The Great Natick Fire of 1874 - Natick, MA
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NorStar
N 42° 17.067 W 071° 20.888
19T E 306396 N 4684029
On January 13, 1874, a fire started in the basement of a store on Main and Summer Streets, then spread and consumed most of downtown Natick and described by the Boston Globe as, “One of seething flame, the light of which illuminated the sky for a distance of twenty miles around!”
Waymark Code: WM64A0
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 03/30/2009
Views: 11
Today, Natick Center is lined with beautiful brick buildings. On the corner of Main Street and Central Street is the Congregational Church with a tall spire and clock. On the left and right along Main Street from Central Street almost to the railroad tracks are multi-story store blocks of brick buildings. On Summer Street is the former Central Fire Station, also made of brick. On several of these buildings, there are plaques that tell of the architecture and history of the buildings they are embedded in. The years stated on each plaque, some the same or one year apart, provide evidence of the great fire that swept through downtown Natick.
The web site at the Natick Historical Society provides a detailed account of the fire, including a map and listing of all 35 buildings that were consumed. Summarized here, the fire started in the F. E. Cummings Drug Store basement. The fire department made it to the scene, but they lost valuable time stoking the fire [ironically] to produce steam to pump the water and and from bursting hoses. The fire then spread in two directions, and by the time help arrived from surrounding fire stations in Ashland, Saxonville (Framingham), Newton, and Boston, the fire was well underway. It took six hours for the fire to be brought under control, but by that time, more than a block had been destroyed. A few of the buildings destroyed included: the Congregational Church; Nathan, Edward, and E. Clark blocks (three buildings in a row on Main Street); J. B. Walcott's Block (shoe factory on Main Street); old town hall and lockup; and several dwellings. The fire did over $650,000 in damage ($12 million, today).
The town immediately went into action and rebuilt downtown Natick within a few years. The Central Fire Station replaced the previous fire station that had burned down. The Congregational Church now stands where the previous one stood. The present Walcott and Clark Blocks stand where their predecessors stood. Other buildings were built such as the Masonic Temple and other stores.
Also, the town installed fire hydrants to replace the system of deep ditches and pumps.
The Natick Historical Society has an excellent account of the fire. The link to the article (which has links to other pages) is below, and the link to a Globe article is listed after this text.
What seems incredible, is that neither source cited any deaths.
Additional Source (Boston Globe):
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visit link)