Part 1: Arrow Rock's history punctuated by devastating fires

Arrow Rock's Main Street caught fire on July 11, 1901. This fire destroyed more than a dozen homes, businesses and offices.
(Contributed photo/Friends of Arrow Rock)

"Monday night was a terrible night to the people of Arrow Rock. As evening came the shades gathered thick and black around us, and the cold searing wind from the north increased with each succeeding hour of darkness until the window panes chattered, the key-holes moaned and while interminable gales swept through the street and over the houses ... As midnight came the town was hushed in slumber, the daylight perceivable being that in the office of Dr. Hurt. The doctor saw the reflection of a kindling upon the house immediately east of the Post Office ..."

Or so the Jan. 22, 1873, edition of Saline County Progress reads.

Local historian Mike Dickey had retrieved copies of Saline County Progress and The Democrat-News, both predecessors to The Marshall Democrat-News, and recounted the fires that have threatened Arrow Rock throughout its history.

While he read through the clippings, he mused about the differences between modern-day and early Arrow Rock. As a member of the Arrow Rock Community Fire Department, Dickey has protected his home and its surrounding areas for 25 years.

The present volunteer fire department took official roots in 1972, after the home used for Aunt Polly's house in the 1973 Tom Sawyer film burned. Today, Dickey and his fellow first responders use protective gear, three vehicles and formal training to answer emergency calls in Arrow Rock, Nelson, Napton and a portion of Cooper County.

But Arrow Rock's emergency response system wasn't always so official.

The papers scattered in front of Dickey noted heroic townsfolk using rolls of cloth and buckets of water to extinguish flames. Instead of the pagers and radios the present- day volunteers answer, the responders of the 19th century most likely answered the call of the J. Huston Tavern's bell.

"There's been quite a big progress when you look over the history of fire protection," Dickey said.

Fires peppered throughout history have robbed the town of two-story and three-story 19th century buildings. A century ago, arson, warfare, saloon patronage and wood-burning stoves threatened the town's livelihood.

"We have all this nice green space in Arrow Rock," Dickey said. "But this nice green space was all full of buildings at one time ... If you had come here any time in the 19th century, [there were] buildings jammed against buildings all over the place."

In August 1864, sparks from the stacks of steamboat Isabella set fire to the riverfront of Arrow Rock, and the flames destroyed four warehouses.

Just months before, a band of guerrillas rode into town determined to exterminate the First Missouri State Militia, which had taken housing in an unknown brick building on Main Street. As a precaution, Lt. J.M. Woodruff had placed the unit's flag outside of the Wood and Huston building. The guerrillas set the decoy building on fire, attempting to rouse their enemies out of it. While the diversion protected the troops, the Wood and Huston building burned.

On Dec. 28, 1872, Arrow Rock withstood what the Saline County Progress cited as the most destructive fire ever known in central Missouri. The fire originated in the upper room of John Gilpin's saloon, which was located on the corner of Fourth and Main streets at the site of the present day Arrow Rock Country Store.

Dickey explained a lack of wind and a heavy snowfall most likely prevented the complete loss of the business district. While the townsfolk gathered together and utilized blankets and rolls of cloth to keep the fire from crossing the street, many of the buildings burned.

"It just seemed like when there was a fire, the town turned out, and everybody pitched in," Dickey said.

Later, a vagrant, the son of the constable and a black man were charged with arson. The incendiaries had most likely attempted to eliminate the Gilpin saloon as well as create carpentry jobs in Arrow Rock.

Having centered on a saloon, Dickey explained this fire accomplished what the temperance movement could not. The Board of Trustees increased the license fees of "dram shops" from $75 to $400 annually.

While larger cities such as Kansas City, Chicago and St. Louis had official fire protection in the first half of the 19th century, an 1889-1890 Yearbook for Fire and Marine Insurance said Arrow Rock, at 700 people, had no official department.

"Undoubtedly there was never a fire department formed," Dickey said. "It probably consisted of when there was people in danger, neighbors turned out, grabbed the buckets, grabbed the blankets, and that was how they fought fires then."

On July 11, 1901, a lamp ignited a fire in a two-story brick building and robbed the town of more than a dozen businesses, offices and residences. A newspaper article, most likely from the Weekly Democrat-News, states "The citizens worked heroically battling the flames. There was not much water at hand."

Dickey noted the records regarding Arrow Rock's fire protection are scarce in the first half of the 20th century. He found a brief account of the town board establishing a fire department in 1954, but that department must have fizzled out of operation by the 1960s.

A 2006 Friends of Arrow Rock newsletter published Rev. George Schler's recollections of fire protection in the 1950s.

Schler recalled a flatbed truck without a cab and a water tank that held 500 gallons. He wrote that he and another man drove the fire truck to a lightning-torched barn.

He said people cheered the department when they arrived, even though the barn had nearly burnt to the ground.

In Marcia J. Prouse's "Arrow Rock, 20th Century Frontier Town" the late former fire chief Bill Burge noted the department's limitations, as the group then and still only fights roughly 10 fires a year.

"We don't expect the fire department to save a building on fire," Burge said. "We figure the one that's on fire is lost, but the fire department can save the buildings around it."

Present Chairman of the Board Tom Beamer recently echoed this notion about the current volunteer fire department.

He explained the department serves as first responders to the area. Typically, the Arrow Rock Community Fire Department fights fires from the outside of the structure and focuses on addressing a victim's breathing and blood loss in addition to relaying information to en route ambulances. The volunteer fire department depends on Slater and Marshall for mutual aid.

Contact Maggie Menderski at mmenderski@marshallnews.com

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Part 2: Practical limitations define the role of Arrow Rock fire department
http://www.marshallnews.com/story/179991...

Part 3: Rift threatens future of Arrow Rock Community Fire Department
http://www.marshallnews.com/story/180007...