Fanned by a strong wind, it spread rapidly into the woods and up over the ledge. Two hundred acres were burned, and the fire was only stopped because it reached the waters of Broad Cove. Yarmouth's "town system" went into effect in April 1889. Three of the former districts were discontinued because they were small and had dilapidated buildings. These were Princes Point, Greely Road and the Sweetser district – the last of which was on the Sodom Road (now Granite Street) and the Freeport line. Electricity came to Yarmouth in 1893. Another, more menacing fire occurred in April 1900, when the corn-canning factory of Asa York caught from a spark blown from the stack of the Walker & Cleaves sawmill. A strong southerly breeze carried the sparks directly across the most thickly-settled part of town, causing small fires in various places so that over twenty buildings were burning concurrently. In 1903, the post office established a route around town for the rural free delivery of mail. Hired was Joshua Adams Drinkwater as the town's first letter carrier. Early in the morning he would leave Princes Point, pick up the mail at Lower Falls, and then deliver letters to the northern edge of town, including Sligo and Mountfort Roads. Around noon, he would pick up the afternoon sack for the town's western and coastal farms. Each day, as he passed his farm on Princes Point Road, he would change horses and eat lunch with his wife, Harriet. They had a daughter, Elizabeth. In 1918, the Spanish flu hit town in two waves, resulting in 370 cases and 14 deaths. In 1923, town historian William H. Rowe announced that a history of Yarmouth was in the works. The project took thirteen more years to complete, but it was "so thorough that it is still in print". Rowe died in 1955, aged about 73. In 1949, Yarmouth celebrated its centenary with a parade. Rapid growth was experienced again around 1948 when Route 1 was put through the town. Two years later, there were 2,699 inhabitants of the town. Interstate 295 was built through the harbor in 1961 (spanning part of the harbor known as Grantville across to the land between Route 88 and Old Shipyard Road), and the town grew about 40%, from 4,854 residents in 1970 to 8,300 thirty-five years later. As of the early 20th century, Yarmouth is mostly residential in character, with commercial development scattered throughout the town, particularly along Route 1 and Main Street (State Route 115).