n September 1854 much of downtown Columbus was destroyed by two absolutely devastating fires that occurred within a period of a little more than 24 hours.

It was a fire unequaled in the history of Columbus. By the time the flames were extinguished, at least 22 commercial buildings, the city hall, the Masonic/Odd Fellows building, the telegraphic office and several private residences had been destroyed.

The fire attracted national news coverage, which with the lawsuit I wrote about last week comprises our only record of the fire. There are no surviving Columbus newspapers from the month of the fire. Fortunately, the accounts in the Columbus papers were picked up by other newspapers, some of the best articles appearing in Vicksburg, New Orleans and Nashville papers.

The Vicksburg Whig had one of the best accounts of the first fire, which occurred on Friday, Sept. 8, 1854:

“It commenced in Mrs. Tuft’s millinery store, on Main Street, and spread in a western direction, destroying the furniture store of Gaston and Miller — then the house of S.T. Sappington, occupied by the Post Office, then J.S. Spears’ tin shop, and here the fire was arrested on Main Street, by the fireproof buildings of Columbus Insurance Company. But the fire caught back of the burned buildings and extended to Market Street, destroying Mr. Green’s buildings occupied by Parham & Mason, and then continued on that street, destroying the music store of S. Markstein and the grocery store of E.C. Eggleston; the houses owned by Rev. Mr. Schooler and Mrs. Newlon. On the north it destroyed the confectionery store of J.P. Krecker, and the guns shop at the rear — then J.K. Pierce’s law office, owned by W.B. Weaver — then Delaney & Harper’s tin shop, also owned by Weaver, and was finally arrested at the brick house occupied as a barber shop and owned by Mr. McLauran. But in another direction it destroyed the brick house owned by M. Lloyd, and occupied by W.N. Evans as a family grocery — then dry goods stores of W. Smylie and J. Jones, Jr. & Co., the houses owned by Mrs. Craven, and finally the brick house at the Corner of Main and Market occupied by Franklin & Brother, and owned by O. T. Keeler — being 15 buildings in all.”

With the spread of the fire being imminent, many businesses were able to remove much of their contents to safety. The Post Office moved its furniture, records and the mail there to the city hall. Also, many of the buildings and contents were insured by the Protection Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut.

Cleanup and the assessment of damages commenced the following morning. Disaster struck again that night when around 10 another fire broke. The New Orleans Times Picayune carried the account that had been published by the Columbus Southern Standard:

“… another destructive fire occurred in Columbus on the 9th inst. It commenced in John Stringer’s livery stable on the corner of Main and St. Genevieve streets (now Sixth Street) and is believed to have been the work of an incendiary.

“The Standard says: From the combustible nature of the materials of which the building was composed, as also its contents, the fire spread almost with the rapidity of gunpowder, and the blaze soon rose to the height of the look-out and flagstaff upon the City Hall, adjoining on the east side, and which instantly took fire, consuming the building together with the Post Office furniture, U.S. mail bags, letters and all which had been temporarily placed there, also a large amount of valuable furniture, all of which had been saved from the fire the day previous, belonging to Messrs. Gaston & Miller, deposited there as a place of safety a few hours before! The flames from the City Hall soon set fire to the roof of the splendid Masonic and Odd Fellow’s Hall, a three story brick building, situated near the City Hall on Main Street, and with the destruction of which with all its contents, and the burning of Dr. Love’s office, and some wood and shingles, the ravages of the fire ceased in that direction.

“In the meantime, it had extended along Main street in a westerly direction, first consuming the wooden building front and a new brick blacksmith’s shop in the rear, belonging to S. Kline, and also two other buildings farther on, one of which was used as a telegraph office, thence spreading through the center of the burnt square, bounded by St. Genevieve street on the east, Washington (College Street) on the south, Market on the west, and Main on the north; destroying all the buildings situated thereon, namely: the adjoining residences of John Stringer and George Curtis, on Washington street; the two large livery stables belonging to William Cady, the carriage depot building belonging to George Curtis, and the hotel building occupied by M.J. Howard, on Market Street, together with all the back houses and other structures attached to these different establishments.”

The only local account of the fire was recorded by Nathan Fox in his diary. He described how 12 good buildings and some other smaller ones were reduced to ruins. He wrote: “There are the remains of the Telegraph office, and here are the fragments of dishes, knives, forks, of friend Howard where I last night enjoyed my good supper. But yonder stands the stately ruins of the city hall and Masonic and Odd Fellow’s hall, sublime even in ruins.”

Most of the building that were lost were covered by fire insurance. However, what was a horrible disaster became even worse. The Times Picayune also reported the following: “Most, if not all the insurances upon the property destroyed were effected in the Protection Insurance Company of Hartford, Conn, which recently failed.”

What were the downtown blocks that burned? They were the block where First United Methodist Church is now located, the block where the Post Office now is and possibly the west half of the block where the Rosenzweig Art Center is located. The destruction amounted to almost half of downtown Columbus in 1854.

This disaster resulted in Columbus imposing a restrictive building code on the downtown area. That action resulted in the 1857 lawsuit I wrote about last week. The account of the 1854 fire and the downtown description provided in 1857 provide a fascinating window not only as to the downtown buildings of the 1850s but also what businesses were located there.

Thanks to Carolyn Kaye for helping with research.

Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].

READER FAVORITES

• 

  Our View: Selfish people don’t plant flowers

  By Dispatch Editorial Board • 2 days ago

• 

  Slimantics: Redistricting by another name is no less offensive

  By Slim Smith • 15 hours ago

• 

  Our View: We don’t want to hear, ‘there’s nothing to do’

  By Dispatch Editorial Board • 15 hours ago