Photo of the MonthJuly 20001910 Fire Scene at Benton, Pennsylvania
Burrell barn on Center Street, between Second and Third Streets, spread quickly thorough the heart of Benton. Strong winds moved the fire in a south and southeasterly direction toward Fishing Creek. The conflagration left a wake of destruction; one-third of the borough lay in ashes with forty-eight barns, thirty-eight residences and business destroyed. Ten days after the inferno, Benton's newspaper, The Argus, reported the loss: twenty-five percent of the population homeless, and fifty-six percent of the businesses in ruins. The property loss came to $300,000; taking inflation into account, today this would be equivalent to approximately five million dollars. |
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