Waterfront Mattress Factory Destroyed by Fire
A late-night blaze gutted the George S. Lenders Bedding Company plant, causing $6,000 in damages.
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.
The George S. Lenders Bedding Company's building and plant, located at the corner of Cedar and West streets, was damaged by fire early this morning to the extent of $6,000. At 1:10 a.m., W. W. Stewart was walking along Third street when he saw flames issuing from a building down on the waterfront and rang in an alarm. The fire started from an unknown cause in the rear of the two-and-a-half-story building and spread rapidly into the excelsior storage room. The flammable materials caused the flames to spread swiftly through the roof. Firefighters fought the fire from the rear and confined it to the main building, preventing it from spreading to the mattress and jute factories. The fire was under control by 2:15 a.m. The lower floor, used as a storeroom for sofas and manufactured goods, suffered the greatest damage from water and smoke. The factory employed ten men. Because of prohibitive insurance rates, there was little to no coverage on the plant and building.
“The fire started from some cause yet unknown in the rear part of the two and a half-story building and spread rapidly into the excelsior storage room.”
This area near Cedar and Western (formerly West Street) is now the heart of the Belltown neighborhood. Once defined by industrial fires and waterfront manufactories, it has been transformed into a dense residential and commercial corridor.
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