Towns and Nature: Huntington, IN: Wabash Freight House (Fire) and Depot

Sunday, May 15, 2022

Huntington, IN: Wabash Freight House (Fire) and Depot

Freight House: (Satellite)

Depot: (Satellite)

The Wabash freight house has been preserved as a pizza joint.

Street View

This is not how I want to learn about the freight houses that survived into the 21st Century.

The Huntington County Sheriff's Department posted, cropped
Please avoid the area of Court street, around Pizza Junction, as fire personnel is battling a fire at that location.
John Stanley: They are pulling all firefighters out of building due to roof caving in
Alex Powell shared
The old freight house in Huntington, IN caught fire this morning. Hopefully the building and restaurant inside can rebuild.

wpta21
"No injuries following fire at Huntington’s Pizza Junction"
[wpta21 is a blast from the past. I recognize that as the ABC outlet in Fort Wayne, IN. Fort Wayne was one of two test markets in the nation for UHF broadcasting. I still remember the assigned channels: 15: CBS, 21: ABC and 33: NBC. When we bought a TV, we also had to by a converter. The test was considered successful enough that TV manufactures were required to add UHF tuners to their sets. Of course, VHF and UHF has since been replaced by digital TV channels and the VHF and UHF frequencies have been sold to cellular phone companies.]

Marty Bernard posted two photos with the comment:

Where Is This Pizza Depot?
Unknown Depot, Aug. 1994, Karl Miller photos.
[EDIT] Huntington, Indiana -- being rebuilt from a fire in May.
https://www.facebook.com/pizzajunctioncafe/

Bruce B. Reynolds: Huntington County Courthouse is across the street. A "sundown" city, with a sordid past going back before the Civil War; home to Dan Quayle.

Dennis DeBruler: It looks more like the freight house than the depot. But that makes it even more interesting.

pizza junction cafe posted three photos with the comment:

Pizza Junction Community,
Many have inquired as to the cause of the fire, and while there was much speculation , we wanted to wait until the investigation was concluded before informing everyone.
The fire began on the back deck, in a small 3 gallon pot of potting mix, which was confirmed with video footage. Fire investigators believe given the weather conditions that day spontaneous combustion was the cause of ignition. Nobody was in the area at the time of combustion and we are very grateful no none was injured. https://gofund.me/ebc07f57

Wand W Worster: Crazy thing is, today we went to the Markle Pancake House for lunch. Same thing just about happened there. We told them something smelt like it was burning when we walked in. They said they have been smelling that all morning and couldn't find anything. They found their flower pot next to the front door smoking before we left. Glad they caught it before it took off as well. I think someone should let local fire departments know.. maybe there is a certain brand of potting mix they both used? Hope you guys get up and going again soon. Prayers sent!

Caroline Gernand-Runyan: https://coloradosprings.gov/.../potting-soil-fire-safety...

[Their group has additional postings about the fire and their rebuilding.]