The Fire of 1879
In the early morning hours of September 26, 1879, fire broke out at a bakery on Sherman Street. The fire spread quickly to Jensen and Bliss’s Hardware where it met eight kegs of gunpowder. The subsequent explosion caused the fire to sweep quickly through the town, destroying three hundred buildings and leaving two thousand homeless. The people of Deadwood promptly rebuilt their town, this time using more brick and stone to provide resistance to fire, creating an image of permanence.
[Photo caption:] Deadwood after the fire of 1879. Main Street runs right and left through the center of the photograph. Williams Street is above it. Curving Lee Street (straight today) is in the lower left. [Photo credit] Adams Museum, Deadwood.
Marker is at the intersection of Lee Street and Main Street on Lee Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
