C.D. Peacock, Chicago. Fine Jewelry & Watches — 1837─Present

Elijah Peacock was an English immigrant who, along with his wife, Rebecca Haylock, moved to Chicago in February 1837. Shortly after arriving, he opened the "House of Peacock" at 155½ Lake Street, a fine jewelry and watch shop. It was the first registered business in Illinois and is recognized as the oldest existing retailer in Chicago.

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The Panic of 1837: The Panic sparked a nationwide depression in March 1837,  lasting into the mid-1840s, but it couldn’t stop the House of Peacock’s success or Chicago’s growth. This would be the first of many hardships that the House of Peacock and Chicago found themselves in and would overcome together. Families migrated west as the East Coast felt the depression especially hard. 

 

What a Brillant Marking Piece for Chicago & Illinois !!! 

The Town of Chicago (inc. August 12, 1833) was granted a charter, becoming the City of Chicago, on March 4, 1837. C.D. Peacock is older than Chicago and is the oldest continuously operating business in (2024) Chicago. It predates the city's official incorporation on March 4, 1837, and has witnessed Chicago's transformation from a frontier outpost to a bustling city.

Charles Daniel Peacock (C. D. Peacock)

C.D. Peacock lived at 1713 W. Indiana Avenue, which is now in the 38 hundred block of West Indiana Avenue.

By 1843, Chicago was rich in transportation and fertile ground. The city was a hub for business, and Elijah Peacock was one of six jewelers. As Chicago grew in size and numbers, so did Peacock's. 

In 1843, the House of Peacock moved around the corner to 195 Lake Street and Wells.

People were drawn to the city with each transportation upgrade, especially the addition of the Indiana and Michigan Canal and the thousands of miles of railways connecting Chicago to the rest of the country. 

In fact, legend has it that Elijah was an early investor in the canal, making the business boom possible. A few years after he opened shop, Elijah acquired prime land in that area from a gambler who "paid" his debts with a deed to the land, which was only thought to be worth very little at the time. Eventually, the value of land close to the canal skyrocketed, and Elijah sold it to fund the canal, paving the way for the store's and Chicago's growth.

Once again, the economic landscape shifted. In 1849, the House of Peacock moved to 199 Randolph Street. Then again in 1854, to 205 Randolph Street.

The House of Peacock specialized in selling and repairing watches and carried a small jewelry line. Elijah passed on his trade to his son, Charles, who eventually took over the business when his father retired after the Chicago Fire in 1871. 

After the fire, the House of Peacock quickly reopened for business. In 1873, Peacock moved to 98 State Street at the corner of Monroe Street. The next move was to 86 West Madison Street.

Under Charles' management, the firm changed its name to C.D. Peacock and expanded its offerings and locations, opening at 118-120 S. State Street at Adams Street.

While Elijah Peacock primarily focused on selling and repairing watches, evidence suggests he also introduced some jewelry items to his customers. Historical accounts mention that he brought "deluxe jeweled necklaces" for the elite women of Chicago and sold fine silver dining sets.

In 1889, Elijah's son, Charles Daniel (C.D.), took control of the business and changed The House of Peacock to the name and luxury brand we now know as C.D. Peacock. He had been very involved in the industry since he was a young boy, having grown up around the best jewelers and watchmakers.

However, it's unclear whether Elijah designed these items or simply curated them for his store. His son, Charles Daniel Peacock, expanded the jewelry selection significantly, and the company became known for its exquisite jewelry collections.

It's safe to say that Elijah Peacock played a crucial role in introducing fine jewelry and Swiss-made watches to the Chicago market, even if he wasn't necessarily the designer behind the pieces. He laid the foundation for C.D. Peacock's later success as a prominent jewelry retailer.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Kampsville, Illinois, is a Quaint Little Village of 300 on the Illinois River.

Kampsville was initially known as Beeman's Landing after James L. Beeman, a ferry operator on the Illinois River. After Stephen Farrow purchased the Ferry from Beeman, the name was changed to Farrowtown. The name "Vedder" was used when the post office was established in 1857. 

The name Kampsville was made official on March 6, 1872, and refers to Michael A. Kamp, who served as President of the village board and was also a postmaster at Silver Creek, north of Kampsville.

In 1863, German immigrant and Civil War veteran Captain M. L. Kamp moved into Calhoun County and set up a general store and post office in Silver Creek, just north of the site of present-day Kampsville. Kamp flourished as a farmer and merchant, and in 1869, Kamp purchased a tract of land south of Silver Creek and began to develop it. 

Initially named Farrow Town, the town was renamed Kampsville to honor Captain Kamp. The wealth and success of Kamp are reflected in the red brick home at the intersection of Routes 100 and 108 that he had built for his family in 1882.

