Fire has destroyed LeRoy a few times.  The first documented destructive fire in LeRoy was in 1874. This fire burned the buildings on the corners of Chestnut and Center.  The businesses lost included general store with drugs, medicines, paints, etc., a merchant tailor, barber, and a doctor’s office.  It was thought the buildings were set on fire and the liquor excitement that prevailed might have caused it.

LeRoy’s greatest catastrophe was in 1892 when nine businesses and 2 residences were destroyed.  When Brindley’s hardware became afire, the roar of cartridges and ammunition kept even the pluckiest away from the burning store.  The fire department had been organized only six months earlier.  The 30 men and two engines kept the fire at bay until the hose broke and a length had to be removed. From there, the fire took control and ate its way through a furniture store, barn, residence, restaurant, harness shop, another residence and shop and then another restaurant. All burned like tinder and passed from existence into smoke and ashes.  A drug store, dry goods store, grocery, the Opera House, and the Journal printing office followed the fate of the other buildings.

LeRoyans called for help, but the lack of a locomotive on either of the two connecting railroads made it impossible. Volunteers from Bloomington and LeRoy did much to prevent the spread of flames beyond the principle burning area. Work of rebuilding began at once and the burned district was covered with fine new brick buildings before winter set in. The citizens decided that no more frame business buildings should be erected and that a water system was imperative. 

The fire of 1907 burned out the north side of Center Street. Six businesses went up in smoke during this fire; however, the brick firewall between a restaurant and the adjoining Van Atta building stopped the fire there. The telephone girls on duty notified all the surrounding towns before they left their burning post.

Subsequent fires in 1909, 1910, 1911 and 1914 were limited to separate buildings and the damage was contained to the local structure with water and smoke damage to surrounding structures. Various other fires from 1923 through 1982 take us a long way in the advancement of firefighting. From the taking of water from five large cisterns in downtown LeRoy, with hand drawn and hand operated hose carts to the more efficient use of modern techniques and equipment. Fire districts were formed in the 1950’s and the mutual agreement system with surrounding districts also is an asset.

The Winter Storms >>>

            LeRoy has seen some bad winter storms. The winter of deep snow was in 1830 with 3 to 4 feet of snow. Domestic and wild animals were frozen with the wild turkeys almost exterminated. All travel ceased as residents stayed in and kept the home-fires going. The spring thaw in 1831 again caused travel to stop as the land was covered with water. The sudden freeze of 1836 found Salt Creek frozen to the bottom with ice frozen in tiers five feet above the banks. A raging wind and driving snow whistled and sifted through every crack and crevice of homes during the big blizzard of 1918.  Temperatures reached 18 to 24 degrees below zero as snow drifted to 8-10 foot heights during Friday afternoon through Saturday night. 

            The big sleet came the night of December 17, 1924 and again the next night. The heavy coating of ice remained on some of the trees 20 days. A cold spell lasted from January 19, 1936 until February 20^th. Temperatures ranged from 7 degrees to 20 below. During that same time, 7.9 inches of snow was heaped on top of 4.5 inches already there. A mighty winter storm raged across the mid west in 1967. Central Illinois was virtually snowbound or iced in with eight inches of snow mixed with sleet and ice all blown by 50 mph winds.

            The worst winter storm in the century was in 1976-1977. Winds with gusts up to 50 mph blew dry snow up into white clouds.  All highways and roads in the area were closed except I-74, which was blocked for a time.  Hundreds of cars and trucks were in ditches covered with snow. All buses, train schedules and plane flights in the county were canceled. A massive power outage doused the lights and furnace blowers to an estimated 400 customers. Rural residents were without electricity for two to eleven days.

And then there was water and wind

            One of the worst storms in the history of LeRoy took place on the afternoon of April 19, 1927 when a rumbling black cloud from the southwest swooped down upon the city and rural surroundings.  Almost as in darkness of night the wind shrieked and eddied in a driving gale of hail and air full of debris. The storm damaged or destroyed nearly everything in its northwesterly path from the farms south of LeRoy to West Park.    Amazingly no one was fatally injured in the twister although damage was wide spread. Two employees of the power company were working at the fairgrounds when the storm burst. They scurried to a building for shelter but the creaking of the building warned them and they got out just before it went down. They ran into another building, which was groaning, and they went into the storm at its worst. One employee was caught up like a feather and wafted gently to nearly 500 away. The other employee grabbed a telephone pole and with his feet flapping like a pennant on the mast of a ship, weathered out the gale.

    May 27-28 1956 all former precipitation records for this community were swept away before rushing waters over the weekend when more than one-fourth of the annual normal rainfall for this area fell in less than 48 hours. The official rain gauge recorded 10.01 inches of rain for the weekend. Highways and railroads were under water as Salt Creek east of town went on a rampage.