Businessmen Against Pollution in Late Nineteenth Century Chicago

Abstract

In 1892, a group of Chicago's business leaders organized the Society for the Prevention of Smoke in the hope of persuading the city's business community to install equipment to control the black smoke pouring out of downtown chimneys and smokestacks. The following article uses an examination of the Society's activities to explore the diverse roles that business interests played in pollution control in American cities during the late nineteenth century. The episode reveals a panorama of business responses to smoke pollution which ranged from voluntary smoke abatement and strong support for regulation to indifference, reluctance, and organized resistance to efforts to impose controls. The author explores reasons why business interests responded in such diverse ways. She places the spectrum of responses evident in this episode within the broader context of business involvement in pollution control in Chicago and other cities in this period. She concludes by pointing out the need for additional research to explore the complex ambiguities of the role played by business in the history of the American environment.