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FRASER — In 1905, a fire broke out in downtown Fraser, something that nearly decimated the small town.
Marti VanEenenaam-Iwanicki, a member of the Fraser Historical Commission, said according to the Mount Clemens Register, the newspaper at the time, the fire broke out in the back barn of Frank Spence’s meat market. It nearly wiped out the business section of the town.
“Four buildings were consumed and at a time the entire village was threatened,” the newspaper said. “The fire department of Detroit was appealed to but just as help was about to start it was seen that the local firefighters had the blaze under control and the call for engines was canceled.”
The fire caused no casualties to the town of 230 people at the time. In 1895, Fraser was recognized as a village.
“From the barn the flames spread to the meat market and from there to the hardware store of George Reindel, one of the largest retail hardware stores in the section,” the newspaper said. “These three buildings were wiped out. The fire attacked Charles E. Greih’s cigar shop and burned that.”
VanEenenaam-Iwanicki called learning about the fire a fun find.
“I had not known those things. All I knew was there was a fire in the corner of 14 (Mile Road) and Utica (Road) in 1905,” VanEenenaam-Iwanicki said.
VanEenenaam-Iwanicki said at the time, there wasn’t much in Fraser. She said she believed there was a post office along with the cigar shop, meat market and a couple grocery stores.
“Typical small town I think, you know,” VanEenenaam-Iwanicki said. “It does mention three churches, a public school, those kinds of things.”
VanEenenaam-Iwanicki does know there was a blacksmith shop where the Bank of Fraser is now in 1895. There was also a stave mill, a lumber yard, somewhere downtown. There was also a building that held the sweets shop.
The fire would have devastated the small town at the time with VanEenenaam-Iwanicki saying it nearly wiped out the whole business district. She compared it to the fires in California in early January that devastated much of the Los Angeles area and surrounding areas.
“If you lost everything, you know, where do you get your meat? Where are you going to get your hardware stuff? Now you have to travel,” VanEenenaam-Iwanicki said. “And in 1905, there weren’t a whole lot of automobiles around so now you have to travel up to Mt. Clemens or someplace else to get all your stuff.”
The cause of the fire isn’t specifically stated and all the newspaper said at the time was it started in the back of the meat market.
