150 years after the Great Chicago Fire, the O’Learys hit the news again

Did Old Lady O’Leary’s cow kick over a lantern in the shed in 1871, thus causing the Great Chicago Fire?

You’ll be hearing a lot about the truth (or not) of the cow and Old Lady O’Leary in October when the 150th anniversary of the fire kicks off, so to speak.

But while you wait, the O’Learys are in the news for another reason.

The 33-room mansion of Big Jim O’Leary is on sale this year in his hometown of Chicago.

Big Jim was Mrs. O’Leary’s son, and he was a gambling man who made quite a tidy living running resorts (gambling houses) in Chicago. In fact, he was called the “gambling king of the stockyards.”
He had a personal motto: “There are three classes of people in this world: gamblers, beggars, and burglars.”

Around 1890 or so, Big Jim was sufficiently rich enough to build himself a massive Renaissance revival house on Garfield Blvd. in the then-stylish Englewood neighborhood of Chicago.

It has an ornate brownstone facade that includes James O’Leary’s initials and a female face that legend says belongs to the same lady with the criminal cow.

With extensive woodworking inside, the house is full of period touches. Two walk-in safes no doubt gave Big Jim a lot of space to store his gambling proceeds.

Ironically, the house has its own fire hydrant in the back, very rare for the 1890s.

In rough condition inside, the 12-bedroom, 6,300-square-foot house is on sale for about $600,000, according to Chicago Business.

The house has not been owned by O’Learys since 1925 when Big Jim died.