St.
Paul's Episcopal Cathedral - Table of Contents
1888 Fire - St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral
139
Pearl Street, Buffalo,
NY
From the Archives #16
May, 2012
National Historic Landmark - Nomination Visitor Information: (716)
855-0900 |
Thursday, May 10, 1888
dawned cold and rainy. Throughout the city gas furnaces were in use in
homes and commercial buildings to chase away the unseasonable chill.
Breakfasts were being prepared over gas ranges in a number of
establishments up and down Main Street. It was also Ascension Day, and
St. Paul’s sexton and his assistant were preparing the church for the
10:45 service.
The first hint of
trouble came shortly after 9 am when the cooking stoves of Pierce’s
Hotel erupted in flames that lapped at the kitchen ceiling. It was
among the first of over 40 fires to
break out that morning. Excessive gas pressure, due to a faulty regulator valve at Michigan and
North Streets,
allowed four times the normal amount of natural gas to pass along the
Main Street corridor. Gas meters in homes and businesses along and
adjacent to Main Street blew apart. If there were a flame near-by, a
fiery explosion ensued.
Meter “blow-outs”, with or
without fires, occurred in St. Louis Church
and the Asbury
Methodist and North
Presbyterian
Churches. “Blow-outs” and small fires also occurred in the homes
of such Buffalo notables as Messieurs Goodyear, Fargo, Rich,
Schoelkopf, Birge and Hamlin
(today the American Legion Post on Franklin Street). One maid,
attempting to light a furnace, was blown across the basement floor. She
was not injured. Earlier that morning, Mr. Wilkinson, St. Paul’s
sexton, had smelled gas in the Guild House (site of the present Parish
House) and had it shut off.
The fire at Pierce’s Hotel was barely contained when another alarm was
sounded a few blocks away. Smoke had been seen curling up out of a
basement window on Pearl Street. St. Paul’s Cathedral was on fire. The window-shattering explosion came at 9:20,
sending shards of stained glass and
all three front doors, flying off their hinges, into the
surrounding streets.
By the time the fire fighters reached the scene, flames had already
made their way into the narthex
and nave.
Thick smoke poured out of the empty window openings. The
conflagration was unstoppable, devouring the walnut timbers and
columns, pews, altar, bishop’s chair, pulpit,
hymnals and Prayer Books. From time to time, up-drafts created by the
inferno below would set a bell in motion, causing it to toll
mournfully. As slates
from the sagging roof rattled down among them, firemen fought to save
the tower that housed the bells by pumping thousands of gallons of
water through the louvered windows.
Choir boys, who had been scheduled to sing at the mid-morning service,
were also on hand. They immediately went to work removing whatever
objects could be salvaged from the burning interior. One or two of them
managed to squeeze through the narrow sacristy windows and rescued a
number of items; one being the alms basin which will be used today in
the offertory procession. The brass Altar Cross, which fell down
between the Altar and the east wall, also survived. Fortunately, all
the altar plate, including the 1825 silver communion service, was safe
in the Guild House across the street.
Although St. Paul’s had three gas furnaces in the basement (two under
the chancel and one under the narthex), none of them were in use at the
time of the explosion. When the gas meter for the furnace under the
narthex blew, the open flame of a gas light in the furnace room caused
the blast.
By noon the fire was under control and “the chief pride of Buffalo’s
churches” was a smoking ruin. Unfortunately, the events of May 10 lead
to the death of one Buffalonian, Dr.
Augustus R. Davidson, professor in the Medical Department of Niagara
University, and a twelve-year member of St. Paul’s Vestry. He
had worked feverishly all morning directing the salvage operations as
the cathedral burned. Due to overexertion and exposure to the inclement
weather, Dr. Davidson developed pneumonia. He died on May 25, 1888
leaving university colleagues, parishioners, his wife and their five
daughters to mourn his untimely passing at the age of 43.
At an emergency meeting that evening, the Vestry voted to rebuild
immediately. A number of parishes offered their facilities to St.
Paul’s congregation in the interval. Having accepted Dr. Israel Aaron’s
generous offer, on Sunday morning, May 13, St. Paul’s congregation met
in Temple Beth Zion on Niagara Street,
and continued to meet there for many months. By October of 1888, New York architect Robert W. Gibson’s plans
were accepted and work on the restoration began in earnest. The new St.
Paul’s Cathedral was hallowed by Bishop Arthur C. Coxe on January 3,
1890.