The Great Fire of Chicago | Edward Merrin
The Chicago Fire happened in the aftermath of a separate, less serious conflagration that had occurred the day before. The first fire had exhausted the firefighters, and they were less able to combat the Great Chicago Fire, as it is now known, with the necessary vigor. It was the first fire which also kept citizens from taking the Great Fire seriously, as they assumed the ash and smoke in the air were vestiges of the first fire, and not evidence of a new flame. In many ways, the first fire was the more destructive of the two, though it's fame in no way measures with that of the second, Great Fire. The fact of the first fire, however, made the widespread destruction of the second fire more probable.
Of course, there were other factors in play. The buildings in Chicago at this time (the Great Chicago Fire occurred in October of 1871) were largely constructed out of wood, a fierce wind that refused to die down, and a general dryness in Chicago due to a recent drought. Any natural disaster, including this one, has a variety of causes. What really ends up mattering to historians, as well as descendants of those the natural disaster happened to, are the effects.
The effects of the Great Chicago Fire were dramatic in their destruction. Hundreds of people perished as a result of the conflagration, and nearly four square miles of the Chicago urban landscape were burned to the ground. Chicago, however, is a city of reconstruction. The rebuilding of Chicago marked it for its future greatness: the immediacy of its rebound, the exuberance behind its renovation: these are traits that have allowed Chicago to become one of the world's most economically dynamic and internationally important cities.
Who Started the Chicago Fire?
137 De Koven Street, Chicago (Photo Courtesy of www.TheChicagoFire.com)
On the 8th of October, 1871, a fire started at the barn of 137 De Koven Street, owned by Mr. Patrick O'Leary and Mrs. Catherine O'Leary. The culprit of the fire however, remains a mystery. Urban folklore attributes probably guilt to a cow living in Mrs. O'Leary's barn. The famous song, admittedly catchy, at the same time fails to break the millennia-old tradition of blaming the woman for widespread calamity. So, in fact, claim the lyrics to the O'Leary Legend popular song:
"One dark night, when people were in bed,
Mrs. O' Leary lit a lantern in her shed,
The cow kicked it over, winked its eye, and said,
There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight."
So this 19th century, Eve placed the lantern in harm's way (anywhere near a mischievous cow's hoof), the cow kicked it over (a bovine with a considerable grasp of lyrical irony...and the ability to speak) and the Great Chicago Fire began. But how much of this tale is accurate?
Michael Ahern was the reporter who broke the Catherine O'Leary story, pinning the blame of a burning conflagration on an immigrant, Catholic woman. In 1893, Ahern retracted the story. Other possible culprits for the fire? A meteor shower, a peg-leg thief, and a man who had lost at craps.