Citizens From Practically
Every Town Within 20 Miles of Chaffee Drove in During the Afternoon
and Evening to View the Ruins. It Was Said the Fire was
Plainly Visible for Miles Around.
In the summer of 1925 the most disastrous FIRE in the history of
Chaffee started in the rear of Grace’s Grocery Store and quickly
spread to adjoining buildings and across the street. Fire which had
its origin in the rear of the city Grocery Company located at 203 West
Yoakum, last Friday afternoon at two o’clock, starting from a pile of
rubbish being burned there, resulted in a total of ten business
buildings being totally destroyed, resulting in damages of
approximately $50,000.00.
The fire is believed to have ignited a large tank of kerosene in a
shed in the rear of the city Grocery, which caused the fire to gain
such headway as to make it practically impossible for the fire
fighters to check it.
The fire spread from the city grocery on both sides, setting on fire
the two-story brick building on the northwest corner of Second and
Yoakum, and the two-story frame structure which housed the Guethle
Meat Market. Fire from this building spread next door to the two-story
frame building belonging to Mrs. Mear, then quickly spread to the
adjoining one-story frame building next door, which was occupied by
William Evans who conducted a short order lunch room.
In the meantime the fire had spread to the opposite side of the
street, first enveloping Fischer Confectionery, a one-story frame
building, and spreading from this building to buildings on each side
of it, the one-story frame buildings of Santhoff’s Shoe Store and Mrs.
Santhoff’s Ladies Ready to Wear Store, and the two-story frame
building occupied by Huffman’s Grocery. It spread from this building
to the one and one-half story building occupied by Henson’s
Restaurant. However, this building was not burned to the ground.
An extreme high wind from the northwest served to drive the flames
in a southeasterly direction, which for a time threatened the entire
residential section in the southern part of the city. At this point it
was evident that the fire fighters apparatus of the city was not
sufficient to cope with the situation. In the meantime, several of our
citizens fearing more serious damages sent in relief calls to Cape
Girardeau, Illmo and Fornfelt, MO. At this stage of the fire, Mr. H.
E. Hubbard, general foreman at the Frisco roundhouse hurried to the
shops, and summoned all but three of his men together with the Frisco
fire fighting facilities. Five minutes after their arrival the fire
was under control. No doubt to the experience these men have gained in
their weekly fire drills at the shops.
Approximately 500 feet of the local fire department hose was
destroyed by the fire. At several stages of the fire it was impossible
for the fire fighters to get close enough to do any good, and it
finally became necessary to abandon the hose causing it to be burned
up. Efforts on the part of some of the businessmen to save their goods
were in vain, so quickly did the fire spread. Some of the articles
from the city grocery were carried out and across the street only to
be destroyed when the fire spread to that side.
However, all the businessmen were successful in receiving their
accounts and the cash on hand.
In spite of the fact that the fire truck from Cape Girardeau made
the trip down in 18 minutes, it arrived a little late to be of any
material assistance. The fire trucks from Illmo and Fornfelt also
arrived in short time, but they to were too late to be of any help.
The Losses
The brick building owned by L. S. Morrow of Cape sustained a loss of
approximately $18,000.00. The occupant, Mr. J. A. Poindexter,
conducting a second hand furniture store suffered a loss of
approximately $3,000.00, while the apartment above which was occupied
by Mr. and Mrs. Andy Bellis sustained a loss of about $1,000.00.
The City Grocery operated by George Grace lost his entire stock,
estimated at $4,000.00. The building which was owned by J. A. Osman
was a loss of $2,000.00.
The building owned and operated by the Guethle Meat Market, which
includes, besides the building, the stock and household goods at an
estimated loss of $10,000.00.
The Mears building which was occupied on the second floor by the
Nelson family sustained a loss of about $3,000.00. The building
occupied by Evan’s Lunch Room, as estimated $500.00.
The Santoff building which houses a modern shoe repair shop and
ladies ready to wear store suffered a loss of approximately $7,000.00.
The building occupied by the Fishers Confectionery lost $2,500.00.
The Huffman’s building one side unoccupied, the other housing a
grocery store owned and operated by H. L. Huffman, and the apartments
above occupied by William Little, the Casper and Wilson families, was
a loss of $3,000.00.
The McCarthy building, the last building to be damaged by the fire
and which was not wholly destroyed, occupied by a quick lunch room,
operated by C. L. Henson, was a loss of about $1,000.00.
Notes of the Fire
The Illmo fire truck came buzzing in with three flat tires, while
Fornfelt truck arrived with on flat tire. The big general truck from
Cape was the subject of much discussion. Some of the young men, who
were assisting in the carrying out of articles from Fischer’s
Confectionery, stopped temporarily during the fire to open some soda
with which to quench their thirst.
Little Miss Bernice Thompson, three year old daughter of Mr. A. C.
Thompson, was bitten by a dog during the fire. Her condition was
reported as improving.
Everybody along Davidson Avenue that had hose were busy with them
around their homes, fearing flying sparks would set their houses on
fire. The bucket brigade kept all the pumps along the north side of
the street busy. Mayor Ray was one of the first to reach the fire. He
seemed to be everyplace at the same time.
Some of the round house men took some daring chances while working
around the brick buildings, throwing ropes around the wall in order to
pull the wall over. The rope broke several different times and it was
necessary for some of the men to walk along side the shaky wall and
tie them together. When the fire threatened to catch the building
occupied by Haley’s Grocery, several of the men started carrying out
goods, but Mr. Haley stopped them, as he held out hope that the
building would not catch. However, it took some good work to prevent
it.
A number of men were also atop the Pullman Theater and succeeded in
keeping it from catching fire.
Citizens from practically every town within a radius of 20 miles of
Chaffee drove in during the afternoon and evening to view the ruins.
The fire was plainly visible for miles around it was reported. It was
first reported that a good percent of the buildings and furnishings
were covered by insurance, but it is now reported that only 50% of the
loss was covered.
The lamenting question of the children for months thereafter was, "Why
did they let all that good candy in Auchenbaugh's and Fisher's burn?"
Digital Photo of the July 17,
1925 Edition of the Chaffee Signal
