Fires 150 years ago leveled, remade Michigan city

A pair of large fires in the late-1870s in Alpena altered the shape of the newly incorporated city and the development afterward remains visible today thanks to tougher building requirements inspired by the blazes.The fires not only shifted future development from Alpena’s north side to the other side of the Thunder Bay River, but also led to the establishment of the city Fire Department and motivated what was then called the Alpena Common Council to draft and implement new zoning and buil