Sutton’s Great Fire of 1898
the bell was ringing again.
Due to high winds, sparks from the first fire spread and another fire broke out in a barn belonging to Dr. Mcdonald. It quickly spread to his residence and then to Dr. Cutters building (pharmacist), the Sweet’s Store, Olmstead’s store, Curley’s Hotel, Lebeau’s Hotel, and the CPR station.
While Sutton residents did their best to try and get the fire under control, residents of Knowlton and firefighters from Richford and Saint-jean were called in for assistance.
By the time the firefighters from Saint-jean arrived, the centre of the village was razed. The fire destroyed 36 businesses and houses and left around 20 families homeless.
The Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, and the Boright & Safford store were amongst the few buildings that survived the ordeal. The Town Hall escaped the fire with just a part of its cornice burned away.
According to The Record archives, one house belonging to the Shepard family also survived the fire.
The Great Fire resulted in estimated damages of $100,000 and it wiped out four acres of the village in total. Fortunately, no one was injured, and no lives were lost.
Defective plumbing in Sutton was suggested as the main reason the village couldn’t properly extinguish the fire. The private water system didn’t meet the demand needed to put out the fire and the high winds only made things more difficult.
Following the tragedy of the Great Fire, the municipal council made Sutton’s
plumbing system their top priority by passing Bylaw 6 to have a new supply system installed on May 23, 1898.
They also created the volunteer fire service. The municipality borrowed money from the Township of Sutton to purchase new hoses, nozzles, reels, and to build a new hose drying house.