Fayette Is Almost Wiped Out By Fire

Losses Are Estimated at Five Hundred Thousand Dollars.

Many Buildings Burned

Among Those Destroyed Were The New Court House And Jail, New Hotel, Bank Building, Cotton Warehouse And the Masonic Temple.

Birmingham, Ala., Mar. 24.-Considerable interest was taken in the fire that raged for several hours this morning at Fayette, eighty miles west of here on the Southern Railway, in the heart of the natural gas fields, because of close interests held by Birmingham people in that section and the trade that comes this way

The fire started in the drug store of Peters and Young and it spread rapidly from building to building. Three hundred fifty bales of cotton, belonging to one firm alone, were destroyed, besides much other cotton.

Loss is $500,000.

The estimate made this afternoon of the loss by the fire is given at more than $500,000, with less that $150,000 insurance.

The buildings destroyed included the $40,000 court house and jail, the mew hotel, the bank building, Peters and Young’s drug store, Jones Brothers, general merchandise; Fayette Banner office, Masonic Temple, (two stories); Miss Emma Shepherd, millinery store; W. Anderson, jewelry repair store; Smith, Dodson and Company, general merchandise; Walker Bros. & Co., general merchandise; J.R. Robinson, grocery; E. Rose & Co., general merchandise; Knuckles & Walker, general merchandise; Berry Brothers, grocery, City Restaurant; G.T. Hassie & Co., general merchandise; W.M. Cannon, general merchandise; Robertson & Dodd, general merchandise, S.J. Cannon, drug store; Propst Bros., hardware and furniture; Propst Bros., (2-story brick), general merchandise; Farmer’s Warehouse; S.J. Sanders, livery stable; Jeffries Livery stables; eight residences and other buildings.

Many Buildings Under Way.

Fayette, because of the discoveries of natural gas within a mile and half of the town, has been on a big boom and much building was under way while the population has been on a steady increase. The town is said to have a population of nearly 2,600.

A report reached Birmingham this morning that the fire started from someone having a lighted match near a leaking gas pipe.

The people of Fayette exerted every effort to check the blaze, but in vain. The fire raged on the main thoroughfare of the town. Temple Avenue.

Fayette was established during the Civil War.

The Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery, AL 25 Mar 1911