Then & Now: The Ward Block

Then: And Another Fire

Downtown Aberdeen has certainly experienced its fair share of devasting fires, but each resulted in something new and needed, like Malchow Plaza. It was built in 2020 on the site of the Boyd Building, or most recently, the Malchow building. Fires have contributed significantly to the fact we don’t have many of the original Victorian-era buildings you see in other towns. There is also the fact that we had a very progressive business community who didn’t have the interest in old things, especially when it came to buildings housing their modern businesses. In 1926, the Alonzo Ward Hotel suffered a significant fire. This resulted in the demolition of almost all of the original hotel, except for a 50-foot section at 108 South Main. The current Ward Hotel was built in 1928, and this ice-covered building used to be a part of it. However, in 1937, it burned too and was demolished. This picture shows the success of the Aberdeen Fire Department containing the fire to what appears to be just this one building. I don’t know what caused the fire, or what business may have been impacted by it. It more than likely was still part of the Ward Hotel. Interesting to note, the Sears store (Van Slyke building) on the extreme left only has two sections. The building on the right of it was eventually extended to three stories, conforming to the design of Sears.

Now: In The Wake of Disaster

Most everyone will recall the replacement building built after the original building at 108 South Main burned as Office Equipment, although one of the first businesses to reside there was the S & L department store. This single-story replacement was built in 1937, the same year as the fire. The decision to build a one-story building was odd given the scale of the six-story Ward Hotel, but this was still the Depression era. It is a very non-descript structure with very little flair or ornamentation. The building is currently vacant. If you look towards the left, you can see construction crews working on the three-section Van Slyke building. Actually, this is a completely new structure, built from the basement up — well, most of it. The original Sears section from the previous picture collapsed under snow buildup last winter and was completely demolished. What remained was the 25-foot section that had previously had the third floor added. Developers are making the new section match this original section, which is very ironic because when the third story was added, the brick didn’t really match the original Van Slyke (Sears) building. That sensitivity to our historic district’s appearance has not been all that common over the years. //