HOT TIMES

HOT TIMES

You think these are hot times.

Late one night
When we were all in bed
Old Mother Leary
Left a lantern in the shed
And when the cow kicked it over,
She winked her eye and said,
"There’ll be a hot time
In the old town, tonight." author unk.

On October 8 -10, 1871 one of the worst disasters of the 19th century killed hundreds and leveled several square miles of downtown Chicago. The Great Chicago Fire was probably not started by Mrs O'Leary's cow but nobody knows for sure. She was a perfect scapegoat for the times because she was a woman, Irish and Catholic. Her house escaped with very minor damage though her barn was lost.

The rebuilding that went on after the fire spurred Chicago on to become one of the great American cities. Out of disaster comes opportunity.