The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-06-02
.RivERsliDE.

RIVERSIDE.
Result or Individ cal Enterprise-A
letter from Chicago.
i From the New York Evening Post.
When a New Yorker goes to spend
neighbor, who has "moved into the
country" as the phrase goes, the good
citizen looks around with an air of
very natural suspicion, and inquiries
into the habits of the family with al
z most as much curiosity and pity as
though he where visiting missionary
IN Otaheite. o IEr
"How do you light your house?" he
: tasks, "Kerosene, ehe Smells bad; blow
1 you up; trouble to servants; won't do"
"HOw do you do your marketing?
Market basket from town, eh? Great
trouble.n
"How do you get your rubber of
whist? Drive mile or two, eh? too
much worry" ~ n
"What do you dofor water? Pump it?
Dear me! 1 should he afraid to waste
enough to keep my hands Clean"
"What about sewerage? CesspOol
back of the house? Breeds typhus, and
smells in hot weather. .Hsx<~
"HOw early do you have to break
fast? Ugh! seven O'Clock is too early
and don't want to be the slave of a
aHow about yoaf roadsg don't
like mud" the good citizen don't like
mud because he has so much of it in
| New York, and he forgets that coun-
try mud is clean, compared with the
kind with which nasty omnibus
driver splashes him on Broadway.
"What about lectures, amusements,
society?" And so on and so forth; and
he gets back to town the next day
and thanks his stars that he has never
been idiot enough to leave the conven-
fences of the city.
And though the hearty lover of
country life laughs at him, and with
his wife and children lives a quieter
and more sensible life, and one of far
greater and more varied enplOyments,
yet the dearest lover of the country
will own that his love would be more
satisfactory could he have Central
Park roads to drive on, water laid on
all over his house, coal gas instead of
Kerosene, a good sewer instead of a
dangerous cesspool, shops near by,
and neighbors next door instead of
half mile away.
| "But you can't eat your cake and
have it," says suburban Jones, and
makes the best of his little troubles,
waiting till his neighbOrhood shall be
settled, and city conveniences shall
come to him, at twice their cost, with
agood many city cOrveniences thrown
in
Itmust have been some citizens who
had been CALLED by the inconvenience
of 'tliving in the country" who con-
ceived the thought of contriving near
Chicago suburb with every city con-
venience. 1 had heard of "Riverside"
as one of the curiosities of the West,
and now have seen it, and, loving
the country, / wish sincerely that
Chicago were New York, or that the
Riverside Improvement Company"
had favored our vicinity with their
enterprise and skill.
1t entered into the mind of the
originator of "Riverside" to do that, in
| the beginning, which the inhabitants
of village, or town, or city, sometimes
do, and always want to do, after the
place is full of people, and when to do
it costs ten times as much as it ought.
He determined to prepare a city and
depend upon people to live in it when
the millennium comes; this is the way
all cities will be founded; for the pres
ent, Riverside is the only city know
of where this desirable plan has been
successfully carried out; and so well
has the work been done, that it may
| serve as model to the Milennarians.
ORIGIN OF THE TOWN.
The Riverside Improvement Com
pany bought ,604 acres of land, eight
miles from the centre of Chicago, and
four miles from, the city boundary.
The original advantages of the tract
of flat land-all the land about Chica-
go is as flat as pancake-were that
very lovely and lively stream runs
through it, and that it has the only
piece of good timber anywhere near
the city. Besides this, one of the best
managed of the Chicago roailroads
runs through the property, and gives
to its inhabitants already twelve
trains daily each way, which shows
| that it has two or three times as much
enterprise as most of our New York
subuIb ban roads.
/ suppose when a man has genius
and faith enough to undertake real
| ly great enterprise, he generally has
| with it the sense to get the best men
| to help him. When the Riverside
people had bought their land and got
their charter from the Legislature
which was done in March, 1S69-they
called in MIR. Frederick Law Olmsted
| to give them good alvice. OF course
they could not have done a wiser
thing. Mr.. Olmsted made q patient
and thorough typographical survey
of the property; his practised eye saw
all its advantages; and on his report
| and plans the company have acted.
The work began in accordance with
this plan in June, 1869. At that time
building on it, huge stable, where
the former owner of the land kept fine
horses. Being near Chicago, they
"mOved" this stable bodily about
mile and half away, where it still
shelters Logan and other fast trotting
horses. .. ...... "
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE.
| Of course, the place is not completed
twenty-five months is but short
time. But that has been done is done
IN first rate style. The roads are as
finely laid, guttered and drained, and
are to-day as firm, as those of our
Central Park; they wind as prettily,
they are thoroughly bordered with
grass; the walks, made of gravel, sand
and tar, are as smooth and firm as
in our park. Gas and water pipes
are laid wherever the ro ads are COM
pleted, and are ready at every lot, in
the opened division, to be connected
with houses; gas lamps on the roads
light up the whole place, as in the
city.
Every house now built on the place
has connection with gas and water
mains, and with the sewer, which is
to carry off; however, no solid matters
but only refuse water. The arte
sian well throws water now thir-
ty-nine feet high, and supplies: by its
own momentum, water to the second
stories of all the houses.
The well is surmounted by very
beautiful stone and brick tower, a
really fine piece of architecture, which
cost S17,0 900. The other public build
ings erected by the company are, a
refectory, a Swiss building, which con-
tains large dining-rooms, private sup
per rooms, handsome pariors, large
assembly rooms, capable of holding an