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Look Back: Great Fire of 1849
Date: 5/13/2011 Album ID: 1246589
Photos by Missouri History Museum, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and History of St. Louis
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By Tim O'Neil --- On the night of May 17-18, 1849, a hard wind blew from the northeast across the Mississippi River. It would serve as a bellows for a long, destructive night. St. Louis’ Great Fire destroyed 418 buildings on 15 blocks. Three people were confirmed dead, but more probably perished on the steamboats. At least one burning boat blew up.
The painting at St. Louis City Hall portrays the riverfront as of 1840, looking north. At near left is the Market Building, at Market and Front streets, which doubled as city hall. During the Great Fire of May 17-18, 1849, firefighters saved the Market Building by kicking embers off the roof. Most of the buildings shown were destroyed, although the Old Rock House to the immediate north of the Market Building also survived. The Old Rock House had been the warehouse of Manuel Lisa, one of St. Louis' early fur traders. The fire destroyed 418 commercial buildings and homes on 15 riverfront blocks, 23 steamboats and tons of freight that had been stacked upon the landing.
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This drawing by Nathaniel Currier was used by many publications across the country reporting on the Great Fire in St. Louis. The fire began about 10 p.m. May 17, 1849, on the steamboat White Cloud, which was moored at the north end of the city's landing (the site is at today's Laclede's Landing, roughly beneath the Martin Luther King Bridge). Flames from the White Cloud spread to the steamboat Edward Bates, moored next to it on the downstream side. The Bates broke free and drifted, eventually spreading fire to 23 steamboats. Flames spread to freight stacked upon the landing and jumped Front Street into the riverfront commercial district. Crews on a few steamboats were fortunate to have steam up in their boilers and paddled away, but a strong wind out of the northeast pushed any drifting boats back into the firestorm. At least two moored boats blew up when fire reached cargoes of gunpowder. The official death toll was three, but historians believe more died on the steamboats. (Missouri History Museum)
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Another drawing of the firestorm in the business district. In the background are the dome of the St. Louis (Old) Courthouse and the steeple of the St. Louis (Old) Cathedral. Both of those landmarks were spared, but the firestorm got within a block of the Cathedral. Firefighters saved it by blowing up a row of buildings along Market at Second streets. The caption below the photo is in English and German. The drawing by Henry Lewis, a visiting German artist, appeared in a publication in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1854. (Missouri History Museum)
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A daguerreotype of the ruins of the city's commercial district, looking south toward the steeple of the St. Louis (Old) Cathedral. Thomas Easterly, a portrait maker in St. Louis, made the image using an early form of photography known as the daguerreotype. The method required a time exposure. (Missouri History Museum)
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This map shows the extent of the damage caused by the Great Fire of May 17-18, 1849, and what's there today. The destruction was along the riverfront and on 15 former city blocks that now are part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. The Gateway Arch sits atop the heart of the fire zone. (Richard Rokicki/Post-Dispatch)
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Members of the Union Fire Company, one of the city's early volunteer units, show off their hand-pumped fire engine. St. Louis fought the Great Fire entirely with volunteer firefighters and citizens on bucket brigades. They fought with bravery, but the inadequacy of the volunteer system in a fast-growing city of almost 77,000 people was made obvious during the Great Fire. In 1849, all of the companies had hand-powered pumpers. On the night of the fire, they hooked their hoses onto the city's rudimentary system of hydrants until they drained the old water reservoir, a hollowed-out Indian mound in today's Laclede's Landing district. Firefighters then drew water from the river. The city created its Fire Department in 1857 with three steam-powered engines. (History of St. Louis, J. Thomas Scharf, 1883)salary of $1,000. He had been chief of the Mound volunteer Fire Company, at North Broadway and Brooklyn Street, just north of present-day downtown. His company sold its fire truck and house to the city for $250. Gunsmith Samuel Hawken helped to organize the Union company 1832. It disbanded in 1855. (Post-Dispatch)
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Capt. Thomas Targee, who was killed creating a fire break that saved the St. Louis (Old) Cathedral and other buildings south of Market during the Great Fire. They did that by blowing up buildings along the south side of Market near Second Street. He died in a premature blast at Phillips Music Store, Market and Second streets. Targee is the first hero of the St. Louis Fire Department, which was created eight years after the fire. One of the department's fireboats on the Mississippi River was named in his honor. The Scottrade Center and the Peabody Opera House (formerly Kiel Auditorium) sit atop old Targee Street, where Frankie Baker shot Allen Britt in 1899. The love-gone-bad killing inspired the ballad, Frankie and Johnnie. (Missouri History Museum)
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The Old Rock House in the late 1930s, when it was used as a tavern. It had been remodeled and modified several times since fur-trader Manuel Lisa, one of the city's first businessmen, built it in 1818 as his warehouse on Front Street. The building survived the Great Fire and the massive demolition of the riverfront that began in 1939 to make way for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Workers removed the roof and other ad-ons, but dismantled it in 1959 to await permanent reassembly at a site nearby. Most of the stones were lost or stolen. Some are on display in the Old Courthouse, and the rest of what's left are in storage. The Rock House was at 13-14 North Front Street, later called Wharf Street and now known as Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard.(Jefferson National Expansion Memorial)
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