Photo courtesy of the Warren County Historical Society/Photo from the Warren Library Photograph Collection Fourth of July festivities in Noth Clarendon on July 4, 1877, note the volunteer firemen featured prominently.

But remember what I said about that wood construction? All it took was sparks jumping from building to building before the entire town was ablaze.

Per the WCHS article, the town’s water supply was unreliable, at best.

The initial reporting estimated that nearly 20 acres had burned but Miller’s story indicates a total of 40 acres and more than 150 buildings “including every hotel and restaurant.”

The initial report further explained that “the buildings, being of pine and hemlock, burned like tinder. The greatest excitement prevails. The valley is full of fire and seething oil, and the people, being panic stricken, fled to the hillsides for safety. No estimate can be put upon the loss, but there is every reason to believe that it will reach half a million (dollars). There is but little insurance.”

This photo was taken 10 days after the July 4, 1887 fire that ravaged the town of North Clarendon.

“The fire was even hot enough to burn wooden sewer pipes three feet beneath the ground to the point where they collapsed and the earth caved in,” Miller road, making the roads impassable. “The Warren Fire Department went into action but it was too late to do much except protect a few other buildings. 90 percent of the town as burned and in ruins and a Warren newspaper for July 5 reported on this “Terrible Calamity.”

With a 40 acre fire in a town of 1,200 people, loss of life certainly was to be expected.

But Miller and the WCHS articles agree that only one person died

Miller identifies the man as W.C. McCutcheon, “a pipeline gauger who was in Hill’s Hardware Store when the fire started and who tried to save goods from that store.”

Grave records indicate that William Clyde McCutcheon died on July 4, 1887 and was buried at the Fairfield Church Cemetery in Mercer County. A Civil War veteran – he was a private in Co. I, 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry, McCutcheon left behind a wife and a three or four year old daughter.

The Weekly Constitution reported that a “John Stewart” was “caught in the bursting of a tank and was cremated” and reported that “it is feared that many have shared a similar fate.”

That was certainly a legitimate concern to have in the moment but those accounts but both of those remarks appear to have not been accurate – as was this piece of their report that claimed “a charred skeleton was found in one of the hotel and it is supposed to be that of a hackdriver named Sullivan, who is missing. He was seen about the hotel early in the evening drunk.”

Miller writes that Mrs. Thomas Mahoney, the wife of the owner of the Weaver Hotel where the fire hit early on, was “found unconscious in the hallway from breathing smoke” but “she was rushed out to fresh air and safety.”

Sure, it’s great that one – maybe three – people died but the challenge the morning after the fire was that 1,000 people were left homeless.

The initial report from the scene pushed that number as high as 1,100 and estimated value of the buildings destroyed at $350,000.