THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
207-780-4249 www.usm.
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
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Founded January 1970
Julian date: 2457684.16
"Binge watchers"
[Dedicated to my uncle, who lived in Chicago for nearly half a century before fleeing to calmer climes. We certainly hope he fares well on this quiz so as to save the family from the kind of deep shame from which it will never fully recover.]
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Friday, October 21, 2016
Quiz VIII: The Great Chicago Fire!
It was called the "great fire that built a great city." The Great Chicago Fire, which raged through the city between October 8 - 10, _________, proved devastating in the short term, but revitalizing in the long term. The mid-sized berg of aging wood and far fewer souls was quickly transformed after the fire into one of America's most populous cities. This month, we commemorate the ______th anniversary of this urban conflagaration. After all, with the Chicago Cubs experiencing their best year since the time of the Battle of Hastings, now is a good time to look back into Chicago history.
1. In what year was the Great Chicago Fire?
a. 1816
b. 1871
c. 1888
d. 1916
2. Which animal was originally blamed for the conflagration? (The creature has since been exonerated.)
a. Mrs. O'Leary's cow
b. Mrs O'Meara's sow
c. Mrs O'Mulligan's crow
d. Mrs. O'Grady's dog
3. What was Chiacgo's estimated population in the year the fire occurred?
a. 210.000
b. 324,000
c. 630,000
d. one million
4. Approximately how many people perished in the fire?
a. 100
b. 200
c. 300
d. 1100
5. Damages were estimated to be how many millions of dollars (by the values of the time)?
a. 40 million
b. 100 million
c. 200 million
d. 890 million
6. What building, ironically, now occupies the place where the fire is believed to have started?
a. The city's only remaining cow barn.
b, the Chicago Fire Department Training Academy
c. the Chicaco Fire Chief's house (each chief is required to live at this location during his/her tenure)
d. Wrigley Field (where regular seasons generally go down in flames, ha ha ha…ok,well maybe not this year.)
7. Which ONE of the following statements about the Great Chicago Fire is false?
a. On the same day the Chicago Fire began, another fire started in the town of Peshtigo, WI more than 250 miles away. This fire killed more than 1000 people.
b. Martial law was declared in Chicago for about three weeks following the fire in response to widespread looting and violence.
c. The whole city was destroyed by the fire
d. The Major League Soccer team, the Chicago Fire, incorporated on the 126th anniversary of the Fire's starting date
Ok, since you liked question # 7 so much, question # 8 is of the same type.
8. Which TWO of the following statements about the Great Chicago Fire are TRUE?
a. the heat was so intense, some of the beach sand was turned into glass.
b. the animal deemed responsible for the fire was killed in a public execution
c. despite the fire's devastation, the city's population increased by more than 150,000 five years after the fire
d. smoking any tobacco products was illegal in Chicago for twenty years after the fire (The notorious Chicago mafia was first established by the production and distribution of bootlegged tobacco during this "smoking prohibition.")
9. How many structures that survived the fire are still standing?
a. 0 (No structures survived the fire)
b. only 1
c. more than 1, but fewer than 10
d. approximately 40
10. In 2004, physicist Robert Wood developed a theory that the Chicago Fire was caused by what?
a. The fragmentation of Biela's Comet. Dr. Wood pointed out that four large midwestern fires started around the same time, which suggested a common cause
b. the spontaneous combustion of hay in the barn where the fire started
c. a torrent of meteorites that caused fires in different locations around the midwest.
d. the mayor, Roswell B Mason, started it, or, at least, hired the O'Leary's to start the fire. Mason realized that a widespread disaster would both destroy an aging infrastructure and foseter rapid redevelopment.
BONUS QUESTION
11. Who was the U.S. President during the Great Chicago Fire?
a. Abraham Lincoln
b. Andrew Johnson
c. Ulysses S. Grant
d Rutherford B Hayes
ANSWERS
1. b. 1871
October 8 - 10, 1871
2. a. Mrs. O'Leary's cow
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow Many people still blame this poor cow for the Great Chicago Fire.
This 1871 Harper's illustrated picture depicts Irish immigrant Mrs. O'Leary milking the villain while it kicks over a lantern, thereby starting the inferno that nearly destroyed Chicago. While the cause remains unknown, historians and fire scientists have concluded that the cow was not to blame for this famous fire. (For one thing, the fire started at night and farmers rarely milk cows at that time.) In 1997, the Chicago City Council adopted a resolution absolving Mrs O'Leary and her cow from culpability Of course, Mrs O'Leary died in 1895, more than a century before her exoneration.
3. b. 324,000
The city did rebuild quite quickly. In fact, before the turn of the century, Chicago's population expanded to more than one million people!
4. c. 300
Although only about 100 bodies were recovered after the fire, officials estimated that approximately 300 perished in the blaze.
5. c. 200 million
Approximately $4 billion by today's standards.
6. b, the Chicago Fire Department Training Academy
7. c. The whole city was destroyed by the fire
The fire devastated most of the city, including the downtown area. However, some of the city survived and, owing to the rapid conveyance of supplies over rail and sea, rebuilt quickly.
Incidentally, the Peshtigo, WI fire remains the deadliest fire in U.S. History.
8.
TRUE STATEMENTS:
a. the heat was so intense, some of the beach sand was turned into glass.
c. despite the fire's devastation, the city's population increased by more than 150,000 five years after the fire
9. c. more than 1, but fewer than 10
These structures include the Chicago Water Tower, the Chicago Avenue Pumping Station, St. Michael's Church and St. Ignatius College Prep
10. a. The fragmentation of Biela's Comet. Dr. Wood pointed out that four large midwestern fires started around the same time, which suggested a common cause
Most astronomers dismiss this theory, since the comet split apart a few years before the fire.
BONUS QUESTION
11. c. Ulysses S. Grant
(In office between 1869 - 1877)