Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, October 9, 1881, Page 17

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1881—TWENTY-FOUR PAGES, ——-RESURREXIT! “Chicago at the Decennial “Anniversary of the Great Fire. Pesolation and Ruin Vanish’ with the Smoke and Din of Disaster, gnd the Western Metropolis - Bises More Beautiful than. Ever. tthe Story of the'Fire Retold ‘, | —Giant Strides of the Renaissance. Qver One Hundred and Thirty-six Million Dollars Invested in New Buildings. Marvelous Growth in Population The City Alive to Its Manifest Destiny. Tomparisons Showing Odr Commercial , Growth During the Decade— Now and Then. “We Are Now Seling Twiee as Much at : “Wiiledale, ‘Handling More than . Double in Produce, And : Manufacturing Nearly Four Times as Much as in,the Year of the Fire. fi Flattering Exhibit of Progress ’ in Wealth’ as Compared i with. Population. CHICAGO.., ENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREAT FIRE, + By Edmund S. Holbrook. ot Yair by the blue Lake Michigan the Garden City rose, g Her Genius conquering every force, whatever might oppose. Eberaised the marshes from their depths, she ‘ports and barbors made, ‘Where Commerce might retire her wealth and found her marts of trade; fhe built fine mansions for the rich, low hamlets for the poor; ‘She water, pure as crystal, brought, and bread toevery door; +. Bhe reared tho forum, school-house, church, alt beautiful and grand, a And stretched her iron arms and nerves to every distant land. * ; pes This in a score of years Or 60; sind now another - score. = *. Bbe marches on to nobler deeds, in wealth, in art, in Igre— first in war when War assumes tian! The equi _... turns‘again. or: ‘Da many'a far-off ocean-wave her canvas is ds ‘as, her charities, attend the suf- Her heart is falf$f happiness—her bosom swells with pride > e And thinks that thése, and more than these, forever shall abide. z - iI. s "Tis evening, and, while now,are. heard sweet . anthems from thechoir, = - ‘The tire-bell peals from its high tower its signal- Strokes of tire! The flames shoot up and stream afar, now brighter, tarther, higher! ‘The bell shrieks outitslast alarm “midst screams of Fire, Fire! Fire!! i The breeze assumes the whirlwind’s rage—the furnace-blasts of Hell, Whose seething heat. and lurid wrath O who. hath power to tell? ‘The palace, cottage, tower, and mast, the fane and climbing spire, Eo firm, yet rare in grace, go down in one red sea of tire! Iv. ‘What terror and distress attend the elements in strife! ‘While some essay their goods and gold, they + must away for life! ‘The old, the infant, the infirm, await the help- er’s care; Bat here is fear, distraction wild, and rage, or blank despair! ‘The thronging crowds press on before the surg- ‘ "ing, faming wave; ‘Jn vain they cry to Heaven, to Man. “O for + some power to save!” All night, all day, the tide pursues; when night descends again, 4 bundred thousand seek their rest upon the bouseless plain. 4s darkness reigns, how strange the light—the +. piles yet ail aglow! ‘What thoughts, what fancies, fill the soul, none ... but the seer can know. , Tho watches pass, the morning dawns; far as .. the eyocan reach ~ Raio® most drear, yet miost sublime: there is no v=, Power of speech! ; “Buttirst humantty—the fate of those whose all "is burned: ‘Whodead?*yho perishing? who lost? how suc- cored?, how returned? .. What agony of doubt is felt as this dread scene we scan! ‘ ‘The Fatherhood of God is—where? the Brother- * hood ot Man? ‘Anon the wrecks are huziea away—a work for 2 Hereules— 4 » ds mists of night are driven amain' before the ~ gp i morning breeze. ‘SE ‘The massive stones are laid’ below, the walls arise above, # 5 Anstrength that,neither flame, nor storm, nor time itself shall move. - / Aor Use alone, but Beauty comes, and with deft hand adorns: : ‘Parks, and boulevards, and groves—see lake- ‘ths Jets, flowers, and lawns. ‘ -. TeGarden City, twice herself, sits as a Queen Fo ete » Kot by Amphion with his lyre, but: Bian, stout- hearted Man, : “Tet Memory awaken now; ‘tis half a score of z 3 ‘ Bltce the tierce furiesof thatalght that drowned + her eyesin tears. y Srateful hearts and hands shali build the fairest fane of all, i And ‘ting our dearest, choicést gifts to crown mg ‘MENORIAL HALL.” . ar ing's temple, whose clear light shall! wen, ream o'er land and sea, ~ -2 Sllng'a People’s gratitude, a whole World's ‘charity— = hose ever-burning altar-flames shall warm the ‘Thay eta beart, : Owledge, Culture, Love, and Truth their Braces may impart. ° 90, fair City pe Lakes, Gem of the” fgg Mikbty West, 5” : oo) MAY Heaven's virtues, wrought in life, make thee supremely blest! {the first'in peace when Peace re-- Let Justice reign in‘all thy courts, equal to rich and poor! Let.Labor reap.his just reward! Let Plenty rot Wieltber store! ‘ t Wisdom ‘fill thy Councll-Board, nor crime = nor fraud be known! .8 et thy broad Charities seck all, as their's have sought thineown! SOshalt thou honored be by men of every age eh and clime, BOs And crown the rising centuries, d Hine 8, defying Death ' Re Ix. rele America! the grandest Nation thou, ‘hough scarce a century of years is on thy youthful brow. F : One Sisterhood of States are we, if Fortune a smiles or frowns; ‘ ur “homes are one, if rich or ir, in cities, hamlets, towns. se