THE RANDALL RUBEL PAPERS
THE RANDALL RUBEL PAPERS
EARLY FIRE FIGHTING IN CLARKSVILLE, TENNESSEE
As the town of Clarksville, established by the Assembly of North Carolina in 1785, grew, there was need for a town government with laws appropriate to the needs of the populace. Tennessee had been admitted into the United States as the 16th state in 1796.
It was in 1819 that Clarksville was authorized by the Tennessee State Legislature to hold an election of town officials. The first executive session was held in January1820.
Immediately thereafter, laws were passed for the protection of life and the property of the citizens. Among these were laws relating to fire protection. The establishment of the patrol system was immediate. A patrol of two persons was on duty at least two nights weekly. They were to visit every part of town, once before and once after midnight. Although they were to be on the lookout for law violators, they were to detect fires left aglow in homes or stores.
The earliest record of fire protection was found on page 19 of the “Minutes of Proceedings of the Corporation of Clarksville”, dated Friday evening, July 20, 1821. It said, “After the first day of August 1821, NO persons excepting the Sheriff of Montgomery County or his deputies, shall ring the Court House Bell, except in the case of fire in the town.”
Page 59 recorded on January 30, 1830, “Ordered that Samuel McFall, be employed to make and deliver four good substantial ladders on the Square. These ladders are to be made of good yellow popular, 35 feet long to be delivered in 10 days.” Samuel McFall was an Alderman at the time that John H. Poston was the Mayor of the Corporation of Clarksville, 1830. Down on the same page, was the next account, “Ordered that John H. Poston and Samuel McFall be appointed a committee to ascertain the practicability of the cost of making a cistern on the Public Square.
Page 68 recorded on Wednesday, June 23, 1830, “Motion ordered that Samuel McFall, one of this board, procure to be made upon the most approved plan, two fire hooks, and the necessary appendage thereto, and make a report to this board of the expense.
In August 1831, George G. Gossett was appointed to the rank of captain and to organize a fire company. Not much is recorded about these brave souls or by what method they did their work at extinguishing those early fires. One can only guess about men running down those dirt streets, pulling their fire wagons. “In September 1831, it is recorded that the owner of each house on the Square, was ordered to furnish the building with two good fire buckets. Owners of residences in the remainder of the town were to furnish each with one bucket to be made of leather with the owners name plainly marked. This identification made the return of the fire buckets easier after the fire fighting had ended.
THE FIRE OF FIFTY-ONE: THREATENED DOWNTOWN CLARKSVILLE
The spring of 1851
was hot and dry. On May 28, with the temperatures reaching 93, fire
broke out
in the center of town and threatened to flatten the business district.
The
Clarksville Jeffersonian provides the following account- “Between 2 and
3
o’clock p.m. yesterday, our citizens were startled by the cry of fire.
The roof
of the four story brick building between the Franklin House and
Peacher, Smith
and Company was discovered to be in a light blaze, and before water
could be
got to it, had made such progress as to induce the belief that the
whole town
would be laid to ashes.
The old fire engine,
which has so often been condemned for its inefficiency, but which is
the only
one of which our town can boast, was very speedily brought to the fire
ground,
and our citizens formed lines from it to the cisterns in the center of
the
square. In this way the engine was kept well supplied with water.
Owing, however,
to the height of the building and to the want of ladders of sufficient
length,
as well as to the fact that none of the houses in the neighborhood,
were
provided with any means of access to their roofs, much time was
unavoidably
lost.
In the meantime, the
flames had spread to the roof of the building occupied by Peacher,
Smith and
Company, as a storeroom, and by the Sons of Temperance as a Division
room and
library. The fire now raged with frightful vigor. The Franklin House
below, and
the entire business part of the town above, on Franklin Street, as well
as the
Elder block on the square, was in imminent danger.
The roofs of the
buildings were as dry as timber, and the evening was excessively hot.
The
flying sparks were carried by winds, to various buildings within
several
hundred yards of the fire. S.N. Hollingsworth’s roof and several others
in that
row, the roof of our office, the roof of the old building on the west
side of
the Market House, and the basement of Mr. Alwell’s residence in the
rear of our
office, were at various times, on fire. The flames in all these cases
were soon
discovered and instantly suppressed.
But the main fire
raged on, and the only hope of checking it was the tin roofed block
occupied by
A.B. Harrison and W. & J.E. Broaddus. The buildings joined those on
fire,
and in addition to the tin roof, the walls were of double thickness
between
them and the fire. The end of the engine hose was also upon the roof
doing good
service. It is but justice to the imperfect old engine to say, poor as
it is,
three fourths of the business district would have been destroyed
without it.
For five hours, our
citizens battled manfully with the destroying element, and when we
consider
that we had no engine that could throw water from the ground to the
third story
windows, and that there was a great scanty of water, we are surprised
that they
accomplished so much.
