In 1890 a great fire broke out in Thessaloniki. It caused major damages to properties, leaving 15.000 homeless including a considerable number of Jewish people. The Jews affected by the fire of 1890 found a new home in the district which was designed and built thanks to collective funding from the Jewish community, and to the financial support of Baroness Clara de Hirsch. The Baroness, widow of Baron Maurice de Hirsch, also donated a considerable amount in golden francs for the construction of a Jewish hospital that was finally inaugurated in 1908. In 1931, the fire that destroyed the Campbell quarter, considered an act of antisemitism, forced the expelled Jewish families to move to the Baron de Hirsch district. By 1943, the district had 173 little houses in which 285 families lived.