History in Focus
Legend has it the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 started with Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicking over a lantern. While not nearly as famous or poetic, the source of Craig’s Great Fire of 1896 can be traced back to a sopping wet mopped floor and an overstuffed wood stove, and it was a devastating event for the young town.
On the cold winter night of February 13, all of Craig was readying itself for a Valentine’s Day masquerade ball at the town hall, then located in the middle of the 500 block of Yampa Street. In the late afternoon, janitor Clyde Eastman and some volunteers thoroughly mopped the floor and built up a roaring fire in the woodstove to insure the floor was dry for the big dance (Craig Empire 2/15/22).