On the night of June 6, 1889, a raging fire swept through about 30 square blocks of Seattle, burning hundreds of early buildings and leaving rubble and ashes. Most of the wooden buildings were destroyed, and even the few brick buildings in the business district crumbled in the heat. Within a month, rebuilding had begun, and Seattle soon rose bigger and better than before. Within a year, the city's population nearly doubled from 25,000 to 43,000. Several buildings in Pioneer Square and many others throughout the neighborhood came from that period of new growth, when construction in the business district embraced Richardsonian Romanesque, a style that conveyed solid strength and bold optimism while connecting to European traditions through massive columns, repetitive arches, and ornamental details.