Notes from the Ottawa Room...
The Great Fire of 1900 – A Disastrous Start to the 20th Century in Ottawa
On Thursday, April 26, 1900, catastrophe and destruction struck Ottawa’s main industrial area. It started as a small house fire in Hull, but quickly became an inferno that covered the region. Thirty mile per hour winds carried the fire across the Ottawa River by the wooden bridge at Chaudière Falls, all the way to Dow’s Lake. Smoke from the fire was visible as far away as Kingston, Ont.
And the next day’s headlines read: "Large portion of Ottawa destroyed" and "Hull to all intents wiped out."
"Just after 10 a.m., . . . a spark flew out of the chimney of (a) . . . wood-frame house in Hull and ignited a fire . . . The fire grew out of control and by noon had consumed most of downtown Hull. . . Embers borne by strong northerly winds ignited lumber yards on the Ontario shore . . . at 12:18 p.m. the alarm was sounded in Ottawa. At 3 p.m., buglers were sent . . . to call out the militia . . . explosions filled the air, as dynamite and industrial chemicals blew up. A power plant was burned, cutting electricity to whole sections of the city. Streetlights were off for five nights. Thousands of people filled the streets, anxious for news . . . By the time the fire burned itself out around midnight, Ottawa’s industrial heart was gone."
Though over 14,000 were left homeless, amazingly, only seven people died in the fire. (More people died of disease in the densely packed, unsanitary tent cities where the homeless were forced to live afterwards.)
The scale of the fire was enormous. Over 3,000 homes were destroyed. Property loss was estimated to be greater than $100,000,000. The Canadian Pacific Union Station and freight sheds on Lebreton Flats were completely destroyed (valued at $40,000), while the value of Canadian Pacific freight lost was estimated at $30,000.
"Lumber King" J.R. Booth lost his mansion and 50 million board feet of lumber. The resulting shortage of lumber forced Canada Atlantic Railway car shops in Ottawa East to cease building new freight cars temporarily.
And the calamity made news around the world. Donations and expressions of sympathy poured into Ottawa from as far away as Chile.
"Even before the flames had died out, relief work had started . . . homeless people were accommodated at the Exhibition Grounds until the middle of June . . . a committee of women presided over by Lady Minto . . . wife of the governor general, distributed food and clothing daily to 3,000 people, until May 19.
"Officials feared that many of the homeless would move away, depriving Ottawa of valuable manpower. Swift compensation was arranged to prevent that: nearly $1 million was paid out, much of it in August."
The rebuilding of Ottawa began immediately, resulting in 750 new buildings by the end of the year.
(Quotes from 1895–1904: Great fire of 1900 left trail of devastation, ushered city into 20th century. Series: 150th Anniversary of Ottawa; Daniel Drolet. Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ont.: Feb 12, 2005. p. E.2.)
Ottawa Room resources include
- Ottawa-Hull fire of 1900 / by G.W. Shorter. Ottawa: National Research Council Canada, Division of Building Research, 1962. Fire study / Division of Building Research; no. 7, 2 v.: ill., maps
- Report by Ottawa and Hull Fire Relief Fund, 1900. Ottawa: Crain, 1900. 121 p.: ill.
- An acre of time / by Phil Jenkins. Toronto: Macfarlane Walter & Ross, c1996. xii, 243 p.: ill.
- List of major fires in Ottawa, 1890–1976 / Ottawa Fire Department. Ottawa: The Dept., [1976]. [14] leaves; 29 cm.
- History of the Ottawa Fire Department: 150 years of firefighting / by J. Bernard Matheson and David R. Fitzsimons. Kanata, Ont. c1988. vii, 267 p.: ill.; 28 cm.