Dublin Core
Title
1917 Fire Destroys Old Landmarks, Rossville, Kansas
Description
Number 7
Old Landmarks Burned
Hartzell Drug Store, Feed Store, Shoe Stop and a Harness Shop Gutted By Flames. Aye’s Stock Carried to Safety.
An early afternoon fire Monday burned the D. Hartzell drug store building and contents, E.D. Hartzell’s poultry and feed store the building occupied by Hower’s shoe shop and the building occupied by Wm. Aye’s harness shop.
Practically all the Aye stock was saved. Mr. Hower saved all his tools and his bed. The entire contents of the drug store and feed store was burned.
The fire was discovered about 12:45 on the roof of the building occupied by the shoe shop, and is supposed to have started from a defective flue or burning soot igniting the roof.
Although the engine and hose were promptly on the job, the whole block of wooden buildings was burning fiercely before a stream could be turned on the flames. The engine wouldn’t work—carburetor out of whack, dome had frozen and cracked and pressure therefor cut down. After it was started and run twenty minutes it was found no water was circulating through the cylinders, and possibly a few more minor defects, if we had thought to catalog them all. In the meantime the Aye stock was carried to safety.
Only a light breeze was blowing from due south, and the firemen stationed themselves in its path on Dr. Pratt’s office and held it in check and confined to the wooden buildings. Men on the buildings farther north watched the roofs for incipient blazes. By 3 o’clock the buildings were burned to the foundations. An effort was made and succeeded in keeping the fire out of the drug store cellar where some potatoes were stored. The floor is still over the cellar.
The buildings burned were landmarks of Rossville’s infancy. The two rooms owned by D. Hartzell were built in the early eighties; the shoe shop and harness building owned by the Oldfield estate were nearly as old. As if in defiance of all fires, the charred joists of the south partition of the drug store remained standing after the balance of the building was gone, as once before the building was saved and the Fritz building burned instead.
The only insurance carried was by Mr. Aye, and most of his stock was saved. E.D. Hartzell’s loss on stock was $300 or $400 and the buildings and drug stock loss was about $2500. Mr. Aye had rented and housed his stock in the fireproof Howerton building before the fire had finished burning his old stand.
The loss of these buildings leaves a big gap on the west side of Main street, but some of the most desirable building sites in the business part of town. In giving thanks to the many generous citizens who helped in saving property and subduing the flames, let us not forget to thank the Lord the wind was not in the west. [February 15, 1917]
Old Landmarks Burned
Hartzell Drug Store, Feed Store, Shoe Stop and a Harness Shop Gutted By Flames. Aye’s Stock Carried to Safety.
An early afternoon fire Monday burned the D. Hartzell drug store building and contents, E.D. Hartzell’s poultry and feed store the building occupied by Hower’s shoe shop and the building occupied by Wm. Aye’s harness shop.
Practically all the Aye stock was saved. Mr. Hower saved all his tools and his bed. The entire contents of the drug store and feed store was burned.
The fire was discovered about 12:45 on the roof of the building occupied by the shoe shop, and is supposed to have started from a defective flue or burning soot igniting the roof.
Although the engine and hose were promptly on the job, the whole block of wooden buildings was burning fiercely before a stream could be turned on the flames. The engine wouldn’t work—carburetor out of whack, dome had frozen and cracked and pressure therefor cut down. After it was started and run twenty minutes it was found no water was circulating through the cylinders, and possibly a few more minor defects, if we had thought to catalog them all. In the meantime the Aye stock was carried to safety.
Only a light breeze was blowing from due south, and the firemen stationed themselves in its path on Dr. Pratt’s office and held it in check and confined to the wooden buildings. Men on the buildings farther north watched the roofs for incipient blazes. By 3 o’clock the buildings were burned to the foundations. An effort was made and succeeded in keeping the fire out of the drug store cellar where some potatoes were stored. The floor is still over the cellar.
The buildings burned were landmarks of Rossville’s infancy. The two rooms owned by D. Hartzell were built in the early eighties; the shoe shop and harness building owned by the Oldfield estate were nearly as old. As if in defiance of all fires, the charred joists of the south partition of the drug store remained standing after the balance of the building was gone, as once before the building was saved and the Fritz building burned instead.
The only insurance carried was by Mr. Aye, and most of his stock was saved. E.D. Hartzell’s loss on stock was $300 or $400 and the buildings and drug stock loss was about $2500. Mr. Aye had rented and housed his stock in the fireproof Howerton building before the fire had finished burning his old stand.
The loss of these buildings leaves a big gap on the west side of Main street, but some of the most desirable building sites in the business part of town. In giving thanks to the many generous citizens who helped in saving property and subduing the flames, let us not forget to thank the Lord the wind was not in the west. [February 15, 1917]
Creator
Rossville Reporter, Rossville, Kansas
Publisher
Rossville Community Library
Date
February 15, 1917
Rights
Public domain
Format
newspaper article
Identifier
RCL0561
Item Relations
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