Moving Hibbing

Title: Collapse of the Sellers Hotel
Type: Newspaper
Date: January 6, 1921
Source: Minnesota Historical Society

Description: This article and photograph describe the collapse of the Sellers Hotel while moving.
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Activities:

1. Do you think it was common for buildings like this to be wrecked while being moved?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: Actually it was very uncommon. If moving buildings was unsafe, people would probably not risk their homes attempting it. The article notes that this was the first serious house-moving accident to occur, which suggests that Hibbing did not experience many problems while moving buildings.
2. What could be done to repair a building when something like this happened?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: Nothing could be done. The building was a complete loss. The article says even the furniture inside was destroyed.
3. How might the building's size have contributed to the problem?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: It is more difficult to keep larger objects centered on the hauling devices, and to keep these devices centered on the road.
4. What do you think happened to the wreckage from the hotel?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: A newspaper ran an article calling it the largest pile of kindling (firewood) in the world and invited people to take it. The debris was supposedly gone in three days.