1871 Chicago mayoral election 1871 Chicago mayoral election In the Chicago mayoral election of 1871 Joseph Medill defeated Democrat Charles C. P. Holden, who was president of the Common Council. The election took place on November 7, a month after Chicago suffered the calamity of the Great Chicago Fire. Medill promised to enact strengthened building regulations and fire codes. He ran on the "Union-Fireproof" ticket. The administration of the election was challenging due to the fact that the majority of Chicago's voting records had been incinerated by the Great Chicago Fire, meaning that there were few resources to prevent individuals from voting more than
Great Revere train wreck of 1871 on using the old time-interval system and not using the telegraph. Several lawsuits were filed against the Eastern and the company almost went bankrupt. This eventually led to the Eastern being merged with its rival, the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1884. The accident remains the most deadly train wreck in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the second worst train accident in all of New England. Great Revere train wreck of 1871 The Great Revere train wreck of 1871 occurred on the evening of August 26, 1871, when the Eastern Railroad's "Portland Express" slammed into the rear