The history walk, “Burn Baby Burn: The Infernos of Downtown Marquette” saw well over 100 people take part in an interactive, guided tour around downtown Marquette with host Jim Koski, who told stories using historical information to illuminate the history of fires in the city.

The tour kicked off Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of the Marquette Regional History Center, the host of the event. Over the next 90 minutes Koski led the large caravan of people throughout much of the downtown area, highlighting many of Marquette’s historical fires, including the Great Fire of 1868, which took a terrible toll on Marquette, decimating many of the buildings in a city that was filled almost exclusively with wooden structures at the time.

“This was the fire that kind of defined how Marquette looks these days,” Koski said.

Koski said that on the evening of June 11 1868, a fire of indeterminate origin began inside of a machine shop owned by the Marquette and Ontonagon Railroad on the east side of the city. Due to the nature of the wooden buildings, the fire quickly spread from building to building, destroying much of the city. While the fire was a disaster, Koski noted that luckily the fire was responsible for no casualties.

The aftermath of the Great Marquette Fire of 1868 is shown. (Photo courtesy of the Marquette Regional History Center)

“This was a couple of years before the Great Chicago Fire. When the Great Chicago Fire did happen in 1871, Marquette civic leaders got together and sent $500 down to their friends in Chicago because they knew how hellacious it is to have your downtown destroyed,” Koski said.

Koski said that the rebuild was a timely process, with the Marquette docks working 24 hours a day, with 8 hours being dedicated to shipping out ore like usual and the remaining 16 hours being used to transport the materials needed to rebuild the city.

“The fire of 1868 caused what is now equivalent to about $35 million in damage. But, it left us with a legacy that still lives today,” Koski said. “It burned because everything was made of wood. After the fires, civic leaders declared ‘no more wood, it has to be built of stuff that’s readily available in Marquette.’ Which is why, as you look around you, you see beautiful sandstone and brick buildings.”

Several other stops on the tour saw Koski teach the crowd about other fires that took place in the city, including the old Villa Capri on South Third Street and the St. Peters Cathedral.

During the event, attendees were given a QR-code which led them to a series of photographs to give a visual aid to the presentation.

“The beauty of Marquette is actually kind of like a phoenix,” Koski said. “Rising from the ashes of that 1868 fire.”