Fire rages in Brooks House, leaving 60 needing ... - The Commons

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10 BROOKS HOUSE FIRE THE COMMONS • Wednesday, April 20, 2011 ‘To fulfill for Brattleboro that golden dream’ The origin of Brattleboro’s first-class hotel, and why George J. Brooks made it happen “George J. Brooks is no more. A sudden attack of apoplexy [heart attack] seized him yesterday morning as he was leaving the Brooks House for a visit to the library building to measure the ground preparatory to drawing up the final deeds for the presentation of the building to the town at the dedication exercises, and he dropped dead a few feet from the door. “Mr. Brooks was in his usual health in the morning and throughout his morning meal he appeared to be in good spirits. After breakfast he put on his coat and hat and went out. “‘Want to go sleigh riding, Mr. Brooks?’ inquired an acquaintance whom he met at the door. “Mr. Brooks laughingly declined; and pointed to the long rubber boots which he had on, said he was off for a tramp through the miry ground about the library building. The words had scarcely left his lips, when he was seen to stagger, and fall backward to the ground front of the hotel entrance. He was picked up and carried into the hotel, but he had passed beyond the reach of assistance; he was dead when he fell, though the usual two or three convulsive clutches and gasps followed. “His two nephews, by marriage, Cashier O. A. Marshall and F. G. Ryan, were passing on the opposite side of the street at the time, and assisted in removing his body to his rooms in the hotel, when Dr. Conland was summoned, though too late to do anything except to determine that the cause of his death was apoplexy. Mr. Brooks suffered a premonitory attack about two weeks ago, which confined him to his room for a day or two, and it has been painfully obvious to his friends for some months that he was failing physically.” —From The Vermont Phoenix , Dec. 23, 1886 By Fran Lynggaard Hansen The Commons BRATTLEBORO— The death of George Brooks, the creator of the Brooks House, at age 68 was just one of the many events in local history that have taken place in and near the buildings on Main Street. But who was he, and why did he care to put the sum of $150,000 — the equivalent of which in today’s currency is $2.7 million — into a monstrous hotel from which he expected no profit? The answer lies in Brooks’s employment history. Born in Cambridge, Mass., as one of eight children, his father, a shipmaster, moved the family to Chesterfield, N.H., when he was 3 years old. Brooks first worked as a clerk in the store of Gardner C. Hall, of Brattleboro. After 10 years in Hillsboro, Ill., where he was taught to be a farmer, Brooks left for the California Gold Rush in February 1850. He had no intention to mine for gold. One of his brothers, Horace, was a member of the firm of Persee & Brooks, who were paper dealers in New York City. They were also the owners of large paper mills in Windsor Locks, Conn. George went to California to establish a branch house in which he and his brother took a �� Buderus Wall-Hung Boiler George J. Brooks Gas Furnaces Contact Us Today Caring for you and your family half-interest. When the fire of 1850 destroyed the large paper warehouses in San Francisco, Brooks and his brother, seizing the market opportunity, cleared a great fortune. They founded the George J. Brooks & Co Paper Warehouse. His business spread from Arizona to Oregon, Washington Territory, Vancouver Island, and the Sandwich Islands, now known as Hawaii. Their supplies were shipped from New York around Cape Horn and on to California. It was said that because the majority of his business was always afloat, as he usually had $100,000 to $200,000 worth of paper products on the water at all times. The firm did a prosperous business until 1865, when Brooks sold his interest to N.F. Cabot of Brattleboro, and promptly retired as a very wealthy man. Brooks owned a great deal of real estate in San Francisco and was one of the original promoters of the cable street railways there as well. His obituary states, “After his release from the exacting cares of business, his attachment for the East and the scenes of his youth reasserted itself, and in due time, he established his legal residence in Brattleboro. “He was not a man of quick or alert mind,” it concedes. “He was slow in his conclusions, but Direct Vent Tankless Water Heater Wall Furnace Heater Programmable Direct Vent LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED �� 802.254.5755 �� RUMSEY COLLECTION/CREATIVE COMMONS (BY-NC-SA) LICENSE An engraving of the barely-five-years-old Brooks House Hotel, from an 1876 atlas of Vermont. when he had thought any subject out, he was hard to shake, though by no means unreasonable. He was a man of the strictest integrity, his word as good as his bond, a fair considerate competitor, when others were willing to deal fairly.” His obituary writer described him as “a hard man to beat” when business shenanigans took place. It can only be imagined then, that when the Great Fire of 1869 razed the entire west side of Main Street (see sidebar), the man who was “slow with his conclusions” considered purchasing the land from Charles Chapin and decided a year later to build the gigantic Brooks Hotel. “His public spirit and strong attachment to the friends of his youth have best shown by his building and furnishing the Brooks House in 1871 at a cost of $150,000,” Mary Rogers Cabot wrote in the 1921 town history, Annals of Brattleboro, 1681-1895 . “Without expecting to realize any returns from it as an investment, he spared no money in making it a superior among the hotels in New England, and lived there in apartments especially arranged with his sister, Miss Ellen M. Brooks.” Luxury accommodations An article written in the Vermont Phoenix (the precursor to the Brattleboro Reformer ) of April 5, 1872 described in detail the newest and certainly the most sophisticated downtown building. “A veranda 90 feet in length fronts the center of the building on Main Street, beneath which is the main entrance...there is a wash room, a baggage room, a sample room, and one of the best features of the house, a gent’s reading room. In the basement are located the boilers by which the entire building is heated, also a billiard room. A ladies entrance is located on High Street.” “There is a public parlor, and NOW OPEN FOR THE SEASON! ROYAL CREAMIE STAND at the CHELSEA ROYAL DINER! 