THE GREAT EXPLOSION AND CONFLAGRATION

ON THE PHILADELPHIA WATERFRONT, JULY 9, 1850

Compiled and Written by Harry Kyriakodis
Unit 241, Pier 3 Condo

The first great fire in the history of Philadelphia began in the afternoon of July 9, 1850. Surely
the city's most destructive conflagration during the 19th century, it started at a warehouse on the
east side of Water Street, near the Vine Street Wharf on the Delaware River. The five-story
structure between Vine and Race Streets (closer to Vine Street) was reportedly located at what
then may have been numbered as 39 North Water Street and what is today approximately 237
North Water Street.
Known before the Revolutionary War as King Street, Water Street ran between Front Street and
the wharves along the Delaware River—and later Delaware Avenue—for quite a distance. It
passed through what was one of the most densely-populated places in the Philadelphia at the
time. Philadelphia's 1793 yellow fever epidemic began and was concentrated only two blocks to
the south along Water Street and the nearby docks.

As the immense fire happened before the 1854 Consolidation of Philadelphia, the congested
commercial/dockside area was partly outside the original city limits of Philadelphia, which then
had its northern boundary at Vine Street. About half of the zone of devastation was thus in
Northern Liberties.
The fire began when pressed hay stored in an upper floor of the warehouse somehow
combusted. This itself did not cause much alarm, but several violent explosions of saltpeter—
stored in the Water Street warehouse's basement—spread the fire. Burning hay and flaming
embers from the destroyed building flew in all directions; the wind carried bits of smoldering
sulfur (stored at an adjoining building) all the way to Broad Street. The hot dry weather of that
July certainly did not help matters.
Very quickly, the resulting inferno extended southwards to Race Street, westwards past Front
Street to Second Street, and northwards to Callowhill Street. Many people who lived within half
a mile of the district packed their things and prepared for a sudden evacuation. The entire city
was at risk of a devastating catastrophe that night. Mass confusion prevailed.
News of the blaze was telegraphed across the United States and was even later reported in
England. (Other big news of that day was the death of President Zachary Taylor in office.)
More than 100 firemen from as far away as Newark, New York, Wilmington and Baltimore
arrived to relieve native firefighters who had became exhausted by the heat and their efforts.
The inferno—its light seen for thirty miles around—was subdued sometime during the night.
The calamity injured about 100 people and took at least 28 lives (accounts vary), including
some killed in the street and in adjacent buildings as a result of the first great mighty explosion.
Others were trampled in the chaos. Yet others drowned in the Delaware River from the shock
of the main explosion or from purposefully jumping into the river to escape the devastation.
Some firemen apparently died too.
Property damage was variously estimated at between one and 1.5 million dollars. Three
hundred and sixty-seven buildings, including an old Quaker meeting house used as a school,
were reduced to ashes in some 18 acres. About 300 of the destroyed structures were small
rowhome dwellings, leaving many poor families homeless. In a fairly uncommon civic action in
that era, the Philadelphia City Councils appropriated $10,000 for the relief of survivors, and the
Commissioners of Northern Liberties did the same. Local citizens also contributed some
$31,000 for the assistance of those injured.
Almost all of Water Street as it existed in the 18th and 19th centuries has been obliterated by
Interstate 95 and the Vine Street Expressway. But the part of Water Street between Race and
Callowhill Streets still remains (as well as in South Philadelphia). The block that was ground
zero of the explosion and fire was rebuilt and resumed being as congested as before. Some of
the smaller buildings there were later replaced by larger warehouses. The area became very
rundown and deserted by the mid-20th century.
An empty lot now occupies the entire block, which is immediately north of the Philadelphia
anchorage of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. Plans for a condominium development at the site
fell through, but it seems likely that the lot will one day be used for residential or recreational
purposes, given its proximity to Penn's Landing and the entire Delaware River waterfront.
