How Baltimore Burned in 1904 — and What Changed in the Aftermath

Even quick fires can change cities forever. London, Chicago and San Francisco all burned to their foundations, only to have more modern versions rise from the ashes. Baltimore underwent its own less-famous fire over a century ago, a 30-hour inferno that burned over 70 blocks of downtown. And while the marks of devastation aren’t immediately apparent today —the tall buildings and dense infrastructure all testify to how a city can spring back from even the worst disaster — there is one big relic of that terrifying winter day in February 1904, right under your feet: Wider streets.

Heading into downtown, two lanes abruptly widen into five, causing occasional confusion. Most people dismiss this as a quirk of urban engineering, not realizing that people had fought for their lives on that very spot.

The Baltimore Fire directly resulted in only one death, which may be one of the reasons it’s been forgotten while blazes like Chicago’s stay prominent in the collective memory. Nonetheless, the damage was enormous: in 30 hours, over 1,526 buildings were consumed. High-rise offices burned down to their steel frames; the piers of the Inner Harbor, one of the city’s most vital connections to the world, went up in flames. At the fire’s epicenter, temperatures hit 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.