Ballard Businesses Devastated by Early Morning Fire
A grocery store and adjacent saloons were lost in a significant blaze, with one family narrowly escaping 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.
At the time of going to press, a big fire at Ballard has just been checked. It broke out about 3:45 this morning in the rear of Peterson's two-story grocery on Ballard Avenue. The family, who lived over their store, had a narrow escape from being burned, and their baby was slightly burned when being got out of the second-story window. The fire rapidly spread to Corey & Werner's two-story saloon next door and soon destroyed a one-story shoe store and was burning Sutherland & Guy's two-story saloon. The fire department got water on in about fifteen minutes and had three streams on the flames. It is hoped that Sutherland & Guy's will be saved. Aid was called from the Seattle department, and engine No. 1 and engine No. 4 were sent out. The loss is estimated at $5,000 to $6,000.
“The family, who lived over their store, had a narrow escape from being burned, and their baby was slightly burned when being got out of the second-story window.”
Ballard in 1891 was a burgeoning, largely wooden town separate from Seattle, and its rapid growth meant that fires could quickly devastate its central business district. This event captures the high stakes of early civic expansion, where a single fire could undo months of commercial investment.
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