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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 6, 2007     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 6, 2007
 
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Shelton's great fire 100 years Yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of Shelton's first great fire, an inferno that destroyed the Webb Hotel at First and Railroad and killed 11 people on September 5, 1907. The Little town of" about a thou- sand inhabitants was fortunate that the blaze did not spread to adjoining wooden buildings to the west or much more destruction would have occurred. As it was, those buildings between First and Third on the south side of the main street survived to burn another day in the great fire of' 1914. The 1907 fire did jump across First Street to destroy more prop- erty to the east, however. A saloon and restaurant, a shoe shop, and a residence and barn burned down there. THE WEBB HOTEL, built in 1890, was the largest build- ing in town. The main building, three stories high, had 44 sleeping apartments, and an annex to the south, situated at First and Cota, had 22 more bedrooms. The main hotel had a ladies' re- ception room and parlors, a large dining room that seated 80 and complete kitchen, a laundry, a pri- vate gas plant that connected to all rooms and a bar room and bil- liard hall. It also offered a free bus to patrons. Henry Faubert, who had been general manager of the hotel since 1892, owned the business. He set up a tent across the street imme- diately after the fire to conduct business and then promptly start- ed rebuilding. The new concrete block Hotel Shelton opened on the same spot on December 15, 1908. It's the building you see today at the downtown crossroads, which has been put on the town's historic register. Six years after the new hotel was built, the second great fire started in the Bodega restaurant on Second Street and destroyed 17 buildings in the vicinity. In 1912 city father Mark Reed had constructed the Lumbermen's Mercmtile building at Third and Railroad of concrete block in a farsighted move. On the morn- ing after the August 1914 fire, the downtown was a smoldering, steamy pile of wood ashes from the concrete Hotel Shelton to the concrete Mercantile Building. THEREAFTER THE owners of property along Railroad rebuilt with brick and concrete. Mason County Journal editor THE HOTEL WEBB at the corner of First and Railroad, shown during an Independence Day celebration sometime between 1904 and 1907, was hosting more than 80 guests the night it burned down a century ago this week. Eleven people died and 30 more were injured. All of the buildings shown are wooden. Grant Angle, who complained, "This has been a strenuous week for the editor," in his front-page story of September 6, 1907, had running commentary and facts throughout a 45-inch story the day after the.conflagration. Some excerpts follow: "It falls once, at least, in the life of every young town to witness a disastrous fire, and the long-ex- pected has at last happened to Shelton. Shortly before two o'clock Thursday morning the three-story annex of the Webb Hotel, the larg- est building in town and in its very center, was tbund to be on fire, and almost before the alarm could be sounded its interior a seething mass of flame. The passengers of the evening boat included a num- ber of travelers and loggers and the hotel was crowded with over 80 guests, many of the loggers doubling up in the annex rooms. "Early comers felt that the close- ly built frame range was doomed, but with the courage born of de- THE HOTEL SHELTON was built with concrete block in 1908 on the site of the burned Hotel Webb. Six years later, the fireproof exterior resisted the flames of the 1914 Shelton fire that wiped out two blocks of wooden buildings. THE ANNEX of the Hotel Webb, shown behind the main building constructed in 1890, was the starting point of the 1907 great fire. spair started without excitement to fight. It was soon found that many were caught by the swift rush of flames, and from every side men and women were taken by ladders or jumped from the upper stories to the ground below, being cut off from the regular exits and stifled by the smoke. "SOON THREE streams of wa- ter were pouring upon the burning building, and this was continued during the night at every point of vantage to keep the fire from eating further into the block, al- though it caught across the street, and soon Bailey's saloon and