Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 18, Number 32, DeMotte, Jasper County, 9 July 1948 — Most Costly Blaze In Rensselaer History Levels Business House Established In The Year 1841 [ARTICLE]

Most Costly Blaze In Rensselaer History Levels Business House Established In The Year 1841

W. J. Wright Furniture store, Inc., the city's oldest business institution which sprang from humble origin in 1841 within a few feet of its present site to become the largest and mo&t beautiful furniture center in a wide Indiana area, is a pile of charred wreckage. Fire, the source of which was not learned, completely gutted the handsome, stock-packed structure of three stories and basement early Wednesday morning. The west retaining wall and the front wall of the W. J. Wright, Inc., furniture store collapsed at 1:25 p.m., as hundreds of spectators still watched firement spraying the dying embers of the rubble heap. The walls gave way slowly as though to signal spectators to stand back. They fell inward. Little of the litter fell into the streets. Only a small section of the front of the store on the east side remained standing following the collapse. Loss Set At $200,000 Early estimate of the loss—a rough guess subject to revision after a complete checkup is made -—set a figure of $200,000. Willisi J. Wright, president and principal stockholder of the corporation, said both rJw building and its contents carried the maximum percentage values accepted by insurance companies. However, the financial loss will be terrific, due to present greatly increased building costs, stock replacements at advanced prices, the differential between the insurance coverage and the true value of the stock and building, and those items of loss that naturally accure from business suspension. 4 Fire Departments Three fire departments, those of DeMotte, Remington and Goodland, assisted the Rensselaer department in battling the hourslong blaze. Smoke from the debris was still spiraling at noon. Disicovery of the blaze was made at 3:05 a.m., by Robert Bostwick, recently installed as chief of police, as he was cruising on a routine round. Smoke was sifting from the upper story at the southwest corner of the building and here and there was a flash of flame which was soon to produce one 6f the most spectacular fires in the city’s history. Members of the Rensselaer depart me nt arrived at the scene within a few minutes and quickly had several streams of water playing on black interior. As the water struck it seemed to recoil before dense blankets of black smoke pouring from the building. During the early moments it appeared as if there was sufficient equipment to handle the situation, but that opinion was soon dispelled as new spouts of flame etched the black clouds despite the heavy play of water. Realizing that there was not sufficient equipment to cope with the situation, Fire Chief Steinkamp gave instructions to summon departments of nearby towns, a decision that probably spared loss to adjacent business houses. The fire broke out in the basement at the north side of the

store which faces on an alley. Concentration was made at that point, but flames meanwhile broke out elsewhere and jsoon reached to all points of the structure. Much difficulty was met in mastering the blaze because of the smoke pall which hid the flame much of the time. Floors Fall The windows of the upper two stories were removed last year and were replaced by brick coverings. The tightly closed openings prevented the fire from being a draft on those floors, but they also served to hold in the smoke, accounting for the density of 'the smoke throughout the building. Coal Pile Bumtrrjf It was approximately three hours after discovery of the fire that the upper floors came tumbling down to make the wreckage complete. Only a few items of stock were saved, for by the time the blaze was discovered the heat was so intense and the smoke so great that it would have been foolhardy to attempt to grope through the blinding interior. Records Saved However, there wras time to save the essential records in the filing room at the rear of the store. Even so, they were not located without great difficulty. Mr. Wright said he believed all of the vital records w - ere rescued, but other than that all of the contents were prey to the flames. Police lines were formed to keep back the hundreds of spectators who magicaly appeared out of the night to witness the blaze cut its path of destruction. Washington and Front streets, the l intersection at w r hich the store stood, were blocked off to traffic. The blockade '"•remained up this afternoon. A light wind from the north east carried the embers and smoke aw’ay from the more congested business 'district, a fortunate fact preventing wider* loss in the business district. Warner’s hardware store immediately east of the burned structure escaped fire loss, as watchers stood guard on the roof to put out embers that might fall on the building. However, the store suffered some damage from water which seeped through the fire door at the head of the stairway separating the tw'O buildings. Water flowing beneath this door also reached into the Knight 3 of Pythias hall above the hardware store. The ceiling of the hardware store may have been weakened, but Mr. Warner said it was wet too early to determine if it was. - - - * Housed in the basement w r as sixty tons of coal which is still -hiirning and which is likely to be burning for several days. Included in the loss was the floor sanding equipment of William S. Stockton, who worked at the store until about midnight. Reconditioning of the floor was started several days ago. Redecoration of the entire lower floor walls and fixtures was competed only last week, and the reconditioning of the floors was | the finishing touch of the redec-

oration work. Last March the store suffered a heavy loss when the entire northwest section of the display windows" were blown out by the miniature tornado that ripped through the city and put the city power plant out of commission lor the entire business day. That loss amounted to several hundred dollars. The windows were replaced only two weeks ago. Home Since 1928 The store, largest of all Rensselaer business centers, occupied four stories and had 24,000 square feet of floor space. The building is sixty feet wide and one hundred feet deep. The building was erected by the Knights ,of Pythias lodge in 1902. It had various tenants until 1928, when the late W, J. Wright 11, purchased it and remodeled it lor his furniture store.