Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1902 — WOLCOŢS GREAT MISFORTUNE. [ARTICLE]

WOLCOŢS GREAT MISFORTUNE.

HAD A $100,000.00 FIRE LAST l TUESDAY NIGHT. The Best Business Buildings in the Tnwn Wiped Out. - —_ ! One of the most destructive fires, in the history of northwest Indiana, in proportion to the size of the town, oocured Tuesday night at Wolcott, that enterprising and prosperous White county town, about ] 3 or 14 miles southeast of Rensselaer.' The entire loss is estimated by conservative business men of Wolcott at over 1100,000, and of which less than one half is covered by insurance. The fire was discovered about 10:30 o’clock, in the rear room nf - Spencer’s drug store, among the oils and obemioals, and had gained such headway that the town’s only means of fighting fire, a chemioal was powerless to cope with it. Pretty nearly the whole business part of town was wiped out. The following being a partial Ist of the firms. Kinney & Hinohman, hardware James Blake, furniture ~ i Dr. Cronk, office Carson, dry good store Ed Jackson, meat market Smith Brothers, groceries Schenkenber, harness shop A. Leopold & Sons, dry goods etc Sawyer, jewelry store Ferguson’s hotel Blake Lumber Company Smith Bros., restaurant Burk Bros., saloon, pool and billiard hall John Schenckenber, barber shop Macabees’ Hall Odd Fellows’ lodge room The post office The Masonic building, in which Dibells’ bank was located was saved, but somewhat damaged. Most of the buildings burned were good modern briok structures, but the one in which the fire started was of wood, and one or two others were of wood veneered with brick. The Ferguson hotel was a very large and fine new building. Of this last class was the Blake Co. lumber shed, one of the biggest and best lumber sheds in this part of the state. Their stock which was also very large, was also burned. The goods from many of the stores were got out but are of oourse much damaged, and scattered about in confusion, and just how muoh has been saved oan not be known for some time. One business which was reported burned, but whioh escaped, was the Woloott Enterprise office; for whioh the able and enterprising editor, Brother Walker, is to be greatly congratulated. A. Leopold & Son did not own the building they oooupied, and the greater part of their goods are saved. A. Leopold, of our city, the senior member of the firm, states that if they stay there. any longer, they will put up a building of their own, being already owners of an excellent lot. The principal buildings that escaped were the two banks and two large grocery stores, Arthur Jones, and Phillips Bros. In the latter building is the Woloott telephone exohange, owned by the Jasper County Telephone Co. of Rensselaer. Reports varied considerable as to where the fire started, but the very latest statements, direct from Woloott, by telephone, are that it started in the Odd Fellows’

lodge room, whioh was in the second story of a large frame building on the north side of the street The Maccabees also had tboir lodge room ip this building. Down stairs was Kinney & Hinohman’s hardware store and the Spencer drug store When this got on fire the whole front of the store blew out, and the flames shot aoross the street, setting Dr. Crock’s office on fire- From there it spread until everything in the , block, south of the street, was j wiped out, exoept the Masonic t building, whioh was saved by its fire walls. Dibells’ bank and the Hart drug store were in this building.