Lost Communities of Chicago - The Town of Lake

The Town of Lake was bounded north by 39th street, east by State street, south by 87th street, and west by Harlem Avenue (Lyons, IL eastern border). It was incorporated as a village with the above boundaries in 1865. Two years later the charter was amended, giving the authorities additional power. Within the town of Lake many separate villages came into existence and gradually grew together and became a part of Chicago.

Among the first settlers were Hugh Chittick, John L. Gerber, Samual Beers, Joseph Oswald and Daniel Berckie, who located near 59th street and Ashland Avenue. A little later Ira J. Nichols, William Brooker and F. A. Howe located on what afterward became Englewood as early as 1856. Early in the 1850s John Caffrey and S. S. Crocker settled near where the Union Stock Yards were. Other early residents of this portion of the town of Lake were Milton F. Patrick, Michael Rich and George W. Wait.

In 1861 the town of Hyde Park was formed from the town of Lake. The incorporation was effected in February of that year. Hyde Park village was organized in 1872. Its boundaries were Pershing Road (39th Street) on the north, 138th Street on the south, State Street on the west, and Lake Michigan and the Indiana state line on the east. Among the small villages in Hyde Park in early times were Colehour, Irondale, Rosedale, Kensington and Riverdale.    

In 1868 policemen in addition to constables were put at service throughout the township. A large increase in police was made in 1873 and again in 1880. One of the first improvements made by the town of Lake were works to secure pure water. The engine, etc., was located at 68th street and the lake, in 1873. At that time the town of Lake and Hyde Park constructed these works as a joint improvement. In 1880 the town of Lake became the sole owner of the improvement, and later Hyde Park constructed its own water system. 

As early as 1881 the town began to spend much money in properly draining many wet tracts of land. As the result, hundreds of acres which previously had been under water half the year appeared permanently above the subsiding water levels. A little later great improvements were rapidly made in the direction of good roads and streets. The most noticeable of many industrial improvements of the town of Lake were of course the famous Stock Yards. 

The railway roundhouse alone employed many thousands of men and furnished a living for their families. The manufacture of brick was an early enterprise of the town of Lake. The Union Stock Yards and Transit Company was incorporated in February of 1865. About one million dollars was spent to put the yards in efficient operation at the commencement. 

In 1889, the Chicago city limits expanded south to 138th and State Street and to the west 87th and Cicero by annexing the Town of Lake and the Village of Hyde Park. 

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Chicago Race Riot (the "Red Summer") of 1919.

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In historical writing and analysis, PRESENTISM introduces present-day ideas and perspectives into depictions or interpretations of the past. Presentism is a form of cultural bias that creates a distorted understanding of the subject matter. Reading modern notions of morality into the past is committing the error of presentism. Historical accounts are written by people and can be slanted, so I try my hardest to present fact-based and well-researched articles.

Facts don't require one's approval or acceptance.

I present [PG-13] articles without regard to race, color, political party, or religious beliefs, including Atheism, national origin, citizenship status, gender, LGBTQ+ status, disability, military status, or educational level. What I present are facts — NOT Alternative Facts — about the subject. You won't find articles or readers' comments that spread rumors, lies, hateful statements, and people instigating arguments or fights.

FOR HISTORICAL CLARITY

When I write about the INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, I follow this historical terminology:

• The use of old commonly used terms, disrespectful today, i.e., REDMAN or REDMEN, SAVAGES, and HALF-BREED are explained in this article.

Writing about AFRICAN-AMERICAN history, I follow these race terms:

• "NEGRO" was the term used until the mid-1960s.
• "BLACK" started being used in the mid-1960s.
• "AFRICAN-AMERICAN" [Afro-American] began usage in the late 1980s.

— PLEASE PRACTICE HISTORICISM —

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PAST IN ITS OWN CONTEXT.

 

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The Chicago race riot of 1919 was a major racial conflict that began in Chicago, Illinois, on July 27th, 1919 and ended on August 3rd. During the riot, thirty-eight people died (23 Negro and 15 White), and over five hundred were injured. It is considered the worst of the approximately 25 riots during the Red Summer, so named because of the nationwide violence and fatalities. The combination of prolonged arson, looting, and murder made it the worst race riot in the history of Illinois.

According to official reports, the Chicago riots began after Eugene Williams, a Negro teenager, drowned in Lake Michigan after being struck in the head by a rock thrown by a white man angry that Williams and friends had drifted into the "white side" of the informally segregated beach.

John T. McCutcheon, Chicago Tribune, July 28th, 1919, cartoon.

Responding police refused to arrest the white man who was identified as having thrown the rock and instead arrested a Negro man at the scene. When Negro onlookers complained, they were met with violence, and widespread rioting between Negro and white Chicagoans soon spread throughout the city's Negro residential areas. Tensions between groups arose in a melee that blew up into days of unrest.

A horde of young boys ran to the corner where a young Negro man was beaten during Chicago's race riots in 1919. White youngsters drove out Negro residents by stoning their homes during the race riots.

