Davenport Coliseum Fire 1913

The Davenport Coliseum caught fire late Tuesday night, October 21, 1913. It started in the boiler room and spread fast. Paint, lumber, and varnish fed the flames until the whole block glowed red.

The Daily Times called it “one of the most spectacular blazes ever seen in Davenport.”

When the first crews arrived, the heat was already buckling the walls. The first floor, home to a woodworking and two paint shops, was a furnace. Upstairs, where the city once held dances and conventions, the ceiling gave way as flames broke through the roof.

Fire Chief Dengler said the fight was made worse by failed telephones. “We tried to reach Number Four Company at Mississippi and Fulton,” he said. “Couldn’t get through. I don’t say we could’ve saved it, but we could’ve used more help.”

Engines came from all over the city, but the fire moved too fast. By midnight the building was gone—timbers collapsing, glass breaking, sparks falling toward the river.

The loss was set at $35,000. The chief called the Coliseum “a big fire menace.” When morning came, only the brick shell stood. Crowds gawked at the twisted ruins.