In 1902, Captain Kamp gifted a newly constructed and completely supplied store, including one dollar in coins in the cash register for good luck to his son, Joseph A. Kamp. This store is one of the few surviving early commercial buildings in Calhoun County. The store was an important center of commerce for the County, and much of the business used the barter system, which allowed Kampsville to grow despite a shortage of money. Apples, peaches, lumber, and fish were traded at Kamp's store for supplies and later resold and shipped downriver to destinations such as St. Louis. The store was sold to the Capps family when Joseph Kamp died in 1952, and after several owners, it was acquired by the Center for American Archeology in 1991. 

Kamp and other European settlers weren't the first people to find the bluffs and rolling hill country an attractive place to live. The area is located in one of the world's richest archeological regions, with recorded human habitation dating back to the Early Archaic period (8500-6000 BC). Kampsville is home to the Center of American Archeology (CAA), which conducts ongoing excavations and educates future archeologists and the public. The CAA features exhibits and displays in its Visitor's Center, a museum facility in Kamp's Store, and its administrative offices in the Kamp family's former home.

The village of Kampsville is the base of operations for the Center for American Archeology, an educational and research organization dedicated to the archeological understanding of the Indigenous People and European settlers in the region. 

The Center of American Archeology building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. It contains exhibits demonstrating evidence of 7,000 years of human habitation excavated at the Koster Site, a prehistoric archaeological site in nearby Greene County.

The two ferries are FREE. There is 24/7 service.

The Kampsville Ferry crosses the Illinois River at Route 108, connecting the east side of the river in Green County and the City of Carrollton on Rt. 108, a two-lane undivided surface highway for its entire length. It is one of two permanent ferries operated by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The town hosts many annual events, including Old Settlers Days and a series of educational events organized by the CAA. Just south of town on the Great River Road (Route 100) is the McCully Heritage Project, with 12 miles of nature trails and other recreational activities.

The village of Kampsville is the base of operations for the Center for American Archeology, an educational and research organization dedicated to the archeological understanding of the Indigenous People and European settlers in the region. It exhibits evidence of 7,000 years of human habitation excavated from 3 acres at the Koster Site, 11 miles due east, a prehistoric archaeological site in nearby Greene County. 

The Koster Site was discovered in 1967 on the farm fields of Theodore and Mary Koster and subsequently named after them. The discovery was made by Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois) anthropologist Stuart Struever, who stumbled upon the farm and the rich trove of historically significant artifacts that lay beneath the cornfields after a tip from a local farmer. Struever had recently founded the Center for American Archeology, 101 Broadway,  Kampsville, Illinois. 

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Comparative Cost of Macadamizing (Explained) and Planking the Streets of Chicago.

Since the experiment of macadamizing [1] (aka McAdamize) the streets of our city has been instituted, a great deal of discussion has been had as to the comparative cost and cheapness of this kind of roadbed over the planking in such general use, and articles, pro and con, upon this subject, have found their way into the newspapers.

Some time ago, the City Council ordered Harrison Street to be macadamizing. A number of property holders on that street, whose property was assessed to pay for the improvement, petitioned the Council to have the street planked instead, for the reason, as they alleged, that the latter road bed is cheaper than the former and, the street not being a prominent thoroughfare, quite as useful. The petition was referred to Mr. N.S. Bonton, City Superintendent, with instructions to report to the Council the comparative cost of both planking and macadamizing. 

South Water Street, Chicago, in the 1860s

The cost comparison is between planking one mile of the street, with the necessary filling to raise the street to an equal height with fourteen inches of macadamizing.

The annexed estimates show the cost for planking twelve, sixteen and twenty-four feet wide, with three-inch oak plank; also, the cost of macadamizing one mile the same width.

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May 12, 1857, Chicago Tribune:  Canal Street was ordered to be Macadamized from Van Buren Street to Old (18th) Street.

Chicago, August 22, 1857.

To plank one mile of street twenty-four feet wide with a three-inch oak plank, spiked with a wrought iron spike to seven, four by six inch, oak stringers, adding sufficient earth to fill up equal to eleven inches and twenty-eight feet in width:

• Totaled $16,885 ($593,300 today).

For planking one mile of street sixteen feet wide with a three-inch oak plank, spiked with a wrought iron spike to five oak stringers, four by six inches, adding sufficient earth to fill up to eleven inches high and twenty feet wide:

• Totaled $11,703 ($411,200 today).

