I Didn't Start the Fire
Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871
A hay fire started in a barn on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois in 1871. This fire would sweep through the city over a 24 hour period killing 300 people and leaving one-third of the population homeless. A legend, known as The O’Leary Legend, began about how the Great Chicago Fire started.
“Late one night, when we were all in bed,
Mrs. O'Leary lit a lantern in the shed.
Her cow kicked it over,
Then winked her eye and said,
"There'll be a hot time in the
old town tonight!"
These song lyrics have been expanded in works of art, poetry, books, plays, and film. This folklore used to explain this disaster has been handed down for generations.
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According to research performed on this disaster “Kate O'Leary offered sworn testimony that she was in bed when the fire started, and the official inquiry concluded that it found no proof of her guilt.” (Who Wrote The Song About The Cow That Started The Great Chicago Fire?, 2020) The barn where the fire started was full of hay that had recently been put up and stored for the winter. A spontaneous combustion hay fire could have easily been the source of this October inferno. That, or a cow.
Without any witnesses or proper evidence, rumors circled and multiple people claimed Kate had confessed that she was in the barn when her cow kicked over a lantern to start the fire. These claims contained conflicting components and were found lacking enough to clear Mrs. O’Leary and her cow, Daisy, of wrongdoing. Several other theories rose over the years following to explain how Chicago burned, but the folklore of a cow and her kick remained as the go-to story for entertainment.
A children's song circulated about the horrifying event attributing all responsibility to Catherine O’Leary and her cow. This song is still around today as a supplement to other disturbing nursery melodies like “London Bridges” and “Rock-A-Bye-Baby”. The community didn’t hesitate to repeat the story of an Irish female immigrant as the guilty party for destroying the iconic American city of Chicago. “As a poor clumsy Irish Woman and not a sworn enemy of the social order, she was a disempowered comic stereotype, and the damage she caused, massive as it was, could be reassuringly categorized as the result of accident, not conspiracy.” (Who Wrote The Song About The Cow That Started The Great Chicago Fire?, 2020)
At the time of the fire, Kate was in her forties and was a hardworking farmer. Even though she would be blamed for burning down the city, she was also honored for her role. In 1881, ten years after the fire the Chicago Historical Society installed a marble plaque marking the spot of the O’Leary lot. Norman Rockwell would craft a beautiful painting of her with her cow and an ill-placed lantern behind its foot. In the 1960s Vice President Richard Nixon would ride on a float, as the grand marshal, that featured Mrs.O’Leary’s barn with a lantern, fire, smoke, and cow.
Norman Rockwell's painting of Mrs. O'Leary and Daisy, her cow.
Kate O’Leary never joined in on the fun. She laid low and did her best to remove herself from the spotlight of this tale. She was offered money and endorsement deals but she would never accept them. Kate refused interviews and would rather chase away reporters than add her side of the story. She passed away on Independence Day in 1895 just 24 years after that dreaded night in Chicago.
The O'Leary Legend. (2011). The Great Chicago Fire & The Web of Memory. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from https://greatchicagofire.org/oleary-legend/
Who Wrote The Song About The Cow That Started The Great Chicago Fire? (2020, February 28). NPR. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from https://choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/local/309/2020/02/28/810014639/who-wrote-the-song-about-the-cow-that-started-the-great-chicago-fire
The Chicago Fire of 1871 and the “Great Rebuilding.” (2011, January 25). National Geographic Society. Retrieved March 22, 2022, from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/chicago-fire-1871-and-great-rebuilding/print/#:%7E:text=On%20October%208%2C%201871%2C%20a,of%20the%20city’s%20population%20homeless.
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