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CHICAGO , a See also:city, a See also:port of entry and the See also:county-seat of See also:Cook county, See also:Illinois, U.S.A., the second city of the See also:United States in See also:population, See also:commerce and manufactures; pop. (190o) 1,698,575; and (1910) 2,185,283. It is situated at the See also:south-See also:west corner of See also:Lake See also:Michigan (See also:lat. 41° 5o', See also:long. 87° 38' W.), about 913 M. distant by railway from New See also:York, 912 in. from New See also: Three lakes—Calumet, 3122 acres; See also:Hyde; and See also:part of Wolf—with a water-See also:surface of some 4100 acres, See also:lie within the municipal limits. The See also:original See also:elevation of what is now the business See also:heart of the city was only about 7 ft. above the lake, but the level was greatly raised—in some places more than ro ft.—over a large area, between 1855 and 186o. The West See also:Side, especially in the See also:north-west near See also:Humboldt See also:Park, is much higher (extreme 75 ft.). A narrow inlet from the lake, the Chicago See also:river, runs W. from its shore about a mile, dividing then into a north and a south See also:branch, which run respectively to the N.W. and the S.W., thus cutting the city into three divisions known as the North, the West and the South " Sides," which are united by three See also:car-tunnels beneath the river as well as by the See also:bridges across it.' The river no longer empties into Lake Michigan since the completion of the drainage See also:canal. Its commercial importance is very great: indeed it is probably the most important non-tidal stream of its length in the world, or if it be regarded as a See also:harbour, one of the greatest; the See also:tonnage of its yearly commerce far exceeds that of the See also:Suez Canal and almost equals the tonnage of the See also:foreign See also:trade (the domestic excluded) of the See also:Thames or the See also:Mersey. The increase in size of the newer freighters that ply on the Great Lakes4 has proved one serious difficulty, and the bridges and the river tunnels, which hinder the deeper cutting of the channel, are others. The improvement of the See also:outer harbour by the See also:national See also:government was begun in 1833. Great breakwaters protect the river mouth from the silting shore currents of the lake and afford secure shelter in an outer road-See also:stead from its storms, and there is a smaller inner-basin (about 450 acres, 16 ft. See also:depth) as well. But the river itself which has about 15 M. of navigable channel, in part lined with docks, is the mbst important part of the harbour. Its channel has been repeatedly deepened, and in See also:recent years—especially since 1896, after its See also:control as a navigable stream passed (189o) to the federal government—widened and straightened by the removal of jutting See also:building constructions along its shores. See also:Grain See also:elevators of enormous size, See also:coal yards, See also:lumber yards and grimy warehouses or factories See also:crowd See also:close upon it. The See also:shipping facilities on the river are not so See also:good in some ways, however, as on the See also:Calumet in southeastern (or South) Chicago, whither there has been a strong See also:movement of manufactures and heavy commerce. The See also:plan of the city is in See also:general " See also:regular," i.e. rigidly rectangular, and the streets are in general wide. The evenness of the See also:plain has saved Chicago from most of the vast expense incurred by some See also:American cities (notably Boston and San Francisco) in the See also:extension or levelling of their sites and the removal of obstructions unfavourable to their development. The business See also:district is concentrated in a small area of the South Side, just below the See also:main river and between the south branch and the lake. A number of the railway terminals, almost all the great wholesale and See also:retail houses, the leading hotels and In 1889 the total area (See also:land and water) was increased from 43.8 to 169.9 sq. m. ; in 1890 the land area was 163.49 sq. M. 'About 15 ft. in elevation; hence the possibility of the drainage canal. a Among the last are many See also:swing and " See also:jack-See also:knife " bridges, bascules, and a lift-See also:bridge that can be lifted bodily 155 ft. above the channel. See also:Steam, compressed See also:air and See also:electricity are used as See also:power. * By 1900 almost all were being built of a length exceeding 400 ft. public buildings are crowded within an area of about 1.5 sq. m. The congestion of the streets—considerably lessened since the See also:freight-subways have reduced the amount of heavy trucking--is proportionately great, and their din and crush is characteristic of the city. The residential districts, on the other See also:hand, are unevenly and loosely spread; many areas well within the city are only sparsely settled. A See also:belt of "See also:bad lands "—occupied by factories, shanties, &c.—partially surrounds the best business district. The See also:smoke resulting from the use of soft coal has given a drab and dingy See also:colour-See also:tone to the buildings. The low and even See also:relief of the site and the long vistas of the streets do not lend themselves to the picturesque; yet this quality may be claimed for the high and broken skyline, varied colour, massiveness, bustle and impressive commercialism of the business district. Chicago is generally credited with being the original See also:home of the See also:steel-See also:frame " See also:sky-scraper,"' though there are now higher buildings elsewhere in See also:America. The unstable See also:soil of See also:sand, See also:clay and boulders that underlies the city is unfavourable to tall constructions, and necessitates extraordinary See also:attention to See also:foundations. The See also:bed-See also:rock lies, on an See also:average, so ft. below the level of the lake (in places more than a See also:hundred). To the rock the foundations are often sunk in caissons, the buildings resting on See also:monster columns of See also:concrete and steel? In other cases great " pads " of the same materials, resting or " floating " upon the clay, sustain and distribute the See also:weight of the building. The small extent of the business See also:quarter adds to the effect of its tall structures. The Auditorium (1889; cost, $3,500,000), a huge building containing a hotel and a See also:theatre (5000 seats), is one of the most massive commercial structures of the See also:country. The Masonic See also:Temple (cost, $3,000,000) is the tallest in the city (302 ft.). In 1909 there were some 475 structures ten or more storeys high. Not a few are noteworthy, whether for size—as the See also:Monadnock See also:office building of 16 storeys, with some 6000 occupants, and the new Northwestern Railway station; or for the luxury of their interior fittings—as the La Salle, See also:Blackstone and See also:Sherman hotels; or for boldness and originality in the treatment of the t teel-frame type; or for association with the city's See also:life —as the See also:Fine Arts building, given over to varied purposes of public amusement and See also:artistic or intellectual improvement, or the Railway See also:Exchange (cased in tiles), the University See also:Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the See also:Board of Trade; and many others are handsome and dignified examples of See also:architecture. The See also:Marquette building, consistently and handsomely decorated with See also:works of See also:art, is one of the finest office-buildings in the country. There are a number of enormous retail stores. The largest, and one of the finest in the world, is that of See also:Marshall See also: The Chicago Art See also:Institute (1892-1803 ; See also:Italian Renaissance), the Chicago See also:Orchestra building (1004), and the Commercial National See also:Bank, are also noteworthy. The finest See also:residence streets are the Lake Shore Drive of the North Side and the " boulevards "—broad parkways that connect the parks of the city—of which Michigan See also:Avenue, See also:Drexel and See also:Grand are the finest. The city's
1 The highest value ever paid in Chicago for land actually sold, up to 1901, was $25o per sq. ft. (1892) ; a few rental contracts have been based upon an assumed higher value. A municipal See also:ordinance placing the extreme construction at 15o ft. was repealed in 1902.