i ‘The trembling nerves of sympathy extend from-| deep to deep; Wee will rejoice with those that can—must weep __ With those that weep. A Nation's love shall melt to ono eack kindred race, and tonguo; i ‘The founts of life kept puro and sweet, we shall bo ever young. x 4 x Coldeabiat Columbia! Thy children mourn the fate : Of him whom lato they raised to power—tno Chieftain of the State. Endowed with Nature's rarest gifts, in culture most refined, ASoldier brave, a Statesman wise, a Ruler just and kind, He falls amidst our sorest, needs, and gains a Martyr's crown; His sufferings point mankind to’ Heaven—thoy call the Angels down; And, while our loss and grief compel the sym- pathy divine, nae ss Wis virtues in our memory, as stars, shall ever shine, . XT. Humanity! Mumanity! a grander, nobler name Than any people for itself, for wealth or power, ¢éan claim. At overleaps Man's selfish lines, and goes where e’er the Sun Disports tho Earth with equal rays, tho’ good or evil done. Allmen are greater than a part; and that munificence That reaches cach in itsembrace is God’s Omuip- > otence. O may the flag of Truth, and Right, and Love be kept unfurled, And bring to sweet accord each Home, each Nation, and tho World! CnICAGo, Oct. 9, 1881. TEN YEARS AGO. WHAT OCCURRED ocT. 9, 1871. Ten years ago today Chicago was swept | with the besom of destruction, and baptized with the baptism of fire. Devastation, per- fect and complete, marked the track of the flames. The red reign. beginning Sunday. night, Oct. S, 1871, and lasting till Monday at midnight, laid in waste a territory. four miles in length, and an average of two- thirds of a- mile in breadth, and com- prising very. nearly 1,700 acres, obliter- ated’ 17,450 buildings, made. 95,000 human beings homeless, and wiped-out 319,- 000,000 worth of: property. The world stood aghast at the grandest wreck and the most stupendous ruins of modern times.. 16 was acalamity which ended in the practical ex- tinction of everything but the city’s name, and the indomitable courage of its heroic cit- izens, Those were imperishable. ‘Resur- See gam” was inscribed on the very ruins. The | which strangers saw the most, and of which | was.burnt over was chiefly covered by small -THE DEVASTATED CITY. Map of the City of Chicago, Showing the Portion Des troyed by the Great Fire of Oct. 9, 1871. Division = Chicago ~ i Nndicon Street, Adams : L 2 Street ‘Van Buren it Bas Stroat ‘Uarrison aa ae ts pe hy Lists and crowded buildings. “Coal and. lumber noble charity of a world whose pilse-beats | they led away thi vi i. y y y carried away te most vivid memories. | Yords fined the North and South Branches, werein unison with its own, came to its it was a mixture of thé great and the mean— | with nere and there a huge elevator, depots support in the hour of ‘trial and | asuccession of the most Striking contrasts. } filled with flour, meats, pork, etc., and dis- the day of affliction. Money poured j A few steps carried one from the stately row | tilleries .and packing-houses -then as now in lixe- water. A twelvemonth passed, and | of book stores on State street’ to- the dis- performance had succeeded promise. Out of calamity it had- plucked prosperity. ‘‘Re- surgam” had given place to “Resurrexi.” SOMUPHDE fhe wales: of ne hag branches. reputabl eri vn | and causing them to offen io smell mos! jeputable, .rookerles,. ands ‘tumble aoye grievously. Bridgeport was young then, structures upon South Wells .street (now ‘ i 7 Pifiir aveausyt- dad the alecrable: homies | Cuigt one Zesbeck SE leash SUNCUEY DOG ‘Anew. era had dawned witli the 9th of | of the more miserable dwellers around the | Scattered through: the three divisions of October, 1871, and TODAY, ITS DECENNIAL ANNIVERSARY, ‘Armory. Near massive buildings, towering.| the city were the public schools, the pride of towards the skies, stood one which had never Chicago, though not of the children who -filled them. ‘There were éngine-houses fur- finds evidences on every hand that “old | been raised to grade and whose ‘second-story ‘pishea with steamers of all-sizes and of the things have passed away, and all things have become new.” oe Great and almost overwhelming as was thé] Were disappeiring, but enough of them re- | eflicient. and “was looxed ; r and trust. . The city haa implicit faith in its. disaster which overtook Chicago in the early. days’ of that month: of October, 1871, the world has not ceased to marvel at the prodigies of faith, so grandly displayed, and the final and glo- | water and the shore, flanked on one side by rious triumph which marked the rebuilding ; a narrow park, and, during: al eden neo, - of the waste’ places and foretold the, beginning of a new prosperity. 