The Downtown Revives

Saturday, November 25, 1871

An account of the progress of the resurrection of the commercial downtown lists the many brick and stone structures that are already built or in progress.  It states that of 212 buildings, 112 are located on Madison, Monroe, Clark, State, and Wabash, while about 100 are equally scattered on other streets.  It predicts (wrongly) that Wabash between Washington and 22nd streets will now displace the blocks around State and Madison streets as the city’s prime retail district.  In a related development, so much rubble from the fire has been dumped in the lake between the Illinois Central tracks and the shore that this man-made basin has virtually disappeared.