HarborHistory

Deja Vu All Over Again

By Richard Marrin

The catastrophe at the World Trade Center was, of course, unparalleled in the annals of New York history. Yet, the waterfront of Lower Manhattan twice before has been visited by disasters—the Great Fires of 1776 and 1835. Each has its encouraging comparison to September 11 and its aftermath.

The first, the Fire of 1776, was like the World Trade Center attack, an intentional act of war. Ironically, the damage on New York City then was inflicted by its own citizens, American patriots. George Washington, unable to withstand the British attack, was forced to abandon the city, allowing the Sons of Liberty to burn it so as to deny the invaders any sustenance. Fires were set simultaneously, all in the same lower, older part of the city, where the Dutch had begun their settlement more than a century before. The first blaze spotted was in a sailor’s brothel near Whitehall Slip, at the foot of Broadway, near the tip of the island. Still another conflagration broke out close by at The Fighting Cocks Tavern at the Battery. A third began at the White Hall Inn, on Broadway near Bowling Green. Some of those setting the fires were caught red handed, with bundles of sticks wrapped in resin and brimstone. They were strung up by their heels and hung from tavern signs or bayoneted and cast into the fires they had created.

The flames spread to what was known as the Mall, a grove of ancient elms preserved by Peter Stuyvesant more than a century before. There had been a drought for many weeks, one of the worst of the century. The wells had all gone dry and brackish river water was being hawked in the streets at high prices. The Sons of Liberty also had been careful to sabotage all the fire fighting equipment so that, even had there been sufficient water, nothing could be done to prevent the spread of the blaze. Soon, the entire lower city was aflame. The cedar shake wooden buildings were tinder dry and the fire quickly leapt from building to building, from street to street up the island, across and north of Wall Street, burning down the residences and shops in the mercantile area of the city. Another tongue of the fire headed west toward the Hudson, destroying in its path the venerable Trinity Church and the river homes of the wealthy. One third of the City was destroyed, nearly 500 homes.

The British made no attempt to rebuild the city. Subsequently, when the Americans retook it in 1783, they saw a far different place from the one they had left. Burned out buildings that had sheltered British soldiers and camp followers were everywhere. Any trees still standing after the first fire (and a second one during the war), had been chopped down for firewood or used to barricade positions against attack. Trenches had been dug as part of the defense along Broad and Wall Streets and bulwarks thrown up behind the burned out hulk of Trinity Church and north near Chatham Square. Churches had been used as stables. Docks and warehouses all needed repair. Garbage and seven years of refuse were strewn everywhere. The merchants had left, the markets had closed, and shipping in the harbor had vanished.

However, in a display of support, the Continental Congress made New York City their permanent headquarters. The population of the City doubled. New businesses and homes were built. Merchants came from other states and commerce, free of British restraint, again blossomed. Westward expansion and a war in Europe gave New York merchants many markets for their goods. A forward looking New York governor, DeWittt Clinton, proposed the building of the Erie Canal, which he predicted would make New York City "the greatest commercial emporium in the world." He was correct. The construction of the 363-mile long, 40-foot wide canal, which took eight years to construct, connected New York City, via the Hudson River, with the Great Lakes and the heartland of America, making New York City the major link between Europe and the U.S. Completed in 1825, the canal ensured New York’s pivotal role in both domestic and foreign trade.

But, another disaster would strike. No one knows for sure how the Great Fire of 1835 started, but it was worse than the Fire of 1776. In fact, it is second only in history to September 11 in causing property damage.