The nearby block along Front Street (between Vine and Callowhill Streets) does contain
residential housing and today comprises the core of the River's Edge Civic Association. All of
these structures were built after 1850, some using the foundations of buildings destroyed in the
colossal blaze. The basements of a few of these structures reputedly go back to an even earlier
era in Philadelphia's history: the time when pioneers dug caves into the muddy embankment of
the Delaware River as their initial shelter upon reaching the new settlement of Philadelphia in
the 1680s. These shallow caves were later incorporated into some of the basements of the
original houses and shops along what became Water Street.
The following excerpts are from several sources as indicated.
 This is from 1849 map of Philadelphia. The fire was centered at the
center-lower right but spread one to two blocks north, south and west.
******************************************
On Third-day afternoon about 4 1/2 o'clock, a fire broke out in an extensive block of stores owned by
John Brock & Sons, situated on Delaware Avenue, south of Vine street, where was stored a large quantity
of saltpetre. The block was variously occupied. A tavern,—a dance-house,—a place for storing hay,—
&c., &c. It is not positively known how the fire originated. The "Daily News" says, "The flames spread
with fearful rapidity, and it was with difficulty that the clerks could escape with the books. The intense
heat made by the hay, fused the saltpetre, and an explosion was the result; a terrible one, after several of
no consequence, except that they served to warn those near of the danger that might be apprehended from
a too close proximity to the burning building. The noise was terrifying, and the effect was appalling.
Burning embers were thrown about in all directions, among the firemen and citizens, and in the effort of
all to escape, many were trampled under foot, and a large number were crowded into the dock, and
narrowly escaped drowning."
"The effect of the explosion in spreading the fire, was immediately seen. The splendid storehouse on the
south of that in which the fire originated, occupied by Ridgway & Budd, flour dealers, was at once
enveloped in flames; and in a little while the large block of buildings on the north, in the occupancy of the
Lehigh Transportation Company was in a like condition. The flakes of burning hay were carried to the
westward, and fired the dwellings on the west side of Water street, which extended to Front street, and
which were occupied by a large number of poor families. In consequence of the weather being warm, and
the roofs dry, the fire spread in a fearful manner, so much so, that several of the inmates were burned to
death in their attempt to escape. The intensity of the fire prevented the firemen from approaching it, so as
to render much efficient service, and the wind blowing fresh from the south-east, the flames continued to
spread to the west and north. It was not long before it had crossed to the west side of Front street, and to
the north side of Vine street. The whole range of dwellings on the west side of Front street, extending
from Vine halfway to Race, were soon in flames. Many of these were new fine edifices. The one on the
corner of New and Front, was owned and tenanted by Thomas Wattson, biscuit baker. All these are in
ruins. The flames continued to spread towards Second street, on a line parallel to the extent of the
conflagration on Front street. The buildings on New street, many of them handsome edifices, and the
Public School on the same, were all burned, also those on Vine street, from Front to Second. All these
buildings were tenanted, and the endeavour of the inmates to save their property, and to escape to a place
of safety, added to the confusion. Household goods were piled upon the pavements in all directions, and
in many instances handsome furniture was thrown from the upper windows of burning dwellings, and
destroyed in this way. The scene was awful beyond description. Many parents were running about
wringing their hands, and uttering lamentations for a missing child; wives weeping for their husbands,
and husbands in the search of their wives, contributed to make the scene more painful. The fire continued
to spread, and at 8 o'clock, had extended almost half way from Vine to Callowhill on Front and New
Market street; from Front to Water street, it was burning just as rapidly, and along Delaware Avenue it
had reached the extensive storehouse of A. Wright & Nephew, salt dealers. On Vine street wharf, there
were several hundred cords of pine and oak wood, which could easily have been removed before fire
reached it, but which was permitted to burn, and contributed to the flames. After darkness had set in we
took our station upon an elevated position from which we could survey the whole scene, and a sublime
and fearful one it was. On went the flames, cracking and roaring, enveloping some of the finest edifices
which our city could boast, and rendering them in a short time, a heap of ruins. To the west and the north
all was one vast sea of fire, while ever and anon the falling of the walls, and the shouts of the multitude
thereat, served to render the scene fearfully terrific—awfully sublime!"
