The Wichita Daily Times on December 12, 1929, published the story about the fire in which three people died, including two firemen, Smiley Turner and G. I. Anderson, and eight injured.
Mrs. Clack in a letter dated 10 July 1980, informed Claire Williams, Director of Research at the Texas Historical Commission, that in 1920, the 50 x 150-square foot lot was purchased by Bachman & Goodwin to build a brick, three-story hotel. H. G. Karrenbock purchased the hotel, at the time named "Artonne," a misspelling of "Argonne," and re-named it the Antlers. The letter alludes to a very hot summer in Wichita Falls, compelling Mrs. Clack to write "[ . . . ] if a wagon train went by here heading west, I would be tempted to join it, in hope of reaching a cool mountain where it rained every day."
At this point, I begin to feel curious about Mrs. E. E. Clack's name. Finally, I come upon a document on which she signed her name Catherine Y. Clack. She served as chair of the Wichita County Historical Commission.
By August 19th that year, the marker had been accepted; then by February 1981, it had been created, reviewed, and shipped to Wildon Nix at the Wichita county courthouse.
The marker for the Antlers Hotel fire.
The text on the marker reads:
"A three-story brick hotel building was constructed
at this site in 1920 by the firm of Bachman and
Goodwin. Originally known as the Argonne, the name
was later changed to the Antlers Hotel when the
structure was purchased by H. G. Karrenbrock.
In the early morning hours of December 12, 1929, a
fire broke out in the building. Firemen of the central
station were the first to arrive on the scene and
were promptly aided by additional units throughout
the city and quickly attracted a large crowd.
Thirty minutes after the first fire alarm, the west
wall of the structure began to crumble. Although
some of the fire fighters escaped, assistant city
fire chief Smiley Turner and Fireman Guno Anderson
were killed by the collapsing wall. One occupant
of the hotel, Kenneth (Toby) Brice of Bowie, also died
in the fire that morning.
As a result of the destructive Antlers Hotel fire,
significant changes were made in the Wichita Falls
fire department. Equipment was updated, new training
programs were established, and city officials began
strengthening ordinances in an effort to actively
enforce municipal fire code."
After his research through files from the Wichita Falls Record News and taped interviews with Roy Anderson (1968) and Grover Halbern (1967), Dale Terry wrote an engaging recompilation about what occurred the evening of the fire. He also pointed out the improvements established by the city and by the fire department to ensure better training, better equipment, and safety.
One thing Terry does not mention is the cause of the fire: The Wichita Daily Times, page two, column one, first sentence, indicates that the cause, "if it ever is explained, it will be traced to a carelessly tossed match or cigarette." Terry's story follows.
THE ANTLERS HOTEL FIRE OF 1929 by J. Dale Terry
When the fire alarm sounded at 3:30 a.m., Thursday December 12, 1929, it meant just another fire of the men at Central Station located at Ninth and Ohio Streets. When the firemen left their warm beds, none realized that within thirty minutes their lives would be changed forever.
As the firemen arrived at the Antlers Hotel, located on the southeast corner of Tenth and Indiana Streets, flames were coming from the windows. Occupants of the hotel were scurrying throughout the narrow hallways attempting to find a safe path of escape. Some occupants were at their windows trying to make the decision to jump for safety.
At 3:45 a.m., the second alarm was sounded and fire equipment from the other Wichita Falls stations started for the fire.
The late Grover Halbern, who was Fire Marshall, was at Lake Wichita on a fishing trip and saw the flames and smoke. He loaded his care and headed for the scene. Spectators by the hundreds lined the streets within minutes.
Then, at 4:00 a.m., a crumbling wall of stone, brick and steel fell to the ground and changed the lives of many.
The structure, once known as the Argonne Hotel, was built in the teens when the oil boom was at its peak. The structure had, however been modified in later years with many additional partitions, some of them built of beaver board and other fragile materials.
Roy Anderson was on the second floor fire escape landing helping Assistant Chief Smiley Turner with a hose. Anderson's brother, Guno, was on the ground feeding the hose line to them. Firemen A. O. Johnson and Walter J. Geis were on the fire escape at the third floor level. Fireman James Childers was on the ground next to the west wall.
At 4:00 a.m., the building groaned, then the west wall started to fall. Walter Geis secured the fire hose and slid quickly to the ground. A. O. Johnson jumped from the third floor fire escape.
Anderson and Turner realized the wall was falling. Turner jumped to the ground while Anderson ore or less rode the fire escape to the ground. He says the last thing he remembered was looking down at his brother's face. James Childers under the fire escape grating next to the wall.
Police and spectators rallied to the aid of the men under the fallen wall. The remaining firemen continued to battle the blaze . . . the battle was on that was to be lost.
The minutes seemed like hours as rescuers dug with picks and shovels and their bare hands to get to the trapped men. Childers, sheltered somewhat by the fire escape grating, was pulled from the debris by Fireman Thurston Harvick. Then, the body of Smiley Turner was recovered. He was apparently killed instantly when the wall fell on him.
Roy Anderson, with his jaw broken and with multiple injuries of a lesser nature, told rescuers there was someone else under him. He did not know at the time it was his brother, Guno. Guno was also killed instantly by the wall.
A total of ten firemen were either killed or injured in the fire. One occupant of the hotel, Kenneth (Toby) Brice was also killed. He had appeared briefly at the window of his room and screamed for help, then backed away from his window and was burned.
Many other occupants escaped the blaze but not without injuries and smoke inhalation. Fire Chief J. L. McClure was hospitalized fro smoke inhalation and shock.
Other firemen trapped by the wall were W. E. Phillips and Howard Tate. Their injuries were not serious.
Prior to the Antlers Hotel fire, the firemen had little, if any, formal training and were ill equipped with personal protective gear. The Antlers Hotel fire changed these and other things.
Better protective gear was provided by the city. Not long before the fire, the firemen had only rain-caps for head protection. The city had just furnished them with crude, flimsy, leather helmets not of the best quality . . . however, Roy Anderson, who still has his crushed helmet, says the leather helmet probably saved him from worse injury or death. Training programs were set up and men no longer had to fight fires they did not understand. And the City of Wichita Falls cracked down on fire code violations and stiffened ordinances governing buildings and fire protection.
Now, Wichita Falls has an outstanding fire training program and one of the best equipped and most efficient fire departments in the nation.
The site of the Antlers Hotel is now occupied by the Wichita Falls Downtown Activities Center and few people remember that terrible day on December 12, 1929, where two firemen and one hotel occupant lost their lives . . . the day that changed the history of the Wichita Falls Fire Department.
* * *
A report published by Wichita Falls Times on February 4, 1981, identifies Dale Terry as "of the State Department of Highways and Public Transportation" and the one who authored the application for the marker.
Dale Terry's signature on one of the copies of the document he wrote relating the story of the fire. He lists his sources as the Wichita Falls Record News, which is the name in 1980 for the Wichita Daily Times from 1929. His other sources came from recorded interviews of Roy Anderson and Grover Halbern. Anderson subsequently attended the ceremony for the marker.
The marker is inside the main entrance to the Wichita Falls Public Library (formerly the Wichita Falls Activities Center), on the corner of Tenth and Indiana.
GPS coordinates: 33-degrees 54' 37" -98-degrees 29' 18".
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