(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Chicago may have been annihilated by the Great Fire of Oct. 8, 1871, but help soon arrived from a many cities.
“St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, New York and then Buffalo,” said Paul Durica, a Newberry Library curator.
Weighing in Chicago’s favor, he said, was its accessibility via railroads and on the Great Lakes. This allowed aid to get here more easily.
Chicago’s tragedy even reached across the ocean, notes Julius L. Jones of the Chicago History Museum. He said a book drive in London gave birth to the Chicago Public Library.
“Before 1871, there were actually no public libraries in Chicago. And they donate these books from London. They become sort of the basis of the Chicago Public Library.”
Even as Chicago was still smoldering, the rebuild was underway.
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