Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-05-28
| 1874. The 1874.
GREAT FIRE,
AND IT'S SEQUEL.
Out Of the Ashes !!
Our Rebuilt City.
Behold what a Year has Brought Forth.
The Record Of Twelve Months Of
Recuperation.
A Eull List Of Building Improve-
ments Since the Great Fire
OF May Is, 1874.
Our Rebuilt City.
Behold what a Year has Brought Forth.
The Record Of Twelve Months Of
RecuperatiOn.
Cost Of Building improvements
$I94,8I6!

|
tory of Independence. On that day
our city received a visitation of fire,
not relatively of less extent and not
less disastrous than the calamity that
overlook Chicago in that fatal Octo.
Der of 1871. The disaster, though
almost overwhelming, was not entire
ly unexpected. The old frame struc.
lures, which yet stood among the
newer and more substantial business
blocks, were an ever menacing ele-
ment of danger. Shrewd observers
predicted that our turn for disastr-
Gus fire would surely come; but not
one of our citizens who went to his
couch that peaceful Sunday evening
UNCONSCIOUS of the impending calam-
ity, was prepared for the appalling
proportions oftte contlagration which
reused him in the small hours of the
succeeding morning. Commencing
at one extremity OF our business
limits, the fire progressed with savage
fury, licking up store after store, en-
veloping splendid brick blocks only
to leave them piles of unsightly ruins
in its wake, scarcely impeded by the
efforts to check it, until the gray light
of that Monday morning broke upon
the ruins of nine-tenths of the bust
ness property of our city, which, with
the large stocks of goods just receiv
ed by the merchants, had fallen
prey to the insatiate flames. In four
short hours property exceeding half
million dollars in value had been
swept away as by the bosom of de-
struction. Thirty-nine business
houses, two hotels, two newspaper
offices, one church, four dwellings,
and two livery stables, had been
wiped out of existence. Two entire
squares, covered few hours before
with structures the, pride and orna-
ment of our city, were now only oc-
cupied with heaps of smoking debris
and fragments of ragged, blackened
walls. This was the spectacle that
met the gaze Of our people when the
excitement of fighting the fire was
over. Was it strange that the blow
fell uDon them with stunning effect?
In the depressing influences of the
hour, with the fruits of years of toll
swept away, and the business of the
city apparently crippled beyond the
possibility OF recovery, many Of our
business men were disposed to give
up all as lost. Some, even Of our
leading citizens, who pride them
selves upon their public spirit and
enterprise, lost heart when first con-
fronted with the appalling scope Of
the disaster, and talked as if indie
pendence was hencetorth decaying
city; that she could never hope to re-
cover from shock so prostrating
and fatal. Men of spirit and vim,
ordinarily, walked about the encum-
bered streets with hands in pockets
and heads down, seemingly bewild-
cred with the sudden reverse Of for
tune. Merchants who had been es-
tablished in business in the town for
fifteen and twenty years, seriously /
debated the propriety of the venture
involved in rebuilding their stores
and renewing their stocks. This
feeling of depression and doubt re-
garding the ability of our city to re-
cover from the great catastrophe was
strengthened by the fact that on the
2sth day of November preceding, a
serious conflagration had destroyed
ten business buildings. involving
loss of $4,000. The ruins Of this
former fire yet occupied unsightly |
gaps in our principal business street,
and were not calculated to bring nit |
igation of the feeling of discourage
ment bred of the later dispensation.
But this gloomy feeling was but
temporary. As the sufferers began
to view the situation calmly and de-
liberately, the reaction came, and
faith in the future of our city and
their own ability to retrieve their
crippled fortunes grew apace. The
newspaper proprietors, mindful of
their obligation to set an example of
courage and enterprise, started for
Chicago the same day of the fire to
to buy printing material to replace
their almost total losses. Merchants |
gathered up the scattered and broken
remnants of their stocks, and resumed
business in such temporary quarters
as were procureablc. The first num-
Der Of the resurrccted BULLETIN at.
ter the fire, contained the following
bit Of advice, deemed appropriate to
the occasion. In the light of what
has been accomplished, its closing |
sentence seems almost prophetic:
''We have implicit faith in the re-
Operative power of our community,
and we only ask our fellow-citizens
to realize that though crippled, we
are by no means ruined Let us adj
NIT of no Improbable repining, but
put our shoulders to the wheel, and
from the uncomfortable distinction
Of the most unfortunate city in Iowa,
let us earn the reputation Of the
Quickest"
The indications Of returning hope
fulness continually augmented. With
in ten days after the great disaster,
preparations for rebuilding were in
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