On this day in 1805, Detroit was nearly destroyed by a great fire—but the town rose from the ashes, inspiring its enduring motto of hope.
TRANSCRIPT
On June 11 over 200 years ago, just as its future looked bright, the town of Detroit was almost snuffed out by the Great Fire of 1805. It started when a baker named John Harvey knocked some ashes out of his pipe. It was a hot, windy day and the ashes were blown into a pile of dry hay. The winds fanned the flames, engulfing the bakery and nearby barn also full of dry hay. While they waited for Detroit’s only fire engine to arrive, townspeople formed bucket brigades but it wasn’t enough. After abandoning efforts to stop the fire, every townsperson escaped alive. Detroit was just a century old at that point, but was left in ashes. Charred chimneys stood like skeletal remains of the scar. Almost two thirds of the Detroiters stayed to help rebuild the city. Father Gabriel Richard wrote “Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus – We hope for better days; it shall rise from its ashes,” which later became Detroit’s motto.