American History Tellers - Great Chicago Fire | The Great Rebuilding | 3

Episode Date: February 10, 2021

As dawn broke on October 10, 1871, the dazed survivors of the Great Chicago Fire stumbled through their burned and battered city. A 30-hour inferno had reduced Chicago to ashes.Homes and business were replaced by gaping holes and smoldering rubble. Tens of thousands of people had lost their houses and jobs. Many had lost loved ones. As aid poured into the city, officials turned their attention to the challenges of distributing relief and maintaining order.But the embers had barely cooled when residents went to work throwing up makeshift structures and reopening their businesses. Over the next two years, Chicagoans would rapidly rebuild their city. It was the start of a recovery that would spur architectural innovation and urban renewal, turning Chicago into a modern metropolis.Listen to new episodes 1 week early and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/historytellers.Support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Imagine it's the afternoon of October 10th, 1871. You're stumbling after your boss as he wanders through the smoking wreckage of Chicago's West Side, just across the river from where your old office was destroyed. You came to this country from Germany nearly a decade ago, and it pains you to see your adopted home reduced to rubble. Will it ever cool down?

I expect it might be a couple more days. Now, what do we have here? He stops at a pile of bricks and picks one of them up. Ah! Careful, sir. What'd you do that for? I was just wondering if they're cool enough to be used again. We'll need all the materials we can get our hands on.

With the office gone, we'll need to find some place to set up shop until we can rebuild. I thought you were joking about that. The fire's barely been extinguished. That doesn't matter. The city won't sit quietly. People are going to be lining up today to cut property deals, mark my words, and we need to be ready for them. Well, if you say so. Seems to me people will be too busy finding somewhere to sleep, a hot meal. You dust the ash off your skirt and shake your head. You can't help thinking it's easier for your boss to have hope. He lost his real estate business, but his home survived, and his wife and children are safe with a relative in the suburbs.

You know a lot of folks weren't so lucky. You still haven't been able to get in touch with your brother. Well, how about this, sir? You point at a charred brick barn. That's quite the change from the office downtown. But it's got two walls, and that's a start. Come on, follow me. Here, hold this up.

He hands you a scrap of wood, and you hold it up against one of the blackened walls. He takes a hammer out of his belt and begins nailing it in. Hmm, there. You brought the paint? You pull a small jar of white paint and a brush out of your satchel and hand it to him. He begins painting the name of the business.

As hopeless as things seem, you know that rebuilding your business is your best shot at life getting back to normal. That and finding your family. So you decide this sign needs something else. You take the brush out of your boss's hand. Here, let's add another line. First in the burnt district. Oh, there. That'll be our new claim to fame.

That's the spirit. We're not just going to rebuild. This business will be better than it was before. Ever since the fire, all you felt is shock and disbelief. But as you stare out across the bleak landscape for the first time in two days, you feel a tiny glimmer of hope.

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Buy it now. Stream free on Freeview and Prime Video. From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history, 1871. All across the city, survivors began to grapple with an unknown future. For years, it seemed as though Chicago was on a path of unbridled growth and potential. Now it faced an unprecedented catastrophe. Tens of thousands of people had seen their lives completely upended. In the days and weeks ahead, they would struggle to find

food and a warm place to sleep. And amid fears of violence and looting, officials were determined to prevent the city from sliding into chaos. They launched a crackdown that took a deadly turn. Even while the ground was still hot from the flames, Chicagoans began the difficult task of rebuilding their city. Soon, Chicago would rise again, with a recovery and rebirth as extraordinary as the fire itself. This is Episode 3, The Great Rebuilding. As the sun rose on October 10, 1871, Chicagoans stumbled through the ruins of their city and reckoned with widespread destruction. An eerie silence had descended over the once-bustling city. Chicago was unrecognizable, and the dazed and disoriented refugees struggled

