130 years ago in 1895, transcribed as originally published in the Youngstown Vindicator:

Now in ruins. Six families are made homeless by a fire last night. ‘Tammany Hall’ destroyed too. The fire department of no use whatever — Brier Hill suffers great loss.

Fire swept away a portion of Brier Hill early this morning, and what remains of what was nearly $6,000 of property are cellar walls and chimneys that stand amidst the smoke of smoldering embers.

The fire started in the kitchen of the building occupied by Ed Smith as a saloon and dwelling house, on the north bank of the gulley that crosses West Federal Street, about 100 feet south of the new St. Ann’s Church in Brier Hill. The origin of the fire is a mystery, and it was first discovered by members of ‘Tammany Hall,’ an organization of young men who had been holding an all night session, and who, led by ‘Butter’ Connelly, ‘Park’ Carney and ‘Sherman’ Cowley, did brave work in saving lives and property.

When the fire was first discovered the entire lower floor of the building, occupied by the Smith family, was in flames. The members of the family, consisting of Smith, his wife and baby, were abed in the upper story with escape cut off by the flames. Carney fought his way through the flames and up stairs to the rescue of the sleeping inmates and aided their escape by dropping them from a second story window into the arms of Connelly on the ground below and then jumping from the window himself. The Smith family escaped in their night apparel and suffered a total loss of their property.

The fire next communicated to a dwelling occupied by the family of John Johnson, north of the Smith dwelling, and Mrs. Johnson and her baby was carried from the burning building by Connelly and Cowley. Nearly all of Johnson’s household furniture was saved from the flames being carried out of the house by the members of ‘Tammany Hall.’

‘Tammany Hall’ on the south bank of the gully was the next prey of the flames and it burned as though it had been soaked in oil. A tenement house owned by John and Thomas Flemming and occupied by four families by the name of Bowman, Morrisey, Cooley, and Strainer stood in the rear of Tammany Hall and it was the next to add fuel to the conflagration. All of the inmates escaped safely and succeeded in saving the most of their personal property.

There was a long delay in sending in an alarm to fire headquarters, the nearest alarm box being at the corner of Cook’s Lane and Federal Street, nearly a half mile from the fire. The alarm was sent to headquarters by ‘Butter’ Connelly, who went to the residence of Dr. Kotheimer, and after arousing the doctor sent the alarm by telephone from the doctor’s residence.

The fire had almost burned itself out before the arrival of the department. The nearest water plug to the scene of the fire is at Ardale and Federal Streets, a quarter mile away, and the best that the department could do was to use the chemical engine in preventing the flame spreading to adjacent buildings. The fire proved that Brier Hill and especially that portion of it in the vicinity of last night’s conflagration is without proper fire protection, and Brier Hill citizens are now determined that council shall give them the protection which their taxation warrants.

Compiled from the Youngstown Vindicator by Dante Bernard, Mahoning Valley Historical Society Museum educator.