Pictured: Dr. Hess building being destroyed by fire
Article by the late Eldon Duelm
Sunday Night, February 17, 2005 at 10:17 p.m. a young lady rushed into the Bunker Hill Police Station saying that there was a house on fire up town. The Fire Department was dispatched.
By the time I arrived on the scene at about 10:30 p.m. fire lit up the sky and flames were shooting out of the back of the building. It appeared to me that the fire traveled up the wall and came out of the peak of the roof. Smoke was getting thick and everyone was scurrying around. Police were setting up roadblocks at the Post Office at Morgan Street and at the flagpole. Fire department equipment and firemen seemed to come from everywhere. Fire hoses were hooked to hydrants, a portable tank was set up in the center of town parking area. Lights were flashing, equipment was being unloaded and firemen were attacking the flames.
Tank trucks started pulling into the area emptying their load of water into the portable tank. A pumper was pumping the water from the tank into the lines which were directed onto the base of the fire plumes from the front yard, north side, east side, and from the roof of the United Community Bank just a very few feet from the south side of the burning building.
The Bunker Hill Area Ambulance and ambulance personnel set up nearby standing at the ready, "just in case". They also provided water to the firemen.
Soon spectators started swarming into the area standing on the sidewalk, Chiropractic Center parking lot and around the Lincoln Statue, some taking pictures, some taking videos, and some just standing there in awe to see this historic building being destroyed by flames.
Pictured: The Dr. Hess Building after the tornado of 1948
Pictured: Dr. Hess's building location at the time of the 1948 tornado. Bunker Hill was devastated by the tornado in the morning of March 19, 1948. Much of the uptown area was destroyed.
The building was something like our own being taken away from us - this historic building which was part of so many of our lives. We knew that it was soon going to be removed anyway, either by being relocated or by being dismantled, but we didn't expect it to go this way. We stood there in unbelief that this was happening. It was like, "pinch me to wake up and realize that this is like a bad dream". As the roof started caving in, windows began crashing, and the building started turning black at all the openings, we realized that this was not a dream, but reality.
I saw Dr. Dan and Richard Jones, owners, standing on the sideline not being able to do anything to change the situation. How frustrated and sad they must have felt.
It wasn't too long, but seemed like a long time, the fire was knocked down and only smoke was coming from the building, and finally, that stopped too.
This morning, as the light of day came, I came to work across the street at the Gazette-News, a sad feeling came over me as the burned out empty hulk became visible. A relic of history was no more.
Pictured: Dr. George Hess and wife, Lucile at a church dinner at Berean Baptist.
I got to thinking about the history of the location. Dr. Jones arranged for me to look at the abstract and here's what I found.
Jon Tilden, Moses True, and Ursula True, Moses' wife, received a certification survey dated April 6, 1836 performed by Luke Knowlton, Deputy County Surveyor. It included lots 127 and 128, which are each 66 feet front by 165 feet in depth.
The property conveyed to John Cavender for consideration of one dollar in 1836. It was then conveyed to Philander C. Huggins in 1841. Mr. Huggins departed this life January 18, 1892, and the property was left to his wife, Elizabeth F. Huggins. Frank E. Huggins and Mary E. Davis, his children and heirs. Elizabeth passed away May 17, 1903 and the property was left to Mary E. Davis and Henry S. Davis, Mary's husband. The property was then conveyed to Dr. Robert E. Bley, Sr. and Dr. Robert E. Bley, Jr in January of 1917. Dr. Bley Jr. passed away January 18, 1942 and the property was left by will to his wife, Gertie Mae Bley. Mrs. Bley conveyed the property by Warranty deed to Frank Keirle and Annie E. Keirle, Gertie's parents in March 1942. The property was then conveyed in December 1945 to Dr. George J. Hess and his wife, Lucile Hess. The last entry in the abstract that previewed was a Certification of Abstract of Title dated September 25, 1979.
The fire will apparently end of the story of the Dr. Hess building. We will continue to watch the location to see what the future will hold and provide a history that others can watch after we are gone.
Pictured is the Dr. Hess's building across from the Gazette-News
The building has apparently been a doctors office since Dr. Robert Bley and his son, Dr. Robert Bley, Jr. acquired it in 1917 and then Dr. Hess in 1945. Now that Dr. Jones has acquired the property, hopefully it will continue its tradition as a location for healing.
Pictured: The Dr. Hess Building before adding to the south side and putting the upstairs entrance inside.
It is Gone!!
Article by the late Eldon Duelm
Pictured: the Chimney came rumbling down on Sat. April 2, 2005
The last remnants of a Bunker Hill Landmark came tumbling down Saturday morning about 7:45 a.m.
The Dr. Hess building started its demolition on Monday of the last week, March 25. First the back side of the building was drawn down by a backhoe bucket. The structure came down a little at a time and debris piled up and then hauled away. The bucket kept nibbling away at the structure until only the large chimney on the south side stayed standing. All of the other debris was cleaned away and out of the basement. Then the bucket was placed behind the chimney about three-fourths of the way up and the chimney pulled northward. It came down with an earth moving boom. I was sitting in the car on the north side of the property and the earth shook like an explosion. The chimney fell neatly into the basement like it was supposed to.
Pictured: The Apothecary Shoppe inside the front entrance of Dr. Hess's office area
Mary Vaughn (Dr. Hess' daughter) and her husband Bill picked up several of the rocks that were part of the beautiful fireplace on the second floor and took them with them at momentos. Mary said, "We had a number of pictures taken in front of that fireplace so I just had to have something to remember." I also took a couple of the rocks to place in the museum. They were white rocks and two sides were covered with ash from the fire that destroyed the home on February 27th.
On Monday morning, April 4, the lot was leveled and there was no longer a basement.
--Cite this story: The Bunker Hill IL Historical Society. "A Look Back in Bunker Hill History." Bunker Hill Gazette-News, February 2005, February 2, 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment