Essay On The Great Chicago Fire Of 1871

Fire is really dangerous and strong especially when put next to something that can catch on fire. On October 8 to October 10, in 1871, a big fire happen in Chicago that really took a toll in Chicago.The fire last around 2 to 3 days leaving Chicago in flames and thick black smoke ( Billings,et al. PG 146-147 ).

Dr. H. H. Holmes was a serial killer during the time of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Between the time he arrived in Chicago and the time of his death, it is said to be that he killed several hundred people. Holmes was born and raised in New Hampshire but eventually found his way to Chicago. He was a different man and found joy in killing humans. Most of his murders occurred in his Castle in Englewood near Chicago. The question is, why did Holmes pick Chicago of all places? Why not somewhere else? Chicago was a place for H.H. Holmes to commit his crimes because the city had a growing population, it was going to host the World’s Columbian Exposition, and because Chicago was a selfish city.

On March 25, 1911, 123 women and 23 men, died as a result of a fire in a factory they worked in. That day was marked as the deadliest industrial disaster in Manhattan history. In the wake of such a terrible tragedy came the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU). The ILGWU fought for better working conditions for all sweatshop workers. However, the union wouldn’t gain attention until after the owners of the Triangle Waist Company, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, were indicted on first and second degree manslaughter, but were ultimately found to be not guilty. The question of how could this happened would have be answered by what happened that day.

“Late one night, when we were all in bed, Mrs. O’Leary lit a lantern in the shed. Her cow kicked it over, then winked her eye and said, ‘There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight!’ (Abbott)” In 1871, a disaster arose in Chicago and reshaped the city permanently: a fire scorched around three square miles of land, leveled thousands of buildings, and stole hundreds of lives (“Chicago Fire of 1871”). Although the effects of this tragedy were harrowing, it actually served as the catalyst which allowed Chicago to become one of America’s largest, most influential cities. How could such a devastating event have such positive effects? A crucial element of Chicago’s history, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 can be understood by studying the cause of its severity, its impact on the city, and the recovery efforts of the people.

In Erik Larson’s novel The Devil in the White City takes place during the Gilded Age. During this period of time everything appears good and golden on the outside when in reality everything was full of corruption. In the novel, the author takes the reader to the city of Chicago, where the city is “swelled “in population causing the city to expand in all “available directions” (Larson 44). As Chicago became the “second most populous [city] in the nation after New York” there was an urge that city show off to the world and the nation of how great it was through the Chicago World’s Fair (Larson 44). The Chicago World’s Fair was an opportunity for the city to come together and create event so spectacular to shock the world. However, as Chicago prepared to awe people with this extravagant fair the city faced skepticism on weather or not issues of urbanization, sanitation, and crime would be fixed in time for the World’s Fair.

Wicker Park was just a prairie before two brothers Charles and Joel Wicker purchased land along Milwaukee Avenue in 1870. When the Great Chicago Fire happened, and the city was starting to rebuild itself some chicagoans looked beyond the city limits. The land attracted families wanted to rebuild after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. The Great Fire spurred the first wave of development. Homeless chicagoans looked for building new houses. Eleven days after the fire the Aid society had 200 lots on Milwaukee Avenue for the construction of cheaps homes for the victims of the fire along Milwaukee Ave(Kreashko,2015). German, Scandinavians and other immigrants moved to Wicker Park after the Great Fire(Heidemann,2013). Wicker Park became a resident

The Haymarket affair is one most important events in Chicago’s labor protest is questionably still unknown to many of high school kids and down. At this mark in Chicago history several horrifying, and great events happened. Industrial workers were getting fed up with the intense hours and wanted change from their shady bosses. People associated with all the industrial works started to arrange private meeting to talk about what’s wrong within the industries. Soon several of the bosses found out about these meeting and paid the police to eliminate these meetings. After the police stopped several of these meeting the workers didn’t stop there, they started to publicly express the wrongs in these industries. Some of these actions would be creating small strikes, creating slogans heard everywhere like "Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for What We Will!" or "Shortening the Hours Increase the Pay".

Although the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 were both horrific events that created huge destruction on the United States, they took a big toll in people’s lives in many different ways and encouraged them to take charge and rebuild back their hometowns that they loved.

The fire started on the eighth floor, and a relative of the owner managed to alert the tenth floor, but not the ninth floor so they were the last to know about the fire. According to Argersinger, “A relative of the owner managed to alert the tenth floor about before she escaped. But she could not call the ninth floor, so no one warned the 250 workers on the ninth floor” (Argersinger 17). If the government implement a fire alarm or sprinkler systems in the building, the fire might have not

It is important to the environment that there be controlled fires for any number of reasons such as, putting the nutrients back into the soil, and clearing out debris that could be hazardous if a wildfire were to occur. This does not come with out it 's faults, sometimes the fire becomes to big to handle and they become near misses or wildfires. Prescribed fires are great for the ecosystem and the overall well being of forests. They make ecosystems more diverse and replenish the soil for new plant growth.

On a warm day in New York City in 1911, tragedy struck. It was an incident that would be written up in newspapers across the country; a horrendous incident that would change legislature, labor laws and hundreds of lives forever. This dreadful event left nearly 150 girls and women dead, and became one of the most murderous fires in the history of New York City. The day was March 26, 1911, and the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was an historic one. At this time in 1911 the treatment of factory workers was not strictly regulated. Factory and labor laws were not stringently enforced and lacked proper structure. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was comprised of about 600 women and 100 men, many of whom were immigrants who spoke little English. The actions that led to the fire, what transpired during the incident and the events after, are significant in the history of New York City and our nation, especially considering

Racism and segregation has a mass history in the United States which impacted our society greatly. There were many riots, boycotts, and strikes which occurred throughout the 1900’s. Many people simply wanted peace and to bring everyone together no matter what race or color and others wanted to be separated from people with a different skin color and race. Whites and blacks were being separated from bathrooms and even restaurants. This resulted in conflict between our society which left many killed and injured. It took so much power to bring our society together as a whole. Riots after riots occurred all across the United States and one of the known on which happened in 1919 was the race riots in Chicago. This riot simply caused families to

There was a downward spiral of looting and lawlessness. The city officials actually had to call in soldiers to come and protect the structures and belongings of the businesses and residents. Martial law was eventually declared, ending the 3 days of chaos. It took several weeks for them to feel safe enough to lift the martial law. Once the smoke cleared and the soot settled the city jumped on the opportunity to rebuild. “Chicago will rise from the ashes!" Potter Palmer said. Famous architects and businessmen fled to the area to help resurrect the city. Soon the city was unrecognizable, the buildings being built were modern for their time and skyscrapers began to emerge from the ground. In less then five years the population would grow from 324,000 to over 500,000, making Chicago the second largest city in the USA. Some say the fire was a blessing in disguise, allowing the city to become what so many had dreamed

Explain: It destroyed 3.5 square feet her family was asleep when the fire happened and It spread out quickly in Chicago

On October 8th, 1871 a huge fire destroyed 1/3 of Chicago and left at least about 100,000 homeless. The cause of the fire still remains unknown, but what helped fuel the