Issuu

Chicagoans enjoy the first days of spring in Washington Square Park, one of the city's oldest "pleasure grounds." See page 50. CHS, Chicago Daily News, DN-56,869, gift of Field Enterprises.

Chicago History The Magazine of the Chicago Historical Society Spring 1982 VOLU~IE XI, NUMBER 1

Gail Farr Casterline Interim Editor Roberta Casey Assistant Editor

CONTENTS 2

When Cholera Scourged Chicago by William K. Beatty

"Remember Ellsworth!": Chicago's First Hero of the Civil War by Meredith M. Dytch

Lisa Ginzel Design Assistant

Walter W. Krutz Paul W. Petraitis Photography

"Of the Class Denominated Princely": The Tremont House Hotel by Stephen M. Davis

Barry Byrne and John Lloyd Wright: Architecture and Design by Ann Van Zanten

The Arming of the Chicago Police in the Nineteenth Century by Richard C. Marohn, M.D.

Chicagoans and Their Parks by Larry Viskochil

The Society

Scandinavians in Chicago: A Review Essay by Rolf Erickson

Book Reviews

New Guidebooks and Local Histories

Karen Kohn Designer

Cover: Detail from The Chicago Zouave Cadets at Utica, New York , painted by J. Graff, 1860. CHS.

Copyright 1982 by the Chicago Historical Society Clark Street at North A\'enue Chicago, Illinois 60614 ISSN 0272-8540 Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted and indexed in Historical Abstmcts and America: History ancl Life

When Cholera Scourged Chicago By William K. Beatty

Neither medical science nor civic pride could prevent the cholera from reaching Chicago and claiming more than 5)000 lives.

the Cholerathe disease was often personified-scourged and terrified the people of Asia, Europe, and the United States. The word itself sufficed to bring shudders of revulsion, and the specter of the disease as some monster perched on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, ready to assail the young and bustling city at the base of Lake Michigan, aro used nightmares among even the most fearless. Three epidemics struck the country, and Chicago, by virtue of its central location on water and land transportation routes, received the brunt of each. The local physicians reacted within the framework of contemporary knowledge, but since they did not understand the cause of the disease or the way in which it was transmitted, they could at best treat only the symptoms. The population responded with a mixture of altruism, ignorance, and panic. The city government reacted to popular pressure by enacting temporary ordinances to promote sanitation and establishing temporary boards of health, but the aldermen had short memories and neither planned nor developed programs for prevention and treatment of the disease. The cholera, once seen or experienced, was not easy to forget. Charles Rosenberg in The Cholern Years: The United States in 1832, 1849, and 1866 gave a graphic description: IN THE MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY

The onset of cholera is marked by diarrhea, acute spasmodic vomiting, and painful cramps. Consequent dehydration, often accompanied by cyanosis, gives to the sufferer a characteristic and disquieting appearance: his face is blue and pinched, his extremities cold and darkened, the skin of his hands William K. Beatty, Professor of Medical Bibliography at the Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, is the co-author of The Story of Medicine in America (1973) and Epidemics (1976).

and feet drawn and puckered. . . . Death may intervene within a day, sometimes within a few hours of the appearance of the first symptoms. And these first symptoms appear with little or no warning. One New Yorker reported in 1832 that he felt no premonition of cholera until he pitched forward in the street "as if knocked clown with an axe." We know today that cholera is an acute infectious intestinal disease transmitted primarily through contaminated water and food, and occasionally by flies. If the supplies of water and milk are safe, and if the disposal of sewage is properly controlled, little if any danger of contracting the disease exists. But such was not the case when the pandemicsovergrown and aggressive epiclemics--of cholera started sweeping out of the Bengal area in northeastern India in the nineteenth century. The second wave, which began in I 826, overran much of Europe within six years. \\'ar brought this epidemic of cholera to Chicago. On July 2, 1832, in response to a challenge from Black Hawk, chief of the Sac and Fox Indians, the government sent troops to bolster the small forces already stationed in the orthwest Tenitory. The commanding officer, Major General Winfield Scott, loaded his men and supplies onto four steamboats at Buffalo. Aware of the possibility that some of his troops might come down with the cholera, Scott, before leaving for Chicago on the Sheldon Thompson, found out what he could about the disease from Thomas G. Mower, a knowledgeable New York surgeon. His fears soon became realities. By the time the ship reached Fort Gratiot at the base of Lake Huron, cholera had broken out. As soon as the troops had begun

fully exe<"t1led . l;, W. R8N.WICK. E tir . Kn1.c Co .• 111., May 16., 18~9. 13-27 7,701 45

sions, State , ~change,

()r ,pa.yments

624,38-1 39,940 59

Five Bales To Rent.

--877,SSt; 78

rr..r

One f5tone and three dwellings in the Brkk Block on State street, near the market. Ont store ou Dearborn et. witb rooms above; one dwelling House on Michigan st. uorth side, l.'ituatiou pleasant. • Sevtral vacant lots in block 26 original tuwn Weflt i-d<>. l11q11ire of GEO. ~Ml I H &.

----'.ro 64 334 27

be year

Shitts, Collar~, Drawe Silk c ravats, fancy Silk a riety, a part of E;Uperh qua and ~tocks, black, whit1 and Cotton Gloves of all brown and mixed Half Uc ~ountry Merchant New York prices.

Ta.per and Velvet Bottle C.>rks, for sl\~e b}' way 15 F. SCAMMON., 119 Lake st.

3,239 27 13,384 00

GENTLEllfEN'S J

IS hereby given to the ! Chicago Union Rail Roat of ivc per cent. on each saia Company, is called June, 1849. By order of thE

CO.

Sea Uaptn.bas.• M er~lla ntcs &

All Penons '.r1·aveliu;:-.

CHOLEH.A PREVJ:i~NTED. AT times like th~ present, when

«111

Mor 7, 1849.-my2ld

.E pidemic to an

extent prevails thniug1t the lJuitt-d States, aud in trulh Moles is said lo be ;,.t our very do?rs, the heal h or ll1e citizens ANOTHER. 10 t of h 0 . . t 11,00J uo should be tbc concern ot all ; aud Uiose posse111sing a soccific _te~ted remedy i_n times of crue.rgeocy, are guil;y : Hats, just received and 8 4J,i01 82 ot derel1ct1un ot duty, i( such is not brougbt heforc the ll~ La~~ ay · • rls ~f Agent!4 6,713 38 public, in order that all may derive good tHerefrom.Wi th this view. the subscriber has been induced to pre1l, a11d ,quarStra ,v, LCKl14 r's µrt!111iu1m1 2,7l7 81 pare a Remedy. at the req•~t of tJlosc who we 1: knew and app:-eciute the excellencies of the mixture which H against subhas been fuUy tested in Europe. and pconounoe11 the · :1 4,0S-J 19 mo&t safe and ctfcctual preventive 11g11inst ctll attack of JUST received, the I 2,tH7 21 Cholera, and which is strongly recoiruur-odcd to.all per- Gentlemen's. Youth'F :1n $16J,9J7 ti!./ so11111 traveling, whkh mixture wm retain its properties offered in a western mar~ sale and retail, at very 10 for any number of year~ and in evCJ'y d•me. J1y .holdsubl)repared nnd sotJ iu bottles at ~. 4s, and 88, by l\'rny 21, IS-10. r of guaranCllARL~ SH..\Rl'E. l!S 39,151 fi6 Clark street, N. of Kinzie, north side. Great . N. B.-Thol'le too poc,r lo pay. may have the same gratuitously administered • .POLlCIES. ,e

