End of the Old Mill Street School
A historic landmark, the Mill Street schoolhouse, is reduced to ash by a spark from a neighboring sawmill.
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 old frame school building, erected fourteen years ago on the hill east of the Colfax flouring mill, was destroyed by fire on Saturday afternoon. The blaze is believed to have originated from a spark blown by high winds from the smokestack of Codd's sawmill, located only 100 yards away. Though the local fire companies responded quickly, the building was lost, along with a valuable library belonging to Professor F. English, who held private classes in the structure. The building had recently been sold and was no longer in use by the school district.
“The old frame school building erected fourteen years ago on the side hill east of the Colfax flouring mill is no more.”
The fire highlights the dangers of the early industrial era where timber mills and wood-frame schools sat in such close proximity, an urban geography that defined the risks of turn-of-the-century Washington life.
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