Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, October 28, 1997

Fire destroyed downtown Jennings in November 1901

by Jim Bradshaw

But the fire that everyone remembered, and that destroyed the heart of downtown Jennings, began during the night of Nov. 4, 1901. It was driven by a cold, brisk, November wind and, even had there been sufficient water to fight it, it is likely that not much could have been done.

Oil had just been discovered nearby less than two months before, and there was a boom booming. Pine shacks were going up everywhere, built of the coarsest lumber, just right to feed a fire.

R. N. Wilson discovered the blaze licking at the roof from the rear of the J. F. Dudley Restaurant.

"I could have put out the fire and saved the town with a few buckets of water when I first saw the flames," he is quoted as saying. But there were no buckets of water. The town had no water system at all in 1901, and the only way men fought the fire was by throwing onto the blaze what water they could pump from wells and carry in buckets.

A train would bring firefighting apparatus from Lake Charles, but it would be useless. There were no hydrants for the hoses. Finally, a heavy rain began to fall, dousing the fire (that had consumed just about everything burnable anyway), and cooling the embers.

The Record had the following story on Nov. 4, 1901:

"Last night's conflagration, in which was involved a large portion of the business district of the town was the most disastrous that has visited this section since its establishment. At the hour of 3:45 this morning, the electric light plant sounded the first note of alarm. Few, however, understood the full import of the signal, else there would no doubt have been better concert of action in an effective organization to stay the ravages of the flames. In the absence of anything approaching a water service and the confusion incident to an occasion of this nature, those otherwise willing to render every possible assistance stood as if paralyzed in the glare of the intense heat and the flying sparks and scudding missiles of sinister destruction.

"The reporter of the Record was early on the scene, and with others more familiar with the situation, watched with anxiety the rapid progress of the flames as it (sic) disposed of one building after another in its ravaneous (sic), capacious fiery maw.

"As near as can be ascertained the flames were first discovered in the rear of J. E Dudley's restaurant on the west side of Main Street, a few doors north of the Jennings Bank.

"A Mr. R. N. Wilson, employed in the city, who occupies rooms at Mrs. Hulburt's place stated that he discovered the flames immediately after the alarm was given, and that if he had had the use of a few buckets of water at the time he would have had no difficulty in putting out the blaze.

"Be that as it may the fire once started, and fanned by a brisk north wind that at times approached almost the vigor and force of a gale, the flames spread among the structures on the west side of Main Street with the furiousness of an element of destruction that apparently gloated in its fiendish glee over the havoc and ruin that was in its pathway.

"The vagary and uncertainty of the wind, shifting at times from every point of the compass, except that of south, made an important factor to be reckoned with by property owners and those who by heroic effort had saved much of their household belongings, and such goods and valuables as could be carried to points of safety.

"Men's clothing caught fire by the blazing brands and the flying sparks that fell like snowflakes upon every hand, yet with it all there was apparent upon every face and in the manner of every man a resignation that spoke in stentorian tones of such a virtue, little for a program of parsimony and a penny-wise and pound-foolish policy that offered much to solace the heart of the theorist and precious little for helpers and ruined property owners.

"Water was the incessant cry.

"But there was no water, and had there been water in abundance there was nothing that could have been employed to use it to advantage.

"At 4 o'clock the block having been entirely enveloped where the flames first originated, the fire was seen to take possession of the Citizens Bank. The building being a frame structure, and standing high upon its foundation, was soon a mass of flames. The office of Dr. Wilkins and Petersen, immediately in the rear and also the office of Fred Buch job printer were enveloped in flames a moment later.

"At about this time, or rather, some little time previous, the buildings, all frames, in the opposite side of Main Street from (where) the fire first made its appearance, caught fire, and while the writer of this article in the midst of smoke and heat was endeavoring to find out exactly where he was at, the whole block was a roaring mass of flames. He sought another and a more congenial location for observation, from the Citizens Bank the flames leaped across the street and wrapped in sinister embrace with its fire and smoke and heat the whole of the block leading to the railroad.

"At this time the back streets adjoining the burned district were filled with every conceivable article of merchandise, household goods, and a frantic, struggling mass of citizens, all striving to save as much from the rapacious maw of the fire fiend as possible.

"The fitful flicker of the electric and telegraph poles, already on fire and wires falling on every hand, admonished the venturesome that care was necessary if life and limb were to be taken into account. At this point, however, some one possessed of a game idea notified the power house to turn off the current, which, happily, was done.

"The march of the fire-god westward toward the McFarlain Hotel after having obtained a foothold at Jack Bonin's saloon, a two story frame, was a matter of only a few minutes. The building crumbled before the fierce blaze and the intensity of the heat drove everyone to seek shelter behind the depot.

"On the side-track of the Southern Pacific opposite Broadway, four or five cars, the majority of which were loaded with valuable freight--lumber, merchandise, and machinery--were soon aflame and in a short time were but a mass of smoking ruins.

"At this junction of the flames' progress much apprehension was felt for the safety of the Southern Pacific depot, but the indefatigable and heroic efforts of a number of willing hands saved the building from destruction. Had the depot caught, with its contents of valuable freight, no power save that of Divine intcrposition could have saved the large rice warehouse, the Travelers' Home, the extensive stables of Withbeck & Bauer, and many other buildings on that side of the track.

"Many of the above buildings caught fire from blazing sparks and flying brands, but an improvised bucket brigade happily extinguished the blaze as soon as discovered.

"At 4:47 the extensive brick store building of A. D. McFarlain loaded with a brand new stock of fall and winter goods, was seen to be ablaze, and a half hour later that which represented many thousands of dollars was a black mass of smoke and rubbish.

"To Depot Agent Davis is due not little credit in saving many thousands of dollars of railroad property. As soon as he discovered the danger he wired to Welsh at which time a freight train was pulling in at that station, for the engine to uncouple and come at a mile a minute rate to Jennings to save those cars on the siding that it was found impossible to move by crow bar or by hand. The engine made good time, coupling on several cars and shifting them to places of safety.

"Postmaster Feree has established a temporary office at the McFarlain Hotel. The loss to the department could not this morning be ascertained; but much of the property of the office was carried out to a place of safety.

"The total loss of the conflagration cannot be approximated as everything at the present writing appears to be in a state of chaos and confusion. A conservative estimate, however, has suggested that a half million dollars would not overreach the mark.

"Dire and terrible as this morning's calamity may be, the people of Jennings are not built of that material that will sit supinely and bemoan the great loss.

"The area burned over was about 3 1/2 blocks in the heart of (the) business section and about 60 buildings destroyed. The area was bounded on the north by Plaquemine Street, on the east by N. Broadway, on the south by S. P. Main Line tracks (to Main Street R. R. crossing), on the west diagonally to intersections of Cary Ave. and Plaquemine."

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