92—an infinitly grander scale~ttian «anybody had ever dreamed of, Thi record of the decennial period embraced between Oct. 9, 1871, and this, the tenth, anniversary of the death of. the old and the birth of the new, is a record of phenomenal progress, unparalleled in the history of modern times. One marvel suc- ceeded another. {tthe world was awed by the one, it was overcome with admiration at the other. To sum up the results of the ac- complishments of the last ten years is the purpose of the- present memorial ar- tide in a journal: whose home .and whose entire material. resources were greedily swallowed up by the fiery visitation a decade ago. In the light of. the glorious achievements of the past ten years—the re- building of a city on a scale. of. magnificence which must. forever excite both won- der and admiration, and its astound- ing growth in population, commer- cial prosperity, and all that constitutes the elements of municipal greatness— the cloquent but spasmodic and fruitless talk about mefnorial buildings and the like, heard now and then during the period of the renaissance, sinks into insignificance. While the word of promise has been held to the ear, only to be broken to the hope, , THE REAL MONUMENTS OF. TRIUMPH over adversity have been going up all around. ‘While the magnates of trade and the princes in Jard haye been so good as to “give the people an opportunity to do something” by organizing a memorial movement, lending it the weight of their great names and carefully abstaining from contributing a red cent, the people have gone ahead on their own ac- count, without waiting for these munificent philanthropists, and the opportunity they were kind enough to create, and have reared in brick, stone, and mortar, inanimate and yet eloquent monuments marking the birth and growth of the new era. . While the auto- cratsof trade have been posing, with one hand on their hearts and the other on their povketbooks, the real monument-makers have silently renituded them of the old motto, “Look around you.” Chicago, at the beginning of October, 1871, was a city whose rapid growth and commer- cial importance had attracted the attention of the world. From a frontier post, a village on an unknown creek, -a- bankrupt Jand- speculating town, had arisen a city which held under its control the commerce of the yast regions lying to the north and west. It took’ tithes of the corn, and wheat, and lumber, and other productions of the “little ‘world which. hemmed it in. Its population reached a total of 334.270, divided among 50,500 buildings, and covering an area of 30,000 acres, much of «gradually moving southward on the principal which, however, in the western part of the city, had:npt been improved.. EXPANDING FROM ITS STARTING-POINT on South Water strect, business had ‘taken possession of that -portion-of the South Division north of Adams street, and was thoroughfares, though private residences | recalled . the © eat! lined’ Wabash and Michigan ave- cy while dilapidated -- shanties, - used for dwelling houses or a poorer class of stores, filled up much of the western part of that. territory. Within that area were the great business houses, the newspaper offices, the theatres, and the opera-houses, and all the more important public buildings. Side by side rose gigantic plocks—the city’s pride —and the, shabby wooden structures which lier days. one ee vi the land * ha en an a was susceptible of ed = until * it perfect drainage. Containing all‘ the large hotels, it was that portion of the town of windows were about level with thesidewalx. Little by little these legacies of -another-day. most approved makes. The.forece which had -charge_of.them..had gel own.iis nained fo gfe an idea, tealistic though no-’ -water'supply, drawn from the fake through a Bl . : : tunnel which burrowed fora mile beneath Its WHAT THE PLACE HAD ONCE BERN. surface.. A few. years previous to the fire valor. and perseverance | To the east lay the basin, between the break- | the breaking of a water inain across the North Brafch had left the West Side nearly sunymer time, ‘| destitute of water for a few days, but meas- rte oe j | ures had been taken to render the recurrence ed _| of-such mishaps an impossibility. Immense ixe‘ritn pleasure” Seats, poke over its blue surface.. State street was lined ( eunccelvere, constantly on both sides with rows of stores, gener- | ing the wai: He eliz.~ xteir total ally of wood, — but which were | and united failure was never so much 2s here and there giving ~ place - to thourht of If it had been, such « calamity more pretentious buildings which ‘the ex- oatet ‘dig meaiee Teel parded Bs Siaply: ample of Potter, Palmer and the widening of | ever, to the requirements of the not distant the street were inducing people to erect. The’| future, steps had been taken for the erection avenues constituted a purely residencé quar- of supplemental puinping-works, in order to ter, and the rash invader who. proposed to | ¢ie ‘Gouth end Wot Divisions Portions of opens sore on EY Wap ast or Michigan | ins INCREASING ACCUMULATION OF WEALTH was excee apt x im- sf self” disliked, ae Phe be rel Uae and the great returns of business had his ill-advised ° “experiment would foe ba strong. impetus to’ the crec- result- in_. certain — failure... Michigan Tone iets substantial bull dings: Sutioole (prided steele bnew Mts" deliehttal had erected what was confidently believed able and even elegant frame dwellings, with fo be Oe eect Sonnac medel oe iis here and there a mansion of brick or stone. | Kind, An immense stone. struct Onna dened & Me ons strech was eonecally Washington streets, which it was believed zen as well as the stranger within the tes | needed no insurance to make its owners se- had nothing but admiration for its eee S| cure. Other massive edifices of stone and s mureties fi Washi leces” | iron also adorned the South Division, and Trensy-second