100 years ago in The Record

Tuesday, Jan. 7, 1919. A tenant is under investigation after a suspicious fire tears through the Brady’s Yard neighborhood of River Street early this morning, The Record reports. “A number of families, none of which carried insurance, were driven from their homes and very little of their property was saved,” our reporter writes. The one person at 470 River Street who has insurance is Mrs. Francis Brickley, in whose shop the fire breaks out around 3 a.m. She took out an insurance policy on December 18 of last year. The fire spreads to the adjoining buildings on either side. Daniel Avedisian and Karinck Bojojian run a fruit store at 472 River and had just purchased an expensive new set of scales yesterday. The scales are badly damaged as part of the partners’ “heavy loss” from smoke and water damage. On the way to the fire, the Arba Read steamer truck hits and breaks an ornamental lamppost at the corner of Jacob and King streets. While firemen make “quick work” of the fire, a United Traction Company work crew places bridges over the fire hoses so trolleys can continue to run on River Street. Later this morning, Mrs. Brickley “is questioned at the third precinct station by Captain Michael Powers as to why the gas jets in her place were turned on when the firemen arrived, but could not offer any explana- tion.” Heads of Departments Meet Mayor Cornelius F. Burns hopes to reduce Troy’s debt by an unprecedented $620,000 in 1919 while modernizing the city fire department and merging the Troy and Lansingburgh school districts. The Record reports that the mayor’s planned debt reduction would be “100 percent greater than in any previous year and the first reduction of any kind in the past 40 years, exclusive of the present administration’s efforts.” As part of an effort to reduce fire insurance rates, the city is proceeding with the installation of a new fire alarm system and increased motorization for firefighters. “The motorization of the fire department is regarded as the real beginning of a paid department in the city that under Chief [Cornelius] Casey is expected to become one of the most, if not the most efficient in the state,” our reporter writes. A merger of the city’s two school districts is considered long overdue at City Hall. “The two systems are regarded as a black eye to the city,” our writer notes, and the commissioners of both districts “desire that they be merged, if it be possible.” While he’s at it, the mayor decides that “the city schools should be repainted and rehabilitated wherever possible.”