The Night Fremont's Industry Went Up in Smoke
When the Goddard Bros. foundry on Lake Union caught fire, the entire neighborhood rushed to help—but they couldn't beat the flames.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Goddard Bros.' foundry, blacksmith shop, and machine shops, located on the shore of Lake Union in Fremont, were burned to the ground last evening. The loss is estimated at $2,500, with $1,000 in insurance. The exact origin of the fire is unknown, but it started in the cupola of the foundry furnace. C. Price, who rooms in a dwelling house a short distance from the lake, saw the flames shooting out of the cupola about 8:15 p.m. and gave the alarm. In a few minutes, the flames spread to the adjacent shops, and within fifteen minutes the roofs of all three buildings were burning furiously. Nearly the whole population of Fremont gathered at the scene, turning out to aid in removing machinery from the burning buildings. The flames spread so rapidly, however, that little of value was saved. Officer H. W. Barr telephoned an alarm to fire department headquarters, and Engine No. 2 and Truck Company No. 1 arrived, but the buildings were already in ashes. Alfred Goddard, the senior partner, was at the Fremont Opera House when he heard the fire whistles of the nearby Fremont mill. He hurried to the scene but was powerless to stop the destruction. The Cascade steam laundry, owned by R. E. Stumer, stood but twenty-five feet away and was saved only by the use of the laundry's own fire pump. The firm plans to immediately rebuild.
“Nearly the whole population of Fremont soon gathered at the scene and all turned out and aided in removing some of the machinery from the burning buildings.”
Fremont's transition from a bustling industrial hub on the shores of Lake Union to the tech-centric neighborhood it is today is a hallmark of Seattle's rapid urban evolution. The loss of a small manufacturing shop in 1892 mirrors the ongoing struggle of artisanal and small-scale industrial businesses to maintain a footprint in an increasingly expensive and densified city.
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