Archival Photo
A2011-001.181 : Fireboat Cataract : Milwaukee, WI
Friday, October 28, 1892
A2011-001
AP/85742
Fire Boat Cataract at work during the Great Milwaukee Fire (The Third Ward Fire, the same fire that killed Third Assistant Chief Janssen and injured Chief Foley). Milwaukee Fire Department. Milwaukee, WI. The following information was taken from Wisconsin history.org. This blaze on Oct. 28, 1892, wiped out sixteen square blocks, burned 410 buildings, 215 freight cars and took five lives. Dozens more were injured, 2000 made homeless and the property loss was estimated at $84,500,000. The fire broke shortly before six o'clock on the afternoon of October 28, 1892, in the Union Oil Company's warehouse. About 7:00 p.m. the fire was reported under control, but shortly thereafter an explosion in a furniture factory nearby caused flames that shot into the skies, and with a strong gale underway the fire soon covered a large portion of Milwaukee's warehouse district. Fearing a disaster like the Chicago fire of two decades before, Chief James Foley wired Chicago, Racine, Oshkosh, Kenosha, and Sheboygan for assistance. Date is circa.
