Sharing the past since 2008
WHAT: City/Building Fire WHEN: March 26, 1912 WHERE: Bellows Falls, Vermont FATALITIES: Zero dead – three building and numerous businesses were destroyed What proved to be the most disastrous fire as far as loss of property was concerned, that ever visited Bellows Falls, broke out Tuesday morning at 2 o’clock, and before It was extinguished,…
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Fifty-five men, many of them elderly and living off government relief, died in the early morning of September 7, 1943 in the worst hotel fire in Houston, Texas history. The fire started around 12:10 a.m. the front desk clerk was alerted to a problem on the second floor. A lit cigarette inadvertently caused a mattress…
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WHAT: Hotel fire WHEN: May 16, 1938 around 3:00am WHERE: Atlanta, Georgia FATALITIES: 35 dead, as many as 15 injured On May 16, 1938 the most disastrous fire in Atlanta’s history at time based on the loss of life, broke out in the kitchen of the Terminal Hotel. Located in the Hotel Row District in Atlanta at the corner of Spring and…
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CITY IN RUINS WHAT: Hotel Fire WHEN: March 12, 1907 WHERE: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan CASUALTIES: Zero. The hotel was totally destroyed While not a fire that resulted in any loss of life, the Iroquois Hotel fire of 1907 is fascinating to me. The postcard above was mailed the very same day that the hotel…
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WHAT: Hotel fire WHEN: January 10, 1883 WHERE: Milwaukee, Wisconsin FATALITIES: At least 74, maybe as many as 90 The Newhall House was built by a group led buy Daniel Newhall. It was opened to the public on August 26th, 1857. The building was made of Milwaukee Brick and occupied the corner Broadway and Michigan Streets in downtown Milwaukee.…
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On the incredibly cold morning of January 3, 1940, just before dawn, a fire caused by a lit cigarette thrown down a garbage chute ravaged the Marlborough Apartment Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The cigarette has probably been smoldering for hours before finally catching fire and eventually blew out of the garbage chute, causing a heat explosion…
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Around 5:30 a.m. on the morning of December 11, 1934 a fire broke out at the Kerns Hotel in Lansing, Michigan. The hotel, built in 1909, was four stories tall and originally contained 162 rooms at a cost of over $50,000. The hotel was a very popular place in Lansing. Communities members and state politicians enjoyed…
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CITY IN RUINS WHAT: Hotel Fire WHEN: December 4, 1980 about 10:20am WHERE: Purchase, New York Casualties: 26 dead, 24 injured Intro from an AP article that ran the day after the fire: Business executives gathered for meeting at a hotel “didn’t have a chance” when an electrical fire raced through conference rooms with heat so intense…
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CITY IN RUINS WHAT: Nursing home fire WHEN: November 23, 1963 approx. 4:50am WHERE: Norwalk, Ohio CASUALTIES: 63 dead, over 25 injured Largely forgotten due to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy the previous day, The Golden Age Nursing Home fire is considered the second worse nursing home fire ( in the history of the country with 63…
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