A Town, a Fire and No WATER
- Lawrence Lore
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
 A recent Facebook post noted that a fire had occurred in Bridgeport on Friday the 13th June 1913 and several readers proclaimed they had no idea that this had ever occurred. Local history has never been taught in our school system. The County Historical Society strives hard to share this history with the community by having a website and a daily blog at lawrencelore.org, a Facebook page and monthly programs in addition to volunteers who maintain a History Center on the square and a Research Library south of the Lawrenceville Post Office. But still the general public doesn’t know we exist. WE would welcome ideas on how to get the word out so more people will know our history. In the meantime, for those who want to know more about fire, watch our video about it on YouTube.
 A brief summary: A new municipal waterworks system was practically completed when the fire broke out in the business section of the city about 2 o’clock. It burned fiercely for five hours and wiped out two entire blocks of the city’s best business buildings, doing damage roughly estimated at over one half million dollars at that time. The fire started in the blacksmith shop, situated on West Second Street and was said to have been due to the igniting of a pan of gasoline. Owing to the six-week drought, everything was ‘as dry as tender’ and the city supply of water in the cisterns was decidedly limited, making it impossible for the flames to be fought successfully. As a result of this lack of water, flames spread rapidly and were soon beyond control.
Jacob S Spiker of Vincennes, the engineer in charge of installing the waterworks system in Bridgeport in 1913, stated that the water plant was practically completed and that the city would have had ample fire protection in just a few weeks. The water for Bridgeport was to be furnished from the Lawrenceville Water Company; the main between Lawrenceville and Bridgeport being already laid. In addition, about 3 miles of pipes in the city of Bridgeport had been completed and 14 fire hydrants set. The pipelayers were within a couple of blocks of where Friday’s fire occurred. While the main water lines were to be completed within a week or two, the standpipe (water tower), which would hold 150,000 gallons of water, was not completed and would not have been for another six weeks. However, had it been completed and the water turned on, Bridgeport would have had water pressure of about 75 pounds, which would have been ample for all of the city’s needs.