Fire damage, Oct. 16 1903 — 10/17/1903 — #4683_1
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Photograph Copyright Anderson & Middleton Company
United States — Washington (State) — Aberdeen
Aberdeen Fire October 17, 1903 - Sign on surviving vault in photo reads "Hayes & Hayes Doing Business at 53-55 G St." John C. Hughes' "On the Harbor : From Black Friday to Nirvana" notes that the Aberdeen Fire started in a rooming house, the Arctic Hotel, on the morning of Friday, October 16, 1903 and burned until 2pm, destroying 140 buildings on seven city blocks. Damages were estimated at $600,000 (the equivalent of about $10 million dollars in 2007). Four residents of the Arctic Hotel perished in the fire.
Thanks to Sam Talley who notes: "The Hayes and Hayes Bank was started in about 1880 by Harry Hayes who came to Aberdeen from Illinois. The bank backed growing businesses on the Harbor. After the fire, it was rebuilt and some time later Mr. Hayes died. Real estate investor Wm J. "Billy" Patterson married Hayes' widow and became the bank's president. He heavily backed mills, logging, shipbuilding, and other ventures. He created the Grays Harbor Country Club. In 1927 a scheduled audit found irregularities that broke the bank. Mr. Patterson went to jail for a year because of some illegal banking practices."
