By John Beydler
Of the fires that frequently struck Jerico in its heyday, none were more devastating than those that hit June 4, 1904.
The first, in the early morning hours, hit the Gates Block, a two-story building stretching from Main Street west across from the park’s south side. At first believed to have been caused by a lightning strike, the fire gutted Carender and Gates Drug Store and Arnold Brothers Dry Goods and Grocery.
Some goods from Arnold’s store were saved and carried across the street and stored in a vacant space in the Pickett Block, which was home to several businesses, including Finch’s General Merchandise and Peer Brothers Hardware, one of Jerico’s best-known retailers.
That night, fire broke out in a storeroom at the Finch store. It soon took out the entire building, along with what goods had been saved from the early morning fire across the street.
The second fire was widely believed to have been deliberately set, and those reports soon led to others that both fires had been set.
The Henry County Democrat in Clinton shared the assessment of a traveling salesman who had passed through Jerico after the fire: “Everybody is discouraged and blue down there. The fire wiped out five of the six good business buildings completely. Unless the town gets the railroad they are hoping for, it is doubtful it will be rebuilt.”
The salesman was too pessimistic. Terrible as the fire was, the town had more than one good business building remaining , and the Gates Block was rebuilt without delay. Peer Brothers also rebuilt right away.
Though nearly five years passed before F.M. Davis purchased the lot at the southeast corner of Main and Broadway, the two-story building he erected was a fixture on the Jerico retail scene for two decades or more.
Copyright 2020, John Beydler
Jerico Springs on parade 