1921, April 23 – Fire at Masonic Lodge on W. Main St.

masonic-kp-temple-315-w-main-ca-1920    A fire begun in the wash room in the basement of the Masonic and K.P. Building on W. Main was discovered and reported to the fire dept. at 6:45 am by H.O. Robertson, mgr of the Brown’s Business College. No serious damage.

(Extracted from the Marion Daily Republican and compiled by Harry Boyd, posted at http://www.marionfire.us/ )

1899, September 28 – Major fire at Dennison Building on North Side of Square

A NOONDAY BLAZE. A careless boy cook in Gill’s Restaurant played the part of Mrs. O’Leary’s cow while cooking dinner, Tuesday. He let the grease in the skillet catch afire and then threw water on it, which action only served to enlarge the blaze. The ceiling of the restaurant, which was located in the basement of CH. Denison’s building on the north side of the square, was very low and the blaze soon got a start on it. Continue reading