Downtown Terre Haute has been devastated by major fires on several occasions.

The fire that destroyed the magnificent Naylor Opera House and several nearby buildings at the northeast corner of Fourth and Wabash, on July 21, 1896, has been considered.

So has the deadly inferno at the northeast corner of Fifth and Wabash on Dec. 19, 1898, which ravaged Haven & Geddes Co. and other buildings and claimed the lives of four people, including youthful department store Santa Claus Claude Herbert.

In the early morning hours of March 20, 1963, a blaze originating in Campus Bowl at the northeast corner of Sixth and Wabash destroyed the Deming Block and several adjoining buildings, encompassing 12 stores and five business offices. Losses exceeded $5 million.

In each of those instances, at least half of a city block was destroyed.

On Jan. 7, 1869, another blaze at the northeast corner of Fourth and Wabash consumed six buildings, including an early commercial landmark, The Spinning Wheel.

The Spinning Wheel building was erected in early 1846 by John Reinhard on land owned by James Tillery Moffatt. It was a brick structure, 11Ú2-stories high.

The Spinning Wheel had two storefronts. A grocery and hardware store were located on the west side, and a dry goods store was on the east. Both were operated by Reinhard, brother-in-law of William Kirkpatrick Edwards, who became the first mayor after Terre Haute became a city in 1853.

A portion of the store's popularity arose from the huge Spinning Wheel sign mounted on top of the building. "The Sign of the Spinning Wheel" was remembered for many years after the business closed.

At the time the Spinning Wheel was built, Wabash Avenue was called still "National Road Street." The town still revolved around Court House Square. In newspaper advertisements, Reinhard referred to the store as being located in the "Upper End."

On the south side of the street across from The Spinning Wheel was the two-story frame building owned by David Sasseen.

Capt. Philip Kearny and his Mexican War recruits were housed in Sasseen's building during June and July 1846. The soldiers bought supplies at the Spinning Wheel.

By 1869, the Spinning Wheel had closed and the building, still known at "The Spinning Wheel Corner," was occupied by Jacob Doll's shoe store and Osborne Brothers' boot shop. Doll and Edward Osborne were shoe manufacturers as well as retailers.

To the east of Spinning Wheel building was M.A. Raridan's millinery store. Next to the millinery shop was Martin O'Connell's Catholic Book Store.

North of the corner, fronting North Fourth Street, was a row of four frame buildings owned by Joseph Sherburne Jenckes and occupied by Charles M. Smith's tin shop.

A saloon, Henry Claridge's dye shop and another small shoe store stood between the Smith's tin shop and the popular Cincinnati House hotel.

There were 13 fire alarm boxes in the city in 1869. Each alarm box was coded by number. Once a fire was activated, the large bell at the Congregational Church at Sixth and Cherry streets sounded and gongs at each of two engine houses and the Water Works pump house were triggered.

The number of strokes sounded identified the approximate location of the fire.

At the time of the Jan. 7, 1869, fire, the Terre Haute Fire Department had two steam engines: The Albert Lange No. 1 and The Vigo No. 2.

The steamer Albert Lange was housed at the northeast corner of Linton Street (now Sycamore Street) and Lafayette Avenue. The Vigo was housed in the engine house at the northeast corner of Fourth and Farrington streets.

Both were at the scene promptly and the Steamer Lange was immediately effective.

However, the Vigo - attached to a cistern at Third Street and Wabash Avenue - did not work. After a half hour, it was discovered there was no water in the cistern. The steam engine worked after it was relocated.

Raridan's millinery store was destroyed but O'Connell's book store was saved.

In order to prevent the fire from spreading to the Cincinnati House at the southeast corner of Fourth and Cherry, Claridge's dye shop and the shoe store immediately north of it were demolished. The other buildings mentioned were destroyed by the blaze.

Three days after the fire, Ms. Rardian notified the Terre Haute Daily Express she had received $800 from Aetna Insurance Co. and already had relocated her store four doors east of its former location.

The lots vacated by "the Spinning Wheel fire" allowed William B. Warren and 39 other investors to form the Terre Haute Opera House Co. on March 20, 1869. The company's pretentious auditorium opened at the site on Dec. 19, 1870.

Retired grocer Wilson Naylor acquired the Terre Haute Opera House on Dec. 18, 1882 and, a few years afterward, it was known as the Naylor Opera House. Naylor died Dec. 2, 1892, nearly four years before his lavish theater burned.