The C. H. Strong Poultry House and livery known as the Deaton old stable on Grafton Street were destroyed by fire on October 30, 1909.
The fire started in the stable which was operated by O.N. Snell, veterinary surgeon. The building was mostly used by Utterback & Harris for storing hay. There was about $700 dollars worth of hay in the building at the time of the fire.
The fire may have started when a match was thrown near the building while dry hay was protruding in the cracks between the boards. The dry hay burned like powder. In minutes, the stable was engulfed in flames and destroyed. The C.H. Strong poultry house north of the building was also destroyed.
City Hall, a brick and rock building was north of the fire and had minor damage. A small wooden building owned by E.R. Snead south of the fire was also damaged.
The two buildings owned by B.M. Utterback were valued at about $3500had no insurance. Mr. Strong lost about 500 dollars, had no insurance and various people in town who had harnesses or tools in the building also suffered small loses.
“There were eleven head of horses in the Stable at the time, but fortunately the animals were all liberated and gotten out” (Dublin Progress, November 5, 1909) Utterback and Harris later built better buildings on the lot. In the 1940s, Loyd Hines had a tire shop there. The block south of city hall, now the city parking lot later housed the Barbee Pontiac dealership that also served as Barbee Butane and Appliance store in the early 1950s. The dealership also sold radios and televisions. A classic Gulf gasoline station sat at the very corner of Grafton and Elm Streets. Mary Yantis stated that there was a two story building on the south end of the block at one time.