Chapter 364 Burning
October 8, 1873.
On the far west coast of the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest shore of Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes, it is now late at night, but rarely is the entire city still awake.
Odyssey, president of the Chicago branch of Hechingen Bank, and his employees, as well as the citizens of the entire West Side of Chicago, were watching.
Chicago, nicknamed the "Windy City", has turned into a sea of fire except for the West City area. The fire has illuminated the sky. From time to time, entire buildings have collapsed in the flames, flames have soared into the sky, and thick smoke has billowed.
Countless Chicago citizens poured into the West City from other areas, and the sounds of crying, screaming, and looting were heard everywhere.
As a result, the Chicago branch of the Hechingen Bank had to strengthen its security, and the security team patrolled the area around the bank with guns.
Standing on the third floor of the bank and overlooking the city center, it had been completely engulfed by fire, including Chicago's business center, where various American banks and other financial institutions gathered.
The devastation suffered by his peers made Odysseus, president of the Chicago branch of Hechingen Bank, sigh: "Oh, God bless! Fortunately, Chicago's housing prices saved us."
The Chicago branch of Hechingen Bank is quite special. It is built in a relatively backward area of Chicago. Therefore, the main building of the Chicago branch of Hechingen Bank stands out among a group of sheds of no more than two floors, like a crane among chickens. It is particularly abrupt, allowing President Odyssey to leisurely watch the fire in downtown Chicago.
Chicago is located on the south bank of Lake Michigan, on the Wutai Lake Plain. It was originally an Indian hunting ground, with a population of less than 1,000 when the city was founded in 1834. Due to the western development of the United States, Chicago, which was still a remote town, developed rapidly after the Civil War.
With the development of agriculture and animal husbandry, the mining of forests and iron ore, and the connection of canals and railways, the city of Chicago had a population of 350,000 in just a few decades. It was also the largest meat trading market in the United States and even the world, and had the reputation of "the slaughterhouse of the world."
The development of Chicago is enough to make all the cities in the East African Kingdom feel ashamed. The three cities in the entire Central Province (First Town City, Dar es Salaam, and Bagamoyo) have a combined population that barely reaches half of Chicago. As the first choice for immigrants from all over the world, the United States has this appeal. It brings together immigrants from various countries, including Britain, Ireland, Poland, Sweden, Germany... including Italians, Chinese, Indians, and the blacks who have the lowest status at that time.
As early as 1865, the Hechingen Bank began doing business in Chicago, but the development of the Hechingen Chicago branch was mediocre. It was far away from the central business district in downtown Chicago, which was not conducive for employees to conduct business.
Many businessmen and Chicago citizens would choose to conduct business in the city center. However, as the Hechingen Bank became more and more successful in Europe, its popularity in North America also greatly increased. Even though its geographical location was not very good, more and more people chose to apply for loans from its Chicago branch.
Due to this poor location, the Chicago branch once considered moving to another location, but was rejected by the North American headquarters in New York.
The reason given by the North American headquarters in New York is also very simple. The land price in Xicheng District is very cheap compared to the city center. You don’t need to spend more money here and you can save expenses.
But this statement is obviously untenable. After purchasing a large piece of land in Xicheng District, Hexingen Bank carried out large-scale renovation here. The cost of the renovation was enough to buy a good enough location in the city center.
Moreover, the North American headquarters of Heilongjiang Bank is not short of money at all. As North America is second only to Europe in terms of economy, Heilongjiang Bank is developing rapidly here, even more smoothly than in Europe. Here, Heilongjiang Bank fully demonstrates the financial attributes that a bank should have.
In order to demonstrate financial strength and gain the trust of depositors, the New York North American headquarters built an extremely luxurious seven-story reinforced concrete building with an elevator in Manhattan.
The North American division of the Hechingen Bank mainly does business with Germans. Germans form a large group in the United States. In addition, Germans generally have a high level of education and are very enthusiastic about starting a business. Just like the fraud industry that is rampant throughout the United States, it is almost certain that most of the people involved in fraud such as making counterfeit currency, falsifying accounts, making false certificates, and high-end financial fraud are Germans.
Of course, the more cultured or skilled people are, the better for these industries. German immigrants who have received compulsory education have a natural advantage, while Italians can only do rough work like gangsters.
Moreover, Germans have another characteristic: once they have made a little progress, they want to return to their hometown to show off. Therefore, many wealthy German businessmen and rich people like to deposit their money in the Hechingen Bank. In addition to being friendly, it is also convenient for them to exchange the checks of the Hechingen Bank directly in Europe after returning to Germany. The same is true for ordinary Germans. When remitting money to their families, they will directly choose the Hechingen Bank, which can save a lot of trouble, such as language barriers.
Relying solely on the Germans in the United States, the Hechingen Bank had a great advantage in its development, especially in the German-speaking community. In 1860, there were more than 250 German-speaking newspapers and periodicals in the United States. Whether in big cities or communities, as long as there were Germans, there would be German-speaking newspapers and magazines. By 1871, 80 percent of non-English publications in the United States were German-speaking newspapers and magazines.
Therefore, the Germans in the United States during this period were quite powerful, especially after the unification of Germany. Even if the United States wanted to promote an assimilation policy, it had to think twice.
All in all, the Hechingen Bank was not short of money at all. Other city banks established at the same time as the Chicago branch were also built in luxurious business districts, with the Chicago branch being the only exception.
This counterintuitive decision made Odyssey very angry at the time. They thought that the high housing prices were just excuses. The people in the New York headquarters must have been kicked in the head by a donkey.
Today, Odyssey, contrary to his usual behavior, sang praises of the New York headquarters. At the same time, he expressed deep sympathy for the tragic plight of his usually arrogant Chicago counterparts, so much so that he had a few more drinks tonight.
When the Chicago branch was built, the first thing was to tear down the surrounding wooden plank roads and replace them all with masonry structures. Most of Chicago's buildings were built with wood from the forests of Wisconsin, and even its roads and sidewalks were built with planks. Cheap wood allowed Chicagoans to squander money. Most parts of the city housed poor immigrants in dilapidated shacks, and even the houses of wealthier citizens were often built with wood. As a result, when the Chicago branch was built, the price of masonry building materials was much higher than in other cities, after all, the demand was small and the production scale could not be raised.
It hadn't rained in Chicago since July this year, and in early September, the city's most famous newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, criticized the city for being made up of "fire traps," adding that many buildings were "all fake and shingled," but this still did not arouse people's alarm.
Today, Chicago suddenly caught fire. At the same time, forest fires broke out in many places around Chicago. The cause of the fire is no longer known.
(End of this chapter)
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