The Railroad Tycoon who Built Chicago: New Biography of William Butler Ogden

In a letter from Paris, dated 22 August 1877, Mary Todd Lincoln, the president’s widow, wrote, “This morning, in a New York paper of Aug. 8, I read the announcement of Mr. Wm. B. Ogden’s death. In former times, he was a very prominent citizen of Illinois.” Mr. Lincoln, of course, was that prairie lawyer from Illinois who was both a congressman for the people and counsel for railroads, who poured out his life to save the Union. Mr. Ogden was a businessman from a small town in Western New York who through great vision, the force of a powerful personality and amazing determination in the face of staggering setbacks, helped extend and build that Union. As Jack Harpster, author of a new--and given the scope of his accomplishments,almost inconceivably, FIRST--biography of Ogden, epitomizes William Butler Ogden was a builder. At sixteen, as his father lay paralyzed in bed, he built the family lumber and woolen business into an ever increasing size; he later built his brother-in-law’s land investments in Chicago into a greatly profitable real-estate concern; he helped build Chicago from a muck-mired frontier garrison and trading post into “nature’s metropolis”. He was a backer and guiding light of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad as well as the Chicago & North Western. He was first president of the Union Pacific. He had his hands in northern lumber, Pennsylvanian iron, and there was scarcely a public project, a civic organization a plan for development in Chicago that Ogden was not a president, a trustee, a supporter, a silent partner. Even in retirement he was working to help develop public transportation into the upper reaches of New York City.

While there are streets in Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin and New York, a medical center in Elmira, a library western New York, a stained glass window in an Omaha Cathedral, and an elementary school in Chicago all carrying Mr. Ogden’s name, it has been Mr. Harpster’s destiny to write what must be the definitive telling of his story. With a skilled hand and very cogent analysis, Harpster as biographer weaves the growth of 19th Century America in size, technology and outlook, with the struggles and achievements of William B. Ogden’s life so straightforwardly that it belies the immense amount of research and study he has undertaken. Time and again Ogden built a great financial empire to have it washed away by the periodic collapses of national economy or the devastating destruction of natural disaster. Time and again Ogden yield not to depression or despair but turned even stronger efforts to rebuilt and expand. The power of Ogden’s vision or his ability to sway both a New York legislature or group of Wisconsin farmers out to lynch him, reminds us of the vision of those who have preceded us and what is possible in our land now and in the future. This remarkable story is recommended reading for not only those of us concerned with history, urban development, railroading, and business, but for all concerned with the human spirit. Five stars.

--Raymond F. Kearney

The Railroad Tycoon Who Built Chicago:
A Biography of William B. Ogden
By Jack Harpster
Southern Illinois University Press, 2009

NOTE: My sincere thanks to Journal guest blogger Ray Kearney for allowing me to publish his review.

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Eyewitness to the Great Fire: A Pack on my Back

It was the great fire of 1871 that made me a country peddler. Oh, yes! I remember the fire very well. It was in October. We used to go to bed early, because the two roomers had to go to work very early. We were getting ready to go to bed, when we heard the fire bells ringing. I asked the two men if they wanted to see where the fire was.

"Why should I care where the fire is," one of the men said. "As long as our house is not on fire, I don't care what house is burning. There is a fire every Monday and Thursday in Chicago."

But I wanted to see the fire. So I went out into the street. I saw the flames across the river. But I thought that since the river was between the fire and our house, there was nothing to worry about. I went into the house and went to bed.

The next thing I knew my two bed-fellows were shaking me. "Get up," they cried. "The whole city is on fire! Save your things! We are going to Lincoln Park."

I jumped out of bed and pulled on my pants. Everybody in the house was trying to save as much as possible. I tied my clothes in a sheet. With my clothes under my arm and my pack on my back, I left the house with the rest of the family. Everybody was running north. People were carrying all kinds of crazy things. A woman was carrying a pot of soup, which was spilling all over her dress. People were carrying cats, dogs and goats. In the great excitement people saved worthless things and left behind good things. I saw a woman carrying a big frame in which was framed her wedding veil and wreath. She said it would have been bad luck to leave it behind.

When we came to Lake Street I saw all the wagons of Marshall Field and Company lined up in front of their place of business. (The firm was then called Field, [Ieiter?] and Company) Man and boys were carrying the goods out of the building and loading everything into the wagons. The merchandise was taken to the street-car barns on State near Twentieth Street. I am sure that Marshall Field must have been one of the owners of the street-car company. Otherwise why would the street-car people have allowed him to bring his goods there. A couple of weeks later[,?] Marshall Field started doing business in the car-barns. I remember buying some goods there.

No one slept that night. People gathered on the streets and all kinds of reasons were given for the fire. I stood near a minister. He was talking to a group of men. He said the fire was sent by God as a warning that the people were wicked. He said there were too many saloons in Chicago. There were too many houses of prostitution. A woman who heard this said that since the fire started in a barn it was a direct warning from God. She said Jesus was also born in a barn. I talked to a man who lived next door to Mrs. O'Leary, and he told me that the fire started in Mrs. O'Leary's barn. She went out to milk the cow when it was beginning to get dark. She took a lamp with her and the cow kicked the lamp over and that's how the fire started. There were all kinds of songs made up about the fire. Years after the fire, people were still singing songs about it.

From: American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940

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National Fire Prevention Week; Thank Chicago!

Today marks the beginning of National Fire Prevention Week. The event commemorates the anniversary of two of the most devastating fires in United States history, the Great Chicago Fire and the Peshtigo Fire, and creates awareness of fire safety. Both fires began around 9:00 p.m. on October 8, 1871 and continued through the next day. President Calvin Coolidge signed the proclomation establishing the national observance (beginning on the first Sunday in October and ending the following Saturday) in 1925.

Recommended reading:

The Great Peshtigo Fire of 1871
National Fire Protection Association

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On Chicago: The First City Loan

Simpler times...

"It was on August 10th, 1833, that Chicago became organized as a town under the general laws of the state, and at the election held that day only twenty-eight votes were cast A board of trustees was elected, consisting of P. J. V. Owen, George W. Dale, Mark Beaubien, John Miller and E. S. Kimberly. One of the first measures of public utility was the construction of a log house to answer the purpose of a jail, in the public square where the City Hall and Court House now stand. Another public building was shortly afterward added. It was an estray pen, or pound, and the total cost of the same was twelve dollars. Under the preceding Board of Trustees one of the greatest public improvements demanded was the building of ditches on either side of Clark Street, then the leading street of the town, so as to make the thoroughfare passable. The treasury was empty and the president of the Board was driven to the necessity of negotiating a loan for sixty dollars in order to carry out the work. This amount was expended faithfully and the debt was paid on maturity. It is mentioned here because it was perhaps the first financial transaction ever entered into by Chicago as an organized community."

From: The Chicago Police:From the Settlement of the Community to the Present Time by John J. Flinn, 1887

Photo Credit: PROCEEDINGS OF THE TOWN’S INCORPORATION,(ca.) August 3, 1833

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