CHICAGO METRO HISTORY FAIR 2012 SUMMARY STATEMENT FORM

Please TYPE on sheet or use word processing ALL PROJECTS: Attach an annotated bibliography. Please divide primary and secondary sources from each other. Two copies of SSF & Annotated Bibliography are required for competitions. .

Title: The Chicago Fire: Total Devastation or Inspiration for Advancement? _______________________________________________________________________ Student name(s) Albert Cohen, Raymond Williams III, Christian Zavala, Louie Tico, and Johan Quintus. _____________________________________________________________ Project Category: Group Individual

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Check if applicable (and respond to the 3rdquestion): This project uses the 2012 National History Day theme, Revolution, Reaction, and Reform in History

1. THESIS STATEMENT
Present the projects argument or interpretation in two sentences. If you are using the NHD theme, you might want to make it evident in your thesis statement.

The Chicago Fire of 1871 brought countless devastation and destruction to a great city and from the ashes elevated a great architectural and technological juggernaut.

2. SUMMARY OF PROJECT
Briefly explain your project and its conclusion. Include: How and why did change happen and what was the impact? Why is it historically significant? What historical meaning or importance can we learn from your findings?

The Chicago Fire was not just another fire in the city; it was a fire that destroyed it and that brought devastation to the city, but it was also an opportunity for renovation and improvement. The Chicago Fire significance is extremely important; it helped improve architecture and technology in fire safety, and firefighting efficiency throughout the United States. The reason why this event has such a

historical meaning is because the Chicago fire helped create and modified fire safety as we know it and also how building techniques that are currently use around the country. Again The Chicago Fire is a very important event because it did only change Chicago but the entire country as well.

3. Required for projects using the National History Day theme only.
Explain how this project integrates the NHD theme Revolution, Reaction, and Reform in History into its argument.

The History Fair theme, Revolution, Reaction, and Reform in History is the base of our project. First of all, The Chicago Fire was a revolutionary even though it was an accident; it was revolutionary because it led Chicago to a brand new way of architecture and technology in the city. The Chicago Fire of 1871 also le to the Chicago Architectural Reform since the city was destroyed and Chicagos wooden building were not efficient a change had to be made, therefore being a reform. The reaction from such event was clear, that they knew a change had to happen in order to avoid future events like The Chicago Fire in the city. But it did not only open the eyes of the people in Chicago, it also showed other cities that fires could destroy them as well and thanks to the technology created after the Chicago Fire, we have avoided many future incidents like this one. Clearly the Chicago Fire was a very important event for the City and for the country.

4. PROCESS A. What historical question did you start off withand how did it change once you began doing your research? Our historical question evolved the idea of Chicagos unique architecture, and how this architecture came possible after The Chicago Fire of 1871. When we started our History Fair project, we knew that the Chicago Fire had brought much devastation to the city but we did not that it such positive outcomes as well, not only in the city but around the country. And our first historical question was very vague How did the Chicago Fires great devastation bring positive outcomes out of it? As our research continued, we discovered that The Chicago Fire not only helped for architectural and technological advancements in the city but also in the whole country. The Chicago Fire was more

like a learning experience and just devastation the city itself but an opportunity for improvement in its own architectural and firefighting techniques and in other cities around the country. Before we started our historical question research we did not know such details, we knew that Chicago Fire brought a large amount of destruction from the city and from there the city became what is now, with its unique grid city set up, architectural and firefighting techniques. But we soon learned from our project that this was not just a catastrophic event to the city of Chicago but an opportunity to learn from mistakes, to improve technology, building and fire safety techniques around the country and of course to not only prevent future fires in the city of Chicago but also in other American cities.

B. What kinds of sources did you use as evidence to develop your argument (for example, letters,
photographs, government documents, interviews, etc.)? We used a great variety of sources as evidence to develop our argument. We found out about the excellent resources that we could use for project, such as The Chicago Fire History Museum which was filled with great information and primary resources. We also used Chicagos public libraries and other facilities, and we also went to Loyola University for information. We also interviewed people with great knowledge and expertise on The Chicago Fire. We also used some websites and books to support our idea.

C. Select one piece of evidence that you used and explain how it influenced your argument.
The most interesting piece of evidence that we intend to use on our project is our interview with an expert on The Chicago Fire and who works in the Chicago History Museum. This is perhaps our most interesting piece of evidence because he had some great information about The Chicago Fire and how it completely change the city to what it is today, he told us about how the fire possibly started and how it lead to what we know of it now. Watching this interview is very interesting because it clearly supports our argument and ideas about the fire and what we got out of it. D. List libraries (other than school), museums, and other institutions that you visited to do your research. On Site:

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Chicago History Museum Chicago Public Library Loyola University Waukegan Public Library

Chicago History Museum Chicago Newspaper articles