On June 20, the Coulson announced the beginning of the cleanup effort after their recent fire. The eventual (and usually gradual) return to normalcy, a rising from the ashes like the proverbial phoenix is the preferred end result of a fire.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case with fiery disasters. After the flames are extinguished and the embers die out, some businesses disappear like the smoke wafting away on the breeze, with only their memories remaining. But others, as the Coulson reminds us in their announcement, “emerge even stronger and more vibrant than before.”
And even though that which is built along this lane of memories may burn down in a blaze of heartache (quite literally), our memories will not be obscured by the accompanying dark clouds, nor burnt away by the heat of the flames. Let us now look beyond the smoke and the haze at some of your memories of the times, places and experiences that accompanied a few of these disasters.
This is the second part of a two-part Memory Lane series on commercial fires. You can read the first part here.
On Jan. 10, 1967, 19 businesses and seven apartments were heavily damaged in what reader Reg Winn remembers as a “huge fire” that caused $600,000 in damage while destroying an entire block on the north side of Elm Street.
The largest store in this block and the source of the fire was S.S. Kresge's. The fire was reported to have started on the restaurant grill as someone had poured too much oil on it.
One of our members at Sudbury Then and Now, Harvey Wyers, related to us his experience from that day and the memorable way in which he discovered that he was “fired” from his job.
“I was the busboy at Kresges when (the fire) happened,” Wyers said. “I had hitchhiked from Chelmsford High School for the 4-9 shift and had gotten dropped off at Spruce & Regent and walked over to Elm Street where Gus’ Restaurant is. As I turned the corner and looked down Elm, I saw all the fire trucks in the distance. As I walked down Elm, I realized my job was on fire.”
In the aftermath of the fire, many long-time shoppers such as Nicole Foy “stopped going there for a very long time” because, as John Kaipainen wrote, “the place stank of smoke for a long time afterwards.” Sandra Valade not only remembers “how weird it smelled in Kresges” but she also spoke of the "fire sale,” which was a way for businesses touched by fire to both stay in business but also offload affected merchandise.
This fire — and another one a short eight months later just over a block east at the corner of Lisgar Street that caused $417,000 in damage, destroying 17 businesses and leaving 20 people homeless — led The Sudbury Star to announce in bold letters that “Sudbury's 1967 fire damage total (was) three times the 1966 loss.”
Before leaving 1967, let us look at one other incident that came up after the previous article. On Aug. 27, a $72,000 fire destroyed the Outpost Carry-Out Restaurant (which was the local Kentucky Fried Chicken dealer at the time) at 181 Larch Street along with all of the equipment of the Boy Scout Council headquarters.
Reader Colette Webster wrote that she and her “roommate were deciding what to have for supper (as) we lived nearby.” Needless to say “it was too late, no fried chicken for supper.” For our readers who may be trying to pinpoint this location, reader James Young informed our visitors at Sudbury Then and Now that the building was previously known as Martin Motors and the property is now part of the Provincial Building.
On April 28, 1969, Sudbury's most expensive fire up to that date occurred when the New Sudbury Shopping Centre, located at the corner of Lasalle Boulevard and Barrydowne Road, was completely destroyed with a loss of $1,775,215. The blaze obliterated several stores, including Yolles Men's Wear, Woolco Warehouse, A.L. Green, and Enchin Bros. Clothing.
Reader Chris Derro remembers as a seven-year-old “seeing the smoke billowing all the way across town from our house on Boland Avenue.” As The Sudbury Star headline of the day stated, “Thick smoke cloud drifted over the city, visible for miles.”
Of course, the fire and the accompanying smoke even attracted people to the area to watch the destruction as it happened (just look at the sheer number of bystanders in the lead photo accompanying the previous article).
Reader Darren Dumontelle remembers being there (all the way from distant Coniston no less) to catch the action. He was eight years old at the time and his “parents took my brother, my sister and myself to watch the fire from Attlee Street. That was as close as you could get.”
A few readers commented that they worked in the complex at the time, and obviously remember the fire, but only one person’s employment was directly attributable to the disaster. Helene Lascelles Landry wrote that she “started working at Zellers to help with the smoke damage”. It was her first part time job at 15 years old.
Just like the Kresge’s fire two years before, the businesses at the New Sudbury Centre that were able held their own fire sale in order to offload the merchandise that they could. Robert Kennedy “can still remember the smell of smoke on the towels (his) mom bought at the sale after the fire.” And, Michel Roussel, a boy of 13 at the time, “remembers going to check it out after the fire (and) bought a bunch of Hardy Boy books from Zellers (which were) heavily discounted because they smelled like smoke.”
Whatever could not be salvaged or sold ended up in the garbage in preparation of the future plans for the site. Of course, this was a boon for the youth of the neighbourhood who were looking for free goodies.
Gordon Wainman, who lived with his family behind the mall on Peel Street, had a “great time dumpster diving (and he) decorated (his) treehouse with some of that smokey gold.” In order to keep the dumpster divers from turning their attention to the plaza itself, people such as Brian Chuipka joined his “father standing guard at night so nothing was stolen.”
