In 1835, he created a lithograph that illustrated a fire sweeping through New York City's business district. The print of the Merchant's Exchange sold thousands of copies in four days. Currier realized that there was a market for current news, so he turned out several more disaster prints and other inexpensive lithographs that illustrated local and national events, such as ""Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of May 15, 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives". He quickly gained a reputation as an accomplished lithographer. In 1840, he produced "Awful Conflagration of the Steam Boat "Lexington"", which was so successful that he was given a weekly insert in the "New York Sun". In that year, Currier's firm began to shift its focus from job printing to independent print publishing.