Fire at the Schmidt Bros. Co. Engine Works Factory

November 13, 1913, was a typical fall day at the engine factory. The weather was turning colder, with overnight temperatures dipping into the low 20s (F). On this particular Thursday, the temperature had risen into the 50s by early afternoon. Using the door in the extreme northeast corner of the factory, Plant Fireman Al Howard brought a horse-drawn wagon in to get a load of engines ready for shipment.

Along the driveway into the plant was an abandoned elevator shaft piled full of empty barrels. The fireman was the first to notice smoke coming from the elevator shaft. It was 1:40 p.m. He ran into the factory, yelling “Fire! The factory’s on fire!”

Plant Superintendent F.W. Bunch was in the shipping room when Howard rushed in shouting about the fire. He called out to several of the men to grab chemical fire extinguishers and a number of them hurried to the fire’s source. The extinguishers had little effect, and the fire quickly spread toward them. Bunch and Shipping Clerk August Kroeger ran out a door into the alley adjoining the plant on the east side. There they turned in the alarm to the fire department

Howard also rushed into the fire with an extinguisher, to little avail. He then tried to get into the boiler room to gather his street clothes but couldn’t get in. He ducked out a door to the outside just as a fire wagon arrived. The firemen asked him to take the horses, which he did, leading them by alley to Third Street.

A few blocks away, Ben Schmidt was having lunch at home. He was interrupted when a neighbor rapped on his window, calling his attention to the clouds of smoke. “I believe it is your factory,” he said. Schmidt concurred and quickly rushed to the scene by auto.

Office workers rally to save records

On the second floor, directly above the boiler room, was the paint room, where quantities of varnish, gasoline and paint were stored. At the time of the fire, there was no one on the second floor. Head Painter Charley Koch reached the top of the stairs but could get no further. As Koch attempted to return to the tool room to retrieve his personal items, his overalls caught fire. Foreman Toolmaker H.T. Becke was also stopped by flames as he tried to get his coat. Bunch and Kroeger returned to the plant, but the fire had advanced so much they knew the factory was doomed and they fled for their lives.

The company’s administrative offices were housed in the southwest corner of the factory, where several girls worked as stenographers and clerks. Hearing of the fire in the building and seeing smoke, they leapt into action, seizing ledgers and throwing them into the company’s concrete vault. The eight girls and four men who worked in the office made a heroic effort to save the company’s important documents.

Just as the vault was about to be closed, 14-year-old office boy Chris Krogmann ran in, clutching a heavy volume containing shipping department records. He had gone to the eastern end of the factory to get them, with heavy smoke pouring throughout. The shipping records were added to the vault, it was locked and the clerks evacuated the building. Krogmann’s own belongings, his hat and coat, were consumed by the fire.

Neighboring homes and businesses threatened by nearby blaze

Outside the building, the fire drew a crowd. A stiff north wind pushed flames through the factory buildings. The heat from the blaze was quite intense, endangering houses across the street to the south of the factory. Families in houses south and east of the plant were evacuated. The intense heat badly scorched the houses and many windows were broken. The Fuhs Blue Print Paper Co. just east of the engine factory also was destroyed by the fire.

All companies of the Davenport Fire Department responded to the fire. The city had seven hose and two ladder companies, with 20 horses and nearly 40 paid firemen. The closest company to the plant was Hose Co. #7 on Fourth Street, less than a block away. The time of the fire call delayed the response, as some firefighters were on their lunch break. Several wagons arrived with just two men, one to stand at the hydrant and the other to drive. The rest of the men soon arrived by foot.

During the fire, explosions scattered flaming debris through surrounding neighborhoods. Claiming there were no large quantities of gasoline inside, employees attributed the explosions to oil containers.

It quickly was apparent to the firefighters that the factory was beyond saving and efforts were turned to saving surrounding houses. Water was directed onto several. During the height of the blaze, telephone and electric wires in front of the plant fell onto the trolley wires. Power had been cut off shortly prior, averting more serious issues. Trolley service was interrupted for several hours during the fire.

At 2:35 p.m., only an hour after it was reported, the fire was declared under control. Firemen pulled down the building’s west wall shortly after. Firemen remained on the scene until 8 p.m. to monitor the fire. A small blaze reignited in the early morning; Company #7 returned to put it down.