Stooks

9,360 'lS

84,335 OU

~~~it.

NEW SPR .

449

,9ti

t.i:J:!

13.!l

esued

369l:l

$2:l,622 71 41,7-tti 41 71,t.iti'i 66 H2.HH ns

·ear

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lsbursments

8278,237 83 112,309 ! 4

bursemcnts SltSo,937 tiO U1i11 day declared a divi. AUIOUUt of Premium OD ·e .wonths, and in proporie.. to t,e credited on the which c..ertiticate11 will Le Vbar:tcr. d a.u Interest of au: per s Uiviclt!nds, vayaLJe in

CmcAoo, May 14, 1,849. l hereby certify that I have w,tueSBC<l the extrnordinncy powel"9 of the ahove preparation, and shall feel pleasure in co111mu11icatini? with any person relative thereto, having <lerived the most salutary etfecte upou m),'~elf and family, and also witnes~d the mo1t extraordinary cures from the use of the above mixture. For my part, l 1,ever 1\' t:ah to l>e without it, and at my r-eQUCiil it is now made and brought before the public, that otben laboring under symptem~ of Cl1olera, or to pre• veut an attack, may experience ii s iHvaluaLlc properties. and J feel jui-t1ficd in sayiug that ir the in~truction11 nro adhered to. no pcn,<,n need be apprchensh·c of an nttack ot the cholera. ~VILLIA)f HOLBROOK, State stre.-t. Chicago. myte-tm

THE Subecribcr is no Spn ng Goods of the choic them will be found 50 rich Silk ant.I Liner. 50 ps Linen Ginghams 100 ps 8J,ring do 50 ps Sprin~ Delaines 1 10 ps Black Mantilla ::: 20 ps Rlcli Fqf d Ores~ 20 ps new styles Bcre 100 ps do Gimp 500 JlS do Sprin 100 Long and Square50 Embroidered and P 100 New Style Spring S 100 doz L . nen Hdkf11.

CARPETS.

100 Joz Stock in With a full assortancn which will I.le solll at the J JAS.D.S

Just rec'd a luge asliortruent of Carpets, Oil Cloth,, Matting, &.c. at the Carpet Room of L. C. HALL & co. may 15 ~3 Lake st.

•JOO doz Silk

may3-dkw

Newspaper coverage of t he epidemics ran the ga mut from h um or to advice o n g uarding one' s health . Th is advert isement in the May 26, 1849, Chicago Daily Democrat offered testi mo nials fo r a re med y " t ested in Europe." CHS , gift of John Wentworth.

Cholera falling to the disease, the military surgeon assigned to the Thompson had disappeared into the bowels of the ship with a supply of spirits. Scott later wrote tersely of this unnamed surgeon, "he ought to have died." evertheless, Scott did what he could for the suffering troops. An artillery officer aboard the Thompson's sister ship Henry Clay reported that "The disease lasted two or three weeks, during which time we lost by death and desertion two-thirds of our command. I lost one-third of my company by death." Arriving in Chicago on.July 10, Scott ordered Colonel .John v\'histler, commanding officer at Fort Dearborn, to clear the post to make room for the sick men. Lemuel Bryant, a young man traveling through Chicago at that time, noted in his diary that "Gen. Scott on whoom [sic] the command now devolved was sick in the bakehouse the next door & was not expected to live till morning. All was confusion . . . frightened soldiers calling to each other, dogs barking, Indians hallooing rendered it an awful scene never to be forgotten." Some of the soldiers and civilians fled into the surrounding countryside, preferring the possibility of Indian scalping knives to the presence of the cholera. Dr. S. G. J. De Camp, the fort"s surgeon, later reported that some 200 people had been stricken within a week and that 58 had died. Physicians in Chicago, as in other communities, were ill-equipped to cope with such a calamity, but many speculated that the disease was spread either by an infected atmosphere or personal contact, and could best be combatted through sanitation and quarantine. It was also assumed that indi viduals who drank excessively or came from the lower classes were more susceptible to cholera than others. Treatment dealt primarily with the symptoms, but little agreement existed on methods. De Camp treated all of his cases with calome l and bloodletting, and was so pleased when the death rate among his patients declined to 29 percent that he became convinced that his approach had "robbed [the disease] of its terrors." On the other hand, Dr. Elijah Dewey Harmon, another early Chicago physician, attributed his success with cholera to the fact that he ref rained from using calomel and bloodletting. Efforts to contain the disease were largely 4

futile, however, and it quickly spread from the soldiers to the civilian populace. Fear not only led to panic and flight but often to premature disposal of the victims-and more than one person who had been loaded onto a wagon for burial turned out to be "not quite ready." Because of Chicago's low-lying terrain, burial itself presented difficulties, and when the banks of the Chicago River eroded, some coffins became all too visible. As the city grew and excavations were dug for new buildings, the remains of former citizens were not infrequently uncovered. Several came to light at the northwest corner of Wabash and Lake, and as late as ~fay 1857 some skeletons-perhaps several of Scott's men-were found on South \\later Street between State and Âˇw abash. In 1832 the town fathers made some abortive attempts to counter the threat of disease, including the passage of an ordinance aimed at those who threw rubbish into the streets and alleys or let it pile up in their lots. But few fines were collected, and the number and variety of abuses grew as fast as the city. In 1834, during a cholera scare in the spring and summer, the community trustees established a temporary boanl of health as well as a cholera vigilance committee and attempted to improve the water supply. The trustees also authorized two physicians, \IVilliam Clark and Edmund Stoughton Kimberly, to set up a cholera hospital outside the city limits, but apparently this was never built. Chicago's act of incorporation in 1837 included some measures to improve the health of the city's inhabitants, but they were not effective. In 1838 "a very deadly and strange epidemic" known as "canal cholera" broke out among laborers in the Bridgeport area. Most people were afraid to venture into the vicinity to remove the bodies, and several of Chicago's citiLens began to worry that news of the epidemic would discourage new settlers from coming to Chicago. Despite occasional respites over the next few years, the scourge seemed unrelenting. In 1846 the third pandemic of cholera broke out in India, quickly smothering that hapless country, and spread eastward to the Philippines and China and westward to Persia. By 1848 the disease had covered most of Europe, and by

Cholera

~ ~-.:<.

c k_

The opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal , 1848. "A large share of the entire mortality was occasioned by the tide of emigrants and newcomers" such as those who traveled to Chicago on this waterway. From Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1871. CHS, ICHi-05836.

the spring of 1849 the whole eastern United States was infected. According to most sources, the cholera reached Chicago when the ship John Drew arrived from ew Orleans on April 29 with a full load of immigrants. The epidemic which followed lasted through 1854, with a brief reprieve in 1853, but it is difficult to gauge its extent because of the unreliability of the records. As one author rather infelicitously put it in 1852, "Diarrhea showed a tendency to run into cholera." Certificates of death, when there were any, were sometimes incorrectly filled out, citing such causes as "triberculasis," decline, visit of Providence, infancy, and "coroner's inquest." During peak periods physicians often neglected to report deaths at all, and the records of the city sexton reflected overwork, a lack of medical knowledge, and the fact that the friends or family of the deceased often buried the body

in a cemetery without notifying the sexton at all. With a population of 22,000, Chicago was now a much larger community than in 1832, and it did its best to prepare for the emergency. For one thing, there were three major newspapers, and all had followed the cholera's march across Europe and the eastern United States. On January 29, 1819, the council approved an ordinance urging a citywide cleanup by the owners and occupants of all dwellings, and on February 2 residents gathered at a large public meeting and passed a resolution to wipe out filth throughout the city. In April the city council appointed 45 assistant health officers to help in these efforts; a month later, the Board of Health ordered homeowners to remove all debris from their lots at once. The battle was on. Lime was the major disinfectant used, and during the most desperate periods of the epidemic the city passed it out free of charge. 5

Cholera

Not everyone agreed on the extent of the danger. Indeed, from time to time the press even tried to use humor as an antidote. On April 2, while the cholera was still at a safe distance, the editors of the Chicago Democrat reminded their readers: "Somebody says, Physicians are the nutcrackers used by angels to get our souls out of the shell that surrounds them ." A month later the paper, with tongue in cheek, reported an epidemic of Dog Cholera. However, this was given not as a news item but as a prediction that the disease "will rage" after l\fay 15. As a direct outgrowth of the cleanup campaign, the city had decided to poison or shoot all dogs running loose or unmt11ded after that date. One Chicagoan, Benjamin F. Hays, even wrote in a letter to Mr. Morrow, a business colleague, on May 21 of the exaggerated statements about the cholera and castigated the "panic makers" for the harm they were doing to business. By July IO John !\filler, a resident of Gross Poim (13 miles north of Chicago), wrote to his ~rother William, "the Cholera in Chicago is I believe on the increase ancl said to be vary [sic] fatal." \Vorse yet, it was spreading up and clown the waterways, including the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which had just opened in April. As Miller wrote, I here from [Chicago) today one canal boat came in this morning with the oner and three others dead on the boat ... it is thought business on the canal will be all most suspended-it is trueuly a fearful time and fear the Cholera will not abate till coald wether or till cooler wether.

Just five days later Andrew Galloway, the canal's chief engineer who had recently moved LO Chicago and not yet brought his wife and fam ily, wrote home: If the cholera entirely subsides I will try to make arrangements to sleep in the office, which will reduce my board to 2Â˝ dollars per week, but at present it would not be prudent to be remote from all help in case of a night attack. With early and proper attention there is very little clanger from the cholera that is prevailing here.

But he was all too sangu ine. In August cholera struck 1,000 residents and 300 died. In 1849, just as it had clone fifteen years earlier, the city proposed a "cholera hospital," 6

Dr. Levi Day Boone (1808-1882) painted by James Forbes, 1866. The city physician during the epidemic of 1849, Boone went on to serve as Chicago's mayor. CHS.

but this time the council made an appropriation, and on June 8 the facility opened on Jackson between State and Clark streets with the cit) health officer, Dr. LeYi Day Boone, in charge. ,\n efficient medical man ancl skillful politician, Boone did battle with both the cholera and the citizens who objected to placing the hospital in a "thickly settled part of the city," but by September the epidemic seemed to ebb and Boone requested that the hospital be dosed. It had to be opened again early in October [or several weeks. As the disease ran its course, newspaper editors and civic boosters became concerned that papers in other cities, such as Buffalo, Detroit, and Milwaukee, were printing false or exaggerated reports of cholera in Chicago. Accounts emanating from Milwauke~ne of Chicago's chief rivals for settlers and business-were of particular concern, prompting sarcastic retorts from the Democrat. Other out-of-town newspapers were commended for their earnest

Ch o lera 'IUII;

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IHKBY'S CHOLEllA DHOPS with a@;'1.li1fac tion not hPrt,lofore experienced by any i11'11vi1lual whn dl'sirca the Wf>l'tar .! or hitt rcllow men Jn 1hc whole range of mc-dicrnca t·•t·r ••flCrcd tu 1he pul>lic , none can c1J111pnrc \\'tlh thc•c Dropa 1hr

Jnstantaneomdy (;laeckinl' tl,e most 1:iole11t attacks of Cramps, Pain itt lM Stuuiflch, SOTffll!BI 4- Lou11enas qf tl1e 1Ju1Dels, Dy1enur11, DiaTTl•ta, Billw,111 Cholu, Choler<£ ll1orb11s,

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Cl,o!era l11/ant1tm,

4•c.

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n 1rial, 10 rPccivc a phtce iu t!V~ry fa1111ly. It haa bccu cncuisivrly u:;cd iu tl11!l State, u1111 lm11 u;iven

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anrl it i1 thrim!;h the earnest solicitntion

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thore whn ha,·c u,ed it, 1h11t it II now otl.-rcd 10 Lhe r,uhllc. It is put up m 1Jot1le-l' 1uitnhle for carrying iu the JJOCket, 1111d •old at Lhc u cct'd11tg low price .. ,,mJ jO <·en11 a bot• lie . l.A:t e very uue keep a h<oUlc by Lhcnt co11911111Uy, and they 11ct•tl not fc:tr any serif,111 . couacqueuce1 fr<,111 1• aun.ekis ol any uf the above COIUJJhUUIS. lfead Lhc lollowiug: 111.s. t:11elli11~ havi1111 had "violent nrt11ck of C'hnlern Mori,us, I gavt her si,ty drop~ of Kirhy'1 (;ltolera 1'r.. p11, and in ten J111nu1')s 1!,e wa• cu11rc1y .-chcved.-[H. H. ti1,cll111g, New York t ; ity. Th 1 •• Lo certify Lhat I have u..-,J Kirhy'1 Chntern Drop•, a:1d that 1hcy have proved a fir • t rih<• ort,c le in cas1·• ul t;nuup, Colle, Cholera Mnrhu~ and the like corn • pl11111ts. tlll'y c ure nlmui-t i111 ;1.edialely. I would rccom• 111c11<I thc111 Lo all u a lirsL rate tncdicine.-(Ju111, '1'how11• MJn, l)crl,y . Tit i~ i • to certfy that I hnd a very 111•nre atlllck or Cholera &JorUu1, 111tfor11,g M:verc. 1t.:ti11 nccom1mnit:d wilh diurr h,·a-thhl l too k lilly 01 )uur celehmted l:holl'ra 1Jrnps. aud as 8<1o t1 a!f I had 1:1kc11 the ,lc~c, LIie pain and diarrhea ctn~it. nnd iu n 1hort 11111c I ft It qu,le "ell. T o I.:! Kir~y, llir111111gha111.-[W111 II. Tryon. The •m<fer, ii:nerl. lrnvi11g U!K'rl the nhovr. med icine, kn o w• it t o p os.'" Ctoll every vir1ue cJaiwrd for it l,y the pr(JJ)ricto r, nnd c o11cede1t to it by r.he nho\'C ccrliflc :,tes. -Wu, . .ulf; Edito r nf the Rhinc!Jc c k t:a:i.etlC a1,cl Ilutc ht•• Go Advc\li scr.

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MACCARON I, 'l'avwca, Vcrt111ccll,, a utl SAIi). l°or 1:ll e i,y 1.-' . "'C AMMUN

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FOR sa le by J"5.ll<w

attempts to discover the truth. For their part, local doctors sought to reassure anxious colleagues, including the leading physician from "one of the interior towns of 1\Iichigan," who was deputized by the town's citizens to go to Ch icago and report on cond itions there. His loca l host was none other than Dr. Daniel Bra inard, president of Rush 1\Iedical College. Those who fled in panic also reaped the scorn of the city's press. As early as J une 6 the Democrat reprinted the following from the Southport [Kenosha] Telegraph in vV isconsin:

1,0 Lake 1uee;. •

Pl1ospkor1u. F ..SGAM \fOS, 119 Ln k1• , 1rc•c1.

Advertisement from the J une 7, 1849, Democrat, for Kirby's Cholera Drops, guaranteed to "instantaneously" check "violent attacks" of the disease. CHS, gift of John Wen tworth.

Xot cholera sick nor cholera dead, But from fear of the cholera fled; They'll quick return when cholera's over If from the fright they should recover.

But the Democrat reserved its strongest d isapproval for aldermen who fled to safety. "Declare Their Seats Vacanti" the paper screamed . "In times like these, every man shou ld be at his post." And on l\Iay 28-a l\Ionday-the Democrat urged all the clergymen of Chicago to preach the fo llowing Sunday on the duties of a Christian in a time of calamity: "There is now a panic in our city far worse than the cholera itself. Many are leav ing the city and those rema ining seem afra id to go nea r those in d istress." Alarmed by the growing un lawf ulness, the Democrat warned against the cla ngers posed to law-abid ing citizens. By the encl of l\Iay Chicagoans were reading that "very suspicio uslooking characters driven by the cho lera from the South are in town." The authorities e ncouraged citizens to travel in groups after dark, avoid conversing with evil-look ing stra ngers, and protect their premises from burglary. B u t apparently conditions grew worse, for by Ju ly 25 the paper summed u p the situation in a one-word head l ine-"Shameful"-and we n t on to give an eyewitness report of a cholera victim at a public house who was on the verge of being thrown into a hearse wh il e still alive. According to the paper, the "v ictim" h ad just been robbed by the person who had cla imed he was dead. 1\[uch of the newspaper commentary, h owever, dealt with the overriding quest ion of what to do to protect on e's health. The local papers freely cited reports fro m oth er cities. 7

Cholera The Albany Knickerbocker advised soap, courage, and to "Keep clean and keep cool." The heal th officer of Savannah was more Ii terary, urging cititens to "Lay on the lime, and fined be he who first cries hold, enough." In Chicago and elsewhere, physicians and public officials joined together lo recommend an allout campaign to remove offal and rubbish from private lots and vacant property. As some of these spokesmen quite rightly argued, it was essential not only to get rid of debris clogging drains from homes, eating places, and hotels, but Lo limit butchering, tanning, and similar pursuits to areas beyond the city limits. Certainly the aldermen could pass ordinances and the Board of Health could issue orders, but what if the laws were not enforced? The newspapers encouraged their readers to hold block meetings and set up organizations to prevent homeowners from stealthily disposing of their filth at night. "Protect Yourselves," warned a July IO headline. Club the offenders out of Chicago, the paper urged, and start spreading succor among the sick. Some Chicagoans did just that. In early August the city's health officer reported that one citizen had donated $50 for the comfort and relief of the destitute sufferers and that the First Baptist Church had contributed $89. By September 4 a number of local parishioners had banded together to establish the Catholic Orphan Asylum on South Wabash Street as a haven for children who had lost their parents to the epidemic. Some believed that poor nutrition increased susceptibility to cholera, and on July 9 the Democrat warned against coconuts, cherries, and whisky, all of which were "proven causes." The following day the Board of Health asked citizens to refrain from fresh pork, veal, and fish, as well as all vegetables, fruits, and nuts, since the Board had "abundant evidence before it that many cases of cholera had been produced by their use." On August 17 the Board again shook its collective finger at fruits and vegetables, singling out green corn and cucumbers as the worst culprits. Indeed, there seemed to be few safe alternatives: on August 20 a physician reported that a woman had died from cholera which she had contracted by eating hot biscuits. Interestingly enough, the 8

Democrat, which had often opposed the politics of President Zachary Taylor, nevertheless supported his proclamation for a fast day to counter the epidemic and asked all churches and individuals to observe this measure. Meanwhile, "infallible" remedies abounded. On l\Iay 28 a news item under the not-tooencouraging headline, "Important if True," reported that "Drs. Bird, Blaney, and Herrick are said Lo be about making a publication deYeloping a certain cure for the cholera in all cases. The cure will be simple but yet entirely new. " Two days after the first story appeared the public learned that the remedy consisted of Âˇ1 pans of sulphur and 1 part of charcoal, which could be taken with the fullest guarantee that "If it does no good [at least] it can do no harm." Advocates and opponents debated the efficacy of this combination throughout the summer, but ultimately the nostrum was discredited and dismissed. By the Lime the epidemic abated in the latter part of October, the city had counted 678 deaths, or about 3 percent of the population. l\Iost of the deaths were concentrated in areas that were heavily populated by immigrants. For example, among the 332 individualsmostly orwegians-who lived in one threeblock area in the North Division, cholera !aimed 4-l victims, over half of whom had been sick less than a day. Then, in .July 1850 cholera struck again, claiming 420 victims. Among them was Dr. George ,ventworth, the Sixth " ' arc! alderman, who contracted the di ease while battling the epidemic. Cholera returned in April 1851 when Dr. John Evans reported the first case, the captain of a canal boat. This epidemic was less virulent than its predecessors, but by the end of October, 216 people had succumbed. The incorporation in 1851 of the Chicago City Hydraulic Company was an important factor in reducing the death rate because it took the city one step closer to having a citywide water system that reduced the public's reliance on private wells, which easily became infected (the company did not begin supplying water until early in 1854, however). Some steps were also taken to improve general standards of cleanliness and to regularize mortality records, and several ordinances were passed to

Cholera

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Chicago was hard hit by the cholera epidemic of 1866 when more than 1,500 cases were reported between July and November in the areas shaded on this map. From Report of the Board of Health of the City of Chicago tor 1867, 1868, and 1869 . .. , 1871 . CHS, ICHi-16807.

Cholera prevent the dumping of manure, hay, and litter in alleys and vacant lots. The council now required affidavits for deaths, signed by some individual from the family or house where the death occurred, but these records were neither comprehensive nor accurately maintained during this period. The cholera returned forcefully in 1852, claiming 630 lives in seven months, many of them in August and September. This time patients were removed to a special hospital---or, rather, shanty-constructed on the beach in .July. Rude as it was, most people considered it an improvement over the city's pest house on the lakefront at North Avenue, where cholera patients entered one door, smallpox patients entered the other, and few left alive. Only one death by cholera was reported in 1853, but physicians were uneasy over the accuracy of the methods used to diagnose the symptoms and collect information on mortalities. It is clear that local doctors debated these issues at some length, for the Cook County Medical Society records for August 2 contain the following report: Dr. Hunt described a case which simulated cholera, but as cholera was not prevailing as an epidemic, did not consider it cholera. Dr. Bird [of the wellknown pill] and Dr. Palmer each related a case which if cholera had prevailed, they would have no hesitation in calling cholera. Dr. Palmer stated the symptoms of the onset and cause of his case were identical with cholera, but believed that cholera was produced by a specific poison, did not think these cases were, and therefore would not call them cholera . Dr. Miller referred to a case which came under his observation in which the onset, course, and termination were identical with cholera, and therefore he called it cholera. [As quoted by Constance Bell Webb in A History of Contagious Disease Care in Chicago Before the Great Chicago Fire, I 940)

The events of the next year left little time for such discussion. That this season was to be unusual became clear right at the start, for the disease entered Chicago by rail instead of water, as in times past. Forty-six victims succumbed in May; 170 in .June; and a ~taggering 581 in July. Citizens fled as far as Milwaukee. By July IO the disease had spread to so many corners o( the city that the Board of Health decided to meet every day and even determined that the publi c health officer needed a second 10

horse to conduct his official business. Dr. Brockholst McVickar, the city physician, worked actively to promote the building of a large cholera hospital at l 8th and Arnold (now Federal) streets. This one-and-a-half story building, staffed by the Sisters of Mercy, was designed to isolate the patients, most of whom came from the poorer classes of residents or itinerant working folk. Treatment was primarily symptomatic: bloodletting, stimulants, opium, mercury, and tartar emetic. Several of the nuns succumbed to the disease, including the J\Iother Superior, Mary Agatha O'Brien, who came clown with the cholera on July 7 and was dead by the next morning. The relentless attack continued with 254 deaths in August, 174 in September, 159 in October, and 40 111 'ovember: a total of 1,424, or 5.5 percent of the population. Charles Philip Weinrich, Jr., the son of a German immigrant, wrote graphically of his father's experiences: Father drove the hearse and helped lay-out the bodies. He used to haul 14 and 15 bodies a day and that not during the worse time. He u,ed to work day and night. People died so fa;t they could not dig holes enough. Deaths were so numerous that the coffins & content; were filled up waiting their turn for their holes. Even mother remembers how they were filled up near the old burying ground between Menomonee & ;'\orth Ave., now Lincoln Park.

Some good did come out of this dreadful year, however. The city council authorized a new underground sewer system, begun in 1856, and passed an ordinance which required homeowners to install drains. The council also passed a measure calling for the licensing of night scavengers, the private individuals who contracted with the city to remove rubbish from speci fie areas. In 1855 the number o[ deaths from cholera dropped to 14 7, and by the following year the disease had virtually disappeared. Dysentery, which took 305 victims, and consumption, which claimed 288, had now become the leading causes of death in Chicago. Memories were short, and by 1857 the Board of Health was once again allowed to go out of existence. After a drawn-out and thoroughly unsatisfactory experiment in which the police department was

Cholera

The southeast corner of Clark and Washington streets, photographed by Alexander Hesler in 1858. Standing water and garbage-strewn lots were slow to disappear even when the city council announced clean-up campaigns to avert the spread of cholera. CH S, ICHi-05732, gift of Otto L. Schmidt.

used to perform the Board's duties, the city reinstated the agency in 1867. The new cholera epidemic of 1863 which prompted this decision began, as usual, along the Ganges R iver in India. Moslem pilgrims carried the disease to Mecca, where it was transferred to pilgrims from other countries and eventually to the ports of New York, New Orleans, and Halifax and throughout North America. As the threat of another scourge became apparent, members of the local medical profession established a Committee of Physicians charged with reporting on the means of improving the sanitary conditions of Chicago. The committee's report, published in December 1865, began by describing the predisposing conditions: impure and damp air, unwholesome food and water, excessive use of stimulating drinks, and neglect of personal cleanliness. The doctors proposed eight points of action, cited here because of their particularly vivid portrayal of living conditions at this time: 1st. The passage and rigid enforcement of such

