Impact of Fires, Epidemics, or Natural Disasters on Colleges and Universities

Virginia Sapiro posted a working paper on her blog that will be of interest to those studying the responses of college and universities during the current coronavirus pandemic.  Her paper, "Fires, Epidemics, Natural Disasters, and Higher Education: A Brief Sketch," offers a short narrative weaving together historical examples of institutions that have faced fires, epidemics, or natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, tornadoes or hurricanes. The paper includes an appendix with a lengthy list of accredited U.S. institutions that have experienced fires that threatened institutional survival.

Sapiro concludes that these emergencies need more emphasis when researchers study institutions and that appreciation for the impact of disasters contributes to a better understanding of higher education history.

The author serves as Professor of Political Science and Dean Emerita of Arts and Sciences at Boston University. This recent working paper draws from a previously posted working paper and data set, “Working Paper: The Life Course of Higher Education Institutions: When the End Comes, 1890-2019” 2019.

For those interested, I also created the table below with information on institutions impacted by fires from my file of Colleges and Universities that have Closed, Merged, or Changed Names. There is some overlap with Sapiro's list in her appendix, though the total pool of institutions is larger since it  includes any institution that referred to itself as a colleges or university.  As a result, institution may or may not have offered college level programs or have been accredited.

A number of College History Garden blog posts over the years have highlighted resources on specific campuses that have had significant fires:

• December 21, 2018  Fire On This Date in 1922 at Mount Holyoke
• July 12, 2018  Impact of Significant Fires at Indiana University
• April 26, 2018  Remembering a Tragic Fire at Tabor College
• January 24, 2018 Digital Repository at St. Francis University
• December 19, 2017  Campus Fires Shape Valparaiso University and Students Present Results of Archival Research
• May 28, 2016  Commemorating a Tragic Fire at Penn College
• February 23, 2014  Ottumwa Heights College (IA)
• May 10, 2012  Mount Morris College (IL)

Please leave a comment below if you are aware of information on other institutions that faced significant fires or other disasters in their past.

History of Olivet Nazarene University

You can find a fascinating video "History of Olivet Nazarene University" on YouTube. 

Olivet Nazarene was founded as Illinois Holiness University in Olivet, IL in 1907. The name changed to Olivet University in 1915 and to Olivet College in 1921. The institution relocated to Bourbonnais, IL after a devastating fire in 1939 and the name changed to Olivet Nazarene University with this relocation to a property formerly owned by Viator College. The original campus in Olivet, IL was operated as a Catholic seminary and retreat center for a time.

You can learn more by visiting the Olivet Nazarene website and there is also a well developed Wikipedia entry for Olivet Nazarene University with much more institutional history.

Fire On This Date in 1922 at Mount Holyoke

Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections sent out a tweet this morning noting that the original Rockefeller Hall, originally built in 1897 on the campus, burned on this date in 1922. 

Links are provided to a dramatic image of the fire and to a newspaper article, "Rockefeller Dormitory At Mount Holyoke Gutted By Fire; Loss Is $120,000," available through Five Colleges Compass Digital Collections.

Rockefeller Hall served as a dormitory and students living there were planning to leave campus later in the day to return home for the Christmas holiday. You can also read a transcript of a campus news article, "The Mount Holyoke News Documents Rockefeller Fire," or visit "Facts About the 1922 Rockefeller Fire" with additional details.

A new Rockefeller Hall was constructed in 1923 and Mount Holyoke's website offers a page, "The Rebuilt Rockefeller Hall," with links to a number postcards images.

Impact of Significant Fires at Indiana University

Ava Dickerson posted "1883 Fire!" on the Indiana University Archives blog, Blogging Hoosier History.  Her historical sketch describes the financial and cultural significance of the fire and how the citizens of Bloomington rallied to support the institution.


















Fires are often significant parts of institutional history and an earlier post on June 22, 2016, "A history of IU fires," describes a number of fires on campus.

Remembering a Tragic Fire at Tabor College

The Hillsboro Star-Journal published an article, "Tabor goes up in smoke," written by Rowena Plett.  Plett describes a devastating fire at Tabor College that quickly destroyed the main campus building on April 30, 1918.  She also explores how the campus and community pulled together and were able to survive this tragic event. 

The Mennonite Archival Image database offers several images of the building engulfed in flames and the Kansas Historical Society's Kansas Memory project includes a photograph of a composite work of paint, sliced brick, and slate by Professor Solomon Loewen, at the Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies at Tabor College, depicting a building burning.

Commemorating a Tragic Fire at Penn College

Wilcox Library of William Penn University in Oskaloosa, IA posted several fascinating sets of photos yesterday on Fb commemorating a fire May 27, 1916 that destroyed the Old Main of what was then Penn College. The library's posts include images of telegrams of support from around the country, newspaper articles with reports of the fire and the cleanup. College business manager Robert Williams and student Harry Oakley lost their lives when walls collapsed.

The posts note that Old Main was constructed in three phases with the first west wing section funded by the Iowa Union College Association of Friends and completed in 1873. The central wing was completed in 1877 and funded by the Quakers. The third and final east wing was completed in 1890 and funded by the citizens of Oskaloosa, Iowa.

Ottumwa Heights College (IA)

Ottumwa Heights College is featured in a post at Lost Womyn's Space.

Ottumwa Heights was a private college operated by the Sisters of Humility of Mary. Its roots can be traced back to the 1860s, when the Visitation Academy was established in Ottumwa.  It was renamed as St. Joseph Academy in 1925 and then to St. Joseph Junior College in 1930.  The Ottumwa Heights College name was adopted five years later.  On July 1, 1979 the boards of Indian Hills Community College and Ottumwa Heights College merged operations.

You can also view a dramatic video of a fire in 1957 that destroyed the Ottumwa Heights motherhouse and the college.

Mount Morris College (IL)

The Mt. Morris Fire Protection District offers a web page devoted to a fire at Mt. Morris College that  occurred in January 1912.  Fires are a common theme in the histories of many institutions, strengthening some and linked to eventual closure for others.

Rock River Seminary was the first institution of higher education in northern Illinois and was established by the Methodist Church in 1839.  It closed in 1879 due to financial difficulty.  The Church of the Brethren then purchased the campus and opened Mount Morris Seminary and Collegiate Institute.  In 1884 the name changed to Mount Morris College. The institution closed in 1932.