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Lake View
Sarah T. Abrahamson When Stephen Douglas honeymooned in Lake View in the 1850s, it was difficult to imagine that within forty years this rustic farmland would become a crowded urban area, part of the growing metropolis of Chicago. In the 1830s Lake View was ten square miles of empty prairie, "a waste of sand and scrub oaks" bordering Lake Michigan five miles north of Chicago, according to a manuscript at the Ravenswood Lake View Historical Society. Two "illy defined" north-south trails "meandered at pleasure," one through the prairie, the other along the sand ridge parallel to the lake shore. This was the place Swiss physician Conrad Sulzer chose to settle in 1837. He abandoned medicine for farming and purchased one hundred acres of land to establish a farm. Settlement of the area was very slow. The Sulzer family lived alone on this prairie for seven years before more settlers ventured into this undeveloped wilderness. In 1844 German and Luxembourger immigrants arrived in Lake View. They built a "few sparse settlements along the routes." Most families farmed at least eighty acres. Within several years the farms became very prosperous. Chicago relied heavily on Lake View's truck farms. Lake View became a greenhouse center, shipping flowers and ornamental plants across the country. But these farms were best known for celery, which flourished in the naturally sandy soil. Lake View became the largest shipper of celery in the Midwest. The farms were growing so rapidly that there were not enough people living in Lake View to work them. Polish laborers who had settled in Chicago were happy to find employment on Lake View farms. During the height of the harvest season special trains helped workers commute between Chicago and Lake View. While the western part of Lake View was developing into prosperous farms, the eastern section on Lake Michigan was still undeveloped. James H. Rees and E. E. Hundley chose this scenic area to construct a "lakeshore community of fine homes and landscaped grounds." Lake View House, a comfortable hotel, was to be the center of this community. The grand opening in 1854 was "a very merry one . . . [with] a company composed of the most brilliant men of Chicago." Lake View House almost immediately became a choice place for wealthy Chicagoans to meet. But "no roads [were] yet laid out reaching the spot and access to it was only had by devious paths." To increase business, the developers used their personal finances to build a plank road that would make traveling to Lake View House less hazardous. This investment made Lake View House "accessible and gave quite an impetus to the proposed settlement about it." The success of Lake View House encouraged other developers. Nicholas Kranz opened an inn, the Seven Mile House, which became a popular gathering place for other immigrant families. Peter Reinberg, a landscape artist, helped turn the "drab pioneer village of [eastern] Lake View into a community of beautiful cottage gardens and landscaped homesites." In 1857 Lake View organized itself as a township. By 1865 it had grown large enough to be incorporated as a town. The town immediately began improvements including roads, bridges, and a sanitary water system. Lake View continued to grow. The Ravenswood Land Company planned a second upper class development within Lake View. In 1869 it purchased 194 acres along the prairie trail for this community. New residents and lovely surroundings attracted merchants and tradesmen to Lake View. They established shops along the roads into this area. Blacksmiths and metal processing plants prospered. Carpenters and woodworkers flourished. The Great Fire of 1871 destroyed much of Chicago and almost reached Lake View. "Sparks from the great fire flew around. . . they were small and did no harm." The fire did temporarily halt Lake View's growth and dramatically changed its later development. To prevent another devastating fire, Chicago required all new buildings to have exterior walls made from fireproof materials. The working class and new immigrants could not afford to build homes with these expensive materials. Since Lake View was north of the fireproof boundary, workers flocked to this area to build wooden houses. Farmers sold large tracts of land to developers who subdivided the land into lots with twenty-five-foot fronts. They expected families would purchase two or more lots and build large houses. Instead, families bought one lot and built a house, regardless of the narrow frontage. These rows of narrow houses resulted in congested residential streets and a population explosion. In 1880 Lake View's population was 6,505. In 1885 the population increased to about 19,000, and by 1890 the population had expanded to 52,273. Lake View's first school was built in the 1850s. In 1878 a second school was erected. Between the years 1878 and 1883, eight new schools were built and expanded, and still more than one hundred children could not attend because the schools were overcrowded.
Lake View was large enough to be granted a city charter in 1887. But the explosion of population was more than Lake View could handle. City services could not accommodate the sudden growth of people. Lake View did not have adequate financing to expand schools and fire and police protection. Other local improvements suffered. A practical alternative was annexation by Chicago. This would allow Lake View to be integrated into Chicago's superior city services. Lake View had been a relatively small but thriving town that had outgrown its limits and could not support itself. Lake View's petition for annexation met with strong opposition, but annexation was approved and Lake View became part of Chicago on June 29, 1889. Lake View now exists only as a neighborhood in Chicago. The once poorly defined trails are now commercial corridors. The side prairie ridge is the largest retail district outside downtown Chicago. The sand ridge is home to Wrigley Field and entertainment establishments. Residential streets are lined with houses, condominiums, and apartments interspersed with some original structures. The hustle and bustle of city life is now the reality. No trace of the once-empty prairie can be found. —[From A.T. Andreas, History of Cook County Illinois; Everett Chamberlain, Chicago and Its Suburbs; Chicago Title and Trust Company, "Lake View," manuscript at the Ravenswood/Lake View Historical Society Collection; Stephen Bedell Clark, The Lake View Saga; J. Seymour Curry, Chicago: Its History and Its Builders; The Department of Development and Planning, Historic City; S.H. Kerfoot, "History of Lake View and the Green Bay Road," manuscript, at the Ravenswood/Lake View Historical Society Collection; Edward J. Walsh, "Reminiscences of Lake View," manuscript at the Ravenswood/Lake View Historical Society Collection.]
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