The Great Fire of 1875
Storey County, Storey County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
The Great Fire Of 1875. The most spectacular calamity to befall Virginia City had its origins within fifty feet of this marker. Early on the morning of October 26, 1875, a coal oil lamp was knocked over in a nearby boarding house and burst into flames. Strong winds spread the blaze and thirty-three blocks of structures were leveled. The losses included St. Mary in the Mountains Catholic Church, the Storey County Courthouse, Piper’s Opera House, the International Hotel, city offices and most of Virginia City’s business district. The offices and hoisting works of nearby mines were also destroyed.After the fire, Virginia City established a new hydrant system and erected a number of new hose houses including this structure.
Erected by Division Of Historic Preservation And Archaeologyliberty Engine Company No. 1
The Story
On the morning of October 26, 1875, a knocked-over coal-oil lamp in a Virginia City boarding house ignited the Great Fire, which strong winds drove through the silver metropolis until thirty-three blocks lay in ashes. Among the losses were St. Mary in the Mountains Church, the county courthouse, Piper's Opera House, the International Hotel, and most of the business district, along with the works of nearby mines. In the aftermath the city rebuilt with a new hydrant system and hose houses like this one.
Why it matters
The disaster and swift rebuilding capture both the fragility and the astonishing wealth of Virginia City, the boomtown whose silver helped finance the Union and the nation's westward growth.
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Related events
- · Great Fire of 1875
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
S H & N Mill - Former Site of
Storey County, NV
On the sagebrush hills of Storey County—the heart of Nevada's legendary Comstock mining district around Virginia City—this marks the former site of the S H & N Mill. Mills like it crushed and processed ore drawn from the surrounding silver and gold mines; this one ran until it finally closed in 1976.
Mackay Mansion
Storey County, NV
This elegant 1860s mansion was both the home of John Mackay and the office of the Gould & Curry Mining Company on the Comstock Lode. Mackay, an Irish immigrant, rose to become the richest man the Comstock ever produced, and the house served as headquarters for the "Silver Kings"—Mackay, Fair, Flood, and O'Brien—whose fortunes came from the fabulous Big Bonanza. The building famously survived Virginia City's Great Fire of 1875.
Savage Mansion
Storey County, NV
Built around 1861 in the French Second Empire style, this elegant Comstock mansion housed the Savage Mining Company's offices on its first floor and served as the residence of the company's superintendents on the upper two stories. Its most famous moment came on October 27, 1879, when former president and Civil War commander Ulysses S. Grant, honored with a town parade, addressed the townspeople from its second-floor balcony.
The Comstock Lode
Storey County, NV
In 1859 prospectors struck the Comstock Lode, a 2½-mile band of fabulously rich silver and gold ore, and Virginia City exploded into one of the West's great boomtowns. For twenty years its mines poured out wealth that helped bankroll the building of San Francisco and pushed Nevada toward statehood in 1864. The yellow tailings dumps still visible across the hills mark where legendary mines like the Ophir and Con Virginia burrowed into the earth.