Not Just a House But History Burned in Shrewsbury Blaze
The estate on Sycamore Avenue that succumbed to a four-alarm fire on Monday served as a summer cottage for wealthy Wall Streeters in the early 20th century.
The fire that ripped through the historic estate on Sycamore Avenue in Shrewsbury on Monday, destroying what villagers a century ago called “The Castle,” was not the first blaze to cause damage to the property. One hundred years ago a large barn on what was then known as "Thornbrooke" was destroyed by fire, which consumed two automobiles, 50 tons of hay and "a lot of garden tools,” according to archives stored at the borough’s Historical Society. An account of the September 11, 1913 blaze, found written in long hand on a few sheets of loose leaf paper in the historical society's files, detailed how servants discovered the fire and phoned a man who lived next door to the firehouse to ring the alarm. In the interim, a Red Bank Register …
In this Article:
Amy Byrnes
7:40 am on Friday, March 1, 2013
Though valiant in his efforts, sadly the Register reporter could not save the barn. It went down just as the main house did 100 years later. more ›