Published: November 25, 2009 11:32 pm      

Downtown Delphi building catches fire

Blaze believed to have started in second-floor apartment

DELPHI — Firefighters fought to save a historic Delphi building Wednesday after a fire starting in an upstairs apartment threatened a downtown city block.

The fire is believed to have begun around 10:30 a.m. in a second-floor apartment above the Office Tavern at 212 S. Washington St.

Delphi Tri-Township Fire Chief Dennis Randle said after battling the fire above the tavern for several hours, the building’s structure was not sturdy enough to save.

“It was too unstable to leave up,” Randle said. “For public safety we had to take the walls down.”

F and K Excavating brought down the walls of Office Tavern and the apartment unit.

The building, which spans nearly a block, also houses Zook Real Estate, Abbott Realty, Emerson and Manahan law offices and an antique shop. Randle said the upper levels of the businesses had apartments as well.

The entire building suffered smoke and water damage, Randle said, and a building across from the tavern on Main suffered smoke damage.

“We had to remove the folks that live in two or three of the Washington Street building’s other apartments,” Randle said.

The fire chief said Monday was the soonest he predicted businesses and tenants could return to the building.

As for the damage to the tavern and residence, Randle said a low cost estimate would be $150,000. He said the cause of the fire was still unknown and was under investigation.

“Right now we are interviewing the tavern’s owner and the person who lived in the apartment,” he said.

The Delphi building was known during the early days of the Canal Era as the Dewey Block, built by Noah Dewey, and renovated in 1863.

Past businesses housed in the Dewey Block include C and G Moore brick store in 1864, a general hardware and agricultural store, clothing store Mount and Lane in 1909, Delphi State Bank in 1912 and the Mode-O-Day Store in the 1960s.

Also responding to the scene were the Flora, Rockfield, Camden and Tippecanoe Township volunteer fire departments.

Randle said firefighters would be at the scene well into the night Wednesday.

“We will be out here for quite awhile yet,” he said. “Right now we are trying to hit hot spots.”

• Jennifer Tangeman is a reporter for the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at 574-732-5148 or jennifer.tangeman@pharostribune.com.