| Dates: | 1848-1866 |
| Size: | 0.25 linear feet in 1 box, plus 3 oversize folders |
| Repository: | Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, 400 S. State St., Chicago, IL 60605 |
| Collection Number: | spe.wri |
| Immediate Source of Acquisition: | The materials in this collection were donated by Joseph B. Francus in 1978 and 1983. |
| Conditions Governing Access: | Materials are open without restrictions. |
| Conditions Governing Use: | Please consult staff to determine ability to reuse materials from collection. |
| Preferred Citation: | When quoting material from this collection the preferred citation is: John S. Wright Papers [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections, Chicago Public Library. |
| Finding Aid Author: | Original author unknown. Processed, May 1990. Updated and ingested into ArchivesSpace by Johanna Russ, 2021. |
Abstract
John Stephen Wright (1815-1874) moved to Chicago from Massachusetts with his father in 1832. In 1833, Wright took a census of Chicago and published a lithographed map of the town in 1834, the year he began a real estate business. This collection concerns his purchase of land in the city in 1848 and the subsequent history of that land over the next two decades.
Biographical/Historical
John Stephen Wright was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, on July 16, 1815, the eldest son of John and Huldah (Dewey) Wright. His father was a storekeeper, his mother a former schoolteacher. John Stephen Wright was named for his grandfather, John Wright, and for Stephen Dewey II. About the time of John Stephen’s birth, his father took a year’s trip to the West in hopes of bolstering his failing health with liberal doses of fresh air. During that trip, he visited the site of Chicago, then a tiny village of less than forty inhabitants.
In 1832, father and son set off with a stock of goods, intending to settle at Galena, Illinois. However, when they arrived at Chicago on October 29, they decided to remain, building a log merchant house at Lake and Clark. This site was so far from the town’s business center that it became known as “The Prairie Store.” Not yet twenty, Wright not only took a census of Chicago in 1833, but also published a lithographed map of the town in 1834, the year he began a real estate business. By the time he achieved legal majority on his twenty-first birthday, his property was worth $200,000.
This handsome fortune was wiped away in the panic of 1837. Wright began again as secretary and general manager of the Union Agricultural Society for whom he began a newspaper, the Union Agriculturist. A merger with the Western Prairie Farmer followed, and by 1843 Wright became its owner and changed the name to the Prairie Farmer. Although he maintained his connection with the paper until 1857, he hired an editor and began investing his interests elsewhere.
Following his marriage to Catherine B. Turner of Virginia on September 1, 1846, Wright again entered the real estate business and over the next decade acquired an impressive second fortune, which was swept away in the late 1850s as a result of his financial backing of a “self-raking” reaper manufacturing concern. Shortly afterwards, he formed a land company designed to interest Eastern capitalists in the Midwest.
Among Wright’s civic interests was public education; the first public school in Chicago, a log structure, was built at his own expense in 1835. He was also a promoter of the Chicago park system connected by wide boulevards—a system designed, but far from completed, at Wright’s death. Always a Chicago booster, he compiled Chicago: Past, Present, and Future (1868), which has been described as “a rambling, bombastic volume.” Other similar books were added to his bibliography; his later works are said to exhibit evidence of a weakening mind, and indeed, shortly after the Chicago fire of 1871, his family was forced to commit him to an asylum. The remainder of his life was spent in and out of institutions. At 59, he died and was buried in Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, on October 1, 1874.
John and Catherine (Kitty) were the parents of four children: Augustine Washington (b. 1847), Walter (1848-1849), Maria Alexander (b. 1849) and Chester Dewey (b. 1852). All four children were born at their grandfather’s Virginia home, so ardently did their mother dislike Chicago, an animosity which she never fully conquered.
For more information, see Lloyd Lewis’s John S. Wright: Prophet of the Prairies (Chicago: The Prairie Farmer Publishing Company, 1941). Special Collections also has three titles of Wright’s authorship: Chicago: Past, Present and Future (first edition, 1868, and second edition, 1870) and Wright’s Proposition to a Chicago Railway Capitalist with Important Addendum (1871).
