Throughout
history, civilization has endured disasters that test the will and
determination of the people who are the foundation of the communities they call
home. On the early morning of Tuesday,
September 19, 1893, a disaster struck the city of Owingsville that threatened the entire
livelihood of the community.
Late Nineteenth
Century Owingsville was rather typical in layout for the time; the streets were
mainly dirt roads lined with wood framed or brick structures nestled snug side
by side. Most of the buildings in downtown Owingsville were wood built
structures hewn from the surrounding forests or mortar and brick with tin, tar
or wood shingled roofs. The streets were
narrow and named much like they are now, with the exception of Johnson and
Jefferson Streets. Johnson Street was located at the corner
of Main Street
and the present location of the Citizen’s Bank, and intersected with Henry Street which
is located behind the bank and Christian Church. Jefferson
Street is presently known as North Court Street
and completed the block at the corner of Main
by the Perfect Lady Salon and hardware store.
A large lumber yard owned by the E. V. Brother Lumber Company was
located at the intersection of Oberline and Water Street, at the present
location of the old Foodland Grocery Store once owned by Donnie Manuel. Businesses along Henry and Jefferson Streets
included the Peed & Hazelrigg stables, located at the present day location
of Jamie’s Dance Studio and the former Gateway Video building, a blacksmith and
wagon shop, a grocery store, dentist office and several storage sheds and barns. Across the street, where the library
presently sits, there were warehouses belonging to J.M Richart, J.T. Kimbrough
and J.A. Ramsey. Northeast from these
buildings were the Christian Church, two homes and storage sheds. Rounding the block from Johnson to Main Street was the
C.H. Hoon Undertaking and Furniture business, located where the Citizen’s Bank
presently sits. Owingsville in September
1893 was very prosperous and thriving well.
Owingsville had
endured two fires that threatened the entire commerce district; one in April
1873 that burned from Henry Street to another building on Jefferson Street, and
the other in January 1891 that burned out a section of structures from the
present day hardware store west to where the County Attorney’s office now
occupies. On both occasions, the town’s
citizens valiantly fought the fires with the best equipment they had; buckets
filled from ponds or wells nearby.
Firefighting equipment was in its infancy and usually reserved for
bigger cities, with few organized fire departments in operation
nationwide. Most fire brigades were
hired by insurance companies to protect properties they insured, often creating
conflicts from the different insurance brigades in bigger cities squabbling on
which buildings were to be protected.
During this era, a company called Sanborn Publishing created maps of
cities that detailed the types of structures and their fire liabilities. There are a few of these early maps that
still survive detailing Owingsville’s city streets and structures. These maps can be accessed online at the
Kentuckiana Digital Library. The closest
map that reflects how Owingsville would have looked in 1893 was drawn in July,
1891.
It is probably a fair assumption that the
weather was warm and dry the morning of September 19, 1893, and was as typical as
any late summer day would start. At
approximately 4 a.m., a fire was spotted at the Peed & Hazelrigg
stable. The livery area of the stable,
including seven horses, was quickly consumed by the fire that soon became a
raging inferno. Sparks
and glowing embers filled the sky as most Owingsville residents were awakened
by the commotion. The fire raced
westerly down Henry Street to Jefferson, destroying Pierce’s Blacksmith Shop,
Hutcheson’s Saddlery, The Owingsville Opinion newspaper office and Dr.
Nesbitt’s dental office, stopping at an empty lot left by the 1891 fire. Winds carried the flames to the lumber yard
on Oberline Street
and several homes north of Henry
Street.
Soon the warehouses across from the livery stable started burning and
the fire raced toward Main, Johnson and Jefferson Streets. Business owners clamored to their stores
along Main Street and frantically began removing goods in efforts to save what
they could, taking the items to the yard of the courthouse. Citizens gathered what containers they could
muster and began filling them with water from the cistern located in the
courthouse square, but the fire’s intensity was far too great for the bucket
brigades to render much assistance.
Clell Ewing, who lived just outside of Owingsville, sent his teams and
wagons loaded with barrels of water racing toward downtown. Morgan Goodpaster of Sherburne was making a
supply run into town with his team and wagon when he saw the blaze and quickly
gathered barrels, filling them in J.B. Goodpaster’s pond. The actions of these two men saved many homes
outside the business district that could have been lost in the calamity.
The fires of the
Kimbrough, Richart and Ramsey warehouses quickly spread along the Main Street
businesses, consuming Goodpaster’s Bank, which was located where the library
now sits, eastward toward the Hoon Undertaking and Furniture business. The Owingsville Christian Church, a
“remarkable and elegant structure” according to the News Outlook, caught fire
and consumed the surrounding buildings and adjacent homes. At the height of the fire, a powder keg
located in the warehouse belonging to J.T. Kimbrough exploded, causing a
deafening report that shook the surrounding block. By daybreak, the fire was still unchecked,
but efforts of the citizens’ fire brigade had started to slow its
progress. Some houses on High Street
sustained some roof damage due to flying embers but were quickly
extinguished. A great number of people
living on the outskirts of town raced to help contain the inferno and as word
of the fire spread, people from all over the county came to assist. Several neighboring towns, such as Mount
Sterling, sent assistance.
 |
| A Sanborn Map of Owingsville drawn in 1891, showing the origin and path of the 1893 fire. |
Even before the
fire was under control, insurance representatives started arriving into town to
start damage assessments. The entire
commerce district of Owingsville was a smoldering wasteland, with the exception
of the saloon that was located where the Perfect Lady Salon is presently. The saloon was protected from the fire by a
two-story brick wall adjoining the bank.
