Charred landscape created by the Great Salem Fire

The Great Salem Fire started at 1:37 PM on June 25, 1914 at the Korn Leather Factory located at 57 Boston Street. Fire departments from the following cities and towns responded to the alarms: Peabody, Lynn, Beverly, Swampscott, Marblehead, Boston, Chelsea, Wakefield, Danvers, Reading, Stoneham, Newburyport, Revere, Lawrence, Malden, Gloucester, Manchester, Medford, Hingham, Somerville, Winchester. In 1914, Salem's population was approximately, 48,000. The city covered 5100 acres and had 5826 buildings with a total valuation of $37,250,000. By the time it was through, "the conflagration [had] burned 253 acres, 1,376 buildings, the territory covered being 1 1/2 miles long by 1/2 mile wide the entire loss probably being much in excess of $15,000,000.00 the insurance loss paid $11,744,000.00, people homeless almost 20,000 and out of work, about 10,000." In the aftermath of the fire, Salem created a rebuilding commission charged with developing new building code and city planning regulations.

View of the barren landscape and remains of buildings destroyed in the Great Salem Fire

Title provided by cataloger

Institution: Swampscott Public Library

Massachusetts -- Essex (county) -- Salem

1914

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SF6

Fires

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Photographs

1 photograph : b&w