The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1919-02-24
SUNDAY FIRE
GERMAN BAPTIST CHURCH
WILL REBUILD.

A disastrous lire completely de-
stroyed the German Baptist church
at 9:15 o'clock Sunday morning.
Nothing now remains of that struc-
ture but a few charred timbers and
fire was first discovered by Harry
|Dierksen, the janitor. Mr.. Dierksen
was busy Sunday morning busting
the pews when he suddenly discerned
smoke and fire emanating from a hot
air register in the aisle. Hastily he
secured some water and put this out,
not knowing that the blaze vas in
sidiously creeping up a partition be-
tween the Sunday school room and
the main assembly room.
An alarm was rung in and the new
fire engine manned by q crew of
fighters arrived at the scene of the
fire very quickly. Connections were
instantly made and the hose was soon
at work combating the progress of
the flames. The roof part being pc
culiarly constructed, having several
connecting narrow ridges radiating
with the principal points of a COM
pass, afforded seclusion for the fire
and a good start. This hampered the
firemen in getting at it. After play
ing through the broken windows for
rs minutes it became apparent that
the spread of the flames would soon
emerge through the roof, thus Great
ing a great central draft that the fire
men could not cope with. That is
just what did happen and in a few
minutes after flames were seen COM
ing through the whole roof fell in
and the interior became n seething
sheet of flame.
People came from every direction
and soon a large crowd had formed,
many of whom were worshipers in
the German Baptist congregation.
The new fire engine ~engrossed the at
t%ention of many and it must be said
that it performed splendidly. At
least n young nan knows it did,
because the force from a hose singled
him out when a change of direction
was being made, and knocked him
down.
The building which stood at the in
tersection of First street SW and Lib
erty avenue s, had originally a di-
mension of 26x54 feet; was built in
1886, and had a membership of Is
persons who were shepherded by Rev.
VIM. Achtenberg. Being found too
small, in 1901 the structure was di-
vided and separated and In between
the two parts a new section was
placed giving a capacity of nearly
$50 people. This gave room for a
young mems class in the basement
and a primary class in the north end.
The smaller children of the primary
department occupied the south part
of the building.
The membership at present is over
1900 and Rev. w. s. Argow is the pas
tor in charge, he having succeed
ed Rev. Jacob Pfeiffer, who moved
to Lorraine, Kan.
The church building that burned
yesterday was. valued at about $11,-
600 and some insurance was carried
The trustees are having a meeting
today to figure out the amount their
policies will return them, for the loss
means a large step forward for the
German Baptist congregation. The
standing committee on finance to-
gether with the trustees will meet In
a day or two to discuss plans for the
future.
A number of things were saved
among them the piano, a bookcase
the pulpit, some folding chairs and
also some Sunday school supplies.
A vote of thanks should be given
the men who did their level best to
conquer the flames. They tried hare
to win, but the fire had too much
headway.
The parsonage to the south and the
church sheds to the west suffered nc
damage because of their distance
from the burning building.
With this fire Madison will soor
have another large new edifice to her
credit for it is not doubted that the
German Baptist congregation viii
begin building as soon as possible.
--O-