The state militia was called in to quell the violence on the south side of Chicago during the 1919 race riots.
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The sociopolitical atmosphere of Chicago was one of the ethnic tension caused by competition among many new groups. During the Great Migration, thousands of Negroes from the South had settled next to neighborhoods of European immigrants on Chicago's South Side, near the stockyards and meatpacking plants. With industrial jobs in the stockyards and meatpacking industry opening as European immigration was cut off by World War I, from 1916 to 1919, the Negro population in Chicago increased from 44,000 to 109,000, a 148 percent increase during the decade.

Police removed the body of a Negro man killed during the 1919 race riots. The five days of violence were sparked when a Negro teenager crossed an invisible boundary between the waters of the 29th Street beach, known to be reserved for whites, and the 25th Street beach, known to be reserved for Negroes.

The state militia held its ground at 47th and Wentworth Avenue during Chicago's race riot in 1919.

The Irish had been established first and fiercely defended their territory and political power against all newcomers. Post-World War I tensions caused friction between the races, especially in the competitive labor and housing markets. Overcrowding and increased Negro militancy by veterans contributed to the visible racial clashes. Also, a combination of ethnic gangs and police neglect strained racial relationships.

The mounted police rounded up "stray" negroes and escorted them back to a safety zone during the race riots in Chicago in 1919.

The state militia was mobilized in Chicago at the height of the 1919 race riot.

The state militia marched through Chicago during the 1919 race riots.

Heavily armed motorcycle and foot policemen stood at the ready for instant transportation to quell the rioting on Chicago's south side on July 30th, 1919. 

William Hale Thompson was the Mayor of Chicago during the riot, and a game of brinksmanship with Illinois Governor Frank Lowden may have exacerbated the riot since Thompson refused to ask Lowden to send in the National Guard for four days, despite Lowden ensuring that the guardsmen were in Chicago and ready to intervene.

Troops gather at 47th Street and Wentworth Avenue during the Chicago race riots. 

A soldier tells a man to "back up" during the race riots in Chicago 1919. The soldiers were in place to keep white people in their own districts.

Although future mayor Richard J. Daley never officially acknowledged being part of the violence, at age 17, he was an active member of the Irish Hamburg Athletic Club, which a post-riot investigation named as an instigator in attacks on Negroes. In the following decades, Daley continued to rise in politics to become the city's mayor for twenty-one years.

Many houses in the predominantly white stockyards district were set ablaze during the 1919 race riots. The five days of violence were sparked when a Negro teenager crossed an invisible boundary between the waters of the 29th Street beach, known to be reserved for whites, and the 25th Street beach, known to be reserved for Negroes.

People look over the remains of a destroyed building in the Union Stock Yards neighborhood during the 1919 Chicago race riots. Photo dated August 2nd, 1919.

Members of a white mob ran with bricks in hand during the Chicago race riot of 1919. Photographer unknown.

United States President Woodrow Wilson and the United States Congress attempted to promote legislation and organizations to decrease racial discord in America. Illinois Governor Frank Lowden took several actions at Thompson's request to quell the riot and promote greater harmony in its aftermath.

A man armed with a machine gun sits at the Cook County Jail during the
1919 Chicago race riots.

Sections of the Chicago economy were shut down for several days during and after the riots since plants were closed to avoid interaction among bickering groups. Mayor Thompson drew on his association with this riot to influence later political elections.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 
Photographs copyright © Chicago Tribune

Captain John Stevens, Naperville Illinois' first professional builder.

Thousands of fine homes in modern Naperville have been built in a ring of subdivisions that developed around the small farm village that was first settled in the early 1830s, when northern Illinois was still an undeveloped frontier.

The first building boom started with the completion of a dam and sawmill on the DuPage River, which supplied the materials needed for homes and barns. The Naper Sawmill began operating in 1832; most homes at the time were stick-built or lumber hand sawn from native trees. Many of these early homes were constructed by Naperville's first professional builder, John Stevens.

John Stevens, born in Rindge, New Hampshire on September 2, 1785. While quite young, his family moved to Hartland, Vermont. Once married to Miss Polly Taylor, a native of Hartland, they moved to Enosburg, Vermont where he operated a farm and tavern. He was also a millwright, a builder, the captain of a sailing vessel on Lake Champlain, and a good friend of Joseph Naper, whose stories of the rich new land in Illinois, soon to be opened for settlement by the government, prompted Stevens to leave Vermont in June, 1832, and head for Illinois.

Joseph Naper is credited with founding Naperville along the DuPage River in 1831. The town became the county seat when DuPage County was established in 1839. Naper drew the first plat in 1842 and was elected the president of the board when the village of Naperville was incorporated in 1857.

Stevens' first job in what was later to become Naperville was to help the Napers construct their sawmill. His talents were readily apparent, leading to several requests to build homes for the growing number of settlers. With his future assured, Stevens instructed his wife, Polly, to sell their properties in Vermont and to join him in Illinois.

Polly arrived with their two sons, six daughters, and three sons-in-law. Three of the Stevens' daughters were pregnant; daughter Lucetta soon gave birth to William Laird, the first known Caucasian child born in DuPage County.

