Logan County IL Archives History - Books .....Fires In Atlanta 1953 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 31, 2007, 12:34 am Book Title: A History Of Atlanta FIRES IN ATLANTA In the early days of Atlanta, most of the buildings were of wood, and with no fire fighting facilities, disastrous fires were common. The first Atlanta House was destroyed by flames in 1857. R. T. Gill's warehouse burned January 9, 1861, including 7,000 bushels of corn arid 1,200 bushels of wheat. In 1865, fire again broke out and laid waste all the buildings between Armington's block and Arch street. The same year, another equally disastrous fire destroyed other buildings in the business section, at which time the town records were unfortunately destroyed. A fire on the night of April 25, 1867, razed W. Mix & Company's hardware store, owned by Dr. Rankin; J. F. Hyde & Company's shoe store, owned by Alex Downey; Allen's drug store, owned by W. E. Dicks; Shores, Dunham & Company's store, loss $5,000, besides several other smaller buildings. A fire engine was shipped in from Bloomington or the town would have been destroyed. On July 7, 1867, another fire destroyed the remainder of the block left standing from the fire of April preceding. This fire consumed Leonard's grocery store, Graser's grocery store, Flugel's shoe shop, Hicks & James warehouse, Seth Turner's warehouse, Dunlop's harness shop, Mason's grocery, the Downey building, printing office and other buildings. On July 11, four days afterward, E. H. Turtle's warehouse burned. In 1872, the Baptist church burned, and on May 25, 1873, West, Fluss & Company's planing mill was destroyed, at a loss of $7,000. The Arming-ton three-story brick block burned on April 5, 1874, with a loss of $12,000, and in November, 1876, Dills & Houser's warehouse burned. Another series of fires began in 1882. On July 5th of that year, the freight depot of the Illinois Midland railroad burned. The Turner & Turtle mills were destroyed by fire October 26, 1882. These mills were built of brick and stone in 1868 by Harvey Turner and J. A. Hoblit at a cost of $30,000. At the same time, Armington's elevator, with a capacity of 15,000 bushels of grain went up in flames. In 1885, Barnett's carpenter shop and Hilpert's wagon shop were burned, and in November of the same year the Cumberland Presbyterian church was consumed. On March 23, 1887, fire also destroyed a row of seven frame buildings on the corner of Vine and Arch streets. The Grant house burned August 27, 1889. With the establishment of a waterworks in 1892, and the acquisition of some fire fighting equipment, disastrous fires became less frequent, but the spectacular blazes which destroyed the "Blue Barns," located on the present sites of the Willow Farms Dairy and Donald Menzel's home, on September 6, 1896, and the large livery barn on Arch street, in the summer of 1900, are still remembered. The fire which destroyed the school-house in the summer of 1908 was one of the most costly fires in the city's history. Since the formation of the Atlanta Fire Department in 1926, fire losses have been held to a minimum, a tribute to the department and to the city, which has provided adequate facilities for combating the scourge of fire. Additional Comments: Extracted from: A HISTORY OF ATLANTA 1853-1953 Prepared by Citizens of Atlanta As a Part of the Observance of the Centennial, June 11,12 and 13,1953 THE PUBLICATION IS SPONSORED BY THE ATLANTA WOMAN'S CLUB Atlanta, Illinois 1953 Published By The Stewart - Pinks Publishing Co. Atlanta, Illinois File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/logan/history/1953/ahistory/firesina53gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 4.0 Kb