Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard

Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard (Windsor, Vermont, August 22, 1802 – September 14, 1886 in Chicago, Illinois) was an insurance underwriter and land speculator. Hubbard first arrived in Chicago on October 1, 1818. At the time, Hubbard wrote, the area was "Four and a half houses, a fort and a Potawatomi town." Beginning as a French voyageur, he would become a friend to the Indians, an adopted son of Chief Waba of the Kickapoo, husband to Watseka, niece of Chief Tamin of the Kankakee, Chicago's first insurance underwriter, the builder of Chicago's first stockyard, a financier and land speculator.

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The Indians called Hubbard "Pa-pa-ma-ta-be", which translates as "Swift-walker." He got this name after walking 75 miles in a single day to bring settlers in Danville back to Chicago to help fight off an Indian raid. When a local Indian tribe questioned his ability to perform this feat, he challenged their champion walker to a race. Hubbard's challenger lost by several miles and was unable to move the next day. Hubbard seemed to be unaffected.

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The first winter Hubbard worked as a meatpacker was so cold, he was able to store the pig carcasses on the banks of the Chicago River without worrying about them spoiling. He later built the largest warehouse in the Midwest to house his meatpacking facilities.

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The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 nearly bankrupted him, but Hubbard eventually paid all the insurance claims his company was liable for.

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Today, Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard is virtually unknown in Chicago, his name mostly associated with "Hubbard's Cave", an area where the Kennedy Expressway passes under a series of streets, beginning with Hubbard Street. There is also Gurdon S. Hubbard High School on Chicago's south side. Writing in 1881, A.T. Andreas stated that "only became identified with the modern commerce and trade of the city, who had been connected with the rude Indian traffic which centered in Chicago in the earlier times."

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Windsor, Vermont: Windsor is a town located in Windsor County, Vermont. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 3,756. It is also the birthplace of Vermont, where the state constitution was signed, and acted as the first capital/meetingplace of the assembly of Vermont until 1805 when Montpelier be...

August 22: August 22 is the 234th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (235th in leap years), with 131 days remaining....

1802: 1802 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar)....

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