Wilcox Saloon
1886
"The Great Fire" occurred late at night on Sept. 27, 1886. It is thought to have started from a smouldering cigar igniting the sawdust on the floor of the Wilcox Saloon in this block. The buildings, constructed of pine, were instantly engulfed. The town had only two small chemical wagons and the water from tanks and cisterns to fight the blaze. Fire swept both sides of the Boulevard and by morning twenty-two buildings and thirty-three stores were in ashes. The city passed two ordinances: no future wood-frame buildings and no more saloons in downtown DeLand. The latter decree was lifted when prohibition was repealed in the 1930s.
Marker is on North Woodland Boulevard (U.S. 17 /92) north of New York Avenue (Florida Road 44).
Courtesy hmdb.org
