In Times Past

What was known as the Pythian Castle, Crisfield's old two-story Knights of Pythias lodge, is noted with a red arrow in a 1917 Sanborn Fire Insurance map. By 1921 the building was owned by Webb Brothers and was the L. Grief & Bro. garment factory. On Sunday night, Oct. 2, 1921 an oil stove exploded in a dwelling next door owned by Edward F. Evans and with a westerly wind the fire spread to the factory and also destroyed a neighbor's home owned by William V. Guy. The Daily Banner in Cambridge reported that "Prompt service on the part of the Crisfield Fire Department...prevented what threatened for a time to be a conflagration in the downtown district." "Effective fire fighting" was credited for containing the blaze which the Marylander and Herald the following week estimated cost $50,000 and was only "partially covered by insurance" with 75 workers displaced. Three firemen suffered burns requiring medical attention, but no one was injured by the explosion. What The Crisfield Times said about the fire is lost to time as only a handful of pages from all of 1921 exist. The fire engine pictured is from the Souvenir Edition of 1921 produced by the CFD, which included an article stating a new La France fire fighting machine "only larger in size" was being purchased and would be put into service in a few months.