| Great Fire of Saint John | |
|---|---|
 The Great Fire at St. John, N.B. June 20, 1877 | |
| Date(s) | June 20–22, 1877 2:30 p.m. (lasted 40~ hours) |
| Location | Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Impacts | |
| Deaths | 18-19 |
| Damage | $27 million ($831 million in 2023 dollars) |
| Ignition | |
| Cause | Loose sparks |
The Great Fire of Saint John was an urban fire that devastated much of Saint John, New Brunswick in June 1877, destroying two-fifths of the city.
Fire
On June 16, 1877, according to a schoolboy known only as "Harry", an elderly First Nations chief spoke to a number of boys, telling them to warn their parents to move away before Saint John is destroyed on June 19.
At 2:30 on the afternoon of June 20, 1877, a spark fell in Henry Fairweather's storehouse in the York Point Slip area. Nine hours later the fire had destroyed over 80 hectares (200 acres) and 1,612 structures including eight churches, six banks, fourteen hotels, eleven schooners and four wood boats. The fire had killed approximately 19 people, and injured many more. Approximately 13,000 people were left homeless as a result of the fire. The fire continued to burn for approximately 40 hours. No photographs exist of the fire. However, some survivors' accounts of the blaze tell that the fire came so close to the harbour that it looked like the water was on fire.
Aftermath and legacy
Saint John's Trinity Royal Heritage Conservation Area was built out of the ashes of the fire.
See also
References
Citations
- Shorter, G. W. "The Saint John fire of 20 June 1877". National Research Council of Canada. Division of Building Research.
- ^ "The Great Fire of Saint John, New Brunswick, 9528". Archived from the original on March 21, 2009. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- ^ Stewart, George (1877). The story of the great fire in St. John, N.B : June 20th, 1877. Toronto: Belford Bros. ISBN 0665139756.
- COLLINS, DONALD (June 20, 2002). "Weary city resurfaces from ashes: In the weeks and months following the Great Fire of 1877, Saint John people and businesses persevered". newbrunswick.net. Telegraph-Journal (New Brunswick). Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
- Greene 2022, p. 54.
- Conwell 1877, p. 23.
- The Rebuilding of Saint John New Brunswick 1877-1881 by C. Anne Hale published 1990
- "trinityroyal.com". www.trinityroyal.com. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
Works cited
- Greene, Mark Allan (2022). The Great Saint John Fire of 1877: The rise, destruction and recovery of Canada's leading port city. Formac. ISBN 9781459507074.
- Stewart, George (1877). The Story of the Great Fire in St. John, N.B., June 20th, 1877. Toronto: Belford Brothers. Retrieved June 12, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
- Conwell, Russell Herman (1877). History of the Great Fire in Saint John, June 20 and 21, 1877. Boston: B. B. Russell. Retrieved June 12, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
45°15′32″N 66°04′12″W / 45.259°N 66.070°W / 45.259; -66.070
External links
- The Story of the Great Fire in St. John, N.B., June 20th, 1877 by George Stewart - Available through Project Gutenberg
- The Great fire on website.nbm-mnb.ca
- "St. John, N. B., Burned", Scientific American article, July 7, 1877, p. 3