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 PROPERTY INTERESTS 
 
 CITY OF CHICAGO. 
 
 t^itih: nvn^^jps 
 
 |I\ipp : 
 
 I'-^t^^ 
 
 1869. 
 
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0. R. Field, 
 
 Geo. S. King. 
 
 L. A. WiLLARD. 
 
 yXEl>15' KING & Co., 
 
 \m and fynl j%ki^ Igciit,^ 
 
 BUY AND SELL PROPERTY. 
 
 MONEY INVESTED ON BOND & FIRST MORTGAGE 
 
 CORPORATIONS, ESTATES AND INDIVIDUALS. 
 
 ntieHtmente made for :(}on-][fstdente or o%rB 
 
 t?.a.x:es :e*j^xid, eto 
 
 No. 115 DEARBORN STREET. 
 
 A-FTJER ]MA.Y 1st, 
 
 Basement of First National Bank Building, 
 
 COR, STATE AND WASHINGTON STREETS, 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 
 CARLI: Consortium of Academic and Researcii Libraries in Illinois 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/parkspropertyintOOIawr 
 
THE PARKS 
 
 AKD 
 
 PROPERTY INTERESTS 
 
 OW THB 
 
 CITY OF CHICAGO, 
 
 WITH MAPS, 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 •v^ E s T E n Kr 3srE"WS c o ]N^c i» -A. isr -s- . 
 
 18 6 9. ^ 
 
 i 
 
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1569, 
 
 bt the western sews compact, 
 
 In the Qerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern 
 District of Illinois. 
 
 Rasp, 'Uc'Sa.ii.y A Co., PsrSTiBa, 51 Clabk Stbebt, Chicago. 
 
THE PEOPEETY LN'TEEESTS OE THE 
 CITY OF CHICAGO. 
 
 Of all men in tlie world, a Chicagoan, when he finds a fact, 
 palpable and indisputable, shonld accept it as a fact Had this 
 always been done in the history of our city, it would have been 
 fer better for the metropolis. But there have been thousands, 
 among influential citizens too, to whom the persistent growth 
 of the city has been well nigh as astonishing as to the most 
 fossilized Philadelphian who could n't, or the most bigoted St 
 Louisian who would n't, see what it seems culpable for a resi- 
 dent not to see. 
 
 In the estimation of these, every advance in real estate has 
 been the result of some artificial effort to inflate the market 
 Always, a reaction was about to set in, and dechne far below 
 the starting point was speedily to come. The man of moderate 
 means, who had, in his abounding faith, gone his bottom dollar 
 in making a first payment, was held up as a miracle of blind 
 folly ; and those contemplating such a preceding were coun- 
 seled to make some better use of their money — to put it into 
 a savings bank, or buy an insurance policy with it — anything 
 better, nothing worse, than this. Still, these transactions have 
 gone on, and, alike in the case of men of small and of large means, 
 a speedy and liberal return has come. Of the hundreds who, 
 every week, have thus, as the cant phrase goes, been "discount- 
 insr the future of the citv,"' we have vet to learn, in a wide 
 observation, of the first instance in which the poor have been 
 made poorer, or the rich failed to become richer, by the trans- 
 action. 
 
 Of similar character have been the criticims passed by many 
 citizens on our building enterprises. In the estimation of 
 one, the neat wooden structures constantly filling the suburbs. 
 
4 The Paries and Property Interests 
 
 five or six thousand of them every year, to become pleasant, 
 independent homes of the laboring and middle classes, are con- 
 sidered as a mere shell ephemerally put on in a moment of 
 unhealthful growth, which the city must speedily slough off, and 
 stand before the world in her repulsive primitive nakedness ; 
 while another looked upon such structures as Palmer's Building, 
 the Merchants' Insurance Building, and the First National 
 Bank Building, as either a capricious waste of capital, or 
 an insane attempt to advertise the owner's business, or enable 
 him to sell his adjacent lots in a rising market. Amid all this 
 building activity, rents were to speedily and disastrously decline ; 
 the city, filled by the war, was, on the return of peace, to dis- 
 charge her " surplus " population into the agricultural districts ; 
 "speculators," as the members of the Board of Trade were 
 indiscriminately termed, were to retire to their rural haunts, 
 despoiled and crest-fallen; and Chicago, in spite of her popula- 
 tion growing steadily and rapidly amid all — her multiplying 
 marts, her expanding commerce, her enlarged and increasing 
 connections with a vast galaxy of commonwealths, each capable 
 of feeding a vast metropolis, — was to return to the rank of a 
 provincial town. Palmer's Building was "too fine," forsooth, 
 to accommodate an annual trade by a single firm of ten or 
 twelve millions ! 
 
 But the work has gone on ; all these dwellings and stores 
 and offices have been occupied. At no time in the recent his- 
 tory of the city* has there been, at this period of the year, a 
 firmer feeling in rents of all kinds. Business, too, is changing 
 its locale^ which is itself evidence of healthy, vigorous life ; res- 
 idence portions of the city here, and degraded localities there, 
 are becoming the scene of the most substantial improvements 
 and the heaviest commercial and financial transactions ; (wit- 
 ness the " Hausmannizing " of State street) ; while other 
 branches do not fail to crowd into the vacant places in the old 
 localities. 
 
 Chicago, then, is a /ad, — such a fact as we characterized in 
 the beginning, which no rival non-resident can ignore, and no 
 croaking citizen depreciate. Every decade, every year, there 
 have been hundreds to deprecate the enthusiastic forecastings 
 of the most experienced and sagacious of our citizens, and say : 
 
of the City of Chicago. 
 
 " It can not be ! " But it is, nevertheless ; and we firmly be- 
 lieve is still more to be. 
 
 The ground of our faith lies, first of all, in the fact that there 
 could have been no city here at all had not some extraordinary 
 interest and need external to itself compelled it. The site, as 
 nature made it, was surely about the last that man would have 
 chosen for business or a home. There was nothing, apparently, 
 to bring a metropolis here ; but it came. There was even less 
 to keep it here after it came — little pleasant, healthful ground ; 
 no water supply ; no building materials convenient ; — yet when 
 it came it persistently stayed. It had few natural thoroughfares 
 of communication with the vast regions yet unsettled, on which 
 the metropolis was to grow, if grow it must, — a boisterous lake 
 on the one hand, washing unpromising shores in a higher lati- 
 tude; on the other, a river, accessible only by an artificial chan- 
 nel, yet to be dug ; — but to-day, in the brief space of half a 
 generation, Chicago surpasses all but two or three of the capitals 
 of the world in facilities of communication, at all seasons of the 
 year, with its vast and growing dependencies. From a dreary out- 
 post, planted apart from any lines of commerce, lying helpless 
 in the mud of the prairie primeval, she has already grown to be 
 in truth a metropolis, in which center the expanding interests 
 and energies of growing States and cities ; a vast, well-appointed 
 and well-administered municipality, with beautiful streets, ade- 
 quate sewerage, a water supply the purest and most exhaustless 
 in the world, a vigorous government that does not manipulate a 
 yard of red tape, and is free from a single tradition or suspicion 
 of dishonesty and favoritism ; a city of homes, and schools, and 
 churches, and benevolent institutions, and presses, and arts, and 
 manufactories. 
 
 On the other hand, looking not at what the city was to begin 
 with, but at what it is, and what is the food on which it lives, 
 surprise at the reality gives place to almost wonder that it is not 
 more and greater. For, lying behind the great fact of the city, 
 are greater facts which justify an expectation beyond what the 
 most sagacious or sanguine have indulged. These, — too numer- 
 ous to consider in detail, and fortunately too familiar and obvi- 
 ous to need to be more than suggested,-^are all to be referred, 
 first, to the extent and richness of the region which the city 
 
The Paries and Property Interests 
 
 immediately subsidizes ; secondly, to the relations which capital 
 is establishing between it and more remote lands and interests. 
 The writer of this once made the acquaintance, during an 
 excursion on the opening of a new Illinois railway, of an 
 English gentleman long resident in one of our Southern States, 
 and who had thoroughly caught the spirit of our life. He had 
 been accustomed to wonder what all these lines of railways 
 meant — what occasion there could be for them, — which covered 
 the Prairie State like a net- work. "But," said he, " the mystery is 
 now solved ; I have but to ride over Illinois to see what they 
 mean. I wonder that there are not more of them." Chicago can 
 scarcely be called a great city in fact yet, — only a quarter 
 of a million inhabitants; and he who estimates fairly the re- 
 sources of Illinois alone must see that they are more than 
 enough, and are sufficiently tributary to Chicago to secure her 
 present status forever. But suppose we were to leave out of the 
 account Illinois, Southern Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, and so on, 
 and give their resources to St. Louis, to reach the seaboard at 
 Norfolk by some more southern route than those securely estab- 
 lished ; there yet remain in Wisconsin, Southern Iowa, Minne- 
 sota, Dakotah, Nebraska, and regions farther west, more than 
 resources enough to give her a metropolitan growth increasing 
 for all time. Does any one doubt that these are assured to 
 Chicago ? The proposed Northern Pacific Eailroad is no less 
 a Chicago interest than are the Union or Central Pacific to be. 
 The freshest tyro in Lake Superior topography and climatalogy 
 knows that the talk about Eastern railway outlets in that direc- 
 tion is the sheerest nonsense. Whatever of trade from those vast 
 regions north of the latitude of Chicago does not reach Eastern 
 markets by vessel, must infallibly come here, while the lake 
 marine engaged therein will more and more be owned and con- 
 trolled here. There is nothing disastrous to Chicago preten- 
 sions in the Northern Pacific Eailway scheme, and if there were, 
 the danger would be little imminent in view of the status of the 
 Pacific road already built Col. Hudworth, of the Union Pa- 
 cific, recently delivered an address, in which, recognizing 
 all that has been claimed for Paget Sound as the most availa- 
 ble entrepot for the Arctic trade, it was demonstrated that that 
 harbor can best be reached by a system of Union Pacific 
 
of the City of Chicago, 
 
 branches, — up to Montana and Idaho, thence on to Oregon and 
 
 Washington territory. Plans, indeed, it was asserted months 
 ago by the Springfield (Mass.) Bepublican^ have been perfected 
 for branches to the Union Pacific, that will take in all the 
 Northwestern States and Territories. These branches, so far as 
 Washington or Oregon are concerned, can be opened by 1871, 
 at latest, as they involve but eight hundred miles of new road, 
 and accomplish far better the same end which has been proposed 
 in the construction of the northern line of 1,800 miles under 
 the stimulus of a government grant which is not forthcoming. 
 
 In this connection the project of an Isthmus ship canal, as 
 calculated to divert oriental commerce powerfully and perma- 
 nently from the Chicago trans- continental railway line, merits 
 consideration. We refer our readers to an elaborate article in 
 the New York Commercial and Financial Chronicle of February 
 27th,* in which .it is demonstrated, first, that Seward's Darien 
 project is impracticable, short, at least, of a score or more of 
 years, while, secondly, there is no demand for it, in view of the 
 early completion of the Pacific road, actual and projected. If 
 built, it would be available for steamers only, since sailing ves- 
 sels, in order to pass through it, would have to be towed to and 
 from a point two hundred miles at sea, through a region of 
 perpetual calms, or light, fitful and baffling winds, before reach- 
 ing the track of north-east and south-west trade winds. They 
 could go round Cape Horn far more profitably, considering the 
 canal toll, the cost of tonnage, and the increased insurance pre- 
 miums over rates chargeable on vessels keeping in the open 
 sea. 
 
 Coming to another series of recent events, what is this " bat- 
 tle of the railways " of which so much has been heard of late, 
 but a strife among the great track lines penetrating the interior 
 from the seaboard, in which each has sought, if not to exclude 
 the other, to secure to itself permanent connections with the 
 vast railway system of Chicago. Chicago, as the New York 
 Times declared, was the real objective point of the war. The 
 traffic of the great West — of the rapidly developing regions 
 beyond the Mississippi valley and beyorid the backbone of the 
 
 * Quoted in the Chicago Railway Review of March 11th. 
 
8 The Paries and Property Interests 
 
 continent, even of the Pacific ocean and of Asia — was the prize ; 
 and Chicago, being " the concentrating point of all that vast 
 traffic " (these are the Times^ well-considered words), became the 
 goal which it was necessary to win. Without that, the New 
 York and Erie cannot compete for the Pacific trade with either 
 of its powerful rivals, the New York Central or the Pennsyl- 
 vania Central. With that, the three grand trunk lines will 
 stand on a footing of equal advantage. " This contest being 
 decided in the common interest of all, the next struggle," says 
 the New York Tribune, " will be for the control of the lines from 
 Chicago to Omaha." The Northwestern road is already in op- 
 eration, and by July the Chicago, Eock Island k Pacific, and 
 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy companies will have complet- 
 ed their lines to the same point ; so that there will be three in- 
 dependent lines in operation from the seaboard through Chicago 
 connecting with the Union Pacific by the time that road is 
 completed. 
 
 Not less full of promise to Chicago would be an examination 
 of the Kansas system of roads, enjoying common connection 
 with Chicago at Leavenworth (where, or at Omaha, there is a 
 magnificent Eailroad Bridge, building.) Through this the 
 best region of New Mexico and Texas will be brought to our 
 door. It is, indeed, not without reasons grateful to Chicago, 
 that such of her citizens as Mr. Sturges, and such railroad 
 managers in her interest as Mr. Joy, are interesting themselves 
 in the Kansas railway system. , 
 
 Now the maxim that Goldsmith puts into the mouth of one 
 of his characters is pertinent to all this: "Whatever is, w." 
 Say that all this growth and activity, — so varied, so intense, so 
 far-reaching, so hopeful and determined, — which constitute 
 Chicago, are past finding out in their remote cause ; say that 
 a metropolis so entirely out of what might have been expected 
 to be the course of trans-Mississippi commerce from seaboard 
 to seaboard, was ostensibly improbable. Yet, how far more 
 improbable now, — a great, growing, wealthy, ambitious metrop- 
 olis once built here, productive capital once accumulated and 
 utilized here, a dozen great and extending railroad lines once 
 concentrated here from East, West, North and South, — that 
 such a change as some anticipate, indeed that any change for 
 
of the City of Chicago. 
 
 the worse, should take place within our century in the center 
 and current of enterprise once established at so great cost, and 
 founded deep in the harmony of so many vast, distinct and 
 otherwise conflicting interests. Consider alone the railroad 
 business ; throw out of the problem altogether all others — 
 stock, grain, etc., equally commanding ; and reflect what con- 
 cern the old roads which are constantly expending their income 
 in iacreasing their facilities, and the new roads which at 
 immense cost are incessantly pushing into new fields and sub- 
 ordinizing them, have in the perpetuity of arrangements whose 
 solidest motive lies thus far almost solely in the future. 
 " Whatever w, IS." That these vital connections with sur- 
 rounding commonwealths once exist, is the strongest possible 
 reason why they should^continue to exist. Hard-earned capital, 
 dear-bought commercial experience, — bringing to their aid 
 sciences laboriously built up and arts patiently mastered, — are 
 little quixotic. The cost will be ever counted of expending 
 millions in first establishing channels of trade and then another 
 thousand millions in directing it therefrom. Simply because it 
 is cheaper to employ the old than to construct new ones, the 
 old will be employed ; and capital seeking investment will find 
 it in existing enterprises, in preference to expending itself on 
 the superfluous and problematical. The only necessity that can 
 lead to the opening of other lines will be that which lies in the 
 fact that existing lines have become inadequate to the increased 
 demand ; and in that fact we find the very promise of Chicago's 
 greatness, in which her citizens have such an abiding faith, and 
 which is now so stimulating capital to seek an investment 
 here. 
 
 We say " investment," generally ; for in this respect the real 
 estate " movement " is but the complement of an activity 
 which extends to commerce not onl^, but embraces manufac- 
 turing enterprise, and the growth of the arts, useful and orna- 
 mental as well. The expenditure of eight or ten millions 
 annually in building, and the ten or twelve millions of real 
 estate transfers, in which from fifty to seventy -five millions of 
 money annually changes hands,, constitute a fact too great to 
 be considered as standing by itself. It has its meaning in 
 facts equally momentous and imposing. 
 
10 The Paries and Property Inteo^esta 
 
 And just here, before passing to consider two or three specific 
 features of the real estate movement since the close of the war, 
 and in the light of this experience to forecast others, we wish 
 to rescue the interest from a reproach which the unscrupulous 
 or inconsiderate have sought to fasten upon it by the use of a 
 sensational and absurd epithet. Among those who seem 
 sincerely or affect to regard the real estate movement as facti- 
 tious and unwarranted, we hear men triumphantly referring to 
 periods like that subsequent to 1857, when several years elapsed 
 ere purchasers realized what they had paid for ground at a time 
 of undue inflation ; or that midway in the war, when, amid the 
 uncertainty of those dark days, and the diversion of capital to 
 war industries, prices were nominal and sales few. By such 
 we have now and then heard it said, " There is a ' corner ' in 
 real estate." Now the application of this term to speculative 
 transactions is sufficiently understood. It applies to transac- 
 tions in which, first, some product literally transferable is dealt 
 in, like grain, gold, bonds, etc., something which may thus itself 
 be used as a medium of exchange, and in which, secondly, 
 owing to their transferableness, those products may be concen- 
 trated in the hands of a few here or there, carried from city to 
 city, locked up and unlocked, and pass from clique to clique. 
 Now, as regards real estate, neither is it such a medium, nor 
 can its representations — in the shape of contracts, mortgages, 
 deeds, etc. — become so, owing to the uncertainty which 
 characterizes their validity and value, until after a tedious 
 examination of the history of the title in each case. Nor is the 
 commercial interest in real estate sufficiently simple, determinate 
 and mobile (so to speak) to admit of the concentration of its 
 interests largely in the hands of a few. In the nature of things 
 there can be no unity of action, nor motive therefor, among so 
 many, with a view to a scheme for swindling the general public ; 
 while the number of those who must sell what they hold or 
 buy for delivery, what they have contracted to pay at a given 
 date (the imperative conditions of a " corner ") will always be 
 very small, in proportion to the number of those who hold their 
 property under circumstances known only to themselves, and 
 which no clique or ring can take advantage of. In this connec- 
 tion let us note the prevailing fact in regard to Chicago real 
 
• of the City of Chicago. 11 
 
 estate — that this "movement," this growth, has been iden- 
 tical with that of the city in population, industry, and commer- 
 cial importance ; in all of which, carrying real estate along with 
 it, ^ there has, upon the whole, been decided progress from 
 decade to decade. Of the two or three periods of depression 
 that have been experienced, not one has extended to five years. 
 As with the ocean, there has been recession here and there, and 
 now and then ; but these have been of the nature of an ebb 
 in the tide, which, to those who have had faith and pluck 
 . enough to take it, has soon proved a flood tide, and borne them 
 on to fortune. 
 
 The particular explanation of this is found in the even pace 
 which building enterprise and real estate activity have uniform- 
 ly kept. Our readers will remember how, on the removal of 
 Camp Douglas, the ground of that and adjoining localities was 
 subdivided and sold. Prominent among these transactions was 
 the sale of the Grove property, and the Wentworth tract — 
 three years and a year and a half ago respectively. The former 
 was held at about ^35 per foot — the latter at from $30 to $50. 
 The price seemed large, but the easy terms reconciled purchasers 
 to it. But those who bought only in the expectation of taking 
 advantage of the long time and paying for their lots, were- 
 astonished at finding them within a year double in value on 
 their hands. The reason was that the ground was near ; that 
 improvements were begun on every hand; and now the few 
 choice lots in these tracts which can be had at all, readily 
 command from three to four times the price then paid for them.. 
 The same thing has been repeated scores of times, until now 
 Chicago is well-nigh surrounded on every hand— although the 
 South Side has taken the lead — with subdivisions,, which have 
 been built up and become homogeneous with, the city. There 
 has been no special effort made by dealers, beyond regular 
 advertising and auction sales — both of which are quite as 
 legitimate in real estate as in any other branch of business, to 
 increase this activity. It is simply a fact in the history of the 
 normal growth of a city that has grown because grow it must. 
 The average of new buildings for three years past has been, we 
 suppose, about seven thousand annually. That a majority 
 (though by no means a great majority) of these are of wood, 
 
12 The Parhs and Property Interests 
 
 does not affect the significance of the fact that thej have 
 been built, and serve a purpose. Thev are of wood, simply 
 because the market does not abound in a more solid material. 
 Among those within from two to three miles of the Court House, 
 the number of really first-class business and residence structures 
 is very great ; indeed, not a few of the former are fully the 
 equals, both in style and in solidity of construction, of the best 
 to be found in New York. 
 
