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The
face of Pomeroy's Main Street has change dramatically since the town was
settled in the late 1800's. Perhaps the most eye-catching
structure on Main Street is the Garfield County Courthouse, (beautifully
made of brick), which is the county's second courthouse; the first one
was destroyed by the Great Pomeroy Fire, July 18,1900.
The
great fire originated in E.J. Rice's Saloon from a gas light
generator. While Rice was replenishing the tank, a quantity of
gasoline was spilled on the floor, and gasoline had also been poured
into an open vessel. Someone inadvertently struck a match, the
vaporized gasoline was ignited, and a sheet of flame spread throughout
the wooden structure almost instantly. Two horse carts and a hook
and ladder arrived quickly, but the streams of water poured upon the
flaming building had little effect. The fire was spreading rapidly
and goods were removed from all buildings eastward of the conflagration
as far as the Tidwell Livery Stable at the corner of Fifth and
Main.
Fanned by a stiff gale from the west, the fire made short work of the
wooden courthouse, then located on the present courthouse
grounds. All businesses were destroyed east on the north
side of Main Street, except the blacksmith shop of Krouse & Hoffman,
T.E. Benbow's Wagon Shop, and the Black Building, which is still
standing. The South side was swept clean.
Prior to the fire, the City Council of Pomeroy had passed an ordinance
placing substantially all of the area devastated by the fire, as well as
other sections bordering Main Street, in what was commonly termed
"The Fire Limits," prohibiting the construction of buildings
except of fire-proof material.
Immediately following the fire, some of the owners whose buildings had
been destroyed, requested the city to amend or repeal the fire limit
ordinances so as to permit the erection of wooden buildings in the
burned out area. Pomeroy's then Mayor, Judge Kuykendall, stood
firm with the ordinance and Pomeroy's Main Street was rebuilt fire-proof.
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