The Influence Of The Great Salisbury Fire On The City Of Salisbury

You think we would learn from the first fire that burned down the city of Salisbury, right? The city of Salisbury had two fires that brought great devastation to the city of Salisbury. We learned how to handle the fires after most of the entire city was burned down and when we learned how dangerous fire can really be.
There was a fire that burned down most of the city in 1860, but the real devastation happened 20 years later on Oct 18, 1886 when another fire burned a lot of the city. The city of Salisbury was at a great lost after this fire took place and the people were heartbroken because they lost everything. The origin of this fire was never known because S.F. Toadvine's hostler was in the stable around 6 o'clock and was feeding the animals
Frank Toadvine on East Camden St near Dock Street around the time of 6pm that evening. There was proof where this great fire started because there was three horses and cows we engulfed in the flames of the fire before they could get free from the barn. The fire was finally brought under control 17 hours after the fire had engulfed a majority of the city (“The Great Salisbury Fire”).
This fire was a massive fire that it covered 22 acres of Salisbury in aches and burnt wood and they only thing that was left standing was the brick from the homes chimney’s (“The Great Salisbury Fire”).The fire then traveled Dock Street to Main Street, then to Mill Street, West Church to Division, and then down Camden Street causing great devastation everywhere it went (“The Salisbury Fire”). It left the city distraught and wondering how they were every going to bring the city back to life after such a horrible disaster.
This fire consumed almost all of the down town area of Salisbury and that included Salisbury’s business district of: the town hall, the opera house, many churches, over 55 stores and 58 homes, and also hotels and a post office were destroyed (“Wicomico County”). most people tried to save as much as they could but they only had enough time to save silverware and small things before the fire took over their home. The fire destroyed so much property that the loss couldn’t be estimated so they believe that the damaged done would be over one
In a valiant effort, they did end up saving the county courthouse from the fire. After the great effort of saving the court house, the bell from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church was the first ones to sound the alarm and they also gave the bell to the court house to announce the hours that had passed by (“Wicomico County”). The efforts of the neighboring cities also helped to save the court house after it started to catch fire several times and then after it was saved it was then used to store furniture and goods for safety (“The Salisbury