208.53.117.123 at 16:21, 7 October 2025

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{{Short description|1889 fire which destroyed downtown Seattle, Washington, US}}
{{Redirect|Seattle Fire|Seattle's fire department|Seattle Fire Department}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox wildfire
| title = Great Seattle Fire
| image = Aftermath of the Seattle fire of June 6, 1889, vicinity of Pioneer Square (SEATTLE 3052).jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Aftermath of the fire, vicinity of Pioneer Square
| location = [[Seattle]], [[Washington Territory]]
| coordinates = {{Wikidatacoord|Q5599946|type:event_region:US-WA|display=inline,title}}
| image_map =
| image_map_alt =
| image_map_caption =
| cost = $20 million<br/>(${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|20000000|1889}}}} in {{inflation-year|US}} dollars)
| date = June 6–7, 1889
| time =
| time-begin = 2:45 p.m.
| time-end = 3:00 a.m.
| timezone =
| area =
| acres =
| cause = Overheated glue pot
| landuse =
| buildings =
| structures = 29 city blocks
| injuries =
| fatalities = 1
| missing =
}}
The '''Great Seattle Fire''' was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of [[Seattle]], [[Washington Territory|Washington]], on June 6, 1889. The conflagration lasted for less than a day, burning through the afternoon and into the night, during the same summer as the [[Great Spokane Fire]] and the [[Great Ellensburg Fire]]. Seattle quickly rebuilt using brick buildings that sat {{convert|20|ft|m}} above the original street level. Its population swelled during reconstruction, becoming the largest city in the newly admitted state of Washington.

==Early Seattle==
[[File:Yesler Way looking west from 1st Ave, June 5, 1889 (CURTIS 2034).jpeg|thumb|right|300px|Looking west on Mill Street (today's Yesler Way) across Front Street (today's First Avenue) June 5, 1889, one day before this district burned. Korn block on left; Yesler-Leary Building, center; Occidental Hotel, right.]]
In the fall of 1851, the [[Denny Party]] arrived at [[Alki Point, Seattle|Alki Point]] in what is now the state of [[Washington (state)|Washington]]. After spending a miserable winter on the western shores of [[Elliott Bay]], the party relocated to the eastern shores and established the settlement that eventually became Seattle.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.seattle.com/history/ |title=Seattle History |access-date=December 16, 2008 |author=Chris Casey |publisher=Boulevards New Media |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331153627/http://www.seattle.com/history/ |archive-date=March 31, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Early Seattle was dominated by the logging industry. The combination of a safe [[bay]] and an abundance of [[coniferous]] trees made Seattle the perfect location for shipping lumber to California. In 1852, [[Henry Yesler]] began construction of the first steam-powered mill in the Pacific Northwest.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.seattlepi.com/local/40153_yesler25.shtml |title=Ten who shaped Seattle: Henry Yesler struck gold in lumber and real estate |access-date=December 16, 2008 |author=James R. Warren |date=September 25, 2001 |publisher=Seattle Post-Intelligencer }}</ref> Because of the easy access to lumber, nearly every building was constructed of the affordable but combustible timber. Additionally, because the area was at or below sea level, the fledgling town was a frequent victim of massive floods, requiring buildings to be built on wooden stilts. The town also used hollowed out scrap logs propped up on wooden braces as sewer and water pipes, increasing the combustible loading.

