The Chincoteague Fire of 1924

    Snow was falling the evening of Monday, February 25, 1924 on Chincoteague, but people were still at work at 9 p.m. at the Whealton Oyster Company.  John T. Mears, who had lost his home in the 1920 fire, was the manger that night, and was helping other employees roll out barrels of oysters by hand, when two of his sons ran in.  The young men breathlessly reported that the Farmers' Manufacturing Company, which made the barrels for their oysters was ablaze - and it was next door to the Whealton Oyster Company.  The flames were spreading quickly, fueled by a steady northeast breeze.  Mears and his fellow employees managed get all of the barrels out of their shucking house just before the roof collapsed.  

   The fire had spread to the company docks, and the boats there met a fiery fate as well.  The flames engulfed the entire Railroad Dock and all of their buildings. Then the "Big Store" caught fire, too.  Daniel (D. J.) Whealton owned most of the Whealton Oyster Company, Incorporated, and had been the leading figure that organized it in 1888.  He had  joined in with his older brother, Joshua, and built a mercantile store where Don's Seafood Restaurant currently stands, as his first commercial outing on the island.  Daniel was soon making more money than Joshua, and opened the oyster business.  The Whealton Mercantile, locally known as the "Big Store," extended credit to other watermen who did not fare as well as he and his brother.  The Big Store was 3 stories high, 52 feet deep, and 281 feet long, and was the largest store on the Eastern Shore.  When weather was good, the unemployed could be found on the store's front porch early in the morning, hoping to be hired for the day to harvest the huge oyster beds owned by the Whealton brothers.  The store was usually open until 11 o'clock each evening, Sundays included.

The "Big Store" about a decade before the 1924 fire

   This time, the small Chincoteague Fire Brigade was able to fight the fire.  And they had luck, in that a house had been removed from a lot south of the "Big Store," and that vacant lot became the southern stopping point of the fire.  That lot was just south of the entrance to the Robert Reed Waterside Park, where the old toll bridge joined the island.  Pocomoke City firefighters came to help fight the fire, but found it was contained by midnight, and had to burn itself out, according to Kirk Mariner's book, Once Upon An Island.  (This report of the fire assistance and aid is at odds with newspaper reports.)

  Tuesday morning brought a view of the new destruction.  Thousands of dollars worth of clams and oysters had burned; docks were gone; at least two boats destroyed; the railroad docks, warehouses and offices; the Whealton Oyster Company; the Farmers' Manufacturing Company; and the Whealton Mercantile.   The Mercantile lost $30,000 worth of inventory in the fire.  The "Big Store" had also housed the offices of several professionals, including Dr. William M. Burwell.  The heat from the fire was so intense that several buildings on the east side of Main Street were damaged, including the new Masonic Temple, and - again - the Marine Bank, which had to be rebuilt after the 1920 fire.

   The Whealton Mercantile had been leased to another company in late 1923, and the signage read "Belote, Lewis & Company" at the time of the 1924 fire; but the people of Chincoteague still referred to it as the "Big Store."   (As an aside, D. J. Whealton moved to Salisbury, Maryland in late 1924, and died on April 28, 1925 in a hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  His funeral was held on Chincoteague, but he is buried in Parsons Cemetery in Salisbury.  When he started his businesses in Chincoteague, D. J. was already the manager of a high-class hotel in Philadelphia, making $6,000 per year.  He dabbled in real estate and financial backings, and became the first millionaire on Chincoteague.)

   On Tuesday, February 26th, The Baltimore Sun newspaper ran the following article on page 8:

"Night Fire Threatens To Raze Chincoteague  -  Several Valuable Buildings In Business Section Of Virginia Town Destroyed  -  Salisbury, Feb. 25 (Special).  -  Destruction of the entire town of Chincoteague, Va., was threatened for a time last night by a fire which occurred in the midst of a snow and hail storm.  Only the direction of the wind, blowing out across Chincoteague Bay, saved the place, it was reported.

   Several valuable structures in the business section were razed, however, before the blaze was brought under control.  This was accomplished by the Pocomoke City fire department, which had been summoned hastily when the fire began to spread.  The Chincoteague chemical apparatus broke down in the emergency and calls were sent for outside help.

   Large quantities of seafood awaiting shipment were burned when the flames destroyed the freight station of the Pennsylvania Railroad.  All the other buildings destroyed belonged to Daniel J. Whealton, of Philadelphia.  These were the Norfolk Barrel Company, where the blaze originated; the large department store of the Lewis-Belote Company, a machine shop, and the offices and shucking house of the Whealton Oyster Company." 

   The Evening Journal of Wilmington, Delaware printed an article on page 12 on Tuesday afternoon:  "$300,000 BLAZE SWEEPS CENTER OF CHINCOTEAGUE  -  Fire Destroys Pennsylvania's Wharves and Many Buildings in Heart of Oyster Industry  -  Snow Storm Blocks Aid From Nearby Villages As 5000 Watch Businesses Burn  -  Chincoteague, Va., Feb. 26.  -- Devastating fire, fanned by strong winds and snow, last night swept this island town.  Its isolated position, connected by a series of bridges to the Eastern Shore of Virginia, 38 miles to the south of Ocean City, added to the peril.

