The town of Crozet came into existence in 1876 to fulfill the need for a freight siding to facilitate the receiving of building materials for the Miller Manual Labor School of Albemarle. Subsequently, the rail stop provided a shipping point for the agricultural products of local farmers. A small shed was placed there as shelter for travelers who wished to flag down the local passenger trains.
During the period from the 1890s into the 1930s, the rural rail stop became the forefront of commercial activity in western Albemarle. Miller School Avenue, aka Main Street, was populated with a variety of businesses and services. Crozet’s pace of growth, by some accounts, rivaled even that of Charlottesville.
Crozet’s correspondent to the Daily Progress reported, in fall 1894: “The shipment of tan-bark from this station is quite heavy. The farmers are busy gathering fodder and fallowing for wheat. Our prosperous little town is on quite a ‘boom.’ Mr. C.J. Haden has in course of erection a nice building [on Miller School Avenue], and the cottage in which Mrs. Thornley will teach school is nearing completion. Summer boarders are leaving rapidly, and there is a lull after the storm.” Six months later, merchant J.T. O’Neill was improving his store and dwelling house (adjacent to the railroad depot) by the addition of a “story.”
As in real life, however, things about town weren’t always merry and bright, nor scented only by the sweet fragrance of fruit trees in bloom. There were rough patches with which to contend and overcome.
July 1911: “Crozet was visited this morning by a disastrous fire which wiped out the storeroom and stock of J.T. O’Neill & Son, merchants, together with the O’Neill dwelling, which adjoined the store,” announced the Progress newspaper. “The ice house and buggy sheds were also totally destroyed with their contents.
“The fire broke out about 3 a.m. and was first discovered by Mr. John Smith. Mr. J.T. O’Neill was awake when he heard the cry of ‘Fire.’ Reaching the storeroom, he was unable to gain entrance on account of the intense heat from the flames. A bucket brigade was hastily formed but despite the strenuous efforts of the fire fighters the flames spread to the dwelling adjoining, which was soon in ruins. The contents of the dwelling, except the furniture on the second floor, were saved.
“Mr. J.G. Klise and his family, consisting of a wife and four children, were rendered homeless by the fire. They occupied the four rooms above the store. They were sleeping soundly when Mr. O’Neill reached the store and had to be aroused. The family lost everything but two trunks. Mr. Klise is a blacksmith.
“The O’Neill dwelling was a two-story frame structure containing five rooms. It burned rapidly and was in ashes in a short while. The buggy sheds contained several vehicles and a lot of harness, all of which is a total loss. The roof of the dwelling of Mr. R.S. Woods, adjoining the O’Neill storeroom, caught fire, but the flames were extinguished before any material damage was done.
“The best citizens of the town fought the flames and but for their effective work, the fire would have wiped out several other buildings, including the dwelling occupied by John W. Smith, foreman of the Crozet Cooperage Company, and the office of Mr. Russell Bargamin, of the same company. This last-,named building contained about 8,000 [newly produced] barrels.”
December 1914: “This progressive town had quite a fire scare today. Flames were discovered about 11 a.m. on the second floor of the building owned by the Bank of Crozet, Inc. [on Miller School Avenue], and in less than an hour the structure was quite badly damaged. The fire gained such rapid headway that it looked at one time as if the flames would not be confined to the bank building. Vigorous work by bucket brigades had a good effect, and finally a pipe line was laid to the cold storage plant and a hose attached to the end. A fairly good pressure was secured and soon the fire was gotten under complete control.
“The building was erected by the Bank of Crozet about six years ago and would have done credit to a town many times larger than Crozet. It was a two-story structure, with basement. Had the fire gotten out of the building it is quite probable that the entire business section of the town would have been destroyed.”
March 1922: “The largest fire in the history of Crozet occurred Tuesday night of last week when the extensive plant of the Crozet Cider Co., Inc., located in the southwest section of the town, was totally destroyed, including the office building, the main manufacturing plant, the building housing the engine, the furnace building and water tank tower.
“The fire is supposed to have originated from a stove located in the office building, which was being used at this time by contractors for the construction of the Jarman Gap Road, and its spread was so rapid that practically the entire contents of the buildings were also a total loss. The large traction engine used to drive the machinery was removed without injury, but the presses, carriers and choppers, vinegar vats, storage tanks and barreling mechanism were destroyed.”
April 1925: “The entire business section of Crozet was threatened with destruction by fire yesterday evening, and that this is not now a mass of smoldering ruins is little short of a miracle to those who witnessed the situation soon after discovery of the blaze.
“About 6:30 p.m., Robert E. Wood, who is associated with Curtis A. Haden in the general merchandise business, occupying the location on Miller School Avenue next to the cold storage plant and ice manufactory of Thomas S. Herbert, went out the rear of the store building to obtain some supplies from a two-story frame warehouse about 50 feet away when he noticed black smoke issuing from between this structure and the building containing the engines and boilers of the cold storage plant. Before he could reach the warehouse, it burst into flames, and in the short space of but a few minutes was a seething furnace.
“Mr. Wood, a member of the Crozet Fire Company [whose fire equipment at that time was housed on Carter Street] turned in the alarm, which brought the firemen and apparatus to the scene, to begin one of the most valiant battles against overwhelming odds that the organization has ever experienced, and one which, it is stated, eclipsed its work in saving the new $40,000 high school building on last Easter Sunday night.
“A stock of powdered sulphur stored in the Haden warehouse added materially to the hazardous work of the firemen. A branch of the automatic sprinkler system, with which the cold storage plant is equipped, running along the eaves of the engine room, and protecting the windows and other openings checked the flames to a large extent on the one side, and attention of the firemen was concentrated on a one-story frame storehouse in the rear of the residence of Dr. W.F. Carter, which adjoins the Haden store on the street. The storehouse was saved, and to this is attributed the fact that the wholesale conflagration did not occur.”
The vitality of our community depends on each of us. Keep an eye out for the well-being of your neighbor, and thank a first responder every chance you get.
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