FIRE: From The Era archives, we have unearthed a story of a blaze that burned down a city block on Main Street 123 years ago.

It was June 19, 1896, when a fire broke out in the W.D. Hatch variety store at 70 Main St.

We bring you the story from the June 20, 1896, edition of The Era:

“One of the worst fires in the history of the town was that which destroyed property on Main street last night. At this hour, owing to the difficulty of securing data on the subject, a correct estimate of the total losses cannot be given, but conservative guesses make the aggregate nearly if not quite $80,000.

“It was about 10 o’clock when a little girl, living in the Baker-Whitehead building, ran down stairs from that structure and cried ‘Fire.’ In a moment later an alarm was turned in from Box No. 13.

The firemen quickly responded and an immense crowd soon gathered in the vicinity of Chestnut and Main streets. The evening was pleasant and the sidewalks were lined with promenaders.”

Bystanders were quite a problem for the fire brigade.

“They were massed in the vicinity and the firemen experienced the usual trouble in reaching the scene of the blaze. There was no fire police to assist in keeping back the gaping multitude. To add to the confusion which prevailed after the fire had commenced its destructive course, Main street, in front of the burning buildings, was all torn up. The street railway builders had been excavating for their track and piles of paving stone lined both sides of the roadbed in the center of the thoroughfare.”

With the buildings being of wooden construction, the fire spread quickly.

“The fire had already given promise of being a serious one by the manner in which it showed its vigor in the upstairs apartments of the structure in which it had its origin.”

It appeared as though no one was killed in the blaze.

More on the story to come.