, 1866-12-08
RAILROADS AND STREET RAIL
WAYS,
A Chapter Of the History Of
Municipal Legislation.
AL Acts OF the Common Council on
these Subjects Arranged in
Chronological Order.

Vu1VAVluSAC UlutTs
EARLY LEGISLATION REGARDING
THE ADMISSION OF RAILROADS
INTO THE CITY.
futr1cacles Of the Hi1tory of Street
hA1lTaJs-Who were the First
Street railway sneorpora1ors
In ChlcaEo-Provlsion. or
the First Ordinances for
Street Railways.
A COMPLETE HISTORY DOWN To |
THE PRESENT DAX.
The legislation Of the city Of Chicago, 1ela:ing
to railroads ard torEe railways, Ia chapter which
has seldom been opened bnt which is neverthe-
lees most Instructive and important branch OF
our municipal history. In III. course OF years
there has been a1nassed mon. uous hesp of doc
ument., which has beea preserved with much the
same care and order that Is to be found In we'll
ordered dust.bln or rsg.bag- Petitions, rcruon-
Btrsnccs, communications, reports. resolutions.
orders, ordinances, etc, were thrown In pcll-mel1
In some eapacious dry goods boxes The dust Of
time settled hiekly on them. Occasionally an
interested party, claimant or lawyer, would
anrIv m tte civ clatl, for anne rrnn1rcd doc.
nment and that function,ry ,nn,d tnrn
1oosc nnon The drv rnn1. hc1es .ro,es,fd the
seeker after truth. 1rhc found what he wanted.
very gool-if he did no1 the heart OF the CLERK
was not saddened thereby. AT length the bright
idea etruck the Common Council that these old
documents might ba OF some nse, and that they
indexed, and this heavy f-st 'a- con- -ded 10 the
sneen. es aasn,s e1e,s Af; nodan, ana n' aois
=, hc., rnmn1u,ct1 ,n3 o3-s.av ~ hss n,s,s1 ~,
.1,,, ~ -, ',1s ,a... ea W
ard placed l: in comparatively easy rcach. This
Ia the nlre ol which ne spoke, and IRON 1t, Is a
snccin,rn. yre nrooo,a 10 rive a rlcsr sn5 cor-
railroads and railways, as 1t appears
In tho dry details Of conmon Council do
.As-s,n ~ ,taI, che,nn,na1c.s n,5as ~. rsa.s
tseteto 10 'nsr1 sasono'osieai osoef. me iaess
reference to many business men and iawye:s, and
1hey will also be quite interesting to the erne-a.
reader, who will thus be enabled to see Of how
recent growth ase all our railroads. anl railways,
aud how much OF energy has been shown In their
establishment. II a. any time there should be
oAsc+rab1c , hrpa, nmono thp minor th,ssd. ~
th,s as nsrr,t;ve ~ rsets ~ NAV ha c.adt,a1 -,
tus Wy .n., 49,, 's t..a ~ ~
some on: o. .ne many gentlemen who nave Ia
ihe Loxcs. To sumu1aee at t,cir own sweet will.
Than;s to rem some Documents arr 1ov on,v
known to have existed bS The reference to them
ioUnd IN others st1I pseseryrd.
Tic Asst record OF 'lo,ngs relative to
ss,a..oans .se ,,es.
waleA IL totho amons tae docanaenss IS a1.ed
-tH,ii sSlt lSiS-A COMMUNICATION from ". 3.
p.os oft E. uto
! Iiailroad Company, asking permission to driyc
piles wtcreon 70 build wharycs at the foot Of
szinz.c and Of Fulton streets on the West Side 1t
s,on 10 esiah',sh wharSce there, they bad hot ye.
discovered iact s1nrc made apparent that there
was there from, to Tx feet In depth Of SON,
| blacl. mud, Permission was ofcourse given.
4 Lay Il n, 1siS-Appca:s arcn1oIstrauce OF y. B.
Judd and others aEalEst tho thcu proposed run
tailruad" along The park cast OF Michigan avenue,
for The reasons that II wonll destroy the park I'm
hs yane oi 5BrogeSy ehsn
Jnly ~ ls4s%An IN. ordinance OF !hs Council
ZIP @ % II Kne 4ce toad tDio .n
BE- Be necessary; also TO ase IL ti.s same way Tao
isras We'eott. il i proper 10 senasE here tba!
| noDe OF the old Ordinances granting the right 0,
occupancy Of stsects 10 !alroads. Contain aay linn
10 twenty-five years, but the railroads entering the
| CITY have appArex1ly perpetual lease Whether
they lave aetaally .uca pespesual lease ~ gaes
tion for the courts to determine upon any s:iyts
the gran, is IN thu ca,ure OF 3 con;rart, o. pr
sho other tand II Is held that street. + fo: The ac
eommodation Ct the entirc 2nb'ic-an3 that whet
It's occupation ey 4 railroad praesieall! prevents
the railroad may be compelled either to relsrqutst
The street enti:cly, Or 10 snlait Its running ar
- IHnnT
zie street and lay t.ack thereon down as Gar a
I'll aeo ao 70 % ay Eli 81
st1ce1, to enable them II run thoi1 freight car
wherever they pleased. subject to subsequent Of
'eis psstmDsr ~ aGs e "a, d6@%: $. Johnston rcmon
atrated against What be had heard tic C..ieago /
Ga;cna Railroad Compauy proposed doing. VIZ
sstcnaing down SGrth Wa;sr stseet oe!sw Par p II
ptetm5<y 9N4, 1s?o-A committee s3qelched ~
was ccnsnzfea tn ey the tonncil. -.
Hoy sGka, 1851 ordinance vas passed, in &C
eotd!.es Win 1he petition Of shs officers Of Z:
q ST Des and tse Vest pf M ot i:
Is t fe no nor % line ~ .: pot st srce9 aiso, ssss h
s!fcct On aay stfeet between Civ: md na1s:sd
ited 10 tiss ,: m!Iss pr hoa' ,x.n. -,
Chicago T. Rock lslsnG Rajlroa,i Comaany, in
formed Inc Council Of the luca ion 0. t1lrir i1acl
on ,hest.ects, where il silt cnlans H. nsso pre-
posed to the Council that II tho city would lux:
Northern Indiana Ila,Irosd would be made mac
carer the city thaa was originally Intended. Re
! feErct TO eoalmittee: a..
Skinner aud others,o.;EtAg ~ The city !" an:aossz
noscIip tieq Of $l;NsGe 70 ne capital STOCK