, 1872-11-27
THE "DECIMAL SYSTEM"
Explanation Of Alderman Bonds Sus.
TEN of Numbering Streets.
Why 1t Is an Improvement on TIKI
Style Now in Vogue. j.

On Monday evening, the Council passed IL
following ordinance On the subject OF sired
numbers, an ordinance prepared by Alderman
Bond, and carried through, in great part, by hi
exertions:
An ordnance adopting the decimal system Of number
ing streets: and changing the names Of certain
streets, and amending Chapter XIV Of the Revised
Be- o1dained By tie T eo"o1. eesn css;,e Of the City o.
Chicago:
SECTION /. That the decimal system Of numbering
streets be adopted the system Of numbering st,scs
in the City Of Chicago.
Sec That Madison street shall be the dividing or
base line for numbering all north and south Streets and
al diagonal streets and that State street be the yid
ing or base line for numbering all and west streets.
SEC. 3. That the word west be taken from tie
street, and the word Aeoutl" from the names Of all
understanding south from Of Madison street; that
the word "east be preh1ed or added to the name OF
each and streets running east Of from
and the word north to the Of all streets
ming north Of or from Madison street, and that the
word street shall include avenues, court places.
SEC. That 100 numbers be assigned on each street.
to each bockor square not exceeding 400 feet in length
feet 200 numbers shall be assigned, and that nerTen-
Ing streets and alleys shall not be taken
Eldered as boundaries Of blocks or squares.
Sec. s. That no permit fee shall be charged or re-
CURED Tor numbering any building now numbered.
Sec. 8. That the Board Of Public Works shall
the provisions hereof aud when the same is CON-
pleed for either division or for the whole city, they
EhAH give notice thereof IN the corporation newspaper
and It shall be the duty Of the or occupants Of
al buildings to proceed and renumber their buildings
within thirty days after such notice shall be given
Sec. T. That all ordinances or parts Of ordinances
in conflict or inconsistent with this ordinance be and
the same are hereby repealed.
The ordinance was opposed in the Council,
since it was change, and since itwas expensive.
The last objection Is true but the expense is
slight for each individual, and the total amount
will be far less now than at any future time.
People are SO accustomed to submit to little
1nconTeniences, that those persons who were
not acquainted with the more perfect system Of
house-numbering, which is in use in Philadel-
phis, ST. Louis, and Washington, never found
any special fault with our outrageous system-no
system The numbers on parallel streets never
corresponded. 4 person wishing to go to GOO
Michigan avenue, never knew where he should
leave the State street car in order to reach his
point most quickly. At night, the evil was in
tenslhed and an individual In search Of 500 Mon
roe street had to feel his way along, occasionally
seeing q number on the glass above door, but
generally making dozen blunders before reach
number glEes no clue to tho distance to be
traversed. No. 800 Lake street may be two or
three miles from State street, who can tell?
State street is taken as the starting point for
the numbering OF cast and west streets for two
reasons. The lake could no. be selected since
it curves to the eastward, and not being q
straight line would cause discrepancy in the
numbers. Halsted street YVES proposed, but
that could not well have been adopted, since
State street, especially near Madison, is sort Of
business centre, and the natural point from
which distances should be reckoned. l. Gtrang-
er, starting out from South Side hotel, would
greatly prefer to be enabled to calculate dis
tanees from streets just near them, like State or
Madison, than from Streets like Ha1sted,
in order to ' make start 4 +
this stranger is in search Of 1920 Madison, he
knows at once that it is twenty-nine equares
and Fru Mi hat -+-z
Knows that that number on Chicago avenue,
Kinzie street, Park avenue, Mitchell street. or
Egan avenue ls everywhere twenty-nine blocks
from State street. Imagine an individual who
takes the Randolph street cars to go to 800 Park
avenue. He knows it to be the first street south
Of Lake; but where On Lake he is to get out to
reach his destination, neither he nor the con-
ductor knows, nor Is he very certain at which
end OF the street the numbering begins. It may
commence IN the middle and 1un both ways for
all he knows.
Where street does not reach State, like Full
ton street or Warren avenue, it is numbered pre-
cisely as il it did Thus the first number on
Fulton street, which begins at Canal will be SOL,
and on Warren avenue it viii be about 2601. It
it becomes necessary at present to go to Is
Spruce street, the first thing to be done is to
ind map, and hunt up the aforesaid street.
Under the new system the number would be
26l3, and the searcher could tell, at least with
ont looking at any map, that Spruce street be-
gan at Ashland avenue, and he knows precisely
where to leave the cars to get there.
The confusion between ''East" and "West'
will be mainly done away with East Madison
will be simply the IttIe strip east Of State street.
Tbs term ':.West Madison will not be used.
Avenues begin their numbering as il they we're
east and west streets. Since Milwaukee avenue
begins at Desplaines, it's first number will be the
game as the first number On Kinzie, west Of
Desp1aines, thus indicating how far west Of
State street it's starting point is.
It is not as easy to apply this methodin Chi