FEBRUARY FLAMES FOR 1906
‘$15,000. FIRE AT SHINNSTON’ was the headline for the Tuesday evening edition of the ‘Clarksburg Daily News’ on February 27 th , 1906. This month’s photograph was taken on that same morning—118 years ago! It depicts the aftermath of a large fire on the west side of Pike Street, between the present lower Church Court and Station Street. This event marked the second destructive fire to occur in Shinnston during the twentieth century.
The photographer is standing in front of what would currently be the parsonage of the First United Methodist Church and photographing the scene diagonally across Pike Street from that location. The remains of the building at left had been housing the offices for both a plumbing company operated by Howard Thomas Harmer as well as the working office for The Shinnston
News, which was then being operated by Coffman and Meredith.
From the middle of the photo and extending right, are the remains of Short’s Opera House. Several men are seen standing around the still- smoldering remains. To the left, out of view, would be where the Matheny home (and former Shinnston Glass and Mirror) currently sits.
Charles Ashby Short was a name once known to many throughout Harrison County as a master builder and contractor. In 1889, he built a three story building at the southwest corner of Pike and Station Streets; the building faced Station Street. The top floor was rented to two different lodge organizations in Shinnston: International Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.
The first two floors were for the Opera House. Many people may think of an opera house as being a movie theatre, but opera houses were built to house stage productions, live plays, and operas, as well as provide a place for bands, orchestras, and singers to perform. During its existence (1889 until this 1906 fire), Short’s Opera House was referred to as the entertainment capitol of Shinnston!
A 1901 edition of The Shinnston News wrote that the Dramatic Society had performed an entertaining and very well-received drama entitled, “The Confederate Spy”. The performance was preceded by an open-air concert by the First West Virginia Infantry Band.
Even though Short built the structure and put his name on the building to call it “Short’s Opera House”, he didn’t operate it; different men did at different times. During the last year of its existence, Fred F. Robey and D.E. Bock were the lessees and managers. They most likely held the title for the shortest-term operators of the business, having taken over in the fall of 1905—a few short months before the fire.
The fire started on the second level of the building. It has been assumed that a defective gas pipe burst to ignite the blaze. The frame of the building was all wooden, along with a brick exterior. The wooden frame proved to fall prey quickly on the flames of the fire and it wasn’t long before the entire structure was ablaze.
The fire department was summoned and, upon their arrival, began a futile effort to save the structure and they watched as the towering inferno collapsed within itself. It is interesting to note that the yellow brick apartment building, which currently occupies the southwest corner of Pike and Station Streets, was built on the stone foundation which supported the opera house.
It was a cold February night and the wintry winds were blowing, which carried the flames onto a nearby building which housed the plumbing shop and news office. Attention was soon turned to that structure, but the newspaper stock as well as the wooden frame of that building also proved to be fuel for the fire and resulted in another loss.
As attention was focused on the news building/plumbing shop, the opera house remains lie smoldering and flames reignited there. A spark from those flames flew across the street to a residence owned by Charles Randall that was being rented to William Blair. When Mr. Blair realized the house was on fire, he began immediate removal of his furniture to the outside. By the time the fire department was able to reach the Randall/Blair home, its destruction was foretold.
Although Mr. Blair was able to save several pieces of his furniture, they still became scorched from the heat of the blaze and water soaked until they were no longer fit for use. The ‘domino effect’ had not quite ended when the fire department realized that there was yet another home on fire.
Next to the home owned by Charles Randall was a home owned by Harvey Bice, which was also being rented. The tenant of this house was able to save both the household and kitchen furniture from ruins. The fire department succeeded in saving this structure from complete destruction, though the interior was gutted from the blaze.
When daylight broke, many townspeople gathered at the smoldering remains, which were now
surrounded by several inches of nature’s early morning snowfall, a scene which is visible in this month’s ‘Story Behind the Photo’.