First Baptist Church Fire 1942
Saturday, March 21st, 1942, fire races through the historic church that filled the entire block of Spring Garden to Doyle, Queen to Brunswick Streets. First noticed at roughly 9:15am, the fire had reduced the building to a former shell of itself by shortly after 11:00am. Firefighters were hampered by an almost complete lack of water pressure in the area and found the little water they could manage was doing next to nothing in fighting back the enormous flames. By 11:00 the fire department had shut down all but one hand line as their intake gauge was showing only 15 psi available and there was essentially nothing left to be saved.
Passers-by and employees from across the street made many attempts early in the fire to retrieve furniture and relics, some that had been within the church since it was founded in 1886.Sadly, one of the greatest items that was unable to be rescued was their pipe organ, considered to be one of the finest in the city. Total losses exceed $100 000 and were only partially insured.
It should be noted that one of the first to notice the fire was a young man named Ronald Wallace. Ronald was on his way along with his father to their optical business when he noticed smoke issuing from the West wing of the building. Ronald went on to become fairly well known in the City of Halifax, serving as its mayor from 1980 until 1991.