to locate their old neighborhoods. They roamed through a blistered wasteland, finding gaping holes in the ground where their homes once stood. Their churches, grocery stores, and offices had vanished, and in their place were piles of smoking rubble and twisted metal. To some Civil War veterans, the city looked like a battlefield, or the ruins of Confederate cities they had witnessed just a few years before. Others felt themselves transported to a living hell. One survivor reflected, We walked through the streets, covered everywhere with heaps of debris and parts of walls, and could not help comparing ourselves to ghosts wandering through a vast graveyard. The fire had destroyed 73 miles

of streets and nearly 18,000 buildings. 100,000 people were left homeless, one-third of the city's total population. The county coroner estimated that the death toll reached 300, but only 120 bodies were uncovered in the wreckage. Most of the casualties were poor residents of the slums in Conley's Patch who were trapped by burning buildings and falling debris after a bridge caught fire. Volunteers had moved 70 unidentified corpses to a horse stable, and frantic survivors arrived each hour in search of lost loved ones. Despite the carnage, most residents had managed to flee the inferno. But the damage to one of America's biggest manufacturing centers was overwhelming.

Many of Chicago's factories, banks, newspaper offices, hotels, and retail stores were razed to the ground. The city's downtown business district was decimated, but the mostly residential north side was hit even harder. Out of nearly 14,000 structures, only 500 survived. With infrastructure at a breaking point, Chicago was consumed by a staggering humanitarian crisis. The fire had stripped tens of thousands of people of their homes, people who now face the daunting challenge of finding shelter, food, and water. Imagine it's dusk on October 10th, 1871. The massive fire that burned through your city has left you and your 18-year-old little sister homeless.

You're surveying the wreckage of your old Southside neighborhood, trying to ignore your gnawing hunger pangs. You've had nothing to eat since yesterday morning, and you're desperate for a place to sleep. Harriet, be careful. Here, take my hand. You reach out your arm to help your little sister scramble over a pile of rubble. You sweep your eyes out over your old neighborhood, which is now barely recognizable. The old familiar bars and shops are gone. The only thing that stands out amid the smoking rubble

are a handful of scattered walls, twisted metal street signs, and blackened trees. You're shocked by the destruction, but you're trying to keep a brave face for your sister. She points at the ruins of a wall 20 feet away. Hey, I think that's our house. The one next door sort of looks like the Finnegan's place. No, our house was more square-shaped, I think. But Harriet, you do realize that even if we do find our cottage,

there's little chance anything survived the flames. We have to make sure, though, don't we? Family photographs? Mother's wedding dress? I was going to wear that someday. No, no, no, don't think about that now. Come on, we need to find somewhere to sleep before nightfall. That's the important thing. You walk on, hand in hand, watching the ground carefully as you go.

The street lamps have all been destroyed, and with every minute it's growing darker and harder to see. Look, over there! Your sister runs off in the direction of a small shanty that somehow escaped the flames, and you quickly follow. I think this'll do. Wait, Harriet! She stops at the door abruptly. As you reach her and get a closer look, your heart plummets.

The room is packed with two dozen other men, women, and children. There's not an inch of floor remaining. An old man looks up at you with an apology in his eyes. We're full up, ladies. Best find somewhere else. You shake your head and pull your sister away, your throat constricting in pain as you try to hold back tears. You have no idea where you'll find refuge for the night. You thought if you could just survive the fire, you could get through this, but now the future has never felt so uncertain. With tens of thousands of people roaming Chicago, residents and officials scrambled to make it through the critical first days after the fire.

Many turned to Chicago's mayor, Roswell B. Mason, for help. When the blaze first broke out, Mayor Mason was powerless to protect his fellow Chicagoans. Now that the fire was over, he was determined to use every tool at his disposal to lead his city through its recovery. Beyond maintaining order, Mason knew he needed to provide basic needs to tens of thousands of fire victims. The courthouse was destroyed, so Mason and other city officials met in a church to manage the crisis and oversee relief efforts. Mason designated a number of public schools, churches, and railway stations as shelters and dining halls for the homeless. Aside from housing, the city's most pressing need was to ensure access to water. The fire had destroyed the city's main water source, the waterworks in the central district,

and workers were laboring furiously to repair the damages. In the meantime, water had to be pumped directly out of the river. To prevent disease from spreading through the city, officials encouraged residents to boil their drinking water. But warding off cholera and typhoid created its own risk, as survivors lit campfires across the still-smoldering city. Mayor Mason knew that the last thing the city needed was another fire burning out of control when the ashes of the last one had barely cooled. He banned the use of kerosene and outlawed smoking until repairs could be made to the city's water infrastructure. Residents were forced to light candles to see in the darkness.

