The Great Baltimore Fire
(Baltimore.) A. B. Hargett . Collection of 23 Great Baltimore Fire photographs
Baltimore, 1904
23 gelatin silver prints (5 x 7 in.) on heavy card mounts. Most neatly captioned in white ink at the lower edge. Variable fading, light wear to mounts.
The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 destroyed 1500 buildings and damaged another 1000, bringing property loss from the disaster to an estimated $100 million. It remains the third most devastating fire in the United States history, surprised only by Chicago (1871) and San Francisco (1906). This remarkable series of photographs documents the destruction. In many photographs people stand on the street surveying the destruction, sometimes with water still trained on the smoldering ruins.
Several photographs bear the stamp or signature of the photographer, A. B. Hargett. Hargett appears as an prize-winning photographer in Photo-Era in 1909 but otherwise little trace of him remains.
The collection comprises:
1. Md. Institute
2. Ruins – Hopkins Place & Howard
3. Looking North from Light St. Wharf
4. Along Jones Falls
5. Swift & Company Pratt St. Market
6. [soldiers holding rifles]
7. [soldiers holding rifles]
8. Looking East from Light St. Wharf
9. Hanover & German Sts.
10. Light & Lombard Sts
11. Maryland and Continental Buildings
12. German & Liberty S
13. Ruins Along German St.
14. Balto St. Looking East
15. Balto & Frederick Sts.
16. Fayette & North Sts. Continental Trust & B.&O.
17. Fayette St. Looking East
18. Farmers & Merchants Bank
19. Where Fire Started German & Liberty
20. Hanover & Lombard Sts.
21. Church of the Messiah Fayette & Gay St.
22. B & O Building
23. Eastern Extent of the Fire Jones Falls
$1,800