The Early History of Prairie Avenue - Part I

The heyday of Prairie Avenue as Chicago’s most exclusive residential street is generally framed by the dates of the Great Chicago Fire in October 1871 and the turn of the twentieth century. The history of the area, however, goes back much further, predating the subdivision of the land between present day 16^th Street and Cermak Road in the 1850s. In this first article examining Prairie Avenue’s early history, we will look at the events that set the stage for the construction of the first house in 1853.

The earliest history of Prairie Avenue is tied to Fort Dearborn, which was located nearly three miles to the north along the Chicago River at what is now Michigan Avenue. During the War of 1812 with Great Britain, the soldiers and civilians at the fort were ordered to evacuate for the safety of Fort Wayne in the Indiana Territory. On August 15, 1812, the party left the fort, traveling south along the shore of Lake Michigan, which was much closer to the future location of Prairie Avenue than it is today. Upon arriving at approximately 18^th Street, a brief battle took place with the native Potawatomi who were attempting to preserve their ancestral lands. There were many casualties on both sides and Fort Dearborn was burned soon after.

A cottonwood tree standing at the time of the battle became a symbol of the event. It stood on the north side of 18^th Street east of Prairie Avenue until it was felled during a storm in May 1894. The illustration below shows the tree in the 1880s, with the coach house of the George Pullman house visible at left. It also clearly shows that Prairie Avenue was most definitely lake front property.

In 1833, Dr. Elijah Harmon, the second person to establish a medical practice in the town, purchased 138.24 acres of land from the U.S. government, paying the standard rate of $1.25 per acre. He built a modest cabin on his property, which extended from the present boundaries of 16^th Street on the north to Cermak Road on the south, and from State Street on the west to the shore of Lake Michigan on the east. 

Future Prairie Avenue resident Silas B. Cobb arrived in Chicago that same year, and in 1900 was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune. While seated in the home of his daughter at 2027 S. Prairie Avenue, he gave a vivid impression of what the future Prairie Avenue neighborhood would have been like at the time:

“Instead of a flourishing village, the Chicago pioneer found mud, swamp holes, and hogs. Coyotes and prairie dogs swarmed everywhere . . .Two blocks away on Michigan avenue, where the steeple of the Second Presbyterian Church stands high in the air, Mr. Cobb remembered that he once waded through a swamp hole and figured that the ground never would amount to anything, even for farming.”

Harmon moved to Texas in 1834 and the next year, Henry and Caroline Clarke purchased the northernmost 20 acres of his tract, paying $100 per acre, an excellent return for Harmon on his investment. In 1836, the Clarkes built their Greek Revival home, which survives today as the Clarke House Museum at 1827 S. Indiana Avenue. In 1837, the city of Chicago was organized, and present day Cermak Road was established as the southern boundary of the city, making Clarke House the oldest surviving building within the original city limits. Despite being part of the city, Clarke House sat isolated in the country, well over a mile south of the nearest building. Residents of the city would drive out on Sundays along an old Native American path (now Michigan Avenue), to see the majestic house set amongst the scrubby landscape by the lake.

The Clarkes remained largely isolated through the 1840s. Their only immediate neighbors were the dearly departed. In 1833, sixteen acres of land had been acquired for a municipal town cemetery, reserved for Catholic burials. The present boundaries of that cemetery would be Cermak Road on the north, 23^rd Street on the south, Prairie Avenue on the west, and the lakeshore on the east. (Today that site is occupied by the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place and portions of the convention center). The cemetery operated until 1847, when all the bodies were supposedly relocated to the city cemetery in present day Lincoln Park. As late as 1897, however, bodies were still being found when construction was underway for new buildings.

In 1849, a devastating cholera epidemic swept through Chicago, which led to the founding of the Chicago Orphan Asylum. This charitable institution provided relief for the many afflicted immigrants who left behind children, but no family or financial structure to support them. In 1854, the Asylum completed its new building at 2228 S. Michigan Avenue.  By the time it moved to larger quarters at South Park Avenue and 51^st Street in 1899, it was estimated that more than 6,000 children had been served by the institution.  (The new building, located at 5120 S. King Drive, was designated a Chicago landmark in 2009).