The conflagration was subdued by 12 o'clock. It was bounded on the north by Callowhill street, except a
few houses east of Front street; on the west by the east side of Second street; on the south taking in both,
sides of New street; and on Front street running somewhat further south, and thence east to the Delaware.
This large area is now a heap of ruins or tottering walls. But the most lamentable part of the dispensation
is the maiming and loss of life. The morning papers give lists of the dead and wounded—from 30 to 60—
and since their accounts were written other dead bodies have been found, 17 in all.
The building in New street in which Friends' meeting for the Northern District was formerly held, but
which has been recently occupied as a public school, was destroyed. A number of Friends have been
burnt out, and others have had much valuable property destroyed.
During the raging of the fire, a telegraphic despatch announced the death of Z. Taylor President of the
United States. From the "Daily News" of 10th instant, we extract as follows:—
"He breathed his last at about half-past tea o'clock last evening, surrounded by his family, the Cabinet
officers, the Mayor of Washington, the District Attorney, and the Physicians who had been attending
him."
--From The Friend, vol. 23(?) at 344 (Seventh Month 13, 1850).
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Conflagration In Philadelphia.—Our paper of last week being in type when the awful conflagration with
which our city was visited, on the afternoon and night of the 9th inst., commenced, a very brief notice of
this appalling event was inserted in our Summary of News. The building in which the fire originated was
a large double store on Water street on the south side of Vine. The northern half was occupied by Gordon
& Berger, hay dealers; and the southern by John Brock, Sons & Co., for storage. According to the
accounts furnished to the coroner, there were stored in the apartment occupied by Brock & Co., about 250
bags of saltpetre, averaging about 200 lbs. each; about 80 barrels of brimstone, weighing about 350 lbs.
each; and about 50 hogsheads, 10 tierces and 70 barrels of molasses; and 91 hogsheads of sugar. The
saltpetre and brimstone were on the first or ground floor on Water street, and the sugar and molasses on
the lower or cellar floor, immediately underneath. There was a large hatchway, which was open at the
time, communicating between these apartments. The fire commenced in the northern part of the building
where a quantity of hay was stored. As the brimstone and saltpetre were fused by the fire, they ran down
and mingled with the saccharine matter below. As this matter was subjected to an intense heat, the
materials of gun powder were brought into proximity. Water was, no doubt, added to these ingredients;
and very possibly the decomposition of that compound may have contributed to the awful and destructive
explosion which ensued.
However it may have been produced, the explosion scattered the burning materials over the neighbouring
houses, and set a number of them simultaneously in flames. The number of persons thus suddenly
deprived of life is not ascertained. Several appear to be missing, whose fate of course is yet unknown.
The killed are estimated from twenty to thirty; and those seriously injured are doubtless more numerous.
As the wind at the time set in from the southeast, the flames spread with appalling rapidity, until the night
was far advanced. Fire companies, with their apparatus, poured in from the villages in the vicinity,
including an acceptable and efficient force from Wilmington. But it is questionable whether the united
exertion of all the firemen could have arrested the conflagration, if their efforts had not been assisted, and
in some measure superseded, by a change in the direction of the wind. We are informed that the current
of air, on every side, was apparently directed toward the fire. An effect which would be necessarily
produced, in a tranquil atmosphere, by the intense heat of the fire, and the consequent rarefaction of the
superincumbent air. Aided by this favourable event, the toiling and exhausted firemen, and the numerous
citizens whose lives and property were exposed to imminent danger, had the satisfaction, before morning,
to find the destroying element arrested in its course. The number of houses consumed is reported to be
three hundred and sixty-three. Hence we perceive that numerous families have thus been suddenly
rendered houseless and homeless, except so far as their wants are supplied by the liberality of their
friends. Of these families, there are certainly not a few who have lost nearly all they possessed. The
rapidity with which the flames advanced, the number of houses at once exposed to the danger, and the
uncertainty where the destruction would terminate, presented nearly insuperable difficulties in the way of
those who laboured to remove any portion of their furniture to places of safety.
