Fire in Downtown Council, 5 Businesses Affected or Displaced, No Injuries

A fire broke out about mid-day on Monday the 7th in Council at 202 Illinois Ave, the old Council Valley Market. Council Valley Volunteer Fire responded as well as Indian Valley, Meadows Valley and Cambridge.

The main portion of the building was unused at the time of the fire. However, Cuddy Mountain Custom and Specialty Meats LLC occupied an addition on the west side of the original building. Sara Willey owns this business and was open until the fire started. Online county property records show that 202 Illinois Ave is owned by Victor Ludwig.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office sent out evacuation orders by text message shortly after 2:00 p.m. for the two block area near Galena and Illinois due to the massive amount of smoke. This evacuation order was later lifted about 4:00 p.m..

202 Illinois has been a part of the Council community for decades. Some might remember it as The Golden Rule store. The Adams County Leader reported that this store opened in August 1941. A bank shared the building for several years and in 1958 the store here became known as the Idaho Department Store.

The April 29, 1965 Leader said, “Ralph Bass of the Council Merit Store and Carl Shaver of Boise announce the sale of the former Idaho Department Store building to Eddie Ludwig, owner of the Wayside Grocery.” The business later became the Council Valley Market.

The building at 204 Illinois Ave was built in 1956 as a medical clinic by Dr. John Edwards and Dr. Bernard Strouth. It is now owned by Eric and Shani Smith, according to county records. Huptye, a retail store, occupies a good portion of this building. Additionally, three other small businesses rented space from the Smiths at 204 Illinois.

These two buildings have exterior walls that abut each other and there was significant concern that the fire would spread into the Huptye building. Eric Smith told me that his building had minimal smoke and water damage. The firefighting efforts were able to prevent the fire from spreading.

Eric did add that he would like to thank all the civilian volunteers who rushed off the street to help his family move their inventory from the building as well as the volunteer firefighters who kept the fire from spreading.

On Tuesday morning, Council Fire Chief Shawn Stanford confirmed that there is an investigation into the cause of the fire and that a report would be released when complete.

Thanks to Dale Fisk for providing the history on this building.