Havre, Montana, was incorporated in 1893, and like many railroad towns, the streets were set in a grid formation, with the Great Northern Depot serving as the gateway to the commercial district. The buildings during the 1890s were typical first-generation structures that were mainly tar-papered wood-framed shacks. Built close together, these buildings were false-fronted and one story high, with a few scattered one-and-a-half and two-story buildings. Shortly after midnight on Thursday, Jan. 14, 1904, a fire was spotted in the back of Gross and Lebert, a hardware store that sold furniture, farm machinery, wagons and coffins. An alarm went off in the railway yard, as well as one at the Havre Electric Company. Then there was a big explosion that blew the roof off and the windows out at Gross and Lebert. The fire ended up burning the entire town to the ground, but no one died in the fire. Business owners moved underground to carry on their businesses until the town could be rebuilt. Today, the town has a tour called “Havre: Beneath the Streets” that allows visitors to step back in time to see where all the businesses operated after the fire.
