Legendary conflagration of Sunday and Monday October 9-10,
1871 in which most of the
city of
Chicago was destroyed by
fire. The fire began on the
West Side and spread quickly in high winds. A legend ascribes the ignition of the fire to a
cow kicking over a lantern in a barn, but this is now believed by
historians to be false.
On the same weekend many fires burned around the midwest; in particular the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin was completely destroyed with the loss of perhaps 1200 lives. The large number of fires has led to speculation that a storm of meteorites could have been resposible for igniting the blazes.
See also:
- http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/intro/
- http://www.angelfire.com/mi2/gfmeteor/
Also, the Major League Soccer team of the same name, which plays its home games at Soldier Field. ( See http://www.chicago-fire.com/ )