Grandson of George Lowry and Mary Eckles of Henry Co. Indiana

Indianapolis Fire Department
Last Call: Monday, March 17, 1890
Date of Incident: Monday, March 17, 1890
Cause of Death: Structural Collapse
Time in Service: 6 years

Bowen-Merril Fire Memorial

The memorial plaque is located in front of the Rock Bottom Brewery,10 West Washington Street, downtown Indianapolis.

The fire began at 3:08 PM on this memorable St. Patrick’s day in 1890, volumes of smoke rolling up from the basement of the Bowen-Merrill book house, where great quantities of paper were stored, attracting the attention of passersby as it came through the grating to the sidewalk. The loss of property to this and adjoining establishments exceeded $200,000, the Bowen-Merrill loss being $87,224; that of H. P. Wasson & Co. and others does not appear. It is pathetically significant that the record of this fire is incomplete in the books at Department Headquarters. The clerk who kept, and still keeps, the record was unconscious under the fallen wall, with dead and dying comrades around him. He fortunately escaped with his life, after hovering for months on the brink of death. This break in the record remains as but one of many reminders of the great disaster.

The killed were Thomas A. Black, John Burkhart, Andrew O. Cherry, George S. Falkner, Ulysess G. Glazier, Albert Huffmann, David O.R. Lowery, Espy Stormer, Anthony Voltz, Wm. L. Jones, Geo. W. Glenn and Henry D. Woodruff.




Lowry along with 12 other men died as a result of a fire at Bowen-Merrill Publishing house, 18 W. Washington St. Firefighters were working throughout the building, and on the roof when it collapsed into the basement, trapping many men.


Interred 19 March 1890
Source - Woodlawn Cemetery index of Burials 1839-1899, Compiled by Simona Lansaw

Death Record Book H3/Page 306, 35 yrs old (Indianapolis, IN)