Community Corner

Week in History: 10 Buildings in Flames

A look through Red Bank Register archives at what happened this week in Monmouth history.

A fire on a cold, windy night 98 years ago nearly wiped out the then-most densely populated section of Eatontown, according to the March 10, 1915 issue of the Red Bank Register.

The Eatontown firefighters threw a dinner and party that drew much of the town the evening of the fire. When two barns and properties on Railroad Avenue went up in flames, the firefighters and the party attendants flocked to the scene.

Soon, some 10 buildings had caught fire. As firefighters from Oceanport and Red Bank helped Eatontown with the blaze, J. Lee VanSchoick was forced onto the roof of his home, where the fire had spread:

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A stream of water was played on the blaze by the firemen, They did not see Mr. VanSchoick, and the water struck him full in the chest and bowled him off his feet. Mr. VanShoick rolled off the roof to a kitchen roof twelve feet below and he rolled off this roof on to a pile of brick ten feet below.

A Shrewsbury fire truck became stuck on a hill, but ultimately the firefighters at the scene were able to beat back the blaze. Only the two barns were destroyed by the fire.

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More Week in History:

  • Omar Sickles Goes Eeling
  • Willie Hendrickson's Adventure on Capt. Skidmore's Cash
  • Week in History: Just out of Jail? Fight a Grocer


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