Project topic: Great Fire of Chicago

Project Presentation: mini lecture using a prezi

How it started

Damages

Aftermath

Additional information

(we can add multiple slides to one topic so that there is space for all the info)

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/event/Chicago-fire-of-1871

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/chicago-fire-1871-and-great-rebuilding/

https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/great-chicago-fire

https://mag.uchicago.edu/law-policy-society/great-fire-chicago-1871#

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/great-chicago-fire-begins
 Work cited

Abbott, Karen. “What (or Who) Caused the Great Chicago Fire?” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian

Institution, 4 Oct. 2012,

www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-or-who-caused-the-great-chicago-fire-61481977/.

Author Herman Kogan. “The Great Fire: Chicago 1871.” The University of Chicago Magazine,

mag.uchicago.edu/law-policy-society/great-fire-chicago-1871#.

“Chicago on Fire.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service,

www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/chicago-fire/.

“Great Chicago Fire.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,

www.britannica.com/event/Chicago-fire-of-1871.

“Great Chicago Fire Begins.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 24 Nov. 2009,

www.history.com/this-day-in-history/great-chicago-fire-begins.

“Great Chicago Fire Begins.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 24 Nov. 2009,

www.history.com/this-day-in-history/great-chicago-fire-begins.

History.com Editors. “Chicago Fire of 1871.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 4 Mar. 2010,

www.history.com/topics/19th-century/great-chicago-fire.

Latson, Jennifer. “The Great Chicago Fire's Origins Remain a Mystery.” Time, Time, 8 Oct. 2015,

time.com/4055770/great-chicago-fire-origins/.

National Geographic Society. “The Chicago Fire of 1871 and the 'Great Rebuilding'.” National Geographic

Society, 15 Oct. 2012, www.nationalgeographic.org/article/chicago-fire-1871-and-great-rebuilding/.

National Geographic Society. “The Chicago Fire of 1871 and the 'Great Rebuilding'.” National Geographic

Society, 15 Oct. 2012, www.nationalgeographic.org/article/chicago-fire-1871-and-great-rebuilding/.

Organization. “PHOTOS: Chicago Went Up In Flames 141 Years Ago Monday.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 8 Oct.

2012, www.huffpost.com/entry/great-chicago-fire-1871-the-sec_n_1948792.

Wolkenkratzer ( Die Riesen der Stadt ) – INFOCRACKER says: and Medieval to Modern – Technology

and Society in World History says: “1880-1900 The Golden Age.” Chicagology, 23 Jan. 2021,

chicagology.com/goldenage/.
● Great Chicago Fire, also called Chicago fire of 1871

● the population reached nearly 30,000 in 1850 and was triple that a decade later.

○ Chicago population in the mid-19th century was growing on an unprecedented

note

● structures there were also built of wood.

○ fires were frequent

● Cheap transportation to the outskirts of the city encouraged middle-class dispersal

● Months without rain had parched the city, and a major fire the previous night had

exhausted firefighters and damaged equipment.

● began on the city’s West Side, in the De Koven Street barn of Patrick and Catherine

O’Leary, though it is not known what happened there.

● Misdirected fire equipment arrived too late, and a steady wind from the southwest carried

the flames and blazing debris from block to block.

● even the supposedly fireproof stone and brick buildings exploded in flames as the

destruction swept northward.

● Only rainfall, the lake, and stretches of unbuilt lots on the North Side finally halted the

wave of destruction on the morning of October 10.

● claimed about 300 lives, destroyed some 17,450 buildings covering almost 3.5 square

miles (9 square km), and caused $200 million in damage.

● Roughly one-third of the city lay in ruins, and an equal proportion of the

population—nearly 100,000 people—was homeless.

● the stockyards and lumber yards on the South and West sides remained intact. The city

rebuilt quickly, and by 1880 its population had reached a half million.
 ● Department stores and offices crowded into the central area, and industrial growth along

the river branches and rail lines was equally phenomenal.

-https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/chicago-fire-1871-and-great-rebuilding/

● a fire broke out in a barn on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois.

