On This Date In Twin Cities History - January 3, 1940

On this date in 1940, a fire broke out in the aging Marlborough Hotel in Minneapolis.  The hotel, located at Third Avenue South and Fifteenth Street in Minneapolis burst into flames after a pre-dawn explosion.  The fire burned quickly and engulfed most of the hotel’s 56 single rooms and 23 apartment units, where over 120 tenants were sleeping. Nineteen people died in the fire and to date, it is the city’s deadliest fire.