Fire at the Asylum Hill Nursery

1. Just prior to this fire, another, more damaging fire began downtown, at around 3:00 AM.
2. The Sigourney Street Firehouse was on alert for the downtown fire, and consequently they were able to respond very quickly to the fire at the Asylum Hill Nursery.

Robert Marchant, a firefighter stationed at the Sigourney Street Firehouse, may well have helped fight this fire.

“The indications are that the fire burned through from the outside of the roof and not from the inside – leading to the suspicion that it was the work of an incendiary.”

1. The Sigourney Street Firehouse was then, as it is today, on the corner of Sigourney and Niles Streets.
2. The fire downtown happened at Peckham’s Market, in the Allyn Hall building. Damage to the market would require it to temporarily relocate while repairs were made, but the Courant speculated that the damage to the building was not extensive.  However, the Courant also reported that a firefighter, George Mather, was injured while trying to save some materials from the market.

Unattributed.  “Sunday morning fires,” Hartford Daily Courant, page 2.