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Spring/Summer 2024 ~ “Big Blaze in the Business District”

In the spring of 1908, disaster struck downtown Richmond.

Downtown Richmond VT business district before the 1908 fire

With its densely clustered wooden buildings heated by wood- or oil-burning stoves, the area between the railroad tracks and Main Street (U.S. Route 2) was inevitably at risk for catastrophic fire. On at least three occasions, flames swept through the area, burning many homes and businesses to the ground. Each time, the district was rebuilt, and shopkeepers resumed their trades. The 1908 disaster was the largest of these downtown fires.

Groups of people along Bridge Street survey what’s left of the downtown area, near the spot where the earlier business-district photo was taken.

At about 11:30 p.m. on April 23rd, a fire broke out in the basement of the Masonic Building, located on the corner of Bridge and Depot Streets.  Fanned by a light breeze, the fire quickly spread northward on Bridge Street and west on Depot Street.  By the time it was halted early the next morning, it had completely destroyed the business district, including two hotels, the post office, the village library, and several homes and apartments located along Bridge Street.  Town records were saved from the Town Clerk’s office, but the library lost most of its collection of 1,000 books.  Businesses that lost everything included fruit, meat and grocery markets, a drug store, a hardware store, several clothing and millinery (hat maker) shops, a barber shop, a jewelry and optical shop, and a law office.  By about 2:00 a.m., a span of only two and a half hours, the fire had laid waste to Richmond’s commercial core.

New brick storefronts under construction on Bridge Street

Work on rebuilding the business district began almost immediately.   Along the west side of Bridge Street, the new design featured a row of attached two-story buildings with storefronts at street level and apartments above,  just as before.  This time, however, the buildings were constructed of brick rather than wood.   In addition, village trustees began requiring that new construction in downtown Richmond have thick firewalls between adjacent buildings, extending above the roofline, as well as metal or slate roofs.