Denkman Lumber Yards Fire Davenport 1901

 

(Davenport Democrat. August 7, 1901)

The largest fire in Davenport’s history swept through the city’s riverfront district on July 26, 1901. Twenty acres of homes and businesses were swept away in the conflagration.

The Weyerhaeuser and Denkmann Lumber Yards were burned to the ground. Two hundred people lost their homes, and nearly one hundred eighty men at the lumber yard lost their jobs. 

“A strong wind fanned the flames, reported The Moline Dispatch. “They shot hundreds of feet into the air. Then, they jumped across streets and alleys and rushed forward with the force of a monster blast furnace.”

Everything from the foot of Federal Street to Oneida Street lay in ruins. The flames were so hot that the rails melted, and the ends flung themselves in the air like “snakeheads.” They stood up over a foot in some places. All that remained of the wooden sidewalks were ashes.

The telephone lines were out for nearly a week as the company raced to replace the burned poles and restring its wires. The trolley line replaced two blocks of tracks, most of the poles and wires that powered their lines, and railroad traffic was disrupted for weeks.

The bricks on East River Street were gone from their places, “as though they had popped out of their beds like so much corn.” Many more bricks were shattered, most likely from the cold water thrown on them. 

Waterloo Fire Department 1919

 

New Waterloo fire truck - an American-La France model

1919 was a year of big changes for the Waterloo Fire Department. Longtime chief A. A. Dunham retired in early August, citing health problems. Assistant Chief Martin Burke filled in as chief for a few months until Captain Ray Tiller was appointed chief in early October.

Shortly after that, the city council approved the purchase of a new American-La France fire truck at a cost of nearly $12,000. The new truck had a complete hose and chemical system and a booster pump. It could pump 300 gallons per minute.

Fire Destroys Crescent Macaroni And Cracker Company 1915

 

Crescent Macaroni and Cracker Company

Flames gutted the Crescent Macaroni and Cracker Company on January 25, 1915.

The plant at Fifth and Iowa Streets in Davenport, Iowa, was the largest macaroni company in the country. The company that employed 250 laborers and 35 salespeople had its best year in 1914, requiring employees to work overtime most of the year.

The fire broke out shortly after 8:15 p.m.

Night watchman George Montz said it started in front of oven number one on the west side of the plant. He turned in the alarm at 8:16, but nearly twenty minutes passed before the first fire company arrived.

Trading One Hell For Another St. Elizabeth's Hospital Fire Davenport

Firefighters responded at just after 2 a.m.

January 7, 1950, began quietly at Mercy Hospital’s St. Elizabeth’s psychiatric ward in Davenport, Iowa. One nurse was away in Des Moines, leaving Anna Neal in charge of nearly seventy patients. Another aide, Josephine O’Toole, was off duty and asleep upstairs.

Shortly after 2 a.m., Nurse Ellen Hildebrand spotted flames rising from St. Elizabeth’s and alerted her supervisor. Within minutes, smoke filled the halls.

Hospital worker Murray Francis, fifty-seven, saw the fire from the main building. He kicked in the door, carried patients to safety, and then helped firefighters man a hose. Merchant police officer Bill Stagen arrived as crews battled to break through barred windows. He saw women clinging to the iron bars, screaming for help, then disappearing into the smoke.

Patrolman Richard Fee was the first police officer on the scene. Flames poured from the upper windows. Firefighters doused him with water before he climbed into a bucket, ax in hand. Breaking through a window, he found six women huddled together “like bewildered animals.” He pulled them out, describing the bitter cold outside as “trading one hell for another.”