On January 17th, 1907, the little seaside town we all love almost burned to the ground, and things we see today might not even be here. Taking a walk through Beaufort’s historic district is like taking a step back in time. But, 119 years ago, it almost all disappeared, in what is known today as “The Great Fire of 1907.”
The story says there were these three little boys, all under the age of 10, who sneaked into a barn somewhere along Bay street to smoke cigarettes. Yes, boys will be boys, but by the time they finished their mischief, they caused the start of an event that would catastrophically devastate part of downtown Beaufort, SC.
It was at 1:30 pm on January 19th, 1907, when the fire alarm was sounded.
Part of downtown was on fire.
According to historical accounts, the first building to go in the fire was Scheper’s Grocery and General Merchandise store at the corner of Bay and Carteret Streets, at the present-day foot of the Woods Memorial Bridge.
There was a futile attempt to put the fire out and save the building but a combination of strong winds and the building’s wooden construction were just too much fuel for the blaze. After the grocery store, it was the Peoples Bank just next door that was ablaze. The fire then spread westward of the bank and completely engulfed a laundry, two restaurants, and a dispensary.
Back at the corner of Bay and Carteret Streets, Neils Christenson & Sons Hardware was consumed by flames from top to bottom. The crockery store owned by Mr. J.M. Crofut was also a victim. Attempts to extinguish the blaze by firefighters and citizens were completely futile, and the winds took over and spread the flames northward into residential areas.
The flames still worked their way along Bay Street and farther back into the Point neighborhood. Offices, homes and the town market were destroyed.
The home of Thomas Talbird on Hancock Street was completely consumed. Today, all that sits remaining of the house are the original front steps, known now as the popular “stairs to nowhere.”
On Craven Street, which houses many of Beaufort’s historic buildings today, the fire was taking over Town Hall and a firehouse. The Arsenal was spared because of its brick construction and there was a tremendous effort from firefighters to protect it. The Carteret Methodist Church soon caught fire, but was spared complete devastation due to its tin roof.
It is said that the fire spread very quickly and families were placing household furniture and other personal belongings onto the streets as fire was jumping from rooftop to rooftop burning anything in its path.
More than 40 unique homes and businesses were destroyed on that day. Some were even considered historic by 1907 standards.
By the next morning the fire died out, and subsequently, looting became a concern and local officials requested assistance from a small U.S. Army Company stationed at Fort Fremont on St. Helena Island.
Our town is very fortunate to have the historic homes that still stand. They’ve survived the Civil War, they’ve made it through many hurricanes, an earthquake and a massive fire; the Great Fire of 1907.
