Great Chicago Fire

The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from October 8 to October 10, 1871, killing hundreds and destroying several square miles in Chicago, Illinois. Though the fire was one of the largest U.S. disasters of the nineteenth century, the rebuilding that began almost immediately spurred Chicago's development into one of the United States's most populous and economically important cities.

The fire's origin

Despite a well-known legend that the Great Chicago Fire was started by a cow kicking over a lantern in the barn owned by Patrick and Catherine O'Leary at 137 DeKoven Street, historians believe it was actually set off in that cowshed by Daniel "Pegleg" Sullivan, who first reported the fire.

Related Topics:
Patrick - Catherine O'Leary - DeKoven Street - Daniel "Pegleg" Sullivan

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The legend was immortalized in the lyrics of a song about the great fire, which begins:

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:"One dark night, when we were all in bed,

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:Old lady Leary lit a lantern in the shed,

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:And when the cow kicked it over, it winked its eye and said,

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:There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight."

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The consensus of historians is that the Great Chicago Fire did start in the O'Leary cowshed around 9 p.m. on Sunday, October 8, 1871, but that both Mrs. O'Leary and her cow were blameless. As a woman, an immigrant and a Catholic, however, she was the perfect scapegoat in early Chicago's political climate. In 1997 the Chicago City Council formally investigated the fire and absolved Mrs. O'Leary of any guilt. It was surmised that Sullivan, who gave a deathbed confession that his pipe may have sparked the fire, had touched off the fire while trying to steal milk from the barn for a batch of "whisky punch."

Related Topics:
October 8 - 1871 - Catholic - Scapegoat - 1997

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