Thousand Island Park Hotel Fire: A Handsome Fire-Trap per the Rochester Herald After Blaze Destroys It August 21, 1890

In 1883, eight years after the creation of the Thousand Island Park, the eponymously named Thousand Island Park Hotel was completed. Standing four stories, the park’s association heralded it as “a massive structure, thoroughly and substantially built, of architectural beauty and solid strength.” While this was all true, its strength, like many similar structures of the era, could not withstand the irony of being on an island and surrounded by water as it was reduced to smoking ruins by flames only seven years later in 1890.

At that time, Thousand Island Park had grown to nearly 600 cottages with 7,000 summer residents. A setting such as this, as both a community and destination, could boast of such a large hotel – but after the conflagration that befell it on August 21, 1890, the newspapers throughout the state, like the Rochester Herald, would be calling it something else: “A handsome fire-trap.”  

As one might guess, communication back then through dispatch (then also referred to as despatch) was often short, concise, and not always accurate. The fire was first noticed at 1:30 a.m., which undoubtedly contributed to the lack of specific information early on. The Watertown Daily Times, upon first hearing of the conflagration, sent a reporter to Wellesley Island “with all possible haste.”  The Daily Times, further relayed to New York City’s Evening Post reported—

Watertown, August 21 — A despatch to the Times says: The Thousand Island Park Hotel, five cottages, and a store on Thousand Island Park, on the St. Lawrence River, were burned early this morning.  

No lives were lost, but it is reported that some guests were injured. 

The loss will reach $150,000.

The fire caught from the stove in the kitchen of the hotel.  The lack of hose with which to fight it was the cause of failure to check the flames when first discovered.  

About twenty buildings were destroyed. 

The news was about as accurate as one could expect for an initial dispatch, but other initial reports remarked on the loss of life and serious injuries, which caused a clamoring for more information, particularly among many in Watertown who had many friends either visiting the hotel or as property owners in the park.  Some facts were reported initially, including the Morris general store and Beffrey & Mowe’s plumbing establishment, which were destroyed, and some of the latter’s stock was saved.  

As the events unfolded the following day, the facts became a little clearer as the smoke cleared.  The discovery came at approximately 1 o’clock in the morning when Frank Thompson of Lowville and Frank Baldwin, along with two friends, noticed smoke coming from the rear of the building. While each floor of the hotel was fitted with a firehose, no water could be found around the hotel, necessitating “a bucket brigade” to pass buckets from one to another from the river.  

One woman injured, Miss Louisa Mitchell, about 50 or 60 years of age, became excited and hurried to escape the flames. She sprang from her bed and ran through flames which burned her about the face, neck, and arms and left her in great pain.  

Another woman, Julia Morrow, the head laundress from Watertown, was initially reported missing. The Evening Post reported on August 22—

All, however, succeeded in escaping from the building, except Julia Morrow of Watertown, the head laundress, who was able to get out of her room, and who perished in the flames. Her body was found in a heap of coals late in the morning.  The court in the centre of the building, which furnished light to the inside rooms, acted as a huge smokestack to the fiery furnace. The flames shot out of the tower, which was 150 feet high, to a height of 300 feet, and the sparks and embers flew in all directions.  

The Watertown Daily Times speculated that, from its central location, “the fire must have lighted up the whole of the Thousand Islands and made a grand though sad spectacle, such as illumination as the river had never seen before.”  

The Thousand Island Park Hotel itself was filled with approximately 400 guests, a remarkable number considering there was only one death reported. An alarm sounded, and some escaped with their clothes while others lost valuables. Mrs. (Ella) Walter Boon of Watertown suffered losses valued at $1,000, which included both her clothing and her diamonds.  

The hotel was described as “dry as paper and easily consumed, almost as quickly as if it had been.” Some guests arrived late, such as a party from Gloversville who had just reached their room with the alarm sounded. A child belonging to them has become separated, creating some anxious moments before they were reunited.  

The Daily Times further reported on August 21—

The hotel was soon completely swept away and by four o’clock this morning the flames were under control. From the hotel they extended to Morris’ store and lapped up the entire store with the buildings on that block which were occupied by H. W. Freeman and George Wilson, of Watertown, for a meat market, and the barns connected in the rear. W. J. Rogers’ boarding-house, owned by the association, then burned, and the chapel on the east side of the building.

The hotel was destroyed and without opposition. Rev. J. F. Dayan’s, Rev. L. D. White’s, J. W. Bruce’s, and O. P. Haddock’s cottages met a similar fate. 

Then a line of men with buckets was formed and the struggle commenced.

The iron cottage owned by Mrs. John Cooper and that of Rev. Elijah Horr were saved by a great effort. 

While much effort was made to save belongings from the cottages close to the Thousand Island Park Hotel, not much could be saved, and even less, if any, salvageable. The New York Herald reported that within a 1/2 mile of the burning hotel, the streets were filled with trunks, bedding, and furniture.  

The chapel was built only a year prior for nearly $1,000 for use as a school and for religious purposes. The post office and bookstore were said to have been the only businesses saved.  

By the day after, three persons were unaccounted for: S. G. Little, address unknown, and two unknown young men who were asleep in the tower. It had come to light, and it was generally believed that the fire was the work of an incendiary. The New York Herald reported an interesting bit, also on August 22—

The night watchman, whose route is principally the rounds of the hotel, says that he discovered a suspicious looking man in the rear yard of the hotel about twelve o’clock last night. Another peculiar incident is that a man stepped up to Professor Frank Thompson, of Lowville, about a quarter-past twelve this morning, and said: — “This building would make a pretty good fire, wouldn’t it?” Mr. Thompson says that the fellow appeared to be crazy.  

Some people think the fire caught from the furnace in the kitchen. The night watchman has been very careful not to talk much of the subject, and it is supposed that he is trying to capture the man he suspects. 

Nothing was ever further reported of the missing men other than one apparently was identified and had left the hotel the previous night for Alexandria Bay. He said all of his valuables were saved from the fire, which, apparently, didn’t stop some from stealing several of his rugs.  

Two months later, the Thousand Island Park Association was already discussing plans for replacing the hotel.  On the 8th of the following May, the contract was awarded for the construction of the Columbian Hotel, and work would commence shortly thereafter with completion the following year. Though the Columbian Hotel met a similar fate as the Thousand Island Park Hotel in 1912, its destruction essentially ended the Gilded Age era of big hotels in the Thousand Islands.