Jan. 19--An hour into disaster, there was reason for hope the Allison Memorial Methodist Church would survive the night.
The fire call came in about 11:55 p.m. on Jan. 20, 1954. By 1 a.m., the firefighters believed the blaze was under control.
Unknown to those present, the billowing clouds of dense smoke concealed the build-up of coal gas in the church auditorium. It only took a spark for the Gothic style building to become a mass of out-of-control flames in a matter of minutes.
The Evening Sentinel reported how firefighters scrambled to remove automobiles parked along the West Street side of the church that had stood since 1892 as both a Carlisle landmark and a tribute to its namesake William Clare Allison.
"The ice-covered street hampered the firemen in handling the hose lines and removing the autos," the article read. "A number of the firemen had nasty falls on the ice, but none...were injured."
When firefighters first arrived, they saw smoke coming out of the basement windows and doors. There were no visible flames and the smoke combined with heat made it difficult for them to pinpoint the source of the fire.
It was determined later that faulty electrical wiring in the basement caused the fire that destroyed and all its contents. The total loss was estimated at over $300,000 or the equivalent of $2.6 million in today's money.
Local historian Randy Watts authored the book "To the Rescue: Carlisle's Union Fire Company 1789-2012" which details major fires of the town's past.
"There was a delayed alarm," Watts said of the church fire. "It had burned for some time before it was reported. The fire had a pretty good head start."
A further complication was the construction of the building itself. "The fire got into a lot of the concealed spaces in the church," Watts said. "Any major church building has a lot of hidden spaces and voids. When a fire gets in it, it's a real problem."
In its coverage of the fire, The Sentinel interviewed Fire Chief Ray Kelley who said a church fire is one of the hardest to fight. "There were many hallways, partitions and doors which made their task extremely difficult," the article read.
The lack of visible flames made firefighters believe they had contained the fire to the Sunday school rooms and basement of the church.
There is a story that firefighters hesitated to vent the fire by breaking the stained glass windows, Watts said. "That may have impacted their ability to fight the fire."
Dickinson College maintains an online encyclopedia of people, places and organizations important to its history. There are two entries related to the Allison United Methodist Church.
One said college president George Reed donated land for the church after William Clare Allison contributed money towards the renovation of the president's house. That entry also mentioned that the stained glass windows were designed by Tiffany and Co. and were perhaps the most distinguished feature of the church.
The president's house was located only 15 feet west of the original Allison church. At the height of this disaster, firemen played a stream of water on the home, preventing it from catching fire. The Sentinel reported how college staff moved furniture from the house to the gymnasium when the danger seemed the greatest.
The church fire drew a large crowd of spectators who were mobilized to take action after the flames broke through the roof. They joined forces with fire police to form patrols that checked buildings in the area.
"Great clouds of sparks and burning embers were strewn over the immediate area and the patrols prevented other buildings from igniting," The Sentinel reported. The heavy construction of the church prevented the stone walls from collapsing after the timber-supported roof caved in. The original church had walls 30 inches thick at the base.
As the fire raged out of control, Kelley called in reinforcements from the Carlisle Barracks fire company. The Army post dispatched a truck and crew and a number of military police officers who helped to keep order.
There was another problem that hindered firefighters. "The Carlisle water system was not great at that time," Watts said. The Sentinel reported that when the Cumberland Fire Company attached its pumper to a hydrant at Denny Hall, very little water could be drawn from it.
"The reason for the failure was not learned, but Chief Kelley believed that the other pumpers drew the water away from the main feeding it," the article read.
First-responders made the most of their equipment. The newspaper mentioned how the use of new smoke masks prevented injuries among firefighters. The volunteers also used portable electric lights powered by generators. Though the beam was strong, it could not penetrate the thick billowing smoke.
As the Rev. C. Gail Norris. the church's pastor, witnessed the destruction, a fellow clergyman passed him a note offering his facilities to the Methodist congregation. Other pastors followed suit.
The day after the fire, the church building committee was authorized to begin planning for a new structure. Meanwhile, Norris announced that all meetings and services will go on as scheduled but at locations throughout the Dickinson College campus including Bosler Hall.
Norris described the destruction of the church as a "clarion call" for its members to rally together and rebuild what was lost. The college encyclopedia said then-president William Edel arranged for a trade with the congregation.
In exchange for the site of the destroyed church, the college offered a section of its Benjamin Rush campus along Mooreland Avenue for the site of the new church. The college also contributed $200,000 towards the $850,000 construction.
"The church design was in keeping with the prevalent style of the college campus," the online entry reads. Completed in April 1958, the new church included a 150-foot steeple and a sanctuary that could seat 750. There was also a small chapel dedicated to Bishop Fred Pierce Corson, a 1917 graduate of Dickinson College and a former college president.
Copyright 2014 - The Sentinel, Carlisle, Pa.
