Chicago fire

No one knows how the fire started in the cowbarn at the rear of the Patrick O'Leary cottage at 137 DeKoven Street on Chicago's West Side. A report on the cause may be found in CPL's Deaths, Disturbances, Disasters and Disorders in Chicago Selected Bibliography.

The blaze began about 9 p.m. on Sunday, October 8, 1871. By midnight the fire had jumped the river's south branch and by 1:30 a.m., the business district was in flames. Shortly thereafter the fire raced northward across the main river.

The waterworks were evacuated although the tower was not badly damaged and still stands. During Monday the fire burned as far as Fullerton Avenue. Rainfall which started about midnight helped put out the last of the flames. 250-300 Chicagoans were dead, 90,000 homeless, 17,450 structures burned, and the property loss was $196 million.

Last Updated: June 09, 1999