Reborn in Fire

In 1904, Havre was young and growing, having begun 13 years earlier when James J. Hill brought his railroad through. The frontier town was a collection of wood-framed buildings far below modern fire codes housing businesses and people who had settled near the new Great Northern Railway train station.

Then fire - a common problem in frontier towns - struck. And struck again. And again, and again. The string of fires, at least three of which appeared to be arson-caused, changed the form of Havre, some of which can still be seen from First Street.

Historian Gary Wilson, who has researched the fir...