Fire at Majestic Hotel, March 16, 1949
The fire was caused by an electrical short and also destroyed adjoining buildings like the Bridgeman Ice Cream Store. The positive outcome of the fire was a clearer view of the Hennepin Avenue side of Block E. The fire caused a loss of $483,500.14 or $4,749,712 in 2013 dollars.
Fire at Legion Club, March 11, 1949
The Legion Club was housed in old Fire Station 26 at 722 22nd Street East. The fire occured at 2:04 A.M. and was caused by smoker’s carelessness. These photos were donated to the library by the fire department in June of 1952.
(via The 1940 Marlborough Hotel fire: ‘There was nothing that escaped the flames’ | MinnPost)
If you are interested in learning more about the fire and it’s aftermath, Special Collections has a subject file on the Marlborough Hotel fire.
![Doctors Memorial (Eitel) Hospital Fire, December 23, 1956 (Photo courtesy Minnesota Historical Society)
At 3 a.m. on December 23rd, 1956 “a gaily decorated Christmas tree ‘exploded’ at Doctors Memorial Hospital…setting off a flash fire that left [eight] dead. The fire lasted only 10 minutes…”- Minneapolis Tribune, December 24, 1956
There would have been more casualties if it hadn’t been for heroic staff such as the nurses on duty at the nursery, Cecilia Janick and Barbara Brassil. The nurses put water soaked diapers on the faces of babies and closed the nursery door and opened the windows to keep fresh air in the room until firefighters could arrive. The nurses and firefighters carried the babies out of the hospital and across the street to an apartment and put them on a bed.
Other city hospitals were banned from having lit trees the rest of that Christmas season. They were also asked to take the trees down as soon as possible after Christmas. University Hospital had over 80 trees that season while St. Mary’s had none.
The Minneapolis fire chief later attributed the seven deaths due to asphyxiation to be caused by open fire doors within the hospital. One death was an incubator baby, 13 day old son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Rassmussen, who died after he had to be moved from the incubator due to the fire.
“Other nurses on duty at the time of the fire, all of whom were praised highly by police and firemen, were: Mrs. Rose Carlson, 2304 Butler Place, relief night supervisor; Mrs. Beatrice Visger, 102 E. Nineteenth Street; Mrs. Lorraine Loomis, 6677 Olson Memorial Highway; Mrs. Helen Condry, 32 Spruce Place; and Shirley Gardner, 1365 Willow Street.” - Minneapolis Star, December 24, 1956](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md2rmkBfwi1qfkgweo1_500.jpg)
Doctors Memorial (Eitel) Hospital Fire, December 23, 1956 (Photo courtesy Minnesota Historical Society)
At 3 a.m. on December 23rd, 1956 “a gaily decorated Christmas tree ‘exploded’ at Doctors Memorial Hospital…setting off a flash fire that left [eight] dead. The fire lasted only 10 minutes…”- Minneapolis Tribune, December 24, 1956
There would have been more casualties if it hadn’t been for heroic staff such as the nurses on duty at the nursery, Cecilia Janick and Barbara Brassil. The nurses put water soaked diapers on the faces of babies and closed the nursery door and opened the windows to keep fresh air in the room until firefighters could arrive. The nurses and firefighters carried the babies out of the hospital and across the street to an apartment and put them on a bed.
Other city hospitals were banned from having lit trees the rest of that Christmas season. They were also asked to take the trees down as soon as possible after Christmas. University Hospital had over 80 trees that season while St. Mary’s had none.
The Minneapolis fire chief later attributed the seven deaths due to asphyxiation to be caused by open fire doors within the hospital. One death was an incubator baby, 13 day old son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Rassmussen, who died after he had to be moved from the incubator due to the fire.
“Other nurses on duty at the time of the fire, all of whom were praised highly by police and firemen, were: Mrs. Rose Carlson, 2304 Butler Place, relief night supervisor; Mrs. Beatrice Visger, 102 E. Nineteenth Street; Mrs. Lorraine Loomis, 6677 Olson Memorial Highway; Mrs. Helen Condry, 32 Spruce Place; and Shirley Gardner, 1365 Willow Street.” - Minneapolis Star, December 24, 1956
Fleischmann Malting Fire, March 22, 1938
Fleischmann Malting’s elevator was located at 1001 Delaware Street SE in Minneapolis. On the afternoon of Tuesday March 22, 1938 an explosion in the dust bin blew the roof off and killed two men. Railroad tracks hampered the operation of the fire trucks and it took several hours to get the fire under control. The elevator caught fire quickly as it was made of wood encased in sheet metal.
The next day the firemen recovered the bodies of Lloyd Currier, age 20 of 3616 41st Avenue South and David Sherper the weighmaster at the plant of 4825 Park Avenue. The loss was reported at $150,000 or 2.4 million in today’s dollars.
Most dispatches are from librarians at the James K. Hosmer Special Collections. Special Collections' Minneapolis History Collection covers an extensive array of materials on city history, including thousands of photographs, clippings, documents, books, programs, reports, yearbooks and hundreds of archival collections. Special Collections also houses several other collections on World War II, 19th century literature, the Abolitionist movement, Mark Twain, and the History of Books and Printing. You can visit Special Collections at the Minneapolis Central Library. Hennepin County Library includes 41 libraries. More than 5 million books, CDs and DVDs in 40 world languages. Almost 1800 public computers. One great system serving 1.2 million residents of Hennepin County. We're on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, too.
