In the early morning hours of Dec. 8, 1922, flames swept over Astoria’s streets, traveling through the wind by city block and spreading under the surface through wooden platforms and pilings.

Some 30 to 40 acres were consumed by sunrise.

An editorial in the following day’s Morning Astorian lamented the scene: “Calamity riding on flaming wings has smitten Astoria. The fiery brand has penetrated the vitals of the municipality. Her marts of trade and commerce are destroyed, her people have been driven into the streets by the hundreds, her march toward prosperity has received a grievous setback, a fiery baptism which like a flaming torch will lead us onward to greater triumphs.”

The fire, which began near 11th and Commercial streets, destroyed dozens of city blocks, leaving several thousand without shelter. But within hours, the people of Astoria had begun to organize relief efforts.

At the Lovell Building, one of the few remaining structures after the fire, meals were provided by a relief committee. Meetings were held at the YMCA Building, which also served as a temporary office for The Astorian.

A note on the Dec. 9, 1922 edition’s lower right corner, placed below a listing of the more than 220 “shops, stores, rooming houses and places of business” lost in the fire, reads: “The Morning Astorian is carrying on under difficulties. We’ll get better as we get used to it. Let’s Go.”

That last phrase also appears in the conclusion of the above editorial, a call for perseverance that Astoria continues to carry forward: “Let every citizen unite with the common purpose to advance, to grow again; let none lag; let none be dismayed. Every Astorian should echo the cry of those, who called upon to do the impossible and dare the utmost on an embattled front in a foreign land, made their slogan of two simple words: ‘Let’s Go.’”