Exploring some more little known stories from Victorian Blantyre. Friday 1st January 1892 and fire broke out at the ante room at the Masonic Hall on Glasgow Road. At the time, this hall was located at the corner of Forrest Street.
There was a new years dance the night before and the fire was supposed to have come from a faulty gas bracket, the gas igniting the pipe. The flame then burned along the pipe until it reached woodwork, which then caught alight.
The police being nearby in the station promptly attended and put the fire out with buckets of water. Several hundred pounds of damage was done and the whole incident caught the attention of many passers by.
AI imagines the scene at the former Masonic Hall at the corner of Forrest Street and Glasgow Road.
