The quiet of the early evening of March 26, 1912, in Chicopee on the Current River in Carter County would soon be broken by a catastrophe. Chicopee sat on the other side of the river from and one mile below Van Buren. It began as a railroad station in 1888. The Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Memphis Railroad Company established the town because landowners asked for an exorbitant price for a right of way through Van Buren. The president of the railroad, George H. Nettleton, and his wife Julia laid out the town and named it for his birthplace, Chicopee, Massachusetts.
On the night in question, Jesse Gunn and his family left their mercantile store just before 7 p.m., locked the door, and headed to a neighbor’s home to listen to their phonograph. In addition to operating his business, Gunn served as deputy sheriff of Carter County. He had purchased the store buildings and residences eight months earlier at a trustee’s sale of the former Van Buren Lumber & Tie Company. The recently deceased owner, J. H. Montay, was the primary stockholder. Montay owed Gunn money, so he purchased the property under advantageous terms. Gunn also purchased store goods from Montay’s estate that were located at Eastwood, seven miles south of Van Buren. He moved the inventory to Chicopee and opened for business in October 1911.
Among the improvements Gunn made to the store buildings was an acetylene light plant. This was a method for providing lighting in buildings prior to using electricity. The system generated gas in a tank, which then traveled by pipes to lamps. Acetylene is highly combustible, so such light plants had several safety features. A company from Chicago installed the light plant about a month earlier and had pronounced it safe.
However, something malfunctioned. Within 10 minutes of his family leaving the store, flames erupted throughout the building. The entire building ignited so rapidly that none of the contents survived. The initial suspicion was that the tank exploded, but it remained intact. Apparently, the tank or pipes leaked, and a spark ignited the gas when it had spread throughout the building.
Gunn and others arrived within minutes to try and save some of the contents. Because the entire structure erupted in flames at once, that was impossible. The newspaper account stated, “There was nothing to do but stand by and watch the fire demon complete its work of destruction.” Cinders blew over Van Buren a half mile away, and residents heard the roar of the fire from an even greater distance.
All smaller structures nearby burned, and a nearby barn escaped only by keeping its walls saturated with water. At one point the fire reached a stock of ammunition, setting off a fusillade of small explosions lasting near a half hour. The flames reached a coal oil tank and set off a second huge explosion accompanied by billows of black smoke.
Gunn had insured the building and contents for $5500 ($183,171.55 in 2025 dollars). He estimated after the fire that amount would cover about 60% of the loss. The family was grateful they had left before the fire ignited.
Gunn settled with the insurance company for $5000. The company contended the insurance covered only the fire and not the damage caused by the explosion. He did not rebuild, continued as a deputy sheriff, and later tried several ventures before moving west. Today Chicopee is part of Van Buren, which grew around it over time.
