...hicago Fire: October 1871 In October 1871, dry weather and an abundance of wooden buildings, streets and sidewalks made Chicagovulnerable 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. 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. Chicago Fire: Aftermath The month after the fire, Joseph Medill (1823-99) was elected mayor after promising hicago Fire: Aftermath 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...
Words: 452 - Pages: 2
...James mincey Jones Fire Protection Mar 17, 2013 The Great Chicago FIre The Great Chicago Fire was a horrible and disappointing day in United States history. The conflagration burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871. It killed hundreds and rampaged just over 3 miles while devastating the entire city. Though the fire was one of the largest of the 19th century, the rebuilding that began soon after made them one of the most popular cities of America. The starting of the fire initially had everyone fooled. that a cow in a barn had kicked over a lantern, and things went a blaze.Though the barn owned by the O’Leary was the first to be taken over by the fire, the reporter came clean to exaggerating the story for sales. The barn was the start but the wood structures within Chicago, combined with a drought was no match for this fire. The wind carried ember from the fire toward the city.These factors didn’t even shake the residents of the Windy City. As the fire continued to grow firefighters responded, and were soon exhausted. The first alarm was received around 9:40 by the department when a fire alarm was pulled at a local pharmacy. This was when the fire was relatively small but when it got larger the guard took the corrective actions to send more people but it he sent them in the wrong direction. It was when the fire overcame a tall church, the flames crossed the river. Ships that lined the river, the city's wood-plank sidewalks...
Words: 617 - Pages: 3
...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. 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 fighters went to nearly 600 fires. On Saturday night there had been a large fire that destroyed about four blocks and lasted for 16 hours. Another reason why everything in Chicago was so flammable was because almost the entire city was made out of wood. It was a lot worse in the middle class and poor sections of the town. Just about every house was made out of wood. Even buildings that claimed to be fire proof had wood roofs covered with tar. The richer part of town had stone and brick homes, but wooden interiors, wooden stables, and wooden storage buildings. Chicago was built on marshland and every time it rained the city flooded, so to help this problem the roads were made out of wood and elevated above the waterline. The day the fire started there were over 55...
Words: 282 - Pages: 2
...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) 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 fighters went to nearly 600 fires. On Saturday night there had been a large fire that destroyed about four blocks and lasted for 16 hours. Another reason why everything in Chicago was so flammable was because almost the entire city was made out of wood. It was a lot worse in the middle class and poor sections of the town (19). Just about every house was made out of wood. Even buildings that claimed to be fire proof had wood roofs covered with tar. The richer part of town had stone and brick homes, but wooden interiors, wooden stables, and wooden storage buildings (Cromie, 81). Chicago was built on marshland and every time it rained the city flooded, so to help this problem the roads were...
Words: 259 - Pages: 2
...about disasters in Chicago, but one of the most well-known ones was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The Great Chicago Fire started in a small barn in Chicago, Illinois that burnt for over 24 hours straight. The Great Chicago Fire changed the city a lot, based on what the city was like before. The fire did lots of damage and was very stressful for people who dealt with it and was around when the fire happened. Lastly, the Great Fire resulted in lots of drama and hard work. Overall, the Great Chicago Fire was a disastrous and catastrophic event that went down in history. First of all, Chicago was very different before the Great Fire, from what it looked like after. Before the Great Chicago fire of 1871, Chicago was just your average city that you’d see on a day-to-day basis. The city had lots of wooden buildings and also...
Words: 1105 - Pages: 5
...The Burning City… The Great Chicago Fire I n a city made completely of wood, fires aren’t exactly rare. But no one was expecting a fire of this intensity. On October 8, 1971, a fire supposedly started in a small barn at 137 DeKoven Street. It is also thought that a meteor struck the small barn. According to the most believed theory, the cow owned by Mrs. O’Leary kicked over a lantern, setting the barn ablaze. The firemen, who had just saved a fire earlier that week, were exhausted and didn’t get to the fire until it was too late. When they knew for sure the fire could not be contained, they rang the alarm bell to alert the city. Gusts of wind blew the flames across the dry land, as the citizens of Chicago were experiencing...
Words: 462 - Pages: 2
...The Great Chicago Fire started in October 8,1871 and ended October10,1871. The legend of the great Chicago fire was that a cow kicked over a lantern in the barn and caught on fire, the grass was so dry that the fire spread to Chicago or a meteor hit the earth left a trail of fire and it spread to the city or a couple of boys were gambling and dropped the cigar that caught the barn that they were in and it spread to the city. The Great Chicago fire was one of the biggest fire in the history of the united states. A cow hit a lantern, a meteor hit the earth, or a couple were boys were gambling in a barn, or couple of boys didn’t like these people and just set the barn on purpose and it spread rapidly, the ground was so dry that the fire spread...
Words: 509 - Pages: 3
...What if one of the most famous events in Chicago history, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, never happened? What would the city look like today? “Once you open up what might have happened, the possibilities are endless.” -Carl Smith To a tremendous degree, the outline and design of the city of Chicago and the character of the structures are an aftereffect of the Chicago Fire. On the off chance that the fire had not happened, it would look a considerable measure changed. To start with, think about how possible it is that an alternate fire would have wrecked a huge area of the city at some point or another. Chicago was loaded with wooden structures, and in addition, heaps of timber and coal. What's more, the city had 561 miles of wood walkways....
