Today in History: The Great Chicago Fire breaks out

In 1961, Egon Weiner’s ‘Pillar of Fire’ was installed at the approximate location of where the Great Chicago Fire started on the city’s Near West Side. 90 years earlier, it was the site of Cate O’Leary’s barn, where an October fire started that quickly spread and destroyed a third of Chicago. The cause of the fire is unknown, but the legend of a cow kicking over a lantern probably wasn’t true. A reporter made that up. But I also can’t disprove it, so…hmm… Regardless of the fire’s origin, I think

This week in history: The other Great Chicago Fire