Baraboo Burning

February 11, 2021

From 1871 to 1886, six major fires cleared the way for many of the historic brick buildings we see in downtown Baraboo today. Information about these fires and the early efforts to create a fire department was presented by SCHS Executive Director Paul Wolter on Thursday, February 11, 2021.

Preview

The Baraboo churches had not long since let out when the fire bells started ringing at half past noon. A light snow was still falling making the thought of a major fire less plausible than in the preceding few months. The dry fall of 1871 in the upper Midwest had culminated in the famous Chicago fire and overshadowed fire around Peshtigo, Wisconsin.

Despite the snow and cold, Baraboo would endure its trial by fire on December 3 when a small fire on the south side of the square turned into a major conflagration that threatened to destroy the entire downtown. With no fire department it was up to the store owners and citizens to deal with the fire by any means possible including the proverbial bucket brigade, snowballing and tearing down buildings with brute force to create fire breaks.

As the fire grew along Third Street men and women battled the blaze and moved goods and fixtures out of burning buildings to the street and courthouse lawn up until the last possible moment. One store owner was nearly killed when the burning façade of his building came crashing down as he tried to escape half blind from the heat and smoke. A short time later a giant explosion rocked the square as a 25 pound keg of gunpowder in one of the buildings ignited.

The fire was eventually quelled but in just three short hours six store buildings were destroyed and others damaged. The loss was estimated at $30,000 at the time or about $650,000 today. In the spring of 1872 work began on the construction of new brick buildings to replace the wooden buildings that had been destroyed. Some of these buildings are still in use today as some of the oldest brick buildings on the square.

This drawing from 1870 shows how the square in Baraboo looked before six massive fires dating from 1871 to 1886 cleared the way for most of the brick buildings that we see today. Most of the early buildings were built of wood and succumbed easily to fire. Only one downtown building from this drawing exists today as a rare wooden survivor.

Join Paul Wolter, executive director of SCHS, for this sure to be intriguing historical peek into Baraboo’s past.