By Alex Keepes
Indianapolis, Indiana was just
developing as a city in the mid nineteenth century. What is now known as the
Crossroads of America with a population of over 835,000[1],
Indianapolis was once isolated from the rest of the state due to lack of travel
route. With the development of the railway system in Indiana, Indianapolis
became one of the most prominent cities in the Midwest. Even after a disastrous
fire in 1905, the city prospered, and is still one of the most economically
important cities in the United States to this day.
Indiana’s legislatures chose a central location for its capital which would help to promote easy access to the government. They found the area noticing its proximity to the White River and Fall Creek, having in mind that the river banks would be suitable for boat travel and the White River would be easily navigable. However, Indianapolis remained rather remote, due to the difficulty of accessibility. The White River was deemed ill-fit for boat travel, because the low water and other obstructions prevented most vessels from traveling. There was no railroad, canal, or pike; only two lines that led into the city, one from Madison, and one from Centerville. [2]
The National Road,
which reached Indianapolis in 1830 and passed through what is now Washington
Street, added some ease to traveling to Indiana’s
capital city.[3]
While many businesses did open up along the road, merchants still primarily
traded locally. The Michigan Road, which was built in 1826 and connected
Madison to Lake Michigan, also brought hopes of improving Indianapolis’s
economy, but poor conditions such as rain or snow made the road impassable. It
was not until the introduction of the railroad to Indiana in 1847 that travel
between north and south of the state was possible.[4]
The creation of the railroad greatly
benefitted Indianapolis’s economy. Economic growth remained
fairly unchanged between 1820s and 1830s. In 1820, the population was only
around 500, but within a short time of the railways being brought into the
city, the population reached 6,000.[5]
An article in the Indiana State Journal in 1845 predicted that the
development of the railroad between Indianapolis would lead to the capital
becoming one of the most important business cities in the West.[6]
As the midwestern railroad network
developed towards the end of the nineteenth century, so too did a regional
wholesale district in the center of Indianapolis, near the Union Depot. When
the first railway reached Indianapolis, the wholesale district began to
separate from the commercial district of the city. The businessmen in the
Indianapolis Wholesale District could be considered merchant wholesalers, which
Jim Vance defines as, “primarily engaged in buying, taking
title to and, where customary, physically storing and handling goods made by
others and selling the goods at wholesale principally to retailers or to
industrial, institutional, and commercial users.”[7]
With all the people that traveled to
Indianapolis to start businesses, came a large variety in specialty. The
wholesale district saw a large variety of trade options between 1860 and 1920.
Most firms only produced one line of products, but a small number of business
sold an array of smaller items in wholesale. Although many wholesalers closed
within ten years, there were some that lasted longer. Food wholesalers that
emerged in the area included bakers, bread, butter, eggs, cheese, cakes, flour
and feed, grocers, meats, fish, teas and coffees, and wines and liquors.
Household items of trade included books and stationary, boots and shoes,
carpets, china, glass, cigars and tobacco, clothing, rubber, druggists, dried
goods, furniture, hats, furs, toys, watches and clocks, jewelry, and wallpaper.
Hardware and tools included harnesses and saddles, and tinning supplies.[8]
The broad spectrum of wholesale trade items demonstrates the vast range in specialization
in the Indianapolis area.
On February 19, 1905, at 9:30 pm,
alarms were sounded sending fire engines to the wholesale district of
Indianapolis bounded by Georgia and Meridian Streets, when passersby reported
windows bursting open with flames on the second and third floors Fahnley &
McCrea’s,
building on in the wholesale district of Indianapolis.[9]
Every fire engine in the city and surrounding suburbs were sent.
Fahnley and McCrea carried milliners’ supplies.
Milliners are those who specialize in hat-making. They carried things such as
hats, ribbons, feathers, plumes, artificial birds and flowers, laces, and other
novelties of the latest styles, all of which were imported from Paris, Berlin,
and New York.[10]
By the time the first fire engines had
arrived, the wholesale milliners’ building
was destroyed and fire had spread to surrounding buildings including the Kiefer
Drug Company’s
building, Jackson Place, St. Nicholas Hotel, the Griffith Brothers millinery
house, and the Savoy Hotel.[11]
Teams of men equipped with firefighting gear were stationed on every
surrounding building to prevent further damage.
Within thirty minutes of the fire
starting, the west wall of Fahnley & McCrea millinery house fell, leaving
hundreds of spectators only just escaping death or serious injury, and one
fireman sustained a broken leg.[12]
Minutes later, the east wall fell, completely blocking traffic, but no injuries. Explosions occurred in the
warerooms in the A. Kiefer Drug Company building which contained many barrels
of oil and other explosives, and in the Delmetsch Comany’s
wholesale warehouse which contained a season’s supply of fireworks.[13]
Fire spread across Louisiana Street onto the roofs of the Union Station train
sheds. Firefighting efforts were directed here until the station was finally
saved.