The struggle to provide food for displaced and hungry residents was also growing urgent. Bakeries were exempt from the kerosene rule so they could bake bread. Mason fixed the price of bread for ten days to stop businesses from profiting off the disaster. And to maintain law and order in the streets, he banned the sale of liquor and forced saloons to close by nine o'clock each night. Newspapers got back up and running soon after the fire. Editors and publishers were eager to report the biggest story of their lives and meet the public's demand for news. On October 10th, hours after the last flames had been extinguished, the editors of the Chicago Tribune rented a printing shop in a part of the city

untouched by the fire. They published their first post-fire edition the next morning. But many newspapers tended to stir up public anxiety about looting and violence. The Chicago Evening Journal declared that Chicago was infested with a horde of thieves, burglars, and cutthroats bent on plunder and who will not hesitate to burn, pillage, and even murder. Lurid rumors spread that out-of-town criminals were invading the city to take advantage of the chaos. There was little basis for the rumors, but influential Chicagoans were determined to crack down on potential threats to public safety.

City officials organized brigades of civilian volunteers to patrol the city under police supervision. But soon, Mayor Mason took a more extraordinary measure to maintain order. Mayor Roswell Mason had been elected in 1869 on the promise of combating the corruption plaguing city politics. Both the press and the public viewed him as an honest family man and a dedicated public servant. But Mason was also a former railroad manager with close ties to the Chicago business community, and he was convinced that Chicago's business leaders knew better than both the corrupt city council members and the immigrant voters who had elected them. In the days to come, he would make crucial decisions to expand his authority

and protect Chicago's most influential citizens. On October 11th, with rumors of theft and crime swirling, Mason placed Chicago under martial law. He bypassed the city council and the police department, entrusting his friend, Lieutenant General Philip Sheridan, with preserving order. Sheridan had led Union soldiers into battle during the Civil War, and for the next two weeks he commanded 700 troops across Chicago. They patrolled the ruined city and enforced the new post-fire regulations alongside hundreds of state militia soldiers, city police, and volunteers. Chicago's elite and business leaders welcomed Sheridan's regime, certain that without a military presence, the city would descend into chaos. Chicago Tribune

co-owner William Bross declared, Had it not been for General Sheridan's prompt, bold, and patriotic action, I verily believe that what was left of the city would have been nearly destroyed by cutthroats and vagabonds. The troops patrolled the ruins of hotels and banks owned by wealthy businessmen, but they did a little in the essential work that many Chicagoans were clamoring for—distributing relief, clearing the rubble, or building shelters. Some started to question the legality of the military regime. The governor of Illinois attacked the martial law order as an overreach of the mayor's authority, urging that only the governor had the power to call in U.S. troops. But Mason ignored the criticism. He had the backing of Chicago's most powerful citizens and a firm belief that the crisis required drastic

action. But soon, an act of violence caused public opinion to shift. On the night of October 20th, an influential attorney was walking home when a 20-year-old militia member under Sheridan's command asked him to stop and identify himself. When the man refused, the young volunteer shot and killed him. Three days later, Mason relieved Sheridan of his authority. Still, the mayor defended his actions. In a letter to the governor after the shooting incident, he wrote, I believe that the emergency required me to take the step that I did.

I do not believe when the lives and property of the people, the peace and order of a large city are in danger, that it is the time to stop and consider any questions of policy. Mason also faced the problem of how to collect and distribute the massive amounts of aid money flowing into Chicago from across America. As the shocking news of the Inferno spread far and wide Communities had staged rallies to raise money and relief supplies. The smoke had barely settled before trains loaded with bread, meat, clothes, blankets, and medicine began arriving in the city. President Ulysses S. Grant and railroad tycoon William Vanderbilt sent checks, and even paperboys and coal miners chipped in from their meager wages. And so Mason made a second controversial move.