ordinances as will cause all lots, whether occupied or not, to be so connected with the street sewers and gutters as to relieve them from surface water, especially from under and immediately around dwellings . . .. 2d. The immediate organization of a complete scavenger system, for the prompt removal of all garbage and refuse matter from every part of the city, and the vigilant enforcement of its practical operation. 3d. A more vigilant patrol of the river and its branches, for the purpose of excluding therefrom every species of animal and vegetable matter of a decomposing nature .... 4th. The more extensive inspection of privies, stables, street and lot gutters, the premises of slaughtering, rendering, packing, soap and candle, and all other manufacturing establishments, and the most rigid enforcement of cleanliness; together with the adoption of measures for intercepting and neutralizing of noxious gases from cesspools and sewers. 5th. The removal, as fast as possible, of all present accumulations of decomposable and offensive materials from the streets, alleys, and lots of the city [so that] the first warm spring days in April next shall find all parts of the city clean and free from those materials that have . in all ages and countries given to pestilence its virulence and fatality. 11

Cholera

Lithograph of the Chicago Water Tower by Jevne & Al mini, 1869. The completion of a new water distribution system in the late 1860s helped reduce the incidence of cholera in the city. CHS, ICHi-06859.

6th. The prevention of overcrowding and want of ventilation and cleanliness in boarding and tenant houses . . . . All the members of this committee who practiced medicine here through all the cholera epidemics from 1849 to 1854, vividly remember how large a share of the entire mortality was occasioned by the tide of emigrants and newcomers, who, by every boat and railroad train, came to fill the small, damp, and filthy boardinghouses and dwellings; themselves not only unused to the climate, but often loaded with personal filth and filthy baggage .. .. 7th. The establishment of Public Urinals, at convenient distances, in all the more densely populated parts of the city, and the prohibition of the use of alleys and street corners for that purpose .... 8th. Finally, we would earnestly ask your immediate attention to the rigid exaction of certificates setting forth the cause of death, made by the attending physician, and returned to the proper officer, before permission is granted to bury the body. Such certificates should state clearly the age, sex, cause of death, and residence, signed by the physician . . . . The present registry of deaths, so far as the causes of the deaths is concerned, is a ridiculous and shameful farce. [Chicago Medical Examiner 6 (1865)]

These points not only illustrate the physicians' conceptions of the causes of the disease and its transmission, but also draw attention to some of the major problems facing the governing body and citizens of the rapidly growing city. The committee concluded by stating that the city could better afford to raise the funds to promote these measures than it could to suffer the losses of lives, money, and "sanitary credit of our city" which would result from another epidemic. "On the other hand," the committee noted, "if these measures are neglected, and in their place only partial and spasmodic efforts made to clean out a few prominent streets and noted alleys, we just as confidently believe that before another Fourth of July comes, the insignia of mourning for the victims of cholera will be seen on every block in our city." This grim prophecy was borne out by the newspaper reports that appeared the following October at the height of yet another epidemic. The epidemic of 1866 was the last to strike

Cholera Chicago. In absolute numbers;-there were 990 deaths and 1,561 cases reported-this was second to 1854 in the number of fatalities. In August the Board of Health instructed the health officer to build a cholera hospital in the South Div/sion, and this new facility at \Ventworth Avenue and 33rd Street was soon overtaxed. Chicagoans were particularly moved by the losses of John J. O'Sullivan, the popular alderman of the 16th Ward, and Dr. Daniel Brainard, who died of the disease. The fire of 1871 and the subsequent rebuilding of the city ultimately led to improvements in grading and control of surface water, a more efficient and comprehensive sewer system, and, above all, a safe and effective citywide waterdistribution program. Progress in medical science assisted in keeping the next three pandemics (we are currently in the seventh) out of the city and state as well as the rest of the U nitecl States. Knowledge concerning the cause, transmission, and treatment of cholera has grown, in the typical pattern of medical history, by fits and starts. As early as 1832 a physician in 1ew York cured a patient by injecting a solution of common salt into her veins, thus-although unaware of the scientific reason-overcoming the dehydration that is one of the major clangers p( the . disease. In 1849, John Snow, a British physician, stated that cholera was waterborne, and after conducting a house-by-house study of the epidemic of 1854 in a region of London, concluded that the cholera would cease in the Broad Street area if the handle were taken off the pump that provided the local water supply. The handle was removed and the spread of the cholera did stop. By the mid-1860s many physicians had become convinced that cholera was contagious. However, it was not until Robert Koch concl ucted his detailed work in Egypt and India in 1883 that the cause, the cholera vibrio, was identified. This bacillus, he postulated, produced absorbable toxins in the patient's intestines, and these caused the striking symptoms associated with the di ease. The wave of cholera that assailed Hamburg in 1892 provided a textbook example of the necessity for a filtered water system when two nearby cities which had such systems remained

virtually untouched by the epidemic. Anti-cholera inoculation was used successfully on a small scale in 1885, but it took the work of W. I. Haffkine in the early 1890s, especially in India, to take a major step toward a vaccine which, although effective for only a few months, has proved valuable. Improvements in diagnosis have raised survival rates by leading LO earlier identification and, therefore, earlier treatment. The main therapeutic measure continues to be the restoration of fluids and salts. Antibiotics, i( administered early enough, may lessen the severity of the diarrhea. The cholera epidemics that scourged Chicago in the nineteenth century were typical of those in similar geographic locations and reveal a good deal about emerging standards in public health. The scourge has now disappeared although public health officers still have to stay alert. Hot biscuits-within reason-are safe once more.

Selected Sources Lemuel Bryant Journal; Papers of Benjamin F. Hays, John Miller, Andrew J. Galloway, and Charles P. Weinrich, Jr., CHS. :-.EWSPAPERS: Chicago Daily Journal, Chicago Democrat, Weekly Chicago Democrat, Chicago Daily Tribune. Bonner, Thomas l'\eville. Medicine in Chicago, 18501950. Madison, Wisconsin: American History Research Center, 1957. Comminee of Physicians. "Report on the Means of lmpro,Âˇing the Sanitary Condition of Chicago." Chicago Medical Examiner 6 (1865) . Davis, David J., ed. History of Medical Practice in Illinois. Vol. ll, 1850-1900. Chicago: Illinois State Medical Society, 1955. Marks, Geoffrey, and William K. Beatty. Epidemics. New York: Scribner's, 19i6. - - . The Story of Medicine in A 111erica. ;'.;ew York : ScribnerÂˇs, 1973. Phelan, Col. James M. "The Cholera Epidemic during the Black Hawk War." Military Surgeon 83 (1938) . Quaife, Milo M. Chicago ancl the Old Northwest, 16731835. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1913 . Rawlings, Isaac D. The Rise ancl Fall of Disease in ll/inois. 2 vols. Springfield: State Department of Public Health, 1927. Rosenberg, Charles E. The Cholera Years: The United Slates i11 1832, 18-19, ancl 1866. Chicago: Univcrsily of Chicago Press, 1962. Webb, Constance Bell. A History of Co11Lagious Disease Care in Chicago before the Great Fire. Chicago: Uni\'ersity of Chicago Press, 1940. Zeuch, Lucius H., comp. History of. Medical Practice in Illinois. Vol. I, Preceding 1850. Chicago: The Book Press, 1927. MANUSCRIPTS :

Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth, captain of the Chicago Zouave Cadets, photographed by Mathew Brady during the Zouaves ' triumphant Eastern tour in 1860. CHS, ICHi-16365.

"Remember Ellsworth!": Chicago's First Hero of the American Civil War By Meredith M. Dytch

(( At double-quick and at the call of the bugle) these sixty or more young athletes would form.figures of crosses) double crosses) squares) triangles) like the dissolving figures of the kaleidoscope. JJ Description of Elmer Ellsworth's Chicago Zouave Cadets performing in 1859

c1v1L WAR has been called the last romantic war, the last war in which the military ideals, and even the military strategies, of the Napoleonic era were tried, and then abandoned-the last war in which military life was seen as a noble pursuit, and the soldier as a clashing hero who was unfailingly brave, gallant in his regard for women and worthy enemies, and possessed of an unimpeachable moral character. Perhaps no one personified these ideals more completely than Col. Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth who, on l\Iay 24, 1861, became the first officer to be killed in the War Between the States. The facts of his death are to be found in every account of the beginning days of battle, where historians enshrined him as a valiant partisan of the Northern cause. The nation was shocked by the loss, for Ellsworth was a figure of national prominence, a darling of the press, and a personal friend of President Lincoln and his family. His death at age twenty-four presaged the passing of old attitudes toward war and the military, just as in life he had captured the imagination of the American public through his dedication to an institution that was peculiarly typical of his times: the volunteer military company. In order to understand the significance of these companies, it is important to know something about the role and development of military organizations in the formative years of the THE

Meredith M. Dytch is a free-lance writer who has had a long-standing interest in the Civil War and Colonel Ellsworth.

American nation. During this period, many citizens harbored a deep-seated distrust of standing armies which had its roots in colonial times and, most particularly, during the reign of George III. But the early 1800s were also a time of nationalistic fervor, and the notion of a trained corps of citizen-soldiers, ready to take up arms to defend the country if need arose, was a compelling one. During the period from 1830 to 1860, thousands flocked to enlist in the many volunteer units which sprang up in communities throughout the country, supplementing the official state militias which then existed. These voluntary organizations were more of a social phenomenon than a military one. In his book, Soldiers and Civilians (1968), Marcus Cunli!Ie has noted that they represented "an early example of the American joining habit," precursors of such present-day fraternal societies as the Elks and the Shriners. They a!Iorcled opportu111t1es for group activity, athletics, and friendly rivalry, fulfilling much the same functions as organized sports today. They were the focus of numerous and often elaborate gatherings as participants marched in parades, gave fancy dress balls and banquets, and performed drills for the entertainment of the public. By the time of the Civil "\!\Tar, many states had incorporated the volunteer companies into the state militia, at least technically, by giving them official designations, but the groups tended to function independently of the state, supplying their own uniforms, renting their own clubrooms, and paying the salaries of their drill 15

Colonel Ellsworth instructors. As this pattern suggests, the members tended to be drawn from a wealthy, welleducated level of society, young men who enjoyed dressing up in special uniforms and drinking toasts after a parade. Actual military proficiency was rare, but the organizations did attract some members who had a serious interest in the military arts. Among them was Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth. Born on April 11, 1837, in Malta, New York, Ellsworth was interested from childhood in a military career, but his family could not provide for the sort of education which would have prepared him for vVest Point. Instead, he had to be content with reading books on tactics and forming drill teams with his friends. As his mother later recalled: Very early in life he gave evidence of a military propensity and playing soldier or rather, officer, was one of his chief amusements. Always managing to command, he showed no wish or tendency to domineer, but seemed to take the lead so patronisingly that his playmates coincided without any apparent feeling of restraint.

At age fifteen, Ellsworth left home to work as a dry goods clerk and later as part of the construction crew employed in improving the channel at Hell Gate, New York. By the mid1850s Ellsworth had arrived in Chicago where it seemed that any enterprising young man could surely make his fortune. Indeed, he lost no time in establishing himself as the junior partner of a businessman named Arthur F. Devereux, and Gager's Chicago City Directory for 1856-57 lists him as "Ellsworth, E.E., patent agent." Before long Devereux introduced Ellsworth to a private militia company, the Cadets of the 1ational Guard, of which Devereux was a member. At the time, Chicago had at least eighteen of these volunteer military clubs, and since many nearby towns-including Rockford, Madison, Milwaukee, and Springfield-also boasted such organizations, it became customary for the various companies to entertain each other with banquets, dances, and drill exhibitions. Ellsworth participated in many of these activities and became acquainted with officers and members throughout Chicago and its environs. Among them was Brigadier General R. K. Swift, who asked him to give the Rockford City Grays 16

Elmer Ellsworth, c. 1858. "Ambitious ... of honorable distinction," he studied law in Chicago and Springfield in the years before the war. CHS, ICHi-10213.

instruction in drill. This marked the beginning of Ellsworth's career as a drillmaster, and he made a lasting impression on one local resident who remembered him as "A boyish figure, not exceeding five feet six inches in height" who sported "a blue fatigue cap, worn slightly tipping toward the right side, giving a jaunty and rakish expression to him." In early 1857 the patent business failed, leaving Ellsworth, barely twenty, bankrupt and deeply in debt. He settled his obligations, but only at great personal sacrifice. In his diary he described an incident in which his friends bought him a bowl of oyster stew-"the first food I touched in three days and nights." His poverty continued for several years, causing him to write, "I have nothing that usually passes current in the world except a sort of determination to work myself out of the mire one of these days." Part of that determination may be attributed to his desire to marry Carrie Spafford, whom he met in the summer of 1858 during his travels to Rockford. Anxious to secure his station in life, he entertained the idea of going to Mexico

Colonel Ellsworth

Carrie Spafford, daughter of a well-to-do banker, was a student at the Rockford Seminary at the time she met Ellsworth. CHS, ICHi-12532.

where he heard fortunes were being made, but nothing came of this. Instead, "Ambition ... bid me go where it would seem I am most likely to succeed"-and his work with the militia did seem to be one area in which he had a genuine talent. To placate his future father-in-law, he took a job in a law office. But in the meantime, he became increasingly involved in the local voluntary companies, mastering the major American manuals of arms by Winfield Scott and William J. Hardee. In October 1858 he received "a very flattering invitation" to instruct the Governor's Guard in Madison, Wisconsin, and spent the following three months in that community. According to Ellsworth's account, the Guard was a motley crew in which "Every man here has a handle to his name, honorables, generals, judges, colonels, etc., lying around perfectly loose." But the training proceeded, and on December 26 a Iadison paper reported, "They appear much improved in a military point." In addition to his work with the Guard, Ellsworth wrote that he was "giving ten fencing lessons every day." Ellsworth was reputed to

have been the best fencer in Chicago, having studied with a Frenchman, Dr. Charles DeVilliers, whom he had met the previous summer. DeVilliers had served in the Crimean War with a company of Zouaves, and deserves singular credit for introducing Ellsworth to the Zouave code and regalia with which his name would soon become closely attached. The Zouave system was derived from the fighting tactics of native Zouaoua tribesmen who supported the French army during its invasion of Algeria in 1830. Deeply impressed by the courage and superb physical conditioning of these warriors, the French commanders brought European soldiers into the Zouave battalions and eventually created three regiments consisting of more than 10,000 men. As DeVilliers told Ellsworth, the Zouaves wore loose-fitting uniforms which were not only highly colorful but allowed great freedom of movement. Fascinated by his friend's account, Ellsworth sent to France to obtain manuals explaining the Zouave drill. Just why Ellsworth was so intrigued with the Zouave system is not difficult to see. His diary and letters show that he was an idealistic young man, highly principled and self disciplined, both of which were essential elements of the Zouave code. As he wrote to his brother Charley in 1858, In four years I have seen every variety of life [and] in that time I have lived in experience twenty years. I know an endless number of young men whose only ambition is to be fast; who drink, smoke, chew tobacco, swear, talk scandal, defame their acquaintances behind their backs, tell lies, and regard their honor as of no consequence whatever .... At the age of twenty four or thirty, they awake to a sense of their miserable folly, and plod on through life regretting the opportunities thrown away in their youth.

Thus, Ellsworth must have been keenly aware of the opportunities drill instruction gave him to instill his values in the young men under his command. Though Ellsworth endorsed discipline and hard work, he himself had little interest in conventional employment. After several months of studying law and doing copy work, he wrote Carrie that he had been feeling "decidedly downhearted" because of the tedium of these assignments. On the other hand, he reported 17

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The Chicago Light Guard Band and Cadets of the 60th Regiment at Clark and Monroe streets, Chicago, 1859. Ellsworth (center), elected captain in April of that year, turned the company into one of the leading drill teams ir the country. CHS, ICHi-10215.

that "I received a letter from the Cadets informing me I had been elected Captain of the company." Ellsworth's diary for April 1859 provides a more complete account of the occasion: Was visited by Secy of the Cadets with letter notifying me of my election as Captain. Told him I did not wish to accept it as it would take too much time from my business and under any circumstances I could give them but one night each week and as they are at present in a most deplorable condition this might not suffice to build them up . . .. However I told him I would consider the matter &: consult my friends &: meet the company on Tuesday evening next for a final decision.

Ellsworth accepted the position, telling the Cadets that "if they wanted a company of soldiers in every sense of the word and were anxious to make that company a source of improvement morally as well as physically," he would help them "work hard and unceasingly to place the company in a position second to none in the U . S." He was unanimously elected, and renamed the unit the United States Zouave Cadets. 18

As Ellsworth began his work, the men discovered what his promise meant. He was a strict disciplinarian and permitted no smoking, drinking, or rowdiness of any kind. Some of the men left because of these rules, but many stayed. Among them were DeVilliers who served as the company's surgeon; James Clybourn, son of one of Chicago's first settlers; and George Harris Fergus, the son of a prominent local printer, who later became a member of the Chicago Historical Society. Soon the Cadets began to attract attention. In August 1859, the Chicago Gazette reported that they had given their first exhibition drill in Zouave uniforms, adding that "even their most sanguine friends were surprised at the wonderful precision, rapidity and difficulty of their drill." Such comments reaped many invitations for the Zouaves to perform at public functions, and in July Ellsworth wrote Carrie: "Well, the glorious Fourth has passed" with "one continual round of applause and ci1eering from the time we commenced drilling until we ceased." In August the Cadets performed for none

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Ellsworth sought to instill greater discipline in the local militia and required references of "character and standing" from applicants for membership. CHS.

Colonel Ellsworth

other than Colonel T. S. l\Iather, the Adjutant General of the state. Perhaps it was this occasion which led, in 1859, to Ellsworth's appointment as Assistant Adjutant General and Paymaster of Illinois-nominal posts which nonetheless required his occasional presence in Springfield. Then, in January 1860, the Cadets were appointed the Governor's Guard of Illinois. These honorary positions brought Ellsworth in contact with a number of high state officials including Governor Âˇw illiam H. Bissell and General John Cook, commandant of the Springfield Grays. It was probably Cook who introduced Ellsworth to Abraham Lincoln, who was at that time practicing law in the state capital and maneuvering for the Republican presidential nomination. The exact elate and manner o( Ellsworth's meeting Lincoln are not known, but the two men almost cenainly met in Springfield sometime in December 1859 or January l 860. In January I 860, Ellsworth wrote Carrie: "General Cook is very anxious that I should come to Springfield next spring and study with Abram [sic] Lincoln if satisfactory arrangements can be made." And again, on January 29th, he wrote: I don't know what I shall decide in reference to J\lister Lincoln's proposition, or rather, Mr. Cook's. J\'fr. Cook told me that J\lr. L- especially desired him lo leave no means untried to induce me to come to Springfield. I cannot but regard this as a very great compliment. I believe that the influence of Mr. L- would do me great service, I mean the influence of his early example. He earned his subsistence, while studying Jaw, by splitting rails, and it is said that at the age of twenty he could neither read nor write. So you perceive, Carrie, I have a greater advantage lhan he possessed, I can read.

Cook continued to convey Lincoln's interest, writing on March 7th that Lincoln was "very anxious that you should not give up the determination to make [Springfield] your home and his office your headquarters. He assures me no pains on his part shall be lacking to perfect [you] in the study of the Law-he has taken in you an interest I have never known him to take in any." Clearly Lincoln was anxious to pursue an association with this rising young figure who was beginning to make an impression in poli-

Cover for the "Zouave Cadet Quickstep," published by Root & Cady of Chicago, 1860. CHS, ICHi-16699.

tical circles throughout the state. As someone who himself had come from a humble background, Lincoln undoubtedly appreciated Ellsworth's achievements in turning an undisciplined band of civilians into one of the crack drill teams in the state. Ellsworth, for his part, recognized the potential of this prominent Springfield lawyer-someone who might very well become the next Republican nominee. Thus, sometime during March 1860, Ellsworth joined Lincoln's law firm. Legend has it that the arrangement ended after ten days when Ellsworth set down his law book and confessed to his employer, "Mr. Lincoln, I'll never make a lawyer." Indeed, Ellsworth had a compelling reason to return to Chicago and the Cadets. The previous September, the company had won a competition sponsored by the 1ational Agricultural Society, but since only one other militia outfit had entered the match, the victory was widely criticized by other drill teams throughout the country. Ellsworth responded by offering to place his company in competition with any other in the United States or Canada.

Colonel Ellsworth THE WONDERFUL PERFORMANCES OF THE CHICAGO ZOU.AVES.

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"A fellow with a red bag having sleeves to it" was one reporter's description of a typical Zouave soldier. This cartoon presents an exaggerated version of Zouave feats during the company's tour in 1860. CHS , ICHi-16253.

,vhen no contestants came forward, he decided to take the Cadets on a twenty-city tour so his men could prove that they had won the championship fairly. All who saw the Cadets drilling at their armory at State and Randolph were certain that they would acquit themselves well. Even so, the schedule for their tour was extremely demanding, including daily performances marked by ceremonial receptions, parades, and speeches with which the company was greeted everywhere. Fortunately, the cost of the tour was kept to a minimum since many railroads extended excursion rates and the Cadets were invited to stay with members of other volunteer companies in cities along the route. Those who were sons of well-to-do families or successful businessmen themselves paid their own way. The Zouaves left Chicago on July 2, 1860, and for the next forty-three clays dri1Ied in towns from Michigan to ew York and back to Illinois, drawing huge crowds along the way. Everywhere they received the acclaim of the city officials, the local militia, and especially an admiring public. In some communities they