 The whole movement, land and building, finds a parallel only 
 in that which has been going on in New York during the same 
 period. It is a movement of the residence population up town, 
 and corresponding changes in the localities of the wholesale 
 and retail business. The opening of Central Park, in New 
 York, was attended with the same results as the putting into 
 market of our South Side Grove property, and will no doubt 
 find a completer parallel, though probably not in so short a 
 time, in the location and opening of our South Side Park. 
 One year ago, for example, a dealer bought at auction a piece 
 of land near the Central Park, for $5,000, which he has just 
 disposed of for $10,000. Attention is now largely directed to 
 localities still further north, around Fort "Washington ; and \\i 
 the population of New York increases in the same ratio as it 
 has done since 1825, it will, twenty years hence, contain 
 2,000,000 people, and all the available parts of the island will 
 be occupied with improvements. During that period, either 
 New York will fail to exhibit this progress, or Chicago will 
 continue to progress in the same ratio as heretofore of late 
 years. The ten years will, at this rate, give Chicago from one- 
 half to three-fourths of a million of inhabitants ; and the result 
 of a doubling or trebling of our population is such that the 
 most unstudied can calculate it. Notwithstanding this fact, 
 the Chicago Tribune^ we see, regards it as " perfectly absurd to 
 compare the intrinsic value of the ' outside property ' of this 
 city with that of lots on the upper end of New York Island." 
 Its chief reason is found in the fact, that the proposed additions 
 to -Chicago will swell its corporate limits from its present area 
 of 28 square miles (New York Island contains 21 square miles) 
 to 48 square miles, or, including Hyde Park and Lake View, 
 66 square miles.; while there is nothing in natural circumstances 
 
of the City of Chicago. 13 
 
 to prevent it from becoming conterminous with Cook county, 
 or even the State of Illinois ! The raillery may be pardoned, 
 on the ground that so poor an argument could scarcely be pro- 
 vocative of anything very brilliant or original in the way of 
 wit. It is sufficient to say that it is not necessary for a city to 
 be hemmed in by maritime or mountain barriers, to determine 
 the direction and laws of its growth. Precisely because, as the 
 Tribune observes, the most of the ground about Chicago is all 
 " one vast plain," will the city not occupy it indiscriminately. 
 It will "get the best." If the " plain " is anywhere relieved by 
 flood, forest, or hill, population will be attracted thither; 
 as, in fact, going along the lake shore, you pass among fine 
 buildings for six miles, north and south, while in certain other 
 directions you encounter the open prairies within two and one- 
 half miles of business. The observations of the World 
 concerning the current movement in New York, have applica- 
 tion here : 
 
 " With the advent of spring comes a large variety of sub- 
 urban property, located in Westchester county, and on Long 
 Island. Farms anywhere, almost, within thirty miles of the 
 city, are being purchased and cut up into city lots. The 
 best solution for the existing difficulty of locating for our 
 teeming population is to better our modes of communication, 
 increase the rate of speed, and by the issuing of cheap 
 commutation tickets, encourage settlement in the country. 
 
 * * * * There is no doubt that the completion 
 of the Pacific Eailroad will have an influence on real estate 
 in this city. The present movement is based in a measure 
 on the ^contingency of increased trade on the completion 
 of the road ; yet the most prudent man must see that 
 these are the most available points for the flood of our surplus 
 population to spread over. No serious revulsion can therefore 
 come if speculation be kept within moderate bounds." 
 
 It is to be remarked in this connection, that the only cities 
 in which the real estate business can properly be termed a 
 " movement," are the terminal points on the grand central 
 entrepot of the Pacific Road and the Eastern connections, — 
 New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. Take Cincinnati, for 
 example. The sales for the week ending March 5th, numbered 
 
14 The Parhs and Property Interests 
 
 but 69, with an aggregate of $257,779.89, compared with 269 
 sales in Chicago, to the amount of $1,198,859, showing 300 
 per cent, greater activity here than in Cincinnati. A comparison 
 was recently made in the New York Tribune between the real 
 estate business of San Francisco and Chicago, showing that the 
 transactions of the former city were nearly equal in money 
 value to those of the latter. But Chicago now appears to be 
 rapidly leaving her western competitor ; since, according to 
 Curtis' Real Estate Circular^ there were during January, only 
 492 sales of real estate in all sections of the city and county 
 of San Francisco, for an aggregate value of $2,716,823. Now, 
 the movement here rivals that of New York, — the number of 
 transfers in Chicago during the last three weeks of February, 
 being 241, 272, and 240, compared with 238, 231, and 173 
 in New York. On Wednesday, March 10, there were 38 
 sales in New York, having an aggregate value of $685,000. 
 On the Saturday previous, there were in Chicago 82 sales, 
 amounting to $578,000. It is notable that this. movement, 
 which has indeed been continuous for three years, has received 
 little help from the press. Indeed, until the present park 
 agitation, most of the papers have been accustomed to speak 
 of the real estate business deprecatingly, if not contemptuously. 
 The prime importance of the park schemes, however, and 
 especially the certainty that if lost now they will be lost 
 forever, so far as concerns an accessible and economical location, 
 have united most of the papers heartily in sympathy with the 
 movement. The Tribune's warning to "Stand from Under," 
 although proper enough, so far as mere speculation is concerned, 
 had little force when based on considerations like the following : 
 " When we see, or think that we see, an effort made to discount 
 the future growth of Chicago in present prices of prairie land 
 six miles away from business, loithdrawing capital from its 
 legitimate and useful channels to be locked up in park fronts^ 
 vfhere there are no parks, we shall say so." By all means, let 
 the ^rf&Mwe " say so." But it gives expression when it does 
 " say so," to a novel principle of political economy. That is 
 surely a curious process by which capital can be " locked up in 
 park fronts." We should have supposed that when a purchaser 
 pays over money for a piece of ground, instead of locking it 
 
of the City of Chicago. 15 
 
 up, he merely transfers it to the other party to the bargain, in 
 whose hands it is quite as free as it was in his own, or in the 
 vaults of a bank ! Now, certainly he cannot be accused of 
 locking up that portion which he merely promises to pay. 
 There has, we suppose, been attracted to Chicago for direct 
 investment in real estate the past year, at least seven millions of 
 dollars, to say nothing of the amount which has been loaned 
 on real estate securities. Does this economical philosopher 
 regard that money as " locked up " here ? And, if so, what 
 of the other millions which have been expended on improve- 
 ments? Have we not more buildings, better streets, a more 
 independent municipal treasury, a more thriving commerce, 
 an interior and more manifold social life, than we should have 
 had had these millions been kept " locked up " in Eastern 
 strong boxes ? Amono; the two or three cities that have almost 
 not felt the financial derangement of the past few years, 
 Chicago has shared with New York aSone, the pre-eminence. 
 And why ? Because, through all, she has continued to grow 
 and thrive by reason of the commercial facilities which she 
 alone has offered to vast States which cannot remain non-pro- 
 ductive, and which must, in the most stagnant season, find an 
 outlet and market for that portion of their products needed to 
 meet cun'ent necessities. These commonwealths arc the chan- 
 nels through which they discharge their accumulating products, 
 — are among the fixed facts which capital seeking investment 
 will ever respect. 
 
 But let us see if there is any remote sense in which capital 
 invested in these park fronts is "locked up." Is it locked up 
 to the investor, in the sense that undue time must elapse ere 
 he gets even such moderate returns as he is accustomed to look 
 for at home ? If the proposed parks are so far away from the 
 city as to be valueless for the public use and pleasure ; if they 
 are out of all proportion, as regards size, to the present or 
 remote wants of the people ; if their improvement is going to 
 necessitate burdensome exactions for a long period of time from 
 tax-payers ; if, by them, the growth of the city, instead of being 
 invited and stimulated, is to be discouraged and thwarted 
 in any direction, then may the capital invested in them be 
 considered as at least temporarily " locked up," in the sense of 
 
16 The Parks and Property Interests 
 
 being non-productive to the owner. But it appears to us that 
 none of these things are so. The city has no parks adequate 
 to its common wants ; the South Side has no park at all — not 
 an acre set apart for " public use forever." If it is to have a 
 park at all, the best time is now. If, as is the case, we can get 
 no park nearer than the proposed one, necessity compels that 
 we take that or accept the alternative of going further and 
 faring worse. But if we wait long, even till another session of 
 the legislature, and go further, we shall have to pay as much ; 
 for unless the city stops growing (which not even the Tribune 
 predicts or expects), two years more will see it compactly 
 settled southward, and east of State street to Egan avenue, 
 and the entire area from that line to the Rock Island Railroad 
 Works on the west and Hyde Park on the east, filled with 
 suburban groups. Two yeare, we say, should the city main- 
 tain its recent ratio of increase, will see this — will see, that is, 
 the "Park fronts," in w^iich the Tribune fears to see capital 
 "locked up," the site of hundreds of homes — cottage and 
 mansion. Suppose the necessity of the park on the proposed 
 location being by that time apparent, the effort then be made 
 to establish it. The ground will then cost at least twice as 
 much as now. But is there anything disproportionate about 
 the proposed park ? It contains, in all, about a thousand acres, 
 two square miles, so laid out as to have a direct frontage of ten 
 miles. That seems a good deal ; bux it is less than the fron tage 
 of the South Side avenues east of State street and north of Twenty- 
 second street. Not an excessive frontage, surely, for a city 
 destined, ere the close of the century, to have a million inhab- 
 itants — a residence frontage beginning within five and a half 
 miles of the centre of business, and within two miles of the 
 present corporate limits, and whose extreme point is scarcely 
 two miles further on — a tract already reached by four great 
 railroads, and a steam city railway, and accessible within five 
 years at an insignificant cost by steam trains many times an 
 hour. 
 
of the City of Chwago. lY 
 
 PUBLIO PAEKS TS LARGE CITIES. 
 
 One of the principal needs, in our American city and village 
 life, is of public parks or pleasure grounds. As everybody 
 knows, and will acknowledge, they are exceptions, when they 
 happen to occur, to a universal rule. Even in the older cities 
 of the Atlantic States it is rare to find any part of the public 
 knd set aside and made beautiful for the use and enjoyment of 
 those who own it in common. The very word " common," 
 applied, in England, to the larger or smaller tracts in the mid- 
 dle, or on the outskirts, of villages and smaller towns, where 
 every inhabitant is free to walk or play, or to pasture his 
 horse, his ass, his cow, his pigs, or his geese, is hardly known in 
 this country, although the early settler brought here both the 
 thing and the name. Originally, man}' New England villages 
 had their commons, and in some of them the name is still 
 retained in the popular mouth, although what is thought a 
 more refined usage attempts to substitute, for the homelier 
 style, the names of "Park" or "Square." There is Lynn 
 " common" and Salem " common," and every American, every 
 Massachusetts American, at least, has heard of Boston Com- 
 mon. In Cambridge, too, the open ground about which the 
 college buildings stand is sometimes called the common, 
 although that name belongs more properly to a tract in 
 another part of the town ; but the students of Yale and Prince- 
 ton, rejoicing in more delicate classic sensibilities, have not 
 been able to endure the grosser name, and call their patches of 
 elm-shaded turf by no less dignified a title than that of " Cam- 
 pus." But it will not be denied that the name is out of favor, 
 and even the thing itself has not been considered a necessity in 
 our social arrangements. As for the name, in a country so 
 grandiloquent as ours, so dearly loving sounding titles, it is 
 not to be wondered at that it should disappear and give place 
 
 to something more suggestive of grandeur. Nor are we 
 2 
 
18 The Parks and Property Interests 
 
 disposed to quarrel with the willingness to give up a name 
 that carries with it a strong flavor of poverty and social degra- 
 dation. Americans have a perfectly justifiable, nay, not to 
 put it negatively, a very honorable hatred of poverty. Lilce 
 every honorable feeling it may be pushed to excess ; but, as it 
 exists in the nation at large, it is by no means an excess. 
 Americans prefer to be independent. They do not readily 
 agree to share one another's goods. Each man prefers to have 
 his own. Each man will, if possible, live in his own house, 
 have his own acres, his own garden, sit under his own vine 
 and apple tree. Yet in no country have people shown more 
 willingness to meet in common or to travel in common. Town- 
 meeting, mass-meeting, are American words, and our rail cars 
 and steamboats are mass-meetings in motion. The name " com- 
 mon" was given up, or fell out of use, because its associations 
 were not pleasant to our Americans, and the reason why they 
 were not originally larger, or more universally established, was 
 simply because there was, in early times, but little need of 
 them here. In England, it was necessary that commons 
 should be established or acknowledged, else the greedy 
 nobles would have enclosed and enclosed, until no com- 
 mons would have been left. Every one knows the stir that 
 was made in Henry's and in Mary's time, and not then 
 for the first nor last time either, about the enclosures of the 
 commons; the literature of the time is full of allusions to the 
 unjust encroachments of the nobles; old Latimer, in his ser- 
 mons, urges the nobles most feelingly not to take away the 
 commons from their people. But they could not be kept from 
 nibbling at the edges of these tempting acres, and, in many 
 cases, two or three noblemen nibbling away at opposite points, 
 the whole tract disappeared. Here, however, there were no 
 nobles, and the land was free for each settler to take what he 
 could use. In the Eastern States, we believe, too, the land 
 was seldom divided into large grants, as was done in New 
 York and the Middle States ; there were fewer patents, and 
 what there were, were smaller than those which for many years 
 did so much to stay progress in New York and in Virginia. In 
 New England, then, as everybody could have what land he 
 wanted, " commons" were not needed. In the other States, the 
 
of the City of Chicago. 19 
 
 people were not so well off as in New England, or even as in 
 Old England, in this matter. The land in the new planta- 
 tions being all divided among great proprietors, no provision was 
 made for the people. In England, the commons were older 
 than the nobles, or, at least, as old, and the people had not to 
 ask for the right of establishing them. And there was another 
 reason why it would have been unreasonable to expect that 
 the early settlers should establish commons. We have said 
 that they did not need them. Neither did they desire them, 
 for any purposes of mere recreation or to enjoy whatever beauty 
 might be in them. Their villages were planted on the edge of 
 a vast wilderness. " The hoary ocean ridges, roaring into 
 cataracts " were in front of them ; the silent ocean of the bound- 
 less forest was behind them. They dreaded the one almost as 
 much as they did the other. If the sea was a terror to them, so 
 was the wood. It was the home of the Indian who massacred 
 their people, burned their houses and carried their women and 
 children into captivity, and it sheltered the wild -cat and the 
 bear, less cruel than the Indian, but, still, a haunting terror by 
 night and by day. The love of external nature, a modern 
 growth at most, and never very strong in the English breast, 
 could not be expected to grow very vigorously in the hearts of 
 men for whom the landscape that surrounded them was full of 
 danger and death. It was not because these people were aus- 
 tere that they did not care for the nature that lay about them. 
 It was because their minds were filled with cares and anxieties 
 and dread, things hostile to enjoyment. The Southern people 
 are fond of tracing their origin to the cavaliers, the political ene- 
 mies and the temperential antipodes of the puritans, but the set- 
 tlers in the South, however light-hearted they may have been, 
 showed, on this side the water, no more love of natural scenery 
 than their soberer brethren of Massachusetts or Connecticut. 
 The woods and the waters had no more charm for the rollick- 
 ing spendthrift crew, than they had for the grave men of 
 the East The Indian, the bear, and the wild -cat, were as 
 fearful to the men of Smith as they were to the men of 
 Winthrop, and no " Forest Hymn " has came down to us from 
 a poet of either side. They cultivated the social life of hearth 
 and home, and praised the virtues of safety. They repeated 
 
20 The Parks and Property Interests 
 
 the old experience, that the beauty of nature does not reveal 
 itself to those who are struggling with her, but, only, after the 
 victory, to the victors. The same thing is seen to be true, to- 
 day, in the newly settled parts of the West. The pioneer hates 
 "trees and Injuns." He laughs at the folly of the landscape- 
 painter. " Why spend your time in painting these rocks and 
 trees ? I hate the sight of 'em. They are in man's way. We 
 are cutting 'em down and grubbing 'em up, and blasting 'em 
 off the face of the earth, as fast as ever we can." 
 
 There are many reasons why we wish that things had been 
 otherwise. It has resulted, from this early indifference or 
 antipathy, that very few of our towns and villages, whether in 
 the earlier or the later settled parts of the country, have kept 
 any portion of their site free from buildings, and devoted to 
 recreation. In some cases, as in the New England towns we 
 have mentioned, the English " commons " was early established, 
 and continued for a long time to serve a similar purpose to that 
 of its prototype, although there could never have been the 
 same reason for its existence, here, that there was, there. We 
 suppose that when a " common " was set apart in an American 
 settlement, it must have been, either, from a desire to repeat 
 here what they had been accustomed to see at home, — just as 
 they named their new villages after those they had left behind 
 them ; or else, because it was found to be convenient, at first, 
 to have a piece of ground in common, and surrounded by their 
 houses, as making it easier to overlook and guard their posses- 
 sions from attack. In the case of the colleges, as the buildings 
 themselves were copied in their plans from those of the English 
 Universities — though nothing could be more bald and starved 
 than their exteriors — so they were, no doubt placed about open 
 squares with grass and trees, to recall somewhat of the rural 
 beauty in which the Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge have 
 their enchanting seats. In one instance, and it is the only one 
 that occurs to us, at present, an early settlement owed to its for- 
 tifications a pleasant public green. We allude to the well- 
 known Battery, of New York, still retaining some vestiges of its 
 old beauty, although every year makes it less and less possible 
 to imagine what it must have been even fifty years ago when it 
 was the resort of all the fashion, youth and beauty of the town, 
 
of the City of Chicago. 21 
 
 which came there to enjoy, under the overarching trees, the 
 breezes of the harbor and the gay spectacle of the coming and 
 going ships. But, with the exception we have named it 
 certainly is the rule that our American cities, towns, and vil- 
 lages, are not supplied, as they should be, with places for 
 the recreation of the public in the open air. Of course, it some- 
 times happens that a village, or, even, a large town, may be so 
 situated that the walks about it afford all the recreation of this 
 sort that is needed, but this is not often the case. Nearly all 
 the villages on Massachusetts Bay have fine sea-beaches either 
 at their very doors, or close at hand. Sometimes, there are fine 
 woods, near by, where people can go in parties and easily enjoy 
 a pleasant holiday. It may be, that a fine pond, or a smooth- 
 flowing river, holds out its invitation through the summer heat 
 to those who love angling or boating, or spreads a crystal floor, 
 in winter, for the skaters ; it will go hard if youth and the light 
 of heart do not, somehow, find a way to extract sunbeams from 
 cucumbers. But, at the best, the process is difficult, and is 
 offcener abandoned than persevered in. From the want of 
 proper facilities, walking, horse-back-riding, and all open air 
 sports, are nearly abandoned by the inhabitants of our cities and 
 larger towns. 
 
