Mildred Lougee Recounts The Great Salem Fire of 1914

Abstract

On June 25, 1914, fifteen-year-old Annah Mildred Lougee was living at 2 Fairfield Street in Salem with her parents, Arthur and Annah, and her siblings, Norman and Doris, when the Great Salem Fire erupted. The Lougee family owned the J. L. Lougee furniture store at 281 Essex Street, where they sought refuge as the inferno approached their home. Mildred's grandparents resided nearby at 31 Summer Street. In a detailed account, Mildred documented her family's ordeal, describing the fire’s progression from Boston Street toward their home on Fairfield Street. She also mentioned their neighbors, the Pinnock family, who lived at 4 Fairfield Street. Ultimately, the fire consumed all the homes on Fairfield Street. Mildred later married Edgar Johnson, whose personal papers, including this harrowing account, were donated to the Archives.