Old Orchard, Maine Fire

August 16, 1907

OLD ORCHARD SWEPT BY FIRE

Three Score Hotels and Cottages Are in Ruins.

RUMORED 3 LIVES LOST.

Half of the Well-Known Summer Resort on the Maine Coast is in Ashes
Strong Wind Fans the Flames- Loss $750,000. 

Old Orchard, Me., Aug. 16-One-half of Old Orchard’s summer hotel section along the shore front was swept by fire last night, the loss probably amounting to fully half a million dollars.

It is reported that three men were killed by dynamite used in blowing up buildings to stop the progress of the flames.

The Boston and Maine railroad station was blown up by dynamite to arrest the fire in that direction.

The Hotel Fisk, one of the finest on the beach, valued at $50,000; the Hotel Emerson, valued at $75,000, with its furnishings; the Hotel Seashore, the Hotel Alberta, the Aldine, the Lawrence House and half a dozen smaller hotels, together with about 50 cotages [sic], were destroyed within two hours.  All the buildings are of wooden construction and before the flames, fanned by a southwest breeze, were an easy prey.

The Old Orchard Fire Department was utterly unable to handle the blaze, and the firemen from Portland, Biddeford and Saco, who responded to calls for assistance, were hampered for sometime after their arrival by difficulty with the hose couplings.

At 10:55 o’clock, in spite of all efforts, the fire was still spreading to eastward and seemed likely to be stopped only when it had exhausted the material on which it could feed in that direction.

The fire was discovered about 8 o’clock in the upper part of the Olympia Hotel annex, which was occupied mainly by servants employed in the Hotel Emerson.

 Loss $750,000.
By United Press.

Old Orchard, Me., Aug 16-Twenty relief trains arrived today to come to the aid between three and four thousand refugees who were driven from their homes last night by fire, forcing them to camp on the beach.  The loss reaches $750,000.  People are scouring the ruins for valuables today. 

Evening Times, Cumberland, MD 16 Aug 1907

Old Orchard, Me., Aug. 15.-Nearly one-half of Old Orchard’s summer hotel section along the shore front was swept by fire tonight, the loss probably amounting to full half a million dollars.

The Hotel Fiske, one of the finest on the beach, values at $50,000, the Hotel Emerson, valued at $75,000 with its furnishings, the Hotel Alberta, the Aldine, the Lawrence house and half a dozen smaller hotels, together with about 50 cottages were destroyed within two hours.

All the buildings are of wooden constructions and the flames, fanned by a southwest breeze found them an easy prey.

The Old Orchard fire department, which consisted only of one small steam fire engine and a hose wagon, was utterly unable to cope with the blaze when it was discovered and the firemen from neighboring cities, Portland, Biddeford and Saco, who responded to calls for assistance were hampered for some time after their arrival on the scene by difficulty with the couplings.

At 10:30 o’clock, in spite of all efforts the fire was still spreading to the eastward and seemed likely to be stopped only when it had exhausted the material on which it could feed in that direction.

The fire was discovered about 8 o’clock in the upper part of the Olympia hotel annex, which was occupied mainly by servants employed in the Hotel Emerson.  It was supposed that an upset lamp was the origin of the blaze.  When the Old Orchard firemen were called out they found the entire upper stories of the annex n flames and were unable to prevent the spread of the fire to the main portion of the hotel.

Adjoining buildings containing stores located along the board walk beside the Boston & Maine Railroad tracks soon caught fire and from there the flames jumped the tracks and communicated with the Alberta hotel and several other buildings near the shore.

An Area of about 50 acres along the beach was soon blazing.  In this area were located some of the most popular hotels, all of which were filled to overflowing with summer guests.

Many valuable summer cottages were also located in this district and these too, were swept by the fire.

Most of the guests managed to save a considerable quantity of their personal effects from the blazing structures, but nearly all the furnishings of the hotels were destroyed.

There was rumor that three children had met death in the Hotel Olympia, but this could not be confirmed and so far as is known at this hour no fatalities have resulted from the fire, though many narrow escaped were reported.

It is believed that the greater part of the loss is covered by insurance.

Seaside Park, an amusement resort, located near the Olympia hotel, was partly destroyed by fire.

Telegraph and telephone circuits were interrupted and the train service of the Boston & Maine, Western division, was greatly delayed, the fire running along both sides of the track for a considerable distance.

The flames, mounting high, presented a beautiful spectacle to residents of other seaside resorts for scores of miles in both directions.

From the Hotel Emerson the fire leaped across the Main avenue leading from the railroad station to the shore, and attacked the Hotel Seashore.  This big structure, one of the oldest and best known of the guest houses on the shore was soon enveloped in flames and was totally destroyed.

A considerable gap of vacant land between this and other buildings to the west, however, served to cut off further spread of the conflagration in that direction.