The next morning, the only thing still standing at the site was the company’s concrete vault. The entire structure had burned to the ground. Schmidt Bros. Co. Engine Works was no more.

Entwined businesses expand rapidly

Various manufacturers operated at the site before the Schmidts arrived on the scene. As early as 1877, W.H. Voss built washing machines in a small building next to his home at 1330 W. Third Street. As the business grew, his brothers joined him, creating Voss Bros. Mfg. Co. The adjacent property at 1332-1342 W. Third Street was acquired and additional factory buildings were built as operations expanded into manufacture of stairs, office and store fixtures.

In 1898, the Schmidt brothers bought the western portion of the factory complex from Voss and began producing doors, windows and blinds, complementing the Voss offering. Schmidt Bros. became Davenport Ice Chipping Machine Co. in 1903, and ice chipping machine manufacture was added.

Over the next several years, Voss made further expansions to the eastern portion of the factory. With purchase of the engine business from White Lily, the Schmidt brothers also enlarged the western factory, doubling it in size with a large single-story addition in 1909. In 1910, Voss built a new factory on W. Second Street. After that, Schmidt Bros. expanded to take over the eastern portion of the Voss factory at Third Street.

What was left of Schmidt Bros. Co. Engine Works

Wood frame construction was used for all of the factory buildings. The boiler and engine room in the eastern side of the factory was surrounded by brick walls, and the boiler room in the western side used wood and brick construction for walls. The boilers were used for heating and were in operation in November. Electricity powered the plant’s lights and various motors.

The day after the fire, Schmidt Bros. stockholders met at the offices of a nearby law firm, but no decision was made as to rebuilding. The company had $95,250 insurance in force. Because of its high cost, additional coverage totaling $18,000 had been cancelled on November 1. While the company awaited an insurance settlement, the law office served as its temporary headquarters.

On December 29, Schmidt Bros. leaders dissolved the company and dispersed the assets to the stockholders. Ads for the sale of salvageable remains from the factory – machinery, bricks, white pine joists, tools and a boiler – appeared in local newspapers during the next month. Charred wood was given away for the hauling, and the property was put up for sale. The filing for official dissolution of the company finally came on November 25, 1914. All assets had been disposed of and all liabilities resolved. Just over $70,000 in stock remained outstanding, funds that stockholders would not recover.

Advances in fire protection come too late for Schmidt Bros.

The fire at the Schmidt Bros. factory was the worst such incident in Davenport in all of 1913. A total of 365 fires were reported in Davenport that year, with losses totaling nearly $262,000. The Schmidt fire alone accounted for over half of that figure, its losses totaling $134,500, with more than $37,000 of that uninsured.

The business of fire insurance was in an evolutionary phase in the second half of the 19th century. During that time, the insurance industry began to use more systematic and increasingly accurate methods of assessing risk and calculating insurance costs.

Fire insurance maps were a key tool used in defining such risks. The maps detailed a city’s fire protection infrastructure, including fire hydrants, water mains and fire alarm boxes. By the beginning of the 20th century, Sanborn Map Co. dominated the mapping industry, eventually providing maps for more than 20,000 cities and towns in the U.S. Updated regularly, the maps were also useful in code enforcement and compliance. Over time, building practices designed to improve fire prevention helped drive down risk and occurrence.

B.L. Schmidt Co. forms in 1914

In a short newspaper article in mid-January 1914, formation of a new company – B.L. Schmidt Co. – was announced. A factory at 417 W. Fourth Street had been secured to manufacture ice chipping machines. Bernard L. Schmidt was named president of the new firm (Franz L. Schmidt died in August 1912).

The new company continued in support of the previous engine business by offering replacement parts, but no complete engines were produced. A new product – a cylinder-grinding machine – was developed under the tradename of “Micro Machine.” In 1922, the company was renamed Micro Machine Co. Ice chipping machines remained in the company’s line into the 1920s. Ben Schmidt died in 1937.

Today, the former site of the Schmidt Bros. Co. Engine Works factory on West Third Street is occupied by a couple of small businesses, a clothing store and a transmission shop. FC

Barry Tuller is a collector of gas engines and related belt-driven equipment, literature and advertising. He enjoys learning about engines and researching the history of the people and companies that made them. Email him at btengines@gmail.com.

Originally published as “Fire at the Factory” in the September 2023 issue of Farm Collector magazine.