The Great Chicago Fire of 1871
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The Great Chicago Fire
The Chicago fire of 1871 was a devastating event that kills hundreds and devastated the cities business area wiping out buildings people and anything else in its way. The fire had gone on for days its started Oct. 8th and ended the 10th. They also call it The Great Chicago Fire. The damage it did was brutal it had destroyed millions of dollars worth of stuff. This fire did nothing more than destroy houses and families.”Chicago Fire of 1871.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2015.
People still arent sure what started the fire some people say a cow kicked a barn lamp over some think a meteor caused this massive fire. It still hasn’t been proven what started it but the story everyone was sticking with was the cow. The wind was only 30 mph at the time put it was giving the fire oxygen and pushing it farther and farther. This fire had stretched over 4 miles long and over a mile wide. “Chicago Fire of 1871.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2015.
The fire had destroyed over $200 million worth of buildings materials and many other miscellaneous things. It set back chicago a big step in the business standpoint. They had to rebuild their buildings and spend all this money to move the businesses. Chicago was a very dry area with all wooden buildings and sidewalks which really helped the fire burn quick. It started from a barn in Patrick and Catherine O’Learys back yard.”Chicago Fire of 1871.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2015.
This made the O’Leary family hated by all of chicago. The whole city turned against them and brought a lot of hate to the family. People were showing up at their doorstep saying nasty things throwing stuff at the just plane old being mean. A man kept coming to her house asking her to join the circus because she was a old dirty drunk lady. She says she was sleeping while the fire started but people believe that she was in the barn drunk and set the lamp down near the cow and that’s how the cow kicked it over. “Chicago Fire of 1871.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2015.
The fire was spreading wildly coming into the following day destroying more and more. Later that day it finally got under control when it rained and helped the fire fighters control the blaze. When it left 300 killed and over 100 thousand people homeless destroying over 17 thousand homes. The damages where estimated up to 200 million dollars but that didn’t stop Chicago from re building the buildings were quickly being rebuilt and fixed up.The economy of chicago went down big time until the rebuild.”Chicago Fire of 1871.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2015.
it was anarchy in chicago within the two days people were stealing and breaking into anything they could. companies of soldiers had to come and stay around the businesses to keep people from breaking in and looting the companies. on Oct 11th they had declared a law called martial law that ended any stealing looting or crimes that were being committed. PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2015.
After the fire it brought a lot of business to Chicago because we needed people to come work to build the buildings so people had jobs and where making money. The population grew due to all the new homes being built. The fire wiping out most of the business area of chicago opened up a ton more opportunities and opened a large amount of land to build whatever to help better Chicago. PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2015.
Now that all this land was open it gave architectures a lot of space to build the worlds first skyscraper. They had used this to improve the city and modernize all the buildings and move