12 Flavors of Soft-Serve, Non-Fat Frozen Yogurt and 30 Flavors of Our Own Premium Royal Madness Ice Cream Offering Local Grass-Fed Burgers, our own Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwich, Fresh Seafood delivered twice weekly! COURTESY BRATTLEBORO HISTORICAL SOCIETY Main Street is busy in the 1880s. Notice the horse fountain at the corner of Main and High streets, and the clock suspended over Main Street. It would appear that the building that housed the Paramount theater is under construction. a reception room opening on the veranda which commands a fine view of Main Street. There is a tavern, The Oak Room, in the basement and a dining room is located on the High Street side,” the newspaper reported, adding that “the hungry multitudes are destined to seat themselves at his well-spread tables.” The laundry room was a separate building in the rear. The main floor also featured private parlors, bath rooms, the third and fourth floors are mostly devoted to sleeping apartments with ample accommodations in the way of bath rooms and water closets....there are 80 sleeping rooms in the hotel and every room is in telegraphic communication with the office by means of Mighaut’s Electric Annunciator. “The rooms are arranged in suites, parlor and bedroom adjoining. Indeed, in this respect the Brooks House is vastly superior to the average hotel and may justly challenge comparison with OPEN DAILY 5:30AM-9:00PM e �� m �� re under the apple trees any of the first class hotels in the country. The crowning feature of the hotel is the ball room. This is located in the center tower, and occupies the whole area, being 45 feet square and 16 feet in height. Three windows on each side look out upon the surrounding village and upon the hotel itself, excepting only the corner tower, which is much smaller but rises to a great height.....In the construction of this immense block more than 1,000,000 brick were used, about 500,000 feet of lumber and $4,000 worth of glass." With a small population of around 6,000 people, it might seem that building one of the largest hotels in New England in humble Brattleboro could have been a mistake. To understand Brooks’ thinking, one needs to understand that during the times in which it was built, people traveled mostly by train and often remained at a point of interest for an entire summer. With only a short walk from the train station to the hotel, and with Boston and New York a few hours away by rail, Brattleboro was a friendly, rural, and intellectually stimulating town only a day away, making it a destination town for tourists. Hotels of the day, also housed local people, especially unmarried gentleman like Brooks. At the time of the opening of the hotel, another article in the local paper wished its prosperous citizen well with thanks for Thanks to the Historical Society BRATTLEBORO—These articles were written with materials in the collection of the Brattleboro Historical Society, in room 301 of the Brattleboro Municipal Center. All of the society’s collection is open to the public. Extensive picture files and articles from the past are carefully organized to make them user friendly for the public, and members are on hand to help you research your topic and to answer your questions. The society is open on Thursday afternoons from providing the town with another economic opportunity after a major fire. “In company with his brothers Horace and Frank, the latter now a resident of this village — he accumulated a handsome property as a wholesale paper dealer in San Francisco, and now in the prime of life, has returned to the scenes of his early aspirations and enjoyments, to fulfill for Brattleboro that golden dream of all ambitious villagers, the desire for a ‘first-class hotel.’ That he may live long to enjoy the fruits of his munificence and public enterprise is the sincere wish of all.” Near the end of his life, Brooks purchased the Goodhue homestead on Main Street with the intention of building a library and donating it to the town, to be opened in 1886. Interviewed by the local press at the time he announced his gift it was reported that he was so modest and embarrassed by the attention that he was receiving, he “blushed like a school boy.” That beautiful original library building was demolished to make way for the Post Office parking lot in June of 1971, and the present library down the street was opened. At the time of his death, his estate was valued at over $1 million. With few family members remaining, a majority of his will was given to charities, including the new library. 1 to 4 p.m., and again on Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to noon. The society also supports the work of the Brattleboro Community Brain Trust, a project of iBrattleboro.com that makes local history and public documents available with the help of user participation and submissions. For more information, visit www.brattleborohistoricalsociety.org . For a more detailed version of the fire chronology in this issue, visit www.commonsnews.org .
