FIRE IN HOWARD

[W. Gray]

It is mentioned above that there was an old hotel north of the Cox building and an old hotel catty cornered from the Cox building.

The old hotel north of the Cox building burned. I have been on the second floor and it was ridiculously loaded with old clothes and junk, as was the rest of the building.

Anyone know what/where is the old hotel catty cornered from the Cox building?

[flo]

Kjell and Teresa, thank you for the video.  Sad that Howard has lost another business building, but that place was an eye-sore, if you don't mind my saying.  As Jo said, too bad someone didn't have it that would have kept it looking like it should have.  Times change, tho.  The glow was so bright from my house and the scanner kept us pretty well informed.  I have a question, tho, when Knight's burned in Severy, I helped keep ice water, cold soda's, and cold wet towels handy for the firemen.  Do they do that here in Howard?  This was just volunteers, but seemed very important at the time and know the firemen appreciated it.

[Wilma]

Waldo, the old hotel catty-cornered from the Cox Building is the old bank building that is badly in need of restoration.  I thought it had been a hotel at one time, but maybe not.  I am glad it didn't burn.  It is more of a historical building than the hotel was.

[Jo McDonald]

The Howard Hotel has been on the tax records since the very early 1900's.  Freank Winn posted the year that it went on the tax records, but I can't recall the exact date, but it has been close to 100 years.  It still makes me sad, as I remember being in there many times BEFORE it was trashed - and it truly was a beautifully well kept building at one time.

  The old bank building at the north end of Wabash Ave. was never a hotel.  There was a hotel on the corner that is now the First Nation Bank building.  My aunt, Clara Workman, in her teen years, worked as a waitress in the dining room there.  She told me that they wore black dresses, white frilly aprons, and a white half cap, as their uniforms.

[Teresa]

Thank you Danny for posting when you got home. That was very considerate, considering how exhausted you must have been.
You men did a fabulous job and I know that you all are worn absolutely slick!
Until you and Derek were on the fire team, I never realized all that was involved in fighting a fire.
And the physical toll it takes on a person is unbelievable.
I observed several things last night. (and I will use my boys as an example, because as a mother, my eyes are always never far from where my sons are when they are fighting fire )
The team work and friendship among this group of men is wonderful.

Everyone knows that Danny and Derek are 2 big men. Derek was using the hose by himself on the north side of the structure.
I saw him finally set down in the middle of the street, all the while continuing to use the hose.
He needs  knee replacements, so I winced as I knew that his legs were probably killing him.... but on top of that I found out his blood sugar issue was popping up, and the level was dropping. That didn't stop him..
I saw Jarrod Wiseman run over and Derek stood up and Jarrod Wiseman braced and used his body as a wall for Derek to lean up against so he could continue to use the hose on the fire. What teamwork!
I saw Danny on the front of the hose on the south side.. and I knew the hose was getting to be a dead weight as several ran
over and grabbed the hose to help hold the weight up.
Derek went to the big truck to use the giant water pump, so they could get water to the top of the building, and let me tell you . THAT thing pumps some tons of water. But the fire still blazed.
One time Todd Wincher and Derek was trying to get the hose to pull and move over and with the power of the water pumping through it, they were struggling like crazy to get it to pull to another direction. Both men almost fell down when they were jerking on it..And on top of that, they run out of length. so they had to hurry and reconnect something else, so they could get it around to the back side of the building.
I watched other firemen.. Ian & Dave Denton and John Robertson, John Miller, Danny Signer, Ed Price and Jerald Morgan, Curtis Carey, Gary Harrod, Craig Wilson and others working on the building.. doing all they could to keeping it contained so Larry's Video store and the surrounding homes and buildings were safe.





I can not stress how phenomenal these men are. I am so proud of each and every one of them.
  Toward the end there was 2-4 men on each hose. And they all rotated with different ones in the front. I know that after a few hours of solid fighting the weight and pressure of holding that hose must make your muscles burn like the fire they are trying to put out. You know it makes me so proud of our group of men who live in this small country town and volunteer to do this hard and sometime dangerous work to try to save what people have in a time of fire.
Derek hollered at me once and motioned for me, so I run over to him and he said," Mom, We need bottles of water, we are about to die here!". I run over to Morgan's house and Barbie gathered up what she had and I took them around, Mark Cookson headed to the hardware store and grabbed some cases of water and brought back so they men could have water to drink.
When they would take off their hats the sweat and water just dripped off of them. Their gear is so heavy and of course fire and everything proof, so it must feel like wearing a furnace.
I can't tell you how proud I am of our department.
And also a big thanks to Moline and Severy fire department for coming up and helping their neighbors.

Rudy, I will send you the pictures that I took last night. I struggled to get some that were good enough to see. It was so dark and the only light was of the fire and dark smoke, so I didn't get many that are what I call good quality, but I am sure there is something in there you can use. It was dark and I can't see the best in the world anyway  but  I fiddled with the manual settings and finally got it set to where it was half way acceptable. But the problem is the camera detects the smoke and hones in on that so the pics come out blurry and not focused.
Kjell is going over right now to take some this morning, so I will send you those too.

[Marcia Moore]

     Here is a photo of the hotel building back in 1923.

[Jo McDonald]

Thanks, Marcia, You are indeed a wealth of information.  We appreciate you....VERY MUCH !!!

[Teresa]

After looking at that picture.. I am really sad. I never realized how pretty and wonderful of a building it was.
It makes what it had become even more pathetic and disgusting.

[Rudy Taylor]

Thanks, Teresa, for everything

I don't know how to edit previous posts, but would someone smarter than me please correct my typo in my most recent one. I meant to say "downtown fire."  Not "downfire."

Rudy

P.S. I fully expect all of you to respond, because "everyone" is smarter than me.

[Kjell H.]

The day after... taken at 10.25AM.