attracted such large turnouts that they had to stage second drills to accommodate all the spectators. On August 4 they gave a performance on the lawn of the White House, where they were honored with a speech by President James Buchanan. But for Ellsworth, the crowning achievement must surely have been the Zouaves' appearance at ,,Vest Point, where they performed in front of the cream of the military establishment, including the two foremost experts on tactics, Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott and Maj. WiJliam J. Hardee, who praised their skills as "most wonderful." The Zouaves returned to Chicago on August 14th and received a gala welcome at the Wigwam followed by a midnight banquet. They were heroes. The influence of the tour was considerable. Hawkins' Zouaves, which became one of the first New York Zouave regiments to enlist at the start of the Civil War, had its origins in a military club that was founded July 23, 1860, as a result of the Cadets' visit. John Hay, writing after Ellsworth's death, recalled that "Hundreds of Zouave companies started up in his wake." Almost overnight, 21

Colonel Ellsworth there seemed to be an overwhelming demand for pictures of the Zouaves-including souvenir envelopes bearing Ellsworth's likeness-and untold numbers of parents named their babies after him. On this triumphant note Ellsworth ended his association with the Cadets. He was now free to turn his attention, and ambitions, elsewhere. Lincoln had by this time been nominated as the Republican presidential candidate, and considering the resounding success of Ellsworth's tour, it is not surprising that Lincoln would want to involve him in the campaign. On October 19th Ellsworth made the first of many speeches on Lincoln's behalf, and from then on he was a constant presence on the campaign trail. Of this experience he wrote to his faithful Carrie, whose father, nonetheless, continued to voice his concern about Ellsworth's future prospects: "The result of this winter will decide whether I am to be a Lawyer, Soldier, or Politician, or a good-fornothing." After the election, Lincoln put Ellsworth in charge of carrying out Allan Pinkerton's secm-i ty arrangements on the trip to \Vashington. The friendship between Ellsworth and the president continued to grow. It was to become, in Lincoln's words, "as intimate as the disparity of our ages, and my engrossing engagements, wou ld permit." Ellsworth also became an intimate of the Lincoln family, making friends with the Lincoln boys and frequently visiting the \ ,Vhite House. Nonetheless, Ellsworth's genuine affection for the Lincolns did not obscure his hopes to further his career by securing a place in the new administration. During his stay in Springfie ld Ellsworth had worked on a scheme for "Army Organization," and now he sought to further this program of military reform. By .January 1861 he had drafted a bill called "An Act for the Reorganization of the Militia of Illinois," through which he advocated a variety of changes designed to improve the deportment of the state troops. His experiences as a militia captain are evident in several provisions of this bill, one of which provided for a "State Elite Corps" consisting of outstanding candidates drawn from the ranks of the various companies to form a Governor's Guard. He also

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recommended that the troops be required, under the penalty of fine, to abstain from strong drink. Officers who failed to remain temperate would face the loss of their commissions. The bill was debated in the Illinois General Assembly in early 1861 and was ultimately out\'oted . Although there was much merit to the bill-indeed, many legislators recognized that the militia system, which had grown haphazardly in Illinois, was desperately in need of reform-the causes for the defeat may be found in the report which was read to the Illinois Senate on February 22, 1861, which acknowledged that "at this critical period of our national difficulties ... it has been thought more prudent to submit to the defects of the present system than to encounter the risk of the one proposed by the bill." In \Vashington Ellsworth joined a throng of office seekers. He had visions of instituting, with Lincoln's help, a new bureau of militia and soon began lobbying for its establishment with himself as head. Simon Cameron, the Secretary

Colonel Ellsworth

The Chicago Zouaves visited similar volunteer companies during their Eastern tour. This photograph, dated July 1860, shows Ellsworth with Colonel J. C. Pinckney (center) and other officers of the New York state militia. CHS, ICHi-13910.

of War, was ready to sign papers making Ellsworth a major-a requisite for the post. However, when Ellsworth realized the extent to which his friendship with the president had stirred resentment in some quarlers of the military, he decided to withdraw his request and settle for a lieutenancy. On April 15th, when Lincoln issued his call for troops in response to the fall of Fort Sumler, Ellsworth resigned his commission and rushed to New York to recruit a regiment from the city's volunteer firemen, naming the unit the New York Fire Zouaves. Actually, there were no less Lhan three other Zouave outfits in New York City during the first months of the war, including Duryee's Zouaves (5th New York), Hawkin's Zouaves (9th New York), and the National Zouaves (10th New York). In addiLion to these and other Zouave companies in the North, there were Southern Zouaves, such as the 7th Louisiana, and a company of Louisiana Tigers that wore a Zouave uniform, though these may well have owed their origin more to the state's French heritage than to Ellsworth's

success in popularizing the Zouave method. In a mere two weeks the Fire Zouaves were trained and outfitted, and on May 2 Ellsworth brought them to Washington. For the next nine days they were billeted throughout the city, where their bright red shirts and equally colorful maneuvers drew widespread attention. But all too soon the serious business of war intervened. The troops were stationed at a camp outside the capital where they awaited the ratification of Virginia's ordinance of secession. While the men kept busy playing ball and receiving visitors, Ellsworth, having received word that the Confederates were running supplies into the area, sought to blockade key roads and cut off the flow of provisions to Alexandria. Then, when Virginia's act of secession was ratified on May 23 the Union troops received their order to embark for Alexandria. The prospects were sobering. To his parents, Ellsworth wrote: "Whatever may happen, cherish the consolation that I was engaged in the performance of a sacred duty .... " 23

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Cover of "A Requiem in Memory of Ellsworth ," 1861. The detai ls of his death were printed and reprinted throughout the North during the early months of the war. CHS, ICHi-16700.

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Colonel Ellsworth And as he warned Carrie, l\[y regiment is ordered to cross the river & move on Alexandria within six hours. 'We may meet with a warm reception & my darling among so many careless fellows one is somewhat likely to be hit. If anything should happen-Darling just accept this assura11ce, the only thing I can leave youThe highest happiness I looked for on earth was a union with you .

Early the next morning Ellsworth and his men landed at Alexandria, only to find that the Confederates had evacuated the town just hours before. This may have given Ellsworth a false sense of security, for as he set off with a small escort to destroy the telegraph line, he gave in to a rash impulse. On coming to the corner of Pitt and King streets he saw, flying from the top of an inn called the Marshall House, a Confederate flag which he had noticed some weeks earlier from a window in the White House. Ellsworth and several companions rushed to the roof to remove the offending symbol, but as they came back downstairs, they were attacked by the proprietor, James W. Jackson, a fervid secessionist. Ellsworth was shot in the heart and died instantly. Jackson was killed by Corporal Francis Brownell, one of the party. Throughout the North, Ellsworth was immediately proclaimed a hero. His body was taken to the Navy Yard with the captured flag wrapped around his feet, and hundreds came to pay homage, including the president and his wife. It was Lincoln who offered the most poignant testimony of all when he wrote to Ellsworth's parents: Jn the untimely loss of your noble son, our affliction here, is scarcely less than your own. So much of promised usefulness to one's country, and of bright hopes for one's self and friends, have rarely been so suddenly darkened as in his fall. In size, in years, and in youthful appearance, a boy only, his power to command men, was surprisingly great. This power, combined with a fine intellect, and indomitable energy, and a taste altogether military, constituted in him, as seemed to me, the best natural talent, in that department, I ever knew.

J\Ieanwhile the details of Ellsworth's death were printed and reprinted; newspapers eulogized him; martial songs were written about him; and hundreds of young men rushed to join the Zouave regiments that bore the stamp

of his idealism. One Zouave regiment, the 44th, based its enlistment requirements on those of the Fire Zouaves and rallied around the name of "Ellsworth's Avengers." Some of these units, like the Chicago Zouaves, soon disbanded, but a number of the men who had been trained by Ellsworth's methods became officers who earned distinguished records in the Union army. The New York Fire Zouaves went on to fight in the first battle of Bull Run and other encounters until they were mustered out of service on June 2, 1862. Their battle cry: "Remember Ellsworth!"

Selected Sources The most important manuscript source of information on Elmer Ellsworth is the collection of his letters in the Illinois Stale Historical Library, Springfield . Other key materials include the copy of Ellsworth"s diary of 1859 at the Minnesota Historical Society; the "Memoranda of His Life, By His Mother" at the New York State Library; the recollections of Edward P. Bartlett at the Illinois State Historical Library; and the Ellsworth Papers at the Chicago Historical Society. NEWSPAPERS: Chicago Daily Journal, Chicago Tribune, Graphic News, New York Herald Tribune, New York Times Illustrated News, Railroad Gazette, Washington Chronicle. Cunliffe, Marcus. Soldiers and Civilians: The Martial Spirit in America, 1775-1865. Boston: Little, Brown, 1968.

Ellsworth, Elmer E. Manual of Arms for Light ilifantry . . . Arranged for the U.S. Zouave Cadets. Chicago, 1860. Gronert, Theodore G. "The First National Pastime in the Middle West." Indiana Magazine of History 29 (September 1933). Hay, John. "A Young Hero: Personal Reminiscences of Col. E. E. Ellsworth." McClure's Magazine, March 1896.

- - - . "A Young Hero." New Yo,Âˇh World, February 16, 1890.

Ingraham, Charles A. Elmer E. Ellsworth and the Zouaves of '61. Chicago: Chicago Histo1ical Society, 1925 .

Kredel, Fritz, and Frederick P. Todd. Soldiers of the American Anny. Chicago: Regnery, 1954. McAfee, Michael J. "Zouaves: The First and the Bravest." West Point Museum Bulletin, Number 4 (1979). Nicolay, J. C ., and John Hay. Abraham Lincoln: ,I History . New York: Century Co., 1890. Randall, Ruth Painter. Colonel Elmer Ellsworth. Boston: Little, Brown, 1960. Swain, Martha. "It was Fun to be a Soldier-Until the Shooting Started." American Heritage 7 (August 1956). Truesdell, Winifred P. Catalog Raisomu! of the Portraits of Elmer E. Ellsworth. Champlain, New York: The Print Connoisseur, 1927.

The fifth and most luxurious Tremont , completed in 1874. CHS, ICHi-00774 .

"Of the Class Denominated Princely": The Tremont House Hotel By Stephen M. Davis

Rich surroundings, sumptuous feasts, and delightful entertainment gave the Tremont its reputation as one of Chicago's finest hotels. o , CE ONE OF CHICAGo's oldest and most wellappointed hostelries, the Tremont House at Lake and Dearborn streets was known for its fine accommodations from 1833 until the turn of the century. Many famous Americans took temporary lodging at the Tremont-or, to be more specific, at one of the five structures which proudly bore that name. The first Tremont House (named for a hotel in Boston) was constructed in 1832 by Alanson Sweet, one of the community's first settlers. Situated on the northwest corner of Lake and Dearborn, it was a crude three-story wooden structure measuring twenty by thirty feet. Despite its modest size, it soon acquired a reputation as being the only first-class boardinghouse in town . Indeed, it was not uncommon for as many as two hundred guests to queue up in its small dining room and scramble for the table "as the large hand bell was vigorously rung, three times a day, on the corner." As one guest, a Dr. Charles V. Dyer, later recalled, it was "S5 a week for the best rooms ... and nearly all the men who afterwards became wealthy and distinguished in the city lived there." In 1836 the hotel was purchased by two brothers from New York, Ira and James Couch, who operated a tailor shop half a block east on Lake Street. The hotel continued to thrive until October 27, 1839, when a fire broke out in a nearby hardware store and claimed the Tremont and a number of adjacent shops. St ephen M . Davis is a free-lance writer living in Chicago. His int erest in the Tremont House began with a v isit to the So ciety's Lincoln Gallery which includes a diorama of Lincoln giving a speech outside the hotel.

Âˇw ithin a year the Couches reopened in a new building on the southeast corner of Dearborn and Lake. The structure, which fronted ninety feet on Dearborn, contained some 100 rooms, and featured a simple but elegant cornice adorned with four evenly-spaced pillars positioned along the roof line. Because of its close proximity to the business district, the Tremont continued to attract a growing clientele. As several early settlers recalled, "In those days the steamboats used to bring 200 or 300 persons every voyage," and a cupola on the roof served as a lookout for porters and runners who met the passengers with waiting wagons. Farmers driving their wheat wagons in from the southwest were frequent guests and, according to James Couch, "oftimes [we] were so crowded that not only all the beds, but every available space of floor room, would at night be occupied by travelers, who were glad enough to get even a pallet on the floor." But the hotel catered to Chicagoans as well since its dining room served other functions as "the combined lecture hall and ball room of the new city." Only the Lake House rivaled the Couch establishment for comfort and popularity. In 1849 the Tremont again fell victim to flames when arsonists set fire to the stables of two nearby hotels. Undaunted, the Couches took the $7,500 settlement which they received from their insurance company and invested an additional $68,000 to build a third, more stately Tremont on the old site and an adjacent lot which Ira Couch had purchased some months before. Opened on September 29, 1850, this new establishment, a 5Â˝-story structure designed by John M. Van Osdel, was destined 27

Tremont House

Artist's rendering of the first Tremont House (center}, a three-story wooden structure built in 1832 by Alanson Sweet. Said to be Chicago's only first-class boardinghouse, it was destroyed in an 1839 fire. CHS, ICHi-04304, gift of Mrs. Edwin 0. Gale.

to become the most celebrated of the five Tremonts . . Although skeptics condemned the scheme as "Couch's Folly," Tremont III was, nonetheless, the tallest brick building in Chicago and exemplified the beauty o[ the French Renaissance style. In her History of Chicago, Bessie Louise Pierce writes that the furnishings in this 260room Tremont House were reputed to have cost $30,000. Among them were mantles of Egyptian marble, rosewood and mahogany chairs, and silk-lined damask curtains, all selected with an eye toward pleasing the most discerning tastes. Mindful of the needs o[ business clients particularly, the Couches installed a lobby bulletin board for current telegraphic dispatches and even an annunciator and speaking tube in each room. Above all, the hotel was designed for

comfort and convenience, and included such amenities as transoms, hallway drinking fountains, and steam counters in the kitchen. The Tremont was one of the first establishments in Chicago to use gas lighting-and following the introduction of steam heat in 1855, ladies had full use of the dressing parlors year round. Thus it is not surprising that the Tremont soon became known as one o[ the finest hotels in America. Local boosters agreed. As one Chicago periodical, the Gem of the Prairie, opined in January 1851: "The Tremont House has precedence of all others. It is one o[ the chief ornaments of the city and reflects great credit upon its proprietor, Mr. Ira Couch." The article went on to say that "its internal arrangements, including furniture and decorations, are all in the highest style o[ art, and of the

Tremont House class denominated princely." Indeed, "there is, perhaps, no hotel in the Union superior to it in any respect." The Tremont House was much favored by travelers because it was within walking distance of the city's main railroad terminal and had a Michigan Central Railroad ticket office on theÂˇ ground floor. For their part, local residents looked upon the Tremont as a center of culture and entertainment. Among other things, it hosted the celebrated Bachelors' Assembly Ball, where the most eligible young men entertained the families of prospective brides. Another prestigious entourage, the "Old Settlers," held a ball at the Tremont House on January 21, 1852, attended by none other than two early mayors, John Wentworth and William Ogden, as well as John Kinzie, the son of Chicago's first permanent Anglo settler. The Chamber of Commerce also met in the Tremont's public rooms, as did the Chicago Bar Association, which held its first annual dinner there in January 1863. In October 1850 the Tremont opened a new music hall, measuring one hundred by forty feet in size and lit by forty-eight burners mounted in massive chandeliers. The first performance held there featured a symphony orchestra conducted by Julius Dyhrenfurth and twentytwo musicians of the newly organized Chicago Philharmonic Society. In April 1853 the 12year-old operatic soloist Adelina Patti came to the Tremont to sing "bravura airs," which was said to have occasioned the first use of numbered tickets and ushers in Chicago. Two years later Patti returned for another engagement, this time accompanied by Ole Bull, the noted Norwegian violinist. Other performers-including "The Swedish ightingale," Jenny Lind, Catherine Hayes, and Emma G. Bostwickcame and went, adding luster to the Tremont and Chicago as well. And in theater, Tremont Hall was, for a time, a major destination for several guest performers, including two child actresses, Kate and Ellen Bateman, who delighted Chicagoans with their performances in costume scenes from Macbeth, Richard III, and The Merchant of Venice, presented in November 1850. But the locus of the city's theatrical life soon shifted to the new Rice's Theater which opened in 1851.

Âˇwith the enterprise thus established, Ira Couch determined to retire from the business, leasing the Tremont and selling its furnishings to DaYicl A. and George "\V. Gage of Boston for 3,000. Thereafter, Couch embarked on extensive travels to Cuba and other countries until he contracted a fever and died at the age of fifty-one.* Meanwhile James Couch stayed on to help manage the Tremont, and the Gages carried on the high standards of their predecessors. This task was not without its difficulties, since Chicago was still a frontier community in which rough-hewn characters abounded. In 1900, an interesting recollection appeared in the Chicago Daily News which told of a guest who, owing more than $200, fled the Tremont without paying, leaving a trunk behind in his room. The trunk contained specimens of Colorado ore which the owner had believed to be worthless, but David Gage sent the property out for appraisal and found that the minerals were worth more than S300. Needless to say, Gage paid the assayer and appropriated the balance. Such incidents were perhaps fairly common since the Tremont was located near the thriving gambling district centering on Randolph Street between Clark and State. At one point, a notorious gambler and desperado, "Cap" Hyman, walked into the Tremont House and promptly took all the occupants hostage. Flashing his ever-present revolver-which he apparently brandished with little provocation even though he often missed his intended target-Hyman succeeded in driving all the passers-by off the street. It was not umil a city detective with a reputation for being a sharpshooter arrived that Hyman surrendered. Yet even the most law-abiding Chicagoans needed some respite from their lofty and refined pursuits. As Dr. Dyer observed, an assemblage of prominent citizens would regularly congregate in the Tremont barroom, and "pass the evening imbibing moderately of wine and whisky, and relating stories." Among them were Dr. William B. Egan, a real estate dealer; David Stewart, a one-time U.S. congressman and lawyer; Dan Mcllroy, the state's attorney in the â€˘The east-west passageway just south: of the hotel, still existent today at 162 N ., was named in Couch's memory.

Tremont House

ADVERTISER'S DIRECTORY.

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spacious llotel, is the most convenient to the Steam ~Boat Landings of any in the city. Tho offices of the Eastern,~ ~West~rn, North.ern and ~~u~hern Stages, _both of the old and~ ~new bnes, are directly adJOllllng and opposite. Passengers andm Âˇ :lbaggage carried to and from the boats free of charge. THIS

~~-----~------~--------------------~~~------Advert isement for the second Tremont from the Norris directory of Chicago for 1846-47. With new settlers arriving in the city daily, the hotel 's 100 rooms were seldom unoccupied. CHS, ICHi-00767.

Tremont House

George Gage who, with his brother David, came to Chicago from Boston in 1853 to lease the Tremont from the Couches. CHS, ICHi-10358, photograph by Copelin & Son, gift of Lucy Duncan Hall.

mid-1840s; Jim Carney, brewery and farm owner; Captain Jim Smith, a lumber merchant and fireman; Andrew Harris and Pat Ballingal, leading lawyers; and Lisle Smith, a distinguished Whig who offered a eulogy at the funeral of Henry Clay. Another management change occun-ed in 1855, when John Burroughs Drake entered into a partnership with the Gages. Drake was probably the most distinctive of the hotel's operators. A political, business, and social gadfly of the era, he would remain with the Tremont for eighteen years, assuming total ownership in 1868. A part owner of the Drake-Farwell block on Wabash Avenue and later a city fire commissioner, Drake went on to become a director of the Edison Electric Light Company and an early advocate of electric lighting.

It was during his tenure that the Tremont House hosted its two most distinguished guests on several successive evenings in 1858. Here, from a balcony overlooking Lake Street, both Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas began their campaigns for the U .S. Senate. On the evening of July 9 Douglas spoke for an hour and a half and, as Carl Sandburg later wrote, "rockets and red fire lit the street," while the crowds fought "hack drivers who had tried to plow through the mass of people and deliver guests at the Tremont House." The next day Lincoln spoke to a smaller and more subdued audience. Douglas, it should be noted, made regular stops at the Tremont House whenever he was in town, and in 1861 he died there. Lincoln, too, was an occasional guest, and on November 23, 1860, he and his vice-presidential running mate, Hannibal Hamlin, held a reception at the Tremont in the wake of Lincoln's election as President. The event was a gala one, as several months before, after Lincoln had won the nomination, the cannon on top of the Tremont House took up the salute and repeated it "one hundred times, while Chicago [turned] itself upside clown with rapture." l\Ieanwhile the Tremont had survived the jolts of a massive urban renewal project: an effort to elevate downtown buildings by seven feet to end, once and for all, the poor drainage that rendered the streets muddy and congested throughout much of the year. The management of the hotel was more than willing to oblige, for it was said that guests made a practice of sitting on the front steps and shooting the ducks that swooped down on the gully that developed in certain seasons on nearby State Street. George Mortimer Pullman, who was contracted to carry out the elevation, assured the owners that "I can raise your hotel without breaking a single pane of glass or stopping your business for a day." In 1861, Pullman proceeded. Crowds milled about in wide-eyed wonder as he installed 5,000 jackscrews, turned by 1,200 men evenly positioned around the building. Business did indeed go on unabated during the seven weeks that it took to complete the job. The project cost about $45,000 and was hailed as a remarkable achievement, for it was the first 31

Tremont House

John Burroughs Drake, c. 1855. A partner and subsequent owner of the Tremont, he introduced its sumptuous game dinners. CHS, ICHi-16347, gift of Helen Drake.

Presidential hopeful Stephen A. Douglas delivered several speeches at the Tremont, and in 1861 he died there. CHS, ICHi-10097, detail of photograph by Case and Getchell.

brick building in Chicago which was raised to conform to the new city standards. In conjunction with this singular undertaking, the management spent $30,000 to remodel the building. Among other things, the owners installed elevators, some of the first to appear in Chicago. Soon thereafter David Gage entered into a partnership with the Sherman House and sold his share in the Tremont in 1863. His brother George continued as co-manager with Drake until 1868 when he, too, severed his associations. Thus Drake came to preside solely over an establishment that was, by this time, becorr.ing a favored haven for big-time politicos who made it their headquarters whenever a convention was held in Chicago. The Republican party was especially fond of the Tremont House, booking rooms for its National Committee during the election of 1864 and on various other occasions. Military figures, including President Ulysses S. Grant, were also fond of gathering at an establishment so closely associated with Lincoln and the early years of his political career. Under Drake's management, the Tremont became known far and wide for its annual Thanksgiving Day game dinner, first held on September 7, 1858. The menu included dozens of dishes, ranging from blackbird, mountain sheep, quail, and pheasant to venison, canvasback cluck, prairie chicken, wild pigeon, par-