THE COMMONS • Wednesday, April 20, 2011 BROOKS HOUSE FIRE 11 Memories of a building and its businesses The Brooks House has provided rich memories for local townspeople. Following are a few recollections, compiled by our resident historian, Fran Lynggaard Hansen, who writes: “I can remember as a small child being pushed in a carriage at the First National Grocery Store, which occupied the store that currently houses Adagio’s. The wooden floors were original and creaked under the weight of the metal shopping carts.” In the 1960s, that store moved to the Canal Street plaza and later became the Price Chopper supermarket. “That storefront alone has also been home to a bank, Walker’s Restaurant, and it was the first home of Brown & Roberts Hardware before the move to the former Montgomery Ward building on Main Street, where the store remains today.” Ellen Fairchild Martyn “I have so many memories from the meat counter at the First National, to getting my hair cut up in the cupola when Bill McInerney had his place up there, and getting ice cream sodas at the fountain after ballroom dance classes. Mom had offices there for a while where they had little Frisbees to throw through the connecting doors, fresh cookies with the kids at the Upper Crust Bakery, and years of buying books at the Book Cellar. The memories go on and on.” Tim O’Connor “On a special occasion, a birthday or sometimes Easter dinner, my father would take our family in the 1940s to the restaurant [The Pickwick House, where the hair salon on High Street is now located], which was quite a treat. I remember always ordering a turkey dinner, as this was a time when that particular meal was only cooked at Thanksgiving, making it a very special meal. The Oak Room [which now houses The Mole’s Eye Cafe] was the tavern for the restaurant at that time, and the restaurant was upstairs. In those days, very few people ate out, and those were wonderful memories.” Lisa Lucius “I used to love going with my parents to the Burlington Savings Bank main branch that was in there. This was in the late 1970s. Mr. Randall was always so nice and friendly. And, of course, who could forget walking in to the Brooks House Mall when the entire hallway was permeated with the smell of baking bread from the Upper Crust?” Raechel Bennett “Llama, Toucan and Crow, Fires hit businesses in Brattleboro through the years By Fran Lynggaard Hansen The Commons BRATTLEBORO—Since its humble beginnings around 1762, when a grist mill began operating just above the area of the Whetstone Bridge on Main Street, downtown Brattleboro has been built, only to be rebuilt over and over again as the result of fire — one after another, every ten years or so. In fact, on Oct. 31 of that year, it was the Great Fire of 1869 that took down all the buildings on the west side of Main Street between Elliot and High Street that provided the opportunity for George Brooks to build the Brooks Hotel (see story, facing page). Here is a list of some of the major fires in the area of downtown Brattleboro since the first recorded one in 1852, as reported by The Vermont Phoenix and the Brattleboro Reformer though the years. The increasing sophistication of the art and science of firefighting can be documented as the fires became easier to manage with new equipment and techniques and serious injury and deaths diminished with the advent of better alarms and smoke detectors. It is clear that if the Brooks House fire had occurred 100 years ago, many lives could have been lost. • Feb. 23. 1852: Vermont House and its outbuildings, Main Street. “At about two o’clock p.m., the cry of fire was raised and hardly had our citizens rushed into the streets to answer the call, when the roof of the Vermont House was seen to be on fire for nearly the whole of its length....After the fire wardens had long endeavored but in vain to form a double column of men to the river, the women volunteered, and promptly filled the wide gap which men could not be found to occupy.” • Sept. 5, 1857: Gates Bliss & Co., 16 buildings burned. “About half past one o’clock, a.m., Dr. E.C. Cross, who was sitting up with a sick child, discovered a fire in the Cabinet manufactory of Messrs. Gates, Bliss & Co. As soon as possible he gave the alarm, but it was 15 minutes or more before the citizens generally were aroused.... the flames were soon communicated to Joseph Clark’s drug and hardware store on the north and Estey & Green’s large Melodeon manufactory and warehouse on the south.” • Oct. 31, 1869: Main Street and Elliot Street. “The Great Disaster of the Great Fire of 1869 has burned all the buildings on the West side of Main Street from High to Elliot. Discovered Sunday morning about 2:30 a.m. by