The cause of the fire is not known at this time. Watch video
UPDATE: Historic N.J. tavern torn down hours after fire
BRIDGETON -- In one form or another, Hillcrest Tavern and Coach Room has sat on the corner of Broad Street since 1782 as a welcoming place for travelers and locals.
An early-morning, three-alarm fire has severely damaged the historic building, however. The building was so damaged from the fire that firefighters wouldn't even enter it and it was in the process of being torn down Monday afternoon.
An excavator was brought in to tear down parts of the building that were in danger of falling on firefighters.
Authorities were called to the Broad Street building by an alarm that went off at 5 a.m., according to Chief Todd Bowen of Bridgeton Fire Department.
The cause of the fire is not known at this time.
Approximately 80 people from nine fire companies and two ambulance services worked on the fire throughout the morning. Broad Street was closed to traffic throughout Monday morning. Broad Street was opened again to traffic around noon.
Cosmo Terrigno, owner of Hillcrest Tavern, declined to comment on its fire. A post on the Terrigno's Bakery Facebook page thanks people for their thoughts and prayers for the family and the employees of Hillcrest Tavern and Coach Room.
Ted Ritter, a local attorney with an office on nearby Fayette Street, was coming to work around 6 a.m. and saw heavy smoke billowing from Hillcrest Tavern.
Temperatures were hovering around 20 degrees as firefighters battled the blaze.
Although the neighboring Cumberland County Courthouse was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Cumberland County officials opened the building up for firefighters to warm up and escape the frigid winds.
Bowen thanks the county officials, as well as the Department of Transportation and city public works department for handling the road closure and keeping the area from getting icy.
"We wouldn't have had as effective an operation without their help," Bowen said.
Henry Hann built the tavern in 1782 as a place to stop for people traveling on Kings Highway -- which is a stagecoach route that traveled from Trenton to Cape May, according to Cumberland County's website.
The place was a lynchpin of the area, both historically and economically, according to Flavia Alaya, of the Center for Historic American Building Arts. It was the restaurant that everybody went to.
"My real concern is how the community responds to this and enables a recommitment to the historic district and its key sites in Bridgeton," Alaya said.
Right next door to Hillcrest Tavern is Potter's Tavern, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was built in 1775. It was a meeting place during the Revolutionary War and was the place where the first state newspaper, the Plain Dealer, was published, according to the Cumberland County website.
Potter's Tavern was not damaged by the fire, according to Bowen.
"The historical society is enormously grateful to these terrific firefighters who were able to save that building," said Ritter, who is also part of the Cumberland County Historical Society.
Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.