triclge, "and even now and again, buffalo hump or a bear steak." Invitations to this event were much prized, especially among younger men who sought this assurance that they had been accepted into the business community. To be sure, elaborate meals were a Drake hallmark, and would continue throughout his career. Men of renown sat down to these grand arrangements and became Drake's personal friends. Writing in 1917, Hobart C. Chatfield-Taylor recalled an occasion in which "our most established citizens," garbed "in best bib and tucker ... partook of such obsolete viands as antelope steak and roast buffalo." Presidents Hayes and Garfield and senators Roscoe Conkling and James G. Blaine were some of the dignitaries who were known to attend. Among these many officeholders, one nonpolitical guest, George Fnmcis Train, deserves special mention. A well-known author and world traveler from New York City, Train predicted that Chicago was about to experience a great disaster. And on October 9, 1871, the Tremont House shared in that disaster. By 3 A.l\L, the city was engulfed by the Great Chicago Fire, and, since the elevators were out of order, guests-including New York politician Alexander Frear-had to escape by the stairs or, if all else failed, leap over the bannisters. Though Ira Couch had believed that his building was practically fireproof, the conflagration

Tremont H ouse

At the time of its construction in 1850, the third Tremont , designed by John M. Van Osdel, was Chicago's . tallest brick build ing. Hallway drinking founta ins. speaking tubes, and steam heat made it one of the most modern . CHS, ICHi-00771 , photographed by John Garbutt , gift of Walter S. Brewster.

Tremont House reduced it to a pile of bricks. Even as the Chicago Fire raged around him, Drake salvaged his money and silver and hurried home from the ruined Tremont. But at Congress Street he passed the ~Iichigan Avenue Hotel, miraculously spared from the fire at that point. Seeking out the proprietor, he made a dramatic and dubious proposition-to purchase the lease and furniture for Sl,000 down. The astonished owner, delighted to get any offer he could for what would surely perish in a few hours, readily agreed. Papers were hastily drawn up before witnesses, and after the mighty fire had run its course, the 1'Iichigan A\'enue Hotel was among the few downtown buildings left unscathed. Drake immediately moved in, renamed it the Tremont, and kept it as a temporary quarters until the fifth and last Tremont House opened for business. The fifth Tremont House was built not by Drake, but with funds from the Couch estate. The majestic structure which finally opened under James Couch on February 16, 1874, more than lived up to the standards of the pre-Fire establishment. Fronting 181 feet on Dearborn and 160 feet on Lake, it was six stories in height, the second of which comprised the main floor of the hotel. The exterior was executed in the French Renaissance style; inside its 260 rooms encompassed some 50,000 square feet. J. M. Van Osdel again served as the arch itect, and the total cost of construction was nearly 5750,000. According to the Chicago Tribune report of February 2, 1874, the structure featured an Amherst sandstone facade laced with pilasters and highly ornamental cornices, rising to a six-domed mansard roof with fireproof dormer windows. The domes, two of which topped central and flank pavilions on each of three street fronts, provided a source of light for an interior rotunda. The main entrance on Dearborn Street was marked by an arched canopy supported by a four-column portico, while the ladies' entrance, on Lake Street, boasted a number of elaborate carvings. Inside, the vestibules, not to mention the grand stairway, halls, rotunda, and bedroom furniture, were executed in black walnut. As the Tribune noted, the doors and finish of the vestibules were "in the highest style of the joiner's art [and have] ex34

traordinary beauty in design and execution." , \'alls and ceilings were of stucco. The main dining facilities matched the spirit of the Tremont tradition. ,vith twenty-foot ceilings, the dining room occupied much of the second floor, measuring sixty-four by one hundred feet bet ween the Lake Street facade and the kitchen , which was located in the southeast corner of the second floor. "This room is lighted on three sides," the Tribune continued, "and is noted for the elegance of its finish of ornamental stucco-work" as well as its elaborate carpentry. Immediately to the west was the ladies' dining area, smaller but similarly fashioned inside, adjoined by three spacious dressing parlors connected by sliding, cut-glass doors. To complete the finery, there were Brussels carpets, refrigerators, bathtubs, and water closets in all rooms. As a contributor to the Tribune noted in the same February 2 issue, James Couch "has spared no pains in the construction," adding "It was no small task to build up such a hotel, and the inside is just as perfect as it can be made." In reviewing the grand opening two weeks later, the Tribune reported that the Tremont House "has lost none of the prestige so long attached to it as a hostelry of superior merit." By noon on February 16, several hundred names had already been inscribed upon its registry, while thousands more crowded inside to gawk at the luxurious appointments. Prominent businessmen and others "came in to dinner and gave a conscientious approval to the cookery (possibly including chef Wilhelm Thomann's famous tomato soup, which everyone wanted the recipe for)." A new hotelier, Jewett vVilcox, now became a lessee and operator of the Tremont House, where she remained for the next five years. During that time, the great traditions of the hotel went on unflagged, and the Tremont House immodestly dubbed itself the "Palace Hotel of America." But by now, the Tremont was on the verge of forgoing its premier position to several other hotels, including the Grand Pacific and the Palmer House, both of which were constructed on a lavish scale in the years after the Fire. Although it was no longer the unrivaled hostelry that it had been in the past, the

T remont H ouse

Detail from a trade card advertising the fifth Tremont House, Lake and Dearborn streets, c. 1874. The architect was John M. Van Osdel , who dazzled Chicagoans with this French Renaissance-style facade . CHS , ICHi-16397.

James Couch who , together with his brother Ira, guided the Tremont through its major reconstructions. CHS, ICHi-I6344, photograph by Alfred Brisbois. John A. Rice, who operated the hotel from 1879 to 1888, earned a reputation for having an "irascible temper" when dealing with obstreperous guests . CHS, ICHi16345, photograph by C.D. Mosher.

Tremont House Tremont House continued to attract notable visitors in the J 870s. Theater people still regarded it as a favorite gathering place. Charlotte Cushman, Edwin Booth, and John McCullough reserved rooms there during their travels through the city. Local groups continued to meet in its halls, including the members of the Chicago Historical Society who joined at the Tremont club room in 1874 to discuss rebuilding the home they had lost in the Great Fire. In January 1879, the proprietorship of the Tremont passed to John Asaph Rice, a 49-yearold businessman from Massachusetts who operated the hotel until his death in 1888, whereupon it was managed for another two years by his widow Margaret. Margaret Rice was responsible for a number of innovations, including the use of tubes to pipe gas into oil-lamp elevators. It was said that she proposed the idea of running bell wires through a tube so that elevators could be signaled. There is no evidence that the quality of accommodations at the Tremont was compromised during the Rice tenure, but even the Rices were aware that the Tremont no longer enjoyed the same stature for which it had once been noted. Rice was a temperamental man. According to the Chicago Daily News, this man of "irascible temper" was once completing a twenty-hour stretch of duty during a very busy period when a friend turned to him and remarked, "John, you're the evenest-tempered man I ever knew . . . You are always ugly." The Daily News went on to describe another incident in which Rice encountered a burly, belligerent man kicking in a door. When Rice interceded and lodged protestations (which fell on deaf ears) he forced the man down the stairs and into the street. After a few minutes, the stranger reappeared with a bowie knife, at which Âˇ point Rice notified the police. The man was later released, the bruises he had suffered at the proprietor's hands being considered a sufficient punishment. Nevertheless the theater and entertainment people continued to patronize the place during the l 880s and 1890s. In his book Giants Gone: Men Who Made Chicago, Ernest Poole cited an old journalist who said, "The Tremont House was a great place for North Siders to 36

stop in for snifters on their way home. Most of the actors gathered there." During the 1890s, several changes of ownership contributed to the decline of the hotel. For a brief time it was owned by William J. Edens, a former Palmer House barber who was credited with creating that establishment's famous barbershop with its floor of inlaid silver dollars. However, neither Edens nor his successors were willing or able to make the kind of renovations that would keep the hotel in step with its larger, more palacial competitors. So it was that by the turn of the century, its fine reputation in hotel circles had all but vanished. In 1902 the Tremont House was sold again, this time to the Medill School of Journalism of Northwestern University which adapted the structure for classroom use. The building was demolished in March 1931, and the only reminder is the sign for the Tremont Auto Park Garage which now occupies the old site. From its humble boardinghouse beginnings to the days of rich surroundings, sumptuous feasts, and delightful entertainment, the Tremont certainly earned its "princely" reputation. During its seventy years in business, the Tremont House gave Chicago some of its grandest times. Selected Sources Chicago Daily Journal, Chicago Daily News, Chicago Tribune, and clippings in the Chicago Historical Society reference files. Andreas, Alfred T. History of Chicago. 3 vols. Chicago: R .R. Donnelley and Sons, Inc., 1884-86. Chatfield-Taylor, Hobart C. Chicago. Boston: Houghton Miffiin Co., 1917. Dedmon, Emmett. Fabulous Chicago. New York: Random House, 1953. Gale, Edwin Oscar. Reminiscences of Early Chicago and Vicinity. Chicago: F. H. Revell Co., 1902. Gilbert, Paul Thomas and Charles Lee Bryson. Chicago and Its Makers. Chicago: F. Mendelsohn, 1929. Kogan, Herman and Robert Cromie. The Great Fire: Chicago, 1871. New York: Putnam , 1971. Lewis, Lloyd and Henry Justin Smith. Chicago: The History of Its Reputation. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1929. Pierce, Bessie Louise. A History of Chicago. 3 vols. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1937-57. Poole, Ernest. Giants Gone: Men Who Made Chicago. New York: Whittelsey House, McGraw Hill, 1943. Sandburg, Carl. Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1954. Tallmadge, Thomas E. Architecture in Old Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1941. NEWSPAPERS:

Barry Byrne and John Lloyd Wright: Architecture and Design By Ann Van Zanten

drawn from the collections of the Chicago Historical Society, will be on view in the Philip K. Wrigley Special Exhibition Gallery from June 3 through October 15, 1982. Based on drawings and photographs of some 55 buildings and projects as well as furniture designed by Byrne, toys by Wright, and memorabilia o( both men's careers, it has been made possible by two generous gifts to the Architectural Collection of the Society. The Barry Byrne Collection, the gift of his widow Annette Cremin Byrne, contains more than 3,400 drawings representing 140 projects. The John Lloyd Wright Collection, the gift of his daughter, Elizabeth Wright Ingraham, his late wife and son, and their families, contains more than 2,000 drawings and many prints and photographs representing more than 95 projects. These collections are outstanding records of two directions taken by architects who worked for Frank Lloyd Wright during the Oak Park and Chicago years of his career. Although the Prairie style was the dominant mode of design in the early work of most architects who trained with Frank Lloyd Wright, those who pursued independent careers generally developed their own styles. Barry Byrne and John Lloyd Wright both began their careers by designing Prairie style buildings: Byrne, by executing a series of houses in the Midwest during the 1910s, and Wright, by doing a house and a hotel in Los Angeles which were closely based on the work of his

THIS EXHIBITION,

Ann Van Zanten, Project Director of the Holabird and Root Inventory, has recently assumed the curatorship of the Society's Architectural Collection. Over the past year, she has also joined Sally Kitt Chappell, Professor of Art History at DePaul University, Chicago, in co-curating the exhibition described above. Their essays on the two architects appear in the handsomely illustrated catalog, Barry Byrne and John Lloyd Wright: Architecture and Design, published by the Society this June.

father. But by the 1920s, both men became absorbed in problems that brought them to new stylistic solutions. Because Byrne was a committed Catholic who advocated liturgical reform, he became involved in church design and produced a number of innovative works between 1922, when he designed St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Chicago, and his retirement in 1959. In each of his churches, he sought to create a single, unbroken sanctuary. As Byrne progressively simplified the forms of his churches over the years, he achieved a modern style that ,vas based on both the Prairie style and European precedents, but which was ultimately unique to his own work. John Lloyd Wright devoted most of his career to the design of single-family suburban houses, first in Long Beach, Indiana, and later in the area around San Diego, California. Concerned with both the principles of organic unity expounded by his father and innovative means of construction, he produced widely varied houses which were carefully tailored to their sites, had strikingly open interiors, and often incorporated unusual materials. Wright's parallel career as a toy designer allowed him to experiment with standardized and repetitive forms in his toy construction block sets. The works of these two men suggest something of the wealth of architectural ideas which germinated in the studio of Frank Lloyd Wright and contributed to the spread of modern architectural ideals in America. They also show how two individual artistic talents developed along their own paths from a common beginning. The exhibition is accompanied by a wellillustrated catalog which also serves as an introductory guide to the Byrne and Wright holdings. The Society is grateful to the Graham Foundation for Advanced Study in the Fine Arts for supporting its publication. 37

Byrne/ Wright

Clockwise: Preliminary sketch for a domed church , 1927. Byrne received many commissions for church es and church schools. CHS. Barry and Annette Cremin Byrne , in 1925. Annette Crem in Byrne. Elevation drawing of the

J. B. Franke house, ,

I -

I L __________ ;: -

Fort Wayne , Indiana, 1915. One of Byrne 's first major commissions , it was designed in partnership with Walter Burley Griffin. CHS .

Byrne / Wright

--.

Wright 's preliminary sketch for the B. W. Wright house, 1915, built on the edge of a ravine in La Jolla, California, shows his primary concern for adapting a building to the topography of its site. CHS .

LINCIJLN LIJCi5 LCCi CCNSTRUCTICJN

John Lloyd Wright at Long Beach , Indiana, c. 1930. Wright designed numerous buildings in this lakeside community. CHS.

From 1917 to 1923 Wright designed a number of building block sets. Although he sold his patent for Lincoln Logs, they are still produced ahd continue to be popular. Elizabeth Wright Ingraham.

Chicago policemen lining up for inspection in 1904 display clubs as their official weapons . As an 1885 history of the New York police department noted, " clubs are more trustworthy than leaden balls." CHS , photograph by C. R. Clark.

The Arming of the Chicago Police in the Nineteenth Century By Richard C. Marohn, M.D.

As in other American cities) the arming of the Chicago police took place informally rather than as the result of official local or national policy.

use their weapons, and in many instances the very fact that they carry weapons, remains a matter of controversy not only in Chicago but throughout the country. With great frequency, citizens' groups protest how a particular policeman used his revolver while police departments emphasize the need of their officers to defend themselves and other cit izens against gun-carrying criminals. The use of pistols by the Chicago police has been controversial from the beginning. What is fascinating, however, is that the arming of the police seems to have occurred gradually, informally, and without official initiative or directive. One is astonished to find, for example, that despite the extensive use of pistols by both sides in the Haymarket Riot of 1886, the Chicago police department had no official policy which required, permitted, or forbade its men to carry revolvers. To account for the fact that the police armed themselves gradually and informally, one must look into the conditions existing in post-Civil "\Var America. During the Civil War anti-draft riots, New York had seen mobs of as many as 50,000 people looting and pillaging the city until federal troops were brought in from Gettysburg to quell the riots. In Chicago, during the same period, gamblers and criminals shot at each other with such frequency that Randolph Street west of State Street became known as "Hair Trigger Block." Some feared HOW THE POLICE

Dr. Richard C. Marohn, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst , is director of Adolescent Services at the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute, Chicago, where he specializes in research on juvenile delinquency and violent behavior.

that the criminal element would join forces with the 8,000 Confederate soldiers held prisoner in Camp Douglas just south of Chicago. The night before the November 1864 election, federal agents arrested "Confederate spies" because of an alleged plot to free these prisoners, take over Chicago, and stuff the ballot boxes for pro-Southern candidates. When Chicago voters went to the polls the next day they did so under the protection of federal troops. But the Civil War had another effect as well-it familiarized many American males with firearms that they brought home after the war. l\Ioreover, some of the militia units which had been organized along professional or ethnic lines continued to meet after 1865. This was the case with several groups in Chicago. Depressed economic conditions in the wake of the Panic of 1873 fostered social and political unrest in many cities and combined with a rising crime rate to evoke fears of mob violence and property damage among the established classes. It was against this background that the informal arming of the police took place in American cities. As S. H. Palmer points out in "Cops and Guns: Arming the American Police," it did not result from a blueprint being imposed by a central government. l\Ioreover, no one at the time gave much thought to this resort to arms. Why the police came to carry guns may be explained by three general factors: (I) occasionally severe rioting, (2) the frequency and nature of crime, and (3) deep-lying social and economic trends in urban American society. [History Today , June 1978]

Police departments had been ,officially established in Boston in 1838, in New York in 41

Chicago Police l 845, and in Chicago in I 855. The use of guns by Boston police developed out of the Civil War and the Draft Riots of 1863; however, Boston police were not officially armed until 1884, when the city council voted that each man be provided with a .38 caliber revolver. Similarly, prior to the Civil War, New York police were armed only with batons and the state militia was called in to quell severe disturbances. This changed with the New York Draft Riots of 1863 when an increasing number of policemen began to carry their own firearms. In 1879, the New York Police Board recognized this situation by publishing rules regarding the use of pistols by its men (New York Times, 1879). Typically, Denis O'Hara, a New York policeman of the 2nd Precinct, armed himself in 1880 with a .38 caliber Colt double action model of 1877. However, an 1885 history of the New York police department by A. E . Costello mentions nothing about use of guns by the police, and although there were some 160 advertisements in the book promoting everything from pianos to beer, there were none for firearms or ammunition. In describing the Draft Riots of July 1863, the author indicated that "in close contact with a mob there is not any weapon so effective as the club." And in talking about the July 1871 Orange Society Riots, he stated that "clubs are more trustworthy than leaden balls." The New York City Police functioned as a force with unauthorized arms until 1897 when police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt standardized their weapons to Colt .32s and trained them in pistol shooting. It is not clear whether the failure to mention the use of revolvers by police authorities was a deliberate attempt to conceal the arming of the police or simply a consequence of the fact that the use of arms was common knowledge. For example, a history of the Providence, Rhode Island, police department published in 1889 made no mention of the use of guns by any policeman, though it is clear that a number of them had been presented with weapons by the Colt family. Yet, in other cities-Atlanta and Washington, D.C., in 1883, and Kansas City, Missouri, in 1886-Colt double-action revolvers were purchased officially by the police departments and inscribed as the ir property.

The use of revolvers by lawmen in the "\,Vest during the 1870s and 1880s is well established as being more than legendary. According to John J. Flinn , author of the History of the Chicago Police (1887), "Long before Cb icago was a town there were regularly elected constables to act as village guardians." Between its incorporation in 1837 and 1855, Chicago relied on a night watch of a handful of constables to keep "track of loafers" and setlle "riots and disturbances" (as their mission was described in the Daily American of April 11, 1839). The occasion for change was a number of se,Âˇere disturbances, the first in 1854, when Senator Stephen A. Douglas addressed a Chicago crowd already hostile because of speeches he had given in Philadelphia attacking Know-Nothing anti-foreign sentiment and the free soil movement, two issues which had become intertwined. According to John Flinn, although Mayor Isaac Milliken had at hand: Marshall Darius Knight and Luther 1 ichols, captain of the watch, with almost the entire regular constabulary, and a large number of specials sworn in for the occasion ... their presence was next to useless, for the constables were careful not to offend th eir fellow citizens, nor to interfere with them in the interest of peace when the question at issue happened to be a political one.

The mobbing of Douglas raised the questions, ""\Vhat was there to check a riot? Upon what protection could peacable citizens depend? The police force was unworthy of consideration." [Flinn, p. 69] The election a mayor of Dr. Levi Day Boone, a member of the Know-Nothing Native American party sworn to enforce temperance laws against a large foreign-born population, suggested the likelihood of further troubles and led the new council to pass ordinances which "provided for the creation of a police department and a force of eighty or ninety men ." The first police chief was Cyrus P. Bradley, who had served as a fire marshal and later as an organizer of the Firemen's Benevolent Association, and as sheriff. One of his first moves was to put the newly organized police force on continuous-as opposed to merely nighttime-duty. But if the city council had

Chicago Police

Officers at the Deering Street Police Station appear to be unarmed in this 1872 photograph. In many cities the informal arming of the police took place in response to rising social and political unrest. CHS, ICHi-03565.

hoped that the act of organizing a substantial police force would act as a deterrent to violence, it was soon proved wrong. The Lager Riots, in which an enraged-mostly Germanborn-segment of the city's population showed its opposition to Mayor Boone's temperance policies, were marked by an exchange of fire and at least one death. As described by Flinn: Cries of "Shoot the police," "Pick out the stars," rose from the mob, accompanied by the cracking of guns and pistols. The police replied without waiting for orders, and for several minutes there was a hot engagement in the vicinity of the Sherman House. A German, whose name is lost, levelled a double-barreled shot gun at Officer Hunt and blew off his left arm. Sheriff Andrews, who had joined the police, with a posse, saw this, and ordered a young man named Frazer, standing by his side, to return the fire. He did so, shooting the German dead. A large number were wounded on both sides, and several mysterious funerals occurred on the North Side within the next few days, which

convinced the authorities that a number of the rioters had been fatally wounded. There is positive knowledge, however, of only one death, the man killed by Frazer. [Flinn, p. 78]

Although it is not clear from this account whether Frazer was a policeman or a member of the sheriff's posse, it appears that some of the police at least were participants in the "hot engagement." In any case there is evidence that by 1860 individual Chicago policemen were carrying percussion revolvers in the form of several specimens of the Colt army revolver manufactured that year and inscribed with the names of Chicago policemen. Summarizing the principal riots that occurred in Chicago between the 1855 Lager Beer Riot described above and the Haymarket Affair of 1886, Mark Haller includes the election riots of 1857, the bread riot of 1873; the Bohemian Lumbershovers' riot of 1876, the railroad strike 43

Chicago Police riots of l 877, and the streetcar and McCormick rioLs of 1885. Haller goes on to poinL out thaL: [Flinn's] serious treatment of group violence illustrates two important aspects of urban life during the period . The first is the degree to which many citizens perceived the city to be threatened by these uprisings-they felt besieged in their own city. The second is the depth of the cultural and class tensions, continually festering, which periodically erupted into violence. The fear of rioting was a major factor leading to the creation of a police department; and the continuing reality of group violence shaped much of the activity of the police as well as public attitudes toward them. [Flinn, History of the Chicago Police, 1973, p. vii]

