3-034-717 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Great Fire at Chicago: bird's-eye view of the city, 1871. The city '...contained, till the fire, a population of 300,000 souls. It had the largest export trade in grain and other provisions, and was the most bustling place of mercantile activity in the whole continent...It is reckoned that 70,000 people are deprived of the shelter of their homes. At least 250 lives were lost in the fire...The loss of shipping must also have been immense, as the course of the fire cut off all chance of escape into the lake. On the south side the depots of the Illinois Central, Michigan Central, Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy, Michigan Southern, and Rock Island Railroads must all be destroyed; all the great hotels, every bank and banking-house, every insurance office, the theatres, Crosby's Opera-House, the Courthouse, the Board of Trade Buildings, the largest and costliest of the churches, every newspaper-office, including the magnificent Tribune building; while the Post, Times, Journal, and Republican offices were large and valuable buildings'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.