1904 Blaze at Dickinson College Remembered

March 3, 2014
Some students formed a bucket brigade to help the firefighters

March 02--When William Landis reached for prized possessions, his hands were burned and the heat had singed his beard and eyebrows.

It was a desperate time for the Dickinson College professor who tried in vain to save the irreplaceable books and papers threatened by the fire at Denny Hall.

"It was a sight not soon to be forgotten to see the mass of writhing flames, which shot up with lurid tongues into the damp and murky air," The Evening Sentinel said of the disaster that shook Carlisle the afternoon of March 3, 1904.

The writer described how, within a few minutes, the interior of the building was a "veritable furnace" fueled by the frame work of burning gables and by furniture, books and paper crashing through the floors.

The newspaper mentioned how a group of students had stationed themselves on the roof of the nearby East College to extinguish any sparks and burning timbers that may land on the roof of that building.

The fire was discovered just before noon by Prof. Montgomery Sellers who heard a noise coming from the second floor office of his colleague Landis.

"When we opened the door we were helpless to stay the flames, which were extremely fierce," Sellers told a Sentinel reporter. "They appeared to envelop the room."

Local historian Randy Watts recently authored the book "To the Rescue: Carlisle's Union Fire Company 1789-2012" which details major fires of the town's past.

The interior of Denny Hall was finished in highly combustible yellow pine paneling at a time before fire codes, Watts said. "Also the stairs were open from the basement to the upper floors so the fire could spread unhindered."

This construction gave the fire a head start on the third floor before it was detected on the second floor. Newspaper accounts said the first alarm sounded at 11:55 a.m. and that within 15 minutes the entire third floor was destroyed.

"There was a delayed reporting of the fire," Watts said. "College staff and students did not react quickly. In fact, some classes continued as the fire burned. Lucky no one died." The Sentinel reported that when students and faculty became aware of the danger, they evacuated the building in good order. There was no panic. Some of the students even formed a bucket brigade to help the firefighters.

The water system in this area of Carlisle was substandard and could not provide an adequate supply to fight the fire, Watts said. The Sentinel reported how the fire hydrants were half frozen and it took firefighters about 20 minutes before they could spray water onto the flames.

In less than two hours, the fire burned itself out and the original Denny Hall was a total loss. Damages at the time were estimated at $50,000 which equates to about $1.25 million in today's money.

Concerned over the risk of injury, firefighters pulled down the southeast gable of the building around 4:30 p.m. March 3. The entire north wall of the building collapsed about two hours later.

There was wild speculation at first as to the cause of the fire. One rumor was the fire was caused by students experimenting with chemicals. Another placed the blame on an electric light. It was believed the fire had started in the attic.

Within days of the fire, The Sentinel ran a letter to the editor that called on Carlisle residents to provide financial support to help Dickinson College rebuild Denny Hall.

To push the message home, the writer mentioned the economic benefits of having the college in town:

"Every year her students spend nearly $150,000 in our midst in the benefits of which our merchants, hotel men and boarding house keepers participate," the letter reads. "A considerable number of our citizens are steadily employed by the college."

The author also said college building projects help local contractors and how about one quarter of the student body is from Cumberland County. He challenged Carlisle to raise $20,000 to put towards the project including $1,000 in pledge money from his own pocket if the whole amount could be raised within a month.

Dickinson College maintains an online encyclopedia of history articles through the archives and special collections department of the Waidner-Spahr Library.

According to the college history, the cornerstone of the new Denny Hall was laid on June 7, 1904, just three months after the original Denny Hall was destroyed. The new building was completed a year later and dedicated on June 6, 1905.

The second Denny Hall still stands on the corner of West and High Streets. The building was completely renovated and modernized in 1983-1984 at a cost of about $2.5 million, according to the online history.

Copyright 2014 - The Sentinel, Carlisle, Pa.

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