strect: nehington down. to were apparently capable of. resisting’ even jooked. upon. 2s almost a suburb. ony the most destructive of all the elements. th ine expected that trade 'y | _ Amid the confusion immediately follow- eo anore saat ha expecta at trade would ing the re, and obtaining for some time Sine convinced thas the change would hea | Hereatter, it was impossible, to. find out As i ad been done. in the department o sow One not more than a block in one or | trade and commerce for 1811. ‘Tho statisties THE NorTH SIDE were afterwards obtained, asnearis accurate: Pao z as it was possible to make them, and groupet also. assumed a detinit character. It had its | with thos 1872 ve attractions and its contrasts, too, though not | of the fire. Ofer Pace on re. as marked as those of the South Division, gard to themovementof produce, thereare no. au Barring its southern - extremity, it was ta from which to estimat sie ars twa a e ate the volume of almost exelustvely devoted to residence | business for 1871 alone, and thereby approxi- purposes. The homes of the wealthy | mate the trade and commerce of Chicago clustered about the east end, while] at the period when the city. was the houses oF me poor and the only moder- | overtaken by calamity. | The trade statistics ately well-to-do: were inclosed: in, the -terri-.| for 1870, however, have been. preserved, an tory west of Clark street. Beyond and north | from these it will be seen to what propor- of the quiet stores at the eastern end of Kin- | tions the business of Chicago had risen at the zie and Michigan streets the eye was greeted | very threshold of tho year which witnessed with a pleasant prospect made up of rows of | the coming disaster, The grand total of the flourishing trees, ‘attractive houses set far-| receipts for that year represented a value of back from the street and surrounded with | $399,531,900—an apparent decrease of $13,000.- beautiful grounds, smiling with flowers and | 000 over 1869, or about S per cent. Taking flashing with fountains. “There the library | into account’ the difference in the gold value of _ the atistorieal Society, and | of paper.in the two years, the results rep- great gedical col lene found fit | resented _ an actual — increase in. gold abodes, though, somewhat incongruously, | values to the amount of fully 9 percent in this quiet section of the city was bounded | the receipts of 1870 as.compared. with 1869. on the northeast by a colony of immense | ‘The sales by wholesale. dealers amounted to brewers, Miusnes OF Guuplee weille tae atr. | Sacre ane, ie Drinelpal manufactures forth hy ke, while the air 2 4 : was redolent of the odor of hops. ‘Lo cross Peel LOtal valle) OF 888,845,120. 010 Clark street going west was to become in- ; yolved in a network of narrow and often THE NECORD FOR THE TEAR, unimproved roads, swarming with children, | Ts Trmuse said: and unsewered and unclean, Here, all The year now closing has been one of great was Irish; there, all German. ‘The’ sky | trial to all persons engaged in legitimate busi- of the new, world -looked down upon | Nessin this city. Ever sinco tho closo of the the imhabitants of the old. | War the “excitements- produced by that The Germans, . however, predominated, geeks SOE S Hare | Been. slowly subs many of their Sclarschoriattcs. Chere was | thus continually lessening the nominal value of their Turner Hall where .they held their-| property carried by traders when estimated by a Sunday afternoon concerts, their meetings, | currency of changing value, and many classes their balls, and their merry festivals. Lin- | of goods actually declining. on a gold basis, be- coln Park, approached through, an aban- | cause of greater production in proportion to tne doned. cemetery, vith ite uncared-for graves soppy. auc Gack siicse sing Pie the press~ its top) eadstones, 1 -- wn harder to bear, because it has and lis toppling ‘ones, lay to the north- | teen a lond added to that which bas gone before east, With its wooded paths and pleasant us Jakes, bounded .on. the. east bythe sandy this decline ne prove ears be sacty the end of beachof Lake Michigan. Although con- | balance restored and full business activiey-re- tracted. in’ its ‘limits, and "sparingly im- | stored on a fair paying basis. proved, as compared with what has since But this bear pressure has not told so heavily been done, it was already the favorit park | 00 our people as on those of ‘many other cities, with many Chicagoans, and its future was | Particularly those of the East. ere is a con- full of hope and promise. As the North | St#ot accession of talent and enterprise, muscle Division was in point of population thesmall- and capital hither, in keeping with the steady est, it was also, as is the case with little com- Shieh t has Erojth of i? counter pening is munities, the mostly intensely patriotic. Its mal depression, it eee Our realest eae rests deizens were always prompt. to maintain the | have not suifered in proportion with: tose superiority of the section in which they had | of New York and the New England cities; chosen to reside, The amenity of its climate | we have extended ourjoperations instead of con and its superiority for residence purposes | ‘Tcting them, and our merchants have been were themes which they were never wea! able, inagreat measure. to