OBSERVER file photo Crews battled the Masonic Temple fire on the evening of Feb. 24 in Dunkirk as temperatures plummeted below the teens.

Upstate cities have been struggling to reinvent their downtowns since the 1980s. Once small and major retail moved out, so did a lot of the car and foot traffic.

It was an exodus that left the once thriving and bustling sections of the business district less energized while looking a bit depressed. Add in a horrific fire and downtowns can become extremely desolate.

That is exactly what happened on Central Avenue in Dunkirk 15 years ago. Around 5:30 p.m. Feb. 24, an electrical fire began in the lower levels of the historic Masonic Temple on the 300 block. Flames were not evident in the front of the structure, but the back of the building was cooking.

News reports the next day indicated the interior was mostly unoccupied except for a few workers and a gymnastics class that was located on the top floor of the four-story structure and had more than 30 young children in attendance that evening.

Once the lights went out, children who were unaware of the pending danger were organized and taken down the stairwell to escape. They met firefighters who were entering the building on the first floor before safely exiting.

By 7 p.m., the structure was inferno producing an eerie glow that could be seen from area hilltops miles away. It led to numerous area departments and heroic responders being dispatched to the scene as crowds in the hundreds gathered in 10-degree temperatures to witness a catastrophe. A proud part of the north county city’s past was going up in flames while setting a dark tenor for its future.

Once the sun rose the next morning, the structure still smoldered. Then-Mayor Richard Frey was not far from the scene surveying the situation on Third Street. He came to a stop and rolled down his window.

“That building is coming down,” he said.

Devastation surrounded the structure and nearby buildings for months. Central Avenue came to a standstill as services that included Chautauqua Works, medical offices and other businesses were forced to relocate.

Since that blaze, it has been a case of paralysis for downtown. Though there has been investment in the waterfront and the manufacturing sector, particularly by Wells Enterprises and Nestle Purina, Central Avenue — now on its fourth mayor — has yet to bounce back.

New York state and Gov. Kathy Hochul have been attempting to change that by awarding the city with $10 million in funding as part of the Downtown Redevelopment Initiative. Since announcing the award in January 2023, progress is a lot like the pace at which the government moves — slow.

One of the key projects in Jamestown Community College has already backed out of its plans for the Graf building, which formerly housed the North County Office Building on the 300 block while other investors wait on the sidelines. There’s also been little happening with the former Adams Art Gallery site at Central Avenue and Sixth Street.

Earlier this month, the city hyped the amphitheater project at Memorial Park that could include a visitors center that houses the King Neptune fountain. It is a concept that brings some nostalgia, but adds no traffic to Central Avenue.

Apartments at the Save-a-Lot Plaza and the 200 block of Washington Avenue remain in the mix as do potential efforts at the Clarion Hotel and the former bank at Central Avenue and Fourth Streets, but what about the plot of land opposite City Hall where the Masonic Temple stood? For now, it’s barren — and a monument to a lack of action for a decade and a half.

Falconer faced a similar fire seven years after Dunkirk. The Wednesday morning March blaze destroyed four buildings on Main Street in the heart of the village’s downtown. Only nine months later, another blaze near that location. Since those major events, there has been some hope and thanks to its proximity to Interstate 86, Falconer is far from thriving though it is maintaining.

Ovid, which is located in the Finger Lakes, is in the midst of cleaning up after a horrific January fire that wiped out six businesses and displacing 15 to 20 residents. A charging device plug in an apartment above the only supermarket in the village may have been to blame.

In any event, any large fire will devastate a small community. On that February evening in 2010 as a massive fireball roared for hours, everyone knew Dunkirk and its 300 block of Central Avenue was facing a knockout punch.

What’s most disappointing is the fight to make something happen at that site seems gone — much like the traffic and energy that once filled the location.

John D’Agostino is the editor of The Post-Journal, OBSERVER and Times Observer in Warren, Pa. Send comments to jdagostino@observertoday.com or call 716-487-1111, ext. 253.