TOB125 Looking Back -- The Great Commercial Street Fire of 1899 

TOB125 LOOKING BACK - THE GREAT COMMERCIAL STREET FIRE
Some 125 years ago, the Great Commercial Street Fire changed the course of Bridgewater's history forever.
In the early morning hours of Thursday, January 12, 1899, a large fire started in the basement of the music hall at the corner of what we know today as King and Dominion Streets.
The blaze spread to both sides of the street and burned for everything for about half a kilometre, from Dominion Street to Dufferin Street, leaving the town's business district on King Street (then known as Commercial Street) in ruin.
The Great Commercial Street Fire of 1899 is still remembered for the devastation it wrought on the growing community that it forever changed. The fire also, however, sparked determined leaders in Bridgewater to push for the community's incorporation as a town as part of the recovery process.
In the aftermath of the conflagration, the community held a vote to incorporate in early February and, on February 13, 1899, just over one month after the fire, the Town of Bridgewater was created.