When an Ashland neighborhood burns to the ground and 11 families are left without homes, readers wonder, "Has this ever happened before?"

Ashland has had its share of fires. Homes have burned, theaters have fed flames and businesses have disappeared overnight, but when you ask local historians whether any fire, at any time, has ever destroyed so many homes all at once, the first thing you'll hear is silence.

It's a question they've never thought of before, and in their momentary silence, you can hear their puzzled thoughts.

Each historian goes through a mental checklist, ticking off one historic fire after another, but they all come back to the same conclusion.

"I think the real story here," said historic preservationist George Kramer, "is that no, there's never been anything quite like this."

Marjorie O'Harra, who has written many Ashland history books, said the worst fire involving buildings that she could recall was the 1879 fire that destroyed every structure on the west side of the plaza.

"Usually the big fires that do the most damage, at least the ones we remember, are the forest and grass fires outside the city," she said. "Other than the Plaza fire, I can't think of any Ashland fire that destroyed so many buildings."

On the morning of March 11, 1879, sunrise was still nearly two hours away.

While the town slept, an ember was glowing in blacksmith Elias Miller's forge. Sometime during the night, the ember found wood shavings or some cloth and sparked into a flickering flame. The flame found walls and, within an instant, a firestorm was eating at the heart of Ashland.

Fire chewed its way along the wooden sidewalk that tied one wooden building to another.

The town had no fire department, and though bucket after bucket was dipped into Ashland Creek and passed hand to hand, the blaze refused to die.

"The fire was so far under way when discovered as to baffle all attempts to check it," wrote a reporter.

Mrs. Jones lost her millinery store. The Masons lost their nearly new temple and all their historic records, while in the studio of photographer James Riggs, cameras and glass plates all melted away.

The meat market was gone and two boot shops, too. A tailor's shop, a drug store, a wagon factory and even the post office all turned to ash.

More than 20 buildings were gone or damaged, and the total loss was estimated at $30,000, or nearly $750,000 in today's dollars.

Without John McCall's brick building, standing on the south end of the plaza, nothing would have stopped the fire from roaring southward and sweeping away every building on Main Street. Because the false roof on his building burned away, even McCall reported $2,000 in damage to his building and the merchandise inside.

The town's pain was best expressed by Ashland Tidings editor James Sutton, who wrote, "The unsightly black spot which but a day or two since was the scene of business activity is painful to the sight and gives a fit of blues."

No one died in the Plaza fire or in the Oak Knoll blaze of a few weeks ago. The losses could have been so much worse.

So the answer is, no. Never before. Never like this. And perhaps with some luck — never again.

Writer Bill Miller lives in Shady Cove. Reach him at newsmiller@yahoo.com.