Norris Garage Victim of Most Disastrous Fire (1925)

NORRIS, HARPSTER, CULLER, ARMSTRONG, LEMLEY, MEHLIN

Posted By: Marilyn Norris Holmes (email)
Date: 3/16/2010 at 22:42:36

The Grinnell Herald (Grinnell, Iowa) July 14, 1925

NORRIS GARAGE IS VICTIM OF MOST DISASTROUS FIRE THAT GRINNELL HAS KNOWN
Entire East Section, 80x300 Feet, Is Destroyed, With Two Auto Ambulances, Grinnell-Newton Bus, "Miss Grinnell," and Several Cars and Trucks--Other Cars In Storage Are Saved, Although Some Are Damaged--Norrises Will Rebuild At Once--Loss Estimated at $25,000, Partly Covered by Insurance.

ESTIMATED LOSS $25,000 OR MORE. INSURANCE BY COMPANIES.
Hartford..----$2,000
Home Insurance Co.----$500
Iowa State----$3,500
Implement Mutual----$1,500
Iowa Mutual----$1,500
National Union----$2,000
Total----$11,000

Undaunted by the disastrous fire which completely destroyed the east section of their big garage and storage plant at the corner of Fourth Avenue and State Street, J.W. Norris & Sons declared this morning their intention of rebuilding immediately. The carpenters are already at work clearing up the debris and the work of rebuilding will start as soon as this can be done and material can be brought on the ground.

The fire was spectacular in the extreme. Flames shot high in the air; burning brands whirled through the air, carried by the strong north wind; and the glare and crash of exploding oil cans punctuated the general excitement at irregular intervals.

The fact that a violent thunder storm, with crashing thunder, blinding lightning and driving rain, was raging at the time, made the occasion all the more dramatic. It reminded one of the occasion several years ago when, in the heart of one of the worst cloud bursts Grinnell has ever known the alarm was sounded for what was then the Norris Feed Sheds and the Firemen had some desperate work in the thick of the deluge of rain.

Dan White said this morning that only the deluge of rain saved south Grinnell as charred fragments were carried by the wind far and wide all over that section.

The part of the extensive Norris plant destroyed was the east section, 80x300 feet in dimensions, of cement block and frame construction. At the southeast corner was the Norris filling station with up to date pumps and appliances, auto accessories, etc. The big room was used for the storage of cars, a good many of them transient cars. The big west room, where the hog auction sales are held, was also used for car storage, most of it by regular monthly customers. All these cars were saved, although several were charred and blistered and had the glass in their windows broken in the process of removal. All the cars in the east section were destroyed with the building and there is nothing left of them but heaps of scrap iron. Among the cars thus lost were two automobile hearses, a Dodge sedan and a Ford truck, owned by the Norrises. In addition other cars destroyed were J.W. Harpster's Hudson, the Newton-Grinnell bus, Miss Grinnell, two trucks, the property of the Iowa Bridge and Gravel Co., an old Hudson belonging to one of the Bridge company employees, cars owned by W.J. Todd, Clayton Phelps, March Green, Ed Jones and several transient cars.

Cars saved from the west section belonged to the following:
Jim Buswell
W.S. Dodge (2)
Rev. H.C. Rice
Ed Speth
E.A. Luke
D.M. Cox
C.A. Mellott (ambulance)
Professor P.F. Peck
Peck Martin
Jim Ford
Mrs. Mary Mehlin
Jim Hicks
August Mithelman

A car belonging to C.K. Culler, a brother of Mrs. J.W. Norris, from Lincoln, Nebraska, who is here visiting, was in the west section and was also saved.

This list of cars was given this morning from memory by Raymond Norris and is not absolute, but is approximately correct.

Along with the cars that were destroyed went the whole stock of tires and accessories and equipment of all kinds and a considerable stock of oil in barrels. The company had a couple of thousand gallon tanks of gas set underground in the parking. These were not affected.

Nobody knows just how the fire started. Herb Armstrong was the first man to discover it. Herb had been up and around during the storm, and had just turned in again and was not asleep when the train from the north came down at 3:32 a.m. His house is next to the M. & St. L. track and north of the north end of the Norris plant and he was watching the train as it pulled in when there came a puff of fire and the sound of an explosion. "The Norris garage is on fire," Herb told his wife. He asked her to turn in the alarm while he dressed but by the time he threw on a few clothes the flames were raging unchecked through the building and were roaring out of the ventilator in the roof.

Phil Dean, the night man at the garage, had been on duty as usual at the front of the building, when the fire broke out among the cars on the east side. He was lying on the cot in the office and knew nothing of a fire until he smelled the smoke. By that time the alarm had been turned in.

The fire boys were out with their usual promptitude and found a tough problem on their hands. The east section of the building was doomed when they arrived on the scene. All they could do was to save what could be saved and the fact that the west side of the garage, the Norris apartments in the same building, the Brande Apartments, and the whole block south, including Hotel Monroe, are standing today is proof of the efficiency of their work. The wisdom of the last city council in buying the new fire truck was abundantly justified by this fire as Fire Chief Laymiller says that without the truck the department could not have saved what was saved.

The fire chief also denies all rumors of a shortage of water. He says that the firemen used 100,000 gallons of water in fighting the blaze and that when they were all through there were still 650,000 gallons available.

There was much excitement in the three Norris apartments when the fire broke out. They are occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Norris, Mr. and Mrs. Irving Lemley and Mrs. Mary Mehlin. The occupants were roused from sleep and found their apartments filled with smoke. They all hustled their furniture out but were able to move it back this morning. Mrs. Mehlin's apartment was farthest east. It was pretty well drenched with water and the fire ate into the corner of one bedroom, but that is about the sum total of the damage to the apartment section.

NOTES OF THE FIRE

Dr. E.S. Evans and Proc Osborn were standing just outside the east side of the building looking in at the fire through a window, when with a swish and a roar the window went out and the flame from an exploding oil barrel licked out at them. Both men jumped for safety and in his wild leap Doc pulled a tendon and is walking today with a decided list to port.

Carroll Dickerson got cut up some by his efforts at the fire.

The Herald junior stepped on a rolling stone while looking over the ruins this morning and gathered no moss at all. He took a header into the debris and needed a few antiseptics when he got through. Saddest of all, he almost ruined a brand new shirt to which he was much attached.

A new Nash car driven b Mrs. Welsh and Mrs. Field from Chicago, was destroyed. The car was newly purchased and bore no insurance.

The A.D. Henry amusement company who were driving through in their two trucks lost one of them. The only reason they didn't lose the other truck was because the door was not high enough to permit it to be run into the garage.

Members of Grinnell Fire Department;
July 14, 1925
Will Laymiller
Will Jones
E.G. Wheeler (Red)
H.E. Case (Harry)
Ray Carter
Cedric Barnes
George Berry
H.R. Brown (Harry)
Russ Clindinin
G.R. Clifton (Toot)
Wes Cratty
P.L. Garrigan (Dode)
Happy Graham
Kirk Garwood
C.A. Hink (Charley)
Fred Hoover
David Haines (Dave)
James Hicks (Jim)
Harlan Inman (Harl)
Silas Inman (Si)
Carl Jones
Ralph Little (Bony)
Albert Martinson (Bert)
D.J. Muckler
Peg Meredith
W. Pierce (Scrub)
Paul Patton
Steve Smith
S.A. Smith (Patsy)
Lew Seiberth
Newell Sanders
Phil Thorp
Don Tew
Clifford McCain (Cliff)
Lew Fleener
Bert Whitaker
L.L. Wells (Lloyd)
Hughey McLain
Thirty-eight men.