On February 11, 1920, sexton Michael Denault discovered a small fire in the flooring above the boiler room of Saint Mary’s School. Mr. Denault ran to the rectory (which, in those days, was next door to the school), notified Father J.J. Papillon, ran back to the school and turned on water from a small hose. Willimantic Fire Department’s Engine 1 responded to the alarm but the fire was now making a quick advance between a partition and the lining of an unused heating unit into the center wall of the building. Firefighters had to chop through the walls of four different classrooms so that they could get at the fire. Water and sixty-five gallons of firefighting chemicals were used to extinguish the blaze. Once the fire was out, Fire Chief Wade Webster, Father Papillon and Mr. Denault conducted an investigation and determined that a match or lighted cigarette had been dropped through a heating register of an unused hot air system. At the time the fire was discovered, pupils were outside in the play yard just prior to the beginning of the afternoon session. Although the loss was estimated at $600, Mr. Denault and the firefighters had averted what could have been a disastrous fire. Years later, however, on the morning of January 30, 1953 the disaster DID occur. A resident of St. Mary’s Court, Mrs. Alexander Becker, was awakened by a fire at the school. At 3:58 A.M. she called the fire department and prepared to evacuate her home which was already threatened by the fire.  When the fire department arrived at the school, Chief Leo Rivard found most of the structure to be in flames and immediately put in a call for mutual aid from surrounding departments. In spite of warnings by the firefighters, Fathers Roland Guilmette and Paul Rivard ran into the burning building and carried out school records just before the belfry collapsed and crashed into the ruined building. The fire burned out of control for almost five hours before almost 200 firefighters were able to bring it under control. The temperature was below freezing and a stiff wind carried smoke, sparks and debris as far as Maple Avenue and Jackson St.  and threatened both St. Joseph’s School and St. Joseph’s Convent. Willimantic’s recently purchased aerial ladder was put to the test. Fire officials said that the fire, which caused damage estimated at $300,000, originated in the school’s boiler room. The original part of the St. Mary School building dated back to the 1820s when it was built as a Baptist Church. In 1857, Saint Joseph’s Church bought the building and moved it from Main Street to Jackson Street. When the new brick church was built, the building was moved again to Valley Street and was used as a hall for the French-Canadian population. In 1876, an extension was added to the rear of the hall and was used as Saint Joseph’s elementary school. With the formation of Saint Mary’s Parish, the building was used by children from both parishes until Saint Joseph’s School was built. Saint Mary’s then added a two story “ell” with a bell tower. The whole complex was destroyed by the fire and the school’s 540 pupils were relocated to the Teacher’s College and Natchaug School.  The whole Willimantic community was shocked and responded to the need with a remarkable fund raising effort that led to the complete rebuilding of the school within two years. On the very night of the fire, the Federation of French Societies of Saint Mary’s Parish inaugurated a drive to raise $100,000 for a new school. The first contribution of $200 came from the Willimantic Fire Department’s Charity Fund. The Philip Lauter Foundation donated $10,000. Within three days, $20,000 had been raised and three weeks after the fire, the fund stood at $101,738.  For several months, newspaper articles marveled at how the donations were “pouring in”. Volunteer workers with donated equipment, including a crane from the Jones Construction Company of Columbia worked for over two weeks to clear the ruins. Father Guilmette was kept busy overseeing the makeshift school system with students at Natchaug, the Teacher’s College and Saint Joseph’s Community House. Work on the new school began in late 1953 and was completed in early 1955. On dedication day, Mayor Florimond Bergeron, First Selectman Ralph Crosthwaite, Monsignor W. Arthur Routhier and Bishop Bernard Flanagan represented the town and the diocese. The dedication ceremony took place on February 13, 1955, exactly fifty years to the day that Saint Mary’s Church was dedicated.

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