Great Seattle Fire

Great Seattle Fire
Firefighting at Front St. (now 1st Ave.) near Madison St. (June 6, 1889)
Date(s)June 6–7, 1889
2:45 p.m. – 3:00 a.m.
LocationSeattle, Washington Territory
Coordinates47°36′16″N 122°20′11″W / 47.60444°N 122.33639°W / 47.60444; -122.33639
Impacts
Deaths1
Structures destroyed29 city blocks
Damage$20 million
($678 million in 2023 dollars)
Ignition
CauseOverheated glue pot

The Great Seattle Fire was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington, on June 6, 1889. The conflagration lasted for less than a day, burning through the afternoon and into the night, during the same summer as the Great Spokane Fire and the Great Ellensburg Fire. Seattle quickly rebuilt using brick buildings that sat 20 feet (6.1 m) above the original street level. Its population swelled during reconstruction, becoming the largest city in the newly admitted state of Washington.