The Great Ellensburg Fire, also known as the Independence Day Fire, was a fire that destroyed homes and the business district of

Ellensburg Ellensburg is a city in and the county seat of Kittitas County, Washington, United States. It is located just east of the Cascade Range near the junction of Interstate 90 and Interstate 82. The population was 18,666 at the 2020 census. and was ...

in 1889, during the same summer that major fires damaged

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Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, all major cities in the

Washington Territory The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...

The fire

The fire began on July 4 in the late evening. The flames were first noticed by people attending a

Knights of Pythias The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization and secret society founded in Washington, D.C., on . The Knights of Pythias is the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the United States Congress. It was founded ...

dance at the Johnson House Hotel. The fire department responded promptly, but strong northeast winds prevented them from halting the advance of the conflagration. The fire lasted from 10:30 P.M. to 3:30 A.M. the next morning, and destroyed over 200 homes and buildings, including 10 blocks in the heart of the city of 4,000. Nearly half of the destroyed buildings had been constructed in the previous two years. Observers who had toured Seattle after its recent fire said the Ellensburg fire destroyed more property in less space. Losses were estimated to be more than $2,000,000 (). The sole surviving building in the downtown area was the Lynch block. Built by John Nash in 1888 for $20,000, it is still standing. The city courthouse survived, being upwind from the flames. The city rebuilt the downtown area rapidly in the following months.

Possible causes

The timing led to suspicion that it was related to the holiday fireworks, although the owner of the grocery store where the fire began speculated that it was started by Indians in revenge for a white man beating an Indian woman. A contemporary news account claimed local citizens found red cards with "You have no pity – we show no mercy" written on them in their yards the next morning. The director of the Kittitas County Historical Museum says the list of possible causes for the fire includes "errant fireworks, insurance fraud, faulty electric lights, striking miners, vagrants displaced by the Seattle fire, disgruntled Native Americans, disgruntled Chinese, even a disgruntled circus that had tried and failed to set up their tent on the edge of town in the high winds that were blowing that day."

References

{{coord missing, Washington 1889 in Washington (state) 1889 fires in the United States 1889 disasters in the United States Fires in Washington (state)