Great Boston Fire (1872)
On November 9–10, 1872, fire destroyed 776 buildings across 65 downtown acres — still the costliest fire in Boston’s history, and the catalyst for the modern downtown.
Part of the connected record of this place — 2 relationships link it into the wider graph, each one a thread worth pulling.
Open the full civic recordCurrent pulse, routes, recommendations, and memory
Now, then, future
Every object is temporal: what it feels like now, what it used to mean, and what it can become next.
lively. Best now: one good detour.
1591: Midwife and theologian (1591–1643) whose weekly meetings challenged Boston’s ministers; tried for heresy and banished in 1638 — the colony’s founding argument about conscience and authority.
Future2026: America’s 250th — July 4, 2026.
How it feels right now
Indoor escapes within a few blocks.
Coffee, libraries, bookstores, and campus edges.
How strongly the nearby graph reads as campus life.
Fame, landmark pull, and visitor-facing assets.
Older records and historical edges around this object.
Different kinds of things hiding within a short walk.
Routes with a point of view
Chosen moves from here
Human recommendations
What this meant before
- Date
- November 9, 1872
- Graph connections
- 2
In the graph 2 relationships — first-class data, not links
Explore Great Boston Fire (1872) in the interactive Graph Explorer — click to expand every connection →Nearby what sits within a few minutes’ walk
Holy Cross Church, Boston
Federal Street Theatre
100 Franklin Street
Great Boston Fire (1872) is linked, through the graph, to Boston — city, 7 min walk away. The kind of thread you only find by following the connections.
Keep exploring graph-powered — every path below is a real relationship, not a guess
One record, 1 framing cross-property publishing — never duplicated
How we know graph confidence — we explain our certainty, not just assert it
Schema.org JSON-LD — what answer engines read
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@graph": [
{
"@type": "Event",
"@id": "https://boston400.com/e/great-fire-1872",
"name": "Great Boston Fire (1872)",
"description": "On November 9–10, 1872, fire destroyed 776 buildings across 65 downtown acres — still the costliest fire in Boston’s history, and the catalyst for the modern downtown.",
"url": "https://boston400.com/e/great-fire-1872",
"geo": {
"@type": "GeoCoordinates",
"latitude": 42.3554,
"longitude": -71.057
},
"startDate": "1872",
"citation": [
{
"@type": "CreativeWork",
"name": "Boston Fire Historical Society"
}
],
"containedInPlace": {
"@id": "https://boston400.com/e/boston"
},
"relatedLink": [
"https://boston400.com/e/old-south-meeting-house",
"https://boston400.com/e/boston"
]
},
{
"@type": "LandmarksOrHistoricalBuildings",
"@id": "https://boston400.com/e/old-south-meeting-house",
"name": "Old South Meeting House",
"url": "https://boston400.com/e/old-south-meeting-house"
},
{
"@type": "City",
"@id": "https://boston400.com/e/boston",
"name": "Boston",
"url": "https://boston400.com/e/boston"
}
]
}