(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Chicago didn’t stay down for long.
“It continues to grow, just sort of at this enormous pace,” said Julius L. Jones, curator of a Great Chicago Fire exhibit at the Chicago History Museum.
Indeed, the city rose quickly from the ashes, agreed Paul Durica of the Newberry Library.
“Even within a single year, between 1871 and 1872, a significant part of the city had been rebuilt. And then, as Chicago prepares to host the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, it’s a transformed place,” he said.
The rebuilt city was also a safer place, said Larry Langford, director of the Chicago Fire Department’s Media Affairs.
“The Great Chicago Fire of 150 years ago caused building codes to change drastically,” he said. “Every tragedy that’s happened in Chicago has benefited future generations. The only good thing you can say about the tragedies.”
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