   The 5000 citizens of the island gathered helplessly to watch their meager apparatus - a half-effective engine and a bucket brigade - fight the raging flames, while fire departments from Snow Hill, 30 miles away, and Pocomoke City, 16 miles away, raced to the rescue through a blinding snow storm.

   The loss was estimated at at least $300,000, including wharves and great quantities of oysters ready for shipment yesterday to Baltimore and other big markets.  The industry was badly crippled, it was reported.

   Shortly after 11 P. M. communication with the island was cut off when the main wire burned through, just when the fire was reported under control.

   The principal buildings known to have been destroyed were:

The T. W. Wyford barrel factory. [Henry W. Twyford]

The Pennsylvania Railroad Wharf and freight station.

Delot and Brothers, warehouse and general merchandise store.

Lloyd's Department Store, a three-story structure.

A number of oyster houses and lesser buildings.

   The loss, it was predicted, as likely to cripple the community.  There was virtually no insurance because of the almost prohibitive high rates.

   The fire was said to have begun at about 9 P. M. in the barrel factory, a huge frame building, which in a few minutes became a roaring furnace.  The flames spread quickly to the Pennsylvania Railroad's building and others on the west side of the island.

   For a time it threatened the foot of the bridge that joins the island, over a series of smaller islands and swamps, with Virginia's Eastern Shore mainland.

   Hurry calls were sent to the fire departments of Pocomoke City, Snow Hill and Salisbury, but the Salisbury department was unable to undertake the 40-mile trip because of the snowstorm that had already laid three inches of heavy snow on the ground.

   The Pocomoke department, first to arrive at the scene, laid hose leads into ocean inlets and threw thousands of gallons of salt water into the flames.  Augmented by the Snow Hill apparatus, which arrived soon afterward, they halted the fire's progress.

   Most of the island is owned by Daniel T. Whealton, who received word at Salisbury, Md., of the progress of the fire.  

   He declared the oyster industry of Chincoteague, which furnished occupation for most of the inhabitants, evidently had been dealt a severe blow.  The full extent of the damage cannot be determined, he said, until an inventory is taken.

   There was no damage to the residential district, but for a time it was feared the flames would sweep down the west side of the town's only street into the nest of little houses where the bulk of the population live." 

Residential area on Main Street, long before both fires

   The Salisbury, Maryland newspaper, The Daily Times, on Monday, 10 March 1924, printed on page 5:  "Chincoteague Will Re-Build Section  -  Citizens Undaunted By Fire Which Destroyed Many Buildings  -  It  is reported on Chincoteague that the district swept by fire there Monday night, February 25th, will be rebuilt at an early date.  According to this rumor the railroad company will build a concrete wharf and depot and will have separate departments for incoming and outgoing freight.  In addition there will be a large office to take care of the clerical force and their work.  On the site of the big store it is rumored that Mr. D. J. Whealton will erect a large building suitable for two stores on the front with offices for the Whealton Fish Co., and for himself, a large barrel company 60x80 feet, and an up-to-date oyster shucking house and ice storage on the water front.

   At the present time J. T. Powell is having erected across the street from the Wm. C. Bunting stores on Main Street a large concrete block theatre, which will be moved [used] for his moving picture business.  This building is practically shut in at this time and a large force of carpenters are working on the inside.  Between the theatre and the Masonic Temple the Bank of Chincoteague will erect its new home at an early date.  The plan and specifications are now in the hands of contractors, who are getting ready to submit their bids for the work.  On the lot at this time are the bricks which will be used in the construction of the building.  The plans for the new building were drawn by the same architect who drew the plans for the Citizens Bank, Pocomoke City and it is said the plans call for a front similar to that of the Citizens Bank."

   It was long rumored that Henry W. Twyford's wife, Ethel, had set fire to the barrel-making company's building "out of spite" against her husband, the owner and manager.  No one was ever charged with starting the fire.

  The following is taken directly from the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company's website:

"These events caused a little band of men with the same courage and determination by the founders of this great country, to organize against this evil force.  The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company was organized in May 1924, with 14 members.  Mr. Lee Roy Conant was elected president, and Mr. Eba Jones Fire Chief.  There were no funds to purchase equipment to carry on the work of this organization.  The sum of $4.16 was acquired by the "passing of the hat" and the company was launched into being."

   The CVFC asked the Chincoteague Town Council to be allowed to hold an annual carnival and use its proceeds for purchasing fire equipment to protect the island's residents, buildings and businesses.  On 11 June 1925, the Town Council decreed that "the fire equipment be turned over to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company" and that the said Company ".. is hereby authorized to hold a carnival."