Draining Chicago
Appendices
North-facing view from a point midway between Howard and Oakton streets, July 11, 1924. The route of the proposed McCormick Road lies to the right of the row of transmission towers. At left is the rail siding entrance to the North Side Sewage Treatment Works construction; the manufactured gas plant and holding tank is in the left background. The Mayfair branch railroad is at right with the Weber yard in the right background. (MWRD photo 10872)
July 9, 1925. Two labors are using a wooden plank to set the grade of the sub-base material, while a third is using a tamper to compact the sub-base material for the west 10-foot slab. The four-lane pavement design was thought to be advanced for its time—two 10-foot-wide reinforced Portland cement concrete slabs for the outside lanes intended for truck traffic flank two center 10-foot-wide lanes paved with asphalt concrete intended for automobiles. (MWRD photo 11898)
Looking east at what will become the intersection with McCormick Road, July 15, 1925. A flagman is controlling traffic on Dempster Street while paving of McCormick Road proceeds. Most of the local cross streets in unincorporated areas were unpaved at the time. Dempster was one of the more travelled and better maintained. (MWRD photo 11936)
July 15, 1925. A hopper at right is being lifted to dump its load of materials into the Koehring concrete mixer. The hoppers were loaded at the contractor’s batching plant near Oakton Street with the correct amount of aggregate, cement, and sand for one mixer batch of concrete. Several hoppers were towed by a locomotive to the paving site. (MWRD photo 11940)
Looking southwest from the railroad embankment, August 17, 1925. The northern end of McCormick Road intersected with West Railroad Avenue (presently Green Bay Road) in Evanston. The intersection will also be paved with reinforced concrete before paving the two center lanes with asphalt begins. The paving of both truck lanes has been completed. (MWRD photo 12073)
January 16, 1926. Excavation for the northern approach to the Chicago & North Western railroad Mayfair Division viaduct over McCormick Road has been delayed by flooding of the cut. Work on the diversion trestles and track on the far side of the railroad is underway. The large square structure in the background faces Howard Street and is a greenhouse built by Budlong Farms in 1925 and still in operation in 1945. (MWRD photo 12478)
July 7, 1926. A long freight train is passing on the diverted track, while pillars and spans are being formed and cast with reinforced concrete for the piers of the railroad viaduct over McCormick Road. Excavation of the northern approach proceeds beyond the freight train. The North Shore Channel is at right and the manufactured gas plant on Oakton Street is at left. (MWRD photo 12790)
August 10, 1926. Structural steel girders are being set in place on top of the three parallel viaduct piers, while rough grading on the northern approach proceeds in the foreground. The abutments of the viaduct flanked the two outside piers allowing for a sidewalk on each side of the roadway. (MWRD photo 12897)
October 8, 1927. Southbound vehicles passing through the viaduct; traffic has been using McCormick Road for over a year. The door on the small building on the east abutment enters a small pumping station for keeping the viaduct dry during rain events when the channel rises too high for gravity drainage. (MWRD photo 13491)
July 6, 1928. McCormick Road became a popular thoroughfare for the Chicago’s North Side and the northern suburbs of Evanston and Skokie. With the handsome lighting, it soon became known as McCormick Boulevard. The granite monument for the roadway is at right; beyond it in the background is an excavating machine removing excess spoil from District property for the creation of a bridle path. (MWRD photo 14119)
July 17, 1928. Perhaps the photographer was unaware that the subject of this image would result in trouble for officials at the District and their contractors. A great deal of effort went into removing the remaining spoil along the North Shore Channel to make the vista more appealing to drivers on McCormick Road and to respond to requests by nearby municipalities for recreational space. (MWRD photo 14176)
July 17, 1928. A section of land south of Howard Street already cleared of excess spoil. A strip dressed with a coating of cinders is already being used by equestrians. Even the cinders contributed to the trouble at the District and the popularized name of the payoffs to contractors: The Million Dollar Bridle Path. (MWRD photo 14177)
A bridle path was not the only reason for spoil removal. The National Brick Company continued its obligation to remove excess clay spoil for the manufacture of bricks at its plant south of Howard Street. A tug and barge passing Howard Street on its way to the company’s nearby dock are shown in this July 17, 1928, photo. The outfall on the west bank is part of Skokie’s Howard Street sewer. (MWRD photo 14172)
Ellis Sylvester Chesbrough, chief engineer of the Board of Sewerage Commissioners in 1855 and later as Commissioner of Public Works, oversaw development of sewer and water infrastructure for Chicago for 25 years. He was the first engineer to suggest a large canal to reverse the flow of the Chicago River to protect the water supply. (Photo from the internet)
Isham Randolph, chief engineer of the Sanitary District of Chicago from 1893 to 1907, successfully oversaw and administered construction of the original Sanitary & Ship Canal, the canal extension with lock and powerhouse, North Branch improvement, South Branch widening, and several bridge replacements. (MWRD photo 10384)
Robert R. McCormick, president of the Sanitary District of Chicago from 1905 to 1910, was elected at age 25 in a landslide that brought a Republican majority to the board of trustees. Bert, as he was known before earning The Colonel moniker in World War I, claimed to be a reformer and tried to run the District as if it was his personal business. (Photo from a newspaper advertisement on April 28, 1907, in the files of The Robert R. McCormick Research Center at Cantigny Park, Wheaton, Illinois)