On October 13th, he bypassed the city council and put a private charity, the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, in charge of managing aid distribution. Mason believed he was empowering the group that was best equipped to administer charity. Like the Marshall Law Order, he viewed the decision as a practical move warranted by the magnitude of the crisis. But it was also a decision that was legally questionable and shaped by the mayor's close ties to Chicago's business community. The Chicago Relief and Aid Society was run by wealthy business leaders, and they were

skeptical of handouts. The society put the needy into two categories, the deserving poor and the undeserving poor. So as relief work got underway, the society ordered its employees to bar aid from any families they considered capable of earning their own support. To receive aid, applicants had to provide written character references, fill out forms describing their property losses, and pass an inspection by a society worker. But for the wealthier victims, access to aid was much easier. describing their property losses and pass an inspection by a society worker. But for the wealthier victims, access to aid was much easier.

The charity gave them preferential treatment, saying they faced a more shocking loss to their livelihoods. While poor Southside residents lined up in the cold for hours to receive food and other staples, society workers brought aid directly to wealthy Northsiders who were their friends and neighbors. The society faced criticism for its uneven approach, but in the end, many residents felt that relief efforts were better off in private hands than under the management of corrupt city council members. And the Relief and Aid Society's ambitious efforts did prove crucial to Chicago's early recovery. In the first few weeks after the fire, it collected almost

$5 million in aid money from around the world, the equivalent of over $100 million today. It provided food, water, bedding, and medicine to the victims of the fire, and society doctors vaccinated more than 60,000 people against smallpox. The society also erected crude barracks to shelter the homeless, provided skilled workers with the tools and materials to construct single-family wooden cottages, and by mid-November, 5,000 of the new wooden homes had been built throughout Chicago. But ensuring access to food and shelter was just one part of the recovery effort. Once basic needs were met, Chicagoans turned their attention from the fight to survive to the monumental challenge

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Are we excited for this moment? Ah! I cannot believe it. Woo! Buy it now. Stream free on Freeview and Prime Video. As Chicagoans contemplated rebuilding the city, many were overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the catastrophe. Property damages were estimated at more than $200 million,

or more than $4 billion in today's money. Tens of thousands of people were financially ruined. For some, it seems like Chicago would never reclaim its former glory. But amid the loss, there were signs of hope. Two-thirds of the city's commercial property was still standing, along with two-thirds of its homes. Most of the city's railroad tracks were intact, allowing goods to flow in and out of the city. The stockyards on the south side had somehow survived, as had most of the grain elevators and mills lining the river,

ensuring that Chicago's most important industries could keep running. Bankers and professionals were thrilled to discover that most of the money in the city's safes and bank vaults had also survived the fire. And the fire had done nothing to change the city's ideal location near the Great Lakes or its status as a hub for the nation's railroads. Chicago's leading businessmen and boosters launched a propaganda campaign to attract much-needed investments. Their message was loud and clear. The city would recover, and there was money to be made in the process. Chicago Tribune co-owner William Bross traveled to New York just two days after the fire to purchase new equipment and spread the message

that Chicago's future was bright. He met with potential investors, persuaded them to inject capital into rebuilding efforts. Many compared the city to a phoenix that would rise from the ashes of the fire. The Chicago Tribune published an editorial in its first post-fire edition, promising in capital letters, Chicago shall rise again. The Chicago Times carried a similar message,

declaring, Chicago can be beaten, but it cannot be conquered. Many Chicagoans saw an opportunity to make the city even greater than it was before. A prominent publisher predicted, Chicago will have more men, more money, more business within five years than she would have had without the fire. This spirit of optimism drove what would become known as the Great Rebuilding. Over the next two years, the people of Chicago embarked on the ambitious project

