52 The Chicago Academy of Science*. 



in 1876, after having been used as an asylum for 

 inebriates, called the Washingtonian Home. 



Mr. Laflin was a factor in starting" the first system 

 of water works in Chicago. It had been incorporated 

 by the state in 1836, but the work of supplying the city 

 with lake water was not begun till 1840. A reservoir 

 for this purpose was built of pine lumber near the 

 shore at the foot of Lake street, into which water was 

 pumped from the lake and thence distributed by wooden 

 pipes through the city. The power used for pumping 

 was supplied by a flouring mill where the old Adams 

 house was subsequently built, opposite the Illinois 

 Central depot. He operated this system of water 

 works for several years, until substituted by the pres- 

 ent system, established by the city council and put 

 into operation in 1854. 



Mr. Laflin married in Canton, in 1827, Miss Hen- 

 rietta Hinman, of Lee, Mass. ; they had three chil- 

 dren, George and Georgiana, twins, and Lycurgus. 

 His first wife died, and he afterward married Miss 

 Catherine King, of Westfield, Mass. His second wife died 

 in the winter of 1891, the family left then consisting of 

 Mr. Laflin and two sons by his first wife, George H. and 

 Lycurgus Laflin, both well known business men of Chi- 

 cago, ever identified with its growing interest, both of 

 whom have sons in the prime of life. Mr. Matthew 

 Laflin, the venerable grandfather, died at his home 

 May 20, 1897. He built his most enduring monument 

 by erecting the building of the Academy of Sciences 

 in Lincoln Park, which was the crowning work of his 

 long and useful life. 



RUFUS BLANCHARD. 



