CHICAGO CITY MANUAL 1914 PREPARED BY FRANCIS A. EASTMAN City Statistician "And when, gigantic, willful, young, Chicago sitteth at the northwest gates, With restless, violent hands and casual tongue. Moulding her mighty fates, The Lakes shall robe them in ethereal sheen; And like a large sea, the vital green Of springing wheat shall vastly be outflung Over Dakota and the prairie states.” -WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY. CHICAGO: BUREAU OF STATISTICS LA SALLE'S PROPHECY OF CHICAGO (From a letter written by Robert Chevelier de La Salle to a friend in France, in 1682.) "After many toils I came to the head of the great lake and rested for some days on the bank of a river of feeble current now, flowing into the lake, but which occupies the course that formerly the waters of these great lakes took as they flowed southward to the Mississippi River. This is the lowest point on the divide between the two great valleys of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. The boundless regions of the West must send their products to the East through this point. This will be the gate of empire, this the seat of commerce. Everything invites to action. The typical man who will grow up here must be an enterprising Each day as he rises he will exclaim, 'I act, I move, I push,' and there will be spread before him a boundless horizon, an illimitable field of activity; a limitless expanse of plain is here -to the east water and all other points of land. If I were to give this place a name I would derive it from the nature of the place and the nature of the man who will occupy this place—ago, I act; circum, all around: 'Circago.'" man. (6) The Public Parks of Chicago Their Origin, Former Control and Present Government I. THE PROPHET JOHN S. WRIGHT. It was in the year 1849, and John S. Wright had the attention of the public -more so than any other man of business in the entire population. He was the leader of the boosters and promoters of schemes for the rapid advance of the city toward greatness and splendor. He was a buyer and seller, for his clients, of lots and blocks in the downtown districts, and a purchaser for himself and two brothers, of lands that were outside the city. One tract of theirs was far up on the North Side; it extended from the present Fullerton avenue south to below Diversey boulevard, and from Clark street west to the north branch of the river. It was filled with trees and the public gave it the name of Wright's Grove. Naturally he tried to look forward to a time when this large tract should be in request by home builders. Thus he acquired the practice of gazing a little into the future and of prognosticating the wonderful growth of the young city. As prophets-not of the Lord-sometimes do and will, he once in a while over-shot the mark, as for example, in 1849 he predicted that the population would in 1885 mount to 1,000,000, whereas the population in that year was 297,293 less than his estimate-it was 703,817 souls. Not an unforgivable guess, but there will be occasion further on in this history to cite the estimate of another -prophet, which will se seen to have been atsonishingly correct. However, the subject of this writing is the parks, and John S. Wright saw them all, with-if the outlandish name of their connections must be used-their boulevards constructed and complete. In 1849 he had printed in a Chicago newspaper a letter in which he said: "I foresee a time, not very distant, when Chicago will need for its fast increasing population a park or parks in each division. Of these parks I have a vision. They are all improved and connected with a wide avenue, extended to and along the lake shore on the north and south, and so surround the city with a magnificent chain of superb parks and parkways that have not their equals in the world.” Having related the particulars of his vision, his printed letter concluded with a proposal that was all his own. He proposed that there be bought land outside the city for a large park in each division, to be improved in after years and connected by a wide avenue to be extended to and along the lake shore at the north and south, and so to surround the city with avenues and parks. When we come later to the question of who was the author of the parks, it may be well to remember this remarkable vision and first specific proposal. II. THE ORIGINAL OF PRESENT-DAY SMALL PARKS. By compulsion almost, rather than desire, Chicago acquired its first small park. It was an ungracious gift from the United States government and was hesitatingly and sourly received. Down to the year 1839 the United States government owned a considerable quantity of land at the northeast end of the South Division. It was the Dearborn Reservation, in which Fort Dearborn stood. It pressed on the west hard against the then narrow State street and extended east to the lake front and south from the river to Washington street. It was coveted by the city, but the federal authorities would neither sell nor lease lots therein until in 1839, when they decided to subdivide it, and put the whole tract on the market-to the surprise and disappointment of the