A Significant 1893 Photo of Lake Shore Drive in Chicago which was Misdated on the Internet.

Lake Shore Drive, looking north from the top of the Chicago Water Tower at Chicago Avenue, as seen in 1893. In the right foreground is the north end of Pine Street, now Michigan Avenue, with the Edith Rockefeller McCormick home, then occupied by General Joseph Torrence, in the middle distance across from the inlet of Lake Michigan at Oak Street. In the background, the tower of the Potter Palmer castle rises above the street in an underdeveloped area. The landfill is already creating a lakefront vista along Lake Shore Drive.

Again... the Internet propagates false information as every website with this photo has the wrong date of 1870, making it a year before the Great Chicago Fire.

The building with the arrow (at 200% zoom) appears to be the McCormick Rockefeller Mansion at 1000 N. Lake Shore Drive, which was completed in 1883. It also seems the mansion added the chimney on the south side later. 

The image was from the Chicago History Museum's Collection and dated 1870. With some painstaking research, I found this photo's date to be 1889.

Research by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Important Chicago Firsts by the Kinzie Family.

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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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John Kinzie (1763–1828) was born in Quebec City, Canada (then in the Colonial Province of Quebec) to John and Anne McKenzie, Scots-Irish immigrants. His father died before Kinzie was a year old, and his mother remarried. In 1773, the boy was apprenticed to George Farnham, a silversmith. Some of the jewelry created by Kinzie has been found in archaeological digs in Ohio. By 1777, Kinzie had become a trader in Detroit, where he worked for William Burnett. As a trader, he became familiar with local Indians and likely learned the dominant language. He developed trading at the Kekionga, a center of the Miami people.

The Kinzie Mansion. The House in the background is that of Antoine Ouilmette. Illustration from 1827.

Successive owners and occupants include:

• Jean Lalime/William Burnett: 1800-1803, owner. (A careful reading of the Pointe de Sable-Lalime sales contract indicates that William Burnett was not just signing as a witness but also financing the transaction, therefore controlling ownership.)
• John Kinzie's Family: 1804-1828 (except during 1812-1816).
• Widow Leigh & Mr. Des Pins: 1812-1816.
• John Kinzie's Family: 1817-1829.
• Anson Taylor: 1829-1831 (residence and store).
• Dr. E.D. Harmon: 1831 (resident & medical practice).
• Jonathan N. Bailey: 1831 (resident and post office).
• Mark Noble, Sr.: 1831-1832.
• Judge Richard Young: 1832 (circuit court).
• Unoccupied and decaying beginning in 1832.
• Nonexistent by 1835.

In 1785, Kinzie helped rescue two sisters, U.S. citizens, who were kidnapped in 1775 from Virginia by the Shawnee Indians and adopted into the tribe. One of the girls, Margaret McKinzie, married him; her sister Elizabeth married his companion Clark. Margaret lived with Kinzie in Detroit and had three children with him. After several years, she left Kinzie and Detroit and returned to Virginia with their children. All three of the Kinzie children eventually moved as adults to Chicago.

Kinzie lost his business in the Kekionga (modern Fort Wayne, Indiana) and had to move further from the western U.S. frontier in 1789. The U.S. was excluding Canadians from trade with the Native Americans in their territory. Kinzie moved west as the United States settlers continued populating its western territory.

Antoine Ouilmette was the first permanent white settler of Chicago to build a cabin at the mouth of the Chicago River in July of 1790. 

In 1800, Kinzie married Eleanor Lytle McKillip again. When they moved to Chicago in 1803, they had a son, John H. Kinzie. John H. was brought to Chicago by his fur-trading-friend-of-the-Indians father in 1804 when Fort Dearborn was just being completed. When John H. was 9 years old, he witnessed the Fort Dearborn Massacre on August 15, 1812.

Eleanor had three more children in Chicago. Their daughter Ellen Marion Kinzie, believed to be the first European child of European descent born in Chicago, was born in 1805, followed by Maria Indiana in 1807 and Robert Allen Kinzie in 1810.

