On November 6, 1909, at 3:30 in the morning, Mrs. Cora Preston woke up in a start. She was in her apartment in Marshfield’s Beckley building, and realized the building was on fire.

Preston raced upstairs to wake the landlord’s family, and everyone made it out just in time.

The fire spread to the Knights of Pythias building. At the post office, also located there, the postmaster managed to rescue all stamps, mail and bookeeping before the building burned.

The fire would have spread to the Universalist Church, too, had it not been for James Rolfe, who climbed the steeple and smothered any flame that jumped to the building.

Historic image courtesy Vermont Historical Society from “Marshfield, Vermont”
by Caleb Pitkin