In the 1800s fire often devastated communities throughout North America. Many recall the great fire of Chicago of 1870, but this fire was far from the only great fire to consume city cores.
New Westminster faced a fire on September 10, 1898 that burnt down the commercial core of the city. Starting on the waterfront it quickly consumed six blocks along Columbia Street, the main retail street of the city.
But tragically the fire raged from the Fraser River up to Royal Avenue destroying house after house until 500 families were displaced. And those households beyond the fire were affected as people lost work from the devastation of so many businesses lost.
The Great Fire of 1898
In the 1890s, New Westminster was a good place to live and do business. A city of eight schools, two hospitals, a courthouse, Provcinal jail, Federal penitentiary, insane asylum, cross river ferry system, marker, major port and centre for paddlewheel steamboats. New Westminster was home to weekly and daily newspapers, a railway, a streetcar system, and gas and electrical works. Downtown was a collection of large brick and stone buildings mixed with some constructed of wood.
Just after 11 o'clock Saturday night, September 10, 1898 the fire bell sounded and a shower of sparks rose from the riverfront near the City Market building. By the next morning, virtually everything from the river up to the south side of Royal Avenue, between 4th and 10th Streets, had be consumed. Only two brick buildings remained in the fire zone - the Burr Block and the Queens Hotel. Almost 500 families lost their homes. Many were thrown out of work and there were hundreds of thousands of dollars of loss. Incredibly, there was no loss of life.
The citizens of the Royal City were determined to rebuild, and within one year 29 brick and stone structures had replaced the 28 lost in the fire, nearly 100 residence had been completed and more were planned. The docks were replaced with better ones and industries that been burned out had been reestablished. As the editor of The Columbian said on September 10, 1901, "From the trial by fire, the Royal City has emerged both brighter and stronger."