2 This is true of all the new large buildings. The "old ' See also:post 'office, completed in 188o at a cost of $5,3755,o00, was practically a crumbling ruin within fifteen years; its foundations were inadequate. , Years were spent in sinking the See also:foundation of the new Federal building that replaced the old.environs are not of particular beauty, but there are bluffs on the lake to the north, and See also:woods to the south-west, and a See also:fair variety of See also:pretty See also: Water is pumped from Lake Michigan through several tunnels connecting with " cribs " located from 2 to 5 M. from shore. The " cribs " are heavy structures of See also:timber and iron loaded with See also: A system of intercepting sewers to withdraw drainage into the lake was begun in 1898; and the construction of a canal to drain the Calumet region was begun in 1910. The Illinois and Michigan canal is used by small See also:craft, and the new drainage canal also may be used for shipping in view of the Federal government's improvements of the rivers connecting it with the Mississippi for the construction of a See also:ship-canal for large vessels. The canal also made possible the development (begun in 1903) of enormous Total excavation, 42,397,904 cub. yds. ; of solid rock, 12,265,000. 4 It has been conclusively proved that the Illinois is purer than the Mississippi at their junction. The undiluted sewage of the old canal drove the See also:fish from the river, but they have come back since the opening of the new canal. See also:hydraulic power for the use of the city. The Illinois and Michigan Canal has been supplemented by the Illinois and Mississippi Canal, commonly known as " the Hennepin," from its starting at the great See also:bend of the Illinois river 1'-h m. above Hennepin, not far below La Salle; the first See also:appropriation for it was made in 189o, and work was begun in 1892 and completed in See also:October 1907. Its course from Hennepin is by the See also:Bureau See also:Creek valley to the mouth of See also:Queen river on the Rock river, thence by the Rock river and a canal around its rapids at See also:Milan to its mouth at Rock See also:Island on the Mississippi river. This See also:barge canal is 8o ft. wide at water-See also:line, 52 ft. wide at the bottom, and 7 ft. deep. Its main feeder is the Rock river, dammed by a See also:dam nearly 15oo ft. long between See also:Sterling and Rock Falls, Illinois, where the opening of the canal was celebrated on the 24th of October 1907. Beginning with 1892 steam railways began the elevation (or depression) of their main tracks, of which there were in 1904 some 838 m. within the city. Another great improvement was begun in 1901 by a private See also:telephone See also:company. This is an elaborate system of freight subways, more than 65 m. of which, underlying the entire business district,had been constructed before 1909. It is the only subway system in the world that seeks to clear the streets by the lessening of trucking, in See also:place of devoting itself to the transportation of passengers. See also:Direct connexion is made with the freight stations of all railways and the basements of important business buildings, and coal, building materials, ashes and garbage, railway luggage, heavy See also:mail and other kinds of heavy freight are expeditiously removed and delivered. See also:Telegraph and telephone wires are carried through the tunnel, and can be readily repaired. The subway was opened for partial operation in 1905.1 Parks.—The park system may be said to have been begun in 1869, and in 1870 aggregated 1887 acres. Chicago then acquired the name of " The See also:Garden City," which still clings to her. But many other cities have later passed her (until in 1904, though the second largest of the country, she ranked only thirty-second in her holdings of park area per capita among American cities of too,000 population). In 1908 the acreage of the municipal parks was 3179 acres, and there were 61.4 m. of boulevards. After 1900 another See also:period of ambitious development began. The improvement of old and the creation of new " See also:internal " parks, i.e. within the See also:cordon of those older parks and boulevards that once girdled the city but have been surrounded in its later growth; the creation of a huge See also:metropolitan ring—similar to that of Boston but vaster (35,000 acres)—of lake bluffs, hills, meadows, forests and river valley; and a great increase of " neighbourhood parks " in the poor districts, are included in the new undertakings. The neighbourhood park, usually located near a school, is almost all-inclusive in its See also:provision for all comers, from babyhood to maturity, and is open all See also:day. There are sand gardens and wading ponds and swings and day nurseries, gymnasiums, athletic See also:fields, See also:swimming pools and See also:baths, See also:reading-rooms—generally with branches of the city library —lunch counters, civic club rooms, frequent See also:music, See also:assembly halls for theatricals, lectures, concerts, or meetings, See also:penny savings See also:banks, and in the See also:winter See also:skating ponds. These social centres have practically all been created since about 1895. There are also municipal baths on the lake front and elsewhere. The older parks include several of great size and beauty. See also:Lincoln Park (area 552 acres), on the lake shore of the North Side, has been much enlarged by an addition reclaimed from the lake. It has fine monuments, conservatories, the only zoological garden in the city, and the collections of the See also:Academy of Sciences. A See also:breakwater See also:carriage drive connects with a See also:boulevard to Fort See also:Sheridan (27 m.) up the lake. See also:Jackson Park (542 acres), on the lake shore of the South Side, was the main site of the World's 1 The cut was almost entirely through firm clay. It was estimated (1905) that the total freight handled weekly in the business district was nearly 500,000 tons, and the subway was designed to handle this amount when completed. The tunnels are 12•75X 14 and 7.5 X6 ft., all concrete. The cars are See also:drawn by trolley See also:wire loco-motives on a track of 2 ft. See also:gauge. Columbian Exposition of 1893, and contains the Field Columbian Museum, occupying the art building of the exposition. It is joined with See also:Washington Park (371 acres) by the Midway Plaisance, a wide boulevard, intended to be converted into a magnificent sunken water-course connecting the lagoons of the two parks with Lake Michigan. Along the Midway are the See also:grey-stone buildings of the University of Chicago, and of its (See also:Blaine) School of See also:Education. On the West Side are three fine parks—Douglas, See also:Garfield (with a fine conservatory), and Humboldt, which has a remarkable See also:rose garden (respectively 182, 187 and 206 acres), and in the extreme South Side several others, including Calumet (66 acres), by the lake side, and Marquette (322 acres), Jackson Boulevard, Western Avenue Boulevard and Marshall Boulevard join the South and the West Park systems. Neither New York nor Boston has preserved as has Chicago the beauty of its water front. The shore of the North Side is quite free, and beginning a See also:short distance above the