Great Fires of the 19th Century

Excerpt from "Sketches of the Red Bank Fire Department", By Chief J. P. Elliott, published in 1894 - reprinted here in its entirety without modifications.

The first large fire in the history of Red Bank was known as the Naftel Fire. At that time the Department consisted only of one truck and two chemical engines. This fire started on New Year's night, 1880, and from all appearances looked as though that whole section of the city was doomed ; but the heroic efforts of the brave firemen, under the able direction of Chief Thompson, finally got it under control ; this was after twelve hours' work, and but for the foresight of the Chief in tearing down the building next to John Sutton's, it might have been much more disastrous.

This was a very mysterious fire, having its origin in the tailor-shop of one Naftel, where but a short time previous a card game was in progress, and on the discovery the entire family was absent although at midnight.

At 3.30 A. M., July 18th, 1881, the second disastrous fire, or the first after the Department was formed, was discovered in James Gill's bakery. The united efforts of the whole Fire Department seemed unable to cope with this great fire, and volunteers were called for from the male population, as the firemen became utterly exhausted. Time and time again the men were driven back by the intense heat, but only to renew their desperate fight. It took forty men to man one engine, and the water was pumped from the river.

This fire destroyed the entire block from F. H. Earle's harness store to the corner of First Street and Wharf Avenue. To add to this a still greater sorrow was felt by the whole Department in the loss of one of their beloved comrades, while in the performance of his duty. Mr. W. H. Conrow, Assistant Foreman of Independent Engine Co. No. 2, while walking through the ruins of one of the burned buildings was seized with a stroke of paralysis of the heart, brought on by the ecitement, and fell to the ground. He was tenderly raised and carried by his bereaved comrades to the air, but expired in a few minutes.

The origin of this fire was the overturning of a pan of grease.

On the 24th of the following December, and before the town had recovered from the previous calamity, another severe fire started in Allen's Agricultural Furniture Store. The firemen were called early in the evening, and by their almost superhuman efforts the fire was finally under control, but not until ten hours' hard work. This fire jumped from Allen's to the DeForest building, then down Maple Avenue, destroying everything in its way, to the building where Mr. Ketcham's stable now stands, and on Front Street to where the Opera House now is. This fire was caused by carelessness in drawing gasoline in Allen's basement. Thus within one year the village of Red Bank was visited by three of the severest fires that the whole State of New Jersey has ever seen, and while the loss reached hundreds of thousands of dollars, and was practically uninsured, so energetic are the residents that to-day Red Bank stands pre-eminent in the whole County of Monmouth as the business town; and where were once the ruins magnificent business buildings stand, to the glory and pluck of the residents.

But destruction did not end here, for on the 5th of November of the following year, of a Sunday night just at opening of services, an alarm was sounded and Child's bakery was found in flames. While this fire started in a barn in the rear of the bakery, so rapid was the spread of the flames, taht within a few minutes it had extended to Spinning & Patterson's on one side and to the church on the other ; here it was that the concentrated energies of the firemen were directed, but after gutting the church, the two-hundred feet high steeple, being insufficiently supported, gave way and crashed through the roof of the 1st National Bank, setting it also on fire and gutting it. It was supposed that some colored men smoking pipes in the barn through accident was the cause of this fire.

Here was a village of a few thousand inhabitants literally wiped out within twenty-three months, for it was so reported through the newspapers of the United States, but Phoenix-like it has risen from the ashes to its present prosperity, through the indomitable push of its merchants. As one business man has quoted, "It has done Red Bank a world of good, for the people now know what is in them, and Red Bank might have been, only for this, a township still."

Chief J.P. Elliott first joined Independent Engine Company, in February 1881. He worked through its ranks until March 1894, when he was elected to Chief Engineer of the Red Bank Fire Department.

<< Back to Fire Department Home Page