The great fire of

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

, sometimes known as the 1866 great fire of Portland, occurred on July 4, 1866—the second

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

after the end of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Five years before the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago, Illinois during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left mor ...

, this was the greatest fire yet seen in an American city. It started in a boat house near today's Hobson's Wharf on Commercial Street, likely caused by a firecracker or a cigar ash. The fire spread to a lumber yard and on to a sugar house, then spread across the city, eventually burning out early the next morning on

Munjoy Hill Munjoy Hill is a neighborhood and prominent geographical feature of Portland, Maine. It is located east of downtown and south of East Deering. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the neighborhood had a large Irish and Italian American po ...

in the city's east end. Two people died in the fire and 10,000 people were made homeless. Around 1,800 buildings (1,200 homes) were burned to the ground, including the first of three city halls which have stood at the present Congress Street location. Also lost was the federal Exchange Building, which was replaced with the

custom house A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...

. Soon after the fire, Portland native and acclaimed poet

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...

described his old home town: "Desolation, desolation, desolation. It reminded me of

Pompeii Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...

, that 'sepult city."

Aftermath

More than 600 buildings were constructed in four months after the fire.

References

;Specific ;General * * *

External links

History of Portland, Maine (1886)
19th century in Portland, Maine 1860s fires in the United States 1866 disasters in the United States 1866 fires Great Fire Of Portland, Maine, 1866 Urban fires in the United States Fires in Maine Firefighting in Portland, Maine Natural disasters in Maine July 1866 Old Port of Portland, Maine {{Fire-stub