In the years after the Civil War, boom cities developed across America thanks in large part to wood construction. Elaborate wooden hotels decorated most major downtown skylines, and Milwaukee was no exception. And like so many other cities that boasted elegant wooden structures, the history of Milwaukee includes a tragic tale of a deadly hotel fire.
The story of the Newhall House hotel fire differs from other large blazes of the late 19th century in significant ways, and in a new book published by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Milwaukee writer Matthew J. Prigge shares the surprisingly dramatic events that unfolded on a cold morning in January 1883. When the famous Newhall House hotel—one of the tallest buildings in the nation at the time—burned to the ground, 70 guests and hotel staff lost their lives, some of whom succumbed to the smoke and flames from the fast-moving fire, while others opted to jump to their deaths from windows as high as the sixth floor. There were immediate signs of arson and the ensuing search to identify a criminal behind this calamity brought global attention to the city. The case continues to stand as one of the deadliest unsolved mysteries in Milwaukee.
Damn the Old Tinderbox!: Milwaukee’s Palace of the West and the Fire that Defined an Era is a gripping local tale engrossingly told by Prigge. He will speak at Boswell Book Co. at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19.
