September 23, 1943: Bause's Super Drug Store Hit with Catastrophic Fire

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA

September 23, 1943: Bause’s Super Drug Store at 42 East Philadelphia Avenue was hit with a catastrophic fire tonight around 5:00 when an explosion in the cellar rocked the building and killed a valued employee, 66-year-old Brooke M. Davis, who had just moments before gone down into the basement.

The fire is believed to have been triggered by a spontaneous combustion of chemical fumes arising from acids stored there, causing a blast of such force that blew a fire door out onto the sidewalk and hurled large quantities of debris into the air. An immediate burst of flames started a fire that gutted both the spacious pharmacy and the Bause home on the second floor, despite the heroic efforts of the firemen from the Hookies and Keystone companies.

It was a narrow escape for the owner Dan Bause, clerks in the store, several customers and members of the Bause family who were upstairs. Fireman Douglass Zook, overcome by smoke, was revived by Dr. Dotterer, who said Zook had had a narrow escape from death.

After pumping thousands of gallons of water into the burning building, the borough reservoir was alarmingly lowered, and the firemen began taking water out of the Warwick mines, about a mile away from the fire, on South Reading Avenue.

Fire companies from Pottstown and Reading also came to help. The Berks County Red Cross chapter served sandwiches and coffee. The firemen did valiant work and remained on the scene throughout the night. Twice the next day, flames burst from the ruins, and the firemen were called into service again, quickly extinguishing the fire.

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