Harcourt Studios is badly damaged by a fire.

The fire destroys the life’s work of many of Boston’s most accomplished artists, including William Worcester Churchill, F. Holland Day, Joseph DeCamp, Kahlil Gibran, Mary Brewster Hazleton, William McGregor Paxton, Elizabeth Vila Taylor (later Watson), and Theodore Wendel. The next day, DeCamp reputedly walks into the St. Botolph Club, then at 2 Newbury Street, and announces, “I have a family to support. I’ll paint anybody’s portrait for $100.”