A map of Wright’s land ownership follows in the print version of this finding aid.
Scope and Contents
This small collection concerns the purchase of Chicago land by John S. Wright in 1848 from the New York speculator Bronson family, and the subsequent history of that land over the next two decades. The original deeds (Oversize 1, 2, and 3) are to lots 3, 4, 5, and 6 in Block 3 of the original town of Chicago, and lot 3 of Block 5. The majority of the collection, however, concerns lots 4, 5, and 6 of Block 3. See map on page 3 for location in present-day Chicago. [Note: The Commission on Chicago Landmarks was instrumental in identifying the location of this land, only to discover that the building which the Commission occupies sits partially on lot 4 of Block 3.]
Most of the people represented in the collection are, in addition to the original buyer and seller of the land, a cast of lawyers and court officials. The exceptions are Samuel and Ellen Kerr, whose personal letter (1:2) bears no relation to the legal aspect of the collection. In fact, it is unclear what relation the Kerrs have to John S. Wright at all. Timothy Wright (various folders) and Walter Wright (1:7) are probably the younger brothers of John S., born in 1817 and 1819, respectively.
Arrangement
The collection is organized alphabetically by topic (Correspondence, Land records, Legal papers, and Tax receipts), and chronologically within each topic.
Subjects
- Wright, John S. (John Stephen), 1815-1874
- Real estate agents — Illinois — Chicago
Collection Inventory
| Box 1 | Folder 1 | Correspondence – H. W. Collender, signed letter to “Sir,” New York, 1853 November 9 |
| Box 1 | Folder 2 | Correspondence – Samuel & Ellen Kerr, signed letter to “Son & Daughter,” Drummaker (?),1858 June 27 |
| Box 1 | Folder 3 | Correspondence – I.H. Burch, signed letter to Frederic Bronson, Chicago, 1858 July 13 |
| Box 1 | Folder 4 | Correspondence – I.H. Burch, signed letter to Oliver Bronson, Chicago, 1858 July 13 |
| Box 1 | Folder 5 | Correspondence – Amos Truck, signed letter to Frederick Bronson, Exeter, NH, 1859 January 26 |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 | Correspondence – B. Roekler, signed letter to Frederic Bronson, New York, 1861 March 5 |
| Box 1 | Folder 7 | Correspondence – Walter Wright, signed letter to Frederic Bronson, Chicago, 1862 January 6 |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | Correspondence – Amos Tuck, signed letter to Frederick Bronson, Boston, 1862 January 10 |
| Box 1 | Folder 9 | Correspondence – Amos Tuck, signed letter to Elias L. Smith, Boston, 1862 January 13 |
| Box 1 | Folder 10 | Correspondence – F. Randall, signed letter to Elias L. Smith, New York, 1862 January 14 |
| Box 1 | Folder 11 | Correspondence – Amos Tuck, signed letter to Elias L. Smith, Boston, 1862 January 17 |
| Box 1 | Folder 12 | Correspondence – Timothy Wright, signed letter to Oliver Bronson, Chicago, 1863 July 13 |
| Box 1 | Folder 13 | Correspondence – John Mattocks, Jr., signed letter to Elias L. Smith, Chicago, 1863 July 24 |
| Box 1 | Folder 33 | Correspondence – Enveloping wrappers (3 pieces), undated |
| Oversize 1 | Land Records – Frederic Bronson to John S. Wright, sale of Lot 3, Block 3, Original city of Chicago (2 copies), 1848 April 29 | |
| Oversize 2 | Land Records – Frederic Bronson to John S. Wright, sale of Lots 4, 5, & 6, Block t, Original city of Chicago (2 copies), 1848 April 29 | |
| Oversize 3 | Land Records – Frederic Bronson to John S. Wright, sale of Lot 3, Block 5, Original city of Chicago, 1848 April 29 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 14 | Land Records – John S. Wright to Francis A. Hoffman, Chicago, 1857 April 13 |
