JUNE 2025 - FROM OUR ARCHIVES

The smoldering ruins of Parker Young Manufacturing Company on South Main Street, Lisbon is pictured after the fire of June 1, 1891. The fire started in the sawmill at 2pm. Fire trains came from Woodsville and Littleton, but everything was gone in just a few hours: an estimated 1 million board feet of piled boards, storehouses, drying houses, offices, nine dwellings and their contents, barns, outhouses, and more. The town water at the time came from Pearl Lake. The factory had fire sprinklers which could not be shut off, so all the water went to the sprinkler system, and there wasn’t enough to save the houses which did catch fire. Private homes as well as tenements owned by Parker Young were all on fire at the same time, and none could be saved. Everything was dry and burned quickly. The Concord and Montreal Railroad Company lost four cars to the fire, as well. The factory was immediately rebuilt on the same site. Ironically, the Parker Young factory whistle was used to sound the town fire alarm as late as 1922.