collectible original antique stereoview card featuring the wreckage of the great chicago fire of 1871. the doubled image shows an area of state street with rubble and debris piled in the foreground and several badly damaged but still standing walls in the distance. a man stands posing to the left, giving scale to the deteriorated landscape. the albumen print is on heavy yellow cardstock with rounded edges, and exhibits fountain penned cursive handwriting at the bottom that is faded to near illegibility -- just decipherable are the words "the remains of a hardware store on state st area". the stereoview is faded and discolored in areas, typical of its age. the image was taken by famous post-fire chicago photographers copelin & hine, who along with others, documented the fire's aftermath in great detail throughout the "burnt district." the "views of the ruins of chicago" stereoview (and likely several others pertaining to the aftermath of the fire) were printed and distributed by j. a. stoddard, 248 fulton street, chicago, il. the applied albumen photographic prints are in great condition, with little surface wear except for one tear to the right-hand image. the heavy orange cardstock with rounded edges remains in great shape, considering age. the great chicago fire burned from sunday, october 8, to early tuesday, october 10, 1871. the disaster killed up to 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles of chicago and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. once the fire had ended, the smoldering remains were still too hot for a survey of the damage to be completed for many days. eventually it was determined that the fire had destroyed more than 73 miles of roads, 120 miles of sidewalk, 2000 lamposts, 17,500 buildings, and $222 million in property--about a third of the city's valuation. of the 300,000 inhabitants, 100,000 were left homeless. though the fire was one of the largest u.s. disasters of the 19th century, and destroyed much of the city's central business district, chicago was rebuilt and continued to grow as one of the most populous and economically important american cities.