Miscellaneous - Afton Resident Recalls Fire of 1884

Afton Resident Recalls Famous "Fire of 1884"

 

Afton [Chenango Co., NY]:  Hobart A. Benedict, 73-year-old resident of Afton and former station agent on the D.&H. Railroad here, has many interesting things to tell of the history of Afton, but the event which he enjoys relating most is the "fire of 1884" which destroyed all of the business blocks on the east side of Main street.

 

Perhaps the reason why Mr. Benedict always likes to recall this fire is because he helped to fight the blaze as a volunteer; also because he summoned aid from Binghamton by means of the telegraph.

 

In a recent interview, Mr. Benedict said:  "The fire started on a Saturday night, shortly before 12 o'clock.  All of the church bells were rung, there being no fire alarm in the village at that time.  A large scene of the fire and the Afton bucket brigade began to try to combat the flames.  It was found that the Willey Block, which was situated in the business section of the village on the site of the present Village Hall, was all ablaze."

 

Continuing, Mr. Benedict said, "All of the buildings from the spot where the dwelling owned by Wesley Handy now stands, north to the site of the present Tabor Block or where the Brigg's Block then stood, burned to the ground.  All of the doomed buildings were of wood construction and were built close together.  The members of the bucket brigade soon found that the entire business section of the village was doomed and concentrated their work on removing the furniture from the buildings.  The furniture and contents of all of the buildings were moved to the opposite side of the street."

 

Mr. Benedict, who was station agent for the D.&H. Railroad at Afton at that time, telegraphed to Binghamton for city fire apparatus.  Mr. Benedict said that he was obliged to telegraph by the long route of Jefferson Junction as there was no telegraph line straight to Binghamton in those days.

 

The Binghamton Fire Department quickly responded by sending the requested apparatus to the railroad yards.  The D.&H. railroad caused a big delay in transporting the much needed fire apparatus by loading it on a slow-moving stock train, which did much switching at Tunnel.  According to Mr. Benedict the apparatus arrived at Afton so late that it was of no use.  All of the business blocks on the east side of Main Street had been destroyed.  The loss aggregated $75,000 and included 20 Buildings.

 

It is no wonder that this great "fire of 1884" stands out as the most vivid picture of Afton's history in the mind of Mr. Benedict as it was undoubtedly a very exciting fire, as well as a pathetic incident.  [MHD notation:  published 1933]