A public meeting of the citizens was promptly convened, and measures adopted for extending the
requisite aid to the sufferers. Any estimate of the amount of property thus consumed, must be
exceedingly uncertain. Probably a million and a half of dollars would hardly cover the whole. It is
believed that the insurance offices are fully competent to meet their liabilities.
This event, following so quickly those of a similar character at New York and Brooklyn, has excited an
inquiry as to the explosive capabilities of saltpetre, in such combination as may be suddenly formed in the
building where it is stored; and it is to be hoped that the subject will be fully investigated before this
conflagration shall be allowed to fade on the memory. If it should be ascertained that the materials which
are said to have been stored in the building where the explosion took place, are actually capable of
producing that effect, or if a reasonable apprehension of such capability remains, there can be no doubt of
the necessity of adopting some regulation to prohibit, under adequate penalties, the storing of such
dangerous and destructive articles in the same building; more particularly in the interior of our city. The
exposure of property and life to such appalling danger is too serious an affair to be passed negligently by.
--From Friends' Review, vol. III, no. 44, at 696 (Seventh Month 20, 1850).
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PHILADELPHIA, TUESDAY EVENING. - A fire broke out in a five story warehouse on the wharf
below Vine street, entirely consuming every thing through to Water-street, demolishing Ridgeway and
Budd's establishment, and seriously damaging a number of stores and dwellings on the west side of Water
street. A large quantity of gunpowder and saltpeter stored in a cellar exploded, blowing fifteen or twenty
persons into the river. Ten or twelve are seriously injured. The fire is raging terrifically. At least one
mile square is in a blaze, and from 150 to 200 houses have already been destroyed and several lives lost.
Morse's telegraph line has been cut off by the conflagration, and Bain's is in jeopardy.
--From The Anglo Celt, an English (Liverpool) newspaper (July 26, 1850).
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The Southeast Prospect of the City of Philadelphia, c.1720, by Peter Cooper.

This work gives an idea how congested Philadelphia's waterfront was even
130 years before the 1850 fire.
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July 9th, 1850. A fire broke out in a five-story warehouse on the wharf below Ninth[sic; i.e. Vine]-street.
When it was discovered it had made considerable headway, and but a short time elapsed before the whole
building was enveloped in flames. The fire extended through to Front-street, from there to Race-street,
thence above Callowhill-street through Vine-street to Second-street, thence through John-street to
Newmarket[i.e. New Market]-street, thence to Callowhill-street, and also destroyed a few houses on
Buckskin Court, West's Alley, Courtland Place, and a number of courts and alleys adjoining.
Two explosions of saltpetre occurred in the building where the fire originated, rending the walls asunder,
and throwing the burning timbers in every direction, by which means the fire was communicated to a
large number of houses. The firemen hastened to the scene of destruction, and were soon engaged in
combating the flames. The first explosion caused but a little alarm. The firemen worked on; the fire
began to spread, and in a short time a startling explosion took place, quickly followed by another,
spreading havoc in all directions. Beams of wood, scantling, bricks, metal roofing, and blazing shingles,
were thrown into the air, spreading to a greater extent the flames of the already disastrous conflagration.