river is skirted for almost 30 M. by the Lake Shore Drive, Lincoln Park and the Sheridan Drive. The shore of the South Side is occupied by railway tracks, but they have been sunk and the shore otherwise improved. In addition to Calumet and Jackson parks there was another just below the river, Lake Park, which has since been included in See also: See also:Logan and See also:Abraham Lincoln by St Gaudens; monuments commemorating the Haymarket See also:riot and the Fort Dearborn massacres; statues of General Grant, See also:Stephen A. See also:Douglas, La Salle, See also:Schiller, Humboldt, See also:Beethoven and See also:Linnaeus. There is also a memorial to G. B. See also:Armstrong (1822-1871), a See also:citizen of Chicago, who founded the railway mail service of the United States. A city art See also:commission approves all works of art before they become, the See also:property of the city, and at the See also:request of the See also:mayor acts in various ways for the city's aesthetic See also:betterment. The Architectural Club labours for the same end. A Municipal Art See also:League (organized in 1899) has done good work in arousing civic See also:pride; it has undertaken, among• other things, See also:campaigns against See also:bill-board advertisements,' and against the smoke See also:nuisance. The Art Institute of Chicago contains valuable collections of paintings, reproductions of bronzes and See also:sculpture, architectural casts, and other See also:objects of art. Connected with it is the largest and most comprehensive art school of the county—including newspaper See also:illustration and a normal school for the training of teachers of See also:drawing in the public See also:schools. The institute was incorporated in 1879, though its beginnings go back to 1866, while the school See also:dates from 1878. The courses in architecture are given with the co-operation of. the See also:Armour Institute of Technology. There are also a number of notable private art collections in the city. In 1894 the Chicago Public School Art Society was founded to secure the placing of good works of art in the public schools. Picture collections are also exchanged among the neighbourhood-park homes.
Music in Chicago owes much to the See also:German See also:element of the population. Especially noteworthy among musical organizations
2 The Illinois Central enters the business centre by tracks laid along the lake shore. Certain rights as to reclaiming land were granted it in 1852, but the railway extended its claims indefinitely to whatever land it might reclaim. In 1883 began a great legal struggle to determine the respective rights of the United States, the See also:state of Illinois. Chicago, and the Illinois Central in the reclaimed lands and the submerged lands adjacent. The outcome was favour-able to the city.
3 There were 5o m. of them in 1904.
are the See also:Apollo Musical Club (1872) and The See also:Theodore See also: In 1904 a fund was gathered by public subscription to erect a handsome building and endow the orchestra. The Field Museum of Natural History, established (1894) largely by Marshall Field, is mainly devoted to See also:anthropology and natural history. The See also:nucleus of its great collection was formed by various exhibits of the Columbian Exposition which were presented to it. Its collections of American See also:ethnology, of exceptional richness and value, are constantly augmented by See also:research expeditions. In addition to an original endowment of $1,000,000, Mr Field bequeathed to the museum $8,000,000, to be utilized in part for the new building which is being erected in Jackson Park. Libraries.—At the head of the libraries of the city stands the public library ' (established 1872; opened 1874), supported by See also:taxation, which on the 1st of See also:June 1910 had 402,848 *Volumes, and in the See also:year 1910 circulated 1,805,012 volumes. In 1889 John Crerar (1827-1889), a wealthy manufacturer of railroad supplies, See also:left to the city for the endowment of a non-circulating library funds which in 1907 were estimated to amount to $3,400,000. The library was incorporated in 1894 and was opened in 1897 ; in See also:February 1908 it had 216,000 volumes and 6o,000 See also:pamphlets. It occupies a See also:floor in the Marshall Field Building on See also:Wabash Avenue. Another reference library was established (opened in 1887) with a See also:bequest (1868) of See also:Walter L. See also:Newberry. It has a rich endowment, and in February 1908 had 191,644 volumes and 43,644 pamphlets. By a plan of co-operation each of these three libraries devotes itself primarily to See also:special fields: the John Crerar is best for the natural, See also:physical and social sciences; the Newberry is particularly strong in history, music, See also:medicine, rare books and fine See also:editions; the public library covers the whole range of general literature. The library of the University of Chicago contained in 1908 some 450,000 titles. Among other collections are those of the Chicago See also:Historical Society (1856; about 150,000 titles in 1908), the See also:Athenaeum (1871); the See also:Law Institute and Library (1857), which in 1908 had about 46,500 volumes; the Art Institute, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Academy of Sciences (1857) and the libraries of various schools. See also:Universities and Colleges.—T here are three universities situated wholly or in part in the city. The leading institution is the University of Chicago (see CHICAGO, UNIVERSITY OF). The professional See also:department of North-Western University is in Chicago, while its See also:academic department is in the suburb of See also:Evanston. North-Western University was organized in 1851 and is under Methodist Episcopal control. Its students in 1908 (exclusive of pupils in " co-operating " theological schools) numbered 3850; the best equipped departments are those of See also:dentistry, medicine and See also:pharmacy. There are two See also:Roman See also:Catholic colleges in Chicago: See also:Loyola University (chartered in 1870), with a department of law, called Lincoln See also:College (1908), and a medical department; and St. See also:Stanislaus College (187o). The College of Physicians and Surgeons is the medical department of the University of Illinois, at See also:Champaign-See also:Urbana. Theological schools See also:independent of the universities include the McCormick Theo-logical See also:Seminary (Presbyterian); the Chicago Theological Seminary (Congregational, opened 1858, and including German, Danish-See also:Norwegian and See also:Swedish Institutes); the Western Episcopal Theological Seminary; a German Lutheran theological seminary, and an Evangelical Lutheran theological seminary. There are a number of independent medical schools and schools of dentistry and veterinary See also:surgery. The See also:Lewis Institute (bequest 1877, opened 1896), designed to give a See also:practical education to boys and girls at a nominal cost, and the Armour Institute of
' Thomas See also:Hughes was a leader in gathering See also:English gifts for such a library immediately after the " great See also:fire." A nucleus of Io,, oo -•aiumes--7noo from See also:England and 3500 from other countries, esnecially See also:Germany--was thus secured.