Thus Lhe very formation of the city's police force, as well as its informal arming, reAected a state of disorder and the citizens' fearful reaction to it. During the depression years of the 1870s violence escalated and so did the reaction of the authorities to it. In clashes between strikers and police in 1876, police fired over the strikers' heads. In July 1877, when the turbulence set off by the spread of ;--ailroad strikes reached Chicago, police broke up a meeting of the Workingmen's Party of the United States (WPUS) by firing over the heads of the crowd. On this occasion, the Chicago Tribune noted that "The police are gradually beginning to shoot with lead in front of their powder and shoot lower . . . . " The stakes were getting higher. The Great Upheaval of 1877, as the rioting that broke out around the railroad strike came to be known in Chicago, alarmed the establishment even further and escalated the arming of the police force. By the time of the Haymarket Affair the police were both well armed and familiar with the use of their weapons. Nevertheless this situat ion was still not officially acknowledged, approved, or mandated. One of the most widely known encounters involving armed police in Chicago, the Haymarket Affair, erupted on May 4, 1886. The prec1p1tating events included the growing national agitation for an eight-hour working day which had led to the organization of the first May Day parade held on May J, 1886. In Chicago some 80,000 workers had marched in the parade, evok ing much anger in Chicago's industrial and business community, which

feared what it saw as the growing power of socialists and anarchisLs both in Chicago and elsewhere. On l\Iay 3, confrontaLions at the l\IcCormick Reaper plant between sLrikers and strikebreakers precipitated police intervention and violence. vVhen a workers' protest meeting was called for Tuesday evening, May 4, in a street adjacent Lo Haymarket Square, Mayor Carter Harrison granted a permit for the meeting and attended it himseJf, hoping Lo avert clashes. It was afler he left, around 10 p.m., that the trouble Lhat he had hoped to prevent erupted. Although Harrison had gone to the Desplaines Street Station to tell Lhe commanders to send home the 176 policemen specially assembled there, Lhe police insLeacl proceeded to Haymarket to disperse the meeting. By this time only about 200 people were left, but then, according to the commanding officer, John Bonfield, there was an explosion: The explosion was caused by a dynamite bomb which was thrown into our ranks from the east sidewalk, and fell in the second division and near the dividing line between the companies of Lieuts. Stanton and Bowler. For an instant the entire command of the above named officers, with many of the first and third divisions, was thrown to the ground. Alas many never to rise again. The men recovered, instantly, and returned the fire of the mob. Lieuts. Steele and Quinn charged the mob on the street, while the company of Lieut. Hubbard with a few uninjured members of the second division swept both sidewalks with a hot and telling fire, and in a few minutes the Anarchies [sic] were flying in every direction. I then gave the order to cease firing, fearing that some of our men in the darkness might fire into each other. [In report dated June I , 1886, to Frederick Ebersold, General Superintendent of Police, CHS]

Seven policemen and four workers were killed and some seventy injured in the explosion and subsequent clash with the police. Newspaper accounts, trial transcripts, and a police sergeant's scrapbook of the events of May 4, 1886, all describe the use of revolvers by the police. The use of weapons by the workers is less clear. Before the actual outbreak of violence, speakers advised workers to "Buy a Colt's revolver, a \,Vinchester rifle and learn how to make and use dynamite ... to save up $3 or $4 to buy a revolver that was good enough for shooting policemen down . . . ." Some of the

Chicago Police

The police opened fire on the crowd assembled at Haymarket Square after someone threw a bomb on the night of May 4, 1886. From Harper's Weekly, 1886. CHS, ICHi-03665.

Haymarket defendants had al1egedly tried to order revolvers from local gun dealers, but may not have actually received them. At the trial, several witnesses insisted that no citizens fired shots or even had revolvers, while others testified that the demonstrators had revolvers at the time of the meeting and fired first on the police. Other witnesses said that the police fired the first shot before the bomb was thrown. In the police reports on the events of May 4, Officers Hubbard and Fitzpatrick described the police as emptying their revolvers and reloading. At the Haymarket Trial, Officer Krueger displayed to the Court his service revolver which he had used the night of the riot-"the regular pistol that is used by the police force . .. " and Captain Ward described how the police carried their pistols either in a specially designed overcoat pocket or in their pants pocket, at their discretion. Police Lieutenant George W. Hubbard testified: "We had our regular revolvers in our pockets. And we had a larger revolver in a socket attached to

our belt, upon the outside . .. hanging to the left side of each officer." Newspaper articles in the scrapbook of the sergeant at the Desplaines Street Station indicated that before the meeting the police at Central Headquarters were: arming for war ... Colt's 50's and ammunition for all caliber guns and revolvers were being sent to different sections of the city. "Don't spare your powder" was the order. ... Every policeman in the ranks emptied 2 revolvers at the socialists and must have fired at least two thousand shots and yet there were not half a dozen windows in all broken ....

The revolver shooting went on for five minutes, and after the officers emptied their revolvers, they used them as clubs. After the event, the police, under the command of Captain Michael Schaack, rounded up hundreds of suspected agitators. They claimed that they found weapons and confiscated ammunition. According to trial testimony, seven of the eight accused conspirators possessed guns. Oscar Neebe, brewery worker organizer, though not at the demonstration, 45

Chicago Police was arrested on May 7. Officer John Stiff from Captain Schaack's East Chicago Avenue Police Station went to his home and "found there a .38 caliber Colt's pistol. . . . There were five chambers fired out. One chamber was loaded with a cartridge and one with a shell in it. ... " "The officers on that occasion found one Springfield rifle, one Colt's .38-caliber revolver, one sword and belt of the Lehr und Wehr Verein, a reel flag, a transparency, a lot of circulars calling difierent meetings .. . ." It was on this basis that Captain Schaack went before the Grand Jury and had 1 eebe indicted for conspiracy to murder. Schaack said that Neebe had been in the habit of taking members of his group to Indiana to experiment with bombs, and that on one occasion, the fingers and thumb of his right hand had been blown off by a premature explosion. In his book A narc/zy and A narcl1ists, Schaack included a drawing of "Neebe's sword and belt" but did not mention the gun inserted behind the sword. This must be Neebe's .38-caliber Colt, a Lightning with a 3½-inch barrel, the revolver confiscated by the police. A few years ago, an identical Colt Lightning, serial #53766, was donated to the Chicago Historical Society by relatives of Schaack. It has a 3½-inch barrel, .38 caliber, and had been shipped according to Colt factory records to Hibbard, Spencer, and Bartlett Hardware Company in Chicago on March 6, 1886, one of 25 similar guns in the shipment. Hibbard, Spencer, and Bartlett was an established Chicago wholesale firm, founded in I 855 and a survivor of the 1871 Fire. The company's 1884 catalog was "intended for dealers only. . ." and had for sale various styles of the Colt double-action model of 1877, in both .38 and .41 caliber, with and without ejector. Unfortunately, the firm's sales records have been destroyed, but a gun of this nature would not have been sold to a retail customer, only to another hardware store or gun dealer who dealt directly with the public. Several of these are mentioned in the trial transcript, in contemporary accounts, and in Schaack's book.• Later, after the guilty verdicts were returned, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper for November 12, 1887, reported: "Captain Schaack, in whose precinct the fortress-like jail is located, 46

Capt. Michael J. Schaack, who commanded his men to arrest hundreds of suspected agitators in the aftermath of the Haymarket Riot. From Michael J. Schaack's Anarchy and Anarchists, F. J. Schulte & Co., 1889. CHS.

states that in case of need, 600 police with ri(les could reach the jail at a few minutes' notice" in order to prevent any insurrection that might attempt to free the "anarchists." Although all accounts of the Haymarket Affair-including those of the police themselves-made clear that by now many Chicago policemen were armed with pistols, neither the section on the police department in the City of Chicago Annual Report of 1886, nor the Rules and Regulations of th e Police Depart•Although the population o[ Chicago i11crcascd 20 times from I 855 to I 895, [rom 80,000 to 1,600,000 people, the number of gun dealers listed in the Chicago city directory remained ,irtually the same, about 7 or 8, the number of gunsmiths doubled to about 12 or 13, and the number o[ dealers in gun powder and cartridges tripled to about 10 or 11. The greatest number of gun dealers, 16, was seen in 18i7-78, and in 1882 the first wholesaler, Hibbard, Spencer, and Bartleu, was mentioned; in 1891 Montgomery Ward & Co. entered the picture, and in I 894 Spaulding Sporting Goods became a dealer. O[ course, the number of dealers or sellers is not the whole story because business expanded, and many guns were sold through hardware stores, which were not listed as gun dealers in the directory.

Chicago Police

COLT'S NEW, DOUBLE ACTION, SELF-COCKING, CENTRAL FIRE, SIX SHOT

CONSTABULARY REVOLVER. 380 cal. 4!-!nch Barrel. 3¼ inch Barrel, without Side Rod, as adopted by the Chicago Police, 1892.

The On,w1no 1s rull s,za. W~lfillT l•lh 90,

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Colt's 1896 advertisement for its double-action " Constabulary Revolver" claimed that the gun had been "adop:ed by the Chicago Police" in 1892, although there are no records to substantiate this. From Price List of Colts Revolving and Breech-Loading Fire Arms, etc ., 1896.

ment of Chicago of 1890 mentions revolvers. Curiously enough it is from a price list published in 1896 by the Colt Company of London that we learn that the Colt double-action model of 1877 ("the Lightning") .38 caliber, 3½-inch barrel, had been "adopted by the Chicago Police" in 1892. Obviously the Colt Company was not above capitalizing on the Chicago police department's well-known use of pistols during recent disturbances to promote the sale of what it called the "Constabulary Revolver." Although the model appears not to have sold well in England, in the United States the Colt DA 1877 was purchased by several police departments and so inscribed, or by individual policemen for their personal use. However, no Chicago police records prior to 1900 are ava ilable. A recent query to the department by the author elicited this response: The Chicago Police Department does not maintain any records or informat ion regarding the Colt "Lighting" [sic] revolver or any other weapon which may have been used by Department members prior to J 900. This model of firearm, however, would have been acce ptable for use by Depar tment m em-

hers at that time an d may well have been used by members of the Department during the Haymarket Riot. [James J. Zurawski, Director of Research , Developm ent and Data Systems Division, to author, January 16, 1976]

The anxiety created among the city's business and civic leaders by Haymarket led them to donate land north of the city for construction of a military fort. Troops stationed at Fort Sheridan, completed in 1887, were to be available to protect Chicago from civil disorder. Some of the donors went so far as to move from their mansions on Prairie Avenue, Ashland Avenue, and Rush Street to new residences further north flanking Sheridan Road, which connected the fort to Chicago. And, indeed, during the Pullman Strike of 1894, troops traveled along that highway to the scene of disorder. But the arming of the Chicago police also continued, both with increasing openness and with some effort at control. In his article, "Handguns and the Police," Frank Morn explains that the establishment of a police academy in 1910 was, in part, a response to 47

Chicago Police

Candidates for sergeant taking an examination, 1904. A police academy was established six years later, partially to combat "overfree gun play on the part of the police." CHS, Chicago Daily News photo, DN-738, gift of Field Enterprises.

Chicago Police "overCree gun play on the part of the police." Training in the academy was intended to make plain that "the weapons dedicated to public use [were] not a legitimate instrument for settling the bearer's domestic and monetary difficulties." Morn po.ints out as well how changes in the police at this time reflected a greater openness about the fact that the police carried pistols. In 1910 an outside pocket was added to police overcoats to accommodate a pistol. Within six years pistol holsters had become part of the policeman's equipment, still hidden under the outer coat. But it was not until the late 1920s that holster revolvers were actually exposed. Not only was it evident that members of the Chicago police were now armed, but that they were clearly meant to be.

Selected Sources The author wishes to thank Fannia W'eingartner for her help in preparing this article. ~IA~USCRIPTS: Transcript of testimon y and court proceedings from the trial of the alleged Haymarket conspirators, June-August 1886; copy of reports by clc,路en Chicago police officers on their sen路ice during the Haymarket Riot sent to Lieut. Edward J. Steele, May 5-June 1, 1886 (CHS); letter to the author dated January 16, 1976, from the Chicago Police Department. PRINTED SOURCES: Original materials include the scrapbook o( clippings compiled by the desk sergeant at the Desplaines Street Station (original and microfilm on deposit at CHS); City of Chicago, A1111ual Report , 1886; Chicago city directories, 1855-95; Chicago Police Department, Rules and Regulations, 1874 and 1890; " Price List of Colt's Rernl\'ing and Breech-loading Firearms, & C," Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company, London, 1896. Adelman, William. Haymarket Revisited. Chicago: The Illinois Labor History Society, 1976. Flinn, John J. History of the Chicago Police from the Settlement of the Com1111mity to the Presel!! Time. Chicago: Police Book Fund, 1887. Reprinted with a new introduction by Mark Haller (Patterson Smith Publishing Corporation) in 1973. Mann , H ., ed. O,ir Police. Providence: J.M . Beers, 1889. Morn, Frank. " Handguns and the Police: A Historic E,路olution o( American Values." In Firearms and Violence: lsmes of Regulation edited by Donald B. Kates , Jr. Cambridge: Ballinger Publishing Company, forthcoming. Palmer, S. H. "Cops and Guns: Arming the American Police. " History Today 28 (June 1978). Schaack, Michael J. Anarchy and Anarchists. Chicago: F. J . Schulte & Co., 1889. Schneirm路, Richard . "Chicago's Great Upheaval o( 1877." Chicago History 9 (Spring 1980).

An otticer examines evidence of an attempted murder, 1928. By this time pistol holsters had become a standard part of a policeman's uniform. CHS, ICHi-03573.

Chicagoans and Their Parks By Larry Viskochil

FROM FEBRUARY 28 through April 24, 1982, the Society presented a major exhibition, AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHERS

AND

THE

NATIONAL

PARKS,

sponsored by the National Parks Foundation. FeaLUring almost 200 magnificent images by thirty-five photographers from the 1860s to the present, it reminded us o[ the important role parks have played in our national experience. The media coverage and programming which accompanied the exhibition repeatedly emphasized the timeliness of examining the place parks should occupy on the public agenda. The many visitors who viewed the exhibit and attended the programs held in conjunction with it have probably been representative o[ the mix of opinion that has characterized the national debate about the future of the parks, their use, and their management. On the one hand, preservationists argue that national park land should be maintained in its natural state and that people should "take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints." Another group, the conservationists, also appreciate the importance of parks but feel that they should be carefully "harvested" for the public good, and for the good of the parks themselves. Yet this debate is nothing new, nor has it been limited to national wilderness areas. Similar controversies have raged over the proper use of urban parks, including those represented in PLEASURE

GROUNDS

PAST

AND

PRESENT:

CELEBRATION OF CHICAGO'S PARKS, on view at the Society from June 3 to August 31, 1982. Based on photographs, maps, plans, and other original artifacts and documentation in the Society's collections, it will focus on the questions of how parks have been used, who used them in the past, and who uses them today. The opening has been planned to coincide with the Third Annual Conference of the National Association for Olmsted Parks which will soon convene in Chicago.

Larry Viskochil is Curator of Graphics at the Chicago Historical Society. 50

The history of park development in Chicago has progressed through several rather clearly defined stages. It began in 1839, two years after the city was chartered, when Chicago's first park was created by converting part of the Fort Dearborn military reservation into a public square. Named Dearborn Park, it was located on what is now the site of the Chicago Public Library Cultural Center. By 1870 the city had acquired, by purchase or donation, over forty parks. Just how the city fathers intended these parks to serve Chicago is not clear, but in 1851 the city passed an ordinance which indicated that active recreation was not encouraged: :'\o person shall play at ball, cricket, or any other game or play whatsoever in any of the enclosed public parks or grounds in this city, under penalty of , 5.00 for every offense. :',;o person shall walk, stand, or lie upon any part of the enclosed parks or grounds laid out and appropriated for shrubbery or grass .. . under penalty of $20.00 for every offense.

Over the next decade, attitudes about parks and their desirability began to change, both here and in other communities. ew York City had developed its Central Park and hired Frederick Law Olmsted to design and administer it. Chicago followed New York's lead in 1869 when a number of civic boosters, real estate promoters, public health advocates, social reformers, and others joined forces to convince the state legislature to create three independent, self-governing district commissions for the South Parks, West Parks, and Lincoln Park. The South Park Commissioners were fortunate at the outset to have obtained Olmsted's services to plan the development o[ Washington and Jackson parks. The philosophy of park design and use which Olmsted introduced would be the city's model for the next thirtyfive years. Olmsted viewed parks as a buffer between the unhealthy and unpleasant aspects of urban life and the rural ideal that many

Family outings, bicycling, floral gardens-Chicago's parks have accommodated all these and much more. This photograph was taken in Washington Park in the late 1880s. CHS, ICHi-03501.

Americans in this rapidly industrializing nation were beginning to view. with nostalgia. His plans called for the creation of "pleasure grounds" which combined elements of the large suburban parks where people went as tourists on holidays, and the urban parks which were more acce sible to city residents. After the turn of the century, thi concept of parks began to reflect new national problems and perceptions of how they could be solved. By then it was clear that cities were here to Sta), and reformers sought many ways to imprm e them. Parks were envisioned to be necessary adjuncts to urban living and since the working class could not easily be transported to the country, then smaller parks should be created in the neighborhoods where workers lived. These parks would fulfill a variety of functions that would benefit all of society in more ways than simply by their virtue of being beautiful places to visit. Fieldhouses and gymnasiums were introduced, and formal recreation programs became common. Following World War I, the parks continued Lo be administered with an eye toward social

planning. Park-sponsored athletic competitions, in which scores 路were based on sportsmanship and other social values as well as athletic ability, aimed at instilling community pride. The Depression brought a retrenchment of park resources and in 1934 the various park commissions were consolidated into a unified Chicago Park District. World 路war II saw further economy measures and more emphasis on activities that would help with civil defense. After the war, Chicagoans came to view the parks as places to "get a路way from it all"-and by the mid-sixties, more than thirty new parks had been added to Park District properties. The 1970s brought large construction programs designed to improve recreational facilities and lighting, and to modernize zoos, planetariums, and other structures. By the 1980s, the number of parks administered by the Chicago Park District has grown to 575, with more than 7,300 acres set aside for park purposes. Thus park planning continues to be an ongoing, and often controversial, process that is just as much a part of urban 路 history as the parks themselves. 51

The Society The Society salutes Theodore Tieken, who recent{y retired from the presidency of the Board of Trustees, and his successor Stewart S. Dixon.

that I should feel a special affection for Theodore Tieken. More importantly, my feelings are shared by the Board of Trustees, members, and staff of the Society as well as the many colleagues in the Chicago area who have worked with him during his tenure as president of the Society's Board. Theodore Tieken joined the Board in 1952, and after serving terms as second and first vicepresident, he was elected president in November 1973. Last January, more than eight years later, he retired from the position, and the Board elected Stewart S. Dixon to succeed him. The list of the Society's accomplishments during Mr. Tieken's presidency is a long one and includes successful collaborations with two previous directors: Clement M. Silvestro, who held the post from 1964 to July 1974, and his successor, Harold K. Skramstad, Jr., who came to the Society the following October. During the interim the president not only headed the search team but also took upon himself the responsibilities of managing the Society. This process was repeated in 1981, after Mr. Skramstad left to become president of the Edison Institute in Dearborn, Michigan. In both cases his understanding of the Society stood Theodore Tieken in good stead, but even more important were his genuine fondness for the staff, his respect for their opinions, and his unique ability to maintain morale and productivity pending the arrival of a new director. I can testify to the order which I found upon arriving last year and to the respect which the staff holds for him. Other major changes occurred during his tenure. Chicago History changed from a semiannual to a quarterly publication. The Society's budget expanded from $900,000 to $2 million, making it possible for the institution to broaden the scope of its activities. At the same time, the collecting and deaccessioning policies were placed on a formal footing which focused more IT 1s ONLY NATURAL

directly on the city. Prompted by increasing legal guidelines, Mr. Tieken joined Harold Skramstad in the monumental task of reviewing all of the Society's policies and adopting new accounting procedures. The Society also began to revitalize its exhibition program. Many will recall the Bicentennial presentation, CHICAGO: CREATING NEW TRADITIONS, and a series of sparkling exhibitions which included CHICAGO METALSMITHS and CHICAGO CERAMICS & GLASS. In 1979 the Society made a major commitment to interpreting Chicago's past by reinstalling the Chicago History Galleries, an effort which paralleled the new collecting priorities. Another parallel development was the 1979 reorganization of the staff into seven curatorial units and a number of administrative and service departments. Public programming has been expanded and refocused to reflect the changes in collecting policies. The list could go on, of course: publications, including catalogs of many exhibitions; colorful special events; the celebration of the Society's 125th anniversary; and the ongoing preservation and research efforts that are the basis for so much of what the Society does. It is true that much of the legwork for these accomplishments was performed by the staff, but two contributions belong exclusively to Theodore Tieken. The first is his leadership: gentle, quiet, but firm. This quality was probably appreciated most by the directors who worked with him. His frequent presence at the Society-not only during special events but also on weekday mornings-his diligence in reading mail, his frequent telephone calls, and always his quiet counsel and unspoken support lent a confidence to the administration of the Society's programs. A Board of Trustees resolution, made at the April 21, 1982, meeting, underscores Mr. Tieken's second contribution, the stewardship

Theodore Tieken (right), immediate past president of the Society's Board of Trustees, and president Stewart Dixon. CHS, photograph by Paul Petraitis.

which he shares with his wife Betty. Because of them the building fund was fuller and the annual budget is more able. Because of them the Society has made two outstanding additions to its collections: Paul Revere's engraving of the Boston Iassacre, and a first printing of the orthwest Ordinance, which established the governance of the vast area which included the future site o( Chicago. Theodore Tieken will continue to be an active presence at the Society. In his thirty-first year on the Board, as immediate past president, he still serve on several key committees, where

his experience and insights are much valued. Stewart Dixon observed that his election as president was an honor which befell him only because he was unable to persuade Mr. Tieken to continue in his former role. This modesty hides Ir. Dixon's own abilities as well as his service as a member of the Board since 1971 and its first vice-president since 1973. The Society deeply appreciates Mr. Tieken's long service and, at the same time, looks forward to Stewart Dixon's able leadership. Ellsworth H. Brown Director 53