For planking one mile of street twelve feet wide with a three-inch oak plank, spiked with a wrought iron spike to four oak stringers, four by six inches, adding sufficient earth to fill up to eleven inches high and sixteen feet wide:

• Totaled $9,201 ($323,300 today)

Estimate of cost of macadamizing one mile of the street, one course of stone broken to four-inch maximum diameter, eight inches deep, and covered with one course of stone, broken to two and one-quarter inches maximum diameter, six inches deep, also to grade the road-bed so as to make a suitable face for the stone:

• Twenty-Four Feet Wide; $15,644 ($549,681 today)
• Sixteen Feet Wide; $10,516 ($369,500 today)
• Twelve Feet Wide; $8,008 ($281,375 today)

We are informed by the Superintendent that the estimates for macadamizing are made at what it would cost the city to do the work-by-day labor but that it is probable the same work could be contracted for at nearly a thousand dollars less per mile. 

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September 8, 1859, Chicago Tribune:  A request to the Horse Railway Company to make sure that their road is well [water] sprinkled, particularly on the Macadamized part where the dust is already insufferable.

These estimates, it must be remembered in forming an opinion as to the best mode of making a roadbed, are for the first cost of the work and have no reference to the expense of keeping it in good order, which is quite as important a consideration as the other. It is to be regretted that the report of the Superintendent does not contain at least some approximate estimates upon this point. It would be scarcely satisfactory to those who we pay for street improvements to tell them that this or that method is the cheapest at the outset than any other when in fact, at the expiration of five to ten years, it may be found the most expensive, owing to the cost of repairs necessary to keep the street in passable condition. The public will be far more capable of forming a correct judgment as to the comparative value of the two kinds of improvement when it is furnished with at least an approximate estimate of the cost of keeping each one in good repair. In the absence of any such estimates, the controversy between the advocates of planking and macadamizing will probably be continued with unabated pertinacity.

There are some objections to macadamizing which are entitled to the serious consideration of our readers, the most important of which, so far as comfort and health are concerned, is dust. All experience shows that macadamized roads, by the time they are worn down to a comfortable smoothness, are covered with fine dust, which is not only excessively disagreeable but most injurious to eyes and lungs. This dust is constantly accumulating by attrition until the whole material of which the road is composed is either ground up or sunk beneath the surface of the earth. Macadamize Harrison or any other street, and it will share the fate of all other macadamized roads; either the atmosphere will be constantly filled with minute particles of pulverized stone, or the street, from being well watered, covered with stone paste, if it may be so called, from one to six inches deep. How much consideration may be given to this drawback is somewhat uncertain when it is remembered that, to a far greater extent than it should, the question of immediate cheapness controls the public decision as to the method to be chosen. The Superintendent has decided that macadamizing is the least expensive at the start, and with many persons, this is quite sufficient to determine the matter.

A word as to the much abused planking. Some of our citizens may recollect the planking put down many years ago on Lake Street, between State and Dearborn Streets. If we remember rightly, the planks were four inches thick, having been made by ripping eight-inch square timber. After it had been in place some seven years, it was taken up to lay a gas pipe for some analogous purpose. A friend who was passing as the time assures us that he examined the planks, then temporarily removed them, saw them sawed across and that they were not at all decayed. The only loss they appeared to have sustained was from the mechanical attrition of the wheels and horses' feet which had passed over them, and that was inconsiderable. The material seemed to be perfectly good for three more years of service.

It deserved to be carefully considered whether substantial planking of this character will not require fewer repairs than macadamizing, especially if laid upon a well-drained roadbed of sand or gravel.  We think such a planking, thoroughly laid down, would be good for ten years at least. A great deal of the planking heretofore done has been so imperfectly executed that is has, we think, produced a wrong impression as to the usefulness and durability of that mode of covering streets.

The estimates of the Superintendent are satisfactory so far as they go. Still, we trust that that officer, or some other person possessing the necessary data, will furnish the public with the cost per mile of the kind of planking we have indicated, and also a comparative estimate of the durability, cost of repairs, etc., of such planking and macadamizing. The subject is one of great importance, and now, at the very onset, it is best that the public should be supplied with all possible information relative to this substitution of macadamizing for planking the street of minor importance, for they take it for granted that the principal thoroughfares will be covered with much better material than either of them.

ADDITIONAL READING:

Plank Road History in the Chicago Area.

Rudimentary Road Construction History in Early Chicago & the Eastern United States.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

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[1] What is a "Macadamized" Street?

A macadamized street is a road that is made of crushed stone that is compacted into layers. The name comes from the Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam, who invented the process in the early 19th century.

Macadamized roads are characterized by their durability and ability to withstand heavy traffic. They are also relatively inexpensive to construct and maintain.

The basic principle of macadamization is to use crushed stone of different sizes to create a roadbed that is both strong and porous. The largest stones are placed at the bottom, followed by smaller stones and then a layer of fine gravel. The stones are compacted using rollers or tamping machines, which helps to create a smooth, even surface.