the night watchman, Vet Burlingame. ... The Phoenix #6 was out of order, as some evil disposed person had carefully placed shoe leather, paper, and chamois skins in the hoses, which took a half of an hour to remove...within three hours all the building on the west side from High Street to Elliot were consumed by this devouring monster.” ROGER KATZ/SPECIAL TO THE COMMONS The last photo of Via Condotti as the wreckers brought the house down. “No one was ever able to duplicate the atmosphere, or even the flavor of the sauce, after fire destroyed one of the town’s favorite haunts,” photographer Roger Katz writes. the health food store [where the Wasteland Gift Shop is now] was the best food store ever. This was before the Food Co-op became an actual grocery store. (It was a buying club at that time.) I went in there every day after middle school.” Theresa Bessette “Lady Lynn was a women’s clothing store there in the 1970s for many years.” It occupied the space where the tailor now resides. Kevin Graves “My first real job that I had was in the mid 1960s. It was working for Ray Elliot, who owned and operated the Hotel Pharmacy located where Dragonfly Dry Goods is, at the corner of Main and High streets. One of the more enjoyable tasks my job entailed was making ice cream sundaes, milk shakes, etc. at the soda fountain for the many regulars.” Marie Lawrence “I think the Hotel Pharmacy was the first place I had flavored cola. Ray Elliot kept race horses in a small barn just up the road from our house when I was in high school. One winter day, we heard a noise at the side window and discovered a horse with his head stuck in our bird feeder, gobbling away at the bird seed!" Betty Henry “There was a girl who worked at Llama, Toucan and Crow who made the best mocha cream filled cakes. I had her make one for one of my Mom’s birthdays. I worked at the Burlington Savings Bank with Bob Randall and Clarence “Danny” Daniels; I think Les Switzer worked there, too. Upper Crust bread was the best. We used to have a midnight visitor — Graeme Underhill — who visited the bread in our bread box more often than he visited us! “Eiko Goldthwaite was a wonderful seamstress, and she had a shop across the hall from the bakery. That spot also served as the Republican Headquarters when Richard Nixon was running for his first term [as president, in 1968] and Helene and Mike Broutsas were active in politics. I remember Ted and Sue Press sitting outside Lady Lynn on nice days." Fran Renaud “I remember going down the stairs of the Brooks House to a quiet little luncheon place where one could have a sandwich with a cup of coffee or tea around 1958. That was in the space where the Mole’s Eye is now.” Patrick Brown “The Brooks House was home to the beginnings of ROGER KATZ/SPECIAL TO THE COMMONS Jack MacKay in front of Llama, Toucan and Crow in the Brooks House on Main Street in the ’80s. Brown Computer Solutions. From 1999 through 2001, I leased the space between Upper Crust Bakery and the audio store. As an 18-year-old, I had some troubles obtaining credit and the necessary relationships to get the retail store off the ground, so I focused mostly on my consulting business until opening for retail at our Putney Road location. At that time, the parking garage had not been built and the Harmony lot was always full. Computers were also bigger and heavier, so lack of parking was a big issue.” What are your memories? Send us a letter: voices@commonsnews.org . COURTESY BRATTLEBORO HISTORICAL SOCIETY The fire of 1869 devastated the west side of Main Street and became the site on which George Brooks built his eponymous hotel. In this photograph (a montage of three separate images), the remnants of the buildings between Elliot Street and High Street can be seen. If you look closely, you can still see the pieces of the storefronts and the hitching posts. • 1877: Revere House, Elliot and Main Street. “On Saturday night last, about five minutes before 11 o’clock, a fire broke out in the Revere House stables which spread with great rapidity to all the wooden building connected with the house, and then seized upon the house itself, totally destroying it so that by half past two Sunday morning the whole of this valuable property was only a mass of smoldering ruins.” • 1886: Valley Mill. “There was a spectacular fire in this village which is of interest for the history involved but also because it shows the deference and respect shown the old engine companies.... The Old Valley Mill was located on the north side of Bridge Street between that and the brook. When discovered, the fire had such headway that about all that could be done was to save other nearby properties.” • Nov. 3, 1914: Flat Street, four