1866 great fire of Portland, Maine

Conflagration in Portland, Maine, United States November 2025 January 2025 1866 great fire of Portland Image:Ruins of the Great Fire at Portland, ME.jpg 320px Ruins of the Great Fire at Portland, Me.an artist's rendering by J. E. Baker July 4–5, 1866 Portland, Maine, United States 43 39 5 N 70 15 25 W type:event_region:US-ME inline,title 1,800 Accidental 4https://specialprojects.pressherald.com/portlands-great-fire/death-toll.html 150 Years Later, Death Toll Revealed pressherald.com June 6, 2026 The 1866 great fire of PortlandThe event is also known by similar names with varying capitalization, such as Portland's Great Fire of 1866. spread throughout the city of Portland, Maine, on July 4, 1866—the second Independence Day after the end of the American Civil War. The fire burned out the morning of July 5; while over a thousand buildings were destroyed, there were few fatalities. Occurring five years before the Great Chicago Fire, it was the greatest fire yet seen in an American city. Description 350 Crop from Panoramic view from Observatory, looking westerly, showing Burnt disctrict on Munjoy's Hill.jpg Crop from Looking down Middle St., from Rich's Printing Office, showing portion of Temple and Exchange Sts., and U.S. Custom House.jpg Looking west from Portland Observatory Looking down Middle Street The fire started in a boat house near today's Hobson's Wharf on Commercial Street, likely caused by a firecracker or a cigar ash.Greater Portland Landmarks - Great Fire of 1866 https://www.portlandlandmarks.org/great-fire-of-1866 2025-03-18 Greater Portland Landmarks en-US 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 in the city's east end.Map of 1866 Portland Fire, 1866 https://www.mainememory.net/record/35628 2025-03-18 Maine Memory Network en Four people died in the firehttps://www.firerescue1.com/firefighting-history/articles/remembering-the-disastrous-july-fourth-fire-in-maine-83i7RiEuUlCHmzFt/ Remembering the disastrous July Fourth fire in Maine firerescue1.com July 4, 2016 June 6, 2026 Miraculously, only a handful of deaths — at least four, according to a Portland Press Herald analysis — were recorded. 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. Soon after the fire, Portland native and acclaimed poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow described his old home town: "Desolation, desolation, desolation. It reminded me of Pompeii, that 'sepult city.Famous Portlanders Touched by the Fire - The Night Portland Burned Randy Billings https://specialprojects.pressherald.com/portlands-great-fire/famous-portlanders.html Portland Press Herald live https://web.archive.org/web/20231115200850/https://specialprojects.pressherald.com/portlands-great-fire/famous-portlanders.html Nov 15, 2023 "sepult" is an archaic adjective meaning "buried" More than 600 buildings were constructed in the four months following the fire.The Night Portland Burned https://specialprojects.pressherald.com/portlands-great-fire/ Portland Press Herald live https://web.archive.org/web/20231115200851/https://specialprojects.pressherald.com/portlands-great-fire/ Nov 15, 2023 Notes References Further reading Summers, Lydia B. Portland Greater Portland Landmarks 1999 http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=4171 1866 J. H. Bufford Great fire of Portland 1866 Maine Memory Network Maine Historical Society 2009-07-22 live https://web.archive.org/web/20110710085000/http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=4171 Jul 10, 2011 https://www.gendisasters.com/maine/6913/portland-me-fire-jul-1866-terrible-conflagration Portland, ME Fire, Jul 1866 - Terrible Conflagration Horton Linda June 16, 2008 GenDisasters 2009-07-22 2012-02-26 https://web.archive.org/web/20120226150028/http://www3.gendisasters.com/maine/6913/portland-me-fire-jul-1866-terrible-conflagration dead External links https://archive.today/20120709150349/http://history.rays-place.com/me/portland-me.htm History of Portland, Maine (1886) el Category:19th century in Portland, Maine Category:1860s fires in the United States Category:1866 disasters in the United States Category:1866 fires Category:1866 in Maine Category:Urban fires in the United States Category:Fires in Maine Category:Firefighting in Portland, Maine Category:July 1866 in the United States Category:Old Port of Portland, Maine