compensate a re- e : duction of profits in a greater ‘volume of trans- of discussing, and they “pointed with well- | actions. Hence the year has not been a gloomy nierited pride to their- parks, their water- i works, their shady. streets, and: their lovely | ushhave yielded te the financial pressure whieh and secluded homes. Ss has proice down so ‘many ‘lsewheres they may ‘ THE WEST DIVISION, be counted on the fingers. ‘ . i , d stores .enough to | brought a realization’ of the ho furnish as inhabitants with’ all the necessa- | out. eThe city grew in populaton, Ee pase ries of life, fl ough it was hardly looked upon | ness, building operations went on ‘unchecked, as a. strict ay aIness Portion of the city. | and the record of the next nine months was Great Dent icturing: establishments, plant- | one of. increasing prosperity. 2 The .. city. ed Dear ite rivet were. eradually forcing | waxed fat, and was greatly exalted—proud the. dw houses - further - away, ‘but | of whatit had done, and of what it was to that porhon“ of ‘ the West- Side. which !.do.- of its. merchant. ‘princes: its’ tun- d_ to with confidence |" Jn operanon, EG ‘Michigan and and those on paper, its handsome ‘residences, and its proposed new buildings, and, above all, it was proud of its great and certain future. I its schools and churches, and of the muarvel- ous enterprise of its inhabitants. It found fault with the Federal census, which robbed it of thousands of people, and was not satis- fied with a rate of increase which elsewhere would be regarded as little short of pheno: enal. Butinaday and atan hour of which people dreamed not an appalling disaster was to humble their pride and dash their hopes, while red rnin was to mark the track of the devouring element. THE CAUSES OF THE FIRE app roll the disaster of 1871. nal dissensio) suppiy was ape: dent. As a matter of years been exposed to a des=4.+he that was. required rence of certain circumstance... oceur- apparently, ring—a of the West enact life which ‘accompanied sweeping and complete, and the swift de- struction of millions on millions of dollars’ worth of property, and as painful and terrible details at this Iate day a work. of supererogation. All the heard the story, is still familiar with it, and will not soon forget it.” Tire TriuNe’s pur- pose at this time is rather to contrast the go of Oct. 9, 1871, with. Chicago ten Chica; later,.and. to show, in passing, how the years i ood. seed -was sown in good ground, and ow it sprang upand returned fruitan hun- dred fold. THE NATURE AND THE EXTENT OF THE which would have buried city out of existence, have already been suf- ficiently indicated. But. .the .despondency and gloom which were felt by the stoutest in the very moment of, this-well-nigh crushing disaster were not of long duration. ‘The majority, instead of weeping over their be comforted, ‘They took for hea losses set to work to repair thein. their motto Mr. Kerfoot’s well-remembered ed and occupies 2 lace. in. that. zentleman’s resi- dence today—“All gone but wife, children, and energy,” caught its spirit, and made it e v ‘The newspapers - turned. the bright side of the gloomy picture to the ligh! pointing to the fact that Chicas the geographical position which had made it and the railroads which centred here; that 935,770 of the 334,270 persons in the city had saved their homes, thouzh many of them were that 42,000, or buildings remained; sign—the ori prominent their own. of percent of the lumber were saved; that the street pavements, laid at great expense, were Iamaged to the extent of a quarter of a n; that the water and sewerage systems were substantially uninjured: that, while the water-works were damaged, the lake tun- nel remained; and that, above and beyond all this, the credit, reputation, and ener; the business men_of Chicago r and, with that ‘t unconquel h had done'so much in the past, what could not be accomplished -in-the future? dualiy evoked out of chaos. from the four centres of the t world outside, tested as it ‘before or since, was found to for pity and a hand open as the inillio tact, whiel Order . was Relief poures earth. T! never was. have “a tear day for melting charity.” THE NEW CITY. THEN CAME THE GREAT REBUILDING. ‘What a hive of human’ industry was then presented to the gaze of mankind! “Hun- dreds and thousands of wooden- buildings. rose in a couple of months on the North and ‘West Sides, for one of the lessons of the dis- aster had not even then been ‘fully learned, and months were yet to elapse before: the Municipal Legislature, profiting by the cost ly experience of the past, was to prohibit, by the new building ‘ordinance, the erection of frame buildings inside what are now known as the, fire limits—the -recent abortive con-, spiracy to contract. which, and thus invite a -repetition of . the: “former awiping-out, still fresh .in - the. public mind. ‘Hundreds of brick-buildings, . too, shot up- wards like grass after the warm spring rains, it was bad of them. ‘The records | bus! is and no.count nels under lake and river, inj . parks, actual projected, its railroads in operation, its business blocks, of the Board of Public Works, while not a very accurate index to the amount of build- ing which was done in the twelvemonth suc- ceeding the. fire, embraced ‘material trom which the following summary was then made: Three eight-story stone-front build- ings, 1 seven-story stone building, 7 six-story stone buildings, 42 five-story stone. 