150th anniversary of 1872 Mishawaka fire is a reminder of community's resilience
MISHAWAKA -- At 100 Lincoln Way West in the downtown area, streets are being paved and the former Liberty Mutual Insurance building will soon become the hub of the community.
The past year's disruption of downtown life, however, is no match for the devastating blaze 150 years ago this week when dozens of businesses, churches and the livelihoods of the city's central district burned as a result of the massive fire.
Research by Peter DeKever, the city's historian laureate, shows a town that recovered from the loss of 49 buildings, and 82 businesses with damages totaling about $140,000, the equivalent of $3.4 million today.
Mishawaka's response to the 1872 blaze is a testament to the city's vitality and resilience, DeKever said during a recent tour of the fire's origin.
"Nobody died and no one was seriously injured," he said. "This isn't a memorial kind of anniversary where there was a tragedy, where we're remembering victims. The victims were the buildings and the business owners. And, of course, everyone was terrified.
"Mishawaka survived," DeKever continued. "Nobody died. The factories were untouched .. the town did not lose population in the 1870s, and the town kept going forward."
A hot, windy evening
Sept. 5, 1872, was a hot, windy evening as the more than 2,600 Mishawaka residents began to settle in for a warm night. A fire in a barn along the alley of West Second Street (now Lincoln Way West) owned by S.H. Stevens grew and spread to a nearby barn from the Presbyterian Church. The fire then spread to the church, a wood frame building like nearly all the structures in the two-block central district along Second and Main streets.
Winds swept the fire across the alley to catch the six buildings to the east along Second Street. In accounts from stories in the Mishawaka Enterprise newspaper, the town's hand engine was being used to fight the fire, "but seemed to have no effect on the advancing flames."
Businesses on fire included Holcomb grocery, J.A. Burt meat market, Keiner & Keisler hardware store, S.D. Judkins & Sons grocery/provision store, Smith & Sherwood drug and book store and the Odd Fellows and Masonic halls.
The embers jumped over Second Street and caught another six buildings on fire, in the location where the City Hall now stands. The blaze then traveled up North Main Street, destroying all the buildings along the west side of the street, with the embers catching the structures on the east side of North Main Street as well.
Newspaper accounts said telegrams called for engines from South Bend, Elkhart and Goshen to help fight the fire. South Bend showed up about 9:30 p.m., with Elkhart arriving about 11 p.m. The Goshen hook and ladder was delayed and never made it to the fire scene.
One of those buildings, the Town Hall, also burned to the ground.
The fire made its way to wooden buildings on the north side of South Second Street.
Looting and mayhem
DeKever said the accounts of the 1872 fire suggest that it was a slow-moving one that allowed people to get out of its way. Also, by being contained largely in the business district, the nearby homes -- also made of wood -- were spared from the blaze by the sheer wind direction. While there were no records of weather in those days, he suggests that the fire damage indicate the winds may have been brisk from the southwest.
The problems of chaos during and after the fire, however, seemed to be prevalent.
DeKever, in citing a passage from the chapter of the fire included in David Eisen's book, "A Mishawaka Mosaic," there were scores of lotting and pilfering of material the business owners frantically tried to remove from their stores and shops.
Eisen wrote that goods would be moved from place to place to avoid the fires, and horses were laden with goods traveling through the smoky streets. Stories also spread about looting of rooms at the nearby Milburn House Hotel, which was not seriously damaged by the fire.
DeKever said accounts credit the South Bend and Elkhart fire engines from thwarting the fire's spread to the east. Also, the fire failed to advance toward the large industries that stood to the north along the St. Joseph River, the prime spot for hydroelectric power of the day.
The fire's cause
The cause of the blaze drew immediate speculation. According to accounts in the Mishawaka Enterprise, it was believed that the fire started with a type of "incendiary."
Further, there were reports that the Sept. 5 fire was the third one since July 1, 1872, that possibly was set by someone in the downtown area. The Rev. J.D. McCord, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, said he believed someone may have objected to his recent sermons opposing alcoholic beverages. Other theories were circulated, but there never was an exact cause of the blaze.
Rebuilding
DeKever cited many instances in the accounts of the 1872 fire where Mishawaka business owners shook off the tragedy and got back to work.
Tents popped up in a matter of days, with Mishawaka merchants selling the goods that were once in the wooden buildings that were no more.
Ed Jernigan, editor and new owner of The Mishawaka Enterprise, wrote, "Some forty-nine buildings, including the best part of of the business portion of our beautiful town, were smoldering ruins -- the work of many years swept down in a few short hours. It is very sad and will prove a severe blow to Mishawaka's prosperity. But we are satisfied it will be a temporary misfortune."
Merchants advertised to customers to pay up their bills so the businesses could use the money to rebuild.
The Presbyterian Church that burned down was rebuilt in fast fashion, having its first service exactly four months after it was destroyed.
Other businesses such as Byrket and Curtis' bakery on East Second Street placed a sign on its destroyed building that read: "Will resume business immediately -- Removed on account of intense heat!"
Lasting legacy
As with such famous fires such as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, many of the lasting remembrances of the devastation are long gone. But a few visual reminders remain of the Mishawaka fire of 1872.
The Phoenix Building, at the southwest corner of Lincoln Way West and Main Street, was built in 1873 and still carries the original outline of the Odd Fellows lettering at the top of its north facade. Originally having its current building and a theater to the west, the structure was aptly named, DeKever said, for it housed several businesses and organizations that were affected by the fire.
In addition, the Doc Pierce's building stands as a reconstruction project, also having its 1873 date on its facade.
The fire's origin in the alley off of Second Street hardly resembles the Stevens' barn.
Yet other spots in the downtown hints of the fire's existence.
The building on the alley on Lincoln Way East where the Schindler-Richard Insurance Agency used to exist still has a sign that states "Established 1872" when the agency started to help victims of the fire that year.
In DeKever's accounts, John J. Schindler, a grocer, was convinced by the Firemen's Fund Insurance Co. to start an insurance agency as people were recovering from the 1872 fire.
Also near that spot down the north-south alley on Lincoln Way East, there's a cornerstone with the inscription "B&C 1872" placed there by the Byrket & Curtis' bakery when the owners began to rebuild its destroyed business after the fire.
DeKever said current owners who recently renovated the building's exterior made sure not to cover up the cornerstone in respect for the historic significance of the site.
In an effort to limit the damage in case of another disaster, the city mandated that all buildings in the business district be constructed primarily of bricks and masonry. DeKever also said by 1874, the town was able to get water to the downtown area from the river's industrial district by means of a water pump.
DeKever said the accounts of people working to regain their businesses after the fire showed the community's resilience.
"That's something we can be proud of," he said. "Maybe we can take some inspiration to ourselves. When we have adversity of one kind or another in our own lives or in the community, we find ways to go forward."
More on fire:
For more on the 1872 fire, read "A Mishawaka Mosaic" by David Eisen.
Email South Bend Tribune reporter Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Mishawaka 1872 fire history
