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| Salem, after the fire, Library of Congress photograph |
There was a long drought in May and June of 1914 on the North
Shore of Massachusetts. Then a fire was
reported on the afternoon of 25 June 1914 at the Korn leather factory at 57
Boston Street in Salem. It quickly
spread across the street and the police called 21 other communities for help,
and over 90 men from other towns appeared.
Over a million spectators from all over the North Shore watched the fire
from across Beverly and Marblehead harbors, and from the hills of nearby towns
like Lynn. It burned 253 acres (two
square miles) and 1,376 buildings. 20,000 people lost their homes (out of a
population of 48,000). For a crowded
city squeezed onto a peninsula by a harbor, this was a significant blow. Unbelievably, there were only three deaths and two missing
people.
I checked the census records to see where my ancestors were
living in Salem in 1914 at the time of the Great Salem Fire. I remembered that my paternal grandfather,
Donald Wilkinson, was born on Lafayette Avenue, where the fire swept through
with a vengeance. My maternal great
grandfather, Arthur Hitchings, was born in Salem, and although in 1914 he was
living next door in Beverly, his family was still in Salem. His niece, Muriel Herrick, was born in 1913,
but she told me that she had vivid memories of being carried over the
Salem/Beverly bridge and seeing the city on fire behind her. She was lucky to have relatives to stay with
in Beverly, since most of the displaced citizens lived in a tent city erected
on Salem Common and Forest River Park (near where Salem State College is on
Lafayette Street.)
My grandfather, Donald Munroe Wilkinson (1895 – 1977) was 18
years old in 1914. His father, Albert
Munroe Wilkinson had died in 1908, and his widowed mother, Isabella (Bill)
(1863 – 1935) was living at 4 Loring Avenue in the 1910 Federal Census and in
the 1920 Federal Census with my grandfather and his sister. This house is on the corner of Lafayette
Street, not far from Salem State College. According to several maps of the
Salem Fire I have seen online, this area is just south of where the fire swept
through from the Korn factory to Salem harbor, crossing Lafayette Street. This was a double house, and on the other
side, a distant cousin, Franklin Daniel Wilkinson’s (1845 – 1911) widow,
Catherine, was living at this time period, too.
I don’t remember my grandfather ever talking about the Great Fire. Since he was a teenager that year, he must have had some strong memories. I wish I could go back in time to pick his brain about this piece of history. I'm sure he could remember something, just like cousin Muriel's memories.
I don’t remember my grandfather ever talking about the Great Fire. Since he was a teenager that year, he must have had some strong memories. I wish I could go back in time to pick his brain about this piece of history. I'm sure he could remember something, just like cousin Muriel's memories.
Muriel Herrick, the small child who remembered being carried
across the bridge, almost lived to see the centennial of the Great Fire. She
passed away at age 100, on 24 January 2014. Her parents, Moses Herrick (1880 – 1922) and
Mabelle Hitchings (1881 – 1916), lived at Bentley Street in the 1910 Federal Census.
Moses and the children were living at 4 Smith Street in the 1920 Federal Census.
Bentley Street was near, but not consumed by the conflagration. I suppose they fled out of fear of the
unknown. Can you imagine the citizens of Salem fleeing this fire, not knowing if they would ever return to their homes? The fire was only blocks away from Bentley Street. Smith Street was further away, and nearer to
the Beverly bridge. I’m lucky that both
the Herricks and the Wilkinsons did not lose their homes during the Great Fire.
There are many activities going on in Salem to remember the
Great Fire, and to commemorate the heroes and victims. Salem State University is holding a symposium
from June 20 – 21st. There
will be a moment of silence and a ceremony on Wednesday, June 25th. See
below for a schedule.
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For more information:
Salem Fire fact sheet
The Salem Fire, by Arthur B. Jones online book
Creative Salem – A list of events commemorating the Great
Salem Fire
A Sanborn Insurance Map showing the area of destruction
after the Salem Fire
Digital Commons at Salem State University, Salem Fire Photos
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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-great-salem-fire-25-june-1914.html
Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
My French Canadian grandparents were on Cedar Street (destroyed according to newspaper reports) but they NEVER mentioned it and I was too young to know a thing about it and not doing genealogy so never asked all those questions I now have. They were married in 1907, lost their first baby due to a miscarriage, and had a 2 yr old and 8 month old at the time of the fire!!!!! Horrible to think of!!!! (Pat McGrath)
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