Rolla, Missouri
VanFrank's Furniture Store Fire
September 21, 1891
A GREAT FIRE
P. R. VanFrank's Furniture Store Utterly
Destroyed by Fire on Monday Night Last. Other
Buildings Scorched.
About nine o'clock of Monday evening the fire
alarm rang out on the startled ear of
approaching night and the people of Rolla rushed
to the city hall to find out where the fire was.
It was soon located as being in
VAN FRANK'S
FURNITURE STORE.
The Fire Company and citizens made strenuous
efforts to subdue it before it had any headway,
but everything was too dry and burned with too
great rapidity for them to do much and in a
short time it was seen that the building and
contents were doomed to destruction. The fire
spread with great rapidity licking up the
inflamable [sic] building and contents as so
much tinder. The heat was very great but there
was hardly any air stirring and the flames
leaped heavenward. The heat was so intense that
it set fire to the old
CAMPBELL shanty on the south side of
the street burning the north front somewhat:
after some hard work it was put out. The fire
also spread to GEO.
RUFFING'S house and shop and
partially destroyed the main building before it
could be subdued by the joint efforts of the two
engines and a bucket brigade.
GEO. W. SMITH'S
jewelry store also took fire in several places
and it took hard work for the fire company to
save this, but it was done. All the surrounding
buildings had to be watched and deluged with
water to prevent them from taking fire, and
Rolla is extremely fortunate that it did no
greater damage than it did. The origin of the
fire is unknown but is supposed to be the work
of an incendiary.
THE LOSSES.
The losses are about as follows:
P. R. VAN FRANK,
stock of furniture $4,000; insurance,
$2,400, some furniture saved, loss probably
$1,000.
MRS. JULIUS PETZOLD, building insured
for $4,000, its full value, a total loss.
WM. LEPPER, damage to building, about
$200; fully covered by insurance.
GEO. WM. SMITH, building damaged, and
stock damaged badly, to the amount of $1,000, so
MR. SMITH claims; no insurance.
The MISSES
GRATZMILLER, damage to building, $25;
to goods and furniture by moving, $100; fully
insured.
R. E. HOARE, tailor, loss to goods by
moving about, $40; no insurance.
MRS. S. R. ROWE, damage to building,
$5; fully insured.
DR. T. J. JONES, guardian, damage to
building, $25; insured for $4,000.
NEW MASONIC BUILDING, damage to
window glass, etc., $20; covered by insurance.
E. STERN, damaged produce, hides,
etc., by moving $25; insured.
CHAS. ROEHM. Damage to building, $20;
insured.
GEO. W. RUFFING, damage to building
and contents, $350; insured for $750.
TAYLOR MURRAY, damage to furniture,
etc., $40; no insurance.
JOS. CAMPBELL, lord mayor of Rolla, a
charred front, and a gentle reminder that such a
rookery is not the kind of property, the mayor
of a progressive town like Rolla should maintain
as an eyesore to the town that he is the
executive officer of.
The Rolla New Era Missouri 1891-09-26
Submitted & transcribed by
Stu Beitler Thank you, Stu!
 Search
for more information on the Rolla Fire
and other disasters in the Historic
Newspapers Collection. The number of
newspapers on line has recently doubled - search
over 1000 different newspapers. Use this
Free trial to search for your ancestors.
Search for ancestors in
Rolla, MO among billions of names at ancestry.com. Use this
Free trial to search for your ancestors.
Missouri Newspaper
Death Index
Use this
Free trial to search for your ancestors.
|
