Legend has it that the fire was caused by Mrs. O’Leary’s cow. The official investigation did indeed conclude that the fire did begin in the barn of Mr. Patrick O’Leary on the evening of October 8, 1871.
Whether or not it was Mrs. O’Leary’s cow, the Great Chicago Fire was a terrible disaster. A terrible summer drought had left much of the Midwest, including the city of Chicago as dry as a tinderbox. Many areas of the city were very congested with narrow streets of wood frame buildings. The fire started just after 9 p.m. on the South Side and spread rapidly northward, driven by a strong southwesterly wind. The fire split into separate tongues of flame that consumed everything in their paths
The flames jumped the Chicago River around midnight. The fire knocked the city’s water works out of commission and then there was nothing to stop it. A total of 17,500 buildings wee destroyed in the flames. A total of 2,100 acres were burned. Two hundred and fifty people were killed and 100,000 were left homeless in the city of about 334,000 residents.
The fired raged out of control all day on Monday, October 9th, finally being extinguished by the combination of a light rain and the natural obstacle of Lake Michigan. Some feel that the fire was a blessing in disguise, since it wiped away the cheaply constructed wood frame buildings and allowed Chicago to be built back better prepared for the future.
Another fire that same night is the deadliest fire ever in American history. The Peshtigo fire raced northward into Wisconsin. As it roared through the town of Peshtigo, a total of six hundred people perished. Along its entire path, nearly 1,200 people died.
