Our Firemen, The History of the NY Fire Departments  Chapter 14,
Part III  By Holice and Debbie  On the eighteenth of December,
1804, the progress of the city was again impeded for a short
time by a disastrous fire, which began at two o'clock in the
morning in a grocery on Front Street. The air was cold, and a
high wind was blowing, and the engines late in the appearance.
The buildings from the west side of Coffee House Slip, on Water
Street, to Gouverneur's Lane, and thence down to the East river,
were swept away, and crossing wall Street, the houses upon the
east side of the slip were burned. Among them was the old
Tontine coffee House, so celebrated in its day, and which ad a
narrow escape in the great fire of 1835. Most of the buildings
being of wood, their destruction caused new and fire-proof brick
edifices to be built in their places. About forty stores and
dwellings were consumed--fifteen on Wall Street, seventeen on
Front, and eight on Water Street--the value of the property
destroyed amounting to tw