Technology, one of the best technical schools of the country, provide technical education and are well endowed. The Armour Institute was founded in 1892 by See also: See also:Industry and Commerce.—Chicago's situation at the head of the most south-western of the Great Lakes has given it great importance in trade and industry. The development of its extraordinary railway facilities was a recognition of its supreme advantages as the easiest outlet for the products of the Middle West, on whose See also:wealth its prosperity is founded. The growth of its trade has been marvellous. The last years of the l9th See also:century showed, however, an inevitable loss to Chicago in the growth of See also:Duluth, See also:Kansas City and other rivals in strategic situations. In particular, the struggle of the North and South railway lines in the Mississippi Valley to divert to ports on the Gulf of Mexico grain and other freight caused great losses to Chicago. An enormous increase in the cereal trade of Philadelphia, Baltimore, See also:Newport News and See also:Norfolk was partly due to the See also:traffic eastward over lines S. of Chicago. The traffic of the routes through Duluth and See also:Canada does not, indeed, represent in the main actual losses, for the traffic is largely a new growth; but there has been nevertheless a considerable drain to these routes from American territory once tributary to Chicago. Altogether the competition of the Gulf roads and the lines See also:running S.W. from Duluth had largely excluded Chicago by 1899 (according to her Board of Trade) from the grain trade W. of the See also:Missouri river, and in See also:conjunction with southerly E. and W. routes had made serious inroads upon trade E. of that river. Its facilities for receiving and distributing remain neverthel8ss unequalled, and it still practically monopolizes the traffic between the northern Atlantic seaboard and the West. New York alone, among American cities, has a greater trade. Chicago is the greatest railway centre, the greatest grain See also:market, the greatest live-stock market and See also:meat-packing centre, and the greatest lumber. market of the world. The clearings of her 'associated banks amounted to $13,781,843,61 2 in the year 1909. The wholesale trade was estimated in 1875 at $293,900,000 and in 1905 at $1,781,000,000. The average See also:annual grain receipts (including See also:flour in See also:wheat See also:equivalent) in the five years 1900-1904 amounted to 265,500,000 bu. (12,902,310 in 1854; 72,369,194 in 1875), and the shipments to 209,862,966 bu. The first shipment of wheat was of 78 bu. in 1838. The grain elevators are among the See also:sights of Chicago. They are enormous storehouses into which the grain is elevated from See also:ships and cars, sorted into grades and reloaded for shipment; all the work is done by machinery. Their capacity.in 1904 was 65,140,000 bu .2 In the same quinquennial period, 1900-1904, the average yearly receipts of lumber aggregated 1,807,066,000 ft.,3 and of shingles, 410,711 thousand; of cattle, 3,078,734; of hogs, 8,334,904; of sheep, 3,338,291; of See also:butter, 239,696,921 lb; the exports of hides, 167,442,077 lb; of dressed See also:beef, 1,126,995,490 lb; of 2 In 1900-1904 the average freight See also:rate per See also:bushel of wheat to New York was $0.04998 by the all-water; '1•.1o554 by the all-See also:rail route. In 1859 it cost $o.1575 to send a bushel of See also:corn to See also:Buffalo by water; in 1890, $0.019., It has been above 1,000,000,000 ft. since 187o, and has in some years risen to 2,000,000,000. See also:lard, 410,688,319 lb; of pork, 191,371 bbl.; of other hog products, 690,503,394 lb. The combined tonnage in and out averaged 14,135,406 tons.' There is a large direct trade with See also:Europe, mainly in goods that come in See also:bond by rail from Atlantic ports. In 1907 the value of Chicago's imports was $27,058,662, and of its exports, $5,643,3oz. The value of manufactures (from establishments under the " factory system ") in 1900 was $797,879,141, 71'2% of all those of Illinois, and in 1905 was $955,036,277, 67.7% of all those of the state; in both these years Chicago was second only to New York City. Wholesale slaughtering and meat-packing (not including many by-products), valued at $256,527,949 (32.2% of the city's total) in 1900 and at $269,581,486 (28.2% of the total) in 1905, are the most important of the city's See also:industries; in 1905 the product value in Chicago was 29.5% of that for the slaughtering and meat-packing of the entire United States. Other important manufactures are foundry and See also:machine See also:shop products, $44,561,071 in 1900, and $51,774,695 in 19o5; and other iron and steel products, $See also:J5,058,700 in 1900 and $27,074,307 in 1905; clothing ($58,093,572 in 1900, and $64,913,481 in 1905); cars and other railway construction, $28,369,956 in 1900 and $36,08o,zlo in 19o5; See also:malt liquors ($14,956,865 in 1900, and $16,983,421 in 1905), and See also:furniture ($12,344,510 in 1900 and $17,488,257 in 1905). The Illinois Steel Company has the largest See also:rolling See also:mills in the world. The McCormick Harvesting Machine Company is the largest concern in the world manufacturing agricultural implements. See also:Pullman in southern Chicago, in the sparsely settled outskirts of the city, is a See also:model little " labour See also:town," planned and constructed with regard for both appearances and conveniences by the Pullman See also:Palace Car Company, which has its works here. The town consists mainly of workmen's cottages. Most of the population are dependent upon the car works. The Pullman Company owns and operates dining and sleeping cars on practically all the railways of the country. In addition to its own cars it builds See also:ordinary passenger and freight cars on See also:contract. Meat-packing is the greatest See also:local industry and is that for which Chicago is best known. In the enormous stock-yards from two-thirds to four-fifths of the cattle and hogs received are killed, and sent out in various forms of prepared meats and by-products (lard, fertilizers, See also:glue, butterine, See also:soap, candles, &c).2 This industry is remarkable for the extraordinary See also:division of labour in its processes. In the preparation of a See also:bullock more than thirty specialties are involved, and some twenty different rates of pay. This system enabled the packing companies, until checked by the development of labour unions, to See also:save See also:money not only by paying low See also:wages for crude labour and high for skilled, but to develop wonderful expertness in every line, and so " See also:speed up " the workmen to a remarkable See also:pace.3 No more interesting field can be found for the study of the qualities of foreign races. The introduction of the refrigerator railway car in the 'seventies of the 19th century, making possible the distant marketing of dressed meats, enormously increased the business. The workmen of the yards were organized in a national union of meat packers in 1897, and all the different classes of workmen have their See also:separate organizations, formed mainly between 1900 and 1902. The number of See also:women employed more than doubled in the See also:decade 1891-1900, constituting probably about 9% of the total in the latter year. See also:Administration.