Скачать или смотреть Disaster on the Riverfront | The Great St Louis Fire of 1849

In this video of our Guided History series Andy Primm takes us back to the night of the Great St. Louis Fire of 1849, one of the most devastating disasters in the city’s history. What began when the steamboat White Cloud caught fire on the Mississippi River quickly turned catastrophic, spreading flames to the riverfront and into the heart of downtown. In just a matter of hours the blaze consumed 430 buildings, 22 steamboats, and 12 city blocks leaving destruction in its wake and claiming three lives. At the time St. Louis had no professional fire department, only volunteer companies battling with limited equipment and dwindling water supplies.

As the fire raged Captain Thomas B. Targee led efforts to save the city through a desperate plan of blowing up buildings in a controlled demolition to halt the spread of the flames. Tragically he lost his life when one of the explosives went off prematurely cementing him as one of St. Louis’s first firefighting martyrs. This fire not only reshaped the city physically but also pushed St. Louis to rethink urban fire safety prevention and infrastructure. Join us as we uncover the story of bravery, loss and resilience behind this turning point in St. Louis history. ‪@whoelseloveshistory‬

#guidedhistory #stlouis #disasterhistory #historyturningpoints #americanhistory #americanfrontier

Quick Ideas for Using the Video with Students:
1. Use the video as a template for students to create their own video focused on a local historic event in their community.
2. Use the video as part of a unit on studying the growth of America's cities in the 19th century. How does this video help students understand the challenges of living in a city of that time? Why do they think cities were so susceptible to fire disasters?