The Chicago Fire of 1871 The Chicago fire of 1871. Before the fire Chicago, Illinois was just a normal city with the population of about 1,000,000 people. Chicago was founded in 1833 and by 1836 it had become a city. The city had easy access to water in general like the Chicago River or Lake Michigan for an example. It had also become the world's largest grain port. Alot was up for stake and they were were not ready for a catastrophe like this. When people think about Chicago they think about big buildings and an overwhelming amount of people. They only think about the good things, but they forget what the city has been through in the past to get to this point. Probably the most drastic thing that they have been through is The Great Chicago Fire of 1871. This started on the evening October 8th, 1871. It started at the property of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary. People have always been saying that the O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern in the barn. No matter how it started the fire quickly spread. A major part in the fire spreading so quickly was that a lot of Chicago was made of wood like sidewalks, roads, buildings. Above all of these things the biggest cause was the drought that hit Chicago in 1871. In the span …show more content…
The wind was no help in the situation, blowing burning sticks and leaves everywhere causing it just to spread quicker. When the fire department heard what was happening they sent horse drawn fire-wagons. Due to communication fails the fire was not even tampered with for about forty-five minutes. With the wind blowing everywhere neighborhoods started catching fire and that was not good because the houses were so close, the fire just kept spreading through all of them.. At this point it was out of control one of the firemen stated, “You couldn't see anything over you but fire. That night the wind and the fire were the