Life in our village has for the most part been quiet and uneventful,
with a slow but steady progress toward material success, yet fate
has not left us entirely unscathed, for the older men and women can
remember four times when the dreaded cry of “Fire!” has rung through
the village, calling them out to find the stores in flames. They
remember the quick rush of the villagers to the spot, the long, heavy
strokes of the church bell calling the townspeople to aid, the dogged,
persistent courage with which every man fell to work, handicapped at
every move. They remember the great darting flames, which, as they
watched, wrapped one store after another, until the quick call came to
save the homes if possible, since the rest _must_ go. They recall that
the next day they stood over the ruins and planned to build again.
The first of these great fires was in November, 1871. It was on the
west side of the street, and caught in the Mitchell store, occupied
then by T. B. Cook. Nothing could be done--the fire swept over the
whole block.
The second fire was on March 2, 1878, on the east side of the street.
The fire broke out in the shoeshop of Daniel Starkey. Alfred Berry
was one of the first on the spot, and he declared that if he had had
a pailful of water at that moment he could have put the fire out, but
no water was at hand and the fire was soon out of control. It swept up
over the hotel store, hall, two stables and the hotel itself, occupied
at that time by Thomas Whitehouse. In the opposite direction it
destroyed the house and stable of H. B. Rice and the Thomas Snell house
and stables, owned by Daniel Harmon.
Within three months, June 9, 1878, fire came again and the startled
people fought, this time almost despairingly, to save the stores on
the west side of the street. They failed and all were burned. Then
for twenty-six years fire passed us by, until on January 5, 1904, the
stores on the east side burned again, together with the halls where the
Odd Fellows and Masons were located.