John M. Van Osdel

In the city, Van Osdel found the Apprentice's Library, a catalogue of books related to carpentry and architecture.

When Ogden moved west to Chicago, Illinois, he requested that Van Osdel follow him and design his house.

After its completion, Van Osdel became engaged in steamboat construction, building the James Allen and George W. Dole.

After construction began on the Illinois and Michigan Canal, Van Osdel built several water pumps and a horizontal windmill to aid with excavation.

He returned to New York in 1840 to tend to his sick wife and to work as an associate editor for Rufus Porter's American Mechanic.

[5] He is considered a Chicago school architect and a peer of William LeBaron Jenney, Dankmar Adler, Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, John Wellborn Root and Frank Lloyd Wright.

[7] Much of his work has been destroyed by fire,[7] but remaining structures stand as local landmarks, with many listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Van Osdel designed the Palmer House, Tremont House and Page Brothers Building in Chicago,[1][8] the Illinois Executive Mansion in Springfield, the state capital,[9] the Old McHenry County Courthouse, Old Main at the University of Arkansas, and some courthouses in Indiana.