The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871, killing hundreds and destroying about 3.3 square miles (9 km2) in Chicago, Illinois. Though the fire was one of the largest U.S. disasters of the 19th century, the rebuilding that began helped develop Chicago as one of the most populous and economically important American cities.
On the flag of Chicago, the second star commemorates the fire. The exact cause was never determined. The popular account dreamed up by a reporter, attributing it to Mrs. Catherine O'Leary and her cow, survived his confession of fiction in 1893.
Read more about Great Chicago Fire: Origin, Spread of The Blaze, After The Fire, Questions About The Fire, Surviving Structures, Related Events, In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words chicago and/or fire:
“Ethnic life in the United States has become a sort of contest like baseball in which the blacks are always the Chicago Cubs.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
““Heap coals of fire on the head of your enemy” Mthis most uncharitable advice is found in a book [the Bible], of which charity is reckoned the standard principle.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)