Coudersport, Pennsylvania Fire

May 18, 1880

The great Coudersport fire of May 18, 1880... The fire started in a small building back of the store of P. A. Stebbins and Brother, about where the Ford service station of Will Harris is now. By some it is said to have been caused by the access of water to lime stored in this building, but this is not certain. The fire had a good start before it was discovered, and spreading, created a strong breeze that shifted several times during the progress of the flames. There was then no water system in the town, and no fire protection other than bucket brigades. By the most strenuous exertions, the Court House, the buildings on the north side of Third Street, and the old Baker House, which then stood on the corner now occupied by the Potter County Garage, were saved, though all were at times in great danger. The fire was finally stopped at Hallauer’s meat market on East Street, near where the Coudersport Laundry now stands. The burned district included all the business places in town. Three fourths of the square on which the Crittenden Hotel now stands, the north half of the square south of the Court House, and all of the square west of the Court House, lay a mass of smoking ruins in a few hours. The following list of losses is taken from the Potter County Journal of May 2, 1880:

P. A. Stebbins & Brother, dry goods, loss $15,500, insurance, $4500.
Bank building, loss $600, no insurance.
W. K. Jones, banker, saved all his, cash, bills receivable and bank ledgers. Small loss on safes and bank furniture, not insured.
Rosa Anton, millinery, second floor of bank building, covered by insurance.

Dr. Amos French, drug store, loss $3500, no insurance.
Dr. S. A. Phillips, dentist, second floor of Dr. French’s building, loss above insurance, $75.00.
Edward Forster, grocery store and contents, loss $5000, insurance, $2000
Ignatz Griesel, harness shop. He was putting up a new building. Loss $1500, no insurance.
Charles S. Jones, dry goods, loss $12000, insurance, $5000.
F. E. Lyon’s building, occupied by Andrews & Olmsted, grocers, loss $1200, insurance $1000.
Andrews & Olmsted, stock of groceries, loss $950, insurance $800.
H. J. Olmsted & Sons, hardware, loss $8000, insurance $4000.
L.H. Cobb’s law office, second floor of Olmsted’s building, loss $500, no insurance.
Eulalia Lodge, F. & A. M., loss $673, insurance $500.
Mary R. Jones, store building, loss $2400, insurance $1500.
E. N. Stebbins, occupant, dry goods, loss $3200, covered by insurance.
M. S. Thompson, drugs and books, postoffice, loss $3500, insurance $2600.
Reymund Bendel, household goods and tailor shop, loss $200, no insurance.
L. B. Cole & Son, insurance office on Third Street and wagon and blacksmith shop on Second Street, loss $1000, no insurance.
S C. Reissman, old house on Third Street and cabinet shop and stock on Second Street, loss $3000 above insurance.
W. B. Gordnier’s building on Second and West Streets, loss $3000, no insurance.
Dr. E. S. Mattison, office furniture, small loss, no insurance.
D. F. Glassmire, Jr., livery stable, saved horses and buggies. Loss on sleighs, papers, etc., $1000, no insurance.
Z. J. Thompson, wagon shop, loss $2000, no insurance.
George Brehmer, blacksmith shop, loss $50, no insurance.
F. E. Neefe, wagon shop, loss $500, no insurance.
A. C. Perkins, blacksmith shop, $1000, no insurance.
D. F. Glassmire, Coudersport Hotel and store, barn and stage fixtures, loss $10,500, insurance $4200.
Miles White, keeping Coudersport Hotel, loss $1500, no insurance.
J. A. Haynes, book agent stopping at hotel, loss $70, no insurance.
John Scott, boarder, lost clothing and money, $100, no insurance.
George Green, barber in hotel basement, loss $50, no insurance.
M. L. Stevenson, suit of clothes.
Engineer’s office, J. S. P. C. & B. R. R., second floor of Glassmire’s store building, loss $500, no insurance.
Singer Sewing Machine Company, loss $450, and N. M. Glassmire, agent, $125, no insurance.
Isaac Benson, Dike block, loss $800, no insurance.
E. O. Rees, jeweler, loss $600 to $800, insurance, $189.
A. L. Pierce, furniture, loss $500, no insurance.
Abram Jones, restaurant and bowling alley, loss $600, insurance $400.
Thad Kelly, restaurant, loss $500, no insurance.
Olmsted & Larrabee, law office. Saved books, papers and safe. Loss on building, $800, no insurance; books and furniture, $200, covered by insurance.
Carl Zimmerman, butcher shop, loss $1500, insurance, $1000.
Enterprise building, owned by F. W. Knox, loss $3200, no insurance.
Norton & Doane, hardware, loss $1130, covered by insurance.
Enterprise office, loss $3500, insurance $1800.
Cyrenus Jones, artist, loss $50 in goods, no insurance.
A. Kiehle, blacksmith, tools and books, $150, no insurance.
L. R. Bliss, photographer, loss $100, no insurance.
James W. Pearsall, wagon-making tools, etc., loss $150, no insurance.
Mrs. A. Haven, house, household goods, and barn, loss $1000.
Mrs. Belle Ross, household goods stored in Mrs. Haven’s barn, loss $3000, insurance $1000.

