BLACK SATURDAY - The Story of the Great Portland Fire of 1873

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In a project that I started more than two years ago, involving many hours of research and shooting video around downtown Portland, I have finally completed this dive into the great Portland (Oregon) fire of 1873. This was an event that could have destroyed the whole city after a furniture store caught fire during the early morning hours of August 2, 1873. The flames spread quick, destroying more than 20 city blocks before finally dying out. Many homes were destroyed and businesses ruined.

The aftermath of this horrible conflagration was also tragic with the city's government rejecting most outside help when their people needed it desperately. It would take several years for the area that was destroyed to be revived,and many buildings from that period of reconstruction in the late 1870s and early 1880s still stand there today.

This fire also came in the aftermath of a fire in late 1872, which was blamed on the city's Chinese population. Interestingly enough, threats were being made against businesses that hired Chinese workers only a couple weeks before the fire happened. While I take you to the sites related to this story and discuss this tragedies aftermath, I also look into why it may have happened despite the actually cause of it still being unknown.