About five o’clock, serious apprehensions were entertained that the gable and wall of the brick building adjoining the Franklin House, which was then without and support, the whole inside of the building having fallen, which had been very much cracked by the heat, would fall upon the Franklin House and crush it. It was finally propped up, however, and is still standing. The escape of the Franklin House under the circumstances was most wonderful, and we congratulate the enterprising landlords upon their astonishing good luck."
LOSSES
“The losses growing out of the fire cannot be fairly estimated. The danger was so imminent, and the alarm so general, that almost every store upon Franklin Street was emptied of its contents, and the removal of such a vast quantity of goods, in the hasty manner in which they were removed, thrown carelessly here and there, must necessarily be attended with considerable loss. Many of the goods will never be recovered, while a large quantity were materially damaged.
The building in which the fire originated, occupied by Mr. J.F. Adkins as a Confectionary, and Peacher, Smith, and Company, as a dry goods store, and which is regarded as a total loss, was the joint property of P. Peacher and Thomas W. Barksdale. It was valued at $10.000 and insured for $5,800 in the Mutual Insurance Office in Nashville. Peacher, Smith, and Company stock, worth $8,000, was insured for $8,000. The loss, we presume, will not fall very heavy upon them, as a large portion of their stock was removed, uninjured by the fire.”
ACCIDENTS
“Mr. Jack Baird, who was laboring manfully, became exhausted by the oppressive heat and over-exertion, and fell on the square. He was removed, and we are informed is now entirely recovered.
Mr. Young, who was also working like a Trojan, encountered a similar misfortune, but has also entirely recovered. After dark, when the first alarm was given, in consequence of the very heavy wind which had risen since sundown, and which was blowing sparks over all parts of the town, Mr. Samuel Seat, of the firm of Peacher, Smith & Company, fell from the top of one of the rear buildings, eight or ten feet, and was severely injured. Fortunately, no bones were broken, and he will probably recover in a few days. The danger, which threatened to desolate the whole business portion of our town, roused to violent action the energy of our population, white and black, male and female, and all labored with efficiency as well as hearty good will. But if, when all performed so well, any are entitled to superior commendation, we must concede it to the ladies and the school girls. To their well directed exertions and prudent forethought, many of our merchants are indebted for the preservation of large quantities of valuable goods. They picked up and carefully sorted over and arranged the immense heaps of goods which had been thrown indiscriminately about the square and carried them to points of safety, and they did not cease their efforts, until there was nothing more for them to do. And we cannot close this article without returning to the school girls our hearty thanks for removing the greater and most valuable portion of the stock of our bookstore. They brought baby wagons from all parts of town and loaded them with books and hauled them to our residence themselves. Such conduct not only proves that they possess noble and generous hearts, but stamps as ladies of exquisite literary taste. They have our hearty thanks. May they graduate with distinction, marry well, live happy, and go to heaven when they die.
We hope this calamity will impress
upon our citizens, the vital importance of getting, without delay, a
first rate
fire engine. If we had such a one yesterday, not one dollar’s worth of
property
would have been lost.”
Roll #4- The Clarksville
Jeffersonian. Saturday February 28, 1852. “Firemen Attention. A meeting
will be
held in the room at the Market House on Tuesday March 2nd; 7:30 p.m.,
for the
purpose of forming a fire company for the old fire engine. We are
authorized to
state for the information of the inquisitive, that the new fire engine
can
extinguish a fire in little less than no time. By February, a new fire
engine
had been purchased and two companies had been formed, one for each
engine.”
The infant daughter of Gray Farmer
was badly burned on December 31, 1857, and died in a few hours. The
child’s
clothing caught fire from a coal fire. She became one of the first fire
deaths
recorded in Clarksville’s history.
According to the
WILLIAMS CLARKSVILLE DIRECTORY of 1859/1860, there were two fire
companies with “excellent and costly engines, hose, etc.” These were
the
INDEPENDENT DELUGE FIRE COMPANY NO.1, located on the south side of
Strawberry Alley, and the INDEPENDENT EAGLE COMPANY NO.2, located at
the Market House,
which was on First Street between Franklin
Street and Strawberry Alley.
A meeting of Deluge
Fire Company #1 was held at the Court House, which was located in the
middle of
the block of Franklin Street, on Wednesday, the 10th. His Honor, C.L.
Wilcox,
presided. A constitution and by-laws were adopted and the following
were
elected officers.
C.L. Wilcox
president
J.C. Johnson secretary
Robert M’Mordie treasurer
John Irwin
chief director
James Tait engine driver’s assistant
C. Bailey engine driver
William Hays pipeman
Thomas Farmer assistant
With the war raging
on and Union troops constantly on guard against Confederate cavalry and
infantry troops coming into the city, fires became one way of dealing
with the
Lincolnites. On Saturday evening, November 7, 1863, arsonists set fire
to a
horse stables which was located near Franklin Street. The fire swept
from the
Episcopal Church, eastward to the Franklin Street Hall. It was thought
that the
owner was a little to friendly with the union forces.
Finally, on April
9th, 1865, at the McLean House in Appomattox, Virginia, Confederate
troops
under General Robert E. Lee, surrendered and the war was over.
