Middle Bass Club Fire in 1909

Billy Market of Put-in-Bay sent me a picture of the Put-in-Bay fire brigade on Middle Bass Island on what SEEMS to be Sept. 5, 1909. But the Sept. 5 date on the pictures looks a bit strange and is very likely to be Sept. 2 written incorrectly. If the pictures were really taken on Sept. 5, the fire was still smoldering significantly 3 days after it started and the entire PIB fire crew was still on MB.

Billy sent this to me on Feb. 26, 2009 with a birthday greeting. It reminded me that just last fall, I had finally found an article describing the fire and had never posted it. I had two other pictures of the fire and while Billy's was the same as one of the ones I had, it had many of the names of the fire brigade penned in.

I was tempted to wait with the posting until the 100th anniversary on Sept. 2, 2009 but decided it would be easier to get it over with and not risk forgetting.