—Chicago is governed under a general city- See also:charter law of Illinois of 1870, accepted by the city in 1875. In See also:November 1904 the See also:people of Illinois adopted a constitutional See also:amendment authorizing the legislature of the state to provide a This is for the entire Chicago customs district, including See also:Waukegan and Michigan City. The number of hogs packed yearly averaged 7,255,245 in 1900–1904; the cattle packed, 1,955,765; the sheep shipped (partly live), 616,476 (one-fifth those received). e.g. in the most skilled labour, the speed was increased 87.5 % from 1884–1894. In 1905 a gang of 230 men would dispose of 105 animals hourly; equivalent to 131 minutes for one See also:man in taking the See also:animal from See also:pen to refrigerator; the average wage was $0.21 per See also:hour (highest 0.50) and the average cost per bullock, $0.46.See also:complete new system of local government for Chicago, but the old system continued and is here described, the new charter, from which so much had been hoped, being rejected by the voters of the city by an overwhelming See also:majority in See also:September 1907. A common See also:council chosen by wards and renewed in half each year controls the See also:budget, See also:police, liquor licences, city contracts and the granting of franchises; it also confirms appointments made by the mayor and by a See also:vote of two-thirds may pass legislation over his See also:veto. The mayor, chosen for four years, is the executive head of the city, and has large power of See also:appointment and removal, limited by a See also:civil service law, under which he must submit reasons for removals, while two-thirds of the council may prevent them. On the other hand the mayor can veto separate items in the council's budget. The administrative departments are generally headed by single commissioners; but those of elections, education and the public library are exceptions. The council was once all important, but as See also:early as the charter of 1851 it began to lose power to the mayor, whose directive and executive See also:powers have steadily increased, beginning first in the See also:financial department. Administration was once performed entirely by boards as in other American cities: every specific problem or demand See also:ford municipal activity was met by an See also:appeal to the state legislature for special legislation and the creation of a board. The substitution of single commissioners began in 1876. The state constitution of 1870 forbade special legislation, prescribed a general city charter law and forbade special amendatory acts for Chicago. This stopped See also:grave abuses, but because a large part of the state has not been interested in Chicago's special needs and demands for betterment it also saddled upon the city an organization which in 1901 remained practically the same as in 187o, when Chicago was an overgrown town of 300,000 inhabitants. Chicago was the only large city of the state, and a charter generalized from See also:village experience was unsuitable for it. The parts of Cook county outside the city have also been very jealous of forwarding its reorganization, important features of which must be either the complete absorption of the county or at least the reconstitution of the county government,4 which the constitution left unchanged, and which, with the city's growth, has caused clash of interests and authority. Nor is this dual government—though the city has above nine-tenths of the population and pays nine-tenths of the taxes of the county—the only See also:anomaly. Illinois has had since 1848 a modified New England township " local-government system, and various townships have been absorbed by Chicago, yet they all retained till after 190o their See also:political structure and some of their functions. There are three park commissions, two appointed by the See also:governor and one by See also:circuit court See also:judges, created for different parts of the old city, differently constituted and all independent of the city; their See also:jurisdiction was not enlarged as the city See also:grew, so large portions remained free of charges for parks and boulevards. A special park commission now supplements them and lessens this anomaly though increasing administrative diversity. A sanitary and drainage district, not larger than the city area but quite different from it, was created in 1886 (See also:present See also:form 1890) to carry through the drainage canal. The school board has been nominally separate from and almost independent of the city government in power since 1857. The courts of law are courts of the state of Illinois, but a certain number of justices of the See also:peace are designated by the mayor to See also:act as police magistrates. The initiative and See also:referendum in local matters has been made possible under a state law, and has been several times exercised in important questions. Financial arrangements have been loose and inefficient. Independent taxing power has been lavishly granted. State, county, city, three park boards, the school board, the public library board, the drainage board, and as See also:late as 1903 ten townships,1 exercised this See also:sovereign right within the municipal area. Tax See also:assessment 4 Cook county is Republican in politics generally, the rural districts being so strongly so as often to overbalance the normal Democratic See also:plurality in Chicago. Thus another ground of See also:jealousy is found in the See also:distribution of county offices. ' An amendment of 1904 provided that the legislature should enact the consolidation of the townships with the city in matters of taxation, but no further steps had been taken to the end of 1907. valuations have been excessively irregular (e.g the " equalized" value for 1875 was $55,000,000 greater than that for 1892), and apparently very low. The average assessment valuation for the years from 190410 1908 was $438,729,897 (403.28 millions in 1904, and 477.19 millions in 2908), and in 1907 the highest taxing rate was 8%. The bonded See also:debt in 1908 was $25,157,400, about half of it old ($11,362,726 in 1870; 4.5 millions contracted to aid the World's Fair of 1893). In the early years following 190o the city paid more than half of its income on police; this See also:expenditure, per capita of population, was not high (in 1901 Boston $5•o3, New York $3.21, Chicago $2.19), and the results were not exactly efficient. The difficulty is that the city is poor and can pay only for strict necessities. Its poverty is due mainly to state See also:laws. The taxation limit on property is 1% on the See also:cash value, thus compelling special dependence upon all sorts of indirect taxes; the debt limit is 5% on the assessed valuation. Since two relief has been given by state law in some matters, such as for the park system. The water system has been operated by the city since 1851, and has been financially very successful from the beginning: rates are far See also:lower than in the other great cities of the country, and a handsome See also:net See also:revenue accrues to the See also:treasury .1 A municipal electric-See also:lighting plant (1887), which was paid for gradually out of the general tax See also:levy and was not built by the See also:sale of bonds, gave excellent results in the city service. The city, like the state, has power to regulate the See also:price of See also:gas sold by private companies. The elevation of the railway tracks within the city was begun in 1892; at the close of 2908 the railway companies had accepted ordinances of the City Council for the elevation of 192.77 M. of main tracks and 947.91 M. of all tracks, and the construction of 724 subways, at an estimated cost of $65,000,oco; at that time the railway companies had completed the elevation of 133.83 M. of main tracks and 776 M. of all tracks, and had constructed 567 subways, at a total expense of $52,500,000. The system of intercepting sewers begun in 1898 to complete the service of the drainage canal has been constructed with the profits of the water system. In addition to the movement for a new charter to remove the anomalies and ease the difficulties already referred to, two great problems have been in the forefront in