In some cases, a binder material, such as asphalt or tar, may be added to the macadam to help bind the stones together and prevent them from shifting. However, McAdam originally designed his roads to be unbound, relying on the weight of traffic to compact the stones and create a stable surface.

Macadamized roads were first introduced in the United States in the early 1820s and quickly became the standard for road construction. They were used to build many of the major highways and roads in the country, and they continue to be used today in some areas.

Advantages of macadamized streets: Durable and can withstand heavy traffic, Drains well, preventing mud, relatively inexpensive to construct, and can be used in a variety of climates.

Disadvantages of macadamized streets: They can be noisy, dusty, slippery in wet weather, and requires regular maintenance.

Chicago Tribune, Port of Chicago Article, April 18, 1849 (First Newspaper).

In 1849, there was quite a bit of shipping traffic in Chicago.

VIA LAKE MICHIGAN

ARRIVED

April 20, 1849:

Schooner, J.C. Spencer, Muskegon—80 meters (262.5 ft) lumber.

April 23, 1849: 

Brigantine, Helfenstein, Milwaukee—ballast

Schooner, Amanda Harwood, Grand Haven—90 meters (295 ft)

Schooner, Bowen, Kalamazoo—35 meters (115 ft) lumber, 16 meters shingles (52.5 ft)

Schooner, Muskegon, Muskegon— 70 meters (230 ft)

Schooner, Niagara

Schooner, Ronicus

Schooner, Telegraph, Grand Haven—100 meters (328 ft) lumber.

CLEARED

April 21, 1849:

Sloop Michigan, Buffalo—343 hides, 8 pkg sundries, 752 barrels flour, 179 barrels pork

Propeller Princeton, Buffalo—1140 barrels beef, 200 hides, 30 pkg furs

VIA THE CANAL

ARRIVED

April 21, 1849:

Shakespeare, Joliet

April 23, 1849:

Granger, Athens (renamed Lemont in 1850)

Wm. Giles, Athens (renamed Lemont in 1850)

CLEARED

April 21, 1849:

Calaract, LaSalle

Diamond, LaSalle

General Davis, LaSalle

General Fry, Lockport

Hollister, LaSalle

Indians, LaSalle

St. Louis, LaSalle

Wasp, Joliet

April 23, 1849:

Chicago, LaSalle

J.T. McDougal, Joliet

Wm. Giles, Athens (renamed Lemont in 1850)

Brigantine - A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts.

Propeller - The first propeller ship was invented by John Ericsson in 1836, and the first commercial propeller ship was the SS Archimedes, which was launched in 1838.

Schooner - Schooners were used to transport cargo along the coasts and between islands. They were particularly well-suited for this purpose because they could sail close to shore and in shallow waters. This picture is a replica of the 1847 C.W. Lawrence.

Sloop - A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sails fore and aft or as a gaff-rig with triangular foresail(s) and a gaff rigged mainsail.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Automobile Polo was played at Chicago's Comiskey Park on June 5, 6, 7, and 8, 1913.

Chicago Tribune, Monday, July 28, 1902.

The newest twentieth-century game is called automobile polo. The name, however, has already been found too long and has been conveniently abbreviated to "auto polo." An interesting exhibition of auto polo was given last week on the field of the fashionable Dedham Polo Club of Boston. Mr. Joshua Crene Jr., a member of this club and an expert polo player, made a series of polo strokes from his automobile to the amazement of polo enthusiasts. Mr. Crane is a clever all-around athlete and adept at handling an automobile as well as a polo mallet.

The play is executed so quickly that an unpracticed eye has difficulty following it. The nimble little mobile machines used in the game are capable of developing a speed of about forty miles an hour in a few feet and can be brought to a standstill practically within their own lengths.

Auto polo was a dangerous but popular motorsport that originated in the United States in 1911. It was similar to equestrian polo, but instead of horses, players used cars. The sport was played at fairs, exhibitions, and sports venues across the United States and Europe until the late 1920s. Auto polo was dangerous because of the high speeds and the risk of collisions. Players and spectators were often injured or killed, and vehicles were often damaged.

Auto Polo played at Chicago's Comiskey Park on June 5, 6, 7, and 8, 1913.

Almost as soon as automobiles became somewhat practical, people were figuring out dangerous and fun things to do with them.

The earliest automobiles were typically rich folks’ novelties, which may explain why, in 1902, Joshua Crane, Jr., a polo enthusiast active with the Dedham Polo Club of Boston, decided to put on an exhibition polo match wherein Mobile Runabouts replaced horses.

