On June 7, 1915, a wagon loaded with brooms made by prison inmates traveled down Knox Street to the Thomaston Railroad Station for shipping. Behind it stood the rubble of Watts Hall, which had collapsed in a recent fire that destroyed the entire block on the south side of Main Street. A low wall before men standing at the still smoking remains was the foundation of the Watts building. Heat from the huge blaze was so intense that it broke many windows in buildings on the north side of the street, but canvas awnings there remained intact because business owners kept them watered down. The building at the far right housed a glass window maker, and the first windows he replaced were the second-floor windows of his own building, using the newest style with one windowpane over one instead of the building's older six-over-six windows.