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<p>By the 1860s, there was a significant strain on Chicago’s water supply. Because the nearshore water of Lake Michigan was too polluted for safe use, in 1867 engineer Ellis S. Chesbrough created a water-supply tunnel system that ran two miles off shore. A pumping station was required to transport the water such a distance. In 1869, a more consistent pumping system was needed, so a standpipe system was designed and the famous Water Tower was constructed to house the system.&nbsp;Architect William Boyington designed the building almost entirely with Joliet limestone in his famous castellated Gothic Revival style. In 1882 during a visit to Chicago, Oscar Wilde famously remarked that the tower was a “castellated monstrosity with pepper-boxes stuck all over it.”</p><p>Because of the Water Tower being constructed primarily of stone, it became one of the few buildings to survive the Great Fire of 1871. During the fire, German immigrant Frank Trautman covered the tower with blankets and old ship sails and kept them wet in an effort to protect the building. Because such a grand building remained upright after the fire, it became a symbol of determination for the city.&nbsp;</p><span>The building underwent two renovations during the 20th-century, first between 1913-1916 and the second during 1978. The Water Tower is now an art gallery for the Chicago Office of Tourism and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 23, 1975.</span><br>

Located in the Near North Side neighborhood within its Magnificent Mile district, Chicago’s famous Water Tower remains a symbol of its pre-Great Fire past. Constructed in 1869, it held pumps to draw water from Lake Michigan as well as tall standpipes that could provide high-pressures for firefighting as well as regulate water surges. Architect William Boyington designed the building almost entirely with Joliet limestone in his famous castellated Gothic Revival style. Because of the Water Tower being constructed primarily of stone, it was one of the few to survive the Great Fire of 1871. The building underwent two renovations during the 20th-century, first between 1913-1916 and the second during 1978. The Water Tower is now an art gallery for the Chicago Office of Tourism and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 23, 1975.

Chicago Water Tower 

This virtual field trip explores sites related to the history of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

<p>The Chicago Historical
Society was formed in 1856 and formally incorporated by the Illinois state
legislature the following year. The Society soon developed an impressive
collection of mostly historic documents for research purposes; it opened its
first museum building on the corner of Ontario and Dearborn Streets. In 1871
the Society was devastated by the Great Chicago Fire that ravaged the city. The
vast majority of its collection was destroyed, including Abraham Lincoln’s
final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. A second fire destroyed nearly
the remainder of the original collection in 1874. The Society worked to rebuild
its collection, and in 1896 it erected a new, stone structure on the site of
its original building. The building, which still stands today, was designed by
Chicago-based architect Henry Ives Cobb, whose work included the Newberry
Library. In 1978 the building was added to the National Register of Historic
Places.</p>

<p>One of the Society’s most
important additions to its museum was the acquisition of the personal
collection of Charles F. Gunther in 1920. Gunther, a local wealthy
confectioner, accumulated thousands of items from around the world, with a
particular focus on the Civil War. Among the artifacts in his collection is the
bed in which Abraham Lincoln died and the table on which Robert E. Lee signed
his surrender agreement at Appomattox. The purchase of Gunther’s collection
transformed the Society from a local history research facility into a
full-fledged national museum. </p>

<p><span>In 1932 the growing museum
moved into a new building in the Lincoln Park district, where it remains to
this day. The building has undergone three major expansions and renovations in
1972, 1988, and 2006. Following the 2006 renovation, the Chicago Historical
Society changed its name to The Chicago History Museum as part of a rebranding
effort. Today the museum boasts an impressive and expanding collection of over
20 million artifacts relating to Chicago, Civil War, and American history. It
includes multiple permanent exhibitions on Chicago history, and temporary
exhibits on other topics. It has a large research center containing documents,
images, books, and other printed materials that can be examined for research.
The museum also operates other programs such as lectures, online exhibits, and
the <i>Encyclopedia Chicago</i> project. Since
1995 the Chicago History Museum has also hosted the annual Making History
Awards, honoring individuals and groups that have made remarkable contributions
to Chicago’s history. </span></p>

The Chicago History Museum is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Chicago's rich and varied history, as well as American history. The museum is located at the southwestern corner of the city's famous Lincoln Park and housed in a building constructed in 1932; the modern addition was built in 1988. The museum was founded in 1856 as the Chicago Historical Society and given its current name in 2006. Its collection is very large, amounting to 20 million items. The museum features several permanent exhibits including: "Chicago: Crossroads of America," "Sensing Chicago," "Chicago Authored," and "Lincoln's Chicago," which explores President Abraham Lincoln's political rise in Chicago, his presidency, assassination, and legacy. The museum offers many temporary exhibitions as well.

