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Within the Common Council files at the Illinois Regional Archives Depository at Northeastern Illinois University, I found four similar ordinances that each addressed the problem of people washing their animals or otherwise entering the lake at a place where officials feared contamination of the water supply. |
(See a reproduction of the 1848 ordinance, below, at the Illinois State Archives website, here.) |
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Above: An Ordinance to prevent filth from entering into the works of the Chicago Hydraulic Company and of the Chicago City Hydraulic Company from Lake Michigan S.1. No person to drive or wash horses in the lake within certain limits. | S.2. Penalty for violating ordinance Be it ordained tht the Common Council of the city of Chicago - Sec. 1. That no person or persons shall hereafter drive lead or swim any horse, sheep, swine or other animal into lake Michigan at the east end of Lake street in said city or between the works of "the Chicago Hydraulic Company" and the south pier, or within three blocks south and north of the works of the "Chicago city hydraulic company" on Chicago avenue, commonly called the new water works for the purpose of washing or cleaning such horse, sheep, swine, or other animal - Nor shall any person or persons wash or clean any carriage orother vehicle whatever within said limits or cause the same to be done. Sec. 2. Any person who shall violate any portion of this ordinance shall forfeit to the city of Chicago the penalty of ten dollars, to be collected before any justice of the peace or any court having jurisdiction thereof - Passed January 9 1854 |
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Above: 1856 Amendment to An Ordinance To prevent filth from entering into the Works of the "Chicago City Hydraulic Company," from Lake Michigan, Be it ordained by the Common Council of Chicago: Sec 1st That no person or persons shall hereafter - drive, lead, or swim any horse sheep, swine, or other animal into or in the waters of Lake Michigan, within three blocks of the Works of the "Chicago City Hydraulic Company," on Chicago avenue of said City, commonly called the new Water Works, for the purpose of washing or cleaning such horse, sheep, swine, or other animal or for any other purpose whatever. Nor shall any person or persons wash or clean any carriage or other vehicle whatever; nor shall any person or persons bathe, or swim, within the said Limits. Sec 2d Any person who shall violate any provision of this ordinance shall forfeit to the City of Chicago a penalty not less than ten nor more than twenty five Dollars for every such violation. Sec 3d An ordinance entitled "An ordinance to prevent filth from entering into the works of the "Chicago Hydraulic Company" and of the "Chicago City Hydraulic Company from Lake Michigan" Passed January 9, 1854 is hereby repealed |
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Resolved. that the Board of Police be ordered to enforce the Ordinance prohibiting all persons from Bathing A.H. Bodman City Clerk. |