I T’s been 145 years since the event of The Great Chicago Fire. The fire started October 8, 1871 just after 9:00pm. The fire started in a barn at Patrick and Catherine O’Leary’s house. There was a bell at the top of the courthouse that warned people of the fire. However, the cause of fire is still unknown, but the biggest theory is that O’Leary cow kicked over a lantern. When the fire broke out, and the firefighters were signaled, they were sent to the wrong location. Unfortunately, back then the fire fighters were carriages with horses, so when they finally arrived to the correct location the fire already went crazy. The conflagration spread from east to north and burnt down wooden houses, commercial and industrial buildings, private
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was a tragic event that impacted many people at the time. The fire raged through the city of Chicago, Illinois from October 8th to October 10th, destroying 3.3 square miles of downtown Chicago. While the fire was devastating, it laid the groundwork for rebuilding a stronger Chicago.
One man saw the fire and tried to get someone to use the fire box to get the fire department to send a fire truck. Sadly he had no such luck in notifying them. Fire boxes were boxes located on the street corner for people to use to alert the closest fire department, because telephones were not commonly available at that time. The other man just insisted that a fire truck had probably already been called and was on its way. The fire was so destructive because there were many mistakes and dangerous
One of the main reasons why so many people died in the fire was because of the lack of regulations for buildings. For instance, the fire escape was too weak to hold large amounts of people and it collapsed, killing everyone on it. Some were even impaled by a metal fence down below. In addition to the weakness of the fire escape, it wasn’t even long enough to reach the ground safely. Regulations
First of all, two-thirds of the city was made of wood. There was wooden buildings, stores, frames, and lots more. There were 59,500 buildings that were destroyed in the fire. That made it burn more and more. The fire started at the home of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary. The wood was a bad thing. Since the whole town was made of
The great chicago fire of 1871 began the night of October 8, 1871 and burned until the morning of October 10. There are many theories of how the fire started at 137 DeKoven St. (now the home to the Chicago Fire Department training facility) in the barn belonging to Patrick and Catherine O’ Leary; a cow knocked over a lantern, an unknown person knocked over the lantern or possibly even spontaneous combustion but, the true case was never determined. What is known is that due to overly dry conditions and months without rain, once ignited the fire spread quickly. There was also a steady wind that fueled the fire and caused flames and embers to rain down and burn 2,100 acres of the city. The fire was finally out with the assistance of rain, the fire reaching lake and an unbuilt area of Chicago's North side. Even though the fire ruined most of chicago, it was a positive turning point in history. The chicago fire improved fire fighting techniques, improved buildings, and encouraged other cities, states, and countries to send relief and aid.
In 1871 there was a great fire that nobody expected.It was a fire that roared like a lion that shines like in sun and burns like a volcano.One second you close your eyes and then you open them then,for that one second of your eyes closed you felt peace then you opened them and everything went to screaming,running,crying,and you in this fire and it was called “The Great Fire”.Jim Murphy showed us information that all of this happened that everything went wrong in The Great Chicago Fire.
The fire started around 9 at night on October 8th. The fire started in or around the O'Leary family’s barn. Nobody even knows how the fire started, but there are many stories telling how. A very popular story says a cow kicked over a lantern in the barn which then caught the hay on fire then leading to the whole
People don’t know how it started but some people think it started by one of their cows kicking over a lantern and other people think it started from meteors. The fire was 4 miles long and 4 miles wide, about 300 people died from the fire and about 100,000 without homes.The fire caused about 200 million dollars in damage.Almost every person didn’t have a job.
This paper will go over how the fire started, some events during the fire and end with the aftermath and reconstruction of Chicago. The fire caused great damage to the city of Chicago. There was a lot of buildings burnt down and a great number of people were
A fire that swept through the center of Chicago began on a Sunday night in October 8, 1871. The location that these roaring flames initiated from, was the place on 137 De Koven Street at the O'Leary family little barn. Misdirected fire equipment arrived too late, and a steady wind from the southwest carried the flames and blazing debris from block to block. The houses became kindling for the downtown conflagration, where even the supposedly fireproof stone and brick buildings exploded in flames as the destruction swept northward. This natural disaster would burn for the entirety of Sunday, all day Monday, and even into the early hours of Tuesday. The fire was supposedly started when a milk dairy cow kicked over a lantern, but some believe that it was from the striking of a meteor. Either way great devastation was concluded on Chicago. This year in history was also extremely
‘’The Fire that swept through the heart of Chicago began on Sunday night, October 8, 1871. First, The Great Fire would burn for the rest of sunday, all of monday, and into the early hours of Tuesday with little real opposition.’’ They knew the city was already to burn because ⅔ of 59,500 buildings were made out of wood. Barnes contained hay and coal. Tar and wooden shingle. Factories contained flammable materials. The dry conditions, and the grass was really dry. Second, Perhaps they think a cow at Mrs.O'Leary's a cow kicked a lantern and they were the cause of the fire and the destruction of Chicago. People trapped in burning buildings often panicked and jumped to their deaths. It’s
No one really know how or when the fire started but, Legend has it that a cow kicked over a lantern in a barn and started the fire, but other theories hold that humans or even a meteor might have been responsible for the event for one that was a huge problem not knowing how it started but also the fact that no help was sent until after the fire had already started to spread. Neighbors tried contacting the fire department but called the wrong one so no help or warning was made before the disaster. 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
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was one of the largest disasters in American history. Practically overnight the great city of Chicago was destroyed. Before the fire there was a large drought causing everything to be dry and flammable, then a fire broke out in the O’Leary’s barn and spread throughout the city. Many attempts were made to put out the fire but there were too many errors and problems in the beginning. After the fire many people were left homeless and had to help build their city again (Murphy, 39)
In October 1871, Chicago was built by wooden and the weather was windy, lanes and walkways made Chicago defenseless against flame. The Great Chicago Fire started on October 8 at night, in or around a horse shelter situated on the property of Patrick and Catherine O 'Leary at 137 DeKoven Street on the city 's southwest side. Legend holds that the fire began when the family 's cow thumped over a lit light; be that as it may, Catherine O 'Leary denied this charge, and the genuine reason for the fire has never been resolved. What is known is that the fire rapidly became crazy and moved quickly north and east toward the downtown area.
Just as everyone thought the fire was dying down and would no longer spread, the wind picked up, and the fire spread, causing it to head farther northward. Then, something terrible happened. Fire Devils. Fire Devils are whirls of air which send burning wood and such things flying through the air, and in this case, across a river. Not good.