On October 8, 1871 Chicago’s dry weather, high winds and abundance of wooden buildings were no match for a small barn fire, rumoured to be sparked by a cow knocking over an oil lamp.
That small fire raged through the city, burning four square miles of the downtown core, $200 million in damage and 300 lives lost. What seemed an insurmountable tragedy triggered an entrepreneurial, innovation and economic boom so large that the city’s present day success is still attributed to the Great Fire of 1871.
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