Pelham Schoolchildren Risked Their Lives Trying to Save Their Burning School in 1912
Youngsters throughout the Village of North Pelham were snuggled in their beds sound asleep in the darkness of the opening moments of Sunday, February 18, 1912. Shortly after midnight as the new day began, the village fire bells clanged an alarm, awakening everyone in North Pelham. A fire was raging somewhere in the village!
Within minutes, North Pelham children and their parents scrambled into their clothes. Neighbors ran into the streets. Word began to spread like wildfire. The newly-expanded $50,000 brick schoolhouse that served North Pelham that stood high on the hill where today's Hutchinson Elementary School stands was on fire. Indeed, because the structure stood on a hill, the flames were visible from Eastchester, Mount Vernon, and North Pelham.
Almost spontaneously, hundreds of Pelham schoolchildren raced to their burning schoolhouse, followed frantically by their worried parents. Children arrived just as Isaac C. Hill, proud principal of the newly-expanded school that was the pride of North Pelham, also arrived. I. C. Hill had served as head of each of the predecessor schools that had stood on the site for the previous thirty-five years.
Principal Hill quickly organized a group of older boys who were students at the school. He and the makeshift group rushed into the burning building and made their way to his office. There stood Principal Hill's prized desk. It had been his desk at the school for as long as he had served at the various schools that had stood on the site. He and the boys lifted it and maneuvered it outside where it could be saved.
At the same time, some students began working with their parents in a bucket brigade to toss pails of water onto the flames that quickly were consuming the building. Other students were moving in and out of the burning building grabbing books, records, papers, desks, and anything else they could carry outside to save. Still the persistent flames gnawed at the structure.
Firemen from North Pelham, Pelham Manor, and Mount Vernon arrived and began fighting the flames with steam boiler engines that pumped water in high streams onto the burning school. The fight quickly became brutal.
Because the fire on the crest of the hill could be seen for miles, a crowd gathered to gawk as the disaster unfolded. According to one news account: "the flames attracted a large crowd of people, many of whom rode in automobiles from Pelham Manor, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon and East Chester."
Though the firefighters fought bravely, soon the flames gained the upper hand. As Pelham Manor firefighter Charles Geoffrey and Mount Vernon Engine Company No. 1 firefighter John Kern battled the fire adjacent to one of the brick walls of the building, the unthinkable happened. The entire brick wall of the structure on that side collapsed. One of the bricks struck Geoffrey on the wrist, severing an artery, a grave injury. John Kern was on a ladder leaning against the wall when it collapsed. As Kern and his ladder fell in the midst of the raining bricks, Kern received a "deep gash" in his head. Both firefighters were pulled from the debris and bundled off to Mount Vernon Hospital where they were treated and recovered.
Soon it became apparent to all. Saving the school building was a lost cause. Eventually the burning mass simply burned itself out as the firefighters poured what water they could on the smoking hulk. North Pelham's newly-expanded brick school building was a total loss. The expanded structure was worth $50,000. Apparently, however, it was still insured at its value before the expansion. It was only insured for $22,000.
The Pelham Union Free School District No. 1 would have to build another structure for North Pelham schoolchildren. Until then, the young students would have to be split into two groups with one group sent to an unoccupied residence in Pelham Heights on Highbrook Avenue that once had been used as a school. The other group was housed in the new Town Hall of the Town of Pelham on Fifth Avenue completed barely two years earlier in late 1909.
Below is an image of the expanded school building as it looked shortly before the fire. The older part of the school is on the left of the image, somewhat in the rear. The new expansion may be seen on the right in the foreground.
This is the North Pelham School Building that Burned in 1912.
"Hutchinson School, No. 4, 1910-1912" Source: Montgomery,
William R., The Old Schoolhouse On The Hill - Pelhamville, The
Pelham Sun (Christmas Supplement), Dec. 17, 1926, p. 15, cols.
1-7. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
The original part of the school building pictured above was the third version of the school built on the site. Built in 1900 and opened in September of that year, it replaced an old wooden school building constructed in 1889. The image immediately below shows the original part of the structure before it was expanded in 1910. This part of the structure burned down as well during the 1912 fire.
