The old City Hall was destroyed in the Great Fire. Photo credit: Chicago History Museum
In the middle of the block bounded by Clark, Randolph, Washington, and LaSalle streets sat one of Chicago’s earliest civic buildings: the old Cook County Courthouse and City Hall building, designed by the city’s first architect, John Mills Van Osdel. Its bells rang out a warning when the city caught fire in 1871; before the blaze was out, the building lay in ruins, along with much of the city it served.
