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The Pioneer Hotel Fire
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I can remember that fire ...a horrible time in our city' s history . I believe was in mid December 1970 (?) Many lives were loss including of the prominent Steinfeld family , a long time icon of Tucson. The cause of the fire was investigated and showed to be an arson and later a young man was arrested and convicted . This fire was a shocked not just for Tucson but nationally. As I remember also the Tucson Fire Dept's ability to fight fires in high rise buildings needed to be updated with better equipment purchased as many new buildings were going up in Tucson mainly on the east side of town.
I think I may still have copies of the Citizen and Star newspaper about the fire packed away in a container in our garage since our move from Tucson a few years ago after moving there when I was a teen in 1965. After the fire pretty much gutted the Pioneer Hotel a few years later the nearly empty building was reported by some to be haunted and reports of voices and strange noises was said to be heard . I am wondering if anyone ever investigated these reported hauntings ? Since I rarely went downtown before I moved I don't know what has become of the building . I heard that a few lawyers offices were opened on the lower level . Does anyone know more about the building ? And also the old Steinfield's Department store building? -Deb |
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The Pioneer was rebuilt and is now offices.? The department store, as well as the market and hardware store, are long gone in the wake of the 1960's buildings, which are also now gone.? The department store which was catty corner to the hotel (southwest corner Pennington and Stone) is now a bank tower, the market and hardware, directly across from the Pioneer on Stone, became JC Penney and? Jacome's dept stores (new buildings) in the early 60's, which were replaced later by the downtown library. As for the arsonist, I thought I just heard a story about him, he was still in jail, although it was never totally proven that he was the one that
did it.? He was a young teen at the time and had been in trouble before, but he has claimed his innocence ever since. Would love to hear about any of the ghost sitings! Catherine |
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The building was re-skinned, probably in the early to mid 70s. I wasn't there at the time but from the look of it, that's my best guess. I moved to Tucson in "93 and moved away a couple of years ago. In all that time, the Pioneer was a fully functional but uninspiring office building, nearly all traces of its history lost. In the last ten or so years, a little bit of money was put into restoring the street level facade. That's better than nothing, but the entire building remains mummified behind a nondescript skin.
Inside the building, there are places one can find a few traces of the past. I'm sure it could be restored but the landlord, like Tucson itself, is way more focused on income than history. That's one of the reasons I moved away. 119 N. Commercial Street, Suite 910 Bellingham, Washington 98225 (360) 746-0400 Fax: (877) 767-9751 This message is an attorney communication intended only for those persons and entities named herein. Unless otherwise stated, it should be deemed privileged and confidential. If this message was erroneously sent to and/or received by you, you are hereby placed on notice that you are not authorized to review, copy or forward its contents or attachments. In that event, please immediately notify Roy Martin by telephone at (360) 746-0400. [Foreign recipients, you must append the number 1, the country code for the United States, to the front of the above-referenced telephone number.] Please return the original message to this firm and delete all contents from computers and storage devices under your control. |
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N7IQV
December 20, 1970..what can I say, the fire was on my birthday! The building is still there, and is doing well.
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John H --- In vanishingtucson@..., "debkaye2001" <debkaye2001@...> wrote:
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Dec. 1970. I was still in Fire Training it was about 1 week until graduation, most of us recruits (12 of us remaining in the class at that time) received phone calls to get down to the Fire Academy on Ajo ASAP. I had gone to bed and had know idea what was going on until I arrived at fire training. We were assigned to which ever fire company need more man power. Myself and one or two other recruits (Boots) were helping other firefighters, who had ran out of air and were over come by smoke, up to the roof. Afterwards we were removing the deceased out of their rooms and carrying them down the stairs. We stood "Fire Watch" until after 8:00 in the morning. The smell of burned human flesh is something you never forget.
