Butte Warehouse Fire Memorial Dedication is Monday, January 15

Legend tells us it was a wintery night on January 15, 1895, when a fire was reported at the Kenyon-Connell company in Butte's warehouse district.  Kenyon-Connell was a supplier of mining tools and supplies, and Butte was a mining boomtown.  Dynamite was a key component to the mining process and although it was illegal to store within city limits, such as the warehouse district, this rule was frequently overlooked.  Kenyon-Connell overlooked this rule, as did other suppliers.  And it was because of this, hellfire would soon rain down upon the young city.

15 Butte firefighters, led by Fire Chief Angus Cameron, responded to the blaze with a hook-and-ladder wagon and a hose wagon, each pulled by two horses.  It was this contingent that was on the scene when the first of three dynamite explosions would rock the district, shooting fire and screams into the night sky.  As onlookers gathered, another explosion shattered windows and sent shrapnel flying.  And then another.  Victims were everywhere and the town's medical facilities were overrun.  Stories would emerge about a volunteer firefighter's Newfoundland who ran to the blast site and found his master's mangled body, growing and protecting his fallen master from any who would approach.  He would follow the funeral procession as well and would be found at his master's gravesite, eventually dying himself of what can only be described as a broken heart.

The story of this fateful evening sound as though it could have come out of a modern-day Hollywood blockbuster but has gone largely unremembered.  Until Butte Historical Memorials, Inc. took action.  An incredible memorial has gone up outside the current Butte-Silver Bow Fire Station.  Designed by Martha Cooney-Simonich and sculpted by Jim Dolan, this beautiful monument became reality through the labor of love of Butte Historical Memorials Inc.

You are invited to the official dedication of the memorial at noon on Monday, January 15, 2024, the 129th anniversary of the disaster.  The dedication will take place at the memorial in front of the Butte-Silver Bow Fire Station on Mercury Street and will feature several speakers and a reception to follow.