Sunday Stories: The Big Fire
Compiled by Nora Hall Mills
Saturday, December 10, 1927, was a memorable day in Arnold –
the day of the big fire. This is the Sentinel’s account:
Fire broke out in the Farmers Union Store at an early hour
Saturday morning, destroying the Farmers Store and Thelan’s Pharmacy, and
gutting the Houghton-Perkins-Newman Real Estate Office, causing a $50,000 loss,
only partly covered by insurance.
 |
Looking north along the east side of Arnold’s
main street
about 1918.
|
The first warning of disaster was the crashing of plate
glass windows, which aroused Andy Comer, sleeping in the family’s apartment
above the barbershop. From his upstairs window Comer saw the flames and rushed
to ring the fire bell.
Fanned by icy winds, the fire gained rapid headway, and
there was no chance to save a thing from the enormous stock of Christmas goods
in both stores. A few chairs, a desk and most of the furnishings of the real
estate office were saved, but the building itself was ravaged. Roy Fraker, who
occupied a sleeping room in the rear, woke to find the roof and wall beside his
bed in flames.
Hundreds of dollars worth of damage was done by the intense
heat to plate glass windows across the street in the Arnold State Bank, Wehrley
theater, T.L. Jones store, Dale Shaw’s barber shop and the Green Parrot café.
The local American Legion’s Wm. A. Layton Post, whose meeting
place was on the second floor, suffered an irreparable loss when all the Post
records, guns and equipment were burned. The loss of these records cannot be
estimated.
Cold weather hampered work for the firemen, who kept on the
job for almost nine hours. Water from the hose flooded the gutters and
sidewalks, making precarious footing for workers and onlookers, and covering
the debris with a mantle of ice.
Not daunted for long, rebuilding soon commenced.
John Jameson bought the lots on the burned out corner from
the Maddox estate and began putting up a two-story building with the second
floor for a hotel. As soon as it was ready, he moved his Jameson & Co.
General Store up from its location in the Vogel building. G.H. Johnson, who had
beena minister in the Arnold Methodist church about 1919, and now had a
financial interest in the new structure, came back from carrel, Nebraska, to
operate the hotel.
The Farmers Store scraped together a small stock of goods
and opened a temporary store right after the fire in the old Parsons harness
shop, but moved down to the Vogel building as soon as it was vacated by
Jameson.
 |
| John Jamesons Economy Department Store and Hotel Custer |
Both stores had opening celebrations. Willa Phifer
(Brummett) won $10 for her entry of “Hotel Custer” as best name for the hotel
and Mrs. Lawrence Christensen won a like amount for the winning store name,
“Economy Department.”
Down at the Farmers Union opening, Lee Bailey guessed
correctly how many times the cash register would ring the first day – 171. The
workforce there consisted of John Lehmkuhler, manager; Norma Holt, bookkeeper;
Mrs. Lehmkuhler and daughter, Thelma (Votel) and Edward Brummett, clerks.
After the fires, only one frame building remained on the
east side of the main business street, the old Black shoe store, occupied by
Comer’s Barber and Beauty shop and living quarters.
Comments
Post a Comment