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The fire killed 300 people and left another 100,000 without homes, destroying much of what is downtown and the Near North Side today. However, Chicago quickly rebuilt and the city's famous ...
- Chicago Fire: October 1871
- Chicago Fire: Aftermath
In October 1871, dry weather and an abundance of wooden buildings, streets and sidewalks made Chicago vulnerable to fire. The Great Chicago Fire began on the night of October 8, in or around a barn located on the property of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary at 137 DeKoven Street on the city’s southwest side. Legend holds that the blaze started when the family’s cow knocked over a lighted lantern; however, Catherine O’Leary denied this charge, and the true cause of the fire has never been determined. What is known is that the fire quickly grew out of control and moved rapidly north and east toward the city center.
Did you know? The same day the Great Chicago Fire began, a fire broke out in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, in which more than 1,000 people perished.
The fire burned wildly throughout the following day, finally coming under control on October 10, when rain gave a needed boost to firefighting efforts. The Great Chicago Fire left an estimated 300 people dead and 100,000 others homeless. More than 17,000 structures were destroyed and damages were estimated at $200 million.
The disaster prompted an outbreak of looting and lawlessness. Companies of soldiers were summoned to Chicago and martial law was declared on October 11, ending three days of chaos. Martial law was lifted several weeks later.
The month after the fire, Joseph Medill (1823-99) was elected mayor after promising to institute stricter building and fire codes, a pledge that may have helped him win the office. His victory might also be attributable to the fact that most of the city’s voting records were destroyed in the fire, so it was next to impossible to keep people from voting more than once.
Despite the fire’s devastation, much of Chicago’s physical infrastructure, including its transportation systems, remained intact. Reconstruction efforts began quickly and spurred great economic development and population growth, as architects laid the foundation for a modern city featuring the world’s first skyscrapers. At the time of the fire, Chicago’s population was approximately 324,000; within nine years, there were some 500,000 Chicagoans. By 1890, the city was a major economic and transportation hub with an estimated population of more than 1 million people. (In America, only New York City had a larger population at the time.) In 1893, Chicago hosted the World’s Columbian Exposition, a tourist attraction visited by some 27.5 million people.
Before and After the Fire: Chicago in the 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s. Click on the links below to access scans of some of the sheet maps of Chicago from the 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s that are held at the University of Chicago Library's Map Collection.
Title InformationSubject HeadingsDescriptionChicago / drawn from Davie's atlas with ...Chicago (Ill.)--Maps.Scale [1:6,000]. Chicago : Chas. Shober, ...Guide map of Chicago / engr. and ...Chicago (Ill.)--Maps.Scale [ca. 1:24,000]. Chicago : Chas.Chicago and environs : compiled and drawn ...Chicago (Ill.)--Maps.Scale [ca. 1:12,000]. Chicago : J. Van ...Chicago.Chicago (Ill.)--Maps. Great Fire, ...Scale [ca. 1:32,000]. [S.l. : s.n., ca.Feb 17, 2009 · English: Map of Chicago, showing the burned area after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.
On October 8, 1871, a fire broke out in a barn on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois. For more than 24 hours, the fire burned through the heart of Chicago, killing 300 people and leaving one-third of the city's population homeless.
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles (9 km 2 ) of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. [3]
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This guide map, published just after the Great Chicago Fire, superimposes the burned area over the gridded street pattern. The fire started southwest of the city center and burned over 2,000 acres, noted by the shaded red area.
