The Phoenix Rises: Surviving the Great Fire of 1877

 Once on a sweltering June night in 1877, Saint John New Brunswick had faced an inferno that changed it's skyline forever. Walking the streets of modern day Saint John New Brunswick, is like walking through a living museum of the late 19th Century architecture. What had started as a small warehouse fire had quickly spread into a monstrous blaze and this beautiful downtown did not happen by accident but was born of tragedy. Yet, the true story of Saint John did not just speak of fire, but what happened when the embers cooled. This was how Canada's Loyalist City had risen from the ashes and reinvented itself. 

The truth was that Victorian daily life in Saint John New Brunswick was actually defined by the bustling Maritime economy and a catastrophic turning point that was known as the Great Fire of 1877. After the fire devastated the growing city, by destroying sixteen hundred structures in a matter of hours, the wealthy helped rebuild the city from the ground up practically over night in brick and stone. Saint John's commercial and residential heart was defined by merchants wealth, shipping, and the vibrant working class. 

A Wonderful Hub of Trade:

The Saint John City Market had been completed just in time to be one of the few buildings to survive The Great Fire of 1877. This became the bustling hub of daily commerce. The site was a market where fishermen from the Bay of Fundy and farmers from the St. John River Valley had gathered beneath the buildings spectacular inverted ships hall roof for daily trade. 

Maritime Prosperity and Wealth:

In truth, there were fortunes made when it came to the city's shipbuilding and lumber industries. Because of this wealthy merchants had built beautiful mansions all along the city's main streets. Yet, you can also find preserved within this beautiful city, how the upper class lived, by visiting the Loyalist House, which had miraculously survived The Great Fire of 1877. 

The Working Class Roots:

Thing is that the city's heavy reliance on labor had actually led to Canada's first Labor Union, which had been called the Labors Benevolent Association. This was established by longshoremen in 1849. This was because the city had a strong Irish Catholic following the 1840s, due to the famine migrations from Ireland.  Yet, these sometimes resulted in many sectarian clashes. 

Social Culture:

Saint John had also became home to Entertainment that ranged from Victorians attending concerts which arrived in Saint John from travelling regiments to promenading along Prince William Street. This street in modern Saint John is a designated Historic site for Victorian Architecture. 

The Great Fire of June 20th, 1877:

This was known as one of the most catastrophic urban disasters within Canadian History. The event had completely reshaped the geography and architecture of Saint John New Brunswick. During that terrifying nine hours, a wind whipped blaze which began in a small warehouse had spread and consumed over two hundred acres, taking out over sixteen hundred buildings and leveling two thirds of the peninsula. This inferno had killed around nineteen people, and left an estimated thirteen thousand people homeless. 

The Great Fire of 1877, had completely wiped out much of the previously wooden city, yet the total rebuild had created the distinct Victorian enclaves which continue to define Saint John New Brunswick today. 

The Fire's Devastation:

The fire's line barrier was on Garden Street, meaning it spared the outer industrial hubs in the north end. However, it destroyed Waterloo Village, uptown, South End, and Queen Square, which created the rebuild of High Victorian Brick and Stone Architecture. 

The Uptown, because this was the primary commercial core as well as the high density residential zone, this area was completely vaporized. The intense heat of the fire was so extreme it had split granite foundations and turned glass window panes into molten slag. They had rebuilt this area quickly replacing old wooden structures with High Victorian Brick and Stone. In 1982, the area was designated as the Trinity Royal Heritage Conservation Area. This dubs the area as a premier outdoor museum of late Victorian Streetscapes. This was because after the fire the use of wooden frames were banned which gave way for brick and stone store fronts which were adorned with carved stone gargoyles, cornices, and Romanesque Revival Arches. 

Gargoyle in Saint John, New Brunswick, original Source, CBC. 

South End Also known as the Kings and Queens wards, were primarily made up of working class and elite residential blocks, that had been targeted by the raging fire. The fire had raced through the historic Queens Square area along Wentworth, taking out hundreds of residential tenements and multi-family dwellings in a matter of minutes. 

The wealthy merchants had used their insurance money to fast build the Italianate and Second empire residential homes that are around Queen Street and Orange Street. Today, these streets still feature grand brick row houses which featured steep mansard roofs and ornate bay windows. 

Waterloo Village was located on the east fringe of the central peninsula had been a rapidly growing enclave built up of industrial workers, sailmakers, and shipwrights had been entirely leveled by the fire. 

The area was completely rebuilt rather swiftly with tightknit wooden and brick vernacular row houses which had quickly rehoused these displaced workers. The Waterloo village had became an essential cultural hub for the working class and immigrants in the late 19th century. 

The Surrounding Districts:

They had managed to physically block the fire from spreading to the North End areas because of the natural topography of Garden Street Hill, because of this Portland and its sprawling lumber mills were completely spared. Because of this the area had preserved rare pre- 1877 Victorian Architecture. The Jellybean houses on Wellington Row (Now gone) and several Georgian structures had survived with some of them still standing out today. 

Architectural Landmarks From 1877:

The Saint John City Market that is still today located on Charlotte Street, had miraculously survived the fire due to a combination of shifting winds and wet blankets. This City Market continues to be the oldest operating famers market in all of North America. 

The Loyalist House, still located on Union Street had survived the fire due to its brick lined frame and open lot. This is a rare example of Federalist/Georgian architecture within the City. 

Trinity Anglican Church, which stood on Germain Street, though it's original wooden structure had been completely consumed by the fire, Trinity Church was completely rebuilt into a Neo-Gothic stone, which dominates the skyline with its famous fish atop its tall steeple. 

Trinity Church, Saint John, New Brunswick Original Source, Wikipedia

To me, the Great Fire of 1877 though tragic was the turning point for this city and created an unique Victorian Landscape like no other. It has helped shaped one of the most iconic and beautiful cities in all of Canada. 

Until Next time, yours in the shadows,

D.C. Malcolm