In 1898, five years after Willimantic had been incorporated and its newly formed police department had been established, a newspaper article reported that the police department had been inspected by the Mayor and Common Council. After, “a careful examination of the quarters (and watching the) officers going through a drill, everything was found to be in satisfactory condition”. Mayor Tanner then gave a brief speech , “bestowing high compliments on the entire force”. In subsequent years, similar newspaper stories gave the same accounts of a police department and policemen doing an outstanding job. The department was  led by Captain William Hillhouse and his second-in-command, Lieutenant Edgar Richmond who had previously been a Sheriff when Willimantic was a borough of Windham. There were also nine patrolmen. Five officers worked at night. During the day, one officer was assigned to walk the “Main Street beat”, two officers worked wherever needed, one was on duty at the Church Street stationhouse and one worked at the railroad station. In 1899, three hundred thirty-one arrests were made, half of them being for public drunkenness. Five arrests were made for “incorrigible minors”, four for runaway boys, one for bigamy. One hundred six of those arrested were brought to the jail. Two escaped. Unemployed workers traveled the country looking for work and in the reporting years 1888/1889, one thousand three hundred “tramps” were lodged at the Church Street station. In May, 1899, Captain Hillhouse resigned to become Deputy Sheriff of Windham County and Lieutenant Richmond was promoted to Captain and began his leadership of the department. In this week’s  photo, Willimantic’s finest are posing outside the police station on the west side of Church street. The building in the rear was built by the Natchaug Silk Company in 1889, and fronted onto North Street. The police station was removed to the town hall in 1894, but this structure continued to be used as a lock up for several more years. (To be continued next week.) For questions or comments about this  week’s photo or article, please e-mail us at “threadcity@outlook.com”.