The Great Fire of 1879
On September 25, 1879 the great Deadwood fire broke out. Although the citizens of Deadwood thought they had protected themselves from just this kind of disaster, the unthinkable happened. The fire broke out in Mrs. Ellsner’s Empire Bakery and quickly spread when eight kegs of gunpowder blew up in a nearby hardware store. At once the fire was spread all over the town. Three hundred buildings were destroyed in an area of only one-half by one-quarter of a mile. Two-thousand people were left homeless and the total loss of property was estimated at $3 million.
Everyone pitched in to immediately begin rebuilding the town. Bank vaults were found to generally have protected their contents and gold dust was sifted from the ashes to pay for new buildings and equipment. Supplies that were carted by horse and wagon for weeks to reach the gulch had to be replenished.
Within six months a new town was springing from the ashes. Hence today when you walk Main Street, you will see that most of the wood buildings have disappeared and are replaced with solid Victorian architecture of brick and stone.