Many goods removed from the stores and piled on the Court House square were burned, many were stolen. The whole loss was estimated at $200,000 with $75,000 insurance. This is generally thought of as the most destructive fire that ever occurred in Potter County. This view, on the whole, is correct, since the county was not then as populous and wealthy as it afterwards became, and the business section of Coudersport, the county seat and metropolis, was completely wiped out. Several fires since that time have, however, done an amount of damage which, expressed merely in figures, would equal or exceed in amount the figures for the fire of 1880. Few fires of major proportions occurred in Potter County before this one.

The business men of the town immediately made plans for rebuilding. Several merchants found quarters in various unused buildings, and a row of shanties, known as the “Hemlock Row” was built in the jail yard as temporary quarters for some of the stores. A boro ordinance was at once passed defining fire limits, which included most of the burned district. Fire limits in Coudersport have since been extended from time to time. The store of C. H. Armstrong was the only brick building that had burned. It was quickly rebuilt, and occupied early in the fall. P. A. Stebbins & Brother moved into their new store (now the Harris Garage) on November 23, M. S. Thompson & Company occupied their new building on November 29, and Andrews & Olmsted moved in, early in December. The bank building, now the First National Bank, was occupied January 31, 1881. The whole block on Main Street and a large part of that on Second Street were, rebuilt within about two years. The site, of the old Coudersport Hotel remained vacant for some time, the lot being held by the owners at too high a figure to attract a purchaser. It was bought by Alanson Crowell in 1889, and he erected the hotel that now occupies the site. The hotel that stood on the present site of the Potter County Garage was the only hotel in town that escaped the fire. It was known as the Baker House when it came under the management of Dan Baker and J. M. Covey in 1871, then as the Nichols House, with W. W. Brown and Thad Kelly as proprietors. N. M. Glassmire bought this hotel in 1886 and christened it the Coudersport House, in honor of his father’s hotel that had burned. D. F. Glassmire retired from the hotel business. Besides the rebuilding of the burned district, one other building of note was completed in Coudersport in 1880. This was the residence of D. C. Larrabee, vying with that of F. W. Knox for first place among the fine homes of the town. It is now owned by the American Legion. A water company was organized in Coudersport in 1883 by Judge A. G. Olmsted, who also organized the first volunteer hose company in 1885.

History of Potter County, Pa. by Victor L. Beebe, 1934, pages 155-158

Read newspaper article accounts of the Coudersport Fire

Search for more information on the Coudersport fire and other disasters in the  Historic Newspapers Collection.  The number of newspapers on line has recently doubled - search over 800 different newspapers. Use this Free trial to search for your ancestors.

Search for ancestors in Coudersport, PA among billions of names at ancestry.com. Use this Free trial to search for your ancestors.