18451776 Club
Fire from a New Street candle works tears through Lower Manhattan; saltpeter explodes on Broad Street
Bricks land as far as Beaver Street, windows shatter a mile out; after ten hours, 345 buildings are gone and 30 are dead.
Just before dawn on July 19, 1845, fire broke out on the third floor of a whale oil and candle works at 34 New Street in Lower Manhattan, spreading fast through the wooden buildings crowding the district. By the time it reached a Broad Street warehouse packed with saltpeter, the saltpeter ignited. The explosion flattened six to eight buildings outright, hurled bricks as far as Beaver Street, and shattered windows a mile away. Ten and a half hours later, 345 buildings lay in ruins and 30 people were dead…
