Latrobe Street

Latrobe Street. . , In the early days of Grafton, Latrobe Street was one of the main business thoroughfares. It first developed in the 1850s with the coming of the railroad and was, appropriately, named for Benjamin Latrobe the Baltimore and Ohio engineer who plotted the railroad's path across the Allegheny Mountains., Most of the original Latrobe Street buildings were destroyed by the fire of July 4 and 5, 1887 which started in Mrs. Margaret Martin's ice cream parlor and confectionary. The initial fire was quickly put out but reignited in the middle of the night, eventually destroying thirty-three buildings. Only the Courthouse, Brinkman Building and old Powell Tavern survived the blaze., Among those consumed was the Central Hotel in which Granville Jarvis had previously operated a general store. The Jarvis family, including Mother's Day founder Anna Jarvis, occupied the upper stories and it was there that Anna spent much of her girlhood. There were no casualties but the fire was so large that the flames from the five story Robert Shaw building could be seen in Fairmont. After the fire, a measure to install a water system, which had been voted down three years before, was approved., During the peak days of the railroad, Latrobe Street was lined with saloons causing the ladies of Grafton to shun the street. Despite this fact it was the busiest street in town and property values soared. Support for Prohibition ultimately held sway, however, and on March 18, 1913 saloon licenses were revoked resulting in the closure of all Grafton bars. Property values on Latrobe Street plummeted.