As of May 26 of that year, The Sudbury Star reported that on top of the cause remaining unknown, “plans for re-building remain uncertain.” But, by Nov. 12, 1969, it was announced stores were being rebuilt and the indoor centre that we all remember in 1970s and 1980s was on the horizon (known in the newspaper by the gloriously boring name of “the Shopping Centre Project”)
It was not an April Fools joke when a morning fire at the beginning of April, 1974 enveloped the Belton Hotel on Spruce Street. Unfortunately, the fire spread so fast that it trapped and burned two firefighters who were forced to hang from a window sill on the third floor and wait to be rescued by the ladder truck. The fire was so intense that it completely destroyed the three-story structure for a loss in excess of $463,000.
Reader Chris Derro also remembers the night the Belton burned down. He “lived halfway across town and up high on a hill with a clear view across the city and it woke me up. I could hear windows breaking, people yelling, and could make out someone jumping from a second-story window. Then the sirens of the fire trucks from downtown and Lockerby. I'll never forget it.”
In this case (and unlike the previous fires mentioned above), the building was not to be rebuilt. Only the foundation was left behind because, as reader Terry Dupuis stated, “once the Lasalle extension was built (and Elm Street was extended), Spruce Street was no longer the way to Azilda and points west.” Therefore, there was nowhere near enough traffic to justify a rebuild.
Stephen MacLean remembers that before they filled in the empty foundation (about a year later) it “was great to ride our bikes around in.” His family lived across the street and, one time, “the firefighters came in, in the middle of the night, and removed us children” who were playing in the foundation. After the foundation was filled in, a new business took over the location in the late seventies, the Belton Fruit Market & Garden Centre, which reader Stephen Maclean deemed “amazing.” Unfortunately, it did not last more than a few years into the Eighties.
On Feb. 7, 1977, a spectacular $9,000,000 fire completely destroyed the 26,000-square-foot INCO Divisional Shops in Copper Cliff. The fire was so hot that firefighters concentrated their efforts more on protecting the nearby structures, as they fought the fire from the rooftops of nearby buildings. After hours of battling the blaze, the combined forces of the Sudbury and INCO fire departments were finally able to bring the fire under control.
Prolific contributor to the Sudbury Then and Now Facebook group, Terry Closs shared with us an excerpt from the INCO Triangle detailing the fire, as well as a few personal photos from that day (which we have included here).
“The company extended its appreciation (to the Sudbury Fire Department) for their valuable help in fighting the blaze, pointing out that their prompt and efficient action did much to contain the fire and keep it from spreading to adjacent buildings. There was a feeling of shock among the 90 employees who had worked in the shop, many of them for a major portion of their lives. It had become, in fact, a home away from home. There was little time for tears, however, for a few days after the tragedy struck, employees were busy setting up shop in temporary relocation areas…with many of the men doing their part in salvaging much of the equipment that escaped the brunt of the fire.”
Reader Vaughn Chabot, who was a machinist apprentice at that time, “spent many hours at work cleaning special jigs and fixtures that were recovered from the fire.”
On Sept. 19, 2008, after a fire that burned for 26 hours, the historic Steelworkers Hall fell victim to arsonists. Even with more than one million gallons of water being used, the fire proved more difficult to extinguish than first thought, resulting in the entire structure being declared a total loss, having to be torn down. The flames caused an estimated $13 million in damages and a vital archive of Sudbury's labour history was also lost in the fire. As reader Bob Derro stated, and as contributor Larry Schaffer concurred, it was “a sad ending to a noble landmark.”
A couple of students who were in nearby schools wrote in to give us a sense of what it was like from their youthful perspective at the time.
James Brady “had to leave class at Sudbury Secondary that morning due to the smoke … we just went outside and watched the rest of (the Hall) burn. College Street was just pure smoke.” And, Daniella Stevens was in school that day when the “whole area was evacuated (since the) air was black.”
Another reader, Merle Smith, who worked at The Sudbury Star “brought a bunch of lawn chairs up on the roof and stayed” to watch as the difficult blaze “caught fire again but this time inside of all the double roofs and (there was) nothing at that point they could do to save it.”
On March 20, 2014, an early morning fire broke out causing an estimated $500,000 damage to Respect Is Burning Supperclub, which was undergoing extensive renovations at the time. A total of 12 firefighters from two fire stations responded. A space heater or an electrical issue was suspected as the cause of the fire.
James Young, whose family’s business Martin's was involved in the previous fire at this same location 64 years prior, remembers “watching the fire from across the street at age three with my mother. The fire started in the basement of the Dominion Store.”
Respect Is Burning founder Rob Gregorini commented previously about that location’s past, that “after the gut out (of the post-fire renovations), stripping away years of built-up drywall upon drywall upon plaster, we found plenty of deep buried post (1950 fire) relics. We built back with a rugged, stripped-down historic feel and a lot of that fiery history remains on display today.”
Of course, another group follower asked the question on many people’s minds in regards to the inspiration for his business name, which Rob confirmed. “Yes, discovering the fiery legacy of the address was absolutely the clincher.”
Well dear readers, our current hot topic has come to an end, reduced to a smouldering ash to be carried forth on the winds of history. Now before we conclude, I would like to dedicate this article to the three Sudbury-area firefighters who lost their lives during the course of performing their duties: William Coe (Sudbury, 1920), Romeo Boulay (Coniston, 1975), and Louis Matthews (Whitefish, 1980). And, as always, thank you to everyone who has shared their memories and photos of some of the devastating business fires in Sudbury’s past. We’ll see you again in two weeks with a much cooler topic.
Jason Marcon is a writer and history enthusiast in Greater Sudbury. He runs the Coniston Historical Group and the Sudbury Then and Now Facebook page. Memory Lane is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
