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Important Fires in
Hoboken History
1897:
A fire in a blacksmith shop at Adams and Newark Streets causes the death
of three people.
1900:A fire
at a pier warehouse spreads to three ships of the North German Lloyd Fleet,
burns for three days and kills 300 people. It causes $5 million in property
damage.
- Fire claims thirteen
lives at Adams and First Streets.
1905: The Lackawanna
Ferryhouse and the famous Duke's House Restaurant and Tavern are destroyed
by a fire. The ferry boats Hopatcong and Binghamton are also destroyed.
1908: A gas
tank at the corner of Twelfth and Clinton Streets burns for six days.
1915: The famous
Hexamer's Riding Academy at 215 Hudson St. is destroyed.
1921: Thirteen
people lose their lives at the Palace Hotel on Newark Street.
- Fire totally destroys
Pier 5, with damage estimated at $3 million. However the contents of
the pier- 5,795 bodies of United States Servicemen being returned from
France - are saved.
1937: A blaze
destroys the entire block east of Hudson Street between Eleventh and Twelfth
streets, including the R. G. Matthews Corporation.
1944: Pier
4 is destroyed with damage exceeding $4 million.
1949:
Nine fireman, including Capt. Martin Sinatra, father of Frank Sinatra, the singer, were injured or overcome by smoke last night battling a blaze in Hoboken that gutted a five-story manufacturing loft building on Washington Street and spread to two adjoining buildings. Damage was estimated at $25,000 . Smoke covered an area of two square blocks. Several thousand spectators flocked to the scene and traffic was disrupted on Washington Street for several hours.
Captain Sinatra was treated at the scene for smoke poisoning. Other firemen treated were Michael Sheridan, smoke poisoning and arm injury; Daniel Murphy, smoke poisoning; John Coyle, hand injury; John McKnight, hand injury; Michael Stiles, smoke poisoning; John Stetson, burns of the left arm; Walter Schlicher, smoke poisoning, and Joseph O'Brien, stomach injuries. Fire companies were called from Union City and Jersey City to battle the blaze, which was of undetermined origin. It was discovered at 7:45 p.m. and brought under control within an hour after the first companies reached the scene.
1967: A tenement
house fire kills five people at 415 Monroe St., the birthplace of Frank
Sinatra. (Incidentally, Frank's father Anthony, had joined the fire department
in 1927 and was promoted to the rank of Captain in 1944.)
1973: An arson
fire at a tenement at Eleventh Street and Willow Avenue claims 11 lives.
1979: An arson
fire at 131 Clinton Street claims 21 lives.
1981: An arson
fire claims 11 lives at a tenement at Twelfth and Washington Streets.
1982: An arson
fire at Pinter's Hotel at Fourteenth Street claims 12 lives.
1985: A fire
starts at the old Levelor Blinds Building on Monroe Street between Eighth
and Ninth Streets and destroys 30 businesses, eight industrial firms and
92 cars. It also damages 14 homes. Two-thousand jobs are lost, and the
estimated damage is $10 million.
1988: Firefighter Robert Mazzo’s Last Alarm
1994: A tenement
fire at 308 Madison Street claims two lives. One child was rescued from
the burning apartment. The fire alarm system was not in operation at the
time of the fire.
1997: Fire
in a 10 story senior citizen complex claims three lives. Fire Captain
makes rescue despite serious injury incurred during rescue.
1998: All hands
fire at 917 Clinton Street seriously damaging three 5 story attached apartment
buildings. Fire spread horizontally via numerous hidden voids in construction.
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