Earthquake bolts hold brick walls together

You walk past hundreds of these iron shapes on the walls of the city. They appear as discs, crosses, stars, S-shapes, and these lion heads, often mistaken for architectural decoration. Each one is a functional anchor for a long iron rod that runs through the building to the opposite wall or into the timber frame. These rods are connected in the middle by turnbuckles. By repeatedly tightening the large iron nut against the outer plate, workers pulled the walls of a building incrementally back toward each other.

This system was already in use across the city long before the night of 31 August 1886. Builders installed these tie rods to brace structures against the high winds of gales and hurricanes. When the magnitude 7 earthquake struck with its epicentre near Summerville, these pre-existing rods provided a ready-made defense for many brick structures. While nobody has established the extent to which these rods prevent structural collapse, they remain a permanent feature of the city landscape.

The shaking lasted under a minute, but the damage was widespread. Roughly 2,000 buildings were damaged across the region, and brick buildings accounted for 81 per cent of that destruction. An estimated 14,000 chimneys fell during the event. The seismic activity was not limited to the local area; the shaking was felt in 27 states, reaching as far as Chicago and Cuba.

The human cost of the disaster was severe. The initial count of 60 deaths in Charleston eventually reached 83, and more people died in the following days and weeks from fever and exposure. Because so many residents were forced out of their homes, families lived in the streets and public parks while aftershocks continued for months. The area of worst damage formed an ellipse approximately 20 by 30 miles, stretching north-east between Charleston and Jedburg.