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Warehouse Fire Destroyed a Piece of Evansville History

An early 20th Century postcard depicting Hercules Buggy Company on Morton Avenue
historicevansville.com
An early 20th Century postcard depicting Hercules Buggy Company on Morton Avenue

120-year-old brick building housed Hercules Buggy and Servel

A piece of Evansville history died when Monday's fire destroyed the Morton Avenue Warehouse and damaged other structures. WNIN’s John Gibson explains:

The huge red brick building opened in 1902 as the Hercules Buggy Company.

It was later renovated and became Servel in 1926.

The company had produced two million refrigerators when World War II came along.

Servel joined the war effort, producing wings for the P-47 Thunderbolt.

After the war, Servel returned to manufacturing commercial products.

Servel went out of business in 1957.

The complex served as home to more companies and eventually Morton Warehousing, which was destroyed in Monday’s blaze.

Evansville firefighters continue to extinguish hot spots and smoke continues to rise from the fire scene.