AP WAS THERE: Great Chicago fire, Oct. 8-10, 1871

CHICAGO (AP) — It was 150 years ago that the Great Chicago Fire ignited, eventually killing about 300 people and consuming a major portion of the city over three days. The Associated Press, just 25 years old then, sent dispatches first from its office in the Chicago Tribune building before staff fled to a Western Union office. They filed from there before fleeing again because of the approaching fire. The accounts vividly showed the fire’s chaos and destruction.