Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

---

Chicago had no public library until a group of English donors, mistakenly believing that they were replacing books that had burned in the Great Fire of 1871, furnished 8,000 titles to the rebuilding city. The books were housed in an empty iron water tank in 1872, then moved around the Loop until their first permanent home was completed in 1897. #Chicago #architecture #culturalcenter

Want even more Chicago Architecture Center? Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter architecture.org/subscribe
Still haven’t subscribed to Chicago Architecture Center? youtube.com/@ChicagoArchitecture

The Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) is a non-profit organization that inspires people to discover why design matters.