THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE I n October 1871, Chicago Illinois was built on wood. There was dry weather, and wooden buildings which made the city vulnerable to fires. The new city had drawn many people there, to start new work. Then one day a tragic fire struck the city. It’s still a mystery how the fire started, but some people have their own theories. A common legend told is that a cow kicked over a lantern in the O’Leary’s barn. Which started a blaze, and burned out of control because of the dry weather. The wrong fire department was called, which means it took longer for them to get there and put the fire out. Thus, by the time they got there the fire was spreading uncontrollably. A steady wind from the southwest carried the flames
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.
Above is my timeline that I was a part of with Ashley Bowden and we decided to do the Chicago area. I was able to talk her into doing Chicago for my love of big cities and architecture. Even as a little kid, I had a love of riding and now driving through the city looking at the massive skyscrapers and the beautiful skyline that Chicago has to offer. Chicago has an interesting story to tell and a big part of that story takes place with the Chicago Fire of 1871. After the Chicago Fire the city needed to rebuild. The land was transformed from early times of farming land to what is now the third biggest city in the United States.
From there, a piece of debris was flown onto an oil tanker located across the river in the North Side. The North Side was ablaze. It was a terrible night for many of the residents of the city of Chicago and is one that will go down in infamy until the end of time. The final totals for the fire were at the minimum 300 deaths, 70,000 buildings burned to the ground, 100 thousand people forced to homelessness, 73 miles of street were incinerated, and 200 million dollars in damage.
Chicago was very susceptible to be burned. Piles of lumber were stacked in preparation for the new building projects in 1871, before the fire. Over half of the streets in Chicago were paved with pine. Chicago also have wooden sidewalks along with their wooden buildings and streets. The weather in Chicago had been dry for a while leading up to the fire. Fires occurred
The preconditions of the area where the fire occurred were very dry land with “whipping seasonal gusts known as the Santa Ana winds and the Diablo winds” (mnn.com). The fire was started by a hunter who was lost in the woods. He believed he could be found easily if he started a small signal fire however, because of the preconditions, this small fire would spread and become the “largest single fire in California’s recorded history” (mnn.com)
The two texts, “The Great Chicago Fire” by Julia Ann Moore, and the “fanny Boggs Lester” letter by Fanny Lester, both share the same theme. The authors argue that incredible devastation can be caused from trying to come back from a huge fire incident.
On the night of October 8, 1871 at 9:00pm, a horrible fire broke loose. Very dry weather, leaving the ground dry, the wooden city vulnerable. The abundance of wooden buildings a fire started in a barn, outside in Chicago behind the home of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary at 13 Dekoven street. The Great Chicago Fire people are saying was caused by the cow of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary kicked a lantern. No one really doesn’t know how this great fire was started but some theories say humans or a matador caused this fire.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire not only affected the city of New York, but also the rest of the country. It forever changed the way our country would look at safety regulations in factories and buildings. The fire proved to America what can and will happen if we over-look safety regulations and over-crowd buildings. Unfortunately, 146 lives are taken before we fully understand this concept.
The Great Chicago Fire was a tragic event to happen in the city's history. While the cause of this major fire is unknown, Chicago's wood buildings and dry summer made the fire much worse. There are a few theories to how this fire started, but what is known for sure is that it started in the O'Leary's barn. This particular fire lasted two days and spread quickly. Firefighters were contacted, but were sent to the wrong place, causing chaos and delays as they tried to find the fire. By the time firefighters got there, the fire was spreading from house to house, already unmanageable. Before they knew it the fire had taken over the city. Within two days, the water tank in the city had run out of water. Luckily before the fire moved further, on October 10 1871, it was put out by nature's rain.
The Great Chicago Fire was one of the significant devastation that happened in the eighteenth century. Through this tragic event, hundreds of people died and thousands of buildings were completely destroyed in the fire. Before, the city was flourishing as more people traveled and decided to call Chicago their home. After the fire destroyed most of the surrounding area, people began blaming one another for the deaths of all the people. As time passed, Chicago slowly began to rebuild like never before. Although the city of Chicago continued to grow before the fire, after, the city boomed with the abundance of money and people. Moreover, because there was destruction, the people of Chicago, Illinois did not allow a fire to stop them from creating more opportunities for the future. The city has changed from the fire, but because of the help that was received, it was able to get rebuilt, and invite new individuals to explore the wondrous city of Chicago.
The wooden city often experienced fires but, on October 8, 1871 the firefighters were already fatigued from a large fire the night before. The previous fire also resulted in the loss of some firefighting equipment. To make matters worse, the city had been experiencing a lengthy dry spell. A steady breeze from the Southwest, in addition to the dry spell which had spanned the length of several months, would make firefighters efforts futile.
Great Chicago Fire in 1871; “Big Burn” the Great Fire of 1910; Miramichi Fire; Oakland Firestorm of 1991; Cloquet Fire; Yellowstone 's 'Summer of Fire '; California 's Cedar Fire of 2003; 2004 Taylor Complex Fire; Great Hinckley Fire of 1894; and the 2007 California wildfires (Nelson, 2013).
their possessions in to the street. Both the west and south side were cover in
Before the fire broke out on Sunday night, October 8, 1871 there had been a large drought causing everything to be dry and extremely flammable. Many fires had been breaking out in Chicago. Records show that in 1870 the fire
Wesley G. Skogan; Susan M. Hartnett; Natalie Bump; Jill Dubois reported to National Criminal Justice Reference Service that Cease fire treated violence as Chicago had a 25% drop in killings, with a 50% drop in the Ceasefire zones. Since then Ceasefire has been active in 18 communities in Chicago and 7 communities in Illinois. The method has had an extensive multi-year multi-method evaluation supported by the U.S. Department of Justice a public health issue. The Institute of Nonviolence reports that their framework was driven by a national experiment by David Kennedy to reduce violence. Rachel A Davis reports that violence can undermine our community and is a horrible burden on our youth, families, and neighborhoods. Violence undermines the