Fires in Early Minot – Brick Buildings--

1887 was a memorable year for Minot….the Railroad started building tracks to west and the first ordinances, (Fire Ordinances), were passed due to about fires burning down about two thirds of the buildings on Minot’s Main St. The buildings that were destroyed were hastily built wood frame buildings. In 1888 more buildings were destroyed by fire. These include the original Parker House Hotel and two other retail stores on Main St. In 1893 fire again destroyed a good part of Main Street including the Occidental Hotel. A contractor, HT Van Wagoner came to Minot to build the Leland House Hotel. Because of the fires he decided to stay and construct a City of Brick. He established a brick kiln about where the Holiday Inn is located… perhaps Minot’s first manufacturing plant. This produced about 600,000 bricks per year, many shipped to locations around the state. Wagoner’s buildings were well constructed and some of his work can still be seen around town.

Occidental Hotel - destroyed by fire in 1893