Fires were a menace to frontier towns, with many towns burning to the ground, often more than once. Buildings were heated with fireplaces and coal stoves and lit by candles and oil lamps. With wooden structures standing close together, disaster was always just around the corner, and all it took was one careless mistake.
Many North Dakota towns, both large and small, suffered this fate. In June 1893, someone threw ashes out of the back of the Little Gem Restaurant on Front Street in Fargo. The hot ashes started a fire that quickly spread, leaving very few buildings standing. A few years later, in 1899, Bismarck was destroyed by fire, requiring the city to be completely rebuilt. Such disastrous occurrences were disturbingly frequent. As the new century dawned, wood remained the primary building material, leaving cities and towns vulnerable.
At about 1:30 a.m. on this date in 1919, a gas can in the back of a restaurant in Wales exploded, setting off a devastating fire. A carload of lignite coal added fuel to the flames. A change in wind direction saved the south end of the main business street, but the north end was not as lucky. Businesses destroyed included the restaurant, a barber shop, a pool hall, a bowling alley, and the old bank building.
The loss was estimated at twenty thousand dollars. Fortunately, the businesses were insured, and the owners quickly set about making plans to rebuild. The building season was winding down, but the business owners expected to begin new construction in the spring. Wales had suffered a similar devastating fire only four years prior, and local business and government leaders were confident that, as before, Wales would “rise from its ashes like a Phoenix.”
Cities generally enacted new building codes after a devastating fire, typically requiring new buildings to be constructed of brick or stone. Sidewalks were made of stone or concrete instead of wood, and cities often appointed a fire inspector to enforce the new codes. As these changes were implemented, instances of devastating fires decreased dramatically.
Dakota Datebook by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- Courier Democrat. “Blaze at Wales.” Langdon ND. 10/30/1919. Page 1
- Bismarck Café. “Bismarck History.” https://www.bismarckcafe.com/blogs/dawn-of-a-new-century-1899-1929#:~:text=The%20Fire%20of%201898%20had%20wiped%20out%20a,brick%20and%20concrete%2C%20even%20labeled%20as%20%E2%80%9Cfire%20proof%E2%80%9D. Accessed 9/25/2024.
- NDSU Archives. “Fire of 1893.” https://library.ndsu.edu/fargo-history/indexee8b.html?q=content/fire-1893 Accessed 9/25/2024.
