On Jan. 21, 1979, 21 people were killed and 21 others were injured in a fire at 131 Clinton St.
On Oct. 13, 1981, 67 Park Ave. was consumed by fire.
On Oct. 25, 1981, 11 were killed at an apartment complex on Washington Street when a fire started in a dumbwaiter.
On April 30, 1982, 13 were killed at the site of the Pinter Hotel at 151 Fourth St.
Many of these victims were children and infants caught in the flames and smoke as they slept.
Though no one has ever been convicted, the fires were allegedly set by property owners to clear tenements of poor tenants in order to covert the buildings into condos where they could get more rent.
Once a blue-collar shipping community, Hoboken has since become a more expensive place to live with a large community of people who take advantage of its proximity to New York City jobs.
That gentrification is believed to be due in part to those alleged arson fires in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Honoring the dead
The Hoboken Fire Victims Memorial Project aims to honor the victims of the fires.
Resident Rose Orozco, blogger Roman Brice, and Council President Jen Giattino founded it in 2018.
Reverend Elaine Thomas of All Saints Episcopal Parish became involved in the group while researching her parish which formed from three separate Episcopal churches in the early 1980s around when the fires began.
During her research, she learned of their effort to help those displaced by the fires who were in need of food or shelter.
Since Thomas came to All Saints, she’d be hearing of the “era of fire” or “gentrification by fire.”
“I remember my colleague who was born and raised in Hoboken and was unaffected by the fires themselves telling me that she remembers as a girl at the time that smoke detectors had to be plugged in,” Thomas recalled.
“She remembered waking up in the middle of the night in a panic trying to remember if it was plugged in. That story to me shows it isn’t just about the people who lost their homes or were burned out but that people throughout the community were affected by the fires in a deep way … it is a community-wide trauma.”
Never forget
All Saints Episcopal Parish, 701 Washington St., will offer a series of events to commemorate the 55 people, who died in the fires that terrorized this city between 1978 and 1983.
Titled “The Mile Square Cathedral: Remembering the Fires 1978-1983,” the three-part series began with a morning of community conversation and storytelling at All Saints on Saturday, Feb. 29.
“I’m interested in addressing the wounds,” Thomas said. “It is not about blame. People carry a lot of anger and sorrow and really traumatic memories, and this will give them an opportunity to heal.”
“Some fires were accidental, but some were clearly caused by arson because the fire department was able to identify that an accelerant had been used,” she said. “Now it’s easy to say it was arson. It is hard to figure out and prove who did it.”
Healing opportunities
Residents will have the chance to gather and further heal on Saturday, March 7, as the series continues with a prayer walk, which will start at 10 a.m. at 67 Park Ave., the site of an October 1981 fire that killed two children.
The prayer walk will continue past several fire locations as well as the Hoboken Shelter and In Jesus’s Name Charities, both of which were founded as a result of the fires.
The walk will conclude at Teofilo “Tom” Olivieri Park at 13th Street and Willow Avenue where a memorial plaque honoring the victims of the fires will be placed this spring.
“I didn’t know Tom, but from everything I’ve heard he was a fearless advocate for people being displaced and burned out,” Thomas said.
The final event will be on Sunday, March 15, at 4 p.m. at All Saints Church.
An Interfaith Service of Remembrance will honor the dead and provide comfort to those who still bear the emotional wounds from the devastating fires.
Multiple choirs and members of the Hoboken Clergy Coalition are scheduled to participate.
Thomas said while most people don’t know about the blazes that terrorized Hoboken, it is important for new residents to attend and learn about the city’s dark moment in history.
“It’s not about feeling bad or guilty,” she said. “Hoboken is a great place to live and it attracts a lot of people, which is wonderful, but a lot of what makes it wonderful came at a very steep price and I think it is important to acknowledge that. … I want to remember the people who lost their lives, and that was never really acknowledged in a public way.”
For more information on the three-part series, email Rev. Elaine Ellis Thomas at ethomas@allsaintshoboken.com.
For updates on this and other stories check www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Marilyn Baer can be reached at Marilynb@hudsonreporter.com.
