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Map 29b • Fire extent TO PRESS 25 Sep 03 DESIGNER: Map 29b has been modified to go across the gutter so it can accompany map 29a (dark Fire map) This shorter version of Map 29b sacrifices relatively little content, if you need the room for captions Irving Park �� L A K E on V I E Wthis spread

�� Fire Limits in Chicago in the 1870s Belmont

Lincoln Clark Milwaukee Ch ic a Elston g o �� R � � � � � � � � � i ver City limits in 1871 �� Fullerton � �� Built-up area in 1871

� � Lincoln Area burned in fire � Park � “Fire Limits” � � � � � � � � � � area where � � 1872 ordinance �� restricted building North � materials � � � � � � � ��

� DESTROYED � � �� BY FIRE � Chicago

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� �� Business � Madison District

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� �� ) L A K E � �� CHICAGO

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�� Union �� Stock

�� Yard an Canal ichig O N E M I L E & M 39th (Pershing) Illinois

Author: Michael P. Conzen

Mason (47th) 47th �� H Y D E P ARK �� Progress of the Chicago Fire of 1871 The Great Chicago Fire was not one fire, but a suc- cession of nine separate fires started by flying brands 55th carried from earlier burning sites, which then melded �� into one relentless inferno. It all started in the O’Leary �� barn on a rear alley of DeKoven Street on the Near �� West Side at 8:30 p.m. on October 8, 1871. Amid Englewood firefighting difficulties and official confusion, the fire 63rd spread north and eastward. Ninety minutes later a �� burning brand, caught in the updraft, sailed over �� and landed on Bateham’s Mills to the north, starting �� a second fire. Brands from there started other fires across the river near and in the business district, and by 2:30 a.m. a flying brand started a fire on property �� north of the river. Given the prevailing winds, the co- �� alescing fires burned most of the western portion of �� the city center and a swath of the North Side head- �� ing north-northeast to the lakefront by 6:00 a.m. the following day. By then it was unstoppable. Over

�� the next 22 hours the fire finished off the business � � � � � � � � � �� district, the lakefront harbor, and a large wedge of �� the North Side as far as Fullerton, by which time rain �� helped the fire burn itself out. ��

C2 Map 29b • Fire extent TO PRESS 25 Sep 03 DESIGNER: Map 29b has been modified to go across the gutter so it can accompany map 29a (dark Fire map) This shorter version of Map 29b sacrifices relatively little content,Map 24 • Railroads in the Central Area TO PRESS 17 Sep 03 if you need the room for captions Irving Park L A K E on V I E Wthis spread

Fire Limits in Chicago in the 1870s Belmont Railroads and Chicago’s Loop, circa 1930

Lincoln Clark Milwaukee Ch ic a Elston g o R i ver City limits in 1871 Fullerton Built-up area in 1871 Lincoln Area burned in fire Park “Fire Limits” area where 1872 ordinance restricted building North materials Randolph St Station North Western Station Central DESTROYED Business BY FIRE Chicago District

Union Station LaSalle St Van Buren St Station Station Business US Post Madison District Office Grand Central ) L A K E CHICAGO Station d e Dearborn ve (Pulaski e M I C H I G A N Station Stat Kedzi stern We 12th (Roosevelt) Ashland Halste

40th A Penna RR Freight Terminal

gden O Central 22nd (Cermak) Station Lumber District

31st

Union Stock Yard an Canal ichig O N E M I L E & M 39th (Pershing) Illinois

H Y D E P ARK Fire Limits in Chicago in the 1870s Railroads and Chicago’s Loop, circa 1930 The Chicago Fire of 1871 burned less than a quarter As the nation’s single most important transportation hub, and as the key commercial pivot between the East and of the built-up area of the city. It destroyed the busi- the great West, Chicago developed an extraordinary concentration of railroad terminals and related warehous- 55th ness district, residential blocks immediately to the ing districts around its central business core. This map captures the pattern in 1930, when a great deal of urban south and southwest, and a good portion of the manufacturing shared space with warehouse quarters (purple) adjacent to the railroad stations, yards, and river- North Side east of the North Branch of the river, but front and lakeside docks and elevators (black). The combination of these facilities created a complete collar five Englewoodmissed virtually the whole South Side and most of to eight blocks deep encircling the business district (dense brown), except on the eastern flank where Grant Park the vast West63r dSide. In 1872, “fire limits” were estab- (white) was laid out between the Illinois Central tracks and Chicago Harbor. lished within which new construction was to be of brick or stone. The limits were drawn, however, so that much of the North Side could again be built up with wooden structures, a concession to the mea- ger resources of many residents. Notwithstanding the new regulations, many replacement buildings across the city continued to be built of wood, mak- ing the fire limits a hollow act of city governance.