On Valentines Day, 1900 Frank and Jenny Longley purchased lots 39 and 40 at the northwest corner of Main and Lake Streets. Longley’s Market opened there a short time later. In the building immediately adjacent to it Herb and Minnie Grant opened a soda fountain, confectionery, and pool hall. The families lived in the apartments above their stores.
Leon Lindsley was a meat cutter in Frank Longley‘s meat market. On October 8, 1904 Leon married Frank’s daughter, Maud.
Herbert Lindsley, Leon’s brother, was the manager of the Hotel Dietel, until he served two undercover excise agents whiskey on December 28, 1906 and was arrested on $1,000 bail ($28,000 in 2020 dollars). Sterling was a “dry town.” This dragged on through the courts for nearly a year.
In the fall of 1907 the Longleys were making plans to move to Meridian. They sold their building to the Lindsley brothers. The Lindsleys sold their house across the street to Dr. McKnight and moved into the apartment above the store. The Lindsley brothers opened their new business as Lindsley’s Meat Market on January 1, 1908.
During this era, a business building was referred to as a “block” though it did not occupy an entire city block. The “Grant Block” at the northwest corner of Lake Street and Main Street, was immediately adjacent to the Lindsley Block on its left. The Grant Block consisted of Grant’s confectionery and pool hall downstairs, the family’s apartment upstairs, and a barbershop in the rear of the building.
Fair Haven’s fire alarm consisted of an iron ring, such as the metal rim of a wagon wheel or the drive wheel from a steam engine. This was suspended from a makeshift wooden tripod on the roof of the Robinson & Philips Store. A volunteer climbed a wire ladder on the side of the building. A mallet was kept on the roof to strike the iron wheel which sounded much like a bell when struck, alerting members of Fair Haven’s volunteer Fire Department.
About 8:00 am on the morning of Thursday, March 27, 1908 cries of “Fire!” where heard and soon the fire alarm rang out across the village. A fire had been discovered in the attic above the Grant’s apartment.
“The village fire department of volunteers responded promptly.”
“The flames spread rapidly to the meat market owned by G. H. Lindsley.”
“Several other adjoining buildings caught fire at times and were seriously threatened.”
At this time, Fair Haven had no public water system. It was more than 30 years before the village water mains and fire hydrants were installed in 1940. Most of the businesses on Main Street had cisterns and chemical fire extinguishers in case of fire. The volunteer fire department relied mainly on a bucket brigade. Fair Haven’s fire buckets were made of canvas.
“The big general store of Phillips & Robinson is situated about a block away from the fire, but spreading flames caused the villagers to entertain fears for its safety. It contains one of the largest stock [of goods] between Oswego and Wolcott and would have proved a big loss had the flames been unchecked.”
“When the fire was at its worst, Village President Phillips decided to call for assistance from Auburn.”
9:40 am – “Word was received by Chief E. J. Jewhurst at 9:40 and simultaneously the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company was requested to prepare a special train to make the 32 mile run to Lake Ontario.”
“Chief Jewhurst immediately place Captain Frank B. Hughson in charge of the detail consisting of Hose No. 1, Steamer No. 2 and several assistants together with about 1,500 feet of hose, and in a few minutes they were at the Lehigh Valley freight yards at Washington Street.”
In Fair Haven, hours passed with no response from Auburn. The Auburn fire chief claimed that “All efforts to get into communication with the burned village were fruitless for several hours. One telephone company could not get word from a point beyond Cato and the other line got as far as Oswego. At the Starch City, telephone communication with Fair Haven was also out of order, the fire having burned out all the wires in the village.”
“Owing to a great effort on the part of the villagers assisted by farmers from the surrounding territory the flames were confined to the immediate vicinity of the Grant Block, a two story frame building owned jointly by Lindsley and Grant.”
In Auburn – “After an hour, [the railroad company] succeeded in running a flat car to the platform… and while taking another hour to make-up the rest of the special, which consisted of day coach, horse car, and two flat cars was ready to start at 11:45.” The fire chief blamed the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company for “the usual delay caused by red tape and other ramifications of railroad management.” He claimed that “owing to the delay on the part of the railroad company in providing means of transportation a large crowd of citizens gathered at the freight yards and had the train got away it is probable that a lot of volunteers and spectators would have made the journey.”
Meanwhile, in Fair Haven“the village fire fighters succeeded in obtaining control of the fire, before it wiped out a considerable part of the village.”
“at 11:35 the fire was declared to be under control.”
Oddly, the Auburn fire chief claimed he could not communicate with Fair Haven, yet the Village President had no problem sending a telegram to Auburn requesting assistance, and even hours later “a telegram from the village president saying that the fire was under control came just in time to head off the Auburn department as it was about to start.”
“The flames were checked without absolute destruction of the adjoining building. The Grant building, however, was completely destroyed.”
“The fire destroyed, aside from the Lindsley meat market, a confectionery store, pool and billiard parlor, a barber shop and apartments occupied by two families in the Grant Block.”
“Many of the surrounding places of business were scorched, but not materially damaged.”
“The Lindsley meat market was the finest in the village and was taken possession of by its present proprietor last January 1… It cost considerable money to fit it up with the most modern and sanitary fixtures… The loss on this is $2,200” with only “insurance of $800.”
“The loss on building to Herbert Grant will be $4,000, partly insured. Of the contents nothing was saved and the loss at the present time could not be estimated.”
The lessor loss estimate for the Lindsley Block could be attributed to less damage. The building may have been partially saved and restored with a new appearance. If a completely new building was constructed, it’s location appears to be on same foundation.
On the other side of Lake Street was Floyd Clark‘s hardware store and confectionery. Clark offered Herb Grant the opportunity to purchase his building and get up and running without taking the time and expense of rebuilding. The Grant Block as not rebuilt. Clark took the money from the sale and invested in constructing the Pleasant Beach Hotel, which opened well before the 1910 summer season.
Leon Lindsely worked on repairing the channel piers on Little Sodus Bay and later move to Auburn where he operated a meat market for many years.
It has not yet been discovered who rebuilt the present building that today houses the recently opened Stick and Rudder.
Quotes are from various newspaper accounts.