The Chicago History Museum

<div>The Isaac N. Maynard Rowhouses, built in 1880-81 by Issac N. Maynard, consist of three groups of connected rowhouses located at 119-123 W. Delaware Place in Chicago’s Near North Side neighborhood. Maynard was one of many developers who helped rebuild the residential area around Washington Square after the Great Chicago Fire, which mostly consisted of affluent residents.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Isaac N. Maynard arrived in Chicago as an adult in 1868, a few years after the conclusion of the U.S. Civil War. He exemplifies the typical post-fire investor on Chicago's north side. During his first year, he lived as a boarder Revere House but quickly found work in Chicago’s flourishing pig iron industry, needed for producing the nails, spikes, bar and sheet iron used in everything from Chicago’s booming railroad industry to factories and warehouses. By 1870-71 , Maynard worked his way up the proverbial latter and became a partner in the pig iron firm that hired him, resulting in the new name of Piatt, Thorn &amp; Maynard.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Maynard moved to Washington Square area during the 1870s; first, one block north of the Rowhouses that he would eventually commission and then one block south after the Great Fire destroyed his first Washington Square residence.&nbsp; By the end of the decade, in two separate transactions (1879 &amp; 1880), Maynard purchased the land for the Rowhouses.&nbsp; On September 27, 1880, Isaac N. Maynard was issued a building permit that eventually turned into the now historic landmark.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The American Land Company donated land to the City of Chicago in 1842 on the condition that it forever remain an open public square, which eventually became Washington Square. The Isaac N. Maynard Rowhouses deigned in the Queen Anne style by the architecture firm of Treat and Foltz are located within the space surrounding that donated parcel of land. In fact, the development of the Rowhouses occurred during a twenty-year span following the donation that involved the development of numerous elegant housing districts. Though the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 interrupted development of the Washington Park area, post-rebuilding repeated the development patterns that existed before the fire, mostly attracting wealthy investors who purchased lots and built residential structures.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>However, the demographic makeup of the area changed with the approach of the turn of the century, which included the emergence of rooming houses, cheap cafes and a multitude of saloons and cabarets. By around World War I, the business and industrial development also encroached upon the area, as well as the numerous immigrants who worked as laborers. As a result, the wealthy vacated the area. It was not until the 1970s that the area around Washington Square once again transitioned into an appealing location for prosperous Chicago residents.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>To see the rowhouses is to peer into the window of Chicago’s Gilded-Age past when the city proliferated on the shoulders of the railroad and the industries which relied upon them. The growing wealthy class, who owned many of the industries, lived together in areas such as the ones near Washington Square, including in many structures built in the massive rebuilding that took place after the Great Chicago Fire.&nbsp;</div>

The Isaac N. Maynard Rowhouses, built in 1880-81 by Issac N. Maynard, consist of three groups of connected rowhouses. Maynard, who made his fortune in Chicago's burgeoning pig iron industry, was one of many developers who helped rebuild the residential area around Washington Square after the Great Chicago Fire, which mostly consisted of affluent residents. 

Isaac N. Maynard Rowhouses (119, 121, and 123 Delaware Street, Chicago)

<p>From October 8th to 10th, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire
burned out of control, quickly spreading far and wide across the city. The
scarcity of fire personnel combined with the strong winds sweeping through the
dry, wooden environment effectively doomed the city. Eventually, rains came to
help put out the fire, but the devastation was massive.</p>

<p>The Chicago Board of Police and Fire Commissioners conducted
an official investigation into the cause of the fire, focusing on the O’Leary
family and their barn, but the commissioners never determined a definite cause.
The traditional account of the origin of the fire is that it was started by a
cow kicking over a lantern in the barn owned by Patrick and Catherine O'Leary,
but the false story was later attributed to an anti-Irish journalist trying to
lay the blame for the fire entirely on the immigrant family. Many other theories have circulated about the start of the fire,&nbsp;but the exact cause of the fire
remains unknown to this day.&nbsp;</p>

The Chicago Fire of 1871 is largely considered the worst disaster in Chicago’s history. Starting on the night of October 8 and finally ending early on October 10, the fire burned out of control and consumed 17,450 buildings over a 3.5-mile swath, took about 300 lives, and caused $200 million in damages (equal to $4.6 billion dollars in 2018). A recent drought over the summer combined with strong southerly winds and a built infrastructure of mostly wood fueled the fire. The cause of the fire has never been determined, but legend has always placed the blame on Mrs. O’Leary’s cow who allegedly kicked over an oil lamp in the barn at 137 DeKoven Street.

The Great Chicago Fire Virtual Tour

Chicago Water Tower

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources