“City Gets Revenge on Mrs. O’Leary,” Universal-International News, 1955; Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration

The narration of this stirring newsreel contains a few historical errors. The building intentionally burned to clear the block that once contained the O’Leary cottage was not the actual O’Leary home itself but the more substantial residence, where the O’Learys never lived, that replaced it. The pumps used to fight the fire were not manual, as indicated here, but powered by steam. And the area cleared did not make way for a new boulevard but for the Robert J. Quinn Fire Academy.