That it might not have been the safest endeavor can be seen from a surviving photograph of the match catching one of the drivers/mallet men doing a header into the ground, about to be run over by his own steed.

Chicago Tribune, Friday, June 5, 1913

Chicago will get its first taste of auto polo on June 5 when a four days series between teams representing Chicago and New York will be started at Comiskey Park. A syndicate of Chicago men is promoting contests. The first game will be played on the afternoon of June 5, followed by another at night, then by others as follows: The afternoon and night of June 6, the night of June 7, and afternoon and night of June 8.

Just exactly how dangerous it was is hard to tell. The risk of injury to both competitors and spectators eventually put an end to the practice in the late 1920s, but a contemporary account says that deaths were rare. It’s clear that some of the danger might have been exaggerated by staged photographs, but broken bones were apparently not uncommon. In some photos, it seems that competitors wore leather football helmets, showing there was at least some concern about safety.

Though Mr. Crane put on the first auto polo match, it was a Topeka, Kansas, Ford dealer who turned it into an organized sport.

Ralph “Pappy” Hankinson saw polo with cars as a way of promoting the sale of the Model T. The first match Hankinson organized took place in an alfalfa field near Wichita on July 20, 1912, with four cars, eight players, and a reported crowd of 5,000 spectators. Each car carried a seat-belted driver and a free-standing mallet man who had to hang on—often unsuccessfully. The ball was the size of a basketball (some accounts say it was, in fact, a basketball), and after learning something about physics and inertia, weights were added to the mallets so they didn’t “backfire” when striking the balls. Stripped-down Model Ts were fitted with crude roll bars to protect the driver and the cars’ radiators. Speeds were not high, never more than 35 mph, but high enough for mayhem.

Auto polo was invented before the radio, let alone television, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that Hankinson’s idea quickly caught on. Under the Auto Polo Association, local leagues were founded across the United States, and a large exhibition of the sport was staged in Washington, D.C.’s League Stadium in November 1912.

Hankinson sent exhibition teams to England, Europe, and even the Philippines to promote the sport. In 1913, auto polo became the first motorsport to be featured at the Canadian National Exhibition. Britain’s The Auto magazine was impressed but described it as a “lunatic game” that they hoped would not catch on in the UK.

By the 1920s, New York City and Chicago were hosting daily auto polo matches, with some of the games played at NYC’s famous Madison Square Garden.

Many car racing fans today disavow their interest in crashes, but that was genuinely part of the appeal of auto polo. By the end of the matches, the cars were either severely damaged or completely demolished. Hankinson’s own accounting of damages to the cars used by his British and American auto polo teams in 1924 lists 1,564 broken wheels (most cars used wooden spoked “artillery” wheels), 538 unusable tires, 66 broken axles, 10 cracked engines and 6 completely destroyed cars.

While injuries to competitors were frequent, and even spectators were not infrequently hurt by balls flying into the stands or runaway cars, it appears that economics, not concerns about safety, put an end to auto polo.

According to the book Bain’s New York: The City in News Pictures 1900-1925, as the 1920s wore on, the cost of fixing and replacing the cars became too costly. By then, organized car racing was well established. If that wasn’t dangerous enough, there were board-track motordromes and walls of death. So as dangerous as auto polo must have been, it might have seemed a bit quaint during the Roaring Twenties.

In any case, auto polo was a real thing—loony but real.

Auto Polo—No car but the Model T Ford of the

early 1900s had the forward and reverse speeds

and brakes applied by foot pedals. The throttle was

operated by hand, and it was the transmission

system that made such maneuvers possible.

The Dedham Polo Club first used Mobile Runabouts for their exhibition games in 1902. 

1902 Stanley Stick-Seat Runabout.

Unlike equestrian polo, which requires large, open fields that can accommodate up to eight horses at a time, auto polo could be played in smaller, covered arenas during wintertime. This factor greatly increased its popularity in the northern United States. The game was typically played on a field or open area that was a least 300 feet long and 120 feet wide, with 15-foot wide goals positioned at each end of the field. The game was played in two halves (chukkers), and each team had two cars and four men in play on the field at a given time.

The first auto polo cars used by the Dedham Polo Club were unmodified, light steam-powered Mobile Runabouts that seated only one person and cost $650 ($22K today). 

As the sport progressed, auto polo cars resembled stripped-down Model T's. Usually, they did not have tops, doors or windshields, with later incarnations sometimes outfitted with primitive rollbars to protect the occupants. Cars typically had a seat-belted driver and a mallet man that held on to the side of the car and would attempt to hit a regulation-sized basketball toward the goal of the opposing team, with the cars reaching a top speed of 40 miles per hour and while making hairpin turns. The mallets were shaped like croquet mallets but had a three-pound head to prevent "backfire" when striking the ball at high speeds.

