Industrial Age · North America · Disaster

1871

Great Chicago Fire

October 8, 1871

A barn fire on the city's west side - not, despite legend, started by Mrs. O'Leary's cow - spread in a dry October wind and burned for two days. Three hundred died; a hundred thousand were left homeless. Chicago rebuilt so energetically with iron and brick that by the nineties it was the capital of a new architecture: the skyscraper.

More from 1871 Industrial Age

In context

Also in 1871 (5 other events on record)

German Empire Proclaimed · Europe · Politics
Treaty of Frankfurt · Europe · Politics
Iwakura Mission · East Asia · Politics
Paris Commune · Europe · Politics
Stanley Finds Livingstone · Africa · Exploration

Before and after in North America

Before: September 24, 1869: Black Friday Gold Panic
After: March 1, 1872: Yellowstone National Park

Before and after in Disaster

Before: September 24, 1869: Black Friday Gold Panic
After: September 18, 1873: Panic of 1873

Era

Industrial Age (1801–1900), one of 513 events from that era on Saeculum.

Sources

Wikipedia: Great Chicago Fire