The Great New Orleans Fire of 1788 - Famous Fires on Waymarking.com

The Good Friday fire started about 1:30 p.m. at the home of Army Treasurer Don Vincente Jose Nunez, 619 Chartres Street at Toulouse Street, less than a block from Jackson Square, and within five hours consumed almost the entire city fed by a strong wind from the southeast. The fire destroyed the original Cabildo and virtually all major buildings in the French Quarter including the city's main church, the municipal building, the army barracks, armory, and jail. Only two fire engines were operational and they were destroyed by the fire. Louisiana Governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró set up tents for the homeless.

The fire area stretched between Dauphine Street and the Mississippi River and between Conti Street in the south and St. Philip Street in the north. It spared the Mississippi River front buildings. Among the buildings spared was the Customs House, the tobacco warehouses, the Governor's Building, the Royal Hospital and the Ursulines Convent.

The Spanish were to replace the wooden buildings with structures with courtyards, thick brick walls, arcades, and wrought iron balconies. Among the new buildings were the signature New Orleans buildings of St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo and the Presbytere.

Type of Structure: Private Building Fire Date: 03/21/1788 Structure status: Plaque Cause of Fire: Lenten candles Documentation of the fire: [Web Link] Other: Not listed Construction Date: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   12/06/2012 shell1fish visited it 06/02/2011 Merlin-N-Mim visited it

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