The Truth About Cars

Edited by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The First Nine Stagecoach Routes out of Chicago.

The earliest stagecoach routes were established in 1832 through the 1840s as Chicago rapidly grew and became a transportation hub. The routes had stops to change teams for meals, lodging, and nature calls. 

The stagecoaches allowed people to travel long distances quickly and were primarily carefree as paid passengers but for road and weather conditions. Transportation played an essential role in the steady growth of Chicago.

Map by Mark Schwendau.
CLICK MAP FOR A FULL-SIZE VIEW

• Chicago─Fullersburg (Oak Brook, today) route was the first stagecoach route out of Chicago. The route fare was 10¢ ($3.25 today) for the 15-mile trip between Chicago and Fullersburg. Frink, Bingham & Co. Stagecoach was established in 1832 by John Frink and Charles K. Bingham. The Chicago to Fullersburg route followed the "Indian Boundary" line drawn between the Potawatomi and Ojibwe Indian tribes in 1816. The line ran through what is now Cook County, Illinois. The Indian Boundary line connected Chicago with the Des Plaines River, a tributary of the Illinois River, which, in turn, is a tributary of the Mississippi River. Chicago's population exploded. The Chicago and Aurora Plank Road was built along the Indian Boundary in 1834 and was one of the first plank roads in Illinois. The Chicago and North Western Railroad was built along the Indian Boundary in the 1850s.

• Chicago─Galena route was the most popular stagecoach route in Illinois. The trip took about five days. A single trail linking Chicago to Galena was formally established in 1839 by John Frink and Martin Walker, who, together in 1840, established Frink, Walker & Co., Stage Line in Chicago. It spurred economic growth in both cities and the birth of many villages, which began as stagecoach stops, and soon, supporting businesses popped up.

• Chicago─Peoria route was first established in 1833 when a one-horse stagecoach was placed in service between the two towns, and it took 2 days (24 hours). A two-horse wagon was put into service the following year, and the route was extended southwest to Ottawa. The stagecoach line expanded to include Aurora, Joliet, and Bloomington stops. The stagecoach route continued to operate into the 1850s when it was replaced by the railroad.

• Chicago─Rockford stagecoach route was among the earliest in Illinois. It was established in 1835 by John Kinzie. The route linked Chicago, a quickly growing town (Inc. Aug.12, 1833), with the village of Rockford, which was located on the Rock River. A popular route, coaches were often crowded, and the trip could be rough and uncomfortable. However, the route was also relatively fast, taking about 12 hours. This route was replaced by the Chicago and Galena Union Railroad in 1850. 

• Chicago─Milwaukee was a Lake Michigan paddleboat route. The distance between Chicago and Milwaukee was about 12 hours by paddleboat at the end of the 1830s. The fastest paddleboat on the Chicago─Milwaukee route was called the 'Milwaukee,' which was put in service in 1839. The Milwaukee cruised 12 miles per hour, making the trip between Chicago and Milwaukee in just under 10 hours. Three meals, snacks, and perhaps Beer were available.

• Chicago─Detroit route took about four days to travel. Many stagecoaches stop, changing horses and drivers, perhaps a different coach, saloons to eat and board, or boarding houses for a night's stay. 

• Chicago─Joliet stagecoach route was initially operated by the Chicago and Joliet Stage Company as a mail and passenger route. The stagecoaches traveled round trip between Chicago and Joliet three days a week. The one-way trip took about four hours.

• Chicago─Aurora route was initially operated by the Chicago and Aurora Stage Company in 1842 as a mail route, adding a large passenger carriage. The 4-horse stagecoaches traveled between Chicago and Aurora, a 30-mile trip that took about three hours, twice a day, each leaving at six in the morning and at three in the afternoon, making it possible to travel back and forth and be back home for supper. The route was often dangerous, prone to flooding and bandits. 

• Chicago─Elgin The first stagecoaches on the Chicago─Elgin route began operating in 1838. The Chicago and Elgin Stage Company initially operated the route primarily as a mail route and passenger transport. The stagecoaches traveled between Chicago and Elgin twice a day, and the trip took about two hours. The Chicago─Elgin stagecoach ceased operating in the late 1850s, as railroads became the dominant mode of transportation, U.S. Mail, and shipping in the Midwest and beyond. 

What Stagecoach Travel in 1830s Chicago and Illinois was really like. 

The stagecoaches were eventually replaced by railroads, but they played an essential role in the early development of Chicago and surrounding areas. They connect Chicago to other parts of the state and the country, which promoted the city's growth.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The Tom Thumb, America's First Steam Locomotive (1830), at the 1933/34 Chicago World's Fair.