In 1804, Kinzie purchased the cabin and land from his partner William Burnett who in turn bought it from Jean Baptiste La Lime, who worked as an interpreter at Fort Dearborn, which he purchased it from the original builder, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable (the "du" of Point du Sable is a misnomer. It is an American corruption of "de" as pronounced in French, "Jean Baptiste Point de Sable" and first appears long after his death). The cabin was located at the mouth of the Chicago River. His partner, William Burnett, had owned the house since 1800. That same year, Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory appointed Kinzie as a justice of the peace.

After the U.S. citizens built Fort Dearborn across the Chicago River from Kinzie's house, Kinzie's influence and reputation rose in the area; he was useful because of his relationship with the Indians. 

In 1810, Kinzie and Whistler became embroiled in a dispute over Kinzie supplying alcohol to the Indians. In April, Whistler and other senior officers at the fort were removed; Whistler was replaced as commandant of the fort by Captain Nathan Heald.

Kinzie was said to be an "aggressive" trader and was described as a "volatile and violent character" who clashed with some American soldiers stationed at Fort Dearborn.

Jean Baptiste La Lime worked as an interpreter at Fort Dearborn and was a neighbor of John Kinzie. La Lime was Chicago's first murder victim. Tensions between Kinzie and La Lime came to a head on June 17, 1812, when the two men met outside Fort Dearborn. La Lime was armed with a pistol and Kinzie with a butcher’s knife. There was a witness account.

The War of 1812 began between Great Britain and the United States, and tensions rose on the northern frontier.

Kinzie fled to Milwaukee, then the Indian territory. While in Milwaukee, he met with pro-British Indians who were planning attacks on U.S. settlements, including Chicago. Kinzie went back to Chicago. During this period, an inquest at Fort Dearborn under Captain Nathan Heald exonerated Kinzie in the killing of La Lime, ruling it was in self-defense. Historians speculate that La Lime may have been informed of corruption related to purchasing supplies within the fort and had been silenced. The case has been called "Chicago's first murder."

The Fort Dearborn Massacre was partially due to the attack by Indians at Charles Lee's Place, today's Bridgeport neighborhood. On April 6, 1812, a party of ten or twelve Winnebagoes, dressed and painted, arrived at the Lee house and, according to the custom among savages, entered and seated themselves without ceremony. What happened next was horrific. This incident was the precursor to the Fort Dearborn Massacre later that summer.

Although worried that Chicago would be on heightened alert, the Indians attacked Fort Dearborn on August 15, 1812, and killed most of the people in the fort. Billy Caldwell (much of Caldwell's history was fabricated) arrived on the scene just after the battle and saved the lives of the John Kinzie family. That’s the traditional account of what had happened. Historians have been unable to verify it. 

Kinzie escaped with his family unharmed and returned to Detroit. Identifying as a British citizen, Kinzie had a strong anti-U.S. streak.

In 1813, the British arrested Kinzie and Jean Baptiste Chardonnai, also living in Detroit, charging them with treason. They were accused of having corresponded with the enemy (the U.S. General Harrison's army) while supplying gunpowder to Chief Tecumseh's Indian forces, who were fighting alongside the British. Chardonnai escaped, but Kinzie was imprisoned on a ship for transport to England. Kinzie escaped when the ship was put into port in Nova Scotia to weather a storm. He returned to the U.S. and held Detroit by 1814.

Formerly identifying as a British citizen, Kinzie switched citizenship to the United States. He returned to live in Chicago with his family in 1816.

Kinzie suffered a stroke on June 6, 1828, and died a few hours later. Originally buried at the Fort Dearborn Cemetery, Kinzie's remains were moved to City Cemetery in 1835. When the cemetery was closed due to concerns it could contaminate the city's water supply, Kinzie's remains were moved to Graceland Cemetery.

John Kinzie's headstone at Chicago's Graceland Cemetery.

