Matthew Laflin
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Matthew Laflin was one of an early group of businessmen/philanthropists in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Laflin came to Chicago in 1838. His first business venture was in the manufacture of gunpowder, and he quickly found a market for his product during the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal.
With the money he made in the gunpowder business, Laflin began buying large tracts of real estate and eventually became a rich man. He then built the Bull's Head Hotel, a resort for men in the cattle business. The hotel was constructed complete with cattle pens, which the hotel's residents used as shelter for their livestock while staying at the inn. After its heyday, the hotel was used as an asylum for alcoholics before being torn down.
In 1892, Laflin made a lasting contribution to Chicago by donating $75,000 toward the building of a structure to house the Chicago Academy of Sciences, a scholarly society formed to promote the scientific investigation of natural history. As a result of Laflin's gift, the Academy of Sciences was granted a plot of land in Lincoln Park (Chicago); the Lincoln Park Board of Commissioners then donated $25,000 in public funds to assure adequate financing for the project.
The building opened as the Matthew Laflin Memorial on Oct. 31, 1894, and housed the academy until it moved in 1995. The building reverted to the Chicago Park District, which rehabbed it into Lincoln Park Zoo administrative offices.
Laflin Street at 1500 west in Chicago is named for Matthew Laflin.
[edit] References
- Bike, William S. Streets of the Near West Side. Chicago: ACTA Publications, 1996, p. 58-59.
