Fire strikes oldest brick structure in Logan County Saturday

Logan County's oldest brick building sustained roof damage in a fire Saturday afternoon.

The fire at the Knapp Chesnut Becker Library and Museum in the 100 block of South Clinton Street was contained to the roof, said Middletown Fire Protection District Chief Josh Gasparini, reached Monday.

No one was injured in the blaze.

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The building, which dates from around 1840 and was used as a residence as well as a store and post office, may have had a connection to Abraham Lincoln.

It is maintained by the Knapp Chesnut Becker Historical Society, which is a registered nonprofit with the state. The names come from the previous owners of the building, Colby Knapp and Dr. Moses Knapp; Benjamin Chesnut and Tom Becker, according to a history of the village.

Becker was the owner of the building prior to the historical society purchasing it in 1991, said Christine Haney, the treasurer for the Logan County Historical Society.

The library and museum was closed when a neighbor noticed the fire just after noon on Saturday and called it into dispatch. Gasparini said no workers or volunteers were in the building at the time.

About 30 additional crew members from New Holland, Elkhart and Lincoln Rural fire departments were called to the scene, Gasparini said.

The fire was initially fought using hydrant water, but "because of the fire load of the building," he said, water tankers were brought in with the alarm.

Historic documents inside the library were saved, he added.

"We got as much as we could out of there at the time, the extremely important stuff, and we worked with some of the local entities there and got stuff moved to a secure location," Gasparini said.

Haney on Monday confirmed there was smoke and water damage to the building and to some of the documents stored there and that a company was on site cleaning the building. Some contents from the museum had been moved to another location in Middletown, Haney added.

The documents in question, she said, were donated and were all related to the history of the village and the county, though some of them were also related to Menard County.

Middletown, which had a population of just over 300 according to the 2020 U.S. Census, was likely given its name because it was a half-way stop between Springfield and Peoria. The village, previously known as Irish Grove, dates back to 1832, even before the founding of Logan County.

The building was offered to the village in 1960 but sat idle until 1991 when it was condemned by the village.

Winifred Golden of Middletown donated $2,000 to the historical society for purchase of the building.

While it's not definitive that Lincoln stopped at the building, he "quite certainly" would have stopped at the Stagecoach Inn and Tavern because of the route on the Eighth Judicial Circuit, which he traveled as an attorney, said Ron Keller, a Lincoln historian.

The nine-room federal style inn is also known as the Dunlap House after its proprietor, George Dunlap.

Lincoln may have also been in the Middletown area as a surveyor, Keller said.

Christian McWhirter, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum's Lincoln historian, said while the Lincoln Log website doesn't mention anything solid about Lincoln being in Middletown, "my response is usually that, although I can’t provide any concrete evidence tied to a primary source, that doesn’t necessarily mean the story isn’t true. It just means I can’t verify it."

The roof on the building had been replaced some time back with cedar shakes to keep the historical value of the building, Gasparini said.

"That's definitely not helpful," he said, "if you have a fire starting on the roof, but I understand the historical value (of it)."

Gasparini said Tuesday morning he was still waiting on reports from fire investigators from Logan County.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Middletown library and museum sustains damage in fire Saturday