Curated OER
Evaluating Eyewitness Reports
Learners consider the advantages and disadvantages of eyewitness accounts as records of history. They research several accounts of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and then compare and contrast each version to arrive at a final picture.
Curated OER
Lesson 24: The Great Chicago Fire Survivors
Students, in groups, explore the Great Chicago Fire. They decide which moment from the fire is significant and create a story corner.
Curated OER
Lesson 22: The Great Chicago Fire Survivors
Students, in groups, create a historical fiction story of a Great Chicago Fire survivor by writing a survival narrative.
Curated OER
Lesson 18: The Great Chicago Fire: City of Wood
Learners research the causes of the Great Fire of Chicago and draw conclusion as to the most probable cause and preventative actions that could have minimized the damage.
Curated OER
The Great Chicago Fire Survivors
Students research the Great Chicago Fire and create a reader's theater presentation that describes the experiences of survivors.
Curated OER
The Great Chicago Fire Survivors
Students compare and contrast the experiences of two survivors of the Great Fire of Chicago using a Venn Diagram.
Curated OER
The Great Chicago Fire Survivors
Students examine documents describing the experiences of survivors of the Great Chicago Fire, and write condolence letters.
Curated OER
Lesson 25: The Great Chicago Fire Must Become a Movie
Students write a persuasive letter asking James Cameron to choose their disaster for his next movie.
Other
Chicago Historical Society: Great Chicago Fire and the Web of Memory
This online exhibition provides chronological information, eye witness accounts, primary source documents, photographs, and a mix of other resources that chronicle both the event itself and the ways in which it has been remembered over...
University of Houston
University of Houston: Engines of Our Ingenuity: No. 1266: Chicago Fire
A new look at an old fire. How did it really start? Site presents some modern questions. This is a transcript of an accompanying radio broadcast.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Chicago Fire [Pdf]
"Chicago Fire" is a one page, nonfiction passage about the great Chicago Fire of 1871, which burned the city constructed of wood, and its rebuilding using brick. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Chicago Fire [Pdf]
"Chicago Fire" is a one page, nonfictional, reading passage about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 including information about the fire and the changes made as Chicago was rebuilt. It is followed by constructed-response questions which...
Other
Chicago Historical Society: The Great Chicago Fire
This resource provides information, and accounts about the Great Chicago Fire.
Other
Chicago Historical Society: Letter of William H. Carter on Chicago Fire
A letter written by an eye-witness of the Great Fire of 1871, it gives details about how the fire spread quickly and efforts to fight the fire.
University of Michigan
Making of America: The Lost City!
This site from the University of Michigan provides the full text of "The Lost City!" published a bare year after the Chicago fire; includes illustrations and accounts of the fire.
Other
Chicagology.com: The Great Fire of 1871
Comprehensive site about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Includes historical information on the start of the fire, the spread of the fire, the destruction and damage caused by the fire, and the fire's aftermath. Also includes picture...
Other
The Great Chicago Fire
Read a letter by Horace White of the Chicago Tribune to a fellow editor in Cincinnati in which he describes first-hand during the days of the Chicago Fire of 1871.