Unfortunately, prominent Chicagoans such as Potter Palmer and N.K. Fairbank owned the land adjacent to Streeter's land accretions. These men claimed that Streeter was a squatter and that he had no legal rights to the land. Streeter argued differently, claiming that, "When I come here ther warn't a particle of land for me to squat on!"

Sensing that his enemies would try to oust him, Streeter replaced his ship with a homemade two-story castle. The first floor was his war room; the second floor was his residence. When private detectives and thugs attempted to serve allegedly specious warrants on Streeter, he and his wife responded with sawed-off muskets filled with bird shot. On one occasion, Streeter's wife drove off three deputies by dousing them with boiling water.

Several times assailants were killed during their attempts to storm what Streeter called his "District of Lake Michigan." But the city found it difficult to keep Streeter in jail. One time he was acquitted on self-defense. Another time he proved that the birdshot in his rifle could not possibly have killed the policeman found with a piece of lead in his heart. When he was arrested for refusing "to disburse," he successfully argued in court that as he was only one person, he could not disburse. But in March 1902, John Kirk, an imported Western gunman, was killed in Streeter's district. Streeter was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Streeter claimed he was framed; the governor of Illinois agreed and pardoned him nine months later. But while Streeter was in prison, his wife died.

Streeter resumed control over his domain. Unable to oust him by force, his foes turned to the courts. The law of riparian rights was murky, however, and Streeter's lawyers--paid with deeds of land--proved to be able adversaries. But finally, shortly after his arrest in 1918 for selling liquor without a license and assault on a police officer, agents of Chicago Title and Trust Company, armed with warrants, put the torch to Streeter's castle. By now Streeter had married a third time, and his wife, Emma "Ma" Streeter, charged the group with a meat cleaver, but to no avail, and the couple retreated to a nearby boat to wanly continue the fight. Streeter lost the final battle--to pneumonia--on January 24, 1921, at age 84. Many dignitaries, including William Hale Thompson, the mayor of Chicago, attended his funeral. His wife continued to wage war both inside the courtroom and on the shores of Lake Michigan. In 1925 the federal district court in Chicago ruled that because Streeter never divorced Minnie, his first wife, "Ma" Streeter was not legally married and thus ineligible to file claims for Streeter's property. The last suit brought by alleged heirs was dismissed in 1940, thus finally ending a half century of colorful warfare and litigation concerning sovereignty of the District of Lake Michigan--to this day still called Streeterville, in honor of its founder. The land that Streeter so ardently fought for is now the most expensive part of Chicago. It is on the Near North Side of the city, bounded by Oak Street on the north, Michigan Avenue on the West, Grand Avenue to the south, and Lake Michigan on the east.

The picture at the top of this page (and all other pictures on this web site) is from Everett Guy Ballard's book, Captain Streeter: Pioneer. Because this book was published in 1914, these pictures enjoy no copyright protection and are now in the public domain. They can be printed without fear of reprisal.

The sources that I used in writing this account of the life of Cap Streeter (together with other reference materials) are found at Suggested Reading.

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Suggested Reading

Ballard, E[verett] G[uy]. Captain Streeter: Pioneer. Chicago: Emery Publishing Service, 1914. This meandering biography of Streeter was written by one of his lawyers.

Broomell, Kenneth F. and Harlow M. Church. "Streeterville Saga." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 33 (June, 1940), pp. [153]-165. A fine older history of Cap Streeter that unfortunately contains no bibliography or notes.

[Eddy, Mrs.] My Twenty Year's Experience in Streeterville: District of Lake Michigan. Privately printed, N.d. A sensational and vitriolic diatribe against the Chicago Title and Trust Company in which "Mrs. Eddy" appears to make several inaccurate statements. For example, she claims that the title company lost its records in the Chicago Fire, when actually these materials were saved from destruction. (To read about my research on the cause of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, go to www.thechicagofire.com. To read about my book, The Great Chicago Fire and the Myth of Mrs. O'Leary's Cow, go to my publisher's website, www.mcfarlandpub.com.)

Millard, Joseph. "George Wellington Streeter--All This Out Here Is My Land." In No Law but Their Own, by Joseph Millard, pp. 111-58. Evanston, Ill.: Regency Books, 1963. A fictionalized account of the story of Cap Streeter that also appeared in the December 1947 issue of True magazine. Millard's story is a gripping tale of the Streeter saga. Joseph Millard is perhaps best known for his novels based on the professional killer, "The Man with No Name," who was portrayed by Clint Eastwood in a series of films that included "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly." Millard died in 1989. His Streeter novel is clearly based on fact. Whatever happened to his research notes?

Miller, Francesca Falk. The Sands: The Story of Chicago's Front Yard. Chicago: Valentine-Newman, 1948. This novel that is set in Streeterville contains an "historical appendix" that details the life of Cap Streeter.

Niles, W[illiam] H. A Brief History and the Legal Standing of the District of Lake Michigan. Chicago: C. Swanberg & Co., N.d. William H. Niles was the "military governor" of Streeterville. Niles states in the preface to this pamphlet that "the object of this book will be to present to the thinking public a brief history of our case and to show how we have been deprived of our property and political rights by the power of money." [emphasis in original]

Tessendorf, K.C. "Captain Streeter's District of Lake Michigan." Chicago History 5 (Fall, 1976), pp. 152-60. Although this article contains a few errors, it remains a fine modern account of the saga of Cap Streeter. I relied heavily on this article in writing my story of Streeter.

Weber, Jessie Palmer, ed. "Captain George Wellington Streeter." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 13 (January, 1921), pp. 571-74. A short account of the life and death of Streeter.