On the afternoon of April 12, 1929, Euclid's city hall on North Street was ablaze and would soon burn to the ground.
Fire Chief Ernest Earick blamed the fire on faulty wiring, specifically a short circuit that sparked tarred hemp used by the water department to pack pipe joints. Chief Earick was on the first floor of the two story building, built in 1894, and had the misfortune of falling through the burning floor into the basement. He was rescued, revived and remained on scene.
Talk about hardcore.
Having no city hall, everybody (even the police) moved over to the "old hotel" (The Euclid Inn) on Chardon road, near Euclid ave. The depression made rebuilding a slow process, and the temporary city hall ended up being a 9 year solution.
Plans were completed in 1934 and construction of the new "old" Euclid city hall began in 1937. There was a bit of back-and-forth about the location, though.
Here's a photo of the newly constructed hall in 1938. It was completed by
WPA workers and cost $100,000.
City Hall still stands today, but was outgrown in the mid 1980's. The basement of this building was actually the police department until 1950.
It currently sits right next to the current (municipal center) city hall, completed in 1989.
Bonus: Showing off a 4 year old city hall in the 1942 Euclid city directory.
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