Sunday, February 29 2004 was a dark day in the social history of Emporia. Bruffs Bar and Grill, housed in a near century old building at 6th and Merchant Streets in Emporia, Kansas suffered a kitchen grease fire which ultimately engulfed and destroyed both Bruffs and Josie's Tavern (formerly Turtle's).
Stories on this destruction are available at the Topeka Capitol Journal and the Emporia Gazette. The images on this page were taken with my Polaroid PDC-700 digital camera on March 1. Some are from inside the library early in the morning; others are from outside.
Update Tuesday, March 2: After examination by the state fire inspector, insurance inspector, and city engineers, both Bruffs and Josie's Tavern were demolished today. Click Here for a couple of photos from Tuesday after the walls were torn down.
Click on any thumbnail to open the image in a new window. Close that window to return to this page. Click here for permission to use or distribute the images.
Permission to reprint or redistribute any images from this page may be obtained by writing the author, Jim Deane, at jimdeane at hotmail dot com. You may download these images for your personal non-commercial use without asking. The images on this page are thumbnails, and the linked images are larger and have been formatted for easy web viewing. Original images are available by email request.