page_title: Fort Saskatchewan
section_title: Downtown fire
hierarchical_section_title: Fort Saskatchewan / History / Early growth / Downtown fire
caption_attribution_description: English: A fire insurance map for Fort Saskatchewan published in 1912, but revised in 1913 after the downtown fire. The patches show the extent of the damage caused by the fire because the revisions were pasted on top of the original map.
context_page_description: Fort Saskatchewan is a mid-sized city along the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta, Canada. It is located 25 kilometres northeast of Edmonton, Alberta's capital city. Fort Saskatchewan is part of the Edmonton census metropolitan area and is one of 24 municipalities that constitute the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board. Fort Saskatchewan's population in the 2016 federal census was 24,149. Its population has since increased to 26,942 according to the city's 2019 municipal census.
  The city was founded as a North-West Mounted Police fort, and was later home to a large provincial gaol; the city prides itself on its "law and order" history. The original fort was located across the river from the hamlet of Lamoureux, and the city opened a replica of the fort next to its original site in 2011. Fort Saskatchewan is bordered by Strathcona County to the south and east, Sturgeon County to the north and west, and the City of Edmonton to the southwest. Sturgeon County is across the North Saskatchewan River.
  The city is most well known for its proximity to petrochemical facilities, including Dow Chemical, Sherritt International, Nutrien, and Shell Canada.
context_section_description: On January 21, 1913, a fire swept through a large portion of the town's business section. It is thought to have started in the Queen's hotel, before quickly leaping across the street to nearby buildings. The fire department struggled to start their fire engine, and its hose had frozen up by the time the engine was started. When the fire department had gotten their equipment working, the fire was already too large to be contained.
  S.O. Jones, Fort Saskatchewan's fire chief, was in Edmonton with his son at the time, and had to race to the CNR station in a taxi to catch a train bound for Fort Saskatchewan. His taxi nearly hit a police officer who attempted to stop the speeding taxi by running in front of it, not knowing why it was in such a hurry. Jones made it to the train station, but was arrested by a police officer who was waiting for him after being contacted by the officer who was almost hit by the taxi. The subsequent court case was dismissed after it was realized that Jones was Fort Saskatchewan's fire chief, and he was told that he could drive as fast as needed in Edmonton.
  Five businesses were lost to the fire, costing a total of $24,000 of damages. These businesses were mainly located in the Fetherstonhaugh Block. In the spring of 1913, construction began on $69,500 worth of buildings in the business section. These new buildings included the Williamson Block, which replaced the Fetherstonhaugh Block, and a new Queen's Hotel, which was renamed the Fort Hotel in 1933.
caption: A fire insurance map for Fort Saskatchewan published in 1912, but revised in 1913 after the downtown fire. The darker patches indicate the extent of the damage caused by the fire, because the revisions were pasted on top of the original map.
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