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Milwaukee wasn't always the safest city
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Historic Third Ward marker
Milwaukee was just voted the second safest city in America after Minneapolis by Forbes. It wasn't always so. Back in the late 1800s fire was the most devastating danger American cities faced, with the famous fires in Peshtigo, Chicago, and on this date, Milwaukee.
The south east end of Milwaukee's "Irish" Third Ward by the late 1800s had become home to much of the city's industrial, manufacturing, railroad, and harbor facilities. Factories, warehouses, and rail road yards dominated the landscape.
Fire safety then was virtually unknown. Barrels of oil, stacks of lumber, and mounds of coal were found everywhere, sometimes blocking back roads and dock entrances.. The common council was aware of the situation, but did nothing to alleviate the problem.
It was 1892, October, and Autumn had come. On the afternoon of Friday, October 28, the winds picked up and soon blasted the city a 50 mile per hour gale.
The call came in to Engine House 10 about 5:30 pm. An oil drum had exploded, starting a fire at the Union Oil and Paint Company warehouse on Water Street. The fire spread quickly and by the time the Fire Department arrived it had already set the Block Liquor Warehouse and Dohmen's Wholesale Drug ablaze.
As they fought the fire, the brick building next door, the Bub and Kipp Furniture Factory, seven stories loaded with furniture, burst into flame. Soon an entire city block was burning and about 7:30 pm telegrams were sent to neighboring communities for assistance, including as far south as Chicago.
Chicago, which had been helped by Milwaukee firefighters during the Great Chicago Fire, responded by sending four engines on flatcars.
The winds continued to fan the flames as exploding barrels of oil, ammonia, and other chemicals ignited, intensifying the fires. Building after building, block after block was consumed. It soon reached the railroad yards.
The National Guard was called out to help evacuate the area and prevent looting. By 10:30 pm, the first of the reinforcements arrived as firefighters from Kenosha joined the fight. Soon afterwards Chicago and Racine firefighters arrived.
By 11 pm there were over 300 firefighters on the scene and by midnight, though the fires still burned, it was relatively under control.
When it was all over, 440 buildings on 16 city blocks had burned, 215 rail cars had been destroyed and 1900 people were left homeless. Seven had died, two of which were firefighters.
Over the next 36 years, the Third Ward was rebuilt, but the Irish, who had suffered two great tragedies in a fairly short time, had been displaced by the Italians.
A map of the Third Ward devastated by the fire is available at Rootsweb.
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