many of you have asked why so many of the houses in st louis have three layers of brick
on each wall and the reason for that cannot be told without first telling you a harrowing
story of bravery and sacrifice today i will answer your questions by telling you about
how one steamboat shaped an entire city hi everyone my name is ken welcome to this house
today i am recounting the tragic tale of the fire of 1849.
it was the spring of 1849 st louis was a bustling up-and-coming city with a population of 63 000
and the city boundaries were quickly expanding up to 11th street at this point in time st louis was
about three quarters of a mile in width and had about three miles of riverfront that harbored
many steamboats being located at the junction of the mississippi and the missouri rivers
st louis was the last major city where settlers of the west could stop by and resupply during their
journey to find gold in california at this time the city was dealing with a cholera epidemic which
would eventually claim 4 500 residents which made up nearly 10 percent of the overall population
on may 17 1849 the winds were blowing strongly and howling through the city alleys it was around 9 pm
when a hand cranked fire alarm blared loudly echoing throughout the city the white cloud
a paddled wheel steamboat on the mississippi river docked at the foot of cherry street had
caught fire a volunteer fire department with nine hand engines and hose reel wagons rushed down the
street and towards the river as quickly as they could when they arrived they hooked their hoses
into the city's rudimentary system of hydrants and pumped until they drained the old water reservoir
but this just was not enough the fire had spread to the neighboring steamboat the edward bates
where the moorings charred through causing the edward bates to drift slowly down the mississippi
river as it went with the river's tide it collided with 22 other steamboats and shared its flames
with each of them neither flat boats nor barges could withstand the blaze and so they burned
in its wake volunteer firefighters and citizens band together in an attempt to qualm the flames
but the townspeople coming together with all of their efforts wasn't enough the next several
moments would prove crucial in defending the city nevertheless devastation would follow
where i'm standing right now is where most of the fire that we're about to talk about happened
the steamboats became an unrecognizable inferno that left to the riverfront buildings and consumed
everything within its path destroying everything along the waterfront levee the fire then extended
to main street westward and crossed olive street after completely destroying the three blocks
between olive and second street and as far south as market street it then ignited a large copper
shop three blocks away and burned out two more city blocks volunteer firemen labored for eight
hours and were completely demoralized and exhausted as their efforts did nothing to
stall the flames at this point the city's entire business district was at risk of being burnt to
the ground something had to be done something drastic that is when the decision was made to
get ahead of the fire and leave nowhere for its flames to flicker onward they knew that
this was their only option to sacrifice a part of the city to save the rest of it
six businesses ahead of the fire were loaded with kegs of black powder and blown up in secession
captain thomas b targhi of missouri company number five became a hero that night as he made his way
building to building preparing the powder for detonation he would then lose his life in the
philips music store the last business that needed to be destroyed to save the rest of the city
without his heroic acts the entire city would have been lost along with thousands of lives
it is because of his bravery and selfless acts that this city still stands today the fire was
the largest and most destructive fire st louis had ever experienced to date when the fire was
finally contained after 11 hours 430 buildings were destroyed 23 steamboats along the river with
a dozen other boats were lost and three people had died including a fire captain as a result of
these fires new building codes required that every new building would be constructed with three wides
of stone or brick to more readily defend against the spread of fire and to ensure that a tragedy
of this magnitude would never happen again the saint louis fire of 1849 reshaped the city of st
louis forever st louis eventually rebounded from the fire and cholera outbreak and rebuilt the
river district with brick and iron the late captain targi became a hero of the st louis
fire department which would be officially formed in 1857 today the gateway arch towers over the
epicenter of this tragedy and remnants of the fire can still be seen in nearby neighborhoods
like soulard where almost every building now has three layers of brick thank you everybody for
watching please make sure to like comment share and subscribe i'll see you next time on this house