The Destructive Baltimore Downtown Fire of 1904
On Sunday, February 7, 1904 nearing 11:00 a.m., a fire was sighted originating inside the John Hurst and Company building. The structure was located on the southwestern corner of Baltimore Street (then West German Street) and Hopkins Place. The structure was ablaze and spreading faster than the city’s firefighting resources could combat it. Units responded from surrounding areas even as far as New York.
The severity became apparent when firefighters began dynamiting buildings surrounding the inferno to create a preventive firebreak. Crews and fire engines arrived. A catastrophe became inevitable. Close living quarters, unenforced or non-existent building codes and flammable construction materials made battling the blaze nearly impossible. Within thirty hours as the inferno raged throughout the downtown, the carnage resembled a war zone. Over 1,500 buildings were destroyed spanning 70 city blocks. There were no deaths due to the flames, but five related to the fire.
From North Howard Street to the west and southwest, the inferno spread through retails areas leading to Fayette Street. Winds shoved the flames eastward encompassing City Hall, Jones Falls, Little Italy, Jonestown neighborhoods and the Inner Harbor district.
The investigation over the start of the blaze was speculated to be a discarded cigarette traced to the basement of the John Hurst Building. A culprit was ever identified.