Winecoff Hotel Fire

Located in Atlanta, Georgia, the Winecoff Hotel has become most famous for a fire that occurred there on December 7th, 1946, in which 119 people died. It remains the deadliest hotel fire in the history of the United States, and prompted many changes in building and safety codes.

Guests at the hotel that night included teenagers attending a Tri-Y Youth Conference, Christmas shoppers, and people in town to see Song of the South. Arnold Hardy, a 26-year-old graduate student at Georgia Tech, became the first amateur to win a Pulitzer Prize in photography for his snapshot of a woman (later identified as survivor Daisy McCumber) in mid-air after jumping from the 11th floor of the hotel during the fire.