John Kinzie's Spouses
Eleanor Lytle Kinzie
1769–1834 (m. 1798)

Margaret MacKenzie Kinzie
1763–1859

John Kinzie's Children
William Kinzie
1789–1869

Elizabeth Kinzie
1791–1832

James Kinzie
1793–1866

John Harris Kinzie
1803–1865

Ellen Marion Kinzie Wolcott Bates
1804–1860

Maria Indiana Kinzie Hunter
1807–1887

Robert Allen Kinzie
1810–1873

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Kinzie Family Firsts

John Kinzie called his house the "Mansion."

The bronze plaque is considered to be lost.

The first person born at Chicago of white parentage was Ellen Marion Kinzie, the daughter of John and Eleanor Kinzie and the sister of Maria and Robert A. Kinzie. The event happened in what was afterward known as the Kinzie House on the north side [of the river] (so Mrs. Whistler tells us,) and the little lady first saw the light upon the shore of the Divine River (a name sometimes applied to the creek here in former days, though scarcely divine at present, if purity is an essential attribute), on one of the days of December 1804. 

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Her published obituary gave her birth date as December 1805, yet Mrs. Whistler assures us that it occurred earlier by some months than that of her son Lewis and that it was in winter or cold weather. Allowing the month to have been December, agreeable to the obituary referred to, the conclusion must be that the year was that of 1804.

In due time, she was given the Christian name of Ellen Marion [Kinzie], and her playmates in early childhood were often the Indian children with whom she gathered the summer flowers along the sedgy banks of the quiet stream. But the war came, Fort Dearborn was abandoned, and then occurred an exhibition of brutal carnage which savages so delight in; it was the massacre at Chicago [Fort Dearborn]. But the household of John Kinzie, after various perils and escapes, under the care of friendly captors, were taken to St. Joseph and thence to Detroit. The rebuilding of Fort Dearborn brought back the Kinzies to their old home.

The First Negro Slave in Chicago. 
"Black Jim" was brought here by John Kinzie in 1804.

Chicago's First Murder.
Jean Baptiste La Lime was killed by John Kinzie on June 17, 1812.

The First Wedding in Chicago.
Ellen Marion Kinzie, the daughter of John Kinzie, one of Chicago's founders, married [at 18 years old] Dr. Alexander Wolcott, Jr. (1790-1830), who came to Chicago from Windsor, Connecticut, as an Indian Agent in 1820. They married on July 20, 1823. Her married name would, therefore, be Ellen Marion Wolcott. The marriage was eight years before the formation of Cook County, and at that time, this unorganized region was attached to Fulton County.

Everybody in the settlement received an invitation to the wedding. If anybody fails to be present, it is not recorded in the “antiquities” of Chicago. Fort Dearborn had been evacuated a few weeks before the nuptial event. Otherwise, the festivities would have been attended by the officers and men of the garrison.

The Guest List:

• Mr. and Mrs. John Kinzie, the bride's parents,
• John, Harris, and Robert Kinzie, brothers of the bride.
• Maria Indiana Kinzie, sister of the bride.
• James Kinzie, half-brother of the bride.
• Mr. and Mrs. Jean Baptiste Beaubien, and son Madore Beaubien.
• M. du Pin, a French trader and wife who was the widow of Charles Lee, was scalped by the Indians at Fort Dearborn in April 1812.
• David McKee, the “village blacksmith,” was a recent arrival.
• Joseph Porthier, an employee of McKee.
• Victoire, Genevieve, and Jean Baptiste Mirandeau are servants in the Kinzie household.
• Antoine Ouilmette and his wife, the former, were employed by Mr. Kinzie.

Besides the mentioned, there were two Indian chiefs in attendance at the wedding, Billy Caldwell and Alexander Robinson (Che-che-pinqua). Both were sons of British officers who had taken Indian wives, and both played a prominent part in early Chicago’s history.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The History of Fort Kaskaskia, also known as Fort of the Kaskasquias and Fort Gage.

Fort Kaskaskia was first established by the French in 1733.

French Fort History - Fort Kaskaskia (1733-1766)
First erected as a rough wooden stockade by the French in 1733 and known as the "Fort of the Kaskasquias." A more substantial fortification was built in 1759 by the French during the French & Indian War, including a heavy stockade with four blockhouses at the corners. This incarnation of the fort was named Fort Kaskaskia, and it remained until it was destroyed in 1766 by the citizens of Kaskaskia to prevent British occupation.

