S. D. Childs & Co. v. City of Chicago

203 Ill. App. 235, 1917 Ill. App. LEXIS 191
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJanuary 17, 1917
DocketGen. No. 22,991
StatusPublished

This text of 203 Ill. App. 235 (S. D. Childs & Co. v. City of Chicago) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
S. D. Childs & Co. v. City of Chicago, 203 Ill. App. 235, 1917 Ill. App. LEXIS 191 (Ill. Ct. App. 1917).

Opinion

Mr. Presiding Justice O’Connor

delivered the opinion of the court.

S. D. Childs & Company, a corporation, filed a bill in equity against the City of Chicago and certain of its officials to restrain the defendants from constructing a bridge in Monroe street across the Chicago River, until damages occasioned to complainant’s property by reason of the construction of the bridge should be first ascertained and paid. A temporary writ of injunction was ordered, from which the defendants prosecuted an appeal to this court, where the order of the triál court was modified and the cause reversed and remanded. The city, to conform with the opinion of this court, changed its plans so that the entire bridge would be constructed within Monroe street. The facts are stated in the former opinion of this court (198 Ill. App. 590) and need not be repeated. After the decision on the former appeal, complainant filed an amended and supplemental bill, and, after issue joined, the cause was tried upon the merits, and a decree entered dismissing the amended and supplemental bill for want of equity.

The appeal was taken directly to the Supreme Court, but on motion of the defendants it was transferred here by that court. On that account a number of points are argued in the briefs that it will be unnecessary for us to pass upon. The only contentions of complainant not covered in our former opinion are: (1) that the proposed construction of the watchman’s house in the street is an additional burden upon the fee of the street, and that the city has not acquired the right to construct the same by condemnation, contract or otherwise; (2) that the construction of the bridge as proposed is designed for the purpose of aiding navigation, and not to facilitate travel on the street; (3) that the city has not the right to construct the bridge across the river, for the reason that Monroe street when dedicated stopped at the banks of the river and did not extend across it; (4) that the city has not acquired the right to construct that portion of the bridge or viaduct between the west bank of the river and Canal street, and particularly the twenty-seven and one-half feet immediately west of the river.

First. The plans and specifications of the bridge provide for the construction of the watchman’s house at the east end of the pit. The house when completed will extend over the street from curb to curb and rest on two pillars, the floor being sixteen feet above the roadway. There are fourteen feet of sidewalk space between the curb and the lot line on each side. When the bridge is being operated, the watchman lowers the gates across the roadway and warns the public. We are clearly of the opinion that this house is an essential part of the bridge and therefore not an additional burden upon the fee of the street.

Second. The abutments on the west side of the river are to be built in the river, in order not to obstruct any part of the premises on the west side of the river for railroad purposes, and to provide a channel of one hundred and sixty-five feet in width for purposes of navigation. To accomplish these purposes it was necessary that the bridge be moved to the east so that not only the river, but approximately fifty feet of the street is to be bridged. Complainant contends that this constitutes the taking' of the street for the purpose of navigation and for private purposes without compensation, and is therefore unlawful. The Chicago River is a navigable stream, under the control of the Federal Government, and the bridge must be constructed under the supervision and approval of Federal authority. The chief engineer of the city, under whose supervision the plans were prepared, testified that the bridge could be constructed in no other feasible manner. We are therefore of the opinion that the contention of the complainant is untenable. Of course if complainant is damaged by reason of the method of construction adopted, such damages may be recovered in an action at law. Rigney v. City of Chicago, 102 Ill. 64.

Third. Complainant contends that the title to the bed of the Chicago River is in the riparian owners to the thread of the stream, subject to the rights of the public for the purposes of navigation; that Monroe street was not dedicated across the river, but stopped at the river’s banks and that the city has not acquired the right by condemnation or otherwise to construct the bridge over the river. In support of this contention, it is argued that the plat of school section 16 addition to Chicago, “indicates the Chicago river by two boundary lines and Monroe street coming up to the banks of the river on each side thereof. There is no mark on the plat indicating or denoting that it was the intention of the dedicator that Monroe street should be dedicated across the Chicago River.” The question of intention is the controlling element and must be gathered from the plat and all the attendant circumstances in evidence. In passing on a similar question, Mr. Justice Scholfield, in delivering the opinion of the court in Piper v. Connelly, 108 Ill. 646, said (p. 651): “The question of intention must be settled by the language of the deed and all the attendant circumstances in evidence, and not merely by the letter in the descriptive part of the deed.” The plat of section 16 in the record shows Monroe street extends from east to west across the entire section; that the Chicago River divided the section about the middle in a northerly and southerly direction. The river is indicated by two lines representing the easterly and westerly banks. The boundary lines of Monroe street stop at the lines indicating the banks of the river. The plat also shows at least seven other streets extending from east to west across the section, indicated in the same manner as Monroe street. There are also at least four streets east and the same number west of the river extending across the section from north to south and indicated in a like manner, so that the entire section is divided into blocks, and on each side of Monroe street the blocks are divided into lots. From an examination of the entire plat we are clearly of the opinion that it was the intention of the dedicator that Monroe street should extend across the river.

Fourth. The complainant contends that the city has not the right to construct the viaduct from the west bank of the river to Canal street, and that unless such viaduct is constructed the bridge cannot be used. Of course the law will not permit the city to construct a bridge which cannot be utilized. It is conceded that the bridge cannot be used without the viaduct. The question therefore is whether the city has the right to construct the viaduct. Monroe street between the river and Canal street was vacated in 1861, and conveyed to the Chicago, Pittsburgh and Ft. Wayne Railway Company for railway purposes. The railway company and its successors have continued to and are now occupying the property for such purposes. The evidence tends to show that the railway company, its lessees and successors, have conveyed to the Union Station Company the westerly one hundred and thirty-two feet of that portion of Monroe street, but have not conveyed the twenty-seven and one-half feet immediately west of the river; that the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne and Chicago Railway Company, the owner of the premises, executed a lease for a period of 999 years to the premises, which lease is now the property of the Pennsylvania Company. The Union Station Company is a corporation organized for the purpose of constructing a union station in Chicago.

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Related

Rigney v. City of Chicago
102 Ill. 64 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1881)
Piper v. Connelly
108 Ill. 646 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1884)
S. D. Childs & Co. v. City of Chicago
198 Ill. App. 590 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1916)

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Bluebook (online)
203 Ill. App. 235, 1917 Ill. App. LEXIS 191, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/s-d-childs-co-v-city-of-chicago-illappct-1917.