Great Chicago Fire - 1871 - Famous Fires on Waymarking.com

Although public word-of-mouth still reports today that Mrs. O'Leary's cow started the fire. The reporter who started the Cow story admitted in 1893 that he had made it up. In fact, the O'Leary buildings escaped the blaze.

The fire started on the eve of October 8, 1871 and finally was extinguished with the help of wet weather on October 10, 1871. It had traveled through and destroyed almost all of the buildings of the central business district of Chicago. An area 6 km long and 1 km wide was burned. 1/3 of the city's valuation was destroyed, 1/4 of the population was homeless, and fatalities were estimated at 200-300 (125 bodies were recovered).

In the wake of the fire, only one public structure survived. Today, the Chicago Water Tower still stands as an unofficial memorial of the Great Chicago Fire.

Type of Structure: Public building Other: Water Tower Construction Date: 01/01/1869 Fire Date: 10/08/1871 Structure status: Still standing building Cause of Fire: Unknown. Documentation of the fire: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
Give a narrative of your experience. Did you learn anything after reading about the fire in the waymark? Photos are always welcome too. Please no virtual visits.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   11/25/2017 ossisanni visited it 12/06/2015 HKEMA visited it 04/29/2015 stevepre2 visited it 03/23/2015 BuckeyeFinnigan visited it 10/26/2014 4spring visited it 08/10/2014 DoryXplorey visited it 08/08/2014 Lucky_Al visited it 07/02/2014 JAKKTeam visited it 01/20/2014 SpeedCity visited it 01/08/2014 DangerousDale visited it 11/07/2013 Cyrano-Bella visited it 12/18/2012 wildernessmama visited it 12/03/2012 Go Boilers! visited it 12/17/2011 treazure hunterz visited it 10/01/2011 Team gEco Friendly visited it 06/24/2011 Metro2 visited it 01/28/2011 Marwood5 visited it 05/17/2010 HaricotVert_52 visited it 07/25/2009 Lord Mot visited it 12/29/2008 CHI-TOWN ROMEO visited it 09/20/2008 netdust visited it 09/11/2008 N9YBK visited it 08/06/2007 kwatson0013 visited it 07/22/2006 ODragon visited it 07/24/2005 adgorn visited it

View all visits/logs