Although General Davis petitioned McClurg to join the regular army , he instead returned to S. C. Griggs & Co. as a junior partner . The firm became known as Jansen , McClurg & Co. in 1872 after Griggs lost his assets in the Great Chicago Fire the year before . In 1874 , McClurg founded the 1st Regiment of the Illinois National Guard , leading it for three years . In 1887 , McClurg became senior partner and the company was renamed A. C. McClurg & Co . President Grover Cleveland named McClurg examiner at United States Military Academy . Later that year , he received an honorary Master of the Arts degree from Yale University . The A. C. McClurg & Co. was destroyed in an 1899 fire , but McClurg financed its reconstruction . The new structure , designed by Holabird & Roche , is now recognized as a historic place . At the time of his death , A. C. McClurg & Co. was the largest book and stationery house in the West and was among the largest in the country
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
Alexander C. McClurg