Before sunrise on July 19, 1845, Lower Manhattan stirred under the weight of another blistering summer. Most of the city slept, unaware that a moment of carelessness or perhaps a faulty flame in a whale oil shop would turn calm into catastrophe. The fire began in the early hours inside J.L. Van Doren’s candle and whale oil business at 34 New Street. A single blaze, born in a building filled with some of the most flammable materials imaginable, found plenty to feed on. Within minutes, flames spilled from building to building, hopping rooftops and crawling down alleys with frightening speed.

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