 Why is it that Americans are so little inclined, as a people, 
 to exercise in the open air — and the proposition can hardly be 
 denied — has never, we think, been satisfactorily explained. 
 The reason may, perhaps, lie in the climate, which certainly is 
 a very trying one, but, then, it is not, on the whole, a more disa- 
 greeable climate than the English, and the English people almost 
 make open-air exercise a religious duty. Persons in good health 
 in England do not permit an ordinary rain to keep them in 
 doors. One of the pleasantest days we remember, was spent in 
 walking about the fields, and over the heath, near the old town 
 
 of C , in England, in a steady rain, in company with a bright 
 
 little English lady and two manly boys, the whole party armed, 
 of course, with umbrellas. But, then, just the sort of walk we 
 took would not be easily possible in America, on any day, foul 
 or fair. For, with us, there are only the roads to walk in, ten 
 chances to one that there are no sidewalks, and not only are 
 there no public parks, but all trespass, that is, walking upon 
 
22 Tlie Parhs and Property Inter eds 
 
 private grounds, is, as a rule, forbidden. But, in these mat- 
 ters, there is a good deal more freedom in England than there 
 is here. First, there are the '' commons," " heaths," and 
 " downs," and "moors;" many of these are. extensive, and are 
 fine places for exercise. Then, great freedom is allowed in 
 nearly all the noblemen's parks, that is, to pedestrians, and 
 many of them are crossed by foot-paths, in which the public 
 has, from time immemorial, maintained an undisputed right of 
 way. And, again, many fields owned by private persons are 
 crossed, or bordered on one or two sides by foot-paths, which 
 are not shut up even when the field is planted with grain. In 
 walking from Stratford-on-Avon to Shottery, to see Anne 
 Hathaway's cottage, our walk la}'- for a considerable distance 
 along a grain field, a wire fence on either hand indicating, at 
 once, the .owner's right and ours. The gist of all which is, that 
 walking in England is made easy. Even people not very 
 strong may walk considerable distances, being pretty sure to 
 find some rude but sufficient resting place. In one day at 
 
 C , we remember that in a path that ran along one side of a 
 
 wheat field, and under a bowering hedge-row, we came upon a 
 comfortable seat of rustic work so placed that under this shade 
 one might enjoy a distant prospect of some pretty hills. Where 
 such facilities as these abound, and they are in plenty all over 
 England, it is natural enough that people should make use of 
 them. Of course a great many of these conveniences and 
 privileges are the result of the thousand and one causes that 
 have been in operation to make the England of to day. Eng- 
 lish civilization, which, God forbid that we should ever see 
 transferred to this country*, is a curious mixture of very bad and 
 very good, and, such as it is, it is the product of eighteen cen- 
 turies of crystallization. AVe have just begun to crystallize. 
 Our individual national life is not yet an hundred years old. 
 We are just beginning to set things to rights. 
 
 Now, contrast with English facilities for the enjoyment of 
 the open air and whatever natural beauty may be to be found, 
 the condition of the towns on the Hudson river. We take an 
 illustration from a region familiar to us, and which, beside, is 
 one that best serves our immediate purpose. It is a region that 
 God did everything to make perfect, and which man,' whether 
 
of the City of Chicago. 23 
 
 deliberately or through ignorant carelessness, has done all he 
 could to mar. In the first place, not a single town on the 
 Hudson river is laid out, in any proper sense of the term. This 
 perhaps is nothing singular, for they are many of them old 
 towns and have grown up from chance beginnings and have 
 been directed in their growth by accidents. But it may rea- 
 sonably be hoped that in the planting of the new settlements 
 that are yet to find homes on the banks of this noble stream, it 
 may sometimes be thought worth while by capitalists to take at 
 least as much pains with the plan of a village as with the plan 
 of a house, to consult somebody beside the surveyor, and to 
 treat the souls of the future inhabitants with a little considera- 
 tion. It might be well, for instance, to ask what is the use of 
 having a river like the Hudson running past your town, if the 
 town is so laid out that the river can only be seen by glimpses, 
 and that the actual river banks can never be enjoyed by any 
 one, rich or poor ! For, on the eastern side of the river, this 
 is, literally, the case. The Hudson Eiver Eailroad is an institu- 
 tion of which it is difficult for any cultivated man who lives on 
 its route and suffers by it to speak with becoming patience. It 
 is of no benefit to anybody, unless it be to its stockholders, 
 and for a good many years it was of no benefit whatever to 
 them ; it accommodates no traffic that might not be better 
 served by a road a half mile further back ; it is one of the most 
 noisy and dusty roads in the country ; only those who sit on 
 one side of the cars can see the river, the rest stare at the bank 
 within a few feet, sometimes within a few inches, of their noses ; 
 and what is its crime of crimes, it has utterly destroyed all 
 enjoyment of its beautiful banks by ftiose who live along them, 
 by cutting off all access to the Avater except by crossing the 
 traclc. Now, place a town upon this river, and ask what are its 
 ideal requirements to make it a place for educated, cultivated 
 human beings to think it worth their while to settle there. Of 
 course, if any such society had had an opportunity to exert an 
 influence in the beginning, the railroad would never have been 
 built in that place. We believe there is but one opinion on 
 this subject at present among intelligent men. If the road 
 were not there to-day, it could not possibly be built there. 
 There has been a great growth in the public appreciation of 
 
24 The ParJcs and Property Interests 
 
 beautiful scenery since this road was projected. Such a piece 
 of vandalism could not be perpetrated to-day even by the same 
 class of men who originally set it on foot. But the road is a fact, 
 and now we ask, what course is the best to pursue in laying out 
 a town upon the river banks still beautiful in spite of the rail- 
 road ? Ought not the very first thing thought of to be the 
 common good, the laying out the plan in such a way that the 
 drives shall command the scenery, and the securing for public 
 use — the use of all, rich and poor alike — of an ample tract — 
 no stingy " green" or *' square," but a park, where, for all time, 
 the people may, as in Caesar's great bequest, if Antony were to 
 be believed, "walk abroad and recreate themselves"? Of. 
 course, there is nothing quixotic in such a supposition. Single 
 speculators have laid out villages so, and found their profit 
 in it ; 't is the merest common sense, and we have no doubt 
 that within the next fifty years we shall hear of many villages, 
 of many towns and cities, even, that will have been laid out 
 with care, and taste, and forethought, by intelligent business 
 men. 
 
 And yet. of all the towns strewed along the banks of the 
 Hudson river there is no one, whether it be old or new, where 
 any thought has been given to these things. There are a few 
 of them, like Fishkill Landing and Poughkeepsie, situated, for- 
 tunately, upon broad level plateaus and stragglingly settled in 
 the beginning, so that the winding roads command necessarily 
 varied, and, in the case of Fishkill — for the scenery about the 
 other and larger town is very tame — remarkably beautiful 
 views. But in neither case has any provision been made for the 
 continued enjoyment of this scenery by future generations. 
 The plateau on which Poughkeepsie stands is already crowded ; 
 with the building of the new railroads that are to center in 
 Fishkill Landing, that beautiful meadow-platform once so rural 
 must soon be transformed, and for the dwellers in the great 
 town of smithies and factories that is to grow up there, nothing 
 will be left of nature but such glimpses of the mountains and 
 the river as the houses cannot quite shut out. Even in the 
 cases then of these towns where there was every natural advan- 
 tage, nothing worthy has been done ; if ever anything was pro- 
 posed, a short-sighted economy has nipped the notion in the 
 
of the City of Chicago. 25 
 
 bad ; and here, as in many other ventures, men have shown 
 themselves penny-wise and pound-foolish. Eight years we 
 lived in Newburgh, (a large town then, a much larger town, a 
 city, in the present year of grace), and well do we remember 
 what a perpetual grievance it was that we had to walk a long 
 distance either north or south before we got any good of the 
 nobly beautiful scenery naturally commanded by that most 
 stupidly laid-out town. Who can doubt that if, when the settle- 
 ment was first proposed in that spot^ if, indeed, it was 
 ever "proposed" at all — for it is absolutely without natu- 
 ral advantages — there had been an open parallelogram of 
 a hundred acres laid out on the plateau edge and turning 
 it, so that no after building could obstruct the view of the river, 
 and this devoted forever to the service of a public pleasure- 
 ground ; — who can doubt that this provision would have had 
 the happiest effect upon the material and social fortunes of the 
 place ? The shrewdest Beveridge^ or Powell, or Monell, that 
 speculated in that enterprise might have showed his money- 
 making mates a shrewder trick than any they had the wit to 
 devise, by making this liberal grant. But it was not done ; and 
 Newburgh, as royally placed by nature as the Edinburgh of her 
 Scotch founders, is a melancholy example of how easily and how 
 irretrievably men can throw away golden opportunities. 
 
 One would think that in a democracy as pure in theory as 
 ours, the people would have larger and more abundant privi- 
 leges than they have under aristocratic government, and in 
 time, no doubt, they will. But it must be remembered that, 
 up to this time, our government has been a democracy only in 
 theory, Now it is becoming really a*government of the people, 
 by the people, and for the people. And we are to see very 
 different things in the future from what we have seen in the 
 past. At present, the opportunities for intellectual education 
 enjoyed by the mass of the people of our country are far lower 
 than those enjoyed by the people in England, in France and in 
 Germany. Our people have, thus far, been very backward in 
 establishing museums, galleries of art, zoological gardens, libra- 
 ries. In no city in our Union is there one of these institutions 
 that is more than merely respectable, and yet no city can be a 
 great city, a center, without them. The finest public library in 
 
2t) The Parhs and Property Interests 
 
 America is, we suppose beyond all dispute, that of the city of 
 Boston. In time it will, no doubt, be really a fine library, but 
 at present, is only the promise of one. The Astor Library of 
 New York is only a third-rate collection, and is managed, like 
 everything of the sort in New York, in the most niggardly 
 spirit. Everything that relates to public education in New 
 York leads a starved and precarious existence. And, yet, no one 
 of our so-called great cities has any right to cast a stone at her. 
 The interests of public education languish in all of them. And 
 much ought to be forgiven her for the example she has set in 
 the creation and maintenance of the first great public park 
 established in the United States. To have done that, and to 
 have done it so completely, and so beyond all cavil, well, as she 
 has, makes us willing to believe that, in the future, she will 
 do other things as noble and as well. She has many things to 
 contend against. She has a population more mixed, more alien 
 in sentiment to American ideas, more floating and unsettled, 
 than any other of our cities. Then, she has the most degraded 
 set of public officers to be found in the world, and, finally, her 
 social standard being, simply and purely, a money standard, it 
 is next to impossible to excite any interest whatever among her 
 " upper class " in any thing that relates to education. The 
 libraries and museums must wait, in New York ; their time is 
 not yet come; meanwhile the Park is rapidly making them 
 possible. 
 
 And the Park is making these things possible, not only for 
 New York, but for the whole country. We consider that in a 
 democracy like ours the first thing necessary in matters of edu- 
 cation is, to put the whole»people upon an equality of opportu- 
 nity. Give the people the best of everything ; don't stint them ; 
 don't try to put them off with trash ; don't say the faithless 
 words — " The people can't appreciate the best ;" remember that 
 every thing greatest in this world that has been done in litera- 
 ture and art has been done for the people, and that immortality 
 of fame has come from them, and not from any clique or coteria 
 Of course, in this country, where the people are, theoretically, 
 the source of power, it is not to express ourselves correctly, to 
 speak of this or that advantage being given to the people, for 
 the people are supposed to appropriate their own money for 
 
of the City of Chicago. 21 
 
 their own needs, but in practice this is not the way it works, 
 for wealth and education, combined in varying proportions, get 
 the control of public -affairs, and the people are not alwaj^s able 
 to get what would really be good for them. They have to be 
 taught what they need. And there must be a beginning made. 
 And in our belief the very healthiest way to make this begin- 
 ning is by means of a great public Park. There are many 
 persons who tliink that the greatest mission the Park has to 
 fulfill is to develop the value of the real estate on the island. 
 We suppose that it is the fact, patent to everybody, that the 
 Park has done this to an extraordinary degree that has made 
 the people of New York so unanimous in their approval of the 
 large expenditure that has been made to bring the Park to its 
 present perfection. It is so rare to hear any complaijUt of the 
 management of the commissioners on the score of their too great 
 liberality at least, that it may fairly be said there is never any 
 complaint at all. The truth is that the Park is thoroughly satis- 
 factory to the public, it gives them the best roads in the world, 
 to drive on and walk on, ponds for rowing and skating, music 
 from an admirable band, and play-grounds for the children, and 
 the tax is so distributed that they do not feel its weight. Then, 
 there is another point. The park flatters us, and we all like to 
 be flattered. Whatever is done here, is done so far as is possi- 
 ble with the means at our command, as perfectly as it would be 
 done in Europe for kings or queens. Victoria at Windsor or 
 at Osborne, Napoleon in Paris, does not drive over better roads 
 than the New Yorker in his Park. And the French sculptor 
 working over the carved decorations on the New Opera House 
 or the Flora Pavilion of the Tuilleries does not work for a more 
 exacting master in the person of his head-architect, than the 
 sculptor on the stone-work of the Terrace in the Central Park, 
 when Wrey Mould sets him his design. In truth, the Central 
 Park represents the highest point that the Arts of Decorative 
 Design have reached in this country, and no private person is 
 able to command better work than is done in the Park for the 
 use and delight of the mass of the people. Our Park has had 
 the advantage of being governed by a commission of great 
 sagacity and uprightness, the gentlemen composing it have the 
 confidence of the whole community. And, as is well known, 
 
28 TJie Parks and Property Interests 
 
 that commission has had the services of very able men as archi- 
 tects and landscape-gardeners-in-chief; men who have been 
 deeply interested in the education of the people, and who have 
 kept that point steadily in view from the first. The result has 
 been that the people have gladly put their own shoulders to the 
 wheel, and have backed the commission in every thing they have 
 done. While all this is true, it is no less true that, unless it 
 had been seen that the Park was a great agent in increasing the 
 value of property on' the island, there would probably have 
 been a less cordial feeling toward it, on the part of the public. 
 The one sufficient reason why nothing has been done here to 
 establish museums, libraries, galleries of art — those absolute 
 essentials of a great city — is that it has been impossible to con- 
 vince the men who had the money in their pockets that they 
 would pay, that is, that they would raise the value of 
 property. It was easier to convince them that the Park 
 would do this, and after some skirmishing, although there 
 was wonderfully little opposition, it was established. It 
 had hardly been staked out before the hoped-for rise in 
 the value of the surrounding lots began, and to-day that rise 
 has reached a point beyond the wildest expectations. And, of 
 course, this rise has not affected the immediately surrounding 
 lots alone. The whole upper half of the island has felt the im- 
 pulse, and the highest point has not been reached yet. Indeed, 
 so great is the excitement in the real estate market in conse- 
 quence of the success of the Park proper as a financial experi- 
 ment, that a system of extensions has been devised known as 
 the Boulevards — would that we could have our own names for 
 our own things ! — magnificent roads with quadruple rows of 
 trees, the roads themselves as well made as the roads in the 
 Park, and leading out far into the adjacent country. Nor is 
 this all, the whole north-western part of the Island is to be pre- 
 served from the fate of rectangularity that has befallen the cen- 
 tral part, by being laid out in a freer manner with winding roads, 
 and in addition two smaller " Morning- side Parks," as they are 
 called, are to be laid out on the eastern slope of the ridge that 
 runs along the north-western edge of New York island. These 
 improvements which are by no means Utopian, but the practi- 
 cal plans of practical men and already on the way to comple- 
 
of the OiPy of Chicago. 29 
 
 tion, have made many people richer who were already rich 
 enough, and many more rich who had never looked to be any- 
 thing but poor. And the rise in value, while it is enormous, is, 
 yet, so evidently reasonable, that there is no danger of the 
 public going crazy over it. Up-town lots are not Dutch tulips, 
 neither are they slips of morus muliicaulis. They fairly repre- 
 sent an increase of comfortable living, an advance in civilization, 
 »a city-life nearer the ideal than New Yorkers had hoped to see, 
 in this generation, and we confidently believe that they are the 
 pledge, in a mercantile, and not in a poetic, sense, of the speedy 
 establishment of these institutions of which we have already 
 spoken, without which no city can claim to be a metropolis of 
 the world. The Park has educated the people of New York 
 up to a point which they would not have reached in twenty 
 years without it, and there is no great city in our Union where 
 the same result would not follow the establishment of a similar 
 pleasure-ground. Of course it must be remembered that our 
 Park would never have been what it is if it had not been gov- 
 erned as it has. It is not a harum scarum, spendthrift affair. 
 It is managed with an admirable union of thrift and liberality, 
 and all the best intelligence of our community has been called 
 into its service. It is essentially the people's Park, and they 
 give the men they have entrusted with its management all the 
 support and encouragement that they need. Other cities are 
 preparing to follow our example, Brooklyn with her magnificent 
 Prospect Park is trying her best to eclipse us. San Francisco 
 is getting ready. Chicago, too, is waking up, and, as if land and 
 all values had not made a sufficiently astonishing advance 
 there, her citizens are determined to try what a great Park can 
 do to give their wealth another impulse. The Parks first, and 
 the Museums and Libraries will follow in due time. 
 
30 The Parhs and Property Interests 
 
 THE SOUTH PAEK. 
 
 The business and population of Chicago are slowl}^, but 
 surely, tending southward. Every month the changes going oA 
 in the First Ward indicate this. Large church edifices, which, 
 when first constructed, were believed to have been located far 
 enough away from the noise of commercial activity to remain 
 until the fingers of time should cover them with evidences of 
 age, or crumble them to earth, have yielded to the inexorable 
 demands of commerce. Thus, the First Presbyterian Church 
 has gone from Washington to Congress street ; the First Baptist 
 from Washington street to Hubbard court, nearly three-quarters 
 of a mile farther south ; the Second Presbyterian Church 
 Society, on the corner of Washington street and Wabash av- 
 enue, have resolved to build a new church next year. But a 
 surer evidence of the advance of commercial activity southward 
 is the fact that from La Salle street to Lake Michigan the resi- 
 dences are transformed into stores at the rate of about one block 
 per year, and the old settlers who once supposed themselves 
 comfortably located in the suburbs, are constantly selling out 
 to business men, and, with the thousands of dollars thus secured, 
 are purchasing lots farther south, and erecting thereon new 
 and much more commodious houses. 
 
 To the inhabitants of Wabash and Michigan avenues, who, 
 not long ago, believed that those thoroughfares were to be for- 
 ever dedicated to the uses of domestic and home life, this 
 encroaching advance of commerce, with its obliteration of old 
 scenes, is regarded with anything but feelings of pleasure. 
 
 Since the Lake Park bill has passed the legislature, an in- 
 creased impetus must be given to this movement southward. 
 The lake front will shortly be converted into docks to accom- 
 modate the business of our vast inland coasting trade, and to 
 afford facilities for the transaction of the future direct trade 
 with Europe. Business men are now making a move to secure 
 such trade. Mr. Chesbrough, City Engineer of Chicago, — and 
 
of the City of Chicago. 31 
 
 no better authority could be given, — says that a small addi- 
 tional outlay would secure depth of water enough over the St. 
 Clair flats for ocean vessels of 1,000 tons ; and the improve- 
 ment of the St. Lawrence is now in progress. An American 
 ship canal around Niagara Falls, and still another artificial out- 
 let from Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario, will certainly be made 
 within the next ten years. The completion of the Pacific Rail- 
 road during the present season will give definite shape and im- 
 pulse to these schemes for the extension of our inland and for- 
 eign commerce, and it is not improbable that the next session 
 of Congress will provide the necessary legislation for inaugur- 
 ating these grand improvements. Ten, or at most fifteen, years 
 hence, will, with hardly a doubt, see the entire lake front, from 
 Randolph street to Park place, transformed into vast docks, 
 whereat shall be displayed to the breezes the gay colors of the 
 flags of all commercial nations of the globe. Then Michigan 
 avenue will be devoted to bonded warehouses, and State street, 
 from Twelfth to Twenty-second street, will exhibit evidences of 
 a first-class retail business. 
 
 COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 Of course, while this transformation is going on, the resi- 
 dences of the people must be pushed farther and farther towards 
 and beyond the suburbs ; and the tendency is to enlarge the 
 city in all directions ; and since the grand desideratum with 
 those who live in the suburbs, is convenient, cheap and rapid 
 transportation, that division or side of the city which is best 
 furnished with these facilities will expand with the greatest 
 rapidity. Thousands of laborers in the Sixth, Seventh and 
 Eighth wards, who are employed in the commercial centre of the 
 city, now take the street cars to i-each their places of business. 
 It may safely be said that without these means of transit they 
 could not live so far from their work. These men spend from 
 twenty to thirty minutes in going to, or returning from, 
 their work. If, by means of steam, these men could live six 
 or ten miles from the Court House, -and spend no more time 
 and no more monc}^ in reaching their places of business, what 
 is to hinder them from exchanging their present closely-hud- 
 dled houses for commodious lots and neat but cheap houses in 
 the suburbs ? 
 
