It's a Story of Struggle of
Annexation
and the man behind it
1900 Campaign Pin/photo - Ebay
the first and only mayor of Lake View 1887-1889
and last Supervisor of Lake View Township
and
the former Mayor of Lake View who tried and failed
to win the mayoral contest of the
City of Chicago in 1900
five years after the establishment of the
Township of Lake View
above map - Maps of Cook County, Illinois
above map - Maps of Cook County, Illinois
(township -1857-1887)
(city - 1887-1889)
a more zoomed view below
The Township of Lake View was established 1857-1887; the City of Lake View in 1887-1889. This map highlights the Communityt of Pine Grove and the area of Wright Grove to the south as well as the Town of Chittenden near Rose Hill Cemetery to the north. The rail line is the former North Western Railroad Company tracks that ran along Ravenswood Avenue. Jefferson Township is to the left and City of Chicago is at the bottom. Detailed sheet maps of the old township/city can be found online via History Works Maps for the year 1887. The population (see text below) of the Township of Lake View grew to 1,840 in 1870 to 6,663 in 1880, apparently doubling in 1884 to 12,824 residents mostly living south of Graceland Avenue - Irving Park Road.
When the township citizens voted for a city status there were seven administrative districts; these same districts would becoming city wards. The territorial size of each district/ward did not change. According to Edgewater Historical Society the seventh ward was from Foster Avenue to Devon. I am assuming that most of the wards were located from Fullerton to Belmont avenues.
An Account of the Man
in 1884
History of Cook County
by Theodore Andreas
'William Boldenweck of Boldenweck & Heldmaier contractors and manufacturers of 'cut stone' in Chicago was born in Wurtemberg Germany August 9 1851. When two years of age his parents came to America and settled in Chicago where they both died during the cholera epidemic of 1854. At the age of twenty he went into the employ[ment] of his brother Louis H. Boldenweck [who was a] contractor and manufacturer of 'cut stone'. He was book-keeper and remained with him up to 1875. He then engaged in the 'cut stone' business with P. Henne under the firm name of Boldenweck & Henne. In January 1883 with Ernst Heldmaier formed the firm of Boldenweck & Heldmaier. Mr. Boldenweck resided in Lake View Township since July 1876. He was a member of the Lake Shore Club, Knights of Honor, and Lake View Singing Society. He married Miss Adelheid G. Samme March 25 1873, daughter of Frederick Samme who settled in Chicago in 1847- fourteenth years before he was elected mayor.' - their only mayor.
The Mayors Wishes for the City of Lake View
in 1888
a publication called the Inter-Ocean
The Mayor is a Lier
Not a Fan
of Free Speech, apparently
An Account of the Mayor
published in 1892
(after the annexation)
by The Chicago Times Company
'In 1887 Mr. Boldenweck was elected to the office of Supervisor of Lake View then under a [township] organization. He was elected the first Mayor of Lake View on the Republican ticket [in June 1887]. In 1889 he was re-elected Mayor of Lake View until that 'suburb' was annexed to Chicago [later that year]. The affairs of Lake View was turned over to the officials in charge of the City of Chicago.
Mr Boldenweck made many improvements in Lake View while mayor. The work of planning and contracting & construction of the Lake View tunnel was all done while that was still a [supervisor of the township] and while he was city mayor but had his detractors.' [and there were many]
The Post
Mayor Boldenweck Era:
Once Sanitary District President
'In June 1891 [two years after the annexation] Mr Boldenweck was appointed a member of the Board of Education by [Chicago] Mayor Washburne for a term of four years. In October of the same year he was nominated as Sanitary District President and elected for a four year term. When Sanitary District trustees and laborers broke open the last dam holding back the Chicago River, Sanitary District President William Boldenweck, who lost both of his parents to a cholera epidemic decades before, cried “Let ‘er go,” according to the Chicago Daily News, calling his remark “the nearest approach to formality of the entire occasion.”'
Candiate and then
Sub-Treasurer
'Mr Boldenweck was a strong Republican candidate for the nomination of mayor of Chicago. In the convention the delegates chose someone else, Judge Elbridge Hanecy for that office June 29 1906. After that defeat President Teddy Roosevelt appointed him sub-treasurer of the United States for the Chicago region.'
He was later accused of neglect of duty but politically found not guilty by the U.S. congress.
Not Guilty
by April 1908
January 1910
The only mayor of Lake View died in the country of birth Germany in 1922. All his children died before he did, His wife, Adelheid Gesine Samme, died in 1912.
