An Irony Of History - Two historic fires in Downtown Paxton



On the evening of Feb. 3, 1898 a fire broke out in the cigar factory of James H. Flora in downtown Paxton. The alarm was raised but due to equipment fitting problems with the nearby hydrant and mismatched tools it was forty minutes before the first water was put on the fire.



By this time the fire had spread to the harness shop to the north and to the jewelry store to the south. It was over an hour before the fire was under control. And it had spread further to involve five buildings. Another line was brought in from a block south on the cold winter night and the fire was eventually extinguished. The five buildings were completely destroyed along with their contents and the owners having great loss.
The burned buildings were cleared away leaving a big empty double lot at a prime location downtown. Some of the business leaders of the city gathered at the Paxton Hotel to discuss the situation. They came up in with a plan in August 1895 to build, ironically, a new hotel to be opened the next year. And they would name it after the city's mayor, J. P. Middlecoff.
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And on April 5, 1966, ironically, the Middlecoff Hotel would be gutted by fire. And it wasn't the first fire at the hotel. Eventually the burned hotel building was razed to the ground. In it's place would built a drive through bank plaza.


I hope they have good fire sprinklers in the bank building.

The Paxton Record; Thu, Feb 07, 1895; Page 5
The Paxton Record; Thu, Aug 29, 1895; Page 5
The Pantagraph; Tue, Apr 05, 1966; Page 2

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