Britannica On This Day October 8 2023

This Day in History: October 8

Featured Event

1871








Great Chicago Fire


On this day in 1871, the Great Chicago Fire began in the barn of Patrick and Catherine O'Leary, and, by the time the blaze died out two days later, a large swath of the city had been devastated and some 300 people killed.


Great Chicago Fire
American history




Great Chicago Fire, also called Chicago fire of 1871, conflagration that began on October 8, 1871, and burned until early October 10, devastating an expansive swath of the city of Chicago.



Chicago
Chicago’s growth in the mid-19th century was unprecedented. The population reached nearly 30,000 in 1850 and was triple that a decade later. Cheap transportation to the outskirts of the city encouraged middle-class dispersal, but poor neighbourhoods near the downtown area were congested; structures there were also built of wood. Serious fires were frequent, but none would compare to the one started on October 8, 1871. Months without rain had parched the city, and a major fire the previous night had exhausted firefighters and damaged equipment.


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Featured Biography

Matt Damon
American actor, screenwriter, and producer







att Damon, in full Matthew Paige Damon, (born October 8, 1970, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.), American actor, screenwriter, and producer who was noted for his clean-cut good looks and intelligent performances. He won an Academy Award for best original screenplay for Good Will Hunting (1997).

Early life and career

Damon was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and attended the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, where he took drama classes. At age 18 he landed a small part in Mystic Pizza (1988) and also enrolled in Harvard University as an English major. After appearing in the television movie Rising Son (1990), he left Harvard to pursue an acting career just 12 credits short of graduation. Roles in School Ties (1992) and Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) preceded his acclaimed performance as a young soldier forced to testify about a battle during the Persian Gulf War in Courage Under Fire (1996). This portrayal attracted the attention of director Francis Ford Coppola, who cast Damon as a novice lawyer opposite Danny DeVito in The Rainmaker (1997).




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