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The Water Works, and the Water Tower in particular, became the city's most
enduring monument to the fire. A small crowd of men and a pair of isolated women
contemplate the fire's work. The charred trees that line Pine Street (later
North Michigan Avenue) only emphasize the desolation. In the Eleventh Annual
Report of the Board of Public Works (1872), city engineer (and later mayor) DeWitt Cregier wrote,
"The flames from this time spread with such rapidity that the whole neighborhood
for blocks around became a 'sea of fire,' thus at about 3 o'clock in the morning
of the 9th of October the pumping works became an utter wreck, nothing but the
naked walls of the building and the broken and blackened skeletons of three
engines were left to mark the spot from whence only a few hours before flowed
millions of gallons of pure water for the comfort and convenience of our
citizens."
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The Burnt District 