Julian Smith
Mrs. Efaw
American Literature
29 January 2018
The Chicago Fire of 1871
The city of Chicago, Illinois, stands as the epitome of rapid urbanization and illustrates the shortcomings and benefits Chicago has to offer. The benefits of rapid urbanization during the 1800s leads to the increase of wealth from business growth, allowing for the easy obtainment of luxuries bought with surplus income with the purpose generate more. The benefits of rapid urbanization prove double-sided demonstrated by Chicago’s achievement as the timber capital of the United States, which gave way to its destruction by fire and eventual restoration. The Chicago Fire stands at the crux of questioning the growth of rapid urbanization; many indistinguishable factors …show more content…
Chicago stood as the timber capital of America making wood the primary base in building infrastructure. To save money, the city reverted to the crude method of building balloon houses, a light wooden cage frame only held together by nails (Stockdale). The almost nonexistent spacing between most houses led to cramped conditions, made worse by destitute districts squandering their small allotments of space by filling them with small wooden storage units. Inadvertently, the rich also followed the poor in their unwise usage of space, also having wooden interiors despite their masonry exterior and stables to keep their horses. A crucial factor that caused the fire to spread was the common practice of disguising wood to look like another building material. The city of Chicago built with no regards to fire safety, such as still growing skyscrapers with no exterior forms of access leads only to pandemonium in the event of trying to escape a fire with only one exit as the only viable option. Lastly, Chicago sits on soggy marshlands and to combat this problem Chicago covers the city with fifty-miles of pine block streets and six hundred miles of wooden sidewalk over twenty-three thousand acres of the city, an estimated 2/3 of the city stands on the foundation of wood (Murphy …show more content…
The fire not only claimed the air of Chicago, but also a district of Chicago named the “Burned District” for good reason. The “Burned District” serves as a memento for the people of Chicago as part of the great city they once use to live in; the district spanned over four miles by three-quarters of a mile wide, consisting of an approximate eighteen thousand buildings lost estimating to two hundred million dollars in property damage (The Ruined) in addition to the invaluable emotional damage. The aftermath of the fire had one favorable outcome in comparison to the outweighing negatives now affecting the economy of Chicago, the largest industries remain unscathed by the heat of the fire which still allowed for the ability to nationally access resources and markets (The Ruined). Chicago’s industries bought with surplus income and desire to expand burn up in the fire, causing Chicago to pick up the pace to prevent the possibility of a continually declining economy
Mrs. Efaw
American Literature
29 January 2018
The Chicago Fire of 1871
The city of Chicago, Illinois, stands as the epitome of rapid urbanization and illustrates the shortcomings and benefits Chicago has to offer. The benefits of rapid urbanization during the 1800s leads to the increase of wealth from business growth, allowing for the easy obtainment of luxuries bought with surplus income with the purpose generate more. The benefits of rapid urbanization prove double-sided demonstrated by Chicago’s achievement as the timber capital of the United States, which gave way to its destruction by fire and eventual restoration. The Chicago Fire stands at the crux of questioning the growth of rapid urbanization; many indistinguishable factors …show more content…
Chicago stood as the timber capital of America making wood the primary base in building infrastructure. To save money, the city reverted to the crude method of building balloon houses, a light wooden cage frame only held together by nails (Stockdale). The almost nonexistent spacing between most houses led to cramped conditions, made worse by destitute districts squandering their small allotments of space by filling them with small wooden storage units. Inadvertently, the rich also followed the poor in their unwise usage of space, also having wooden interiors despite their masonry exterior and stables to keep their horses. A crucial factor that caused the fire to spread was the common practice of disguising wood to look like another building material. The city of Chicago built with no regards to fire safety, such as still growing skyscrapers with no exterior forms of access leads only to pandemonium in the event of trying to escape a fire with only one exit as the only viable option. Lastly, Chicago sits on soggy marshlands and to combat this problem Chicago covers the city with fifty-miles of pine block streets and six hundred miles of wooden sidewalk over twenty-three thousand acres of the city, an estimated 2/3 of the city stands on the foundation of wood (Murphy …show more content…
The fire not only claimed the air of Chicago, but also a district of Chicago named the “Burned District” for good reason. The “Burned District” serves as a memento for the people of Chicago as part of the great city they once use to live in; the district spanned over four miles by three-quarters of a mile wide, consisting of an approximate eighteen thousand buildings lost estimating to two hundred million dollars in property damage (The Ruined) in addition to the invaluable emotional damage. The aftermath of the fire had one favorable outcome in comparison to the outweighing negatives now affecting the economy of Chicago, the largest industries remain unscathed by the heat of the fire which still allowed for the ability to nationally access resources and markets (The Ruined). Chicago’s industries bought with surplus income and desire to expand burn up in the fire, causing Chicago to pick up the pace to prevent the possibility of a continually declining economy