The Great Chicago Fire
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WTTW's Chicago Stories to feature Church of the Holy Family & Saint Ignatius
To mark the 149th anniversary of the Great Fire of 1871, WTTW will premier THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE, a one-hour Chicago Series special, Friday, October 9, 2020 at 8 p.m. to tell the dramatic story of this defining and prescient moment in Chicago history–when Chicagoans faced destruction, rebuilt, and prepared the city for a thriving future.
Church of the Holy Family and Saint Ignatius College are featured among eleven buildings that survived the Fire. Holy Family’s 1871 parishioner, Catherine O’Leary, is prominently portrayed in the production.
THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE, a Chicago Stories special, brings to life this seismic event, with vivid animations, elaborate re-creations, and interviews with descendants of eye witnesses and noted historians, including Ellen Skerrett, who has researched and written about Church of the Holy Family and Saint Ignatius College for decades. The film and companion website will provide inspiration and a reminder that Chicago can face adversity and become stronger–a lesson we can learn from our past, as we look to our future.
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CHICAGO – September 10, 2020 – This fall, WTTW tells the dramatic story of a defining a prescient moment in Chicago history – the Great Fire of 1871 – when Chicagoans faced destruction, rebuilt, and prepared the city for a thriving future. THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE, a one-hour Chicago Stories special, premieres on Friday, October 9 at 8:00 pm, the 149th anniversary of the fire, on all WTTW platforms with narration by Chicagoan and Lookingglass Theatre Company ensemble member Anthony Fleming III.
On October 10, 1871, the citizens of Chicago awoke to an unrecognizable landscape: where 48 hours earlier there had been a vibrant city of ornate civic buildings, grand hotels, and cultural institutions, now there was nothing but a smoking pile of rubble stretched for miles on end. Many wondered: could the city possibly recover? And how did tensions between the city’s elites and the immigrant poor lead to the wrong person being wrongfully accused of starting the blaze?
THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE brings to life this seismic event as never before, using vivid animations, elaborate re-creations, and interviews with noted historians and the descendants of eyewitnesses. The story unfolds through the eyes of people who lived through the fire, including Chicago Tribune publisher William Bross, Mayor Roswell B. Mason, a heroic Board of Trade custodian (and former slave) Joseph Hudlin, and a successful businesswoman named Catherine O’Leary.
The companion website will explore the causes, progression, and lasting repercussions of the fire, including how a terrible fire the previous day further depleted a woefully understaffed fire department. Animations, photos, illustrations, and interviews explore the connections between four eyewitnesses and themes that emerge from their stories: What was life like for Irish immigrants like Catherine O’Leary? How did the city rebuild? What buildings and relics still show the scars of the fire today? And what allowed Chicago to become a tinderbox waiting to catch fire in the first place? Video extras tour "11 Buildings that Survived the Great Chicago Fire" and "11 Objects that Survived the Great Chicago Fire."
“This is the time to tell this important story of adversity, strength, and optimism,” said CHICAGO STORIES Executive Producer Dan Protess. “The tensions around class, race, and immigration that surrounded the fire resonate in our present moment. And as with our current crisis -- the coronavirus pandemic -- the fire disproportionately affected marginalized communities.”
“With the CHICAGO STORIES series, we are staying true to our mission -- to produce and present trusted, best-in-class content fueled by a distinctly Chicago sensibility,” said WTTW President & CEO Sandra Cordova Micek. “The story of the great Chicago fire shows Chicagoans turning a tragedy into opportunity as they recovered and transformed into a worldclass city.”
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