buildings burned. “Between 11:30 o’clock and 8 o’clock this morning Brattleboro was visited by two disastrous fires, one of which fireman declared to have been incendiary. Property losses aggregating $29,000 were entailed. ... Only desperate and well-directed work by the fireman prevented the town from suffering its most serious fire loss of all time.” • Oct. 21, 1915: Ray and Judge buildings. “Fire from unknown cause this morning destroyed wooden structures on Main Street, causing loss of $25,000, dozen of tenants burned out, 10 streams of water...buildings were overrun with rats, sidewalk cleared of debris, but few tenants have secured new locations.” • Feb. 15, 1929: Princess Hotel. “Miss Theodora Chase had returned to the burning structure to secure her belongings...The fire, which was thought to have started in a bin of soft coal under the theatre, destroyed the Princess Apartments, and the Princess Motion Picture Theatre at the junction of Elliot and Church Street. Miss Chase was found lying on the floor of a room in the second story over the theatre by firemen.” • Jan. 31, 1930: Stellman & Son Machine Shop. “Fireman have difficult task under temperature of 4 degrees below zero as fire lays waste to the ROGER KATZ/SPECIAL TO THE COMMONS A firefighter hoses down the roof of the Paramount Theater on Main Street during a fire on April 30, 1991. The theater was destroyed, but later rebuilt into retail and office space by local architect Leo Berman. building owned by Twin State Gas & Electric Company....The blaze was discovered by George Rosebush, railroad telegraph operator at the Railway Station.... Dense smoke poured from the burning building into the former Tyler block, later known as Odd Fellows block, on Main Street in front of the machine shop.” • March 15, 1937: Princess Hotel, again. “Ernest Cloutier dies, screaming roomers leap to ladders.... Two men were burned beyond recognition, a third was burned so badly that he died in memorial hospital, and four others were still unaccounted for today.... Roaring flames raged through the Princess Hotel and Capitol Theatre building.” • December 1939: Holbrook House. “Within 24 hours after conquering one of the most threatening oil fires this town has witnessed, local firemen Wednesday afternoon were confronted with a stubborn blaze in partitions of F. Cabot Holbrook’s residence at the junction of Terrace and Tyler streets, where damage roughly estimated at $4,000 or more was caused.” • December 1958: Carroll’s Drug Store. “Lyman Streeter [a barber in Brattleboro since 1903], 74, victim as $100,000 fire guts the three story Leonard Block at 14 Elliot Street....When fireman entered the building, Mrs. Streeter was at the top of the first flight of stairs. She was taken to the office of Dr. John P. Lord for treatment.” • Nov. 20, 1972: Woolworth and Grant buildings. “A massive pre-dawn fire, its heart feeding on a basement paint storage area, destroyed Woolworth’s store on Main Street today, sending four firemen to the hospital. Brattleboro Fire Chief T. Howard Mattison declared the fire under control at 8 a.m., he said, “It was a near miss” at one point that none of his men were seriously injured or killed. Injured firemen included Randal P. Sage, 26, Wayne Shepard, 19, Louis Perham, 24, and Philip Rancourt Jr., 18, all with first and second degree burns of the face, head and ears.” Future Fire Chief David Emery was caught for a while in the burning basement as well. • Jan. 23, 1977: Barrows Coal Co. building. “The fourstory brick building at 39 Main St. housed the Barrows Coal Company offices, the All States Cafe, an H&R Block tax consultants’ outlet and a number of apartments.... Lower Main Street was virtually blanketed with ice at the height of the blaze.” • March 20, 1978: Via Condotti Restaurant, Elliot Street. “A fire that apparently started in the cellar of the crowded Via Condotti Restaurant on Elliot Street Sunday night shortly before 8 p.m. destroyed the two-story landmark buildings which also housed the Wings boutique clothing shop.” • April 30, 1991: Paramount Theater, Main Street. More than 100 firefighters from Vermont and New Hampshire fought this fire for more than five hours, and managed to keep it from spreading to nearby buildings. The Art Deco-style movie theater was totally gutted, but was later renovated into retail and office space by local architect Leo Berman. • Dec. 5, 2004: Wilder Building, 39 Main St. “Woman severely injured in blaze that consumes the Wilder Building at 39 Main St....The Latchis Hotel, which was half full, was evacuated and surrounding streets, including the bridge to Hinsdale, N.H., was closed.”
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