82 The Parhs and Property Interests 
 
 In truth the tendency of cities to spread over a wide surface 
 dates from the introduction of railroads. So long as the means 
 of transit were slow and uncertain, the laboring man must live 
 near his work, even at the inconvenience of being compelled to 
 be packed with many other families into five and six-story ten- 
 ement houses. Chicago is already famous for, its lack of this 
 class of houses, and is noted, even in European capitals, for its 
 peculiarly neat and comfortable cottages. This architectural 
 feature of the city is so conspicuous that almost every Eastern 
 man notices it at once, and regards it at first as a defect ; but 
 there is no doubt that the good sanitary condition of the city 
 as compared with other cities, is largely owing to this tendency 
 to isolation, and this tendency to live in the suburbs is due to 
 unusual facilities of steam transportation. 
 
 Apart from the present cheapness of the land, an important 
 reason for approving the present location of the park may be 
 found in the fact that there are five independent lines of rail- 
 road that pass within a very short distance of its limits, or 
 through it, and that on any of these roads the park can be 
 reached within from twenty to thirty minutes. While this is 
 the case, it is folly to say that they are not within the reach of the 
 poor. The Illinois Central and Michigan Central Eailroads pass 
 through the eastern portion of the park, and the Chicago, Eock 
 Island & Pacific, Michigan Southern, and Chicago, Pittsburg 
 & Fort Wayne Eailroads, pass within from six to ten blocks 
 of its western line. The Pittsburg & Fort Wayne on one 
 side, and the Illinois Central on the other, are now running 
 special trains to accommodate people in the suburbs, and thou- 
 sands of laborers and business men go every morning from the 
 city on the Pittsburg & Fort Wayne road to the stock yards 
 and the Michigan Southern Eailroad shops, both of which are 
 beyond the southern limits of the city. 
 
 The Eock Island Eailroad Company has promised to run 
 special trains as soon as the public demand it. 
 
 In addition to this, the Chicago City Eailway now runs a 
 dummy from Thirty-firs.t street to the Stock Yards, on State 
 street, and the company have projected their road along State 
 street to Englewood, seven and a half miles from the Court 
 House, and will have a dummy running to that point within the 
 
of the City of Chieago. 33 
 
 present year. Still another line of communication in this direc- 
 tion, is the Cottage Grove and Hyde Park Horse and Dummy 
 Railroad, by means of which the parks can be readily and quickly 
 reached. When the park commissioners shall have fairly 
 entered upon the work of improving the grounds, and when 
 thousands of laborers shall be required to pass and repass daily 
 to the park sites, these facilities for suburban travel will be 
 greatly enlarged and developed, and people from the city may, 
 with a trifliiiig expenditure of money and time, find themselves 
 placed upon the park grounds. In this respect Lincoln Park 
 will enjoy no advantage, for with the present means of reaching 
 it as much time is consumed as will be consumed in reaching 
 the South Side parks from the Court House. 
 
 LOCATION AND DISTANCE. 
 
 The northern portion of the park begins at Fifty -first street, 
 about five and a half miles south from the Court House, and 
 extends to Sixtieth street. It is one and one-eighth miles in 
 length by half a mile in width; and includes an area of four 
 hundred and fifty acres. From the southern boundary of this 
 northern portion of the park, a boulevard, six hundred and 
 sixty feet in width, between Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth streets, 
 leads eastwardly to Hyde Park avenue, where it connects with 
 the lower and largest portion of the whole park, which stretches 
 west of Hyde Park avenue and south of Fifty-sixth street, 
 one mile in length along the lake shore. The shape of that 
 portion of the park which lies nearest to the city is that of 
 a parallelogram ; the shape of the southern, or lake front portion, 
 is that of a trapezoid, with its longer side towards the south. 
 The distance from the Court House, directly south, to the 
 extreme southern boundary of the whole park is nearly eight 
 miles. 
 
 THE PROSPECTIVE VALUE OF PROPERTY. 
 
 The effect of parks upon the values of real estate is not left 
 to conjecture. However much the poor may have opposed the 
 inauguration of these improvements, from the fear of taxation, 
 in any place and at any time, the fact has been that wherever 
 a liberal park scheme was once fairly established and its 
 3 
 
34 Tlie ParJcs and Property Interests 
 
 benefits fully experienced, the poor have beea the ones who 
 enjoyed the first and greatest advantages. In a purely econom- 
 ical point of view, parks are necessary. They always produce 
 more wealth than they cost. The value of real estate in New 
 York has been enhanced many millions of dollars by Central 
 Park. On this point, the Park Commissioners, in their last 
 report, eleven years from the commencement of the work, say : 
 
 " The following statistics show that the enhanced value of property, by the 
 laying out of such works, is more than ample to meet the interest on the cost 
 of construction: 
 
 Increased value of property in Wards 11, 19 and 22 since 1856.$'75,6'75,Y50.00 
 
 The rate of tax for 1867, is 2.67, yielding, in the increased val- 
 uation above stated, an increased tax of 2,020,542.58 
 
 The total expenditure for construction from May 
 
 1, 1857, to January 1, 1868, is $5,185,299.11 
 
 The cost ofland of the park to the city is 5,028,844.10 
 
 Total cost of the park to this time $10,214,143.21 
 
 The annual interest on the cost of the land and 
 improvement of the park up to this time, at 
 6percent.,is $612,848.58 
 
 Deduct one per cent, on $399,300 of the above 
 stock, issued at 5 per cent 3,993.00 $608,855.58 
 
 Excess of increased tax in three wards over interest on cost of 
 
 land and improvements $1,411,686.95 
 
 " This increase in value is not entirely, but largely, owing to the improve- 
 ments of the park." 
 
 The Brooklyn Park Commissioners, in their last report, say : 
 
 " The assessed value of the real estate in the Eighth ward, (where the park is 
 located,) exclusive of the amount assessed for buildings, has increased over 
 thirty per cent, during the last year, luhile the increased value of real estate in the EigJdh 
 and Mnih wards has, for the same time, amounted to nearly two-thirds of the in- 
 creased value of the entire city. " 
 
 The following comparison will show the rapid rise in the 
 value of real estate in the neighborhood of Prospect Park, 
 Brooklyn, the figures being those given in the books of the 
 city assessors. In 1864 the assessment was : 
 
 Eighth Ward $4,913,274 
 
 Ninth Ward 7,966,471 
 
 Twentieth Ward 7,069,650 
 
 Total $19,949,395 
 
of the CUy of Chicago. 3,5 
 
 In 1867 the assessment was: 
 
 Eighth Ward $7,083,200 
 
 Nintli Wcard 10,743,797 
 
 Twentieth Ward 8,705,090 
 
 Total $27,432,087 
 
 Increase in valuation since the commencement of active opera- 
 tions on the park $7,482,692 
 
 In point of location, Brooklyn is more nearly like Chicago 
 than New York, since it is capable of expansion on all sides 
 but one, and what has taken place there will be very likely to 
 occur here. 
 
 Of one thing we may be assured — that the enhanced valua- 
 tion of property in every part of the South Division, without 
 increasing the rate of taxation, will yield enough additional rev- 
 enue within the next five years to pay for the entire park im- 
 provement Citizens who have observed the course which city 
 lots, as well as property in the environs, have taken, in the mar- 
 ket, from the agitation of the park question in January to the 
 passage of the bill in the legislature, have hardly failed to 
 observe that the value of real estate all over the city has 
 become enhanced by the prospect of the establishment of these 
 great parks. Certainly no one living south of Twenty-second 
 street will fail to see that the enhanced value of lots from that 
 street south is owing very largely to the park agitation ; and 
 it is capable of demonstration that the value of every foot of 
 real estate in the South Division, however remote from the 
 proposed improvement, has been already appreciably affected 
 by this cause. 
 
 The certainty of the commencement and ultimate completion 
 of the park will still further advance prices, and when work shall 
 have been actively commenced upon these improvements, there 
 is no doubt that a much larger advance in prices will take place. 
 
 The South Park will contain, in round numbers, 1,000 acres 
 including the boulevards, or one and three-quarter square miles, 
 which will be takien out o& the field of competition with 
 other suburban real estate. The effect of this, in itself, will be 
 to enhance prices, by limiting the quantity of purchasable land 
 in close contiguity to the present city limits. Within a half 
 
36 TJie Paries and Froperk/ Interests 
 
 mile of the parks on the west, and between the parks and the 
 present city limits on the east, are from five to six square miles 
 of property which will be included within the city limits. This 
 property must become very valuable, and will largely bear the 
 expenses incident to the construction and maintenance of the 
 parks. 
 
 In conclusion, it may be said that, in a money point of view, 
 no real estate owner will be compelled to pay for these parks 
 nearly so much as he receives on account of the enhanced value 
 of his property. Those who are not" owners of land, of which 
 there is, and always will be, a large class, may be said to be 
 gainers without a single drawback. Free of expense to them, 
 except their time, they will be privileged to enjoy in these 
 grounds not only pure air, but the beauties of art and nature, 
 which are nowhere capable of being rendered so impressive as 
 in a first-class urban park. Their children may there spend 
 their summer holidays ; there will be gathered, in zoological and 
 botanical gardens, objects which will improve the knowledge 
 and gratify the taste of every citizen. The singing of birds, 
 the playing of fountains, the bloom and fragrance of flowers, 
 the revelation of ever-changing, beautiful vistas, constructed 
 by the hand of the landscape artist, will, of themselves, repay 
 every one who shall visit these places of recreation and amuse- 
 ment. But, besides these, the grand attraction will be the 
 people themselves, who will wish to be seen as well as to see. 
 
 HYDE PAEK. 
 
 [ This suburb has been for several years, a place of residence 
 for hundreds of fashionable and wealthy citizens, special trains 
 on the Illinois Central Kailroad furnishing them with conven- 
 ient means of reaching the city. Next season the means of 
 access will be still further increased by a line of steamers to ply 
 to and fro on the lake, for the accommodation of pleasure-seeking 
 parties from the city. Evanston has hitherto been the landing 
 place for short aquatic excursions ; but as soon as the South 
 Park is in a fair state of progress, all these excursions will be 
 directed toward the south. Hyde Park will then become the 
 Nahant of Chicago, and a continuous line of steamers or ferry 
 boats will ply in the summer between the metropolis and that 
 
of the City of Chicago. 3*7 
 
 point Forty minutes will suffice to give a view of the lake 
 front, and a taste of the lake breeze, and place one on the 
 ground of the great South Park, eight miles from the city. 
 
 TOPOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 The surface and soil of the South Park are such that its 
 improvement will be a matter of no difficulty. The surface is 
 for the most part level, the variations from an absolute level 
 being not over ten or twelve feet. The soil is sandy, with a 
 surface of humus which produces trees of considerable size, and 
 grass in profusion. Close to the borders of the park is a peat 
 bed which can be made subservient to many uses in the 
 improvement of the soil. Trees, of all varieties adapted to 
 this latitude, will grow rapidly when properly transplanted. 
 The lower and largest portion of the park fronts on the lake, and 
 may easily be made, as it certainly will be, one of the most 
 beautiful and attractive resorts on the Continent. 
 
 THE LAW FOR THE SOUTH PARK. ' 
 
 The following is a full and correct copy of the law provid- 
 ing for the location and improvement of the South Park : 
 
 Section 1. Be it enacted hy the People of the State of Illinois, represented in 
 the General Assembly, That five persons, who shall be appointed by the gover- 
 nor of the state of Illinois, together with their successors, be, and they are 
 hereby, constituted a board of public park commissioners, for the towns of 
 South Chicago, Hyde Park and Lake, to be known under the name of The 
 South Park Commissioners; and in case of the failure of any of said per- 
 sons to accept such appointment, and to qualify thereunder as hereinafter pro- 
 vided, within sixty days after tlie passage of this act. the place of such per- 
 son in said commission shall be thereby vacated, and it shall be the duty of a 
 majority of the commissioners so accepting to appoint some suitable person to 
 fill the place thus made vacant, which appointment, when accepted by such 
 nominee, shall constitute such person as a commissioner under this act. And 
 a majority of said commissioners shall so continue to nominate until the board 
 shall consist of five persons. Each of said commissioners, before entering upon 
 the duties of his office, shall take an oath to well and properly discharge the 
 duties of his oflSce for the interests of the public, which oath shall be reduced to 
 writing, subscribed to by him, and file, in the office of the county clerk of 
 Cook county. They shall each give a bond in the penal sura of fifty thousand 
 dollars, with one or more sureties, to be approved by the judge of the circuit 
 court of Cook county, to the treasurer of Cook county, conditioned for the 
 faithful discharge of their duties under this act. 
 
 Sec. 2. As soon as convenient aft^r the said board shall be constituted as 
 aforesaid, the members thereof shall decide by lot, at a meeting to be called by 
 any three of them, as to the respective terms for which each member shall 
 hold his office ; the number of lots shall equal the number of commissioners, 
 and the person, drawing the longest term shall serve for five years from the first 
 day of March, A. D. 1869; the one drawing the next, shall serve for four years 
 
38 The Farhs and Property Interests 
 
 from said date ; the one drawinoj the next, shall serve for three years from 
 said date ; and so on until the term of each one of said commissioners shall be 
 definitely determined, each one serving for the length of time inscribed on the 
 lot drawn by him — the last of said commissioners serving for the term of one 
 year only from said first day of March, A. D. 1869. As soon as tlie term 
 of office of each of sflid commissioners shall be determined as aforesaid, said 
 board shall organize by electing one of their number as president, and 
 one of their number as auditor ; they shall also appoint a treasurer, 
 prescribe his duties, and fix his compensation, who shall give bond for 
 the faithful discharge of his duties in the penal sum of five hundred 
 thousand dollars, with not less than three sufficient sureties, to be 
 approved by the judge of the circuit court of Cook county. They shall also 
 choose a secretary, who shall not necessai-ilj' be a commissioner, and who shall 
 hold his office until his successor shall be appointed as hereainfter provided ; 
 and all officers appointed by the board shall be subject to removal at 
 the pleasure of tlie board. The said board shall adopt a seal, and alter the 
 same at pleasure ; they shall keep a complete record of all of iheir proceed- 
 ings, which shall be open at all times for the inspection of the public. The 
 said commissioners shall receive no compensation for their services, except the 
 president, wlio may, in the discretion of said board, have and receive such 
 compensation as may be fixed as hereinafter provided, not to exceed three 
 thousand dollars per annum. All vacancies occurring in said board shall be 
 filled by the appointment of the judge of the circuit court of Cook county, 
 when such vacancy or vacancies shall occur. Said board of commissioners 
 shall be a body politic and corporate, and shall have and enjoy all the powers 
 necessary for the purposes of this act. 
 
 Sec. 3. The president, auditor, treasurer and secretary shall be elected 
 annually by said board, at the annual meeting thereof, and shall receive such 
 salary for their services as th<i said board shall from time to time determine, 
 not exceeding, for each of said officers, the sum of three thousand dollars per 
 annum. 
 
 Sec. 4. The said commissioners, by this act, are authorized and empow- 
 ered to, and they shall, within ninety days after their organization, or as soon 
 thereafter as practicable, select the following described lands, situated in the 
 towns of South Chicago, Hyde Park and Lake, in Cook county, Illinois, 
 to wit : Commencing at the south-west corner of Fifty-first street and Cottage 
 G-rove avenue, running thence south along the west side of Cotiage Grove 
 avenue to the south line of Fifty-ninth street ; thence east along the 
 south line of Fifty-ninth street to the east line of Hyde Park avenue; 
 thence north on Hyde Park avenue to Fifty-sixth street ; thence east 
 along the south line of Fifty-sixth street to Lake Michigan; thence southerly 
 along the shore of the lake to a point due east of the center of section 
 twenty-four (24), in township thirty-eight (38) north, range fourteen (14); 
 thence west through the center of said section twenty- four (24) to Hyde Park 
 avenue; thence north on the east line of H3'de Park avenue to the north line 
 of Sixtietli street, so called; thence west on the north line of Sixtieth street, 
 80 called, to Kankakee avenue; thence north on the east line of Kankakee avenue 
 to Fifty-first street; thence east to a point to the place of beginning; also, a 
 piece of land commencing at the south-east corner of Kankakee avenue and 
 Fifty-fifth street, running thence west a strip two hundred feet wide adjoining 
 the north line of Fiftj^-fif'th street, along said Fifty-fifth street, to the line between 
 ranges thirteen (13) and fourteen (14) east ; thence north, east of and adjoin- 
 ing said line, a strip 200 feet wide, to the Illinois and Michigan Canal; also, 
 a parcel of larfd beginning at the south-west corner of Douglas place and Kan- 
 kakee avenue, running thence south a strip of land 132 feet wide, alon:; the 
 west side of said Kankakee avenue, to a point 150 feet south of the iouth line 
 of Fifty-first street; also, a strip of land commencing at the intersection of 
 Cottage Grove avenue and Fifty-first street, running thence east 100 feet in 
 width on each side of the centre line of Fifty-first street, to a point 100 feet 
 east of the center line of Drexel avenue; also, a strip of land "extending north 
 from the intersection of Fifty-first street with Drexel avenue, 100 feet 
 
of the City of Chicago. 39 
 
 in width on each side of the centre line of said avenue to the north 
 line of Forty-third street; thence nortlierly, a strip of land 200 feet 
 in widtli till it meets or intersects with Elm street in Oleaverville ; thence 
 soutlierly along said Elm street, 200 foet in width, west from the east line 
 of said street, to its intersection with Oakland avenue ; which said land 
 land and premises, when acquired by said commissioners as provided by this 
 act, shall be held, managed and controlled by them and their successors, as a 
 public park, for the recreation, health and benefit of the public, and free to all 
 persons forever, subject to such necessary rules and regulations as shall, from 
 time to time, be adopted by said commissioners and their successors for the well 
 ordering and government of the same. 
 
 Sec. 5. In case the said commissioners cannot agree with the owner or 
 owners, lessees or occupants of any of the said real estate selected by them as 
 aforesaid, they may proceed to procure the condemnation of the same in tho 
 m inner prescribed in the act of the general assembly of the state of Illinois, 
 entitled " An Act to amend the law condemning right of way for tlie purpose of 
 internal improvement," approved June 22, 1852, and the acts amendatory 
 thereof, the provisions of which said act, and the several acts amendatory 
 thereof, are hereby extended to the park and park commissioners to be created 
 by virtue of this act. 
 
 Sec. 6. When the title to the land selected for such park as lierein provided 
 sliall have been acquired by said commissioners, by gift, condemnation, or 
 otherwise, it shall be the duty of such commissioners to make, acknowledge, 
 and file for record in the office of the recorder of deeds for Cook county, 
 a map, showing the said land, wiih a correct description, including section, 
 township and range. 
 