The Original Portion of the Expanded North Pelham School
that Burned in 1912. Source: Montgomery, William R., The
Old Schoolhouse On The Hill - Pelhamville, The Pelham Sun
(Christmas Supplement), Dec. 17, 1926, p. 15, cols. 1-7.
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
To learn more about the history of the Hutchinson Elementary School and its predecessors, see Thu., Sep. 18, 2014: A History of the Hutchinson School and its Predecessors in Today's Village of Pelham Published in 1926.
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Below is the text of a number of articles regarding the fire that burned the Hutchinson School on February 18, 1912. Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.
"PUPILS HELP FIGHT FIRE
-----
Children Save Records as North Pelham School Burns.
Several hundred boys and girls aided I. C. Hill, principal of North Pelham Public School, in saving valuable records, books, papers and desks from a fire which destroyed the school early yesterday morning. The building was new and cost nearly $50,000. It was insured for $22,000. The Pelham and Pelham Manor fire departments, as well as Engine Company 1, of Mount Vernon, helped fight the fire.
When the alarm was given it awakened the children, and as soon as they learned that their schoolhouse was on fire they hurriedly dressed and rushed to the scene, followed by their parents. Mr. Hill was joined by some of the older boys and they were marshalled by him in line and rushed to his office. A group of boys seized Mr. Hill's desk, which he prized very highly, and carried it to the street. Before the firemen arrived boys and girls helped form a bucket line and tried to stop the spread of the flames. From room to room corps of pupils rushed hither and thither picking up books, desks and other school paraphernalia, which they carried to the street.
The school building stood on the crest of a hill, and the flames attracted a large crowd of people, many of whom rode in automobiles from Pelham Manor, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon and East Chester.
The falling of one of the walls injured two firemen. Charles Godfrey, of Pelham Manor, was struck by a brick, which cut an artery in his wrist, and John Kern, of Mount Vernon, was badly cut on the head and had to be taken to the Mount Vernon Hospital.
Some of the Pelham children will be allowed to enter the Pelham Heights School, while the others will be accommodated in the Town Hall until a new schoolhouse is erected."
Source: PUPILS HELP FIGHT FIRE -- Children Save Records as North Pelham School Burns, New-York Tribune, Feb. 19, 1912, Vol. LXXI, No. 23,836, p. 1, col. 6.
"PUPILS FIGHT SCHOOL FIRE.
-----
Leave Homes After Midnight and Risk Lives Rescuing Books.
MOUNT VERNON, N. Y., Feb. 18. -- Several hundred boys and girls aided Principal I. C. Hill in saving valuable records, books, papers and desks from a fire which destroyed the North Pelham public school shortly after midnight. The school, which was a new structure and cost nearly $50,000, was destroyed although the Pelham Manor fire department as well as Engine Company 1 of Mount Vernon fought hard to save the structure.
When the alarm was given it awakened the children and as soon as they learned that their schoolhouse was on fire they dressed and went to the scene, followed by their parents. Principal Hill, who has been the head of the school for thirty-five years, was joined by some of the older boys and they were marshalled [sic] by him in line and rushed to his office. A squad of pupils seized the old desk in front of which Mr. Hill has presided during all the years he has been principal and which he prized highly and carried it to the street.
Before the firemen arrived boys and girls had seized pails of water which they gave to their parents and in this manner tried to stop the spread of the flames. Boys hurried from room to room, picking up books, desks and other school paraphernalia, which they took to the street.
The school building stood on the crest of a hill and the flames attracted a large crowd, many people driving in automobiles from Pelham Manor, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon and East Chester. The falling of one of the walls injured two firemen. Charles Geoffrey of Pelham Manor was struck by a brick, which cut an artery in his wrist, and John Kern, a member of Engine Company 1, of Mount Vernon was severely injured. He was on a ladder when the wall caved in and he received a deep gash in his head. The men were taken to Mount Vernon Hospital.
The building was insured for $22,000 on Wednesday."
Source: PUPILS FIGHT SCHOOL FIRE -- Leave Homes After Midnight and Risk Lives Rescuing Books, The Sun [NY, NY], Feb. 19, 1912, Vol. LXXIX, No. 172, p. 1, col. 2.
Labels: 1912, Fire, Hutchinson Elementary School, Isaac C. Hill, Pelham Fire Department, Pelham Manor Fire Department, schools
posted by Blake A. Bell @ 5:07 AM
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