In the year of 1856 Mackubin & Edgerton erected a fine three-story brick building on the corner of Third and Franklin streets. It was occupied by them as a banking house for a long time. The business center having been moved further down the street, they were compelled to seek quarters on Bridge Square. After the bank moved out of this building it was leased to Bechtner & Kottman, and was by them remodeled into a hotel on the European plan at an expense of about $20,000. It was named the Cosmopolitan hotel, and was well patronized. When the alarm of fire was given it was full of lodgers, many of whom lost all they possessed. The Linden theatrical company, which was playing at the Athenaeum, was among the heavy sufferers. At this fire a large number of frame buildings on the opposite side of the street were destroyed.
When the Cosmopolitan hotel burned the walls of the old building were left standing, and although they were pronounced dangerous by the city authorities, had not been demolished. Dr. Schell, one of the best known physicians of the city, occupied a little frame building near the hotel, and he severely denounced the city authorities for their lax enforcement of the law. One night at 10 o'clock the city was visited by a terrific windstorm, and suddenly a loud crash was heard in the vicinity of the doctor's office. A portion of the walls of the hotel had fallen and the little building occupied by the doctor had been crushed in. The fire alarm was turned on and the fire laddies were soon on the spot. No one supposed the doctor was alive, but after the firemen had been at work a short time they could hear the voice of the doctor from underneath the rubbish. In very vigorous English, which the doctor knew so well how to use, he roundly upbraided the fire department for not being more expeditious in extricating him from his perilous position. After the doctor had been taken out of the ruins It was found that he had not been seriously injured, and in the course of a few weeks was able to resume practice.
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During the winter of 1868 the Emmert house, situated on Bench street near Wabasha, was destroyed by fire. The Emmert house was built in territorial times by Fred Emmert, who for some time kept a hotel and boarding house at that place. It had not been used for hotel purposes for some time, but was occupied by a colored family and used as a boarding-house for colored people. While the flames were rapidly consuming the old building the discovery was made that a man and his wife were sick in one of the rooms with smallpox. The crowd of onlookers fled in terror, and they would have been burned alive had not two courageous firemen carried them out of the building. It was an unusually cold night and the colored people were dumped into the middle of the street and there allowed to remain. They were provided with clothing and some of the more venturesome even built a fire for them, but no one would volunteer to take them to a place of shelter. About 10 o'clock on the following day the late W.L. Wilson learned of the unfortunate situation of the two colored people, and he immediately procured a vehicle and took them to a place of safety, and also saw that they were thereafter properly cared for.
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On the site of the old postoffice on the corner of Wabasha and Fifth streets stood the Mansion house, a three-story frame building erected by Nicholas Pottgieser in early days at an expense of $12,000. It was a very popular resort and for many years the weary traveler there received a hearty welcome.
A very exciting event occurred at this house during the summer of 1866. A man by the name of Hawkes, a guest at the hotel, accidentally shot and instantly killed his young and beautiful wife. He was arrested and tried for murder, but after a long and sensational trial was acquited.
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The greatest hotel fire in the history of St. Paul occurred on the night of Feb. 3, 1869. The International hotel (formerly the Fuller house) was situated on the northeast corner of Seventh and Jackson streets, and was erected by A.G. Fuller in 1856. It was built of brick and was five stories high. It cost when completed, about $110,000. For years it had been the best hotel in the West. William H. Seward and the distinguished party that accompanied him made this hotel their headquarters during their famous trip to the West in 1860. Gen. Pope and Gen. Sibley had their headquarters in this building, and from here emanated all the orders relating to the war against the rebellious Sioux. In 1861 the property came into the possession of Samuel Mayall, and he changed the name of it from Fuller house to International hotel. Col. E.C. Belote, who had formerly been the landlord of the Merchants, was the manager of the hotel. The fire broke out in the basement, it was supposed from a lamp in the laundry. The night was intensely cold, a strong gale blowing from the northwest. Not a soul could be seen upon the street. Within this great structure more than two hundred guests were wrapped in silent slumber. To rescue them from their perilous position was the problem that required instant action on the part of the firemen and the hotel authorities. The legislature was then in session, and many of the members were among the guests who crowded the hotel. A porter was the first to notice the blaze, and he threw a pail water upon it, but with the result that it made no impression upon the flames. The fire continued to extend, and the smoke became very dense and spread into the halls, filling them completely, rendering breathing almost an impossibility. In the meantime the alarm had been given throughout the house, and the guests, both male and female, came rushing out of the rooms in their night Clothes. The broad halls of the hotel were soon filled with a crowd of people who hardly knew which way to go in order to find their way to the street. The servant girls succeeded in getting out first, and made their way to the snow-covered streets without sufficient clothing to protect their persons, and most of them were without shoes. While the people were escaping from the building the fire was making furious and rapid progress. From the laundry the smoke issued into every portion of the building. There was no nook or corner that the flames did not penetrate. The interior of the building burned with great rapidity until the fire had eaten out the eastern and southern rooms, when the walls began to give indications of falling. The upper portion of them waved back and forth in response to a strong wind, which filled the night air with cinders. At last different portions of the walls fell, thus giving the flames an opportunity to sweep from the lower portions of the building. Great gusts, which seemed to almost lift the upper floors, swept through the broken walls. High up over the building the flames climbed, carrying with them sparks and cinders, and in come instances large pieces of timber. All that saved the lower part of the city from fiery destruction was the fact that a solid bed of snow a foot deep lay upon the roofs of all the buildings. During all this time there was comparative quiet, notwithstanding the fact that the fire gradually extended across Jackson street and also across Seventh street. Besides the hotel, six or eight other buildings were also on fire, four of which were destroyed. Women and men were to be seen hurrying out of the burning buildings in their night clothes, furniture was thrown into the street, costly pianos, richly upholstered furniture, valuable pictures and a great many other expensive articles were dropped in the snow in a helter-skelter manner. Although nearly every room in the hotel was occupied and rumors flew thick and fast that many of the guests were still in their rooms, fortunately no lives were lost and no one was injured. The coolest person in the building was a young man by the name of Pete O'Brien, the night watchman. When he heard of the fire he comprehended in a moment the danger of a panic among over two hundred people who were locked in sleep, unconscious of danger. He went from room to room and from floor to floor, telling them of the danger, but assuring them all that they had plenty of time to escape. He apparently took command of the excited guests and issued orders like a general on the field of battle. To his presence of mind and coolness many of the guests were indebted for their escape from a frightful death. The fire department worked hard and did good service. The city had no waterworks at that time, but relied for water entirely upon cisterns located in different parts of the city. When the cisterns became dry it was necessary to place the steamer at the river and pump water through over two thousand feet of hose.
Among the guests at the hotel at the time of the fire were Gen. C.C.
Andrews, Judge Lochren, Capt. H.A. Castle, Gen. W.G. Le Duc, Selah
Chamberlain, Gov. Armstrong and wife, Charles A. Gilman and wife,
Dr. W.W. Mayo, I.W. Webb, Dr. Charles N. Hewitt, M.H. Dunnell, Judge
Thomas Wilson and more than two hundred others.