The family settled on Stevens' claim, which extended from the present-day West Street in Naperville, 80 acres east of the river and 80 acres west of the river. The family planted corn while Stevens began his career as a builder.

Naperville became an important stop at the crossroads of two main stage routes that ran from Chicago to Galena and to Ottawa.

The first house, the "Century House," was built in 1833 by Captain John Stevens who is believed to have sailed here with Joseph Naper, the Founder of Naperville. The building was for George Martin, which stood on the south side of the DuPage River on the current site of Rotary Hill Park, across from Naperville High School. It was the first frame building constructed in DuPage County. The beams, flooring, and siding were cut out from large walnut trees on the Martin Property, milled into lumber at the Naper sawmill. The joists, studs, and rafters were sawn from Martin's oak trees. The sturdy foundation was fashioned with limestone blocks from the quarry that is now Naperville's Centennial Park. This well-crafted, landmark house was continuously occupied for 117 years until it was destroyed by fire in 1958.

While John Stevens was the first Naperville builder, his son-in-law, George Laird, was the first Naperville builder to go broke. Laird had begun constructing an inn and tavern in downtown Naperville, on the north bank of the DuPage River. He ran out of money before completing the structure, so Stevens stepped in to finish what became one of the most famous buildings in DuPage County history: The Pre-Emption House.

The Pre-Emption House was the first hotel in DuPage County. John Stevens' son-in-law, George Laird, began construction on the hotel and Stevens finished it in time for the 1836 4th of July celebration.

The Pre-Emption House was the first hotel in DuPage County and Stevens its first proprietor. To celebrate the occasion, he hosted a gala grand opening party on the 4th of July, 1836. The patriotic ceremonies featured a Grand March of civic organizations and dignitaries, which paraded from the Pre-Emption House to a nearby church. The assembled crowd listened to a reading of the Declaration of Independence and heard Captain Naper's announcement of his plans to run for the state legislature. Stevens took the floor and invited everyone to an outdoor dinner served under an arbor next to the Inn.

June 10, 1931: The original Pre-Emption House at Main Street and Chicago Avenue in Naperville. Built in 1831, it was one of President Lincoln's favorite stops and one of the oldest taverns in the United States.

The Pre-Emption House quickly became the focal point of the community as well as an important travel stop on the new Southwest plank road to Chicago. Its guests included many notables of the day, including Abraham Lincoln, who spoke to an admiring crowd from the porch roof. 

Eight Naperville businesses contributed to the development of the Southwest Plank Road, which was completed in 1851 and connected Chicago, Naperville, and Oswego. The new plank road was constructed using wooden planks, 3 inches thick and 8 feet wide. These were nailed to log stringers at the outer edges. To cover the cost of constructing and maintaining the road, the owners charged toll fees: 37¢ for a four-horse vehicle, 25¢ for a single team of horses, 12¢ for a horse with rider, 4¢ for a head of cattle, etc.

Hay wagon on the Southwest Plank Road, circa 1852.

In the 1870’s, maps described the road simply as “North Boulevard," however, in 1877, the entire length of road was re-named Ogden Avenue after the first mayor of Chicago, William B. Ogden. By 1874, the plank road disappeared and eventually became just another gravel road. But, when Daniel Burnham published his master plan for Chicago in 1909, Ogden Avenue was proposed as one of the key arterial streets for handling the expected growth in motorcar travel.

These businessmen then opposed a Naperville right-of-way for the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad when its representatives came prospecting that same year. The Galena line went through Wheaton instead. But the town got a second chance when the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad ran its line through Naperville in 1864.

This historic event was portrayed by the late Naperville artist Lester Schrader and is today exhibited at the Naperville Heritage Society Museum. The Pre-Emption House served the community from 1834 to 1946 and had several proprietors. The final operators were Frank and Gertrude Wehrli, who raised 13 children in the historic building. The old hotel was dismantled in 1946 but its impact on the community continued to grow over the years. Public interest moved the Naperville Heritage Society to rebuild an exact replica of the Pre-Emption House near the historic Naper Settlement in downtown Naperville.

John Stevens sold the pre-Emption House in 1857, soon after the flood of that year. He built another hotel several blocks away on higher ground, where he lived with his large family until his death. The early years on the frontier were full of hardship. The Stevens' family lost one married son, one married daughter, and three sons-in-law. John and Polly Stevens raised 14 of their grandchildren and some great-grandchildren in their 21-room inn, while continuing to operate their farm on the west side of town.

In 1834, Stevens had built a home for himself that was closer to his farmland. This home, located at 27 N. West Street in Naperville, has been occupied by descendants of John Stevens ever since.

The Wilson-Drendel-Fessler family homestead was built by John Stevens in 1834 and has been continuously occupied for 170 years.

The current residents are George and Judy Fessler. It is the oldest surviving home in Naperville, and each succeeding generation of the Stevens' descendants has maintained the home like a family treasure. It stands today as a living part of Naperville's heritage and a tribute to John Stevens, the first professional builder of Naperville.

Captain John Stevens died on May 3, 1862 and is buried at the Naperville Cemetery.

The Oldest House in Naperville, Illinois - September 12, 2014.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.