The Great Seattle Fire of June 6, 1889, was a significant turning point in the city's history and changed both the physical and political landscapes. The fire was accidentally started in a paint and woodwork shop at Madison Street and Front Street (now First Avenue) at 2:30 p.m., and over the course of the next 18 hours, swept a southward across 100 acres of Seattle's business district and waterfront. The fire left little standing in its wake, consuming buildings, docks, wooden sidewalks, and anything else combustible. Losses from the conflagration were estimated at $20 million.

The issue of the Morning Globe was published in Tacoma the day after the fire, and includes information about the Seattle fire under the headline, "SEATTLE IN ASHES, The Entire Business Portion of the City Swept Clean by Fierce Flames of Fire." Also included on the front page is an update of the flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, that had occurred just a week previously, "WATERS SUBSIDE, And Doing So, Expose to View Sights Still More Sorrowful, if That Were Possible."

The Morning Globe was first published in 1887 as The Weekly World. Publication frequency, name, and management changes led the paper to operate as the Morning Globe from 1889-1892, when it was bought by the Tacoma Daily Ledger.

Caption information source: https://www.Seattle.gov/cityarchives/exhibits-and-education/digital-document-libraries/the-great-Seattle-fire-of-1889
Caption information source: "Newspapers of Washington Territory," by Edmond S. Meany, The Washington Historical Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 4 (1923, October), pp. 269-290. Retrieved from https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/WHQ/article/view/6452/5526