Vindicator file photo | Paul R. Schell

Vindicator file photo | Paul R. Schell

A devastating fire 50 years ago left a gaping hole in a block of the downtown Niles business district when fire swept through the H.H. Hoffman Co. department store on Main Street. Firefighters rescued three employees, but a customer, Dorothea Bohne Aulin, 68, died in the March 22, 1962, blaze.