Historical souvenir of Greenville, Illinois : being a ... - University Library

Historical Souvenir of Greenville, Illinois.
Mr. and Mks. C. K. Dennv,
Mr. Dennv was Postmaster of Greenville from 1890 to 1894.
Greenville's Big Fires
THE
first fire of which there is
record took place in 1824,
when Mr. Kirkpatrick's log house
burned. A woman had been picking
over cotton, which was raised here
then, and while she was absent some
of the children set the pile on fire.
The nearest water was supplied by a
spring, far down the long sand hill
to the west and the log house was
destroyed before water could be
thrown on the flames. It was about
M. S. Oldyn,
Former Mayor Pro Tem. One of
tlie proprietors of Oudyn's Book
Store.
this time that fire obliterated the
boundary lines of the place.
There were no other big fires until
the brick court house burned
March 24, 1883. Smoke was first
seen issuing out of the southwest
corner of the roof. W. A. Northcott,
Robert Donnell and others
went into the garret to fight the
flames, but there was no water system
and the bucket brigade was inadequate.
The energies of the crowd
were directed toward saving the
records and this was accomplished.
In half an hour the roof was all
ablaze and in an hour the dome fell
in with a crash, sending embers flying
high in the air. These fell on
adjacent buildings and they were
Samuel McGowan,
91
A resident of Greenville for forty-four
years, justice of the Peace for sixteen
years.
preserved only by dint of hard fighting.
The building cost $9,000. The
insurance was $7,000.
The next fire of consequence occurred
February 4, 1891, on the
west side of the square. The frame
building of J. H. Livingston, occupied
by Philip Diehl, Charles Wolridge's
notion store, the Yarbrough
property owned by J. M. Miller and
occupied by C. H. Shields, photographer,
F. Parent's building, occupied
by J. W. Hastings, the Mc-
Cord hotel, owned by J. M. Miller
and D. H. Kingsbury, were destroyed.
The loss amounted to sev-
Residence of Mrs. Eliza Jett, West College Avenue.