Cincinnati, OH Chair Factory Fire, Nov 1860

Destructive Fire in Cincinnati.

LOSS FROM $75,000 TO $100,000.

The Cincinnati Express of the 4th instant says that on Saturday evening, the firemen discovered that the extensive steam chair factory of Mr. John Mitchell, on the south side of Second street, west of Smith, and adjoining the large furniture factory of Mitchell & Rammelsburg, was in flames.
The building was seven stories in height, and occupied a front of about one hundred feet on Smith street, by a depth of fifty or sixty feet. The fire was first observed in the drying-room, at the west end of the building, in the second story, and in a space of time almost incredible for its brevity, the premises were invaded by the firemen, and a score of streams were battling with the destroying element. The material with which the building was filed on every floor, almost to its capacity, was of a nature so inflammable that the fire had already gained much headway, and for a longtime struggled successfully for the mastery. Inch by inch, and foot by foot, it slowly but surely drove the fireman back, until at length, smoke-begrimmed [sic] and blinded, and almost suffocated, they were forced from the building.

At half-past-eleven the conflagration was at its height. The back end, and a portion of the front walls had fallen in, the roof was gone, and a sea of fire was roaring and crackling within, and belching up great floods of flame and smoke. After that time the fire began to increase in intensity, and at half-past one it was evident that the firemen had it sufficiently in subjection to preclude the possibility of danger to the surrounding buildings.

The noble structure of Mr. Mitchell, is however, in ruins, together with the immense stock and machinery which it contained. Nothing but a few charred timbers and blackened walls remain to mark the place on which it stood, and in a few brief hours property amounting in value to between sixty and seventy-five thousand dollars has been swept away in the devouring flames.

The total loss, according to another Cincinnati paper reaches $160,000.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA 7 Nov 1860
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Transcribed by Jenni Lanham.