Nyack in 1915: Inferno on Main Street

Both Bessie Haring and Emily Ritchings bundled up against the cool, blustrey winds of a fall day as they walked to work together. They both had good jobs back then: keeping the books at Nyack's largest and most successful department store, Harrison & Dalley.

It was Wednesday, October 13, 1915 and the store was gearing up for the holiday season. The large business attracted shoppers from up and down the river villages. They came by steamboat and the railroad to shop, and the few who owned cars had no trouble finding parking spaces near the distinctive Main Street store.

Back in those days, Nyack was the "Shopping Center" of Eastern Rockland. Travelers and shoppers could stay at any one of a dozen hotels in the village.  Nyack also had one of the first of "Them Movin Picture" shows, and at the new Broadway theater, Pauline Fredricks was staring in The Eternal City.

Harrison & Dalley was the star of the Nyack stores, and the Nyack Evening Star carried a full page ad selling men's Union Suits for $1.50 to $3.50, and women's pure wool sweets for only $5.

Shortly before noon that fate full Wednesday, a store clerk was looking for something in the basement when he noticed smoke coming from a pile of crates containing excelsior, thin wood shavings used as packing material. Joined by another store clerk, they tried to put out the small fire, but it quickly raced up the rear elevator shaft and spread to other floors. The wide stairway at the center of the store acted like a chimney, allowing smoke and flames to spread throughout the building. On the second floor, in the furniture section, fire kindled the wicker and wooden furniture in seconds, igniting rolls of carpeting, linoleum and oilcloth. Heavy smoke, oily and black, filled the store.

Bessie and Emily were working in Accounting on the second floor when they heard shouts of FIRE! They wrapped the store's books in their skirts and make their way to safety struggling blindly through the acrid smoke. With employees trying in vain to fight the fire, there was a delay in turning in the alarm. The store was entirely engulfed in flames as fire fighters pulled their trucks onto Main Street and started pouring water on the blaze. Fighting the fire was hampered by a strong Northwest wind, and as the firemen opened windows and doors on the New Street side of the building to reach the conflagration, the wind gave an added push to the flames and fire broke out through the front of the building.

The heat was so intense paint on the fire engines blistered as did the store fronts across Main Street. Dense black smoke rose from the fire, injuring a dozen firefighters. The most seriously hurt were Everett McBrien and Harry Habermehl, who were overcome when the gas meter connections in the basement burned away and gas rushed into the cellar.

Firemen dropped one by one. They were carried up the block to Central Station on Park Street where Nyack Fire Department Surgeon Dr. Charles Kline treated their injuries. Chief Fred Bittig feared the worst—if Nyack Firemen didn't get help, the entire block would  be engulfed. In what might have been the first full fleged use of Mutual Aid in Rockland County, he summoned help from fire companies in New City, Pearl River, Spring Valley, Piermont, Sparkill and West Nyack. At one time, there were more than 20 streams of water directed at the blaze. So much water was poured on the fire that the cellar wall collapsed, flooding the stores eastward toward the river. Fire companies finally contained the blaze and left well after midnight.

The destruction of Harrison & Dalley was a major blow to the community. But thanks to the heroic efforts of Bessie Haring and Emily Ritchings in saving the store records and accounts, John Dalley was able to rent several vacant stores in the village and was back open for business in less than a week. The restored Main Street store was rebuilt and open for business for the 1916 Christmas season.

I just visited the building a few days ago to witness the renovation and conversion into a new restaurant. Piled outside the rear of the store were several of the old beams, fire charred and black from the oily smoke almost 100 years ago. I also just recently acquired copies of two Norman Burke Photos showing the interior of the store after the fire.  The photos are "light strick" from the large sky lights, but they are the only ones I have ever seen of the aftermath of the fire.