Our fallen hero

Between 12:30 and 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 27, 1851, a fire broke out in the Hart’s Building located on the northeast corner of Sixth and Chestnut Streets. The fire started in the drying room of Butler’s Copper-Plate Printing Company. Firemen arrived quickly and had hose lines stretched to the rooms that were on fire. But they were driven back due the lack of water supply. The temperature that night was below zero and the hydrants were frozen. The firemen had to build bonfires around the hydrants to melt the ice and free the water inside. As a result of the lack of sufficient water supply to control the blaze the firemen turned their attention to saving the surrounding houses.

During the blaze the front wall of the Hart’s building collapsed. It was feared that several men were trapped in the rubble. All men feared to be lost were accounted for except one. The next day, workmen that were clearing the rubble from the site found the remains of William Baker. William Baker was the night watchman at the Hart’s Building and also a member of the United States Hose Company.