LYON COUNTY GENEALOGY
GREAT FIRES
One of the most disastrous conflagrations of this county was in February 1889, at Rock Rapids, when Union block was destroyed. The loss was over sixty thousand dollars. The entire block was ruined, including all the civic society lodge rooms, together with their effects, except those of the Masonic Chapter. The records of the city council were all lost. The Lyon County Bank was burned, but the vaults were saved.
The same year, in November, the First National Bank block was burned, with several smaller buildings, causing the loss of many thousand dollars.
June 6, 1884, the Beloit gristmill and the woolen factory were totally destroyed by fire.
Among the great fires in Rock Rapids was as early as 1884, in the month of January, when many business houses and residences were destroyed—loss $16,000.
Another disastrous fire was at Larchwood in October 1891, when Capt. W. W. Gardner’s grain warehouse and contents were totally consumed, at a loss to him of over four thousand dollars.
Webization by Kermit Kittleson - Aug. 2006