Parish History: 1901 Winnfield Fire, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by Michael Drewett, 6321 Clegg Rd., Pensacola, FL 32526 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Source: Southern Sentinel, Jan. 3, 1902, Winnfield, La. .................................. DESTRUCTIVE FIRE Visits Winnfield and Destroys Business Portion of Town Biggest Fire in History Whole Block, Containing Six Houses, Destroyed As will be seen by an article in another column, headed 'A Narrow Escape,' the business part of Winnfield was doomed to fire. An attempt was made Saturday night to fire the buildings along Main Street in front of the Public Square, but by mere chance the fire was discovered and averted. But Tuesday night another attempt was made which proved successful, as the vacant lots and chared remains thereon demonstrate. Although no one knows that the fire was premeditated, yet the attempt of Saturday night and the subsequent disaster of Tuesday night leads to the supposition that the buildings were fired. After the affair of Saturday night Mr. Davis, whose building came so near burning, said that he believed that his house had been fired, that he could see no way in which fire could have originated accidentally. And since a disastrous fire has actually occurred so close upon the attempt of Saturday night one is lead to believe that the disaster was premeditated by some one, of course unknown. Fire was discovered between 9 and 10 o'clock and the general alarm given. The whole town turned out to assist in the struggle to save the town from destruction. The fire had such holt in the furniture store of McN. Davis when discovered that it was next to impossible to save anything. Attention was then given to the store house of Mrs. S. A. Wright which was beside the furniture store with a thirty foot space intervening. There was no chance to save the building and all hands went to work carrying out the contents of the store. Next came the store of C. M. Durham, next the Bevill store house occupied by N. L. Hudson, next the drug store occupied by a drug company, the R. A. Emerson Drug Co. We have been told, the building being owned by Dr. J. J. Peters. The next and last building was the old Kelly drug store and which occupied, the lower story by the telephone exchange and the upper story by the Masonic, Knights of Pythias and Woodmen of the World organizations. After fire had reached the store house of Mrs. Wright it was evident that nothing could be done to check it until it burned itself out. So attention was directed to emptying the buildings. The Public Square was used as a dumping ground and several thousand dollars worth of merchandise was piled there on. C. M. Durham saved $1200 or $1500 worth, Mrs. Wright saved about $1000 worth, N. L. Hudson saved practically everything as did the Drug Company. Mr. White saved the telephone switchboard and other fixtures in the office. All the secret order paraphernalia was saved from burning. McN. Davis is the heaviest loser by the fire as he lost everything. He had $1500 insurance and over $2000 worth of furniture. Mrs. Wright had $2750 insurance on merchandise and the store houses occupied by her and Mr. Davis. Mr. Durham had $750 insurance on his house but the amount on merchandise cannot be ascertained at this time, it was, however, only about half of the value of goods destroyed. The amount of loss and insurance on Mr. Hudson's stock is not known. Mrs. Bevill had insurance on the building occupied by him. Dr. J. J. Peters had $450 insurance on the building occupied by the Drug Company, and also $450 occupied by the telephone exchange, but only a few hours before the fire word came instructing the agents to cancel the policy on the building. The policy on the Masonic Hall had been canceled some time ago and the order suffered a total loss. The burned district presents a desolate appearance and it is not known at this time whether any of the burned buildings will be replaced by the present owners of the property, it is hoped, however, that the buildings when replaced will be of brick or at least of modern architecture, material and workmanship, and that they will be forthcoming. This is the biggest fire in the history of the town and should cause the people to provide, hereafter, some means of fighting fire. Nothing better than a 'bucket brigade' has been in service heretofore and while excellent work has been done on all occasions of fire, yet such means are inadequate on occasions like Tuesday night. ................................. A Narrow Escape Winnfield had a narrow escape from a destructive fire Saturday night. About 10 o'clock at night A. T. Drewett, who is employed in the furniture store of McN. Davis, was passing along Main street and noticed a light in the office at the back of the store. He thought strange of the light at that time of night, as Mr. Davis resides in the eastern part of town and never stays at the store after night. He went to a window of the office and saw that one side of the wall was on fire. The alarm was given and the door broken open, and after a few minutes hard work the fire was soon extinguished, with damage to building and furniture to the extent of $50 or $60, covered by insurance. It was a narrow escape as a high wind was blowing and had the fire not been discovered until half an hour later it is very likely the whole business portion of the town would have been burned. Mr. Davis says he is glad of the discovery of the fire and the work of extinguishing it and it is certain that all those doing business and owning property in that vicinity are also glad of their escape.