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--- In vanishingtucson@..., "debkaye2001" <debkaye2001@...> wrote:
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Catherine,
When I first moved to Tucson in the mid 60's the Pioneer Hotel and Steinfields Dept store were still open and very popular places to go. My sister-in-law who was older than me was a beautician at the department store and always did Mrs.Steinfield's hair every Friday for many years. I would go to the store often to meet my sister-in-law to go to lunch at various places in the downtown area. Sometimes we would just go browse around the lobby at the Pioneer and we use to kid around about staying there for a weekend but never did. I liked to buy clothes at Lerners and sometimes Penneys. As far as that young boy (Louis or Lewis?) I guess he had a juvenile record of starting fires and had been spotted around the hotel. Whether it was a rush to judgement I don't know but because of the deaths of some prominent people which also included some Mexican citizens who were regular guests at the hotel it was a high profile case. As far as I remember this fire pretty much changed the Tucson Fire Dept and they acquired more updated equipment and training in fighting high rise building fires. The Eastside of Tucson soon started to boom and seems like there was a new high rise building going up every week. When EL Con started expanding I still liked to go downtown to Lerners or Woolworths I just felt I needed to shop there and it was sad to see the dwindling businesses one by one close down. I lived on the SW side and I use to take my baby son with me to the Fox theater in the afternoons. I would drive my car to South Tucson, park near the Valley National Bank, take the bus downtown near the Fox and go watch the matinee shows. Sometimes there was just a handful of people in the theater but I just enjoyed going there as it reminded me of when I was a kid in Long Beach CA going to the theaters there with the magnificent interiors and chandeliers. Years later when the Fox was closed I use to ride past and think about how beautiful it was behind those locked doors. |
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Catherine ,
I use to hear stories that security guards and other people would hear noises at night from the old hotel kitchen area and voices when the building was pretty much vacant . I believe at one time a story was in either the Star or Citizen recounting some of these reported hauntings. Some said the basement area was often a place they heard noises they couldn't explain. I can't remember if anyone actually seen a ghostly figure but for some reason I think it was said by someone. I don't really know what was going on but with the history of being a popular fancy place for many years and then the tragic deaths of people trapped on the upper floors during the fire it sure could have been a good place for a haunting !!!! -Deb |
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--- In vanishingtucson@..., "debkaye2001" <debkaye2001@...> wrote:
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If someone googles "pioneer hotel arsonist," a whole rash of stories will turn up, from news sources across the country and even in the UK.? 60 Minutes did a segment on him. The man held 42 years for the arson was released not too long ago.? Here are a couple of links from the Arizona Daily Star among the many that come up: "Man held 42 years in deadly Tucson Pioneer Hotel fire to be released.? Taylor, convicted as teen, to plead no contest in Pioneer Hotel blaze" http://azstarnet.com/news/local/man-held-years-in-deadly-tucson-pioneer-hotel-fire-to/article_984a194e-7c21-53d6-946e-ae1a1a53d303.html "Attorneys: Fatal '70 hotel fire not arson.? They ask that conviction in 28 deaths be set aside" http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/attorneys-fatal-hotel-fire-not-arson/article_950d5cc9-d37d-5a33-a952-68d1c369748e.html I check the Arizona Daily Star news website every day; they have excellent local-history stories.? Some are features, but there are also weekly columns.? At the moment they are running a series on mining and mines around the region.? But they do regular columns about street names and just finished one called Tucson Oddities, which created two book spin offs of the same name, which I bought.? They are great fun. Anyone interested in Tucson architecture should do themselves a favor and check the ADS news website every day, IMO.? Yesterday, for example, they ran this story on the restoration of the Arizona Inn dining room to 1930's original state: "At Arizona Inn, old is new again" http://azstarnet.com/business/local/at-arizona-inn-old-is-new-again/article_8ace0207-de0a-5574-994e-79ed2855f3a6.html All the best, Jeri |
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N7IQV
Catherine,
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Lewis Taylor was recently released from prison after spending more than 40 years (and ALL of his adult life) in custody. Legal wranglings and such..but he "admitted" to having a part in the fire. Although that still cannot be proven, his sentence was changed to "time served" and he was released the next day. There was a LOT of bias shown back in the days following the fire, from law enforcement and the legal profession. Given the improvement in the forensics field, and the major changes in attitudes, if there was to be a trial held today I suspect that Taylor might well have never been convicted. John H --- In vanishingtucson@..., catherine westergaard <cfw61@...> wrote:
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Roy
Thank you for all the info. I did see the lower area years ago when I was working with County Atty's office and courts downtown. I left Tucson in late 2001, have made trips back but never went to that area. In the mid 60's the Pioneer was still a grand old hotel . Too bad it wasn't restored to its once elegant history. -Deb |
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Jim
I worked for the sheriffs dept for over 10 yrs and I know what you mean about the smell. Did you go on to work for TFD? That fire had to be quite an intro for you. But it did cause the FD a lot of changes in fire fighting and in some new equipment. At the time of the tremendous fire It was overwhelming and the personnel did an excellent job to save as many lives as possible even when their own lives were in jeopardy. -Deb p |
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Deb, Yes I was with TFD from 1970 to 1997... The Pioneer Hotel Fire caused lots of changes to be made, in equipment, firefighting tactics and in fire codes and enforcement. if you're interested there's a Facebook group about the fire called "Hot Pio" you should check into it. JimZ
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--- In vanishingtucson@..., Deb Rollins <debkaye2001@...> wrote:
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Jim
Thank you for your long tour of duty to the people of Tucson. We lived in the county not far from the Drexel Heights FD but years back they didn't have the great equipment or station like they have now. They grew to be an excellent, well equipped department . My husbands job in the Marines was an engineer/explosive expert but also was on the base fire dept for about 8 years. My older son had taken and passed the TFD testing in late 1993 but he decided to re- enlist back into Marines. He is trained in swift water rescue and also an EMT .He's out in CA in the desert and canyon areas and like in Tucson during the monsoon they always have stupid drivers trying to drive thru flooded washes. The county calls the base when they need help. Last week he had to do a body recovery of a 78 yr man when the pickup the man was driving overturned in rushing flood water. But sadly it wasn't the first time for that, he's had several over the past few years, even a small child. I have seen on the Fox News channel today films of the flooding near Tucson and up around the Phoenix area of vehicles in water and some home floorings. Y'all made the national news!! We live in a midsize college type town about 45 miles from Birmingham AL near my husbands hometown. We have had a few days of off and on heavy rain and the local news has showed a few stupid drivers the last few days, never fails anywhere. Thanx for the info on the Pioneer Hotel Facebook page and I will check it out . ~ Deb |
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