Missing Along Main Street: North Side of Main Street Bridge, Post-1884 Fire

The Lowell Area Historical Museum presents a new weekly online series. Missing Along Main explores the buildings that once occupied Main Street but are no longer there.

North Side of Main Street Bridge West Side
2nd Set of Buildings, after 1884 Fire

The first set of buildings built over the Main Street bridge were all constructed of wood. As time went on the wood dried out and became more and more susceptible to a fire. In 1884 a fire happed.

From the Lowell Journal, January 23, 1884:

“Lowell’s Big Fire! IT CAME AT LAST. A long looked for Blaze. Twenty wooden buildings in ashes. About eight o’clock Saturday morning fire broke out in the second floor of the Somerby building east of the post-office and, although discovered early, the flames rapidly spread beyond control and it was at once evident that many more buildings must go with it. The work of moving out goods was vigorously begun and quite successfully conducted by the occupants of the buildings west of the Somerby building. The wind coming from the north east drove the fire through the entire wooden row west to water street, burning also the wooden row up Water street to and including Mrs. Lane’s restaurant. The fire also reached over the bridge and burned four wooden buildings on the south side, making in all 20 buildings destroyed.”

A second set of buildings were built in their place. The Post Office (today’s Los Portales) was rebuilt immediately in the same location in the center of town. This time, brick was used instead of wood. B.G. Wilson was the builder in 1884. His name can still be seen inscribed in stone under the door.

On the west end of the bridge, J. E. Lee rebuilt four storefronts on Main (Bridge) Street and one on the corner of Main and Riverside (Water) Streets.

The rest of the west end of the bridge remained empty for the next 12 years until Eber Moffit built a photographic studio for his wife at 109 W. Main in 1896.

In 1905, Frank T. King built a building with four storefronts filling in the gap between the Moffit building and the Post Office. Frank T. King (1856-1934) was a Lowell businessman. He was a partner of King, Quick, King Sawmill, partner in formation of King Milling Co. and its President and bank president.