The scene presented was appalling in the extreme, and such as our pen cannot describe. On the eastern
front of the stores, where the last explosion occurred, the rush for life was terrific. Men and boys, firemen
and bystanders, rushed away from the conflagration, and as they endeavored to escape from the danger,
hundreds rolled over, and trampled upon each other, running and jumping over the large piles of cotton
and other goods on the wharves. Several were knocked down as if dead, and hundreds were rushing over
their fallen bodies, causing legs and arms to be dreadfully broken, and inflicting wounds of a serious
nature. In the fright some were thrown into the Delaware river; while a large number voluntarily jumped
in, to shield themselves from the bricks and timbers thrown from the burning stores. Frightful indeed was
the loss of life, and still greater dangers threatened, yet the noble exertions of the firemen continued
unabated, excepting when a pause in their perilous labor was required for their safety. At night the scene
became still more fearful. The heavens presented a lurid glare, and the light of the conflagration was
distinctly seen for thirty miles around. Large volumes of smoke were borne along by the wind, and the
alarm-bells were ringing every quarter of an hour, and word was passed from lip to lip that the furious
element was sweeping everything before it. Falling wails and blazing buildings were to be seen on all
sides. Alleys and streets were crossed by the fire, which for a time seemed to bid defiance to all human
efforts. From Camden, on the opposite shore, the scene was truly grand; while the shipping in the docks,
which escaped the flames, presented a picturesque appearance. From the Statehouse steeple the lurid
picture could only be compared to the burning of Moscow. The sight of hundreds of families, for squares
around the fire, fleeing from their houses at the midnight hour, and removing their furniture upon every
species of vehicles, amid the din of a thousand voices, and the roaring and crackling of the forked flames,
was a scene that can hardly be described. Not for a moment did the noble and self-sacrificing firemen
falter in their duty. Difficulty and dangers appeared but to stimulate their courage, and many of them
encountered risks and perils far greater than those connected with the battle-field. After performing an
almost incredible amount of labor till daybreak, the fire was subdued, and, prostrated by over-exertion,
many of the firemen sunk to sleep beside their apparatus. By this awful conflagration thousands were
turned houseless into the streets, and some with nothing but the clothing on their backs with which they
escaped. The number killed was thirty, missing twenty-six,—total fifty-six; wounded one hundred;
making a total of killed and wounded one hundred fifty-six. Loss $1,000,000.
--From David D. Dana, The Fireman (1858), at 83-86.
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A conflagration, by which an immense amount of property was destroyed, took place in Philadelphia on
the 9th of July, 1850. It began about four o'clock on the afternoon of that day in a store at 78 North
Delaware avenue. The fire was beyond control when discovered, and soon spread, despite the most
strenuous efforts to prevent it, to the store-houses adjoining. When the fire had reached the cellar of the
building in which it had originated, two explosions occurred, which rent the walls of the building, and
threw flakes of combustible matter in all directions, setting fire to many other buildings. Delaware
avenue and Water street were crowded with persons who exhibited little fear at these evidences of
dangerous substances being stored in the building. Suddenly a third and most terrific explosion occurred,
by which a number of men, women, and children were killed, and several buildings demolished. This
disaster caused a panic among the firemen and spectators, and in the efforts of all to escape from danger,
many were trampled upon and injured. Some were thrown into the Delaware, and others jumped in to get
away from the falling bricks and beams sent up from the burning building by the explosion. The number
of persons who lost their lives by the explosion was about thirty, nine persons who jumped into the river
in a fright were drowned, and about one hundred persons injured. The area over which the fire spread
contained about four hundred buildings. Its locality was one of the most densely populated in the city,
and, a large number of the residents having been poor people, the suffering caused was immense. The
loss was about one million dollars, and the fire would be a comparatively small one had there been no loss
of life.
--From Alfred L. Sewell, The Great Calamity! Scenes, Incidents, and Lessons of the Great Chicago Fire of
the 8th and 9th of October, 1871 (1871).
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1850, July 9.—A great fire commenced on Delaware Avenue, near Vine Street, and extended south
toward Race Street and west toward Second Street, and destroyed three hundred and sixty-seven houses.
The firemen were so prostrated by the heat and exertion that Mayor Jones telegraphed to New York for
several hundred of their firemen to come on to relieve the firemen of this city.
--From J. Thomas Scharf & Thompson Westcott, History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884 (1884), at 1914.
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Philadelphia does not appear to have been visited by a great fire until July 9, 1850, when a fire along the
Delaware River front, at Vine Street, extended over eighteen acres, causing a loss of life estimated as high
as thirty-three, in addition to 120 wounded, and a pecuniary loss of $1,500,000.