As devastating as the fire was, there was only one confirmed death
associated. Ms. Jane Dawson died from a
reported heart attack after receiving an erroneous message that her son,
George, and another woman had died in the fire.
Another man, John Spence, was injured by falling debris when a wall of
the Hoon store fell. The economic loss however was disastrous. The day
following the fire, the citizens and merchant owners of Owingsville sifted
through the debris to salvage what they could. The Peed & Hazelrigg stable
lost approximately $10,000 worth of stock, buggies and structures, along with
seven horses. The stable and contents
reportedly only had $1,500 insurance coverage at the time. J.T. Kimbrough lost a total of $10,500 worth
of structures and stock, Goodpaster’s Bank loss was at $7,000. J.A. Ramsey & Company lost $10,000, and the
Christian Church, $12,000. In all,
around thirty businesses and homes were destroyed or severely damaged in the
fire, totaling in over $100,000 in losses; a huge amount for the time. It is estimated that only $40,000 of that
loss amount was covered in insurance. At
least twelve homes were lost, rendering the residents temporarily
homeless. Many jobs were lost in the
ashes along with the livelihood of the merchants who were unable to save their
stock. Piles of salvaged merchandise and
store stock covered the courthouse lawn, unharmed from the inferno. Within days, the businesses opened in
temporary locations throughout Owingsville.
The Wolf & Sons business and Goodpaster Bank relocated to the hall
of the Owings House, where Owingsville Banking Company now occupies. The time
lock on the bank’s safe was opened on Thursday, September 21, and remarkably,
the currency was untouched; although some ledgers sustained slight damage due
to the binding glue melting away. J.T.
Kimbrough & Sons were housed in the courthouse and J.M. Richart, J.A.
Ramsey and James Gillon relocated to the Bath Seminary School, where the
District Courthouse is now located.
Several citizens opened up their own homes to other merchants and families
that had been burned out. The Christian
Church congregated and held services at the Presbyterian Church located on East
Main Street where St Julie’s Catholic Church is currently located.
 |
| Aftermath of the Great Fire of 1893 |
Within a week,
most all of the debris had been removed from the fire scene and plans to
rebuild began. Although no direct origin
and cause of the fire was ever determined, it is believed it was purely an
accident; unlike the fire of 1891, which was thought to have been intentionally
set. Another fire that potentially could
have been just as devastating occurred in March, 1907 when the livery stable
belonging to William Atchinson and the blacksmith shop of A.N. Denton on Henry
Street burned. That fire originated at
nearly the same location as the 1893 incident and threatened the business
section of the city once again. The fire
was stopped by the use of a fire engine that had been purchased by the City of
Owingsville not long prior to the event.
Owingsville would rebuild as the town we see
today. Though the businesses and
frontage of the stores have changed over the years, most of the same structures
that rose out of the ashes of the 1893 fire are still standing today. The shops from the Christian Church to the
corner where Citizen’s Bank is located were razed a several years ago to
accommodate the bank and its offices.
The front of the library has changed several times over the years and
the Davis Department Store and Five and Dime Store are now part of the
Christian Church’s Ramsey Fellowship Hall.
The block along Henry Street where the 1893 fire began has changed
drastically, too; several buildings are tied in together along the ‘pocket’ to
the corner of Main Street, although a few are now vacant and in various degrees
of disrepair.
During the
modern era, there have been other fires in the same area of the Great Fire of
1893. A fire in the winter of 1997 tore through an apartment above the Perfect
Lady Salon at the corner of North Court and Main Street, but was quickly
checked and confined to the apartment of origin by the efforts of the Owingsville,
Salt Lick and Morehead Fire Departments.
Although the apartment was significantly damaged, the salon, the library
and the adjoining apartment were spared with minimal water or smoke damage. Three other recent fires in the area were
brought under control and contained with only the buildings involved damaged or
destroyed. The first fire was the small
red tin sided building at the corner of Oberline and Water Street that was once
Doris York’s shoe store, the second was the old feed mill and farm supply
building that was vacant. Both of those
buildings were destroyed and fires were considered suspicious in nature. The third fire was in the old Wills TV and
Appliance store at the corner of Henry and Oberline Street and was confined to
the back rooms. An electrical problem
caused that fire; the building was repaired and still stands today.
With the advent
of modern firefighting equipment and tactics, it is unlikely that a fire of
such magnitude as the 1893 event will ever occur again in Owingsville. Owingsville has modern water supply sources
and fire hydrants located at regular intervals throughout the city; gone are
the days of the bucket brigades. The
Owingsville Fire Department has thirty-four volunteer firefighters who are
trained according to the standards set by the National Fire Protection Agency
and the Kentucky Fire Commission. The
Owingsville fire station is centrally located on West Main Street and houses
two front line fire engines, a tanker/pumper truck, a ladder truck that
elevates 50 feet and can direct a continuous flow of water upon a fire at that
height. There is a brush land
firefighting truck located at the fire station for woodland or grass fires that
may threaten homes and property in remote areas. Other communities in Bath County are equally
protected with fire departments in Preston, Olympian Springs, Bethel,
Sharpsburg and Salt Lick, who, with mutual aid agreements, help each other
during large scale fire incidents.
If The Great
Fire of September 19, 1893 had any silver lining, it would be the determination
of the community and its people to overcome great adversity and thrive once
again. Like the Phoenix rising from the
ashes, Owingsville rose above the smoldering ruins to become the great
community it is today.
Source material gathered from A History of Bath County by John
Adair Richards, The Owingsville Outlook Archives, The Kentuckiana Digital
Archive, and Sanborn Publishing Corporation.
The photo of the fire’s aftermath courtesy of the Haden Lacy archive,
submitted to John Adair Richards for historical reference.
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