“Such was the tremendous spectacle presented on the surface of the Hudson River as if it had been some holiday pageant. It was made tragic by the realization that somewhere in that smoke, somewhere beneath the turbid waters, scores of lives had been lost, or were then in their last desperate struggle against death,” read the July 1, 1900 Indianapolis Journal. The legacy of the Hoboken Pier fire was long lasting and eventually forced new changes and regulations on piers and steamships. Read more about it!

The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.

The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.