The 1866 great fire of Portland[a] was a large fire that spread throughout the city of Portland, Maine, on July 4, 1866—the second Independence Day after the end of the American Civil War. The fire burned out the morning of July 5; while over a thousand buildings were destroyed, there were few fatalities. Occurring five years before the Great Chicago Fire, it was the greatest fire yet seen in an American city.
| 1866 great fire of Portland | |
|---|---|
 Ruins of the Great Fire at Portland, Me. an artist's rendering by J. E. Baker | |
| Date(s) | July 4–5, 1866 |
| Location | Portland, Maine, United States |
| Coordinates | 43°39′5″N 70°15′25″W / 43.65139°N 70.25694°W |
| Impacts | |
| Deaths | 4[1] |
| Structures destroyed | 1,800[2] |
| Ignition | |
| Cause | Accidental[2] |
Description
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The fire started in a boat house near today's Hobson's Wharf on Commercial Street, likely caused by a firecracker or a cigar ash.[2] The fire spread to a lumber yard and on to a sugar house, then spread across the city, eventually burning out early the next morning on Munjoy Hill in the city's east end.[2][3]
Four people died in the fire[4] and 10,000 people were made homeless. Around 1,800 buildings (1,200 homes) were burned to the ground, including the first of three city halls which have stood at the present Congress Street location.[2] Also lost was the federal Exchange Building, which was replaced with the custom house.
Soon after the fire, Portland native and acclaimed poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow described his old home town: "Desolation, desolation, desolation. It reminded me of Pompeii, that 'sepult city.'"[5][b] More than 600 buildings were constructed in the four months following the fire.[6]
Notes
editReferences
edit- ↑ "150 Years Later, Death Toll Revealed". pressherald.com. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Greater Portland Landmarks - Great Fire of 1866". Greater Portland Landmarks. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
- ↑ "Map of 1866 Portland Fire, 1866". Maine Memory Network. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
- ↑ "Remembering the disastrous July Fourth fire in Maine". firerescue1.com. July 4, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
Miraculously, only a handful of deaths — at least four, according to a Portland Press Herald analysis — were recorded.
- ↑ Billings, Randy. "Famous Portlanders Touched by the Fire - The Night Portland Burned". Portland Press Herald. Archived from the original on November 15, 2023.
- ↑ "The Night Portland Burned". Portland Press Herald. Archived from the original on November 15, 2023.
Further reading
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- Summers, Lydia B., ed. (1999). Portland. Greater Portland Landmarks.
- Bufford, J. H. (1866). "Great fire of Portland 1866". Maine Memory Network. Maine Historical Society. Archived from the original on July 10, 2011. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
- Horton, Linda (June 16, 2008). "Portland, ME Fire, Jul 1866 - Terrible Conflagration". GenDisasters. Archived from the original on February 26, 2012. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
External links
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