Old Kenyon Fire of 1949

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On Sunday, February 27, 1949, Old Kenyon dormitory was destroyed in a blaze that took the lives of nine Kenyon undergraduates. All that was left of the building after the fire was its stone outer shell.

Contents

"Fire!"

There was a persistent legend about the fireplaces in Old Kenyon: everyone knew about them, but no one knew where they were. They were hidden from sight until Sunday, February 27, 1949. There were four chimneys that rose from the center of Middle Kenyon that had long been out of use--except for the one flue which was connected to the relatively new fireplace in the old Middle Kenyon Parlor.

On Saturday, February 26 the men of Middle Kenyon had a small fire going in that fireplace. By 9PM it had burned down to embers--some waste paper was burned in a quick flame that subsided. At about 10PM the students began going to bed. Some came in later, returning from the Sophomore Dance in Rosse Hall Annex, and brought their dates with them. By 2:30AM the girls and their dates had left the parlor and headed to their rooms.

Watchman Emerson Billman went into the east door of Middle Kenyon, saw a few students sitting in the west parlor, and went up to the third floor. He punched his time clock at 3:35AM. He continued to the basement and to his next station in the West Wing where he punched in at 3:40AM. The last four students who were still up left the parlor at 3:45AM and went up through the third floor hall. By 4:00AM everyone in Middle Kenyon was in bed. Billman continued his rounds through Hanna Hall and Mather Hall. He punched his clock in Mather Hall at 4:10AM, came out on Middle Path, and looked back toward Old Kenyon: the center hallway, second and third floors, was in flames.

Student Rescuers

The fire was first discovered by Middle Kenyon students on the second and third floors who woke to find themselves choking on smoke. None of the survivors mentioned flames in the their room when they awoke. Most went to their doors, opened them a crack, felt the blast of heat or flame, and quickly slammed them shut. They ran to their windows instead. Those whose windows were close enough to the halls managed to jump onto the fire escapes: others just jumped. Robert Cohn was met with such a blast of fire when he opened the door that he was practically hurled out the window without realizing that he was jumping: his roommate died. Only one student came down the flaming third floor staircase: Marc Peck. Edward Stansfield found him later, very badly burned, on the second floor and carried him out of Old Kenyon--Marc died late that afternoon. Edwin Collins jumped to the fire escape, then caught his roommate, who jumped into his arms, and swung him onto the metal platform. On the next floor he saw another student hesitating at a window, told him to jump, and swung him to safety. Collins was awarded a Carnegie Medal for Heroism for his feat.

Between 4:00AM and 4:10AM a number of people outside of Middle Kenyon discovered the fire. East and West Wing men called the Mount Vernon fire department while others dragged out the two fire houses underneath the first floor entrances and began spraying the fire. Another student ran down the hill to the power plant to get the College fire truck. Someone ran up to set off the village fire siren. A student called Mercy Hospital in Mount Vernon and told them to send ambulances.

Students, volunteer Gambier firemen, and Mount Vernon firemen poured into the burning building, waking students and helping them outside. One man, John McNaughton, who had carried out two students, was thrown against the doorway by the full force of the fire hose as entered the building searching for other victims. No one got up the east stairway to the third floor, and it is doubtful that anyone managed to get to the third floor in the center section.

Their were no casualties on the first floor. Firewalls separated the wings from the blazing center of the building. East and West wing residents had ample time to evacuate, do some rescue work, and go back for their possessions before the flames spread along the eaves and down into their Divisions. Some stopped to clothe Middle Kenyon students who stumbled in choking with smoke and shivering in their pajamas.

Dawn of February 27th

While the fire raged, the Dean's Assistant, William Stiles, began checking room lists. Six men were missing, all from the third floor of Middle Kenyon.

As dawn came, the scene grew quieter. There was no way to save the wings of Old Kenyon, the bell and tower were gone. The ambulances had left, loads of volunteer blood donors had gone over to Mercy Hospital, and the firemen were coiling up their soggy hoses. People began to realize they were cold, exhausted, and dirty. All that was left of Old Kenyon was its burning shell and the piles of clothing and books scattering the ground outside the Wings.

Casualties

Of the 23 students on the third floor of Middle Kenyon, seven died and five were seriously injured. Six of those who died never got out of the building: Ernest Ahwajee, Albert Lewis, Martin Mangel, George Pincus, Stephen Shepard, and Colin Woodworth. Two students, Edward Brout and Jack McDonald, jumped from the second floor, failed to clear the building, and suffered skull fractures. Both died. Marc Peck died of complications from his severe burns in the late afternoon of the 27th.

