The Great Fire of Chicago 1871

One of the biggest disasters to affect the United States of America in the nineteenth century was ‘The great Fire of Chicago’.

The fire started at the now infamous barn behind the O’Leary residence at 13 Dekoven Street.

Even to this day the cause of the great fire is still uncertain.

Firefighters, who were physically exhausted before the Great Fire started as they had contended with another Fire in Chicago earlier that day, were initially sent to the wrong area.

When the firefighters finally arrived at the Scene the wild conflagration was out of control and was in the process of spreading  north and east.

The fire spread so rapidly due to the large number of wooden residential houses in Chicago and many Industrial factories were also affected.

The Central Business Area of Chicago was utterly destroyed and even the City’s water supply was cut off.

Eventually after 2 days, with the assistance of heavy rain the fire was extinguished.

Out of 300,000 citizens living in the City of Chicago, 100,000 were made homeless by the Event. 300 people were tragically killed.

The rapid and widespread construction of Chicago after the fire is reputed to have made the City the Economic Powerhouse it is today.