The Great Fire of 1895
Ridgefield, Connecticut
The East Side of Main Street as it appeared the day after the devastating fire of 1895. (See Panel #17 for a description of the fire.)
Barhite & Valden General Store and the Western Union telegraph office next door were located just north of the Gage building, where the fire started on December 8, 1895. All three buildings burned to the ground. The Gage building housed Bedient and Mead Furniture and Undertaking. Bedient bought out his partner's share and after rebuilding opened under the name of D.F. Bedient. The business that was started as King and Dole in 1783 in the building known as "Old Hundred" at 258 Main Street remained at its present site another 100 years.
Town Hall, built in 1876, also burned to the ground in the fire. The present building was erected in 1896 at a cost of $16,000 with the financial assistance of "the summer people" (see Panel #4). It served as a center for all civic and social functions from 1896 until 1939. The first motion pictures were shown here early in the 20th century.
Marker is at the intersection of Main Street (Connecticut Route 35) and Bailey Avenue, on the right when traveling north on Main Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