The total numbers of casualties were nine dead and twelve hospitalized.

Cause

As the flames died down on Sunday morning, the cause of the fire was in sight. For the first time in generations, the sixteen fireplaces of Middle Kenyon were visible. The four huge old chimneys, each about 25 feet wide at the base, were honeycombed with fireplaces and flues.

The State Fire Marshal's Office, the National Insurance Underwriter's Association, the Knox County Sheriff, the Knox County Prosecutor, and Kenyon College investigators began a minute inquiry into the cause of the fire. After examining the ruins and thorough questioning of countless observers, the investigators agreed unanimously that the fire was caused by sparks which fell back into an old flue, lodged in an opening, and smoldered for several hours between the first and second floor of the east division of Middle Kenyon. Smoke and gases built up pressure and appeared to have burst with almost explosive force into the second and third floors of Middle Kenyon, filling the halls amost instantaneously with smoke and flame.

The large old chimneys were built 122 years ago. The lime mortar had deteriorated with age. The investigators agreed that no outside inspection could have ascertained this condition--the only way it could been disclosed prior to the fire would have been to have torn down the entire chimney.

The College and everyone associated with Kenyon, despite the fact that there was no way of knowing Old Kenyon was unsafe, immensely regretted that they had not done more. The College had enlarged the water mains, bought a fire truck, put in fire hoses in the basement, installed fire hydrants and extinguishers, and added five steel platforms and ladders to the building before the fire happened. However, fire authorities agreed that a fire which builds up pressure between floors and walls and then bursts into an open space is almost impossible to prevent or control, no matter what precautions have been taken or what equipment is available.

The Days After the Fire

Monday, February 28, President Chalmers addressed the student body saying the spirit of Kenyon was one of "sticking it out and going ahead." Everyone knew that Old Kenyon would rise again. In an orderly way, students claimed their possessions from the lawn in front of the remains of Old Kenyon and moved into the barracks and guest rooms in Gambier which were immediately offered them. Classes resumed that Monday as usual.

The Board of Trustees voted on March 5 to immediately restore Old Kenyon and start raising funds at once. It was estimated at the time of the vote to cost between $750,000 and $1,000,000 in addition to the insurance payments. The interior was to be reconstructed in a modern fashion and fireproof. The exterior was to be restored to the original building which had always been a symbol of Kenyon. Insofar as was feasible, the old stone, quarried from Gambier Hill under the personal supervision of Philander Chase, was to be used in the restoration.

Before the College had even decided to rebuild Old Kenyon, funds and letters began pouring in from every state and half a dozen foreign countries. Over $60,000 came into the College in the first few days following the fire without any requests or solicitations. Gambier, Mount Vernon, the College faculty, the Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon, the Mount Vernon Rotary Club, and even the Boy Scouts began emergency fund raising drives. Students from Ohio University, Akron University, and Indiana Technical College sent funds to Kenyon almost immediately. In Cleveland, alumni groups of nine fraternities from eleven colleges began raising money. The Cleveland Playhouse, under the supervision of the Kiwanis Club of Mount Vernon, put on a benefit performance for the restoration fund in Mount Vernon.

Students and faculty formed, with the Chaplain as their Chairman, the Kenyon Student Relief Committee which took care of each of the students in the hospital. The undergraduates took on orderly duties at the hospital and infirmiry. Members of the faculty and their wives took turns at Mercy Hospital being with the injured and their parents. Dean Frank E. Bailey, who had been ill before the fire and defied doctor's orders not to help when the fire broke out, had to undergo surgery due to his extraordinary efforts on Sunday the 27th followed by going back to work on Monday the 28th. Bailey walked with a cane for years afterwards due to injuries received during his efforts.

50th Anniversary

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the fire, President Robert A. Oden Jr. and Special Collections Librarian Jaime A. Peelle developed a memorial exhibit in February of 1999.

Taking place in the Olin Library Atrium, the commemoration consisted of two glass cases filled with artifacts documenting the building's back story as well as a continually running slide show of approximately 80 photographs, including a vivid collection taken of Old Kenyon's burning and rebuilding. Credit was given to Peelle, who sifted through Kenyon's archival photographs, slides and periodicals to create the exhibit, compacting nearly 175 years worth of history into a few square yards of space.

The exhibit in Olin was intended to reflect the construction, destruction, and reconstruction of Old Kenyon as well as to honor the young men who lost their lives. President Oden felt strongly about making the students of that school year aware of the fire. He ecouraged that they neither forget nor ignore the catastrophe that, a half-century later, remained the most devastating image in the campus's history.

Resources in the Kenyon College Archives

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