Phelps, Harlow William

Harlow William Phelps was born in New York and worked as a salesman.

Phelps served as a Trustee on the Rogers Park Village Board in 1888.

During the Transfer War of 1902, Rogers Parker Harlow William Phelps (1843-1919), 743 Touhy in the 1895 Chicago Blue Book, page 298, (now 1733 W. Touhy Avenue), devised a plan by which he hoped that the Chicago Union Traction Company (CUT) could be forced to honor the ruling by Superior Court Judge Farlin Quigley Ball (1838-1917) which said that, the Five-Cent Fare Law of 1897 was still valid. This law said that a traction company could not charge any additional fare for travel within the city limits of Chicago, regardless of where the trip began or ended.

Phelps' plan was to print up slips of paper which stated that per Judge Ball’s decision, passengers could ride from one end of the city to another for a single fare. And, because the city limit is Howard Avenue (later Howard Street), not Graceland Avenue (now Irving Park Road, as the CUT tried to imply), passengers getting on between Howard Avenue and the Devon Avenue Carbarn were entitled to a transfer to a car headed downtown; also passengers from downtown could ride to Howard Avenue for one fare.

Mr. Harlow W. Phelps was the leader of the Universal Transfer Alliance, the group that organized the protest against the payment of an additional fare to the Chicago North Shore Street Railway Company in order to ride that company's streetcars.

See: Home Made Transfer War.

Phelps married the daughter of early Rogers Park settler, Robert Kyle.

Member of the Rogers Park Village Board in the 1890s.

House

Mr. & Mrs. Harlow William Phelps & daughter, 743 Touhy Avenue, 1897 Chicago Blue Book, page 300.

Mr. & Mrs. Harlow William Phelps & daughter, 743 Touhy Avenue, 1901 Chicago Blue Book, page 280.

Mr. & Mrs. Harlow William Phelps & daughter, 743 Touhy Avenue, 1902 Chicago Blue Book, page 271.

Mr. & Mrs. Harlow William Phelps & daughter, 743 Touhy Avenue, 1904 Chicago Blue Book, page 274.

Reference

Mr. & Mrs. Harlow William Phelps were listed in the 1891 Chicago Blue Book, page 710. This issue does not list the addresses of Rogers Park residents.

Mr. & Mrs. Harlow William Phelps were listed in the 1892 Chicago Blue Book, page 759. This issue does not list the address of anyone living in Rogers Park.

Mr. & Mrs. Harlow William Phelps & daughter were listed in the 1893 Chicago Blue Book, page 779. This issue does not list the address of anyone living in Rogers Park.

Mr. & Mrs. Harlow William Phelps & daughter were listed in the 1894 Chicago Blue Book, page 773. This issue does not list the address of anyone living in Rogers Park.