Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-05-05

AUGU . II A.
"WEDNESDAY MORNING. May 5, 1875
WOODEN CITIES.

WOODEN CIlIES.
The destructive fires which have &C.
curred in various sections of our country
this Spring have again called attention
and remark to the danger from fire which
attends all cities in which The buildings
are mostly or entirely of wood. Nothing
is needed but dry time, high wind. and
spark lighting upon roof and starting
a blaze, to create widc-spreading con-
Aagration that the fire department finds it
self utterly unable to control or even
check. A Chicago paper commenting up
on the Oshkosh fire says:
What peculiar fascination is it that prompts peo-
ME to construct houses of iDcendiary pine' 1t
,eems impossible for Western people to rid them
selves of this fascination. 1t chung to Chicago for
wears after repeated and disastrous demohs'fa-
lions OF its danger and costliness Our infatuated
people deliberately ignored all the preliminary
warnings; and, even after the great fire OF 1871,
they were not convinced Of its utter folly 1t re-
quired at that time all the combined force OF the
underwriters, the press, and the most influential
persons in Chicago to secure partial extension Oh
the fire limits. Ii required second great disas-
ter before the full measure Of reform was inaugu-
rated After the fire of last july when forty acres
of wooden shanties carried away ten acres OF
solid well-constructed, and costly brick build
ipgs, and when the best insurance companies IN
the country refused to take risks, the Common
Council was induced for the first time to pass an
ordinance prohibiting the erection OF wooden
buildings within the city limits. But it took
years. and the sacrifice of millions upon millions
of property, before the people would acquiesce IN
he easy application of . natural law, viz; that
pine is q peculiarly infammable substance, and
thst city built of pine is pretty sure to burn
down whenever fire is fairly started under
strong wind. Even to-day there arc thousands Of
foolish people in Chicago who would, if they
could, set aside the prohibition of wooden build
ings, and deliberately rebuild frame city to
burn down again and destroy with it the solid and
elegant blocks that have been constructed here
since 1871.
This peculiar infatustion extends generally
throughout the States of Michigan, Illinois, Wis.,
consin, Iowa, and Minnesota. But Maryland
New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana have
very generally overcome it. They are older COM
munities and have learned better from expert
epce. But the fascination is utterly illogical. A
small city or town built of pine is in more danger
of destruction by fire than large city under the
same circumstances, because its water works, its
engines and its general appliances for extnguish-
ing q conhagration, once started, are much infe-
ror TO those Of large commercial city. Yet we
presume that not one of the towns and smaller
cities throughout the Northwestern States we have
named has an ordinance forbdding the erection
of wooden buildings within the city Or town lin
it's. The consequence is that scarcely month
passes in which there is not chronicled the COM
plete or partial destruction Of thriving village or
populous town. The city of Oshkosh has had,
perhaps, more than its share of calamity in the
past, but not more than any other city similarly
constructed may expect in the future. We may
only hope, in profering . coincidence which re-
ceives additional value from our own sorrowful ex-
perience, that the succession of visitations will
lead Oshkosh to the same reforms that have been
inaugursted in Chicago. The condition of our
city is now gradually but surely improving Every
house built in the future adds fre-wall for the
protection of those already standing, while the
frame districts must give way under decay. re-
moval. and destruction by fire. The first act OF
Oshkosh4in the process Of resurrection should be
the legal prohibition of any more frame buildings
within is limits. And this act might also be
adopted by every city, town, and village contain
ne more than 900 inhabitants, with ultimate
profit to themselves and the whole country.
There is no good reason why the the Northwest
should be built up with wooden cities and towns.
There il not populous desirable dstric. which
does not contain good brick clay. Limestone is
plentiful everywhere. Houses may be constructed
from brick and mortar at q cost but little exceed
ing that Of wooden structures of the same size and
convenience. This cost will be more than counter
balanced BY the SAVING made in repairing and
painting, in warming the house during the cold
season, and in the rates Of insurance. The insur-
ance on wooden houses all through the West full
~ equals the amount Of taxes paid by the same
property. Ifw count in the losses by fire conse-
quent upon the prevalence of wooden towns, the
cost of the frame houses will be found to be mnch
greater than if they had all been built of b, lex and
mortar; but, even leaving this out of considera-
tion, the additional cost of brick walls and unin-
fammable roofs is more than Offset by the addi-
tional cost of insurance and repairs on the wooden
houses. This is a matter that has been frequent.
ly demonstrated, and Is susceptible of demonstra-
ton at any time
What is here said of the northwe stern
States is true of many New England cities.
Their buildings are mostly wood, although
there is an abundance of granite and the
materials for brick are everywhere, and
the cost of the latter is not much more
than the cost of wood. Many men who
are going to build good house, or good
store or block, seldom reckon the greater
security against fire, the less rate of insur-
ance and the decreased expense for re-
pairs that there are in structures OF brick as
compared with those of wood, but hastily
choose the latter because they think the
first cost is less. The first cost of wood
for building is now very nearly that Of
brick, and approaching nearer as lumber
becomes scarcer. The considerations pre-