Allen County, Indiana Genealogy

1921 - Stories of Old Ft. Wayne - No. 12 by B. J. Griswold - Aveline Hotel in The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Sunday, Jul 10, 1921, page 22 on Newspapers.com.

The hotel was built in 1863 at the southeast corner of Calhoun and Berry streets by Francis Aveline.  A fire on May 3, 1908 killed 12 people. The main entrance was on Berry Street with a Ladies Entrance on Calhoun Street. From Death of the Aveline House by Kevin Leininger from theCityscapes - People & Places series of articles from the archives of The News-Sentinel newspaper. See the Aveline Family.

1. Early on the morning of May 3, 1908, a fire of unknown origin destroyed the Aveline hotel at the southeast corner of Calhoun and Berry streets. Twelve persons lost their lives. Many guests of the upper floors were saved b,y leaping from windows or making their way to the roofs of adjoining structures. The site is now occupied by the Shoaff building. Copied from page 541 in the online book The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River Volume 1 by Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph), 1873-1927; Taylor, Samuel R., Mrs, Publication date: 1917 on Archive.org on Archive.org.
2. The hotel underwent many name changes over the years but ultimately kept the Aveline name from ‘For God's sake … get out!' 100 years pass since fire guts Aveline hotel by Kim Metzger published May 1, 2008 in The Journal Gazette newspaper now on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
3. Score Die in Fire in Indiana Hotel in the Morris County Chronicle newspaper Tuesday, May 5, 1908 on Chronicling America newspaper archive at the The Library of Congress.
4. 11 DIE IN FIRE IN INDIANA HOTEL; Three Thought to be in Ruins of New Aveline at Fort Wayne. MANY THRILLING ESCAPES J.C. Yingling Climbed Down Five Stories on a Wire, Losing $2,500 in Diamonds. May 4, 1908 in The New York Times archives.
5. Eight Aveline Hotel photos at the History Center Digital Collection on the mDON mastodon Digital Object Network.
6. Two Aveline Hotel fire photos at the The Indiana Album.

7. One image of nearly 50 Aveline Hotel search results in the Allen County Public Library Digital Collections at the Allen County Public Libraryposted January 23, 2014 by Downtown Fort Wayne on Facebook:

   #ThrowbackThursdays in downtown Fort Wayne featuring a photo from May 3, 1908. This photo was taken after the fire at Aveline Hotel that used to stand at the corner of Berry St. and S. Calhoun St. Eleven people died in the fire. #TBT

    

   Another posted September 11, 2014 by Downtown Fort Wayne on Facebook.

8. May 3, 2017 post by Allen County Public Library on Facebook:

   On this day in 1908 Fort Wayne's Aveline Hotel burned, killing 12 people. "In its day, the Aveline House was the city's most elegant hotel. In the end, it was the city's most elegant deathtrap." It was on the southeast corner of Calhoun and Berry streets and was built in the 1860s with a fifth floor added in the 1880s. Read more from the archives of The News-Sentinel Death of the Aveline House.

9. ARCH’s 2023 Fun & Free Lecture Series will present the final lecture in the five-topic series to fans of our community’s...

   Posted by ARCH, Inc. on Thursday, May 4, 2023

   Thursday, May 4, 2023 post by ARCH, Inc. on Facebook:

   ARCH’s 2023 Fun & Free Lecture Series will present the final lecture in the five-topic series to fans of our community’s built heritage at Cinema Center’s Spectator Lounge May 20.

   Saturday, May 20, Karen Richards presents a lecture on Fort Wayne’s downtown hotels. Our city has a rich history of hotels both lavish and otherwise. She will tell the hotels’ stories and share historic images that show what life was like during the heyday of hotels in downtown Fort Wayne, including the story of the Aveline Hotel which tragically burned in 1908.

   The lecture will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Spectator Lounge at Cinema Center, 347 E. Berry St., Fort Wayne. Free parking is available across Clay Street. ARCH records each lecture presentation and posts the recordings on its website.

   For more information, email to archfortwayne@gmail.com or by phone at (260) 426-5117.

    

   Local historian checks into the story of city’s rich hotel history Julia Meek 89.1 WBOI Northeast Indiana Public Radio

    

10. September 8, 2023 post by the Genealogy Center on Facebook:

    Check out these pen and ink drawings including the 1861 Allen County Courthouse, Colerick's Hall, and the Aveline Hotel in Fort Wayne!

    These images come from the Bert J. Griswold Collection in our Community Album. Check out the collection here: http://contentdm.acpl.lib.in.us/.../collection/p16089coll59 [see links to his online books on our B.J. Griswold section]

    Bert J. Griswold was born in 1873 in Osage, Iowa, and died in Fort Wayne in 1927. A gifted illustrator and cartoonist, he came to Fort Wayne in 1902, working for the Fort Wayne Daily News and the Fort Wayne Sentinel. He later left the newspaper to establish his own advertising agency. In the course of his work as a reporter and cartoonist, he developed a deep interest in the history of Fort Wayne and Allen County. He also became a prominent advocate for the City Beautiful Movement, which worked for the establishment of local parks and boulevard improvements. Griswold wrote short columns for the newspaper about area pioneers and historic buildings, and his efforts culminated in 1917 in the publication of the two-volume Pictorial History of Fort Wayne.

Postcard discussion February 15, 2023 on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook.

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