Tour Through Time: 1929 fire gutted Kronenberg building in downtown Carlisle

Dec. 9--They were witnesses to a disaster that threatened downtown Carlisle 90 years ago.

A fast-moving fire on Dec. 7, 1929, nearly destroyed the Kronenberg building on the west side of the first block of South Hanover Street across the alley from the Old Courthouse.

Four people were injured in a blaze that caused the modern equivalent of $4.5 million in damages and forced the evacuation of tenants from seven apartments and 12 offices within the three-story brick structure.

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Firefighters from seven companies battled for hours to keep the fire contained to one building and to save the entire block from destruction. The Sentinel was on hand to report the drama.

Janitor Philip Collins first raised the alarm around 8:30 a.m. after he spotted smoke and flames in one corner of the cellar. By the time the first engine arrived, the lower level was a mass of flames that poured out from beneath the show windows on Courthouse Avenue. Customers and clerks dashed out of the clothing store before fire enveloped the first floor and quickly spread up to the roof.

George Sollenberger barely got out alive from the law office of Jacob M. Goodyear. He was sitting at a desk when smoke poured through the transom above the door. He lost his way and was almost overcome before he found the front stairway and escaped.

Meanwhile, Clarence Green was shoving part of the payroll records into a safe in the second-floor office of the Prudential Life Insurance Co. where he was the manager. In the smoke and confusion, he groped around on the floor trying to find Evelyn Arbegast, the office secretary.

Unknown to Green, she had already evacuated. Fortunately for him, he made it out alive but severely cut both hands when he fell through a plate glass door at the bottom of the staircase at the rear entrance. By the time it was over, parts of the wall had collapsed but the block was saved, and the structure was eventually rebuilt.

Tour Through Time runs every Saturday in The Sentinel print edition. Reporter Joseph Cress will work with the Cumberland County Historical Society each week to look at the county through the years. Send any questions, future ideas or tips to [email protected].

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