● The "Great Rebuilding" was the effort to construct a new, urban center.

○ Big businesses, innovative buildings, and a new style of architecture were the

results.

● While there is little doubt that the fire started in a barn owned by Patrick and Catherine

O'Leary

○ The exact cause of the fire remains a mystery.

● The fire spread north and east, into the heart of Chicago's business district.

● Rain put out the fire more than a day later, but by then it had burned an area 4 miles long

and 1 mile wide.

○ destroyed 17,500 buildings and 73 miles of street.

● only 120 bodies were recovered, 300 believed to be dead

● Chicago's summer and fall in 1871 were unusually dry, with only one-fourth the normal

amount of rain falling between July and October

○ wooden buildings and sidewalks had dried out in the summer's intense heat.

● On the first night of the fire, strong southwesterly winds fanned the flames high into the

sky and created convection spirals, or "fire devils."

○ Fire devils spit burning debris in all directions, causing more buildings to burn.

● When a burning ember struck the roof in the first hours of the fire, the Waterworks was

quickly destroyed.
 ○ It was the main source of water for the city's understaffed fire department.

● laws were passed requiring new buildings be constructed with fireproof materials such as

brick, stone, marble, and limestone.

● Many poorer Chicagoans couldn't afford the fireproof materials or skilled masons to

rebuild. Fire insurance was gone/ burned in fire.

○ Without the means to rebuild or insure their property, thousands of people and

small businesses were crowded out of Chicago.

● Terra-cotta clay emerged as a popular and effective building material. By the mid-1880s,

terra cotta tiling made Chicago one of the most fireproof cities in the nation.

● Two events stopped this phase of reconstruction.

○ The first was the failure of a bank, Jay Cooke and Company, in September 1873.

The bank’s failure triggered a nationwide depression that halted much of the

Chicago construction.

○ The second event was another, somewhat smaller fire, in July 1874. This fire

destroyed more than 800 buildings over 60 acres.

https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/great-chicago-fire

● burned from October 8 to October 10, 1871,

● Killed about 300 people

● 200 million dollars of damage

● Legend is that it started when a cow kicked over a lantern but the owner - catherine

o'leary- denied these allegations

● 4 miles long 1 mile wide of damages

 ● Spurred economic and population growth

● 100000 homeless

● On october 10 1817 fire was under control thanks to the help of firefighters and rain

● Prompted looting and lawlessness

● Joseph Medill (1823-99) was elected mayor after promising to institute stricter building

and fire codes

● Voting records had been destroyed so it was impossible to prevent people from voting

multiple times

● Transportation system remained in tact

● World's first skyscrapers

https://mag.uchicago.edu/law-policy-society/great-fire-chicago-1871#

● Started October 7, 1871

● engaged nearly half of the city’s 185 weary firemen.

● that in the first week of October there had been no fewer than twenty-seven fires—and it

sounded a warning almost as chilling and ominous as Train’s: “Everything is in so dry

and inflammable a condition that a spark might set a fire which could sweep from end to

end of the city.”

● It destroyed four square miles of the tumultuous city, including its central business

district and governmental buildings, slum areas and neighborhoods of the wealthy,

mansions and hovels, theaters, churches, sporting houses, and railroad depots—much,

much more for a loss of nearly $200 million in property.

-https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/great-chicago-fire-begins

● 2 days

● 200 million dollars (4 million in 2020)

● Chicago was vulnerable to fire due to its dry weather and wood buildings

● 20 fires throughout chicago the week before the great fire

● Chicago’s physical infrastructure, including its water, sewage and transportation systems,

remained intact

● Lead to it being a major transportation hub

● Population from 324000 to 1.5 million

● 1997 o'leary was exonerated with her cow

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/chicago-fire-1871-and-great-rebuilding/

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/chicago-fire/

https://time.com/4055770/great-chicago-fire-origins/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-or-who-caused-the-great-chicago-fire-61481977/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/great-chicago-fire-1871-the-sec_n_1948792

https://chicagology.com/goldenage/

From our britannica link