The Family Home
in 1891
post 1909 address - 3258 N Halsted
from 1890 Blue Book & selected names
Rascher's Altas 1891
The Articles:
The Road from
Township
to City:
(hope you like reading)
zoomed image - Library of Congress
the Old Town Hall
The 1887 election results were very close; mostly pitting special interests like saloon-keepers against folks who demanded clean drinking water particularly for school students.
A petition campaign for annexation to Chicago would feverishly continue for the next two years.
The initial talk about annexation began as early as 1873 per this article below
from the publication
called Lake View Saga below ...
and below the communites within the township ...
According of the articles that this blogger read the township government operated fairly well; the city government not so much. In fact, the city was established by a lobbies of private interests that did not want any part of Lake View to be annex to the City of Chicago in 1887 nor 1889. In 1887 there was support in the annexation of the southern part of the township to Chicago - south of Belmont Avenue only.
For a decade before the 1889 annexation their were two political camps, the pro-annexationalists (real word used at the time) and the anti-annexationalist. Residents who wanted more than basic services than a township form of government could provide would support Township Supervisor Boldenweck to become a city.
The anti-annexationists were mostly special interest groups that wanted to avoid Chicago regulation and possible increase taxation.
The Issues:
(articles may need to be click-on/enlarged to read)
The city like many of the township issues of the day were ...1) clean water supply - in the early days of the township the tunnel from the Lake View crib to Lake View Pumping Station leaked periodically; the source of little known disease at the time called cholera and typhoid that caused a periodic epidemic prior since the mid 19th century,
2) increase taxation along with free postage service,
3) cost of infrastructure such as construction, maintenance, expansion of streets and roads which included wider street space for new trolley and railroad services,
4) over-crowding in the public schools and construction of more,
5) revenue for the maintaince of Lincoln Park, the new park along the lakefront required higher taxation from the township and city residents. Townships were required to tax property owners for the park. Muncipal bonds were also sought by the assessors of both Lake View and North Chicago townships during these early years.
The Lincoln Park Board of Commissioners was established by State of Illinois so to govern the maintenance and expansion of the park along the lakefront that included the Township and then the City of Lake View. The membership of the Board included two members from Lake View - the township supervisor and assessor and three others from the Township of North Chicago - where the original park was formed within the City of Chicago. Many voters of Lake View did not like the idea of a special commission taxing them without direct citizen representation.
and #5
and finally corruption/ non-compliance in city departments that involved misuse of funds from the city's treasurer office.
and sixth issue ...
The Tavern Owners
The saloon-keepers, a strong interest group and mostly located south of Belmont Avenue, were against annexation due to stricter zoning laws/taxation of liquor in the City of Chicago. Property owners who owned large parcels of land initially partnered with the owners of the saloons in the election of 1887. Two years later according to my readings the property land owners switched sides due to alleged corruption charges of Mayor Boldenweck's administration. The citizens of the northern areas were never great fans of the idea of a city form of government. During the 1st attempt for annexation in 1887 the citizens of the township north of Belmont Avenue voted against annexation. The majority the residents of the City of Lake View were located south of Belmont Avenue and were more inclined to vote for annexation to Chicago. While the 1887 electoral measure failed for a couple of reasons, the 1889 measure succeded by almost the same amount of votes cast - the numbers just switched.The Tavern Owners
A City of
Chicago Map
The geographics did not change. All the territory of the township became the territory of the new city - Lake Michigan to the east, Western Avenue to the west, Fullerton Avenue to the south,
and Devon Avenue to the north.
and presentated by the University of Chicago Collection
A Scheme to Re-charter
to a City Form of Governance to
Avoid Annexation to Chicago in 1886
The Election
in June 5 1887
The New City of
Lake View
'H' would be part of the northern tip of Lincoln Park, the park & north of Fullerton Avenue
to Diversey Avenue (Parkway)
along the North Branch of the Chicago River
Summary of Council Officials
of the City of Lake View
photo - Lake View Saga
June 15, 1887
New City Officials Take Charge
A City Meeting
in September 1887
No to Annexation
November 1887
Township of Lake says No
and
A Part of Jefferson Township says Yes
City of Lake View Says No
(back in June Lake View voted in a city form of governance)
Township of Hyde Park says No
City Treasurer's Competency
in December 1887
in December 20 1887
Talk of Complete Annexation to Chicago
February 1988
Justification of Competency
in April 1988
Paulina Berteau Avenue in 1888 - City of Lake View
The township borders became the new city's border - Devon Avenue (Church Street) Western Avenue to the west, the then existing lakefront to the east and Fullerton Avenue to the south
the portion of the City of Lake View that was on the November ballot to be annex to the City of Chicago in 1887 was from Belmont to Fullerton avenues where most of the population resided. The scheme failed and the entire geographical area of the Township of Lake View adopted a city form of goverance.
zoomed from above
a sectional sheet view
1888 The first full service real estate office is established more or less replacing the old Lake View Hotel as the unofficial location to meet and negotiate for land purchases.
