October 8 1871: The Great Fire attacked Chicago
On this night in 1871, fire broke out in a barn behind the Chicago cottage of Patrick O’Leary. Winds blowing off the prairie fed the flames, and the fire spread rapidly, eventually consuming a four-mile-long and two-third-mile-wide swath of Chicago. When the Great Fire was finally over two days later, nearly 300 people were dead, one hundred thousand were homeless, and Chicago’s booming downtown was in ashes. Despite the devastation, Chicago would rise again and continue to be the economic center of the American West for decades to come.
Most people think of Chicago as a midwestern city, and geographically it obviously is. But economically, Chicago is best seen as the unofficial regional capital and economic center of the American West. Because of its location on the western edge of a system of lakes, rivers, and canals that linked the city to the East, Chicago was the natural destination for both western raw materials moving East and eastern manufactured goods moving West. After the Civil War, Chicago quickly eclipsed St. Louis as the primary trading hub between East and West, and the city’s fate was inextricably tied to the rapidly growing settlement and development of western natural resources. Millions of dollars worth of cattle, lumber, swine, and grain that had originated in the plains of Wyoming or the mountains of Montana were channeled through the massive freight yards, slaughterhouses, and grain elevators of Chicago. Indeed, a look at a map of the U.S. during the 1880s revealed that while all roads may have once led to Rome, by the late 19th century all railroads led to Chicago.
Although the Great Fire of 1871 destroyed Chicago’s downtown, it left most of the city’s essential industrial infrastructure in place. Scarcely missing a beat, the towering grain elevators and vast stockyards continued to collect the growing output of the West, process it into pork sausages or two-by-fours, and send it onward to the insatiable markets of the East.
October 8 1921
First live radio broadcast of a football game; Harold W. Arlin was the announcer when KDKA of Pittsburgh broadcast live from Forbes Field as the University of Pittsburgh beat West Virginia University 21–13.
October 8 1932
Indian Air Force was established.
October 8 2005: Massive earthquake hit Kashmir region
On this day in 2005, a massive 7.6-magnitude earthquake striked the Kashmir border region between India and Pakistan. An estimated 70,000 people—nearly half of them children—were killed and 70,000 more were injured. More than 3 million were left homeless and without food and basic supplies.
Kashmir is located at the juncture of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates—the collision of which caused the formation of the Himalayas—making it prone to intense seismic activity. The 2005 earthquake, classified as major by the U.S. Geological Survey, may have been the worst to ever hit the region. It caused extensive destruction in Pakistan-administered Kashmir; Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province; the western and southern regions of the Kashmir Valley, part of India-administered Kashmir; and northern Pakistan. Damage was also reported in northern India and Afghanistan. More than 140 aftershocks rocked the area in the hours after the quake. In some places, whole sections of towns slid off cliffs and entire families were killed. The provincial capital of Muzaffarabad suffered severe devastation and the town of Balakot was almost completely wiped out. In all, hundreds of thousands of buildings were destroyed.
The earthquake occurred just before the onset of the region’s harsh winter, exacerbating the disaster’s effects. Within a week, snow started to fall in some of the affected areas. In addition, landslides wiped out large numbers of the region’s roads, making many of the damaged areas inaccessible to relief workers in the immediate aftermath.
Damages from the earthquake were expected to exceed $5 billion. The outpouring of aid was generous, with pledges totaling more than $5.5 billion.
On this night in 1871, fire broke out in a barn behind the Chicago cottage of Patrick O’Leary. Winds blowing off the prairie fed the flames, and the fire spread rapidly, eventually consuming a four-mile-long and two-third-mile-wide swath of Chicago. When the Great Fire was finally over two days later, nearly 300 people were dead, one hundred thousand were homeless, and Chicago’s booming downtown was in ashes. Despite the devastation, Chicago would rise again and continue to be the economic center of the American West for decades to come.
Most people think of Chicago as a midwestern city, and geographically it obviously is. But economically, Chicago is best seen as the unofficial regional capital and economic center of the American West. Because of its location on the western edge of a system of lakes, rivers, and canals that linked the city to the East, Chicago was the natural destination for both western raw materials moving East and eastern manufactured goods moving West. After the Civil War, Chicago quickly eclipsed St. Louis as the primary trading hub between East and West, and the city’s fate was inextricably tied to the rapidly growing settlement and development of western natural resources. Millions of dollars worth of cattle, lumber, swine, and grain that had originated in the plains of Wyoming or the mountains of Montana were channeled through the massive freight yards, slaughterhouses, and grain elevators of Chicago. Indeed, a look at a map of the U.S. during the 1880s revealed that while all roads may have once led to Rome, by the late 19th century all railroads led to Chicago.
Although the Great Fire of 1871 destroyed Chicago’s downtown, it left most of the city’s essential industrial infrastructure in place. Scarcely missing a beat, the towering grain elevators and vast stockyards continued to collect the growing output of the West, process it into pork sausages or two-by-fours, and send it onward to the insatiable markets of the East.
October 8 1921
First live radio broadcast of a football game; Harold W. Arlin was the announcer when KDKA of Pittsburgh broadcast live from Forbes Field as the University of Pittsburgh beat West Virginia University 21–13.
October 8 1932
Indian Air Force was established.
October 8 2005: Massive earthquake hit Kashmir region
On this day in 2005, a massive 7.6-magnitude earthquake striked the Kashmir border region between India and Pakistan. An estimated 70,000 people—nearly half of them children—were killed and 70,000 more were injured. More than 3 million were left homeless and without food and basic supplies.
Kashmir is located at the juncture of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates—the collision of which caused the formation of the Himalayas—making it prone to intense seismic activity. The 2005 earthquake, classified as major by the U.S. Geological Survey, may have been the worst to ever hit the region. It caused extensive destruction in Pakistan-administered Kashmir; Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province; the western and southern regions of the Kashmir Valley, part of India-administered Kashmir; and northern Pakistan. Damage was also reported in northern India and Afghanistan. More than 140 aftershocks rocked the area in the hours after the quake. In some places, whole sections of towns slid off cliffs and entire families were killed. The provincial capital of Muzaffarabad suffered severe devastation and the town of Balakot was almost completely wiped out. In all, hundreds of thousands of buildings were destroyed.
The earthquake occurred just before the onset of the region’s harsh winter, exacerbating the disaster’s effects. Within a week, snow started to fall in some of the affected areas. In addition, landslides wiped out large numbers of the region’s roads, making many of the damaged areas inaccessible to relief workers in the immediate aftermath.
Damages from the earthquake were expected to exceed $5 billion. The outpouring of aid was generous, with pledges totaling more than $5.5 billion.
Source: historynet.com, history.com
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