I see you have questions.
“Where are you going with all this?” Be patient, please.
“How did Peg Leg live to tell the lie about Mrs. O’Leary’s cow?” I have no idea. But its a great story my dad told me and I had to fit it in.
The Chicago Fire Department’s headquarters and training facility is located at of the start of The Fire.
“Fire” is the name of our professional futbol team.
A neat bit of coincidence...
Two day’s before the Chicago Fire, wildfires around Peshtigo killed so many people (some say up to 2,500 souls perished) there was hardly a soul left to report it, giving the Great Chicago Fire all the press and charity.
One bit of the charity received was from Queen Victoria. Her Majesty donated to Chicago’s library system one copy of each book in her personal collection (some 8,000 of them!). We graciously accepted, not mentioning we hadn’t yet developed a library system. The Harold Washington Library still has some of the original books (you can't check them out, I tried) and Her Majesty’s hand written sympathy note which accompanied them (which I didn’t care to see but hear is kinda nifty if you’re into that sort of thing).
I see you have more questions. Good for you! I love a curious mind.
“Where did we put all those books while establishing the Chicago Public Library?” Glad you asked. The Rookery Building. “So what?” So Simple! Because Daniel Burnham (one of my heroes), John Root, and Frank Wright were the architects of the Rookery. And Burnham and Root’s firm was located there along with the Her Majesty’s books for a while before Burnham set-up a temporary office on the grounds of the World’s Columbian Exposition which hosted a gun so big it could have almost shot my condo in the MAGICAL Edgewater Beach neighborhood of Chicago!
Now I find that an interesting coincidence!
Except for Peshtigo, the Rookery, the Expo, the Harold Washington Library, and the CFD Headquarters - I think those are the exceptions - all of the above is within 4 miles and easily accessible from my door!
And that's not the half of it. I haven't told of the local theatre, small local museums, artist studios, and best of all my neighbors!
I know! I love where I live. Its MAGICAL, right?
Big Hugs to All You Lil’ Potato Bugs!
Matthew J “Pinkie” Fleming
(The story’s sort of mine, the facts mostly verifiable, but I hope the fun was yours!)