Great Jacksonville Fire of 1901
Jacksonville's Great Fire of 1901 was the
largest metropolitan fire in the American South. The fire began on
May 3, 1901 with a spark from
a kitchen fire at lunchtime which ignited piles of drying Spanish moss
at a nearby mattress factory. Located at Davis and Beaver streets, the
factory fire soon spread to most of the downtown area. Smoke could
be seen as far north as Savannah, Georgia. By 8:30 p.m., when the fire was
brought under control, 2,368 buildings were destroyed, 10,000 people
were homeless and seven residents were dead. In all, 146 city blocks
were destroyed. The Confederate Monument in Hemming Park was one of the
few city landmarks to survive the fire.
Governor William Jennings declared
martial law, and sent in the state militia to maintain order. Municipal
authority was not resumed until 17 May.
The city spent the next decade
rebuilding its downtown. Famed “Prairie School” architect
Henry John Klutho was brought in to design many of the city’s new
buildings. Out of the ashes of the fire arose buildings such as the St.
James Hotel (later the Cohen Brothers Department store) which when it
opened in 1911 was one of the largest buildings in the nation. Today,
the St. James building is fittingly used as Jacksonville's City Hall.
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