The conditions for the disaster that would become known as the Great Chicago Fire actually began earlier that Summer. The region was struck by drought and the ground was ready for a spark. That also meant that any wooden city, such as Chicago, was especially vulnerable.
That evening about 9 pm around a small barn behind DeKoven Street owned by Patrick and Catherine O’Leary, the fire started. Although the O’Leary’s would be widely blamed, with the common story being the O’Leary’s cow kicking over a lantern, no one really knows the exact cause of the blaze, and convergence of weather and human errors would cause it to spread.
