NORTHFILD, Minn. — The fire that destroyed the Archer House hotel Thursday has been traced to a food smoker at the fashionable Smoqehouse barbeque restaurant. The hotel’s chief operating officer, Todd Byhre, said two sisters who worked at the Smoqehouse, Marta and Tove Sorenson, were heading to work when they saw the fire about 3:30 p.m.
Second kitchen fire
The Archer House fire Thursday was not the first in a restaurant at the hotel. In 2019 a fire at Tavern of Northfield caused extensive water damage. The tavern had been pegged to reopen in February.