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Beckwith House |
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The Beckwith House was built in 1876, after the great fire of 1875. A previous hotel called the Empire House, built by James A Rea in 1867, was located on the same site. In 1873, Rea sold that business to Mr. Sanford Beckwith and the name was changed to The Beckwith House. Mr. Beckwith ran the hotel until it was razed by the fire of 1875. In 1876 a new four story building was constructed on the same site with the help of a Mr. S. A. Fargo. The new Beckwith House had a total of 75 rooms on the top three floors and several businesses on the ground floor, one of which was the J. Bauman & Company drug store that occupied the Algoma & Main St. corner of the property from 1870 (including the original 1867 building) through 1929, when Walgreen's purchased the business. Four years after the new building was completed on December 3, 1880, a fire destroyed the hotel. From the Oshkosh Northwestern dated December 4, 1880:"The origin of the fire was caused by the explosion of a kerosine lamp under the main stairway landing to the halls above the office. The bellboy, Beull Rogers, had just lit two or three lamps and leaving one lit on the table was placing others in chandeliers. Suddenly there resounded a sharp explosion and the fire was scattered over the table and the lamps upon them." The fire left three people dead. The night watchman who slept during the day was consumed by the fire while he slept. His name was George Wood, an African American from Philidelphia, his remains were never recovered. The second person to die in the fire was a Beckwith employee by the name of Mary "Mollie" Alice Hanrahan. Mollie actually exited the building safely, but ran back into the building to retrieve money she had hid in a trunk, she was never seen alive again. The third person to be killed in the fire was Mrs. Leafy Cushing Bean Paige, wife of Simon B. Paige, a early Oshkosh mill operator. Mrs. Paige was overtaken by smoke and collapsed on the fourth floor where she and her husband lived. A fourth person, Mrs. C. E. Harlow, was saved by dropping out of a fourth floor window onto a blanket held by several men, she was not seriously hurt in the fall, but did receive some medical attenton at the scene. Mrs. Harlow was in town visiting with Mrs. Paige. Business losses were: J. A. Bauman & Co. Drug Store, Alfred Black's Barber Shop, Mrs. Overton's Sample Room, Mrs. Perry's Millinery Shop, W. Irvine News Shop, C. A. Johnson & Co. Shoe Shop and Snell & Bliss Grocers. A new Beckwith building was quickly built on the same site, but this time only two stories in height and it no longer was a hotel. Active: 1876 - 1880 PUBLICATIONS: Publication:Oshkosh Aflame by: James Metz Publication:Oshkosh Northwestern article dated De. 4, 1880 Publication:Oshkosh Northwestern article dated May 11, 1986 Publication:Oshkosh Public Museum file 232.B |
