The Fourth Ward Fires and the Crisis of Urban Renewal

The fire epidemic that swept through Englewood's Fourth Ward during the fall and winter of 1970 unfolded against a backdrop of racial tension, housing insecurity, and a controversial urban renewal program. Between November and December, at least seventeen suspicious fires struck the predominantly Black neighborhood, destroying homes, churches, and apartment buildings while leaving dozens of residents homeless.

The fires were concentrated in an area slated for redevelopment under the city's $18 million urban renewal project. Newspaper maps published during the crisis showed that many of the damaged buildings were clustered within or adjacent to the proposed renewal zone. Residents increasingly feared that the fires were not random acts of destruction but were somehow connected to efforts to clear the neighborhood for redevelopment.

The first major warning sign came on November 22, when a fire damaged the Ebenezer Baptist Church at Third and Fourth Streets. Two days later, The Record reported that the church fire was already being referred to as the tenth suspicious blaze in a growing pattern affecting the Fourth Ward. Additional fires quickly followed. A two-family house on William Street burned, leaving a mother and two children homeless, while nearby homes suffered heavy damage. Residents noted that many of the structures destroyed were older homes occupied by working-class Black families.

By the end of November, fear had spread throughout the community. On November 29, a firebomb crashed through a second-floor window of an apartment building at 27 Englewood Avenue, igniting what newspapers described as the fifteenth fire in the wave. Thirty-eight residents were displaced. Witnesses reported seeing a man fleeing down a fire escape moments after the explosion. The attack was significant because it provided the first widely publicized evidence that at least one of the fires may have been deliberately set using an incendiary device.

The firebombing intensified criticism of city officials. Fourth Ward Councilman Vincent Tibbs publicly accused police and municipal leaders of failing to protect residents. Although Tibbs later softened some of his criticism after meeting with officials, he continued to express concern about the slow pace of the investigation. Residents voiced anger and frustration. One resident stated that he was convinced someone was deliberately setting the fires, while others openly wondered whether the attacks were connected to urban renewal plans.

As the crisis deepened, ordinary residents organized neighborhood patrols and mutual aid efforts. Churches, civic groups, and schools collected food, blankets, toys, and clothing for displaced families. Students in Englewood schools organized donation drives, and relief committees worked to secure temporary shelter for fire victims.

The fires also revealed remarkable acts of courage. On December 11, a blaze at 75 South Dean Street trapped sixty-six-year-old Katy Ackerman inside her second-floor apartment. Four local men—Temple Jones, Clarence Brown, Bernard Green, and Levi Wilkins—rushed into action before firefighters arrived. After spotting movement behind a curtain, they broke through a second-floor window and carried Ackerman to safety. Newspaper accounts celebrated the men as heroes, while also noting that the fire represented the seventeenth suspicious blaze in less than a month. Their rescue became one of the most memorable stories to emerge from the crisis.

With dozens of families displaced, city leaders searched for housing solutions. In early December, Mayor Ned Feldman appointed a relocation committee to assist fire victims. The committee ultimately recommended the creation of a temporary mobile-home community between Genesee Avenue and Rosemont Place. Approximately twenty-seven displaced families were expected to move into the trailer community until permanent housing could be found. City officials emphasized that the arrangement was temporary and promised to provide rent assistance through the Housing Authority. Yet even this response revealed the severity of the crisis: a suburban Bergen County city was constructing an emergency trailer settlement to house victims of a fire epidemic.

The Arrest of Catherine Barksdale

The most controversial chapter of the fire crisis began in December 1970 with the arrest of Catherine Barksdale, a prominent welfare rights activist and president of the Bergen County chapter of the National Welfare Rights Organization.

Barksdale was hardly an unknown figure. Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s she had emerged as one of Bergen County's most outspoken advocates for poor families. Newspaper profiles described her as a skilled organizer who regularly challenged public officials and demanded better treatment for welfare recipients. Her activism often brought her into conflict with local authorities, but it also earned her respect among many residents.

Ironically, only days before her arrest, Mayor Feldman had appointed Barksdale to a committee overseeing the relocation of families displaced by the fires. She was therefore both a community leader and an official participant in the city's response to the crisis.

On December 12, police arrested Barksdale and charged her with setting a fire at 120–124 Williams Street, which was occupied by her sister Anna Barksdale. That fire left six families homeless. Authorities claimed that she had warned one resident several hours before the blaze occurred. Yet even as police announced the arrest, Fire Chief Joseph Marson cautioned that other individuals were likely responsible for the remaining fires. Officials continued to believe that multiple arsonists were involved in the broader fire epidemic.

