Many descriptions of the Great Gratz Fire of November 4, 1924, have been published – including the accounts of newspapers of the local area and region and summaries of the fire written specially for local histories.
It is believed that the fire began behind the Union House on the southeast corner of Center Street and Market Street. When it was finally extinguished, it appeared to have taken out half of the main square of the town – at least ten buildings burned to the ground!
The account that follows here was written by Laura [Troutman] Reed, a Lykens Township resident who witnessed the fire.
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Early in the morning after the big fire – about four a. m., my father was awakened by the barking of our dog. He thought the barking was unusual, so he went outside to investigate. As soon as he was out where he could see around, he noticed that the sky was very red in the direction of Gratz. It appeared to be a huge fire.
My dad, James Troutman, hurried back into the house and awoke my mother and us children. Everyone of us got into our car and we started for town. On the way we stopped to pick up Isaac Troutman and brought him along. When we arrived in town, the fire had been burning for some time, and at that point the roof of the house that Katie Muth now [1987] owns was on fire. The men were fighting that fire and managed to put it out without much damage.
Water hoses were everywhere! Water was being pumped from private wells – the only source of supply.
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From Memories, Volume 2, Gratz Historical Society, 1987.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.