In the 1820s, the port of Baltimore was in danger. The threat came from the newly opened Erie Canal and the proposed Chesapeake and Ohio Canal construction that would parallel the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Maryland. These new water routes promised a commercial gateway to the West that would bypass Baltimore's thriving harbor and potentially hurl the city into an economic abyss. Something had to be done.

The local entrepreneurs looked across the Atlantic to England and found an answer in the newly developed railroad. In 1828, the Maryland syndicate, led by Charles Carroll ─ a signer of the Declaration of Independence ─ broke ground for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The railroad aimed to connect Baltimore with the Ohio River and the West. Initially, the railroad's power was to be provided by horses. However, it soon became apparent that animal muscle was no match for the long distances and mountainous terrain that would have to be traveled. The solution lay with the steam engine.

By 1830, the B&O Railroad had extended its track from Baltimore to the village of Ellicott's Mills, thirteen miles to the West. The railroad was also ready to test its first steam engine, an American-made locomotive Peter Cooper of New York engineered.

It was a bright summer's day and full of promise. Syndicate members and friends piled into the open car pulled by a diminutive steam locomotive appropriately named the "Tom Thumb" with its inventor at the controls. The outbound journey took less than an hour. On the return trip, an impromptu race with a horse─drawn car developed. The locomotive came out the loser. It was an inauspicious beginning. However, within a few years, the railroad would become the dominant form of long─distance transportation and relegate the canals to the dustbin of commercial history.

Mr. Cooper's engine boiler was smaller than today's kitchen oven in a standard size range. It was about the same diameter but at most half as high. It stood upright in the car and was filled with vertical tubes from above the furnace, which occupied the lower section. The cylinder was just 3½ inches in diameter, and the speed was achieved by gears. No natural draught could have been sufficient to keep up steam in so small a boiler, and Mr. Cooper used a blowing apparatus driven by a drum attached to one of the car wheels, over which passed a cord that in its turn worked a pulley on the shaft of the blower.

Mr. Cooper's success was such as to induce him to try a trip to Ellicott's Mills; in an open car, the first used upon the road, already mentioned, having been attached to his engine and filled with the directors and some friends, the speaker among the rest, the first journey by steam in America was commenced. The trip was most enjoyable. The curves were passed without difficulty at a speed of six miles an hour; the grades were ascended with comparative ease; the day was fine, the Company in the highest spirits, and some excited gentlemen of the party pulled out memorandum books, and when at the highest speed, which was 8 miles per hour, wrote their names and some connected sentences. The return trip from Ellicott's Mills, a distance of thirteen miles, was made in 57 minutes, averaging 6.8 miles per hour. The top speed was about 10 miles per hour.

But the triumph of this Tom Thumb engine was not altogether without a drawback. The great stage proprietors of the day were Stockton & Stokes. On this occasion, a gallant gray of incredible beauty and power was driven by them from town, attached to another car on the second track. The Company had begun making two tracks to the Mills and met the engine at the Relay House on its way back. From this point, it was determined to have a race home; the start being even, away went horse and engine, the snort of the one and the puff of the other keeping time.

At first, the gray had the best of it, for his steam would be applied to the greatest advantage on the instant, while the engine had to wait until the rotation of the wheels set the blower to work. When the engine's safety valve lifted, the horse was a quarter of a mile ahead, and its thin blue vapor showed excessive steam. The blower whistled, the smoke blew off in vapory clouds, the pace increased, the passengers shouted, the engine gained on the horse, and soon it lapped them him. The race was neck and neck, nose and nose, then the engine passed the horse, and a grand hurrah hailed the victory.

The first steam engine to operate on a commercial track in the United States, the Tom Thumb became famous for its race against a horse-drawn car on August 25, 1830, from Ellicott's Mill to Baltimore.

But it was not repeated; for just at this time, when the gray's master was about giving up, the band which drove the pulley that drove the blower slipped from the drum, the safety valve ceased to scream, and the engine for want of breath began to wheeze and pant. In vain, Mr. Cooper, his own engineman and fireman, lacerated his hands to replace the band upon the wheel. In vain, he tried to urge the fire with light wood; the horse gained on the machine and passed it, and although the band was presently replaced, and steam again did its best, the horse was too far ahead to be overtaken and came in the winner of the race."

The Tom Thumb was salvaged for parts in 1834.

In the 1933-34 Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago, the Tom Thumb and the DeWitt Clinton steam locomotives were part of the "Wings of a Century" transportation pageant: 

A one-horse chaise (shay), a light, covered, two-wheeled carriage for two persons.

