Late one night, while we were all in bed
Old Mrs. Leary lit a lantern in the shed
The cow kicked it over, she winked her eye and said
There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight
FIRE FIRE FIRE
On October 8, 1871, a fire broke out in Chicago that burned for three days and destroyed much of the city. But the most famous thing about the fire is the rumor about how it started. But is it true?
Who started the fire?
The fire started in a dairy barn on DeKoven Street owned by Patrick and Catherine O’Leary. The couple sold milk to others in the city, said Ann Keating, professor of history at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.
“We know there was a [kerosene] lamp in the barn. We know there were cows in the barn,” Keating said. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable that a cow knocked over a lantern.”
But Keating suspects a neighbor, rather than a cow.
“His name is Peg Leg O’Sullivan,” she said. “Peg Leg did not have one of his legs, so he had a wooden leg. He didn’t move very quickly.”
Peg Leg went around the neighborhood knocking on doors and warning people about the fire. He had been in the barn smoking, but he never admitted to starting the fire.
Devastation in Chicago
The summer of 1871 had been hot and dry, and the weather was windy, making the perfect recipe for a big fire.
“The fire moves very quickly north and east,” destroying everything in its path,” Keating said. “It jumps the river. Little pieces of the fire can jump across the river, and they do that in lots of places along the Chicago River.”
About 3.5 square miles burned down, which was about one-third of the city. One of the reasons was that everything was made of wood, including the sidewalks!
The city of Chicago had plans and resources in place to help prevent and fight fires, including a professional fire department and equipment. They also had a water supply from Lake Michigan that would help fight any fires that started.
“People in Chicago thought, we’re not going to have a fire because we’ve got a great water supply,” Keating said.
But none of that helped when the fire began.
A different city today
Any city today will be very different than it was in 1871, but Chicago is uniquely different because of the fire.
The first thing that happened was, the City Council put out new rules for building new structures to prevent the city being completely made of wood. The result was that it was more expensive to build in the city center, which meant fewer people could afford to live there.
“Before the fire, a lot of people lived downtown. There were a lot of churches downtown. There were a lot of schools downtown,” Keating said. “All of that disappears. People move further out, and the downtown area is almost all businesses.”
We’ll never know who or what started the Great Chicago Fire, but we do know this: Chicago is a different city today because of it.