RIVER FOREST A Suburb of Chicago HISTORY OF Early Settlement and Early Settlers Community and Municipality Churches Schools Social Life Transportation Business and Industry From 1836 to 1937 Centennial Celebration in 1936 Compiled by ALBERT L. HALL Published by FOREST PUBLISHING CO.. Not Inc. RIVER FOREST. ILUNOIS 1937 Foreword History of River Forest CHAPTER ONE River Forest is a community extraordinary. It stands out among Ashbel Steele, the First Settler Chicago's suburbs as an ideal residential municipality. Its homes, whether they be luxurious or moderate in cost, are marked by a SHBEL STEELE '.• creditc~ with bei_ng the first which is quite possible. He bought and sold other land refinement that portrays a high degree of citizenship. River Forest'• A permanent settler m what 1s now River Forest. at later dates. He was elected coroner on August 4, chu;ches, schools, and public institutions are indicative of the senti· Indians roved over the land for centuries, but in 1830 1834, and was elected sheriff in 1840. ment that prevails in public and private enterprises. the Pottawatomies, the last tribe of Indians to inhabit Mr. Steele li,·ed in River Forest until his death in this section, departed for western areas at the insistence 1861. He was survived by his wife and nine children, of the white settlers who were drifting in, and who had SC\'en of whom were daurihtrrs. One daughter di~d River Forest is finely situated. The wooded land extending east established Fort Dearborn at the mouth of the Chicago while young. The surviving children all married, and from the Desplaines river between Madison street and North avenue river. Ashbel had many descendants. A gTandson, Sidney afforded an excellent site for development by suburbanites, who de· There were other white men ahead of Mr. Steele, Steele, now resides at 1139 Lathrop avenue. He is a man sired more than just a place to erect a domicile. but they had moved on. The establishment of a steam of ability and is \'ice president of the Continental Can saw mill on the east bank of the Desplaines (then the Company. Other grandchildren are scattered through­ Aux Plaines) ri\'er preceded Mr. Steele's coming in 1836 out the country, and se\'eral great grandchildren reside River Forest was fortunate in her early settlers-the Steeles, by five years. It belonged to a Chicago firm doing in Ri,·er Forest. One o[ these is Robert Ligare, until Thatchers, Quicks. Murphys, Yaldings, Grilfens, Wailers, Brough­ business under the name of Bickerdike & Noble, and recently engaged in business on Lake street. ton•, Brooke•, were not just ordinary citizens. They built substan­ later became the property of Mr. Steele and Theo­ The Steele homestead was comprised of 1 li)-J tially the community's foundation, on which succeeding generations philus Smith. A small house had been erected south of acres, forty acres of which was on the: west side 0£ the have erected an enduring superstructure of unusual excellence. the mill which Mr. Steele purchased, but it was deserted rirer. Mr. Steele erected a commodious house, west of when Mr. Steele arrived. The occupant IJ,1d departed, what is now Thatcher a\'enue and the Northwestern without leaving his iclentity. railway, which at first he used as a store as well as a dwelling. Lumber was obtained from the local saw River Forest, as a municipality, has guarded its portals well. But ~Ir. Steele came to stay. That he was a man Nothing has been permitted to enter which would lower the standard; mill. Later Mr. Steele moved his business to the of importance is evidenced by the fact that he was Montezuma Hall, a large frame building which he had while encouragement has been extended to those people and institu· coroner of the newly fo rmed Cook County when he erected on the south side of Lake street, across the tions whose recognized merit tend to elevate, rather than lower the ca·me here, and that two years later he was elected street from where the Methodist church now stands. standard. shrriff of the county, during which time he made his Here he couducted a tavern, the post office, and a gen­ home in Chicago, w he re the county jail was located, and eral store. where a residence, in connection w ith the jail, was pro­ vided for the sheri ff. This was on the northeast corner Mrs. Emma Robinson, a gran<ldaughter who resides in Oak Park, describes him as na slender man, about of what is now the court house square in Chicago; Clark and Randolph