Exploring the City

I've gotten a lot of questions about the settings in the book. To answer those questions, yes, all the settings really existed, and most of them can still be seen today.

For those who are interested, I've put together maps of Chicago in 1871 and 2010. (Click on the images to see them in full size.) As you can see, the city's basic geography hasn't changed, and you can find a lot of historical bits and pieces if you know where to look.

To see relics of the fire, the best place to go is the Chicago History Museum. It’s at the southern end of Lincoln Park, at the corner of North and Clark Streets. The museum’s exhibits change sometimes, but they usually show things like William Henry Musham’s fireman’s hat, W. D. Kerfoot’s “Wife, Children and Energy” sign, and various pieces of burned debris. Behind the museum is the last remaining grave from the old City Cemetery; it belongs to the founder of the Tremont House. Within easy walking distance, at the corner of Clark Street and Lincoln Park West, is a fire-damaged piece of the old Courthouse. (The original Courthouse was located across from what is now Daley Plaza. Why this piece was moved to Lincoln Park, I have no idea.

The Water Tower, of course, is a landmark along the Magnificent Mile. The tower was taken offline in the early twentieth century, but it was preserved as a sort of unofficial memorial to the fire. The pumping station across the street is open to the public, and is still in use to this day.

The official fire memorial is at the Chicago Fire Academy, which sits on the site of the O’Leary barn. There is a sculpture and a plaque at the corner of Jefferson and DeKoven Streets, but that’s not the exact spot where the fire started. The exact spot is inside the building, and it’s marked by a cross on the floor.

You can see the other locations in the book too, but you have to use a little imagination. For example, the modern-day City Hall is on the same spot as the old Courthouse, and Daley Plaza is the modern-day equivalent of Courthouse Square, but they’re practically unrecognizable from the way they used to look. The old Union Depot—where Simon first arrived in Chicago—is still in use, but it has been relocated underground and is now known as Millennium Station. The site of Terrace Row is now home to the Auditorium Building at the corner of Michigan and Congress. Mercy Hospital is still at the same location as before, but all of its original buildings are gone. And the list goes on.