On the evening of 8 October 1871, the Great Fire of Chicago started to rage through ‘the windy city’, killing hundreds of people and destroying over three square miles of the city over the following two days. The fire began in a barn owned by Patrick and Catherine O’Leary in Dekoven Street, and it’s rumoured (a rumour started by a newspaper writer) that the cause of the fire was a cow kicking over an oil lantern. Included below is a …