Washington Fire Of 1875

The location of W.D. Green’s “old, dilapidated storehouse,” where a fire started on the night of July 3, 1875. An alarm was sounded around 3 a.m., but by sunlight a western wind had helped the fire spread eastward through 4½ blocks of Washington’s business district, on either side of Franklin Street. Almost two dozen businesses were affected, with the fire stopping just short of the 1836 Courthouse. The Washington Telegraph was evacuated of equipment and materials, but the building was spared. According to the Washington Telegraph, both men and women fought the fires with the aid of the Victorian version of a hook-and-ladder truck.

At around 2:30 a.m., the fire started in the back of W.D. Green’s two-story store building, on the site of the present-day Washington Print Museum. The fire quickly spread to the vacant store of Captain William Moss to the west, and the three-story Oddfellows Lodge to the east. The fire did not cross the streets of Lawrence or Conway. The fire then crossed Franklin Street, reaching the three-story Washington House Hotel and its stables and carriage sheds belonging to John D. Jones (modern-day Post Office parking lot), which contained the office of a Mr. Dutton, a shoe store, and the residence of a Mr. White and his family. The fire spread west up to Lawrence Street, taking out the shops of tailor Charles Payton, a barber named Hamilton (present-day Weapons Museum), tin worker R.B. Dennison, and cabinet maker London Johnson.

The fire then jumped across Izard Street to Block 5 (present-day Candle Shop and Pecan Grove), destroying Beller’s Planters Hotel (which had a black-owned grocery on the ground floor), Augustus Crouch’s jewelry shop, and Baird & Carruth’s new two-story store, which had $15,000 worth of goods on hand. Across Franklin Street, businesses lost on Block 4 included: H. Wright’s crockery shop, Rowton’s family grocery, Amonett’s saloon, Phillip’s store, Wright’s grocery, Matlock’s harness shop, and the law office of Williams & Battle. The fire reached Block 6, destroying “The old Block Store House” (then the law office of Carrigan & Jones), ironically stopping after burning down another store building belonging to W.D. Green.

"The Washington Fire." Washington Telegraph. 7 July 1875.