The Great Salem Fire of 1914

June 25th marks the 106th anniversary of the Great Salem Fire, which swept through the Massachusetts city and destroyed many of its historic neighborhoods and buildings, especially in the Blubber Hollow and South Salem neighborhoods, and downtown area (see interactive maps). An explosion and subsequent fire, caused by industrial chemicals, started at around 1:30pm at the Korn Leather Factory, which once stood at 57 Boston Street; by midnight half of the city was burning. Nearly 253 acres of land and more than 1,300 buildings were ultimately destroyed, and close to 18,000 people were displaced, but amazingly there were no casualties reported.

The State Library has in its collection a postcard written by Saugus resident Rosina Niles, who visited Salem a little over a month after the fire.
 

Transcription:
Saugus Mass
                     August 9, 1914 
Mrs Porter How are you all now days. We hear death again has visited your home. Poor Ella I
was so sorry for her Poor boy was he sick long. Mrs Sheldon is not as strong as she was in the Spring it is her nerves by spells
I just hapen to think perhaps you might like one of the
Salem fire cards we went
down and see the ruins the city looks sad enough would like
to have you write to me adress[?] Rosina Niles Saugus Mass
Hope to find you all well 

She provides only a quick mention of the
devastation, but it shows how the event
continued to draw people from near and
far who were interested in seeing the ruins
for themselves. Photographic postcards depicting the aftermath, such as this one, were sold as souvenirs so that visitors could keep the image as a memento or share what they saw with others--because sometimes words alone cannot always fully convey the type of destruction that was experienced in such an historic and bustling city.

If you’d like to see additional images of Salem after the fire, check out our collection on Flickr.


Kaitlin Connolly
Reference Department