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The Great Chicago Fire
This image is from the Chicago Historical Society's website.It was a very dry and hot summer and fall of 1871. Even though fires seemed to be a lot worse than usual, the fireman thought they could take on any fire until the day of October 8 1871, came. Back in 1871 people blamed Mrs. O'Leary's cow because the fire started on there street, but the dry summer helped a lot. Now people think that it was someone who was not being careful with matches or cigarettes. The wind most likely made the fire catch on house after house after house.
The day it started, people believed that Mrs. O'Leary was milking her cow, then, all of a sudden the lantern nearby was kicked over by the cow and a blazing fire started catching on to hay and houses. The fire was going at a speed which made it get bigger and larger every second, chasing people down DeKoven Street. The wooden houses made it easier for the fire to spread. When it reached the Chicago River, people thought they were safe, but the ashes jumped over the river and caught on more dry wood so the fire could rush to the center of the city. Panic and cries made people jump into the river or lake to avoid getting burnt. Another place to go was Lincoln Park because even though the fire was going everywhere, a light rain for about 25 hours made the fire die down before it reached Lincoln Park.
There were a few buildings that did not get destroyed. The Chicago Water Tower was one of them. The principal reason was because the Water Tower was one of the few buildings that wasn't made out of wood. It was made out of limestone. Of course the fire ruined it a little but after the fire, workers made it even better than it had been before. That is why the Water Tower still stands today.
When the fire was over, 300 people of the 300,000 in Chicago were killed, 100,000 were left homeless, 17,500 buildings were destroyed, 73 miles of street were destroyed and $200 million of property was destroyed. People immediately started to rebuild. Architects, people and even firemen were working nonstop for 3 months. Cities all over the world sent supplies, money, and enough books to give Chicago the largest public library of its time. Old businesses were rebuilt and Chicago had enough industry to need a lot more workers then before. To make more room for buildings, Chicagoans used the trash from the fire to make a much bigger lakeshore by adding the trash to the existing lakeshore. That is why the Water Tower is no longer near the lake shore. After 3 months 300,000 buildings were built.
Many lessons were learned, such as fireproof houses were needed in the case of big fires. Even though the houses we have today aren't even fireproof, people back then wanted the best they could get. Also, they needed gasoline powered trucks so they could get to the fires faster. The horses didn't do that well with the firemen.
Another rule was that floors and roofs needed to withstand fire for at least 3 hours. The last rule was to have a much better fire alarm system. The old ones were not trustworthy enough. Those were all the new rules that they needed. And remember that all this confusion believed to be started from a cow on the corner of DeKoven and Jefferson.
Click here to see the Chicago Historical Society's website on the Great Chicago Fire
