Springfield, VT Fires, 1848-1894

FIRES.

Springfield has had many disastrous fires, the earliest being the cotton mill and the machine shop on the west side of the river. The paper mill was burned about 1848. In May, 1859, Parks & Woolson's machine shop was destroyed, and in December, 1877, the Industrial Shop at the upper dam. The next year the shops of the Vermont Novelty Works were destroyed, June 25, with a loss of seventy thousand dollars. Whitmore & Dillon also had a serious fire the same year, and the residence of E. C. Nason was burned. In 1880 the barns of Thomas Carmody and of John Brady were burned. In 1881 the house of C. M. Ball was destroyed, and the Springfield Toy Company lost one thousand dollars the same year. In January, 1882, Gowing's grist mill, Carmody's hosiery shop. George W. Porter's store, and the houses of A. P. Fairbanks and John Chipman, were all burned. June 18 of the same year the foundry of the Vermont Snath Company was destroyed, loss, $20,000. Sparrow's Block was partly burned that year. In 1883 Mrs. Dr. Sawyer's buildings were burned. Frank D. Martin's box factory at North Springfield was entirely consumed Sept. 3, 1884, loss, eight thousand dollars. Mr. Martin rebuilt, and his shop was again wholly burned in 1893. In 1885, Aug. 21, Adna Brown's new barn was struck by lightning and burned, and Dec. 21 the Pingry Block was damaged by fire. The fine residence of Mrs. Frederick Parks was burned April 18, 1887, loss $20,000. May 12 of the same year there was damage by fire at the Vermont Novelty Works to the amount of $3,000. In the night of June 7, 1894, a fire in the clothing store of D. O. Gill & Son, in the Fairbanks Block, resulted in a loss of $6,000 to the stock, and $1,000 to the building.

History of the Town of Springfield, Vermont, 1895, pages 159-160
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Transcribed by Linda Horton. Thank you, Linda!