Off the Bricks

The 1852 Hunt · STOP 06 · Financial District

In November 1872, Boston's fire engines were pulled by men, because the horses were sick.

In November 1872 the horses that pulled Boston's fire engines were sick, so men pulled the engines through these streets by hand. One city councilor, a witness recalled, offered his own: 'I have a good horse; use him if you kill him.' The little three-cornered square in the middle of the burned district is still there, rebuilt on top of it all.

This is stop 6 of The 1852 Hunt. Walk it free in the app.

The plate

The Horses Were Sick

Collected on site

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Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Winthrop Square, Otis and Devonshire Streets
Directions

1

You walked up Otis Street to get here. A witness told the inquiry that 'the building on the corner of Otis street was on fire up in the Mansard roof.'

More footnotes on the story card, in the app.

Argue about it

Did the sick horses make the Great Fire worse, or is that just a good story?

Both sides, with their sources, are on the story card in the app.

Fire alarm box, Then and now

Near Downtown Crossing · Near South Station · Near Park Street · Near State · Near Chinatown · Near Government Center

Sources (6)