The History of Chicago's Rear Houses.

Prior to 1890, frame cottages were ubiquitous residences for the working class in Chicago. Typically one-story, rectangular buildings of four to six rooms, these cottages often were built without permanent foundations of brick or stone. Resting upon cedar posts sunk below the frost line, most cottages sat on narrow lots, usually 25 by 125 feet. These narrow lots permitted a row of cottages to crowd one against another and still provide ample space within the interior of a city block.

During the 1880s in neighborhoods near the Loop where land values rose dramatically, the crowding of two and even three cottages upon a single lot became profitable for immigrant homeowners. In districts where factories displaced residences, landowners purchased old cottages intended for demolition. Without permanent foundations or plumbing, these structures were raised and moved easily to another location, often the rear portion of a lot. In other instances, landowners moved older cottages from the front to the rear of their lots and then constructed larger brick buildings on the front of the lot.

Chicago's housing reformers universally condemned rear houses as dirty, miserable firetraps overrun with bugs and rats. In Polish and Bohemian neighborhoods on the West Side, rear houses appeared on one-fourth to one-third of all lots in the 1890s. With the increased construction of three-story brick tenements, these neighborhoods became notorious for dark, damp, and narrow passageways (gangways) that prohibited adequate light and ventilation.

On occasion, rear houses were raised on brick foundations, creating two floors. The new brick first floor sometimes contained primitive toilets or stables. The presence of numerous stables and inadequate sanitation compounded the problems of overcrowded lots. Without adequate space, great numbers of children played in dangerous gangways and foul alleys. Despite building codes, these conditions persisted.

In heavily populated districts like the Back of the Yards or the Black Belt[1] on the South Side, rear houses presented a negligible problem since they appeared only occasionally. In industrial suburbs like East Chicago or Cicero, rear houses resembled their inner-city counterparts. But they appeared only in small, concentrated areas that housed the most recently arrived immigrants.

While rear houses remain common in older sections of Chicago, urban renewal decreased their numbers. Refurbished rear houses also remain in a few gentrified portions of the city such as Lincoln Park. Ironically, housing once condemned as a social evil now offers a trendy address for a young, upwardly mobile population.

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[1] From the turn of the twentieth century until after World War II, the term “Black Belt” was commonly used to identify the predominately Black community on Chicago's South Side. Originally a narrow corridor extending from 22nd to 31st Streets along State Street, Chicago's South Side Black community expanded over the century until it stretched from 39th to 95th streets, the Dan Ryan Expressway to Lake Michigan.

Looking East, Downtown Chicago, Illinois.

Looking East, Downtown Chicago, Illinois.

How the City of Chicago Dealt with all the Horse Manure.

Manure vaults were underground covered holes in alleys all over Chicago that "Manure Mongers" (street sweepers) would swept-up horse manure from the local area and empty it into the vault closing the lid. Later, the vault would be shoveled out, and the manure carted off.

A typical "Manure Vault" in a Chicago alley in 1918.

Workhorses were used for personal transportation, pulling streetcars for public transportation, and delivering materials and products to commercial and residences. These vaults were one way of keeping the streets clean of horse manure. 

In the late 1890s, Chicago had about 83,000 horses living and working in the city. On average, one horse creates between 40 to 50 pounds of manure daily at 40 pounds per day, or 3,320,000 pounds, or 1,660 tons of horse manure to dispose of daily. Furthermore, each horse produced around 2 pints of urine per day. The sheer volume made what was a nuisance in small towns and a crisis in large metropolitan areas.

The manure was smelly, dirty, and attracted flies, spreading diseases to humans. When it dried up and became dust, the breeze would spread the manure for miles, polluting the air and sickening Chicagoans. Some of it was shipped to area farms for agricultural use, and some were mixed in with cement as a binder and used to pave streets. Still, there was too much manure to efficiently dispose of.

With the upcoming World's Columbian Exposition scheduled to open in 1893, Chicago made the cleanup of manure a critical priority in 1892. It would be embarrassing for the city to have filthy streets when Chicago would be under worldwide scrutiny.

One strategy to deal with all the manure was the underground manure vault to diminish the problem. Manure was bailed and transported out of the city, along with manure being incinerated. The ultimate solution to the manure problem was just beginning in the U.S.

In 1893 Frank Duryea was reported to have made the first horseless carriage trip on U.S. roads in Springfield, Massachusetts. He traveled approximately 600 yards before engine problems forced him to stop and make repairs. America's First Automobile Race took place in Chicago, Illinois, in 1895. Winner, Frank Duryea, traveled 54 miles at an average of 7.5 mph in 10 hours and 23 minutes, including repair time, marking the first U.S. automobile race in which any entrants finished. 

By 1900 there were only 377 automobiles registered with the Board of Examiners of Operators of Automobiles. The Comparative Wheel Tax Statement shows that in 1916 there were 46,662 horse-drawn vehicles and 65,651 automobiles. By 1940 there were fewer than 2,000 horse-drawn vehicles and over 600,000 cars. The fastest changes happened in the 1920s.

Today, horses are equipped with bags to collect their manure before it hits the Chicago streets.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.