Fire devastates Tama Building and Sutter’s in 1915 Burlington, Iowa

Notice the ladder and icicles at Sutter-Ludman after the fire at the store on North Third Street.

One hundred years ago a fire did such massive destruction to the Tama Building in downtown Burlington, Iowa, that it’s hard to fathom that the owners were able to rebuild.

The fire started on Dec. 20, 1915 for unknown reasons in the Sutter-Ludman store, then located in the building at 307-309 N. Third. All 40-some stores and offices were affected either by the fire or water damage. My great-aunt Ursula Sutter Schuetze wrote in her scrapbook that flames climbed a vent shaft to the roof and then worked their way down. “Terrible loss to the drug store and every occupant in the building.” These photos are also from her scrapbook, presumably taken by my great-grandfather Joseph R. Sutter.

The Tama Building suffered damage that is the equivalent of $1.7 million.

According to the Burlington Gazette, the fire broke out about 2:30 a.m. “and the flames had a considerable start before the discovery was made. Joe Parks, the night engineer at the building, was first to learn of the presence of the flames as he heard a number of boxes falling in the drug store while he was in the basement attending to his duties.”

Once he discovered what was happening, he rushed into the street shouting, “Fire!” A policemen identified in the Gazette as “Officer Stumpf” was walking his beat, heard Parks’ shouting, and alerted the fire department. Firefighters battled the flames until 10 a.m. Damage to the building alone was $70,000 (the equivalent of $1.7 million today). “Mr. Sutter stated (the next day) that practically the only article in the store which did not suffer damage from water was a case of sponges,” said a Gazette article.

This stairway led to the top of the Tama Building.

Aunt Ursie also wrote in her scrapbook that the Sutter-Ludman store had been stocked with Ivory Py-ra-lin for purchase for Christmas gifts. This imitation ivory was actually a plastic used in decorative combs, hairbrushes, hand mirrors and so on, according to the DuPont website. The store carried $9,000 in insurance coverage (the equivalent of about $208,000 today) but surely the losses were more.

I can only imagine that such a huge loss could have seemed overwhelming to my great-grandfather, especially at Christmas time. Think of all the paper records that were probably lost, all the customers’ prescriptions, etc. There were two other Sutter stores at the time, at 403 Jefferson and 201 S. Main. I’m sure they picked up the slack, but I will bet the other pharmacies in town, especially Witte’s where Joseph had apprentice, also offered to help in any way they could.

Despite the damages, the Tama Building owners chose to rebuild, and Sutter-Ludman eventually reopened its store in the same location.