British Fort History - Fort Gage (1772-1776)
In 1772, the British were forced to leave their headquarters at Fort de Chartres because it was eroding into the Mississippi River, and they chose to fortify the old Jesuit 1703 stone-built French Seminary at Kaskaskia. Named "Fort Gage" in honor of General Thomas Gage. The British occupied the area until they were ordered to withdraw to Fort Detroit in 1776.

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The word "Mississippi" comes from the Ojibwe Indian Tribe (Algonquian language family) word "Messipi" or "misi-ziibi," which means "Great River" or "Gathering of Waters." French explorers, hearing the Ojibwe word for the river, recorded it in their own language with a similar pronunciation. The Potawatomi (Algonquian language family) pronounced "Mississippi" as the French said it, "Sinnissippi," which was given the meaning "Rocky Waters."

View of the Mississippi from the Fort.

The original town site was obliterated in 1844, 1881 and 1910 floods. The flood of 1881 resulted in the town being located on the west side of the Mississippi River. However, the fort is still located on the east side of the river. The remains of Fort Kaskaskia include the outline of long earthworks forming a rough square, with bastions at the corners, a part of Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site, Ellis Grove, Randolph County, Illinois.

In the flood of April 1881, the Mississippi divided its channel and broke into the lower Kaskaskia River below this bluff, forming Kaskaskia Island. The historic town of Kaskaskia lay directly in its path and was eventually destroyed. Thus, the role played by Kaskaskia in the great drama of history is closed in tragedy.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Nicknames for Downtown Chicago Restaurant Areas by Types Beginning in the Gay 1890s.

Bob's Quick Lunch at 295½ West Van Buren Street at Clark Street in downtown Chicago in 1904. (Address before the 1909 Chicago Street Renumbering project.)

Beginning at the turn of the 20th century, restaurants grouped together in downtown (the Loop) Chicago. The reason is easy to understand. Groups of the same kind of restaurants attracted flocks of lunch customers who knew they would likely find something they wanted to eat at lunchtime. 

Chain restaurants were becoming common, and lesser-known restaurants were eager to locate near successful eating establishments to catch their overflow. It was also used as a marketing ploy as City officials nicknamed streets of similar-style restaurants a "row" to help boost the local economy.

Restaurant Row: Randolph Street where there were 39 busy full-service restaurants within a six-block stretch. Many restaurants had full-service bars, a few with a Sommelier (Wine Stewart) especially for dinner service.

Cafeteria Row: Wabash Avenue had the largest number of self-service restaurants in the world. 

Toothpick Row: Clark Street had lots of lunchroom businesses including bars and taverns serving sandwiches and liquor.

INDEX TO MY ILLINOIS AND CHICAGO FOOD & RESTAURANT ARTICLES.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

The Village of La Vantum (aka: The Grand Village; Old Kaskaskia Village), is the best documented historic Indian village in the Illinois River valley.

The French called the village La Vantum ("the washed") and the Grand Village de Kaskaskia near present-day Utica, Illinois.

It was a large agricultural village of Indians of the Illinois Confederacy  [aka Illiniwek; Illini] (Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Peoria, Tamaroa, Moingwena, Michigamea, Chepoussa, Chinkoa, Coiracoentanon, Espeminkia, Maroa, and Tapouara), located on the north bank of the Illinois River near the present town of Utica, Illinois.

Old Kaskaskia Village is located on the north bank of the Illinois River east of North Utica, Illinois. The road on the left is Dee Bennett Road. The river is out of the frame to the right, about 1,000 feet south of the road. The building with three rows of windows to the right of the road is the Sulphur Springs Hotel.

On a clear, warm day in September of 1673, two bark canoes were seen slowly gliding up the Illinois River, whose placid waters had never before reflected the face of a white man. These canoes were propelled upstream by sails and oars, and as they went forward, the voyageurs caused the wild woods along the shore to resound with songs of praise. Various devices were painted on the sail of the foremost canoe, representing a coat-of-arms, a pipe of peace, and a cross, emblematical of power, friendship, and Christianity.

