Waterford Fire 1898
We found out that the Waterford Fire started on July 2, 1898. It was started in Louis Noll's General Store. Louis Noll, Jr. went in the cellar to fetch a can of gasoline for a customer. He set down his lighted lamp and knocked over the gasoline can. The faucet fell out and in seconds the store was on fire. The flames shot across the street to C.J. Noll's furniture store. Pretty soon everyone thought they were doomed until the Burlington Hook and Ladder company arrived. Pretty soon the fire was out. Waterford lost $100,000 dollars in the fire and had little insurance to pay for it. They even sent $40.00 to thank the Burlington Hook and Ladder company for helping Waterford with the fire.
by K.H. / H.K.
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WATERFORD FIRE
The Waterford Fire was started by Louis Noll because he dropped a lamp in some gasoline, in his cellar at his General Store. It started July 2, 1898 at 8:00pm. It wiped out the whole east side of Waterford. Later, the Burlington Hook and Ladder Fire Company put out the fire with a bucket brigade and got $40.00 from Waterford. The fire burned $100,000 of Waterford's supplies and other things. No one died, but only one person got hurt (he was a Burlington Hook and Ladder fire fighter.
by T.L / M.M.
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Waterford Fire of 1898
The Waterford Fire started in Louis Noll's store when he was going to get some gasoline. He knocked his oil lamp over and an explosion followed. He escaped the explosion that was in the cellar. It started a fire that nearly burned down the town of Waterford. Not many people remember the fire. I'm not surprised because it was one hundred years old!
by N.W.
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The Waterford Fire
by J.T.
The Waterford fire occurred 100 years ago on July 1 and 2. It damaged many homes and buildings. The local people couldn't put it out before it caused the damage that it did. They didn't have the modern equipment we have today. The Burlington Fire Dept. was called and came to Waterford to put out the fire.
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The Waterford Fire of 1898
Most people haven't even heard of the Waterford fire. If they have heard of the Waterford fire most people think it happened on July 2, 1898, but it actually happened on July 1, 1898. It started when a merchant went to get five cents worth of gasoline. While he was opening the plug to the gasoline, it spilled and he dropped his lamp. This caused an explosion. The winds aided the flames on their path of destruction. The flames swept anything and everything in their path. The business part of Waterford was clearly doomed. Waterford did not have a fire department then and had to call to Burlington for help. The only thing that Waterford had was a bucket brigade. When the Burlington hook and ladder company came, they helped as much as they could. By the time the fire was stopped a general store, and opera house, a furniture store, 2 saloons, a hotel, a hardware store, the post office, and several homes were burned. The damages totaled over $100,000. A man named John Hulbert was the only one injured in the fire. He had burns on his face and hands. Waterford sent a letter of appreciation and $40 to the Burlington Hook and Ladder Company for their services.
by J.S.
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The Waterford Fire
by J.M.
Did you know that Waterford had a fire? On July 1st 1898, around 9:00 p.m., Luis Noll went the drain gasoline from a tank with a lantern to guide him. When he tried to get some of the gas out, it spilled and the lantern started the fire. The fire traveled all along Main Street, destroying everything in it's path. Now back then the city of Waterford didn't have a fire station, so they had to call Burlington. In those days they didn't have hoses either, so they had to use bucket brigades. A bucket brigade starts with the fire men all standing in a line. The person at the beginning fills up a bucket with water and hands the bucket to the next person, which hands it the next, and so on. When it gets to the last person in line, that firemen throws the water on the fire. Although nobody was killed, someone was badly hurt. He was walking by a burning building when a peice of the building fell on him. Luckily he jumed in the Fox River before his burns were fatal.
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My report is on the Waterford Fire.
I wanted to know more about this fire so I studied and I got this. Hope you like it! The fire started July 2, 1898 around 8:00-9:00. Louis Noll was in his basement getting gas for a customer. He dropped the gas on a lantern near by. No one got killed but Elner Hulbert got hurt. He saved himself by jumping in the river nearby. When he got out of the river his face was badly burned. That is how the fire started. In the fire the post office was burned down. The one building that survived was the Foat Building. The Noll's building is where the Ten Club Park is now. B.G. Foat's stare was saved by the heroic efforts of the volunteer bucket brigade. The loss of the fire was over $100,000. Not many business owners had insurance. Waterford business district was rebuilt with more fire-proof brick and stone structures. It was a scary night for the people in Waterford. It took a huge amount of time for them to get the fire out. The fire got bigger and bigger and that is why it took so long. They tried hard to evacuate the fire. There were only a few families that didn't have to worry about their house. Some houses didn't even start to burn down, But a lot did. Waterford wasn't a very pretty place after it was over. They couldn't worry about their pets because they had to go before the fire got to them. The fire could have spread to any other place. It could have gone really far. It was dark that night. That is what I learned about the Waterford Fire of 1898. I hope you enjoyed it.
by R.N.
