By Nishanth R. Mallidi

The Great Chicago Fire happened in October 1871.  It started at 8:30 p.m around a small barn belonging to the O'Leary family.  It destroyed 3.3 square miles of the city-that’s 17,424 square feet!!!  

The city's use of wood as the predominant building material only aided the fire's spread.  If that wasn’t enough, The Chicago Fire Department was also sent to the wrong place. When the firefighters finally arrived, the fire had left the midwestern city in despair.  Firefighters had hoped the Chicago River would wall the fire from spreading.  All along the river, however, were lumber yards, warehouses, and coal yards, as well as barges, and numerous bridges across the river. 

As the fire grew, the southwest wind intensified and the temperature rose, causing structures to catch fire from the heat and burning debris blown by the wind.  Around midnight, flaming debris blew across the river and landed on roofs and the South Side Gas Works. 

With the fire moving rapidly toward the heart of the city, the ex-residents had panicked in an uproar.  Mayor Roswell B. Mason sent messages to nearby towns asking for help. When the courthouse caught fire, he ordered the building to be evacuated and the prisoners jailed in the basement to be released.

On October 9th, the cupola of the courthouse collapsed, sending the great bell crashing down. Some witnesses reported hearing the sound from a mile away. Finally, late in the evening, it started to rain, but the fire had already started to burn itself out. The fire had spread to the sparsely populated areas of the north side, having thoroughly consumed the densely populated areas. 

Once the fire had ended, the smoldering remains were still too hot for a survey of the damage to be completed for many days.  Eventually, the city determined that the fire destroyed an area about four miles long and averaging 3⁄4 mile wide, encompassing an area of more than two thousand acres. 

The Chicago Fire claimed about 300 lives.  We should conserve our water so we do not end up like these poor, unfortunate souls.