streets. He retained his official five feet ten inches. of the Uncle Sam type." She says residence in River Forest during his incumbency of the he was jovial and kindhearted, but firm in a stand sheriff's offi ce, and w hen his tef'm expired, resumed his which he believed was right. This, she says, was often activities in his newly adopted home. He was a builder demonstrated while sheriff of this frontier county, and by trade, and erected some of the early buildings in later in this community where his home was the center this vicinity, one of the last being the old "Harlem" of much activity-business, social and political. school building, built in 1860, which still stands at Lake His certificate of election as coroner was signed by street and Park avenue. J ohn Reynolds, governor of Illinois, and was dated August 20, 1834. He ser ved four years. His certificate Dedication Mr. Steele was of English descent, and was born of election as sheriff was signed by Thomas Carlin, in Derby, Ct., in 1794. He moved from there to of Illinois, and was dated August 10, 1840. He was This history of River Forest is Rochester, N. Y., in 1825, and two years later married appointed pos~master of Noyesville on June 14, 1849, dedicated to Centennial, Inc., whose Harriet Dawley. The furniture which they bought at and his appointment was signed by J acob Collamer, fine celebration in 1936 inspired the the time of their marriage, including a piano, was postmaster general of the United States of America. writer to undertake this work, and brought to Chicago with them in 1833, and to River The postoffi ce which served practically all of western to River Forest H\storical Society, Forest in 1836. Mr. Steele rode from Rochester, N. Y., Cook county was fi rst located in the Ten Mile organized in 1937 t9 carry on from to Chicago on horseback, sending his family and house­ House, a tavern located at what is now Lake street an<l where this volume leaves off so hold effects by boat. They arrived in Chicago on the First avenue, :Maywood and later moved to whnt is that the ana of River Forest may same day. now River Forest, but was still called Noyesville. be as near complete as possible. The Steeles established their home in Chicago, Ashbel Steele died September 26, 1861, and his wife, ,, where Mr. Steele bought land and erected a house, the Harriet Dawley Steele died July 25. 1895. Mr. Steele .< first brick dwelling in Chicago. The records show that was at first buried in a private cemetery on his own land he bought real estate in Chicago in 1830. If this is cor­ in River Forest. In later years he was moved to Forest rect, he must have purchased this before he came west, Home cemetery, where Mrs. Steele is also buried. - 3- Otlter Early Settle rs least. In 1835 he was one of the organizers of tl.1e River Forest profite<l by its proximity to Chicago Galena & Chicago Union railroad, which was built even in its early <lay. This was e\'idenced by the com­ .. F st three years after his death. He ing of Ashbel Steele, and hi s successors. most of whom through RJ\er ore . I was the first president of the company. sernng ess came from Chicago, attracted by the beautiful topog­ than a year. Jn 1840 he was a candidate for coroner o f raphy, and the stream which bordered on the west. It C<H)k County. was also on one of the lca<ling highways to the west 111 that early <lay. REUBE:-/ \\'H,\PLES was another pioneer w~ o Among those early neighbors of Ashbel Steele, came from the east (Connecticut). where he was born m were some cxc<!1>tions to this rule. 'These included JS((), to Chicago. later locating in Ri\·er Fo res t, and llen ry Qui ck and his so11, J ohn Henry, who came here huilding a brge tog cabin at the southwest corner. o f from Harlem, New York, in the early fifties, and ga\'e Lake street and Harlem avenue, on the s ite on which the name of liar Ie m to this section. The senior Jl1 r. the \\"ieholclt company has erected their great. depar.t­ Quick purchased a large tract of land on the west side ment store building. ~Ir . \\'haplcs came to Chicago 10 o f the section road which he afterward named Harlem 1838. He purchased a farm in DuPage county, near a\'enne. fn 1856, he Sent his Son here to develop it. Elgin, an<l live <l there a short time. He then came to a The son remained, building a fine ho me on Lake Proviso township farm, where his home was destroyed street. one bl ock west of Harlem avenue, and other by a great wind on April 21, l&tS.