The Boston & Maine Railroad station, which was situated across the railroad tracks from the Hotel Seashore, was blown up by dynamite after the baggage and most of its furnishings had been removed.  This action probably saved the Old Orchard house and other buildings on the edge of the campground plateau overlooking the beach.

A sawmill and lumber yard belonging to Chief of Police William F. Mewer, and some coal sheds belonging to the firm of Porter & Victor were burned during the early part of the blaze.

The bowling alleys and restaurant owned by Thomas Cleave, Hogan’s drug store, MacDonald’s drug store and several other stores located along the board walk near the railroad station were also destroyed.

The central office of the New England Telegraph and Telephone Co., and the Postal and Western Union offices were burned.  Communication with outside points were cut off for a time, but late tonight the Postal established a temporary office in a cottage at a distance from the fire.

Fire Under Control.

Old Orchard, Me., Aug. 15. – At 11:45 the fire was believed to be under control.

Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME 16 Aug 1907

Old Orchard, Aug. 16.-Every train out of Old Orchard today carried away hundreds of summer guests rendered shelterless [sic] by last night’s fire, and tonight a greater number had departed for their homes, carrying with them such of their effects as they were able to save.

The piles of baggage which encumbered the station and the sidewalks leading to it were greatly diminished by the means of hard work on an extra force of railroad officers sent here, but along the beach above high water mark and on the lawn of the Old Orchard House and other unburned hotels, there were still many trunks, bags and boxes awaiting their removal.

While the sufferers by the fire made all haste in leaving town, the influx of visitors from nearby places was larger than on any previous day of the summer, thousands of people coming to the beach to view the ruins.  Trolley cars and trains alike were filled all day with the incoming throngs.

No efforts made toward the clearing away the debris today, but it is expected by tomorrow the tall chimneys which still stand here and there in the midst of the ash piles which represent all that is left of the structure which enclosed them, will be toppled over.

No plans for re-building the big hotels have been announced as yet, most of the proprietors being still too much dazed by the suddenness of their loss to take any definite action in this respect.  Estimates of the loss varied today from half a million to $800,000.  The insurance does not exceed $200,000.

The number of deaths from the soda tank explosion during the fire was increased to two tonight when PHILLIP PERRAULT of Foss street, Biddeford, died at the Webber hospital in that city from the injuries he received.  PERRAULT was 40 years old.  A widow and seven children survive.

The condition of Rev. Rufus H. Jones, pastor of Trinity Episcopal church, Saco, whose skull was fractured by a flying fragment of the exploded tank, remained extremely critical tonight.  Rev. Mr. Jones is at the Trull hospital in Biddeford.  Late, this afternoon an operation was performer [sic] upon his skull and after it the physicians said the patient seemed to show a slight improvement.

The other inured ones were reported as fairly comfortable at the two Biddeford hospitals tonight.

Early this evening Coroner Bradford of Saco, who had charge of the body of the unknown man, whose head was blown off by the explosion, announced that it had been fully identified as that of Dominick LeBreque, a clerk in a Portland store.  He are 32 years of age and unmarried.  The coroner deemed an inquest uncalled for and gave a permit for the removal of the body.

The full list of the dead and injured is as follows:

PHILLIP PARTRIDGE, 24 years ole, Pittsburg, Pa., struck and killed by a Boston & Maine train at Kennebunk while on his way to the fire.

DOMINICK LEBREQUE, Portland, aged 32, instantly killed by explosion of a soda tank.

PHILLIP PERRAULT, Biddeford, 40 years old, dead at hospital from injuries sustained through the tank explosion.

The injured:

Rev. Rufus H. Jones, pastor of Trinity Episcopal church, Saco; at Trull hospital, suffering from compound fracture of the skull due to tank explosion.

Melvin T. Morrill, Salem, Mass., Boston & Maine engineer, visiting friends, left leg fractured and collar bone broken by soda tank explosion.

An unidentified man, probably fatally hurt by tank explosion; unconscious since the accident; nothing in his clothing to show identity.

Samuel Emerson, of Old Orchard, 65 years old, father of Wm. T. Emerson, manager of the Hotel Emerson, found unconscious in the street from tank explosion.

Miss Alice Minard, Pittsburg, Pa., severely bruised by being thrown from carriage at Kennebunk while on way to Old Orchard with PHILLIP PARTRIDGE, who was killed.

Seventeen summer hotels, 60 cottages and a score ob buildings occupied by stores were destroyed.  The explosion which caused so many injuries occurred in Horgan’s drug store on Old Orchard avenue.

The fire is supposed to have started from the overturned lamp, in the annex of the Hotel Olympia.

The total insurance, it is said, will not exceed $150,000. 

