The first fire of any great consequence occurred in Cambridge on April 23rd,1825. The fire was in the County recorders office in the old courthouse. Through the years there were other great fires including the Harding sawmill, the McCraken salt house , Samuel  McCulleys dry goods store and the oldest house in Cambridge.

 Fighting fires in Cambridge in the early Years was not the well-organized procedure it is today. The most common method of providing water at the scene of a fire was the proverbial bucket brigade. Leather buckets were passed by hand from a well to the fire and back again. Also available were large wooden fire ladders, these were quite a load requiring at least six men to maneuver them.

 For several years these firefighting methods were  sufficient to help prevent the spread of fire in Cambridge but the time would come when these methods would prove inadequate and obsolete.

The fire of 1873

About four o'clock in the afternoon on Monday, June 26th, 1873, workmen coating castings at the Simmons Brothers foundry on Water Street  (now Turner Ave)  allowed hot pitch tar to overflow from a kettle onto the fire below. The burning tar spread to the walls and soon engulfed the structure in flame. a heavy breeze carried the flames to the old Baptist church, Zahniers blacksmith shop, and several warehouses and homes. On many homes roofs made of shingles were set ablaze by windblown sparks and the entire town seemed doomed. The fire destroyed all the buildings on the South side of Turner Avenue, from what is known as the old Eagles Club (Cliffhangers ) to South Eighth Street and Turner Avenue. Then all the buildings South on South Eighth  Street to where the City building stands. (Old Municipal Court and fire station) It swept along the North side of the street, from the rear of the Masonic Temple to the Rainey wool room at the corner of South Eighth Street and Turner Ave. Twenty two buildings in all were destroyed in this great tragedy.

It was at this time that the citizens of Cambridge banded together and against almost impossible odds began to fight the conflagration that threatened to destroy their community. Telegraph poles were cut down and used as battering rams, ropes were used to pull down buildings in the fires path. The Elza M. Scott salt works sent a wagon of salt to spread on roofs to help retard the spread of flame.

When it was seen that the city was ill-prepared to contain the fire the B&O railroad sent special trains from  Barnesville and Zanesville. Barnesville soon after receiving a call for help that disastrous  afternoon sent 120 men , along with that villages fire engine - a hand pumper along with  a ladder wagon and two hose carts.  Zanesville sent a steam fire pumper, two hand pumpers, 1,200 feet of hose and 36 men.  Local residents furnished 136 meals to the Zanesville firefighters alone during the three days which elapsed before the inferno was controlled.

Among properties destroyed at this fire were the warehouse and wool room of William Rainey, the Burgess tin shop, and the residence of C. C. McIlyar,  D. M. Jenkins, Fred Williams,  Mrs. John Cook,  Patrick Cain,  along with the old Bonnell home.  A new two story brick house where the Denny Brothers Shop stood also was destroyed.

The total amount of insurance on the buildings destroyed was one thousand dollars and insurance agents soon were plastering their company heralds on the still smoldering ruins. The result of the fire was the construction of better buildings and the organization of the Cambridge Fire Department.