Great fire of 1913

Smyrna became a town for the second time in 1915 yet just two years before the business district was gutted by a major fire that few know about today. The fire is mentioned briefly in a few areas. On the MTSU Janus website of the Smyrna time line it simply states the following.

1913 - July 28, major fire struck downtown Smyrna destroying the bank, restaurant, livery stable, and other buildings

To give you an idea of what this implied you need to get an idea of scope and cost.

Here are two images that straddle that time in Smyrna history. The first is a section from the "1878 Rutherford County Beers Map" The basic layout for what is the down town of Smyrna is already there. You might note that there are 3 rail crossings, and a small pool right where one of the down town parking lots are. I have not been able to find anything out about this pond so I'm not sure why it was filled it.



Note on the image where the boundary of the town is on the bottom right. The sharp angle is important to place the town in the next picture.

This picture is "An aerial view of the Lane Cedar Chest Company, Smyrna, Tennessee. Note the stacks of cedar logs" from 11/26/1947, the other side of the great fire. Note that the Lane Ceder company borders up to property on that sharp angle as it hits the main road. I'm pretty sure this places the image right where Sam Davis road curves around and comes into contact with Lowry street. This really makes Smyrna look small even for the period. Not far from this area is the airbase, and all of the housing that went with it.

This was from the Dept. of Conservation Photograph Collection for those interested.

The fire occurred in July 28 and was large for its time. Large enough in fact to be mentioned in the Hopkinsville Kentuckian 4 days later.



Oddly enough the fire is still mentioned by some. The Sam Davis Masonic Lodge has this small section in their official history.

Charter members include: Rob L. Short, Sumner Sanders Jr., Henry G. Davis, Wilson Ward, G.H. Crossthwait, R.B. Denney, W.E. Fields, J.S. Gooch, Leroy Mckennon, Wm Short, J.C. Harris, W.H. Alexander, M.E. Neely, J.C. Hibbett, and J.C. McAdoo. The original charter, damaged by the great fire of 1913, still hangs in the lodge today.

Now time makes things seem small, so I went to the MeasuringWorth website that calculates for you the value of money over time. All of a sudden that $50,000 looks a sight larger.

$1,140,000.00 using the Consumer Price Index
$850,000.00 using the GDP deflator
$4,680,000.00 using the unskilled wage
$6,710,000.00 using the Production Worker Compensation
$5,820,000.00 using the nominal GDP per capita
$18,600,000.00 using the relative share of GDP

Depending on how you figure the value, it is either a lot of money, or a damn lot of money. Either way it was a major blow to a small town like Smyrna. The early town father in 1914 started having annual fairs, then electricity in 1915 followed by its official incorporation in the same year.

I wish I could find some period images of the aftermath to share with you. Sadly while state archives and collections sometimes have kept up with modern technology and the best ways to disseminate information, most have not, and Tennessee suffers that ailment.

The great fire of 1913 did a number on Smyrna, but the town bounced back and moved on...now I just wish I can find out what happened the the pool/pond downtown.