March 25, 1962: Elevator B fire
Where were you on the night of March 25, 1962? If you were in the city of Manitowoc on that cold spring morning you most likely remember what Fire Chief James Danielson called “the biggest and most spectacular fire ever in Manitowoc.”
It was just around midnight when a fireman looked out a window of the old Franklin Street Station and saw flames coming from Elevator B, formally owned by the Northern Grain Company, which was located four blocks away.
The elevator was built in 1899 when Manitowoc was a major shipping port for grain. The Northern Grain Company built large elevators west of the Main Street Bridge on the Manitowoc River. Elevator “B” was across the river along South Water Street, between 12th and 13th Streets. It had a capacity of 800,000 bushels. An annex, capable of storing one million bushels was added in 1900. At the time of the fire, the elevator was empty and owned by the Wisconsin Malting Company, who bought the property in 1949. Chief Danielson had wanted to have the elevator razed years earlier because of it being a potential fire hazard.
For over 3 hours fire departments from Two Rivers, Newton, Valders, Silver Creek, Rockwood, and Sheboygan assisted with putting out the fire. Tug boats from Manitowoc Shipbuilding were also used to stream water on the nearby Soo Line Railroad slip to prevent a fire there. The Two Rivers Coast Guard used portable pumps to protect docks along the river.
As over 10,000 people made their way downtown to see the fire, the police were busy with traffic and crowd control. Many say that light from the fire was so bright that you could have read a book outside. Downtown business owners and homeowners stood on their roofs to watch for flying embers, and sprayed their roofs with garden hoses to prevent fires. Flames, which reached to several hundred feet, could be seen over 30 miles away. People in Ludington, Michigan even reported seeing the light coming from Manitowoc and wondered what was going on in the city. Television crews from Green Bay and Chicago even came to Manitowoc to film the fire.
The intense heat also caused telephone and electric lines to burn. The Manitowoc Herald-Times reported “At 2:06 a.m. the phones in the police station went out of order and at the same time to fire department, county traffic police and Holy Family Hospital phone service was disrupted. Mobil phone units were dispatched to the hospital and police stations.” Phones were also out at the Shipyards.
Fortunately no one was injured in the fire. There was a report of a fire starting in a nearby home from the roof being so hot but firemen were quickly able to put the fire out.
Chief Danielson went on to say, “Hot wasn’t the word for this one. … We were lucky that there was only a slight wind and that there were only a few buildings in the area.”