Midnight Fire Wipes Out Fall City's Store and Lodge Rooms
A blaze that began in D. N. Taylor's store destroyed three buildings, including the Masonic lodge room, with losses estimated at $7,000.
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 town of Fall City was visited by fire Sunday night and the store and residence of D. N. Taylor, the Langlois restaurant and Mrs. Boret's residence were totally destroyed. The origin of the fire is unknown, but it caught in the store about 11 o'clock, and when discovered was entirely beyond control. The Masonic lodge room over the store and contents were destroyed.
The roaring of the fire awoke Mrs. Taylor and, thinking it was a storm, she called her husband's attention to the noise. It suddenly occurred to both of them that it was fire, and investigation revealed the fact that the store was then almost half consumed. Mr. Taylor gave the alarm, and the contents of his and Mrs. Boret's residences and the Langlois restaurant were saved, but the store and contents were destroyed. The total loss is about $7,000, with insurance aggregating about $3,000.
“The roaring of the fire awoke Mrs. Taylor and, thinking it was a storm, she called her husband's attention to the noise.”
Fall City's 1894 fire took the town's store, restaurant, homes and Masonic hall in a single night—a reminder of how quickly a wooden town could lose its civic core before modern firefighting. The Masonic lodge above a store was a common arrangement in Washington settlements, and its loss meant more than property damage: it erased a meeting place.
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