What Happened in History: Browse Historical Facts on Kudos 365

The Great Chicago Fire starts at about 9:00 p.m. in or around a small barn belonging to Patrick and Catherine O’Leary. The fire quickly spread and lasted two days. It killed about 300 people, and destroyed over 17,000 buildings, leaving 100,000 homeless. The estimated damage costs were $200 million dollars (roughly $4 billion in 2020 dollars). The real cause of the fire has never been determined by city officials. More