 Sec. 7. As soon as the amount required for the condemnation of the ground.s 
 selected for said park shall have been ascertained, by said commissioners, with 
 reasonable certainty, they shall apply to the judge of the circuit court of Cook 
 county for tiie appointment of three freeholders of the county of Cook as park 
 assessors. The commissioners shall give notice in one or more of the daily 
 newspapers published in the city of Chicago, of the time when such applica- 
 tion will be made, and all parties interested may appear and bo he^ird by the 
 said judge, touching such appointnient. At the time fixed for such application, 
 the court, after hearing such persons as shall desire to be heard, toucliing such 
 appointment, shall nominate and appoint three assessors for the purposes 
 provided in this act. The said assessors shall proceed to assess the amount so 
 ascertained upon property in the towns of South Chicago, Hyde Park and'Lake, 
 in Cook county, deemed benefited by reason of the improvement occasioned 
 by the location of said park, as near a? may be in proportion to the benefits 
 resulting thereto : Provided, That the aggregate of said benefits is equal or 
 greater than the amount of said damages ; and in case the aggregate of the ben- 
 fits is less than the damages, then the balance of the damages over the benefits 
 shall be paid from the fund provided for in section 8 of this act. Upon 
 entering on the duties of their office, the said assessors shall make oath before 
 the clerk of the said circuit court faithfully and impartially to discharge the 
 duties of their office. They shall give ac least ten daj's notice in one of the 
 said daily papers of the time and pface of their meeting for the purpose of mak- 
 ing said assessment, and may adjourn such meeting from time to time until the 
 same shall be completed. In making the said assessment the said assessors 
 shall estimate the value of the several lots, blocks or parcels of land deemed 
 benefited by them as aHaresaid, and shall include the same, together with the 
 amount assessed as benefits, in the assessment roll. All parties interested may 
 appear before said assessors, and may be heard touching any matter cormected 
 with the assessment. When the same shall be completed, it shall be signed by 
 the assessors, and returned to the said circuit court, and shall be filed by the 
 clerk thereof The assessors shall thereupon give at least ten days notice in 
 one of the said daily papers, of the filing of said assessment roll, and that they 
 will, on a day therein named, apply to the said circuit court for confirmation 
 of the same, which said notice shall he published at least ten days before the 
 time fixed for such application. Said circuit court shall have power to 
 
40 The Parhs and Property Interests 
 
 revise, correct, amend, or confirm, said assessment, in whole or in part, and 
 may make or order a new assessment in whole or in part, and the same revise 
 and confirm upon like notice. All parties interested may appear before said 
 circuit court, either in person or by attornej', when such application shall be 
 made, and may object to said assessment, either in whole or in part, provided 
 ail objections shall be in writing, and shall be tiled at least three days before 
 the time fixed for the application, and shall specify the lot, block or parcels of 
 land on behalf of which objection is made. After the confirmation of said 
 assessment, the clerk of said circuit court shall file a copy thereof, under the 
 seal of his said court, with the clerk of the county court of Cook county, and 
 such assessment shall be a lien upon the several lots, blocks or parcels of laud 
 assessed for benefits as aforesaid. Ten per cent, of the amount so ascertained 
 shall be payable annually, and the clerk of said Cook county court shall include 
 in the general tax warrants for each year, until the whole sum shall be paid, 
 for the collection of state and county taxes in the said towns of South Chicago, 
 Hyde Park and Lake, ten per cent, of the said assessments, in an appropriate 
 Qolumn, to be termed ' ' South Park Assessment,' ' with the amount to be col- 
 lected opposite the several lots, blocks or parcels of land assessed as aforesaid ; 
 and like proceedings in all respects shall be had for enforcing the collection of 
 the same as is now provided by law for the collection of state and county taxes. 
 The money collected under the provisions of this section shall be paid to the 
 treasurer of Cook county, for which he and his sureties shall be responsible, 
 as full}^ as for any other moneys by hitn received as treasurer of Cook coimty, 
 and be lield by him in the same manner and be subject to the same control and 
 direction, as provided in this act for other moneys belonging to said corporation ; 
 and the treasurer of Cook county shall be entitled to receive one-half of one per 
 cent., and no more, of said moneys as a full compensation for receiving and dis- 
 bursing the same. 
 
 Sec. 8. For any deficiency arising through acquiring title to said park and 
 for the payment of expenses of enclosing, maintaining and improving the park 
 herein provided for, and the expenses, disbursements and charges in the 
 premises, the said commissioners shidl have power to loan or borrow, from time 
 to time, for such tiiiie as they shall deem expedient, a sum of money not exceed- 
 ing two millious of dollars, and shall have duthorily to issue bonds, secured 
 upon the said park and improvements, which bonds shall issue under the seal 
 of said commissioners, and shall be signed by said commissioners, and coun- 
 tersigned by the secretary of said board, and bear interest not exceeding seven 
 per cent, per annum ; and it shall be the duty of said commissioners to keep an 
 accurate register of all bonds issued by them, showing the number, date and 
 amount of each bond, and to whom the same was issued, and said register shall 
 at all times be open to the investigation of the public ; and for the payment of 
 the principal and interest of said bonds, the said park and improvements shall 
 be irrevocably pledged, and the towns of Soutli Chicago, Hyde Park and Lake 
 shall be irrevocably bound ; and said bonds maybe sold by said commissioners, 
 upon such terms and for such prices as, in the judgment of said commissioners 
 can be obtained for the same in cash. 
 
 Sec. 9. The said board of park commissioners shall, annually, on or before 
 the 1st day of December in each year, transmit to the clerk of the county 
 court of Cook county an estimate, in writing, of the amount of money, not ex- 
 ceeding in any one year three hundred thousand dollars, necessary for the pay- 
 ment of the interest on the bonds issued by said board, and that in addition 
 thereto will be required for the improvement, maintenance, and government of 
 said park during the current year ; and the saia clerk shall proceed to deter- 
 mine wliat per cent, said sura is on the taxable property of said towns, accord- 
 ing to the several assessors' returns for the respective year, and shall, in the 
 next general tax warrants for the collection of state and county taxes in said 
 several towns, set down the amount chargeable to the several persons, corpor- 
 ations, lots or parcels of ground, in a separate or appropriate column, and shall 
 receive such compensation as now allowed by law ; and the collectors re- 
 spectively shall proceed to collect the same in the manner now provided by law 
 for the collection of state and county taxes ; and all the provisions of law, in 
 
of the City of Chicago. 41 
 
 respect to the collection of state and county taxes, and proceedings to enforce 
 the same, so far as applicable, shall apply to said assessments and taxes. The 
 said sum of money shall be placed by the treasurer of the said county of Cook, 
 to the credit of said board of park commissioners, and shall be drawn by said 
 board from the county treasury by warrant, signed by the president and secre- 
 tary of the board, and countersigned by the auditor, to be appointed as afore- 
 said, and in no other way ; the appointment of such auditor or comptroller 
 having been first duly certified by such president and secretary, and filed in 
 the office of said treasurer of Cook county. 
 
 Sec. 10. It shall be lawful for said commissioners to vacate and close up 
 any and all public roads and highways, excepting railroads, which may pass 
 tlirough, divide or separate any lands selected or appropriated by them for the 
 purposes of a park ; and no such road shall be laid out through said park ex- 
 cept such as the said commissioners shall lay out and construct. 
 
 Sec. 11. No one of the said commissioners shall be interested, either direct- 
 ly or indirectly, in any contract entered into by them with any other person ; 
 nor shall they be interested, directly or indirectly, in the purchase of any mate- 
 rial to be used or applied in and about the uses and purposes contemplated 
 in this act. And it shall be a misdemeanor for any commissioner to be directly 
 or indirectly interested, or in any way pecuniarily interested in any contract or 
 work of any kind whatever, connected with said park. 
 
 Sec. 12. The said commissioners, or either of them, may be removed from 
 office by the judge of the circuit court of Cook county, upon the petition pre- 
 sented to him in term time or in vacation, by one hundred freeholders of said 
 towns of South Chicago, Hyde Park, and Lake, if it shall appear, after hearing 
 the proof before said judge, that the said commissioners, or either of them, 
 have been guilty of misdemeanor or malfeasance in office under this act ; and if 
 the said judge shall remove any two or more of said commissioners from office 
 for any cause, before the expiration of their term of office, they are hereby em- 
 powered to appoint others in their stead, who shall fill such offices for and dur- 
 ing the unexpired term of such commissioners so removed. 
 
 Sec. 13. The said board shall have the full and exclusive power to govern, 
 manage and direct said park ; to lay out and regulate the ^me ; to pass ordi- 
 nances for the regulation and government thereof ; to appoint such engineers, 
 surveyors, clerks, and other officers, including a police force, as may be neces- 
 sary ; to define and prescribe their respective duties and autliority ; fix the 
 amount of their compensation ; and, generally, in regard to said park, they shall 
 possess all the power and authority now by law conferred upon, or possessed 
 by, the common council of the city of Chicago, in respect to the public squares 
 and places in said city ; and it shall be lawful for them to commence the im- 
 provement of said park as soon as they have obtained one hundred acres of the 
 premises herein described. 
 
 Sec. 14. The office of any commissioner under this act, who shall not at- 
 tend meetings of the board for three successive months, after having been duly 
 notified of said meetings, without leave of absence from said board, may, by 
 said board, be declared vacant. 
 
 Skc. 15. The real estate and personal property of said corporation shall be 
 exempted from taxation and assessment. 
 
 Sec. 16. All moneys belonging or to belong to any park fund now in exist- 
 ence or hereafter to be created, and all bonds, and the proceeds from sales 
 thereof now authorized or hereafter to be authorized to be issued by the city 
 of Chicago for park purposes, in or to which the South Division of the city of 
 Chicago may. now or shall hereafter be entitled to a distributive share, shall be 
 devoted and applied to the purchase or maintenance and improvement of the 
 park contemplated and created by this act, under the direction and control of 
 the Commissioners provided for in this act. 
 
 Sec. 1*1. The bonds to be issued under this act may be received in payment 
 of any assessment, whether such bond or assessment shall have become due or 
 not, upon such terms as shall be fair, just and equitable ; and upon the payment 
 of any assessment, the land upon which the same is assessed shall be free from 
 any lien or liability to pay the same ; and such payment shall be reported to 
 
42 The Parhs and Property Interests^ etc. 
 
 the county clerk of Cook county, and entered upon the record of the assess- 
 ment. 
 
 Seo. 18. There shall be an election held in the towns of South Chicago. 
 Hyde Park and Lake, on the fourth Tuesday of March next after the passage of 
 this act, at which election the legal voters voting ai such election shall vote for 
 or against this act. Tlu^ tickets shall be printed or written, "For Park " or 
 " Against Park"; and if a majority of the votes cast on the subject of park 
 ehall be ^'For Park," then this act shall take effect and be in force,but not other- 
 wise. The clerk of the county court of Cookcounty shall designate tiie places of 
 holding such election, and give noti.?e thereof in one or more of the daily pa- 
 pers published in the county of Cook, at least six days preceding such election, 
 and shall supply the judges thereof witli the necessary books, papers and boxes 
 as in other cases of elections ; and there ehall be one polling or voting place in 
 each voting precinct in said towns, as the same were fixed at the last general 
 election in the county of Cook. The persons who acted as judges or inspectors 
 of election in the several precincts of said towns, at the last general election in 
 Cook county, shall be the judges or inspectors of this election. In case the 
 judges or inspectors of election shall not attend at the time for opening the polls, 
 such judges or inspectors shall be chosen by the legal voters 
 present. The clerks shall be appointed as provided in elections for 
 county officers. The polls shall be opened and closed, and the 
 election conducted as elections for county ofScers. All legal voters 
 of said towns sliall be entitled to vote at such election, without any new 
 registration ; and the judges or inspectors of such election shall use the regis- 
 try list made for the general election in Ifovember, 1868 ; Provided, That wlien- 
 ever any person whose name is not on the registry list shall offer his vote at 
 such election, the judges or inspectors shall require the same evidence of his 
 quHliiicatiou as now provided by law. The said judges of election shall imme- 
 diatel.y after the closing of the polls, count tlie ballots, fill out and sign the returns 
 and tally -sheets, as now provided bylaw in all other elections, and return the poll 
 books and ballots to the clerk of the county court, as in other cases of election. 
 The votes shall be canvassed in the manner provided by law for the election 
 of state and count* ofScers. The clerk of the county court of Cook county 
 ehall, immtdiately after such canvass, cause a certificate of the result of such 
 election to be filed in the office of the secretary of state, which shall be conclu- 
 sive evidence of the result of said election. 
 
 Sec. 19. This act shall be a public act, and shall take effect and be in force 
 from and after its passage. 
 
B3 
 
 ][ 
 
 [tJUlJULJUUUUUULlS 
 
 ._,._.pnn 
 DDCnn 
 
Paries of the City of Chicago. 45 
 
 THE WEST PAEKS. 
 
 The "West Parks have been left indefinite both in respect of 
 size and exact location. They are to be three in number and are 
 to be situated within the new city limits which are extended two 
 miles west of Western avenue : one, north of Division street ; 
 another, between Kinzie and Harrison streets ; and a third, be- 
 tween Harrison street and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
 Eailroad. They are each to contain not less than one hundred 
 acres nor more than two hundred, and are severally to cost, im- 
 provements not included, not more than $250,000. Wide 
 boulevards will connect the parks with each other, and extend 
 southwardly from the most southern park to the Illinois and 
 Michigan Canal, provided that the land therefor shall be 
 obtained free of cost. When these parks shall have been lo- 
 cated, the city limits will be extended so as to include them with 
 all the intervening land between them and Western avenue, 
 and the vote that ratifies the park also extends the city limits. 
 
 In accordance with the provisions of the bill, three surveys 
 must be made by the park commissioners antecedent to the ex- 
 act establishment of these great improvements. In the location 
 of the parks, it is probable that the board of commissioners will 
 be obliged, by the conditions of the law, to place them where 
 they can get the land cheapest, since they are not permitted to 
 pay over $2,500 per acre. The indefiniteness in which the 
 location of these parks has been left, has, undoubtedly, some- 
 what checked the legitimate effect of such improvements upon 
 real estate values. Notwithstanding this, however, since the 
 first day of January last nearly all real estate within three miles 
 of the western city limits has doubled in valua 
 
 COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 The means of access to these parks will be hardly inferior to 
 those of the South Park. The Galena branch of the Chicago k 
 Northwestern Railroad will pass between the north and middle 
 
46 The Parhs and Property Interests 
 
 parks ; the Chicago, Burlington k Quincy Eaih'oad will fur- 
 nish a convenient access to the soutli park, while the Chicago, 
 Columbus & Indianapolis Eailroad will pass along the east 
 front of the central and southern park. No doubt all these 
 roads will establish special accommodation trains for the use of 
 the people, as soon as the improvement of the parks shall have 
 actually commenced. 
 
 By means of the horse railways of the West Division, the 
 sites of these parks can now be reached within convenient dis- 
 tance. The cars on Madison and Randolph streets now run to 
 the city limits, while the Milwaukee and Blue Island avenue 
 lines have been extended a considerable distance towards the 
 north-west corner on one side and the south-west corner on 
 the other. These lines will furnish means, at all hours of the 
 day, of getting at least into the vicinity of the west parks. 
 
 Lake, Randolph and Madison streets are now paved a long 
 way towards the present western city limits, and at least one of 
 these will be paved to the boundaries of the parks, so soon as 
 they shall have become objects of interest to the public. The 
 completion of the tunnel at Washington street, will necessitate 
 the grading and paving of that street to the city limits at the 
 earliest moment compatible with other public improvements. 
 
 DISTANCES. 
 
 The West Side Parks are nearer to the population that must 
 seek them than are those in the South Division. From Union 
 Park, which may be regarded as the center of the West 
 Division, the distance to each of the parks in that division 
 will be from one and a half to three miles, and by means of the 
 railroads already mentioned, together with the wagon and car- 
 riage roads that will be completed to their boundaries, these 
 parks will be very accessible. The Southwestern and Grand 
 avenues shorten distances very much to the northern and 
 southern parks, since, running diagonally to the north-west and 
 the north-east, they furnish a direct line to each. 
 
 OTHER IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 The city authorities contemplate the extension of the lake 
 tunnel under the city and the river to some point in the West 
 
of the City of Chicago. 4T 
 
 Division, wliere pumping works will be established, and whence 
 will radiate the mains which are to furnish water for the West 
 Division. When this work shall be accomplished, which will 
 certainly be done as soon as the parks shal be fairh'- commenced, 
 there will be an opportunity for the creation of fountains, lakes, 
 and skating parks on the grandest scale. The soil in the 
 vicinity of these parks being a tough clay, infiltration can be 
 readily reduced to the lowest point, and when the ponds are 
 once filled, there will be no demand for water, except to 
 supply the loss from evaporation. Besides, experiment has 
 proved that the construction of artesian wells is practicable, 
 and water for all the ordinary purposes of the parks can be 
 supplied by them, 
 
 TOPOGEAPHY. 
 
 The configuration of the surface of these parks corresponds 
 
 to a perfect plane as nearly as is ever to be found in nature. 
 On this plane, at present, there is not a single tree to be found ; 
 but this is of no consequence, since the labor of planting is all 
 that is necessary to create upon the ground the most delightful 
 groves and sylvan recesses. The experiment of the New York 
 Central Park commissioners proves that trees naturally located 
 are rather in the way than a benefit ; since the plans of the 
 landscape gardener can hardly ever be carried out without 
 their rerrioval. 
 
 THE LAW FOR THE WEST SIDE PARKS. 
 
 The following is a full and correct copy of the law pro- 
 viding for the location and improvement of the West Side 
 Parks : 
 
 Section 1. Be 'it enacted hy the People of the State of Illinois, represented in 
 the General Assembly, Thai the territorial limits of the city of Cliicago sliall be, 
 and are hereby, extended as follows: That part of section tliirty (3U), township 
 forty (40) north, of range fouitoen (14) east of the third (3rd) principal meridian, 
 which lies west of the north branch of the Chicago river; section twenty-live 
 (25), township forty (40) north, of range thirteen (13) east of the third (3rd) prin- 
 cipal meridian, except that part of said section lying east of tlie center of the 
 north branch of the Chicago river; sections twenty-six (26), thirty-five (35), and 
 thirty-six (36), in township forty (40) north, of range thirteen (13) east of the third 
 principal meridian; sectionsone (l),two (2), eleven (11), twelve (12), thirteen (13), 
 lourteen (14), twenty-three (23), twenty-fonr (24), twenty-five (25), and twenty- 
 six (26), in township thirty-nine (S9) nortli, of range thirteen (13) oast of the 
 third (3rd) principal meridian; and that part of sections tJiiriy-live (35) and 
 thirty-six (36), in township thirty-nine (39) north, of range tliirteon (13) east of 
 the third (3rd) principal meriaian, lying north-west of the center of the Illinois 
 
48 The Paries and Property Interests 
 
 and Michigan canal, shall be, and are hereby added to said city, and shall con- 
 stitute a part of the "West Division of said city, and of the town of West 
 Chicago; and the said added or new territory shall cease to be a part of the sev- 
 eral towns to which it now belongs or appertains; and the outside boundary 
 of the West Division of the city of Chicago, as hereby established, shall be the 
 outside boundary of the several wards of said city which now extend to the 
 present city limits. 
 
 Sec. 2. Seven persons, resident freeholders and qualified voters of said 
 town, who shall be designated by the governor of the State of Illinois, together 
 with their successors, shall be, and they are hereby, constituted a board of 
 public park commissioners for the town of West Chicago, to be known under 
 the name of the " West Chicago Park Commissioners "; and, in case of the 
 failure of any of said persons to accept such appointment, and to qualify 
 thereunder, as hereinafter provided, within sixty days after the passage of 
 this act, the place of such person in said commission shall be thereby 
 vacated and it shall be the duty of the commissioners so accepting to 
 certify the fact of such failure and vacancy to the governor, who shall 
 appoint some suitable person or persons possessing the qualifications 
 aforesaid, to fill the place or places thus made vacant; and vacancies shall 
 continue to be filled in like manner until the board shall have been filled 
 and constituted by the acceptance and qualification of seven persons. Each of 
 said commissioners, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall take an 
 oath to well and properly discharge the duties of his office for the interests of 
 the public ; which oath shall be reduced to writing, subscribed to by him, and 
 filed in the oifice of the county clerk of Cook county. Thej^ shall each give a 
 bond in the penal sum of twenty thousand dollars, with one or more sureties, 
 to be approved by the judge of the circuit court of Cook county, to the treas- 
 urer of Cook county, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties under 
 this act. 
 
