Aftermath of the Monroe Fire of 1901
Monroe Historical Society photo #399

On September 16, 1901, the only complete block of businesses in Monroe burned to the ground. The fire was discovered at 1:10 a.m. by Dr. Ball, who was returning from a trip to Wallace (now Startup), when he saw that the entire upper floor of the Odd Fellows Hall was ablaze. The entire town responded to the alarm and managed to save much of the furniture and goods of some of the businesses and homes. With much effort, they were also able to keep the fire from spreading to the north side of Main Street. But all the buildings on the South side of the 100-block of East Main Street were destroyed as well as the buildings immediately across Ferry Street to include the Vanasdlen Store.

This photo was taken immediately after the 1901 fire. Furniture and goods are still in the street and some of the ruins are still smoldering. The photo was taken looking west down Main Street through the intersection with Lewis Street (from about point C on this detail of the 1910 platmap). Stapleton's store (the one-story white building with the writing on the side) is on the northwest corner of Main and Lewis Street (point B on the platmap and on this 1907 birdseye view photo), and Vanasdlen's store is at point 1.