The Morning the Douty House Burned

The alarm came before dawn on April 15, 1872. A local account reprinted in the Sunbury American placed the discovery of fire at the Douty House at about half past four. Hundreds of men, women and children gathered. With no fire engine available, residents carried water in buckets, used axes and pulled down small buildings in an effort to stop the spread.

The fire consumed the hotel, its office and stabling, then carried destruction among dwellings and places of business. The account described a square bounded on three sides by Sunbury, Dewart and Rock Streets, and flames crossing into neighboring streets. Lodging was part of a closely built working neighborhood; the loss reached far beyond the hotel's own rooms.

Some threatened buildings survived. The paper described the Douty residence, post office and Brown Stone Front as saved with difficulty. Jacob Mowry's United States Hotel caught fire repeatedly but was not reported destroyed. Strong currents of air endangered buildings well away from the main blaze, and at times the heat made the work of carrying water nearly impossible.

Early totals differed. The Chicago Tribune's next-day dispatch reported the Douty House and nine adjoining houses consumed, thirteen families homeless and an estimated loss of $120,000. The more detailed Sunbury reprint reported fourteen buildings and fourteen families, with estimates ranging from $50,000 to $90,000. Both called the origin unknown; neither account supplies a final property or insurance tally.

The local report praised those who worked against the flames and urged the town to obtain a fire engine. Its appeal joined an immediate disaster to the problem of civic protection. For families whose houses and belongings were gone, the event was not only the destruction of a familiar hotel but the loss of a place to live.