==Events of the fire==
[[File:Southwest corner of First Avenue and Madison, Great Seattle Fire, June 6, 1889.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Looking south on Front St. from Spring St. about one-half hour after the fire started]]
[[Image:Aftermath of Seattle fire of June 6, 1889 (CURTIS 448).jpeg|300px|right|thumb|Aftermath of Seattle fire of June 6, 1889, looking east at the ruins of the Occidental Hotel at corner of James St. and Yesler Way]]
At approximately 2:20 p.m. on June 6, 1889, an accidentally overheated glue pot in a carpentry shop started the most destructive fire in the history of Seattle.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Duran |first=Aldo |title=The Great Seattle Fire of 1889 |url=https://lhsledger.org/2965/news/the-great-seattle-fire-of-1889/ |access-date=May 9, 2024 |website=The Ledger |archive-date=May 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509001152/https://lhsledger.org/2965/news/the-great-seattle-fire-of-1889/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Austin>{{cite journal |last=Austin |first=Charles W. |author2=H.S. Scott |issue=Spring, 1983 |title=The Great Seattle Fire of June 6, 1889 |journal=Washington State Genealogical and Historical Review |pages=41–72 }}</ref> The next day, the ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'', operating out of temporary facilities in the wake of the fire, reported incorrectly that the incident began in "Jim McGough's paint shop, under Smith's boot and shoe store, at the corner of Front and Madison streets, in what was known as the Denny block";<ref name="P-I error">{{cite web |url=https://www.seattlepi.com/local/seattle-history/article/P-I-error-Seattle-history-glue-pot-fire-13191834.php |title=The P-I error that changed Seattle history |access-date=September 4, 2018 |date=September 1, 2018 |publisher=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |author=Casey McNerthney |archive-date=September 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904005433/https://www.seattlepi.com/local/seattle-history/article/P-I-error-Seattle-history-glue-pot-fire-13191834.php |url-status=live }} This is an update of the earlier {{cite web |url=http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/The-P-I-error-that-changed-Seattle-history-1531131.php |title=The P-I error that changed Seattle history |author=Casey McNerthney |publisher=seattlepi.com |date=July 22, 2011 |access-date=July 30, 2011 }}</ref> a correction two weeks later said that it "actually started in the Clairmont and Company cabinet shop, below McGough's shop in the basement of the Pontius building", but the original error was often repeated, including in [[Murray Morgan]]'s bestselling Seattle history book ''Skid Road'' (1951).<ref name="P-I error" /> John Back, a 24-year-old Swede,<ref name=Austin/> was heating glue over a gasoline fire when it boiled over, igniting the wood chips and turpentine covering the floor.<ref name=":0" /> Back attempted to douse the fire with water which spread the fire further.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://content.lib.washington.edu/extras/seattle-fire.html |title=The Great Seattle Fire |access-date=December 17, 2008 |publisher=University of Washington Libraries |archive-date=December 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222213724/http://content.lib.washington.edu/extras/seattle-fire.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The fire department arrived by 2:45, but by that time the area was so smokey that the source of the fire could not be determined.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.magoo.com/hugh/fire.html |title=The Great Seattle Fire – Don't Blame Jimmie McGough |access-date=December 17, 2008 |author=Hugh McGough |archive-date=December 27, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227221304/http://www.magoo.com/hugh/fire.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Spread of fire===
Fed by the shop's timber and an unusually dry summer, the blaze erupted and shortly devoured the entire block. A nearby liquor store exploded, and the alcohol fueled the flames. The fire quickly spread north to the Kenyon block and the nearby Madison and Griffith blocks. Wooden boardwalks carried the flames across streets to ignite other blocks.<ref name="mcnair">{{cite book |last1=McNair-Huff |first1=Rob and Natalie |title=Washington Disasters |date=2006 |publisher=Morris Book Publishing |isbn=0-7627-3998-3 |pages=25–32 }}</ref>

A combination of ill-preparedness and unfortunate circumstances contributed to the great fire. Seattle's water supply was insufficient in fighting the giant inferno. [[Fire hydrant]]s were sparsely located on every other street, usually connected to small pipes.<ref name=UWLib>{{cite web |url=http://content.lib.washington.edu/seattle-fire/index.html |title=Great Seattle Fire |publisher=University of Washington Libraries |work=Digital Collections |date=January 23, 2007 |access-date=June 29, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070520045115/http://content.lib.washington.edu/seattle-fire/index.html |archive-date=May 20, 2007 }}</ref> There were so many hydrants in use during the fire that the water pressure became too weak to combat such a massive blaze. Seattle was also operated by a [[volunteer fire department]], which was competent but inadequate in extinguishing the fire.

