
The 5 Great Oshkosh Fires - Oshkosh, WI
N 44° 01.059 W 088° 32.264
16T E 376749 N 4874982
Between 1859 and 1875 there were 5 Great Oshkosh fires that gutted large swaths of the downtown are. This informational map is located on the base of the sundial in the Opera House Square at Algoma and Main in Oshkosh, WI.
Waymark Code: WM52MZ
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 11/01/2008
Views: 25
From the City History web site (
visit link) :
"The second set of major events centered around the fires of 1874 and 1875. Two fires in the summer of 1874 destroyed large portions of the north side of the city including the Main Street business district north of Algoma Boulevard. The next summer the Great Fire of 1875 destroyed Main Street between Algoma and Ceape Street and a larger area of homes, industries and businesses to the east and west of Main. This was the last of a series of five bad fires which began in 1859 and destroyed portions of the business district on four separate occasions. Following the fire in the summer of 1875, the downtown was rebuilt in brick, fire prevention methods were improved, and a sense of permanence developed. Indeed, the fire of 1875 was the last which destroyed a large portion of the city and many of those buildings erected following the fire still remain."
The dates of the five fires are:
May 9, 1859
May 12, 1866
May 9, 1874
July 14, 1874
April 28, 1875