agriculture. Farmers remained a powerful group of voters in Illinois
and in the nation for a long time.
The Great Chicago Fire
Shortly after the Civil War, a major disaster took place in
Illinois. In 1871, Chicago was only 38 years old, but it had
experienced incredibly fast growth. With a population of over
330,000, Chicago was larger than its nearest rival, St. Louis. Much
of the city had been built quickly with wooden structures. Grain
elevators, warehouses, hundreds of ships, and 13 miles of wooden
docks and piers lined the Chicago River. A severe drought gripped
Chicago during the summer of 1871. Fear of a major fire had the
people in the city on edge. That fear came true during two days in
October when a huge, uncontrollable fire swept panic, death, and
destruction through the fifth-largest city in America.
Besides the tinder-dry conditions, many other fire-safety
problems existed in Chicago. Many structures were not built
according to safety codes. Narrow streets and closely packed
buildings increased the danger of fire; once a fire started it would
be hard to reach and could spread rapidly. The narrow streets also
meant that it would be hard to evacuate people from the city if
there was a fire. The city had been urged to purchase a fireboat
that could spray water from the Chicago River on the docks and
warehouse if they caught fire. Unfortunately, none of the problems
had been addressed.
The Chicago Fire Department was very busy during the first
week of October in 1871. On October 7 what came to be known as
the “Saturday Night Fire” started and destroyed four square blocks
of businesses and houses. The fire nearly got out of control, but
was finally extinguished by courageous fire fighters. When the
blaze ended on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. the firefighters were exhausted,
some were injured, and the fire-fighting equipment was damaged.
Half of the city’s population lived on the west side where a
new method in home building called balloon framing was being
used. This method used pre-cut lumber and nailsmaterials that
cost less than brick or stone and required fewer laborers in the
construction, making houses more affordable. Many families lived
in small houses—usually with a separate barn or shed for
livestock—that were built on narrow lots, and separated from their
neighbors by wood fences. Built among these west-side cottages
husbandry
farming, agriculture
dock, docks a
platform built along a
waterway used for
unloading boats and
ships; wharf; pier
pier, piers a
platform built along a
waterway used for
unloading boats and
ships; wharf; dock
drought a long
period of dryness
that cause damage
to crops; a long time
without precipitaion
(rain, snow, etc.)
tinder something
very dry used to start
a fire; kindling
cottage, cottages
a small frame house
