If you have been collecting knives for any time you have probably heard stories of the most famous knife company fires. There are quite a few, actually.
I’m sure you have heard about the Case Brothers fire that destroyed their Little Valley, New York factory on February 10th, 1912. But did you know this was actually their second factory to have burned to the ground?
Case Smethport Cutlery ruins 1910
Two years earlier their Smethport, Pa factory burned. It had only been in operation since Dec. 1909 when they, along with W. R. & Russ Case, and H. N. Platts, purchased the Smethport Cutlery Company. Then on June 11th, 1910, fire destroyed the entire plant.
Not to digress, but I found the entire set of circumstances of this fire very interesting- almost comical.
- When the Night Watchman discovered the fire, he reportedly tried to extinguish it by grabbing a pail of water and throwing it on the fire, only to see the flames increase- he had thrown a pail of oil, instead of water.
When the fire department and hose carts arrived and opened the hydrant, there was no water pressure.- “No team (horses) was handy to then haul the fire engine, so a number of firemen started out with it by hand, but the progress was slow and before it was on the ground and in operation this large building was completely enveloped in flames and all possibility of saving any part of it was gone.” Quote from McKean County Miner- June 16, 1910
- One of the reasons the site was selected for the cutlery plant in the beginning was the location of the hydrant, which was immediately next to the building.
List of Knife Factory Fires
Throughout American cutlery history fire has been a big problem. It is not unusual to discover a knife company didn’t rebuild, instead they went out of business. Other times, I found factories that burned to the ground more than once and rebuilt each time.
Overall I was surprised with what I found. Before I show you, let me ask-
Cutlery News Journal 