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make no mention of a storm. Streeter did not really believe that he could fill in the shoreline and legally claim the new land. A witness in
Streeter's 1902 land fraud trial testified that Streeter had purposely set out to contest the claims of the wealthy shoreline owners. Contractor Hank Brusser told the court that Streeter asked him to fill in portions of the shoreline in order to create confusion over land titles. According to Brusser, Streeter said that: "They (the owners of the shoreline) will have to buy us off" and that "We'll get a million out of it". The recorder of the general land office, Chester H. Brush, testified that Streeter's title was "a clumsy forgery" with signatures mismatched with offices. Silas Lamoreaux was commissioner and not recorder;
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small group of squatters carrying shacks to the lake shore to quickly set up settlements. The shoreline owners would respond by sending thugs and/or police to evict them. Streeter would then vociferously complain that he was a victim of a capitalistic conspiracy to rob him of his land. This repeated itself again and again until
Streeter was convicted of manslaughter, in 1902, and sent to prison. Streeter died at the age of 84, in 1921, of pneumonia.
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years. Streeter refused to move his ship insisting that he had title to the shoreline, producing a forged land title, concocted his story of crashing on a sandbar, and then proceeded to sell lots that he did not legally own. He even began collecting property taxes for the lots he sold and kept detailed tax records.
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Streeter clearly lied about his discovery of the "District of Lake
Michigan". In 1886, he referenced a map published in 1821 to determine that his "District" was outside the city limits. A storm did not smash Streeter's ship into a sandbar on the night of July 10, 1886. Weather reports for that night
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From 1894 on, there were many attempts to forcibly remove
Streeter from the district, often for violating laws that prohibited the sale of liquor on Sunday. In cases in which police were injured by axes and gunfire, Streeter and his men were invariably found not guilty due to acting in self-defense.
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and would have to leave. Streeter chased
Fairbank off with a shotgun. Shortly thereafter, Streeter also chased away the constables who had come to evict him. Further attempts to remove them were met with gunfire and pots of scalding water. After one such raid resulted in his arrest for assault with
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In reality, Streeter orchestrated an elaborate scheme to steal valuable shoreline property. He did not crash his ship on a sandbar, he piloted it to the foot of
Superior Street and then obtained permission from the shoreline owner, Fairbank, to leave his ship there temporarily. He left it there for
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Streeter was born in Flint, Michigan, in 1837. He served in the Civil War, but was not a captain. He was a salesman, the owner of a traveling circus, a logger, and a miner. After his first wife left him to join a vaudeville troupe, he moved to
Chicago and acquired the steamship Reutan. He and his
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Streeter continued to sell lots to people who either believed his story or believed his forged federal land grant. To bolster his claims, to pressure owners to pay him off, and to assuage those who had bought lots from him in earnest, Streeter staged a series of "invasions", when he would lead a
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to the city. As the landmass grew, collecting more dumped rubble as well as silt from the lake, Streeter began to issue deeds to the land to others who saw themselves as "homesteaders" in the growing city of
Chicago. City planners and founders saw otherwise.
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Unable to move the vessel, which slowly silted into place, Streeter claimed it made up the independent "United States
District of Lake Michigan" and thereby was not subject to the laws of Illinois or Chicago.
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In 1893 police removed
Streeter and his boat from Fairbank's land. Streeter then moved to the posh Tremont Hotel from where he proceeded to expand his operations. He sold shoreline belonging to Fairbank, the
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Streeter's fight for what he considered his land continued until his death on January 22, 1921, although he and his second wife had left Streeterville to move to
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102:. From 1886 to 1921, Streeter, often through forgery and other manipulative means, attempted to lay claim to 186 acres (0.75 km) of
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George Wellington Streeter, District of Lake Michigan Title Acquisition and Special Assessment Records, 1899 to 1902, 2 volumes,
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to run guns to Latin America. But fuel was expensive, and the distances great, and he saw an opportunity close by, in Chicago.
