From the April 26, 1978 edition of the Jefferson
County Journal (used with permission)
THE
GREAT FIRE IN ADAMS APRIL 14, 1865
On Tuesday afternoon the 14th at about 4
o’clock, while a strong wind was blowing from the
SE, dense volumes of smoke were seen coming from
Seeley Hungerford’s Livery stale a few feet in the
rear of the Whipple Block.
The wind whipped flames quickly spread to the
Whipple Block which housed: Dwight & Eddy’s Book
Store, Wright & Salisbury’s clothing Store, S.N.
Bond’s Dry goods & Variety Store, The Jefferson
County News Office, and the Masonic Hall.
The small brick buildings north of this block and
Hungerford’s Bank were next consumed. Fortunately
the contents of the bank were saved.
High winds blew burning brands across the street and
spread to Whitney’s Hotel and Griswold & Fox’s
Harness Shop. Flames also spread to the Gilbert &
Griswold Blocks and Harmon’s Hardware Store. Goods
from the stores which had been piled up on the
sidewalks and streets caught fire and burned even
after having been supposedly saved .
Other downtown businesses destroyed by the wind
swept flames were Schram Brothers hardware Store,
Griswold & Fox Harness Shop, Hungerford & Fuller
Livery Stables, Hungerford’s Bank, N. Vickery ’s Law
Offices, A. Maxon’s Law Offices, T.C. Chittenden,
justice and Insurance Agent, and Gennell & Patrick’s
Drug Store.
Many of the businesses were at least partly covered
by insurance and rebuilding the burned out district
was begun by General S.D. Hungerford who commenced
excavating at the site of his old bank building
immediately after the fire
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From the August 20, 1980 edition of the Jefferson
County Journal (used with permission)
THE
NIGHT THE CANDY STORE BURNED DOWN by Joe Valley
About 1:45 am March 3rd,
1918 the Chief of Police, Henderson Blair was making
his rounds when he smelled smoke. He followed the
smoke to its source, the northeast corner of the
Frasier and Pitcher Block on the corner of Main and
Church Streets. The location of the smoke was in
the rear of the F. M. Williams Restaurant . He
could see the flicker of the flames on the
restaurant kitchen ceiling and sounded the alarm.
The firemen arrived quickly, and soon had several
streams of water playing on the clapboard building,
but the entire building soon burst into a mass of
flames. The flames quickly moved quickly to the
adjacent Ackerman Block on Church Street .
The upper floors of the Frasier and Pitcher building
held the dentist office of Dr. R. T. Kirkland, but
the big worry was the residents of the two
apartments on that floor. Mr. and Mrs. Carl
Jimerson occupied one of the apartments. They were
aroused by the activity on the street and barely
escaped. Mrs. Jimerson escaped down the wooden
steps just before they burst into flames. Mr.
Jimerson was forced to jump from the window. They
lost all their possessions. They had no insurance.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cushman occupied the other
apartment. Charlie lowered his wife out the window
but had to let go because of the intense heat and
she fell spraining her wrist and ankle. Mr. Cushman
also jumped form the window after trying to locate
the family dog. The dog became the only fatality of
the fire.
There were other families on the second floor of the
Ackerman Block. They had ample warning to get out
but lost all their property. The businesses on the
first floor of the Ackerman Block were: The Women’s
specialty shop, the Adams Candy Kitchen, The
American Express Co. (Mr. F.C. Dexter, the
manager was able to move out valuable papers &
Stock), Mr. M.L. Rafferty’s Meat Market was next.
He was able to move most of the meat to the old
Lamson Market. Mr. Murry, the manager of the ford
Showroom was able to get the two ford cars out of
the building. The last store in the Ackerman Block
was John Groff’s Plumbing business and he was able
to remove most of his goods.
The firefighters and citizens fought the fire for
five hours before it was put out.