Last week’s column described the 1911 fire that destroyed the Broomfield Mills in Fergus, and that for a couple of hours threatened the business section of the main street.
Elora had a fire that same year that, had the firefighters been inept or had the winds been unfavourable, might have reduced the downtown business core to ashes.
Between the late 1860s and the 1890s Elora’s business section expanded from Mill Street to the top of the hill along Metcalfe and Geddes Streets. The town hall and the market grounds to the rear of that building cemented that area as the new business centre of Elora.
In the 1890s there were several major fires that claimed some of the commercial buildings, none very old, in that area. In each case, the Elora volunteer firefighters, largely untrained and ill-equipped, did little to extinguish the blazes. There was no water system of any kind. Elora council had constructed several underground cisterns, but cut back on maintenance as a cost-reducing measure. The cisterns were normally dry, and the fire engine was so poorly maintained that it was often not a factor in fighting a fire. The old decrepit fire engine was stored outside, and on one occasion fire fighters had to dig it out of a snow drift while a building nearby burned to the ground.
Following one fire, the underwriters bureau representing the major fire insurance companies wrote a scathing letter to Elora council, threatening that its members would stop writing policies altogether for property in downtown Elora unless the village took steps to bring its fire fighting capacity up to standard.
Those threats soon bore fruit, as downtown property owners pressured council for action. The village undertook repairs and maintenance to the cisterns to make them waterproof. A major expenditure was a new fire engine and additional hose.
With better equipment, the volunteers became enthusiastic about their training sessions. There was also a new bylaw requiring new buildings to meet certain standards, such as brick or stone construction for exterior walls, and fire walls between adjoining structures.
Within a few years Elora’s firefighting capacity was as good as any for a town its size. Nevertheless, there were still fires in the downtown core. There remained many buildings constructed before the fire code. One of them, Brohmann’s Livery Stable, went up in smoke in 1911. It was located on the south side of what is now Macdonald Square.
As was the case with many fires, this one began in the small hours of the morning on July 11.
George Robinson a hardware and building supply merchant, lived above his store on Metcalfe Street across from the Dalby House hotel. Unable to sleep, Mrs. Robinson was prowling around the premises about 3am when she noticed flames coming from Brohmann’s Livery, which adjoined the Robinson property at the back.
She roused her husband. Still in his night clothes, he rushed to the town hall nearby and rang the fire bell, which was sufficiently loud to be heard over most of the village, unlike the fire bell in Fergus. Soon there were several dozen men on the scene, both neighbours and firefighters.
By that time the fire department’s equipment was kept in the rear of the old town hall, directly across the street from the fire, and a cistern was on the other side of the town hall.
The fire had made very rapid progress in a few minutes. Several of the firemen got a blaze started in the firebox of the steam-powered engine, while others organized a bucket brigade from the cistern to the blazing livery stable.
The fire brigade soon had two streams of water available, but the chief directed that efforts should be directed to saving adjoining buildings rather than saving the stable, which was obviously doomed.
George Robinson’s building seemed to be in the greatest danger, and flames also threatened W.R. Lambert’s grocery store next door to Robinson’s shop.
There were also fears for the other businesses in the block, including the Merchants Bank at the corner of Metcalfe and what is now Macdonald Square.
It was a tense hour for the firefighters, other volunteers, and onlookers. There was a slight breeze from the west, but it was sufficient to send sparks and cinders spiralling skyward to drift to the buildings along Metcalfe Street.
Many landed on the dry wood shingle roof of the Iroquois Hotel, as the Dalby House was then called.
Several brave men got out onto the roof with wet blankets to smother embers as they landed. Luckily, no one skidded off.
With neighbouring structures wetted down and watched by volunteers, the fireman attacked the livery stable itself, or what was left of it. In a surprisingly short time they had the flames beaten down to smoldering ashes.
By then it was a little past 5am, and the firefighters paused to get a some rest and eat sandwiches brought by some thoughtful citizens. They went home when all seemed under control, though a couple of men remained on the scene to watch for flare ups.
Andy Brohmann did not own the livery building, but rented it from a man named Joe Peavoy.
He placed the value of the building at more than $1,000, though Peavoy only carried $400 worth of insurance on it. Brohmann had operated his business there for about 15 years.
Initially he had built carriages, but that business had largely died out by 1911, as motor cars made intrusions into the transportation business, and large firms undercut the prices charged by small local carriage shops.
As well as the building, Brohmann lost a two-seater rig, five buggies, and six horses. Also on the premises, Brohmann boarded a team of horses for grocer Rollie Boswell, and a horse, cutter, sleigh and buggy for druggist F.J. Capell. Brohmann also operated a sideline business as a farm implement dealer. There had been seven manure spreaders and a new wagon in the barn.
The loss of 10 horses, the carriages, and other equipment added up to about $3,000. Brohmann carried no insurance whatever. That, at least, undercut rumours that he might have fired the building to collect insurance.
The origin of the fire was a mystery, and no clues were uncovered. Peavoy, the owner of the building, had been there the evening before, leaving about 11pm.
All seemed well at that time.
The provincial fire marshall arrived on the site the next day, but he uncovered nothing that might have indicated the cause of the fire. He did determine that the fire had started at the end of the building where the horses had been placed in their stalls.
Property owners in the area of the fire were effusive in their praise of the Elora fire brigade and its efforts in containing and extinguishing the fire. For veterans on the force, it was a pleasant change from the early and mid-1890s, when they were a subject of derision. In those days even the Elora Express had used dark sarcasm to describe their efforts.
In return, the firefighters took space in the newspaper to thank the many citizens who volunteered their help in the early morning of July 11 to prevent what might have been a major disaster for Elora.