The Original Norridgewock Burns

Gladys was on her way home from her usual afternoon walk when she heard people yelling. The voices were coming from the old hotel. When she turned to look, she saw a few men hauling furniture out onto the lawn and shouting for more help. Next, she saw the black smoke pouring out of the top story. Her first instinct was to rush over to help. Then, she remembered her camera.

The date was May 18, 1914, almost exactly 111 years ago. Gladys Kempton was just fifteen years old. She grew up in Beaver River Station. Her father was the section foreman for the railroad. Gladys lived year-round in the section house with her parents ever since she had graduated from school in June 1912. To make some spending money in March 1913 Gladys began to sell souvenir photo postcards to tourists at the railroad station. She sold a large number of such cards, sixty-eight on one day in April 1913.

 

The cards she sold usually featured beautiful views of the area, some probably taken by local photographers such as Henry M. Beach, whose brother Louis worked at the Norridgewock Hotel. Gladys soon realized that if she took her own photographs for the cards the cost would be lower and her profits larger. So, in September 1913 Gladys bought herself a camera, probably a Kodak Brownie No. 2. As she learned how to use it, she found herself coming to enjoy her new, absorbing and profitable hobby.

 

In those days, unfortunately, structure fires were not all that unusual. Buildings were made of wood. They were heated by wood or coal with the smoke and sparks going up homemade chimneys. Chimney fires were common and frequently disastrous. Kitchen fires were also common. Kerosine kitchen stoves were especially hazardous. Lighting was provided by candles or kerosine lamps that could tip over and start blazes. 

 

For this reason, Gladys was not completely surprised to see the Norridgewock on fire. She knew, as did everyone else who lived at Beaver River, that once a structure fire started there was almost no hope of extinguishing it. There was no fire department and no fire-fighting equipment. Small fires when discovered early could be doused, but major fires had to be left to burn. The main concern was getting everyone out alive and then saving such valuables as could be carried out before the flames spread.

 

No one was injured or died when the Norridgewock burned down because the fire occurred in the afternoon when the hotel was mostly empty. There were probably only a few guests at that time of year, although there were undoubtably a few anglers in residence. Quite a bit of portable furniture and fittings were saved, as was the piano and the fancy cash register which, by the way, still has a place of honor at the present Norridgewock. The next three photographs show the rapid progression of the fire.

 

To be fair, there is no direct evidence that Gladys Kempton took the photographs in this post. She did not sign or otherwise identify her own photos. There is, however, good circumstantial evidence that she took them. Gladys was one of only three residents of Beaver River known to own a camera at the relevant time. Jessie Elliott, who also created custom photo postcards, moved to Clearwater Station in 1912 well before the fire. Louis Beach usually worked with a large format camera, was not known to make postcards and appears not to have been present at the time of the fire. 

 

On the other hand, Gladys was living in Beaver River at the time, had a small but profitable postcard business, and was already in the process of setting up a darkroom in the section house to develop her own photographs. The photographs of the fire were all taken from a vantage point very close to the section house where she lived. 

 

As I discussed in a number of previous posts, the history of Beaver River Station was significantly altered by the loss of the original Norridgewock Hotel. The destruction was total as can be seen from this last photograph of the still smoldering ruin taken the day after the fire.

 

The first four photographs in this post are from the Rowley family album, courtesy of Virginia Thompson. Nellie Rowley was a schoolteacher at Beaver River Station during the early 1920s. Her husband, Carl, was the first dam keeper for the 1925 Stillwater dam. They both would have known Gladys Kempton.

 

The photograph of the aftermath is from the Trudeau family album courtesy of the Saranac Lake Free Library. Between 1896 and 1914 Dr. Edward Trudeau owned a hunting preserve at Little Rapids, only a few miles from Beaver River Station, so he certainly would have been interested in the fate of the Norridgewock. More on Dr. Trudeau’s connection to the Beaver River country can be found in my post of 08/27/21 here: https://beaverriverhistory.blogspot.com/2021/08/dr-edward-livingston-trudeau-and-fitz.html

 

For more information on the original Norridgewock Hotel, see my post of 06/08/21 here: https://beaverriverhistory.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-original-norridgewock-hotel-and.html

For more on Gladys Kempton, see my post of 10/28/23 here: https://beaverriverhistory.blogspot.com/2023/10/stories-from-etta-kemptons-journal-part.html

The after-effects of the fire on the future of Beaver River are discussed in my post of 07/13/22 here: https://beaverriverhistory.blogspot.com/2022/07/how-congress-beer-saved-norridgewock.html