The Indianapolis Fire of 1905
By H. J. W.
In 1905, Indianapolis, Indiana was a
booming place to be. Indianapolis was the state capital, and the largest and
busiest city in Indiana. National Road 40 ran straight through Indianapolis and
to the rest of the country. 1905 was before both World Wars took place and
after Indiana had already been admitted as a state for nearly one hundred
years. The railroad was still considered a vital form of transportation
throughout the country. It was essential to industry because it was the main
form of moving things from place to place, and I could be done in bulk. Seeing
as the airplane was only invented in 1903 and still had major glitches to be
solved before it was considered safe and able to fly numerous passengers and
heavy cargo, the railroad was the most reliable form of transportation for
goods and people. Union Station had one of the largest railroad networks in the
country and helped Indianapolis blossom into a booming city. It was right near
the Wholesale District, which made it super convenient for consumers commuting
to the city to purchase different goods!
The automobile industry was a major
factor in the development of towns all over the state of Indiana, with
Indianapolis leading the way right at the center. Local inventor Charles H.
Black built the first internal combustion gasoline engine automobile in 1891,
but it later turned out to be impractical due to major technical issues. Other
surrounding towns based their economy upon the car manufacturing industry and
depended on it to thrive and survive.The Wholesale District of
Indianapolis was and still is located on the south side of downtown. It was
filled with an abundance of shops of all sorts, hotels, textile factories, and
more! The Wholesale District played a crucial part in transforming Indianapolis
into the city it is today and giving it its reputation as the “big tourist
city” of Indiana. It was the main city for all of the surrounding towns in
Indiana. Indiana does not have many large cities. The majority of counties was
and still is filled with small farming communities that do not possess all of
the resources that large cities do. Before the Wholesale District was
transformed at the turn of the twentieth century, it was actually extremely run
down. The city had not put much effort in to it, but after they realized how
successful Union Station was becoming with the train transportation boom, the
city felt that it was necessary to create something that would attract
consumers and help boost the local economy. They needed something to pull
customers in to Indianapolis and to keep them coming back for further business
and growth. The Wholesale District provided goods, services, and industries
that were needed in Indiana, and if the Wholesale District was never created,
people would have had to go out of state to get many essential things.The Indianapolis Fire broke out on
February 19, 1905 in the Wholesale District of downtown Indianapolis. To this
day, it is still unknown how the fire started. It originated at the Fahnley
& McCrea wholesale millinery, which specialized in women’s hats. The fire
was first spotted a while after it originally began, by a watchman who spotted
flames coming from the second and third floors of the millinery.
The alarm was sounded shortly afterwards, but the fire had already spread a
great deal. Every fire truck within the city of Indianapolis and throughout the
suburbs was called to action and made an effort to fight the fire. From the
time the blaze originated to the time it was all under control was a four hour
long period! At one point in time, the fire jumped
buildings! A couple of buildings had just newly caught in fire, and luckily the
fire departments caught it in time to put the flames out and prevent the fire
from causing any more destruction, injuries, or costs. Luckily no deaths
were ever reported, but one firefighter was injured due to the collapse of
several walls. At the end of the overwhelming blaze, eight buildings were
completely destroyed, three of which were hotels. The hotels in the Wholesale
District were generally created right next to each other, which explained the
rapid spreading and destruction of so many hotels during the fire.
$1,500,000 worth of damage was
caused to the whole sale district after the blaze concluded. Hundreds of
thousands of dollars in stocks were lost by several large businesses, including
the Saint Charles Hotel, the Grand Hotel, and the Kiefer Drug Company building.
$1 in 1905 in the United States is equal to $25.42 in 2014.
Therefore, if the fire took place in the present day, the amount of damage it
would cause would equal $38,130,000!The fire was a statewide disaster.
It not only affected the city and its well-being, but it impacted the whole
state of Indiana a great deal! Numerous towns in Indiana were still being
developed, and some had not even been founded yet! Without the Wholesale
District to provide goods to consumers, they had to travel elsewhere to
retrieve them. They had to go out of their way and travel much further to
places, such as Cincinnati, Chicago, and Louisville. In this sense, it did not
spread as a national disaster because the other surrounding states had their own
flourishing cities to depend on for goods. So instead, the surrounding states
were gathering more business and benefitting economically because of the
disaster in Indianapolis.Businesses, such as numerous hotels
and train companies, were greatly impacted after the fire. Since the Wholesale
District had been destroyed, people did not have a need to take the train to Indianapolis
or stay in a hotel. So it impacted the tourist industry. However, it only
impacted customers who were financially able to get up to Indianapolis in the
first place, whether it was by car or train. Automobiles were a luxury to many families
in the early nineteenth century.People who were employed at the
shops, hotels, and factories lost their jobs, which in return negatively impacted
the economy even more! The ages of the working class varied from teenager to
elderly. College educations were not very common in the early 1900’s. People
relied on retail jobs and other jobs that did not require a college education,
and sometimes not even a high school education, in order to successfully succeed.