| Box 1 | Folder 15 | Land Records – Rees, Chase & Co.—Examination of conveyance, Timothy Wright & John S. Wright (1848-57), 1858 July 12 |
| Box 1 | Folder 16 | Land Records – William H. Bradley—Examination of judgments & liens against Timothy Wright, 1858 July 13 |
| Box 1 | Folder 17 | Land Records – William L. Church—Examination of judgments against Timothy Wright, 1858 July 13 |
| Box 1 | Folder 18 | Land Records – Rees, Chase & Co.—Examination of conveyance, J. Wright to various people, Chicago, 1861 February 21 |
| Box 1 | Folder 19 | Land Records – Frederic Bronson, quit-claim to Francis A. Hoffman, Chicago, 1861 March 5 |
| Box 1 | Folder 20 | Land Records – Frederic Bronson (executor of Arthur Bronson), copy of quit-claim to Timothy Wright, New York, 1866 May 12 |
| Box 1 | Folder 21 | Legal Papers – Receipts—Thomas Dyer & others to John S. Wright, installments on purchase of land in Block 1, Original city of Chicago, 1847 May 1, 1848 July 27, 1849 August 1, 1850 October 2 |
| Box 1 | Folder 22 | Legal Papers – Contract—John S. Wright, Frederic Bronson & Oliver Bronson, postponement of payment, 1850 October 2 |
| Box 1 | Folder 23 | Legal Papers – Power of Attorney—Frederic Bronson to George W. Snow, 1858 June 2 |
| Box 1 | Folder 24 | Legal Papers – List of Timothy Wright’s leases sent to I. H. Burch, [after 1858 July 1] |
| Box 1 | Folder 25 | Legal Papers – Certification of Cook County records to Timothy Wright, by Walter Kimball, clerk, 1858 July 13 |
| Box 1 | Folder 26 | Legal Papers – Receipt of contract—Oliver Bronson to Timothy Wright, 1858 July 20 |
| Box 1 | Folder 27 | Legal Papers – Receipt—G.W. Snow to I.H. Burch, Chicago, 1859 April 29 |
| Box 1 | Folder 28 | Legal Papers – Receipt—Elias L. Smith, for Frederick Bronson, to Amos Tuck--payment on Lot 3, Block 3, Original city, 1862 January 18 |
| Box 1 | Folder 29 | Legal Papers – Legal agreement-Oliver Bronson & Timothy Wright—payment on Lots 4, 5, & 6, Block 3, Original city (Signed agreement and two drafts), 1863 July 22 |
| Box 1 | Folder 30 | Legal Papers – Bill to Amos Tuck, with notation of his refusal to pay, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 31 | Tax Receipts – John S. Wright—Lots 1-8, Block 1, Original town of Chicago, 1847 February 12 |
| Box 1 | Folder 31 | City taxes, 1846, 1848 February 16, |
| Box 1 | Folder 31 | City taxes, 1847, 1848 November 25 |
| Box 1 | Folder 31 | City taxes, 1848, 1850 February 18 |
| Box 1 | Folder 31 | City taxes, 1849 |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | Tax Receipts – Timothy Wright—Lots 4, 5, & 6, Block 3, Original town, 1859 March 11 |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | City taxes, 1858, 1859 July 22 |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | County taxes, 1858, 1860 March 14 |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | City taxes, 1859, 1860 August 1 |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | County taxes, 1859, 1861 March |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | City taxes, 1860, 1861 June 24 |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | County taxes, 1860, 1862 April 7 |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | City taxes, 1861, [Wrapper only] 1863 February 16, 1863 April 17 |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | City taxes, 1862, 1863 August 22 |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | County taxes, 1862, 1864 March 29 |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | City taxes, 1863, 1864 August 20 |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | County taxes, 1863 |
