Great Chicago Fire and the Myth of Mrs. O'Leary's Cow, The

Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Summer 2004 by Keating, Ann Durkin

The Great Chicago Fire and the Myth of Mrs. O'Leary's Cow. By Richard F. Bales (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2002. Pp. xi, 338, Illus., appendices, notes, bibliography, index. Cloth, $45.00).

There are a handful of events that anyone versed in even a cursory history of Chicago can name: the "Chicago Massacre" of 1812, the 1871 Chicago Fire, the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the 1919 Race Riot, the 1933 World's Fair, and the 1968 Democratic Convention. Each of these events has been the subject of numerous studies-by people ranging from journalists to professional historians to independent researchers. Because each of these groups begins with very different questions, there have been a wide range of resulting books and articles. The 1871 Fire is no exception. While academic historians in recent years have sought to tie the event to wider cultural, social, and economic trends, independent researchers often pursue more idiosyncratic questions.

Such is the case for independent researcher Richard F. Bales, who made a dramatic public splash in a 1997 Illinois Historical journal article entitled: "Did the Cow Do It? A New Look at the Cause of the Great Chicago Fire." Put succinctly, Bales argued that neither Mrs. O'Leary or her cow was responsible for starting the fire. In The Great Chicago fire and the Myth of Mrs. O'Leary's Cow, Bales elaborates on this argument and presents his understanding of the events that unfolded on DeKoven Street on 8 October 1871. As Illinois State Historian, Thomas F. Schwartz, explains in the foreword to the book, "[c]atastrophes invite investigation." (1)

As Assistant Regional Counsel for the Wheaton, Illinois, office of Chicago Title Insurance Company, Bales had access to heretofore unexplored land records that survived the 1871 Fire. (One hopes that Chicago Title Insurance Company will extend the same cooperation to historians in future projects.) Bales also relies heavily on a careful reading of the transcript of the Inquiry into the Cause of the Chicago Fire and Actions of the Fire Department. The first chapter explores aspects of Chicago in 1871. Discussion on the fire department organization and operation is particularly interesting. Subsequent chapters consider how the fire started and who might be to blame. Bales traces the early newspaper coverage that identified O'Leary as the culprit. He also explores the ways in which this story was reinvigorated on subsequent anniversaries.

In large part, Bales attributes this ready acceptance of Mrs. O'Leary's guilt to the failings of the commission that was charged with identifying the fire's source and evaluating the conduct of the fire department. The commission failed to complete either charge, leaving open the ongoing speculation about Catherine O'Leary.

Through a careful reconstruction of the owners of property, the actual inhabitants, the streetscape along DeKoven Street, and the known events of 8 October 1871, Bales confirms that the fire did in fact begin in the O'Leary's barn. He asserts that "the evidence seems clear that the fire was not caused by Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicking over a lantern." (131) Instead, in Bales's estimation, it was Daniel "Peg Leg" Sullivan and perhaps Dennis Regan who were responsible for starting the fire in 1871. Bales describes "how the fire might have started in the O'Leary barn." (131)

One of the real strengths of this book is the considerable materials presented in illustrations and appendices. In four appendices, Bales continues to ask and answer questions about the 1871 Fire including: "When did the Fire Start?" "Was Mrs. O'Leary Asleep When the Fire Broke Out?" and "How Many Houses were on the O'Leary property?" Bales shares with his readers his detective work in answering these questions. Bales leaves it to others, however, to connect his work back to historians such as Karen Sawislak and Ellen Skerrett, who have already helped us to see the wider significance of Catherine O'Leary as a popular scapegoat.

Ann Durkin Keating is professor of history at North Central College in Naperville. She is a co-editor of Encyclopedia of Chicago and is the author of Building Chicago: Suburban Developers and the Creation of a Divided Metropolis and Chicagoland: Suburbs of the Railroad Age.