Da Mayor’s First Job

1. Da Mayor’s First Job BOOSTER

2. W. B. Ogden, mayor, 1837 - 1838 • "I was born close to a sawmill, was cradled in a sugar trough, christened in a mill pond, early left an orphan, graduated from a log schoolhouse and, at 14, found I could do anything I turned my hand to and that nothing was impossible..." William Butler Ogden

3. The First Mayor; The Best Booster • Ogden arrived in Chicago in 1835 from western New York. His goal was to sell land that had been purchased by his brother. • Profiting immensely from the sale, Ogden established himself in the village and set about “boosting” it – endlessly talking about its virtues and potentials to anyone who would listen and, hopefully, invest in the young community. • In fact, Ogden pushed for the village of Chicago to become a city, writing the city charter submitted to the state of Illinois in 1837. This established Chicago, rather than other nearby villages like Des Plaines or Naperville, as the chief city of the region.

4. Ogden’s “Chicago-style” Boosterism • Many places have had “boosters” over the years. • Ogden, however, established “boosterism” as a central part of the Chicago mayor’s job description from the get-go. • Ogden firmly believed that business and government could and should work together, and that businessmen were obliged to -- and could only benefit from -- serving in local government. This belief shaped Chicago-style boosterism, which aggressively sought out $$$$$ from investors to build up its economic base. While Chicagoans did, and do, boast about the city’s culture and amenities, the economic impetus of Chicago-style boosterism is often just under the surface.

5. Boosters Build Chicago Ogden’s Boosterism… • organized the digging of a canal from the Chicago River to Lake Michigan. • persuaded Wall Street to invest in the construction of city streets and other infrastructure • established Chicago as a hub for American railroads