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Bowen-Merrill Fire, 1890

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

This historical marker is located near the site of the former Bowen-Merrill Bookstore, which caught fire on March 17, 1890. Twenty firefighters battling the blaze fell from the building's roof when the building's walls and the roof collapsed. Twelve of those men were killed by the accident; a thirteenth firefighter perished as a result of his injuries. The fire was the deadliest in the history of the Indianapolis Fire Department. As word of the tragedy spread, residents of the city established annuities for each of the nine widows and twenty-two orphans. The state of Indiana responded to the tragedy by creating the first statewide pension fund the following year.


Images

  • The Bowen-Merrill Fire, 1890.
  • These are the 13 men who perished during the fire. For their names and more information, please click on the first link below.
  • This historic marker was dedicated in 1999 by the Indiana Historical Bureau and Indianapolis Firefighters Local 416
  • Learn more about this fire and other histories of the city with The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis-click the link below to purchase this book from the IU University Press.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The Indianapolis Fire Department dates back to 1826 when a group of volunteers established the city's first fire company. The city hired its first paid firefighter in 1859. Although this fire killed more firefighters than any other in the city's history, it was not the deadliest fire in Indianapolis History. That distinction belongs to a fire that happened two years later at the National Surgical Institute.

On January 21, 1892, 19 patients were killed when the Surgical Institute caught fire. Despite the tragedy, the fire could have been far more deadly without the rescue effort, as over 300 people were in the building when the fire started, and of those individuals, 194 were trapped above the fire on the top floor. Brave volunteers joined the firefighters as they rescued patients and staff from the hospital's top floor.   

Sources

David J. Bodenhamer, Robert G. Barrows, ed. The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, Bloomington, the University of Indianapolis Press, 1994, p. 568.

"The Bowen-Merrill Fire," Indianapolis Firefighters Museum Collection, Indianapolis Public Library, accessed 12/28/16, http://digitallibrary.imcpl.org/cdm/bowenmerrillfire/collection/ffm

Image from Indiana Historical Bureau website, http://www.in.gov/history/markers/387.htm

Image Sources(Click to expand)

http://digitallibrary.imcpl.org/cdm/bowenmerrillfire/collection/ffm

http://digitallibrary.imcpl.org/cdm/bowenmerrillfire/collection/ffm

https://www.in.gov/history/markers/387.htm

http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?isbn=0253112494

Additional Information