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Introduction
This article focuses on the exhibit of the great fire of Chicago that is on display at the Historical Museum of Chicago. It looks at analysis of the exhibit and emphasizes on the traditional historical research of the great fire of Chicago. This exhibit is significant as it captures the history of the great fire of Chicago that killed hundreds of people and rendered thousands homeless (Colber and Chamberlin 1).
Origin of the great fire
Speculations show that the great fire of Chicago started in 137 De Koven Street in Chicago. It started at around 8.00 p.m on the Sunday 8th October in 1871. The firefighters put out the fire that had continued for two days on the following Tuesday (Fire Rescue Magazine 1).
Insights trace the origin of the fire to a barn in the shanty part of the town. Mr. and Mrs. O’Leary who were Irish immigrants owned the barn. Residents accused Mrs. O’Leary of starting the fire (Bales 1). Analysts attributed those accusations to the fact that Mrs. O’Leary was Irish. The large numbers of Irish people in the town made them unpopular.
Exhibit analysis
The exhibit used in this article is a picture of the great fire of Chicago.
Figure 1: the great fire of Chicago
This exhibit describes the state that Chicago was in during the incident. The background of the picture is a big fire with dark clouds of smoke. Further, visible in the photo are buildings and two bridges. The picture shows the fire spreading forwards towards the buildings and the people in the picture.
The right side of the picture shows a river flowing under the first bridge and people inside their boats. The central and lower left sides of the picture shows a crowd of people, some carrying luggage. These people huddle together at the edge of the second bridge as they struggle to cross over it.
One easily gets the message intended by the artist by glancing at the image once. An individual grasps the idea that there is a fire, which is spreading fast and furiously. Further, one can see that the crowd is fighting for their lives in the way they crowd the river.
Strengths and weaknesses of the exhibit
This exhibition is efficient as it captures the incident of the great fire of Chicago well. One sees the broad picture of how Chicago was at the time of the fire. In addition, the picture shows what is happening without using many illustrations. The interactivity of this exhibit is excellent and familiarizes the viewer with the events that took place back then.
This exhibit is appealing manages to serve the purpose of capturing events of the great fire of Chicago. However, the effectiveness of the exhibit would increase if it had appealing colors. For instance, the water and boats should have different colors so one can easily note them.
However, this exhibit has several big pitfalls. It has several interactive features that may misguide the viewer. This exhibit should stress on comprehensiveness of the fire as that is the main idea. Conversely, in this exhibit the crowd occupy a large portion and may lead the viewer to think that the commotion of the people is the main idea of the exhibit. In addition, the exhibition does not capture all details of the incident. For example, one has to study the exhibit keenly to note the boats.
Importance of the exhibit
This exhibit is important as it preserves history. For instance, one visiting the museum acquires information on the historic great fire of Chicago. Additionally, it serves as an educational material and helps viewers gain new knowledge. Moreover, the artistic nature of this exhibit plays a role in entertainment. It feeds viewers curiosity and leaves room for imagination.
Social, economic, and political importance of the exhibit to Chicago
A good exhibit should tell the viewer more than the details in the exhibit itself. Exemplary, when one looks at an exhibit one can tell much about the social, political, and economic way of life of the affected people. For instance, in reference to social life one questions extent to which the residents prepare for disasters.
What practices do these people engage in that would start a fire and facilitate fast spreading? History in books answers these questions. For example, the people of Chicago back then lived in wood houses. This coupled with a hot dry summer encouraged the fire to spread fast. “Even the ground itself was on fire. The streets, sidewalks, and bridges were made of wood, providing ample fuel for the fire” (Miller 14).
The economy of Chicago is of interest in relation to this fire. According to sources, the economy of the town was good. Therefore, this fire plunged the affected into a pool of loses.
“From a lofty height that enabled you to perceive the expanse of land and water that surrounded the city, you would note above all pre-fire Chicago’s critical position as the nexus between the manufacturing East and the agricultural West in a nation that was establishing its eminence in an international economy.” (Cook 1). Despite of Chicago’s wealth, the city had shady towns, which worsened the tragedy. Poor Irish immigrants occupied these shoddy towns (Murphy 15).
This exhibit does not reflect Political position of the city. When one is analyzing the exhibit, one cannot connect the incident to any political influence. Therefore, we can conclude that this exhibit lacks political bias.
Significance of the exhibit to the changing city life in Chicago
The great fire exhibit helps the viewer to understand and analyze the position of Chicago before, during, and after the tragedy. The fire tragedy in Chicago was devastating and damaging. Throughout the city, lay melted iron and crumbled marble and only bricks withstood the heat (Sawislak 11).
However, this fire acted as a wake-up call for Chicago. Though it was obvious the residents would rebuild the city, it had to be increasingly safe and ready to contain disasters. The rebuilding process was fast and improved compared to the way the city was before the tragedy (Schons 1). When reconstructing the city the residents considered the best choices they had. For example, they considered fireproof houses, proper spacing of houses and fuel driven vehicles instead of using horses.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the exhibit of the great fire of Chicago is effective. This is because it plays an important role in helping us understand and speculate about the tragedy that befell Chicago. The exhibit is efficient in triggering the expected response. In addition, this exhibit helps us to make a connection of life in Chicago before, during, and after the fire incident. However, improved exhibit design and modification will increase efficiency of the exhibit.
Works Cited
Bales, Richard. A New Look at the Cause of the Great Chicago Fire. North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2004. Print.
Colber, Elias and Chamberlin, Everett. “The Ruined City.” Chicago and the Great Conflagration, 1871 (2011): 1-3. Print.
Cook, Frederick. A Bird’s Eye View of Pre-Fire Chicago. 2011. Web. <https://www.greatchicagofire.org/>.
Fire Rescue Magazine. My Fire Fighter Nation. 8 October 2008. Web. <https://my.firefighternation.com/>.
Miller, Ross. The Great Chicago Fire 1st ed. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2000. Print.
Murphy, Jim. The Great Fire. New York: Scholastic Paperbacks, 2006. Print.
Sawislak, Karen. Smoldering City Chicagoans and the Great Fire, 1871-1874. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. Print.
Schons, Mary. “The Chicago Fire of 1871 and the Great Rebuilding.” National Geography (2011): 1-2. Print.
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