Chapter 364: Fire
October 8, 1873.
On the distant west coast of the Atlantic, southwest of Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes, it was already deep into the night, but the entire city was awake. The president of Hechingen Bank's Chicago branch, Odysseus, along with a group of employees, and the citizens of the entire West Side of Chicago, all watched as the city burned.
Known as the "Windy City," Chicago at this moment was in flames, with the fire illuminating the sky. From time to time, entire buildings collapsed in the inferno, flames shooting high into the air, and thick smoke billowing. Countless Chicago citizens rushed into the West Side, crying, screaming, and looting.
As a result, Hechingen Bank's Chicago branch had to increase security, with guards patrolling the area around the bank, armed with guns. Standing on the third floor of the bank, Odysseus looked out over the city center, which had already been completely consumed by the fire, including Chicago's business center, where various American banks and financial institutions were located.
Seeing his colleagues suffer such a disaster, Odysseus couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh, God bless us! Thank goodness Chicago's real estate prices saved us."
The Hechingen Bank's Chicago branch was somewhat special, as it was located in a relatively underdeveloped part of Chicago. The main building of the bank stood out like a crane among a group of two-story wooden shacks, making it easy for Odysseus to calmly watch the fire from the city center.
Chicago was located on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, on the Great Lakes Plain, originally a hunting ground for Native Americans. When the city was founded in 1834, its population was less than 1,000. Due to America's westward expansion, Chicago, still a small town at the time, rapidly developed after the Civil War.
With the development of agriculture, mining of iron ore, and the opening of canals and railways, the population of Chicago had reached 350,000 within a few decades, and it became the largest meat market in the U.S. and even the world, earning the nickname "The World's Slaughterhouse."
The rapid growth of Chicago left the cities of the East African Kingdom's Central Province, which included First Town, Dar es Salaam, and Bagamoyo, feeling insignificant. The combined population of these three cities was barely half that of Chicago. The United States had a magnetic pull, attracting immigrants from all over the world, including people from Britain, Ireland, Poland, Sweden, Germany, Italy, China, India, and, at the time, the lowest class of people, Black Americans.
As early as 1865, Hechingen Bank had begun operations in Chicago. However, the development of the Chicago branch was rather unremarkable. It was located far from the city's central business district, making it inconvenient for employees to conduct business. Many businessmen and Chicago residents preferred to conduct their business in the downtown area. However, as Hechingen Bank thrived in Europe, its reputation in North America grew significantly, and more people started to choose loans from the Chicago branch, despite its less-than-ideal location.
Hechingen Bank's North American headquarters in New York had once considered relocating the Chicago branch to a more central location, but the plan was rejected. The reason given by the New York headquarters was simple: the land in the West Side was much cheaper than in the city center, and it allowed the bank to save on costs. However, this argument was clearly flawed. After purchasing a large tract of land in the West Side, Hechingen Bank carried out extensive renovations, and the cost of the renovations was enough to buy a prime location in the city center.
Moreover, the New York headquarters was not short of money. As the second-largest economy in North America, after Europe, Hechingen Bank had developed rapidly in this region, even more so than in Europe. Here, the bank was able to fully demonstrate its financial prowess. To show its financial strength and gain the trust of depositors, the New York headquarters constructed a lavish seven-story steel and concrete building with elevators in Manhattan.
In North America, Hechingen Bank primarily dealt with German immigrants. Germans formed a large community in the U.S., and due to their generally high education levels and entrepreneurial spirit, they played a significant role in many industries, including some of the more illicit ones, such as counterfeiting, financial fraud, and forgery. These immigrants, especially the wealthier ones, preferred to store their money at Hechingen Bank, not only for the convenience of returning to Germany but also for easier money transfers and avoiding language barriers.
By relying on the German community in the U.S., Hechingen Bank had a significant advantage in its growth. In 1860, there were over 250 German-language newspapers in the U.S., and by 1871, 80% of non-English-language newspapers in the country were German-language. The influence of German-Americans was so great that even after Germany's unification, the U.S. had to carefully consider its assimilation policies toward them.
In conclusion, Hechingen Bank was not lacking in funds, and compared to other city banks in Chicago, it was an exception. This unconventional decision had initially frustrated Odysseus, who thought the New York headquarters had made a foolish choice by saying that real estate prices were high. However, today, Odysseus had a change of heart, praising the New York headquarters and expressing sympathy for the misfortunes of his colleagues in the city. Perhaps it was this sympathy that led him to drink more than usual that evening.
When the Chicago branch was being built, the first thing they did was tear down the surrounding wooden roads and replace them with brick structures. Most of Chicago's buildings were made from wood from Wisconsin's forests, and even the roads and sidewalks were made of wooden planks. The cheap wood allowed Chicagoans to build freely, but most of the city's poor immigrants were housed in dilapidated shacks, and even wealthier citizens often had wooden homes. As a result, when Hechingen Bank was being constructed, the cost of brick and stone materials was much higher than in other cities, as the demand was low and production couldn't be scaled up.
Since July of this year, Chicago had seen no rain, and by early September, the city's most famous newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, criticized the city as being a "firetrap" and added that many buildings were "fake and made of wood and tiles." However, this still did not raise people's awareness. Then, today, Chicago suddenly caught fire. At the same time, many areas around Chicago also experienced forest fires, and the cause of the fire was unknown.
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