Races were not directly discriminated against because Indiana was considered a
“northern” state. Although, slavery had ended several years before, certain
states still upheld segregation and the discrimination of blacks and other
races that were not white. Some states would not allow blacks to get jobs at
certain places, but it was illegal for Indiana to do so. The working, lower
class suffered for a time period due to the fire. There were over 300 wholesale
and jobbing businesses by the 1890’s
and without them, people were not profiting and had no money to spend. So
stores who were not directly impacted by the fire were still indirectly
impacted by the loss of business. All around, the economy was sinking in
Indianapolis, while the economy in surrounding larger cities, such as
Louisville, Chicago, and Cincinnati was booming because they received business
from the customers that had previously gone to Indianapolis to do their
shopping.The fire did not let some of the
business owners destroy the success they had just built. The Fahnley & McCrea Millinery Company, where the fire
originated, later rebuilt a five-story building in the exact same location.
However, to this day they are still known best for their building being the
origin of the fire that destroyed a great deal of the Wholesale District.
Although the fire destroyed numerous
buildings in the district, the buildings that do remain stand for a symbol of
something. To the city, they represent architectural design and the premiere of
commercial architecture from the nineteenth century all of the way into the
twentieth century and the evolution of the wholesale house. Without that
history, Indianapolis would not be the type of city it is to date. The
architectural history attracts people and is attention-grabbing. The
Indianapolis Wholesale District had continued success after the fire because
they immediately rebuilt some of the buildings that were destroyed, and owners
worked hard to keep the positive image of the Wholesale District alive!When the wholesale district was
being built, businesses took precautions by including
external fire escapes and water towers that fire fighters could use in case of
a fire. Small fires often broke out before the initial large fire due to the
way the buildings were built and poor safety precautions. The fire escapes and
water towers were useful and ultimately led to the saving of numerous lives and
prevention of more damage during the huge fire in 1905. These were kept in
place and rebuilt onto new buildings to ensure safety was the number one
priority.
Due
to the fact the fire took place in a business section of the city, no schools,
government buildings, or hospitals were affected. Therefore, the Red Cross,
National Guard, or no other government funded relief programs were put in
effect. The buildings that caught on fire were insured by the businesses
themselves, and well-known insurance men assessed the damage of each of the
buildings. Insurance covered the cost for companies who chose to rebuild, such
as the Fahnley & McCrea Millinery Company.No
one took responsibility for the fire. It is a mystery to this day as to how it
originated. It has been blamed on poor pipes, unsealed roofs, poor electric,
but not one single cause has been pinpointed. There is no culprit in the fire
because it is not believed to have come from human origin and was
unintentional. At such an economic boom in the city, no one was thought of to
have wanted to intentionally put the city’s economic success and well-being in
jeopardy.The
Wholesale District definitely rebuilt! The city did not want it to once again
be run down like it was in the nineteenth century. They had put in a lot of
hard work to help encourage businesses to prosper in Indianapolis, and they
wanted to rebuild and make it even more attractive to visitors and residents of
the city. It is obvious the city came together to ensure this part of downtown
would continue to prosper for future centuries. Union Station is still used for
Amtrak, but it was mainly turned into a festival marketplace later in the
twentieth century. The city continued to add numerous attractions, which helps
revenue a great deal. It is now the home of Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Colts
play and Bankers Life Fieldhouse, where the Pacers play! More than $686 million
has been invested in the district in the last twenty years to help it live up
to its full potential. It is now considered a premiere arts and entertainment
district and includes brand new restaurants and new additions to Circle Centre,
an upscale mall.Although
the fire was significant in the city’s history, it did not affect the city’s
ability to bounce back and create something even greater. It is not significant
nowadays because the city is no longer impacted by it. Everyone worked together
to ensure the fire was not a disabler in the growth of the city.BibliographyBeitler,
Stu. GenDisasters, "Indianapolis, IN Wholesale District Fire, Feb
1905." Last modified January 17, 2009. Accessed March 1, 2014.
http://www3.gendisasters.com/indiana/11023/indianapolis-in-wholesale-district-fire-feb-1905.CampBell, Steve. Historic
Indianapolis, "What's In a Name: McCrea Street." Last modified
December 16, 2013. Accessed March 3, 2014. http://historicindianapolis.com/whats-in-a-name-mccrea-street/.Manuel, Dave. Dave Manuel,
"Inflation Calculator." Last modified 2014. Accessed March 1, 2014. http://www.davemanuel.com/inflation-calculator.php.
n/a,
. "Indianapolis Fire." Last modified February 20, 2005. Accessed
March 1, 2014.
http://media.proquest.com/media/pq/hnp/doc/259751372/fmt/ai/rep/NONE?hl=fires,fire,fires,fire,indianapolis,indianapolis,1905,1905&cit:auth=&cit:title=INDIANAPOLIS
FIRE: $1,500,000 Damage in Wholesale District. THREE ...&cit:pub=The
Washington Post (1877-1922)n/a, . Indianapolis Downtown
Inc., "Georgia Street History." Accessed March 1, 2014.
http://www.indydt.com/GeorgiaStreetHistory.cfm?printable=1.
See “Indianapolis Fire” in
Washington Post from 1905 for further details.
To figure out dollar conversions,
go to http://www.davemanuel.com/inflation-calculator.php To find
out more about the history of the streets and buildings in the Wholesale
District, refer to http://www.indydt.com/GeorgiaStreetHistory.cfm?printable=1To get
more information on what the Wholesale district is exactly, refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wholesale_District,_Indianapolis for basic
information.
