On Sunday evening October 8th 1871 a fire broke out in a barn owned by the O’Leary family on DeKoven Street that spread a little over three miles across Chicago, ultimately destroying 17,450 buildings, killing around 300 people, and leaving more than 100,000 residents homeless. It would rage for 30 hours leaving the city center in ruins before finally flaming out at Fullerton Avenue, then the northernmost edge of Chicago. At the time Lakeview was its own town while Lincoln Park and Old Town were much smaller communities, full of farms and dairies owned by German immigrants. With the 150th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire, I thought I’d look at the handful of “pre-fire” buildings that survived this terrible event as well as some that were constructed in the immediate aftermath near the city’s then northern limits.
The Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire
On Sunday evening October 8th 1871 a fire broke out in a barn owned by the O’Leary family on DeKoven Street that spread a little over three miles across Chicago, ultimately destroying 17,450 buildings, killing around 300 people, and leaving more than 100,000 residents homeless. It would rage for 30 hours leaving the city center in ruins before finally flaming out at Fullerton Avenue, then the northernmost edge of Chicago. At the time Lakeview was its own town while Lincoln Park and Old Town were much smaller communities, full of farms and dairies owned by German immigrants. With the 150th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire, I thought I’d look at the handful of “pre-fire” buildings that survived this terrible event as well as some that were constructed in the immediate aftermath near the city’s then northern limits.