Looking west along Sandwich Street towards Ouellette Avenue, from about Goyeau Street; the remains of the brick building on the south side is likely the Cameron Thorburn building. On back: "Great fire of Windsor, October 12-13, 1871; fire engines still with steam up the following morning". According to the Windsor Community Museum: "The Great Windsor Fire started at about 3:00am on October 12, 1871. The fire began at the corner of Ouellette and Pitt Streets in the tailoring establishment of Dandy Fletcher whose tailoring iron sparked the blaze. A strong wind pushed the flames quickly westward and firefighters had little luck stopping the spread of the fire. Detroit's Steamer No. 4 was called in to help. By flooding a building with water, tearing down a frame building and aided by a lull in the wind, firefighters were finally able to bring the main blaze under control." Meanwhile, branch fires had caught and caused additional destruction. In the end, approximately 100 buildings, including banks, hotels and stores, were destroyed and losses, only partially insured, totalled over $100, 000. The Great Fire of Windsor resulted in some improvements for the downtown core. Ouellette Avenue was widened from 50 to 75 feet a new underground piping system was put in place. Three fire stations were built and the city was rebuilt with stone, rather than wood."; other sources say the fire started in McGregor's livery stable (also on the corner of Ouellette St. and Pitt St.)