Assignment 7- Tom Polites

On October 8, 145 years ago a great tragedy struck the city of Chicago and left the city in ruins. This of course is the Great Chicago Fire. What started as something as nonchalant as a cow knocking over a lantern turned into a disaster that killed 300 people, left hundreds of thousands of people homeless, and caused over 200 million dollars in property damages. The fire spread quickly because the city was mostly made out of wood, including the sidewalks, which seems ludicrous to me. While this had no influence on my life, it had a severe impact on the city of Chicago, as one would expect. Imagining my entire neighborhood within a 4-5 mile radius burning down entirely is a terrifying thought, and it's hard to imagine having to rebuild and start from scratch. However, Chicago did just that. They began rebuilding their city and received donations and provisions from places such as New York. Chicago is now one of the biggest cities in the U.S., so despite this ordeal their resilience paid off.