The First "Big" Fire on Chincoteague Island Was 102 Years Ago Today, September 5th

This is my own synopsis of the first "big" fire:  On September 5th, 1920, a fire started in the ice cream parlor owned by L. N. Doughty, at what is now 4102 Main Street.  He had paid a 15-year-old boy $10 to start the fire.  Doughty was charged twice by the Grand Jury, but was never convicted due to insufficient evidence.  The boy confessed when confronted.  The boy stated he had started the fire in a specific place; but the fires inspector said the fire started elsewhere in the business.  The young man was also charged and acquitted by a jury.   The fire was first spotted and and the locals alerted at 1 a.m.

Main Street, about 1915

There was a "stiff northwest wind" blowing. The buildings on both sides of the ice cream parlor caught fire.  The island's volunteer fire brigade arrived, but the fire engine would not function. Firemen from the U. S. Coast Guard Stations at Assateague, Wallops and Pope's Islands arrived to help fight the fire. When it was over, the fire had burned the east side of Main Street from Church Street to just south of Mumford Street, and as far to the east as what is now 6251 Mumford Street.  The Island Hotel that D. J. Whealton had built in 1887 was one of the first buildings consumed by flames; it had contained the town post office, a shoe repair shop, and five (some reports say seven) apartments.  The Atlantic Hotel, with 52 guest rooms, was also a total loss; it stood where the Roxy Island Theater is now.  The new Marine Bank was also burned, as well as the homes of John T. Mears, Charles Jeffries and William C. Bunting.  Multiple newspapers reported that 17 buildings were destroyed.  Luckily, there were no fatalities.  Many newspapers stated that 2,500 islanders were left homeless (which was a great exaggeration).  Teaguers have always assisted one another, and people who lost their homes were taken in by family and friends while rebuilding was underway.  -  And, please remember that at the time, Main Street was curved and had buildings set at very different and odd angles from what exists today.

Main Street, about 1918 -  The "Big Store" (Whealton

Mercantile) on the right is where Don's Seafood is today

First, two of the more exaggerated reports.  From The Baltimore Sun on 6 September 1920, on page 1:

"Chincoteague Wiped Out By Early Morning Fire 

Virginia Town Reported Entirely Obliterated And All Its Inhabitants Homeless. 

[Special Dispatch to The Sun]  

   Philadelphia, Sept. 5.  -  The entire town of Chincoteague, Va., situated on Chincoteague Island, a short distance out at sea from Franklin City, was wiped out by fire early this morning.  There were no fatalities.

   Word of the disaster reached this city tonight by the private telephone of the United States Coast Guard Service.  It is believed from the meagre information that was received from that source that all telegraphic and telephonic communication between the island and the mainland has been cut off by the fire.  Many of the homeless inhabitants of the town have been removed to towns along the peninsula.

   According to the coast guards, only a few of the isolated buildings on the island, which is but seven miles in length and two and a half miles wide, are left standing.  The origin of the blaze is undetermined.  The residents of Chincoteague are nearly all fisher folk, although a few are engaged in breeding the Chincoteague ponies for which the island is famous.  Numbers of these ponies were burned, it is believed.

   The fire started shortly after midnight and gained headway so rapidly that when the alarm was turned in the volunteer fire department could do little to check it.  Several pieces of the apparatus were out of order, it was learned, and that further impeded the work."  

The Atlantic Hotel, about 1912

From The Columbus Ledger of Columbus, Georgia, on 6 September 1920, on page 6:

"Fire Practically Destroys a Little Town in Virginia

   Richmond, Va., Sept. 6.  -  Fire yesterday practically destroyed the town of Chincoteague, rendering 25,000 persons homeless.  Elmer Watson, a ship worker suffered a fracture of the skull by falling from the roof of his home and is in a critical condition today.  No estimate of the loss has been ascertained here."  

The newly built brick Marine Bank, after the 1920 fire

6 Sept. 1920  -  The News Journal of Wilmington, DE, Monday, page 1, two column headline, article in column 1:

  "FIRE WRECKS BANK, HOTEL, STORES AND DWELLINGS AT CHINCOTEAGUE, VA.  

Blaze, Which Caused Heavy Loss, Started at 1 O'clock in the Morning in the Heart of the Town, But Firemen and Coast Guards Confined it to Small Area. 

MANY OF THE RESIDENTS TEMPORARILY HOMELESS.  

Origin of Fire, Which Started in Ice Cream Saloon, is Unknown.  

TRADE NOT INTERRUPTED  

All Whose Homes Were Burned Were Cared for by Neighbors.  

 -  Special Dispatch to Every Evening  -  

  CHINCOTEAGUE, VA., SEPT. 6.   -    The business section of Chincoteague was visited by a serious fire early yesterday morning, which destroyed the new Marine Bank, the Atlantic Hotel, a number of business houses and dwellings.

  The loss has not been estimated, but it will probably reach $300,000, with some insurance.

  The origin of the fire is unknown, but it is thought by some to have been caused by electric wires, which, however, may never be determined.  It started in the ice cream saloon of Lewis Doughty, and as nobody was about at the time, there is no way of telling just how it did start.

  The following buildings were destroyed:

New Marine Bank building, which had not yet been occupied, having just been completed.

Atlantic Hotel.

William C. Bunting's general store and dwelling.

Charles Burton's store and dwelling.

C. W. Bradley's store.

Charles Jeffries' home.

Several small dwellings owned by Mr. Bunting.

John Mears' home.

        SOME HEAVY LOSSES.

  Mr. Bunting is believed to be the heaviest individual loser, his loss being estimated at $25,000.  How much insurance he carried is not known.  There was $3,000 insurance on the Atlantic Hotel.

  What was destroyed comprised one block on the east side of Main street, and, while it makes a hole in the business section of the town, it will not interfere seriously with trade.  Due to the good work of firemen and coast guards, who helped them, the blaze did not reach across to the west side of Main street.

  A number of guests were asleep in the Atlantic Hotel, but all got out safely and they were able to save their belongings.  Dr. Emory E. Bell, who lives opposite the hotel, fearing for the safety of his home, moved out temporarily, but was back this morning, his place having sustained no damage.

          HOMES FOR THE HOMELESS.

  Although many persons had their homes burned, they were taken care of by neighbors or other residents of Chincoteague.

  Only one injury marked the night's fire fight.  Elmer Watson, a pilot, fell from the roof of his home and fractured his skull. His condition is critical.

The US Coast Guard boats were pumping water from the area above

(photo 1919/20) and directing their hose to flow over and between the

buildings on the west side of Main Street in those early hours of 5 Sept.

  One of the picturesque incidents of the fire was the help rendered by the apparatus of the United States coast guard service.  The nearest station is on Assateague Island, two and one-half miles further out to sea.

  From his lonely post at the Assateague station the lookout on duty saw the flames and notified his commanding officer, Chief Petty Officer Henry M. Taylor.  Ordering a general alarm turned in to the other two stations, Taylor called out all the available men and got the fire apparatus in a boat.  Then they started the long grind to Chincoteague.

  It was back-breaking work at the oars, with the wind and tide against them; but they rowed tirelessly toward the island, lighted only by the flames of the burning town.  All three detachments arrived simultaneously and they did what they could to halt the fire.

  Chincoteague is the principal settlement on an island across the bay from Franklin City, the island being seven miles long and two and a half miles wide.  Of the 4,000 inhabitants most of them live in the town."

Main Street in 1935 - from left, the bank, BAE, and Sunsations, etc. -

downtown was rebuilt with brick and stone after the fires...