February 7, 1904: A fire breaks out in Baltimore, lasting until the next day. It starts at 10:48 AM, at German Street and Hopkins Place, and destroys about 2,500 buildings, including much of the central part of the city and what's now called the Inner Harbor and Little Italy, spanning 70 blocks.
To their credit, the Baltimore Fire Department quickly realized that they were overwhelmed, and telegraphed nearby Washington, D.C. By 1:30 PM, firefighters and their equipment had arrived at Camden Station, and were able to assist.
What they found, though, was that not all fire hydrants were compatible with their equipment. This led to a standardization in firefighting equipment across America. There had been devastating fires in Chicago in 1871, and Boston in 1872 and 1894, and there would be another in San Francisco in 1906, caused in part by the most famous earthquake in American history. Between the Baltimore and San Francisco fires, new building codes meant more concrete and steel buildings. There has not been a citywide fire since.
Incredibly, only 5 deaths were attributed to the fire, only 1 a civilian, the rest of them men fighting the fire. Not included in this total is Mayor Robert McLane, who, despondent over the fire, shot himself on May 30, dying at the age of 36.
Not affected by the fire was the St. Mary's Industrial School, a combination vocational and reform school run by the Catholic Church. Two days earlier, one of its students, George Herman Ruth Jr., turned 9. He would become known as Babe Ruth. The school did burn down in 1919, after he left, but would rebuild, eventually becoming Cardinal Gibbons High School.
February 7, 1904 was a Sunday. Baseball and football were out of season, basketball barely existed, and hockey was all-amateur. So there were no scores on this historic day.
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