Great Chelsea Fire: Saturday marks 50 years since devastating blaze destroyed 56 city businesses

Natalie Khait
·1 min read
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This Saturday, October 14 marks 50 years since the Great Chelsea Fire.

The massive fire destroyed 18 blocks of the city’s “rag shop” district, demolished 56 businesses, and left at least 600 people unemployed.

Firefights say the fire alarm was struck at 3:56 p.m. on October 14, 1973, for a blaze that started on Spruce and Summer streets.

According to the Boston Globe, “The fire area was almost entirely within the perimeters of two urban renewal projects — a planned $14.6 million industrial park and a proposed $2.3 million residential project.”

More than 2,000 firefighters from 60 Massachusetts fire departments assisted in tearing down the blaze.

The Great Chelsea Fire of 1973 came 65 years after an even bigger fire in the same neighborhood in 1908. The city was fully rebuilt after the first fire.

The Globe reports that the cause of the fire was never determined.

No one was killed in the fire, but the fire changed the community forever.

October 14 1973 / fromthearchive / Globe staff photo by David L. Ryan / Chelsea firemen fight the blaze at some junk shop businesses on 2nd Avenue. The fire devastated 18 city blocks and destroyed an estimated 303 buildings leaving more than 600 persons unemployed.
October 14 1973 / fromthearchive / Globe staff photo by David L. Ryan / Chelsea firemen fight the blaze at some junk shop businesses on 2nd Avenue. The fire devastated 18 city blocks and destroyed an estimated 303 buildings leaving more than 600 persons unemployed.
October 14 1973 / Globe Staff Photo by Bill Brett / Chelsea, Mass / Fire 1973 / Smoke billows over the bridge from the fire in the town.
October 14 1973 / Globe Staff Photo by Bill Brett / Chelsea, Mass / Fire 1973 / Smoke billows over the bridge from the fire in the town.
October 15 1973 / fromthearchive / Globe staff photo by Joseph Dennehy / The day after picture of the Great Chelsea Fire of 1973 shows the total devastation caused by the the fire. The fire area was almost entirely within the perimeters of two urban renewal projects - a planned $14.6 million industrial park and a proposed $2.3 million residential project.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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