The fire started in the theater, operated by Mr. and Mrs. Roy Stone, and roared through W.C. Simpson’s Aubrey Drug Store, Henry Powell’s barber shop, a Gulf filling station operated by J.B.Shelton and the county road repair garage. The office of Mayor J.W. McNatt was in one of the buildings.

Fire trucks and volunteer firemen from Pilot Point and Denton answered emergency calls for help and assisted Aubrey volunteer firemen in battling the blaze for more than four hours as a northeast wind whipped the flames and threatened to engulf other buildings.

The town’s water tower, which Mayor McNatt estimated had a capacity of about 75,000 gallons, ran dry shortly after 1 a.m., as the water was pumped faster than it could be refilled from the well. The fire then swept through the filling station and county garage, while water from the fire truck pumps were trained on the buildings to keep it from spreading further.

The fire was first noticed at 11:15 p.m. Saturday by Mr. and Mrs. Albert Reeves, Jimmy Prock and Miss Betty Ann Sitzes of Pilot Point, as they were driving through Aubrey on their way home from Denton. They notified Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Whisenant, café owners.

Whisenant, a volunteer fireman notified Reuel Yarbrough, fire chief and they rounded up the town’s other volunteer firemen while Mrs. Whisenant called Mrs. E.E. Love, telephone exchange manager.

The other Aubrey volunteer fire fighters were Donald Bell, Bo Petty, Troy Graham, Reginald Pertallis, John Stewart, Buster Carter and Hugh Jordan. Fire Chief Yarbrough is a mechanic for the B.C. Haynie service station and garage, located across the street from the burned buildings.

Mrs. Love immediately called the Pilot Point and Denton fire departments. Acting Fire Chief Floyd Graham of Denton took one 500-gallon pumper truck and four firemen, Capt. Carl Smith, Wade Smith, Raymond Stephens, and Gene Hendrick, while about 15 Pilot Point volunteers and one truck answered the alarm with Fire Chief Alvin Branum and Assistant Chief George Hall.

Extent of the damage to both buildings and equipment had not been definitely determined Sunday but was estimated between $50,000 and $75,000. The buildings occupied by the theater, drug store and barber shop were owned by Mrs. Ola Price of Denton, and the other buildings were owned by W.R. Hicks of Denton.

The picture show had closed shortly after 10 o’clock Saturday night and Mrs. Stone said she and her husband were back in Denton by 10:35. Stone is engineer for Morrison Milling Co. Mrs. Stone said their equipment was insured for $3,500 about half of the value.

It was the second fire in two months for Simpson’s drug store and he had been remodeling and redecorating ever since the last fire July 1. He had planned to reopen the new store, in which almost complete new fixtures and new stock had been installed, in about 10 days. Simpson said his stock and equipment was partially covered by insurance, but did not estimate the amount of his loss.

Powell said he had taken out $800 insurance after the last drug store fire three months ago. "I’ve been here 25 years without a dime of insurance, but that last fire was too close for comfort," he said. "Three and half years ago a hatchery on the other side of me burned."

Of the five county trucks in the county’s road repair garage, all but one were removed before the flames reached the building. That one burned.

Practically all of Aubrey’s adult population was aroused and watched the firemen battle the flames. The town has a population of about 500.

Mrs. George Bell, wife of the postmaster, was in the telephone exchange with her two young daughters. She said they were prepared to move out supplies if the fire threatened their building, located in the next block. Mrs. Mary Porter, assistant telephone operator, relieved Mrs. Love after the first emergency calls were made and when the water supply was exhausted called Perrin Army Air Field in Sherman to ask them to send chemicals to help control the flames.

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Pettit, who were asleep in their apartment located above their grocery store, were aroused and rushed out to the street. The grocery store is just two doors from the theater, separated only by a vacant building. Those two business were the only ones in the block which did not burn.

Exact causes of the fire had not been determined, although some people theorized that it started in the theater’s projection booth or was caused by faulty wiring. Mrs. Stone said, however, that they turned off all electric switches in the theater before they left and that the projection booth was fire-proof, as required when they took out insurance.