The Exchange Hotel is well-known in Vanceboro history because of its association with Werner Horn’s failed attempt to blow up the railroad bridge spanning the St. Croix in February 1915.
What is less well-known, however, is that the hotel, operated by James Tague’s son Aubrey, and neighboring buildings, owned by prominent businessman Horace Kellogg, tragically burned just a year later, on April 22, 1916.
According to the Bangor Daily News, “On Wednesday morning about 2 am a fire broke out at the rear of the Exchange Hotel. Before it was discovered the hotel was on fire, from there the fire spread to the store of and barn owned by Horace Kellogg. Many other houses were threatened, especially Mr. Kellogg’s storehouse and the residence of L. Field. These buildings were saved only by the heroic work of the soldiers of the 62nd Contingent from St. Croix, and much praise and thanks are due to them.”
There was only one immediate casualty of the fire. Henry Lowe of Danforth was staying overnight in the hotel with his cousin James McTague, intending to travel to Bangor in the morning.
But the fire and subsequent losses took its toll on Horace Kellogg, too. He died in March 1917, and his obituary includes the following: “a little over a year ago the store in which he started business in Vanceboro was burned at the time of the burning of the Exchange Hotel. The old building held associations for Mr. Kellogg which inevitably came of long associations with such things and his friends had noticed a great change in him since that time.”
After the fire the hotel was never rebuilt. In the fall of 1916 the hotel lot was divided between James Tague’s heirs: Bertha Tague Keef and her husband Ralph built a house on the west side of the hotel lot that was purchased by Faye and Georgia Crandelmire in 1934 and still stands today. Aubrey Tague’s store occupied the east side of the hotel lot for many years.
Vanceboro Historical Society 