This seemed like the perfect picture to use for the powerplant. I took this on a day which, in one way, was quite the opposite of the day in which the Great Baltimore Fire occurred. It was quite the opposite as it was a terrible downpour. However, I also took this picture on a day when the wind was so strong that we could see the lights on the ceiling of our office appear to move back and forth as our building was actually moving in the opposite direction. The wind was pushing clouds and rain in every direction. For a long time I couldn’t see more than a foot out the window. Then there was a short break, and I took this picture.
The point of this story is that it was windy, much like the day in which the fire ran through the city. Wind played an unbelievably crucial role in the course of the fire. It was a change in wind that saved the Otterbein and Federal hill areas, essentially straight ahead in this picture. It was also the wind that pushed the fire east insuring that every building between Charles St. and the Jones Falls was exposed to the fire.
One thing that you should realize is that, despite everything working against them, firefighters came from other cities to help. By other cities I mean cities as far away as Philadelphia and New York. That’s not to mention every town in between which sent their fire trucks as urgently as they could. This is also 1904. It’s not like there were big red trucks with ladders and pump engines. Fire trucks were generally trailers, to be pulled for the most part by horses.
To make matters worse, the mayor at the time was not available to talk with other mayors and other cities and to ask for help. He was out trying to direct people on the street and to help direct the fire department, whose leader was incapacitated shortly after the fire began. So those towns that sent help did so sometimes without any communication from anyone in charge of anything in the City of Baltimore. Help coming to town was a real fortunate incident in and of itself.
What’s worse was that the fire trucks that did come to town were unable to use the hydrants and the water system in Baltimore because their hoses used a different kind of coupling from that used in Baltimore. So the help that fortunately came was rendered useless.
Because of everything going so badly, the strong west wind, which pushed the fire through the financial district, was actually almost a good thing. The wind’s change allowed the firemen that were there to prevent the fire from spreading in other directions. The eastward movement was almost unstoppable, but firemen were able to protect the area from (visible in yesterday’s picture, but barely) Charles and Fayette, northward. The wind change saved not just the residential northern areas of the city, but it also gave buildings like City Hall a fighting chance.
In addition, there was a river, the Jones Falls, to the east and straight in the course of the wind, where trucks from other cities could draw water without a coupling. The fire was moving directly towards the only place where every firefighter could draw water. It was at that river where a final stand was made and where the fire was stopped.
As the fire crept eastward, it was bound on the south by the harbor. Fireboats tried for hours to protect the wharfs. Eventually they (the wharfs, not the boats) all succumbed to the fire. However, the Power Plant, which was situated firmly on a pier in the water, surrounded by burning wharfs, was saved.
We are looking at a fixture of the Inner Harbor. Most people think that the power-plant was untouched by the fire. However, one of the three buildings included in the power plant “complex” actually did burn. If you look at the building today you can see three distinct parts. Of course one was built only a few years ago, but it still retains much of the impression it had then.
Our view here is from the north-east, looking southwest. In fact, this spot is only 200 or so feet west of where the fire eventually ended. So, if you think about it, the camera is where the fire ended, everything to the right burned, this building was connected to the burn zone, and yet, here it is.
Most people think of this building, which has been repurposed as a retail area after many years without a purpose, as a reminder of the past in Baltimore. It’s ability to resist the fire and to resist for many decades the almost more menacing threat of vacancy is rather remarkable.
3 responses so far ↓
1 bryanintimonium // Nov 13, 2008 at 8:41 AM
For a neat adjunct to this history lesson, an old song is available on itunes – just search for Baltimore Fire for a musical version of the events that are described above.
2 charlieb // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:55 PM
As I check out MDP today I could actually hear the pounding rain and gusting wind. I didn’t know the site had sound effects . I could almost smell the smoke. Great photo. Truthfully it is pouring rain and windy here and I’m sitting next to the wood stove ..a great coincidence.
3 shelly // Nov 13, 2008 at 3:36 PM
creepy and delicious.
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