north by burning all there was to ignite. The area burned over in each division of the city was as follows:—West division (in which the fire originated), 194 acres; south division, 460 acres; north division, 1470 acres. The total area burned was 2124 acres, or nearly 3 square miles, about 4 miles in length, and from 1 to 1 miles in width. The season had been excessively dry; the rainfall in Chicago for the summer had been only 28 per cent. of the average. There was a strong south-west wind, made a very sirocco by the heat, and taking irregular, fantastic, and uncontrollable offshoots and eddies, which spread the fire in all directions except west. The city fire department, though large and efficient, had been exhausted by an unusually extended fire the Saturday preceding, and the flames outran even their earliest efforts. Wooden buildings were scattered throughout the entire city, acting as brands to spread the conflagration. These were the main conditions of the fire. The total number of buildings destroyed was 17,450, and 98,860 people were rendered homeless; of the latter 250 perished in the flames or lost their lives from exposure. Thousands, flying before the flames, sought refuge in the lake, and remained standing in the water for hours as the only means of preservation against the intense heat and the shower of sparks and cinders. Among the buildings destroyed were the custom-houses, post-office, court-house, chamber of commerce, and nearly all the churches, railway stations, hotels, banks, theatres, newspaper offices, and buildings of a quasi-public character. It is estimated that 73 miles frontage of streets was burned over, most of which had been improved with wood block pavements; these were partially destroyed. The total loss has been estimated at $196,000,000,—of which $53,000,000 represented the value of the buildings destroyed, $58,710,000 the personal effects, and the remainder business stocks, produce, and manufactures of every description. On the losses there was an insurance of $88,634,122, of which about one-half was recovered. A vast system of relief was organized, which received the most generous aid from all parts of the world. The money contributions from the various States and from abroad were $4,996,782; of this England contributed nearly $500,000. These funds, which were over and above the contributions of food, clothing, and supplies, were made to last, under the careful and honest administration of a society of citizens, till the close of the year 1876. Out of them temporary homes wera provided for nearly 40,000 people; barracks and shelter-houses were erected, workmen were supplied with tools, and women with sewing-machines; the sick were cared for and the dead buried; and the poorer classes of Chicago were probably never so comfortable as within two or three years after this fire. The work of rebuilding the city was accomplished with marvellous rapidity. Immediately after the fire the most sanguine persons predicted that it would require at least ten years to restore the buildings that had been destroyed. But within three years the city was provided with buildings equal in capacity, and of twofold value. The work was begun before the cinders were cold, and the population seemed to gain new ambition and new energy from the disaster. The “fire limits” were extended so as to exclude the erection of other than stone, brick, or iron buildings within a large area, and subsequently this prohibition was applied to the entire city. The result has been to make New Chicago the most beautiful city in America in its business centres. Within the first year after the fire, buildings had been erected or started covering a frontage of 51,619 feet, and costing, when finished, $40,133,600. That the work was not spasmodic is shown from the fact that, in the year 1874, the frontage of new buildings was 33,065 feet, and the cost $5,785,441; and in 1875 the frontage was 55,470 feet (about 10 miles) and the cost $9,778,080. The materials used were mostly brick, a pure white sandstone known as Athens (Illinois) marble, a grey sandstone from Ohio and Michigan, and a brown sandstone from Lake Superior. The business and population continued to increase in spite of the disaster,—indeed the ratio of growth became larger. The solidity and permanence of this prosperity were confirmed during the American panic of 1873, when the Chicago banks alone, among those of all large cities, were not compelled to issue certificates of deposit, but continued steadily to pay out current funds. There were few mercantile failures, and the business of the year following the panic still showed an increase. This superior resistance to the general contraction has been attributed to Chicago's position as the distributing point of the breadstuff's and provisions of the great North-West. The comparative value of Chicago real-estate is an interesting illustration of its rapid growth. An example case may be cited of one piece of ground in an outlying district which sold in 1868 for $50 an acre, and was resold in 1873 for $1500 an acre. Land obtained 40 years ago from the Government at $1 an acre, is now worth $10,000 an acre. Business property which was sold in 1865 for $250 a front foot (with a depth of 125 feet), was resold in 1871 for $1500 a front foot. Another piece of property which was valued at $3845 in 1866 was sold in 1872 for $100,000. These instances are not exceptional, but represent fairly the increase of values. The highest price ever paid for business property in Chicago was $52 per square foot, but the average value of first-class business property is $25 per square foot. The aggregate transfers
of Chicago property in 1873 amounted to $78,427,391.
system in Chicago is regarded as one of the most thorough in the United States. In 1855 the first report of the Board of Education showed the enrolment of 3000 pupils; the report of 1875 gave the number as 49,121. There was then an annual expenditure of $827,502 to sustain the schools; there were 57 school buildings; 700 teachers were employed; and the annual cost of tuition per pupil was $15. Of the 102,555 persons in Chicago between the ages of six and twenty-one, besides the 49,121 in the public schools, there were 27,071 in private schools, and 15,947 at work. There were 33,547 neither at work nor in school, but only 186 of all were found who could neither read nor write. The graded system of study is used, and the schools are classified as follows:—1 high school, course of study four years; 3 division high schools (one for each division in the city), course of study two years; 1 normal school for the preparation especially of teachers; the others are grammar schools and primary schools, the former embracing the four highest grades, and the latter the four lowest grades. The school year consists of ten months, divided into three terms; the hours of attendance in the grammar and primary schools are 9 A.M. till noon, and 2 P.M. till 4 P.M. The principal studies in the grammar schools are theory of arithmetic, problems in arithmetic, geography, history of the United States, language, composition, reading, spelling, penmanship; drawing and music are also taught, and the study of German is optional. The course of studies in the high schools is that of the higher academies. Corporal punishment was abandoned altogether about the year 1865, and the reading of the Bible was discontinued in 1875, in deference to the dogmatic differences among the religious sects, the theory of the schools being free and secular. Of other educational institutions, besides 82 ordinary private schools, there are a large number of “Kindergarten” schools, in imitation of the favourite German system for elementary instruction. Among the higher institutions is the university of Chicago, connected with
which is the Dearborn Observatory, which has a refracting
