In this segment, Les Sinclair talks with historian Rick Britton about THIS WEEK IN U.S. HISTORY – One hundred and forty-nine years ago yesterday—October 8, 1871—the Great Chicago Fire began in the barn of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary. Over the course of two days, the fire destroyed over 17,000 structures—four square miles of the Windy City, including the business district—killed 300 people, and left another 100,000 homeless. The damages from the Chicago fire totaled an estimated $200 million (or roughly $4 billion in today’s money).
Legend has it, of course, that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern in their barn and started the fire: but other theories hold that humans or even a comet may have been responsible for the blaze. Dry weather and an abundance of wooden buildings, streets, and sidewalks made Chicago extremely vulnerable to fire. The city averaged two fires per day in 1870; there were 20 fires throughout Chicago the week before the Great Fire of 1871.
Despite the fire’s devastation, much of Chicago’s physical infrastructure, including its water, sewage and transportation systems, remained intact. Reconstruction efforts began quickly and spurred great economic development and population growth, as architects laid the foundation for a modern city featuring the world’s first skyscrapers. At the time of the fire, Chicago’s population was approximately 324,000; within nine years, it was 500,000. By 1893, the city was a major economic and transportation hub with an estimated population of 1.5 million. That same year, Chicago was chosen to host the World’s Columbian Exposition, a major tourist attraction visited by 27.5 million people, or approximately half the U.S. population at the time.
In 1997, the Chicago City Council exonerated Mrs. O’Leary and her cow. She turned into a recluse after the fire, and died in 1895.