Poughkeepsie Architecture: The Cast Iron Building
By Shannon Butler On December 26, 1870, a fire broke out in the saloon that had been operated by George W. Cannon at 301 Main Street. Within moments of the fire’s first sparks, an explosion occurred, sending flames, glass, and smoke almost to the other side of Main Street. The alarm was sounded and the firemen were soon on the scene but the fire was spreading quickly into the next place of business, a drug store operated by Morgan Farnum. What seemed like mere minutes later, the fire moved into the bookstore of Archibald Wilson. The flames ripped through the block so quickly that there was nothing the firemen could do except prevent the fire from crossing Main and Garden streets. The next morning, there was nothing left but a hole in the ground. That block on the corner of Garden and Main Streets, which was made up almost entirely of old wooden buildings, belonged to Mrs. Josephine Pardee (the widow of Enoch Pardee) and she had taken quite a loss. The reports from both the Poughkeepsie Eagle News and the New York Times showed that several of the tenants who owned shops in these buildings had lost a considerable amount [...]