1871 Chicago As It Is, Showing the Burnt District

A scarce map of Chicago Showing the Burnt District, published immediately after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. With bold red shading marking the devastated core of the city, the map graphically illustrates the scale of destruction from one of the most famous urban disasters in American history. Cartographic Detail The map presents a detailed street grid of Chicago, extending from Lincoln Park in the north to Hyde Park in the south, and westward to the Union Stock Yards and Brighton Trotting Park. Major streets, wards, railroads, and civic landmarks are all identified. The portion of the city destroyed by the fire is shaded in bright red, encompassing the central business district, much of the Near North Side, and the lakefront northward into Lincoln Park. The title block also highlights Chicago’s explosive population growth from 29,963 in 1850, to 109,263 in 1860, and to 298,977 in 1870, contextualizing how rapidly the city had developed in the two decades leading up to the catastroph