St. John's, Canada · 1892Great Fire of St. John'sDowntown and the cathedral gone in one evening, from a pipe. How did it beat every stone wall?On 8 July 1892 a dropped pipe in a stable started a fire that took the cathedral and the Water Street and Duckworth Street businesses.
Photo: Franz Xaver Habermann · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
Burned and Rebuilt? · New York City, United States
Great Fire of New York (1776)
The open question
The fire took the old town, and something grander went up within a few years. Who had the money, the masons and the stone ready that fast?
On the record
The Great Fire of New York burned through the night of September 20, 1776, and into the morning of September 21, on the West Side of what then constituted New York City at the southern end of the island of Manhattan. Among the buildings destroyed was Trinity Church, the rebuilding of which became a symbol of resilience for New Yorkers; St.
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- 1776
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Sources
More from Burned and Rebuilt?
St. John's, Canada · 1892Great Fire of St. John'sDowntown and the cathedral gone in one evening, from a pipe. How did it beat every stone wall?On 8 July 1892 a dropped pipe in a stable started a fire that took the cathedral and the Water Street and Duckworth Street businesses.
Saint John, Canada · 1877Great Fire of Saint JohnA third of the people homeless in a day. How did the city come back in brick so fast?On 20 June 1877 fire destroyed more than 1,600 structures, two-fifths of the city, and left about 13,000 people homeless.
Toronto, Canada · 1904Great Toronto FireA hundred downtown buildings, one death. What was in those buildings?On 19 April 1904 over 100 buildings in downtown Toronto burned; one person died.
Vancouver, Canada · 1886Great Vancouver FireA city named in April, burned in June, rebuilt within the year. Why so soon after the new name?On 13 June 1886 fire destroyed most of the city, just two months after it was incorporated.