Barksdale vigorously denied the accusations. She argued that she had received anonymous telephone warnings before several of the fires and had reported those warnings to police. According to newspaper accounts, she also pointed out that she herself had previously been the victim of a suspicious fire. In 1969, a fire destroyed her Teaneck home shortly before she was scheduled to attend a national welfare rights conference. She and her daughter escaped with minor injuries. The blaze had been classified as suspicious by investigators.

The arrest divided the community. Some residents viewed it as evidence that investigators were finally making progress. Others believed authorities were scapegoating a controversial activist while failing to solve the larger mystery of the Fourth Ward fires. Several Black community leaders remained skeptical, and even Mayor Feldman publicly acknowledged his mixed feelings because Barksdale had previously been a forceful advocate for social programs in Englewood.

Trials, Convictions, and Continuing Questions

The legal proceedings stretched on for nearly two years. In January 1971, courts scheduled preliminary hearings as prosecutors assembled evidence against Barksdale. In February, a Bergen County grand jury indicted her on arson charges connected to the Williams Street fire.

The case proved difficult. Initial proceedings failed to produce a definitive resolution, and public debate continued over whether Barksdale had been fairly accused. Eventually, prosecutors retried the case. In September 1972, a Bergen County jury found Barksdale guilty of arson during a second trial. Newspaper coverage noted that even the presiding judge expressed reservations about aspects of the case while allowing the verdict to stand.

The controversy did not end there. In 1971 another major arson prosecution connected to the broader fire wave resulted in the conviction of Bobby Lee Spates for murder and arson after a fatal fire in Englewood. The conviction reinforced the view held by investigators that multiple individuals had participated in setting fires during the period.

As a result, the fires never yielded a simple explanation. Some were clearly connected to criminal acts. Others remained unsolved. Investigators repeatedly suggested that several people were involved rather than a single mastermind. Community members continued to debate whether the fires were motivated by personal grievances, criminal activity, racial intimidation, opposition to urban renewal, or some combination of factors.

Legacy

The 1970 Fourth Ward fires represented far more than a criminal investigation. They exposed the deep anxieties surrounding urban renewal in Englewood, particularly among Black residents who feared displacement and the destruction of established neighborhoods. The fires left families homeless, destroyed churches and community institutions, strained relations between residents and city officials, and fueled lasting suspicions about the relationship between redevelopment and racial inequality.

Even decades later, the fires remain one of the most dramatic episodes in Englewood's history. They stand as a reminder that urban renewal was experienced not merely as a planning initiative but as a struggle over who belonged in the city, who controlled its future, and who would bear the costs of redevelopment. The controversy surrounding Catherine Barksdale further illustrates how questions of race, class, activism, and political power became inseparable from the story of the fires themselves.

 Bruce Brackett, "10th Mystery Fire: Englewood Church," The Record (Hackensack, NJ), November 24, 1970, 5.

 Bruce Brackett, "Fire Bomb Sets Off 15th Fire; Englewood Police Seek Arsonist," The Record (Hackensack, NJ), November 30, 1970, A-6.

 Harcourt Tynes, "Four Are Heroes in Englewood Fire," The Record (Hackensack, NJ), December 12, 1970, A-1.

 "Four Heroes in Fire Rescue," The Record (Hackensack, NJ), December 13, 1970, A-7.

  "Fire Victims Will Get Temporary Housing," The Record (Hackensack, NJ), December 13, 1970, 7.

 "An Arson Arrest Made in Englewood," The Record (Hackensack, NJ), December 13, 1970, 7.

"Set Hearing for Leader Held for Englewood Fire," Paterson News, December 14, 1970, 2.

 "Mrs. Barksdale's Hearing Set Jan. 27," The Record (Hackensack, NJ), January 19, 1971, 29.

 "Bergen Jury Indicts Two in Arson Cases," The Herald-News (Passaic, NJ), February 19, 1971, 14.

 "Take Protests Higher, Welfare Clients Urged," The Record (Hackensack, NJ), June 20, 1971, 8.

 "Bergen Murder Suspect Admits Break-in Attempt," Paterson News, October 15, 1971, 15.

 Boyd Dugan, "Spates Found Guilty of Murder, Arson," The Record (Hackensack, NJ), November 18, 1971, A-6.

 "Spates Is Given Life Sentence," The Record (Hackensack, NJ), December 5, 1971, A-11.

"Catherine Barksdale Found Guilty of Arson," The Record (Hackensack, NJ), September 14, 1972, 4.