Aurora Disasters
and
Other Notable Events
FIRES
1854 August 4th - Mackenhill's Distillery.
Volintine's General Store on Main Street
1856 Eight stores on East side of Broadway
1858 Seven or eight stores West side of Broadway, from corner of Main Street South of Alschuler's.
1861 May 3rd - stores on river Street from Galena to Hurd's Store.
1867 Wilder House
1869 Huntoon House
1871 Old Silver Plate factory
1873 May 20 - C.B. & Q. shops - over $50,000 in damages.
1888 C.B. & Q paint shop, Oak Street School House, Mercantile block, Fox and Broadway.
1903 June 18, Sencenbaugh Store - Broadway
1906 February 11th - Stolp's woolen mills building.
March 18th - Jennings seminary
August 10th - Knickerbocker Ice Company - North Broadway
November 7th - Oak Street School
Could we list "Wayne's World" here?
FLOOD
1857 - February 7th: The ground had been covered by a foot of snow for over sixty days and frozen hard, when on the 5th of February it began to rain. The downpour continued until Saturday, the 7th. Folks living on the flats, awoke that Saturday morning to find their homes surrounded by water. Most were able to escape. The railroad bridge blocked with ice caused water to back up over Stolp Island. A couple of miles upriver, an ice blocked area gave way causing water to rush toward Aurora.
Twenty little houses and three bridges were swept away in a matter of minutes. A woman and her baby were trapped in one of the homes. They were swept over the Montgomery dam and safely rescued. A child floated down river to Aurora on a large chunk of ice and was rescued.
In addition to the lost homes, Stolps barn, Fyfe's Eagle mills Reedy & Merrill's Sash Factory, a dye house, Woodworth Brothers, Hyde's Saw Mill and other buildings were damaged. The total damages were reported to be between $38,000 and $100,000.
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Last Updated 10-Oct-1999 [email protected]