Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/413

 CHICAGO 405 were 309 in. of supply pipes and 1,667 fire hydrants. The amount of water daily sup- plied in 1872 was 23,464,877 gallons, or 72-8 to each inhabitant. The total cost of the water works to Jan. 1, 1873, was about $5,225,000. A site for the new water works, consisting of 3 acres of land, has been purchased in Ash- land avenue, near 22d street. A tunnel 7 ft. in diameter and 4 m. in length will pass under the central portion of the city, connecting the old and the new works. It will be capable of conveying 100,000,000 gallons of water dai- ly, and will afford a central supply of water for use in case of fire, independent of that fur- nished by the pumps and water mains. The bonded debt of Chicago, Jan. 1, 1873, was $13,- 546,000. The receipts into the treasury for the year ending April 1, 1872, amounted to $12,936,- 581, and the expenditures to $14,112,957. The chief items were : Receipt!. Expenditure!. Board of public works appropria'n Certificates of debt $269.969 252,7(53 $988,529 83,985 146,593 852,660 Interest fund 131,823 258,097 Lamp districts 169,140 Licenses. ... 187,631 2,885 Police fund 228,402 490,685 483.264 669,986 School tax fund 54.974 462,186 Sewerage fund 8,809.273 8,000,772 Sewerage tax fund 3.021,234 8,119,889 Special assessments 1,897,299 1,887,812 Taxes 2,209,958 Tunnel fund 94743 180,963 Water fund 655960 774.836 Water tax fund . . . 111.64S 822,942 The total valuation of real and personal prop- erty in the city for the purposes of taxation, with the amount and rate of taxation and the bonded debt, has been as follows : YEAR. Total Valuation. Rate of Tax- ation per ct. Total Tax Levied. Bonded Debt. 1841 . . . 1,667,445 6-10 10,004 1842... 1,530,; 18 6-10 9,181 1843... 1,570,490 11-20 8,637 1844... 2,861,041 6-10 17,166 1845... 8.165.025 7-20 11.077 1846... 4,521,659 7-20 15,825 1847.. 5,188,290 7-20 18,159 1848.. 6,300,440 7-20 22,051 1849.. 6,676,1)84 9-20 80,045 I860.. 7,222,999 7-20 25,280 1851.. 8,562,717 % 68,835 1852.. 10468,414 % 76,962 $126.085 1853.. 16,841,831 % 135,602 189,670 1854... 24,394239 9-10 199,031 248,666 1855... 26,992,893 7-10 205,9^2 828,000 1856... 81,786,084 11-10 896,558 485,000 1857... 86,885 281 W 572,046 535,000 1858... 8(5,189 932 1 1-10 430.190 1859... 86,5:38 880 1 8-10 518.614 1,885,000 1860... 87,053.512 9-10 873,050 2,386.0110 1861... 8635.2,830 1 2-10 550,963 2.362,000 1862... 87,189,845 1 4-10 564,083 2,028,000 1863... 42,667,824 2 858,346 8,422,500 1864... 48.732 732 2 974,655 8,544.500 1865. . . 647*9177 2 1,294,1*8 3.701,000 1866... &5,95 3,250 2 1,719,065 4,869,000 1867... 195,026,844 1 3-10 2.518,472 4,757,500 1868... 230.247,000 1 4-10 8,223,453 6.484.51)0 1869... 266,024880 1* 8.990.378 7.882.5:>0 1870... 275,986.550 1* 4,189,798 11,864726 1871... 25-9,746,470 1 2,897.4i>4 14,108,000 1872... 284,197,480 4,262,961 18,546,000 The actual value of property in 1871 was about $620,000,000. The public school system takes high rank for elficiency ; it gives instruction to the children of citizens free of charge. The total number of schools in 1872 was 32, inclu- ding 1 high, 1 normal, 19 grammar, and 11 pri- mary schools. These occupied 45 buildings and 412 rooms. There were 476 teachers, of whom 445 were females. According to the school census of 1872, the school population, including those between 6 and 21 years of age, was 88,219. The whole number of dif- ferent pupils enrolled was 38,035. The aver- age number belonging to the high school was 512; normal, 63; grammar and primary schools, 23,964; total 24,539. The course of study in the high school is four years. Of the 476 teachers employed in 1872, 221 were grad- uates of the normal and high schools. Ger- man and music are extensively taught in the public schools, the number of pupils studying the former in 1872 being 4,533. The total amount expended for the support of schools was $479,349, including $359,588 for teachers' salaries. The total cost for each pupil, includ- ing 6 per cent, valuation upon school property, was $15 97 on the number of pupils enrolled, $24 75 on the average number belonging to the schools, and $26 41 on the average daily attendance. The total income for school pur- poses amounted to $395,289, including $303,- 802 from school tax fund (at the rate of 2 T for mills per dollar), $30,487 from state fund, and $61,003 from rents and interest. The value of school buildings was $1,071,100 ; land, $1,194,452. There are also many pri- vate academies, and several schools sustained by the Catholics. The Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Eoman Catholics have flourishing colleges and insti- tutes for training ministers, all moderately well endowed, but suffering heavily from the fire. The Baptist denomination is identified with the university of Chicago, founded by the efforts of and partially by gift from Stephen A. Douglas. Connected with it are a very effi- cient law institute and the Dearborn obser- vatory, which contains a very fine equatorially mounted refracting telescope, of 23 feet focal length and 18 inches aperture, made by Alvan Clark and sons, and set up in 1864, then being the largest and best in the world. The city also contains six medical colleges, one of which is open to women. The academy of sciences, established in 1857, lost a valuable collection of 18,000 specimens by fire in 1866, and again lost all in 1871, though in a " fire- proof" building. It is now in a new building, and is slowly gathering a new museum and library. The Chicago historical society, estab- lished in 1856, lost in the fire 60,000 bound volumes and 150,000 pamphlets, besides files of newspapers, valuable MSS., fine paintings, and numerous war relics. It has not been re- vived, but its place is being taken by a pub- lic library, the nucleus of which was con-