The north-east corner of Main Street North and Dundas Street has been “home” to many long-time family businesses that have been an important part of Waterdown’s history. The Crooker family appears to have operated commercial establishments in the village from the middle of the nineteenth century until 1915. In 1853, the name of Francis Crooker is recorded as a grocer and baker on one of the earliest known listings of trades and businesses in the village of Waterdown. Five years later, on the listing for 1857-58, his business appears to have expanded as he is noted as “dealer in dry goods, hardware and groceries.” It is not known if the Main and Dundas Street corner was the location of his store, but as his family name appears continuously in the Directory Listings of the village from this date onward, as merchants, general store owners and druggists, it seems most likely.
About 1885, Frederick Wesley Crooker, grandson of Francis, built a very fine two storey commercial brick building that bore the Crooker name and graced this corner of Waterdown for the next thirty years. The building was a truly remarkable structure for a small village and in many ways it appeared out of place, towering over the other frame-built commercial businesses along Dundas Street. The fact that the Crooker block was of brick construction probably ensured that it survived the 1906 village fire which destroyed the adjacent tailor’s shop and barber shop.
Less than a decade later, the magnificent Crooker Block was so severely damaged that nothing was salvageable following the second major fire in the village that began about 3 o’clock in the afternoon of 25 May 1915. Reported in the Hamilton Herald on the following day, the newspaper described the building as “the finest of mercantile buildings.” Still in the ownership of F. W. Crooker, the building housed a number of different businesses and village services. Included in the building, the village Post Office and a General Store operated by William Walley and on the second floor, a large hall used for public meetings and a village library.
The newspaper reported that the fire had begun in the rear section of the building which housed the grocery and drug store and then quickly spread to the library on the upper floor. Since it was the Victoria Day holiday, the paper also suggested that children playing with firecrackers caused the blaze when a lighted cracker had been dropped in the grate in front of the store.
At the end of the day, the damage was enormous. For not only had the fire levelled the entire corner block, but the complete contents of the building were also lost – the large collection of library books, totalling 6,000 volumes, a quantity of furniture belonging to a local merchant stored on the second floor and everything in the general store.
So fierce were the flames that several of the adjoining buildings were also threatened. Neighbouring Alton’s Barber Shop and Pool Room suffered damage when one of the outer walls collapsed. No one was injured, but several of the village’s volunteer fire fighters suffered cuts and bruises from the falling debris. The east-facing brick facade of the Kirk Hotel on the opposite corner of Main and Dundas Street was badly scorched and a number of its windows broken from the heat of the flames.
Although the village fire brigade arrived on the scene within minutes of the alarm, they were unable to cope with the blaze, their only equipment consisting of a hand-pulled wagon and a couple of wooden ladders. Finding that they were unable to control the fire and fearful that the entire village was threatened, the Hamilton Fire Department was called to assist. Fourteen men, a motor truck and chemical wagon were immediately dispatched from the Central Station, arriving at about 5 o’clock to find the corner “a seething mass of flames.” Despite all the efforts of both fire departments they were unable to gain control and save the building, but did succeed in preventing the fire from spreading further along Dundas Street.
At the end of the day the Crooker building was a smouldering ruin and the village had lost its Post Office and Library, the total loss to the buildings and stock was estimated at $25,000, only part of which was covered by insurance. Ironically there was a large crowd of visitors in the village celebrating Victoria Day and attending a number of special events being held to purchase new books for the library. It was not until late in the afternoon, after officials had counted the day’s receipts of $425 that they learnt the results of the disastrous fire. Although the corner block was later rebuilt by Frederick Crooker, he sold his entire business interests and moved onto local politics, serving as Reeve of Waterdown from 1924 until his death in 1927.
© The Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society 2008, 2024.
