past it has been known that Messrs. Lawrence & Martin, liquor-dealers of this city, were taking the preliminary steps to the building of a trotting-track and race-course, which, in point of beauty and completeness of appointments, would eclipse anything of the kind in the country. Their plans have been alluded to in these columns heretofore, but it was not until the past two days that they were so sufficiently matured that a definite idea of what has been done and what is to be done could be obtained. To state the matter briefly, it may be said that Lawrence & Martin purpose to furnish Chicago with the finest race track and grounds in the country; that they intend having, and in fact have already secured for their enterprise, the support of some of the best-known and wealthiest men in the city; and that in a very short time the actual work of constructing the track and buildings will be begun. The exact location has not yet been definitely decided upon, but two tracts of land, one on the South Side and the other on the West, have been secured, and between these a choice will soon be made. The plans for the track and buildings are now complete, and were inspected by a Tribune man, who came away fully convinced that if they were carried out, as he was assured they would be, Chicago next year would stand at the head of all the cities in the country so far as race-tracks are concerned.
With regard to the track itself, it will be a full mile in circumference, sixty feet wide in all parts except the homestretch, which will be widened to eighty feet, thus affording ample room for starting the largest fields of horses. Inside of this track, which will be devoted to trotters, will be the running track, which will be sixty feet wide, and will afford ample facilities for the thoroughbreds.
- Chicago Trotting & Jockey Park
Chicago Engraving Company
1879
The buildings will surpass in extent and beauty those of any track in the country, and are worthy of a more detailed description that can be given here. The grand entrance to the track and grounds will front North, and will consist of two driveways, each twenty feet in width, with passages on each side for pedestrians. The ticket-office, which stands in the middle of the driveway, is a round building with windows on all sides, and ample facilities for handing out pasteboards as fast as they may be wanted. The whole will be surmounted by a very ornamental archway, on which will stand a life-size statue of a horse, and beneath this will appear the title of the Association, which, by the way, has not yet been selected. On entering the grounds, the visitor will behold on each side of him, extensive flower gardens, intersected by graveled walks, and on each side of these will be roadways for the use of carriages. To the right will be the stable for the members of the Association, and instead of being open sheds with stalls, as is the case at other tracks, they will at the new track be provided with doors, furnished with a lock and key, so that when placed inside the stall a gentleman’s rig will be safe from possible depredations by sneak thieves. In the north-east corner of the grounds will be situated the stables for the horses in training. These will consist of 150 large box stalls, and a feature of their construction will be the fact that they are to be built in sections containing from two to ten stalls each, so that a driver can select one having sufficient accommodations for his horses and be entirely separate from other establishments. On entering the track proper, which will be done from the north, the visitor will be furnished with the best of accommodations. All the buildings will have a west front, thus avoiding the exposure to the sun, which at Dexter and Central Park, is so annoying. The most notable structure, perhaps, will be the Club-House, which will be an immense two-story structure, two hundred feet long by sixty wide, and eighty-six feet in height, while the distance from the ground to the top of the flagstaff surmounting the building will be 156 feet. The upper part of the building is to be used exclusively by members, their families, and invited guests. It will consist of one large room, with toilet and cloak rooms, and will be so arranged that refreshments can be served without the trouble of descending to the lower floor. A piazza twenty-five feet in width will surround the building at this story, so that the members can can have an uninterrupted view of the contests taking place on the track. The lower floor of the Club-House will also be fitted up in magnificent style. The carriage-porch will be approached by a private driveway and entrance.On each side of the ground entrance and hallway, will be two large reception rooms, and two large alcove rooms will be utilized as a restaurant. The main portion of this floor will be used for the supplying of refreshments. A piazza, similar to the one on the second story, will encircle the building on the first floor level, and the entire structure will be surrounded by grounds, on which the landscape gardener is to expend his talent.
What is to be known as the Select Stand, will situated just south of the Grand Stand. It will be in the Swiss style of architecture, one hundred and fifty feet in length, and have a seating capacity of 4,000. Each chair will be numbered, precisely as in theaters, and reserved tickets to this stand will, during race meetings, be sold at the down-town hotels, etc.
The Grand Stand will be one of the finest of its kind in the country. It is intended that this shall seat approximately ten thousand people, and it will be four hundred feet long, by sixty wide. The back of the building will contain numerous windows, which can be opened or shut at pleasure, thus affording a current of air on hot days, or keeping out a storm from the West. The space underneath this stand will be converted into an immense hall, 60 by 400 feet, in which refreshment will be served, and where the occupants of the stand can take refuge in case of a storm. The judges’ and reporters’ stand will be between the grand stand and the Club-House, while the musicians are to be provided with a handsome pagoda, just inside the running track and a little south of the judges.
This in brief is an outline of what is to be done. As above stated, the principal hotels and a number of prominent citizens have taken hold of the matter, and a meeting will soon be called, at which the Association will be furnished with a name and a set of officers elected.
- Chicago Trotting & Jockey Park
1878
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