Great Fire of New York

Italic text

Great Fire of New York, 1835

1836 image of the fire

As seen from Williamsburg

The Great Fire of New York (1835) was one of three fires that did extensive damage to New York City in the 18th and 19th centuries. The fire covered 17 city blocks and destroyed hundreds of buildings. The fire killed two people and cost an estimated $20 million in property damage.

Background

By 1835, New York City was the premier American city and its financial prowess surpassed that of Philadelphia or Boston. The opening of the Erie Canal ten years earlier connected New York to raw materials and commercial interests in the Midwest and allowed the city to rise to prominence as both a national and international market hub. Over half of the country’s exports left through New York harbor while more than a third of American imports arrived there. Insurance companies, investment firms, real estate companies and others made New York their home. Railroad terminals were rapidly built within the city to facilitate commerce. As the city expanded northward and its economic significance increased, fire was once again a major concern. Insurance companies worried that a large fire could sap their resources; influential politicians and citizens feared the potentially disastrous impact of fire on the city’s prospects for continued growth. Moreover, the mayor and numerous common council members held stock in or were board members of many of the city’s fire insurance firms.

While city officials were personally and materially invested in protecting the city from fire and made efforts to build more watch towers and hire more watchmen, one serious impediment to firefighting was becoming apparent: the lack of a reliable water source for the city. By 1835, many officials had begun to develop a long-term vision to solve the city’s water problem, but little actually had been accomplished. The city’s residents as well as its firefighters still had to rely on neighborhood wells, forty strategically placed fire cisterns, and an inadequate reservoir located at 13th Street and the Bowery. Cholera outbreaks in 1832 and 1834 hastened the city’s plans for building the Croton Reservoir, which would bring clean water from upstate Westchester County into the city.

In addition to an inadequate water supply, the fire department’s growth in the 1820s and 1830s had not kept pace with the growth of the city. The city’s population had swelled by an additional 145,000 in the past decade, but the department had only added about 300 more firemen. Firemen were as popular as ever, but 1,500 firemen, 55 engines, 6 ladder companies and 5 hose carts could not protect the growing number of New Yorkers. Throughout the summer and fall of 1835, the department had been kept quite busy fighting numerous fires. In fact on December 14th, the entire fire department – 1500 strong – had spent the freezing, miserable evening fighting two large fires, which destroyed thirteen buildings and two shops. The city’s fire cisterns were nearly empty and its firefighting force exhausted when disaster struck.^[1]

Fire

The fire began on the evening of December 16, 1835 in a five-story warehouse at 25 Merchant Street, now known as Beaver Street,^[2] at the intersection of Hanover Square, Manhattan^[3] and Wall Street. As it spread, gale-force winds blowing from the northwest towards the East River proved to be a great obstacle in containing the fire. At the time of the fire, major water sources including the East River and the Hudson River were frozen solid in temperatures as low as −17 °F (−27 °C). Firefighters reported seeing the conflagration as far as Philadelphia, approximately 80 miles away.

Firefighters were forced to drill holes through ice to access water, which later froze in the hoses and pipes. Attempts were made to deprive the fire of fuel by demolishing surrounding buildings, but at first there was insufficient gunpowder in Manhattan. Later in the evening, Marines returned with gunpowder from the Brooklyn Navy Yard and began to blow up buildings in the fire's path.

An investigation did not assess the blame and reported that a burst gas pipe, ignited by a coal stove was the initial source of the fire.

Damages

At this point the fire covered 50 acres (200,000 m²), 17 blocks of the city, and had destroyed between 530 and 700 buildings. This part of the city is now known as Coenties Slip, an area between the East River and Maiden Lane in the north and William Street in the west.^[4] The estimated damage at the time was valued at twenty million dollars, and two people were killed.^[5]

According to an account published in the History of New York:,^[6] "many of the stores destroyed in the fire were new, with iron shutters and doors and copper roofs. When they burned, witnesses described appearance of immense iron furnaces in full blast. The heat at times melted the copper roofing, and the liquid ran off in great drops. A gale blew towards the East River. Wall after wall was heard tumbling like an avalanche. Fiery tongues of flame leaped from roof and windows along whole streets, and seemed to be making angry dashes at each other. The water of the bay looked like a vast sea of blood. The bells rang for a while and then ceased. Both sides of Pearl Street and Hanover Square were at the same instant engulfed in flames."

Another report gives a colorful account of the damage:

A most awful conflagration occurred at New York on the 15th of December, by which 600 buildings were destroyed, comprising the most valuable district of the city, including the entire destruction of the Exchange, the Post Office, and an immense number of stores. The fire raged incessantly for upwards of fifteen hours. The shipping along the line of wharfs suffered considerably; several vessels were entirely destroyed. The property consumed is estimated at 20,000,000 dollars.^[7]

It also praises the resilience of the population recovering from the catastrophe:

In this midst of this terrible visitation, however, it is consolatory to see the elastic energy of the people. Instead of wasting their time in despondency over this frightful desolation, the whole population seems to on the alert to repair the mischief.^[7]

Reconstruction

Recovery meant improved buildings, which would require financing. Negotiations were swiftly undertaken, and the cooperativeness of banks was crucial in preventing an economic disaster:

Plans of rebuilding on an improved scale, and modes of borrowing money for that purpose, on sound securities, are under arrangement. The energy of the inhabitants, and the ready manner in which the banks had offered to make advances to the different insurance companies, as well as to private individuals, would avert, it was expected, a commercial crisis.^[7]

The fire caused the destruction and subsequent bankruptcy of several insurance companies, slowing the processing of insurance claims. The fire occurred in the middle of an economic boom caused by the recent opening of the Erie Canal, and the destroyed wooden buildings were quickly replaced by larger stone and brick ones that were less prone to fire. The fire also prompted construction of a new municipal water supply, now known as the Old Croton Aqueduct, and a reform and expansion of the fire service. 23 of New York's 26 insurance companies went out of business^[8] and Hartford, Connecticut based insurers came to dominate the New York fire insurance market. Today, Hartford is still known as the "Insurance Capital of the World.

See also

• Great Fire of New York (1776)
• Great Fire of New York (1845)
• Great Fire of London
• Great Fire of Brisbane
• 1871 Great Chicago Fire
• Great Fire of Turku

References

External links

• "Chapter 18: The Great Conflagration of 1835", History of the Fire Department of the City of New York.

Coordinates: 40°42′25″N 74°00′36″W / 40.707°N 74.010°W / 40.707; -74.010