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wealthy landowners, he turned to selling the disputed land to uninformed buyers. A portion of the real estate near downtown
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The Military Government of the District of Lake Michigan: Its Legal Standing as Defined by Official Letters and Papers
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Although Fairbank sued Streeter in 1890 and won, Streeter maintained his hold on the District, which was now home to
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a deadly weapon, Streeter was acquitted on the grounds that birdshot was not considered deadly.
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sat, extending the size of his land considerably. Over time, this landfill connected the
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and used it to ferry passengers between Streeterville and the exposition grounds at
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Board had worked to fill in the shoreline in that area, so that they could build
396:"Capt. Streeter in luck. A shipwreck caused him to blossom out as a capitalist"
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The 40 Year Streeterville War: An Old Squatter's Futile Fight for Property,
339:, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Autumn 2006, pg.201 Vol. 9 Number 3
94:(c. 1837 – January 22, 1921) was an American who became infamous in
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The Chicago Public Library's extensive Streeterville Collection
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was Secretary of the Interior, not secretary to sign patents.
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boat captain and circus owner ran his steamboat, the 35-ton
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The site of Streeter's shanty is currently occupied by the
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George Wellington Streeter Papers, Chicago History Museum
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shoreline from various owners. Failing in his efforts to
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Sinkevitch, A., McGovern Petersen, L, & Duis, P.
438:"Streeterville quite a bit ritzier than Streeter was"
352:, Graphic Section, pages 1 and 4, September 5, 1937
98:for his real estate schemes and oftentimes bizarre
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23:. For the American football defensive back, see
313:"Captain Streeter's long Standoff with Chicago"
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126:During a storm on July 10, 1886, the former
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143:Ever since the downtown cleanup after the
59:. Please do not remove this message until
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79:Learn how and when to remove this message
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55:Relevant discussion may be found on the
547:, Page 8 columns 3-4, November 15, 1915
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460:Ma' Streeter Fights for Chicago Lands,
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521:, Chicago History 14, no. 4, pp 51-53
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534:, Chicago History 14, no. 4, page 55
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366:"Chicago's 'Oasis' Raided by Police"
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560:, page 5 column 5, October 11, 1900
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231:common-law wife planned to use the
25:George Streeter (American football)
19:For the American embryologist, see
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543:Chicago's Oasis Raided By Police,
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654:Deaths from pneumonia in Illinois
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586:Hufford Publishers, Chicago, 1903
569:Streeter Alone Renews His Fight,
218:. Despite all the bad blood, the
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92:George Wellington "Cap" Streeter
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664:20th-century American criminals
659:19th-century American criminals
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492:True Bills for Capt. Streeter,
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436:Aguilar, Alexa (2007-05-08).
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222:attended Streeter's funeral.
255:estate, the Farwell family,
192:World's Columbian Exposition
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634:People from Flint, Michigan
532:Shaping Chicago's Shoreline
519:Shaping Chicago's Shoreline
337:Journal of Illinois History
311:Ron Grossman (2016-01-15).
267:. The reality was that the
163:That summer, industrialist
61:conditions to do so are met
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476:Clash in Streeter Trial,
194:, Streeter refloated the
556:Streeter Army on Trial,
402:. 1892-12-04. p. 16
374:. 1915-11-15. p. 8
216:Chicago Title and Trust
674:20th-century squatters
669:19th-century squatters
639:Criminals from Chicago
21:George Linius Streeter
597:AIA Guide to Chicago
118:, is named for him.
494:The Chicago Tribune
478:The Chicago Tribune
442:The Chicago Tribune
350:The Chicago Tribune
284:John Hancock Center
48:of this article is
582:Willian H. Niles,
545:The New York Times
462:The New York Times
400:The New York Times
371:The New York Times
145:Great Fire in 1871
122:Streeter in legend
530:John W. Stamper,
517:John W. Stamper,
335:Salzmann, Joshua,
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628:Categories
447:2011-10-01
406:2007-12-28
378:2007-12-28
322:2016-01-15
294:References
265:Oak Street
241:Hoke Smith
46:neutrality
57:talk page
181:homeless
169:squatter
50:disputed
226:Reality
212:Indiana
112:Chicago
108:defraud
96:Chicago
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233:Reutan
196:Reutan
179:, the
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153:Reutan
149:rubble
133:Reutan
601:ISBN
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