Chicago Orphan Asylum, 2228 S. Michigan Avenue

The cholera epidemic also claimed the life of Henry Clarke, leaving his widow with six children and a house that had never been completed. In 1850, Caroline Clarke subdivided 17 acres of her land, retaining only a 3-acre parcel around the house, which sat on the east side of Michigan Avenue. Clarke’s Addition to Chicago was created in anticipation of the continued growth of the city to the south, evidenced by the extension of Michigan Avenue beyond the Clarke property and the daily trips of the State Street stagecoach south to the city limits.

Ironically, this subdivision marked the beginning of Prairie Avenue, but Prairie Avenue did not exist in the subdivision. Due to the proximity of the lake, the lots along the east side of Indiana Avenue were simply extended east to the lake shore. It was not until after the Civil War that this block was subdivided yet again, inserting the 1600 block of Prairie Avenue, and configuring the lots as we know them today.

Another important event at this same time was the chartering of the Illinois Central Railroad, which took place in 1851. The railroad reached an agreement with the city to run its tracks along the shore of Lake Michigan, viewed as a practical way to preserve the shoreline. The Illinois Central was the longest railroad in the world when it was completed in 1856. The main line extended from Cairo to Galena, but a branch line extended from Centralia (named for the railroad) to Chicago. Three trains daily ran between downtown Chicago and Hyde Park, providing easy transportation in and out of the city. (It survives today as the Metra Electric Line, with a station at 18^th Street).

Illinois Central train at the foot of 18th Street, c. 1888 (Photo by George Glessner)

In 1852, a city resolution created Prairie and Indiana Avenues as far south as present day Cermak Road. Although the north-south streets always bore their current names, the east-west streets were named differently as follows:

16^th St.:          North Street

17^th St.:          New Street

18^th St.:          Old Street

19^th St.:          Cross Street

20^th St.:          Bridge Street

21^st St.:          Commerce Street

22^nd St.:          Ringgold Avenue

These streets started using their current numeric names in the 1860s when subdivisions farther west adopted that naming convention, although consistent street names across the city were not universal for many years.

1858 map - 16th Street at top; State Street at left; Cermak Road at bottom

During the 1850s, several new subdivisions were laid out south of Caroline Clarke’s property, as investors purchased land in anticipation of development and rapidly increasing land values. In 1853, the southern boundary of the city was extended to 31^st Street. All the pieces were now in place for the first residents to purchase lots and build their homes. In next week’s article, we will look at those neighborhood “pioneers” and the houses they built.

Miner T. Ames, coal merchant

On January 19, 1890, exactly 125 years ago today, Frances Glessner wrote the following in her journal, while recording the events of the past week, “Our neighbor, Mr. Ames, died early in the week.”  The reference was to Miner T. Ames of 1811 S. Prairie Avenue, who had died on January 13^th. 

This was the second time in just over two years that the Glessners noted the passing of a resident of this particular house, built in 1886.  In early December 1887, the week that the Glessners moved into their new Prairie Avenue home, Mrs. Joseph Coleman, a daughter of Chicago pioneer Silas Cobb, died unexpectedly leaving a husband and three young children – Silas Cobb, Marie Louise, and Joseph Griswold Coleman.  In her will, she left the house to her children, and in August 1888 it was sold at auction to Miner T. Ames.  He made a $10,000 down payment and the balance of $40,000 was to be paid within five years through a series of eight promissory notes to the order of the three minor children.  Ames was living at 3815 S. Ellis Avenue at the time of the purchase.

Miner T. Ames was born in Becket, Massachusetts on July 20, 1839.  Raised on the family farm, he set out at the age of 16 to work as a travelling salesman and within a year obtained a position as a railroad brakeman in Akron, Ohio.  A hard worker, he was soon promoted to baggage master, a position he held for five years before saving enough money to relocate to Chicago in September 1862.  After a few years, he engaged in the coal business, and it was through this venture that he made his fortune, becoming the owner of a large coal mine in Minonk, near Peoria, Illinois, under the name of the Chicago & Minonk Coal & Coke Company. 