The memory of this fire is perpetuated in the slang of to-day. An explosion was caused by a coincidence
in the contents of a warehouse which contained sugar in the upper stories and saltpetre below. When the
saltpetre came in contact with the sugar a violent explosion ensued, and for a while spread the fire beyond
all efforts to control it. This catastrophe and the controversies which followed it gave rise to the satirical
question: "Will saltpetre explode?" and was followed by an ordinance forbidding its storage in quantity in
the city or on vessels in the river. This act was afterwards modified (April 14, 1851).
--From C. J. H. Woodbury, "Conflagrations in Cities," in Journal of the Franklin Institute (August 1891),
at 138; this was a lecture delivered before the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Jan. 23, 1891.
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This view from a 1875
Philadelphia atlas shows
how the area recovered and
reverted back to its former
congested state. The fire
began near the bottom
center of the image.
************
A fire of great extent in
ground burned over, in the
number of buildings
destroyed, and in the value
of the property destroyed,
broke out on the 9th of July,
1850, in a store at 39 North
Water street, below Vine, on
the East side, in the upper
part of the building, which,
with the one adjoining, was
occupied by Gorden & Berger, whose stock consisted principally of pressed hay. The fire is believed to
have originated from the friction produced by a wheel of a hoisting machine, in active use by the firm of
John Brock & Co., who occupied the lower part of the store, and the wheel was in use all day, in lowering
hogsheads of molasses into the cellar. The firemen were summoned, and soon were in service. During
the operations of the firemen, some noises, as of explosions were heard. A witness afterwards before a
coroner's jury testified that he had counted sixteen of them, before the last and most terrible in its force;
(the noise made by the latter was exceedingly loud). In a moment the walls of the Brock and Gorden &
Berger warehouses were blown out, and the bricks, stone and blazing timbers were sent high into the air.
Upon the west side the fragments were with great violence blown into a house immediately opposite,
which was occupied by several families. Of the inmates, Marcus Marcus, aged 18 years; Caroline
Marcus, his younger sister, and Isaac Marcus, a younger brother, were killed; and the father of the
Marcus' family very much injured by the explosion. Persons in the street were also injured and killed. A
large number standing on the wharf near-by were blown overboard, and several jumped into the river. By
the explosion, a fire which might have been local was rendered of general character. The falling walls
crushed in the roofs of adjacent buildings and communicated the fire to their contents.
Adjoining the Brock store, were the warehouses of Ridgway & Budd on one side, and of the Lehigh
Transportation Company on the other. Immediately opposite a burning bale of hay and firebrands had
been blown in the houses on Water street, extending to Front; they were soon in a blaze. In a short time,
the flames crossed Front street and attacked dwellings on the West side. Extending South to New street,
the flames swept along the latter to Second street. About the same time the houses on Vine street,
between Front and Second, were on fire. Laborious efforts to prevent the flames from crossing the West
side of Second street were successful. Above Vine street, they were carried along Second, Northward on
the East side, and were only stopped six houses below Callowhill street by the parapet walls of the White
House tavern.
There was considerable destruction on Front street above Vine, in New Market street--and upon
Callowhill street. The following will give some idea of the extent of the destruction:
Houses burned on East side of Water street and Delaware avenue,
South of Vine 17
on the East side of Front to Water street 18
on the West side of Front, South of Vine 12
on the South side of Vine street, between Front and Second 26
on New street, between Front and Second 28
on the East side of Second, South of Vine 10
Houses burned between Vine and Callowhill, Delaware avenue and Second street 211
Houses burned North and East of Callowhill and Water streets 15
TOTAL 337
These were totally destroyed. Many other houses were injured by sparks and burning boards which were
carried by the explosion and the wind far and wide. Pieces of brimstone from Brock's store were picked
up in Broad street, and zinc from the roof of that building fell in Ridge avenue. About 300 of the
buildings destroyed were dwelling-houses; the remainder were stores. The loss could scarcely be
estimated accurately. It was supposed that it could not be less than a million dollars, and it might have
been much more; the insurance amounted to $368,000. During the continuance of this fire the greatest
consternation prevailed in the neighborhood for squares distant, and anxiety, all over the city. The
volumes of flame and smoke were immense, and were visible from every direction. Many persons who
resided or were in business at the distance of one-quarter or one-half mile from the place where the fire
was burning, packed up their goods, and prepared for a sudden removal. The flames were gotten under
control by the firemen about two o'clock the next morning, and were confined to the district already
injured. The news being sent by telegraph throughout the United States, brought firemen from other
cities; 100 of them came from New York the same night, some from Newark, and some from Baltimore.
