The Great Fire of 1901 occurred in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 3, 1901. It was one of the worst disasters in Florida history and the third largest urban fire in the U.S., next to the Great Chicago Fire, and the 1906 San Francisco fire
In eight hours, the fire burned 146 city blocks, destroyed more than 2,368 buildings, and left almost 10,000 residents homeless. It is said the glow from the flames could be seen in Savannah, Georgia, and the smoke plumes in Raleigh, North Carolina.
At the time of the fire, James Weldon Johnson, American author, educator, lawyer, diplomat, songwriter, and civil rights activist, was the principal of the Stanton School. In his autobiography “Along This Way,” Johnson wrote about the events he witnessed that day;
“We met many people fleeing. From them we gathered excitedly related snatches: the fiber factory catches afire – the fire department comes – fanned by a light breeze, the fire is traveling directly east and spreading out to the north, over the district where the bulk of Negroes in the western end of the city live – the firemen spend all their efforts saving a low row of frame houses just across the street on the south side of the factory, belonging to a white man named Steve Melton.”
According to, a Times-Union article by staff writer Sharon Weightman, Johnson also alleged that when people complained to the fire chief, he said it would be a good thing for blacks’ homes to burn.
Did the fire department’s attempt to save a few white owned homes rather than attack the main line of the fire spreading through black owned homes result in a fire becoming The Great Fire? We may never know for certain, but it damn sure didn’t help.
10 facts about the Great Fire of 1901:
- The fire began on a Friday around 12:30 p.m. and burned until 8:30 p.m.
- Chimney embers ignited sun-dried moss to be used as stuffing at the Cleaveland Fibre Factory.
- The factory was located at Davis and Beaver Streets.
- Citizens’ bucket brigades joined the city and area fire departments to slow the spread of the flames.
- Dark smoke clouds could be seen as far away as South Carolina.
- Seven people died.
- Ten thousand people were left homeless.
- One of the few city landmarks to survive the fire was the Confederate Monument in Hemming Park.
- The fire destroyed 146 city blocks, 1,700 homes and 2,368 buildings.
- The damage was estimated at $15 million in 1901 dollars—about $418 million today.