===Magnitude of destruction===
By the morning of June 7, the fire had burned 25 city blocks, including the business district, four of the city's [[Wharf|wharves]], and its railroad terminals.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=715 |title=Seattle's Great Fire |access-date=December 17, 2008 |author=Greg Lange |date=January 16, 1999 |publisher=HistoryLink.org |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007032315/https://www.historylink.org/File/715 }}</ref> The fire would be called the most destructive fire in the history of Seattle.<ref name=Austin/>
Despite the massive destruction of property, few to no deaths occurred. Some claim a young boy named James Goin was killed in the blaze although no reliable records have been found from that time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Great Seattle Fire |url=https://content.lib.washington.edu/extras/seattle-fire.html |access-date=August 10, 2021 |website=University of Washington Digital Collections |archive-date=August 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810205734/http://content.lib.washington.edu/extras/seattle-fire.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, there were fatalities during the cleanup process. Over 1 million rodents were killed.<ref name="mcnair" /> Total losses were estimated at nearly $20 million (${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|20000000|1889}}}} in {{inflation-year|US}} dollars).<ref>Austin & Scott, p. 45</ref>

Among the businesses affected were:<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=Iron Trade Review |volume=22 |issue=27 |date=July 4, 1889 |title=Industrial Summary |page=5 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_industry-week_1889-07-04_5_27/page/5/mode/1up }}</ref>
{| class=wikitable
|-
! Company !! Damage !! Insurance
|-
| [[Washington Iron Works]] || $40,000 || $20,000
|-
| [[Moran Brothers]] || $45,000 || $1,000
|-
| John Leck, iron works || $12,000 || $1,000
|-
| Front Street Cable || $15,000
|-
| Gordon Hardware Co. || $120,000 || $30,000
|-
| Seattle Hardware Co. || $40,000 || $30,000
|}
{{wide image|Aftermath of the Seattle fire of June 6 (SEATTLE 2974 merged with SEATTLE 2976).jpg|800px|Looking toward Elliott Bay from the burned-over district}}

==Reconstruction and recovery==
[[Image:MOHAI - plates from Great Seattle Fire.jpg|thumb|right|This stack of dishes fused together by the fire is on display at Seattle's [[Museum of History and Industry]]]]

Despite the magnitude of destruction, the rebuilding effort began quickly. Rather than starting over somewhere else, Seattle's citizens chose to rebuild. Seattle rebuilt from the ashes quickly, and the fire killed many rats and other [[vermin]]. A new building ordinance resulted in a downtown of brick and [[Rock (geology)|stone]] buildings, rather than wood.

In the year following the fire Seattle's population actually grew by nearly 20,000 to 40,000 inhabitants from the influx of people helping to recreate the city.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Davies |first=Kent R. |title=Sea of Fire |journal=Columbia Magazine |issue=Summer 2001 |pages=32–38 }}</ref> Supplies and funds came from all over the West Coast to support the relief effort. The population increase made Seattle the largest city in Washington, making it a leading contender in becoming the terminus of the [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]].<ref>{{cite book |last=MacDonald |first=Norbert |title=Distant Neighbors: A Comparative History of Seattle and Vancouver |pages=33–38 |year=1987 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln, NE }}</ref>

===Post-fire reform===
Seattle made many improvements in response to the fire. The [[Seattle Fire Department]] was officially established four months later to replace a volunteer organization with a paid force containing new firehouses and a new chief. The city took control of the water supply, increasing the number of hydrants and adding larger pipes.<ref name=UWLib/> The advent of brick buildings to downtown Seattle was one of the many architectural improvements the city made in the wake of the fire. New city ordinances set standards for the thickness of walls and required "division walls" between buildings.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ochsner |first=Jeffrey Karl |author2=Dennis A. Andersen |title=Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and the Legacy of H.H. Richardson |pages=55–110 |year=2003 |publisher=University of Washington Press |location=Seattle }}</ref> The changes became principal features of post-fire construction and are still visible in Seattle's [[Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington|Pioneer Square]] district today, the present-day location of the fire. At [[Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington|Pioneer Square]], guided tours are also available to paying customers. Also at this location, visitors can tour the [[Seattle Underground]], where they can visit the original street level (now basement level) of buildings and storefronts that were built after the fire.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

