The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-03-27
Destructive Fire in the Heart
of Milwaukee.
Some Of the Leading Mercantile In
stitutions Are in Ruins.
Wild and Magnificent Spectacle for
Thousands Of Sightseers.

| Grand avenue, where the heart OF the
| wholesale and retail commerce OF the
West Side throbs, was the scene, this
morning, of one OF the most disastrous
fires in the history of the city. Some Of
| the leading mercantile institutions
are in ruins. The splendid Y.
NJ. C. A. building is gone; the
| Public Library, with its $4,000 volumes,
some of which could never be replaced,
had a narrow escape. The fire is the
most disastrous since the Third
| Ward conhagration of October %, 1892,
and the pecuniary loss will exceed 81 ,OO0,-
600. II furnished a magnificent spectacle
| for the thousands that filled the avenue
andIwatched 1t from surrounding build
ings. There were, however, luckily, no
fatalities. The principal losses are:
Plankinton estate end buildings occu-
pied by Landauer 81 Co. and Tanner
& Co. and Public Library build
ing, So50,O00; Landauer q Co., whole
sale dry goods, 100000; Tanner &
Company, furniture, etc, 100000; Re-
lance Storage Company, $4,000; Dar-
ling q Wombold, retail clothiers,
100000; Columbia Clothing Company,
$4,000; Y. M. c. A. building, s75, 900;
other losses $4,000. Before / O'Clock the
flames had crossed Fourth street and were
heading on the Y. M. G. A. building
and twenty minutes later the two
upper floors of the library building
were a mass of flames. About the time
the department, under Chief Foley's di-
rection, had begun its work to save the
library building and the three or four
clothing and dry goods stores it
contains, the fury of the blaze had spent
itself on the south side of the avenue,
after having reduced the Plankinton
estate block, occupied by Landauer
a. Company to ashes. There was no
immediate surrounding property on the
west side OF Fourth street, near the Y. M.
| C. A. buildings and from fire brands cast
broadcast, the flames caught in the upper
portion of the library block.
1t was only by desperate work that the
library was saved and at 2 o'clock the
Morgan store had been saved from all
possible damage except to the upper story.
The fire brands leaped across to the
north side of the avenue, running the art
store of Roebel & Reinhart, and two or
three little saloon rsmshsckle buildings.
The public library building at the
northwest corner OF Grand avenue and
Fourth street was saved by hard work.
The loss on the building is believed to be
confined to the fourth and fifth floors,
occupied by Mercer Business College and
the German Society. The building is
owned by the Plankinton estate. At one
time it was thought nothing could save
the structure.
On the fourth floor are the rooms of the
Germania Society. In one of the rooms
is the library containing about $1,000
books. Water and smoke did great dam
age here.
The Foster building at the southwest
corner OF Grand avenue and Fourth con-
tanned Ia or is suites, all of which were
occupied by families.
Many of the occupants owe their lives
to Luke Mccormack, clerk in the post
Office. Passing the building during the
fiercest of the fire in the Tanner building,
he ran up stairs and aroused the sleepers,
barely in time to escape before the build
ing caught fire.
The buildings owned by the Plankinton
estate were the large brick structure, COW
eripg half a block, occupied by Landauer
q Company, wholesale dry goods
dealers, corner Grand avenue and
Fourth street, and the Tanner Company,
furniture, and adjoining Landauer and
Company to the east, the building in the
rear OF Landauer and Company, occupied
I.,N Del
the Library building at the northwest
corner OF Fourth street and Grand ave-
nue.. The estate will suffer a loss of
about S250,0O0 on the buildings occu-
pied by Landauer * Co. and Tanner q
Co. and the Reliance Storage Company,
which were practically destroyed. 1nsur-
ance estimated at so per cent. which
makes the loss to the insurance companies
about 100000 on the structure alone.
Max Lsndauer, Of Landauer n Company
said the stock carried at present by his
firm was valued at 100000, and he, too
usually carried about so per cent. insur-
ance. The Tanner Company's loss
was said to be about 100000, though no
member OF the company could be found
to give an accurate estimate. IL was
thought the furniture stock was insured
for about 75 per cent. Off value.
The Davidson estate, located between
the Plankinton building and occupied by
the Tanner Company and the Mathews
building, in which the retail house of
Morgan Company is located, was
partially destroyed. The structure was
framed with veneer of brick, so the fire
underwriters say, and was worth $4,000
at the outside. The insurance was said
to foot about $4,000.
Darling and Wombold had just received
| n iarCa consfgnment of anrinO Oooda aud