Great Fire of New York

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 $200 million in property damage.

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 a 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.

As the city expanded northward and its economic significance increased, fire was a major concern. Insurance companies worried that a large fire could sap their resources. The mayor and common council members held stock in or were board members of many fire insurance firms. City officials made efforts to build more watch towers and hire more watchmen. One serious impediment to firefighting was the lack of a reliable water source. By 1835, little had been done to solve the city's water problem. The city's residents as well as its firefighters relied on neighborhood wells, forty fire cisterns and a 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 Westchester County into the city.

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 added only about 300 firemen. 1,500 firemen, 55 engines, 6 ladder companies and 5 hose carts could not protect the city. Throughout the summer and fall of 1835, the department had fought numerous fires. On December 14, the entire fire department – 1,500 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.

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