Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 194, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1914 — BRIDGE OVER KANKAKEE BASIS FOR SKYSCRAPERS [ARTICLE]

BRIDGE OVER KANKAKEE BASIS FOR SKYSCRAPERS

Train Stops On Bridge at Kankakee River and Great Idea is Son. The above heading may appear to be a “munchausenism” but in reality the statement is well authenticated. In the days when an eight story building was looked upon as the eighth wonder, Norman B. Ream, with an unruly stomach, was on his way to Denver for recuperative purposes. As the train upon which he was riding crossed the Kankakee river at Kankakee, 111., it for some reason stopped on the bridge. Mr. Ream was at luncheon. He looked out and the rapidity 1 of the flow of the water just before reaching the dam upset him to such an extent that "sans cerimony” he proceeded to the observation car in the rear of the train;:,noting the make-up of the bridge he reasoned as follows: : “Here is this heavy train supported over a raging river by this structure laid on its side; stood on end the structure would be the safest kind for a building.” The more he thought of it the stronger his conviction became. Arriving at Denver, he wrote a Chicago architect directing that plants be prepared for a building to ibe constructed along the lines of his idea. Result: the Rookery building in Chicago became an actuality. Renters, on account of the height of the building, were nervous, and it was only by establishing his office on the top floor that Mr. Ream could rent the offices above the eighth floor. „ By progression the height of buildings of steel construction has increased until we now have the Woolworth building of New York From the above it will be seen that the strength of an Illinois Central structure has revolutionized the buildings of the world.