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The Waterford Fire
by M.A.
Back in the year 1898 on July 2nd there was a big fire in Waterford, WI. It all started in Louis Noll's store (now the Ten Club Park). At about 8 o'clock, Louis Noll, Jr. went down into the cellar of his store to get some gasoline. An explosion followed and with that the whole store was in flames. Soon allt he buildings on the river front and other buildings were burning. One by one the buildings were burning. Pretty soon the Burlington Hook and Ladder Company arrived in response to their cry for help. They saved lots of stores, buildings, and other things. The building of Wm. Shenkenburg, Wm Plucker, Malone's Store and G. Halbach and Sons were saved. Some of the buildings were saved by the volunteer bucket brigade. No people died and only one pearson was injured. Now it has been 100 years since the Waterford Fire.
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Waterford Fire
by B.B.
The Waterford fire started in July 2, 1898. It started at Louis Noll's General store. It started when Louis Noll Jr. was going to the attic with a lantern he knocked over a barrel of gas and then an explosion happened. The fire destroyed the whole East Side. No one was killed in this enormous fire. Louis Noll's store is now the Ten Club Park .
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THE WATERFORD FIRE
by E.E.
The Waterford Fire started between 8:00 and 9:00 PM on July 1, 1898. Louis Noll was in the basement of his general store, getting gasoline for a customer. Suddenly he knocked the faucet off the tank. Gas poured onto the lighted lantern, and it exploded. Soon all the buildings on the east side of Waterford were burning. The Burlington Hook and Ladder company came to help. The Nelson's hotel was burned, but the Plucker hotel was saved. No one died in the fire. One person was hurt. Elner Hulbert was carrying water when a piece of the burning building fell on him. He jumped in the river and saved his life.
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The Waterford Fire
The Waterford Fire of 1898 started in Louis Noll's store on July 2nd. Mr. Noll went into the basement of Noll's Bros. General Store and had an accident that started gasoline on fire. This caused and explosion and instantly the whole store was on fire. Every building on the river side soon caught fire. Then the fire shot across the street and caught C.J. Noll's furniture store on fire. After the alarm went off people started to come and pull furniture and other supplies out of homes and stores. Since Waterford didn't have and fire stations, they had to call Burlington to come and put it out with bucket brigade. Then, one by one, the south side of Main St. became an easy victim of the fire. After the fire some people had to sleep on hay stacks to keep warm at night. There were only 2 building and the ice house by the river. Only one person was injured. Elner Hulber was hurt, but no one was killed.
by M.R.
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The Waterford Fire of 1898 started in Louis Noll's store at about 8 o'clock. Louis Noll, Jr., went into the cellar to draw some gasoline when an explosion followed. Every building was burning. One by one the buildings on the south side of Main St. became easy victims. The saving of B.G. Foat's store was saved by the strong roof and the bucket brigade. There was but one accident. Elner Hulbert was carrying water through the alley next to B.G. Foat's when a piece of burning cornice from Palmer's store fell just grazing the body setting his clothing on fire. With rare presence of mind, he jumped into the river and this saved his life. His face and body were badly burned but we are glad to know that he did recover. In the great July 2nd fire, the Foat building, a year old, was one of three in a two block area that did not burn. After the fire, new grades were established. The level on Main Street was raised so the Foat building had to go up six feet, four inches to be level with the neighbors. So this is the story of the great 1898 Waterford Fire as written by Max
by M.S.
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The Waterford fire
It all started at 9:00 p.m. on July 2, 1898. When Louis Noll was getting gasoline for one of his custmers, all of a sudden the store (Noll's General Store) caught fire. Soon the entire store caught on fire and Mr. Noll and his custmer got out safely. Soon some other buildings caught on fire. Pretty soon the whole town was on fire! And just think how hard it was to get the message to other cities. (Remember, then the Tichigan and Waterford fire departments weren't around.) Burlington fire department was the first to respond. They had to do bucket brigade, where you stand at the river and pass buckets of water to each other and throw it on the fire until it is out. And now the place the fire started is Ten Club Park.
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