res- taurant, Hughes' shoe shop and J.E. Connolly's residence and barn were briskly burning and without water rendered into ruin. "Small hose and a few workers saved the Masonic Hall and resi- dences of Margaret McDonald and Roy Simpson. After the fire had eaten its way into the main hotel building, all efforts of the volun- teer firefighters were directed to confine the fire to this structure and from the solid range of frame building, including the Commer- cial Hotel, which lined the street. Fortunately what little wind there was bore toward the bay, and after three hours of hard work, aided by the splendid gravity pressure given from our water system, the effort was successful and with its heart eaten out the west walls fell toward the pyre and the business center of Shelton was saved. "There was little excitement, but the workers realized that they had the fight of their lives before them, and saddened by the knowledge that many must have been burned to death, fought to redeem as much as possible from the fire fiend. Those who know the dangerous character of the block, evidenced by an insurance tariff of 8 percent, will realize what a valiant fight was made. The hotel building and its annex, the origi- nal parts built nearly 20 years ago, was three stories high, 180 feet long and 60 feet wide, and so quickly did the fire travel through long halls as to shut off many who seemingly had ample time for es- % cape by the stairways. "THAT VOLUNTEER should hold down such a prospqL for wiping out Shelton is a ccr,E .: to their work and the splen,aNL gravity system of" water good .  five hours of continuous playml°: with three streams..] "The loss of the splendidLt tel, the leading hoteL, upon w ak modern improvements cos tiL1 $8,000 have just about been c0ge financial 1 w pleted, and the .adl caused by the fire, all can be rep!aced by the new ,,sheltfal spirit, but unfbrtunately the li]t are gone forever. To have such lq calamity happen at home, coupl l with the events of an unfortu [Pe week, for the moment both sttr t dens and unnerves us." [a. At that point, just a day a. l: the fire, authorities knew of eig dead and 17 injured. More were.'m be confirmed dead and injured ,,e er. Thirty were seriously injur' at In the September 6 issuer gle gave this sketch of the eil i known dead: t} "Ida May Bailey, (hotel) empl ee, aged about 35 years. Mrs. MJ Gay, elderly, mother of' Mrs. &,l Mudge. Leo Rabideaux, about.lL 't years, bartender. The three ab° s were the only employees of the .g tel who lost their lives, each be 'l--r, burned in their rooms. "e: "W.M.. m hi# HOLMES, aster chanic in the Penm lal su ar Mac-.m who escaped from the b / shops, ing and called by the screai Miss Bailey, his fianc6e, went to perish in the attempt D.J. Hennessey, a logger, years, who jumped from the floor and was so badly that he soon died. Pearl S. a young man employed as of Connolly's meat wagon. Westfall and wife, an elderly man couple, who were from the camps of the Lumber Company, where they been employed as cooks." ,/ "Of the dead, but two bo were recovered intact," wrote, "but from the ruins or less of the remains of seven man beings have been Workers are clearing the ruin  it is only surmised how many will be found." The hotel had overnight as well as boarders, the plained. "In the hotel were haps 20 persons who made it home, and they lose all their fects, as well as most of the sient guests, • ' " " m any;SgPtc/ tle more than thei To those early on the scene s of' the sights will be indelibly pressed on their memory, as more tha"n one instance the he less ones were seen at wind° / surrounded by flames and re ing their fate, that came so possible' swifter than relief was  "That the old building was firetrap has long been felt, btl!/ was thought that the impr0/ ments were being made in direction...The origin of the fit€/^l unknown, but it was first se,-., / a storeroom under the rear st ta and it is presumed that a c matches or possibly some drai person had dropped there to st the holocaust." Angle wrote that doctors W Beach and Gage worked during the night and all day ing the injuries of those caped from the burning "For these homeless quarters be provided in the homes town," he added. #Oge r rhomPS Exhaust spec'o\\;'¢' )'our exhaUSt OVer 25 o exhaust WHAT'S LEFT of the Hotel Webb smolders on the morning of September 5, 1907. Had the wind been blowing the other way, most of downtown Shelton to the west probably would have gone up in flames, too. The wooden buildings shown survived