Article Options

Fire consuming historic warehouse in Murphysboro

BY ADAM TESTA

Friday, November 23, 2007 12:03 PM CST

MURPHYSBORO -- Firefighters continue to fight a blaze in a historic Murphysboro building.

Police Chief Jeff Bock said the fire in a warehouse building on South 17th Street likely started around 8:30 a.m. The building has an upstairs living space and was being used to store antique furniture in the downstairs.

At 11 a.m., the fire had spread to the back portion of the building and smoke had become so thick the building was not visible from the road, about 100 feet away. Firefighters moved from the smoke to have clean air until the smoke settled slightly.

The building was originally constructed in 1923, with an addition built about 10 years later, said Patty Cripps, who owned the building with her husband Ed from 1995 until about four years ago. The building survived the infamous 1925 tornado.

“It brought tears to my eyes as soon as I seen it,” she said about spotting the fire this morning. “I panicked.”

Cripps saw the fire in the lower level of the building when she went grocery shopping this morning but thought someone was just burning something inside. When she was heading home, she saw smoke pouring from the building and yelled for her husband to call the fire department.

“One little thing and it’s gone,” she said. “It just seems like another part of Murphysboro’s history is gone.”

Firefighters from Murphysboro and Carterville, along with the Murphysboro Police Department and Jackson County Emergency Management Team, are still on the scene.