"Just south of Thirty-first Street, on the lakeside, you may watch the dramatization of this century of progress in transportation, the pioneer in the field of communication. On a triple stage, in an outdoor theater, two hundred actors, seventy horses, seven trail wagons, ten trains, and the largest collection of historical vehicles ever to be used, operating under their own power, present "Wings of a Century." Here is the "Baltimore Clipper," the fastest boat of them all. From 1825 to 1850, the "Tom Thumb," the first locomotive of the B&O, the De Witt Clinton, from the old Mohawk & Hudson (New York Central), the Thomas Jefferson (1836) of the Winchester & Potomac (first railroad in Virginia) than the old "Pioneer," the Northern Pacific engine of 1851 a giant locomotive of today (the 1930s) and the 1903 Wright brothers' first airplane.

This replica of the DeWitt Clinton was built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
Note the barrels of water for the engine.

ADDITIONAL READING:  

DeWitt Clinton Steam Locomotive at the 1893 & 1933/34 Chicago World's Fairs.

Railroad Fair in Chicago; 1948-49. 

DOWNLOAD:  Chicago Railroad Fair Official Guide Book in PDF - 1948

DOWNLOAD:  Chicago Railroad Fair Official Guide Book in PDF - 1949

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

The DeWitt Clinton Steam Locomotive at the 1893 and 1933/34 Chicago World's Fairs.

The New York Central Railroad built the DeWitt Clinton in 1831, which began the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad (M&H), a New York City predecessor (NYC). They also built this working replica of the DeWitt Clinton for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

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The Tom Thumb Locomotive was the first American-built steam locomotive to operate on a common-carrier railroad. It was designed and constructed by Peter Cooper in 1829 to convince owners of the newly formed Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O;  now CSX) to use steam engines; it was not intended to enter revenue service.

In the 1933-34 Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago, the DeWitt Clinton and Tom Thumb steam locomotives were part of the "Wings of a Century" transportation pageant: 

"Just south of Thirty-first Street, on the lakeside, you may watch the dramatization of this century of progress in transportation, the pioneer in the field of communication. On a triple stage, in an outdoor theater, two hundred actors, seventy horses, seven trail wagons, ten trains, and the largest collection of historical vehicles ever to be used, operating under their own power, present "Wings of a Century." Here is the "Baltimore Clipper," the fastest boat of them all. From 1825 to 1850, the "Tom Thumb," the first locomotive of the B&O, the De Witt Clinton, from the old Mohawk & Hudson (New York Central), the Thomas Jefferson (1836) of the Winchester & Potomac (first railroad in Virginia) than the old "Pioneer," the Northern Pacific engine of 1851 a giant locomotive of today (the 1930s) and the 1903 Wright brothers' first airplane.

A one-horse chaise (shay), a light, covered, two-wheeled carriage for two persons.

There is a one horse chaise, like George Washington traveled in, and covered wagons and stage coaches of the California Gold Rush 1848 to 1855 days."

The DeWitt Clinton was the first steam locomotive built for service in New York State, and it made its inaugural run on August 9, 1831, connecting Albany and Schenectady in New York State. It ran on rails made of wood or iron, laid on the ground to create a track.

This replica was built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Official Photograph. Note the barrels of water for the engine.

It was named after DeWitt Clinton, the governor of New York State responsible for the Erie Canal, a competitor to the railroad. DeWitt Clinton's first run was a success, and it helped to pave the way for the development of the railroad industry in the United States.

At the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, aka St. Louis World's Fair, held in 1904.

The DeWitt Clinton was a 0-4-0 steam locomotive.

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0-4-0 represents one of the simplest possible types, with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven.

The locomotive was powered by a coal-fired boiler, with a top speed of about 15 miles per hour. The DeWitt Clinton was a small locomotive. It played an essential role in demonstrating the feasibility of steam-powered locomotives in the United States for transportation purposes. It paved the way for the rapid expansion of the railroad industry and the subsequent development of the American transportation system.

Lionel O-Gauge DeWitt Clinton
 

Lionel O-Gauge DeWitt Clinton. (0.25" to a Foot) [runtime 12:41]
It was Also Available in HO-Gauge (3.5 mm to a Foot). 

Comparing this train with modern trains, the 15 miles per hour was considered a terrific speed, and the accommodations afforded by the coaches were considered the height of comfort.

ADDITIONAL READING:  

Tom Thumb, America's First Steam Locomotive (1830) at 1933/34 Chicago World's Fair.

Railroad Fair in Chicago; 1948-49. 

DOWNLOAD:  Chicago Railroad Fair Official Guide Book in PDF - 1948

DOWNLOAD:  Chicago Railroad Fair Official Guide Book in PDF - 1949

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.