The voyageurs were delighted with the country along the placid stream and commented on the beauty of the surrounding country. Large herds of buffalo were seen feeding on the green meadows, and at the sound of the oars, elk, deer, and antelope would rise from their lair and bound away across the distant plains. Wild geese and swans were swimming in the river while flocks of parrots made merry the lonely waters with their songs.

Father Marquette and his Symbol of Peace.

This party of travelers consisted of nine persons, Louis Joliet, Jacques Marquette, five oarsmen, and two Indian interpreters. While forcing their light crafts upstream, they were surprised to come suddenly upon a large town on the left bank of the river, while back of it, the fantastic meadow was covered with camping tents and swarming with human beings. This was the great Illinois town called La Vantum, situated near the present site of Utica (Starved Rock) and known for years as the significant landmark of the West.

As the voyageurs approached the town, the Indians in great numbers collected on the river bank to see these strange people, never before having looked upon the face of a white man. Warriors armed with war clubs, bows, and arrows lined the shore, prepared to give the strangers battle if enemies or greet them kindly if friends. The canoes stopped when Joliet displayed the "wampum" (beads used as currency and trade), a token of friendship, at the sight of which the warriors lowered their weapons and motioned the voyageurs to come ashore. Father Marquette, with a pipe of peace in one hand and a small gold cross in the other, approached the Indians, who, in astonishment, collected around him, offering up mementos to appease the wrath of the great Manitou, from whom they believed the strangers had come. The tourists left their canoes and were taken to the head chief's lodge, Chassagoac, where they were kindly entertained for the night.

On the following day, in the presence of all the chiefs and principal warriors, Joliet took formal possession of the country in the name of Louis XIV, after which Marquette preached to this vast assembly. Under Marquette's preaching, many were converted and baptized by the Catholic Church. Among the converts was Chassagoac, the head chief of the Illinois Indians, who continued in the faith and, after years, was a friend of the early pioneers on the Illinois River. Marquette gave this chief several Christian mementos, consisting of crosses, crucifixes, etc., all of which he wore on his person for more than fifty years, and at the time of his death, they were buried with him.

On the third day, the canoes of the explorers were again on the river, and they continued their journey eastward. On reaching the mouth of the Chicagou River, Jolliet, with three companions, continued to Canada to report to the governor. In contrast, Marquette and two others went to Green Bay to convert the Indians. As Jolliet passed down the rapids of the St. Lawrence River near Montreal, his canoe upset, and his journal, with all other valuables, was lost.

These explorers published no account of their travels. The world was but little wiser for their journey, except to establish that the Mississippi River did not flow into the Pacific Ocean, and Illinois was a rich country.

Although terminally ill, Marquette returned to the Grand Village in early 1675 to celebrate Mass and founded the mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin.

La Vantum proliferated after a mission and fur trading post was established there in 1675 to a population of about 6,000 people in about 460 houses. After the 1680 massacre from the Iroquois, the surviving Indians moved further south, abandoning the site due to fear of another Iroquois invasion.

Read The 1680 La Vantum Village Massacre of the Illinois Indians by the Iroquois and its Aftermath.

A prominent local landmark, Starved Rock, stands on the river's south bank directly opposite the Grand Village site. Explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (Sieur de La Salle is a title only), built Fort Saint Louis du Rocher in 1682 to be near this village.

Later, English-speaking European pioneers had no idea what had happened to the people of the Grand Village. Long after the Indians dispersed, a tale was repeated in local folklore that members of the Illinois tribe had been driven to the top of Starved Rock by the Potawatomi, who wanted revenge for Chief Pontiac's murder. Hopelessly surrounded, the brave villagers refused to surrender and supposedly perished of starvation. This was said to be how "Starved Rock" got its name. 

Read The Starved Rock Massacre of 1769 - Fact or Fiction, a research article analyzing whether this massacre occurred.

The historic site is owned by the State of Illinois. The state has conducted archaeological excavations there. The site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

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Suggested reading:
French Life in the Illinois Country, from Canada to Louisiana, in the 1700s.