(The following article is from the Friday, August 26, 1898 edition of the Potsdam St. Lawrence Herald).

 

 

FIRE AT NORWOOD

 

About two o'clock Sunday morning fire was discovered in the Union sheds back of the row of brick business blocks on the east side of South Main Street.

The fire had already made considerable headway when discovered, and aided by a brisk southwest breeze, was rapidly making its way along the row of old wooden building reaching to Mechanic street. When the engines arrived this whole line of sheds was in flames.

As the wind was driving the fire so rapidly, carrying showers of sparks upon the roofs of the adjoining buildings, it was evident that any attempt to save the buildings in the immediate path of the fire, with the meager facilities at hand, would be useless. The firemen therefore showed excellent judgment in confining their efforts to holding the fire within as small an area as possible, and especially to prevent its crossing Mechanic street. In this they were successful, but the large group of buildings on the south side of the street, extending from the block of stores through to the brick house completed by Patrick Murphy, was entirely consumed. The following is a list of the buildings destroyed, with the estimated individual losses and insurance.

 

Business	Loss	Insurance
Store Sheds	$500	Unknown
S.R. Phelps, barn	$800	$200
D. McCarty, meat market	$800	$400
James Gunn, Blacksmith shop	$500	$250
Wm. Cassidy, shoe shop	$200	No Insurance
A. Rexford, blacksmith shop	400	No insurance
G. Hale, Wilkins shoe shop	$500	$200
G. Latham, billiard rooms	$500	$500
F. Cornell, livery stable	$500
T.N. Murphy, law office	$1,000	No Insurance
Bldgs. damaged	$500	insured
E.L. Barnes, rest. & sheds	$2000	$1000
Total Estimated Loss	$8200

 

Most of the movable property in the buildings along Mechanic Street, including the livery, was moved.

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