Great Fire of 1871

When the Peshtigo fire was over, survivors had the gruesome task of burying their dead. The "Fire Cemetery" was used for bodies that could be identified. At least 350 were burned beyond recognition. They were buried in a mass grave at the church. (The Church is now the Peshtigo Fire Museum).

Undaunted by the staggering disaster, people in Peshtigo rebuilt their lives and their town. Within ten years it was once again a flourishing place on the river. As the town’s logo demonstrates, it is a "city reborn from the ashes."

People did not forget the tragedy, even if most folks in the nation never knew (or soon forgot) about it. Survivors, like Amelia Desrochers, helped to keep the story of the horror alive.

Meanwhile, the country’s attention was focused on the southern shore of Lake Michigan - to the place, known at the time, as America’s "second city."