At the age of 20 Root became supervisor of construction on the massive glass and iron vault. The first trains entered the shed on October 8, 1871-the same day as the Great Chicago Fire.
Headed West
Root showed some of his work to a forward-thinking New York architect, Peter Bonnet Wight, who was impressed by the young architect's drawings. He felt that they possessed a maturity and personal style unusual for someone so new to the profession. Wight had ties to Chicago, where he had maintained an office for a time in the late 1850s, and returned there to establish himself with Asher Carter and William H. Drake after the fire. The leveling of the city, at the moment when its commercial prospects were growing exponentially, gave architects an unprecedented opportunity. The Carter, Drake and Wight firm had so much business that they offered Root a job as head draftsman. He moved to Chicago in early 1872.
At the firm Root befriended a drafting-room colleague, Daniel Hudson Burnham, a Chicagoan from a well-to-do family. A talented artist, Burnham had done poorly in school and had only recently seemed to discover his calling. He and Root decided to begin working together.
This is a free page. This page contains 197 words. This
biography contains 1,838 words (approx. 6 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our John Wellborn Root Access Pass.
