On a Sunday evening in October of 1919, a fire broke out in the Palace Candy kitchen on State Street at 11 p.m. The origin of the blaze was unknown. W.D. Hunter retired about 10 p.m. Before going to bed, he banked the fire in the huge heating stove in the store part of the building. In banking a fire, the thing to do is to restrict the air getting to the wood. The fire will remain hot and continue to burn, but because the airflow is restricted, it will burn at a very slow rate. Hunter let a bunch of ashes build up underneath the fire. With a shovel, he pushed the logs together so that very little air flowed between the logs, and they were tightly packed together. He shoveled ashes on top of the fire to dampen the flames. The fire wouldn’t go out; it only burned more slowly. Hunter went to bed, and his business would be warm in the morning.

Hunter wasn’t exactly sure what woke him, but when he was awakened he knew he would have to move quickly if he was to rescue his daughter, Inez, and his sister, Miss May Hunter. He hustled into his clothes, picked up his daughter and carried her to safety. In the meantime, the building, which was papered on the inside, became a seething furnace. Mr. Hunter dashed back into the burning building and helped his sister out. May was burned badly on her face and hands. Selma found refuge at the Seims’ home, which was located directly across the street from the Evans & Meyers building.

The Evan & Myers building, the John Eustler building, occupied by Mrs. Jenny Aamold as a restaurant, and the Syndicate block, originally owned by Andrew Nohley, L.P. Lanouette, Wilfred Lemieux, Edward Corbett and others, and on the extreme north end of this group of buildings, the A.L. Knauf building, occupied at this time by the Lemieux Grocery store, were not protected very well from the fire. So it was between the vacant space of 40-60 feet, between the Knauf building and the Walter Bend structure that the firefighters decided to concentrate on stopping the fire. North of the Bond building, there was the Tin Smith shop and the farmer’s store which were unharmed. The bond building, however, was badly scorched. Being covered with tin, the heat from the burning structure did not catch fire, but behind the tin, the woodwork was on fire in several places. The tin had to be removed to put out smoldering bits of fire in the sideboards.

The Evans & Myers building on the extreme south was the last building to catch fire, and when it was thoroughly engulfed in flames, it was the hottest fire of all. By this time, all the other buildings to the north were a smoldering bunch of flames.

Directly to the west of the Evans & Myers was a large ice house, and next to the ice house was the livery barn and machinery building of Bent Emberson. It was here the Bucket Brigade valiantly worked to keep the icehouse from becoming a seething mass of flames. But they kept on fighting, throwing water, beating out the flames, and managed to keep the fire from getting inside. It was at this time the chemical engine was used, saving the buildings on the extreme north of the block. The engine was brought down to the ice house, and Leon Bates, the fire fighter of the chemical engine, got up on a ladder and finished the job of saving the ice house and the Emerson machine sheds.

Volunteers entered the burning structures and carried out as much of the contents of the different firms as they could save.

Jack Kauman and Lynn Varco worked to save attorney Bird’s law library. When they started to leave the building, the Syndicate block, they became confused in the smoke and the darkness of the upper floor and were nearly overcome by both heat and smoke. Finally, they discovered they had passed the stairway and managed to group their way down the stairs and into the open air. The Lemieux stock was hustled out into the street, as was the restaurant fixtures of the Jenny Aamold establishment. The equipment of the Evans & Meyer’s establishment was also carried to safety. The magnificent back bar in the Evans & Meyers establishment was destroyed entirely.

Nothing in the Palace Candy kitchen, where the fire originated, was saved.

Even Mr. Hunter’s auto-delivery truck standing at the back of the building was destroyed.

So rapid was the spread of the flames that it was difficult to save the school fixtures in the lower floor of the Syndicate block building. The loss of this building was a serious one to the owners and to the town of Fairview.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Information compiled from the Fairview Times.