to burn in the great fire of 1914. Page 26 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, September 6, 2007 Shelton's great fire 100 years Yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of Shelton's first great fire, an inferno that destroyed the Webb Hotel at First and Railroad and killed 11 people on September 5, 1907. The Little town of" about a thou- sand inhabitants was fortunate that the blaze did not spread to adjoining wooden buildings to the west or much more destruction would have occurred. As it was, those buildings between First and Third on the south side of the main street survived to burn another day in the great fire of' 1914. The 1907 fire did jump across First Street to destroy more prop- erty to the east, however. A saloon and restaurant, a shoe shop, and a residence and barn burned down there. THE WEBB HOTEL, built in 1890, was the largest build- ing in town. The main building, three stories high, had 44 sleeping apartments, and an annex to the south, situated at First and Cota, had 22 more bedrooms. The main hotel had a ladies' re- ception room and parlors, a large dining room that seated 80 and complete kitchen, a laundry, a pri- vate gas plant that connected to all rooms and a bar room and bil- liard hall. It also offered a free bus to patrons. Henry Faubert, who had been general manager of the hotel since 1892, owned the business. He set up a tent across the street imme- diately after the fire to conduct business and then promptly start- ed rebuilding. The new concrete block Hotel Shelton opened on the same spot on December 15, 1908. It's the building you see today at the downtown crossroads, which has been put on the town's historic register. Six years after the new hotel was built, the second great fire started in the Bodega restaurant on Second Street and destroyed 17 buildings in the vicinity. In 1912 city father Mark Reed had constructed the Lumbermen's Mercmtile building at Third and Railroad of concrete block in a farsighted move. On the morn- ing after the August 1914 fire, the downtown was a smoldering, steamy pile of wood ashes from the concrete Hotel Shelton to the concrete Mercantile Building. THEREAFTER THE owners of property along Railroad rebuilt with brick and concrete. Mason County Journal editor THE HOTEL WEBB at the corner of First and Railroad, shown during an Independence Day celebration sometime between 1904 and 1907, was hosting more than 80 guests the night it burned down a century ago this week. Eleven people died and 30 more were injured. All of the buildings shown are wooden. Grant Angle, who complained, "This has been a strenuous week for the editor," in his front-page story of September 6, 1907, had running commentary and facts throughout a 45-inch story the day after the.conflagration. Some excerpts follow: "It falls once, at least, in the life of every young town to witness a disastrous fire, and the long-ex- pected has at last happened to Shelton. Shortly before two o'clock Thursday morning the three-story annex of the Webb Hotel, the larg- est building in town and in its very center, was tbund to be on fire, and almost before the alarm could be sounded its interior a seething mass of flame. The passengers of the evening boat included a num- ber of travelers and loggers and the hotel was crowded with over 80 guests, many of the loggers doubling up in the annex rooms. "Early comers felt that the close- ly built frame range was doomed, but with the courage born of de- THE HOTEL SHELTON was built with concrete block in 1908 on the site of the burned Hotel Webb. Six years later, the fireproof exterior resisted the flames of the 1914 Shelton fire that wiped out two blocks of wooden buildings. THE ANNEX of the Hotel Webb, shown behind the main building constructed in 1890, was the starting point of the 1907 great fire. spair started without excitement to fight. It was soon found that many were caught by the swift rush of flames, and from every side men and women were taken by ladders or jumped from the upper stories to the ground below, being cut off from the regular exits and stifled by the smoke. "SOON THREE streams of wa- ter were pouring upon the burning building, and this was continued during the night at every point of vantage to keep the fire from eating further into the block, al- though it caught across the street, and soon Bailey's saloon and res- taurant, Hughes' shoe shop and J.E. Connolly's residence and barn were briskly burning and without water rendered into