December
10, 1883 -- The Illinois Supreme Court
affirms the decision of the lower court in the case of A. C. Hesing vs. W. L.
Scott et al., a suit that seeks to prevent the vacating of LaSalle Street for
the purpose of constructing a new headquarters for the Chicago Board of
Trade. Hesing, the plaintiff, asserts
that he would “suffer an applicable loss in the reduction of the rents of his
property” [Chicago Daily Tribune,
December 10, 1883] if the street is vacated between Jackson and Van Buren
so that the building can be constructed.
The decision of the Supreme Court rules against any injunction to stop
the work, stating that the plaintiff “does not allege that it will impose on
him a particle of loss, nor that he has or will sustain the slightest injury or
inconvenience distinct from the general public.
He has therefore shown no right to the relief sought, and the court
below did not err in sustaining the demurrer and dismissing the bill. The decree of the court below is therefore
affirmed.” On April 29,1885 the seventh
headquarters the board of trade will have occupied since its formation on April
3, 1848 opens on LaSalle Street. Designed
by W. W. Boyington, the same architect who designed Chicago’s beloved Water
Tower, the building lasted into the late 1920’s when it was razed to make way
for the Holabird and Root design that stands on LaSalle today, all of this made
possible by the decree of the Illinois Supreme Court in 1883.
December 10, 2010 – Following a federal judge’s refusal to close Chicago’s locks as a result of an emergency suit five Great Lakes states have filed out of concern over Asian carp, the Chicago Tribune offers this opinion, “We hope this ruling . . . will persuade our Midwestern neighbors to abandon their money-wasting, finger-pointing lawsuit. It isn’t helping anything.” [Chicago Tribune, December 10, 2010] The paper concedes that the fish do pose a threat although there is little evidence that they have made it close to the lake – or that they even want to head there. Yet, the editorial states, “The consequences of closing the locks, meanwhile, would be devastating and immediate. More than $29 billion in goods move through the locks each year on barges. Tour boats and recreational boaters also pass through on their way to and from the lake . . . Nobody on this side of the locks wants the carp to get into Lake Michigan, either. Illinois has spent more than $13 million to keep them out, not counting the resources wasted on this ridiculous legal fight. We’re all in the same boat, neighbors. Drop that suit.”
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