* Andrews, Mildred Tanner, editor, ''Pioneer Square: Seattle's Oldest Neighborhood'', [[University of Washington Press]], Seattle and London 2005.
* Buerge, David, ''Seattle in the 1880s'', Historical Society of Seattle and King County, Seattle 1986, pp. 108–115.
* Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, and Andersen, Dennis Alan, "After the Fire: The Influence of H. H. Richardson on the Rebuilding of Seattle, 1889–1894," ''Columbia'' 17 (Spring 2003), pp. 7–15.
* Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, and Andersen, Dennis Alan, ''Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and the Legacy of H.H.Richardson'', [[University of Washington Press]], Seattle and London 2003.
* Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, and Andersen, Dennis Alan, "Meeting the Danger of Fire: Design and Construction in Seattle after 1889." ''Pacific Northwest Quarterly'' 93 (Summer 2002), pp. 115–126.
* [[James Ronald Warren|Warren, James R.]], ''The Day Seattle Burned: June 6, 1889'', Seattle 1989.

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/pioneerlife/id/2139/rec/44 University of Washington Libraries] Austin, Charles W., ''The great Seattle fire of June 6, 1889: containing a succinct and complete account of the greatest conflagration on the Pacific coast.''
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/ University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections]:
** [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/boydBraas/searchterm/fire*!boyd%20braas/field/title!digita/mode/all!all/conn/and!and/cosuppress/ Boyd and Braas Photographs] 88 photographs, ca. 1888–1893, of early Seattle, including the waterfront and street scenes, the Great Seattle fire of June 6, 1889, Madrona and Leschi parks, Native American hop pickers, and portraits of Seattle pioneers.
** [https://content.lib.washington.edu/curtisweb/index.html Asahel Curtis Photo Company Photographs] Photographs (ca. 1850s–1940) depicting activities in Washington state, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska and the Klondike.
** [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/prosch_washington/searchterm/fire/field/subjec/mode/all/conn/and/cosuppress/ Prosch Washington Views Album] 207 images (ca. 1858–1903) collected and annotated by Thomas Prosch, one of Seattle's earliest pioneers. Images document scenes in Eastern Washington especially Chelan and vicinity, images of the waterfront, businesses, residences, and Seattle's early history including the Great Seattle Fire of 1889; see: pp. 48–56.
** [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/seattle/searchterm/fire/field/all/mode/all/conn/and/order/title/ad/asc Seattle Photographs] Ongoing database of over 1,700 historical photographs of Seattle with special emphasis on images depicting neighborhoods, recreational activities including baseball, the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, "The Great Snow of 1916", theaters and transportation.
* [https://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=21090 HistoryLink.org] John Caldbick, The Great Seattle Fire, Part 1, essay 21090
* [https://www.gendisasters.com/washington/4219/seattle-wa-great-seattle-fire-jun-1889 Seattle, WA The Great Seattle Fire, Jun 1889] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118173143/https://gendisasters.com/washington/4219/seattle-wa-great-seattle-fire-jun-1889 |date=January 18, 2022 }} at GenDisasters.com

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1889 in Washington (state)]]
[[Category:History of Seattle]]
[[Category:Urban fires in the United States|Seattle]]
[[Category:1889 fires in the United States]]
[[Category:1889 disasters in the United States]]
[[Category:Fires in Washington (state)]]

Great Seattle Fire - Revision history

208.53.117.123 at 16:21, 7 October 2025