Fire damages Asylum Avenue Baptist Church

1. John S. Taylor discovered the fire while he was getting the church ready for Sunday service.
   • He smelled smoke and then saw a “blaze in the woodwork near the smokestack of the steam boiler.”
   • He threw two pails of water on the fire.
2. Taylor ran to the Company 5 firehouse at the corner of Sigourney and Niles Streets.
3. Taylor ran past George Hernes, a Hartford police officer standing at Asylum and Sigourney, and Hernes shouted to him.
   • Taylor did not stop for Hernes

John Taylor alerted the firefighters to the fire.

Firefighters reached the church and opened the doors, and a cloud of smoke emerged.

George Hernes sounded the alarm at Box 137 at Asylum Avenue and Sigourney Street.

• Engines 5, 4, and 14 with Truck 1 responded

A second alarm was ordered.

• Engines 12, 8, and 2 with Truck 4 responded.

John C. Moran arrived to direct the firefighters’ efforts.

1. The fire spread rapidly through the center of the building to the tower above
   • The wooden pipes of the organ, which were directly below the tower, served as fuel for the flames.
   • The fire “mushroomed under the slate roof and upward through the tower.”
2. Water from the fire hoses froze almost instantly on any surface it struck

• The sidewalks became very slippery
• Mist from the water froze on the hoses, encasing them in ice

3. Firefighters were able to contain the fire to the church building.

• Neighboring buildings were spared by the firefighters’ efforts to contain the fire and a covering of snow on their roofs, which extinguished any sparks landing on them.

1. Four individuals entered the pastor’s study. They were

• an unidentified member of the church’s general committee
• Colbert K. Barrows
• Robert B. Barrows
• Henry J. Marsh

These four “removed a bookcase full of church records.”  They also rescued the silver communion service.

2. Thirty police officers closed Asylum Avenue and Sigourney Street at the church directed traffic around the closure.
   • The police officers were supervised by Stanley J. Riley, Frank J. Gunshanan, and Francis W. Spellman
3. Children from the Trinity Church Sunday School brought hot coffee to the firefighters
   • Raymond Cunningham oversaw the children in this endeavor
4. Frank B. Haggard received offers from Immanuel Congregational Church, Trinity Episcopal Church, and Asylum Hill Congregational Church for use of their churches for Sunday service for members of Asylum Avenue Baptist Church
   • Haggard declined the offers, deciding to cancel the service for today instead.

According to the Courant, it took three hours to put the fire out.

The last fire equipment was removed from the scene.

Philip A. Mason ordered that the church tower demolished.

1. The church’s tower would be demolished tomorrow, per Philip Mason’s order.
2. The church’s general committee planned to hold a meeting tomorrow at the home of the pastor, Frank B. Haggard, at 31 Linwold Drive in West Hartford. Attendees would discuss finding a temporary facility for church meetings and whether or not the church should rebuild at 868 Asylum Avenue.
3. The annual meeting of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church was scheduled for February 5, 1931, at which time they would ratify their invitation to Asylum Avenue Baptist Church to use their facilities.

1. “It was not until the fire apparatus was approaching that the policeman realized that the church was on fire.”
2. “The freezing temperature and early hour kept the crowd witnessing the fire to small numbers although the columns of smoke which arose drifted high in the air and could be seen for miles during its earlier stages.”
3. “Many of those who were attracted to the blaze returned to their homes before the fire was out, but pedestrians passing on the way to morning services paused briefly to look at the smouldering ruins.”

1. John S. Taylor was the church’s janitor.
2. John C. Moran was the Hartford Fire Chief.
3. Colbert K. Barrows and Robert B. Barrows were sons of Edwin K. Barrows, who was the assistant auditor at Travelers Insurance Company.
4. Henry J. Marsh was a Hartford Police Officer.
5. Stanley J. Riley, Frank J. Gunshanan, and Francis W. Spellman were all sergeants in the Hartford Police Department.
6. Raymond Cunningham was the rector at Trinity Episcopal Church.
7. Frank B. Haggard was the pastor at the Asylum Avenue Baptist Church.
8. Philip A. Mason was the Hartford building superintendent.
9. W. D. Mackenzie was the acting pastor at Asylum Hill Congregational Church.
10. The Courant got the date of the fire at the Talcott Street Catholic Church wrong: the article published on February 2, 1931 gave the date as March 27, 1853, but according to the Courant’s contemporary account, the fire took place on May 11, 1853.

Unattributed.  “Fire largest recorded in church here,” Hartford Courant, February 2, 1931, page 19.

Unattributed.  “Fire totally destroys Asylum Ave. Baptist Church; Loss $125,000,” Hartford Courant, February 2, 1931, page 1.