website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
Charles
Piper
Piper
Building
506 & 508 E
Main
Later, 508 E
Main
c1870s
Charles Piper, 1870s
Watertown Fire Dept Special
Police
Watertown Fire Dept Civil Police,
WHS_006_223
c1890
1956c
Piper Building, Leather goods,
1956c,
508 E Main, city assessor image,
WHS_006_070b
1951
Watertown
Daily Times, 11 26 1951
Mrs. Amanda Piper
1872 - 1951
Woman Dies,
Sister is Rescued in $15,000 Fire
Piper
Building Badly Damaged; Body Recovered
Mrs. Amanda Piper, 79, member of
an old Watertown family, was found dead early Sunday and her sister, Miss
Adelia Piper, 78, was carried down a ladder to safety during a spectacular fire
which swept the Piper building at 508 Main Street early Sunday.
The two sisters occupied the
apartment on the second floor of the large brick structure which for many years
has housed the Chas. Piper leather goods store.
Fire Chief Al Linde reported the
fire started from defective electric wiring which runs in the ceiling above the
store quarters, directly under the apartment. The spot where the blaze started
was clearly visible during an inspection after the fire. A large hole was burned in the apartment
floor.
Picture frames still hang
grotesquely on the walls, with the glasses broken and the pictures burned away.
Loss Put at
$15,000
The fire chief placed the loss at
$15,000 or more. He made his estimate yesterday morning at 9 o'clock after a
thorough inspection of the ruins in company with a former city engineer,
Richard S. Podolske, who is the son-in-law of Chas. T. Piper. Mr. Piper does not live in the store
building. His home is a short distance
away, around the corner in North Sixth Street where he has been living alone
since the death of his wife a year ago.
The chief said the loss would be
between $15,000 and $20,000, based on current prices for replacements and
repairs.
Discovered
by Patrolman
The fire was discovered by a
member of the police department, Patrolman M. K. Mann while he was making a
routine checkup at a filling station across the street. It was about 2:25 a.m. when he saw a brief
flash of light in one of the windows of the apartment across the way. Turning his flash light to the spot he saw
smoke curling out near a window and then, at another window his flash light
revealed the face of a woman pressed against the glass. She appeared dazed and unable to speak. It was Miss Adelia Piper who for many years
has lived in the apartment with her sister, a virtual recluse and invalid.
It took only a second or two for
Officer Mann to realize that a fire was raging in the apartment. He yelled at the top of his voice to the
woman at the window to open it and stick her head out. She faltered for a moment, as if she was
unable to get his message, then obeyed and her head came out, but she pulled
back as if in terror. He again yelled so
loudly that it startled her and this time she again stuck her head out the window
while he ran to turn in an alarm.
Firemen responded and when they
arrived the woman was brought down through a window with a ladder. She was taken to the Hotel Washington which
is near the Piper building and from there was later taken to St. Joseph’s Horne
for the Aged where she is at present.
Body Not
Burned
When firemen forced their way up
the long flight of stairs they found fire raging throughout the apartment and
dense smoke filled the place. At that
time no one knew of the whereabouts of the elder sister. Her sister was unable to give any indication
about her. The body was later found
behind a door in a bedroom by Fire Chief Linde.
She had been suffocated. No fire
reached her. She was apparently stumbling in the dark and smoke-filled
apartment after awakening and collapsed near the door. The bedroom in which she
was found is at the rear the apartment.
Both sisters were fully clothed
and were not in night attire.
The entire apartment, large in
size, since it covers the whole top floor of the building, was badly
gutted. Walls and woodwork are charred
and smoke stained. The floors are badly
burned. Furniture, including bedding and
a piano, a well as tables, chairs, lamps and
everything else is a total loss. Many of
the windows were broken and were either boarded up or covered with canvass
after the fire.
Stock is
Damaged
Water seeping down into the store
did considerable damage to the stock though the flames did not reach the store
itself except for the part of the ceiling where the fire began.
A wall and part of the roof of
the First Methodist Church, directly west
of the building, were scorched and only the fact that the walls of the Piper
building are thick and well constructed saved the church from the fire itself.
Hundreds of persons visited the
scene of the fire. But the full damage cannot be realized from the outside of
the building. It is the upstairs
apartment that shows the extent of the raging fire. And hardly anyone got up there. The exterior of the building, except for
broken windows, is practically untouched.
Funeral
Funeral services for Miss Piper
will be conducted at 2 a.m. Wednesday at the Nowack
funeral home, the Rev. Gerhard Redlin officiating. Interment will
be in Oak Hill cemetery.
Miss Piper was born here November
25, 1872, and lived here her entire life.
She is survived by the one sister and one brother. Another brother
preceded her in death. Several nieces
and nephews survive.
She was a member of St. Mark's
Lutheran church. For many years she
worked in the leather goods store. She
was among the best known women in the city, though in recent years she had
lived more or less in retirement.
1956
Watertown
Daily Times, 07 20 1956
An agreement for sale of the
Piper building at 508 Main Street was concluded today between the heirs of
Charles T. Piper, deceased, and Kehr Bros. of this
city. The building was occupied for many
years by the late Mr. Piper, who was a retailer of leather goods.
Kehr Bros. is one of the older
businesses of Watertown and the partnership will soon observe its 50th
anniversary as heating contractors. The
founders were Emil and Frank Kehr, who were
brothers. The present partners are
Donald A. Kehr and Robert T. Kehr,
their sons, who also sell, install and service ventilating and air conditioning
equipment as well as awnings.
Cross
Reference:
CHARLES T. PIPER HOME
1952 photo
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin