Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/415

 CHICAGO 407 attacked by the Pottawattamie Indians, who killed 26 regulars, 12 militiamen, 2 women, and 12 children, and then destroyed the fort. In 1816 Capt. Bradley rebuilt the fort, which was occupied by the United States till 1837, and then abandoned, as the Indians had re- moved beyond the Mississippi Oct. 1, 1835. The fort was demolished in 1856, but one of the outbuildings remained till it was burnt down in the great fire. On March 2, 1827, congress granted to Illinois every alternate section of land on each side of the line of the proposed Illinois and Michigan canal, to aid in its construction, to connect Chicago with the head of navigation on the Illinois river. On Jan. 22, 1829, the state organized a board of canal commissioners, with power to lay out towns along the line. Under them James Thompson surveyed the town of Chicago, his first map being dated Aug. 4, 1830; it em- braced an area of three eighths of a square mile. In 1831 it contained about 12 families, besides the garrison in Fort Dearborn. The town of Chicago was organized Aug. 10, 1833, with 5 trustees ; it contained 560 acres, 550 in- habitants, 29 voters, 175 buildings, and prop- erty valued at $60,000; the taxable valuation was $19,560, and the first year's taxes were $48 90. On Sept. 26, 1833, 7,000 Pottawatta- mies assembled there in council, and signed a treaty to remove beyond the Mississippi ; they ceded some 20,000,000 acres to the United States for $1,100,000. Chicago was incorpo- rated as a city March 4, 1837. The first elec- tion under the charter was held May 1 follow- ing, when W. B. Ogden was chosen mayor. The first census was taken July 1, 1837, when the city contained a population of 4,170. The Chicago after the Fire. (Scale, 1 inch to the mile.) rapid growth of Chicago in population and commercial importance is without a parallel ; while the energy of the citizens is attested by the many gigantic public improvements that have been successfully completed at immense cost. In October, 1871, Chicago was the scene of one of the most destructive conflagrations of modern times. There had been several unusu- ally large fires on previous days, but on Sun- day evening, Oct. 8, the great fire originated in a small wooden barn in De Koven street, in the southern part of the West division, near the river, from the upsetting, as is supposed, of a lighted kerosene lamp. The buildings in that quarter were mostly of wood, and there were several lumber yards along the margin of the river. Through these the flames raged with great fury, and were carried across the South branch by the strong westerly wind then prevailing, and thence swept into the South division, which was closely built up with stores, warehouses, and public buildings of stone, brick, and iron, many of them supposed to be fire-proof. The fire continued all day Monday, and crossed the main channel of the Chicago river, sweeping all before it in the North divi- sion, which was occupied mostly by dwellings. The last house was not reached till Tuesday morning, and many of the ruins were still burning several months afterward. The total area burned over, including streets, was 2,100 acres, or nearly 3 sq. m. ; number of build- ings destroyed, 17,450 ; persons rendered home- less, 98,500; killed, about 200. Among the buildings were the court house, custom house and post office, chamber of commerce, gas works, 8 railroad depots, 9 daily newspaper offices, 32 hotels, 10 theatres and halls, 8 pub- lic, schools and several branches, 41 churches, 5 elevators containing 1,642,000 bushels of