 Sec. 3. As soon as convenient after the said board shall be constituted as 
 aforesaid, the members thereof shall decide by lot, at a meeting to be called by 
 any three of them, as to the respective term for which each member shall hold 
 his office. The number of lots shall equal the number of commissioners; and 
 the person drawing the longest term shall serve seven years from the first day 
 of March, A. D. 1869-, the one drawing the next shall serve for six years 
 from said date; the one drawing the next shall serve for five years from said 
 date; and so on, until the term of each one of said commissioners shall be 
 definitely determined; each one serving for the length of time inscribed on the 
 lot drawn by him, — the last of said commissioners serving for one term only, 
 from said first day of March, A. D. 1869. As soon as the term of office of each 
 of said commissioners shall be determined as aforesaid, said board shall organ- 
 ize by electing one of their number as president, and one of their number as 
 auditor. They shall also appoint a treasurer, prescribe his duties, and fix hia 
 compensation, who shall give bond for the faithful discharge of his duties in the 
 penal sum of fifty thousand dollars, with not less than three sufficient sureties, to 
 be approved by the judge of the circuit court of Cook county. They shall also 
 choose a secretary, who shall not necessarily be a commissioner, and who shall 
 hold his office until his successor shall be appointed, as hereinafter provided; 
 and all officers appointed by the board shall be subject to removal at the pleas- 
 ure of the board. The board shall adopt a seal, and alter the same at pleasure. 
 They shall keep a complete record of all their proceedings, which shall be 
 open at all times for the inspection of the public. The said commissioners shall 
 receive no compensation for their services, except the president, who may, in 
 the discretion of the board, have and receive such compensation as may be 
 fixed, as hereinafter provided, not to exceed four thousand dollars. All vacan- 
 cies occurring in said board shall be filled as soon as may be thereafter by the 
 appointment of the governor of the state of Illinois. The said board of com- 
 missioners shall be a body politic and corporate, with perpetual succession and 
 power to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, to have and use a common 
 seal, and they shall have and enjoy all the powers necessary for the pur- 
 poses of this act. 
 
of the Oily of Chicago. 49 
 
 Sec. 4. The said board of commissioners shall have full and exclusive 
 power to govern, manage and direct all parks, boulevards, and ways author- 
 ized by this act, and by them purchased, made, laid out or established; to lay 
 out, regulate, make and improve the same; to pass ordinances, and issue and 
 enforce orders, for the legislation and government of the same; to levy 
 special assessments on all property by them deemed benefited by the 
 purchase, opening and improving of such parks, boulevards, and ways, as 
 limited by this act ; to appoint such engineers, surveyors, clerks, and other 
 officers, including a police force, as may be necessary ; to define and pre- 
 scribe their respective authority, and fix the amount of their compensation; 
 and generally, in regard to said parks, boulevards, and ways, they shall possess 
 all the power and authority now by law conterred upon or possessed by the 
 common council of the city of Chicago in respect to the public squares, places 
 and streets in said city. And it shall be lawful for them to commence the im- 
 provement of the same as soon as the funds requisite therefor, or any portion 
 iliereof, shall have been obtained. The expenditure for engineers, surveyors, 
 clerks, and oflicers, except the president, including a police force, shall not 
 exceed five thousand dollars ($5,0U0) per annum, without further authority 
 from the general assembly; but said board may accept of the service of such of 
 the police lorce of the city of Chicago as may be placed at their disposal by 
 the common council or police authorities of said city. 
 
 Sec. 5. The said board shall have power, and it is made their duty, and they 
 are hereby authorized to select and take possession of, and to acquire by condem- 
 nation, contract, donation, or otherwise, title forever, in trust for the inhabitants 
 of the town of West Chicago, and of the West Division of Chicago, and for such 
 parties or persons as may succeed to the rights of said inhabitants, and for the 
 public, as public promenade and pleasure grounds, and ways, but not without 
 the consent of a majority, by frontage, of the owners of the property fronting 
 the same, lor any other use or purpose, and without the power to sell, alienate, 
 mortgage or encumber the same, to the lands and appurtenances required for a 
 road or pleasure-way, or boulevard, not less luan two hundred and fifty (250) 
 leet, nor more than four hundred (4(J0) teet, in width, and for the establishment 
 of a building line, as hereafter specified, fifty (5u) feet distant from, and 
 outside of, said boulevard or pleasure- way, — beginning at a point in said added 
 territory north of FuUerion avenue, at or near ino north branch of the Chicago 
 river, and extending west, within said added territory, to a point one mile or 
 more west of Western avenue, and thence southerly to a point at or near the 
 llimois and Michigan canal, with such curves and deviations as they shall 
 deem expeaient; also, to the lands required, and building lines aforesaid, for 
 three parks upon the line of said boulevard, and upon the part of the t-ame 
 between the two last mentioned points, of not less than one hundred (lOO) 
 nor more than two hundred (_20U) acres each, and wnich shall cost respectively 
 not exceeding two hundred and fitty thousand dollars ($250,000); the first to 
 be located north of Division street; the second to be located between Kinzie 
 street and Harrison street, and the third to be located between Harrison street 
 and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad track. The total cost of said 
 parks and boulevards, with the easements and building line aforesaid, exclusive 
 of improvements, shall not exceed $9UU,0UO, and shall be assessed on the 
 property benefited, as hereinafter provided. It the said board should locate any 
 part of said boulevard or parks outside of the said extended ^territory and 
 limits, each section of the laud west of the same, of which a part shall be 
 taken for such boulevard or parks, shall be and remain, together with the 
 lauds and territory between the same and the said extended limits, a part of 
 the said town and city, and of the several wards thereof, as aforesaiii, and 
 shall cease to be apart of the several towns to which it now belongs or apper- 
 tains; but in no case shall the western limits of either of said parks be over 
 two (2) miles from Western avenue, unless, by voluntary contribution, land be 
 added to such park outside of said limila. baid lands, boulevard and parks, 
 and the personal property of said board, shall be exempt from taxation. The 
 said board may contract with the owners of property taken or purchased, for 
 annual payments, not to extend beyond five years; and, in such case, shall 
 4 
 
50 The Parhs and Property Interests 
 
 only include in the assessment for any year the amount of such annual pay- 
 ments then due, if any, and the amount of one annual payment for tlmt year, 
 or next to become due. They are also authorized to divide the amount of 
 their assessments, and, when it can legally be done, to make one or more 
 assessments, payable in annual installments, which shall be a lien on property 
 only for the amount payable each year. The part of said boulevards between 
 said north park and the north branch of the Chicago river, aud the part of 
 the same south of the said Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad track, shall 
 not be made, unless the land therefor shall be acquired free of cost to said 
 board, and shall not be ornamented or improved until after the improvement 
 of the parks shall have been completed, unless the same be done by voluntary 
 contribution. 
 
 Sko. 6. The establishment of a building line outside of said boulevard and 
 parks, as hereinbefore required, in connection with the condemnation of the 
 land for the same, shall be understood to be the condemnation^ and perpetual 
 annihilation of all right of the owners of property which shall front on said 
 boulevard, or across which said building line shall run, to erect any building 
 whatever, or any part thereof, between said building line and said boulevards 
 or parks; or it may be accomplished by the absolute condemnation of the 
 land, with perpetual and irrevocable free license to use and occupy fifty (50) 
 feet in width of the same for all purposes not otherwise forbidden, except 
 buildings, as the said board shall be advised may be preferable and mo!*t 
 efi'ectual. 
 
 Sec. 7. No subdivision into lots of auy lands in said town lying within 
 four hundred (400) feet of said boulevards, or either of said parks, shall be 
 valid without the approval of said board of park commissioners; and they 
 also shall have power to forbid by general order, and to abate any horise- 
 racing, gambling, or offensive, or obnoxious, or dangerous business, or 
 amusements, within four hundred (400) feet of said boulevards and parks, or 
 either of them; and the right to use the said adjacent lands for any such pur- 
 poses shall be deemed to be included in the assessment and condemnation above 
 provided for. Bat no lawful business now established and carried on upon 
 8aid adjacent lands shall be prohibited or abated, without a fair valuation and 
 due and full compensation. 
 
 Sec. 8. The said board shall have power to construct all necessary bridges 
 and viaducts over rivers, watercourses and railroads within or on the line of 
 said town; and it shall be their duty to construct the same as soon as the means 
 shall have been provided therefor. 
 
 ,>^ Sec. 9. The said board of park commissioners are hereby required to make 
 not less than three topographical surveys and examinations of different routes 
 for said boulevard and outline sof parks, with complete elevations, before locat- 
 ing the same; and to invite owners of property to confer with them in regard 
 to donations of land. They are also authorized to receive donations or appro- 
 priations of money for the purchase or improvement of the same, and lands for, 
 or as a part of, or to be added to, said boulevard or either of said parks, upon 
 conditions to be agreed upon. 
 
 Sec. 10, None of the main streets and avenuts leading to the said boulevard 
 and parks, and which have heretofore been opened aud used as country roads 
 or highways, shall ever be closed up or reduced in width, in whole or in part, 
 except streets near the river and its branches, which may require to be clianged 
 for business purposes or greater convenience of access. The board of public 
 works are hereby authorized and required, upon the order of the common 
 council, to make and to assess, in the manner herein and in the city charter 
 provided, subject to confirmation by the common council, the benefits aud dam- 
 ages resulting from the extension of the road known as "Whisky Point road," 
 as nearly &i may be in its present direction, from its present western terminus, 
 at Western avcue, to Fulton street, of the width of one hundred and twenty 
 (120) feet, and from Fulton street to Lake street, of the width of eighty (80) 
 feet; and the widening said road, from its present terminus at Western avenue, 
 to the new or extended city limits, to the width of one hundred and twenty 
 (120) feet, with a building line, as hereinbefore defined and spjcified, distau 
 
of the City of Chicago. 
 
 ten (10) feet from and outside of each side of said road from Fulton street to 
 "Western avenue, and fifty (50) feet from and outside of said road from Wesleni 
 avenue to the new or extended city limits; and also the grading and macadam- 
 izing said road, or the middle part thereof, to the width of at least thirty (30) 
 feet, and a viaduct or viaducts for carriages, teams and foot passengers, over 
 all railroad tracks laid or hereafter to be laid across said road. The several 
 township road officers, and the Cook county drainage commissioners, and all 
 other officers now or hereafter authorized to open roads on said line outside of 
 the city limits, in making any assessment for widening said road, are authorized 
 and required to include the establishment of said building line fifty (50) feet 
 distant from and outside said road, as aforesaid. Tlie name of the said '• Whis- 
 ky Point road," both within and beyond said city limits, shall be, and is hereby 
 changed, and shiill be known for ever hereafter as " Grand avenue." Tlie 
 Southwestern avenue, from MadLson street to the city limits, shall also be mac- 
 adamized, with the consent and approval of the common counciL 
 
 Sec. U. In case the said commissioners cannot agree with the owner or 
 owners, lessees, or occupants, of any of the said real estate selected by them, 
 as aforesaid, they naay proceed to procure the condemnation of the same in the 
 manner prescribed in the act of the general assembly of the State of Illinois 
 entitled " An Act to amend the law condemning right of way for the purpose 
 of internal improvement," approved Jan. 22, 1852, aad the acts then in force 
 amendatory tliereof: the provisions of which said act, and the several acts 
 amendatory thereof, are hereby extended to the boulevard, parks and park 
 commissioners to be created by virtue of this act. 
 
 Sec. 12. When the title of the land selected for boulevards, ways, ease- 
 ments, parks, and building lines, as herein provided, shall have been acquired 
 by the commissioners by gift, condemnation, or otherwise, it shall be the duty 
 of such commissioners to make, acknowledge and file for record in the office of 
 the recorder of deeds for Cook county, a map showing the said land, with a 
 correct description, including section, township and range. 
 
 Sec. 13. As soon as the amount required for the condemnation of the grounds 
 selected for said purposes shall have been ascertained by said commissioners 
 with reasonable certainty, they shall apply to the judge of the circuit court of 
 Cook county for the appointment of three disinterested freehold'TS as assessors, 
 one of whom shall reside north of Division street, one between Division and 
 Harrison streets, and one south of Harrison street, all in said West Chicago. 
 The commissioners shall give notice, in three or more of the daily newspapers 
 published in the city of Chicago, and by posting written or printed notices in 
 three public places in said West Chicago, of the time when such application 
 will be made; and all parties interested may appear and be heard by the said 
 judge touching such appointment, at the time fixed for such application. The 
 court, after hearing such persons as shall desire to be heard touching such 
 appointment, shall nominate and appoint three assessors, qualified as aforesaid, 
 for the purposes provided in the act. The said assessors shall proceed to assess 
 the amount so ascertained upon the property by them deemed benefited by 
 reason of the improvement occasioned by the location of said boulevard and 
 park, with their appurtenances, as near as may be in proportion to the benefits 
 resulting thereto; and also the damages, if any, occasioned by the taking or 
 condemnation of any land, right, or easement, as aforesaid; and in general, the 
 form and particulars of the assessment shall be, as near as may be, the same 
 required by the city charter of Chicago in the condemnation of land, and the 
 laying out of streets. From the funds derived from said assessment, and from 
 the other funds of the said board applicable to such purpose, the said board 
 shall pay to the parties entitled thereto, the amouuts respectively due them; 
 and thereupon the title of the said lands, ways, building line, easements, and 
 parks, or that portion thereof so paid for as aforesaid, shall become fixed and 
 vested in the said board and their successors, in the manner, to the extent, for 
 the purposes, and subject to the limitations hereinbefore provided. Upon en- 
 tering upon the duties of their office, the said assessors shall make oath before 
 the clerk of the said circuit court, faithfully and impartially to discharge the 
 duties of their office; they shall give at least ten (10) days notice, in three of the 
 
52 TJie Parks and Property Interests 
 
 eaid daily papers, and by posting notices as aforesaid, of the time and place of their 
 meeting for the purpose of makini^ said assessment; and may adjourn said meet- 
 ing from time to time, until the same shall be completed. In making the said 
 assessment, the said assessors shall estimate the value of the several lots, 
 blocks or parcels of land deemed benefited by thetn as aforesaid, and shall 
 include the same, together with the amount assessed as benefits, in the assess- 
 ment roll. All parties interested may appear before eaid assessors, and be 
 heard touching auy matter connected with the assessment. When the same 
 shall be completed, it shall be signed by the assessors, and returned to the said 
 circuit court, and shall be filed by the clerk thereof. The assessors shall tliere- 
 upon give at least ten (10) days notice, in three of the said daily newspapers, 
 and by posting notices, as aforesaid, of the filing of said assessment roll; and 
 that they will, on a day therein named, apply to the circuit court for confirma- 
 tion of the same; which said notice shall be published at least ten (10) days 
 before tlie time fixed for such application. Said circuit court shall have power 
 to revise, correct, amend or confirm said assessment, in whole or in part, and 
 may make or order a new assessment, in whole or in part, and the same revise 
 and confirm, upon like notice. All parties may appear before said circuit court, 
 either in person or by attorney, when such application shall be made, and may 
 object to said assessment, either in whole or in part: Provided, All objections 
 shall be in writing, and shall be filed at least three days before the lime fixed 
 for the application, and shall specify the lot. block or parcels of land on behalf 
 of which objection is made. After the confirmation of the said assessment, 
 the clerk of said circuit court shall file a copy thereof, under the seal of his 
 said court, with the clerk of the county court of Cook county, and said assess- 
 ment shall be a lien upon the several lots, blocks or parcels of land assessed 
 for benefits as aforesaid. The clerk of the said Cook county court shall include 
 iu the general warrants for each year, until the assessments for the purposes 
 authorized by this act shall have been completed, and until the whole sum 
 shall be paid, for the collection of state and county taxes in the said town of 
 West Chicago, the said assessments, in an appropriate column, to be termed 
 " West Park and Boulevard Assessment," with the amount to be collected op- 
 posite the several lots, blocks or parcels of land assessed as aforesaid; and 
 like proceedings in all respects shall be had for enforcing the same as are now 
 provided by law for the collection of state and county taxes. The moneys col- 
 lected under the provisions of this section shall be paid to the treasurer of Cook 
 •county, for which he and his sureties shall be responsible, as fully as for any 
 •other moneys by him received as treasurer of Cook county, and be held by him 
 ill the same manner, and be subject to the same control and direction, as pro- 
 .vided in this act for other moneys belonging to said corporation. And the 
 itreasurer of Cook county shall be entitled to receive one-half of one per cent, 
 .and no .more, of said moneys, as a full compensation for receiving ana disburs- 
 ing the same. 
 
 Sec. 14. If deemed practicable by the assessors, separate appraisements and 
 .assessments shall be made; one for that part of the said boulevard, ways, 
 .building line, and easements, and for said park, building line, and easements to 
 be made and taken north of Division street; one for the same between Division 
 .-street and Harrison street; and one for the same south of Harrison street. The 
 , benefits assessed sliaJl be the real and appreciable benefits, and the assessments 
 shall not in any case be -extended over any land, lots or parts of the said West 
 Chicago where such benefits do not exist. No assessment for boulevard or park 
 improvement shall be made until further authorized by the general assembly. 
 
 Sec. 15. For the expense authorized herein for surveys, and for any defi- 
 ciencies and necessary outlays arising and required in the condemnation afore- 
 said, and in the purchase of lands and property tor the purposes herein 
 specified, and for the payment of tbe expenses of maintaining and improving 
 the said boulevard and parks, and of inclosing the same, where deemed neces- 
 sary, and for draining and making roadways and walks upon the same, and for 
 the other expenses, disbursements and charges in the premises, said commis- 
 sioners shall have power to borrow, as they shall deem expedient, an amount 
 of money not exceeding fifty thousand dollars ($50, QUO) in the aggregate, and 
 
of the City of Chicago. 5S 
 
 for a time not exceeding three years, and at a rate of interest not exceeding 10 
 per cent, per annum; and to issue therefor the notes or obligations of the said 
 corporation, which shall be numbered consecutively from No. 1, and shall be 
 signed by the president and countersigned by the secretary of said board, and 
 shall be registered accurately and minutely in a register, which shall, at all 
 times, be open for tlie examination of the public ; and no note or obligation 
 made as aforesaid shall be valid for an amount exceeding the sum remaining of 
 said $50,000, as appears by said register, or until the same shall have been duly 
 registered in said register. For the payment of the principal and interest of 
 said notes and oblig itions, the town of West Chicago shall be irrevocably 
 pledged, and also the proceeds of the tax hereinafter authorized. 
 
 Sec. 16. The adoption of the proposition "For Boulevard and Parks," as 
 hereinafter specified, shall be deemed and taken to be the consent of the said town 
 of West Chicago to the imposition of an aimual tax of one-half (^) of one (1) 
 mill for boulevard and park purposes, as hereinafter provided. It shall be the 
 duty of the clerk of the county court of Cook county to set down in the general 
 tax warrants of each year, for the collection of state and count}'- taxes, in a 
 separate column, a tax of one-half (|) of one (1) mill, to be styled " Boulevard 
 and Park Tax," which is hereby levied upon all the taxable property in said 
 town of West Chicago; and shall set down, in said column, the amount of said 
 tax chargeable to the several persons, corporations, lots or parcels of land 
 liable for taxes in said town ; and the collector shall proceed to collect the 
 same in the maimer now provided by law for the collection of state and county 
 taxes; and all the provisions of law in respect to the collection of state and 
 county taxes, and proceedings to enforce the same, so far as applicable, shall 
 apply to said assessments and taxes. The said suras of money shall be placed 
 by the treasurer of said county of Cook to the credit of said board, and shall be 
 drawn by said board from the county treasury by a warrant signed by the 
 president and secretary of the board, and countersigned by the auditor to be 
 appointed as aforesaid, and in no other way. The appointment of such auditor 
 shall be first certified by such president and secretary, and filed in the office of 
 said treasurer of Cook county-. 
 
 Sec. 17. It shall be lawful for said commissioners to vacate and close up any 
 and all public roads or highways, excepting r^iilroads, for commercial purposes 
 which may pass through, divide or separate any lands selected or appropriated 
 by them for the purpose of a park; and no such road shall ever be laid out 
 through said park, except such as the said commissioners shall lay out and con- 
 struct: Provided^ however, That neither Lake street, Madison street, nor 
 Twelfth street, nor either of the diagonal avenues or roads leading into said 
 city, nor any boulevard or horse railway track of any person or corporation now 
 authorized to make the same, shall be closed under the provisions of this sec- 
 tion, but the same may be worked and controlled, when and so far as within 
 the lines of either of said parks, by the said board, but without interrupting 
 travel over the same. 
 