Words: 1151 - Pages: 5
...the mid-1850s, Chicago became a major city thanks to the newly constructed railroad system that connected the United States, causing the once small city of 100,000 people to over a million within 30 years. Due to such rapid expansion, structures appeared with little permits and regulation, causing inconsistencies in the housing quality for multiple future decades. Wood built structures and oil lamps became more common, and also led to the city’s downfall on October 8th, 1871. Multiple events caused the leveling of most of the business district of Chicago and the forced...
Words: 1122 - Pages: 5
...great Chicago fire was one of the most deadliest fires. Some people believe that Louis H Cohn , peg leg started it . But natural causes had something to do with it. According to -what started the great Chicago fire?- it states that it was hot that summer of 1871. The bustling city of Chicago sweltered under the heat of the Sun and very little rain fell to alleviate the severe drought that consumed the city. They also said that Fires were a common occurrence, thanks to swirling winds, the dry conditions, and the fact that most of the city was made of wood. This shows that natural causes started the great Chicago fire. Drought There was a drought, dry weather conditions. In the passage Chicago fire of 1871, it says In “October 1871, dry weather and an abundance of wooden buildings, streets and sidewalks made Chicago vulnerable to fire.” So the two words dry and weather means there was a drought. What else could it mean..In some articles , it said there was a drought and in droughts there barely is water anywhere. When the fire started , they had to go in the carriage with only TWO horses. They had to...
Words: 685 - Pages: 3
...Chicago is the third most populated city in the United States with over 2.7 million residents and also more than 234 square miles of land and is also one of the fastest growing cities for decades and is still growing. Chicago was established on August 12 1833 with a population of around 200 residents and within seven years it grew to around 4000 residents. Today I will be speaking to you about The History Of Chicago concerning The Great Fire Of 1871, The Great Migration and about the Willis Tower. Chicago’s great fire of 1871 was a conflagration it burned nearly two days and burned 3.3 square miles of land and killed 300 people. There are many myths on how the fire started. One of the most popular myths about how the fire...
Words: 530 - Pages: 3
...Chicago fire Lil Tom was enjoying an another day of the October weather playing out on his family's farm. When he notices the sky color changing to grey or smoky black, Lil Tom plays no real attention to it. Until he starts to notice the smell of something burning so he goes into to check if his parents were cooking or burning the leaves, but it wasn't them so he tells his parents to come outside and look at what's going on . They know just as much as he then his mom goes into the house to grab the weekly newspaper to see if there was any info on maybe what was happening. All of sudden she yells everyone come on hurry get your stuff packed and ready we need to leave now ! So pack up our stuff but all of our valuables goes in a container basically...
Words: 360 - Pages: 2
...Chicago Ready To Burn In 1871, chicago ended up being a whole new city after the great fire and all the residence changed as well, at least the ones who were still alive. In the book, The Great Fire by Jim Murphy clearly shows this. First of all, this city burned so hard because the buildings were made of wood. Also, the houses were mostly made of wood, even the sidewalks were wood. everything was burnable so no wonder it burned so quickly. Secondly, The firemen had many problems. none of the fire men were even ready for this to happen, especially the second night of the fire, they were all so intoxicated from the first fire when they put it out, they celebrated and got drunk. Then the older fire engines wouldn't work. one...
Words: 389 - Pages: 2
...A massive fire swept through Chicago long ago, known as the “Great Chicago Fire”. Despite the event occurring almost 153 years ago, the cause is unknown. The “Great Chicago Fire” started on the eighth of October 1871 as mentioned by greatchicagofire.org. The fire raged on, destroying 17,000 buildings. The fire proved seriously deadly by claiming more than 300 lives before it finally went out on October 10th. Mrs O’ Leary’s cow, Daisy, kicked over a lantern, sparking the fire. The barn was the first to catch fire, but her cottage survived. To provide more evidence, there was testimony held against her in court. First, the barn was the first to catch fire, according to many sources, around nine o’ clock when the fire started. She and her family owned the barn. If she and her family owned the barn, they were the only ones that had access to the barn. She ran a business out of the barn. She and the rest of her family were poor immigrants. The fire was spotted as soon as it started in the barn. Although she was the only one in the barn, there was a drayman named Daniel Sullivan. There could not have been anyone else in the barn....
Words: 478 - Pages: 2
...CAT losses have resulted from natural hazards. Since 1989, global insurers and reinsurers have suffered multi-billion dollar losses from no fewer than 20 earthquakes, windstorms, tornadoes, hailstorms, winter-storms, fires, and floods. Moreover, there is a credible body of data and science that suggest that future events of greater magnitude than those that have recently occurred are not only likely, but also inevitable. RMS models suggest that the global P&C industry can expect an average of $20 billion in natural catastrophe losses per year, including the possibility for single event losses in excess of $100 billion. However, as a man-made catastrophe, the WTC attack suggests that the industry now broaden its view beyond natural hazards. Even prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks, man-made events such as industrial accidents, aviation losses, riots, fire, and explosion have contributed 20% of the total CAT losses over the past five years. In addition, some of the worst man-made disasters such as the Exxon Valdez, Bhopal, and Chernobyl could have cost the industry billions if they had occurred under slightly different circumstances. Even events on the margin of our contemporary history warrant a second look, such as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which prior to September 11 seemed irrelevant to today’s circumstances. Incorporating terrorist attacks and other man-made super-CATs into an overall understanding of catastrophe risk is a difficult proposition...
Words: 363 - Pages: 2
