Dundas St between Richmond and Talbot

In the early morning hours of November 3rd, 1911 the most destructive fire in London in 25 years occurred on Dundas St, between Richmond St & Talbot St, on the north side. The fire broke out at 3:57 a.m & by 6 a.m five businesses (J.H Chapman & Co, T.F Kingsmill & Co, W.L Mara & Co, Brewster’s Fancy Goods Store and Roome, Corbett & Co) were completely destroyed. Two other businesses (Purdom’s Hardware & R.J. Young & Co) were heavily damaged in the inferno. Other nearby businesses were also damaged due to flying embers. The suspected source of the fire was in the rear of Chapman’s Dry Goods Store. Due to strong northwest winds the fire spread easily from west to east along Dundas St. The fire walls on the west side of Purdom’s Hardware & the east wall of Roome, Corbett & Co prevented the inferno from spreading further.

The estimated cost of the fire was about $800,000 covered by British, Canadian & American Insurance companies. As a result of this fire almost 400 people temporarily lost employment, but within days many of the burnt out merchants were already securing temporary premises to continue operating while planning to rebuild. Within a couple of days of the fire a proposal was brought forward to extend Market Lane up to Carling St, along with another proposal to build a new City Hall along this stretch of Dundas St. Neither proposal lasted very long as they were not considered very feasible. Within a few years many of the destroyed buildings were rebuilt & are still there along Dundas St today.