This story by Rollie Bernhart (1908-1974) originally appeared in Bernhart’s About Somebody, Or Something column on page 4 of The Vidette-Messenger on January 15, 1972.
Spectators gathered in Valparaiso on Lincolnway at Washington Street to watch the Academy of Music Block fire in February 1926.
A fire which struck Valparaiso 45 years ago was of such colossal proportions it was dubbed “one of the greatest conflagrations to ever visit the city.“
I recall it, but not as vividly as destruction of the Academy of Music and Kaufman Bargain Store buildings as described in a six-column, front-page story in the February 19, 1926, issue of the Valparaiso Daily Vidette sent in to this columnist by Dr. A. F. Scribner, 2008 Linden.
Two firemen were killed, and four others were injured in fighting the blaze, which struck the half-block of business buildings at Lincolnway and Washington shortly after 6 a.m., causing a half-million dollars in damage.
One of the dead was a firefighter from the Gary Fire Department, which responded to calls for help. The other was Robert Bartholomew, an employee of the Northwestern Indiana Telephone Company, in Valparaiso. He apparently died from drowning when a collapsing wall buried him in a lake of water in the basement of the burning structures.
Injured in collapse of the walls were two Valparaiso volunteer firemen, Claus Helmick, painting contractor and decorator, and Lloyd “Mud” Miller, employed at Wittenberg and Son. Also on the injured list was an officer from Gary Fire Department’s Engine Company No. 2.
It was a biting cold, wintry day. It was so cold that water pressure was drastically cut down in the hoses before it reached the end of the nozzle. By daylight, hoses lay snakelike in the street, completely frozen, under thick layers of ice.
There was school as usual that day, but quite a gang of errant pupils (including me) chose to play hooky. After all, it isn’t every day one gets to view the greatest conflagration ever to visit the old hometown.
Coverage of the fire is excellently detailed and described. Space won’t permit all of it, but that portion covering collapse of the walls is worth repeating:
“The two men who were killed, and the four injured were on the second floor of the Kauffman building. They had invaded the structure with a hose to seek a vantage point whereby they might pour water into the Academy of Music building.
“Then something happened. A roar like a mighty blast at bay went forth. The whole end of the Academy of Music wall on the south, towering majestically above the Kauffman structure, gave way. In a brief space of time, before they were aware of it, six men went tumbling down into the vortex created by the enormous mass of brick and stone, crushing the Kaufman building like an eggshell.
“Into the flame, smoke, and broken pieces of the building the men were cast. While this gruesome tragedy was being enacted, others on top of the Farmer’s Restaurant building had narrow escapes from injury. They were Sheriff William Forney, American Legion Commander Charles Gilliland, Harvey Varner, Fred Hughes, and Porter County Surveyor William Morthland.
“With the crash of the walls, they were peppered with bricks from the doomed building. Harvey Varner narrowly escaped falling over the ledge, but was pulled back by comrades. Morthland, struck on the head by a brick, was saved by pals when he tried to walk off the roof while in a dazed condition. Gilliland, on the hose, was pulled back by Forney, just as the pressure of the water was about to carry him over into the Kaufman pit.”
There’s much more to this fine fire coverage story, but the wrap-up of damages to the music building, constructed in 1864, plus other business buildings, is equally complete:
“The flames got at the Academy of Music block until only a charred mass remains; they raked their way through the Kaufman Bargain Store and practically destroyed that building; water and smoke pouring through Farmer’s Restaurant and the American Cafe buildings caused untold damage, making both structures untenable and unfit for business until extensive repairs are made.”
Anyone recall it now?