This Day in History: 1927-05-28
Fire destroyed the Mahwah Inn in Cragmere. The Alarm was sounded about 4:30 and the Mahwah Fire Department responded quickly, but high winds made a call for outside assistance necessary. The Ramsey and the Suffern fire companies responded, but a shortage of water made operations difficult. When Mahwah relayed to Suffern, it was possible to draw water from Lake Oweno and confine the flames to in inn. Repeatedly the fire spread to the roof of the Snow garage next door and it might have caught the house as well had the firemen not fought the blaze so tenaciously. One Suffern fireman was injured severely in the leg. When the blaze was brought under control, only the rear chimneys still stood. Nothing was saved of the interior furnishings and the occupants were said to have been lucky to have escaped with their lives. Mrs. Miller and several maids had arrived early in the morning to clean the inn in preparation for the Decoration Day business. They burned some rubbish in one of the fireplaces and fire officials presumed that the flames had gotten into the roof shingles where their extreme dryness and the high winds fanned the blaze. In addition to the inn, all the beautiful trees and the shrubbery of which the institution was famous for were destroyed. The Ramsey Journal newspaper suggested that all owners of public accommodations look into replacing their dry wooden shingles with fire-proof ones to avoid a similar tragedy. (Bristow)