Reviews Scandinavians in Chicago have an impressive pubfohing record. They have made extensive efforts to document their history, and titles are available on a multitude of subjects. Danish, :\'orwegian, and Swedish-American historical societies are flourishing and all have impressive plans for th~ future. In glancing over these recent publications and the bibliographies they contain, one may be tempted to ask just what of any importance is left to be said . There is, of course, one large question that still remains: "And what of the urban immigrant?" The city was a part of every immigrant's expe_rience. Even those who settled (ar out on the prairies or in the deep forests knew the cities since most o( them had passed through urban areas on the way to their farmlands. Once settled, they looked to the cities to supplement tl1eir culture, subscribing to newspapers and periodicals published in their own languages, or ordering commod_ities_ which th_ey could not purchase locally. Their wives were influenced by big-city standards in fashion, while their children often headed there to find work or go to school. For many rural dwellers, the city may have been confusing and even threatening-a place o( sin and crime-but it was, nonetheless, a central part of the immigrants' world. The city was also home to many thousands _of Scandinavian immigrants. Chicago's Scandinavian population was large: hailed as the second larg~st Norwegian city in the world and the Swedish capital o( America, it also had the largest urban concentration of Danes outside of Denmark. The Norwegians were the first to come, beginning with a colony established in 1836 by a few Iamilie~ from Voss, who built their shacks along SCANDl ,'<A \'JAN-A .\fERICANS

Swedish Exodus by Lars Ljungmark, translated by Kermit B. Westerberg (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press for the Swedish Pioneer Historical Society, 1979),, 11.95; Norway to America: A History of the Migration by Ingrid Semmingsen, translated by Einar Haugen (Minneapolis: University o[ Minnesota Press, I 978), 12.95; Norwegian-A mencan Studies, volume 28, edited by Kenneth 0. Bjork (Northfield, Minnesota: 'orwegian-American Historical Association, I 979), 10.00; Norwegian Influence on the Uf1per Midwest: Proceedings of an International Conference, Un1uersity of Minnesota, Duluth, May 22-24, 1975, edited by Harald S. Naess (Duluth: Uni,·ersity of Minnesota, Duluth, 1976), 6.50; Immigrant Executive Traveler: My Story by Birger Swenson (Rock Island, Illinois: Auguslana Historical Society, 1979), $7 .50.

the north side of the river near what is now the corner of ~lichigan and Chicago avenues. The community expanded so greatly that by 1925 it numbered 100,000 immigrants and children of immigrants. There were some fifty Norwegian language churches and eleven charitable institutions (including two hospitals, two orphanages, and two old people's homes), and more than fifty lodges and societies participated annually in the ~orwegian Constitution Day Parade on May 17. The new Chicagoans bragged that their parade was twice as large as that in Kristiania (Oslo) and while Norway celebrated only on one day, Chicago's celebration was spread out over four. Some 50,000 Aag-waving men , women , and children were present at the unveiling of Sigvald Asbj¢rnsen's_ heroic statue ~f Lei( Erikson in Humboldt Park m 1901, and tlus chau,·inistic enthusiasm was paralleled in art exhibitions, theatrical performances, choral concerts, literary society meetings, and an active press which published some 75 newspapers and period!cals as well as innumerable monographs. For their part, the Danes and Swedes were also extremely active in their community life. In spite o[ the concentrated settlement oE Scand inavians in Chicago, it is only recently that comprehensive and balanced treatments of the urban settler have been attempted. UH Beijbom's Th e Sw ed es in Chicago: A Demographic and Social Study of the Immigration 18·/6-1880 (1971) was an important beginning, but there is a great deal more material which historians can draw upon. Almost any book on Scandinavian immigrant history deals with some aspect of Chicago history, and Chicago occupied a large part of the consciousne_ss of the Scandinavian-American both here and m Europe . As Franklin Scott noted in his book, Sweden: The Nation's History (1977), "as the migration built its own centers across the ocean it was common for a young peasant to have friends or relatives in Chicago or Rockford, though he might know no one at all in Gothenburg or Stockholm. America was close emotionally, though far away geographically." These themes are central to much of the recent outpouring of literature. Swedish Ex_odus_ is a well written, scholarly treatment of em1grat1on from the Swedes' point of view. Particularly valuable is the discussion of the socioeconomic conditions that caused emigration: religious persecution, military conscription, and economic hardship as well as the less tangible motivations such as the need for adventure or a desire to satisfy a curiosity sparked by the myths which grew up about America as the land of unlimited opportunity. Ingrid Semmingsen's Norway lo America_ giv~s a remarkably balanced overview of the m1grat10n from J 825, the year the first organized emigration effort occurred with the launching of the sloop Restauration clown through the sesquicentennial observation of that same journey in October 1975.

Volume 28 in the series, Norwegian-American Studies, is a collection of papers which treats a number of topics in some depth, ranging from Peter A. Munch's discussion of the conflict between the respect for authority versus the desire for local freedom in :"\1orwegian-American congregations to a biographical-critical study of the novelist i\Iartha Ostenso by J ban Buckley. The collection meets the same high standards as the previous Yolumes edited by Kenneth Bjork, professor of history at St. Olaf College, who has recently completed a distinguished career as editor of the Norwegian-American Historical Association. Norwegian Influence on the Upf1er Midw est is yet another collection of scholarly conference papers . The offering is varied and interesting, and edited with a sure hand. Birger Swenson's autobiography has less appeal than the others since its scope is more limited, but it reminds us that the genre of autobiography, even given its faults, is valuable. In my opinion more such materials should be published. Swenson was born in Varmland, Sweden, in 1895 and emigrated in 1912. His is essentially a story of one who did well and, happily for us, he kept his eyes and ears open throughout his assimilation. The detailed presentation is valuable and Swenson places his story in a broader context than most first-person reminiscences although the absence of an index severely weakens its usefulness. All of these books contain numerous references to Chicago. From Ljungmark I learned that Chicago funneled Swedes to all parts of the Midwest. Some opted to stay in Chicago and yet others arrived with no money and were forced to stay (often, countrymen formed relief associations to help these unfortunate travelers through their crises). Chicago was a melting pot for Swedes from all parts of their homeland who quickly commandeered two of the city's occupational branches, domestic help and the construction trades. By 1900 Chicago was the home of one out of every ten Swedish-Americans and the world's largest Swedish city outside of Stockholm. Semmingsen's references are more brief but she does mention Chicago as a terminal for many Norwegians on their way west. The volume of Norwegian-American Studies also yields much Chicago lore. Lars Fletre's study of the early Vossings' correspondence society highlights a fascinating period in which the new Norwegian-Chicagoans-outraged by reports that a negative article about Chicago and the United States had been published in orway discouraging emigration-banded together with the sole purpose of sending letters to Norway to counter the false propaganda. Jean Skogerboe Hansen's article on the Chicago ' orwegian newspaper, Skandinaven, the most widely read of the Norwegian language newspapers in this country, and l\Iarion l\Iarwlf's discussion of the Danish-language press in America remind us that Chicago was a very strong center

of Scandinavian publishing. Several biographical articl es such as Clarence Kilde's about Waldemar Ager, journalist, temperance leader, and novelist of Eau Claire, "Wisconsin, and Marilyn Boeckmann Anderson's sketch on J\Iinneapolis artist Carl L. Boeckmann stress connections with Chicago. Ager began his journalistic career here and frequently returned to speak, while Boeckmann "did some painting in Chicago" early in his career and exhibited at Norwegian-American art exhibits at the Chicago Norske Klub in later life. We also find that IVilcl Geese, the best-known novel by the Canadian-born writer, l\[artha Ostenso, was serialized in Skandina ve n. Even in the collection of the Lars and Knud Olsen Dokken Civil War letters, the references to Chicago are inescapable. Indeed, when the 15th \Visconsin Volunteer Regiment under Col. Hans Christian Heg passed through Chicago in 1862, their train was met by members of the Norwegian society, the Nora Lodge, who presented the troop with a banner to carry into battle . And in Frederick Hale's "Norwegians, Danes, and the Origins of the Evangelical Free Tradition," we find that several of the principal figures-] ohn Hanson l\leyer, Even Reinhart Jernberg, and Hans Josephsen-were all trained in Chicago divinity schools. Interestingly enough , Fredrik Franson was influenced by Chicagoan Dwight L. Moody and became well known in Sweden and Norway as a stirring evangelist. Norw egian Influ ence on the Upper Midwest contains fewer local references but of great importance to Chicago is Harald Naess's discussion of Knut Hamsun's visits to the United States. Hamsun lived in Chicago and worked on the Halsted streetcar line, first as a construction laborer and later as a conductor. Here, as in his later experiences in Wisconsin and l\[innesota, he suffered from poverty and was depressed by what he felt were cultural shortcomings of Norwegian-Americans. Hamsun returnee! to his homeland to become, after Sigrid Undset, Norway's most famous twentieth-century writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1920. The autobiography is useful, too, for it shows that Swenson came to Chicago because an older brother was already well established here as a carpenter. Swenson's first job in the United States was that of a subscription salesman for the popular Swedish newspaper Hemlandet-and although he lived most of his life elsewhere, he frequently returned to the city for business and family reasons. These glimpses of Chicago history, gleaned from these books which were intended to include many other parts of the world besides the Windy City, are tantalizingly brief. But they should convince scholars of the need to document the story of a great Scandinavian city, Chicago, 11\inois. ROLF ERICKSON

Reviews Moralism and the Model Home: Domestic Architecture and Cultural Conflict in Chicago, 1873-1913 by Gwendolyn Wright Chicago: Uni,Âˇersity of Chicago Press, 1980. Sl7.50-

nooK is about the changing ideals that shaped the design of American homes from the Victorian era through the period of Progressive reform. The author, an architectural historian, views any building as a cultural artifact: it reflects "underlying structures of work, technology, and economics"; it also supports and justifies prevailing "social categories, values, and relations." Her work is ambitious, engaging, and subtle. It is rich with insights, not just about home design, but about the relationships between builders, architects, popular journalists, home economists, and municipal reformers of various persuasions. Wright's point of logical departure, and the first of three major sections in her work, is an extended discussion of Victorian home building and the cult of domesticity. In the 1870s and 1880s, pattern-book builders and a "self-declared elite" of trained architects argued vehemently about styles, yet shared fundamental ideas about the social role of homes and experienced similar pressures from a mechani1ing economy. Builders celebrated home designs for eyeryman; architects aimed to elevate taste. But both focused on the individual dwelling, rather than the community. Both fostered eclecticism and display. Both glorified the craftsman while nonetheless exploiting the flood of factorymade materials and furnishings. These common denominators of Victorian domesticity came under attack in the 1890s. The longest part of the book shows how the seve1al streams of Progressive thinking worked together to undermine the Victorian model home and to deposit the foundations for a new conception of home building. Reformers and journalists turned the public eye away from houses toward the problem of housing. Public health crusaders, devotees of the Arts and Crafts Movement, advocates of a new role for women, and admirers of efficiency all campaigned against ornament and for simplicity of decor. Large-scale construction and the highly visible activity of unions stripped away the romantic aura of craftsmanship from the building tradesworker. In the cultural context of the 1890s, homes could no longer be idealized as individual products of craft and artistry, whose purpose was to protect and nurture the family while affectmg the sensibilities of the beholder. Rather, those who designed and wrote about homes had to come to terms with standardized construction, sophisticated technology, professionalization among architects, an increase in the number of women working outside the home, T111s

and a nsmg popular conviction that the community environment exerted more influence than home design in shaping character. This period of reconsideration left a complex legacy. Home designs became simpler, but the reform in styles had little relation to the social crusades that encouraged it. Architects became less fixated on the single dwelling, more attentive to the planning of whole communities. But they remained aloof from the hard political and economic issues involved in housing. In the twentieth century as in the nineteenth, "the image of improvement supplanted the complex politics of achieving it." In reaping the many rewards of this work, the reader should be prepared for some flaws. The author's writing is sometimes opaque. Too many of her most essential points are stranded in the middle of paragraphs and hamstrung by qualifiers. Her account of Victorian domesticity is foreshortened, blending personalities and phenomena from the 1870s with those of the 1890s. Her conception of Chicago's role in the process of change lacks focus . She demonstrates the city's importance as a booming center of domestic construction and a locus of experiment and rebellion among builders and architects. But in juggling many themes, she fails to distinguish those which were national from those which were Chicago-centered. How much of the change in Chicago's architectural styles simply paralleled nationwide trends; how much resulted from the collection of resources, people, and demands specific to Chicago? Wright never confronts such questions head on. In her admirable effort to place model homes in their cultural settings, she does not deal squarely with the relations between local and larger cultures. As a result, Chicago remains for her more a source of illustrations than a defined field of cultural analysis. HENRY C. BINFORD

The Poorhouse: Subsidized Housing in Chicago, 1895-1976 by Devereaux Bowly, Jr. Carbondale: Southern lllinois Uni,Âˇcrsity Press, 1978. $15.00.

DEVEREAUX BOWLY , JR. has written a survey of subsidized housing in Chicago which will serve as a reference work for those interested in the development of the city and in the history of American public housing from the late nineteenth century to the present. The book is particularly useful because its scope is broad and it summarizes a wealth of factual material in a clear and straightforward manner. Bowly discusses not only the Chicago

Reviews Housing Authority and public housing in the strict sense. but also other publicly supported programs and philanthropic work of individuals and organizations, beginning with Francisco Terrace, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for Edward Waller in 1895. In all, 79 new projects and a Yariety of receivership and rehabilitation projects are described and, in many cases, illustrated . The book's organization is basically chronological, cover ing the period up to 1976, by which time comparatively little subsidized housing was being constructed. The author devotes six chapters to chronicling the operation of the Chicago Housing Authority, incorporated in 1937 to build housing for the poor and to remove slums. Several chapters treat the activities of other public and private organizations, including philanthropists, the Chicago Dwellings Association, the Community Renewal Society and the Kate Maremont Foundation, yarious profit and nonprofit developers working with federal subsidies, and the Illinois Housing Development Authorit y. One final chapter assesses the city's housing situation in 1976, and makes recommendations (or future policies . J\lr. Bowly, a lawyer with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, has adopted a cautious tone. In telling a dismal story of good intentions gone astray because of ineptitude, insensitivity, and prejudice-a story that easily provokes outrage-he has maintained an objective point of view and eschewed polemics. Bowly makes value judgments and draws conclusions, but neither are radical nor unique. He prefers small, low-rise, carefully detailed projects to huge, bleak high-rises. The biases and shortcomings of the CHA are clearly articulated, as is the author's conclusion that "the ultimate solution to the problem of low-income housing is to provide the poverty population as a group with the necessary funds to compete adequately in the private market." This even-handed approach has advantages and disadvantages for the reader. On the one hand, it allows Bowly to discuss many projects in a relatively uniform manner, giving the number of units, site density, and per-unit development costs; describing the basic physical characteristics such as height, unit type, and materials; and stating the management situation and rent structure or sale price. Thus it is possible to compare projects built in different eras and under various programs. A generous assortment of clearly printed photographs, many by the author himself, helps considerably. However, the book contains no site plans and only one floor plan. i\faps on the end papers show most of the projects mentioned in the text. In compiling the study, Bowly has mostly drawn upon newspaper articles, the official reports of the housing agencies themselves, and documents commissioned by public interest organizations which evaluated these agencies. l\fany of these reports and documents are conveniently summari1.ed, as are the

substance and significant results o( the Gautraux case, the class action suit filed in 1966 which revealed the CHA's discriminatory policies in tenant assignment and site selection. The guide to relevant primary sources is less complete than the presentation of projects but apparently the author selected them witl1 equal objectivity. On the other hand, Bowly's equitable approach diminishes the book's interest and impact. By reassembling material scattered throughout the text and reading between the lines, one finds a powerful story in the vicissitudes of the Chicago Housing Authority, for example . The basic information is all there: accounts of racial violence in the mid-1950s and the firing of executive secretary Elizabeth \Vood, the official defense of higl1-rise construction over low-rise. the refutation of these claims (or economy based on comparisons with other cities' experiences, the summary o( the Gautraux case. But too many obvious questions_ go unanswered. \\/ho were the commissioners, other than Robert Taylor and Charles Swibel, and what were their business and political affi liations? How were the architects selected for the projects? 'What were the backgrounds and attitudes of those men whose names frequently appear among the design teams or firms? How did the policies and projects of the CHA compare overall to those of other local housing authorities around the country? To answer these questions, Bowly would have had to rely more upon interviews and his intuition. He would have needed to have broadened his sights beyond Chicago. The limits imposed by the author resulted in a concise, objective study, but one that too often leaves important issues unexplored and instead supplies another fact. Nevertheless, we will be thankful in the long run that he chose not to make this book into a selectively documented diatribe and instead opted to produce a balanced, informative account of this important subject. JOAN DRAPER

The Separate Problem: Case Studies of Black Education in the North, 1900-1930 by Judy Jolley Mohraz Westport , Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 19i9. Sl4.95.

the history of American public education has undergone substantial change. Rejecting the optim ism and the institutional focus o[ their predecessors, revisionist scholars have argued that the schools should have chaflengecl the social order but were so in[used with class a nd race bias

1N RECENT YEARS,

Reviews that, as /\lohraz puts it, they "reinforced the status quo and failed to be instruments of reform." ,\ fohraL pursues this thesis in her study of blacks in the public schools of Chicago , Indianapolis, and Philadelphia before and during the first mass migration to the urban l\' orth. According to ;\.fohraz, progressive era education retreated from the democratic vision of the nineteenth-century common school. It did so by using intelligence tests, ability grouping, and industrial training to maintain the social and economic subordination of lower-class children of both races. ,v lohraz declares that intelligence tests were designed to mirror the existing occupational structure and that school personnel used scientific testing and statistics to bolster white racism and erode black seH-esteem. Academic and vocational counselors discouraged blacks from taking collegeprepatory courses and advised them to lower their occupational aspirations. Industrial education for the urban poor epitomized progressivism's emphasi, on specialization, efficiency, and social order. School officials, with much black support, channeled black children into domestic and manual training classes in lndianapolis and Philadelphia. Such courses led either to low-paying jobs which blacks already held, or, as in the case of pottery and weaving instruction, to no employment at all. Although specific provisions for black students differed among the three cities, the final outcome was the same in each. Substantial increases in the black population and the resultant heightening of racial tensions led to greater school segregation in all three. Indianapolis, which maintained legally and formally separate elementary schools throughout the period, expanded segregation in the 1920s by opening a black high school and by removing the few blacks who attended largely white grade schools . Ph iladel phi a defied state law by operating separate schools and segregated classes within racially mixed schools. Chicago did not officially set blacks apart, but by 1930 pupil transfers and districting practices had combined with residential segregation to place most black students in separate schools . Black responses in these cities also varied. Race relations in Indianapolis were similar to those in the South, with blacks avoiding open protest and supporting segregation as a source of teaching jobs and group pride. In Philadelphia, social and political disunity among blacks produced sharp divisions between opponents and adherents of separate schools as well as splits within the integrationist movement itself. Black Chicagoans, by contrast, ardently defended school integration, apparently because of their relatively strong political influence and because of the professional opportunities open to blacks outside the school system. In none o[ these cities, however, could blacks halt the tendency coward school segregation . Mohraz's study is well organized and clearly

places black schooling in the contexts of progressi,路e education and of the black community she describes. Yet her book is in some ways unsatisfying. Its brevity (fewer than 130 pages of text) precludes meaningful treatment of some topics (how well did black children do in school?) and severely attenuates others (how did blacks actually fare in ability grouping and IQ test results? to what degree did separate schools ha,路e unequal facilities?). In some cases, the author oversimplifies in order to ach路ance her thesis. In Chicago, for example, pre,vorld \,Var I school officials sometimes did ignore the complaints of white segregationists, and race relations within schools often remained amicable despite growing tensions in the surrounding community. In addition, Mohraz's portrayal of progres,i,路e education lacks subtlety, overlooking the complexity o[ the subject. In sum, this book gi\'eS us neither full and comprehensive case studies of indi"idual cities nor the historical synthesis of black education in the urban North which we badly need. One might hope that The Sepnrale Problem will inspire efforts in both of these directions. 1\!ICIIAEL W. JIO~IEL

Bosses, Machines and Urban Voters: An American Symbiosis by John M. Allswang Port ,vashington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1977. 9.95 cloth; .55.95 paper.

Better City Government: Innovation in American Urban Politics, 1850-1937 by Kenneth Fox Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1977. 17.50.

PROBLEM WITH REFORMERS, complained ]\fr. Dooley some 80 years ago, was that they were out of touch with reality. After a term in office, they expected to be re-elected, only to find "th' public that had jus' got out iv jail f'r lettin' th' wather run too long in th' tub rises up an' cries: 'Back to th' Univarsity Settlemint'." Politicians and professors have proven him a prophet ever since. Zealots inveigh against the machine before elections, cry over the returns after. The lessons, when not given in lecture form, are hard to swallow. John Allswang has learned better than Kenneth Fox. Allswang puts aside that deep university prejudice against the unwashed but enduring city pol to explain why voters choose favors over civil service. Fox, meanwhile, deals with the theories of political scientists.

THE

