The Market Street Fire of 1939

On this date seventy-five years ago the most devastating fire Sandusky has known struck downtown, turning nearly an entire block into ruins. Commonly known as the Herb & Myers fire (or the Market Street fire) because it was believed to have started in the M.R. Herb department store on East Market Street, the fire quickly destroyed many business on the 100 block of East Market Street, and continued to smolder for days afterward. The cause of the fire was never determined, probably due to the intensity of the flames, which left little evidence to discover in the rubble.

Among the other businesses destroyed in the fire were the Sears & Roebuck store, the W.S. Frankel store, the McLellan Dollar store, all in the Graefe Building,  and E.B. Ackley's cigar store and office on Water Street.

The fire and the subsequent demolition and removal of the remaining rubble soon became a major tourist event, as can be seen in some of the photographic images. Reports claimed that as many as 10,000 spectators went downtown to see the fire and its aftereffects, although that might be an exaggeration.

The estimated financial cost of the fire was $2 million (about $33 million in today's dollars), with about 200 people put out of work.

C. Weston Dash, Reporter and Photographer

C. Weston Dash was born in Cleveland, Ohio on June 7, 1914. Learning the printing business from his father as a young man, Mr. Dash was the editor and reporter for his high school and college newspaper. Later, while he was a correspondent with the International News Service, he covered the 1936 Republican National Cenvention in Cleveland.

He lived in Sandusky from June of 1937 through October 1940. While in Sandusky, Mr. Dash was a reporter and editor with the Sandusky Register and Star Journal. He also served as Sandusky School Superintendent of the Methodist Church, and worked on set construction for the Harlequins. He was the publicity chairman for the Ohio Grape Festival, 1939-1940.  In the summer of 1938, C. Weston Dash married Anne Elizabeth Chamberlain Warren, and they were wed for 62 years. Mr. and Mrs. Dash made lifelong friends with Sandusky residents during their years in Ohio.

In 1990, C. Weston Dash donated several negatives to the historical collections of the Sandusky Library. Below is a photograph from the 1940 Grape Festival held at Sandusky September 19-22, 1940.

During the March 31, 1939 fire in downtown Sandusky, Dash took photographs of the fire and fire fighting efforts for several hours.

C. Weston Dash passed away at the age of 89 in Maine on January 30, 2004. A quotation cited at the end of Mr. Dash's obituary gives us insight into his personality:

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter

 -- E. E. Cummings