Explosion Levels Drug Store on Ninth and Stewart
A pharmacy was reduced to ashes in a late-night fire, leaving local residents trapped in the apartments above.
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.
Last evening, the drug store of J. W. Coulson & Co., on the corner of Ninth and Stewart streets, was burned. The store had been closed but a little while, and both of the proprietors, William Coulson and Henry Yandell, had gone home. No one was in the building except Dr. and Mrs. A. A. Farwell, who lived in the apartments above. They were just going to bed when a loud explosion, heard for many blocks around, occurred in the store and blew out all the big windows in front. At the same time, the inside of the building downstairs burst out in flames. Dr. J. D. Faulkner, who lived across the way, ran out and helped Dr. and Mrs. Farwell out of the burning house. Dr. Farwell tried to save a trunk of valuables and succeeded, although in so doing he nearly lost his life. The flames spread so quickly that nothing else was saved—not even the clothing of the occupants. The fire department responded quickly to the alarm, but it was necessary to bring the water from hydrants on the corner of Eighth and Pine streets, at least 1,000 feet away. In consequence, two or three reels of hose had to be used, and the fire gained great headway. The building, owned by N. G. Clark, was completely gutted. Total losses exceed $7,000.
“They were just going to bed when a loud explosion, heard for many blocks around, occurred in the store and blew out all the big windows in front.”
This intersection of Ninth and Stewart sits today in the heart of the Denny Triangle, a area that has undergone massive high-rise development. In 1891, the challenge was simply getting water to a building a few blocks from the nearest hydrant; today, the density of the area makes fire response a high-stakes coordination of modern infrastructure.
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