By Isabelle Berg, Green Bay
One fateful night in the Capitol of Madison, Wisconsin is one that many still remember over a century later. At around 2:30 AM, a gas jet (gas lighting) caught fire to the ceiling. Ordinarily, this could have been avoided by the sprinkler system that was installed, however, the water tank that usually supplied water for the sprinkler system was emptied due to boiler repairs. It wasn’t until 2:45 when a night watchman finally noticed the flames.
Madison firefighters and additional people struggled to find water to put out the flames, and others rushed into the building to salvage essential items from being destroyed in the fire; one significant person was Governer La Follette, who was known to have saved essential documents including the law library, and correspondence files. Nonetheless, some items were lost in the fire, including the famous Old Abe.
Old Abe was the mascot for the Wisconsin infantry and even had his own perch that was carried throughout the war. According to Wisconsinhistory.org, “The eaglet that would later be known as Old Abe was captured from his nest by Ahgamahwegezhig (Chief Big Sky) of the Lac du Flambeau Band of the Lake Superior Ojibwe.” Later he was traded to a family, then sold to the Eau Claire Militia, and was carried to Madison where he joined the 8th Infantry. During his life, Old Abe witnessed 37 battles and became a state attraction at the Capitol. Unfortunately, the eagle died during a fire in the Capitol and was stuffed, only for his remains to be destroyed in the fire of 1904.
The losses from the fire were estimated to be up to 1 million dollars, and thankfully no lives were lost during the disaster. In 1906 they started to rebuild the Capitol. 2 lives were lost during construction, and it was estimated to cost about 7.5 million dollars.
Although this fire caused lots of damage, it also lead us to the beautiful Capitol we have been exploring this weekend. And thanks to the many people including La Follette who rushed into the burning building in order to rescue items that would have been swallowed by the fire. As for Old Abe, he will be forever remembered.