The fire burned continuously for
four hours. Once the fire was under control, a total of eight buildings were
destroyed including three hotels. An estimated total of $1,500,000 of damage
was done.[14]
According to the inflation rate between 1905 and 2013, if this happened today
the estimated total damage would be $39,473,684. Companies that lost the most
in the fire included Fahnley & McCrea, wholesale milliners; the A. Kiefer
Drug Company; Griffith Brothers, wholesale milliners; Delmetsch & Company,
toys and the druggists’ sundries; the United States Express
Company, Savoy Hotel, Sherman House, and St. Charles Hotel. [15]
Years after the fire, the location
of the Fahnley & McCrea building is remembered with a street sign. Now a
small alley in Indianapolis’s Wholesale District, McCrea St. was
once the location of Fahnley & McCrea Millinery Company. This company was
originally under the name of Stiles, Fahnley & McCrea, and was established
by Rollin McCrea, Daniel Stiles, and Frederick Fahnley around 1865. In 1869,
Stiles retired and business continued as Fahnley and McCrea. In 1875, business
bought land across the street and built a new building. However, this building
was destroyed in the fire. The company, then, rebuilt a five-story brick
building in the same place. [16]
Today, the Grand Hotel can be seen
as part of the Circle Center Mall. The Grand Hotel was on the southeast
corner of Maryland and Illinois Streets. It was built in the 1850s as the Mason
Hotel, but after a remodeling job in 1875-76, it was renamed the Grand Hotel.
At the time of the fire, the hotel was owned by the future mayor of
Indianapolis, who purchased the building in the early 1890s.[17]
Although this fire was a major
disaster for the city of Indianapolis, it did not cause much lasting damage. It
did destroy eight building, and caused harm to several others, amounting in
over a million dollars in damage. But there were no deaths in the fire, and
only a small number of injuries. Eventually, the block did recover. Several of
the businesses rebuilt and relocated, while others, the spaces were taken over
by other types of wholesale businesses.The Indianapolis fire of 1905 proved
that the city can endure tragedy, and is still a very successful city
economically.
Bibliography
Campbell,
Steve, “What’s
In a Name: McCrea Street,” Historic
Indianapolis, December 16, 2013. Accessed February
28, 2014. http://historicindianapolis.com/whats-in-a-name-mccrea-street/
“Encircled
By Fire: Blocks Burning at Indianapolis,” Los Angeles Times,
February 20, 1905. Accessed February 26, 2014.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/164296550/C1DF713F8E7F43DFPQ/9?accountid=11620
Giacomelli,
Angela, “The
Indianapolis wholesale district: A regionally significant business center.”
MA
theses, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, 2012.
“Grand
Hotel Little Damaged,” The Washington
Post, February 21, 1905. Accessed February 26, 2014.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/144620486/C1DF713F8E7F43DFPQ/14? accounted=11620
Hostetler,
Joan, “Then
and Now: Grand Hotel and Circle Centre Mall,” Historic
Indianapolis, November 17, 2011. Accessed February
28, 2014.
http://historicindianapolis.com/then-and-now-grand-hotel-and-circle-centre-mall/
“Indianapolis
Fire: $1,500,000 Damage in Whole-sale District,”
The
Washington Post, February 20, 1905. Accessed February 26, 2014.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/144634653/ C1DF713F8E7F43DFPQ/2?accountid=11620
"Indianapolis
Population 2013." World Population Statistics.
http://www.worldpopulationstatistics.com/indianapolis-population-2013/
(accessed February 28, 2014).
“$1,500,000
Fire in Heart of Indianapolis: Block in the Wholesale Business District
Threatened,”
New
York Times, February 20, 1905. Accessed February
26, 2014. http://search.proquest.com/docview/96518074/C1DF713F8E7F43DFPQ/3?accountid=11620
[1] “Indianapolis Population 2013,” updated November 13, 2013, http://www.worldpopulationstatistics.com/indianapolis-population-2013/,
accessed February 28, 2014
[2] Angela Giacomelli, “The
Indianapolis wholesale district: A regionally significant business center.” (MA theses, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis,
2012)
[3] Giacomelli, “The
Indianapolis wholesale district.”
[4] Giacomelli, “The Indianapolis wholesale district.”
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Giacomelli, “The Indianapolis wholesale district.”
[9] “Encircled By Fire: Blocks Burning at Indianapolis,” Los Angeles Times, February 20, 1905, accessed February 26,
2014,
http://search.proquest.com/docview/164296550/C1DF713F8E7F43DFPQ/9?accountid=11620
[10] Giacomelli, “The Indianapolis wholesale district.”
[11] “$1,500,000 Fire in Heart of Indianapolis: Block in the Wholesale
Business District Threatened,” New York Times, February 20,
1905, accessed February 26, 2014,
http://search.proquest.com/docview/96518074/C1DF713F8E7F43DFPQ/3?accountid=11620
[12] “Encircled By Fire. ”
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] “Encircled by
Fire.”
[16] Steve Campbell, “What’s In a Name: McCrea Street,” Historic Indianapolis, December 16, 2013, accessed February
28, 2014, http://historicindianapolis.com/whats-in-a-name-mccrea-street/.
[17] Joan Hostetler, “Then and Now: Grand Hotel and Circle Centre Mall,” Historic Indianapolis, November 17, 2011,
accessed February 28, 2014, http://historicindianapolis.com/then-and-now-grand-hotel-and-circle-centre-mall/.
