Similar to the COVID-19 pandemic we’re currently going through, there was an outbreak about 100 years ago that, in some ways, looked very similar to what we’re experiencing now. The 1918 Spanish Flu is known for killing approximately 50 million people and closing schools and businesses while making it necessary for people to wear masks. Scroll on to see seven photos of a world that was not so long ago and that may be in our near future.

1. Taken just before the influenza outbreak of 1918, this is a photo of an emergency hospital building in Freeport, Illinois that was used to house the sick during the crisis.
Flickr/Internet Archive Book Images
2. This shot was captured in 1918 and depicts a young child at the Presbyterian Hospital of the City of Chicago with dolls, toys, and pictures placed around her in an attempt to cheer her up.
Wikimedia Commons/Presbyterian Hospital of the City of Chicago

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3. Tensions built between the Industrial Workers of the World labor organization and the government, and in 1918, Chicago's Federal Building exploded. It was allegedly caused by members of the organization.
Flickr/The U.S. National Archives
It hasn't happened yet, but as workers become angrier, this could be foreshadowing for what's to come.
4. Hopefully, not a precursor of what is to come, this is an image of the Chicago Race Riots that took place in 1919 while the Spanish Flu pandemic was still taking place.
Wikimedia Commons/The West Virginian
5. In this image from the same year, soldiers with guns stand guard outside of a vandalized home that was destroyed during a race riot that took place during the flu pandemic of 100 years ago.
Wikimedia Commons/Chicago Daily News

Do you have any photos from Illinois during the 1918 Spanish flu? If so, we’d love to see them. Please share below in the comments.

For more like this, check out the 10 biggest risks for living in the state of Illinois.

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