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The large cinderblock and frame building which housed the Rappahannock Farmers’ Cooperative in Sperryville was gutted by fire early Monday evening. Fire companies from Sperryville, Washington Flint Hill and Culpeper responded, but their efforts to extinguish the blaze proved futile as flames licked their way through tons of hay, hundreds of tires and numerous other items. The engine companies did prevent the flames from spreading to other structures on the densely populated street and kept the fire away from a storage tank of liquid nitrogen on the Coop supply yard. They were on the scene for more than three hours that night and Sperryville returned about 8 a.m. the next morning when portions of the debris began to smoulder. Loss of destroyed and damaged stock of the Coop was estimated at $50,000 by company officials and included paint, tires, appliances, fertilizer, feed, seed, orchard chemicals, garden tillers, hardware and related supplies, The building was owned by James W. Fletcher and C. E. Johnson, Jr., both of Sperryville.
An additional loss was sustained by B. M. Varner of Sperryville who had stock valued at over $4,000 stored in a portion of the building which he rented. This included supplies used in his electrical business. According to P. Lee Thornton, Manager of the Cooperative, the firm is still operating and may be reached at the same phone number. Some supplies have been brought in [from the neighboring headquarters in Culpeper and truck jservice is available from jthere, so service will not be interrupted to a great extent. A fire sale to be handled by public auction is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday morning at the fire scene. The Board of Directors of the Cooperative named a committee to select a new place of operations and the committee has chosen the building in Sperryville formerly occupied by the Rappahannock Apple Packing Plant. Officials of the parent plant in Culpeper said the cooperation of Rappahannock people had been overwhelming and
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