 Sec. 18. The said commissioners, or either of them, may be removed f om 
 office by the circuit court of said county, after trial and conviction, upon the 
 petition, with sworn charges, presented by not less than ten (10) reputable 
 freeholders of said town of West Chicago, and if it shall appear, at said trial, 
 that the said commissioner or commissioners iiave been guilty of misdemeanor 
 or malfeasance in office under this act; and if the said court shall remove any 
 of said commissioners from office for any such cause, before the expiration of 
 his or their term of office, the clerk of said court shall certify to the governor 
 of the .'•■^of lUinoia, under the seal of the court, a copy of the final judgment 
 of vemo^f. The president and secretary of the board shall certify to the 
 governor all other vacancies arising or occurring in the same, after the organi- 
 zation thereof 
 
 Sec. 19. The office of any commissioner under this act who shall not attend 
 meetings of the board for three successive months after having been duly 
 notified of said meetings, without reasons satisfactorj'' to the board, or without 
 leave of absence from said board, may by said board be declared, and therefore 
 shall become, vacant. 
 
54 The Parhs and Property Interests 
 
 Sec. 20. There sball be nn election held in the town of West Chicapro on 
 the fourth Tuesday of March next, after the passage of this act, at which election 
 the legal voters, voting at said election, shall vote for or against the creation 
 of the said board of park commissioners, the laying out and making of the said 
 boulevard and parks, with their appurtenances, the addition of said sections of 
 land above described by numbers to said city and said town of West Chicago, 
 and the extension of tlie limits thereof, and the imposition of the tax hereby 
 declared to be levied ; at which all legal voters residing in the said added ter- 
 ritory shall have the right to vote. The tickets shall be printed or written: 
 " For the Boulevard and Parks," and " Against the Boulevard and Parks" ; and, 
 if a majority of the votes cast on the question shall be " For the Boulevard and 
 Parks," then the proposition in the first part of this s^^ction specified shall be 
 held to be consented to and voted by the said town, and all the provisions of 
 this act relative thereto shall take effect and be in force, with the other pro- 
 visions of this act, but not otherwise : Providedy howtver. That there shall be 
 opened in the said territory added from the town of Jefferson, at the house of 
 Henry Jewell, known as "Powell's Tavern," a poll for the casting of the votes 
 of said last-mentioned territory, separately ; at which election M. N. Kimbell, 
 John F. Powell, and John Hise, shnll be judges of election, and the legal voters 
 n sident therein on the tenth (10th) day of February, A D. 1869, mav vote 
 "For Citv Extension," and " Again^^t City Extension," and "For the Boule- 
 vard and Parks," and " Against tlie Boulevard and Parks"; and if a majority of 
 the votes so cast shall be " Against City Extension " and " Against the Boule- 
 v.trd and Parks," then the territory herein taken from said town of Jefferson 
 shall not become a part of the city of Chicago, or of the town of West Chicago, 
 nor shall the jurisdiction of said city be extended over the same, but the same 
 shall remain a part of the town of Jefferson, the same as if this act had not 
 been passed ; and said vote shall not be counted with, or affect the vote cast 
 in, the remaining territory embraced under this act. The clerk of the county 
 court of Cook county shall, except as herein otherwi.se provided, designate the 
 placesof holding such election, and give notice thereof, in three or more of the 
 daily newspapers published in the county of Cook, at least ten (10) days preced- 
 ing such election, and there shall be one polling or voting place in 
 each voting district in said town, as the same was fixed at the last 
 general election in the county of Cook, except as herein provided. 
 The persons who acted as judges or inspectors of election in the 
 several districts of said town, at the last general election in Cook 
 county, shall be the judges or inspectors of this election. In case the 
 judges or inspectors of election shall not attend at the time for opening the 
 polls, such judges or inspectors shall be chosen by the legal voters present. 
 In case it shall be necessary to do so, the said clerk of the county court shall 
 prescribe districts and appoint places of voting in the added territory afore- 
 said, at which the legal voters present shall choose the judges or inspectors of 
 elfction. The clerks shall be appointed as provided in elections for county 
 officers. The polls shall be opened and closed, and the election conducted as 
 elections for county officers. All legal voters of said town shall be entitled to 
 vote at such election, without any new registration; and the judges or inspectors 
 of such election shall use the registry list made for the general election in 
 November. A. D. 1868; and, where necessary to do so, said county 
 clerk shall obtain copies of such registry lists of the several towns 
 from which the said added territory is taken, and furnish them in 
 due time at the place or places where the vote or votes of the said 
 added territory shall be taken: Provided, That whenever any person whose 
 name is not on the registry list shall offer hi^ vote at such election, the 
 judges or inspectors shall require the same evidence of his qualification as now 
 provided by law. The said judges of election shall, immediately after the 
 close of the polls, count the ballots, fill out and .sign the returns and tally- 
 sheets, as now provided by law in all other elections, and return the poll-books 
 and ballots to the clerk of the county court, as in other cases of election. 
 The votes shall be canvassed in the manner provided by law for the election of 
 state and county officers. The clerk of the county court of Cook county 
 
of the City of Chicago. 55 
 
 shall, immediately after such canvass, cause a certiticate of the result of such 
 election to be filed in the office of the secretary of state, which shall be con- 
 clusive evidence of the result of said election. 
 
 Sec. 21. This act shall be deemed a public act, and shall be in force from 
 and after its passage. It shall be liberally construed in all courts and places ; 
 and all acts and parts of acts in conflict with its provisions, or. either of 
 them, are hereby repealed. 
 
 LINCOLIS' PAEK/ 
 
 This Park is situated in North Chicago, on the lake shore 
 about two miles north of the river. It is bounded on the south 
 by the old city cemetery. Until the present session of the legis- 
 lature this park covered an area of about sixty acres ; addi- 
 tions have been made, or the city has obtained legislative au- 
 thority for such additions, which will make the park to contain 
 about two hundred acres. For the past three years the city has 
 been employed leisurely in improving the park, and has ex- 
 pended upon it nearly $75,000. This park, with the exception 
 of Union Park, in the W est Division, is the only public im- 
 provement worthy of the name in the city. The natural con- 
 figuration of this park is perhaps better than can be found any- 
 where else in the vicinity of the city. It is composed chiefly of 
 sand hills, with little valleys and ponds between them. The 
 great difficulty in applying to it the rules of landscape is to ob- 
 tain black and tenacious earth sufficient to form a proper surface 
 upon which shrubbery and trees may be expected to live and 
 thrive ; but this latter obstacle has been removed by the legis- 
 lature in its recent bill, which has permitted the addition of a 
 large number of acres to this park on the north. 
 
 The boundaries of Lincoln Park are — on the south. North 
 avenue from Clark street to the Lake; on the west, Clark 
 street to Franklin; thence north on Franklin street to its 
 intersection with the old lake shore ditch and thence along this 
 ditch to Fullerton avenue ; west on Fullerton avenue to a 
 point five hundred feet east of North Clark street ; thence 
 
56 The Parks and Property Interests^ etc. 
 
 north-west, on a line parallel to and five hundred feet east 
 of Clark street, to the center line of section 28 ; thence east to 
 the lake. 
 
 About two and one-half miles of drives are already in exist- 
 ence, and the park has a large number of trees growing within 
 its enclosure. During last summer a series of out-door concerts 
 were inaugurated, which appeared to be the source of much en- 
 joyment. The work has progressed so far that nearly every one 
 in the North Division is proud of the park, and no property- 
 holder expresses the least regret that he is one of the parties 
 who must pay for it. 
 
 This park enjoys one other advantage which no other park 
 in the city can enjoy. All the lake commerce of Chicago, rep- 
 resented by its thousands of sail vessels and its steamers, must 
 pass along its front. Scarcely an hour occurs in the summer 
 when there may not be seen what would seem to be an endless 
 line of vessels. 
 
 Lincoln Park is at present the most central of any of our 
 urban parks. As has been stated, it is but two miles from the 
 river, while South Park is from five to eight miles, and "West 
 Park can hardly be less than four miles from the Court 
 House. To reach Lincoln Park, however, the people have yet 
 no means of railroad transit except the horse cars, and it will be 
 found that the South and West Parks can as quickly and as 
 cheaply be reached by the steam roads as Lincoln Park can by 
 means of the horse cars. 
 
 The value of real estate in the region of Lincoln Park has 
 already been largely enhanced, and the people living in its 
 neighborhood know very well that the advantages of the park 
 will more than compensate for all the taxes which may be levied 
 for its improvement and maintenance. 
 
 ■ The lake shore drive or boulevard, which is projected for 
 this park, will, when it is completed, be one of the finest im- 
 provements in the city. The design is to have it commence at 
 Pine street, and run thence along the lake shore, of a width 
 of two hundred feet, until it reaches the southern boundary of 
 Lincoln Park. The Board of Public Works has already ma- 
 tured the plans for this work, and its execution will be only a 
 matter of time. 
 
Parks of the City of Chicago. 59 
 
 THE LAW FOR LINCOLN PARK. 
 
 The following is a fall and correct copy of tlie law providing 
 for the location and improvement of Lincoln Park : 
 
 Section 1. Be. U enacted hi the People of the State of Illinois, represented in (he 
 General Assembly, That all of the land situate and lying within the following boun- 
 daries, to wit : Commencing at the intersection of North avenue in the city 
 of Chicago and county of Cook with Lake Michigan, and running thence west 
 along said North avenue to North Clark street; thence along North Clark street 
 to North Franklin street; thence along North Franklin street to Fullerton 
 avenue; thence along Fullerton avenue to the west line of the south-east quarter 
 of section 28, in township 40 north, of range 14 east of the third principal 
 meridian ; thence along said west line to the north-west corner of said south-east 
 quarter of section 28; thence along the north line of said south-east quarter to 
 Lake Michigan; and thence along the shore of Lake Michigan at low water 
 mark, as the same now is or hereafter may be, to the place of beginning — be, 
 and the same is hereby declared to be a public park, to be known as Lincoln 
 Park, and shall be deemed to have been taken by the city of Chicago for 
 public use and for a public park. 
 
 Sec. 2. All of said land now belonging to the city of Chicago shall be and 
 is hereby appropriated for such park without any compensation to the city, and 
 the title of any of said land not now owned by the city may be acquired by 
 said city by purchase or condemnation, as herein provided. The board of 
 commissioners of Lincoln Park, as hereinafter created, may purchase any of 
 said lands at fair and reasonable prices, to be determined by them and paid for 
 out of bonds or money coming to their hands for the purpose of acquiring the 
 title thereto, and the same shall be conveyed to and vest in the city, to be used 
 as a part of the park, or the same may be acquired in the manner hereinafter 
 set forth. 
 
 Sec. 3. Three discreet and competent freeholders, citizens of Chicago, shall 
 be appointed by the circuit court of Cook county, within three months after 
 the passage of this act, and on application of the board of commissioners of said 
 park, to act as appraisers in relation to the taking and the value of said lands, 
 mentioned in the first section of this act or any part thereof, and in case of 
 the death, resignation, disqualification or refusal to act of either of said apprais- 
 ers, it shall be lawful for the said circuit court, at any general or special term 
 thereof, on application of said board of commissioners, and from time to time, 
 as often as said event shall happen, to appoint any other discreet or disinter- 
 ested person, being a citizen of the city of Chicago, in the place of said ap- 
 praisers so dying, resigning or refusing to act, and said appraisers shall proceed 
 to discharge the duties of their appointment, and to complete their estimate and 
 award, as soon as conveniently may be, and shall file their final report in the 
 office of the clerk of the circuit court of Cook county within three months of 
 the date of their appointment. 
 
 Sec. 4. It shall be competent and lawful for a majority of said board of ap- 
 praisers, designated as aforesaid, to perform the trust and duties of their appoint- 
 ment; and their acts shall be as valid and efifectual as the acts of all the apprais- 
 ers so to be appointed, if they had acted therein, would have been. And in 
 every case the proceedings and decisions of a majority in number of said board 
 of appraisers, acting in the premises, shall be as valid and effectual as if the said 
 appraisers appointed for such purposes had all concurred and joined therein. 
 
 Sec. 5. The appraisers herein provided for in relation to the taking and the 
 value of any of the lands mentioned in the first section of this act, shall make 
 just and true estimate of the value of such lands and of the loss and damage to 
 the respective owners, lessees and parties and persons respectively entitled to 
 or interested in the same, together with the tenements, hereditaments and ap- 
 purtenances, privileges or advantages to the same belonging or in anywise 
 appertaining, by and in consequence of the relinquishing the same to the said 
 city of Chicago; and in making said estimate they shall not make any deduc- 
 
60 The Pa/rhs and Property Interests 
 
 tion or allowance for any supposed advantages to be derived from taking said 
 lands as public places or in consequence thereof; and the amounts so estimated, 
 when duly confirmed, shall be paid as hereinafter in this act provided. When- 
 ever such estimate shall be completed, they shall file the same with the clerk 
 of the circuit court of Cook county, and thereupon proceedings may be had to 
 correct or confirm the same as in this act provided. 
 
 Sec. 6. Said appraisers and any party being the owner of, or interested in, 
 any of the lands mentioned in this act," may agree upon the value thereof and 
 upon the amount of damages and compensation to be awarded therefor, and 
 said appraisers may make special reports in relation to any matter so agreed 
 upon, and any such special report may bo filed and proceedings may be had to 
 confirm the pame, and the same may be confirmed in the same manner and with 
 like effect, as is provided herein with relation to other reports of said apprais- 
 ers; and upon the confirmation of any such special report, the amount of the 
 awards thus confirmed shall be paid in the same manner as if such awards had 
 been made in a general report of said appraisers and duly confirmed. 
 
 Sec. 1. Before proceeding to discharge any of their duties, the appraisers 
 shall respectively take and subscribe an oath in writing before some officer 
 authorized by law to administer oaths, honestly and faithfully to discharge the 
 duties which may devolve upon them, in pursuance of this act, which oath 
 shall be filed in the ofiBce of the clerk of the county court of the county of 
 Cook. Said appraisers shall proceed as soon as may "be after their appointment 
 to discharge the duties of their trust, and to make and complete their estimates 
 and awards, and reports, as hereinafter provided, and every estimate, *award 
 and report so made, shall be signed by at least a majority of said appraisers, 
 and filed in the office of the circuit court of the county of Cook, and notice 
 thereof given to the counsel for the corporation of the said city of Chicago; 
 within ten days after receiving such notice of the filing of any report of such 
 board of appraisers, said corporation counsel shall give notice, by puhlica- 
 tion, for ten days, in at least two daily papers of the said city of Chicago, 
 that he will, at a term of said circuit court designated therein, and at the time 
 and place to be designated in said notice, present said report for confirma- 
 tion. And if said corporation counsel shall not, within the time prescribed, 
 cause such notice to be given, and the report to be presented for confirmation, 
 then such notice may be given, and said report may he presented for confirma- 
 tion, as above described, by said appraisers, or by any party whose lands are to 
 be taken, and to whom compensation is estimated and awarded by such 
 report. It shall be the duty of said court, at the time mentioned in said 
 notice, to proceed immediately to the hearing of said report, and it shall 
 have priority over all other causes pendihg in said court. The said court shall 
 pronounce judgment on said report, and shall confirm the same against the 
 several lots or parcels of land described in said report in respect to which no 
 objections shall be filed, and such judgment shall be a lawful and sufficient con- 
 demnation of the lands and property appropriated and sought to be condemned 
 and not objected to; and the court shall hear and determine all objections in a 
 summary way, without pleadings, and shall and may on such hearing, when 
 objections have been interposed, render such judgment as shall seem proper, 
 modifying and changing such assessment as it shall deem proper, and any 
 appeal therefrom shall not invalidate or affect said judgment or delay the 
 same, except as to the property described in said appeal. Such judgment, 
 as far as not appealed from, shall be a lawful and sufficient condemnation 
 of the lands and property appropriated, and any appeal shall not delay the 
 proceedings under said judgment, except as to the property described in said 
 appeal. 
 
 Sec. 8. Payment of the damages awarded in and by the judgments entered 
 as aforesaid shall be made immediately, and the board of park commissioners, 
 as hereinafter appointed, may either pay such damage to tlie person appear- 
 ing to be entitled to the same, or bring into the said circuit court and deposit 
 with the clerk thereof the amount of such damage, specifying at the time of 
 each deposit, in a written report, to be made to said court, the several 
 pieces of land condemned, and which are paid for by sa'd deposit, and upon 
 
of the City of Chicago, 61 
 
 payment being made as aforesaid, the said lands shall vest forever in the said 
 city of Chicago for the purposes and uses in this act mentioned. 
 
 Sec. 9. It shall be the duty of any person or persons owning cemetery 
 lots included within the lands in the first section of this act described and 
 to be condemned by said commissioners, to remove any bodies that may be 
 therein interred, within six months of the confirmation of so much of the 
 report of said commissioners as relates to said lots; and if said removal shall 
 not be made within six months, the board of park commissioners may at any 
 time thereafter make such removal. 
 
 Sec. 10. The appraisers shall also, as a part of Lincoln Park, lay out a 
 drive two hundred feet wide (so that the east line shall be the waters of 
 Lake Michigan), from Pine street to the south line of said park, and shall 
 proceed to make an assessment for the payment of the land taken for the same, 
 according to the provisions of the charter of the city of Chicago, in staking 
 lands for the opening of a street, and shall file their report with the clerk 
 of the circuit court, when the same proceedings shall be had as provided in 
 this act in regard to the lauds to be taken for the park. The said circuit 
 court may render judgment against the lands and lots assessed for the several 
 amounts assessed for benefits remaining unpaid, and the collection thereof 
 shall be made and enforced, as in the case of collection for taxes, and the 
 money so collected shall be paid to the park commissioners, and by them 
 paid to the several persons entitled to damages for lands taken for such 
 drive. 
 
 Sec.^11. Such drive, when thus laid out, shall be a part of said Lincoln 
 Park, and shall be under the control and management of the board of com- 
 missioners to the same extent as herein provided in reference to said park, and 
 it shall be improved by the same means. 
 
 Sec. 12. For the purpose of paying for the land taken for such park, under 
 the provisions of this act, the bonds of the city of Chicago to such an amount 
 as shall be necessary for that purpose, shall be issued by the mayor, comptroller 
 and clerk of said city, from time to time, as the same shall be required by the 
 board of park commissioners for the purpose aforesaid, and shall be delivered 
 to said board upon demand, and said bonds shall be payable twenty years from 
 the date thereof, and shall bear interest at the rale of seven per cent, 
 per annum, payable half yearly on the first days of January and July in 
 each year; and the said bonds and the proceeds of the sale thereof, shall con- 
 stitute the fund for paying the cost of the lands taken for the park. 
 
 Sec. 13. As said bonds shall from time to time issue, the comptroller shall 
 cause to be kept in his office, in a book to be provided for that purpose, a true and 
 correct statement and account of each and every bond by him executed, showing 
 the number of each bond, and the date and amount thereof, and the time when due 
 and said books shall be open for public inspection), and wbich books shall be 
 delivered by him to his successor in office. The comptroller shall take a receipt 
 from the person authorized by said board to receive said bonds. 
 
 Sec. 14. The bonds ot the city of Chicago, which shall be issued by virtue 
 of this act, may be used by said board of commissioners at their par value by 
 paying any amount which said city shall have become liable to pay for such 
 lands purchased or condemned under this act, or the same may be sold at pub- 
 lic or private sale, or subscription, upon such terms as said commissioners shall 
 determine; and the said board of park commissioners may pledge any ot said 
 bonds for money borrowed temporarily, at an ordinary rate of interest, not 
 exceeding ten per cent, per annum, if they shall deem it necessary and expedi- 
 ent so to do. 
 
 Sec. 1 5. The board of park commissioners shall cause a full description of 
 the bonds received from the city to be entered in a record, to be provided for 
 that purpose, which shall show the date, number and amount of each bond, the 
 time when received, the time when and to whom sold, and the amount received 
 therefor, and shall, on or before the first day of April in each year, furnish a 
 copy thereof, verified by the oath of the custodian of such records, to the city 
 comptroller. 
 
