The Palmetto Fire Engine Company was the original occupant of this building ca. 1866. The fire company was all volunteer from 1848 until 1903 when it became a paid fire service as Columbia Fire Department Station No. 2. The fire department operated here until 1921. The Southern Bell Telephone then used the building until 1937. In 1941, the Villa Tronco Restaurant moved into the building and it has been there ever since, making it South Carolina’s oldest operating restaurant. The Villa Tronco has roots as Columbia’s first Italian restaurant, starting life as the Iodine Fruit Store, then the Iodine Grill and then Tony’s Spaghetti House before relocating into this building.