recent years: the lessening of municipal corruption and the control of local transit agencies. The See also:traction question may be said to have begun in 1865, in which year, and again in 1883, public See also:opinion was bitterly aroused against an See also:attempt of the traction companies to secure a ninety-nine year extension of franchises. Following 1883 all lines were consolidated and enormously over-capitalized (in 1905 about $150,000,000 of See also:stocks and bonds on a 6% basis, two-thirds of which rested only on the See also:franchise). In 1895-1897 bold attempts to secure a 50-year extension of franchises were defeated by Governor John P. Altgeld (1847-1902), by the formation of a Municipal Voters' League, and by a representative See also:committee of too sent from Chicago to attend the legislature at See also:Springfield. The transit service of the city had for years been antiquated and inadequate. At the mayor's elections in 1897, 1899, 1901 and 1903 the victory See also:lay with the opponents of the companies, and in 1905 the successful party stood for immediate municipal acquisition of all roads. Meanwhile, under the state referendum act, the city in 1902 voted overwhelmingly for municipal ownership and operation (142,826 to 27,990); the legislature in 1903 by the Mueller law gave the city the requisite powers; the people accepted the law, again declared for municipal ownership, and for temporary compulsion of adequate service, and against granting any franchise to any company, by four additional votes similarly conclusive. At last, after tedious negotiations, a definite agreement was reached in 2906 assuring an early acquisition of all roads by the city. The issue of bonds for municipal railways was, however, declared unconstitutional that year; and at the municipal elections of 1907 there was a complete reversal of policy; a large majority voted this time against municipal ownership in favour of leaving the working of the See also:street railways in private hands, and strengthening the powers of municipal control. 1 The net revenue per million gallons in 1890-1899 was $35.04• 123 The active See also:campaign for the improvement of municipal service and politics may be said to have begun in 1896. A civil service system was inaugurated in x895. The salaries of the councilmen were raised with good effect. Numerous reform associations were started to rouse public opinion, such as the Citizens' Association of Chicago, organized in 1874, the Civic Federation (1894), the Municipal Voters' League (1896), the Legislative Voters' League (1901), the Municipal Lecture Association (1902), the Referendum League of Illinois (1901), the Civil Service Reform Association of Chicago, the Civil Service Reform Association of Illinois (1902), the Merchants' Club, the City Club (1903), the Law and See also:Order League (1904), Society of Social See also:Hygiene (1906), and many of the women's clubs took an active part. They stood for the real enforcement of the laws, sanitation, pure See also:food, public See also:health, the improvement of the schools and the widening of their social See also:influence, and (here especially the women's clubs) aesthetic, social and moral progress. The Merchants' Club reformed the city's See also:book-keeping, and secured the establishment (1899) of the first state pawnbrokers' society. The Civic Federation demonstrated (1896) that it could clean the central streets for slightly over half what the city was paying (the city has since saved the difference); it originated the movement for vacation schools and other educational advances, and started the Committee of One Hundred (1897), from which sprang various other reform clubs. The Municipal Voters' League investigated and published the records of candidates for the city council, and recommended their See also:election or defeat as the See also:case may be. More-over, a " Municipal Museum " was organized in 1905, mainly supported by private aid, but in part by the board of education, in order to collect and make educational use of materials illustrating municipal administration and conditions, physical and social. Education and Charity.—The school board is appointed by the mayor. Since 1904 a merit system has been applied in the See also:advancement of teachers; civil service rules cover the See also:rest of the employees. Kindergartens were maintained without legal See also:sanction in connexion with the public schools for several years, and for more than twenty-five years as private schools, before their legal establishment as a part of the system in 1899. Free evening schools, very practical in their courses, are utilized mainly by foreigners. Vacation schools were begun in 1896. So far as possible the school buildings are kept open for school, lectures and entertainments, serving thus as wholesome social centres; and a more adequate use is made of the large investment (in 2908 about $44,500,000) which they represent. In all the public schools See also:manual training, See also:household arts and See also:economy, and commercial studies are a regular part of the curriculum. A department of scientific pedagogy and See also:child study (19oo) seeks to secure a development of the school system in See also:harmony with the results of scientific study of See also:children (the See also:combination of hand and See also:brain training, the use of audito-visual methods, an elastic curriculum during the adolescent period, &c.). The expenditure for all purposes by the city in 1903 for every See also:dollar expended for schools was only $1.713; a ratio paralleled in only a few cities of the country. Hospitals, infirmaries, dispensaries, asylums, shelters and homes for the defective, destitute, orphaned, aged, erring, friendless and incurably diseased; various relief See also:societies, and associations that sift the good from the bad among the mendicant, the economically inefficient, and the viciously pauper, represent the charity work of the city. Among public institutions are the Cook County See also:hospital (situated in the " Medical District " of the West Side, where various hospitals and schools are gathered near together), See also:asylum and poor house. Since 1883 a Lincoln Park Sanitarium has been maintained for infants and small children during warm See also:weather. Two legal-aid societies, the Chicago Bureau of See also:Justice (1888) and the Protective Agency for Women and Children, collect small wage claims and otherwise aid the poor or helpless. The most important charitable societies of the city are the United Charities of Chicago (29o9), the United See also:Hebrew Charities (1857), and the Associated Jewish Charities (1900). The first is the union of the Relief and Aid Society (1857) and the Bureau of Charities (1894), and tries to prevent overlapping of efforts and to See also:weed out See also:fraud. Following the See also:gradual development of New York state laws on behalf of children was enacted the Illinois Juvenile Court Law, which came into force on the 1st of See also:July 1899 and was largely the result of Chicago's See also:interest in juvenile reform. Much philanthropic work centres in the West Side with its heterogeneous population. A famous institution is See also:Hull House, a social See also:settlement of women, which aims to be a social, charitable, and educational neighbourhood centre. It was established in 1889 by See also:Miss Jane See also:Adda,ms, who became the head-worker, and Miss Ellen See also:Gates Starr. It includes an art building, a free See also:kindergarten, a fine gymnasium, a See also:creche, and a See also:diet See also:kitchen; and supports classes, lectures and concerts. It has had a very great influence throughout the United States. The Armour See also:mission (1886) for the poor is organized with similar breadth of See also:scope.