ruin. "Small hose and a few workers saved the Masonic Hall and resi- dences of Margaret McDonald and Roy Simpson. After the fire had eaten its way into the main hotel building, all efforts of the volun- teer firefighters were directed to confine the fire to this structure and from the solid range of frame building, including the Commer- cial Hotel, which lined the street. Fortunately what little wind there was bore toward the bay, and after three hours of hard work, aided by the splendid gravity pressure given from our water system, the effort was successful and with its heart eaten out the west walls fell toward the pyre and the business center of Shelton was saved. "There was little excitement, but the workers realized that they had the fight of their lives before them, and saddened by the knowledge that many must have been burned to death, fought to redeem as much as possible from the fire fiend. Those who know the dangerous character of the block, evidenced by an insurance tariff of 8 percent, will realize what a valiant fight was made. The hotel building and its annex, the origi- nal parts built nearly 20 years ago, was three stories high, 180 feet long and 60 feet wide, and so quickly did the fire travel through long halls as to shut off many who seemingly had ample time for es- % cape by the stairways. "THAT VOLUNTEER should hold down such a prospqL for wiping out Shelton is a ccr,E .: to their work and the splen,aNL gravity system of" water good .  five hours of continuous playml°: with three streams..] "The loss of the splendidLt tel, the leading hoteL, upon w ak modern improvements cos tiL1 $8,000 have just about been c0ge financial 1 w pleted, and the .adl caused by the fire, all can be rep!aced by the new ,,sheltfal spirit, but unfbrtunately the li]t are gone forever. To have such lq calamity happen at home, coupl l with the events of an unfortu [Pe week, for the moment both sttr t dens and unnerves us." [a. At that point, just a day a. l: the fire, authorities knew of eig dead and 17 injured. More were.'m be confirmed dead and injured ,,e er. Thirty were seriously injur' at In the September 6 issuer gle gave this sketch of the eil i known dead: t} "Ida May Bailey, (hotel) empl ee, aged about 35 years. Mrs. MJ Gay, elderly, mother of' Mrs. &,l Mudge. Leo Rabideaux, about.lL 't years, bartender. The three ab° s were the only employees of the .g tel who lost their lives, each be 'l--r, burned in their rooms. "e: "W.M.. m hi# HOLMES, aster chanic in the Penm lal su ar Mac-.m who escaped from the b / shops, ing and called by the screai Miss Bailey, his fianc6e, went to perish in the attempt D.J. Hennessey, a logger, years, who jumped from the floor and was so badly that he soon died. Pearl S. a young man employed as of Connolly's meat wagon. Westfall and wife, an elderly man couple, who were from the camps of the Lumber Company, where they been employed as cooks." ,/ "Of the dead, but two bo were recovered intact," wrote, "but from the ruins or less of the remains of seven man beings have been Workers are clearing the ruin  it is only surmised how many will be found." The hotel had overnight as well as boarders, the plained. "In the hotel were haps 20 persons who made it home, and they lose all their fects, as well as most of the sient guests, • ' " " m any;SgPtc/ tle more than thei To those early on the scene s of' the sights will be indelibly pressed on their memory, as more tha"n one instance the he less ones were seen at wind° / surrounded by flames and re ing their fate, that came so possible' swifter than relief was  "That the old building was firetrap has long been felt, btl!/ was thought that the impr0/ ments were being made in direction...The origin of the fit€/^l unknown, but it was first se,-., / a storeroom under the rear st ta and it is presumed that a c matches or possibly some drai person had dropped there to st the holocaust." Angle wrote that doctors W Beach and Gage worked during the night and all day ing the injuries of those caped from the burning "For these homeless quarters be provided in the homes town," he added. #Oge r rhomPS Exhaust spec'o\\;'¢' )'our exhaUSt OVer 25 o exhaust WHAT'S LEFT of the Hotel Webb smolders on the morning of September 5, 1907. Had the wind been blowing the other way, most of downtown Shelton to the west probably would have gone up in flames, too. The wooden buildings shown survived to burn in the great fire of 1914. Page 26 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, September 6, 2007