By Brigette C. Kamsler, Archivist, Special Projects, Historical Society of Frederick County

Creagerstown Conflagration

At around 10 a.m. on June 2, 1914, a fire broke out in Creagerstown and quickly spun out of control. The blaze started at the Creamery in the northwest section of town and, fanned by high winds, burned directly to the middle of the community. In about four hours, a large part of the village was destroyed.

At the time, Creagerstown did not have a firefighting company and the fire quickly became too hot for the townspeople carrying buckets of water to extinguish the flames. Because the town was only 14 miles north of the City of Frederick, the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company attempted to help by getting the mayor of Frederick’s attention.

Mayor Lewis H. Fraley secured the Independent Hose Company’s steamer, which was then rigged to a Hagerstown and Frederick Railway Company train. The idea was for the train to take the steamer to Thurmont, where four horses would be waiting to haul the equipment to Creagerstown. Unfortunately, due to various delays, the steamer made it to Thurmont but was never unloaded. The fire went out on its own by 2 p.m.

The cause of the fire was never known and no one was injured, but it damaged or completely destroyed many private residences and government buildings, including Town Hall and two hotels. The loss was estimated at the time to cost between $60,000 and $70,000. This picture, taken the following day, shows part of the devastation.