In the clothing of the unknown man killed by the explosion of the soda tank, Coroner F. C. Bradbury Friday found the address of Miss Eva Singleton, North Abington, Mass,., 34 Harrison avenue” and another memorandum on a slip of paper bearing the name of “Dr. Northrop, Gardner, Mass.

The principal losses by the fire are as follows:

Joseph Bernies, Bernies House, $30,5000.
Thomas L. Cleaves, Cleaves House, $25,000.
Charles H. Fiske, Hotel Fiske, $75,000.
Charles W. Graham, Gorham House and livery stable, $10,000.
A. L. Jaques, New Palmer House, $10,000.
J. I. Mason, Florida House and variety store, $10,000.
Fred McLaughlin, Bath House, $5,000
Frank G. Staples, Seashore House, $75,000.
J. C. R. Whittemore, billiard hall, $5,000.
Fred Whittier, stable, $5,000.
Nathan Woolf, Boston, souvenir goods store, $5,000.
W. O. Alden, Portland, Hotel Alberta, $35,000.
Mrs. H. R. Barion, Lawrence, Mass., two cottages, $5,000.
E. L. Smith, Granite City, cottages, $5,000.
A. D. Morse, Barre, Vt., cottage, $5,000.
H. N. Dyke, Saco, Me., New Marlboro hotel, $8,000.
Emma Jordan, Portland, Hotel Olympia, $8,000.
Mauriceville Hotel Co., The Vespers, $7,000.
Dennis Coholly, Providence, $7,500.
Leighton and Dalton, Portland, Hotel Emerson, $100,000.

Among the cottages burned were those of F. C. Perkins, Farmington Me., L. J. Wiseman, Lewiston; Daniel McIntyre, Lewiston; and G. H. Horn, Lowell, Mass.

As a result of the fire the season at Old Orchard is brought to an abrupt close as only one large hotel, the Old Orchard, remains  The early morning trains, including several extras were packed with persons leaving the shore and it was expected that nearly all of the 4000 or 5000 guests left without accommodations as a result of the fire would depart during the day. 

Among those who escaped harm by the fire were Harry White and wife of Boston, who were staying at the Seashore House.  Mr. White was sitting on the piazza of the hotel when he saw the fire break out from the Hotel Emerson annex.  Mr. White said that in his opinion there was less excitement among the guests than might have been expected.  The fire seemed dangerous from the start and many in the nearby hotels at once began packing up.  As the conflagration spread the baggage was removed.  Not a few, however, suffered loss by having their goods carried to the beaches low tide.  As the tide rose considerable property was either ruined or swept away. A large number of persons took refuge on the iron pier and when the flames were sweeping through the [illegible] House, they ripped up the planking and saved the famous structure from serious damage.

Mr. White remarked upon the activity of Mayor Fitzgerald of Boston in directing firemen and the movements of the summer visitors and also in securing [illegible] police [illegible] other cities.

Fred I. Luce one of the assessors of Old Orchard, looked over the burned district Friday morning and estimated that the total loss would reach $800,000, about one-third of which is covered by insurance.

The hundreds of people who were driven fro mthe [sic] hotels were compelled to spend the night on the beach and with but very little protections from the stiff breeze from the sea, many suffered from the cold.  Brushwood fires were kept going all night.

Comparatively few losses of money or jewelry were reported, and the hotel clerks had sufficient time to empty the safes before driven from their buildings by the flames.

It is believed that a greater part of the burned district will be built before the next season.

During the forenoon word was received from Pittsburg that young PARTRIDGE, was the son of Rev. Warren J. Partridge, pastor of the Fourth avenue Baptist church of that city.  The body will be sent home.  It developed that the young woman, Miss Minard, who was at first thought to be a resident of Pittsburg, lived in Poughkeepsie, N. Y.

Some of the hotel proprietors when they came to a realizations of the extent of their losses Friday morning were very much depressed and J. H. Staples of the Seashore House, was so badly affected that he collapsed and had to be taken away.

As the buildings were of wooden construction and were therefore an easy prey of the flames, which spread with remarkable swiftness, reducing to ashes a section of 50 acres within three hours.  The burned area extends from Old Orchard avenue eastward between Milliken street and the beach for nearly half a mil and in it were included some of the finest guest houses and residences of this popular resort.

The fire started in the annex of the Olympia House on Milliken street and had gained such headway when discovered that the Old Orchard department company consisted of a small steamer and a hose wagon manned by a volunteer force, was unable to stay its progress.  Fanned with a brisk southwest wind, the fire communicated to a block of wooden buildings occupied as stores along the board walk bordering the Boston & Maine railroad tracks and thence jumping across the tracks, devastated a large district crowded with hotels, boarding houses and cottages.

