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Before the Fire > The
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19th Century Media> Documenting
the Fire >
Shock
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An advertisement in the New Bedford
Evening Standard on August 16th announced an "Excursion
to Visit Vineyard Haven, the Scene of the Fire!"
For only one dollar per person, one could take
a steamship from New Bedford to Cottage City,
then to Vineyard Haven, to see the ruins up close.
The Vineyard Gazette a few days later reported,
"Never did so many people visit the usually
quiet village of Vineyard Haven as during and
since the fire… Those relic hunters must
have taken a grim delight in carrying off anything
found among the ruins that did not belong to them."
Only a slim number of people treated this tragedy
lightly. The Island towns took up collections
in churches and at town meetings to help those
affected by the fire. Still others took displaced
neighbors into their homes. Relief committees
were formed around the Island to provide meals,
health care, and other help needed by the fire
victims. Although many of the building owners
had insurance on their shops and stock or furniture,
some did not. The money collected in the other
Vineyard towns, most notably Edgartown and Cottage
City, were key funds in the restoration of Vineyard
Haven.
T.W. Tilton's Diary
Within a week of the fire, R.W. Crocker began
construction on his new harness factory- which
the Cottage City Star was quick to point out,
"furnished with water on all of its floors."
A new block of stores was constructed at the corner
of Main and Wharf Streets. "It is the finest
building… seventy feet on Main Street, and
sixty feet on Wharf Street. It is three stories…
and has a handsome French roof, also a considerable
ornamental bracket work," remarked the Star.
Restaurants, hotels, and homes commenced on their
old lots. By December of the same year, the business
district had been almost entirely rebuilt.
In a September 1883 letter to his son, T.W. Tilton
wrote, "This last will be 3 stories and be
used for Drug store, Market, Post Office, &c
&c &c. All these buildings nearly fill
the space up to Wharf Street." Tilton clearly
knew many of the families who were affected by
the fire, and gave a detailed account of who was
moving and to where, as well as the new locations
of storefronts. His positive attitude about the
progress of the town's rebuilding was evident,
and an indication of enthusiastic public sentiment
at the time. In a few short years, save for the
lack of large trees, a visitor would never know
that a tremendous fire had ever occurred in Vineyard
Haven.
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