Monument Park, once the old village cemetery, marked the
eastern most limit of the fire. The graves of some of the
village's earliest settlers can be found there. At one time,
this was the "edge of town", but gradually the village has
grown up around it. After the new cemetery was
established on South James Street, this location "went to
seed" until 1914, when a group of civic-minded citizens
transformed it into the picturesque park it is now.
In our class we are learning about the fire and it is fun to learn
about it. On October 20 (the anniversary of the fire), we went
on a fire walk. That means we walked the boundary of the
fire. On our walk, we stopped at Monument Park. We all
remembered the fire and the place it happened.
The graveyard here is special and I hope it will be
remembered as time passes as the (northernmost) boundary
of the fire that Carthage faced in 1884. The fire was one of
the biggest disasters in Carthage's history. I hope when
people pass by the cemetery today they will remember the
fire. / by Derek
The graveyard is one of the boundaries of the fire which was
in 1884.
People call it the Great Carthage Fire. The fire burned 200
homes, 4 churches and a lot of buildings. The other
boundaries were Chuckie's house and State Street.
The graveyard stopped the fire because there was nothing to
burn there. The head stones got black from the fire, but they
did not burn. After the fire was out, the graveyard was one of
the only places left.
Today people still visit the area where the Great Carthage Fire
was. The grave yard reminds people of the boundaries of the
fire and to be thankful that no one died in the fire. / by Josh
In 1884, a great fire sprang up. It covered over one mile of
distance and burned houses, trees, stores and churches. It
lasted over six hours, but it finally died down.
One of the boundaries was the cemetery at Monument Park.
Some of the reasons it made the fire stop are: just about
everything was marble and stone. there was nothing to burn
and with all the water (pumped from the Black River), the fire
burned out.
There were no deaths but major injuries. Also, thanks to
Monument Park, other towns were saved. / by Dustin
The graveyard was the boundary of the fire. The graveyard
stopped the fire that would have burned everything. The
graveyard was all black, but there was nothing there to burn
so it stopped the fire. / by Travis
Saved by a Graveyard
One day a fire started on the banks of the Black River and it
would not stop. It burned everything in its path. It jumped
from island to island. As the fire hit Carthage, NOTHING
could stop it. Chuckie Brownell and Mr. Brownell waited
and watched the fire burn.
The graveyard on State Street and North Clinton Streets
helped stop the Great Carthage Fire. There was nothing to
burn at the cemetery. The trees and shrubs only took about
two minutes to burn.
After the fire, people became homeless, but everything grew
back and Carthage was better than ever. / by Erin
Monument Park
The Monument is next to the graveyard. The fire stopped at
the Monument because there wasn't anything there to burn
except the leaves and grass. The monument is on State Street
and has a sailor on top of it.
Today the park has been changed so people can go to this
place. Monument Park has benches and pretty flowers around
it. At Christmas time the monument is decorated with a lot of
lights. The monument will always be a place to go to
remember the Great Carthage Fire. / by Jessica
The Graveyard
The graveyard was one of the fire boundaries. It helped save
Carthage.
There was grass that burned, there were trees, but the fire
could not reach them.
Headstones were black, but not cracked. One hundred acres
of Carthage were burned, but the graveyard saved Carthage
from burning all up. / by Doug
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