of reconstructing the city and revitalizing its economy. And almost as soon as the flames died down, local merchants worked to get their businesses back up and running too. Trainloads of lumber arrived in the city on October 10th. One woman reopened her chestnut stand just hours after the fire, selling her offerings amid smoldering rubble. Children roamed the streets hawking souvenirs, including melted silverware and marbles. A real estate agent named William Kerfoot cobbled together a makeshift shop and hung a sign that read W.D. Kerfoot Real Estate,

all gone but wife, children, and energy. As the days and weeks passed, Chicago slowly started to recover. A week after the fire, streetcars resumed service with half-priced fares, and the public schools that were still standing reopened. Workers began the back-breaking labor of clearing rubble downtown. Businesses threw up makeshift storefronts or moved into undamaged west side buildings. Some houses played host to multiple businesses, with lawyers and doctors sharing space with shop owners and salesmen. When the fire erupted, Mayor Roswell B. Mason's two-year term was nearing its end. Amid growing criticism of his handling of the disaster, Mason decided not to run for

re-election. Chicago Tribune editor Joseph Meddle campaigned for mayor on the promise of imposing stricter fire codes in the city. He joined forces with a coalition of Republican and Democratic City Council candidates who dubbed themselves the Fireproof Party. And just one month after the fire, on November 7th, Meddle and the Fireproofers won in a landslide. Two weeks after the election, the city launched an inquiry into the causes of the fire and the performance of the fire department in battling the blaze.

Fifty witnesses presented testimony, including Chief Fire Marshal Robert Williams and Courthouse Watchman Matthias Schaefer. The O'Leary's, at whose barn the fire first started, also testified, along with several of their neighbors. In the end, the investigators were unable to determine a specific cause for such widespread destruction. They laid the blame on substandard wood construction, lax building codes, and insufficient funding and equipment for the fire department. In December, the month after the inquiry, Mettle was sworn in as the new mayor.

In his inaugural address, he attacked Chicago's blind, unreasoning infatuation in favor of Pine. Mettle warned, Chicago officials knew they needed to make sweeping changes to prevent another inferno. Meadow and the city council proposed a total ban on wooden buildings in favor of brick and stone construction. But even as the new city government made plans to rewrite its building codes, thousands of new wood structures were already springing up across the city. Imagine this January, 1872 in Chicago.

You're meeting with your business partner in the burnt-out ruins of your downtown department store to discuss plans for rebuilding. You shiver in the cold as you unfurl the latest blueprints for your new building. Now, if you ask me, we should extend the lobby out a bit further. There's always so much congestion. Your partner looks over your shoulder and nods, scratching his beard. Not a bad idea, but we should really be past the point of making changes. I say we move up our

groundbreaking for next month. No, you can't be serious. We still have to select our stone, and we'll never get a mason at time. Oh, come on, not that nonsense again. Stone is too expensive. I don't like it any more than you do, but we're better off using good old-fashioned pine. You want to use pine again. You're actually suggesting we build another fire trap. Your partner kicks a pile of rubble in frustration. We're strapped enough as it is.

Unless there's some mysterious cash pile you haven't told me about, and please be reminded we are partners, every day we stay closed is another day we're not making money. And what about the long term? Long term safety? Shouldn't we make sure we never lose our store to fire again? What about our competition? They'll be reopening in the next few weeks. And that's because they're using wood.

And where'd you hear that? Come on, everyone is determined to open their doors again. If we don't, all the money is determined to open their doors again. If we don't, all the money is going to drain out of the city. The investors will flock to St. Louis or Milwaukee or someplace. We've already lost out on the entire Christmas season, our biggest season of the year. At this rate, it'll be years before we recover our investments. You hadn't thought of it like that. It is hard to imagine getting through the next year without your Christmas boost. Look, I've got my family to think about. I would think Elizabeth and the girls would be top of

mind for you, too. Of course they are. Well, then you know what we have to do. Besides, it's not just us. If you ask me, the city should spend less time restricting building materials and more time fixing that undermanned fire department. Well, you have a point there. The city council acts like it's up to us to carry the burden for fire defense, but we're the ones reviving the downtown economy. My thoughts exactly. Now, come on. Let's talk about the new front doors, so we can open them. You walk on with your partner, doing your best to suppress the nagging feeling

that once again, you're setting yourself up for ruin. As winter loomed, Chicagoans were determined to rebuild their homes and businesses as fast as possible. And despite the risk, wood structures could still be built quickly and cheaply. Once again, speed won out over safety. The council's plans for cracking down on wood construction only sparked anger among working-class immigrants.

