Great Chicago Fire 1871: From DeKoven Street to the Water Tower

The fire is said to have started at about 8:30 p.m. on 8 October 1871, in or around a small barn belonging to the O'Leary family. City officials never determined the cause of the blaze, and in 1997 Chicago's city council officially exonerated the family, and the cow. The barn is gone: the remaining structures on the O'Leary property at 558 W. DeKoven Street were torn down to build the Chicago Fire Academy, and in 1961 a bronze sculpture of stylized flames, Pillar of Fire by Egon Weiner, was erected on the point of origin.

Location precision: The barn no longer exists and officials never fixed the cause; the pin marks the DeKoven Street fire academy site.

Visitor guidance: The site is a working fire training facility; view the Pillar of Fire sculpture from the street.

Firefighters hoped that the South Branch of the Chicago River, and an area already burned, would act as a natural firebreak. But all along the river stood lumber yards, warehouses, coal yards, barges and numerous bridges. Around midnight, flaming debris blew across the river and landed on roofs and the South Side Gas Works. By then the fire had grown and was moving toward the central business district.

Location precision: The crossing is not tied to one bridge; the pin marks the river, not a single bridge.

An alarm sent from near the fire failed to register at the courthouse, where the fire watchmen were. When the courthouse itself caught fire, the order was given to evacuate the building and release the prisoners jailed in the basement. At 2:30 a.m. on 9 October the cupola collapsed, sending the great bell crashing down. The old courthouse stood where Chicago City Hall stands today.

Location precision: The courthouse no longer exists; the pin marks Chicago City Hall, on the old courthouse site.

Visitor guidance: Chicago City Hall stands on the old courthouse site.

Then a burning piece of timber lodged on the roof of the city's waterworks. With it, the city's water mains went dry and the city was helpless. The pumping station was gutted, but the Water Tower survived while adjacent buildings burned to the ground. Today the tower stands at 806 Michigan Avenue as the centerpiece of a small park and hosts the City Gallery, while much of the pumping station's interior has become a theater for the Lookingglass Theatre Company.

Visitor guidance: On Michigan Avenue; the City Gallery is inside the tower.

St. Michael's Church in Old Town is one of the few structures from the burned district still standing. Like the Pumping Station, it was gutted in the fire, but its exterior survived. The fire left 90,000 Chicago residents, about 28% of the population, homeless. Rebuilding began at once: the first load of lumber was delivered the day the last burning building was extinguished.