So Terribly Helpless
It started on a September Sunday in 1920. Fanned by a northwest wind, a fire in an ice cream parlor spread quickly to nearby wooden buildings. Volunteer fire fighters rushed to the scene, but their engine failed.
Before the flames died out, every building on the east side of Main Street between Church and Mumford Streets burned, including the landmark Atlantic Hotel and the boyhood home of local historian Bob Mears. "We felt so terribly helpless," Mears remembered.
Four years later, the west side of Main Street suffered a similar fire.
These two fires changes Chincoteague. Main Street became straighter. Commercial buildings of brick and stone replaced homes and businesses built from wood. And the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, in order to fight fires more effectively, began raising money by sponsoring its now famous carnival at pony penning time.
[Captions:]
A 1920 fire gutted the newly built and not-yet-opened Marine Banks.
Rebuilt, the bank finally welcomed customers by the end of the year. Amidst a winter snowfall in 1924, intense heat from a second fire on the opposite side of Main Street damaged the bank yet again.
Every building on the left side of this picture of Main Street became straighter and more commercial, with fewer wooden buildings.
Immediately following the 1924 fire, the local fire company began to raise money by sponsoring a carnival at the same time as the annual pony swim and penning.
Ponies and parades brought increasingly larger crowds of spectators to the streets of Chincoteague, 15,000 in the first year of 1925, and better fire protection to the town.
Charles Purnell, owner of the Atlantic Hotel when it burned in 1920, never rebuilt. His $3,000 insurance policy fell far short of the $10,000 estimated value of the building. Two smaller hotels filled the void.
The 1924 fire destroyed thousands of dollars worth of clams and oysters, several boats, a barrel factory, dock, railroad office, and D.J. Whealton's "Big Store."
Whealton never rebuilt his store, but the railroad office and dock rose again, sustaining important commercial lifelines to the mainland.
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Location. 37° 56.053′ N, 75° 22.618′ W. Marker is in Chincoteague, Virginia, in Accomack County. It is at the intersection of Main Street and Mumford Street, on the right when traveling west on Main Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 4077 Main St, Chincoteague Island VA 23336, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is on the Eastern Shore. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, on the Delmarva Peninsula, and in the Tidewater. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: You Had to Keep On (here, next to this marker); Boats and Bridges
Credits. This page was last revised on January 19, 2021. It was originally submitted on January 19, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 682 times since then and 38 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on January 19, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
