The Chicago Tribune's Coverage of the Great Conflagration

Rebecca Hufford
Oregon High School, Oregon

The Chicago Tribune's coverage of the Great Conflagration, also known as the Great Chicago Fire, on October 8, 1871, helped to hold Chicagoans together in a time of trouble and inspired them to work together to rebuild their city. "CHICAGO SHALL RISE AGAIN," shouted the Tribune two days after the fire. Before the Great Fire, the Chicago Tribune had given repeated warnings of the flammability of the city, enhanced by the lack of rain in the prior three weeks, and had asked for increased fire protection. The Tribune staff worked throughout the fire to have a full report in the morning paper, but at the last minute there was not enough water to run the presses, and then the "fireproof" building burned. The Tribune was not defeated. Within two days they had purchased one of the few remaining printing presses in Chicago, and printed the largest paper in the city, giving information on the fire and free advertisements for persons searching for family members and possessions. The Tribune continued its efforts, calling the citizens together to rebuild the city and to help those devastated by their losses. Through everything the Chicago Tribune inspired positive attitudes throughout the city.

In the month prior to the Great Fire, the Chicago Tribune had warned of the fire danger in the city. Troy Taylor wrote in the Ghosts of the Prairie web-site that, "The Chicago Tribune had remarked on the shabby construction of the buildings downtown. . . . If the city didn't fall down it was liable to burn." The Tribune staff had spotted the danger in the construction of Chicago and tried to avoid the tragedy that inevitably destroyed their city. The Chicago History website states that throughout the summer and fall, the Chicago Tribune was among those who urged the Common Council to increase the level of fire protection in order to avoid a disaster. The very day before the great fire, the Chicago Tribune printed a warning, which unfortunately did not receive much attention:

For days past alarm has followed alarm, but the comparatively trifling losses have familiarized us to the pealing of the Courthouse bell, and we have forgotten

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Joseph Medill acted quickly after the Chicago Fire burned his "fireproof" building to continue publishing his paper. He moved press equipment to another building and from the new location printed much-needed information to Chicago residents.

that the absence of rain for three weeks has left everything in so dry and inflammable a condition that a spark might set a fire which would sweep from end to end of the city.

When the great fire started raging through the city, instead of succumbing to the flames as other papers were forced to do, the Tribune rejoiced in its "fireproof building. The editor, Joseph Medill, was determined to have a seven-column description by morning. So, to work they all went, struggling to put the "grand fire" into words. "The Tribune windows began to snap under the intense heat, and still they wrote on." Horace White, the editor-in-chief, later wrote that, "We saw the tall buildings on the opposite sides of the two streets melt down in a few moments without scorching ours." At last the deadline was met. The paper was completed and the type was set, with the great city burning around them. The paper was sent to the presses in the basement, where it all failed. There was not enough water to run the presses and print the newspaper. Soon afterward the "fireproof building caught fire in two places. It first caught fire in the basement from underneath the sidewalk, and then through an alley window that could not be shut. At ten o'clock Monday morning the building fell.

The Tribune was not beaten. By Wednesday, Joseph Medill had bought type and presses and leased three floors of office space on Canal Street, where the Tribune quickly resumed running the largest paper in the city. "Medill surveyed the scene and recalled 'more widespread, soul-sickening desolation than mortal eye ever beheld since the destruction of Jerusalem. The proud and stately city of yesterday . . . had sunk into cellars and basements'," according to one historian. In the midst of this horror, the Chicago Tribune remained dedicated to its people. Its headlines trumpeted encouragement such as, "All is not lost." In the same issue they commended the building of "Barracks for the Poor" and the "employment of our unfortunate sufferers." The newspaper became a necessary item, along with food, water, and fire engines. It not only gave updates and facts about the fire, it gave people a place to announce their whereabouts and try to connect with others. It kept their hope alive.

Through the following weeks, months, and years, the Chicago Tribune stuck with the citizens of Chicago. They warned that the wooden shanties that sprang up immediately after the fire were "as dangerous as powder kegs." The next month, the Republican publisher of the Tribune, Joseph Medill, won election as mayor on his "fireproof ticket. Through his next years in office he continued to push for better fire safety regulations. In his inaugural message, Medill stated, "The outside walls of every building hereafter erected within the limits of Chicago should be composed of materials as incombustible as brick or stone." For the next few years, the Tribune printed frequent pleas of "no extortion," which prevented businessmen from taking advantage of all the poor workers laboring to build the new brick buildings. The hard work paid off, and Chicago was eventually rebuilt to be a bigger and better city than before.

Chicago did indeed rise again, and the Chicago Tribune rose with it. The Tribune had warned Chicago of the danger in their city. During the Great Conflagration the Chicago Tribune staff worked through the fire to try to bring the information to the people. In the end, they did not succeed with that edition, and they lost their building, but the Tribune was the first newspaper in Chicago to regain its strength and inform the citizens of the details of the fire and the whereabouts of family members. The Chicago Tribune stuck with the people through the rough times to hold them together and protect their well-being during the rebuilding of their beloved city. The Chicago Tribune still thrives today, helping to unify and inform the citizens of Chicago.—[From Ellis Colbert and Everett Chamberlin, Chicago and the Great Conflagration; John H. Keiser, Building for the Centuries; David Lowe, The Great Chicago Fire; Jim Murphy, The Great Fire; Mary Ray Phelan, The Story of the Great Chicago Fire; Raren Sawislak, "Smoldering City," Chicago History (Fall and Winter 1988-89); Troy Taylor, The Great Chicago Fire: The Greatest Disaster Our City has ever Seen, 2000, The Ghosts of the Prairie, <http://www.prairieghosts.com/great_fire.html>; The Great Conflagration, Chicago Historical Society and Northwestern University, <hhttp:// www.chicagohistory.org/fire>]

14 ILLINOIS HISTORY / DECEMBER 2001