Great Fire of 1911

The Great Fire of 1911 took place in city|Bangor|Maine.

It started in the afternoon of April 30, 1911 on Broad Street. High winds had spread it to a shed on Exchange Street and the Universalist Church on Center Street by 4:10 PM, from where it spread into the residential neighborhood on Center Street Hill. In 1907, the National Board of Fire Underwriters had mapped the fire geography of Bangor, and predicted that a large fire could have spread from that area.

The fire eventually became so large that the glow in the sky could be seen in Belfast. It was brought under control on Monday morning, May 1, 1911, but before it was out, it destroyed much of Downtown Bangor. The Post Office, the Custom House, and Norumbega Hall were lost, along with the three buildings of Bangor High School and the Bangor Public Library. Somehow, City Hall survived, despite being in the direct path of the fire. The library's collection of 70,000 volumes was destroyed, along with much of the Bangor Historical Society's collection. An attempt to slow the fire by dynamiting buildings in its path failed. A light rain that began overnight did much to bring the fire under control. In total, 285 residences, 100 businesses, and 6 churches were destroyed, doing $3.2 million damage and leaving hundreds homeless. Before the fire, insurance companies had considered Bangor a good risk.

Remarkably, only two lives were lost: one Brewer man when a wall collapsed on him, and one firefighter who was killed by a falling chimney.

Fire crews were called from as far away as Lewiston and Portland. After the telephone company caught fire, the wire chief climbed a pole and cut in on a trunk line to make aid calls. One team that was sent up from city|Boston|Massachusetts ended up fighting a fire in Portland when their train stopped there.

The area destroyed by the fire was quickly rebuilt, with many architectural commissions going to New York and Boston firms (such as and Carrere and Hastings and Peabody and Stearns), as well as local designers Wilfred Mansur, C. Parker Crowell, and Victor Hodgins. A large portion of the rebuilt area (43 buildings) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 as the Great Fire of 1911 Historic District.

References

*cite book
title= The Story of Bangor: A Brief History of Maine's Queen City
publisher= BookMarc's Publishing
location= Bangor, ME
year= 1999
author= Marc Berlin, Ardeana Hamlin, Richard Shaw, and Gig Weeks
*cite news
url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9906E1DA1439E333A25752C0A9639C946096D6CF
accessdate= 2007-11-12
title= $6,000,000 Fire Sweeps Bangor
date= May 1, 1911
publisher= New York Times
*cite news
url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9903EEDF1E3EE233A25751C0A9639C946096D6CF
accessdate= 2007-11-12
title= Little Bangor's Big Fire
date= May 2, 1911
work= Editorial
publisher= New York Times
*cite news
url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9900EFDF1E3EE233A25751C0A9639C946096D6CF
accessdate= 2007-11-12
title= Already Planning to Rebuild Bangor
date= May 2, 1911
publisher= New York Times
*cite news
url= http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/csmonitor_historic/access/281563482.html?dids=281563482:281563482&FMT=ABS
accessdate= 2007-11-12
title= Bangor Fire Loss Set At $3,280,482
date= July 29, 1911
publisher= Christian Science Monitor
*cite news
url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E02EFDA123AE633A25757C1A9679C946396D6CF
accessdate= 2007-11-12
title= Is New York City In Danger of Being Fire Swept?
date= January 14, 1912
publisher= New York Times

External links

* [http://bangorinfo.com/Focus/focus_1911_fire.html Bangor in Focus: The Great Fire of 1911]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/tags/greatfireof1911/ Flickr: The Library of Congress' photostream / greatfireof1911]
*cite web
url= http://www.mpbn.net/maineexperience/webextra/bangor/bangorhigh.asx
title= Web Extras: Bangor Lumbering & The Fire of 1911
accessdate= 2008-06-19
work= Maine Experience
publisher= Maine Public Broadcasting Network
format= ASX