Reviews Allswang explores the machine's formation in ~ew York and Chicago, focusing on Tammany under Boss Tweed and Charles Francis l\furphy and the Windy City during the reigns oE Big Bill Thompson, Anton Cermak, and Richard J. Daley. He recognizes what earlier critics were loath to admit: the machine, for all its warts, provided immigrants \Vith jobs and fa\'ors that otherwise would have been denied until the New Deal. The bosses did more than attend weddings and funerals. Tweed, Cermak, and others gave money, food, protection, and jobs to the needy at a time when there was no state or federal assistance. The machine politicians gave the ethnic voterswhose large numbers spelled power-what they needed and wanted . When the reform candidate preached civil service, economy, lower taxes, and blue laws, he was asking the immigrant to deny himself a job, the graft his alderman raked in and dispensed to the needy, and a time-honored way to enjoy himself on Sundays. Silk-stocking honesty made little blue -collar sense. Allswang's biggest fault is his brevity. He could have expanded his New York and Daley sections, and while he notes one phenomenon (the way Thompson exploited the black vote to stay in office) he brushes over another: the ways in which machines fostered reform. Tammany may be best remembered for Tweed, and Chicago for Daley and the 1968 Convention, but both organizations gave their cities modern municipal services. Bosses leaves the reader hungry for two other works on Chicago politics, Allswang's A House for All Peoples: Ethnic Politics in Chicago, 1890-1936 (1971) and Alex Gottfried's Boss Cermak of Chicago (1962), both of which get to the basics oE urban politics. Fox also has a story worth telling as he explains how political scientists and reformers developed a functional theory oE municipal government which gave cities the right to use implied and essential powers to carry out expanded municipal ÂŁunctions-like picking up garbage and cleaning the streets. These issues were more important than they sound. There were no precedents in the late nineteenth century for running industrial cities with populations of more than a million. Politicians, prodded on by critics like Jane Addams and Graham Taylor, finally bucked middle class resentment against higher taxes and gradually modernized city services in such areas as garbage disposal, police and fire protection, and public health. Fox concentrates on the theoretical refinement of the doctrine over an 85-year period. His prejudices are galling. He calls holiday food distribution "scraps of assistance to the poor," labels Boss Tweed 's 50,000 donation to the poor "a ritualistic [unction," and sneers at the ward heeler attending a funeral. For this the voter was supposed to toss the rascals out? He compounds prejudice with a total lack of style: "table six is an

attempt to determine whether major changes occurred in the similarity with which all cities of o,Âˇer 30,000 population distributed their expenditures among various functions that they performed." Enough said. Ironically, the bulk of his work deals with the period between 1890 and 1931, the same time Cermak rose from impoverished roots to City Hall. Cermak probably never bothered much with theory; he was too busy building a machine and running a city. He didn't miss much. DOUGLAS BUKOWSKI

On the 8:02: An Informal History of Commuting by Rail in America by Lawrence Grow New York: Main Street Press, 1979. $14 .95 .

City and Suburb: The Political Fragmentation of Metropolitan America, 1850- 1970 by Jon C. Teaford Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Uni,-crsity Press, 1979. $15.00.

historical literature on the subject is expanding. Those interested in Chicago and its metropolitan environs will be especially pleased to see the two books under review, both of which deserve wide readership. Although they differ in their methods and objectives, both reflect new trends in urban history. Neither book, however, seeks to present a comprehensive history of suburbanization, either in this region or the nation. At first glance Lawrence Grow (author of an earlier work on railroad depots) appears to have written a coffee table book in which pictures are given more emphasis than the text. Actually, On the 8:02 is a substantial if limited volume which is at once pleasing to general readers and scholars. Grow carefully documents the history of suburban rail commuting in four metropolitan areas: Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago. In words and pictures he does a superb job in detailing how excellent rail transportation-such as Chicago's Torthwestern line up the North Shore-was essential to "the search for an agreeable society." Historians of transport technology and rail fans will deem this book basic reading; veteran commuters will relish it, perhaps with remorse for a bygone era. Jon Teaford's monograph analyzes the pattern of suburban development from the vantage point of a legal historian with an abiding interest in urban studies. He focuses largely on the formal political relationships between central urban places LIKE TIIE SUBURBS,

Reviews and their suburban neighbors. Although national in perspecti1Âˇe, City and Suburb takes readers into a Yariety of metropolises for the purpose of illustration. Among the Chicago-area locales touched upon arc Oak Park and communities along the l\'orth Shore from Evanston to Lake Bluff. Teaford has provided an informative addition to the expansive list of analytic, problem-oriented studies-public safety, housing, technology, health care, education, recreation-written by urban historians since the mid-1960s . It offers a fresh perspective on contemporary political fragmentation-a central issue perplexing citizens' groups, elective oflicials, and policy makers. Admittedly, the author docs not offer resolutions, or even recommendations, although this Yolume deserves careful study by those interested in or charged with responsibility for policy formation. City and Suburb reinforces the notion of metropolitan diversity. Lawrence Grow is also aware of this factor, but Teaford provides specific examples of why more aITTuent locales-Evanston and Oak Park among them-ardently resisted annexation at the turn of the century. Less amuent communities, by contrast, sometimes assented to annexation in the hope of attaining vital municipal services which otherwise would have been beyond their financial means. Both authors-Teaford explicitly, Grow by implication-underscore the evolution of a rather distinctive suburban self-identity by the first quarter of the twentieth century. This awareness, of course, resulted in a tendency for suburbanites to view central urban places as negative rather than salutary factors within the metropolitan framework. Hence, the quest for annexation was all but thwarted and the urban-suburban interrelationship was virtually frozen. Small wonder that Teaford's concluding chapter is entitled "The Continuing Conflict." MICIIAEL II. EBNER

bona's birth, his association with Tecumseh in the \Var of 1812, and his participation in several of the treaties signed by the Potawatomis during the 1820s and 1830s. He also discusses the old chief's futile attempts to retain his small reservation of two sections in southwestern De Kalb County, Illinois. In addition to the short biography of Shabbona, the volume contains a potpourri of materials related to the chief and to other Indian s in northern Jllinois. Chapter 11 is entitled "A Series of Disconnected Anecdotes Concerning Shabbona" (which is somewhat descriptive of the entire yolume), and other chapters focus upon Tecumseh, Shabbona's family, and the Black Hawk \Var. About one-third of the book (64 pages) consists of appendices of documents held by the National Archives. Although this is a handsomely produced book incorporating binding and production techniques rarely found among recently published Yolumes, Built Like a B ea r will be of little use to professional historians. Dowel 's use of sources is indiscriminate at best and some of the information included in the work undoubtedly is apocryphal. Yet the book may appeal to readers interested in certain aspects of local history in northern Illinois. Dowd has collected a large number of anecdotes which contain historical information on the region. But the anecdotes also illustrate how folklore often becomes incorporated into popular conceptions of historical figures and eYents. R. DAVID EDMUNDS

If All We Did Was to Weep at Home: A History of Working-Class Women in America by Susan Estabrook Kennedy Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979_ $17.50 cloth, $6.95 paper.

Built Like a Bear by James Dowd Fairfield, Washington: Ye Galleon Press, 1979. Available for $17.50 by writing to James Dowd, Bookseller, 38 W. 281 Tom's Trail DriYe, St. Charles, IL 60174.

IN MAY 1832, as the tragedy of the Black Hawk War was just beginning, Shabbona, the leader of a village of Potawatomis located near Paw Paw, rode among the settlers of north-central Illinois warning them of impending hostilities. James Dowel's volume contains a biography of this Native American leader whose "descriptive name" the author translates as "Built Like a Bear." Dowd traces Shab-

of white American working-class women (we never learn why black women are excluded), Susan Estabrook Kennedy asserts that women workers lacked a consciousness of themselves as part of the working class, and instead aspired to the middle-class ideal of "ladyhood": domesticity and self-fulfillment through family and love. In the first three hundred years chronicled by Kennedy the most crucial event was the rise of wage labor and the factory system and the decline of the family-centered workplace, beginning in the early nineteenth century. The work ethic increasingly devolved on men, while women's ethic narrowed from goods production to motherhood. For the small but increasing number of women who IN IIER AMBITIOUS IIISTORY

Reviews entered N' ew England's mills, the ideal of lad yhood embodied by leisured middle-class women remained their goal when they were not distracted by the numbing struggle for survival. The first women workers were Yankee farm daughters who worked temporarily in factories such as the famous Lowell, i\Iassachusetts. mills which Kennedy describes in detail. A permanent women's working class was not established until the 1840s with the arrival of destitute immigrants, particularly the Irish. Because industrial technology was designed to de-skill and fragment the work process in order to create a cheaper and more tractable work force, unskilled "women's jobs" steadily increased, and a competition was set up between women workers and men who blamed lower-paid, more docile female labor for undercutting work standards. i\Ien were resistant to women joining unions, and even the Knights of Labor, the one group which welcomed women, still felt that their proper place was in the home. For their part, women felt that factory work unsexed them, and they were reluctant to join public organizations (Jewish women were a notable exception). In one of her most incisive illustrations, Kennedy describes how nineteenthcentury single working women would scrimp and save their meager earnings in order to buy fancy clothes-all in the face of strictures by upperclass moralists that this waste was an example of working-class irrationality. In fact, however, these women bought clothes in order to attract a husband and thus escape the world of work. In the early twentieth century, Progressive reformers, acting on the assumption that workingclass women were unable to act effectively on their own behalf, agitated for special protective legislation governing women's working conditions. This movement united feminists, reformers, and women trade unionists. But with the ratification of the suffrage amendment in 1920 the feminist movement split: middle-class suffragists and professional women advocated an equal rights amendment while "social feminists" such as the League of vVomen Voters and women trade unionists opposed it, fearful that it would invalidate protective legislation. This split lasted in one form or another until 1973 when the AFL-CIO withdrew opposition to the ERA. Several important developments in the postwar period gave shape to the contemporary movement of working-class women. The percentage of women in the work force, which had risen from 18 to 24 percent in the twenty years after I 900 and then stagnated through 1940, rose dramatically to 45 percent by 1974. Most of this rise was attributable to a striking increase in the participation of married women and mothers in the labor force. i\fost significant was the entry of older middle-class married women who had previously set the social norms of domesticity. This

left working-class women "confused" and in a negati\'e and defensive posture toward a middleclass feminist mo\'ement that seemed to threaten their values and aspirations . l\Iiddle-class feminists were rejecting what most working-class women had not achieved. Kennedy optimistically claims to see the beginnings of "self-recognition and identity" among working-class women in the 1970s. A new set of goals of "self-fulfillment and economic advancement" has arisen. ,vorking-class women are affirming their uniqueness: getting involved in community life, asserting their special interests in labor negotiations, and in general fusing feminist and working-class concerns. There is little in Kennedy's empirical summary that is arguable. 'or is her central thesis, that working-class women emulated middle-class women, novel. Indeed, the same observations apply to American male workers. For generations labor historians have noted the relative lack of class consciousness among American workers and their aspirations to a middle-class existence. The critical problem, however, is not to assert the existence of this phenomenon but to give a historically specific explanation of it. This Kennedy has failed to do. Her theme does not grow organically out of her historical analysis, but instead reads like a judgment of the present on the past. Perhaps what explains this is the ahistorical assumption that women of the past "should have had" a certain consciousness, one that enlightened women of the present have attained. The weakness of this view is that past events can be explained away either as anticipations of the present or as a kind of false consciousness. The latter is the case with If All We Did )Vas to Weep at Home. In either case real history is depreciated. If the history of women's aspirations to domesticity is taken seriously, the question becomes, what was the logic in it from working women's point of view? In this connection historians such as Nancy Cott, Christopher Lasch, and most recently Carl Degler have demonstrated that in the age of industrial capitalism the domestic sphere came to be viewed as a haven for the flowering of personal life, in contrast to the alienated and instrumental world of work. More importantly, these historians have shown that the ideology and even the very institution of modern domesticity were in large part the creation of women. In addition to its sidestepping of work on the nineteenth-century family, there are other limitations to the book. As a history of workers it is oblivious to the new concerns of labor historiography: the social significance of the changing nature of the industrial work process, and portrayals of workers as active agents in the forging of their own culture. Finally, with the important exception of a number of fascinating illustra61

tive case histories, the writing is pedestrian and often dull. With these provisos, the historical summary in this book, supplemented by the wideranging notes and bibliography, can serve as a useful introduction to the new field of women's social history. RICHARD SCHNEIROV

Journalism's Unofficial Ambassador: A Biography of Edward Price Bell, 1869-1943 by James D. Startt Athens: Ohio University Press, 1979. 15.95.

as a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Daily News, Edward Price Bell tried to make journalism an instrument of diplomacy. Bell's acclaimed reporting aimed at larger purposes-American entry into World ·war I, Anglo-American cooperation, and, in later years, a quixotic isolationism. Contemporaries esteemed Bell, but historians have neglected him, in part, James D. Startt believes, because of his failure to complete his autobiography. Drawing heavily on Bell's unpublished memoirs and personal papers, Startt has now written a full life of "journalism's unofficial ambassador," one that emphasizes the correspondent's devotion to "the improvement of journalism and the cause of international peace." Bell reached the peak of his influence while serving in London between 1900 and 1922 as overseas manager ol the Daily News, European bureau. Startt's treatment of the development of this pioneering news service is far too compressed and simplified, but his account of Bell's work as a foreign correspondent is thorough and absorbing. Bell's ·m eticulous cultivation of personal contacts in political and diplomatic circles yielded dramatic results during the First World '\Var in the form of exclusive and unprecedented interviews with leaders of the British government. Such spectacular reporting lifted him to the top of his profession, and his additional efforts to explain American policy to the British public earned the respect of champions of Anglo-American partnership on both sides of the Atlantic. Despite these partisan activities, Bell remained laithlul to his high professional standards and waged a continuing battle against British wartime censorship. Startt's analysis of Bell's subsequent ventures in journalism and diplomacy is less satisfactory. After leaving his post in London in 1922, Bell published interviews with dozens of world leaders in the hope of removing the "misunderstanding that causes war." Startt has difficulty evaluating these efforts and either falls back on Bell's own optimisDURING IllS LONG CAREER

tic assessments or lamely concludes that "they accorded with the spirit of the times." The author describes in admirable detail Bell's attempt in 1929 to arrange a summit meeting between Herbert Hoover and British Prime ;\Iinister Ramsay i\IacDonald, but inflates the significance of Bell's "informal diplomacy." While Startt criticizes Bell's single-minded devotion to peace in the 1930s and inept handling of an interview with Adolf Hitler, he does a poor job of explaining Bell's transformation from ardent internationalist to warm supporter of the isolationist America First Committee. This last shortcoming suggests the book's most important weakness-its narrow focus. Startt fails to explore in depth the larger issues raised by Bell's life, such as the relationship between journalism, public opinion, and foreign relations. He makes only a cursory effort to examine Bell's contributions to the peace movement and isolationist thought. i\Thile Startt has rescued an important journalist from obscurity, he has not provided a definitive appraisal of Bell's historical significance. CHESTER J. PACH, JR.

The Reviewers -Henry C. Binford is Associate Professor of History at Northwestern University. -Douglas Bukowski is a Chicago writer engaged in research on Chicago politics. -Joan Draper is Assistant Professor of History of Architecture and Art at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle. -~Iichael H. Ebner is Associate Professor of History at Lake Forest College. His article, "Urban History: Retrospect and Prospect," appeared in the June 1981 Journal of America" llistory. -R. David Edmunds teaches history at Texas Christian University. He is the author of The Potawatomis: Keepers of the Fire (1978). -Rolf Erickson, Circulation Services Librarian at Northwestern University, is active in a number of ScandinavianAmerican historical societies and has co-edited several publications including Fjord to Prairie: Norwegian-A merirans in the 11/i<lwest 1825-1975 (1976) and Our Norwegian Immigrants (Oslo, 1978). -Michael W. Home! teaches history at Eastern Michigan Unh·crsity and is the author of several studies of black Chicagoans and the public schools. -Chester J. Pach, Jr., who recently completed his doctorate in history at Northwestern University, is the historian at Scott Air Force Base near Belleville, Illinois. -Richard Schneirov, a graduate student at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, is working on a dissertation on the Knights of Labor in Chicago.

New Guidebooks and Local Histories Behind That Quiet Facade . ... Chicago: Continental Bank, 1982. Paper, 32 pp. Traces the history of Continental Bank, now celebrating its 125th year. Copies are available from Corporate Affairs, Continental Bank, 231 S. LaSalle, Chicago, IL 60693 . The Chicago Jewish Source Book by Rachel Baron Heimovics . Chicago: Follett Publishing Company, 1981. 336 pp. Paper, S6.95. A guide to synagogues, clubs, and other organizations related to the Jewish heritage in Chicago.

Chicago Theatre: A Sixtieth Anniversary Salute published by the Theatre Historical Society, 1981. Paper, 48 pp. 1\ s the authors remind us, the opening of the Chicago on State Street in 1921, "by the then fledgling Balaban & Katz Corp., heralded the appearance of the true 'movie palace'." The text is accompanied by many photos of the theatre in its heyday. Available for S5.00 (add Sl.00 for postage) from the CHS l\[useum Store . The City and the Garden: The Chicago Horticultural Society at inety by Suzanne Carter i\feldman. Glencoe: Chicago Horticultural Society, 1981. Paper, 20 pp . ·well-illustrated essay on the organizat ion's work in promoting good gardening. Available for S2 .50 by writing the Chicago Horticultural Society, P. 0. Box 400, Glencoe, IL 60022. Down Illinois Rivers or Float-Paddle Adventures by George W. l\fay. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Edwards Brothers ln°c., 1981. 400 pp. Cloth, $ 16.00. A personal narrative of float-paddle trips on 18 Illinois ri\'ers, including historical material and local lore. Order from the author, Route I , Box 221, l\letropolis, IL 62960. Feininger's Chicago, 1941: 65 Photographs by Andreas Feninger. 1ew York: Dover Publications, 1980. 77 pp. Cloth, 12.50; paper, $5.00. A portrait of Chicago in 1941, from South Side slums to wealthy North Side neighborhoods, by one of Life maga7ine's top photographers. The Flavor of ·wisconsin by Harva Hatchten. :\ladison: The State Historical Society of \Visconsin, 1981. 376 pp. Cloth, 14.95. "An informal hi,tory or food and eating in the Badger state."

A Guide for Historical Archaeology in Illinois edited by Charles E. Orser, Jr. Published by the J\lid-American Research Center in cooperation with the Center for Urban Policy of Loyola Uni\ersity of Chicago, 1981. Paper, 149 pp. Introduction to the techniques of historical and archaeological research as practiced in the context of hiHoric preservation. Available for $5.00 (add .50

for postage) from the l\Iid-American Re earch Center, Loyola University of Chicago, 6525 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60626. Guide to Chicago Neighborhoods by Ron Grossman. Piscataway, N.J .: New Century Publishers, 1981. 212 pp. Paper, $7.95. Lively, up-to-date directory of museums, churches, and restaurants as well as little-known points of interest in such diverse communities as New Greek Town, Bridgeport, Pullman Village, and Rogers Park . A Guide to Chicago's Historic Suburbs on Wheels and on Foot by Ira J. Bach ass isted by Susan \Volfson. Athens. Ohio: Swallow Press, 1981. 726 pp. Cloth. S29.95; paper, $16 .95. An illustrated guide to 35 walking tours highlighting more than 850 architecurally significant structures in Lake, i\fcHenry, Kane, Du Page, Will, and Cook counties. A Guidebook to the Architecture of River Forest edited by Jeanette S. Fields. River Forest: The Architectural Guide Book Committee, 1981. 68 pp. Pa per. A directory of 61 buildings in this western suburb, including many designed by Frank Lloyd ·wright and other Prairie school architects . Available for S3.50 (acid $1.00 postage) by writing the River Forest Community Center. 414 Jackson, River Forest, IL 60305.

La Grnnge Centennial History edited by William Cromie. La Grange: La Grange Area Historical Society, 1979. 296 pp. Cloth. Includes chapters on schools, churches, and organizations. Available for SJ 7.95 plus postage from the Village Book Nook, 38 S. La Grange Road, La Grange, IL 60525.

Lake Forest, Illinois: History and Reminiscences, 1861-1961 by Edward Arpee. Lake Forest: Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society, 1979. 290 pp. Cloth . A reprint of the informat ive history published in 1964 by the Rotary Club of Lake Forest. Available for $13.95 plus postage from the Lake Forest Bookstore, 624 N. Western, Lake Forest, IL 60045. Landmarks and Legends of Uptown by Jacki Lyden with photographs by Chet Jakus. Chicago, 1980. A photographic view of Uptown's landmarks (including the Uptown el station, Graceland Cemetery, Uptown Theater, and Aragon Ballroom) which form "the physical foundation of the neighborhood's emotional history." Available for $5.95 (add S2.00 for postage) by writing Landmarks, P.O. Box 3620, Merchandise i\Iart, Chicago, IL 60654. Walking with Women through Chicago History by l\farilyn A. Domer, Jean S. Hunt, i\fary Ann Johnson, and Adacle l\f. Wheeler. Edited by Babette Inglehart. Chicago, 1981. 74 pp . Paper. These four self-guided tours-including the Loop, the Near West Side and Hull-House, Prairie Avenue, and Hyde Park-emphasize the role of women in Chicago's past. Available for $3.95 (add .$ 1.00 for postage) from the CHS Museum Store. 63

The Chicago Historical Society Clark Street at North Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60614 Telephone: 312-642-4600 Officers Stewart S. Dixon, President Philip W. Hummer, ]st Vice-President Philip D. Block III, 2nd Vice-President Gardner H. Stern, Treasurer Bryan S. Reid, Jr., Secretary

Director Ellsworth H. Brown

Trustees Bowen Blair Philip D. Block III Cyrus Colter Emmett Dedmon Stewart S. Dixon Mrs. Paul A. Florian III James R. Getz Edward Hines Philip W. Hummer

~frs. Frank D. Mayer Mrs. Brooks McCormick John T. McCutcheon, Jr. Andrew McNally III Arthur E. Osborne, Jr. Bryan S. Reid, Jr. Harold Byron Smith, Jr. Gardner H. Stern Theodore Tieken

Life Trustees Mrs. C. Phillip Miller Hermon Dunlap Smith

Honorary Trustees Jane Byrne, Mayor, City of Chicago

The Chicago Historical Society is a privately endowed institution devoted to collecting, preserving, and interpreting the history of the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois, and selected areas of American history. It must look to its members and friends for continuing financial support. Contributions to the Society are tax-deductible, and appropriate recognition is accorded major gifts. The Society encourages potential contributors to phone or write the director's office to discuss the Society's needs.

Membership Membership is open to anyone interested in the Society's activities and objectives. Classes of annual membership and dues are as follows: Individual, S25; Family, S30. Members receive the Society's quarterly magazine, Chicago History ; a quarterly Calendar of Events listing Society programs; invitations to special programs; free admission to the building at all times; reserved scats at movies and concerts in our auditorium; and a 10% discount on books and other merchandise purchased in the Museum Store.

Hours Exhibition galleries are open daily from 9:30 to 4:30; Sunday from 12:00 to 5:00. Research co°llections are open Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 to 4:30. The Graphics Collection is open from 1:30 to 4:30. The Society is closed on Christmas, 1ew Year's, and Thanksgiving.

Education and Public Programs offers guided tours, assemblies, slide talks, gallery talks, craft demonstrations, and a variety of special programs for all ages, from pre-school through senior citizen.

Admission Fees for Non-members Adults, $1; Children (6-17), 50¢; Senior Citizens, 25¢. Admission is free on Mondays. Single copies of Chicago History, published quarterly, are S3.00 by mail; S2.50 at newsstands, bookshops, and the Museum Store.

Lithograph showing the alleged conspirators in the Haymarket Riot, 1886. The bomb-throwing which precipitated the riot convinced many Chicagoans of the need for armed policemen. See page 41. CHS, ICHi-16668.