The City Councils appropriated $10,000 for the relief of the survivors by the calamity; the
Commissioners of the Northern Liberties gave an equal amount. A meeting of citizens was held at which
measures were taken to collect contributions for the assistance of the injured; they received about
$31,000, which was properly appropriated.
The cause of the explosion was for a long time a subject of controversy, and was never satisfactorily
settled; the most general belief was that it was caused by the large quantities of saltpetre and brimstone in
the store of the Messrs. Brock. Here were two of the ingredients of gunpowder; the other, it was
suggested, could have been furnished by the brands and coal from the fire dropping from above into the
saltpetre and nitre. There was great discussion on the subject in the newspapers, with ingenious attempts
to solve the question, "Will Saltpetre Explode?" On the same day, when the fire was making its ravages,
Zachary Taylor, President of the United States, died at Washington,
--From The Firemen's Record: As Gleaned From All Available Sources of the History of Philadelphia
From Its Earliest Incipiency, Covering a Period of Nearly Three Centuries: Also a Complete Account of
the Large Fires of the World (1891), at 89-91.
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Fire in a warehouse in Water Street, below Vine Street, on July 9, 1850, was one of the most disastrous of
that era. It began in the part of the warehouse occupied by a firm dealing in pressed hay and extended to
other parts of the building in which quantities of sulphur and saltpeter were stored. There was a great
explosion, which sent blazing timbers, bricks, stones and pieces of metal in all directions, some falling
blocks away. Men were blown from the wharves into the river, and people were killed by the concussion
in adjoining houses and in the streets. The flames and smoke covered a wide area like a pall; houses were
on fire all about. People in that and adjoining sections prepared their effects to flee from a general
conflagration. The entire fire forces of the city, aided by contingents from the fire departments of New
York, Newark, Baltimore and other cities, fought valiantly and had the fire under control on the following
morning. There were 367 stores and dwelling houses entirely consumed, several more were badly injured
and the burned area extended from Callowhill to Vine Streets and from the river front to Second Street.
Twenty-eight persons, including some firemen, were killed and fifty-eight were injured in the fire.
--From John St. George, Story of Philadelphia (1919), at 243.
******************************************

Water Street in the

1950s, more or less
at the conflagration's
ground zero.
These buildings have
long been
demolished. An
empty lot remains.
**********
Behind these wharfs,
and parallel to the
river, runs Water-
Street. This is the
first street which you
usually enter after
landing, and it does
not serve to give a
stranger a very
favourable opinion
either of the neatness
or commodiousness of the public ways of Philadelphia. It is no more than thirty feet wide, and
immediately behind the houses, which stand on the side farthest from the water, a high bank, supposed to
be the old bank of the river, rises, which renders the air very confined. Added to this, such stenches at
times prevail in it, owing in part to the quantity of filth and dirt that is suffered to remain on the
pavement, and in part to what is deposited in waste houses, of which there are several in the street, that it
is really dreadful to pass through it. It was here that the malignant yellow fever broke out in the year
1793, that made such terrible ravages, and in the summer season, in general, the street is found extremely
unhealthy. That the inhabitants, after suffering so much from the sickness that originated in it, should
remain thus inattentive to the cleanliness of Water Street is truly surprising; more especially so, when it is
considered, that the streets in the other part of the town are as much distinguished for the neatness that
prevails throughout them, as this one is for its dirty condition.
--From Isaac Weld, Travels Through the States of North America... During the Years 1795, 1796 and
1797 (1807), 4th ed., vol. 1, at 5-6.