citizens. They had hoped that the tract would ultimately be given to the city for its own use and behoof. The many lots, if the property of the city, would have been sold and the proceeds of the sale covered into the city treasury. But less liberal views were held in Wash(7) ington; the sale was advertised and ordered to be proceeded with. The Mayor at the time, Benjamin W. Raymond, however, made haste to represent to the Secretary of the Treasury the facts as here they had been understood, and to plead for a change of purpose in the case, and in a small measure he succeeded. The result of the negotiations that were had was the deeding to the city of one and eight-hundreths of an acre, with the condition that that bit of land be improved and fenced-in as a park in perpetuity. Ungenerous gift! but, of course, it was accepted as the best that could be had. It was the first city park, the original starter on the way to establishing the great number of small pleasure grounds that now adorn so many districts of the city and that have made Chicago justly famous because of them throughout this country and large portions of the world. There could be no other name for this park but Dearborn, after General Henry Dearborn, who, as Secretary of War under President Jefferson, ordered Fort Dearborn to be constructed. It was between Washington and Randolph streets, fronting on Michigan avenue. It received some improvements inside the iron fence by which it was surrounded by the planting of trees, which, however, soon ceased to thrive and finally were despaired of; and by equally useless attempts to confirm a lawn. Along the west side of the enclosure were some, for the day, fine houses occupied by prominent families. In 1864 the Board of Public Works permitted the occupancy of Dearborn Park for the Northwestern Sanitary Fair, held for the benefit of soldiers from the Northwest lying in army hospitals or fighting at the front in the civil war, on condition that it should be restored to the city in as good condition as it was before this patriotic use of it. But it was not left in a proper condition, the fence and walks were much injured, the trees and sodding destroyed, and the grounds defaced. In consequence the fashionable families residing there one by one moved away and their houses were torn down or moved to a distance southward. It remained an uninviting barren enclosure till in 1872, when it was acquired, by arrangement with the state, for library purposes-library and grand army purposes. Washington Park, commonly called "square,' was established in 1842, a reservation in Bushnell's addition and given by Bushnell to the City of Chicago with one condition-that the city improve and fence it in. But little was done till 1869, when a few trees were set out there and two concrete walks were made. The fence was of boards. This park contains two and three-tenths acres. Now there are a hundred more or fewer trees in fairly good condition. Concrete walks lead through from corner to corner, crossing each other at the center of the grounds, where is a fountain standing in a basin made of concrete. Benches placed along the walks invite occupancy. The Lincoln Park Commission, which has jurisdiction there, have forgotten Mr. Bushnell's stipulation for a fence; instead there is stone coping around the grounds. And, too, the owners of lots on the east side of North Clark street have long since forgotten or disregarded the Bushnell building line, which, in his day, was fifty feet from the street and "so nominated in the bond," that is to say, in the conveyance deeds in each and every instance. The layer-out of the addition thought to make of North Clark a fine residence street. Astor Park, on Astor street, originally occupied an entire block of land that once belonged to John Jacob Astor. Early, this land was acquired by Mr. H. O. Stone, who had other holdings in the vicinity; and for the presumed benefit of his property he reserved this little park. He had day dreams and some came true, others did not. Once he owned all the land traversed by Goethe street, and regarding that tract he had a great scheme in mind. There he designed to build a water slip, and he went so far as to give it a name—Grand Haven Slip. It was to extend from the lake to the north branch of the river, and be an arm of commerce. The present writer has seen an old abstract of title to a lot fronting on Grand Haven Slip, the present Goethe street, on which is a picture of a water channel and two sailing vessels; the sails by the west wind belleyed forward, drawing ship and cargo toward the lake. There were to be reaped millions for wharfing privileges along on the to-be-made waterway. The Court House Square, so called by reason of the county's superior rights there, though in popular speech now the ground is seldom mentioned specifically, had somewhat the appearance of a park until the twin buildings, the Court House and the City Hall, were built. The two and eight-hundreths acres the square contains were ornamented with trees, and were enclosed first with a wood and afterwards with an iron fence. With the extension of public buildings from |