Saint Johners hope fire-damaged, historic structure can be saved

Police in Saint John say the early morning fire that damaged a historic building is believed to have been set.

A release issued Tuesday says the fire caused “extensive damage” to Barbour’s General Store – a structure situated across from city hall at the foot of King Street.

“The preliminary results of the investigation has established that this was a set fire; however, further investigation is ongoing to determine if the fire was set intentionally or accidentally,” police said.

Fire officials say they responded to the call around 3:30 Tuesday morning – with one member treated and released for heat exhaustion as the fire was contained.

Uptown roads in the area were closed through much of the morning, impacting the morning commute of many.

A normal day would see most pass by the structure without giving it a second thought, but many in the city spent formative summers inside.

“That building’s been through a lot,” says Paula Copeland, who shared some images of summers in the 90s spent as a student working out of Barbour’s.

She and countless others worked as tour guides based in the shop, showing hundreds of tourists a year around the city.

Though the building has become something of a history hub Uptown, it wasn’t in the city at all until the late ’60s.

It was built in the mid-1800s in McGowans Corner, N.B.

Records indicate it served as a general store there from the 1860s into the 1940s.

Twenty years later the structure made its way down the St. John River to the port city — literally.

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G.E. Barbour, the company whose name has been given to the museum, funded an operation to float the century-old shop down the river on a barge.

In the decades since, it’s operated as a museum – particularly in the busy summer cruise seasons.

For almost a full one, Karen J. McLean worked there.

“For seven seasons I would open it up, get it ready for everybody and then I would close it down at the end of the year,” she says.

Having grown attached, word of the fire got her Tuesday off to a tough start.

“I was gutted. Absolutely gutted,” says McLean.

“Heartbroken.”

McLean and Copeland met working at the shop.

They say they’re still in touch with each other, and many others who shared that experience.

It’s not yet known just how extensive the damage to Barbour’s is, but a spokesperson for the city tells Global News it’s covered under their fire insurance, so McLean is optimistic it hasn’t seen its last tourist.

“Museums are very important,” she says.

“Of all those school kids I brought through there, you never know who’s going to wind up being a history buff.”