Chicago Fire | Equipment | Aftermath | Damage | South Division | North Division | Gallery
This Gallery consists of contemporary images and stories of that fateful weekend of the Great Chicago Fire.
FIRST HAND ACCOUNTS
The Chicago Tribune
Letter to Murat Halstead, Editor of The Cincinnati Commercial—Published in that newspaper, October 14, 1871.
Harper’s Weekly
Harper’s Weekly (A Journal of Civilization) was an American political magazine based in New York. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, alongside illustrations. It carried extensive coverage of the American Civil War, including many illustrations of events from the war.
Chicagology has transcribed three entire articles, Chicago in Ashes and Graphic Account by John R. Chapin appeared in the 28 October 1871 issue of Harper’s Weekly. The third article, Chicago in Ruins was from the 4 November 1871 issue.
Chicago In Ashes — 28 October 1871
Graphic Account by John R. Chapin — 28 October 1871
Chicago in Ruins — 4 November 1871
The Ruined Churches in Chicago — 11 November 1871
The Ruins of Chicago — 11 November 1871
Bird’s Eye View Before and During the Fire — 21 October 1871 & 28 October 1871
Homeless Citizens Taking Refuge From the Flames Among the Ruins — 1872
Chicago Fire Department — 19 December 1874
Every Saturday
Every Saturday (1866–1874) was an American literary magazine published in Boston, Massachusetts. It was edited by Thomas Bailey Aldrich and published by Ticknor and Fields (1866–1868); Fields, Osgood, & Co. (mid-1868–1870); James R. Osgood & Co. (1871–1873); and H. O. Houghton & Co. (1874). Every Saturday featured work by C. G. Bush, Wilkie Collins, F. O. C. Darley, Charles Dickens, J.W. Ehninger, Sol Eytinge Jr., Harry Fenn, Alfred Fredericks, Thomas Hardy, J.J. Harley, W.J. Hennessy, Winslow Homer, Augustus Hoppin, Ralph Keeler, S.S. Kilburn, Granville Perkins, W.L. Sheppard, Alfred Tennyson, Alfred Waud and others.
The Great Fire in Chicago — November 4, 1871
Newsboy Crying the News of the Chicago Fire
Photographer: Oscar Gustave Rejlander, 1871
National & International Newspapers
Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper
Kellogg & Bulkeley Lithographs
Currier & Ives
Newspapers
The Illustrated London News
The Ruins
Jules Emile Saintin
Burnt District Maps
Bird’s Eye Views of the Fire
Jex Bardwell’s Photographs of the Ruins
Views of the Burnt District
Chicago Panoramas After the Fire
Chicago Graphic
O’Leary’s Cottage
Chicago Fire Cyclorama
Cincinnati Soup House
Julia Lemos—Refugees Gathered at Menomonee and Wells
State House on Fire During the Great Chicago Fire
Erie Ferry in New York City
Chicago Fire Department
Homeless Citizens Taking Refuge
History of the Great Conflagration
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