![]() Thanks to its prime location near Chicago-the world’s largest lumber trade market at the time-Peshtigo prospered, felling trees for a rapidly expanding country that needed timber for its houses and new cities.īut Peshtigo's trees proved to be its downfall. The seemingly endless trees in close range of Lake Michigan sparked a brisk trade in logging that attracted immigrants from all over Europe, beginning in the 1780s. The story starts in a booming logging town surrounded by dense forests. So why did the Peshtigo wildfire fade from national memory? National Archives, Records of the U.S.On the night of October 8, 1871, women snatched their children from their beds, men formed ad hoc fire brigades, and the terrified residents of Peshtigo, Wisconsin fled what would become the deadliest wildfire in American history. Petition for Cheap Building Materials, 1872 Poorer residents who lacked the resources of the wealthy faced much greater hardship rebuilding their homes and reclaiming their livelihoods. Despite the extent of the damage, the city recovered quickly however, Chicagoans did not benefit equally. Senate in an effort to secure financial relief from tariffs and import duties on building materials. Over 17,000 structures were destroyed in a more than three square mile area known as the “Burnt District.” This 1872 petition was sent to the U.S. Recovering from the Great Chicago Fire required an equally great rebuilding effort. National Archives, Records of the Work Projects Administration Gone to Blazes: Episodes in Verse About the Great Chicago Fire, 1941 (pages 5 and 23) ![]() Assembled 70 years after the last flames died out, this 1941 publication still powerfully conveys the terror and confusion as people fled for their lives through the city’s streets. Panic quickly set in, however, once the fire jumped the river and moved toward the heart of the city. National Archives at Chicago, Records of District Courts of the United Statesįires were a common occurrence in Chicago, and few residents took notice when alarm bells rang out from the city’s West Side. Testimony of Jerome Osier in Admiralty and Law Case 3345, John T. It threw the sparks and chunks right over into the yard.” After hitting The Loop, the fire jumped the Chicago River’s main branch and destroyed virtually the entire North Division of the city before dying out. Jerome Osier’s testimony in this federal admiralty case file for the ship Fontenelle, which burned in the fire, describes the moment the fire breached the river’s South Branch: “the wind shifted to the west-it shifted with a tornado-almost a gale of wind. Even the Chicago River, which was packed with wooden docks and vessels along its banks, did little to halt the conflagration. By the time rain extinguished the final flames on October 10, the conflagration had consumed The Loop (Chicago’s central business district), left an estimated 300 people dead, and one-third of the city’s residents homeless.Ĭhicago in the mid-19th century was built almost entirely of wood. Once ignited, the fire quickly raged out of control thanks to ferocious winds, extremely dry conditions, and plenty of fuel. O’Leary’s legendary cow has been exonerated, the fire’s exact origin on the night of October 8, 1871, remains unknown. The Great Chicago Fire is one of the most famous fires in American history.
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