The Great Chicago Fire
1871 · about 300 dead, a third of the city destroyed
- Date
- –
- Where it happened
- Site of the O'Leary barn, DeKoven Street, Chicago, Illinois, United States
The fire began on the evening of 8 October 1871 in or near a barn behind the O'Leary house on DeKoven Street. After a dry summer, in a city built largely of wood, it burned for two days across some six square kilometres.
About three hundred people died and a hundred thousand were left without homes. The story that a cow kicked over a lantern was invented by a reporter who later admitted it. A fire academy now stands on the spot where it started.
This page was written by the site, from public historical records.
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1886
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