Then & Now: Barrett Hardware Co.
January 25, 2012 4:36PM
Firefighters battle a spectacular blaze at the Barrett Hardware Co. in downtown Joliet. The April 4, 1908, fire caused an estimated $125,000 to $160,000 in damage, then the most costly fire in city history. The heat was so intense that glass windows shattered across Chicago Street in Ducker's Corner. Flames spared the Auditorium Building (Stillman's) on the northeast corner of Chicago and Clinton streets. | Joliet Area Historical Museum, Joliet, Ill.
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Updated: February 27, 2012 8:02AM
On April 4, 1908, Barrett Hardware Co. burned at 65 N. Ottawa St. in downtown Joliet, causing an estimated $125,000 to $160,000 in damage, then the most costly fire in city history.
“The fire was one of the most spectacular ever witnessed in the city,” the Evening Herald News reported. “When the top of the front walls of the doomed structure fell, several firemen escaped death seemingly only by a miracle.”
It took 12 hours to put out. The heat was so intense glass windows shattered across Chicago Street. Flames spared the Auditorium Building (Stillman’s) at Chicago and Clinton streets.
Today, Barrett Hardware and Industrial Supply is on Henderson Avenue in Joliet.
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