Population.—Of the total population in 1900 not less than 34'6% were foreign-See also:born; the number of persons either born abroad, or born in the United States of foreign parentage (i.e. See also:father or both parents foreign), was 77.4% of the population, and in the total number of See also:males of voting See also:age the foreign-born predominated (53.4%). Of the latter See also:category 68.2% were already citizens by See also:naturalization. 3.9% of the inhabitants of ten years of age or upward were illiterate (unable to write), while the percentage of foreign-born whites was 8.2% (93.9% of illiterate males of voting age). Germans, Irish, Poles, Swedes and Bohemians made up respectively 29.1, 12.6, 8.6, 8.3 and 6.2 % of the foreign-born population. It was estimated in 1903 by a very competent authority that above 500,000 persons spoke German, 125,000 Polish, roo,000 Swedish, 90,000 B ohemian, 50,000 Norwegian, 50,000 Yiddish, 35,000 Dutch, 25,000 Italian, 20,000 Danish, 17,000 French and 12,000 Irish (See also:Celtic), and that each of fourteen foreign See also:languages was spoken by more than 10,000 people: " Newspapers appear regularly in r o languages, and See also: The death-rate is the lowest of the great cities of the country (16.2 in 19o0; New York, 2o•4; Boston, 20.1, &c.). The growth of Chicago has been remarkable even for American cities. Any See also:resident of four-See also:score years living in 'coo had seen it grow from a settlement of fourteen houses, a frontier military post among the See also:Indians, to a great See also:metropolis, fifth in size among the cities of the world. In 1828 what is now the business centre was fenced in as a pasture; in 1831 the Chicago mail was deposited in a dry-goods See also:box; the tax-levy of 1834 was $48.90, and a well that constituted the city water-works was sunk at a cost of $95.50; in 1843 hogs were barred from the town streets. Such facts impress upon one, as nothing else can, the marvellously rapid growth of the city. In 183o with a population of less than Too, in 1840 with 4479, the increase by percentages in succeeding decades was as follows: 5o7.3, 264.6, 173.6, 68.3, 118.6 and 54.4; an increase equivalent to 8-6% annually, compounded. Such a continuous " See also:boom " no other American city has ever known. History.—The river Chicago (an See also:Indian name of uncertain meaning, but possibly from Ojibwa she-kag-ong, " See also:wild See also:onion place ") was visited by See also:Joliet and Marquette in 1673, and later by La Salle and others. It became a portage route of some importance, used by the French in passing to the lower Illinois country. In 1804 the United States established here Fort Dearborn. In 1812, during the Indian See also:War of See also:Tecumseh, the See also:garrison and settlers, who had abandoned the fort and were re-treating toward safety, were attacked and overpowered by the savages at a point now well within the city. The fort was re-established and fitfully occupied until its final See also:abandonment 1 Prof. C. D. See also:Buck in Decennial Publications of the University of Chicago (1903, vol. 6).in 1837. When Cook county was organized in 1831, Chicago, then a tiny village, became the seat of justice. It became a town in 1833 and a city in 1837. By that time Chicago was confident of its future. The federal government had begun the improvement of the harbour, and the state had started the Illinois and Michigan canal. There was a federal land-office also, and the land speculator and town See also:promoter had opened a See also:chapter of history more picturesque, albeit sordid, than in any of the old French days. The See also:giant growth of the lake trade had drawn attention before railway connexion was secure with the See also:East in 1852, making progress even more rapid thereafter. During the Civil War a large See also:prison-See also:camp for Confederate prisoners, Camp Douglas, was maintained at Chicago. In 1870 the city had 306,605 inhabitants and was already a commercial centre of immense importance. In 1871 it suffered a terrible calamity. On the 8th of October a fire See also:broke out near the lumber district on the West Side. Two-thirds of the city's buildings were See also:wood, and the summer had been excessively dry, while to make conditions worse a high and veering See also:wind fanned the flames. The conflagration leaped the river to the South and finally to the North Side, burned over an area of 33 sq. m., destroyed 17,450 buildings and property valued at $196,000,000,2 and rendered almost roo,o00 people homeless; 250 lost their lives. The flames actually travelled 24 M. in an air-line within 62 hours. Thousands of persons, fleeing before the flames and fire-brands, sought See also:refuge on the shore and even in the waters of the lake. See also:Robbery, pillage, See also:extortion, orgies and See also:crime added to the general horror. In the South Side the fire was checked on the 9th by the use of See also:gunpowder; in the North (where the water-works were early destroyed) it had extended almost to the See also:prairie when rainfall finally ended its ravages, after about twenty-seven hours of destruction. With the exception of the San Francisco fire of 1906 this was the greatest fire of See also:modern times. A vast system of relief was organized and received generous aid from all parts of the world. The money contributions from the United States and abroad were $4,996,782; of this foreign countries contributed nearly $1,000,000 (England half of this). These funds, which were over and above gifts of food, clothing and supplies, were made to last till the close of 1876. Out of them temporary homes were provided for nearly 40,000 people; See also:barracks and better houses were erected, workmen were supplied with tools, and women with sewing-See also:machines; the sick were cared for and the dead buried; and the poorer classes of Chicago were probably never so comfortable as during the first two or three years after the fire. The rebuilding of the city was accomplished with wonderful rapidity. Work was begun before the cinders were See also:cold. The business district was largely rebuilt within a year, and within three there were hardly scars of the calamity. Wood was barred from a large area (and subsequently from