Interior View of the West Hall, United States Patent Office Model Room, After the Fire of September 24th, 1877

On a cold and windy morning in September 1877, the largest fire in the history of Washington, D.C., broke out at the U.S. Patent Office Building—now the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture. A workman had started a fire on the first floor after copyists complained of being cold. Sparks traveled up a flue and ignited a series of wooden grates on the roof. In the next several hours, flames spread quickly throughout the third floor’s north and west wings. Given the height of the fire’s location, neither fire wagons nor hydrants could adequately deliver water to douse the flames. Ultimately the roof above these two wings collapsed. Before the fire was extinguished, more than 100,000 patent models stored in the building’s vast “Model Room” were destroyed, including Eli Whitney’s model for the cotton gin. Also housed in the building were the Declaration of Independence, George Washington’s military uniform, and many other items of national importance. Fortunately, a brigade of rescuers saved them—together with most of the written records and drawings from the Patent Office.