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| The Chicago Water Tower (JWB, 2013) |
Ask anyone who
has visited Chicago to name his or her five most memorable sights and Chicago’s
Water Tower (the fancy stand pipe and not the indoor mall) is sure to be among
them.
It was on this
day, March 25, way back in 1867 that the complex that made up the little city’s
“Water Works” was dedicated and a cornerstone laid at Chicago and what is now
Michigan Avenue (Back in those days it was Pine Street).
“Early in the
morning the city was all alive,” The Tribune reported at the time. “No formal proclamation had stopped the
people from their labors, to watch the ceremonies which would attend the
ushering in of the new water era, but the citizens generally recognized the
importance of the occasion and turned out in great numbers to witness the
proceedings and participate in them.”
[Chicago Tribune, March 26, 1867]
Despite a brief
snowfall in the early morning, the day was “all that could have been desired at
this period of the year” and “the ground was not hard, but the mud was only
shallow, and it was not painful or unpleasant to walk through it.” The mood was festive with “Everybody . . . in
good humor at the idea that good water was here at last.”
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| Chicago Water Works (1886), Pine Street separating the two structures (wikipedia image) |
This was a very
big deal, marking the culmination of the plan of Ellis S. Chesebrough to make
the city a healthier place through the improvement of its sewage and water
distribution systems. In June of 1862
the Chicago Common Council adopted the city engineer’s plan for bringing
uncontaminated lake water to the city through a “crib” located two-and-a-half
miles offshore. The first brick was laid
at the crib on December 22, 1865. By that date workmen had already constructed
a tunnel from the shore that was 4,825 feet long. Less than a year later, on December 6, 1866 a
section of tunnel leading from the crib was linked to the section leading from
the shore.
In a little over two years of work, most of it done with picks and shovels, a project that saved the city was completed. It was an
amazing, almost reckless, plan undertaken by a city that had no other
options. The fact that it worked so well
was the highest testimonial to the expertise of Ellis Cheseborough.
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| The Chicago Water Works from Chicago Avenue, 1896 (Google image) |
The Water Works
at Chicago and Pine served to house all of the massive pumping equipment as
well as the stand pipe necessary to keep the system pressurized. Built on the site of the former old works,
the style was “castellated Gothic, with heavy bottlemented corners, executed
with solid rock-faced ashlar stone and cut-stone trimmings, all the details
being of a massive and permanent character.”
[Andreas, Alfred Theodore.
History of Chicago from 1857 to the Fire of 1871. Chicago, 1885. p.67]
The water tower, itself, was 154 feet tall, topped with a cupola with windows surrounding it. In its interior a six-ton stand pipe was
placed at its base. From that a
three-foot iron stand pipe rose to a height of 138 feet. W. W. Boyington, the architect of the complex, designed a
building that was “looked upon as thoroughly fire-proof,” [Andreas] which was borne out
when the tower was one of the few structures left standing in the city after
the disastrous fire of 1871.
On the day of
the dedication a police contingent led the parade, starting out from the Court
House on Dearborn Street at 9:00 in the morning, and as it moved north it was
joined by various other elements coming from different directions. The Tribune described the scene . . .
The Fire Department formed on Washington
street, east of La Salle. Before the
marshaling and arranging of the constituent parts of the great procession,
unutterable excitement prevailed. Bands
came marching from different quarters; Marshals galloped hotly to and fro;
Masons with their plain white aprons or their gorgeous trappings hurried singly
to the rendezvous; fire engines and hose carts rolled forward covered with
sturdy firemen in their great hats and blue uniforms, and drawn by their
powerful horses, looking s if they wanted to break into a run to the fire which
must have called them out; men, women and children crowded the sidewalks in a
state of excited admiration, making pedestrianism almost impossible; whole
ominbuses, carriages, trucks and drays, on business met most vexatious delays
and obstructions at every rod, and were often forced to work long detours in
order to pass the living mass.
At 11:00 the
procession started slowly up Dearborn Street to Lake, headed west to La Salle,
south to Washington, and then up Clark Street.
By 11:30 the band could be heard approaching the water tower. At just about that time an accident
occurred.
According to The Tribune, “In their eagerness to gain
an advantageous seat near the platform, a number of men clambered to the roof
of a very frail wooden shed used for dressing the stones. Suddenly the structure gave way beneath them,
and about twenty luckless individuals were precipitated into the rubbish
beneath.” No one was seriously injured, but In the midst of the chaos,
almost exactly at noon, the head of the procession arrived on the grounds of the
dedication ceremony.
After preliminary
remarks the cornerstone was raised up and the Reverend O. H. Tiffany led the
crowd in a prayer which he ended with these words:
"And now we praise
thee oh God, for thy great bounty unto us – we thank thee that thou hast stored
our land with plenty, that our fields teem with fertility, and that our waters
are glad with health. We bless thee for
the skill of our artisans and of our workmen and we thank thee that this day we
are brought together to lay the foundation stone of this structure. We earnestly pray that our best expectations
may be realized, and that by it blessing may ever flow, from this great lake to
all the homes of this great city. We
pray, also for Thy blessing upon all those who have been or are engaged in this
great undertaking – do Thou protect, and preserve them from evil . . ."
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| The Chicago Water Works, 1943, now on Michigan Avenue (churckmanchiagonostalgia.files,wordpress.com) |
Virtually the
entire dedication was a Masonic production, complete with the consecration of
the cornerstone with “vessels delivered in form to the Grand Master . . .
poured upon the stone”. These “vessels”
carried a scattering of corn and a flask of wine as emblems of plenty along
with oil as an emblem of peace.
The Most
Worshipful Grand Master Gorin then intoned, “May the all bounteous author of
Nature bless the inhabitants of this place with all the necessaries, conveniences and comforts of life; assist in
the erection and completion of this building; protect the workmen against every
accident, and even preserve this structure from decay; and grant to us all, in
needed supply, the corn of nourishment, the wine of refreshment and the oil of
joy.”
At this point the
stone was “thrice stricken with the mallet” and the Masonic ceremony concluded.
Then Mayor J. B.
Rice got up to end the ceremony with a few remarks which went on and on and on.
Midway through
his remarks he hit his stride . . .
. . . but the people were not satisfied with
delay. They could stand on the shore in
the centre of the city and look upon the clear sparkling, pure water of yonder
mighty lake, the coveted treasure so near – and they cried with one voice, who
is the man who can give us this water for our use; the cry was heard; the man
was there who, with the modesty that is ever the companion of genius, said he
thought a tunnel might be built far under the bed of the lake – two miles in
length – and there where the water was thirty-five feet in depth, pure and cool
in all seasons, the supply could be obtained . . . It was novel, untried; the
expense hardly to be estimated, and failure imminent; but the man of science
was not to be moved from his position.
Ellis Sylvester
Chesebrough would not be moved from his position. The clear sparkling, pure water of yonder
mighty lake is still the lifeblood of a great city. And the water tower still stands, a technological marvel of its time and an enduring symbol of a city that is willing to play the
odds if there is the slightest chance for a big payoff.
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| The Chicago Water Works, 1974, with Water Tower Place rising to the left (chuckmanchicagonostalgia.files.wordpress.com) |
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