Coal mine at Minonk

An interesting story connected with the coal operation involves the installation of electric lights in Minonk.  An article, published years later in a Chicago newspaper noted:

“Knowlton L. Ames, prominent Chicagoan and head of the Booth Fisheries Company was born in Minonk.  It was through the efforts of his father, the late Miner T. Ames, that Minonk was the second town in the United States to have municipal electric lighting.

“A friend of his was working at the time for Thomas A. Edison in his electrical laboratories.  One day he came to visit Ames.  After he saw the mine he offered to install electric lights in the shaft more or less as an experiment.  That was in 1882.  It worked so well, Ames gathered a group of subscribers and had electric lights installed throughout the town.”

With his first wife Emily, Miner T. Ames had three children – Knowlton (who was in his final year at Princeton when his father died), and two daughters, Jane Rose and Harriet Chaffee.  His wife died in 1877, and six years later he married Irene Cowen, by whom he had two more children – Emily Faithful and Miner T. Jr. who were four and two respectively at the time of their father’s death. 

The funeral took place at the family home on Prairie Avenue on January 16^th, as reported in the Chicago Tribune:

“The remains of Miner T. Ames were laid to rest yesterday afternoon in Graceland in the presence of his immediate relatives.  The services at the family residence, No. 1811 Prairie avenue, were short and simple.  The Rev. Dr. Simon J. McPherson of the Second Presbyterian Church read several consoling passages of Scripture and offered prayer.  The burial was private, only the relatives following the body to the cemetery.”

Ames had accumulated significant wealth in his lifetime, and on January 21^st, the Tribune reported on the assets of the estate:

“Judge E. H. Gary granted to Mrs. Irene C. Ames letters of administration in the estate of her late husband, Miner T. Ames, the coal merchant.  The estate aggregates $560,384.  Mrs. Ames gave bonds in the sum of $200,000.  Mr. Ames left no will, and the property will be divided between the widow and children, Knowlton L. Ames, Jane Rose Ames, Harriett Chaffee Ames, Emily Faithfull Ames, and Minor T. Ames.  The schedule of property includes cash on hand and bills and notes receivable amounting to $37,390; household furniture, $3,100; store and office fixtures, cars and machinery, $42,124; the homestead at No. 1811 Prairie avenue, $90,000; a residence on De Kalk street, $5,000; coal lands at Braidwood, Ill., containing 469 acres, $4,000; about 1,953 acres of land in Woodford and Marshall Counties, Illinois, $175,770; the shaft and mine at Minonk, Ill., with 2,300 acres of coal land, $200,000.  The annual rental of the landed property is placed at $15,000.”

The home was the scene of a happy event when Jane Rose Ames was married to Walter W. Ross on May 14, 1891.  The evening ceremony was attended by 150 guests and “the rooms were profusely decorated with potted plants, roses, and violets, white and purple being the only colors used.”  The ceremony was performed by Rev. McPherson from Second Presbyterian Church.  Several hundred guests attended the reception following.

Chicago Tribune, May 27, 1894

Within a couple of years, the Ames family moved and, being unsuccessful at selling the home, opted to lease it out to a series of tenants.  The widow moved to 2108 S. Prairie Avenue, and Ames’ eldest son Knowlton moved to 2412 S. Prairie Avenue.  Occupants of the house included attorney William B. Keep, fire adjuster Joseph Fish, and David Mayer, a partner in the firm of Schlesinger & Mayer.

LATER HISTORY:  Knowlton L. Ames, known as “Snake Ames” during his time as an all-American football fullback at Princeton, later served as chairman of the board of Booth Fisheries and publisher of the Chicago Journal of Commerce.  He committed suicide in December 1931 while despondent over ill-health and financial reverses.  His son John Dawes Ames, took over as publisher of the Chicago Journal of Commerce, which was eventually sold to Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Wall Street Journal.  John D. Ames was a colonel in World War II and served as military governor of Rome after it occupation in 1944.  A long-time Lake Forest resident, he died in 1987.