The residence of W. H. Temple, which was located in the block just south of the school house, together with nearly all of its contents, was destroyed by fire on last Saturday night. The fire alarm was sounded about 9:40 p.m., the fire having been discovered by two or three neighbors or passersby, and the fire brigade responded as promptly as possible. There was some delay, however, as a number of the members were at the fair grounds attending the rodeo.Mr. and Mrs. Temple and their daughter, Miss Frances Fay, were also at the rodeo. Their son, Theron, was out of town. Mrs. Temple and Frances Fay had gone to the rodeo during the afternoon and had remained on the fair grounds. Mr. Temple and Theron had been at the house late in the evening, Theron as late as 7:30, and there was no evidence of fire when each left.
As soon as the fire was discovered, Mr. and Mrs. Temple were notified and they hurried into town, but when they arrived the building, at least the south portion, was enveloped in flames, the fire having already eaten its way through the roof. That was the condition, practically, when the fire fighters arrived, hence they were unable to save the building and most of its contents from being burned.
Only a portion of the furniture and a few other articles were saved. Very few of the articles escaped being more or less damaged by the fire and water. The piano was among the articles saved. All of the sleeping rooms were upstairs, and for that reason the bedding, clothing, etc., were all destroyed, as it was impossible for anyone to get upstairs after the fire was discovered. The articles which were saved were mostly in the kitchen, dining room and front rooms. One of the walls of the basement, a partition wall, fell in, and, with the water that flooded the basement, completely destroyed a fine lot of canned goods and other articles which had been stored there.
Fortunately the wind was blowing from the southeast at the time the fire occurred, otherwise several buildings not far away would have been in great danger of being burned, also. The origin of the fire is unknown, but the generally accepted theory is that it was caused by defective wiring. The loss, which is only partly covered by insurance, falls quite heavily on Mr. and Mrs. Temple. they have not yet decided as to whether or not they will erect a new building on the same site. They have leased the Christian parsonage and will make their home there until definite arrangements can be made.
The building was a well constructed two story building. It was built during the year 1888 by J. F. Cole, who was a resident of Coldwater at that time. The material used was practically all white pine. The successive owners, after Mr. Cole, were J. H. Allderdice, J. J. Overstreet, Dr. J. S. Halliday, J. T. Maris, Geo. W. Crites and W. H. Temple.
Thanks to Shirley Brier for finding, transcribing and contributing the above news article to this web site!
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