![]() The immediate aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire remains the only time that the city was placed under a true martial law. Those totals were never made official as the coroner at the time ultimately had no way of determining exactly how many lost their lives, but many who witnessed the blaze and the speed with which it spread believed the loss of life would have been much greater. ![]() While the statistics of the losses were and still are staggering, in a strange way, it's a wonder that only approximately 300 people were killed. By 2:30am the city courthouse collapsed and witnesses up to a mile away reported hearing its giant bell from its tower ring out as it hit the ground. Unfortunately, the wind became even stronger and by midnight the fire had jumped the river. They had fought many small fires all through the previous week due to the summer drought, and there was some confusion.Ī strong wind out of the southwest made the fire grow quickly but the firefighters remained hopeful the Chicago river would serve as a natural firebreak. The firefighter response was quick but they were tired. ![]() No matter how it began, it ignited sometime between 9:00-9:30pm in a neighborhood southwest of the city center, on the north side of DeKoven Street between Jefferson and Clinton streets. And further others argue that it was some sort of celestial event and they cite as evidence the 3 other major fires that took place elsewhere along the shores of Lake Michigan that night (including the Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire which, to this day, remains the most deadly fire in American history) among others in the upper Midwest. O'Leary's sons gambling with the other neighborhood boys in the barn and either he himself or one of the neighborhood boys accidentally kicked over the lamp. O'Leary out milking her cow late at night but that rumor had begun before the fire even stopped burning and there was a strong anti-Irish Catholic sentiment at the time. We're unlikely to ever know exactly what started the fire that night. For comparison's sake, the modern city of Chicago's firefighter:resident ratio is nearly 4 times that number and they're equipped with far better firefighting technology and advancements. The Chicago Fire Department of the time had only 185 firefighters to protect the town of 324,000 people. Compounding the matter, not only was over two-thirds of the city's structures, sidewalks, and roadways made out of wood, so, too, were most of the buildings topped with highly flammable tar and shingle roofs. Still, no one could have predicted the type of inferno that would sweep through Chicago and destroy an area 4 miles long, displace 1 in 3 of the city's estimated 324,000 residents (over 100,000 people would be left homeless), and devour over 1/3rd of the city's entire property valuation.įrom July 4th, 1871, through that October 8th, the city of Chicago had received just 1 inch of total rainfall causing severe drought conditions for the season. Doomed, as the Associated Press reported at the time. Looking back, disaster was probably inevitable. On the early fall night of October 8, 1871, the conditions for destruction were near perfect. The photographer's Chicago studio burned down in the fire. Barnard, comes from a larger panorama photo of the damage that you can view below. ![]() 9 min read This photo, taken by George N.
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