215: The Great Chicago Fire w/ Carl Smith - A True Crime History Podcast

Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Erik Rivenes

True Crime, History, Education

4.7 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 6 October 2021

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

October 8th, 2021 marks the 150th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire, the legendary disaster that destroyed a third of Chicago and made 90,000 residents homeless. While Mrs. O'Leary and her cow are usually portrayed as the culprits behind the catastrophic blaze, my guest, Carl Smith, doesn't believe history has treated her fairly.

Professor Smith is the author of "Chicago’s Great Fire: The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City", and he shares on this episode of Most Notorious the fascinating details of the fire, including how it might have begun, how mistakes prevented the fire department from getting to it sooner, the devastation it left in its wake, and how the city ultimately overcame the fire's destruction to build anew.

More about the author and his work:

https://groveatlantic.com/book/chicagos-great-fire-2/

https://carlsmith.northwestern.edu/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	On this episode of Most Notorious, the great Chicago Fire of 1871.
0:07.0	It was too hot, and with the wind blowing and the intense heat of the wind returned the
0:15.4	hose into spray.
0:16.5	They were ineffectual.
0:17.5	The thing was just too big, too wide, too hot.
0:21.4	I mean, melted glass, temperatures 3000 degrees Fahrenheit or more.
0:28.9	It's a certain point, a body of fire, a half a mile wide.
0:58.9	Welcome all to another episode of the Most Notorious Podcast, I'm Eric Rivenes.
1:05.5	I appreciate, as always, your weekly companionship.
1:10.7	It is so great to have with me today Carl Smith.
1:15.8	He is Franklin Bliss Snyder, Professor of English and American Studies and Professor of History
1:22.8	Emeritus at Northwestern University.
1:26.8	He's written extensively about Chicago history and has graciously agreed to join me in honor
1:33.8	of the 150th anniversary of one of the most legendary monumental urban disasters in American
1:42.6	history, the great Chicago Fire.
1:47.2	These book is called Chicago's Great Fire, the destruction and resurrection of an iconic
1:54.4	American city.
1:57.3	Thanks for coming on.
1:58.3	Great to have you.
1:59.3	Oh, thank you for inviting me.
2:02.5	It's a pleasure to be here.
2:05.5	So what first motivated you to tackle this enormous subject?
	...

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