In 1916 a fire spread through Bentley. Quickly wiping out the buildings on the south side of main street. Among those destroyed were the first Thorp Bros. garage, Arcade Hotel, Livery barn, Blish & O’Neil Store, and Damron & Thorp Butcher Shop.
While rebuidling, residents and officials of Bentley decided to widen main street and build a boulevard in the centre to help prevent future fires.
The new property lines would be another nineteen feet. The north side of the avenue was originally set back approximately thirty-three feet from the road allowance. This made for a width of one hundred and eighteen feet through the two block business section.
A centre boulevard was built in 1930 through the business section and street lights were installed.
Although it was originally designed for fire protection, it has provided angle parking along the side walks of both sides and two lanes of traffic each way.
To this day the street and boulevard sets Bentley apart from other communities in Central Alberta. The boulevard is the ‘Pride of Bentley’.