The Fire of 1900 - Famous Fires on Waymarking.com

A disastrous fire on the night of July 14, 1900 changed the face of downtown Prescott. Starting in a room in the Scopel Hotel on the southwest corner of Goodwin and Montezuma Streets, the fire quickly hopped across Goodwin Street and proceeded to consume all of the buildings on "Whiskey Row," leveling the entire block. Though some of the Plaza buildings were built of brick, many were wood, and the destruction was nearly complete. The fire burned almost everything in its path to Granite Creek and Willis Street, a total of over 80 businesses. Prescott had suffered fires before, but this was by far the worst. The pluck and courage of its merchants and residents was evident, however, as they pitched in to rebuild, this time of more substantial means: brisk, concrete, and stone. Within three days construction was underway. Undaunted merchants were open and doing a brisk business in tents, corrugated metal buildings, and hastily constructed sheds on the courthouse lawn. Of the buildings standing at the time of the fire, only a few remain: The Prescott National Bank and the Bank of Prescott (both under construction in 1900), the Knights of Pythias Building on South Cortez Street, and the City Jail and Fire Station on West Goodwin Street.