1871 Chicago mayoral election once. 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
The Great Fire of Key West so long and destroy so much of the city. Since 1875, the city had a serious fire department, organized first by A. H. Dorsett. However, at the time of the fire, the city's only steam fire engine had been sent to New York for repair. Firefighters were only able to use less effective measures like hand pumpers. Secondly, on the night when the fire occurred, strong winds were blowing, which caused the fire to start up again even where it appeared to have been put out. There is speculation that the fire was started on purpose by arsonists sent by