Chicago Fire of 1871

Fires were a big, new problem with Urbanization. Urbanization brought millions of people to live in tall, cramped buildings without modern fire safety features that are now required in buildings. According to an article in American History, after the Civil War, Chicago became the timber capital of the world. This and the fact that steel and masonry were used very infrequently caused many buildings to be wooden and suceptible to fires. Also, Chicago was known for a certain type of buildings called balloon-frame buildings that were built a certain way that was cheap and easy to build, but caused many fire hazards. The city was also considered the fastest growing and the most polluted in America at the time. American History called it, "a tinderbox waiting to be ignited." This eventually did happen and it ruined 90,000 homes and killed over 250. Urbanization had boomed the economy but it also allowed for terrible things such as the Chicago Fire of 1871 occur.