November 9, 1872, was a quiet Saturday night in Boston's downtown
business district. Everything was closed, and only a handful of people
were on the street. Then, at about 7PM, a fire broke out in the Klous
Building, at the corner of Summer and Kingston streets. The fire started
in the basement, when a spark from the coal-building steam boiler that
powered the elevator ignited a box of hoopskirts.
Five minutes later, the entire building was a raging inferno. The
Great Boston Fire
was finally contained 12 hours later, after it had consumed about 65
acres of Boston's downtown, 776 buildings, and caused $73.5 million in
damage. At least 30 people are known to have died in the fire.
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