Brick and stone were more expensive than wood. German and Irish workers feared that if wood construction was banned, they wouldn't be able to rebuild their homes at all. They resented the prospect of the city shutting them out with their share of the American dream. So on a January night in 1872, thousands of immigrants marched to City Hall, brandishing signs with slogans declaring, No fire limits at the north side, and leave a house for the laborer. Amid the storm of furious protest, the city council relented, passing a weaker ordinance

than originally planned. It extended geographic restrictions on wood construction, but it stopped short of banning wood in the immigrant neighborhoods in the west and north of the city. The revised laws were also lax on building inspections, paving the way for business owners to ignore the new rules. Chicago's business leaders had resolved to maintain their city's status as the gateway to the west and as a center for agriculture and trade. They used brick and stone, but they also turned to lumber to quickly rebuild hotels, offices, and department stores. And as the city thawed and the days lengthened in the spring of

1872, construction ramped up. It would continue at breakneck speed for nearly two years. A railroad building boom in the Midwest gave the city a much-needed economic boost, and money poured into the city from New York investors. But soon, the city confronted a new catastrophe. In September of 1873, the failure of a Philadelphia investment firm triggered an economic collapse. What became called the Panic of 1873 sent the nation into a depression that would linger for six years. Construction in Chicago ground to a halt. Then, the following year, disaster struck closer to home. On a hot and dry day in July 1874, a shanty owned by an immigrant peddler caught fire on Chicago's south side. The blaze quickly tore through 18 blocks just below downtown,

once again sending residents fleeing from scorching cinders. More than 800 buildings were destroyed, three-quarters of them constructed out of wood. The majority of homes lost were owned by Black and Jewish families who lived in the neighborhood. But the rest of Chicago was saved by the lack of wind that day. The fire department was able to put out the flames before they could reach the city's newly rebuilt business district. But it had been a near miss. The latest fire sparked calls once again for more forceful building regulations.

The Chicago Tribune condemned officials for allowing our magnificent business center to be surrounded with wooden rookeries. Chicagoans knew they had come dangerously close to a fire once again laying waste to their city. They had failed to heed the lessons of three years earlier. This time, they resolved to take more drastic action. Three days after the South Side fire, business owners and city leaders gathered in a newly built assembly hall to call on the city council to shore up Chicago's fire defenses. Insurance companies joined in the chorus of outrage. They put pressure on city officials, demanding Chicago ban wooden construction, reorganize its fire department, and expand its water mains. And not long after,

city officials finally outlawed wooden construction within city limits. Over the next few years, Chicago would also restructure its fire department and institute stricter building codes. Chicago was about to enter a second phase of rebuilding, but one in which the city would finally make fire safety a top priority. A new generation of architects would launch ambitious plans to transform the city skyline and turn it into a modern metropolis. It would be led by a groundbreaking new invention, one that would forever put Chicago on the world's map. In a quiet suburb, a community is shattered by the death of a beloved wife and mother. But this tragic loss of life quickly turns into something even darker.

Her husband had tried to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill her. And she wasn't the only target. Because buried in the depths of the internet is The Kill List, a cache of chilling documents containing names photos addresses and specific instructions for people's murders this podcast is the true story of how i ended up in a race against time to warn those who lives were in danger and it turns out convincing a total stranger someone wants them dead is not easy. Follow Kill List on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C true crime shows like Morbid

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by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Imagine it's March 1883, and you're in an office building in downtown Chicago, about to have the most important meeting of your career. You've entered a competition to design the new Chicago headquarters for the New York Home Insurance Company. Today, you're presenting your architectural plans to its executives. One of them takes a puff of his cigar and holds up his hand. All right, settle down, gentlemen. Now, what do you have for us?

