GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 135, 5 November 1874, Page 3

GREAT FIRE IN CHICAGO.

A fire broke out in State street, Chicago, on July 14. It raged for about twelve hours, and destroyed sixty acres of buildings. They were mostly tenements of the worst class. Several important edifices, however, were consumed, Among these were the Post Office, the Adelphi Theatre, the magnificent Baptist Church, two synagogues, and four hotels, viz, the Continental, Wood’s, St James’s, and the Michigan Avenue. Several blocks of fine residences in Wabash Avenue and a small part of Michigan Avenue were also burnt down. Many hundred families have been rendered homeless by this catastrophe, Several lives have been lost. The value of the property destroyed is estimated at five million dollars, or one million sterling. The fire originated in an explosion in a paint shop. The streets being narrow, the buildings of wood, and a high wind blowing at the time, the flames spread with great rapidity. The heart of the city was in danger all night. Engines were sent from all the neighbouring towns. The burnt district lies between Twelfth and Jackson streets and State street and the lake, embracing the southern part of the district burned in 1871. The loss of property caused is estimated at not less than 4,000,000 dollars, and not above 6,000,000 dollars. Two-fifths of the property are insured. The whole area destroyed consists of about twentyfive blocks, situated in the old part of the city. The limits of the fire are as follows In Clark street, about as far as Twelfth street to the south and Polk street to the north; in Dearborn street, near Twelfth street to the north, and Poik street to the south ; in Wabash Avenue and State streets the limits are Harmon Court on the south, and between Jackson street and Van Buren street on the north. The Third and Fourth Avenues are entirely destroyed. The Mayor of Boston offered assistance to Chicago. The losses sustained by business men are not heavy, and there are no failures or interruptions of trade.