Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard

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 a threatened 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.

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.

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 nearly bankrupted him. Hubbard eventually paid all the insurance claims his company was liable for, but his interests never recovered from this catastrophe.

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 a Gurdon S. Hubbard High School on Chicago's south side. Writing in 1881 , A.T. Andreas stated that "only Saltonstall Hubbard 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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Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard