Great Salem Fire of 1914
E794122
The Great Salem Fire of 1914 was a devastating urban conflagration in Salem, Massachusetts, that destroyed a large portion of the city’s industrial and residential areas and displaced thousands of residents.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Great Salem Fire of 1914 canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T9359818 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Great Salem Fire of 1914 Context triple: [History of Salem, Massachusetts, majorDisaster, Great Salem Fire of 1914]
-
A.
Great Boston Fire of 1872
The Great Boston Fire of 1872 was a devastating urban conflagration that destroyed a large portion of Boston’s downtown business district and prompted major changes in the city’s building codes and fire safety practices.
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B.
Great Fire of Portland 1866
The Great Fire of Portland 1866 was a devastating conflagration that swept through much of Portland, Maine on July 4, 1866, destroying large portions of the city’s downtown and waterfront and becoming one of the most destructive urban fires in 19th-century America.
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C.
Great Chicago Fire of 1871
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was a catastrophic urban conflagration that destroyed much of Chicago, killed hundreds, left thousands homeless, and spurred major changes in building codes and city planning.
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D.
Great Midwest Fires of 1871
The Great Midwest Fires of 1871 were a series of devastating wildfires across several Midwestern U.S. states, including the infamous Peshtigo Fire, that caused massive destruction and loss of life in early October 1871.
-
E.
Fire of 1823
The Fire of 1823 was a devastating blaze that largely destroyed Rome’s ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, prompting its extensive 19th-century reconstruction.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Great Salem Fire of 1914 Target entity description: The Great Salem Fire of 1914 was a devastating urban conflagration in Salem, Massachusetts, that destroyed a large portion of the city’s industrial and residential areas and displaced thousands of residents.
-
A.
Great Boston Fire of 1872
The Great Boston Fire of 1872 was a devastating urban conflagration that destroyed a large portion of Boston’s downtown business district and prompted major changes in the city’s building codes and fire safety practices.
-
B.
Great Fire of Portland 1866
The Great Fire of Portland 1866 was a devastating conflagration that swept through much of Portland, Maine on July 4, 1866, destroying large portions of the city’s downtown and waterfront and becoming one of the most destructive urban fires in 19th-century America.
-
C.
Great Chicago Fire of 1871
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was a catastrophic urban conflagration that destroyed much of Chicago, killed hundreds, left thousands homeless, and spurred major changes in building codes and city planning.
-
D.
Great Midwest Fires of 1871
The Great Midwest Fires of 1871 were a series of devastating wildfires across several Midwestern U.S. states, including the infamous Peshtigo Fire, that caused massive destruction and loss of life in early October 1871.
-
E.
Fire of 1823
The Fire of 1823 was a devastating blaze that largely destroyed Rome’s ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, prompting its extensive 19th-century reconstruction.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
disaster
ⓘ
fire in the United States ⓘ urban conflagration ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs | Salem Fire of 1914 NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| cause | spark from a leather factory motor ⓘ |
| combatedBy |
Massachusetts State Militia
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Salem Fire Department NERFINISHED ⓘ fire departments from surrounding communities ⓘ |
| commemoratedBy |
historical markers in Salem
ⓘ
local exhibits and publications ⓘ |
| coordinateLocation | 42.52°N 70.90°W ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| destroyed |
Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company mill
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Salem’s French neighborhood ⓘ commercial buildings in Salem ⓘ industrial buildings in Salem ⓘ residential neighborhoods in Salem ⓘ |
| destroyedArea | approximately 253 acres ⓘ |
| destroyedBuildings | approximately 1376 buildings ⓘ |
| displacedPeople | approximately 18000 people ⓘ |
| endDate | 1914-06-26 ⓘ |
| fatalities | 3 ⓘ |
| followedBy | reconstruction of Salem’s industrial district ⓘ |
| hasAftermath |
charitable aid from private organizations
ⓘ
federal and state relief assistance ⓘ long-term displacement of residents ⓘ |
| hasSignificantImpactOn |
economy of Salem
ⓘ
housing in Salem ⓘ industrial base of Salem ⓘ |
| injuries | many ⓘ |
| ledTo |
changes in building codes in Salem
ⓘ
large-scale relief efforts ⓘ rebuilding of affected neighborhoods ⓘ urban planning reforms in Salem ⓘ |
| location | Salem, Massachusetts NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| originatedAt | Cornell’s leather factory NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| originatedIn | Kernwood neighborhood of Salem ⓘ |
| partOf |
history of Salem, Massachusetts
ⓘ
history of fires in the United States ⓘ |
| pointInTime | 1914 ⓘ |
| significantEventFor | residents of Salem, Massachusetts ⓘ |
| spreadBy |
strong winds
ⓘ
tarred roofs ⓘ wooden construction ⓘ |
| startDate | 1914-06-25 ⓘ |
| timeOfDay | afternoon ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Great Salem Fire of 1914 Description of subject: The Great Salem Fire of 1914 was a devastating urban conflagration in Salem, Massachusetts, that destroyed a large portion of the city’s industrial and residential areas and displaced thousands of residents.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.