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On the afternoon of June 25, 1914, Salem was rocked by an explosion at the Korn Leather Factory in the Blubber Hollow neighborhood along the North River. Minutes later, at 1:37 pm, the first alarm sounded at firebox 48 on Boston Street. Despite efforts to extinguish the blaze, the fire quickly spread, moving southward on a strong wind that carried sparks from one burning building to another. For almost 15 hours the fire raged as local firefighters joined forces with fire companies from more than 20 other communities and 1,700 state militiamen to contain the blaze.
When the fire was finally contained the next day, city residents and officials were left reeling from the physical devastation:
- 250 acres of the city lay in smoldering ruins
- More than 1,600 buildings destroyed
- More than $15 million in damages (equivalent to $350 million today)
- More than 1/3 of city residents were unhoused, jobless, or both
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Digitized Archives
The Great Salem Fire Photographs and Ephemera
The Great Salem Fire Books and Documents
Theodore C. Browne Letter
Theodore Crowninshield Browne was born in Salem on July 17, 1892, to Charlotte (Crowninshield) and Edward Browne. The family lived at the corner of Broad and Summer streets. Theodore was away studying at Harvard University in Cambridge when the Great Salem Fire of 1914 began on Thursday, June 25th. While preparing for exams on campus, he noticed smoke in the distance out his window and was informed it was in his hometown of Salem. After trying to call home and learning that the trains were not running to Salem, he hopped on his motorcycle. He chronicled the ordeal in a letter complete with drawings to a person named Lewis. Theodore states in the letter that he spent much of his school year managing the Harvard Drama Club and it shows. His dramatic prose is what makes this read all the more delightful!
Theodore went on to graduate from Harvard in 1915 and worked as a lawyer, inventor, and engineer. For many decades, he oversaw the patent department of the Dewey and Almy Chemical Company in Cambridge. He died in 1973, at the age of 81.
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Digitized Archives
Theodore Browne Letter and Transcription
H. H. Grant Postcards
H.H. Grant lived at the Samuel Pope House at 65 Boston Street, only feet away from where the Great Salem Fire began. He and his family acted quickly and moved some of their furniture and keepsakes to a neighbor’s yard at 69 Boston Street, sparing them from the fire. Grant documented the event for his family with real photo postcards.
This picture shows a part of my household goods in a yard near by where we carried them out of the burning house. I saved all my goods without very heavy loss. We are coming up there about the last of August or first of September and then I can tell you more about it. Have you got your spare bed room ready for us? If not get a move on you or we will catch you napping. - H. H. Grant
The second postcard, addressed to his father, shows the destruction to Grant's house. The home was saved and still stands at the corner of Boston and Proctor Street.
Dear Father,
This is a front view of the house where we lived before the big fire. I had these pictures taken my self. This fire burned over 252 acres which is some fire in a city. It cleared about one third of the whole town of 47,000 people. Hundreds of homes and factories were burned and 3,5000 people left homeless. Relief money has poured in here by the thousands from all over the U.S. - H. H. Grant
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Digitized Archives
H. H. Grant Postcards
St. Joseph Church
St. Joseph Church on Lafayette Street was ravaged by The Great Salem Fire of 1914, leaving many French-Canadians without a place to worship. According to the July 3, 1914 edition of the Courrier de Salem, the Salem Normal School (Salem State University) offered its Assembly Hall in the Sullivan Building to host church services. At the time, many parishioners were living in tents at nearby Forest River Park, which they nicknamed Camp Binetteville after their pastor.
The basement of St. Joseph Church was rebuilt and opened on July 25, 1915. The remainder of the church was not constructed until 1950.
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Digitized Archives
St. Joseph Church Photographs and Ephemera
Grammar and Primary Schools
The Great Salem Fire of June 1914 destroyed three grammar and primary schools leaving many students without a place to return for the coming fall semester. In July, Salem’s Superintendent of Schools, William W. Andrew, quickly created a tentative plan to disburse displaced students throughout the remaining schools.
Principal Joseph Asbury Pitman of the Salem Normal School (Salem State University) offered to educate students from the nearby Saltonstall School on Holly Street and Browne School on Ropes Street at the Horace Mann Training School on campus. The Oliver, Lowe, and Endicott schools were able to accommodate the remaining students burned out of the Lincoln School on Fowler Street.
Students weren’t the only ones without a school, many teachers found themselves out of work following the Fire. To ease concern, Superintendent Andrew elected to rehire all teachers for the next school year, prioritizing school choice for those teachers that had also been burned out of their homes.
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Digitized Archives
Salem Schools Photographs and Ephemera
Boy Scouts
The Great Salem Fire left many Salemites displaced from their homes, including Salem Fraternity Superintendent Herbert C. Farwell. Farwell had spent that day in Rowley with his family; when they returned, they learned they had lost everything.
The day following the Fire, Farwell offered the Salem Fraternity's community building for relief work. Charles W. Schaller of the Medford Boys and Girls Club suggested the building be used as a soup kitchen and that the lunches be served to the unhoused without registration or restriction. Over the next few days, more than 6,000 meals were served with food provided by donations and supplies from the fire relief headquarters at Salem Armory.
Schaller also suggested that Boy Scouts from surrounding towns could be used to create a messenger service to aid the various relief committees in Salem. For weeks, Schaller oversaw about 50 boys, who slept on cots in the upstairs music room of the Salem Fraternity building and assisted in the relief efforts during the day.
The Salem Fraternity boys spent the remainder of the summer in Rowley at their camp on Sawyer Island. During the time, the Salem building was used for office work, where aid was given to displaced boys such as providing new clothes and finding employment.
In the months following the Fire, Salem issued numerous building permits, updated its building code, and widened streets to prevent a future conflagration. By the following year, Salem had significantly rebuilt its burned district.
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Digitized Archives:
Boys and Girls Club of Greater Salem Collection on Flickr
Salem Fraternity Photographs and Ephemera
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