The Fire of 1860
Four days after his office burned, a newspaper editor wrote the letters that set off a panic across Texas.
Listen to this place’s story in Peplos.
How the story begins
Three men were hanged on this ground because of a fire that Dallas first blamed on matches. It broke out on 8 July 1860 and burned most of downtown, in heat reported at 110 degrees. Local leaders pointed to the weather and to new phosphorus matches. The office of the Dallas Herald was among the losses. Four days later its young editor, Charles Pryor, wrote to the editor in Austin who also chaired the state Democratic party.
The rest is in the app. Peplos plays the full story when you reach the place. You can also listen ahead of time.
Visiting
379 Commerce Street, west of the Triple Underpass, under an acre. Open public park. The easiest way in on foot is the pedestrian tunnel at the Triple Underpass, off Dealey Plaza.
Sources
- Fire and Lynchings of 1860, Texas Historical Commission Atlas
- Texas Troubles, Handbook of Texas
- Pryor, Charles R., Handbook of Texas
- Triple Lynching in Downtown Dallas, Human Rights Dallas Maps
- We give them a voice: victims of racial violence memorialized at Martyrs Park, Texas Metro News, 2024
- Dallas to unveil historical markers, Dallas Voice, 2024
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