Illustration 23a: Map of the New-York Fire of 1776 (Midnight to 2AM)
The fire spreads from White Hall to Beaver Street.
The fire started around midnight in the block east of White Hall Slip (1), then blazed north with the wind. The water of Whitehall Slip and the expanse of the Broadway extension (2) provided a barrier to keep the flames from leaping west. However, all the buildings on the blocks between the Broadway extension and Broad Street began to blaze into the night sky. The Exchange (3) in the center of Broad Street was spared even though it was just a few yards from the flames on Broad Street.
Driven by the wind, the fire burned over Greater Dock Street, then Bridge Street, then Stone Street, then Market Field and then to Beaver. At Beaver Street, under the best of conditions, the fire could have been stopped. The open space at Bowling Green provided a fire break west; Broad Street, east. With a dozen houses or so on the north side of Beaver pulled down, perhaps the fire could have been blocked. But there was no effective organized resistance at that point. Many firemen had enlisted in the Patriot cause and left the city.
Around 2AM, after the fire had crossed over Beaver and burned six buildings on the east side of Broadway (4), the wind changed direction from north to northwest. This caused the fire to take a dog-leg left to the northwest and cross Broadway. The west side of Broadway began to burn. The eastern boundary of the fire burned up New Street almost miraculously sparing any more damage to the buildings on Broad Street above Beaver.