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Precious Blood Church fire

Coordinates: 42°11′56.0688″N 72°36′21.1032″W / 42.198908000°N 72.605862000°W / 42.198908000; -72.605862000
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Precious Blood Church fire
Top to bottom: Artist's drawing of members of the Holyoke Fire Department attempting to extinguish the fire, while fireman John T. Lynch pulls people from the front door; the panic inside the sanctuary as parishioners attempt to escape
Date(s)May 27, 1875
LocationHolyoke, Massachusetts, US
Coordinates42°11′56.0688″N 72°36′21.1032″W / 42.198908000°N 72.605862000°W / 42.198908000; -72.605862000
Impacts
Deaths78 killed
34 injured[1]
Ignition
CauseA breeze from an open window blew lacing draped over a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary into a lit candle[1]

Precious Blood Church of Holyoke, Massachusetts, burned on May 27, 1875, killing 78 people. There was a crush of people through the entrance at the back left and many people could not leave. It is one of the deadliest fires in American history, and was also known by newspapers domestic and foreign as "The Holyoke Disaster".[2]

Event

The fire started at the front of the church as a candle flame ignited a curtain.

Panic caused people to rush from the upper levels to a front door. The door was made to open inward only, so many were trapped against the door. Reverend Andre Dufresne was the parish priest. He tried to calm the people and direct them as much as possible.

The event and its aftermath were also later depicted in some detail in the Franco-American novel Mirbah by Emma Port-Joli Dumas, originally published in Holyoke's La Justice.[3]

Location

The church complex is located on the city block formed by Cabot, South East, Clemente,[a] and Hamilton Streets. The wooden church had been built in 1870 and was replaced in 1876 by a brick church. The Park Street School was located on the other side of Hamilton Street between Park and South East Streets. The school was used as a temporary morgue for the fire victims. Only the convent and rectory remain today since the brick church and school were dismantled.

The cemetery is on Willimansett Street Extension near the intersection of Routes 33 and 202 in South Hadley. There is a monument for the dead at the church cemetery. The parish priest was also reburied there. The black memorial is in the center of the cemetery and the priest is buried behind that.

Fatalities[4]

A list of the dead is given below by first and last name and then age. Many were buried in a common grave on May 29 at the Precious Blood Cemetery in South Hadley. All were French Canadians.

The names have been taken directly from the monument. The list on the monument was compiled from the Holyoke Deaths Register and from various newspaper articles. Some French names may have been recorded incorrectly due to the use of English rather than French spelling conventions. [5]

The Precious Blood Church Fire Memorial, erected in South Hadley in 2002, 127 years after the tragedy across from Father Dufresne's burial (who died of other causes in 1887), it remains the only memorial to the tragedy today
First Name Last name Age
Antoine Auger 75
Helene Blais 20
Marceline Blanchard 22
Marcelline Blanchard 22
Marie Boisvert 15
Sophie Boudreau 37
Boulanger
Augustine Brisson 17
Joseph Chatelle 20
Delia Coache 16
Delima Cote 22
Mathilde Daigneau 13
Pierre Daigneau 10
Zoe Daigneau 36
Rosalie Daviau 21
Victoria Deri 11
Alphonsine Desjardin 22
Delia Desjardin 23
Dometilde Desjardin 44
Louis Desjardin 59
Rosalie Desjardin 21
Christine Dion 37
Celina Doucette 20
Merceline Dufresne 17
Selina Dufresne 52
Marceline Dupont 44
Philomene Dupont 15
Olive Emond 55
Cora Forgue 11
Zoe Forgue 48
Benjamin Fortier 20
Euphonzine Fortier 11
Angelique Fremont 17
Julie Girard 16
Mary Girard 41
Marie Louise Goyette 50
Mary Grandchamp 23
Philomene Grandchamp 21
Almida Hamel 20
Lucy Hicks 21
Mary Hicks 25
Marie Louise Jetter 33
Cyrille Lachance 19
Marcelline Lachance 19
Adele Lachapelle 16
Rose Lachapelle 13
Exilda Lacoste 16
Azilda LaFrance 27
Rosalie Lagasse 54
Exilde Langdeau 10
Marie Langdeau 20
Jean Baptiste Langevin 40
Seline Laplante 18
Celiste Larive 50
Lepreux
Lepreux
Joseph Mercier 46
Ida Meunier 19
Alphonsine Moreau 15
Fabien Moreau 54
Isaiah Moreau 26
Armiac Morin 12
Isaiah Morin 22
Hermille Paquin 20
Josephine Paquin 14
Mary Pare 20
Louise Payette 17
Matilde Payette 16
Gaspard Pellerin 23
Mary Pion 27
Onezine Pion 55
Celine Roberte 9
Edmund Roberte 11
Delima Roger 30
Fabien St. Pierre 25
Louise Tetreault 22
Jacob Theriault 64
Josephine Viger 40

Injuries[6]

First Name Last name Age Injury Noted
Adams Hurt in the crowd
Theophile Blanchard Recovery doubtful
Louise Brien Recovery doubtful
Louis Bolvin Hand and head burned, will recover
J. B. Benoit 24 Will recover
Frank Boudreau Slightly burned
Joseph Boudreau Arm broken
Charles Brault Head and arms badly burned
Sophie Chicoine 63 Will recover
Prudent Choquette Recovery very doubtful
Louis Clement
Amy Deri 14 Hands burned
Honora Deri 17 Head and arms badly burned
Napoleon Deri 14 Badly burned
Femi Dion Not severe
Cyrille Dufresne 53 Doubtful [recovery]
Josephine Dufresne 14 Will recover
Charles Favreaux Face and hands burned
Alex Fortier 23 Will recover
Celina Hebert 40 Slightly burned
Eveline Houde 9 Will recover
Paul Jetter Face and hands badly burned
Le Clerc Will recover
Annie Lapointe 15 Badly burned
John Longchamp Hands burned
Phebe Longchamp Badly burned
Lizzie Messier Will probably recover
Lucie Regnier 18 Very doubtful [recovery]
Agise Robert 14 Slightly burned
Joseph Riel 29 Will recover
Mary Riel 26 Will recover
Mary Vachon 20 Leg broken
Charles Vient Hand badly burned

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Clemente appears on maps of the time as Park Street.

References

  1. ^ a b Corbeil, Art (2000). "Fire at Precious Blood". HolyokeMass.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017.
  2. ^ http://www.holyokemass.com/pb_fire/corbiel.html
    • "The Holyoke Disaster". Shepton Mallet Journal. Somerset. June 25, 1875. p. 3.
    • "The Holyoke Disaster". San Francisco Bulletin. Vol. XL, no. 44. San Francisco. May 28, 1875. p. 2.
    • "The Holyoke Catastrophe". Panama Star and Herald. James Boyd. June 9, 1875. p. 2.
  3. ^ Fecteau, Edward (1945). "Chapter XIII. Franco-American Writers". French Contributions to America. Methuen, Mass.: Soucy Press; Franco-American Historical Society. p. 312.
  4. ^ "Precious Blood Church Fire".
  5. ^ "Holyoke City Clerk Death Records, May 27-June 18, 1875".
  6. ^ "L'Incendie de L'Eglise Cathologique! Candienne De Holyoke, Le 27 Mai, 1875". Holyoke Transcript-Telegram (in French). June 2, 1875. p. 1.