Mt. Pleasant Fire, W. Washington Street ~ 7-2-1917

GREER, HALL, KINNEY, LEACH, SMITH

Posted By: Pat Ryan White (email)
Date: 1/2/2007 at 19:56:41

Blaze At Smith & Sons’ Garage

Fire Department, However, do Good Work, and the Damage Confined to the Upstairs Floor and Roof of Adjoining Building---Damage About $2,000.00.

At noon Monday [July 2, 1917] there was an alarm of fire and for some time it seemed that the southwest side of the square might be doomed to destruction. Things are, however, different than they were three or four years ago, there is an abundance of water, a dandy strong pressure and the fire department in the course of thirty minutes hard work soon had the blaze under control. The fire started in the upstairs of the H. K. Smith and Sons garage, on West Washington street. The upstairs is occupied by Earl Greer and other roomers, and it is believed that the fire originated from the crossing of electric wires although this is not known. The fire laddies had two good streams playing on the building, and although at first it seemed as though the fire would take the whole block, yet they did such good work that the only damage done was the complete gutting of the rooms where the fire originated, damage to the roof of the building next door, [barber shop] owned by Mr. Frank Kinney and damage by water to stock on the floor of the garage. All the cars in the garage were taken out in time. The building is owned by Messrs. James Hall and Elmer Leach and the loss is covered by insurance. The building owned by Mr. Kinney was not insured. It is estimated that the total loss will amount to in the neighborhood of two thousand dollars.

“Free Press”, Mt. Pleasant, IA, Wednesday, July 4, 1917