tales of old Ipswich
At 11:45 a.m. on May 26, 1927, Harold Haskell had just driven his horse into the Agawam stable, fed him his noon meal, and was going home to his own lunch. He drove one of two teams owned by the American Railway Express Co. and they were kept at the stable.
Howard Blake had a hardware store in the Colonial Building on North Main Street, and Haskell, on his way out of the yard, stopped and spoke to Blake who was standing in his doorway. They happened to look toward the stable and saw it was all-aflame.
Haskell ran back to try to rescue his horses, but it was too late. He died in the flames. Blake ran over and pulled the fire alarm box at North Main and Warren Streets.
The buildings formed sort of a half-circle in the yard behind the Agawam Hotel and were covered with tarpaper. When the Fire Department arrived, Chief Edward Smith saw that the fire was a serious one and called help from Hamilton, Beverly and Rowley.
The Hamilton Department roamed the neighborhood to put out small roof fires caused from burning embers from the stable fire. In all, 14 houses, the farthest away being my own on Summer Street, caught fire. The rear of all the houses on Warren Street was charred by the fire. Walter Henderson lost a garage.
At the time I was attending Manning High School and was in a classroom on the third floor. It was 10 minutes (which seemed like an hour) before recess. We could see the flames from the school. When the bell rang my brother and I obtained permission from Principal Ralph Whipple to go home. When we arrived home, the Hamilton men were just climbing down off of our roof. A few shingles had caught fire.
The stable for years was a livery stable where one could go and hire a horse and buggy for an hour or a day. Many a young man had gone up there and hired a horse or team to take his girl for a Sunday ride. There were no flat tires or gas to worry about, and the old horse always brought you home safely.
Also destroyed in the fire were six funeral horse-drawn hacks and a hearse. There were several owners of the stable, the last being Frank Woods who was in the teaming business. Fortunately, all his horses were working and none was lost.
It was an exciting experience, and some of the residents of Warren Street still remember the Great Agawam Stable fire.
—HAROLD D. BOWEN