 Sec. 16. The property of the city of Chicago and the lands authorized to 
 
62 The Parhs and Pro]perty Interests 
 
 be taken by this act for a public park, are hereby pledged for the payment of 
 the principal and interest of said bonds. 
 
 Sec. n. The board of park commissioners hereinafter mentioned is hereby 
 autliorized, and it shall be their duty on or before the first day of October in 
 each year, to fix upon the amount, not exceeding $75,000, that may be neces- 
 sary to be expended for the improvement and repair of said park and drive 
 during the next succeeding year, and certify the same to the clerk of the county 
 county court of Cook county, and said clerk shall apportion said amount upon 
 the taxable property returned by the assessors of North Chicago and of Lake 
 View, and compute the same as a part of the taxes due and payable by the 
 owners of said property set down or described in a separate column, headed 
 '' Lincoln Park Tax," and the same shall be included in the warrant issued for 
 the collection of taxes, and collected as other taxes. In case of a failure to pay 
 the same, judgment may be rendered againsc the real estate assessed, and the 
 like proceedings had as for other taxes. The taxes so collected shall be paid 
 to the park commissioners, and used by them in improving and keeping in repair 
 the park and drive. 
 
 Sec. 18. The appraisers appointed by virtue of this act shall have authority 
 to employ surveyors and to use any map or file belonging to said city or to said 
 county of Cook, and to cause maps to be made as may be necessary, and said 
 appiaisers shall be allowed a compensation of five dollars per day for their 
 time actually employed in discharging their duty as such appraisers, and all 
 such compensation and the necessary expenses in discharging their duties shall 
 be allowed and taxed by the court aforesaid and paid by said city of Chicago, 
 and shall be added to and become a part of the cost of said park. 
 
 Sec. 19. The said Lincoln Park shall be under the exclusive control of a 
 board of commissioners to consist of five persons, who shall be named and 
 styled The Commissioners of Lincoln Park. A majority of said commissioners 
 (in office for the time being) shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of 
 business, but no action of said board shall be final or binding until it shall re- 
 ceive the approval of a majority of said board, whose names shall be recorded 
 in its minutes. 
 
 Sec. 20. E. B, McOagg, John B. Turner, Andrew Nelson, Joseph Stockton, 
 and Jacob Rehm, are hereby appointed, and shall constitute the first board of 
 commissioners of Lincoln Park. They shall hold office as such commissioners 
 for five years. No member of such board shall receive any compensation lor 
 his services. In case of a vacancy within said five years, the same may be 
 tilled by the remaining members of said board, and all vacancies occasioned by 
 the expiration of the term of office, shall be tilled by the judge of the circuit 
 court of Cook county . 
 
 Sec. 21. The said board shall have full and exclusive power to govern, 
 manage and direct the said park;, to layout aud regulate the same; to pass 
 ordinances for the regulation and government thereof; to appoint such engi- 
 neers, surveyors and other officers, except a police force, as may be necessary; 
 to prescribe and define their respective duties and authority; to fix the amount 
 of their compensation and require bonds for the faithful performance of their 
 duties; and generally, in regard to said park, shall possess all the power and 
 authority now by law conferred on or possessed by the common council of 
 said city in respect to public squares and places in said city. They may vacate 
 any public street or alley withm the limits of said park, and shall lay out a 
 street not exceeding one hundred feet and not less than eighty leet in width, 
 north from Fulierton avenue along the west line of of said park to the north- 
 ern boundary thereof, and may exercise the same power and control over such 
 street as the rest of the park. 
 
 Sec. 22. It shall be a misdemeanor for any commissioner to be directly or 
 Indirectly in any way pecuniarily interested in any contract, or work of any 
 kind whatever, connected with said park; and it shall be the duty of any com- 
 missioner or other person who may have any knowledge or information of the 
 violation of this provision forthwith to report the same to the mayor of the city 
 of Chicago, who shall present the facts of the case to the judge of the circuit 
 court of Cook county. Such judge shall hear in a summary manner such 
 
of the City of Chicago. 63 
 
 commissioner in relation thereto, and if after such hearing he shall be satisfied 
 of the truth thereof, he shall immediately remove the commissioner thus 
 oflending, subject to a fine and imprisonment. Every commissioner shall, 
 before entering upon the duties of his ofiBce, take and subscribe an oath faith- 
 fully to perform the duties of his olfice, which oath shall be filed in the office 
 of the said clerk of the circuit court of the county of Cook, and shall each 
 give a bond in the penal sum of fifty thousand dollars for the faithful perform- 
 ance of his duty, and payable to the city of Chicago. 
 
 Sec. 23. Said board of commissioners for the government of said park 
 shall, in the month of April of every year, make to the common council of 
 said city, a full report of their proceedings and a detailed statement of all their 
 receipts and expenses under oath. 
 
 It shall be the duty of said commissioners to let all amounts exceeding in 
 amount twenty-five hundred dollars by contract, in the manner provided in the 
 charter of the city of Chicago for letting the contracts for public improve- 
 ments. 
 
 Sec. 24. It shall be lawful for the commissioners of said park to let, from 
 year to year, any building, and the grounds attactied thereto, belonging to said 
 city, which may be within the limits of said park, until the same shall be 
 required for the laying out and regulation thereof, when the said buildings shall 
 be removed, except such as may be used for the purposes of such park. The 
 said commissioners may sell any building or other material, being within the 
 limits of said park and belonging to said city, which, in their judgment, shall 
 not be required for the purposes of said park, or for public use, and the pro- 
 ceeds of which shall be deposited to the credit of said commissioners, and 
 devoted to the improvement of the park. 
 
 Sec. 25. None of the said commissioners, nor any persons, whether in the 
 employ of the said commissioners or otherwise, shall have the power to create 
 any debt, obligation, claim or liability for or on account of said board, or the 
 moneys or properties under his control, except with the express authority of 
 said board, conferred at a meeting thereof, duly convened and held. 
 
 Sec. 26. The ofiice of either of the said commissioners who shall not attend 
 the meetings of said board for three successive months, after having been duly 
 notified of said meetings, without reasons therefor satisfactory to the said board, 
 or without leave of absence from said board, may be by said board declared 
 vacant. 
 
 Sec. 2*7. It shall be lawful for the said board of commissioners, at any 
 meeting thereof, duly convened, to pass such ordinances as ttiey may deem 
 necessary for the regulation, use and government of the park under their 
 charge, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act. Such ordinances shall, 
 immediately upon their passage, be published for ten days in two daily papers 
 in said city. 
 
 Sec. 28. The person offending against said ordinances shall be deemed 
 guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished, on conviction, before any 
 court of competent jurisdiction in the county of Cook, by a fine not exceeding 
 one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment, or both, in the discretion of the 
 court. 
 
 Sec. 29. Real and personal property may be granted, bequeathed or con- 
 veyed to said city of Chicago for the purpose of the improvement or ornamenta- 
 tion of said park, or for the establishment or maintenance, within the limits of 
 said park, of museums, zoological, or other gardens, collections of natural 
 history or works of art, upon such trusts and conditions as may be prescribed 
 by the grantors and donors thereof, and agreed to by said board of park com- 
 missioners; and all property so devised, granted, bequeathedjjor conveyed, and 
 the rents, issues, profit and income thereof, shall be subject to the exclusive 
 management, direction and control of the commissioners of the Park. 
 
 Sec. 30. This act shall take efiect from and after its passage. 
 
Leading Heal Estate Dealers in Chicago. 65 
 
 GEO. R. CLARKE. B. P. LAYTON. CHA3. P. SILVA. 
 
 CLARKE, LAYTON & CO., 
 
 REAL ESTATE AGENTS 
 
 (ESTABLISHED IN 1853,) 
 
 128 Washington Street, 
 
 Adjoining Chamber of Commerce, 
 
 BUY AND SELL REAL ESTATE ON COMMISSION. 
 
 MONET INVESTED FOR NON-RESIDENTS. 
 
 We have made from 50 to 200 per cent, per annum 
 on investments for non-residents, dm-ing the last three 
 years. 
 
 Refer to the permanent business men of the city. 
 
66 Leading Real Estate Dealers in Chicagd. 
 
 THOMAS D. SNYDER. J, LEWIS LEE. 
 
 SNYDER & LEE, 
 
 EEAL ESTATE 
 
 AND 
 
 LOAN AGENTS, 
 
 Eoom 4, Metropolitan Block, 
 
 Corner Handolpb. and La Salle Streets, 
 
 OHICAaO, ILLINOIS. 
 
 REAL ESTATE PURCHASED, MANAGED AND SOLD. 
 
 TAXES PAID FOR NON-RESIDENTS. 
 
 Loans mads on Real Estate in Chicago for a term of years. 
 
Leading Real Estate Dealers in Chicago. 6T 
 
 HENRY WHIPPLE. WM. M. TRUE. 
 
 WHIPPLE & TRUE, 
 
 REAL ESTATE AGEIJTS 
 
 " Rooms 4 and 5 Lombard Block, 
 1074 MONROE STREET, 
 
 (First Bnildins West of Post Offics.) CHIOAGrO, ILL. 
 
 Houses and Lots bought and sold on commission ; 
 Loans Negotiated ; Houses Rented and Rents Col- 
 lected ; Taxes Paid for non-residents. 
 
 Parties makina: their investments throu2:h us can 
 rely upon having their interests carefully guarded. 
 We intend to keep ourselves thoroughly posted in 
 regard to property in this city and vicinity, and solicit 
 correspondence from parties seeking information on the 
 
 subject. 
 
 » ■ 
 
 li E F E R, E: ]V O E S . 
 
 HON. GRANT GOODRICH. J. V. FAR WELL, Esq. 
 
 CU^HMAN, HARDIN & BRO., B.tnkers. HENRY F. FAMES, Esq., 
 
 Rev. LUKG HITCHCOCK, D.D., Cincinnati. Pren't Commercial National BanJc. 
 
 Ebv. T. M. eddy, D.D. 'Rav. SAM'L C. JACKSON, D.D-, Boston, Mass. 
 
68 Leading Meal Instate Dealers in Chicago, 
 
 S. H. KERFOOT. J. F. PIERSON. 
 
 Chicago Real Estate Agency 
 
 OF 
 
 S. H. KERFOOT <&; CO., 
 
 Bstablislied. Seventeen Years. 
 
 We have, since 1853, been uninterruptedly engaged in the 
 
 General Real Estate Agency & Brokerage 
 
 IN THE GROWING CITY OF 
 
 CHICuf^LOO, ILLITVOIS- 
 
 "We manage Estates and pay Taxes in ILLINOIS, "WISCONSIN. IOWA, MINNESOTA, 
 and the North- West gi-nerally. We buy and sell Real Estate for residents and non-residents. 
 We have, at our own expense, compiled a most complete ATLAS OF CHICAGO, showinf; 
 all subdivisions of Lot" and Blocks, the sizes and locations of the same, and giving every 
 Information regarding Chicafro City Real Kstate which an Atlas can be made to give. Our 
 Office Real Estate BulKtin always shows a Choice and Desirable 
 
 Iiist of liots, Blocks, Lands, River Fronts. Manufacturing and 
 Business Property, al-nrays for sale. 
 
 To Capitalists seeking investments we offer every inducement to consult our Office, and 
 wo pledge ourselves to do our very best to protect their interests. 
 
 The Unparalleled Growth of Chicago. 
 
 The unquestionable reality of her increase in COMMERCE, MANUFACTURKS, RAIL- 
 ROADS, GRAIN TKADK, LUMBER BUSINESS, and all lines of traffic, makes the growth 
 certain to continue. The CONTINUANCE OF THE GROWTH OF CHICAGO, even at a 
 moderate and healthy pace, makes 
 
 Chicago Meal Estate Investments better than any Stocks, 
 or Bond and Mortgage. 
 
 ^^ We do NOT advise buying and selling. We counsel permanent investments. These 
 when judiciously made, always pay when held for a few years. 
 
 We invite correspondence and inquiry, personally or by letter, and will promptly give 
 the information asked. • 
 
 Our Senior Partner is the President of the Chicago Board 
 of Beal Estate Brokers, and its rules govern our o£B.ce. 
 
 •-•-> 
 
 The Presidents and Cashiers of the First, Sec- 
 ' ond and Third National Banks, Chicago. 
 
 Sol. A. Smith, President Merchants' Loan 
 and Trust Company, Chicago. 
 
 Hon. Wm. Bross, President Manufacturers' 
 National Bank, Chicago. 
 
 The Chicago Commercial community gener- 
 ally. 
 
 Charles Macalester, Esq., Philadelphia. 
 
 William G. Harrison, Esq., Baltimore. 
 
 Bobert J. Brent, Esq., " 
 
 Thos. H. Faile, Esq., Water St., cor of Pine, 
 
 New Torlc. 
 John Ferguson, Esq., 85 Pine St., New York. 
 Franklin Haven, Esq., Merchants' National 
 
 Bank, Boston. 
 Peter Hubbel, Esq., Charlestown and Boston. 
 John H. Shoenberger, Esq., Pittsburg, Pa. 
 Hon . Lyman Trumbull, Washington, D. 0. 
 Hon. Norman B. Judd, " " 
 
 Hen. John F. Farnsworth, " " 
 
 Hon. Kobert C, Schenck, " " 
 
Leading Heal Estate Dealers in Chicago. 69 
 
 G. S. HUBBARD, Jr., & JACKSON, 
 
 REAL ESTATE AGENTS 
 
 1^1 Dea.rbor'n Street, 
 
 CIiI0.A.C3-0 
 
 Property Bought, Sold and Rented, on Commission. 
 
 PARTICULAR ATTENTION PAID TO THE INTERESTS OF 
 NON-RESIDENTS. 
 
70 Leading Meal Estate Dealers in Chicago, 
 
 SAMUEL DELAMATER. 
 
 WILLIS e. JACKSON. 
 
 DELAMATER & JACKSON, 
 
 REAL ESTATE BROKERS 
 
 121 South ClarTi Street^ 
 
 CHICAGJ^O, ILL.: 
 
 3R003S<C 1. 
 
 We have at all times on our books a large list of Improved and Unimproved 
 Property, in all three Divisions of the City. "We invest money for corres- 
 pondents, and can give the best of references to those for wliom we have already 
 invested largely and satisfactorily, without their having ever seen our City. 
 We pay Taxes, Collect Renti^, and attend to the general interests of non- 
 residents. We invite all persons coming to our city to make investments, to 
 give us a call, and all who wish to invest without coming, to notify us of their 
 wi-hr>s by mail. We can give all such very U'^eful information. 
 
 Cnninierri;il Xationfil Bank, Chicago. Adams National Bank, North Adams, Mass. 
 
 Fourth Niitional Bank, Chicago. Shelberne Falls National Bank, Shelbern© 
 
 Falls, Mass. 
 
Leading Ileal Mstate JDedlers in Chicago. 1 1 
 
 JOHN G. SHORTALL. LOUIS D. HOARD. 
 
 SHORTALL & HOARD, 
 Conveyancers. 
 
 ABSTRACTS OF TITLE 
 
 To, and Information Furnished concerning 
 
 All the Real Estate in Cook Co. 
 
 No. lo LARMON BLOCK, 
 
 CLARK STREET, 
 
 Opposite the Court House, V-»niC3,gO, 111. 
 
72 Leading Beal Estate Dealers in Chicago. 
 
 A. J. AVERELL. G. M. HIQGINSON. 
 
 AVERELL & HIGGINSON, 
 
 EAL ESTATE 
 
 BROKERS, 
 
 No. 7 IVTetropolitan Block, 
 CHICAGO, ILLII^OIS. 
 
 Sell on Commission First Class Business and Resi- 
 dence Property, centrally located, Improved and Unim- 
 proved ; also Lands by the Acre in the City of Chicago 
 and its Suburbs. 
 
 A large list of Valuable Property now for sale, to 
 which the attention of the public is respectfully 
 directed. 
 
Leading Real Estate Dealers in Chicago. 73 
 
 OLLIlSlGEE, WALLER & CO., 
 
 REAL ESTATE BROKERS, 
 
 Hoom 7, Union Bnilding, 
 
 Oorner La Salle and "Wasliington Sts., 
 
 HAVE A LARGE LIST OF 
 
 IMPKOYED AND UNIMPEOVED 
 
 PEOPEETY 
 
 IN ALL PARTS OF THE CITY. 
 
 ACRE PROPERTY A SPECIALTY. 
 
74 Leading Ileal Estate Dealers in Chicago. 
 
 GEORGE H. ROZKT, 
 
 EEAL ESTATE 
 
 BROKER. 
 
 ROOM NO. 14 UNION BUILDING, 
 
 C H I O A. G O. 
 
Leading Meal Estate Dealers in Gliicago. IS 
 
 I 
 
 H. H. HONORE, 
 
 REAL ESTATE BROKER 
 
 BUYS AND SELLS PROPERTY 
 
 O^ COMMISSION 
 
 No. 94 Dearborn Street, 
 
 omo^^ C3-0. 
 
S. H. KERFOOT. 
 
 J. F. PIERSON. 
 
 » 
 
 Chicago Real Estate Agency 
 
 OF 
 
 S. H. KERFOOT & CO., 
 
 Established Seventeen. Years. 
 
 We have, since 1852, been uninterruptedly engaged in tlie 
 
 General Eeal Estate Agency & Brokerage 
 
 IN THE GROWING CITY OF 
 
 CHICAOO, ILLIIVOIS. 
 
 We manage Estates and pay Taxes in ILLINOIS, WISCONSIN, IOWA, MINNESOTA, 
 and the Nortii-West generally. We buy and sell Real Estate for residents and non-residents. 
 We have, at our own expense compiled a most complete ATLAS OF CHICAGO, showing 
 all subdivisions of Lot.-* and Blocks, the sizes and locations of the same, and giving every 
 information regarding Chicago City Real Estate which an Atlas can be made to give. Our 
 ■Office Real Estate Bulli-tin always shows a Choice and Desirable 
 
 last of liots, Blocks, Lands, River Fronts, Manufacturing and 
 Business Property, al-nrays for sale. 
 
 To Capitalists seeking investments we offer every inducement to consult our Office, and 
 ■we pledge ourselves to do our very best to protect their interests. 
 
 The Unparalleled Growth of Chicago. 
 
 The unquestionable reality of her increase in COMMERCE, MANUFACTURKS, RAIL- 
 ROADS, GRAIN TKADK, LUMBER BUSINKSS, and all lines of traffic, makes the growth 
 •certain to continue. The CONTINUANCE OF THE GKOWTH OF CHICAGO, even at a 
 moderate and healthy puce, makes 
 
 Chicago Meal Estate Investments better than any Stocks, 
 or Bond and Mortijage. 
 
 ^^~ We do NOT advise buying and selling. We counsel permanent inv.stments. These, 
 when judiciously made, always pay when held for a few years. 
 
 We invite correspondence and inquiry, personally or by letter, and will promptly give 
 the information asked. 
 
 Our Senior Partner is the President of the Chicago Board 
 of B.eal Estate Brokers, and its rules govern our office. 
 
 ItEFERIi^IVCES. 
 
 The Presidents and Cashiers of the First,- Sec- 
 ond and Third National Banks, Chicago. 
 
 fiol. A. Smith, President Merchants' Loan 
 and Trust Company, Chicago. 
 
 Hon. VVm. Bross, President Manufacturers' 
 Natioml Bank, Chicago. 
 
 The Chicag'i Commercial community gener- 
 ally. 
 
 Charles Micalester. Esq., Philadelphia. 
 
 William G. Harrison, Esq., Baltimore. 
 
 Kobert J. Brent, Esq., " 
 
 Tho3. H. Faile, Esq., Water St., cor of Pine, 
 
 New Torlv. 
 John Ferguson, Esq., 3.5 Pine St., New York. 
 Franklin Haven, Esq . Merchants' National 
 
 Bank, Boston. 
 Peter Hubbel, Esq., Charlestown and Boston. 
 John H. Shoenberger, Esq, Pittsburg, Pa. 
 Hon. Lyman Trumbull, Washington, D. C. 
 Hon. Norman B. Judd, " " 
 
 Hon. John F. Farnsworth, " " 
 
 Hon. Hobert C. Scheuck, " " 
 
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