98 four- story stone, 23 three-story stone, 46 five-story brick, 142 “four-story brick, 164 three-story brick, 6 five-story iron, 3 four-story iron, and 6 five-story cement. Many of the new build- ings, such as the Bryan, Otis, and Major Blocks, the Honoré Buildings, and the big ho- tels, covered nearly half 2 square. Making due allowance for this difference in. front- -age, thé story of that twelvermonth’s work is best told in the~statement that the recon- struction spread over a space having a front- ‘age of 51,619 feet, or nearly eight. miles of solidly. < MAGNIFICENT BUILDINGS, representing a very closely estimated cost of $40, 133,000, distributed. among the three divisions as follows: South Side, 36,991 feet front, $34,292,100; North Side, 7,083 feet front, $3,S18,500; West Side, 7,540 feet front, $1,893,000.:. While the effect of the flames on limestone generatly was disastrous in. the - extreme, . it.. still continues to be used, side by side with Ohio and .Lake Superior. sandstones, rich and substantial in appearance, but too grave and sombre for very feneraluse. The “brick mania” was followed by a reaction in favor of stone, though of late years the reaction has been a good deal the other way, and Lllinois limestone found 2 competitor in Buena Vista sandstone, Kankakee stone, and the two varieties of sandstone already mentioned. In addition to the massive blocks before referred to, the resurrected city saw reared,,or in pro- cess of construction, on the blackened ruins of a year previous, such ornate structures of the Chicago renaissance period as Tur Trip- uNE Building, the Fidelity Savings Bank, the Chamber of Commerce, the Grand Pacific, the Palmer, Buoksellers’ Row, the Kendall Building, the Portland Block, the Sherman House, the Superior Block, the Reaper Block, the Union Bank Building, the new Govern- ment Building (then in embryo, though since’ completed after a fashion), the Lake Shore& Michigan Southern Depot, the Times, Staats- Zeitung, and Journal buildings, and others. Yassing from the great rebuilding to the trade and commerce of the city during~ the twelvemonth succeeding the fire, THE COMMERCIAL RECORD of Chicago during that brief and early period of the renaissance is little else than marvel- ous. ‘The receipts of the leading articles of produge, omitting the important item of tea, for which there was no report for 1870, represented a ftotal value of $185,154,000, against 2 valuation of $171,3S6,000 for the re- ceipts of the same articles in 1870, or an in- crease of alittle more thanS percent. ‘The receipts of mercantile goods, based ..on re- ported sales, brought up the increase of the yalue of the receipts over those of 1870 to 12 percent. ‘The produce niovement sustained a severe check when more than a quarter of the storage capacity of the city was burned up and the railroads were so crippled that they could not deliver grain. But the check was only temporary. -In the first week after the fire, 1,005 car loads, or nearly 000 bushels, of rain were. received, and 220,460 bushels shipped. In one month the business had nearly recovered its normal activity. Reducing flour to wheat, the receipts of grain from Oct.9, 1871, to Oct. 9, 1872, were $3,456,721 bushels, as against 61,315,793 bushels in 1870, or-an imerease of 3934 per cent in volume. 7 TUE GROWTH OF TIE WHOLESALE TRADE was similarly gratifying, the comparison. with 1870 showing a gain of 15 per cent on. the transactions of that year, of which prob- ably about 10 per cent should be credited to ts ‘the prosperous part of 1871 and the ‘re- mainder to the year after the fire. With a growth in population within sixteen months ar with more distinctness. as -the'years~ on, and the value of the precautions which haye'since been taken tition of the calamity of Oct. tinually rendered more apparent. . Three solemn, sober facts explain the rationale of h te ‘The construction of the city was in many respects fatally defective, the Fire Department.was weakened by inter- ms and discord, and the water upon the merest acci- et, Chicago had for <htructive fire. ALL “5 which, Jong-continued 5, a fire starting among the wooden buildings a | ivision, a negligent. or worn- out Fire Department, anda gale of wind strong enough to carry the firebrands across the South Branch and the river. of October, 1871, the conditions were all pres- ent, the circuinstances all happened to; and a city in ashes was the result. The narrative of the origin and progress of the fire, the scenes of terror which were then |, the suffering entailed, the loss of a tragedy already almost any other 0 Still retaines that 74 per cent 74 pel ng of fully 20 per cent, an increase in the re- tail trade was naturally- to..be expected. Careful estinates “showed “that it‘ tad been even more ‘prosperous than the wholesale trade. While. the manufacturing interests recuperated slowly, the result of the year’s effort. was truly surprising. In- stead of a large falling oif in production, as nearly every one: had anticipated would be the case, there was an actual increase of about 35 per cent in the value of manufact- ured articles, as compared with 1870, ex- clusive of the item of buildings. THE LEADING BRANCHES OF MANUFACTUB- ING INDUSTRY compared as follows with those of 1870: Oct. 9, 1871, to Oct. 9, 1872. 