By LARRY LeMASTERS
Auction Exchange Writer

Molly Edmonds (in Did the Great Chicago Fire really start with Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow?) calls Kate O’Leary’s animal, “The most infamous cow in history.” And for good reason.

The Great Chicago Fire started on the evening of October 8, 1871 and lasted about 36 hours before being completely extinguished on the morning of October 10. During those nightmarish hours, most of Chicago burned with $192 million in property damage, 100,000 people left homeless, and nearly 300 people dead.
The inquiry, following the inferno, proved that the fire started in the barn of Kate O’Leary, located at 137 De Koven Street. There has always been some disagreement about how the fire began, but popular opinion blames Daisy, Mrs. O’Leary’s cow, for kicking over a lantern.

O’Leary kept a small dairy herd on her property and, as legend goes, Daisy kicked over the lantern while being milked. The barn stored hay and firewood, so the fire quickly spread as O’Leary ran for help. By the time the fire department arrived, the fire, whipped by Lake Michigan winds, had already spread a couple of blocks, dooming most of Chicago.

Somewhat surprisingly, Mrs. O’Leary’s home survived the Great Chicago Fire. The fire roared from the barn north and east toward downtown, and since the O’Leary home sat just west of the barn, the house was spared. Also spared in the Great fire were a handful of inner-city buildings, among them the Chicago Water Tower, designed by architect William Boyington and built in 1869.
Today, collectors have a difficult time finding first-hand collectibles from Chicago’s Great Fire, since most of them literally went up in smoke, so they settle on collecting the two iconic items that epitomize this disaster-Daisy the Cow and the Chicago Water Tower.

Cow collectibles have been around for a long time, but Mrs. O’Leary’s cow first gained cult status in the mid-20th century and has been top among bovine collectors every since.

Norman Rockwell’s “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow” plate is a highly sought after Daisy collectible. This cross-collectible image was originally painted in 1944, and when Hoyle Products released the plate, it was limited to just 7,500 pieces, making it a true limited edition run. Today it is valued at $40.
Colorful children’s books are always collectible, and few are as colorful as Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow by Jenny Mattheson. Published by Little Brown & Co., this 2007 book is adapted from the well-known song “There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight.” For those of you who also collect old songs, here are some of the lyrics:

The O’Leary Legend
Late one night, when we were all in bed,
Mrs. O’Leary lit a lantern in the shed.
Her cow kicked it over,
Then winked her eye and said,
“There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight!”

This book can still be purchased at most bookstores for around $10.
Other cross-collectibles that feature Daisy, Mrs. O’Leary’s cow, are a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle by Lang; a wonderful vintage 1961, beer coaster from Schlitz Brewing Company, that not only features Daisy but has her contribution to Schlitz history recorded on the obverse side; and a sought-after collectible for those who collect charms or charm bracelets is the vintage sterling 3-D Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow charm from Kinney Sterling (about $30).

The other great collectible from the Chicago Fire is the Chicago Water Tower and its image. While not everyone has always admired its beauty (Oscar Wilde called it, “A castellated monstrosity with pepper boxes stuck all over it.”), most fall in love with the water tower with just one glance. In 1921 Walter Anderson and Edgar Ingram liked the appearance of Chicago’s Water Tower so much that they built their first White Castle restaurant to resemble the Chicago Water Tower, with octagonal buttresses, crenellated towers, and a parapet wall.
Today, Water Tower collectors have hundreds of Chicago Water Tower items to collect; although, most of them are either postcards or miniature buildings. One expensive cross-collectible that depicts Chicago’s Water Tower in her full beauty is Thomas Kinkade’s painting Chicago Winter at the Water Tower. Painted in 2000, prints of this famous painting sell for between $600 and $1,500, depending on the framing and the gallery.

Another artistic print of the Water Tower is by Mark McMahon. His Giclee Print sells for $160.

Another charm, for those collectors that have interest in the Daisy charm listed above, which came out of the Great Chicago Fire is the 14K gold Chicago Water Tower charm. This Made in USA charm sells for $175 new.

Dept. 56’s “Christmas in the City” collection offers a beautiful copy of the Chicago Water Tower. Mint in box, this cherished item sells for $100.
And for those who collect unusual keys, the Chicago Water Tower is embossed on a “Made in Occupied Japan” silver-plate opera key from the 1940s. This souvenir key sells today for $50.

While most of the collectible items that pay tribute to the Great Chicago Fire are either touristy or new, they still help collectors recall with awe the greatest fire catastrophe in American history-the Great Chicago Fire. And it is collectibles such as these that help keep alive American sayings, so the next time you tell someone “There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight, “say it with respect for the cow who started it all-Mrs. O’Leary’s cow-and the water tower that still symbolizes that historic “hot time”-the Chicago Water Tower.
If you want to read more about the Great Chicago Fire, there are dozens of books devoted to the topic. One, The Great Chicago Fire by Ross Miller (University of Illinois Press, October 2000), provocatively describes how Chicago’s destiny was rewritten “with a pen of fire.”