Note: 'truck garden' were farms used to transported their product to market.
- Lake View Saga, Merlo Library
A Fire Department Tower in the Ravenswood area
Dieden Brothers Goods along Foster Avenue
A Gift from the Mayor
in 1888
%20(1).jpg)
City of Lake View - a shotgun
In 1887 the voters of the Township of Lake View changed its legal status to a city. The city survived between 1887 until the 1889 before the voters of the city voted for annexation to Chicago.
This shotgun is owned by Orville Miller Jr. who inherited the shotgun from his uncle.
The metal work on the shotgun documents, a time long forgotten until now - gift to the sherriff of Lake View from the mayor.
After the annexation the former City of Lake View was divided mostly into two Chicago wards, the 25th & 26th.
photo below - 1893 Rand McNally map edit
Lake View's First Year
as a City in 1888
A Special Year Election
was Held June 29, 1889
According the publication Hidden History of Ravenswood & Lake View by Patrick Butler the first and last mayor of Lake View "William Boldenweck seized his suburb's records and funds and barricaded himself in his town hall office until he was forced to back down by the Illinois Supreme Court". On June 29th his administration lost; totals were 2,503 for annexation and 1,999 against that almost mirrored the 1887 totals but this time in reverse. The City of Lake View would became the District of Lake View within the City of Chicago until the late 1920's when Communities were established and establishing Lake View as one of the 75 established the Chicago City Council with a much smaller geographical land mass.
City of Lake View
becomes one of the
four new Districts of Chicago
in November 1889
Evanston Avenue is currently called Broadway
Lake View Turner Hall is
currently the Lincoln Park Athletic Club
the northeast corner of Ravenswood & Leland in the 1880s with a zoomed view of a family on their porch
photo - Ravenswood-Lake View Community Collection
The Mayor Called
Voters Fools in July 1889
Former Treasurer Keeps Money
September 1889
and later December 1889
Illinois Supreme Court Ruling
on Annexation
By 1890 the former City of Lake View had a population of slightly over 52.2 thousand people
1830-1889
City of Lake View Stats
DeWitt Clinton Cregier 1889-1891
a Democrat
born June 1, 1829
died November 9, 1918
he had 10 children; buried in Rosehill Cemetery
In 1853, at age 24, DeWitt Clinton Cregier was already
recognized for his expertise and recruited from New York to design the
water‐pumping system for the fast‐growing city of Chicago. After manning the
pumps throughout the night during the Great Fire of 1871 he went on to serve as Chicago city engineer, then commissioner of Public Works, and then elected mayor in 1889. He was mayor for 1893 Columbian Exposition for
Chicago, in competition with other cities, and annexed more land than any other
mayor according to a book called '
One
of his major tasks was to start integrating into the city such annexed suburbs
as Lake View, Hyde Park, Lake, Jefferson and part of Cicero, which in total added 128.24
square miles to the city's 44 sq. miles. His grandfather (x 4) saw similar
public service in 1653 as burgomaster of the newly chartered city of New
Amsterdam, currently called New York City.
The Former Lake View Mayor
had Plans for Mayor of Chicago
in 1900
The commanding influence of the officials of the former city and former township would last for decades due to the fact that the integration of all the townships/city that the City of Chicago acquired in 1889 would take some time. Old habits die hard and the newly formed District of Lake View did not give up power & influence easily.
Other Jobs:
President of the Drainage Board
in 1897
in 1907
and the end of an era for Lake View
Graceland Cemetery
the Knoll Section is their resting place
zoomed from above
husband and wife
.jpg)
Him as a Child
photo from - Christa Selig
lower right
Post Note:
but only as a property tax agency
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These posts are exclusively used for educational purposes. I do not wish to gain monetary profit from this blog nor should anyone else without permission for the original source - thanks!
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