Aid summoned from Portland, Biddeford and Saco arrived within an hour after the start of the fire, but the firemen from these citied were hampered for a time in rendering efficient service by difficulties with couplings which were not adapted to the Old Orchard hydrants.  It was not until some buildings had been blown up by dynamite, creating a gap in the path of the flames, that the conflagration was blocked.  Shortly before midnight, however, the blaze was declared under control.

The Boston & Maine railroad station situated just at the west limit of the burned area, was damaged to some extent, but was not completely burned.

The explosion of a soda tank in Horgan’s drug store on Old Orchard avenue, opposite the railroad station, caused the instant death of one man and serious injuries to two others.  The dead man has not been identified.  The injured are:

Melvin T. Merrill, 25 Green street, Salem, Mass., a Boston & Maine Railroad engineer.

Rufus H. Jones, pastor of Trinity church, Saco.

Both men were badly hurt.  Rev. Mr. Jones was removed to the Trull hospital in Biddeford for treatment.

When the explosion occurred, a crowd of people stood on the opposite of Old Orchard avenue from the drug store watching the fire.  Mr. Merrill and others were standing on a veranda in front of Porter’s block.  The force of the explosion sent the tank across the wide street and into the crowd, decapitating one man, while two others were thrown violently against the building.  Mayor John E. Fitzgerald of Boston, who was passing along Old Orchard avenue at the time, had a narrow escape from injury.  He was slightly scratched by flying fragments of a post which the tank struck in its coarse, but was otherwise unhurt.

The upsetting of a lamp in the upper story of the annex of Hotel Olympia which was occupied mainly by servants employed at Hotel Emerson is supposed to have been the origin of the fire.

After the fire had burned itself out to the eastward limit of the short district and had been stopped by the firemen from further spread to the eastward, the Old Orchard landlords and town authorities were confronted with a new problem, that of caring for the thousands of guests who were driven from the hotels.

Some of these people found accommodations in hotels untouched by the fire, but the majority with the few possessions they had contrived to gather in their hurried exit from their quarters were forced to stand shivering on the beach, or wander aimlessly about the streets.  Since the first of August, Old Orchard had rejoiced in the greatest influx of summer guests in its history, and early this week the hotel accommodations were reported to be taxed to their utmost, guests from distant cities having been forced to go to Portland and seek the hospitality that Old Orchard was unable to afford.  To take care of the hundreds who sought shelter Thursday night after the fire was a practical impossibility for the hostelries which escaped destruction. 

Efforts were made to have Boston & Maine Railroad cars sent out from Portland in order that some of the un-housed might take shelter in them, but the plan had not been carried out at a late hour, and it seemed probable that the greater part of the burned out guests would be compelled to pass the night in the open.  There was a cold wind blowing from off shore so that the conditions were far from comfortable.

The fire made it necessary to suspend the running of trains on the Western division of the Boston & Maine at this end of the line.  Through trains for Boston were shifted at Scarboro coming to the Eastern division and continued on that division as far as North Berwick. 

Saco, Me., Apr. 16 – The man killed by explosion at the Old Orchard fire and whose body is in charge of Coroner Bradbury of this city has been identified as DOMINICK LEBREQUE, a clerk in the Boston store in Portland.  He was 32 years old and came from Canada.  No inquest was deemed necessary.  Rev. Rufus H. Jones, who was injured in the explosion, lies at the point of death at the Trull hospital here. 

Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME 17 Aug 1907

Old Orchard, Me., Aug. 18.-In more than one locality of what remains habitable of this town today it was suggested that it might not be at all amiss if the State authorities be called up to conduct an official investigation of the cause which led to the destruction of famed Old Orchard and her hostelries.

There are people who believe that a firebug with a grudge against the town started the blaze, and this, coupled with the mysterious disappearance of two Wakefield girls, who have not been seen since the fire, causing many to form the opinion that they perished in the great conflagration of Thursday night, formed new features of developments here.

No trace whatsoever has been found of the two young Wakefield women, Miss Ellen Ferris and Miss Susie Johnson, who were working at the Seashore Hotel and who have not been seen since the fire, according to the police and others who were acquainted with them.

Word also came here that they had not returned to their homes in Wakefield, where they lived in the Greenwood district.

It is hardly thought possible that they perished in the flames, but something may be done here in an effort to definitely locate them. The Seashore Hotel, where they were employed, was the last to catch on fire, and everyone within had ample time to escape, according to the management.

However, there are some persons who think that the girls might have tried to save their effects and perished. The fire was so hot and the material of the hotel of such inflammable construction that hardly any timbers of it remain, as is the case with the other buildings destroyed. Further search for the girls will be made, as some of their relatives were here, but learned nothing regarding them.

Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME 19 Aug 1907

Articles transcribed by Jenni Lanham.  Thank you, Jenni!

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