the entire city), and a new Chicago of See also:brick and stone, larger, finer and wealthier, had taken the place of the old. Business and population showed no set-back in their progress. The solidity and permanence of this prosperity were confirmed during the financial panic of 1873, when Chicago banks alone, among those of the large cities of the country, continued steadily to pay out current funds. In its later history certain special factors stand out, apart from continued commercial progress. Chicago has been a See also:storm centre of labour troubles, some of them of a specially spectacular See also:character. There were great strikes in the packing industry in 1886, 1894 and 1904. But more noteworthy are the railway strike of 1894 and the unsuccessful teamsters' strike of 19o5. The former began in the works of the Pullman Car Company, and its leader was See also:Eugene See also:Victor Debs (b. 1855). When the contentions of the Pullman employees were taken up by the American Railway Union the strike immediately extended to tremendous proportions. Union men 2 There was an See also:insurance of $88,634,122 on the losses, of which about a half was recovered. F. L. See also:Olmsted estimated that one-third of the roof surface and one-half the cubic contents of the city's buildings were destroyed. throughout the country refused to handle Pullman cars, and since Pullman cars are almost• invariably attached to mail trains the transportation of the United States mail was thus obstructed. Chicago, as the greatest railwaycentre of the country and the home of the strike, was naturally the seat of the most serious complications. There was much rioting and destruction of property, and the railway service was completely disorganized. See also:President See also:Cleveland, on the ground of preventing obstruction of the mail service, and of protecting other federal interests, ordered a small number of federal troops to Chicago. Those interests were, he contended, menaced by " domestic violence " evidently beyond the control of the state power. Governor Altgeld denied the inability of the state to See also:deal with the difficulty, and entered a strong protest against Federal interference; but he himself did nothing to put down the disorder. Federal troops entered the state, and almost immediately the strike collapsed. The high officials of the Railway Union, for ignoring a court See also:injunction restraining them from interfering with the movement of the mails, were imprisoned for long terms for contempt of court. Out of a strike in the McCormick works in 1886 there sprang another famous incident in Chicago's history. The " inter-national " anarchists of Chicago had been organized in "See also:groups " about two years earlier, and were very active. They were advocating a " general strike " for an eight-hour day, and the tense excitement among the labourers of the city, owing to the McCormick strike, induced unusually ultra utterances. There was a riot at the McCormick works on the 3rd of May, in which several men were killed by the police. An anarchist See also:meeting was called for the next day at the Haymarket, a square in See also:Randolph Street, and when the authorities judged that the speeches were too revolutionary to be allowed to continue, the police undertook to disperse the meeting. A See also:bomb was thrown, and many policemen were injured, seven fatally. No See also:person could be proved to have thrown the bomb, or to have been directly implicated in its throwing; but on the ground that they were morally conspirators and accomplices in the killing, because they had repeatedly and publicly advocated such acts against the servants of government, seven anarchists were condemned to death. An application to the United States Supreme Court for a See also:writ of See also:error was unanimously refused.' The four-hundredth anniversary of the See also:discovery of America was commemorated by a World's Columbian Exposition held at Chicago. The site was in Jackson Park and the adjoining Midway, and included 686 acres, of which 188 were covered by buildings. On the 21st of October 1892—corresponding to the 12th of October 1492, o.s.—the grounds were formally dedicated, and on the following 1st of May opened to the public, continuing open for six months. The number of paid admissions was 21,500,000; of total admissions 27,539,521. The buildings, planned by a commission of architects—among whom John W. See also:Root and See also:Daniel H. Burnham of Chicago were responsible for the general scheme—formed a collection of remarkable beauty, to which the grounds, planned by F. L. Olmsted, ,intersected by lagoons and bordered by the lake, See also:lent an appropriate setting. The entire cost of the fair is variously estimated at from 33 to 43 million dollars, according to the inclusiveness of the estimate; the local cost may be put at $28,151,169. Of this Chicago gave about Del millions, in addition to a preparatory house-cleaning that cost 3 millions; and finally a very small See also:dividend was paid to stockholders. The whole undertaking, carried through with remarkable enterprise, was an artistic and educational See also:triumph of the first order. Owing to its position Chicago has long been a favourite See also:con- , Four were hanged, I committed See also:suicide, 2 had their death See also:sentence commuted to life-imprisonment, the eighth was sentenced to imprisonment for 15 years. 981 men were panelled in selecting the See also:jury. Governor J. P. Altgeld in 1893 pardoned the three in prison on the ground that the jury was " packed " and consequently incompetent, that no See also:evidence connected the prisoners with the crime, and that the presiding See also:judge was prejudiced. See an See also:article by Judge J. E. See also:Gary, who presided at the trial, in the Century See also:Magazine (See also:April 1893).vention city. Lincoln (186o), Grant (1868), Garfield (188o), Cleveland (1884 and 1892), See also:Harrison (1888), See also:Roosevelt (1904), and See also:Taft (1908) were all nominated here for president; and in addition not a few candidates who were unsuccessful. A national peace See also:jubilee was held here in 1898. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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