Chicago, IL Hotel Florence Fire, Jan 1908

$300,000 Chicago Loop fire.

Hotel Florence Burned, but a New Skyscraper Resisted the Flames.

Chicago, Jan. 27.-Fanned by a forty-mile gale, a fire which started in the Hotel Florence, 163 Adams Street, early today scattered burning embers about the southern portion of the loop district, endangering a score of structures and causing a loss estimated at $300,000. All the twenty guests of the hotel are believed to have escaped.

Adjoining the burning structure on the east is the partially complete sixteen-story building of the Corn Exchange National Bank. A severe test was given the new skyscraper, but with the exception of some temporary woodwork, it resisted the flames successfully.

During the height of the fire a cascade of sparks poured on the Rookery Building, at La Salle and Adams Streets, and upon the Board of Trade, Grand Pacific Hotel, Illinois Trust and Savings Bank, Western Union and Home Insurance, and other big structures. A six-story building adjoining the hotel on the west caught fire and was partly destroyed. It was occupied by six printing and two tailoring concerns, most of which suffered heavy damage.

Despite the threatening nature of the fire, hard work by the firemen confined it to the two structures.

The New York Times, New York, NY 28 Jan 1908
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Transcribed by June. Thanks June!