In 1955 for the Gratz Sesqucentennial, Clayton H. Willier, a local historian and a member of the souvenir book committee, penned a history of the Great Gratz Fire of 1924. Also on the book committee, was Earle P. Hoffman, one of the men who suffered the loss of his (and his brother’s) garage in the fire. With the account were four photographs which showed the destruction the fire caused. Those photographs will be featured in other blog posts. Here is the account of the fire as written by Clayton H. Willier and as published in the the souvenir book, Gratz Sesquicentennial, July 2-4, 1955:
Big Fire at Gratz
Early on Tuesday morning 3 November 1924, the whole town of Gratz, 600 population, was threatened when the Union House in the center of the borough, Smith’s Restaurant and Moving Picture Hall, the stables along the Alley, Garage, and seven barns, garage operated by Earl Hoffman and Russell Hoffman, George Hepler‘s two barns with more that 175 tons of hay and Miller Brothers barn with 450 bushels of wheat went up in smoke.
Though the origin of the fire is not known, there are some who suspected incendiarism. Thomas Kerstetter was the proprietor of the hotel. The hotel was owned by George Adams, for which he had paid $30,000. The family and one salesman were fast asleep when the flames were first seen at the icehouse by Pat Wise. This was a new experience for Gratz. If they would have used their heads it could have been saved; but their first thought was for the families, who were not easily aroused with their children, Thomas Kerstetter and Bobbie Kerstetter, and the salesman. Till they got them awake the fire was too far advanced to be put out by the bucket brigade. By this time a number of hunters who had come from Valley View also saw the fire in the icehouse and sounded the alarm by discharging their guns and blowing their auto horns. The fire started shortly after 1 a.m. when people were in their first sleep.
The fire spread north to the hotel and south to the barn or shed. The reflection in the sky was seen for a distance of 25 miles. A veritable gale from the northwest fanned the flames, but the bucket brigade worked hard to save property across the Alley, which was successful only for a while, for they had to work in the sparks and heat of fire driven toward them by the wind.
The Elizabethville operator, Mrs. Laura Keiter, the night operator, was on the job. By her promptness assistance from the Elizabethville, Wiconisco, Lykens, Valley View and Millersburg fire companies was soon on the way. Out of 33 phones in Gratz, two were in service for some time. The wire were burned off and some were cut to prevent them from getting in contact with the electric wires.
By two o’clock the whole town seemed to be doomed, for the fire was spreading from shed to barns across Center Street and the Alley. A call was sent to Harrisburg, and about four o’clock, news reached Gratz that a special train of two coaches and two flat cars, and fifty men of the Good Will, Hope, Friendship, and Mt. Pleasant fire companies were on the way to Millersburg. The flames were under control when this word came, and the call for Harrisburg was annulled.
The fire companies combined their forces on the fire that burned the Ira Rothermel, George Umholtz, and Daniel Koppenhaver barns. Since there was a wide space between the Kooppenhaver barn and the Harvey Fidler barn the firemen succeeded in halting the fire at that point. The properties east and west of the hotel on Main Street were saved by the Elizabethville and Wiconisco fire trucks. The bucket brigade was working hard to save property from flaming pieces of wood. A haystack on a farm on the eastern outskirts of town was set afire by a flaming piece of wood carried by the high wind.
Harry Smith and his family had helped to get the clothing and furniture out of the hotel. when this was accomplished, they were informed that their house was also on fire, and they lost everything — home, furniture, restaurant and movie house.
So the fire bucket brigade went out of date, and the Fire Company was formed that fall.
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Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.