Well, thank you, sir. I know you're in search of a design that maximizes office space as well as natural light. I've designed a 10-story building that will provide plenty of both. 10? Is that even possible? Yes, sir, it is. Here, take a closer look. As you unroll your blueprints on the table, the executives crowd around you, training their necks to examine them. The answer, gentlemen, is in iron frame construction. Now, traditionally, buildings are supported by load-bearing brick or stone walls. This building will be supported by iron columns. And it's in this way that the building can reach ten stories, precisely because it's not being weighed down by heavy masonry.

An executive peers at you from over the top of his spectacles. I don't understand. This looks little more than a frail metal skeleton. How could the building possibly support ten stories without masonry bearing the load? You smile knowingly. You came prepared for this question. Reaching down under the table, you pull out a lightweight metal birdcage and place it on the table. The executives give each other sideways glances as you carefully balance a heavy encyclopedia on top of it.

Now see? If so frail a wire birdcage can sustain this weight without yielding, the same principle applies to an iron frame building. Well, it is intriguing, but what about real-life examples? Where is there such a building? Well, the concept is similar to the bamboo huts of Asia. Lightweight, but storm-proof. I've traveled to the Philippines in my younger years. It's where I got the idea. And there have been experiments in Europe. The executive raises his eyebrow and laughs. Oh, for Christ's sake, we're looking for something a little more robust than a hut.

Gentlemen, gentlemen, New York is about to open the Brooklyn Bridge, practically the greatest engineering marvel since the pyramids of Giza, and the finest use of iron and steel construction so far. Chicago needs to stay competitive. Be that as it may, we're not going to invest in a building that's completely untested. And need I remind you that the main concern here is fire safety. Yes, yes, it is true. This building would be the first of its kind, and because of that, it would put Chicago and your company on the world stage. Everyone would know the New York Home Insurance Company and its famous 10-story headquarters.

And of course, as you know, iron doesn't burn. The executive stares at your blueprints once again, pondering your words. I won't lie, your plan sounds like it has some potential. But we're going to consult with some outside experts before we make any decisions. You nod and smile, feeling confident that you may just have won them over, earning yourself a commission, and if all of 1873, was in the past, opening the way for Chicago's second phase of rebuilding. Architects, business owners, and city officials were determined not to repeat past mistakes

and doom their city to yet another crisis. Architect William LeBaron Jenny had an innovation that would help take Chicago to staggering new heights. In 1885, his plan for the headquarters of the New York Home Insurance Company in downtown Chicago became what is widely considered the world's first skyscraper. In the past, buildings were supported by load-bearing walls built of masonry. But with a steel frame supporting the home insurance building, the walls could be thin and light. This allowed the building to have more floors as well as large glass windows. More steel-framed buildings followed during the 1880s and 90s.

These soaring skyscrapers transformed Chicago, turning what was once a rustic prairie town into the birthplace of modern architecture. These skyscrapers were also built to withstand fire. Steel and glass were far more fire-resistant than wood. And because skyscrapers were expensive, insurance companies and investors demanded that they be absolutely fireproof before they would back them financially. So architects and engineers devised new protections, such as installing fire hoses and automatic sprinkler systems inside their buildings. Beyond the architectural innovations,

over the years, Chicago's wooden roads and sidewalks were also ripped out and replaced with brick and stone paving. Chicago upgraded its fire defense technology and improved the pressure systems providing water to fire hydrants. But creating a more fireproof city had a cost. The expanse of structural improvements and rising real estate prices pushed immigrants and the working poor further out of the city. Many of the German, Irish, and Scandinavian immigrants who had powered Chicago's mills, stockyards, and slaughterhouses were now driven out of the city center to new suburbs.

