Sumter-Thomas County GaArchives News.....Windsor Hotel -- 1913 May 3, 1913
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LaVerne Carter http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00028.html#0006854 July 23, 2012, 11:53 am

Americus Times Recorder May 3, 1913



                       ROOF OF WINDSOR HOTEL
                       DAMAGED BY THE FLAMES

          WATER USED IN EXTINGUISHING THE FLAMES DID HEAVY
        DAMAGE ON LOWER FLOORS -- TOTAL DAMAGES ARE ESTIMATED
              AT FROM $15,000 TO $20,000, FULLY INSURED

Defective wiring is assigned as the cause of the fire that early yesterday 
morning burned away the roof and top, or fifth, floor of the Windsor Hotel, 
causing a property loss that is estimated at from $15,000 to $20,000, fully
covered by insurance.  The fire was discovered about 5 o'clock.

The department got to work immediately, and within a remarkable short time had 
six streams playing upon the blazing roof.  The reserve fire engine was 
brought into use and men were rendered valuable assistance by citizens in
carrying the heavy lines of hose up three flights to a point of vantage. The
hotel is fully equipped with fire hose, and this, too, was used to good effect.
The blaze was confined to the fifth floor and while the roof of that portion
of the building was destroyed, the loss might have been greater.

Manager Rogers and employees of the hotel notified all of the eighty guests in 
the house of possible danger, and all left the building in orderly manner.
That the fire was confined to the fifth floor is due to the fact that a metal 
flooring at that point held it in check.  The sleeping apartments immedicately 
beneath the burned portion of the building were not damaged.

The portion in which the fire originated and to which it was confined, was 
used entirely for sample rooms, there being no sleeping apartments on that
floor.  Four traveling men, guests of the hotel, lost valuable trunks left
overnight in the sample rooms.  There was little other personal property loss
sustained.  The greatest damage resulted from water poured upon the flames.
All of this, it was stated yesterday, would have to be replaced. The engine
room and power house were put out of commission temporarily.

The flames reached the top portion of the elevator shaft, burning the 
fastenings. The passenger elevator was at the top of the shaft and dropped 
five flights to the basement, sustaining considerable damage.

While the fire was at its height the merchants and others having places of
businesses in the hotel block looked on anxiously, fearing a general 
conflagration, but none of them found it necessary to remove any portion of
their stocks or goods. Not a place of business in the Hotel Windsor block
was damaged either by fire or water.

Seldom has the water supply been more abundant.  For an hour the standpipe 
overflowed, and the pressure was all that Chief McArthur and his firemen
desired.  Valuable assistance was given by Mssrs. O.C. Johnson, Neon 
Buchanan and John E. Chapman who were complimented upon their volunteer aid.

Mr. L. G. Council, who owns the hotel, was among those who worked valiantly
in subduing the flames. Mr. Council stated afterwards that the loss could
only be approximated, but that he thought it would reach $15,000 or $20,000
if not more.  The propery, he stated, was fully protected by insurance.

Before 7 o'clock the hotel architect, Mr. E. C. Wachendorff of Atlanta, had
been notified of the fire.  He left Atlanta for Americus by first train and 
is already here, drafting plans for the complete restoration of the building.
Manager Rogers had his forces well in hand and to such effect that guests of 
the house were enjoying their breakfast in the main dining room even while the 
firemen were at work outside.  Before noon the offices had been cleared
of water and debris, and there will not be a delay of a day, even, in the
business of the hotel.

The Windsor was erected about 21 years ago at a cost exceeding $100,000, and 
this is the first fire ever to occur there.  Mr. L. G. Council, upon acquiring 
the property three years ago, rehabilitated it at great cost and made of it 
one of the handsomest and most modern hotels in South Georgia, and justly the
pride of Americus.

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L. G. Council was Lee George Council, the son of George Washington Council 
and his wife, Martha Caroline (Callie) Barwick Council.  
Lee George was born 8-25-1869 in Sumter County,Georgia and died 1-2-1945
in Sumter County, Georgia.  He married Florence Hildreth who died 5-23-1973
in New York.  Lee George and Florence are both buried in Oak Grove Cemetery,
Americus, Georgia.  Lee George's mother, Martha Carolina (Callie) Barwick
was a cousin to Melissa Ann Barwick Humphries of Thomas and Mitchell Counties,
Georgia.  Melissa Ann was the great-grandmother of LaVerne Carter of Americus,
Georgia. Melissa Ann named one of her daughters Florence after Florence
Hildreth above.



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