Okla-homey
10/8/2008, 06:12 AM
October 8, 1871: The Great Fire destroys much of Chicago
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7586/chicagofire0kd.gif
137 years ago on this fatal night in 1871, fire broke out in a barn behind the Chicago cottage of Patrick O'Leary. Legend has it the O'Leary's cow knocked over a kerosene lantern and caught the barn on fire.
It had been an exceedingly dry summer and early fall. The whole city was dry as a bone. Add to that fact a great deal of the city had been hastily thrown up in the previous 10 to 20 years and was made entirely of wood, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Winds blowing off the prairie fed the flames, and the fire spread rapidly, eventually consuming a four-mile-long and 2/3-mile-wide swath of Chicago.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/6977/chi00pxchicagofire26ey.jpg
When the Great Fire was finally over two days later, nearly 300 people were dead, 100,000 were homeless, and Chicago's booming downtown was in ashes. Despite the devastation, Chicago would rise again and continue to be the economic center of the American West for decades to come.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/1516/chicfirepanoramic1jd.th.jpg (http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chicfirepanoramic1jd.jpg)
Most people think of Chicago as a midwestern city, and geographically it obviously is, but economically, Chicago is best seen as the unofficial regional capital and economic center of the American West.
Because of its location on the western edge of a system of lakes, rivers, and canals that linked the city to the East, Chicago was the natural destination for both western raw materials moving East and eastern manufactured goods moving West.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/6581/chi20045chicagofiredept6ht.jpg
After the Civil War, Chicago quickly eclipsed St. Louis as the primary trading hub between East and West, and the city's fate was inextricably tied to the rapidly growing settlement and development of western natural resources.
http://img468.imageshack.us/img468/9381/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxcattlepenchicagorm6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Millions of dollars worth of cattle, lumber, swine, and grain that had originated in the plains of Wyoming or the mountains of Montana were channeled through the massive freight yards, slaughterhouses, and grain elevators of Chicago.
Indeed, a look at a map of the U.S. during the 1880s revealed that while all roads may have once led to Rome, by the late 19th century all railroads led to Chicago.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/2235/chicagoriver7bq.jpg
Although the Great Fire of 1871 destroyed Chicago's downtown, it left most of the city's essential industrial infrastructure in place. Scarcely missing a beat, the towering grain elevators and vast stockyards continued to collect the growing output of the West, process it into pork sausages or two-by-fours, and send it onward to the insatiable markets of the East.
http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/5886/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxmeatstoragechicagowc8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Chicago meat packers c.1890
Please note also, not one dime of Federal money was used to rebuild her.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7315/chicakeshore0bz.th.jpg (http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chicakeshore0bz.jpg)
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8703/insane7zocy5.jpg
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7586/chicagofire0kd.gif
137 years ago on this fatal night in 1871, fire broke out in a barn behind the Chicago cottage of Patrick O'Leary. Legend has it the O'Leary's cow knocked over a kerosene lantern and caught the barn on fire.
It had been an exceedingly dry summer and early fall. The whole city was dry as a bone. Add to that fact a great deal of the city had been hastily thrown up in the previous 10 to 20 years and was made entirely of wood, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Winds blowing off the prairie fed the flames, and the fire spread rapidly, eventually consuming a four-mile-long and 2/3-mile-wide swath of Chicago.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/6977/chi00pxchicagofire26ey.jpg
When the Great Fire was finally over two days later, nearly 300 people were dead, 100,000 were homeless, and Chicago's booming downtown was in ashes. Despite the devastation, Chicago would rise again and continue to be the economic center of the American West for decades to come.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/1516/chicfirepanoramic1jd.th.jpg (http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chicfirepanoramic1jd.jpg)
Most people think of Chicago as a midwestern city, and geographically it obviously is, but economically, Chicago is best seen as the unofficial regional capital and economic center of the American West.
Because of its location on the western edge of a system of lakes, rivers, and canals that linked the city to the East, Chicago was the natural destination for both western raw materials moving East and eastern manufactured goods moving West.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/6581/chi20045chicagofiredept6ht.jpg
After the Civil War, Chicago quickly eclipsed St. Louis as the primary trading hub between East and West, and the city's fate was inextricably tied to the rapidly growing settlement and development of western natural resources.
http://img468.imageshack.us/img468/9381/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxcattlepenchicagorm6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Millions of dollars worth of cattle, lumber, swine, and grain that had originated in the plains of Wyoming or the mountains of Montana were channeled through the massive freight yards, slaughterhouses, and grain elevators of Chicago.
Indeed, a look at a map of the U.S. during the 1880s revealed that while all roads may have once led to Rome, by the late 19th century all railroads led to Chicago.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/2235/chicagoriver7bq.jpg
Although the Great Fire of 1871 destroyed Chicago's downtown, it left most of the city's essential industrial infrastructure in place. Scarcely missing a beat, the towering grain elevators and vast stockyards continued to collect the growing output of the West, process it into pork sausages or two-by-fours, and send it onward to the insatiable markets of the East.
http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/5886/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxmeatstoragechicagowc8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Chicago meat packers c.1890
Please note also, not one dime of Federal money was used to rebuild her.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7315/chicakeshore0bz.th.jpg (http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chicakeshore0bz.jpg)
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8703/insane7zocy5.jpg