Retail and office spaces rose up downtown where factories and immigrant neighborhoods once stood. So as Chicago's prestige grew, so too did the divide between rich and poor neighborhoods. These changes were already underway, but the fire and the new building laws accelerated the transformation. At the end of the 19th century, Chicago was a place of commercial energy and technological wonder. It became known as America's City, a sprawling, modern metropolis filled with brand-new hotels, factories, theaters, train stations. And in the two decades after the fire, Chicago's population had nearly tripled. By 1890, it became the second largest city in America, home to over one million residents. Then, in 1893, Chicago hosted the glittering World's Columbian Exposition

in honor of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage to the New World. More than 27 million visitors attended the fair, where white pavilions spread across 600 acres brimming with the latest inventions. For many, it was finally proof that Chicago had not just recovered, but emerged on the world scene stronger than ever, leaving the devastation and the trauma of the Great Fire behind. But as the city celebrated its revival from the fire, there was one resident who was still haunted by its memory. The Great Chicago Fire began in a barn owned by Irish Catholic immigrant Catherine O'Leary, but exactly how it started has remained a mystery.

Almost as soon as the fire was extinguished, rumors spread that Mrs. O'Leary herself was to blame. The Chicago Evening Journal alleged that Mrs. O'Leary was milking her cows on the evening of October 8th when one of the cows knocked over a kerosene lantern, igniting the hay on the floor. Mrs. O'Leary denied the rumors, insisting that she was in bed when the fire started. But as a Catholic and a poor immigrant, Mrs. O'Leary was a convenient scapegoat. Nativist fears about Chicago's growing immigrant population fanned the rumors against her. Ironically, Mrs. O'Leary's cottage escaped destruction, a fact that only fueled public anger and resentment. Newspapers portrayed her as an ignorant, elderly drunk who was cheating the city

to receive welfare payments. The Chicago Times suggested that she set fire to the barn as an act of vengeance, declaring, the old hag swore she would be revenged on a city that would deny her a bit of wood or a pound of bacon. In reality, O'Leary was in her 40s, and she had never received welfare. And when the city launched an official inquiry into the causes of the fire in November 1871, Mrs. O'Leary was called to testify. The investigators failed to determine the specific cause, but still Mrs. O'Leary was called to testify. The investigators failed to determine the specific cause, but still Mrs. O'Leary remained guilty in the eyes of the public. Hounded by the press, the O'Leary's eventually moved away from DeKoven Street. Mrs. O'Leary became a recluse, only leaving her house to attend mass or run errands. She suffered harassment for the rest

of her life until she died of pneumonia in 1895. Over the years, there have been countless theories about the fire's cause. Some have speculated that neighborhood boys smoking in the O'Leary's barn started the fire, or that the neighbor who first spotted the flames was covering for his own role in accidentally starting the blaze. Some have even suggested that a meteor shower sparked the fire. To this day, the true cause remains a mystery. Then, in 1997, the city of Chicago passed a resolution formally exonerating Mrs. O'Leary of wrongdoing. But 150 years later, the legend lives on of Mrs. O'Leary,

her cow, and supposed role in sparking the blaze. So, too, does the story of Chicago's triumphant recovery from one of the worst fires to ever hit an American city. With bold vision and unwavering optimism, Chicago reinvented itself after an unimaginable disaster. Its innovations in architecture and fireproof construction left a lasting impact on urban America and the world. Ultimately, Chicago emerged from the ashes of

the fire as a sky-high city of stone and steel, a gleaming blueprint for the modern metropolis and a powerful symbol of possibility. From Wondering, this is episode three of The Great Chicago Fire from American History Tellers. On the next episode, we're joined by urban historian and Chicago expert Anne Keating to discuss how the Great Chicago Fire and its aftermath transformed the city and what lessons we can learn from the fire in responding to urban disasters today. If you like American History Tellers, you can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman and Marsha Louis, created by Hernán López for Wondery.

Dracula, the ancient vampire who terrorizes Victorian London. Blood and garlic, bats and crucifixes. Even if you haven't read the book, you think you know the story. One of the incredible things about Dracula is that not only is it this wonderful snapshot of the 19th century, but it also has so much resonance today. The vampire doesn't cast a reflection in a mirror. So when we look in the mirror, the only thing we see is our own monstrous abilities.

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