A City Equal to Chicago

While searching for the story behind Henry Chester's bad day, I came across this item in the Crown Point Register of July 21, 1887:

The South Chicago Sun says that Mr. J.E. Mander is now owner of nearly the entire city of Ainsworth, consisting of one large grain elevator, one engine and engine house, scales, hay barn, and grounds. He expects to do a large grain shipping business at that place, which will be an accommodation to the farmers south of here. — Hobart Advertiser.

A stranger reading the above description of "nearly the entire city," would desire to know what constitutes a city in Lake county? In order to enlighten them, it may be well to say that it is at present, a very small city, but Mr. Mander being a Hobart man and full of enterprise as all Hobart men are, there is a good prospect of Ainsworth being in the future, a city equal to Chicago. All people wish him success, for it will take in all of Lake county and be a benefit to the people thereof.

I guess we let Lake County down, didn't we? Sorry about that.

By the way, anybody know what an "engine and engine house" might be?

The 1880 Census shows a John Mander, 42, living in Hobart and giving his occupation as "merchant." This might be the 1887 owner of Ainsworth.

The 1891 Plat Book shows the land holding the metropolis of Ainsworth as divided between Benjamin Harper and Henry Chester, although those little lots at the heart of the city might belong to someone else:


(Click on image to enlarge)
The northeast quarter of Section 18 and the northwest quarter of Section 17, Township 35 North, Range 7 West: Ainsworth in 1891. I can't help it that the line of the railroad doesn't match up. What do you expect from these hand-drawn maps?


Sources: I have listed "Frequently Cited Sources and Terms" under "Pages" in the sidebar at right so I don't have to type out all that gobbledygook every time I cite a census or plat book. If you want to know all the gory details, go look at Frequently Cited Sources and Terms.

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3/5/10 update: In June of 1908 there was still a structure in Ainsworth known as the "Mander elevator." See "Storm Does Much Damage," Hobart Gazette 5 June 1908.