The day after the fire, the only remaining structures were the warehouse on Roxbury Street, the small warehouse next to the factory building, the brick heating plant, and the fully stocked lumber yard. How these structures survived was a marvel: Until the brick heating plant was built across the river, the wooden factory building had been heated solely by burning waste wood, shavings and sawdust in box stoves. In the aftermath of the fire, it appeared to be a total loss. Water that was poured on the fire had frozen all the smoke-blackened machines, and not a single wheel would turn. But closer inspection revealed the machines were indeed fully intact and simply frozen solid in ice, including the water wheel that powered the entire manufacturing process. The remains of the burned-out factory building were removed right down to the cement ground floor. Next, workers piped in steam from the heating plant to melt the ice in the water wheel, and power created by the water wheel was transferred to a shaft attached to the cement floor that operated a straight-line rip saw, planer and a few other machines. With manufacturing capability partially restored, workers re-sawed and planed spruce lumber from the company's lumberyard to build a new factory building around the machinery in place. At night, the machines were protected by removable wooden covers that resembled small chicken coops. Although insurance covered the total loss of the factory building, funds were not sufficient to construct a new two-story factory, as the economy was still in the grips of the Great Depression. In a remarkable gesture of neighbor-helping-neighbor, prominent Keene general contractor Glenroy W. Scott offered to build the new factory for only the cost of his labor and materials simply to keep his idle construction crew busy during the winter of 1933 until their next project, the construction of Vilas High School in spring 1934. The result was a new two-story factory building. Again because of the Depression, the company was able to procure necessary replacement machines at favorable prices. Mark A. Whitney retired from the company and moved to Springfield, Vermont, then returned to Keene until his death in 1968 at the age of 94. Roland A. Whitney continued to operate the business after his brother Mark retired and assumed the role of president, treasurer and sole owner. As sales increased and the business grew, he took on a partner, Griffin M. Stabler, a former executive of the Carpenter Steel Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey, who invested in Whitney Brothers and became its vice president in 1962.