A fire that began on the evening of 8 October 1871 swept across roughly 2,100 acres of Chicago, killing an estimated 300 people and leaving about 100,000 homeless. More than two-thirds of the city's structures, including sidewalks and roads, were built of wood, which had turned the rapidly growing city into a firetrap. In the aftermath the city council moved to require fire-resistant construction, and successive ordinances pushed new building toward brick, stone and, later, steel framing. Rebuilding drew architectural talent that would help give rise to the Chicago School and the skyscraper.
The fire became a catalyst for modern building codes and fire-resistant construction and reshaped how American cities regulated dense development.
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