, 1881-10-09
WHAT OCCURRED OCT. Q, ISL

HAAA ttNo1tIAEO ot1. 4caAs
" Ten years ago today Chicago was swept
with the baptism Of fire. Devastation, per
flames. The red reign, beginning Sunday
night, Oct S, 1871, and lasting till Monday at
midnight, laid in waste territory: four
miles in length, and all average Of two
thirds Of mile in breadth, and COM
prising very nearly 100 acres, obliter-
ated 17,450 buildings, made 9S,o00
human beings homeless, and wiped-out $780,,
OO0, 900 worth OF: property. The world stood
aghast ut the grandest wreck and the most
stupendous ruins Of modern times. 1t was
a calamity which ended in the practical ex-
tinction of everything but the city's name,
and the indomitable courage of its heroic cit
izens. Those were imperishable. "Resur-
gam' was inscribed on the very ruins. The
noble charity of world whose pulse-beats
were in unison with its own, came to its
support in the hour of trial and
the day of af1iction. Money poured
i'll like water. 4 twelvemonth passed, and
performance had succeeded promise. Out Of
calamity it had plucked prosperity. lte-
surgam - had given place to "Resurrexi."
T. A new era had dawued With the 9th Of
October, 1871, and
TODAY, IT'S DEcESS1AL AnS1vERsARY,
finds evidences OH every hand that "old
things have passed away, and all things have
become new.' i
/. Great and almost overw helming as was the
disaster which overlook Chicago in the early
days Of that month Of October, 1871,
the world has not ceased to marvel at the
prodigies of faith, valor. and perseverance
so grandly displayed, and the final and glo-
rious triumph which marked the rebuilding
of the waste places and foretold the
beginning Of new prosperity 92-an 81 an
infinitly grander SCALE than than anybody had
ever dreamed OF: The record Of the decennial
period embraced between Oct. 9, 1871, and
this, the tenth, anniversary Of the death of
the old and the birth Of the new, is record
of phenomenal progress unparalleled in the
history Of modern times. One marvel sue
ceeded another. II the world was awed by
the one, it was overcome with admiration at
the other. To sum I'D the results Of the ac-
co1npiishments of the last ten years is the
purpose Of the present memorial ar
ticle in journal. whose home
and whose entire material resources were
greedily swallowed up by the fiery visitation
4 decade ago. In the light Of: the glorious
achievements OF the past ten years-the re-
building of city on scale Of magnlticence
which must forever excite both wol1-
der and admiration, and its astound-
ing growth in population, CONNER
cial prosperity, and all that constitutes
the elements of municipal greatness
the eloquent but .spasnodic and fruitless
talk about memorial buildings and the like,
heard now and then during the period OF the
renaissance, sinks into insigniticance. While
the word of promise has been held to the ear,
only to be broken to the hope,
e TIE REAL MONUMENTS OF. TRIUMPH .
over adversity have been going up all around.
While the magnates Of trade and the princes
in lard have been so good rs to give the
people an opportunity to do something by
organizing memorial movement, lending IL
the weight of their great names and carefully
abstaining from contributing a red cent, the
people have gone ahead on their own ac-
count, without waiting for these u1unl1lcent
pllilanthropists, and the opportunity they
were kind enough to create, and have reared
in brick, stone, and mortar, lnanlmate anu
vet eloquent monuments marking the o1rtn
and growth OF the new era While the auto
Gratis Of trade have been posing, with one
hand on their hearts and the other on their
pocketbooks, the real nlonument-makers
have silently remluded them OF the OLD motlo'
stLook around you."
=: Chicago, at the beginning Of October, 1871,
was city whose rapid growth and CONNER
cia1 Importance had attracted the attention
of the world. From frontier post, village
on an unknown creek, bankrupt land-
sneculating town, had arisen city Whlch
held under its control the commerce OF me
vast regions lying to the north and west. lt
took tithes OF the corn, and wheat,
and lumber, and other productions OF
t1,a little world which hemmed 1t
in. Its population reached a to12l
of sgs4 o70. divided among 50,50o buildings.
ond covering an area Of 80, 900 acres' much OF
which, however, in the western part OF the
CITY. had NOT been improved
EXPANDING FROM IT'S sEART1SG-fotNt
m South Water street, business hao tahen
nossessiou of that portion OF tne ooutn
n;vjsion north Of Adams street, ana was
pradualiy moving southwark on the principal
though private residences
Ell, lined Wabash and Michigan ave.
mas while dilapidated shantles' useo
for dwelling houses or poorer class u
etoras filed up much OF the western pa1t "
hat territory. Within that area were uo
cre,t business houses, the newspaper olnces,
t}e theatres. and the opera-houses' anu ~
tho tho more important public BUILDINGS. oi9e
hr eide rose gigantic Dlocks--tae Guys p1iue
., - o +ha shabby wooden structures which
rocalled the earlier days. Once low
tsI s,xamnv.,. the land had oeen
<l..aa zuu nntil 1T was susceptible OF
1alseu Ha+ drainaee. Containing all the large
~ I'll