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Today in History, October 8th

On October 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire broke out in the O'Leary barn. Plus the Peshtigo fire and Don Larsen's World Series perfect game.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published October 8, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

October 8 is best known for 1871, when the Great Chicago Fire broke out in the O’Leary family’s barn and burned across the city for two days. On the same night, a far deadlier fire destroyed Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and in 1956 Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in World Series history.

The big story: The Great Chicago Fire begins (1871)

Chicago in 1871 was a city built to burn. Wood made up its houses, its streets and even its sidewalks, the weather had been dry, and fires were routine: the city averaged two a day in 1870 and saw about 20 in the week before the big one. On the night of October 8, flames started in the barn of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary. Legend blames a cow that kicked over a lantern, but nobody has ever proved how it began, and the Chicago City Council formally cleared Mrs. O’Leary and her cow in 1997. The fire burned for two days. It leveled about four square miles, including the business district, destroyed 17,450 buildings, left roughly 100,000 people homeless and killed an estimated 200 to 300. Damage ran to about $200 million at the time. Yet much of the city’s water, sewer and transit systems survived, and rebuilding started almost at once. Chicago grew from about 324,000 people to 500,000 within nine years, and its architects went on to build the world’s first skyscrapers.

More events on October 8

Year	What happened
1809	Klemens von Metternich was named foreign minister of Austria.
1840	The Kingdom of Hawaii adopted its first constitution.
1856	Chinese officials boarded the British-registered ship Arrow in Canton, an incident that helped trigger the Second Opium War.
1871	A firestorm wiped out Peshtigo, Wisconsin, killing about 1,200 people, far more than died in Chicago that same night.
1918	Cpl. Alvin York captured 132 Germans in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, an action that later earned him the Medal of Honor.
1945	Raytheon filed the first patent for a microwave oven.
1956	Don Larsen of the New York Yankees pitched the only perfect game in World Series history.
1967	Bolivian troops defeated Che Guevara’s guerrilla band and captured him. He was executed the next day.
1982	Poland’s legislature dissolved the Solidarity trade union, which went underground and later helped end communist rule.
2001	A Cessna collided with an SAS airliner at Milan’s Linate Airport, killing 118 people.
2004	Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai became the first African woman named a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
2005	A powerful earthquake struck Pakistan-administered Kashmir and northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 79,000 people.

Born on October 8

1895: Juan Perón, president of Argentina and founder of the Peronist movement, born in Lobos, Buenos Aires province.
1920: Frank Herbert, science fiction author of Dune, born in Tacoma, Washington.
1949: Sigourney Weaver, star of the Alien films, born in New York City.
1970: Matt Damon, actor, screenwriter and producer, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.