HOTEL STEPHENS - October 4, 1998
The Jefferson Hotel was a massive three story hotel that covered much of the block on the southwest corner of the intersection of West First Street and South Madison Avenue. The Jefferson actually consisted of several buildings that dated back to the early 1900s and had undergone numerous additions and remodeling through the years. It was later renamed the Charles McDonald Hotel for its owner at the time, then once again re-named the Jefferson.
John B. Stephens, Jr. purchased the Jefferson Hotel in partnership with Frank Henderson in 1948, then purchased Mr. Henderson's half of the business in 1954. Mr. Stephens renamed the hotel "Hotel Stephens" and operated the hotel until his death on Monday, January 5, 1987. After Mr. Stephens' passing, the hotel and Black Angus Club were closed and the building was put up for sale. It sat vacant for a year.
John Niforos, owner of Jay-Tex Aviation, bought Hotel Stephens from the John B. Stephens estate on February 29, 1988 and used the building as a warehouse for airplane parts and other things associated with his business for the next ten years. During that time, the building fell to disrepair. By latter 1998, nothing was stored in the main hotel building any more and the utilities had been disconnected, but Mr. Niforos still had property stored in the former Black Angus Restaurant building next door. Mr. Niforos began demolishing the old hotel, starting on the south side and had torn away much of the roof and some of the walls to the annex.
At 2:13 a.m., Sunday, October 4, 1998, someone called the Mt. Pleasant Fire Department to report that flames were coming from the building. About the same time, Titus County Sheriff Ricky Pool radioed the fire department with the same report. The fire department responded with two pumper engines and the City's aerial ladder truck. They at 2:19 a.m. to find the building fully involved in flames. They began attacking the fire, but it had gained too much headway to risk sending firefighters inside so they surrounded the building with equipment and poured water on the flames from all sides.
The Pittsburg Fire Department was called for mutual aid and Pittsburg sent one engine and six firefighters. The power company was called to disconnect the power on nearby power distribution lines. All the fire department could do was to try to keep other downtown buildings from burning, and they had their work cut out for them. Winds carried burning embers as far as the Edwards Street baseball field, 12 blocks away.
The largest flames were knocked down and the fire was brought under control in about thirty minutes, but the building continued to burn until after daylight. Once the fire was extinguished, another problem remained. After being exposed to extreme heat and having many support structures burnt away, the three story tall walls were still standing but were very fragile. They presented a real danger to anyone that might drive down West First or South Madison Streets, so traffic had to be re-routed away from the fire scene.
Because the building was unoccupied and had no utility connections, the Texas Fire Marshall's Office and the United Stated Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms were brought in to help investigate the fire. The investigation could not determine a specific cause, and the fire was listed as a fire of suspicious and unknown origin.
It took several days to demolish the walls and remove enough debris so adjacent streets could be re-opened to traffic. During that time, traffic was detoured away from the structure and the demolition work. After several weeks work, all debris was removed from the lot and it was graded smooth.
