Fire Marks, An Unusual Adventure

A lingering detail from the 19th century

While preparing to lead my own tours, I went on a respected French Quarter tour. At the end, the guide showed us a fire mark on a building and explained that these noted which buildings had fire insurance and which company would come to help in the event of a fire. They said there were only five such markers left in the French Quarter because they had been removed and melted to make bullets during the Civil War as they were made from lead. They also promised to buy us a drink if we found the other four. But curiously did not provide any contact information to settle that bet.

The fire mark revealed by a tour guide that started this journey. It appears in the oldest photos I can find of this building.

Of course, I immediately decided to find the rest of the markers. Not for a beverage but for the knowledge. I wouldn’t let myself Google anything about it until I thought I found them all. The other day, I found a fifth mark and so I started googling. And then I found a sixth one…and a seventh and an eighth…and I keep finding them.

This mark appears for the first time in a 1988 image of the building.

The Truth

I won’t pretend to be a fire mark expert. There are already several blogs debunking the many myths around fire marks around the world, not just in New Orleans. I’ll point you to many articles by Robert M. Shea of the Fire Mark Circle of the Americas for a full detailed history. But a brief explanation is that they originated in England around 1681 after the Great Fire of London in 1666, and there are many examples of different styles and many buildings in several countries that retain their fire marks to this day.

Comparing one of the fire marks in the French Quarter (right) to one in the collection at the National Museum of American History. According to the Museum, this is from 1875 and made of cast iron. Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection.

The legend is that the marks indicated the private company that the owner had paid for insurance that the company would help you in the event of a fire and other companies, if they arrived first, would let you burn. This was mostly true in England where they had private companies doing this work. Although the letting you burn part is apparently not true.

A fire mark I found in the French Quarter on the left compared to one in the National Museum of American History on the right. According to the Museum, “the Fire Association of Philadelphia issued this brass fire mark in 1859. The fire mark is painted brown, with a golden color showing underneath. The Fire Association’s fire mark consisted of a raised image of an early fire hydrant with hose attached, flanked by the letters F.A. in the center of an oval. The F.A. adopted a fireplug as their symbol to celebrate the contribution of Philadelphia’s innovative public water system to their mission of fighting fire. The Fire Association of Philadelphia was an insurance company founded in 1817 by a group of eleven volunteer engine companies and five volunteer hose companies. A percentage of the Fire Association’s insurance company’s profits were distributed to the volunteer companies. The F.A. fire mark was extremely popular, and an estimated 40,000 fire marks were issued during the company’s history. The Fire Association operated until 1958, when it merged with the Reliance Insurance Company of Philadelphia.” Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection

Before Fire Insurance

Fire had already destroyed many of the world’s cities, including New Orleans in 1788…and 1794, by the 19th century. They knew how destructive an unchecked fire could be and were not willing to risk letting fires burn.

According to Shea, in at least some documented instances, the fire marks represented the company who would pay the reward to the volunteer brigade who arrived at the fire first to put it out. The building’s owner had purchased insurance through the company, and some of them would guarantee rewards for the fire fighters. In the event of a fire, the first fire brigade to arrive to put out the fire would receive a cash reward for their work.

The Fire Mark and the Antique Trade

If your building didn’t retain a mark to modern times, no problem! They are readily available on eBay for $20. You can find them painted or aged and different varieties to adorn your old building. Or young building.

I also found that the one identical to the one the guide showed me on tour sold at auction recently for an attainable $90.

Comparing a mark in the French Quarter (top) to an example from Antique Trader. This mark is cast iron and sold for $90 in 2017. Courtesy of Conestoga Auction Company Division of Hess Auction Group. Note: I have noticed that one looks like it’s in relief and the other looks like it’s a cast of a relief. This is an illusion as they are both in relief. This article gives an overview of how to tell a reproduction from an authentic antique: https://www.antiquetrader.com/collectibles/real-vs-repro-how-to-spot-original-cast-iron-fire-marks

Perhaps one of the most interesting bits of info I found in my search is that New Orleans Square in Disneyland includes this detail on some of the buildings. There are several blogs explaining what they are by Disney lovers.

Comparing two of the fire marks in the French Quarter (bottom) to one in the collection at the National Museum of American History. According to the Museum, this is from 1869 and made of cast iron. Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection.

None of the examples I’ve matched to the ones I found in the French Quarter have been made of lead so far. Several are confirmed to be from companies that existed only after the Civil War. I think it’s more likely that reasons like time and renovations have removed the fire marks, not the dramatic making of bullets for war.

This adventure was fun even if I have no way of sharing my findings with my guide beyond this blog. Perhaps I will run into them on the tour circuit soon. I am certainly glad to have any additional knowledge about the details of New Orleans.

I also want to hear your stories! Let me know if you’ve found any fire marks that I missed in New Orleans and beyond.

Now, about those Romeo spikes…

Sources

“New Orleans Mutual Insurance Association Fire Mark” Date made: 1869. Behring Center of the National Museum of American History. Catalog Number: 2005.0233.0477. https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/nmah_1342267
“A Short History of Fire Marks, The World’s Hottest Insurance-Related Antiques” by Eric Grundhauser. August 29, 2017. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/fire-mark-collectible-insurance-crest
“Fireman’s Insurance Company Fire Mark” Date made: ca 1875. Behring Center of the National Museum of American History. Catalog Number: 2005.0233.0473 https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/nmah_1342356
“American Fire Marks – A Good Story” by Robert M. Shea, CPCU. March 2014. https://firemarkcircle.org/american-fire-marks-a-good-story
“Fire Marks: Discovering Facts Among Myth” by Robert M. Shea, CPCU. January 12, 2018. https://www.antiquetrader.com/features/fire-marks-discovering-facts-among-myth
“Myth #146: In early America, firefighters wouldn’t put out a house fire unless the building bore a fire insurance plaque” by History Myths Debunked blog. May 13, 2017. https://historymyths.wordpress.com/tag/fire-marks/
Fire Mark Gallery from the New York City Fire Museum. https://www.nycfiremuseum.org/fire-marks#:~:text=The%20purpose%20of%20fire%20marks,fire%20marks%20are%20collector%20items.

From the Deep

Fire Marks, An Unusual Adventure