1/12/2024 0 Comments Great chicago fire![]() "Within a couple years, Chicago is mostly recovered - and certainly was completely rebuilt, by the time of the World's Fair in 1893.Following the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871, commercial photographers descended on the city to record its devastation. Paul Durica of the Newberry Library notes the rebuild was rapid. "Chicago remains in 1871, burned down as it was, a superb investment." The ruins of the Tremont House after the Great Chicago Fire, United States of America, engraving from The Illustrated London News, No 1679, November 18, 1871. It is important to the rest of the world," Smith said. ![]() "Chicago is providing wheat to Europe, and this place is needed - and it's also a place where money is exchanged. ![]() Professor Smith describes that importance in his book "Chicago's Great Fire, the Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City." The ruins of the Court House after the Great Chicago Fire, United States of America, engraving from The Illustrated London News, No 1679, November 18, 1871. But there was also an acknowledgement that Chicago, even in the 1870s, was important to the world economy. Immediately after the fire, there was a worldwide outpouring of support to rebuild the city. In Bradwell's narrative, which was posted to the history website "The Great Chicago Fire & the Web of Memory," the North Division is what we would now call the Near North Side, while the South Division would include the present-day Loop. Tuesday morning a rain began to fall, and the flames finally died out, leaving Chicago a smoking, steaming ruin." The ruins of the LaSalle Street Station after the Great Chicago Fire, United States of America, engraving from The Illustrated London News, No 1679, November 18, 1871. "Back in the South Division, the luxurious new Palmer House gave way, along with the offices of the Chicago Tribune, whose editors had exhorted the Common Council to raise the level of fire protection or face disaster. By noon on Monday the North Division fires had reached North Avenue and then continued the better part of a mile to Fullerton Avenue," Palmer wrote. ![]() By 3:30 a.m., the roof collapsed on the Pumping Station at Chicago Avenue, effectively rendering any firefighting efforts hopeless. "As thousands fled to the North Division, the fire pursued them. (Photo by Stock Montage/Getty Images)īessie Bradwell Helmer, who served as president of Chicago Legal News in the early 20th century, described the fire as "like a snowstorm, only the flakes were red instead of white." Map shows a portion of the city of Chicago, with the shaded area marking the more than 2000 acres of land and real estate destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire, Illinois, late 1871. North is to the right on the map, while west is up. The map below shows the breadth of the devastation. View of the Randolph Street Bridge during the Great Chicago Fire, United States of America, engraving from The Illustrated London News, No 1678, November 11, 1871. The fire left an estimated 300 people dead and 100,000 homeless. Thirty straight hours of flames ended up destroying what was then a third of the city. "That long, dry summer, a strong wind from the southwest, a major fire the night before that weakened the already too-small and inadequately-equipped fire department," added Carl Smith of Northwestern University.
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