On December 1, 1922, the African-American community in New Bern, North Carolina, was devastated by a fire that “leveled 40 city blocks and left 3,000 people homeless.”
After the fire, St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church at 604 Johnson Street was turned into a makeshift emergency hospital.
A record in the church makes note of the first baby born after the fire: a little boy named St. Cyprian Emergency Dillahunt.
Source: Mayo, Nikie. “Program offers chance to ‘experience’ historic fire.” Sun Journal [New Bern, NC] 28 Jan. 2010.