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Map of Wabonsia
Author:
Jedediah Wooley Surveyor for Cook County IL & Geo W. Snow, Deputy
Date:
June 17, 1835 / July 10, 1860
Dimensions:
22.5 x 10 inches (57.15 x 25.4 cm)
Signatures:
Isaac Hamlin (Justice of the Peace) Richard J. Hamilton (Recorder)
The town of Chicago was officially formed August 12, 1833 with a population of around 350
people. With this map being created just under two years later, one could infer that Wabonsia
was likely one of the first, if not the first town to be adopted into Chicago. Located along the
western edge of the north branch of the Chicago River, the town was adjacent to the first log
bridge built along Kinzie St. in 1832. Initially intended to accommodate only foot passage, the
bridge was strengthened a year later to support full wagon teams. Many of the first homes of
Wabonsia were built using Deputy George Washington Snow’s balloon frame method of
construction, which enabled houses to be built within days by utilizing long boards and well
placed nails to significantly cut down the construction time.
By the 1850s, Wabonsia became the intersection of the Chicago –Galena Union, Chicago –
Milwaukee, and the Chicago - St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railways. While several of the original
houses remained, much of the area was turned into railroad track, and freight and passenger
houses. Today the area is occupied by a few rows of town houses, a large apartment building,
and railroad track serving the Chicago Metra and Amtrak. The Kinzie St. Bridge sits at the exact
location of Chicago’s original wooden foot bridge. While the Chicago – Galena Union Railway
is no longer in use, the bridge is forever lifted with a large block of cement.
In script the map reads as follows:
As corrected by special act of the Legislature in 1835 and being accepted and adopted by
the trustees of the town of Chicago. August 26, 1835
Map of Wabonsia as corrected by special act of the legislature in 1835 and being
accepted and adopted by the trustees of the town of Chicago August 26, 1835.
This day before me came James Kinzie personally known and acknowledged himself as
the sole proprietor of the Town of Wabonsia in Cook County Illinois as corrected by the special
act of the legislature of the State of Illinois in the year 1835 and personally known to me as such
proprietor.
Condition:
Manuscript on very fine glazed cloth. Numerous horizontal folds with minimal
foxing and a small separation top left. Appended to the map is a receipt as a true copy filed in
1860.