Looking at the area where the Public Safety Complex and several parking lots are located, it may be hard to imagine that until redevelopment days, there were many dwellings located in it. And, in 1915, it was even more densely populated than it was in the 70s. There were no fewer than 15 dwellings, many sheds, and a wood frame hotel that extended back from Main Street. On the perimeter of the block bordered by Main, Walnut, Meadow and Bank Streets, of the nine large commercial buildings, only three were brick. There were two other brick buildings in the midst of the “rear Main Street” cluster; the Natchaug Garage and the Thread City Garage. On the night of January 9, 1915, the Natchaug Garage was discovered to be on fire in what was to become, “one of the most serious fires in a decade”. The garage was owned by William Frisbie and was located directly in back of the Johnson House Hotel on Main St. The garage, along with several automobiles that were in it, was soon destroyed. The larger, three story Thread City Garage was the next one to catch fire. It too was soon burned along with the automobiles in it. The Hooker House and Dana Martin’s Livery Stable , right beside the Thread City Garage, were threatened by the intense heat and sparks and looked as if they were about to catch fire but were saved by a valiant effort of the firefighters who directed constant streams of water on them and which kept the sparks from catching. The wooden Johnson House Hotel did not fare as well. By 11PM the upper floors of the building had been gutted by fire. The bottom floor was saved but filled with water.  A large dwelling which also housed a jewelry store and saloon just three feet from the Johnson House was endangered but saved by the firefighters although a barn and shed at the rear were destroyed. Several other smaller buildings and sheds were destroyed as well but no dwellings suffered damage. The fire was discovered in the garage’s machine shop at 8:45 PM by Frisbie, when he came back upstairs from the garage’s basement as he was trying to fix the furnace. Due to the amount of gasoline and oil in the shop, the building was quickly engulfed in flames. A fire alarm from Box 32 called out all the companies and a general alarm was sounded immediately as the firefighters saw the seriousness of the blaze. All 120 Willimantic firefighters were on the scene and every hose line in the department as well as hose borrowed from the Holland Silk Company on Valley St. was put to use in the effort to contain the fire to the garage but the flammable materials made it ,”a hard fire to fight”. Shortly after the fire began, Mayor Dunn went to the scene, saw that it threatened the business end of the city and called the Norwich Fire department for help. By 11 PM, 25 Norwich firefighters and a chemical engine arrived to help. Mayor Dunn also notified the local National Guard unit commander and soon, members of the company were put to work watching for other fires. During the night and on the next day, thousands of onlookers came from Willimantic and surrounding towns to assess the damage, which was estimated at $90,000. Another $150,000 worth of property was threatened. Only the valiant efforts of the firefighters prevented many other buildings from catching. Although the major financial loss was to the two garages and the hotel, it should be noted that many individuals who had automobiles at the garages suffered losses. The Thread City Garage was a three story building with an elevator for automobiles but which failed to work early in the fire. A number of young men saved fifteen cars but those on the second and third floor were lost. Among them were a Reo touring car, an Oakland six cylinder touring car and a Cadillac. In the months after the fire, the Johnson House was rebuilt but was soon torn down to make way for the Nathan Hale Hotel. The Natchaug Garage did not rebuild. The Thread City Garage rebuilt and remained in business until the late 1960s. Looking from Walnut Street, the shell of the garage can be seen to the right of the Public Safety complex, home of those who follow in the tradition of the ones who worked so hard that night to save the city’s business section.