1870. 318,650,000" * $13,000, Foundries, etc. Flour, ete... ling and $00.20 Agricultu! 2 Curriages and wagons 00,000 .- 7,369,000 Printers’ material, 250,000 250,000 Printing, etc. 250,000 3,000,000 Boots and shoes. 3,000,000 7,500,000 "700,000 _ 1,000,000 14,600,000 * 9,700,000 4,100,000 "750,000 "500,000 290,000 2,500,000 .23230,000 Totals... .cos-ee+e ++-:816,070,000 . “$56,835,000 The manufactures of 1870 aggregated a to- tal value of $76,548,000, exclusive of $12,000,- 000 worth of buildings. Supposing those manufactures not above tabulated to have jnereased in the same ratio, the total would reach $103,470,000, without buildings, or an increase of 3465 per cent. The stone and brick structures erected in the petite aeding the fire were valued at },500,- Soo, while the wooden buildings orected out- side the fireé-limits cost: some $3,900,000 more. This would give a grand total of $147,S00,000 for manufactures, inclusive of buildings, as against $33,S4S,000 in 1870, or an increase of G6} per cent. = Sak in some of the’ more important par- ticulars was CHICAGO ONE YEAR AFTER THE FIRE. ‘The limits of space at this time forbid any extended or consecutive history of city affairs—the chaotic condition in which the municipality found itself in the hour of calamity and the slow and painful . process throught successive administrations, | good, bad, and indifferent, by. which its credit “was regstablished on a sound basis. ‘The muni- cipal history of Chicago for the last ten years would fill volumes, and could not be success- fully treated in, less. The purpose of the resent article is rather to. present a compre- hensive statement of the city’s advancement in its vast material interests since the fire, Some idea of what was accomplished during the first year has already been given. Its giant strides in the path of commercial prog- yess during the succeeding years and down to the tenth anniversary of the fiery ordeal of 1871 are sketched below. a st TEN YEARS’ GROWTH. ‘THE GROWTH OF TUE CITY IN ITS COMMER- CIAL ASPECT during’ the past ten years is the true measure of our progress. It is.certainly the basis of all the rest, though perhaps it does not gage all its departments; ‘That growth is so zreat as to surprise even those who have'shared in it; so vast as to seem almost incredible to very many who have reaped ‘its most pro-. nounced benefits: The rate of this growth has varied from year to year, with commer- cial fluctuations common to the whole. coun- try, and to variations in the crop yields of the Great Northwest. Thus the volume of bread~ stuffs received in 1873 was greater than that of any succeeding year till 1878, when it jumped up to one-third more than the best previous record. “The volume of breadstufis received last year exceeded that of 1878 by nearly one- fourth, and promises .to .be considerably greater than that of 1SSi.. Our receipts of live stock “have ingreased a little more steadily; and so did the packinz record till about a year ago. But these changes_in de- partments ‘have ‘been nearly’ compensated among themselves, or by: other features in the grand aggregate, growth has been comparatively steady. . Our iness has increased nearlw at the rate of 3 the scale of-wages> so, that the rate of |: 10 percent.per annum during the-past ten years,the continuous ratioamounting toabout ~ 163 per cent-of gain :for the decade... We need.-not, however, passin. review ‘the de- tailed progress which increase the progress of the intermediate years: ‘The result will be more palpable if we simply group together” ie statistics of the most'salient features of 4 . piace Seamer ‘ THEN AND Now. SS The following table shows, in round num-’ bers,. the quantities of teading articles of farm produce’ received -in this city during ithe past twelve months, as compared with ~ the Board of Trade report for the’ calendar year 187i: Flour, bris Wheat, bu. Hey pa ats, bu. Rye, bu. Barley, bi Total breadstuffs.. Cattle, No. Live Hogs, 0 Beet, pkgs.. Pork, bris.... APPROXIMATED PERCENTAGES. ~. The following table shows approximated percentages. of activity in this city during: the past twelve months/the twelve months - preceding the-fire being taken as 100 in each case. The figures of ten years ago are -re- duced to a specie basis, and the percentage of comparison is in each case one of specie re 1063, Clothing, hats, etc., sales Hardware, nails, otc., sales. Aiillinery, sates... Jowolry, cte., sales... Books and music, sate: Total wholesale sales. Packing and meat canning... {fron and stee] manufactures... Brewing, distilling, aud rectifying...... Flouring. Furniture, Carriages Agricultural implemet Planing mills, sash, box Printing. ete. Boots and shoes, Clothing... Tanning, ete....... ‘Total manufactures. ally] gage tt ai RBH Bs 8 | wee Weight of farm produce received. sunibee of oe packed:-... 5S rage capacity for grail. 183 Value of farm produce received. 210 TO RECAPITOLATE: Whotesalo sales of 200 Product of manufuctori sO ‘Total trade of cits Ey Bank cleurings.... 315 Do on currency basis............ - Pw ‘The bank clearings for the past twelve months aggregated about $2,100,000,000. Af the comparisons were made between the different departments on the basis of pricés now ruling, as compared with those: of the early part of October, 1871, the showing would be even more in favor of the present. “But .the statement would be less fair, because prices have recently been strained to a point which experience tells us cannot endure for along time. They are very much above the average of the past twelve months, whichwe have used above. ni Compare these figures with the records of growth of population. These show, approx- imately, for the present time as compared with the date of the tire: ang Population of United States.... Population of Illinois outside Chicago..... Population of Chicago.......... ‘We may deduce from these figures the 51 STARTLING COMPARISON 148 that the pecuniary value of exertion, mgfiginal man, is-nearly 60 per cent: greater gn .'State was the year before the fire. A contl in 1859, part of this increase is due to the Ame here a wages: as measureazats after was basis. But an also gconsiderabiyy° Pare direct result of the increased ey the corner oz machinery, and the use of betvenue.. In. 1862, working out the daily recurrirother’ of C. ML, mechanical labor. Still, put whom had been few more figures, the data fane members of, it however, so precise as in thl -of. the _firm:ha: may conclude. that. the. axdmission of Francis" Chicago is worth fully: tehange *in';.nearly as he was the day~ befo856 their -zrowing is, the wealth —~ ojir removal -to:-. the some two dollars - and Michigan avenue, every dollar per head ow;nt ont in 1868... They ¢ 187i; in addition to mrters on‘ Randolph which averaged more thon built them’a Jarze on “the day we celebrat avenue, ‘where they this augmentof wealthgreat fire of 1871+ Ina distributed. That is, asain selling goods ina accrued to & comparatithe corner of ‘Congress men. But the great mvenue,.where for three are actually much bettrgetrade. In-February were then; and any <¢ store on Wabash ave- agree that we have. instreet, on theedgeof the n,! percentage of destituti just one year after the ‘This exhibit is allth, a large store built for tirennsina to the wis Franklin and Madison is ctmirés.syhere* they remained till, January, Neved in ChicaZy up’iumoved to their-present and thenlostfaith. Not Monroe .and Franklin eat disaster it jwas:inimense quantities of Shicego had seen itses, which, from the test could at best grow burme celebrated for. their During 1868, ’69, and "70 d. superior style.: The tionary. Our | receiptsublic spirit, is prompt hogs, lumber, ete... shoencies, and -to bear its and the total trade of trdens. “ by Tue Troone conMarks,. : , ’ given as 434 millions, 45¢ots and shoes, Nos. 79 inillions of dollars forthe s shown remarkable ively. ‘These facts and i reason to fear that we well? his present: flour- ing the dignity of a way sttsiness. He started place to other communities:k street, .Sept..15, of Western production. Ab under full head- 1870 the scale turned, and in’e completely ; de~ in the full tide of prosperity,ing ,daunted, “he of Mother O’Leary’s cow b and has steadily 100,000 people to a common letear to year. Ha and forced very many. of thems present loca- their lives, not a few being drivéd his trade has youring flames * hte ius ‘anuu- “ iy increased PROM BLOCK TO BLOCED? sh Sonnde in vain efforts to save a portion o! erty.. Then Chicago was gone, 79S and sells Even the most sanguine scarcely" mall begin- hope that five years later there wor} tin eink many people here and doing as_MUGoods, and. ness as just before the disaster. ‘house gloomy view of. the case was the city glory had departed” forever. Butrepata- 1816 we did very nearly 50 per". " mare business than the et estabth a uring the prosperous part of 187 in. the meantime we had been visited Dy2DS- other big fire, and stricken by one oft: = worst commercial panics of history. -Hoanu- much more we suffered. from that panic thahing did the peoples of other cities can only btpat- realized. by these who borrowed money.to,,_ rebuild, and found that the shrinkage ‘of? “values” made their rentals less than the In- ‘e& terest on their loans, leaving them with noth- » ing to pay taxes and insurance,-and making 4 our wealthiest citizens the poorest ofall. ‘The widespread reversal of ownership which: ensued will not soon be forgotten. . But- tne “trade and commerce ” of the city—asteadily..” swelling golden stream—made ample amends. to the community as a whole, if not to‘its in- dividual losers. Chicago was established:as . the commercial focus of the Great North- west, and by virtue thereof she commanded the situation instead of being swamped by it’ ‘And -now, still five years later, we roundly fill up the record, with an increase of 162 per. cent, our business in 1871 and 1881 be! nearly as 5 to 13. 5 s SUMMING UP. “27 Surely after such -an experience it: wers heresy greater even than that of Dr. Thoms to doubt the. progress of ‘Chicago In* thi future. We cannot better - indicate that fut- ure than by asking the’ reader. to ‘mentally project into coming years the legitimate se- quel of the record which Tue ‘Trmunz ‘has annually presented for many< years past, selling value. (only) ot * showing the free Awhat Wemmick might have called ‘portable property.” Here it is: om Racers BE evar REE eR i 1809 764,000, °°°764,000,000 188. * 650, 1877. 1876. 16;