The City in Flames - The Great Fire of 1835

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2020

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

PODCAST This month marks the 185th anniversary of one of the most devastating disasters in New York City history -- The Great Fire of 1835. This massive fire, among the worst in American history, devastated the city during one freezing December evening, destroying hundreds of buildings and changing the face of Manhattan forever. It underscored the city's need for a functioning water system and permanent fire department. So why were there so many people drinking champagne in the street? And how did the son of Alexander Hamilton save the day? FEATURING Such Old New York sites as the Tontine Coffee House, Stone Street,Hanover Square and Delmonico's. PLUS: A newly recorded segment about a sequel of sorts to the 1835 fire. The Great Fire of 1845 (or really The Great Explosion of 1845) would once again imperil the lives of New Yorkers. But this time, they were prepared. This show was originally released on March 13, 2009 boweryboyshistory.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's the Bowry Boys.
0:01.6	Hey.
0:02.8	Support for the Bowry Boys is provided by our listeners.
0:06.3	Join us for as little as a dollar a month
0:08.8	by visiting patreon.com slash Bowry Boys.
0:15.8	Hi there. This is Greg Young and welcome to the Bowry Boys podcast.
0:20.9	This month marks the 185th anniversary of one of the most devastating disasters
0:27.1	in New York City history. Now when you think of great fires
0:31.7	and fernos of massive size which have befallen cities
0:35.7	you might think of the great fire of London in 1666
0:40.4	the great Chicago fire of 1871
0:43.9	or the San Francisco earthquake in fire of 1906
0:48.3	but New York has had its own deadly blazes and we'll be discussing one of those here
0:54.0	the great fire of 1835 one which destroyed 17 city blocks
1:00.6	and threatened to wipe New York City off the map.
1:03.9	The fire began on a chilly evening on December 16th 1835
1:09.4	and what you're about to hear on this show is retelling
1:12.3	of these dire events. A terrible blaze
1:15.8	fought during impossibly challenging conditions.
1:19.1	But there are two years I want you to remember during this show 1835
1:24.1	which is the year of the fire and 2009 which was the year that Tom and I
1:29.7	recorded this show. So it was recorded less than eight years after September 11th
	...

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