1919 – May 6, Philadelphia Apartment Building fire, Broad Street, Columbus, OH    — 9-10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-6-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

9-10  Blanchard. NFPA notes 10 deaths; we were able to locate nine named fatalities.

–10  Boulder Daily Camera, CO. “Ten Persons Killed…Fire in a Tenement House.” 5-6-1919, 3.

–10  NFPA. “Loss of Life Fires in Apartments and Tenements.” Quarterly, 34/3, Jan 1942, p. 237.

Narrative Information

National Fire Protection Association: “Apartment, Columbus, Ohio, May 6, 1919. Three men, six women and one child lost their lives when fire spread so rapidly through the open stair and elevator well that all means of escape from upper floors were cut off. A fire escape outside the stair and elevator well was rendered useless by the flames.” (NFPA. “Loss of Life Fires in Apartments and Tenements.” Quarterly of the NFPA, Vol. 34, No. 3, January 1942, p. 237.)

Newspapers

May 6, United Press: “Columbus, O., May 6. – The total number of dead in the fire which destroyed the six story Philadelphia Apartment Building, at 75 1-2 west Broad St., here early today, reached eight when two more bodies were removed from the debris. The search for bodies is being continued and it is believed several more will be found. A number of children still are unaccounted for. In addition to the eight known dead, a score are seriously burned and crushed. The dead:

Mrs. Carl Stergwalt.

Mrs. Chas. C. Speakman.

Mrs. George Raysnider.

George Raysnider.

Charline Whittlesley.

Louis Evans.

Frank Frederick.

Mrs. Elsie Nettleton.

….

“Several were killed when they sought to escape the death trap by leaping. Others were burned to death or suffocated. A dozen persons were caught in life nets after long leaps from the burning structure. Charles Speakman saw his wife leap to her death from the fifth story window. He had leaped but landed on a ladder two floors below and was rescued. His farther-in-law, Louis Evans, and his adopted daughter, Charline Whittlesley, were burned to death. A baby hurled thru the air from a fifth story window ledge, was caught by a fireman standing on a tower out some distance from the blazing structure….Another baby lowered on an improvised rope a distance of three stories and dropped the remaining two stories was caught and saved by a policeman.

“The origin of the blaze is unknown. Damage to the building was estimated at $50,000.

“….About twenty children are known to have lived in the building…and many of these are unaccounted for, it is said.

“The building had but one fire escape. It was at the extreme rear of the building and flames spreading through the structure cut off this avenue of escape to those in the front part of the building. It was the city’s worst fire in point of lives lost.

“Two more bodies, burned to a crisp, were taken from the ruins at 8 o’clock. They are believed to be those of Mrs. Elsie Nettleton and her nephew.” (United Press. “Many Lives Were Lost In Early Morning Fire In An Old Columbus Apartment House Today.” The Athens Messenger, OH. 5-6-1919, p. 1.)

May 7, United Press: “Columbus, May 7 – The death Tuesday night of Mrs. Ada Belle Joyce, 36 years old, brought the number of dead in Monday night’s apartment building fire to nine. Mrs. Joyce is the first of the injured in hospitals to die, although Charles Speakman, whose wife leaped to her death, cannot live, physicians say. Twelve other persons in hospitals are in serious condition.

“ ‘Absolute negligence’ was responsible for the fire and its toll, according to State Fire Marshal T. Alfred Fleming. Swinging gas jets, from which the flames started; inadequate fire escapes built too close to the walls and too near windows, and converging hallways leading to a single stairway alongside an elevator shaft that provided a draft for flames, were factors he points out as causing the fire to be so disastrous. 

“The correct list of dead follows:

Mrs. Ada Belle Joyce, aged 36.

Mrs. Charles C. Speakman, 45.

Mr. and Mrs. George Reifsnider.

Mrs. Carl Steigwald, aged 24.

Louis Evans, aged 75, Mrs. Speakman’s father.

Carline Whittlesley, aged 37, elevator operator.

Mrs. Elsie Nettleton, aged 30.

Frank Frederick, aged 35.”

(UP. “Death Toll To Columbus Fire Mounts To Nine.” Evening Gazette, Xenia, OH. 5-7-1919, 1.)

Sources

Boulder Daily Camera, CO. “Ten Persons Killed, Others Injured by a Fire in a Tenement House.” 5-6-1919, p. 3. Accessed 3-6-2025 at: https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=BDC19190506-01.2.76&e=——-en-20–1–img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA——–0——

National Fire Protection Association. “Loss of Life Fires in Apartments and Tenements.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 34, No. 3, Jan 1942, pp. 237-238, 244, 246-247.

United Press. “Death Toll To Columbus Fire Mounts To Nine.” The Evening Gazette, Xenia, OH. 5-7-1919, p. 1. Accessed 3-6-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/xenia-evening-gazette-may-07-1919-p-1/

United Press. “Many Lives Were Lost In Early Morning Fire In An Old Columbus Apartment House Today.” The Athens Messenger, OH. 5-6-1919, p. 1. Accessed 3-6-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/athens-messenger-may-06-1919-p-1/