| 100-year-old Baltimore fire leaves legacy for today By Suni K. Johnson At 9:45 on a Sunday morning, Feb. 7, 1904, an alarm sounded, warning of a fire in the basement of the John E. Hurst and Company dry goods jobbing house, a six-story brick building in downtown Baltimore.This marked the beginning of a two-day fire that destroyed 140 acres in the city, 1,526 buildings and 2,500 businesses. Miraculously, only five people died. The city was never the same. Among the many buildings destroyed was the Methodist Episcopal Book Depository, which at the time housed the Methodist Episcopal Historical Society. Only a few items from the society were saved. These, along with items on loan to John Goucher, became the foundation of what is now the Lovely Lane Museum and the Baltimore-Washington Conference archives. One witness to the fire was the Rev. Benjamin Franklin Clarkson, an exhorter, and later an elder in the Baltimore Conference. In 1904, he was serving in Union Bridge and his son Charles was living in Baltimore. In his journal, which also includes first-hand accounts of his experiences as a soldier in 25 Civil War battles, is an account of the Baltimore fire. Below is an excerpt. Sunday, Feb. 7 — When Loulie and Etta returned from Sunday School this afternoon they informed me that there was a great fire in Baltimore, that the fire was beyond control, and Washington and Philadelphia had been called in to help. As night came on other reports came that the fire was increasing, and that the business section of the city was doomed. … The light that flames on the eastern sky tells us that the conflagration must be very great. … My wife, son, daughter — all the family except Etta, Loulie and myself are in Baltimore. Lord pity the people of Baltimore! Monday, Feb. 8 — No papers came to Union Bridge this morning. The only news received was that Baltimore was burning. I took the 8:45 train and went to Baltimore. I left the train at Hillen Station and hurried to the Post Office to see Charles. … I went up into the tower of the building and looked upon a scene of destruction and ruin such as I never expected to behold. To the south, the southeast and the southwest as far as I could see were blackened, smoking and burning ruins. The scene was terrible and awe-inspiring beyond the power of description. As I looked upon the awful scene, I could only exclaim — How weak and helpless is man! I shall never forget what my eyes beheld, and the emotions that the appalling sight stirred within me. Great buildings — supposed to be fire-proof — had gone down like tinder before the dreadful holocaust. ... When I returned to Charlie’s office I found him there eating an apple and some crackers – all that he could find for himself and his assistants. He was glad to see me, and said, 'Pa, I knew you would come.' He then gave me an account of the fire from its beginning until the order was received to leave the Post Office, after midnight last night, when it was thought that the building was doomed, and the window glass began to crack under the intense heat. He showed me some of the valuable relics he helped to carry from the M.E. Book Depository to the Post Office vault, where he had them in safekeeping. All that was saved from the Methodist Historical Society collection is in his vault. Asbury’s portrait, Strawbridge’s pulpit, McKendree’s saddlebags and some other paintings were about all that was saved. The Depository Building and its contents were consumed. The account books are safe in the Post Office vault. I could well see that my 'boy' had been under immense strain. … I said goodbye to my son and started for Emory’s store on Pennsylvania Avenue, to inquire about my wife. … Before leaving the Post Office, I met Mr. Murray who has charge of the Book Depository, who said to me, 'Mr. Clarkson, I will never forget your son, Charlie, for what he did for us last night.' He then told me how my boy had opened the vault to receive their account-books, etc. 'But for him,' he said, 'they would have been destroyed, and nothing from the Historical Society Library could have been saved.' … This conflagration has been a great calamity to Baltimore, as we see it now. Later it may be regarded as a great blessing. At a recent observance of the fire’s centennial, Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley echoed Clarkson’s words, emphasizing 'the resurrection of the city and the triumph of the human spirit. What we inherit from those flames of fire,' he said, 'is the resilient, valiant spirit of the fire service and those who rebuilt the city brick by brick.' | 
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