Fairmont Hall, 1880s

Main Street, 1910

Main Street, 1940s

Masonic Block, 1950s

Masonic

Block, 1960s

Front entrance, No. 208

Masonic Block, West side

UB side entrance

Masonic Building, 1970s

Lodge Interior East/South

Lodge Interior West

Inflation: 9.2% Dow: 858 Interest Rates: 7.25% New House: $42,000 New Car: $4,250.00Gallon of Gas: 57 centsFirst-Class Stamp: 10c

President - Gerald FordGovernor - Mike DukakisMayor – Edgar GadboisUB Master - Leo Barsamian

Unseasonably coldFour suspicious fires in 10 daysPastilles Liquors broken into Dec. 6

5:05 pm – Dumpster fire at

Jr. High School

Smoke seen in back of Riseberg’s,

206 Main St.

5:35 pm – Alarm 1 pulled at

Newton & Main

An explosion is reported from

Riseberg’s…

“The building became an

inferno front and back.

I saw the front of the building

blow out and flames shoot out.”

-- Police Lt. Det. Robert Jusseaume

Flames jump from Riseberg’s roof

to the Masonic building

Fighting from the rear

All of Marlborough’s 85 firefighters

150 - 200 total, from 9 (15?)

communities as far as Needham,

Wellesley & Lancaster

$2.5M worth of apparatus

Although Main Street was closed Bolton to

Monument Sq., 1000 spectators stood 10 deep

Temperatures plummeted into the teens.

Firefighters slid on sheets of ice.

Water pressure dropped from 100 to 40

“It was a

miracle no

one was

hurt. It’s the

biggest fire

I’ve seen in

20 years.”– Jusseaume

Demolition cost $20,000+

First National Bank acted as fire break,

shielding Main Street East

“The meeting rooms

were filled with

valuable things, many

that can’t be

replaced. Antiques,

carpets, oriental

chairs” and an organ

that cost $8,000 in

1945.

–Joe Aykanian

In gratitude to:

• Joan Abshire &

The Marlborough

Historical Society

• Leo Barsamian

• Paul Chamberlain

• Walter Demoorjian

• Claudio Elias

• Gary Jusseaume

• Bill Maroney

• Paul Polewacyk

• David Wills

• Steve Weston

• Max Wills